Chapter 5

R​e‍a‍d​ on​ ‌Ka​t‍R‍e‌a​d‌i‌n‌gC‍af​e‌

The arrow that flew pierced exactly through the rabbit in Sam’s arms.

Thud—!

Sam, who had been holding the rabbit, fell backward, and Lucy turned her head to look in the direction the arrow had come from.

“Hoho, what do you think? I told you I could hit it.”

“Truly amazing! You hit the rabbit in the child’s arms with perfect accuracy!”

A knight in armor could be seen a short distance away.

Given the bow in his hand, it seemed the knight had fired the arrow.

Around the knight were several soldiers holding spears, flattering him as if trying to curry favor.

“Hitting such a small rabbit from this distance, you’re truly the best!”

“With skills like this, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call you the kingdom’s greatest archer!”

“Hoho, it’s nothing special.”

The knight shrugged with a satisfied expression, then rode his horse toward them.

◈

Knight Baldric had recently received orders from the lord he served.

He was commanded to subjugate the bandits who had been pillaging villages in the area.

According to the information, the bandit group consisted of about thirty members.

No matter how skilled Baldric was, he couldn’t take on thirty bandits alone.

So, Baldric gathered twenty seasoned soldiers and set out from the castle.

After searching the area where the bandits were active, they found that two villages had already been attacked.

There were no survivors in the villages. The buildings had all been burned down.

Even after seeing such a horrific scene, Baldric felt no particular emotion.

The villagers who had fallen victim to the bandits were nothing more than lowly commoners. Their lives held little value to Baldric.

That’s why Baldric wasn’t in a hurry to subjugate the bandits.

The more villages the bandits pillaged, the greater the credit Baldric would receive when he finally defeated them.

Baldric leisurely moved through the forest, enjoying the scenery and hunting as he went.

Then, he spotted a group of children gathered in the forest. Seeing one of them holding a rabbit, he decided to shoot an arrow for fun.

Twang!

The arrow Baldric fired hit the rabbit in the child’s arms with perfect accuracy.

“Hoho, what do you think? I told you I could hit it.”

“Truly amazing! You hit the rabbit in the child’s arms with perfect accuracy!”

His subordinates exclaimed in admiration.

“Hitting such a small rabbit from this distance, you’re truly the best!”

“With skills like this, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call you the kingdom’s greatest archer!”

“Hoho, it’s nothing special.”

Baldric acted as if it was no big deal, but inwardly, he was quite surprised.

He hadn’t expected the arrow to actually hit the rabbit.

‘I shot it thinking it wouldn’t matter even if the child got hit…’

He could only consider it luck.

Baldric rode his horse toward the children.

There were two boys and one girl. They were probably from a nearby village.

The boy who had been holding the rabbit was lying on the ground, unmoving.

He probably wasn’t dead. The arrow had hit the rabbit, after all. He must have just fainted.

Baldric looked at the two children standing nearby.

“What were you doing here?”

“W-We were just… trying to catch some animals…”

The boy, who looked like he caused a lot of trouble, began trembling.

He seemed to know what a knight represented.

On the other hand, the girl…

‘?’

Baldric tilted his head and looked at the girl.

A girl with snow-white hair and ruby-red eyes.

Her beauty was extraordinary. Even in her plain clothes, she didn’t look like a commoner.

Her face was far more beautiful than the lord’s daughter. She would undoubtedly grow into a stunning beauty.

‘No, more than that…’

Her beauty aside, Baldric was bothered by the color of her hair and eyes.

Shimmering white hair and ruby-red eyes.

Though they looked beautiful, in the distant past, such traits were considered signs of a witch, and those who had them were burned at the stake.

Of course, that had been proven to be a misunderstanding, and since people with such traits were so rare, the story had mostly been forgotten.

“W-We were just… trying to catch some animals…”

The boy stammered.

He was holding a net in his hand.

From the looks of it, they had been trying to catch animals with the net, but that wasn’t Baldric’s concern.

Baldric was still focused on the girl.

Her extraordinary beauty, unusual hair and eye color, and even the way she was looking at him—it all felt unsettling.

Commoners usually cowered in fear when facing a knight, but the girl’s expression was completely indifferent.

She clearly wasn’t afraid of Baldric.

In fact, her gaze as she stared at him felt almost challenging.

