Chapter 6: Pioneer Village(6)

A terrible nightmare.

That was the only thought in Hans’s mind as he lay collapsed on the dirt floor.
As the cold night air brushed against his face, Hans couldn’t bring himself to look below his waist.

The simple word ‘painful’ couldn’t describe the agony he felt.
It burned like molten lava, yet at the same time, resembled the sharp chill of midwinter.

He couldn’t gather his senses at all.
Even as the culprit behind this carnage slowly approached him.

Purple fur.
Its overall appearance resembled a wolf, but the unusually elongated snout was unsettling.
Just as that snout was about to swallow Hans whole—

—Kiririk. (TL Note: Sound of movement/alertness).

Noticing the approaching Paladin, it hid itself in the darkness.
He heard the sound of someone running hurriedly, but due to the excruciating pain, Hans couldn’t properly register it.

“…Uh…Uh…It hurts…”

Agony consumed his entire being.
His vision darkened by the second.
The loss of blood made him unbearably cold.

“Cold…Cold…”

He was dying.
The last things that came to Hans’s mind were two girls.

One was a girl with brown hair and noticeable freckles.
An impudent, younger brat who had suddenly appeared in the village and teased him at every turn.

The other was a girl with shimmering silver hair and beautiful green eyes, so captivating he could hardly believe they belonged to this world.
He had encountered her by chance while going to retrieve something he had hidden in the shack in the woods without his parents’ knowledge.

…But while the latter, the mysterious girl, was understandable, why did Avalli come to mind at a time like this?

Even as that question arose in his mind, Hans’s life flashed before his eyes.
Overwhelmed by her beauty, he hadn’t dared to even exchange a single word.
And after that, the memory of encountering the girl became a burning fever that tormented Hans.
Recently, he had been sneaking out of his house day and night, lingering around the shack.

And in the end, this terrible misfortune had befallen him.

Because he hadn’t listened to his mother.
She had always warned him to be careful in the forest after sunset—

The surrounding sounds were quiet.
His vision finally faded.

He felt the sensation of someone holding his hand, but Hans’s dying brain cells didn’t have the capacity to deduce who it was.

“…Mom…”

May she not grieve too much.

That was Hans’s last thought in this world.

No, that wasn’t quite right.

‘…Warm.’

His vision was still dark.
But a warm, unknown warmth, completely opposite in nature to the fear of death he had felt just moments ago, filled Hans’s body.

‘You don’t have to fear death. The Goddess watches over all corners of this world.’

The priest who visited the pioneer village once or twice a month had said those words.
Perhaps… perhaps this warmth was a grace bestowed by the Goddess.

Yes. There was no need to fear death.
When he opened his eyes, the beautiful Goddess would be waiting for him.
And perhaps the Goddess would surely resemble that silver-haired girl—

“You’re awake?”

But the person who greeted Hans as he opened his eyes wasn’t the Goddess nor the silver-haired girl.
Sitting on a small chair beside the bed, looking at Hans, was a girl with dull brown hair.

“…Oh.”

Hans couldn’t quite gather his senses, taken aback by the sudden change of scenery.
He had just seen his life flash before his eyes, and now he was lying in his bed in his room?

“What’s with that dumb look, Hans?”

Avalli, who had been mocking the bewildered Hans, soon noticed that the boy’s eyes were half-glazed.

“Hans, focus here for a second. How many fingers am I holding up?”
“…Why am I alive—?”
“No, I asked first, Hans. Now answer me. How many fingers?”
“Three.”

Only after Hans answered correctly did Avalli breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well, you seem fine.”
“Now answer me. Why am I alive? Or are you dead too?”
“…Maybe?”

Avalli’s voice shifted slightly, taking on a playful tone.
An experienced adult might have caught the change, but Hans was still just a young boy.

“Hans, you were found unconscious by the riverbank yesterday.”
“The riverbank?”
“Honestly. If you’re going to go out alone, at least be careful. Tripping over a rock like an idiot? How clumsy.”

Hans’s senses finally returned to reality after hearing Avalli’s teasing.
‘Tripped? By the riverbank?

…Was all of that just a dream?’

“Honestly, you’re so dumb. There’s no one as foolish as you, Hans.”
“…You.”

Hans raised his voice, glaring at the freckled girl who kept teasing him.
Or rather, he tried to.

“Be careful from now on. Okay?”

Her tone was strangely mature.
The touch of her small hand stroking his head resembled the warmth he had felt in the dream.

“Answer me, Hans.”
“…Okay. I’ll be careful.”
“Good. That’s all I wanted to hear.”

