Chapter 3: Pioneer Village(3)

‘…In the end, I just played hard.’

Avalli, having walked out of the river and now lying on a large, flat stone, began to reflect inwardly.
She had intended to teach those pervy little kids a lesson, but when she came to her senses, she had jumped into the river and was playing excitedly.
Actually, it was closer to a shallow stream than a river.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone near it in the first place.

Anyway, thanks to playing so enthusiastically, even the village kids seemed to have forgotten their initial sinister motives.
That was fortunate for Avalli, who still held the identity of a man in his mid-twenties, a fresh member of society…

‘Is my mind really following my body?’

Thoughts like these always left Avalli feeling a bit strange.
As a modern person, after being discharged from the military as an adult, he had boycotted all outdoor activities.
He was such an indoor type that he rarely left home except for commuting to work—

Lately, she had been playing excitedly, truly like a 12-year-old kid.
It couldn’t be called bad… but she felt a slight sense of crisis at the point where her personal identity was changing.

‘It’s probably just needless worry.’

Avalli liked the daily life in this pioneer village, Asha Village.
The initial wariness she felt had almost disappeared now, and recently, everyone seemed to like Avalli, calling her a lucky charm.

This was because, after Avalli became a member of Asha Village, the situation in the Great Forest surrounding the pioneer village had completely changed.

No one knew the reason, but the demonic beast attacks, which used to happen once or twice a week, had ceased.
With the attacks gone, their range of activity expanded, allowing for more active pioneering of the Great Forest.

Naturally, the amount of resources stored in the village increased, and the food situation became much more comfortable.
Items like nails, which couldn’t be produced in the village, were still scarce, but things would become abundant after trading the surplus resources.

Since all these changes occurred after Avalli came to the village, the villagers couldn’t help but see her as a symbol of good fortune.
Of course, Avalli herself thought it was merely a coincidence… but there was no reason to feel bad about others holding favorable feelings towards her.

As Avalli was wringing out her wet clothes and thinking such thoughts, a boy walked out from between the trees.

“Oh, it’s Hans oppa.” (TL: Oppa is what a younger female calls an older male.)
“Where did you go?”
“Hyung! We’re about to head back! You’re late!” (TL: Hyung is what a younger male calls an older male.)

The children spoke up one by one upon seeing the boy, Hans.
However, Hans didn’t bother answering them, instead shifting his gaze slightly to observe Avalli.
Her soaking wet clothes clung tightly to Avalli’s body, and the very slight feminine curves disturbed Hans’s eyes.

“……Shouldn’t you be more careful?”

“Huh? About what?”
“Your clothes.”
“Why?”

Avalli tilted her head, pretending ignorance, even though she knew perfectly well what Hans meant.
This was one of Avalli’s secret techniques for killing time in the pioneer village: ‘Teasing Hans.’

Hans, being the oldest, seemed to have already entered puberty and maintained a subtle distance from the other kids.
It seemed that even Avalli, the newcomer to the village, was categorized as a ‘kid’ in Hans’s mind.
Despite that, he couldn’t erase the typical curiosity of puberty, stealing glances at her body.

‘Heh, cute little guy.’

Although Avalli was two years younger in this world’s age, the person inside was nearly ten years older.
Watching him hesitate, conflicted between instinct and reason, made her feel like teasing him.

“Why don’t you play too, Hans?”
“…It’s time for lunch. And I told you to add ‘oppa’ after my name, didn’t I?”
“No way. We’re almost the same height.”

Objectively speaking, of course, Hans was much taller.

It was just that the male identity still occupying a large part of Avalli’s mind prevented the cringeworthy word ‘oppa’ from leaving her lips.

“…Haaah.”
“What’s wrong, Hans? Am I so pretty it makes you sigh automatically?”
“It’s not like that!”

Hans snapped as Avalli chuckled.
A boy in puberty was still just a kid in front of Avalli.

“I’m not interested in ugly girls.”

Hans grumbled dismissively.
But unlike usual, no counterattack came back.
Glancing over, he saw Avalli with her mouth agape, looking shocked.

‘…That’s harsh, Hans.’

As Avalli said that and pretended to sniffle, the surrounding kids started adding their comments.

“Hans oppa was mean.” (TL: Oppa is what a younger female calls an older male.)
“Hey hyung, that’s not right. That was too harsh.” (TL: Hyung is what a younger male calls an older male.)
“He made Avalli noona cry!” (TL: Noona is what a younger male calls an older female.)

Hans, momentarily panicked by the sudden wave of criticism, quickly composed himself and approached Avalli.

“Hey, Avalli. …Don’t cry.”

Hans stood awkwardly in front of the sniffling Avalli, watching her reaction.
He felt sorry, but his pointless pride prevented him from apologizing first.

Avalli, having fully enjoyed his hesitation and uncertainty, chuckled again and lifted her head.

“I’m not crying?”
“…Huh?”
“Well, Hans is just a kid. It makes sense he can’t tell what’s pretty yet.”

Hans’s face turned red as he realized Avalli had been teasing him.

Hans was always getting caught up and made fun of by Avalli, who was two years younger.
Normally, Hans would have stormed back to the village in frustration at this point.

