chapter 9

Game of make-believe

It has apparently been 8 years since the founding of this village . The center of the village is near the gate, where Allen had been once before with Rodan . In that area, there are shops and inns and other business establishments . It’s also where the mayor lives . There are no serfs there, only commoners .

The area where Allen lives was the outskirts of the village, an area full of cultivated land . And as such, the bell rings near the gate, where the population is dense .

*Ding*

*Ding*

*Ding*

He could feel his heartbeat rising . He even felt surprised, realizing that he felt kind of uplifted by this unavoidable battle .

About 10 mins after the chimes had stopped, she came . A worthy opponent, his rival .

“Alleeen, I’ve come to play~”

Passing through the crude gates of this garden, a little girl with shoulder height pink hair came, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement . She was wearing clothing of hemp fabric, which was similar to Allen and other serfs .

And, unbefitting for a little girl, she had a sword made by roughly curving wood on her hand for some reason .

Kurena started to come play from the first day of October . It seems like their Neighbor Gelda had heard that Allen’s free activity range would be extended after he becomes 3 years old .

On the first day, Kurena had come together with Gelda . And even from that moment, she had two roughly curved wooden swords on her hands . Allen couldn’t help but have bad premonitions about this .

Gelda begged Rodan, even going so far as to perform ‘dogeza’, to have Allen play with the tomboy-ish Kurena after the 3 o’clock bell rang .

And ever since, almost every day, Kurena would come running to Allen’s house as soon as the bell rang . And judging from how fast she reaches here, she probably starts running as soon as the bell chimes .

(There was also a time, when I thought, “what do you mean that brawny muscular Gelda-san can’t keep her in check?”)

Kurena’s father Gelda’s physique was better than Allen’s father Rodan . Veins would be popping from his buffed up arms . Thanks to Rodan and Gelda, Allen had a misconception that serfs are probably all very muscular .

“Hello, Kurena . You’re energetic as ever . What do we play today?”

(I can somewhat tell from that thing you’re gripping real hard there but no harm in being cautious . )

“Geez, of course it’s a game of knight make-believe!”

She said with a pout, as if to mock him for even asking .

“Knight make-believe, right? Let’s go over there since this tree would be in the way . ”

“Yup!!” Kurena said with a big smile .

A narrow area won’t do . Allen knew that the land and the environment played big roles in the circumstances of a battle .

(It was written that this world is a fantasy world with swords and magic, huh? So that’s what they meant . )

In the spacious garden, two children stood still . Both were in stance with their wooden swords .

Their swords were about 30 centimeters . About one third of their own height .

“Then, let’s go~ My name is Knight Kurena! Here I come!”

“Alright!”

“No, not ‘alright!’! You name yourself too!!”, she exclaimed, yet again with a pout .

It seems the make-believe game doesn’t start without a proper introduction . She swung her wooden sword left and right, telling him to do it properly .

(Goddamn it, this is so embarrassing, what are you even teaching her, Gelda-san!?! Why’d I have to go all-out in a make-believe game at this age?! Well, I mean, I guess I am just 3 years old . )

“My name is Knight Allen! Come at me!!”

He took his stance, gripping the wooden sword in front of his waist . While being 35 years old mentally, he went ahead and named himself in a loud voice as well .

Being satisfied with Allen’s introduction, Kurena closed the gap between them instantly . An impact ran through Allen’s body as he blocked the attack with his bokken . He tried swinging down on her with all his might after fending off her attack but Kurena easily shook it off .

And so continued their game of make-believe . The two bokkens were swung and interlocked time and time again .

(Strange, this is definitely strange . )

He was always on the defensive and couldn’t take the initiative from the start . He kept pondering over and over in his mind, that “this can’t be” . Why? It’s because even while he had his summon cards in full use, he was beaten thoroughly the first and the second day .

He has coordinated his cards . He changed the card ranks from H to G, made 2 cards of each and put all the other cards for offense .

