Chapter 2: Pioneer Village(2)

“I found it in the middle of that great forest! A girl who looked like a goddess had collapsed…. Of course, for some reason, she had returned to her normal appearance the next day… But there was definitely something about Avalli!”

Arsene spoke passionately, but the man listening to him still had an indifferent expression.

“Seriously. If she really was a child possessed by a goddess, there was no way I wouldn’t recognize her.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I apologize for my rudeness to someone who came all this way.”

“But don’t expect too much.”

Great expectations always lead to great disappointment.

Kyle Bazra, a newbie paladin, had felt this fact for nearly 20 years.

Kyle was born to humble origins, but he was able to become a paladin thanks to his natural talent.

However, in peaceful times, the importance of pure skill tends to decrease.

Despite his excellent abilities, Kyle was unable to advance beyond the 7th-rank paladin due to the limitations of his origins.

As his fellow trainees, whose skills were inferior to his, were promoted to intermediate paladins one by one, he was growing increasingly anxious when a bishop made him a proposal.

‘Do you want to undertake the noble mission of finding the saint?’

He should not have fallen for those sweet words.

However, the young Kyle was blinded by his ambition for success and eventually accepted the bishop’s proposal.

A sage knight.

A position given to the 6th rank, that is, the lowest rank of intermediate paladins, he was given the task of traveling the entire continent to find ‘miracles.’

The miracle could be a phenomenon, a relic, or even a specific person like a saint or a saint.

At the time, Kyle was full of hope as he left the capital of the Holy Nation.

He would undertake the noble mission and collect great miracles that no one had ever seen.

As a result, Kyle would be able to surpass his humble origins and eventually reach the rank of advanced paladin.

… A miracle.

However, after wandering the continent for 20 years, Kyle realized that his dream was an impossible fantasy.

The Knight of Reflection was originally created 700 years ago during the Great War, when humanity was on the verge of extinction, hoping to find hope, or a handful of miracles.

Miracles do not occur in this world that has already been rebuilt and become peaceful.

So the bishop’s proposal at that time was actually half a threat.

It was a story about choosing to quietly stay in the Holy Nation as a low-ranking knight, befitting his origins, or become a mid-ranking knight in name only and wander the continent.

Thinking back now, there was really only one choice.

‘I had to stay in the Holy Nation no matter what.’

The passionate knight Kyle from 20 years ago no longer exists.

Only a middle-aged man who is fed up with fraudsters who pretend to be miracles exists.

“Duke Kyle. We will be arriving at the village soon.”

“…… It’s quite small, isn’t it?”

“It’s a pioneer village. But I’m doing my best to maintain it.”

The reason Kyle’s mood didn’t get the worst was because the village chief Arsene was a man who knew a lot of manners.

He was qualitatively different from the con artists who tried to fool Kyle by putting on an obvious show.

This man truly believed that a miracle had occurred, and he had come to the Holy Land to tell the good news, as a knight of the Holy Land.

‘There’s no way a miracle could happen.’

When the carriage wheels finally stopped, Arsene hurriedly got out of the carriage first.

Kyle got up after him, and the carriage began to shake dangerously.

Kyle was a large man, with a head taller than Arsene, and he was wearing plate armor on his chest.

Even with the weight reduction magic, it was still quite heavy.

‘If it weren’t for the Great Forest, I wouldn’t have bothered to bring it, but…’

The area Kyle had come to was quite dangerous.

He had to be thankful that he hadn’t encountered any demons so far.

There were a lot of villagers gathered near the entrance to the village.

Rather than a lineup for hospitality, it seemed like they were curious about the existence of the paladin.

If it were an old-fashioned paladin who only lived in the Holy Land, it would be a situation that would be shocking, but to Kyle, who had been wandering around the continent, it was quite a familiar sight.

Kyle was not cruel enough to lose his temper at the ignorant commoners.

“Asha Village is hosting a knight of the Holy Land.”

Arsene bowed his head politely at the village entrance.

“May the grace of the goddess remain in your village.”

After a brief greeting, Arsene guided Kyle straight to his house.

He had originally thought he would arrive in the village late in the afternoon, but he was able to move much faster than Arsene had expected.

… I guess it’s right to assume that the demons have almost disappeared.

Arsene realized that the recent changes in the Great Forest were not an illusion during his outing today.

If it had been normal, he would have had to prepare for several battles with low-level demons.

