The Boy Who Ruled the Alley
The temperature had turned chilly, as if hinting that winter would be here before long.
"I'm going into the city for a bit, so don't wait up. Eat dinner on your own."
Agatha bent at the waist and tied the laces of her boots. The nearby city was Senium, the holy city that the game called the starting point.
She had to grow stronger by raising the stats gained with each level-up at the city temple. In the game, you could level up by hunting monsters or doing good deeds, and even the book she had read in Agatha's study after her reincarnation mentioned something similar.
Hilde watched Agatha straighten her long, slightly tousled hair after bending over. She looked far too young to be raising an eleven-year-old.
At twenty-nine, she had the same bright blond hair as Hilde, though hers was a deeper navy-blue shade, and she always wore a smile; yet when her face went blank, the beautiful features took on an oddly eerie air. The neatly kept sword and dagger in Agatha's room also made Hilde think there was a chance her mother was not just some married woman, but a seasoned adventurer. But that wasn't the only unusual thing.
She doesn't look anything like me...
For a mother and daughter, Agatha and Hilde didn't resemble each other much at all.
They were both beautiful, but Agatha had narrow, slanted eyes, so when the two of them went out together, people often mistook them for siblings or cousins rather than mother and daughter.
Even before she had her memories from her previous life, Hilde had sometimes wondered whether the woman raising her was really her biological mother. But because Agatha had cared for her since she was very little, it didn't seem all that important.
"I'll keep the house safe. What time will you be back today?"
"Probably before you go to bed. Heh heh."
Seeing the adorable little Hilde seeing her off so sweetly, Agatha's cheeks colored faintly. She patted the child's head once, then went outside.
Hilde watched until the front door closed behind her. Whether Agatha was her birth mother or not didn't matter, she decided. The bond between mother and child had already grown too deep to be broken.
Hilde finished the lunch and after-meal tea Agatha had prepared, then dragged her drowsy body through the dishes and a bit of light housecleaning.
In this world, commoners did little more than eat, sleep, and play under their parents' roof until the age of fifteen, but by around twelve, they usually started learning what their parents did by watching closely and slowly preparing to enter society. But from what Hilde could tell, Agatha had always stayed home with her, and while she never said much, it didn't seem as though she had any kind of regular job.
She was just a beautiful, wealthy, full-time married housewife raising a child alone in a mountain village like this. It was strange, that was all.
When she finished cleaning, she sat down as if collapsing onto the sofa and closed her eyes, listening to the crackling fire in the hearth. The thought came to her that it wouldn't be so bad to live like this forever.
Knock, knock, knock.
A little later, at the familiar knock on the front door, Hilde pushed herself upright with a groan, yawned, and shuffled over to answer it.
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Victor. Hilde, want to play together today?"
"Um... all right. Could you wait a moment?"
"Sure, I'll wait."
Playing with the neighborhood kids was a hassle, but Agatha was out and, with nothing but books to keep her company until night, staying home would be even more boring.
Hilde went back to her room, pushed aside most of the skirts and dresses in her wardrobe, and put on something more androgynous before slinging a small bag of snacks over her shoulder.
Before she had the memories of her previous life, she had liked pretty clothes and skirts and worn them often, but now they made her feel oddly uneasy.
Hilde stepped up to the mirror. No matter what she wore, her face seemed to carry it all.
Bright blond hair, a smallish face, and a sharp nose. The corners of her eyes tilted up like a cat's, but she didn't look cold; rather, she had a striking, refined beauty. She was so beautiful that even idols and actors from her previous life didn't seem like fair comparison, and for a moment she wondered if a person could really be born looking like this. But she set the question aside, left the room, and headed outside for Victor, who was waiting for her.
Once she stepped out, Victor blew into his hands against the cold and then smiled when he saw her emerge.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Nah, I wasn't waiting long. Here, take this. It's cold, so at least put this on."
It was hard to tell whether he was treating her like a little sister from the neighborhood or like a girlfriend, but Victor handed her the fluffy fur coat he had been wearing. Then he held out his hand as if asking her to take it.
"Today's a special event day. Let's go watch."
Hilde wondered what meaning there could be in holding hands, but thinking he was just looking after a younger child, she took it. She also wondered what business there could possibly be in this quiet mountain village, but she said nothing and followed where Victor led her.
Hilde's house was on the far side of the village from the entrance, but since it was a tiny mountain settlement, ten minutes of walking brought them to the open lot near the gate. There, a crowd of village kids around the age of fifteen had already gathered.
