Hell Mode: Volume 1, page 8
“Allen, are you ready?”
“Yes, mama.”
There was not really all that much to do in preparation, so Allen just grabbed his wooden sword. In a flash of self-awareness, he realized that he had picked up a weird habit from Krena.
“Come on, honey, you’re coming too. I know you’ve been awake for quite a while already. Stop pretending to be asleep!” Theresia barked, holding Mash with one hand and tugging at Rodin with the other. Apparently her husband was still feeling sullen.
Currently, their family was just about to head over to Krena’s house. They were going to have dinner together, so Theresia grabbed a basket filled with ingredients before they set off.
It’s been so long since I last visited Krena’s place.
It was now five and a half years since Allen had been born into this world. He had started playing frequently with Krena after turning three, but she was the one who came over almost every single time. As such, he had had very few opportunities visiting her house.
Around fifteen minutes later, Allen’s family reached their destination. They found a woman with short, curly pink hair and blue eyes waiting for them. When she spotted them, she said in an energetic voice, “There you are!”
“Mathilda, I’m so sorry for all the trouble that Rodin caused you the other day.”
“Oh, hey, don’t worry about it! Gerda’s also old enough to have known better.”
This woman who spoke in the tone of a reliable older sister was Mathilda, Krena’s mother. She led Allen’s family inside her house. They were going to be staying over for the night.
As soon as they stepped inside, Krena bounced out and said, “Welcome, Allen!” This was the first time Allen’s entire family had come over, so she was even more excited than usual.
There was an area with an earthen floor, an inner space with a sunken fireplace, and two rooms. The layout of the place was practically identical to Allen’s house.
“Seriously, how much longer do you plan on sulking for?! And you’ve been awake for the past while, haven’t you?!” Mathilda exclaimed as she used one hand to drag Gerda’s bear-like body out from their bedroom. His face was also covered with bruises, just like Rodin’s.
After that, Theresia and Mathilda worked together to prepare dinner. During that time, Krena brought her younger sister out. “Allen, Allen! Look! Lily is so big!” she cried.
Just like Krena, Lily had also ended up inheriting Mathilda’s pink hair—instead of Gerda’s brown hair—and blue eyes. The baby babbled happily and reached out with both hands, making grabbing motions.
Oh damn, I feel so at peace just watching her!
Lily was still only a year and a half old. Although Allen had not had that many opportunities to see her in person so far, he had already heard plenty of stories from Krena.
Soon enough, dinner was done and everyone gathered around the sunken fireplace. The fare was nothing fancy—it was the usual beans, potatoes, unleavened wheat bread, and vegetable soup with a few chunks of meat.
It feels like the birthday party that my classmate in kindergarten invited me to.
The house was not large, and so the two families had to sit close together in order to fit around the fireplace. However, none of them was bothered by it. In fact, there was a certain warmth to it.
“Want a cup?” Gerda asked while casually bringing out what looked like an earthenware jar.
“Huh?!” Rodin replied in a slightly belligerent tone, but still held out his empty wooden cup. After Gerda finished filling it up, he brought it back close and sniffed it. “Wine?”
“Mm-hm.”
“What’s this out of the blue?”
Wine was a resource that serfs had extremely limited access to. The last time Rodin had some was when he got married to Theresia.
“The village chief came yesterday and left it.”
Rodin frowned. Although he said nothing, it was clear that he had understood a lot from Gerda’s short utterance. Gerda proceeded to go into detail regarding what had happened during the past three days as he downed cup after cup. The village chief had visited, with the wine in hand, to inform Gerda and Mathilda that he was setting off to inform their feudal lord about Krena and that consequently, she might have to stay in their feudal lord’s city going forward.
The sight of Rodin’s face gradually deepening into a scowl as he continued giving his account prompted Gerda to say, “Come on, man. The village chief brought some wine to show he cares and all that now that Krena’s a Sword Lord. You know how he is. No big deal, right? Don’t sweat the small stuff, man.”
“I’m not bothered about that. In fact, I’m glad for you, I really am. Never mind government service, she might even rise to become a noble. And by extension, so would your whole family.”
As it turned out, Rodin was not jealous of Krena being a Sword Lord.
“Then why did you suggest breaking off our relationship?!” Gerda howled in an increasingly loud voice. “UP TILL NOW, WE—!”
He was cut short, however, by a perfectly placed punch that landed square on his face, courtesy of Mathilda. She did not want him shouting in front of the children.
After a heavy silence, Rodin replied, “If you keep associating with us, you might lose your chance at becoming nobility.”
Rodin kept his voice quiet, likely out of fear for Mathilda’s fist. More than half of the bruises on Rodin and Gerda’s faces had actually been dealt by Mathilda when she stepped in to break up their fight.
By now, it was clear what had set off this fight between the two men. In this world, only serfs could marry serfs. Commoners could only marry commoners. And of course, nobles could only marry nobles. The reason for the fight was not, as Allen had guessed, because of him being Talentless and having low stats.
