Chapter 5: Pioneer Village(5)

Avalli brought a lantern from home, but in the night of the Great Forest, that light source was no different from a firefly.

“Let’s turn off the lights. The demons might see them and attack. Even beasts that don’t dare enter the village will change their minds when they see two people moving alone.”

Avalli was completely embarrassed by Kyle’s words.

“Then, I can’t guide you.”

“…… You said you don’t remember. Then you might not know much about the paladins.”

Kyle made a hand gesture while saying that.

As he silently recited a few sentences, a golden light emerged from his hand.

Kyle quickly held the light near his eyes, then moved it near Avalli’s eyes.

“It’s a basic sacred technique. Now you should be able to see a little bit in the darkness.”

He couldn’t see.

Kyle was able to examine the silhouettes of the objects around him through the sacred technique he had just used, but Avalli, who was the target of the same sacred technique, couldn’t sense any changes.

‘… I think I set the magic resistance high.’

I remembered that I had packed a lot of characteristics that gave magic resistance, following the advice of my friend who said that magic was more difficult than swords until the latter half.

While Avalli was hesitating, Kyle took the lantern and turned it off.

Except for the faint light of the bonfire in the village, darkness came that made it impossible to see even an inch ahead.

“Then let’s go now. Is there a place that kid named Hans might go?”

“… I have a guess. There’s a place he’s been frequenting a lot these days.”

Avalli said that and focused his mind.

He hadn’t used ‘magic’ much since he came to the village, so he was a little worried—

‘Show me. Show me quickly!’

Avalli earnestly wished, and soon his vision brightened.

‘Phew.’

Avalli didn’t know, but it was fortunate that Kyle, who wasn’t very good at magic, was next to her right now.

If a wizard who had officially graduated from the academy had witnessed the phenomenon that had just occurred…

there was a high chance that he would have lost his mind.

“Well, I’ll show you now.”

Anyway, now that we have a clear view, we can just quietly guide Kyle.

Hans was likely in a dilapidated cabin in the forest a little way away.

The cabin across the river seemed to have once been inhabited by a quirky villager,

but it had been empty ever since he disappeared without a trace.

“There’s one thing I want to ask you.”

“Yes, Paladin.”

“Arsene said that when you were first discovered, you were a girl with dazzling silver hair and beautiful green eyes.”

A sting.

Avalli’s steps faltered slightly as he walked ahead.

“Is that so?”

“It’s probably a mistake.

It’s likely that the evil spirit possessed by the demon distorted Arsene’s perception.”

Fortunately, Kyle’s words that followed were far from what Avalli had been worried about.

“So, my child, don’t be caught up in those dark memories.

It’s better for you to just think of it as a nightmare and forget it.

That’s why the goddess gave humans the blessing of oblivion.”

“Understood…”

Avalli quietly agreed.

The fact that the religion called ‘Goddess Cult’ is popular was all Avalli knew about the religions of this world.

If she tried to continue the conversation, she might hear about doctrines she didn’t know about, so for now, it was better to keep quiet—

“Avalli.”

“Yes?”

“Come here.”

It wasn’t a request for agreement.

Kyle instantly grabbed Avalli’s waist and hugged her forward.

Avalli’s mind was filled with the worst possibilities, but—

“I smell blood.”

Kyle’s serious voice stopped the ‘magic’ he was about to use.

“Please… please, Paladin.

I’ll go and call the villagers.”

“No, bringing them won’t help.

There’s a demonic spirit, and a very strong one at that.

It’s safer for you to stay by my side for now.”

As Kyle declared that, a sacred light filled his hands.

It was a mistake not to bring armor, but he still had a sword that he always carried with him.

“Hold on tight.”

Kyle ran through the darkened Great Forest.

As the speed was as great as he had warned beforehand, Avalli tightened his arms around Kyle’s neck to keep himself from falling.

‘… No way!’

But the direction Kyle was running was toward the cabin that Avalli had tried to guide him to.

Just as Avalli could smell blood—

“…… Ah… Ah.”

Avalli saw.

Next to the dilapidated cabin, the figure of a boy groaning, his stomach half-open, spilling its contents.

The boy’s face looked exactly like the cheeky brat who had always been rude to him.

However, that face was soaked in blood and distorted in pain, making it impossible to recognize him as the same person.

“Hans!”

Avalli released the hand that was wrapped around Kyle’s neck and ran desperately.

Kyle tried to stop his impulsive action, but for some reason, Avalli’s movements were faster than his hands.

“Hans!”

Avalli grabbed Hans’ hand as he soaked himself in a pool of blood.

“Wake up, Hans!”

