No chapters for Person with inferior ability this week
Chapter 3── Beautiful Female Swordswoman
Separated from the chaotic world of the earth where life and death, good and evil are intermingled, I was now in the most precious and pure utopia where the gods dwell – the world of the heavens or the world of the gods, as it is called.
My human body was still in a deep sleep on my bed in the village of Bern, but my consciousness had slipped out of my body and freed itself from its original form as the soul of the Ancient Dragon and was visiting the heavenly realm where many gods dwell.
For me, who was reincarnated as a human and lived my life with the soul of the ancient dragon covered with a human-like shell, my current state of being unbound both physically and spiritually was like a natural body with a weight lifted off my shoulders.
I was free from the invisible chain of gravity that binds all things to the earth, and I was flying through the blue sky of the heavens with my six wings sprouting on my back, but that was the end of it as my destination was now in sight.
Fumu, I let out a quip, stopping my flight and slowly beginning my descent to the land below me.
In the sky as far as the eye can see, there were countless pieces of land floating in the sky, from small islands to continents.
When I land on one of them, the one goddess I had expected to come beforehand was waiting for me with a smile on her face.
For some reason I found myself rejoicing in the unchanging beauty of the familiar face and the warmth of the Earth’s mother-of-all-things, and I unknowingly smiled in the same way as the goddess.
Her jet-black hair stretched to the point where it almost touched the earth, and her eyes, equally beautiful and black, had a luster more beautiful than silk. Her figure, loosely clothed in a white fabric with a luster more beautiful than silk, was unmistakably none other than the highest-ranking Earth Mother Goddess, Mairar.
I stopped my descent when I lifted the tips of my tail and toenails slightly off the ground, and without flapping my wings, I interfered with gravity to support my own massive body.
However, it would not be necessary for me now that I am only a soul. It’s like a habit I had when I had a body.
On the floating island where I landed, all the flowers, grasses, and trees that live on earth were in full bloom as far as the eye could see, ignoring the suitability of their habitat.
Even the flowers in the heavens, which only inhabit the heavenly realm, open their petals in a way that only the gods are allowed to see and emit an aromatic fragrance that only the gods are allowed to smell, swaying in the warm breeze of some kind or another.
Mairar, standing in a world worthy of the Earth Mother’s dwelling, was full of infinite compassion and love, gently accepting all, no matter how bruised and weary, no matter how sick and tired, no matter how decrepit and old, no matter how sinful and defiled they were.
“It’s been a long time. My old dragon friend.”
With a strange voice that sounds both like the girl and the old woman that Mairar looks like, she spoke to me without hiding the nostalgia that she sincerely felt.
Perhaps the nostalgia and familiarity in my heart is the same as Mairar’s.
” Exactly. It’s been many years and months since I’ve seen you, Mother of Earth herself, and I wish you well. So glad to see you are well.”
Mairar’s smile seemed to deepen as her eyes narrowed faintly. I didn’t mean to say anything particularly crazy, but…?
“Fumu, I guess my soul has deteriorated considerably due to the effects of my reincarnation. Is my appearance too shabby to be exposed in front of you?”
The six wings on my back, the seven-colored dragon’s eyes, and the white scales that covered me as a dragon should not be so different from mine in my memory, but perhaps that was not how Mairar’s eyes saw me.
As I felt sorry that I might have exposed my old friend to a shameful appearance, Mairar laughed innocently like a childish woman and slowly shook her head to correct my misunderstanding.
“Not exactly, my dear. I’m glad to see that you are so much livelier than the last time I saw you. When I heard that you were so weary of life that the humans had defeated you, I thought, ah, I knew it.”
“There’s no denying it. Life and death did not make much difference to me at that time. When the hero’s sword pierced my heart, I had no despair of death, I just felt that this was the end. I just had to accept the fact that it was the end. I now feel that I gave the heroes a lot of unnecessary trouble.”
When I think about it now, the fight was like I used the hero to excuse and carry out my suicide.
When I was dying, I said some very harsh words to the hero and his friends, but now that I think about it, I did a very unpleasant thing. I hope the heroes didn’t worry too much about it.
“I’m sure that was the case. I can see that you are full of joy in life now. As you stand before me, exposing the realness of your soul, which has nothing to hide, it makes me feel the joy of your soul and your heart as it is, and that makes me happy as if it were my very own”
“I’m proud to be your friend, Mairar, because you feel that way about me. I never thought that I would be reborn as a human being, but being reborn is a fresh stimulus that will knock my soul out of its malaise. It’s so much fun to be alive.”
I then proceeded to narrate to Mairar without tiring of my memories of being born human. The amazement at the way the world looked through the eyes of a human infant, the unfamiliarity of my body with my too fragile body and life without magic, the excitement and joy of the birth of my brother or being called my brother, the hard, painful but life-affirming life on the frontier…
Mairar, one of the great pillars of the most precious gods of this world, listened to me as well as a compassionate mother who listens to her own child’s boastful stories, occasionally interrupting with a counterpart or a question to make my tongue even more eloquent.