Baldric felt uncomfortable. One of the soldiers, noticing Baldric’s discomfort, shouted.

“Hey, you insolent brat!”

The soldier slammed his spear into the ground with a threatening gesture.

“How dare you look at the knight like that! Bow your head at once!”

“…”

For a moment, the girl’s brow furrowed slightly.

That alone made Baldric feel a sense of threat, and he instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword.

It was strange. Feeling threatened by a girl who looked no older than ten.

“L-Lucy… bow your head quickly.”

The boy next to her spoke, and the girl reluctantly lowered her head.

Still, the soldier didn’t seem willing to let it go.

“How dare you show such disrespect in front of the knight who’s here to subjugate the bandits! Call your parents at once! They need to be punished for failing to teach you proper manners!”

“…Enough.”

Baldric stopped the soldier.

It wasn’t because Baldric was particularly kind.

If it were up to Baldric’s usual temperament, he wouldn’t stop at just punishing the parents. He’d probably demand their heads to feel satisfied.

But now, Baldric felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding. He wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.

“…Be more careful next time.”

With those words, Baldric turned away. Unbeknownst to him, his palms were damp with sweat.

“Phew….”

Once the knight and soldiers were gone, Peter let out a sigh of relief.

“That was close. Lucy… why did you do that? You can’t look at a knight like that. You know that. It’s a good thing the knight was gracious enough to forgive us. We could’ve all died here.”

In front of a knight, commoners were no better than flies.

A knight could kill a commoner for no reason other than being in a bad mood, and it wouldn’t even be considered a crime.

“…Sorry.”

Lucy apologized. Her gaze remained fixed in the direction the knight had gone—toward the village.

“Anyway, I’m glad nothing bad happened.”

Peter said this as he approached Sam.

Sam was lying motionless.

“Sam, are you okay?”

Peter slapped Sam’s cheek lightly. At that, Sam’s eyes shot open, and he exhaled sharply.

“Gasp!”

Sam sat up with a startled expression.

“W-What happened…?”

“The knight shot an arrow. At the rabbit.”

“Ah….”

Sam looked down at the rabbit in his arms.

The rabbit was dead. An arrow was lodged in its body.

“We didn’t even get to name it….”

Tears began to fall from Sam’s eyes.

“Sniff… It’s my fault… I shouldn’t have tried to catch the rabbit. I got it killed….”

“Sam…”

Peter patted Sam’s shoulder, his own eyes red.

“…”

Lucy quietly watched the two boys.

Part of her wanted to use the Revive skill to bring the rabbit back to life, but it didn’t seem like it would mean much.

Even if she revived it, it would just become an undead.

If the rabbit turned into an undead, Peter and Sam would be deeply shocked.

After a moment of silence, Lucy spoke softly.

“…Let’s bury the rabbit.”

After burying the rabbit, Lucy returned home.

Sam continued to cry, and Peter comforted him as they headed back to the village.

Lucy’s house was a little ways away from the village, deep in the forest. Probably because her grandfather was a lumberjack.

Creak—

When she opened the door and entered, a quiet stillness greeted her.

She looked around the house, but her grandfather wasn’t there.

Had he not come home yet?

When she went to the kitchen, she saw fresh mushrooms neatly prepared.

Come to think of it, he had said he’d make a mushroom dish for dinner tonight.

Would it be delicious?

From what she had tasted so far, her grandfather’s cooking skills were exceptional.

The mushroom dish would surely be delicious.

With curious eyes, Lucy carefully picked up one of the mushrooms.

The soft texture of the mushroom brought a smile to her face.

She brought the mushroom to her nose and sniffed it. The fresh scent of the forest tickled her nostrils.

Lucy placed the mushroom back and sat down at the dining table.

She swung her legs back and forth as she waited for her grandfather to return.

But no matter how much time passed, her grandfather didn’t come back.

As she rested her chin on the table, looking bored, a sudden uneasy thought crossed her mind.

Come to think of it, that knight and the soldiers who killed the rabbit had gone toward the village…

Could that have something to do with why her grandfather hadn’t returned?

“…”

Lucy bit her lip and abruptly stood up.

She couldn’t shake the unease.

She needed to go to the village.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
I never really thought about it, but looking at the protagonist from an outside perspective like this tends to give them an inhuman feeling doesn’t it?

Deep down, they are probably thinking something stupid though, heh.