Forget Swordswoman; Krena had turned out to be a Sword Lord. This was a Talent that contained the potential for her to easily exceed the status of being a royal knight and even become a champion of the people. This was such monumental news that the village chief was going to inform their feudal lord two days later in person.
In light of this, Rodin had suggested to Gerda that their two families stopped associating with each other. Gerda’s response had been his fist, and the rest was not hard to imagine.
I see, so it was both of them trying to be considerate of the other but being too boxed into their own points of view. Should I try to prod them?
“Um, is it true that all four of you came to this village together?”
Everyone’s attention turned toward Allen with his innocent smile as he broached a topic that he had heard from Rodin before.
“That’s right, Allen,” Mathilda answered. “We came here together from the neighboring village. We’ve been together ever since we were young, just like how you and Krena are.”
She continued sharing how they had all been born as serfs and played together in their childhood. As serfs, they were naturally poor, but life was good. Gerda and Rodin listened in silence.
Ten years ago, a messenger from their feudal lord visited the village where they were living, proclaiming news of a new frontier village that was being founded. Anyone who came and properly contributed to the expansion efforts would be granted permission to continue using their assigned plot of land indefinitely.
“Back then, we got together to talk it over, just like we’re doing now,” Theresia murmured, ruminating over the memories of the past that surfaced in her mind.
It was true that serfs could not own land, but cases of the land they were working suddenly being seized were very rare. That said, it was usually only the eldest child that succeeded the land. Rodin, Gerda, Theresia, and Mathilda all had older siblings.
The tax for serfs was six-tenths of their harvest. How many people helped with the harvest did not matter. And because the size of the land itself remained the same, the amount of food that it could produce was fixed. If the family working it had children and the children grew up, this single piece of land would become incapable of keeping everyone’s bellies full. This was why these four decided to join the new village and secure their own land.
Gerda nodded with a wistful face. “When we first arrived here, there was nothing at all. So we worked together to build our two houses.”
This was the reason why the interior layout of both houses looked the same. They started off building only the earthen area and the large room with the sunken fireplace for each other. Later on, when they decided to have children, both houses got two more additional rooms.
“We sure went through a lot...” Rodin trailed off and closed his eyes, falling silent. He was reliving the memories of his childhood and of all the difficulties he had overcome when he first came to this frontier village.
The topic of their past and their shared troubles seemed to have succeeded in restoring the relationship between the two men. The fire flickered as the adults talked late into the night.
Chapter 5: Krena vs. Vice-Captain of the Knights
Three months had passed since the Appraisal Ceremony, and it was now July. No word had come from the feudal lord during this time. Allen’s family spending the night seemed to have done the trick in helping Rodin and Gerda reconcile. According to Theresia, the two of them getting into spats had been a pretty common occurrence ever since their childhood.
Summers here at this frontier village were hot, with the temperatures easily climbing above thirty degrees. Allen was careful to make Mash drink water frequently so that he would not get dehydrated. Now that he had turned two, he was capable of walking and followed Allen everywhere. Once he turned three, he would also be granted permission to go out into the garden.
Not much had changed with Allen’s training menu or his Status. He was close to reaching Synthesis Lvl. 3, but because he had to Create two cards first before being able to Synthesize them, it was taking quite a while. Sword Mastery was, of course, still at Lvl. 3. Leveling up in Hell Mode was no walk in the park.
“Allen, are you ready?”
“Yes, mama.”
Today was a big day—an order of knights would be visiting the village. Rather than summon Krena, the feudal lord had chosen to dispatch his knights to call on her instead. A herald had arrived a few days ago to inform the village chief, who had in turn visited Gerda’s house the next day to pass along the message that he was to bring Krena to the residential area that day.
The order of knights, huh. The authorities who rule this fiefdom. They’re practically gods in the eyes of us serfs. I hope they won’t cut people down just for meeting their gaze...
Although it had been Krena and Gerda who had been summoned, Rodin wanted to be there as well. He wanted to witness, in person, the moment that his childhood friend obtained success beyond his social class. And in turn, Gerda had also invited him to come.
“All right, we’re off, Theresia.”
Once again, Theresia was staying home to take care of Mash. It was too important an occasion to bring him along, as he might get startled by the horses or large crowd and start crying.
Soon, Rodin and Allen reached Gerda’s house. The large man and his daughter were both standing outside waiting. Mathilda was next to them with Lily in her arms.
The instant Krena caught sight of Allen, she started waving her arm vigorously. “Alleeennnn!” she cried in a loud voice.
She looks so happy today. Not that I don’t understand how she’s feeling.
For almost three years now they had continued to play knight. Every single one of those days, Krena had introduced herself as “Krena the knight.” Today, finally, she was going to meet real ones. Her excitement was palpable.
“I’m gonna become a knight today!”
“Ha ha ha,” Gerda chuckled, ruffling Krena’s hair. “We’ll still have to ask, all right? It’s not confirmed yet.”
