Shrubs

It took over a half hour to get everything settled down. The children ran off clutching their coins looking around as if people would leap out to take it away. My mother had showed up a little after with my bags. I had left them behind so I was not weighed down. I saw my father briefly but we had said our farewells before we even left the house that morning, because he said he would have to take care of the aftermath. The gang was carted off to the prison. Unfortunately, the Duke and his men were left alone. He was immune to the local laws and I had to leave this enemy at my back because I just was not powerful enough to deal with him…yet.

The noble children were pointing at me from time to time and made comments. Things like "What?! She's a beggar?" "I hope I do not have to sit with her." "Ha ha I cannot believe I won so much gold off a vagabond." or "Pfft how weak! She could not even get by those pathetic men." In the entire half hour I was in front of them not a single good comment was said about me. I tried to not let it affect me. I had heard worse. Part of the trouble was there was a flaw in my plan. I was planning on either casting purify on my torn clothes or changing if I could find a spot to do so. Unfortunately, I ran out of mana on the second to last child that was injured while acting as distractions. I ended up having to rest a while before finishing healing the children. I was also told to stay put, by a academy guard, so changing was out of the question. I tossed on my ratty cloak since I did not have time to finish the new one. It at least covered the dirty clothes.

Another local noble also joined us after everything was cleared up. He went to talk with the others without even looking at me. I stood there surrounded by an ever-decreasing amount of dirty children until I was told to get into one of the carriages by one of the adults around it. The nobles made their way into their designated carriage and the two girls that joined me sat as far from me as they could. They scrunched up their noses and acting like I crawled out of a garbage dump. It was not like I rubbed trash on me. At most, I smelled of dirt and sweat. I found their overreaction to be comical.

We set off after that. I will say that the difference in a farmer's wagon and a carriage a noble used is quite large. I was rocked to sleep by the smooth ride.

I did not wake up until we stopped again. We were near a forested area that I have never been to before. Checking my map, I saw that we were heading toward the sea. I never learned where our capital was exactly so my map displayed it generically. 'CAPITAL' hung over the fog of war so I knew the general area but not the specific location.

Once I was alone, I quickly got undressed. I was not sure if this was a pit stop or if we were camping here but I wanted to be in clean clothes. I cast purify on myself as soon as I was out of them. I might as well be clean. I felt a refreshing power course through me. The grime I could see on me vanished and my skin looked even better than before. Ok, now that was cool. I always wondered why girls used things other than soap to clean themselves. It was probably to get this effect. I felt so enlightened about one of the weird things girls did.

Feeling refreshed, I got dressed into new clothes. It was the first time I really looked into my bags. Reaching in to get new clothes I found that the clothes I had packed were missing. All I saw was the clothes we bought yesterday. I had packed these as well, but I had not planned on wearing them often. The only thing that was already in there that I packed was my patched-up cloak. I had tossed it in earlier. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the flimsy material and put on the outfit. I had more skin showing than not and felt super awkward. It was not even that my mom was wrong. The two girls that rode with me also had on skimpy outfits but from what I heard before I fell asleep was, they were not here for school. No, they were here to see if they could marry up, so their outfits sadly made sense. The fact that thirteen old girls were trying to hook up was creepy in my opinion but in a world where you were considered an old maid at seventeen, I guess the pressure to get married was always there.

I went out and looked around. In front of us was a grand forest and behind us was the farmer fields and the road we had just traveled on. The girls that were in my carriage rejoined the other nobles and were chatting happily. They had beautified themselves from the last time I saw them. Apparently, this world did have makeup. Making sure my cloak was secure and covering as much as possible I moved to the group. There were twelve boys of various ages. Most were talking with the girls, but a few were putting weapons and armor on.

I moved to the group of boys putting their armor on. They were a bit older, and unlike the ones chatting with the girls, seemed to know what was going on. The serious look in their eyes told me that much. "You should be over there," a boy stated as soon as I got close. He looked and sounded so serious up until his voice cracked. I stifled a giggle.