However, today, the carriage ran briskly along the road without stopping even once.

The Eastern Great Forest had definitely changed.

And the cause was clearly the girl ,Arsene had encountered a few weeks ago.

“Avalli!”

Arsene shouted loudly as he opened the door, but only a quiet silence flowed inside the house.

… I’m sure I wrote a note. – An important guest is coming, so wait quietly at home. It seems like they’ll arrive late in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, Avalli could not decipher any of the words in the message other than ‘late.’

Of course, this was not Avalli’s fault, but Arsene’s mistake for overestimating her, believing that she had the miracle of a goddess.

“… Could you wait at home for a moment? It seems like she’s going out for a bit.”

“No, I’ll go with you.”

“But first, you need to get rid of the hangover a little—.”

“I’m used to it. I won’t get tired like this.”

It was a voice half-complaining, but Arsene, who was meeting Kyle for the first time, had no way of noticing it.

However, since it was what the higher-ups wanted, he simply followed the words silently.

“Avalli? She’s probably at the river. She said she was going to help Hans and play with the kids.”

Fortunately, the wife of the neighbor, Karls, knew where Avalli was.

Arsene let out a sigh of relief and was about to head to the river when Karls, who was loitering in front of the fence, spoke to him.

“Arsene. Do you have any nails left at home?”

“There are, but… there aren’t any spare. I’m sorry.”

“Go home and check. Avalli brought me some nails, but if the numbers don’t match, I’ll return them.”

Arsene nodded and walked out of the village.

As they left the village, Kyle spoke to him.

“You must be a smart kid.”

“You have a kind heart. This is truly a miracle of the goddess—”

“Enough. You don’t have to whine so much; you’ll know soon enough.”

Arsene shut his mouth at Kyle’s businesslike voice.

In a slightly uncomfortable silence, the two quickly arrived at the riverside.

And far away, a girl was seen screaming loudly on the riverside.

“This pervert kid!”

“Avalli is angry!”

“Why are you so good at swimming!”

“Save me—Save me, Avalli! Water! I drank water!”

The girl with short brown hair looked quite ferocious, contrary to Arsene’s words.

However, since the sight was quite appropriate for her age, Kyle smiled faintly.

“Is that her?”

“Yes, that’s right. Hey, ah—”

“No need to call me.”

Kyle shook his head from side to side to stop Arsene from shouting.

“What do you mean there’s no need…?”

“That girl didn’t have a miracle.”

Despite being a minor official for nearly 20 years, Kyle was a paladin with a wealth of experience and skill.

He could tell just by looking at her from afar that she had talent.

In Kyle’s eyes, that Avalli—

“She’s an ordinary child who doesn’t feel any power, magic, or anything.”

She just seemed like a lively girl who suited her age.

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m sure.”

… Arsene couldn’t easily accept Kyle’s words.

… That’s why I told you not to expect too much.

He could see his past self overlapping with the young village chief.

“… Well, I’ll excuse myself now. I prepared a hospitality, so I’m sorry.”

Feeling a strange bitterness at that fact, Kyle was about to leave right away, but—

“Kyle. There’s a place I want you to visit.”

“… A place?”

“It’s where I first discovered Avalli. If Avalli didn’t have a miracle, there might be something there.”

Kyle hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“I’ll show you around.”

The odds were slim this time, but as a Knight of Reflection, he couldn’t ignore those words.

Even if his situation felt miserable and desolate, Kyle was a man who thoroughly carried out his given duties.

Kyle followed Arsene, ready to draw the sword at his waist at any moment.

He was alert and even used his holy power to keep his surroundings vigilant.

However… strange.

Even after walking for a long time, he could not detect anything around him except for a few wild beasts.

It was hard to believe that he had come to the Eastern Forest, which was notorious for demons.

“Aren’t we going too deep?”

“It’s okay. Maybe.”

“Maybe, you’re—”

“When you get there, you’ll know why I said that.”

Kyle’s anger subsided at Arsene’s confident voice.

And soon, the two arrived at a clearing.

“…… What the heck is this?”

“This is where I found Avalli.”

“Is that true?”

Arsene nodded without hesitation.

“Then it’s definitely…”

After hearing those words, Kyle couldn’t help but change his thoughts up until now.

“… It seems that the goddess’s miracle has come.”

An uncountable number of demon corpses were lined up from deep within the Great Forest.