Ah, I bet the two of them have been like this the entire day.
The group of four—Mathilda was also staying behind to look after Lily—struck off together. Krena talked nonstop until the residential area eventually came into view.
“Where’re we supposed to go?” Rodin asked.
“Deboji said the square,” Gerda replied.
“The square? Not his house or the gate?”
By the time they arrived, there was already a whole crowd gathered in the center of the residential area where the square was located. Murmurs of “the Sword Lord’s here!” rippled through the crowd like waves as people parted to make way. Apparently they had all gathered after hearing that the knightly order would be coming today. In a rare change of pace, the majority of the attention was not on Allen for having black hair and eyes.
No one approached Krena and Gerda. The general mood in the air was to simply await the knights’ arrival.
Hold on, we’re going to have to wait over two whole hours? Great, I’ve got nothing to do, so...might as well nap.
Allen started dozing off, not caring in the slightest about any looks directed his way. For him, this was the same thing as sleeping while riding the bullet train or on a plane. As a general rule, when he had nothing to do, he would sleep. And because he did so, Krena leaned against him and started nodding off as well.
Eventually, the bell clanged again, signaling noon. This incredibly loud noise—due to how close it was—caused both children to jolt awake.
“Bwuh?!”
“Hey there, sleepyhead. Looks like they’re here,” Rodin said in response to Allen’s sleepy gasp. The knights had arrived at twelve o’clock on the dot.
Oh? Are they already within sight? I can’t see from this position...
The villagers buzzed with conversation. During the time Allen had been asleep, the crowd had grown significantly larger. There were even quite a number of serfs who usually never came to this part of the village.
Before long, the clip-clop of horse hooves rang out.
They really are here! They seriously came all the way to this frontier village. How far away is the feudal lord’s city anyway?
The order of knights soon came into view. Clearly it was not the entire order, as there were only ten or so knights, all mounted on horses. Their small number made sense, as they were only here to see Krena, not to fight against some terrifying enemy.
The village chief patiently stood in front of the crowd. Soon enough, the man who appeared to be the leader of the knights stopped in front of him. Allen could not hear what was being said, but judging by the village chief’s body language, he was probably welcoming the knights to the village. He then pointed toward Krena.
The knights’ leader removed his helmet—as did the rest of the knights a beat later—and looked directly at the pink-haired girl. She returned their gazes with glittering eyes, already wide awake.
The village chief beckoned with his hands, as if asking Krena to approach. Gerda looked at Rodin, who nodded back. It was time to meet the knights. Gerda walked forward, pulling his daughter along. Rodin and Allen stayed where they were and just watched.
Are the knights going to bring her back with them? It’s a bit strange thinking that I won’t have an afternoon nap buddy or a partner to play knight with anymore.
Allen stared at his childhood friend, feeling somewhat melancholic while also wishing her the best. Although she was now a fair distance away, her energetic “I’m Krena!” could be heard all the way back where he stood. The brawny Gerda was acting meek as a mouse. It looked like he chastised his daughter for being too loud.
The knights’ leader, who had a strapping body himself, stroked his mustache while talking with Gerda. As Allen watched on, however, Gerda jerked backwards in surprise and shouted, “What?! That’s unreasonable, m’lord!”
The conversation seemed to have taken a worrying turn. In order to hear what they were saying, Allen decided to get closer, weaving between the villagers who had started whispering furiously to one another in response to this unexpected development.
Gerda seemed to be in the middle of desperately making a case for something. “—rd, Krena is still a five-year-old child who has never held a real sword before. She ca—”
“Enough. She is a Sword Lord, is she not? Then there should be no issue. Or was the report of her Talent falsified?”
“N-No, m’lord, she was declared a Sword Lord at the Ceremony. But fighting against an actual kni—”
“Vice-Captain Leibrand, into position,” the company leader barked toward a subordinate who had already dismounted, uninterested in listening to Gerda’s impassioned pleas any longer.
“Yes, Captain!”
The other knights moved their horses to the edge of the square. The village chief was quite flustered, not knowing what was going on, but complied with the order to show the knights to the village stable.
“Please, m’lord, Krena will die! Please show mercy!” Gerda fell to his knees and bowed so low he literally planted his face into the ground.
“It appears that you still don’t get it, so I will put it simply: anyone who submits a false reading from the Appraisal Ceremony will receive the death penalty. In this case, it would be both you and your daughter. If she does not fight against my subordinate right here and now, we will cut the both of you down for the crime of fraudulent Talent declaration. Make your choice.”
Gerda fell silent, despair emanating from his every pore. He watched as another knight drew a sword and handed it to his daughter. The naked blade, which resembled a medieval longsword, was double-edged and nearly as long as Krena was tall.
Are these guys serious?! That’s ridiculous! What’s going on here? Did the knights plan on doing this from the start? Is that why they designated the square as the meeting point?