"Are we in danger?" I looked at the forest behind them. I had no idea what to do since I was a city boy. The closest I have been to a forest is watching a killer butcher some campers at a lake surrounded by forests. Thinking of that movie and then at the darkness inside the forest made me shiver. Stupid movie! 'It was just dark because of the trees canopies' I told myself and not because it was a mass murder's playground. The fact that they were equipping weapons was not helping though.

He looked me up and down, sniffed, and said, "Go join the other girls. You will be of no help." The disdain in his voice was palpable. The other boys in this group had stopped what they were doing and were all now staring at me.

'Stupid outfit' I thought. "I am a support class and can help if we are in danger." My voice sounded weak even to me. I did not like to be stared at and it made me self-conscious. I made myself continue, "I can heal or cast protection spells. I can…" the boy I had been talking to cut me off with a look of disdain.

"Sure, you can. Go join the others!" Sighing, I went over to the others. I looked like a preteen ready to go clubbing. I could not even get mad, it was not like I would believe me either. I heard the others chatting about frivolous things when I got close to them. Maybe I was overthinking it. They did not seem worried at all. Listening to the boys tell tales of heroism that their frail looking bodies were unlikely able to handle while the girls gasped in awe was pointless. I saw the chubby kid talking with one of the guards but before I could move in that direction he finished and rejoined us. I gave him a questioning look but was ignored.

After a half-hour, the guards made us go back in and we set off again. Not tired, I took out a piece on the new cloak and began to add the pockets. It was the hardest part, every stitch would help to complete a rune that circled the pocket lining, so I took my time. The girls chatter about how brave Timothy was or how good Samuel looked became my background noise. I wished I had headphones or at least earplugs. I heard noises occasionally outside but for the most part my companions were too noisy to hear anything else.

I got to a part of the stitching that was too complex to do while moving so I put away what I was working on and pulled up my character sheet. I had hit level three so more spells appeared, and I also now had twenty skill points to spend. I increased my wisdom, so I had more mana capacity and my spells had a little more oomph. It left me only two points. I then reviewed the new spells. There were four of them:

Minor Healing light – Creates images that float around targets that release pulses of healing energy

Lesser Detoxification – Removes lesser poisons

Sense Minor Evil – map will display creatures that have done evil within the last week; area of affect seven meters

Blessings of the Goddess – makes it harder for others to hit the target of this spell (strength increases with level)

I was impressed by them. It made me a little more versatile. After I finished up I had nothing to do for hours. I have grown used to the boredom. The idea of no television, cellphones or other electronics was shattered when I refocused my attention on the girls. They had grown quiet and when I looked, the brown-haired girl call Lilly was holding a clear crystal with a smaller red crystal slotted into the top of it. In front of it was a projection of men fighting a monster. 'What the f..' That was a video player! I could even hear the battle sounds if I listened closely. The blonde girl hugged onto the other girl's arm to get a better angle to watch. I needed this in my life! Do not get me wrong I was not going full couch potato but to have something to do other than clean, sew or study was appealing.

I wondered if they turned up the volume as the sounds of battle grew. That was until the whole carriage tilted as if something hit it hard. As it tilted, we all landed in a heap on the floor. I untangled myself as quickly as I could and made my way to the door.

"Wha.. What are yo.. you doing?!" the blonde stuttered out.

I felt a little bad because I still had no idea what her name was. I still turned and answered, "I am going to fight." And a golden glow outlined my form. With that I opened the door, jumped out and closed the door. I did not want to be blamed if the girls got hurt because the door was left open.

The teens I had talked to earlier were battling it out with… shrubbery? I stopped and stared at the battle. The creatures looked like they were shrubs cut into designs that you see on rich people's yards in my world. There were all types of designs. I saw a dragon, tall and strong but still made from sticks and leaves, move toward the group only to be followed by a poodle shrub. The guards I just noticed were battling it out with a lion shaped creature. It looked like they would win but it was a tough fight for them. The teens on the other hand were having a much easier time. Unlike the people in my town that barely could cover a body part in magic, they all had magic auras that extended around them.

