Astraea puffed out her cheeks and blew gently, her ten fingers nimbly pressing the holes of the whistle.
As her fingering changed, a melodious, lingering tune spread through the small square at the village center.
Over a dozen children of various ages sat quietly on the ground, entranced by the music.
A little girl hummed softly along with Astraea’s melody.
Nearby, a nun was helping to watch over the village children, and she smiled kindly as she watched Astraea play wholeheartedly for the little ones.
When the song ended, the children applauded.
The little girl who had been humming looked up at Astraea with sparkling eyes.
“Big sister, that was so beautiful! I want to learn this… this…”
“It’s a whistle. The instrument I’m playing is called a whistle.” Astraea smiled as she introduced her instrument. “This is a good friend I’ve carried since my hometown. Thanks to it, I’ve been able to travel all the way here. Little sister, if you want to learn, you can go to the town later.”
Although it seemed a bit dismissive to the little girl, Astraea decided to go along with it. This village didn’t seem very wealthy. She couldn’t stay here long. She planned to buy a new pack animal and then continue on to the kingdom’s capital. She was playing here only because she noticed the village resembled her hometown in this life and felt moved by the sentiment.
‘No, I finally escaped from that boring place. How can I go back?’
Astraea thought this, then added, “It seems there’s a retired musician in the town. Little sister, if you like music, you can try visiting him when you grow up. Maybe he’ll take you as his disciple.”
“Great! I’m going to become a musician too!” The little girl clapped happily, imitating Astraea’s tune, as if she had already become a musician.
In just the time of one song, she could roughly remember the tune. Astraea had to regard her highly. She might really have some talent. Maybe she could become a musician… as if~
This was just an ordinary small village. The little girl would probably only go to town a few times in her whole life. In another two or three years, she would likely be taken by her family to work in the fields, and her life would probably be bound to that land—if she was lucky enough to have good weather and harvests every year. Worse, if a famine came, the land might be mortgaged to the village landlord and she would become a tenant farmer. No matter how you look at it, she has no connection to music. At most, when resting by the ridge, she might recall that she once had such a dream in her youth.
Astraea thought a lot in that moment, but she didn’t say it out loud. She just wanted to see this world. Even if she wanted to intervene, she couldn’t handle so much.
“Thank you, Miss Adventurer.”
The nun approached. She could see the girl’s dismissive attitude, but she had a good impression of this adventurer, whose playing skill was not low. After all, these children were not usually this well-behaved. Mischief was common. The nun had to put a lot of effort into disciplining them.
“May your journey be smooth.”
The nun clasped her hands together, and a faint glow seemed to emanate from her. Astraea then felt a trace of her fatigue disappear.
“Sorry, the village has limited resources. We have nothing to offer you, Miss Adventurer.” After the blessing, the nun seemed a bit apologetic. Such generosity made Astraea feel embarrassed.
“It’s fine! Just receiving your blessing is enough. By the way, Sister, do you know where I can buy a horse? I’d like to purchase a packhorse, or a mule would do.”
Astraea reached out to support the nun, who was about to bow. Although she might never see her again, she didn’t want to come off as an adventurer who liked to throw her weight around. However, she was petite, and in front of the sturdy nun, she looked like a little sister asking a neighbor aunt to bend down so she could whisper something.
“That’s no problem. The lord’s stable should be able to meet your needs, Miss Adventurer. Please come with me.”
Noticing Astraea’s attitude, the nun seemed relieved. Her tone became cheerful, and she walked ahead to lead the way. The boys chattered around the two, telling jokes only they understood, while a few girls kept curiously trying to look at the whistle in Astraea’s hand.
“Big sister, where are you from?”
“I come from a very, very faraway place. From the kingdom’s coast, take a boat, and cross the ocean to reach my hometown.”
“Big sister, is the sea really, really big?”
“Yes, we have to take a very big ship, probably bigger than your house, to cross the sea.”
Various questions like these. At least in this other world where the average physical fitness was much better, the children’s curiosity hadn’t been crushed by the weight of life. Astraea patiently answered each question. She was happy to share this knowledge. Maybe years later, these children would remember a knowledgeable big sister who came to this village with a whistle and played a tune for them.
