Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Three days had passed since Rodan had returned with a bruised up face. And he wouldn't answer Theresia's questions about it either. He just kept silent, wearing a stern expression.

However, they would find out about the reason behind it the next day, from Kurena. Apparently, he had a bout with their neighbor, Gelda, about something.

They could not ascertain what it was about but one thing was certain, this fight took place on the day of the ceremony. Allen could not help but assume that him being ‘talent-less' and having E rank status was the cause.

Every day, Allen would grasp his grimoire tightly and try to send his thoughts to God regarding the fact that his ‘talent' appeared corrupted on the metal board and his status being ‘E' on top of that. He demanded an explanation and correction of the situation. Unfortunately, not a single notice came from the God.

However, during the period Allen was Kenichi, there was a time when an equipment he had created after grinding for a year had vanished due to the servers going down— clearly a blunder by the administration. At that time, he was able to get back his item from the backed up data because he kept requesting the game's staff repeatedly every day. And so, he had made up his mind to keep sending his thoughts like this until the God answers him.

"Allen, are you ready?"

"Yes, mama."

There was not really much to prepare for. He took his bokken just in case, which might be a result of being influenced by Kurena too much.

"Now, now, you're coming along as well. More importantly, you were up just a while ago—why are you lying down again?!"

Theresia pulled Rodan up, who was lying beside Mash. It appears he was still sulking.

*Ding*

*Ding*

*Ding*

The village bell rang, informing it was 3PM.

They will be heading to the house next door now. It was at the end of April. They had finished working on the fields a bit earlier than usual.

(It has been a while since I went to Kurena's place.)

It had been five and a half years since Allen reincarnated in this world. Although he has been playing with his neighbor Kurena ever since they turned three years old, Kurena would come over almost all the time. However, of course, Allen would also go over to her place every now and then.

As they would be having dinner together, Theresia put in the food in the basket and they left the house.

They reached within fifteen minutes.

"Hey, we've been waiting."

A pink-haired, blue-eyed woman greeted them cheerfully. Her hair was curly and short.

"Mithilda, I'm sorry Rodan caused you guys trouble the other day."

"What are you saying? Gelda is also at fault, he should've been more mature."

This young lady, Mithilda, is Kurena's mother. Mithilda led the four of them inside the house. Of course, Mash was brought along as well.

They would be staying over at Kurena's place tonight.

"Alleeen, welcome!!!"

Immediately after they entered, Kurena called out to Allen. Maybe because they had come over as a family, which is rare, Kurena's voice felt more lively than normal.

The floor was an earthen floor, just like Allen's house. They had two rooms and in the front, there was a sunken fireplace. It was almost the same as Allen's house and was built in the same manner.

"Oi, dear, how long will you be sulking?! Or rather, you were awake and fine just a while ago!!"

She went and dragged Gelda, who was lying down like a bear, from the bedroom with one hand. Just like Rodan, Gelda's face was also bruised up.

Afterwards, Mithilda and Theresia worked together to prepare dinner.

"Hey, hey, Allen, Lily has gotten big."

He was led to the children's room while they were waiting. Lily was Kurena's little sister. She had the same pink hair as Kurena. Her father's hair is light brown so she got both her hair and eyes from her mother. She kept saying ‘Daa, daa' and extended her hands towards me with a smile so I did the same. She held my fingers tightly.

(This is… extremely fulfilling!)

Kurena's younger sister Lily was one and a half years old. She was born when Allen was about four years old. It has been a while since he met her but he had heard about her frequently from Kurena.

While doing this and that, dinner was almost ready and they had all gathered around the dining table. They did not really use luxurious ingredients or anything. Just the usual potato, beans, bread and vegetables with chunks of meat in them.

(This feels like a birthday party at the kindergarten I used to go to when I was a kid.)

The sunken fireplace was not very spacious. It is small for two families to sit together but that didn't bother them. Allen felt something very warm from this sight.

"Here, drink."

"Huh?!"

They were still using a rough tone. Gelda casually brought a light-brown colored ceramic like thing. "What is it?" Rodan asked as he held out his empty cup, in which Gelda poured the liquid proudly.

"Is this alcohol?"

