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Chapter 14 – Reconciliation
It’s been 3 days since Rodan came home with his face covered in bruises. When Theresia asked how he got them, he refused to answer.
However, the next day, Kurena revealed the reason. She said that Rodan had a fight with the next-door neighbor, Gerda.
Allen didn’t know why they fought, but it occured after the appraisal ceremony. So, it was probably related to how Allen didn’t have a talent, and how all his stats were E rank.
Due to his garbled talent and low-rank stats, everyday Allen would grasp the grimoire in his hands, and explain his situation to God, requesting a bugfix. But there was no response.
When Allen was still Kenichi, he once lost some equipment that had taken him a year to craft, due to a server error. He submitted a bug report everyday until the issue was fixed and he got his equipment back. Now, he’s giving it his all with this world’s god.
“Allen, are you ready?”
“Yes, Mama.”
There was probably nothing in particular he needed to prepare. He took his wooden sword just in case. He might have been a bit too influenced by Kurena.
“C’mon, you’re coming too. You were just awake, so why are you trying to sleep now!”
Theresia pulls Rodan up, who was lying down with Mash in his arms, still sulking.
Dong
Dong
Dong
The bell rings, signaling 3pm in the frontier village.
Today, they were going to their neighbor’s house. It was the end of April. They ended their field work a bit early today, and were on their way to Kurena’s house.
(It’s been a while since I’ve been to Kurena’s house.)
It had been five and a half years since Allen was reincarnated into this world. He had been playing with Kurena since he was three. It was almost always Kurena coming over to visit him, but there were times where Allen went to Kurena’s house.
They were having dinner together, so they filled a basket with food before leaving the house.
It took less than 15 minutes to walk to Kurena’s house.
“Hi. Welcome.”
A woman with pink hair and blue eyes replied cheerfully. Her hair was short and curly.
“Hi Mitilda. Sorry for Rodan the other day.”
“Whatever do you mean? Gerda should have known better than to act so immature.”
The woman who talked like a lady was Kurena’s mother, Mitilda. She led the four of them into a shack-like house. Naturally, the family had brought Mash along.
They were going to stay over at Kurena’s tonight.
“Oh? Hello!!!!”
As soon as they entered the house, they heard Kurena. Maybe because Allen’s whole family came to Kurena’s house today – her voice was more energetic than usual.
There was a dirt entryway, and past that there was a sunken hearth and two rooms. It was almost the same as Allen’s house. Or rather, it was exactly the same as Allen’s house.
“Oi! How long are you going to keep sulking! You’ve been awake for a while now!!”
With one hand, she dragged out Gerda, who was sleeping belly down in the bedroom. His face was full of bruises, just like Rodan’s.
After that, Theresia and Mitilda began prepping dinner together.
“Oh, Lily’s getting big.”
While the rest waited, they were led to the children’s room. There was Lily, Kurena’s sister. She had pink hair like Kurena. Her father, Gerda, had brown hair, so her hair and her eyes were from her mom. She smiled and reached out towards Allen. When he gave her his hand, she nuzzled it.
(For some reason, it’s so soothing.)
Kurena’s sister Lily was one and half. She was born when Allen was four. It had been a while since he’d seen her, but Allen often heard stories about Lily from Kurena.
In the meantime, dinner was being prepared, and everyone gathered around the hearth. The ingredients weren’t extravagant. It was the usual pot of beans, potatoes, flat bread, and vegetables, with some pieces of meat.
(It’s like one of the kindergarten birthday parties that I went to as a kid.)
The area around the hearth wasn’t very large. When two families were sitting there, it felt a bit cramped, but Allen didn’t mind. The scene warmed his heart.
“Here, drink.”
“Ah?!”
They still hadn’t made up. Gerda casually pulled out some kind of brown pottery. While thinking “what’s this?” Rodan held his cup forward, and Gerda poured him a drink.
“Is this alcohol?”
“Yup.”
“What’s the occasion?”