A cocky looking teen stepped out to meet the dragon and with a roar the dragon went to gobble him up. It froze midway and with a terrified scream began to struggle. The dragon exploded shortly after that. It looked like somebody put TNT in it. Twigs shot out like shrapnel which was stopped by another boy. "Seriously Phillip, watch what you are doing." The new boy said. It was said in such a way I got the impression that it was not the first time. Phillip just gave a laugh and turned back to join the group. The poodle pounced onto his leg once his back was turned. I suppose he did not see the little thing make its way through its dead comrade.

I am not sure what I was expecting but as it bit into his leg its limbs also borrowed in. With his pants being torn open, I saw things moving under his skin. He let out a panic filled scream that his friends soon echoed. Another teen rushed up and with a hand encased in metal, grabbed the tiny poodle and ripped it off taking most off Phillip's lower leg with it. I could see bone now that most of his calf was gone. The teen that went to 'help' scooped him up and ran back to the others.

I did not hesitate anymore and ran over to help. Once I was close enough, I flared out my Holy aura to minimize his pain. It seems to be bigger than before so maybe it grew with my level and I missed it. I did not have time to check since Phillip was not looking too good. "MOVE." I said as I made my way to him. They gave way and I quickly began to cast. I cast minor heal as soon as I got close enough followed by the new spell minor healing light. I saw tiny golden butterflies flutter about his leg and begin to pulse. I also reached into my pocket and searched for the gauze wrap. Once I found it, I began to do basic first aid on him. I had more magic, but the fight was still ongoing, and I was not sure if more people would be joining Phillip.

The battle became more intense and two more teens and four more guards joined him before it was over. I had a little treatment area in the center that naturally happened once people knew I could really heal. The guards were way more open to any type of healing and were the first to bring their men over that needed it. I do not know how much time passed but I was exhausted by the time it was over. A middle-aged man with a doctor's bag came out after the battle and shooed me away. I was out of magic and was more than happy to leave.

I opened the door to my carriage and was met by screams and a shoe to the face. This just was not my day. Collecting the shoe, I made my way back in. Handing back the projectile to Lilly I said, "It's over." And plopped down into the seat as if I were dying. I just wanted to rest but got bombarded with questions. "What was it?", "Was so and so ok?" and so on. I had to cut them off to answer. I then filled them in on what I knew. Plant monsters attacked, three boys and four guards injured, and minor damage to the carriages. I had to give descriptions of the boys until they were satisfied.

There was a knock on our door and one of the guards informed us that we would be moving on without dinner to make it through this area. I thought the girls were going to complain and cry, but they just nodded and went into their bags to get food they had squirreled away. I for my part took out some food my mom had prepared and as I ate, I forgave her for her bad choice in clothes.

I was tired but I was not tired enough to sleep. I sat with the thought of being attacked again and could not relax. Hours passed and I had to pee. I was not sure what was worse, the attacks or the thought of peeing in the woods. As more and more time passed, I began to fidget about. I was going to burst! We finally stopped and I quickly made my way out. The girls followed me and when I began to look about for a place to go, I noticed they were doing the same. We made our way to the 'bathroom' together. We found a place near the edge of the forest and I pulled out my mace just in case there were monsters or peeping boys about.

We made it through the forest, and I got to pee. My day is looking up. I wonder if this was how girl's going to the bathroom together started.

***

"She did not even flinch! I'm telling you right now I call dibs on her. She is the type of lady I have been looking for." the excited teen told anybody, near him, that would listen.

"You do know your family will not except a peasant for your wife." Another boy chimed just to crush his dream.

"Ha, who said anything about her being my wife? She can just be my mistress or a plaything. Either way she will be mine."