It wasn’t until I remembered that Mother Goddess of Earth was a very good listener that I finally realized that I hadn’t yet fulfilled my true purpose for coming here, and I bowed slightly to Mairar.
“I’m sorry for talking about me so much. The reason why I came to you so graciously, despite the shame of exposing my shabby appearance, is because I wanted to thank you for the incident with Serina the other day. I am very grateful to you. It is because of your oracle that we were able to welcome Serina into our village.”
“It is good. I was wondering if it was because of the recent prayers of the people on earth that were offered to me. I was wondering if this might be the case, and I was looking at the situation on earth, and I noticed you were having a conversation with someone in the village about the Lamia girl. Therefore, I sent an oracle to the girl in order to help her from an old woman’s point of view.”
Besides, that woman, Letisha, was a woman of sufficient background and faith, and Mairar added. I bowed my head once and then again.
“Still, it is something for which I cannot thank you enough. What can I repay you with? I will do what I can to help you. Even I can be of use to you if you call on me to help you in your fight against the demon world. I still have that much power left in me.”
There were countless demon realms inhabited by so-called demons, demon gods, and evil gods for each faction, and even though they could be destroyed on a million, even if they were destroyed in multitude of units, there were still plenty of them to rot.
To be more specific, the countless demon worlds that existed were called small demon worlds, while the endless space that encompassed the small demon worlds was classified as the great demon world.
If I were to destroy the Great Demon World, it would disrupt the harmony of the other worlds as well, so it would be difficult, but to the extent that I would be called upon to fight against the forces of the Small Demon World, I would be able to help.(TN: He can straight up think that destroying Great Demon World is like walk in the park and I like it)
When I was pondering if there was any way to repay the favor other than simply wielding my power as a dragon, Mairar gave me a slightly troubled look.
I realized that I still didn’t have enough consideration for the person I was supposed to be thanking, and I felt guilty and apologetic for troubling her.
I should reflect on it later and take care not to do that next time.
“Don’t worry about it too much. I didn’t do it to owe you anything. I’m just happy that you will continue to be a good friend to me.”
“Yeah. That is what I want more than anything. If only the other gods were like you, how much happier things would be for those in the mortal realm.”
“Just as people have different ways of living, so do we, God, have different ways of being. We are not infallible and we are not perfect. That is why the world as we know it today exists. Don’t you like the imperfect world we live in now?”
“My friend, you too have a mean side to you. I remember the satisfaction of life as a human being, and you know what my answer is.”
Mairar gave a small smile when I implied that this was sly. Her innocent smile made me feel that it was all right.
I have been fond of Mairar for a long time, I think, because she has shown the receptiveness and compassion of a mother of all things, and at the same time she has shown the childishness and mischievousness of a girl not much older than she is.
Of course, this “fondness” is not love and adoration, but affection for a friend.
It was a lot of fun to talk to my old friend Mylar after a long time, but it would be bad if I had already been destroyed and reincarnated as a human being in the world of the gods. It is time to return to the human body of today.
A small village on the outskirts of the human kingdom is the place I should return to, and the place where I live. And I loved the village.
“Unexpectedly, I told you a long story. You are a very good goddess. It would be noisy if I had already reincarnated as a human being in and out of the heavens. Let’s do it.”
“Aldes, the war god, loved to compare power with you, so if you notice you, you’ll probably rush with a weapon in the middle of a bath. You’re more powerful than ever. Maybe it’s weakened, but your soul nevertheless radiates a dazzling, mighty glow, so let’s notice the other gods eventually.”
“Then I must leave this place as soon as possible. I have to go out into the field early tomorrow to take care of the potatoes.”
” A potato?”
Mylar puts a hand on her right cheek and tilts her head slightly.
Me and potatoes, huh? Certainly not a very related item, so it’s not surprising that it seems strange.
Mylar’s lovely gesture, like an innocent young child, made me feel at ease and I replied in a very serious tone of voice.
“It’s potatoes,”
“You planted the potatoes…”
I nod emphatically, and eventually Mairar starts giggling and hides his mouth with his hands.
Could I have uttered something so funny?
It’s fun, though, potato farming.
I floated up softly without moving my wings and slowly moved away from the land of flowers and grass and trees and my dear friend who stood there.
Mairar, who was getting smaller and smaller as I floated, waved her hand at me for a long time.
A young goddess with blue hair hanging down in a thick braid appeared beside Mairar and stood in a position to protect her from me.
The Goddess with her dull eyes finally looked just beyond the age of a girl, but her entire body emitted a glow worthy of being named the youngest member of the divine race.
Perhaps she was in the middle of chasing after Mairar, who had gone out without saying a word to those around her, when she sensed my presence and rushed over.
Mairar had that kind of a goofiness about her. I wanted to see a bit of how Letisha-san would react if she knew about it.
However, it still doesn’t seem like a good idea for me to stay too long. I immediately aim for the ground and let my soul fly.
The flying island that Mairar had been waiting for me on was quickly shrinking to the size of a poppy grain behind me in the blink of an eye.