Rodan gave Gerda a look, knowing full well what it meant for a serf to drink. Gerda was serving alcohol, which wasn’t even served during the harvest festival.
“The mayor came yesterday and gave it to us.”
“…….”
Somehow, that was enough for Rodan to understand. He wrinkled his brow.
Then Gerda talked about what happened the past 3 days. The mayor came with the alcohol and said he would report to the lord. He said he might have to take Kurena to lord’s city.
Rodan’s brow wrinkled even more when he heard that they were being ordered around by the lord.
“It’s fine. The mayor was worried about us because our child is a Sword Saint, so he brought us some alcohol. Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
“I don’t mind. I want to congratulate you, because, for her, being an officer, or even a noble isn’t just a pipe dream.”
Rodan wasn’t jealous of Kurena being a Sword Saint.
“Then why did you tell us to stop letting her hang out with Allen? This again!!!”
Maybe it was because of the alcohol, but Gerda barked at Rodan. Mash and Lily were surprised and started crying.
Before he could finish, a beautiful right straight landed on Gerda’s cheek. It was Mitilda, telling him not to yell, because it would make the children cry.
“…… If a noble were to be seen associating with a serf, she could lose this long-awaited opportunity, even if she’s a Sword Saint.”
Fearing Mitilda’s fist, Rodan spoke softly. More than half of the bruises on Rodan’s and Gerda’s faces were from Mitilda, who would step in to break up the fight.
After hearing this, Allen understood why they had fought. In this world, serfs married serfs, commoners married commoners, and it was probably the same for nobles.
It seemed like the fight wasn’t about Allen’s lack of talent.
Kurena didn’t have the talent of a normal Swordsman, but of a Sword Saint. Her talent was so great that she could do a lot more than just serving as an officer or knight. She could become a national hero. The mayor was going to report to the lord in person in 2 days.
Rodan had told Gerda that their families would no longer be seeing each other. Gerda replied with a fist.
(Hmm, I see. They have different ways of thinking. Well, is it time for a child to intervene?)
“Oh yeah! Didn’t the four of you come to this village together?”
Using a story that Rodan told him long ago, Allen’s pure voice and innocent smile drew the focus of the room.
“Aahh, that’s right, Allen. The four of us came from the village over. Just like Allen and Kurena, we’ve been together since we were kids.”
Mitilda reminisced about the past, how all four of them were born into serf families and played together. How they were poor because they were serfs, but despite that, how much fun they had.
Rodan and Gerda listened silently.
Ten years ago, a neighboring village received an offer to start a new village in the area, and the lord’s messenger said that if they helped settle the new village and cultivate the land, they could use the fields for as long as they wanted.
“At the time the four of us met and talked, just like this.”
Theresia joined in the conversation. The old memories seemed to have come back to her.
Serfs couldn’t own land, but it was rarely confiscated out of the blue. However, it was usually the eldest son that succeeded his parents. None of the four were the eldest child.
60% of the harvest was taken from serfs as tax. It didn’t matter how many kids they had. If the size of the field didn’t change, and they had more kids, then, as the kids grew up, they would need more food.
The four of them decided unanimously to go to the frontier village to develop new farmland.
“Then, the four of us came to an empty village in the middle of nowhere, and we built two houses together.”
Gerda also joined in the conversation, saying that the four of them helped build each other’s houses. That’s why the houses were the same, with a dirt entryway, a sunken hearth. When they had children, they added two rooms to each house.
“That’s right……”
Rodan closed his eyes, thinking back on that time. He didn’t say anything else, but the memory of his childhood, and of the tough early days in the frontier village, all came back to him.
“That’s right, Allen, Rodan was amazing. Did you hear the story about the first time he hunted a Great Boar?”
“Eh? I haven’t heard it.”
“Hah!? Stop that!!!”
Rodan was holding Gerda’s mouth shut. And they started messing around with smiles on their faces.
(Good. Looks like they made up.)
It seemed that the memories of their childhood and the hardships of coming to the frontier village helped them make up. The conversation around the hearth continued late into the night.
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