Sobelle's father could be called a simple man. Everyone knew he did not desire much; he merely wanted to open his eyes the next morning. Most say that to wake up every single day was more than enough for him to continue living, but that was false. In truth, he was strict behind closed doors and often hated the smallest diversion in an otherwise monotonous world.

Every little thing that changed was something Saltor hated, and because of that, it was expected for the entire family to be home before sun down. And if someone were to miss their seat at the dinner table when the old man arrived, then bad things happened.

Not just to the one who made a mistake, but to everyone else as well.

No matter how small of a mistake it was in the long run, every little thing added up, and if someone in the family attracted the ire of the patriarch, then everyone hated them. From the oldest to the youngest, there was no exception to this rule. Everyone had to follow the schedule.

Sobelle had perfected this part. It was why her father was less strict when he dealt with Sobelle. To him, his daughter was a perfect little machine who followed a strict schedule every single day; she would wake up in the morning and do her daily physical routine—each one perfectly counted, perfectly even, and with no variation. Saltor had counted it himself—and then she'd do her chores in the afternoon, and at night, she'd disappear.

That was it. A set schedule that no one else in the village followed. That was Sobelle.

She sat down in her usual seat and waited for everyone else to do the same. A few meters away from her, Creyla, her stepmother, cooked their meal. They were going to eat vegetable stew again, though Sobelle assumed there would be differences in the ingredients this time around.

Creyla's sister married a man who tended a small field of fruit trees, and Sobelle had seen them talk earlier. After their conversation, Creyla left with a small basket of fruits and a smile on her face. They had nothing but this same stew for three days in a row, and Sobelle was personally tired of eating it, but she no longer minded if the ingredients changed the taste. Even if it's only by a little bit.

"Sobelle, I can't help but notice that you are later than usual. Can you tell me the reason why?" Creyla was already on Sobelle's case seconds after the latter sat down. "You know your father doesn't like it when you go home at this hour, right?"

Ultimately, this was the reason why Sobelle risked failure for the tests the gods gave her. She could spend as much time on the tests as she wanted, but her life didn't have that kind of luxury, so Sobelle had to finish the trials as soon as possible. An idea appeared in Sobelle's head just as she thought of that.

'Why don't I try practicing that? '

By now, Sobelle knew that her tests would only go up in number, and that made them predicable. Soon she'd need to solve the number 4, then 5, and after that 6 and so on and so forth. The trials didn't dissuade her from studying the numbers on her own, so why doesn't she just memorize the future sequences before she is tested for them? Wouldn't that make things easier?

The gods answered her then, and Sobelle couldn't hold back the smile of joy when she saw that they approved of her idea by adding another point to her [Wisdom] stat.

[+1 Wisdom! ]

How the gods approved of her message took so much of Sobelle's attention that she had forgotten about her family. She controlled her grin and looked at her stepmother, who averted her eyes. Creyla seemed like she had nothing else to say, so Sobelle chose to answer in the most basic way she could.

"Forgive me, my time was taken by sightseeing. The forest is rather beautiful this time of the season." Sobelle wasn't lying about it either; flowers bloomed within the branches of trees and fell to the ground in short bursts.

"I hear that a few kids will go out and start taking opits later," Azil, the ten-year-old son of Saltor, said excitedly. He looked around the table. "I want to go with them!"

Opits, or as they are less commonly known: Bark Lanterns. Are snail shells that suddenly started glowing during this time of year, they capture bugs, provide light, and slowly start to smell good. A lot of children play with them for several days; once that passed, they'd gather outside and watch as the bugs that had been captured emerge as one big, blue-shelled insect and fly off with all the other Opits.

This happened at least once a year, and Sobelle thought that it was about time that the Opitzes came back. Since if they were here, then it meant that it was breeding season for a lot of different snails and she couldn't wait to get her hands on a few of them.

"Is anyone going to organize a search party for Spindols?" Sobelle asked about her favorite one. Slithering Rocks were rarely seen during most seasons, but it was now that they came to the forest in large numbers to breed. And they should be absolutely gigantic this time of year as well.

"Not yet, but people are talking about it." The one who answered was their father. He rubbed Sobelle on the head and took his seat at the head of the table. "I'll catch you one when I get the chance; I know you love to eat them."

"I do!" Sobelle grinned; this was the only time in her life that she actually felt excited about something. Slithering Rocks were delicious if they were captured and cooked when they were still purple. Sobelle even remembered that her mother used their mucus to heal wounds.

"And speaking of eating, why isn't dinner done yet?" Saltor turned from a grinning old man to how he usually was when he asked his wife. "I should be eating when I get home."

"I got new stuff from my sister!" Creyla clearly forced a smile as she gave him an answer. After all this time, she had gotten used to things and somehow trained herself to be able to look unphased while stressed. "You know, fruits, vegetables—they even gave me strips of meat!"

'She also got meat? '

Now Sobelle actually looked forward to eating this. And she didn't want to ruin her dinner, so she decided to ease the mood of her father. She had saved this for more strenuous occasions, but she was greedy and wanted to savor the meat as much as possible.

"I can count using twos," she declared. It attracted the attention of her father, and she almost shriveled under his cruel gaze, but Sobelle persisted. She smiled. "Like when I count from one, two, three..." Sobelle counted up to ten. "...And ten, I can also do it in twos!"

"Really?" Her father had gone from mad to happy, and everyone at the table was happy for it. "Show me then."

"Two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve..." While Sobelle counted verbally, her father used his hands and counted things himself. He nodded every so often, and his smile grew bigger with every number Sobelle mentioned. "And finally, twenty!"

Saltor laughed in pride, and for once, he stood up from his seat and lifted his daughter into the air. Sobelle giggled in response, "You don't just look like her; you are exactly like your mother, aren't you?! So smart and capable! She was like this when we were younger too!"

Sobelle knew almost nothing about her mother, seeing as the woman died when she was only 5 years old, but the stories the villagers told about the village healer stuck to her, and although she was proud to be compared to the woman who had given her life, Sobelle felt bitter. She didn't want to be a mere healer; she wanted to be a knight!

Her father had failed to become one and was stuck in this village, but her? She would train using what the gods gave her, and she would wield a sword in a battlefield and save everyone and protect the land from invaders!

Salter put his daughter down and looked at his wife.

"How about we give Sobelle some of the meat today? She's a growing woman, and she needs as much food as she can get in order to get even bigger."

"Yes, husband." Instead of feeling relieved when she escaped her lover's anger, Creyla glared at Sobelle. It wasn't just her either; people around the table were the same. "I'll make sure to give her some of the portions."

"Good." Salter went back to his seat and waited for the food to arrive. All the while he looked at Sobelle with both pride and joy.