The goddess beside me, perhaps a newcomer who had just changed from a human to a god.
Not only in the Mairar religion, but also in other religions, it is not uncommon for followers of famous human beings during their lives to be welcomed into the heavenly realm as gods attached to their gods due to the virtue they acquired during their lifetime and the fame and reverence of the people after their death.
Those faces that watched in amazement at the sight of me, and the consciousness and signs that were trying to find out who I was. Almost as the oldest being, if they don’t know about me, it’s impossible for them to be the oldest group in the heavenly realm.
For I was well known in existence and name to both good and evil gods in my lifetime.
As I was thinking about this, I heard the goddess, dressed in the same simple robes as Mairar, confirm that Mairar was safe and apologize for leaving her side by propping her knees up at her feet.
I couldn’t help but be curious as I turned my attention to the exchange between the new goddess and Mairar and slowed my return to earth.
“I am glad to hear that you are safe, Mairar-sama. It”s a blunder that cannot be atoned for, for putting yourself in danger while being given the honor of serving by your side. I ask you to punish me in any way you can.”
Most of the time, the gods in the highest ranks are surrounded by higher ranking gods who are close to them, but Mairar was the odd one out, preferring to keep the lower ranking gods and new gods at her side to take care of them.
Mairar took the hand of the new goddess, who was about to judge herself at her feet, and stood up, stroking the new goddess’ cheek, which had turned pale, to gently comfort her.
“It was of my own accord that I left your side. It’s not something you should be held responsible for, Meifa. Come on, stand up.”
The face of the downcast Meifa and the like remained pale, but as Mairar’s hand repeatedly stroked her cheek, she realized that she was making the revered great god do something outrageous, and she hurriedly pulled away from Mairar’s hand and straightened her posture.
Meifa must have been a saint who was trusted and respected by many in her lifetime, but she seems to have shrunk into a small childlike state when she was exposed to Mairar.
It’s not just the difference between being a god and being a human being.
“I’m sorry, Meifa. That dragon is a very old friend of mine. You’ve never met him, so it’s understandable that you were upset. But there’s no need to worry about it. Look at that.”
Beyond Mairar’s point, the flowers of the terrestrial world and the heavenly world, which fill the ends of the ground, continue to sway in the wind.
It’s a sight full of beauty and life that I would love to show Serina and my family at least once.
“Not a single flower, grass or tree has been trampled down, has it? He is such a caring person. If he ever shows up again, there is no need to panic.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, I returned to my human body, this time sleeping on earth.
† † † †
After I finished thanking Mairar, I returned safely to my home in the village of Berne and welcomed a refreshing morning on my bed.
As the horizon changes to an exquisite hue of near-purple darkness and sunshine melded together, I drew a tub of water from the water jar and washed my face and refreshed myself.
Then I began to prepare my breakfast as usual.
Mostly it’s a peasant’s breakfast, warming up the rest of my dinner and filling my belly with black bread and potatoes.
Today I made an omelet with eggs from my doo-doo bird that I keep in the back of the house, mixed with chopped vegetables, and roasted smoked rabbit meat.
The doo-doo bird, whose wings have degenerated and cannot fly, is a domestic bird with reddish-brown feathers, a crown and a cockscomb.
It has a habit of pecking, but it remains basically docile and can be left in the care of small children, so it can be seen in many places in the village of Bern.
We keep about 20 of these birds in our home, and their eggs are a valuable source of nutrition.
We rarely eat them as meat, and when we do, it is only when they die of natural causes or when they are accidentally killed.
We rarely strangle them ourselves, as they lay precious eggs for us.
The tantalizing taste of smoked hare, made with the distinctive smelling herbs from the village, made me feel invigorated for the day ahead.
As I told Mairar, the potatoes have been a staple on my table since I was born, but what about Serina, who has just been allowed to live in the village?
As for Serina, she is not yet fully trusted, so three of the soldiers stationed in the village are always on hand to watch her.
According to Serina, she had been working in the fields to provide food for her father since she was at home, and her mother had done all the other household chores for her, such as mending, cooking, cleaning, and laundry.
She could do most of these things without a hitch.
The villagers, however, were not convinced that they should let the untrustworthy do their work in the field, so for the time being it seemed to be settled that she would go out and hunt animals and fish as she had done in the past.
I’m sure the villagers would understand that Selina’s true nature is just the way it is after five days.
Now that she’ s been accepted into the village, it’s just a matter of slowly and carefully building up a foundation of trust. I wasn’t too worried about this one.
Serina had been living in a storage shed that had been abandoned for some time after the family that had previously used the shed had moved to a different farming village in the south due to the relationship of their son.
Should I keep her for a while at my place? I also suggested it, but this was boldly rejected.
The reason for this was that there were voices that saw it as dangerous to let a monster live with me, and a few voices that said it was unwise to let young men and women live together.
The hut had been neglected for about five years, but thanks to its sturdy construction, it didn’t have any leaks, nor did it have any drafts.
The fact that the rats had been nesting in it was inevitable, but that was solved with the appearance of Serina, the lamia.