"Yeah."

"What's up?"

Rodan looked at Gelda with eyes asking for an explanation behind the alcohol. After all, serfs don't even have alcohol at harvest festivals. The last time Rodan drank alcohol was when he got married to Theresia.

"The mayor came yesterday, you see. He gave it."

"……"

And somehow, Rodan understood from just that. A wrinkle formed between his eyebrows.

Gelda explained what had happened these past three days. The mayor gave him alcohol and it seems he would have to go report to the landlord later. He explained further that he might have to take Kurena all the way to the landlord's town.

Rodan's face wrinkled up even more after hearing this.

"Isn't it fine already? The mayor gave us alcohol since my child can become a master swordsman. There's no need to be bothered by small things like these."

"I'm not bothered, really. I also think it's a good thing. Let alone officer, even being a noble isn't a dream for you anymore."

It is not like Rodan was jealous because Kurena turned out to be a master swordsman.

"If so, then why'd you say you will stop hanging around with us?! Till now, we've alwayssbluggh!!!"

Maybe he was already under the influence of alcohol, Gelda started shouting out his feelings. This frightened Lily and Mash and they started to cry.

And before he could even finish, a clean straight punch landed on his right cheek. It was Mithilda's fist. To stop him from speaking in such a loud voice as the kids will cry.

"…..If nobles were to hang around with serfs, you might lose this precious opportunity. She's the master swordsman, do you understand what that means?"

Rodan said in a somewhat low voice, fearing Mithilda. More than half of the bruises on Gelda and Rodan's face weren't from their fight, it was from Mithilda trying to mediate the situation.

After hearing up to that point, they all understood why those two fought. In this world, serfs can only marry other serfs. Similarly, commoners can only marry other commoners and the same probably goes for nobles as well.

It appears that Allen being talent-less wasn't the cause of their fight.

It would have been a different thing if she had the talent of a swordsman, but her talent is ‘master swordsman', a being who can even be a hero. Kurena had so much talent in her that she wouldn't stop at a knight's level. The mayor plans to go to the landlord himself to report this as well.

Rodan had told Gelda that they should stop socializing, as a whole family. Gelda's response to that was his fist.

(Hmm, a disagreement, eh? I suppose I should intervene now.)

"That reminds me, you guys came to this village together, didn't you?!"

He brought up something he had heard from Rodan long ago. All their attention was now directed to Allen's pure and innocent smile and voice.

"Yea, that's right, Allen. All four of us came from the neighboring village. We've been together, us four, since we were about your age."

Mithilda began talking of the past. It seems all four of them were born into a serf family and had been together for a long time. Of course, since they were serfs, they were poor. Even still, they enjoyed each other's presence.

Rodan and Gelda both were listening quietly.

Ten years ago, at the neighboring village, they came to know that a new village would be built around here. The landlord's messenger conveyed the message: if they were to go to the village and cultivate it, they could keep using the fields forever.

"We talked together like this that time as well, didn't we?"

Theresia also joined in on the conversation.

Although serfs cannot own land, it is rare for it to be seized. However, only the oldest child would inherit after the parent. None of them were the oldest.

Sixy percent of the harvest is taken away as tax from the serfs. It does not matter how many children they have.

All four of them unanimously decided they would come here and cultivate these new lands.

"Right, we came when there was nothing here, and built two houses."

Gelda also followed Theresia and joined in. They first decided that they would need houses and so all four of them helped in building both the houses. Due to this, both houses were built in the same way. They talked about how at first, they only built the sunken fireplace and the earth floor and decided they would make a children's room once they have children.

"That's right…"

Rodan closed his eyes and recalled the past. He did not say anything further but it seemed like he was remembering of the their childhood days and about the time when they first came to this village.

"Ah, right, Allen. Rodan was amazing, you know? Did you hear about the time when he first defeated a great boar?"

"Eh? I have not."

"Wha?! Stop it!!!"

Rodan stopped Gelda from speaking any further by covering his mouth. They continued chatting happily.

(Thank goodness, they were able to reconcile.)

Their childhood memories and hardships of cultivating this village helped them reconcile with each other. And like that, the talk continued late in the night.