"Kirgil, sleep well?"
From the morning, someone boldly flung open the door to my room without knocking.
In this village, the only ones who'd do that were the village chief, Reshi, and Ferio.
"Oh, Reshi's still asleep too. Sorry about that—I'll step out for a bit."
Reshi was just rubbing her eyes awake at the sound of Ferio's voice.
"Ah, no, it's fine, Lady Ferio. I'll head out right away."
Reshi finally snapped to attention, threw on her clothes, and started hurrying to get ready to leave.
It almost looked like she'd been caught cheating by the wife of the house.
Just to emphasize, in case anyone's wondering—no, nothing weird or naughty happened. Absolutely not.
Reshi was just stepping aside because someone of higher status had arrived.
Of course, she already knew full well what kind of relationship Ferio and I had.
In the world I came from, this might've been morning soap opera drama, but here? This was a world with rigid class structures.
The hierarchy sorted itself out in an instant.
It wasn't that there were no feelings involved, but she seemed to accept there was nothing to be done about it.
That's why she was rushing to make herself scarce now. It was just common sense here.
I didn't want to see the two of them at odds, but moments like this really drove home how scary class-based societies could be.
It made me feel unnecessarily guilty.
"Reshi, thanks so much again for today."
I pulled Reshi into a hug as she headed out, stroking her hair… whoa, my arm's numb!?
"Hehe, sorry. Guess I fell asleep using it as a pillow again."
Good thing my feelings got across just fine.
Reshi rubbed her head lightly against my chest like she was leaving her scent behind, then hurried off to get going.
She even packed up some of the horned deer meat I'd hunted and butchered yesterday.
It was only polite to send her home to her family—who'd lent me their precious daughter—with something in return.
As Reshi's warmth left the house, Ferio slipped in to take her place.
"Ferio, didn't you say you were heading home for the winter?"
"I did. And I went."
As if to prove it, she unpacked various things from the bag slung over her shoulder and set them down.
There was booze, a sword… and a hand mirror??
"This was for Reshi. Forgot to give it to her earlier."
Even though Reshi had to yield the room, the two of them had always been close.
Even back in my world, women old enough to be a guy's mom would have these baffling relationships that no man could ever wrap his head around.
Seemed like it was the same here.
Husbands might hate each other's guts, but the wives still met up and chatted.
Or women fighting over one guy would suddenly drop him and start hanging out with each other instead.
Whether close or not, they made an effort to keep up appearances and connections.
Stuff like that was hard for guys to get.
Apparently, full-on catfights—hair-pulling, kimchi slap-fests—were rare enough to only show up in dramas.
A hand mirror, though? In a remote spot like this, that was a real luxury item.
No proper mirrors around here, so if you wanted to pretty up, you needed someone else's help.
Bringing something like this showed Ferio really looked out for Reshi.
Yeah, they were definitely friends.
"Kirgil, you and Reshi really just sleep together?"
"Obviously? That's always been the case."
"Sigh."
"Wait, why are you sighing like that?"
I still couldn't wrap my head around the chastity norms here.
By the standards of my old world, what Ferio and I had going would basically count as dating.
But if your girlfriend asked if you weren't dating some other girl?
What kind of face was I supposed to make?
"Reshi was fretting that 'Uncle doesn't see me as a woman.'"
So what was I supposed to do about it? Anyway, that was a total misunderstanding.
"Reshi's a cute girl. Give her two or three more years, and she'll be turning heads as a beauty. I guarantee it."
Ferio let out another pitiful sigh at my words.
What could I do? Anything lewd with a minor just triggered my psychological hard no.
Sure, on the internet, you could be a fictional lolicon or whatever, but touching a real kid? That wasn't human.
At least, not where I came from.
"You're really set on becoming an adventurer, huh."
"Hm?"
Her words felt a bit off-kilter, but there was some real weight behind them I couldn't ignore.
"Never mind. We'll skip it for now."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇Why had Ferio come straight back to my place?
Obvious. Training, same as always.
She always said real skill came from consistent practice—even in the rain or after fighting monsters, it was nonstop.
One more to add: snow or shine, training.