"Hilde! Over here, over here! Why have you been so hard to see lately?"
A cute girl with short red hair came pattering over. Her name was Bridget, and she was a year older than Hilde. She looked genuinely happy to see Hilde, though there was also a faintly hurt look in her eyes. Bridget hugged Hilde and whispered,
"Well, I guess it's not all your fault, is it? It's because of the older boys, right? Everyone's got it bad for you, Hilde."
Bridget shot Victor, who stood beside Hilde, a sharp look.
"Nice to see you too, Bridget. It's been, what, three days?"
Hilde said with a smile. Bridget snorted at the prim, proper tone, then stepped closer and took Hilde's hand.
Victor, who had been feeling out of place under Bridget's fiery, no-nonsense energy despite being the older one, decided to change the subject in order to ease the atmosphere. It seemed like all the village's young people were gathered in this one open space. There were only about thirty of them, though.
"You know why everyone's gathered here? Heh heh."
Victor let out a teasing laugh and watched them. In truth, unless there was some major village event, there was no reason for everyone to gather like this, so Hilde was curious as well. Victor paused as if to draw things out, and Bridget clicked her tongue.
"Why don't you just say it? Everyone's packed in here because they're choosing the next village chief."
"The next village chief? This is the first I've heard of that. Out of nowhere?"
To her surprise, the chief representing this mountain village was chosen by election. The people of that generation voted for the person they believed could lead the village well, and whoever received the most votes became chief. But this was the first Hilde had heard of it, so she found it strange. There had always been plenty of kids her age coming up to her almost every day, trying to strike up a conversation while they played together.
"Garrett and Smith started fighting all of a sudden," Victor explained, shrugging. "They both said they wanted to be the village's representative hunter or whatever. So the whole thing got thrown together."
Hilde quietly shook her head at the slapdash way this mountain village did things. She was starting to worry seriously about its future.
Next village chief, my ass. This is just picking the neighborhood alley boss.
"Hi, Hilde! You look even brighter today."
"Hilde keeps getting prettier. How does that even happen?"
Seeing her arrive, the kids came over to greet her warmly. She might have drawn the attention of the boys in the village and inspired jealousy among the girls, but Hilde was always kind and fair to everyone, so even the girls her age liked her, despite her younger-child vibe. Though, of course, she was only acting like a nice pushover to meet the conditions for the Holy Stigma she would receive at fifteen.
For some reason, as soon as Hilde arrived, a fierce determination seemed to spring up in the boys' eyes. At a glance, it looked as if the moment they became next village chief, they were already imagining dating her and eventually marrying her. The atmosphere had changed so much that not only Hilde, but everyone else, could feel it too.
"All right, listen up! Some of you may have come here to watch, but most of you are probably here because you want to become the next chief."
Up ahead, Smith shouted loudly to get everyone's attention. With the scar on his cheek, sturdy build, and rough impression, he didn't look like one of the kids their age at all; he looked like a grown man. If Garrett looked like an orc, Smith seemed more like an ogre. Of course, Hilde had never seen either in person.
Apparently he had shouted too loudly, because Smith cleared his throat and spoke again.
"We'll be holding three events, as tradition dictates. First is a duel, second is hunting, and the third is a treasure hunt. Any objections?"
Smith looked around, but no one objected. A few boys were displeased that Smith had taken the lead in explaining everything, but since one person had to run the whole thing and there wasn't much advantage to becoming next village chief, they swallowed their complaints. Most of them were probably just intimidated by Smith's frightening face.
"All right, then let's not waste time. The rules for the duel are simple: all you have to do is knock your opponent down. Break a bone or attack a vital point, and you're out immediately. The duel winner will be the one who wins the most matches without losing."
Two people would duel, and the bouts would continue until someone lost. Anyone who couldn't win even once was eliminated on the spot, and the key was how many opponents they could defeat in a row.
Satisfied with the atmosphere, Smith kept the momentum going.
"Then I'll go first. Who wants to challenge me?"
Smith, who usually lorded over this mountain village anyway, spoke with absolute confidence, but everyone only exchanged glances. Judging by the odds, no one wanted to be the first to step up and lose.
"I will. I'll wipe that smug look off your face, heh."
Victor climbed up onto the arena of fine sand. Cheers and cries of "Ooooh!" rose from both the boys and the girls.
"Guh...!"
Victor was sent flying three seconds after the match began.