***Arc 6 One Who Pierced Through, Chapter 124 Kalka Village***Chapter 124 Kalka Village
A few more days after Gargain, Mia and Kalua separated from Krische and the other at Kilnan, and Krische continued northeast for about a day.
About a day later, they saw a road leading into the forest from the middle of the road.
It was such a narrow road that it was impossible for carriages to pass each other.
Proceeding further down the snow-covered road, she finally arrived at a familiar place.
Snow piled up on a simple protective fence that didn't have much meaning, and a vigilante man and a boy with bows stood on a small watchtower that could be called a platform that was only slightly taller than a person.
When they saw the carriage, they rang bells and shouted.
With that, the villagers came out of their numerous hut-like houses as if in a panic.
"Bery, please be careful."
"... I'm the one who’s supposed to say that though. Fufu, thank you."
The one chuckling was a beautiful red-headed servant.
The first person to step out of the carriage onto the snow to hold her hand was a girl they also recognize.
Rare silver hair. Her eyes, framed by her long eyelashes, were jewel-like purple.
She was a little taller than she had been a few years before, and her figure was no longer that of a child.
She was dressed in a hand-sewn hat and scarf, and was quite fluffy, but her hair was carefully arranged, and her cloak was simple but of a high quality that could be recognized at a glance as that of a nobleman.
Her inner white shirt and black skirt peeking out from within were also quite different from what a village woman would wear.
The girl, who was beautiful to begin with, was clothed in the noble atmosphere of a born noblewoman, and had become so beautiful that women who looked at her from a distance admired her at first sight.
"Krische ne-chan!"
An androgynous voice in the transitional stage of voice change.
The boy jumped down from the watchtower and stood in front of Krische, a big smile on his face.
"...Um, Pell was it?"
"What, did you forget my face?"
"It's not like that,...... but it's been a long time. It seems you've grown up a lot."
"Of course, it's already three years ago."
He was the boy Krische used to teach swordsmanship.
He was two years younger than Krische.
He should have been as tall as Krische at the time, but he's a head taller than Krische, who should have grown since then.
"I guess you didn't grow tall at all, Krische ne-chan."
"Hmm... Krische thinks Krische has grown quite a bit though."
Physically, she should have grown.
That being said, seeing how the boy in front of her was so taller than her, it might be that she didn’t grow that much.
She patted Pell on the head, wondering if she would grow a little more in a few years.
Pell frantically blushed and pulled back.
"It's hard to pet Pell head when Pell has grown this big. It used to be easy."
"Humph, I think I was already bigger by the time Krische ne-chan left the village. Besides, I'm not at the age to be petted anymore."
The closer the distance, the more beautiful Krische was, and it was a poison to the eyes of a boy who had entered puberty.
The village also has some cute girls in the same age group, but Krische’s beauty was no longer within the range of being the most beautiful in the village.
Pell distanced himself from Krische, who seemed to be in too good a mood as before, realizing that she could never be the same as before.
Pell distanced himself from Krische, who didn’t change at all from before, realizing that he could never be the same as before.
He had seen her cut down bandits up close and heard of her exploits on the battlefield.
Furthermore, she was a noble――he was worried that she might be a different person now.
But while Pell was relieved to see that she looked the same as before, he couldn't help but look away, unable to suppress his throbbing.
At the end of his line of sight were five people wearing black armor.
Everyone looked like they were soldiers and had a sense of intimidation. He assumed that this might be the rumored Black Century, and turned his attention to the out-of-place servant "girl".
She didn't have Krische’s dreamlike beauty that made one lose a sense of reality.
Her face was young for a face that was bright and gorgeous.
Her height, which is not so different from Krische’s, and her large brown eyes probably make her look that way.
However, if you look at her, you can immediately tell that she had a very well-proportioned face, and the eyes that looked at Krische standing next to her were endlessly kind and charming.
Even through her apron dress, he could see her full plumpness, and compared to the slim Krische, there's something more mature and feminine about her――her eyes suddenly glanced at Pell.
"...?"
The red-haired girl looked at Pell curiously as their gazes met, then giggled and put her hands in front of her.
She gave a slow and beautiful bow.
"Nice to meet you, I’m Christand family——Krische-sama’s servant Bery Argan."
"Ah, ya, nice to meet you, I'm Pe-Pel! Um, thank you, uh, taking care Krische-nee-chan..."
