Give forgiveness.

(Pieter's POV)

Well, let's take a look, shall we? As to what her perks do before I make her life hell.

Name: Chantal

Surname: Naaktgeboren

Gender: female

Age: 29

Level 1 (7/ 10xp)

Class: Saint

Perks: Empathy I, Charity I.

Add Quest (cooldown 0 minutes)

• Charity I: Charity effectiveness increases 20%. Hidden: doing charity gives sexual pleasure.
• Empathy I: Easier to understand other people’s emotions. Hidden: Your emotions are slightly affected by those around you.

Nothing wrong with those. For her next quest... I want multiple steps, but Robin would kill me if I didn't save for the target perk tree.

I select Target Unawareness, but not public, to see how that would work. I make it not too big so she can easily complete it.

Chantal will receive the following quest: 'Give forgiveness to 5 people.'

Select reward:

• better relationships with the people you forgave.
• Perk: Absolution I
• A great opportunity.

Fine, I bite the great opportunity and absolution. Since those seem like the best rewards. I look up absolution in the dictionary. Absolution: formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment. Okay, so a form of forgiveness, cool beans. That does work for what we want.

(Chantal POV)

I arrive home in time to make Katrien her favourite hot chocolate. I entered to see our rented house, which we could barely afford. It was ransacked. I look in and call Katrien to see if she knows what has happened whilst I was at work. I hear a crying voice on the other side of the line. "S..s.. sorry I d... d... didn't expect it would get out of hand. I had some debts when we started our relationship. I have a credit card, and I like to shop. Slightly too much... the repo man came. He took what he needed to pay off the debt. But that doesn't mean I have none left."

I take a deep breath, looking into it myself. I choose to forgive this girl I have been with for a few years. "Katrien, I will forgive you that doesn't mean I am not hurt. But we can get through this. You should have trusted me before all this. The lack of trust is the thing that hurts me so much. In order to get through this, you need to open your books. You need to let me in, and we need to make a plan to pay off those debts as quickly as possible."

She questions my response: "You really aren't mad? And you will help me get through this?" I confirm it by saying: "Yes to both of those. Bye, I need to start taking stock of what we have." I start to look through what remains. Which essentially means nothing above 15 euros. No chairs, no table, no couch. How bad were her debts? The bed, the mattress and a bunch of other stuff were taken. Only a few things remain. Only our food, some other opened consumables, two mugs, two plates and some other small things remain. We have nothing. No conveniences, none at all. Luckily, they didn't take the oven, or our landlord would have killed us.

What should we do? Get an apartment again? Social housing? The waiting list is long, and we have a house. Make up with my parents and beg? Never!! The least I could do is make up with Robin. Maybe she snagged a rich boyfriend. She had nothing to do with how our parents are treating me. Or how they treated me. I text her: "Sorry, I was prickly yesterday due to my arguments with mom and dad. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You are not the cause. You are as much a victim as I am. Sadly, we can't make it on Saturday. Or better put, it would put us in an awkward position. Katrien apparently has a huge debt, and lots of our stuff got repossessed. TT__TT We can't be spending money frivolously for a bit.'

An almost instant reply: 'So sad, maybe we can help you at least have a fun day out, and maybe with some other things too. Hope you get out from under the debt (づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡.'

I chuckle; she really wants to hold us together. 'Sure, what is your plan. I won't reject any help for now.'

The response takes a moment. Why wait for coordination with the boyfriend, probably. 'Pieter says we can at least pay for all of the stuff we do together. Maybe some basic cutlery, plates, table, chairs, etc. So basically, an Ikea trip to help you with some basic stuff. And if we can find it, a going-out-of-business sale for a bed store. Hoping to get a decent mattress at a reasonable price. Long term... we have to see afterwards based on what my streaming income does, okay? That would mean it is helpful if we carpool.'

A weight is lifted as I send: 'You two are too sweet, I could never accept that from you. But I am not in the position to refuse, I think. I will pay you guys back at your wedding, okay?' I only received a thumbs-up emoji as a response.

I decide to make a few cups of hot chocolate so Katrien and I can go over the finances. We spend until I need to head to bed. But ohh my god.. that was worse than I could ever imagine. Sooo, much worse, she has close to a million in debt, how, how. How are we going to get out of this?

I head to work around 4 fucking early shift. Well, at least it helps me get some distraction from my debt, and I am done by 3 in the afternoon. On my way home, I stop by the Lidl in the hope of getting some cheap food. We needed to get some stuff. There, I encounter an old classmate who had stolen my then-girlfriend. "Hey Tim, how are you doing?"

He awkwardly responds: "Hey Chantal, first time seeing you here. Sorry about Ella. I didn't know you were a thing until we were well and dating, and I had seen old messages between the two of you. She similarly left me to you if that is any consolation."

I chuckle: "It isn't, but nice to commiserate. I forgive you. You aren't responsible for what a cheater does. I was wrong to expect you to be held responsible."

"Hey, if you ever need an accountant, let me know you will need to pay me. Unless you are in serious debt, but with how risk-averse you are, then I have a few pro bono slots for advice and.... if worst comes to worst, the dreaded bankruptcy." He says mostly jokingly.

"Boy, do I have a story for you..." I tell him what happens. I can hardly hold back my emotions, and he hands me his card and replies: "Yep, that is definitely a pro bono I take." I take it and give an awkward smile, saying I will consider it.