The girl grinned, revealing her pearly white teeth.
Normally, Hans would have been fuming at her condescending attitude, treating him like a younger child—

‘…Strange.’

But strangely, instead of feeling angry—

After confirming Hans was alright, Avalli immediately left the room.

Karls’s wife, preparing lunch with a worried expression, seemed heavier than usual today.

“Auntie, Hans is awake.”
“Really!”

Karls’s wife turned her head abruptly, her face alight with uncontainable joy.
But a moment later, that emotion transformed into anger.

“That darn kid. I told him countless times not to go out at night! Making people worry like that. I’m going to give him a good spanking today!”
“Um… maybe a little later? Hans still looks dizzy.”
“…Is that so?”

Worry now filled Karls’s wife’s face after hearing Avalli’s words.
Watching her rapidly changing emotions made Avalli’s heart ache strangely.

“It didn’t seem too serious, but anyway, I should get going now.”
“Alright, I understand. Please give my thanks to the Paladin, Avalli.”
“Will do!”

As Avalli bowed her head and left the house, Karls’s wife’s voice reached her ears.

“Hans! You little rascal!”
“Mom, wait! Ow ow ow!”

Hearing Hans’s scream that followed, Avalli thought to herself.

‘…That’s family.’

Avalli smiled faintly and returned to Arsene’s house next door.
Even during the short walk, all sorts of thoughts ran through Avalli’s mind.

The reason was simple.

“You’re back.”

It was because of the Paladin, Kyle, sitting there with a serious expression.

Arsene, sitting next to Kyle, also had a serious expression.
Avalli knew the reason well, but did her best to put on her usual innocent face and spoke.

“Yes, I’m back.”
“…Does Hans seem alright?”
“Yes. He seems fine. That dumb look on his face hasn’t changed.”

Avalli answered Arsene’s question and sat down near them.

“That’s a relief.”

After Arsene’s words, a brief silence fell over the house.
Or rather, it became literally silent.

Kyle had used divine magic to isolate the sounds inside and outside the house.
It was a fairly advanced divine magic that he couldn’t usually use, but for Kyle, whose faith was burning brightly now, it wasn’t that difficult.

“Avalli.”
“Yes, Paladin.”

But the polite tone Kyle had used earlier in the night was gone.

Avalli actually found this more comfortable.
Even now, she shuddered at the memory of the elderly Paladin shedding hot tears and kissing her feet.

“…Yesterday’s events, you truly don’t remember anything?”
“No. I don’t remember.”

In response to the trembling question, Avalli nodded calmly.
This was the approach she had chosen.
To feign ignorance, pretending to know nothing.

“I remember crossing the river with you, Paladin, but after that, it’s strangely blank—I don’t remember well.”
“The river…”

Immediately after crossing the river, Kyle had smelled Hans’s blood.
Only then could Kyle properly organize the hypothesis he had been pondering all night.

‘It must have been from the moment she sensed the evil miasma—’

Thinking back, Avalli had seemed strangely calm around that time.
So calm that she hadn’t even screamed when a large man like Kyle grabbed her.

‘—that the Goddess’s grace descended upon this girl.’

The Goddess had sensed the miasma surrounding the girl she had chosen and bestowed her benevolent grace upon the earth.
Thanks to that, the boy Hans had been saved from the brink of death, and Kyle, witnessing that miracle, had grown as a Paladin, defeating the demonic beast with a single stroke.
However… Avalli, the recipient of that grace, didn’t remember anything about that time.

‘It was common in the records.’

When an angel descended into a human body, the person often lost all memory of the descent itself.
A similar thing must have happened when Arsene found Avalli among the mountain of demonic beast corpses.

But there was one thing bothering the Paladin.

‘…Could an angel have saved that boy?’

Even the angels residing in the Holy Kingdom couldn’t perform such a miracle.
Perhaps last night, what descended into Avalli’s body wasn’t a mere angel, but—

“That’s enough. Go out and play.”
“Okay!”

Before the blasphemous thought could fully take hold, Kyle dismissed Avalli.

“…Arsene.”
“Yes, Paladin.”
“It’s true that the Goddess’s grace resides within that girl. A miracle certainly occurred. But… would you please remain silent about this for a while, just as you are now?”
“I swear it.”

Kyle nodded only after staring into Arsene’s eyes for a long time.
Without dispelling the silence spell, the two continued their conversation for a while longer.

‘……Phew, that worked.’

Avalli inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Is it because it’s easy mode?’

Well, whatever the reason, one problem was solved.
While the two men in the house engaged in a serious meeting all day—
Avalli simply enjoyed wandering around the village.

Another day in the pioneer village passed by just like this.