Bery smiled as if she was troubled by the voice that was cracking, but to Pell, it looked charming.
The tension in him grew stronger and stronger.
The fact that she gave her family name naturally meant that she came from a good family.
Perhaps she was a noble.
Pell spoke to Krische, who was now a great noble, in the same tone as before, but he couldn't do that to her who he just met for the first time.
The soldiers guarding her let out an unbearable laugh, and the one-eyed man said
"Argan-sama seems to be a poison to this boy's eyes. He's so mesmerized that his voice cracked."
"Such a thing. He’s just nervous."
The red-haired girl said reproachfully, and Krische furrowed her brows and glared at the one-eyed man——Kilik.
"Kilik, how can you say that Bery is poisonous? Even if it’s you, Krische won't forgive it okay."
"Ha, no, no, I didn't mean it like that..."
Kilik stiffened at the unexpected retort.
Bery hurriedly tried to stop the misunderstanding,
"K-Krische-sama, um... that poison for the eye is..."
Bery knew that her appearance was better than average, and she is used to being looked at and told in that way.
But when it came time to explaining it, it was nothing short of embarrassing, and Bery blushed stuttered while blushing.
Kilik, aware that he had put this beautiful servant in a tight spot, hurriedly straightened his posture at the sight of her.
He saluted and told Krische.
"E-even good medicine turns into poison if you take too much of it. In turn, he was so mesmerized by Argan-sama's beauty that he couldn’t concentrate. It was not, in the sense, to disparage Argan-sama…"
"...Is that so? Bery"
"Eh, um, that... yes..."
‘Is she trying to embarrass herself’——even though Brey knew that’s not true, she was so embarrassed that she couldn’t help but think so.
Bery's white cheeks were flushed, and even her were dyed red.
Krische also realized that she had misunderstood something, and while she nodded while thinking there was such an expression, she turned to Pell.
"It's not good. Pell is not allowed to look at the Bery while Krische is around, do you understand?"
"Eh? Huh? Ku-Krische-neechan, I-I'm not..."
"Pell must have been fascinated by the beautiful Bery. Right?"
"N-no, uhh..."
What arose was nothing short of a tragedy for the adolescent boy.
Kilik and the others looked at the boy's who were mesmerized over Bery, who looked embarrassed, in pity.
"Krische-chan!"
It was a loud voice.
A well-dressed woman ran toward her, and Krische, seeing her, left Pell and ran toward her,
"Oba-san, it's been a long time——mugg."
"It's been a while, you've grown so much!"
Krische was crushed in Gara’s arm, whom she had not seen for a long time.
Kilik and the others were taken aback, and Berry seemed to panic a little.
However, seeing Gala's happy smile with tears at the corners of her eyes, Bery and the others understood who she was, and were convinced.
"Oba-san, it hurts..."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was so happy."
"No... Ehehe, long time no see, Oba-san."
Krische smiled, and Gala smiled, too.
"Oh, welcome home Cliche. How are you doing?"
She smiled, her smile was gentle and full of affection.
"Yes, I'm fine. I heard that your Oba-san collapsed..."
"Aah, I'm sorry for worrying you."
Gala smiled as usual but went to her house――It didn't come to that.
A short old man appeared, wading through the crowd that Gala had come through.
He was the village chief.
"Kri...No, Alberinea-sama, welcome to our village.."
"...Mr. Village chief. It's been a while."
"Yes, yes... for now, this way."
The village chief lowered his head and pointed his large house to Krische.
A reunion with Gala――that was the purpose of this trip, but even so, there was her position and courtesy to go through.
The first thing to do was to greet the village chief, who will be taking care of her in various ways during her stay.
"Umm... that's right. Oba-san, later..."
"Ahh. Come over later, I'll be waiting for you."
"……yes"
The same gentle face as before.
Krische smiled and nodded at Gala, ordered Kilik and the others to move the carriage, and followed behind the village chief.
When they visited the village chief's house, they would serve the town’s sweets and tea, which they had never seen before when they lived in the village, and welcome the other party with beautiful words and words of welcome.
In contrast to Krische, who has now become a great noble of the kingdom, the faces of the village chief and the men were indescribable――with an air of fear about the way they had treated her in the past.
He told them that he would host them with a grand feast tonight, and was desperate withKrische, who told them not to worry about them in particular.