Just as Serina, who has the characteristics of a snake, a type of rat’s natural enemy, approached the shed, the rats fled with the vigor of a rabbit.
The only thing left inside the shed was an empty shelf and a bunch of old firewood, but as Serina was a new resident of the village, it would be an injustice to do nothing, so some simple cushions wrapped in clean sheets of straw were prepared as a substitute for a place to sleep.
Serina’s lower body is that of a giant snake, so Grandma Muggle suggested that this would be better than a human bed.
In fact, Serina used to lie down on cushions on the floor in her birthplace too, so Grandma Muggle was the one to do it.
At least Grandma Muggle has clearly shown her welcome to Selina.
It was probably because she believed in the results of their fortune telling, after all.
In addition to the cushions, she’ s been provided with a few pieces of wooden tableware and some dried and smoked meat from the catch Serina had contributed to the village, and a new stove has been built by the entrance to the hut.
Apparently Selina, who has spent her life after leaving her birthplace, either camping out in the field or living in an abandoned house of Lizards at marshland to escape the night dew, wasn’t at all dissatisfied with her hut, even if it was a storage shed. She hugged the straw-wrapped cushions and enjoyed the feel of them, breathing in the smell of straw to fill her chest, and then she would lie down and frolic in a woozy position.
Fumu, it’s cute. The innocent behavior that matched the girl’s upper body appearance, the people under Baran’s command and the village chief looked at each other’s faces and somehow eased the tension in their hearts.
Serina’s behavior was nothing pretending to be something she wasn’t, but something from the heart. Looking at her, it’s certainly not unreasonable to suspect that this was a dangerous monster.
In fact, Lamia might be a dangerous monster, but Serina was not.
I think if you look at Serina as an individual rather than as a Lamia, you’ll quickly realize that the village chiefs’ fears are unfounded.
After bringing in the luggage, the village chief told Selina to rest for the day, she straightened her posture, enjoying the feel of the straw cushion, and with a smile as bright as a sunflower, she replied, “Thank you,” while wearing straw shavings in her beautiful blonde hair.
With that smile, who on earth could declare Serina to be a dangerous monster?
With a smile of heartfelt gratitude, Serina looked like an innocent and adorable girl.
Like this, the first day of Serina’s migration to Bern village ended with a guide to her new home, and from the next day, she went out to hunt cheerfully with the village’s hunters, under supervision.
The young Serina is still immature as a lamia, but there’s no danger if she’s dealing with the monsters in the vicinity of Bern village. I was reassured that if Serina was with them, the people of the village would be safe.
I ate my lunch with salted fish from the river in the middle of the village, black bread mixed with bread moss and Miu’s milk in an oven-baked pot, and I felt the joy of working on the farm all day long.
The fatigue that weighs heavily on my body, the sweat on my forehead and cheeks, the dirt that stains every part of my body, my fingers that are hard and tense from straining so hard, the sunshine that shines on me, the wind that caresses my cheeks as if it were caressing me, all these things made me feel the joy of being alive.
As the sun sets and the sky turns a brilliant red, everyone in the village has finished their work and gone home, I left the house alone, hoping to catch at least one fish in the basket I had left in the river in the morning.
I had been trying to earn as much sustenance as possible from these small things for a long time, and only recently had it begun to pay off.
Due to the influence of the times when I was a dragon, when all I needed was my body and magic power, I was not good at working out the details or thinking deeply about things, and I have a bad habit of doing everything roughly.
In order to correct this, I knew that I made a lot of mistakes, but I was still willing to work on the details.
As a reincarnated human being, my philosophy has been to try everything without fear of failure.
Challenge, failure, challenge, failure, challenge, and success. That’s pretty much it, but it’s a good fit for me.
It took me a long time to learn how to make a decent trap in the river from my father and brother.
I was walking to the place where I had laid the trap, when I was passing by a house.
“Oh, Doran-san. Would you like to come by the house for a moment? I have something for you to taste.”
Mil, who turns fourteen this year, the beloved daughter of Miu-san and Baran-san, was calm in both her words and her voice.
She’ s thick with Miu-san’s blood and has inherited the features of a cow person, from the ears peeking out of the brown hair that reaches halfway up her back, to the tail that stretches from her hips in a mellow line, to the black-and-white patterned fur and hooves of a cow that covers her knees and below.
Her breasts, which push up her dull white dress, are more than big enough for her age, and her hips are the same as those of Miu-san’s.
But she has a calmer personality compared to Miss Miu.
To be honest, I often wonder whether she is younger than Airi in mentality.
But seeing Mir’s smile as she beckons me innocently and defenselessly, my wariness melted away like a spring thaw, so maybe I have to admit that this is a big deal.
I obediently followed Mir, who invited me in through the door with a peek of her breasts and face, which swayed with the slightest movement, and I entered Mir’s house. Baran-san was away because he was packed in the station built in the village.
Baran-san had trained in Galore to become a soldier after his parents died of an epidemic and a demon attack. It was during this time that he met and married Miu-san, and moved with his family to the house where he and his parents once lived.
