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.