Chapter 175: Axe Rather Than A Sword?
It’s been a while since I’ve been walking while releasing and maintaining the appropriate temperature with Ice magic.
The Koryatt village is now in sight. The wheat ears greet me like usual as they have developed splendidly and have grown bright green.
The wind blows gently today, swaying the wheat as if they are welcoming me.
「It’s been a whileー」
I greet the wheat and continue to walk with a smile of satisfaction on my face as I’m happy to receive their reception.
Guess it will need another two months until they turn golden and the time for them to be harvested. And several days after that will be the Harvest Festival, it reminds me that in the blink of an eye, a year has passed.
I head toward the central part of Koryatt village while feeling moved.
Immediately after that I can see the usual houses lined up, and people bartering, people tanning leather, or doing their laundry, with each person living their daily lives vigorously.
「Ah, Alfried-sama! Welcome back!」
「Long time no see!」
「Everyone, it’s been a while!」
Apparently, the news that I have returned had already spread.
The villagers call out to me amiably and say「Welcome back」.
It would be great if my family also welcomed me like the villagers here.
「They say you’ve been to a distant country called Kagura?」
「That’s right. It takes a week to go to the port city in the neighboring country, and then another week by ship to reach Kagura」
The villagers look surprised when I tell them the time it took for the journey.
「Amazing. I’ve never gone out of the village before, so I have no idea how the outside world is like」
「Does the port city has a sea?」
「When you’re talking about the sea, it’s ‘that’ isn’t it? A place where there are only salty water everywhere」
For the villagers of Koryatt who have never left the area around the village, things like ‘neighboring country’ or ‘the sea’ are like an unknown world to them.
So for such villagers, the story about the world outside that I’ve experienced would be very interesting for them. Many villagers gathered around me.
「……hey, it might just be my own imagination but only this place feels cool somehow?」
When there is a break between the story of my journey, Roland - one of the villagers who gathered around me - said that.
「Indeed, only this place feels strangely cool. We’re currently under the shade of a house, nevertheless, it feels too cool considering the weather」
「Right. It’s only this place that feels comfortable」
Westa and Roland said the same thing.
Aah, that’s because I’m using Ice magic to release cold air. As expected, it gets so hot when a lot of villagers are gathering like this, and the temperature around me is lower than usual.
「……say, isn’t there’s something like a mist coming out from Alfried-sama’s body?」
It looks like the observant Roland and Westa notice it since they’re near me.
「You’re right」
Full of curiosity, Roland approaches me.
「……oi, Alfried-sama’s surroundings are cold!」
「Really!?」
Westa grabbed my hand after hearing Roland.
「It’s not only Alfried-sama’s surroundings! Alfried-sama himself is cold!」
「Are you serious!?」
With Westa’s surprised voice, all of the surrounding villagers gathered toward me at the same time.
Like a person holding a heater pack in the middle of cold midwinter, everyone is touching my body, trying to take advantage of the cold air that comes out from my body.
「It’s true! It’s cold!」
「Alfried-sama is so cold!」
「Aah, I just can’t get enough of this coolness!」
No. It’s not that simple. It’s as if they are all a group of starving zombies relentlessly trying to seek human flesh. Starting only from the skin of my arms, then it continues to my face, and then into my clothes, the arms of the villagers are forcing their way into my clothes one after another.
「O, oi wait wait! I don’t have the hobby of being surrounded by a bunch of men! Hey! Don’t put your hands into my clothes!」
「We also don’t like it, but we need the cold! Just bear with it!」
With no Ice magic tools nor Ice magic users, do the villagers desire coldness to this extent?
\
It seems like I underestimated the villagers' frustration.
If this continues, then they will invade my final defense run, my pants.
I feel like I will lose something important if that place gets invaded. I have to ward them off from that place.
While being jostled around by the villagers, I immediately lowered the temperature with Ice magic and released cold air into the surroundings.
Immediately after that, white, cold air spreads from my body and swallows everyone.
「Uuooooooohhhhh! It’s cold! What’s this!?」
「I don’t know but it feels good!」
I completely escape from the crowd of villagers while they are covered by the cold air and rejoicing over it.
It seems like the villagers’ attention has shifted to the cold air that is colder than my body.
After checking the situation, I single-mindedly ran to the shadow of a house and Teleported to someplace around Torr’s house.
◆
Fuuh, that was terrible.
What good does being groped around by a bunch of men do to me, it doesn’t make me happy at all. I shudder when I think about what would happen to me if I didn’t manage to escape.
I wonder if I underestimated the capability of the villagers who were looking for cold air in summer?
In any case, let's be careful from now on so that it won’t happen again.
And so I made up my mind and walked out from the shadow of a house and headed for Torr's house.
Shortly after, I can see Torr and Asmo in front of Torr’s house.
Perhaps they are having a break after finishing their farm work as they’re cooling themselves in the shade of the house, instead of entering.