I was led into the dining room with a long table and six chairs, and I saw Miu-san there as well.
No matter how many times I looked at them, Miu-san and Mir did not look like mother and daughter. At best, they were sisters who were a bit years apart in age.
That’s why all the men in the village are envious of Baran-san.
“Sorry to disturb you, Miu-san.”
“Oh, Doran. Perfect timing. I’d like you to have a little taste of something. Come on, sit down. Don’t be standing still.”
As I sat down in the chair as Miu-san suggested, I felt my appetite sickle my stomach, wondering if I had something to treat myself to.
“Ehehe, here it is~”
Mir, still with a big smile on her face, held out in front of me a wooden cup filled with white liquid. It smelled faintly sweet.
“Milk? Is it Mir’s by any chance?”
“Yeah. Today, I started getting it out too~. I gave my dad and Tauro a taste of it, but I want people outside of my family to taste it too.”
Tauro is Mir’s younger brother.
He’s already as powerful as an adult, and he’s been trained in the martial arts by his father, Baran-san personally, and it’s rumored in the village that he will be a soldier or adventurer in the kingdom in the future.
“Fumu, it is an honour.”
For cow women, it is not something to be ashamed of, but rather something to be proud of, since it is a sign that they have grown up to be a full-fledged member of society.
Cow people, who have a close relationship with human beings, know that their milk is highly valued by human beings, and so they believe that the better the milk tastes and the more it can be milked, the better it is.
I wondered if the milk in front of me was milked by Mir herself or by her mother, Miu-san, who was probably still unaccustomed to milking from her breasts.
“I couldn’t milk it well myself yet, so I asked my mother to milk it for me. The milk was squeezed in the morning, so it’s a bit late, but I don’t think it tastes that bad. Doran-san, will you have a taste?”
“I don’t see a single reason to refuse. Well, I’ll take it.”
I was happy that I had been asked to taste it, so I quickly sipped my cup, while Mir leaned forward and looked into my face as she asked.
As Mir leaned forward, I caught a glimpse of a pair of young breasts that were too big for my hands, and I couldn’t help but notice that my gaze was drawn to them.
They are somewhat larger than Serina’s, or should I say cow person’s blood, as expected.
With the milk in my mouth, I savored the smell and taste of the milk, not swallowing it right away, but savoring it for a while.
“Delicious. I think it’s sweeter than Miu-san’s milk. It goes down smoothly, and I think everyone in the village will be very happy with it.”
I looked at Mir’s face, waiting for my impressions with sparkling eyes, and I gave my honest opinion and drank the rest of Mir’s milk.
Mir smiled with embarrassment mixed in with a smile that made me laugh too, haha.
She seemed to be happy about it, as I said it was delicious, for better or worse, I was honestly saying what I thought.
Miu-san also looked relieved to be praised for the taste of her daughter’s milk and said she’d bring me a refill.
Even if I say refill, it doesn’t mean she’ll milk it in front of me.
Mir hugs me in delight and buries my head in the most magnificent breasts that even grown men rarely see.
Fumu, very soft and yet resilient, I will never get tired of feeling them.
From now on, if I see a cow person, I might as well worship her to show my appreciation.
“I’m glad to hear that. If Doran-san says so, I am sure the people in the village will be happy with my milk. I was a little nervous about it! Thank you~ Doran-san.”
Mir hugged my head as I let her bury it in her bosom, and even rubbed her cheek innocently. She was soft and smelled good and felt good, and it was just a bonus.
However, it’s not a very commendable act for a young woman of her age to do.
While I was troubled and pondering what to say, Mir finally freed my head when she realized what she was doing.
Oh dear, I was both relieved and disappointed. Is it more of a disappointment?
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hugging you without thinking. My father told me to fix it, but I couldn’t help but be excited.”
This is an old habit of Mir’s, and most of the kids his age have been hugged by her before. It’s been subsiding lately, but whenever she lets her guard down, she ends up in this situation.
” Mir, you shouldn’t show a man that you’re too vulnerable. You have to be aware of what’s going on. Mir is a pretty girl, and it could cause someone to go crazy in a moment.”
” Oh, pretty you say, me?”
“Fumu.”
Ehehe, Mir scratched her head with another embarrassed smile. Maybe she’s not used to being told much.
I was just practicing what my mother taught me to see the good in the other person and praise them, but so far it seems to be working well for me.
Appearance is not the only good thing about the Mir, but under the circumstances, it would be quicker to convey the physical attractiveness of the Mir.
As Mir and I were exchanging such words, Miu-san brought me another cup of milk. After having been treated to a glass of milk, I decided to leave Miu-san’s house.
As I was leaving, I was given a jar full of milk from the Mir’s family as a souvenir. When I shook the jar, the milk inside made a chattering sound.
“There’s a lot of it.”
“It’s only just started to come out finally, so it’s been building up. With me and Mir, we can get everyone in the village to drink milk like we have been, and still produce enough to sell to the other towns. I need to work hard and so does Mir.”
“Hehe, drink a lot, Doran-san.”
“Yeah. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot.”
