Chapter 22: Awakening

Theresia is shouting beside me.

“Oh, honey? Rodan, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

Rodan came back covered in blood, carried in a simple stretcher made of sticks and cloth. Theresia rushed over to him. Rodan closed his eyes and did not move. She cried for him to get up but Rodan didn’t wake up.

“It’s okay, Theresia. I’ve used the Mullerse flowers.”

“What? You’re lying, this,this…”

Theresia makes a face at Gelda, wondering why he said such a comforting thing. The blackened clothes do not look like an injury that would help.

“It’s true. I used Mullerse flowers.”

“Oh? Lie? we can’t afford that…”

It seems to be a medicine that the serfs can’t afford. He told her it was true and slowly let Rodan in, who was still awake. Rodan was put down in the bedroom with Theresia. There are about twenty men who have brought him. Apparently, they are all the serfs who participated in the hunt.

“Hey, Beth and Bodro, I’m sorry, but I need you to get me some water.”

“Hey.”

Gelda instructed in place of the unconcerned Theresia. It seems that they are going to boil water. I went to the living room and started to build a fire.

(Why is this happening?)

I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll do what I can.”

“Don’t worry, I will boil water. Go and divide the meat.”

“”What!””

The men’s voices echo and Mash, awakened by the commotion, is startled and begins to cry. He is in a state where many men he does not know are barging in. Theresia hugged him and tried to reassure him.

“You know what I mean. I’ll take care of the rest. So, you can go home.”

“‘Okay, okay.””

“And don’t do anything rash.”

“What? It’s the commoner’s fault we’re in this mess! That’s what you think too, right Gelda? Let’s all do it together!”

Beth, who had fetched the water, shouted loudly in disbelief, and everyone snorted as if to say yes, yes, yes. The men’s spears against the wall glow suspiciously in the bonfire outside. Mash is startled again and starts crying loudly.

“Hey, Beth. I’ll take care of this. So take the meat and go home. okay?”

“Okay, okay, ….”

The words were low and strong. It’s not the same as Beth’s, but I can feel his anger. Gelda was not calm either. Beth and the men were overwhelmed and unable to reply.

The men said, “We’re sorry to have disturbed you,” and headed back the way they came. Eventually, everyone left except Gelda.

Theresia and Gelda ripped off Rodan’s bloodstained clothes.

“What?”

Theresia is shocked to see the scar on Rodan’s stomach. It looks as if he was severely injured and his torn belly was forcibly welded together.

“I told you, the effect of the Mullerse flower is real. We were really lucky that the pharmacy happened to have some.”

As he said this, Gelda joined Theresia in cleaning Rodin’s body with a rag wrung out of warm water. Theresia also calmed down a little and noticed that Rodan’s chest was rising and falling a little.

“But how did you get such a valuable herb?”

“The knights gave me some gold coins the last time they came. It was a good thing I saved some of it.”

Allen finally silenced Mash, who was crying and finally fell asleep, on a futon in the children’s room.

“What happened? Is it true that the commoners did it?”

Theresia and Gelda were surprised by Allen’s behavior. He was not supposed to talk like this, they thought. Allen’s eyes were full of anger because of his father’s current condition. Theresia also looked at Gelda. Theresia wanted to know how this had happened as well.

“It’s a long story. I’m sorry, but I need some water.”

Allen fetched some water from the water jar into a wooden cup. Gelda, who was apparently very thirsty, drank it down in one gulp.

“The village mayor has been telling me for years that he wants the commoners to be included in the boar hunt.”

The boar hunting has always been done by about 20 serfs. The commoners were not too happy about it. The reward for boar hunting is a large chunk of meat weighing up to ten kilograms. The person who carries it away from the place where it was killed and dissects it also gets about a third of the meat as a reward. About 50 people participate in the dismantling, which is also done by the serfs.

The serfs killed the boars, the serfs dismantled them, and the serfs ate the boar meat. As commoners, they only get a small portion of meat in exchange for firewood, salt, and other necessities. And that’s just a small portion. If they want more then they have to buy most of the remaining meat from the village mayor. However, C-grade magical beast’s meat is not something a commoner can easily afford. Most of it is processed as it is and transported to the city where the Lord lives.

“So, the commoners want Boar meat. The village mayor wanted to promote boar hunting among the commoners, but no one came forward.”

The village mayor wanted them to go. The commoners wanted the meat, but they didn’t want to go. If they go hunting, they have to fight magical beasts. It’s not as if the serfs have beaten them without any tragedies. In fact, many people have died in the past ten years. But they still hunt.