Thinking that I got lucky and that theysaved me the trouble of looking for them, I hide in the shadow of a house again and cast Space magic. I take out the wooden box containing the souvenirs like bokutou, jars of soy sauce, and miso.
Since it’s troublesome to carry the bokutou and wooden box, I make them float with Psychic and approach Torr and Asmo.
「Ohh? Isn’t that Al?」
「Ohー! It’s Al isn’t it, hey it’s been a while!」
Asmo and Torr immediately noticed me and waved their hands while still sitting.
Despite meeting with their friend after a long time not seeing each other, there’s no sign of them leaving the shade. I know that it’s hot, but isn’t it fine if you just stand up to meet me?
「What’s the souvenirs?」
「Do you have any food?」
And what came out of their mouth after that are them demanding souvenirs.
I wonder if they can really be considered my friends? I’m a little concerned about that.
「Even though it’s been a while since we met each other again, can’t you say something a bit more sensible for once?」
「I mean, I’ve already heard that Al came back」
Asmo nodded to what Torr said as if that’s obvious.
「Err, when I imagined the two of you saying things like 『We missed you』 or 『Welcome back』…… I felt nauseous」
「Right?」
「Right?」
Un, I can’t really imagine Torr and Asmo saying such things to me. Rather, I’m going to be on guard, thinking that maybe they’re scheming something.
It’s fine to have this kind of proper relationship since we’re familiar with each other.
While I was having such thoughts in my mind, Asmo stared at me with folded arms.
「……Al」
「What’s the matter Asmo?」
「……sure enough, you’re fat 」
「Naa!」
As expected, these guys could tell it at a glance, huh.
「Uhahahahaha! It’s over for you when the fat Asmo told you that, Al!」
「I was shocked when Asmo said that to me」
「You guys, you picking a fight with me?」
Hearing what Torr said, Asmo got angry that his veins stood out and said that.
Aah, it feels like he’s getting angry. Let’s calm him down so it won't get troublesome later on.
「Now now, I’m sorry I brought your food souvenirs here」
「Then, I’ll forgive Al」
「I know that the food is inside that wooden box, but what is that long and thin stick? It’s not a wooden sword, isn’t it?」
Oblivious to Asmo’s words, Torr pointed at the bokutou that floated in the air due to Psychic.
It seems like he’s interested in the bokutou.
「This is a bokutou. I bought it at Kagura」
「Bokutou? Isn’t it a wooden sword?」
「It’s different. There are no swords in Kagura, they mainly use a weapon called katana」
「So what’s the difference between that katana and a sword?」
「A sword is a straight, double-edged weapon, while a katana has a curved, single-edged blade」
When I pull it over to me and show it to him, Torr looks really interested as he stares at it.
「It’s true. It’s a little bent and it has a slightly different shape than a wooden sword!」
It’s ‘curved’. The blacksmiths of Kagura will get angry at you if you say otherwise.
「………both of them look the same to me though……」
「It looks similar, but a sword is suited to a thrust while a katana is more for slashing, so the actual way manner of using to fight is also different 」
「Heeeー! Is that so! By the way, there are three of them, are you going to give it to us?」
Torr asks with a look full of expectation on his face.
Looking at him like that, it’s obvious that Torr really wants it.
「Sure. I brought them to give it to the two of you」
「Alrightー!」
「Ooh!」
As I handed it to them with Psychic, Torr shouted happily while Asmo shouted in surprise.
For Torr - who wanted to become an adventurer -, he would probably be delighted being able to come in contact with weapons from a foreign country. He’s staring at the bokutou with shining eyes.
On the other hand, perhaps Asmo still doesn't know a bokutou’s difference with a wooden sword as he was staring fixedly at it.
And then, they take a distance from each other and start to do practice-swinging after they finished examining the bokutous.
Naturally, Asmo hasn’t learned any swordsmanship, so he’s just swinging recklessly and his body is also unsteady.
If Nord-tousan or Eleonora-neesan were here, they might correct them while knitting their eyebrows and even drill the basics of swordsmanship into them.
On the other hand, it looks like Torr was able to properly and reasonably swing the bokutou, maybe because Ema-oneesama had taught him. Naturally, there are a lot of flaws in his movements even I notice, his skill has certainly improved while I’m in Kagura.
「Ooh, Torr has made quite a progress in your swordsmanship」
「Hehehe, right?」
When I praise him, Torr smiles while looking a little shy.
Rather, that is not a wooden sword but a bokutou, so the proper manner of swinging it should be completely different, though let’s just forget about that for now. Even while I'm thinking about that kind of thing, Torr is still swinging the bokutou to show his ability.
Of course, he’s terrible compared to Nord-tousan, I can still hear the sound of his bokutou tearing through the air. I mean, common villagers can’t be compared to the Dragon Slayer after all.
「But, Torr is better at using an ax rather than a sword. These days, Myla-san was praising the uniform shape of the firewood」
「Really? Then, should I bring back an ax as a souvenir next time?」
「Stop it will ya? I want to use a sword!」
Asmo and I laughed at him when we looked at Torr who really hates the idea.
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