After saying goodbye to Miu-san and Mir, I remembered to check the trap I had set in the river.
Two Schalke, though somewhat small, were in the basket, and I returned home in a very good mood, stopping at my parents’ house on the way.
The milk and fish I had brought home that evening were well received and settled into my family’s stomach.
I had expected it would take the villagers about five days to settle in with Serina, but in a good way I was wrong.
I’d underestimated the adaptability of the people of the Berne village and the sociability of Serina.
During a short break for lunch, I sat on a stump near our bean field and watched Serina and the village children playing in the river.
In the meantime, the soldiers on watch are still with us, but they have already loosened their guard against Serina.
Nevertheless, each of them had their hands on their weapons. The fact that they were ready to move right away, as expected of a soldier accustomed to fighting on the frontier.
It’s been three days since Selina came to the village. The children called her ” Snake Sis ” and ” Serina Sis ” and she was well-liked by them.
Some of the children were frolicking in a water fight with her, while others were having fun clinging to her tail or leaning over her.
Once, Serina told me that as an only child, she enjoyed playing with the children in the village because they were like little brothers and sisters to her.
I can”t spend my time with Serina in the daytime, let alone at night, so it’s very pleasing to have friends and acquaintances other than just me to play with.
When it came to going out and hunting and getting rid of demons, Serina’s magic eye and magic were extremely useful and much more efficient than ever before.
In addition, because she consumes only a small amount of meat and vegetables, Selina shares her catch with the people in the village, and she has a good reputation among the adults.
At the very least, no parents seem to blame Serina for the children’s activities.
I am happy to see that Serina has settled in well with the village.
But there is one thing that has been bothering me recently.
The armored bear.
How could that monster, which normally resided in the forest to the east of the village, have ended up in the vicinity of the village?
Fortunately, no one has reported sighting a second one, but I might have to check it out.
Fumu, I should request a permit to investigate the forest.
† † † †
One day, I was participating in a combat training session for village children under the supervision of Baran-san and others.
I was observing a mock battle as an example in the courtyard of the two-story garrison and quarters where the soldiers were staying.
Me and Albert sat on the ground with our training wooden swords and wooden spears, as well as Airi and the other children of the village. In front of us, two warriors were facing each other and competing with each other’s skills from earlier.
One was Baran-san’s subordinate and his right hand man, Deputy Marida-san.
She had brown hair that was trimmed at the ends and victorious sky-blue eyes that clearly showed the strength of will. She was quite a beauty with pale pigmented lips and a clear nose.
Since she served as Baran-san’s right-hand person, her skill with the sword is not on par, and the fools who underestimated her for her appearance would be cut down under a single sword.
Currently, she wore a tanned leather breastplate over a thin cloth garment and held the shortswords in both hands. The slender blade was pulled back on the blade and rounded at the tip for mock battles.
Although Marida-san might be tall for a woman, she was still inferior to her male counterparts in terms of simple physical strength and endurance, so she had mastered the art of swordsmanship, which aimed at the opponent’s vital points with nimble, agile movements and quick, detailed attacks.
In fact, Marida-san’s figure, wielding her two shortswords in front of us in slow and fast motion, looked so fluid as if she were dancing to light music.
There’ s no doubt that she was the master of a technique that was too good to be worthy of a remote and backwater village that had almost no value to the kingdom.
But to the extent that Marida-san’s skills have become faint, her opponent now was an even more extraordinary user.
Her opponent was an unexpectedly young female swordsman who had been staying at the village’s only inn for the past few days.
Honestly, she was a mystery to me. It was rumored that she had gone out on a whim, stepped into the forest, and returned with only the head of a large fanged crocodile, just as if she had been staying at the inn for some time.
No, bring back the big fang crocodile’s body from the neck down as well, I can’t be the only one who protested inwardly, because it’s such a waste.
It seems that there were days when she would show up at the church and spend the day praying to Mairar.
The fact that she was a rare visitor from outside the village, it was only natural that the people of Berne, myself included, would take an interest in the female swordsman.
However, more than such a strange behavior, what attracted people’s attention was the fact that the swordswoman seemed to be of aristocratic origin, given her wealthy and elegant manners and language, and that she was so beautiful that she could have appeared in one’ s dreams at first glance.
Although she is taller than Marida-san, it is clear even from the top of her clothes that she has a supple body with no unnecessary flesh and fat trimmed away. And yet her breasts are large enough to push up the fabric around her chest, and her somewhat small but shapely and healthy bottom. And her hips are so boldly defined that it’s doubtful she’s really even packed with organs.
The lines of her legs look like they’re simply the result of a quest for beauty, without a shred of fat that has been stored in the muscles developed through training or excessive nutrition.
The silver hair that reached the middle of her back was also a dazzling, shimmering beauty, and the female swordsman had tied it up with a blue ribbon with gold thread ornamental embroidery around the back of her neck.
She had incredibly long eyelashes and slit eyes. Her eyes were an intense red, full of life.
Even her lips, which were stiff and horizontally tightened to a single line, were wet with the same color as her eyes.
