There’s a strange quality to the pendants. She’s not that familiar with metal craftsmanship outside of her village, but these-… these almost look like they’re machine-made. A twist of wrist, a tug of twine, and the Tree pendant falls on her bare palm.

[Status: Daze]

[Dispelled!]

.
.
.

[Secret Status: ???]

[Dispel Fail!]

.
.
.
[Secret Status : ???]…

[…decrypting…]

[…decrypted]

The ‘???’ flickers and flashes, changing until it takes form.

[Status: Roots of Tor]

[Dispelled!]

Marcheline flicks the pendants back down, as if burned. She hisses and stares at them. Well, that was… she opens her mouth to shout ‘Call the priests!’, but she doesn’t.

It’s a strange thing— to have planned to scream, to ask for help, but to have none of the instincts required for it.

The only thing that runs through her head is that ‘Nobody else should see or come into contact with these’, and ‘The child, I have to speak to the only one who might know.’

She realizes now that last night’s confrontation might have been solved by [Purify], her passive skill. It removes almost all status effects, except for banishments and transformations. The number of status effects it could dispel is limited, and if she had more party members, there would be no guarantee that the debuffs on her would be removed first.

Seeing as she’s alone, [Purify] is focused solely on her. In this single-party situation, barely any debuffs could affect her, and certainly not for an extended period of time. This is why she doesn’t bother with her Soot Balls for now.

The plan is to dispel, scream, and run. But… no demon jumps out of the shadows, there’s only possibly-cursed objects.

It is a bad habit, a terrible decision— Marcheline’s fingers inch towards the Wing pendant. If the Tree has some sort of debuff or status effects, then…

All of a sudden, however, “Those are some good dye.”

She jumps from the unexpected voice behind her. Her heart rises to her throat before she could register the familiar sound. “Damn it, Eve.” Turning her head around, she hides the pendants as she looks at the impatient girl. Eve is looking to the side, at the pile of dirty clothes.

She throws the pendants into her spatial storage, and observes herself for a moment. To her relief, it works and no other Effect tries to inflict itself her.

Anyway, her eyes follow whatever Eve is looking at, and she notices it— an old graphic t-shirt, with a wolf printed on it. Completely out of place among the coarse fabrics and the handmade stitching of the other garments.

The tent suddenly feels too small. “We should leave- we should tell someone.” Marcheline starts, and continues in a whisper, “Dead in his sleep.”

Eve nods, “The kid doesn’t seem to like you. Want me to break the news to her?”

“No!” who knows if the child is inflicted with some strange status, or if she has some dangerous skills, “I’ll handle her.”

She fully turns around and gestures for Eve to precede her, then follows. With Eve blocking the entrance, she quickly swipes the t-shirt into her Space, making sure it’s not touching anything she likes. Marcheline sends a cautious last look at Old Sam’s corpse before exiting.

Once outside, she leans close to Nick, and in a low voice, “Nick, tell the priests that a man died in his sleep. They should have some protocols to deal with deaths here, then ask them what we could do to help. The man left a daughter, so also tell them our group is willing to take her in. I’m breaking the news to his child.”

Even though she says that, it seems that the kid has caught on that her guardian is dead. There’s really not much to explain on Marcheline’s part.

They both glance at the girl in question, her face no longer as angry and confused as before. She looks to be in shock. Nick clicks his tongue in pity, but does as told.

Certainly it’s the right decision, the good decision, to take in an orphan when you’re fully equipped to do so. Regardless of her other objective— that is to squeeze as much information as possible from the girl. She must be anxious and grieving. She needs someone to talk to her, and Marcheline wants to be a decent person.

Especially since she probably killed Old Sam.

=======

Author’s note: Next chap in 12 hours!