“… Ah… Ah… It hurts…”

Avali desperately called Hans’ name, but the boy, who was already close to the Angel of Death, could not properly perceive his surroundings.

“It’s cold… It’s cold…”

Hans’ vision gradually blurred.

His faint remaining breathing gradually subsided.

“… Mom…”

The life of an innocent and pure boy was fading away.

Kyle, without letting down his guard around his surroundings, lightly made the sign of the cross with one hand.

…I need to calm him down first.

It was a shocking sight for the girl with an unstable mind.

If she were to become confused, even Avalli’s life could be in danger.

He had to prevent that worst-case scenario.

Kyle slowly walked toward Avalli, thinking that he would knock her out if necessary.

He was determined to somehow save this little girl.

“It’s okay.”

And Kyle heard.

“You don’t have to worry, Hans.”

He heard Avalli mumbling in a calm voice.

If it were Kyle as usual, he would have forcefully picked up the little girl and hugged her, telling her to come to her senses.

But in that fleeting moment, Kyle couldn’t take any action.

The girl’s appearance before his eyes had changed so incongruously in an instant.

‘I found her in the middle of that great forest!

A girl with a figure like a goddess had collapsed.’

Arsene’s passionate speech lingered in his mind.

‘Do you intend to undertake the noble mission of finding the saint?”

The words of the old bishop, whose face he could no longer remember, came to mind.

A holy knight.

A lowly official who wanders the entire continent in search of a miracle given by a goddess.

Kyle regretted the choice he made that day for the rest of his life.

No matter he looked in the world, there is no such thing as miracle.

Instead, ugly human figures took their place.

Twenty years was too long for a human.

It was enough to shake the thick faith that had settled in the heart of a young paladin.

But at this moment, Kyle was certain.

Miracles were real.

The merciful goddess had bestowed grace on the paladin who was approaching middle age today.

“…… Goddess.”

Kyle looked at the girl in front of him and atoned for his disbelief.

Long hair that reflected the moonlight.

Beautiful green eyes that did not seem to belong to this world.

With a pitiful face that seemed to embody compassion, she placed her hand on the boy’s bloody abdomen.

“Let’s go home.”

As if nothing had happened, Hans’s body was back to normal the next moment.

***

Avali pushed her silver hair, which was parted by the wind, behind her ear and put her ear to Hans’ mouth.

Her soft, comfortable breathing could be heard regularly.

‘At least I saved him.’

Avalli let out a sigh of relief and then raised her head slightly to look at Kyle.

Kyle was glaring at Avalli with a stiff expression.

‘… What about the aftermath?’

The body she had newly acquired in this world of swords and magic was too beautiful for Avalli’s standards.

And having left the wild and reached the edge of civilization, Avalli made the common-sense judgment that this appearance could pose a threat to her.

That was why she used the power of ‘magic’ to take the form of an ordinary girl.

Except for the day when her magic fluctuated so much that she briefly reverted to her original form, she was able to hide her true form safely.

There was an unfortunate incident where she ran into Hans after taking refuge in a hut outside the village,

but the young boy remembered that meeting that day as a fleeting daydream.

In order not to repeat the same mistake, he also prepared a countermeasure for the full moon.

He created a clone with the power of ‘magic’ and put it in his bed overnight, and Avalli planned to leave the village for a while.

That’s how… he planned to stay quiet…but the moment he saw Hans dying, his eyes rolled back.

“That… knight?”

Avalli spoke to Kyle, feeling cold sweat on her back.

A few hours ago, Avalli had denied anything and had turned a blind eye.

But now, she was showing her true self right before her eyes.

And she had even witnessed the use of ‘magic’…

‘… Burning at the stake?’

Terrible thoughts continued in Avalli’s mind.

And it seemed like those terrible thoughts would soon become reality, because she saw Kyle fixing the sword in his hand.

“Sleep over there—”

Avalli looked at Kyle, who was running at full speed, and desperately shouted inwardly.

‘Shield! Defense! Anything!’

Her ‘magic’ faithfully followed her master’s request—but Kyle’s sword was not aimed at Avalli.

-Kieeeeeeeeek!

The purple-furred demon that resembled a wolf let out a painful scream.

This was because Kyle’s lightning-quick sword slash cut off one of the demon’s arms.

The demon groaned in pain and ran away.

Instead of chasing, Kyle blankly stared at it, then soon turned his gaze to Avalli.

Avalli swallowed hard and tensed.

He couldn’t predict what the holy knight would say.

And Avalli’s prediction that he ‘couldn’t predict’ turned out to be perfectly accurate.

“The sinner Kyle dares to greet the goddess’s grace.”

“… Yes?”

From Avalli’s perspective, it was a single word that was truly—truly incomprehensible.