“Everyone, don’t make things difficult for the Miss Adventurer.”
In the end, it was the nun’s single sentence that quieted the noisy children. Clearly, she held authority in the hearts of the village children. After stealthily glancing at the nun’s thick arms, Astraea seemed to understand where that authority came from.
“Up ahead is the lord’s castle, Miss Adventurer.”
The nun, who looked like she could teach physics with her fists, showed Astraea the most luxurious building in the village.
“Thank you for leading the way, Sister. Please accept this.”
Astraea pulled out a silver coin from under her cloak.
“That’s too generous of you.”
The nun shook her head, not intending to accept it. Seeing this, Astraea didn’t insist and simply withdrew her hand.
“Alright.”
Astraea walked toward the castle. But as she passed the nun, her hand moved almost imperceptibly. The nun clasped her hands together and offered another blessing to Astraea’s retreating figure.
‘A kind adventurer.’
The nun thought this to herself, then began to fret over the children around her. Perhaps because they were afraid of the lord, the children didn’t dare follow Astraea. But their curiosity wasn’t satisfied, so the treatment Astraea had received earlier was transferred to the nun.
“Sister, is what that big sister said true? Is there a really, really big sea outside the kingdom?”
“A ship bigger than our house…”
All of that had nothing to do with Astraea. She no longer wore the gentle expression from before; a hint of disgust appeared on her small face. The disgust wasn’t for the children, but for this lord. On the way, she had chatted a bit with the nun and also observed the village. The village had dirt roads, and most villagers lived in thatched huts. Those who lived in wooden houses were the cream of the self-sufficient farmers. The lord’s stone building had obviously been built by squeezing the villagers for who knows how long.
Unlike the medieval castles with walls and treacherous terrain in Astraea’s memory, this castle only had a wooden palisade. Inside, a small stone building stood on a mound that could be called high ground compared to the rest of the village. On the tower above the wooden gate, a soldier in decent gear stood up from his three-meter-high tower as he saw the cloaked Astraea approaching.
“Halt! Stranger, this is Baron Ili’s territory.”
The soldier, wearing leather armor, stopped Astraea with one hand on his sword. Astraea composed her expression and looked up at him. She put on a fawning smile.
“Sir, I am an adventurer. I wish to purchase a horse from the Baron. Could you please announce me?”
The soldier sized her up. At the moment, Astraea had nothing conspicuous about her. Her small body was hidden under a somewhat dirty green cloak. Her face was somewhat pretty, prettier than the barmaid at the village tavern. Her flaxen hair hung to her shoulders, with a slightly longer braid on each side. Except for being too small to be believable as an adventurer, there was nothing suspicious.
The soldier had seen other adventurers before. Those guys were all tall and sturdy, and rarely traveled alone. This made him suspect Astraea’s identity. So obviously, this little girl was just some kid who had gotten too into adventure games. She must have imagined herself as an adventurer and sneaked out from home.
Thinking this, he retreated back into the tower.
“Whose little girl is this? An adventurer? Go home and drink your milk. Don’t get scared by a beast!”
Astraea’s smile froze on her face. She hadn’t expected to be turned away for such a reason. Was she going to be humiliated by this minion soldier under this ridiculous castle, then go back to the village and try to attend some blacksmith’s wedding just to meet that damned baron? Wait, that seems like a different story. Astraea’s little mind quickly stopped those random thoughts and turned to thinking about how to humiliate this arrogant soldier.
“Hey! I’m no milk-drinking little girl! No wait, I guess I am a little girl… Anyway, I want to see the Baron! Or else, or else I’ll… I’ll uh…”
Astraea gesticulated angrily, but she didn’t know how to retort. In her previous life, she hadn’t been good at communicating. In this life, she was only twenty years old, which for an elf was not much different from a baby. The soldier calling her a little girl was actually overstating her age. But she had long been weaned! And she had been traveling (wandering) in the human kingdom for two years. She was no elf baby anymore!
In the end, Miss Astraea couldn’t come up with any insults and had to turn away in humiliation.
She wasn’t afraid of this soldier. She was just planning for the long term!