When the girl—Yulia—noticed Mil, she gripped her hood tight and pulled it down to cover her eyes. “Are you a g-guest?” Yulia was trembling and clearly wary.
She’s...so cute. Yulia was so much like a small animal that Mil just wanted to hug her tight. If I had a little sister, I’d want one just like her.
“Ha ha,” the village elder laughed. “You can relax, Yulia. This is Mil, an adventurer. She drove a dragon away from the village just now.”
“A d-dragon...?” Yulia looked back and forth between Mil and the village elder.
“I thought she might stay the night. Say hello, Yulia.”
“O-Oh...” Yulia climbed to her feet with her legs still trembling then quickly bowed. “N-Nice to meet you... I’m Y-Yulia Neumann.”
She looked even cuter now that Mil could see her round, childish face and big blue eyes inside the hood.
Unable to resist any longer, grabbed Yulia’s hand and squeezed it tight. “Nice to meet you! I’m Mil Arphilia! A novice—”
“Aaahhh!”
Yulia screamed and shook her hand free before running down the corridor and back into her room. A moment later the door opened very slightly and Yulia peeked out. She was clearly terrified, but Mil likened her to a kitten, and wasn’t bothered by being rejected in the slightest.
She’s so cute I wanna eat her up!
“I’m sorry, Mil. Whenever my daughter meets someone new, she gets—”
“Don’t be sorry! I think it’s really cute!”
Mil was already enamored with Yulia and could barely contain herself. She looked down the corridor again and saw that the door had since closed, as if Yulia feared Mil might enter the room.
“I just wish I could talk to her more.”
“I’ll introduce you to her again when we have dinner. Now, please, take a seat over here.”
Mil sat on a chair made of oak that creaked under her weight.
Now that she thought about it, Mil realized that the village elder, Graham, and his daughter, Yulia, were a little far apart in terms of age. Mil would much sooner believe Yulia was his granddaughter.
“You’re still thinking about my daughter?”
Mil hadn’t realized that she was sneaking glances down the corridor often enough for the village elder to notice.
“No... I mean, yes.” Mil had just barely stopped herself from asking about Yulia’s age.
The village elder seemed to guess what was on Mil’s mind. He placed two cups of tea down on the table then sat facing Mil. “The truth is, she’s not my real daughter.”
“What?”
“It all happened a little over ten years ago. A baby was abandoned by the entrance to the village. No one knew where she’d come from, and she was wrapped in a type of cloth we never see around here. Everyone agreed that an adventurer must have abandoned her.”
“Does Yulia know...?”
The village elder slowly shook his head. “I’ve never told her, though she might have figured some of it out for herself. We couldn’t just abandon her, and my wife passed before we could have children of our own, so I decided to raise her myself.”
Mil felt a little down knowing there were adventurers who’d do such a thing.
“And you saw the villagers fighting earlier, didn’t you?” the village elder asked.
“Yes! They put up a good fight against that dragon!”
“Do you remember what sort of weapons they used?”
“Hoes and sickles... Oh, they had lightning and fire enchantments on them.”
Enchantments strong enough to hurt a dragon through its scales, no less. A few of the villagers might have been hurt, but they’d probably have been able to drive away the dragon even if Mil hadn’t been there.
“Yulia enchanted those tools.”
“What?! That’s amazing.”
“It turned out she had a talent for magic. She’d buy spell books from the occasional visiting merchant and master each spell within a day. That’s how she learned to create enchantments.”
“She learned it all by herself?! Wow!”
“Indeed. We see lots of dangerous monsters around here. It must be because the Demon King’s Castle is so close. We all band together to defend the village each time, and Yulia’s help makes it a lot easier.”
A few rare adventurers with a skill known as magic talent could learn spells ten times more quickly than any ordinary person, and with half the usual intelligence requirement. Yulia was probably one such person.
If she can make powerful enchantments like those, her level must be pretty high. Mil couldn’t help but think, What if...?
“Could you give me a moment?” Mil extended a hand toward the village elder and used Goddess Eye.
“What is it?” he asked.
The window that appeared before Mil declared the elder’s level to be 56, and his stats were a match for any first-rate adventurer.
“I knew it...”
Weak villagers wouldn’t be able to face dragons or defend the village from dangerous monsters. Mil assumed they were all about as strong as the village elder.
“It’s been a whole year since we last saw a dragon. There are fewer youngsters here by the day, and those who’ve stuck around often can’t fight. Driving off dragons is still hard work.”
They might have struggled to fight back, but the village elder was talking about repelling dragons like it was another regular chore. Even first-rate adventurers couldn’t deal with dragons that easily. It was as though villagers got stronger the closer their village was to the Demon King’s Castle.
But the number of villagers was dwindling as the years went on, with Yulia’s enchantments becoming necessary to pick up the slack.
There was a knock at the door to the house.
“Who’s there?” the village elder called out.
“Sorry to interrupt,” said the young man who entered. “I’ve brought some farming tools with worn out enchantments, sir.”
“Ah. More tools for Yulia? Thank you.”
“I hope she’s not overworking herself. I’ll leave them with you.” The young man left the tools near the entrance then bowed before leaving.
“Worn out enchantments?” Mil didn’t know what that meant.
“That’s right,” the village elder said. “Yulia’s powers aren’t infinite. The enchantments wear off after a few uses. But she’s always kind enough to reapply them.”
Helpful as Yulia’s enchantments were, she had her work cut out for her maintaining the village’s defenses.
“Oh, I’d better get back to making dinner,” the village elder said. “Mil, I’ll show you to your room and you can rest there until it’s ready.”
“All right. Thank you.”
I hope I’ll get to talk to Yulia again.
The village elder had said she’d reintroduce them during dinner.
I’ll make sure not to scare her next time!
While she waited, Mil spent the time running through mental simulations of her next conversation with Yulia.
✧✧✧
When dinner was ready, the village elder called Mil into the dining room. The pot had been moved from stove to table, filled with cream stew. Mil heard her own stomach rumble the moment she caught the sweet scent of it.
“Please take a seat,” the village elder urged.
Only now did Mil realize that she’d been so distracted by wolves and dragons in the forest that she’d forgotten to eat at all.
“I’ll call for Yulia,” the village elder said. But then he realized there was no need. “Oh, Yulia, you’re here already.”
Mil turned and saw Yulia looking her way. Yulia was pressed against the wall of the corridor as if trying to hide herself, and her hood was so low that her expression wasn’t visible.
“Um...” It sounded like Yulia was trying hard to speak up. “S-sorry...about earlier...”
Earlier? It took Mil a moment to realize what Yulia meant. Oh, she’s talking about when she ran to her room. She’s even cute when apologizing!
“Don’t be! It’s fine. I just wanna hear more about you.”
“O-Okay...”
Just when Yulia was finally about to reach the table, she cried and tripped again. She’d once more shown how clumsy she could be.
“Ha ha ha. Are you all right?” the village elder asked from where he sat.
Yulia quickly got back up and took a seat beside him. When she lowered her hood, she revealed slightly curled silver hair so beautiful that Mil couldn’t help but fall for her.