I'd been about to argue that during hunting season, maybe take it easy a bit…
But weirdly, Ferio seemed in a great mood.
With her warhorse Pony sticking right by her side, her humming face was plain as day.
"Hey, after that long trip home, something good happen?"
"Nope. Nothing."
Whoa. She went dead serious all of a sudden.
"To the Prosek family, I'm just a knight. Or was."
"...Was?"
"After spring, I might become a lady for the family's sake."
"You, Ferio?"
"Yeah. I know a dress doesn't suit me."
"Knight to lady, huh? Getting all metaphorical and poetic now.
Someone might mistake you for a literature girl."
The old Ferio would've chucked her shield at me for a joke like that.
"Hehe, thanks to you."
Now she could even laugh it off lightly.
"Not teasing—this time. You've really turned into an attractive woman lately. More mature, I guess."
"Learned a lot from the people around me. Especially in this village."
"You can just say 'from me.'"
"Got it. So tonight, I plan to learn plenty more at your place."
"Hold up! I've got hunting tonight too! Full moon's still going!"
"Then I'll train you."
"Oh ho? Joking like that now? Who'd you learn cheesy lines like that from?"
I could guess why Ferio had rushed back from her family home.
We got along great like this, but she was nobility—with all the responsibilities that came with it.
A political marriage for the family was a duty she couldn't refuse.
Noble entanglements were a whole other world, nothing a rootless middle-aged guy like me could touch.
Which meant our time bantering and training together was running out.
Telling me to look after Reshi? Probably because she couldn't stick around forever.
That's why noble-commoner romances always ended up as fleeting flings.
Ferio being in high spirits here? A brief escape from all those duties, most likely.
"Kirgil, being with you is just so comfortable."
"Give my body a break too."
"Night? Or day?"
"Look at you. Maybe I should start calling you Lady Knight now."
We laughed and joked like that, silently agreeing to set aside our inescapable worries and live in the moment.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇The moment we arrived at the outpost on the village outskirts, I spotted a familiar young man.
Been wondering where he'd been lately—turns out he was out here.
"Kras has been training hard lately. Take a page from his book, Kirgil."
"Thanks to a certain knight's tough love."
He was so deep in training with the garrison soldiers that he couldn't hear us talking.
Hauling heavy supply crates—a classic weight-training drill.
Fantasy world or not, it wasn't all sword-swinging.
Heck, even back home, riflemen didn't fire rifles every day.
Kras had been a punk, but he seemed to be turning over a new leaf.
Ferio chewing him out and the village chief smoothing things over must've shifted something in him.
Plus, bonding with not just villagers but soldiers during that last goblin subjugation had broadened his horizons—taught him to read the room.
Being around people made him learn shame.
People really do change through other people, huh.
Made me wonder if internet trolls would improve too if they got real attention or met enough folks.
Nah, probably not always.
Some folks—like me—realized after work that avoiding people and quietly enjoying hobbies solo was way more peaceful.
Plus, in that world, money let anyone live as a total loner.
Eh, what was I even thinking? Pointless now.
Anyway, giving the young guy a shot was important. Even Yi Sun-sin became a great general that way.
For now, just be glad Kras was improving. I'd cheer him on quietly in my head.
"...!?"
Ah. Kras spotted us.
"..."
Pretending not to notice and back to training.
Yeah. I got that loner mindset perfectly.
Better to quietly pass by like you never saw them than force an awkward, soulless greeting or chat.
"Unit, atten-HUT!!"
We'd tried slipping in quietly, but there's always that one clueless guy.
The gate guard, mid-yawn, bellowed it out, drawing every soldier's eyes.
No helping it. Ferio was their commander.
Plus, she'd returned way ahead of schedule, so the troops were bound to be surprised.
I had some experience with this stuff. Totally expected it.
That's why I'd brought out the horned deer meat from yesterday's hunt to soothe the shocked soldiers.
And I'd casually let a friendly one know we'd be heading back together after training for a while.
They wouldn't blab publicly, but they had the gist of me and Ferio.
Anyway, the unit scored some prime booze snacks today, and the commander's out for the evening.
Get the picture?
Have a good time~
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