Given the power that Krische now held, she could do whatever she wanted with a small village like this.
For them, offending Krische who were in control of their life and death, meant death.
Considering this, it was only natural for them to show such hospitality.
In addition, they also have a certain sense of guilt and debt about what they have done.
It couldn’t be said that they weren’t lashing out at her in order to drown their sorrows over the death of so many villagers.
Many expressed remorse for what they had done too harshly, and some of the men apologized personally.
Quite different were the women and children, who were simply delighted to see her growth and welcomed her reunion after so many years, seeing her even more beautiful.
They had heard about her performance on the battlefield. The peddlers and the men who went out to Gargain, in particular, have often delivered rumors about Krische, so there was some uneasiness, but Krische herself is the same as she was before.
More than anything else, they were delighted to see the girl, who was a little strange and cute, just like she used to be.
She greeted familiar faces over and over again until they reached Gala's house, and it was well after noon when she was finally able to settle down.
Kilik and the others were pulled away by the children who wanted them to teach them. At Gala's house there are three people, Krische, Bery, and Gala.
Bery was a bit bewildered by the first experience of sitting directly on the floor, but she brewed a pot of tea in the tea kettle she had brought and put the cookies they had made on a plate.
Gala was talking to the two while admiring Bery's polite response to a commoner despite being a noble herself.
"Even so, you've really grown..."
"Pell said Krische was small. ...Many of the children become bigger than Krische."
"Hahaha, I guess you can't compare it to a man. But you have really become a beautiful woman.... I guess going to the city was the right choice after all. It suits you well."
A simple linen robe worn by women in the village.
Her beauty was out of place since the time she wore it.
But in this way, she felt that it really suits Krische as a noble, and that she shouldn't have spent her time in a village like this.
She heard all the rumors about her.
That she went to the Christand family and spent time as their adopted daughter.
That she went to war and her exploits.
That she was also born into a royal family that was abandoned as a Cursed Child.
For some reason or another, she was picked up in this village, but she should have lived in a glamorous place.
Gala again felt that she had made the right choice.
The red-haired servant who Krische leaned on as if asking to be pampered――Looking at her relationship with Bery, she could feel that she was happy now, and that made her happy.
Of course, to Gala, it was a little lonely, but she's glad from the bottom of her heart.
"Krische doesn’t think Krische's face has changed much, though. Rather, is Oba-san's body really alright?"
"Ah, as you can see, I’m perfectly healthy. Because I was able to meet Krische-chan like this, all the bad things were blown away."
It's true that she was unwell, but one of the reasons was her anxiety.
Civil war――The Christand army, which has lost its hero and was in an inferior position.
Gala had been worried about Krische, who was fighting there, and just at that time she fell ill with an epidemic and collapsed. The other day she had collapsed while working in the fields, though not perfect, she didn’t have a fever and was stable now.
Gala glanced at Krische as she looked at the cookies on the plate, smiled, took one and put it in her mouth.
The cookies were not the nut cookies that Gala used to make, but the sweetness was probably honey.
It's just a little too sweet, but she knew exactly whose taste it was.
"... It's delicious. Did you make these, Krische-chan?"
"Yes, together with Bery, for Oba-san... Bery is a very good cook. Bery taught Krische how to make these cookies..."
"Fufu, is that so. Guess I'm no match for Krische-chan anymore...I wonder if it’s because the teacher is good."
Bery chuckled at the excited Krische, and Gala looked at her.
"No, I’m really good. I have to say thank you to Bery-san... Thanks to you, Krische-chan looks very happy."
"No, it's more like Krishe-sama is the one making me happy. ...I've always thought that she must have grown up surrounded by good people in the village."
"I'm a country girl, so I'll take your flattery seriously. However, if it's a good person, this child's mother is the best."
She laughed nostalgically.
"She was clumsy and scatterbrained, but she was really a good kid. She's my proud little sister――she's called Grace."
"I’ve heard from Krische."
"...It's true, Mom, was really clumsy."
When Krische said as she recalled, Gala smiled a little relieved.
She was a little worried that Grace's death might be difficult for her to accept.
Krische, on the other hand, recalled Grace's clumsiness and frowned.
She said she will help Krische, but she put too much salt in the pot, and she insisted she couldn’t just leave the cleaning to her daughter alone, and blew away the dust Krische had collected.
Her clumsy appearance――For some reason, Anne came to her mind.