It’s because I have a reason to hunt in front of me. It’s for my family.

“Then why did the commoners have to go this time?”

Allen asks.

“… I guess because a Master Swordsman appeared among the serfs.”

From among the serfs, a Master Swordsman emerged. And it was not the village mayor, nor the leading figures of the village attending the banquet, that the knight-errant praised. It was Rodan who was praised, even borrowing the words of the Lord. The story goes that after the banquet, word spread throughout the village.

The mayor called me and Rodan at the beginning of the month and told us that he had five young men who wanted to go in the hunt, almost as an order.

We trained them because it was an order from the village mayor. It was about ten days ago, and we all got together several times to train how to defeat boars. However, they were a group of young commoners who were not very comfortable with joining the group of serfs, and their attitude was not very good. Nevertheless, Rodan persisted in their training.

And today, the day of the event, arrived. It was just as we had planned, just as we had trained.

I had asked Rodan many times about how to hunt the Great Boar. He replied every time it is very simple. The idea is to lure them out, surround them, and kill them with spears.

“It takes experience to lure them out and to finish off a rampaging boar. We made the commoners the enforcers.”

“We gave them the easiest role. But they failed. The wall guard was so scared of the magical beast that he couldn’t move. The wall collapsed, and Rodan and the boar got into a melee.”

“Rodan was stabbed with the horn of the boar’s nose. And here we are.”

“In the end, there was no strategy at all. We killed it, but Rodan was seriously injured.”

Gelda also left, saying that this was enough talk. Gelda’s wife and daughters are waiting anxiously for him.

After Gelda’s departure, Allen’s house remained quiet. Theresia holds Rodan’s hand, who hasn’t opened his eyes for a long time. Theresia told Allen to go to bed, and Allen went to bed.

Then, the next morning, when both Allen and Theresia woke up, Gelda arrived. He brought a large piece of meat. He told them that this was Rodan’s share. Looking at the meat, she realized once again how much Rodin had risked his life for. Theresia fell to her knees on the dirt floor and broke down in tears.

“Is Rodan still not awake?”

Gelda filled the empty water jar with water without trying to wipe Theresia’s tears.

“I’ll make sure you survive the winter.”

Gelda said he would take care of the cold winter and the child in her belly.

“Oh, thank you,….”

That’s when it happened.

“Where am I?”

Rodan woke up. He looked as if he didn’t know where he was.

“Hey, Rodan!”

Theresia hugged Rodan. I’m not sure if his wounds have completely healed yet, but Rodan is moaning. And Mash went saying “Dad! Dad!” and hugged him.

The three of them hug each other while crying.

I watch them, staring at their embrace.

 (Oh, what have I been doing?)

To be honest, it didn’t matter to me that I was born a serf because I am the one who chose to. I could have been a prince or a traveler. It didn’t matter. When I was Kenichi, I had played a lot of games, and I had been playing games since I was seven or eight years old, and never once had I chosen a game based on what the main character’s parents were. “It doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the game anyway.”

However, I was born to Rodan and Theresia, who were struggling to survive as serfs. I have a younger brother and a new life in Theresia’s belly. I have something that I need to do in this world.

Something awakened within me, and for the first time in my six years of life, I feel as if I am truly reborn, as if I am standing on my own two feet in this other world.

“Oh, you’re awake, Rodan.”

Gelda says, looking at Rodan, who looks a little distressed.

“Gelda, I’m alive?”

“Yes, you’re lucky. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

Rodan tries to stand up. He sits down on the futon again to see if there is a severe pain in his stomach. Apparently, the wound had not completely healed yet.

“I’ll take care of the boar hunting for you. Don’t worry, and I’ll take care of your family over the winter, so make sure you’re healed by then.”

A long time good friend said something messy but reassuring.

“Yeah, that’s not so bad.”

“No, Father.”

“Hmm? Father?”

Rodan’s attention is drawn to the first words he hears. There was something different about him. Theresia also looked at me as if saying, “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll take care of the house. Get some rest and recover your body.”

“What? Yeah, thanks, but I’m going to do what Gelda says”

Rodan couldn’t finish what he was saying seeing the determination in Allen’s eyes.

“I’m going to protect this house.”

It was the end of autumn, when he was six years old, that Allen began his activities in the village in earnest. This was the day that Allen woke up.

TL Note: Rodan was stabbed by the horn on the tip of the boar’s nose. I decided to go with it instead of the boar’s tusk because the raw clearly states Rodan being hit by the tip of the boar’s nose. So the boar most likely has rhino-type horns.