This woman swordswoman, whose beauty is such that she could have tipped a nation if she were to act consciously, went to the village chief’s house after taking a lodging under the name of Christine-san and asked him for permission to stay for a few days.
Such was the suddenness of Christine-san ‘s visit to this place.
The fact that the children of the village were learning martial arts from the soldiers stationed in the village seems to have been quite unusual for someone from the outside. When she wandered in, a look of interest appeared in her red eyes as she expressed her willingness to participate.
She looked around the scene as we thrust our wooden spears and wooden swords into the straw dolls that were being used as targets, and then, as if she were looking around at the scene, she said to Marida-san, no longer bothering to look at us inquisitively.
“If it isn’t too much of a nuisance, I’d like to join the training, if that’s all right with you? I think my arms are going to be dulled against the goblins and these ravenous beasts.”
Marida-san let Cress-san, who was supervising the children, take one of the iron swords for training purposes and offered it to Christine-san .
“I don’t mind, but I’m afraid that with your skill level, it would be difficult for the kids to keep up with you and it would be no good for them. Instead, I’m going to entertain you to the best of my ability. Is that alright with you?”
At Marida-san’s words, which contained something dangerous that might provoke the other party’s wrath depending on how it was perceived, Christine-san ‘s lips formed a tiny smile without any unpleasant feelings appearing on her face.
Even such an unpretentious little smile is enough to make us, Cress, and even Airi and Marida-san, who were secretly observing, unintentionally tint their cheeks with a light red color.
“There is no reason to refuse and I should thank you since I’m the one asking you to do something unnecessary. Please allow me to ask one thing. I just don’t think I’ve ever swung a weapon in front of you.”
“A natural stance that allows you to leap back and forth or left to right while leaving your weight on your back foot. And an unusually stable center of gravity. There are many other things, but I doubt there are many, if any, people in Galois who are as good as you are.”
“A compliment too much for a non-talented person. But I am glad to see that today, for the first time in a long time it was worth wielding my skills.”
And so Christine-san thrust the magical silver longsword that she usually wears on her leather belt at her waist – a work of art made of mithril and many magic stones – into the ground with its sheath, and then, with dummy sword in hand, began to trade blades with Marida-san.
To put it simply, Christine’s skill was beyond our and Marida’s imagination.
While Marida is a first class, Christine-san is an expert indeed. I can’t believe that such a skilled user exists.
In the beginning, Cress was serious about training us, but when she noticed that her boss, who she trusts in both her ability and her personality, was clearly being pushed by Christine, she forgot about the training and watched the two of them in a mock battle. We all followed Cress-san’s example.
It started like this.
Marida thrust her left half of her body forward and held out the tip of her left slender sword, while her right arm arced above her head and pointed at Christine, as if to imitate the moon on the lower string.
In contrast, Christine-san held the unaccustomed mock sword firmly in her right hand and simply lowered her arm in a natural manner, taking a stance that could not be called a stance.
That figure appears to be full of openings, but it was easy to imagine the enemy moving at a lightning speed if they stepped into the blade area. The same would be true for Marida-san, who was actually confronting her, but we who were watching also forgot to even blink.
Suddenly, Christine-san ‘s mouth, which has narrowed into a single horizontal line, breaks out into a small smile.
“Since I’m the one asking for a favor, I suppose I should move first. Here I come.”
As soon as she said this in a light tone, as if to announce the weather of the day, Christine-san took a step and ran off at the same time.
I wonder how hard she stepped into the ground with such force that her feet sank into the ground. And what kind of speed does that forceful step produce?
At least to anyone other than Marida-san, myself and Cress-san, I suspect that all they could see was that Christine-san had turned into a strong silver wind.
Out of the corner of our eye, countless sparks flew near Marida-san’s face.
As Christine-san stormed in as the wind, Marida-san reacted with her body rather than her thoughts to Christine’s side-nagiri sword aimed at the left side of her neck, and she successfully deflected it with two shortswords bundled together.
The sparks ahead were caused by the contact of those sword blades.
Despite being in the midst of battle, Marida-san’s face was tinted with astonishment and there was a momentary stagnation.
But as expected of Marida-san, she has experienced actual battles where carelessness and gaps were directly tied to death, so she immediately suppressed her emotions and slashed at Christine-san ‘s vacant right side with two parallel shortswords’ blades.
The sword speed is so fast that it would be impossible for a hundred people to make it in time.
However, Christine’s reaction time and physical abilities seem to exceed the realm of the humans I know.
As soon as she evaded the tip of the shortswords at a distance of about half a skin and let the shortswords cut the air, she turned her body on the spot and delivered a blow with plenty of centrifugal force, this time hitting Marida-sans’s right side of the neck.
The sound of the wind being cut is also a sharp flash, and even if it is a mock sword, it must be more than powerful enough to cut off a human’s neck with all its bones.
Probably even that was held back, but it’s a bit doubtful that it was a good sword technique to wield in a mock battle. Or perhaps this was based on the decision that Marida-san could handle it.