She was a very respectable and kind mother, but her clumsy behavior was similar to Anne's, and she was probably close in terms the same kind of person. There was something inside Krische that didn’t want to admit.
"Like Bery-san now, Krische-chan was always attached to her... fufu, I can remember it like it was yesterday."
"Is that so... I have to visit the grave later."
"Haha, Grace would be happy to hear that Krische-chan has a sister like Berry-san."
"Sister……"
Bery smiled wryly, as if troubled.
"Uhh, for the record I'll be 30 soon, so being called an older sister is"
"......Hah?"
Gala’s eye opened wide and stiffen.
Then she furrowed her brow and brought her face closer to look at Bery.
No matter how you look at it, she was at best just a little older than Krische.
"Nobles are often mistaken because they age slowly…"
"I-Is that so? You're not that different from Grace... No, but, thirty..."
Grace married Gorka at 14, and was 30 when she died.
Even Gara was about two years older than that, not so different from Bery.
She looked like a girl, who was not even twenty, though she thought she was quite a calm and thoughtful child, she was convinced of the reason.
"It's strange, isn't it like that..."
"Nobles deal with something called magic power, so I'm told it has an effect on them."
"That means, Krische-chan too."
"Well, it seems that there are quite a few individual differences depending on the person..."
Even those who possess magical power can begin to age somewhat at the age of 30, but Bery was much slower in this respect.
According to research, the aging process slows down in proportion to the amount of magic power used in daily life, and this effect was probably stronger on Bery, who was originally weak and relied on magic power in her daily life.
She even wondered if Krische, who relied more on magic than Bery, would even grow old.
"Heeh, you’re married?"
"Um, uh, yes. Um..., the circumstances around that area seem to be different from those in the village."
Bery looked at Krische for a moment, her cheeks blushing and answered vaguely.
Most noble women were married before they turned 30. There are a good number of those who marry beyond that, like Vanatella, but they are generally considered late.
Bery, not wanting to get into that area too much, replied like that.
"Ehehe, Bery won't become a bride, so she'll always be with Krische."
"Haha, I see... this must be difficult."
Gala gave a wry smile and stroked Krische.
"It must be hard… but I’m still happy."
She guesses that Bery probably won’t leave while taking care of Krische.
Gala was convinced of this.
But that's a misunderstanding――just like Krische said, Bery intended to do that, but Bery smiled vaguely while understanding the misunderstanding.
She felt a little guilty, but she couldn't openly say that she offered her name to Krische.
She sighed in her heart as thinking it couldn’t be helped.
"... If someone like Bery-san is by Krische-chan's side, then I’m relieved. A lot has happened, so I want Krische-chan to be really happy."
Gala nodded deeply as she listened to the flute outside.
They must be practicing before the banquet.
The sound was coming from everywhere, as if the villagers were rushing around to prepare for the banquet.
Everyone had been informed That Krische was coming, and it had been decided long before that a banquet would be held to coincide with that.
Naturally, preparations had already been made, but it was still a journey after all.
It was only natural that the schedule would be disrupted for a day or two depending on the weather, and in the end, full-fledged preparations could only be made on the day of the event.
Because of that, the whole village was rushing to prepare for it.
"There's a lot of commotion for the banquet today. Actually, the first thing I should do is go and show Grace-chan how Krische-chan is doing, but... We're talking about leaving the day after tomorrow... Krische-chan, shall we visit the grave tomorrow after the village settles down?"
"Yes. If it’s preparing for the banquet, Krische would like to help as well."
"Haha, it's kind of strange for Krische-chan to prepare for a party to welcome Krische-chan. Well, if Krische-chan says so, I will take you up on it."
Gala happily smiled at Krische, who was still the same as before, and stood up.
"Today, as usual, I plan to bake a lot of pies in my oven. Can you help me?"
"Yes, do you want to make pumpkin pie too?"
"Of course, Krische-chan's pumpkin pie is the best after all."
Bery smiled at Krische’s happy face and stands up.
"If that's the case, please let me help you. I don't know if I can be of much help, but..."
"That's reassuring. The confrontation of Krische-chan's old and new cooking teacher. I need you to show me your skills."
"Fufu, yes. I heard that Gala-sama taught Krische-sama the basics, so I won't hold back either."
"Stop calling me -sama, it's so embarrassing."
Gala laughed and nodded.