“…I know someone.”

But today was slightly different.

“Huh?”
“I know someone way prettier than you!”

Hans shouted and turned back around.
Avalli was momentarily stunned…, but she quickly figured out who Hans meant by ‘someone prettier than you’ and burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.

“Avalli noona is laughing!”
“Why? Suddenly? She must be crazy!”
“Avalli unnie is weird!” (TL: Unnie is what a younger female calls an older female.)

After laughing heartily for a while, Avalli checked the number of children.
The count was the same, so it was time to head back to the village.

“Everyone hold hands tightly, don’t let go. Got it?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, unnie!”
“It’s stuffy, Avalli! Let’s go quickly!”

Only after everyone had joined hands nicely to form a line did Avalli start heading towards the village.
Hans scoffed, muttering ‘You’re overdoing it,’ but Avalli, possessing the common sense of a modern person, couldn’t help but be cautious.

‘You have to look after kids carefully.’

Of course, she had forgotten that duty today and played excitedly with them, but Avalli purposefully ignored that fact.

“Alright everyone, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Avalli noona!”
“Let’s go to the forest tomorrow!”
“It would be nice if Hans hyung played with us too.”

The children who entered the village went back to their respective homes for lunch.
Instead of returning to Village Chief Arsene’s house, Avalli knocked on the door of Karls’s house next door.

“Oh my, Avalli. Your clothes are all wet.”
“Hehehe… It just happened.”

Avalli scratched the back of her head with an awkward smile.
To others, she just looked like a lively girl fitting her age, but the young man inside felt slightly embarrassed by this liveliness.

“Come this way. Hans has some clothes that don’t fit him anymore, take some now.”
“Really? Thank you.”

After bowing politely, Avalli followed Karls’s wife.
As Avalli moved towards a room in the corner, a strange gaze followed her from behind.

“Hans, is there something on me?”

Avalli turned her head, a slight smirk playing on her lips.

“…Why did you come to our house.”
“Mom told me to come for lunch. Why, Hans? Are you embarrassed because a girl came over?”
“It’s not like that!”

Hans, sitting at the table, snapped and turned his head away.

‘Ah, I know that feeling.’

Some people get needlessly embarrassed when friends visit and their family is around.

“Why are you getting angry? Do you need a spanking from Mom to snap out of it?”
“Mom, please!”

Before the atmosphere between mother and son could turn sour, Avalli jumped into the conversation.

“Auntie, I want to change my clothes quickly.”
“Oh dear, look at me. I need to get you changed quickly before you catch a cold.”

A moment later, Avalli, now wearing neat pants, emerged from the room with Karls’s wife.
Naturally taking a seat at the table, Avalli swung her legs cheerfully.

“…What are you so happy about?”

Hans asked with an indifferent expression, but Avalli didn’t bother answering, waiting quietly for the meal.
Hans was still too young to understand the preciousness of eating together with others.

“Here, warm stew. Eat it with bread. Ah, there’s deer meat in it too.”
“R…Really?”

Avalli looked at Karls’s wife with sparkling eyes.
The pioneer village meals were too bland by modern standards, so just hearing about meat made her heart pound.

“Yes. Maybe because the demonic beasts have been quiet lately, they say wild animals are seen more often.”
“I’ll eat well!”
“…I’ll eat well.”

The two, both in their growth spurts, finished their meal in no time.

“See you tomorrow, Hans! Don’t ditch us tomorrow, let’s play together.”
“……We’ll see tomorrow.”
“Goodbye, Auntie!”
“Okay, get home safely.”

“Avalli, wait a moment.”

Avalli paused at the sound of Karls’s voice from behind her.

“Yes, Mister?”
“…These nails. You really didn’t sneak them out of Arsene’s storage, right? My wife’s been nagging that she won’t even give me food if I don’t fix the fence quickly, and it’s been bothering me.”

So that’s why Karls wasn’t seen during the meal.

‘He’s quite suspicious.’

Of course, she didn’t sneak them.
Avalli had simply used magic to ‘create’ the nails.

“I really found them by the riverbank!”
“They look too clean for that…”
“It’s fine. The village chief will check later, I guess.”

Only after Avalli spoke confidently did Karls finally pick up the nails and hammer.

“…If you say so.”

Listening to the cheerful sound of hammering, Avalli returned home.
The house was still empty, so she went to her room and opened a book.

But not long after starting to study, sleepiness washed over her—
Avalli slumped over the desk and fell fast asleep.

“Avalli.”
“Nyeh!”

Hearing the homeowner’s voice, Avalli woke up immediately.
Wiping the drool from the corner of her mouth with her arm, Avalli looked at Arsene.

“You’re back early, Chief.”

“Yes. The road wasn’t blocked. More importantly, Avalli. There’s an important guest here to see you.”
“…A guest?”
“Yes. A Paladin has business with you.”

Paladin.
Since coming to this pioneer village, it was the first fantasy-like word Avalli had heard besides ‘demonic beast’.

Of course, she had only heard stories about demonic beasts and had never seen one, nor did she want to.
But it seemed a ‘real’ Paladin was waiting just outside this door right now.

Avalli’s heart began to pound with anticipation.