Marida-san, while pulling back the shortswords that cut the sky into the hand, crouched down behind her as if she were on her buttocks to avoid the mock sword that came to cut off her neck, and rolled to the left to get a distance from Christine-san .
”Oooooh!”
Marida-san let out a roar reminiscent of a female lion and caused the shortswords on either side to shimmer.
For a while after that, a Phoenix flower of sparks bloomed between Marida-san and Christine-san .
Although I was the only one who noticed it here, Christine-san ‘s body was indeed human, but there were a number of things that made it clearly different from an ordinary person.
Hmm, this was unusual. Perhaps the high level of physical prowess and good looks that differentiate her from humans was also a byproduct of being born in “that body”. It seemed to me that you never lacked in sword training, which was impressive. Though it”s no match for the heroes of the past.
Throughout the history of humans, there have certainly been people like Christine-san who were born with a “unique body structure”, but this was an extremely rare case.
While I’m convinced of Christine’s tremendous physical abilities and the reason for her good looks, the heat of their mock battle is building up.
Marida-san jumped backwards with the momentum of her mock sword flick, and as soon as her toes touched the ground, she exploded the power of the supple muscles of both feet, and with an anomalous posture of leaning back and bowing her head to the ground, she attacked Christine-san ‘s feet.
Christine-san dodged the blade of the shortswords that attacked her right ankle with a single motion of pulling her right half of her body backwards.
It’s not possible to avoid it lightly like that if you haven’t completely seen through Marida-san’s blade.
Christine-san , however, didn’t even swing her mock sword as it was, lightly pushing it forward and softly hitting Marida-san’s neck.
It’ s a detailed attack that lasted less than an instant.
Marida-san, who tensed up at the cold touch against her neck, admitted her defeat, exhaled loudly, slowly returned to her stance and sheathed her shortswords. Then everyone around, who had been tensed by the atmosphere, finally relaxed their shoulders as well.
Everyone who was freed from the tension that made them forget to even breathe began to talk about the awesome nature of the attack and defense they had just witnessed.
The only ones who had a complete grasp of Marida-san and Christine-san ‘s offense and defense, apart from those involved, would be me and Cress-san.
While handing the mock sword in its scabbard to Marida-san, Christine-san exchanged a couple of words with a smile on her face. They are praising each other’s efforts.
Christine-san’s beautiful face, like that of a battle-hardened girl, was always faintly glimmering. The red eyes, which had been filled with a piercing light while she and Marida-san were trading blades, were now tinted with a dark, somehow absent-minded light.
Underneath the light of this beautiful swordsman, there was probably a depressed feeling that was not commensurate with her beauty.
“It may seem bad to say this, but isn’t Marida-dono’s skill in martial arts alone enough to hope for advancement in the army?”
“No, it’s not that big of a deal. And I’m proud of the work I’m doing now. It gives me the feeling that I’m actually doing something to help people.”
“Yeah. An enviable thing to do. I suppose I lack that kind of zest when it comes to life.”
From the sound of Christine’s dark emotions mixed in with the conversations I can hear, my imagination was right on the money.
Hm, although it’s not a topic that I should easily step into, if the opportunity arises, I would at least try to make small talk.
Albert, Airi and the others clapped their hands and praised their efforts. Marida-san and Christine-san responded by raising their hands, a little embarrassed.
Cristina-san has that kind of charm.
As I was admiring them with my arms crossed, two beautiful girls appeared from inside the inn, holding wooden cups and unglazed jars for several people on a large tray. They were Mir, the daughter of Miu and Baran-san, and Lisha, Airi’s sister.
“Good work, everyone. I brought you some milk and fruit juice water to drink.”
“But be careful, you’ll get a stomach ache if you drink too much.”
The smiles and voices of Lisha and Mir, who were probably competing for the first or second place in the village of Berne, were very soothing to us, as we were buoyed by the pleasant exhaustion after training and the aftermath of the excitement of the mock battle.
“Christine-san , please have some food too. But it”s a country thing, so I’m not sure if it will suit your taste.”
While placing a cup full of fruit juice water and milk on the stump table in the square, Lisha called out to Christine, who was adjusting her condition by putting her beloved sword back on her belt.
“The food in this village is delicious no matter what, so I’ll be happy to take it. Thank you.”
With that said, Christine-san received the Citrus fruit juice water from Lisha with a smile that was not a lie. It seems that she wasn’t as socially awkward as her usual pessimistic personality. The darker shadows in her beauty must be an inherited trait.
Although Christine-san herself did not declare that she was an aristocrat, she was almost certainly of aristocratic origin, judging from her elegant manner and the generous use of silk in her outfits.
A nobleman, huh? As a peasant, I could not understand the complexity of the human relationships swirling around her. To be honest, I couldn’t even imagine it.
” Mir, can I have one of those?”
” Yes,”
“Thank you.”
As I tipped the cup handed to me by Mir, I was somehow thinking about why Christine-san had visited this village. She doesn’t seem like a bad person at least, though.
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Thanks a lot for the chapter
ありがとうございます
nice chapter 😉 thanks for the release !!!