His strength should be crossing that of a 10 year old . He even thought that it could reach the strength of a young adult . He was using his full strength, all of his divine protection and was disgracefully going all-out against a 3 year old .

(Can’t… can’t seem to hit her even once . Should I increase my agility with a G rank bird? Nah, I can’t block her swings if I decrease my strength further than this . I am lacking behind in all aspects!)

It seems Kurena was above him, in both offense and agility . To not be pushed to a corner of the garden, he just frantically fought with the innocent demon while adjusting his position .

“As I thought, doing this with Allen is more fun than with papa!”

Kurena told Allen . Her hands were trembling with excitement . It seems the serious Allen who used all his cards was the perfect opponent for her, him being of the same physique and what not .

“Thanks . ”

He answered with a bitter smile . The game had just started . With a break in between, this continued for about an hour .

Serfs’ nights were early . It was because they only had the sunken fireplace as their only source of light . And at about 4 o’clock, Rodan and Theresia were returning from field work .

“Oh my, Kurena-chan, you came to play today as well?”

“Yup! I was playing make-believe with Allen!”

Theresia smiled, seeing Allen and Kurena covered in mud in the garden . Allen let out a sigh of relief as the game had just ended . The game where he was always on the defensive .

“That’s great . Kurena-chan, it’s getting quite dark now, you should return soon . ”

“Yup, got it, I’ll see you tomorrow! Allen!!”

The little girl shouted out to Allen as she whoosh-ed outside and started running towards her home with the bokken in her hand, still full of energy .

“You did your best, huh? As expected of my son . ”

Rodan, who had heard about this state from Gelda, gently tapped his shoulder .

And so began preparations for dinner . There’s one thing that changed about this view .

“This is papa’s . ”

“Thank you . ”

Allen served the fried beans to Rodan . Allen started helping around with household chores .

“Allen’s such a good boy . ”, said Theresia, while patting his head . Allen had started helping out around the house after he became 3 years old . There was a reason behind this .

Theresia sat down, slowly and cautiously, protecting her stomach . Her stomach was big . She was pregnant with her second child . And the family was eagerly waiting for the second child . The child will probably be born around the time of the new year . He had started doing so after being worried about her health .

While they were having their meal, Allen started talking to Rodan .

“Papa, mama’s belly is big so I’ll help with the potato harvest . ”

Recently, Theresia would sometimes be unable to move and he couldn’t bear to see that . Putting the summoning skills and summon-able beasts aside, Allen thought it was alright for his parents to know about his above-average strength .

“…… . ”

Rodan was at a loss for words . It seems he received quite a shock . And being unable to find his words, he became stiff .

“Allen, you’re still a child so it’s alright for you to keep playing with Kurena, alright?”

And so, Theresia entered the conversation without hesitation .

“That’s right, Allen . You’re helping out a lot just by doing these household chores . You might need to come work at the field one day so just keep playing around till then . ”

When Allen was Kenichi, he was in charge of cleaning the bath during his childhood . Recalling that, he brought up this topic .

However, to Rodan, working at the field was grueling labor . It was the serf’s duty . It isn’t anything fun and definitely not something he would let a 3 year old do . And he also didn’t think that being a serf was a good thing .

There was a great discrepancy between Allen and Rodan’s sense of values . Although it had been 3 years since his reincarnation, Allen has lived 35 years as Kenichi . There’s no way his sense of values or common sense would change in these 3 years .

(Hmm, as I thought, it didn’t work . I guess that is to be expected for a 3 year old . I guess I will increase my daily work from tomorrow then . )

Allen had also thought that it was natural for him to be denied .

He had more things to do but if he could, he wanted to help around with more work .

“That reminds me, you know what Kurena did today?”

“Oh? What did Kurena-chan do?”

To wipe away the heavy atmosphere which he brought on with his suggestion, Allen started talking about today’s Kurena with a smile .