Chapter 10: Tree Climbing with Friends

From the next day onward, I was assaulted by the children on a daily basis. For the villagers of the unchanging village, my cute appearance on top of my heterochromia iridis and silver hair seemed to be an article of curiosity. Besides, there were only a dozen children in this village. Of course, if you considered the parish that governed these villages, there were several times more, but it was not close enough to freely move back and forth between the villages. All because my village was such a closed community, I, as the new member, could be said to be an existence that people wanted to get involved with by all means.

The residence where I lived was the biggest house in the village. But it could be said that it was a modest home for the heroes of salvation, Lyell and Maria.

A two-story stone building. Four rooms on each floor. Apart from that, there was also a dining room, a living room, a kitchen, a bath, and a study on the first floor. On the second floor, instead of the rooms like on the first floor, a balcony was installed, and it became possible to dry the laundry there. There was also a small garden; a stable was set up in the corner, and two horses were tied to it.

In the garden, solid footprints were left on the ground as proof of Lyell’s serious training. Every day, he would tread down on the ground left a mold here and there.

The boundary between the garden and the street were separated by the low thicket and a fence, and it was to the point where even children can cross it if they felt like it. Because it was a safe village, it had rough measures.

The children went under the fence and began their assault. Until then, it was said that no children were allowed to sneak into the heroes’ house. Besides, I specialized in avoiding eye contact, so the villagers did not know I existed. Of course, the villagers knew who I was now, but there should only be a few who actually saw me.

Anyways, once they found out that I was the same as them, they removed their walls of wariness. They climbed over the wall openly during the day and came to invite me.

“Nicole-chan, let’s playyy.” “A tree outside the village grew cherries, let’s go pick themmm.” “Geez! Can you boys only think about food?”

Sure enough, the children came while I was secretly training in magic manipulation. Lyell, the owner of this house, was not at the residence during the day because of his patrolling work. At the same time, Maria also had church work, so she was not at the residence.

Recently, my care was not needed anymore, so she resumed work at the church. Of course, it was impossible to leave a 3-year-old child alone in the house so the servant Finia was taking care of me.

As for Finia, she was cleaning the residence, so she took her eyes off me. As a servant, that was not praiseworthy, but as she managed the mansion and took care of a child at the same time, that would be too much to ask of her. In the first place, an ordinary three-year-old child like me wouldn’t move around too actively. So it should be fine even if she took her eyes off me for a short while.

As far as the children’s invitation was concerned, it’s an unwelcome favor. But I was far more delicate than the average child. Just playing with them, it would become plenty for stamina training.

“Sure. Then let me tell Finia.” “I understand, we’ll be waiting.”

Making the most childish voice that I could, I answered. Playing with them led to reassuring my parents that were worried about me as I liked to be alone. Lyell aside, I did not want to worry Maria who took care of me in my previous life. In addition, when I got tired from playing, I could go to sleep early in the night and avoid having Lyell tease me to the point of irritation when he returned home.

However, no matter how much I thought it would be fine if I quietly disappeared, Finia would be worried. If I did something untactful, she would get in contact with Lyell, and it might make the situation take a turn for the worst. So it was necessary to contact her beforehand.

Finia looked a bit worried, but since I said I was going with the other children, she allowed us to go out. Of course, it was strictly prohibited to go outside the village.

Together with the five children, we came up to the tree on the outskirts of the village. Various trees were planted around this village, and seasonal fruits could be gathered. Because this tree did not belong to anyone, it often became a target for the children’s snack time.

The cherry tree was one of the targets of enjoyment for the children. The cherry trees were not so tall and they also had a good shape, so it seemed like the kids could easily climb them.

A small red fruit was peeping into view from the gap of the lush leaves. Since the undergrowth was also thick, it was unlikely to be injured even if one fell. The children divided into three-men groups and started climbing the trees. One person’s role was to catch cherries under. One person took the role of a safety assistant who would break the fall if the other person fell. The last person climbed the tree and dropped the cherries.

Now, there were only six children, so only two teams could be formed. I picked my cherries with the children of the same age.

“Hmm, oh, I’ll climb the tree and drop the cherries.” “Oh, Nicole, are you fine with that?” “It’s okay, even if I look like this, my body is on the lighter side.”

Even before I was reincarnated, I was one of the heroes. I might have less muscular strength and stamina compared to my previous life, but I had confidence in my reflexes and my body lightness was above average. Tree climbing was a piece of cake. I stretched my limbs as much as I could and I climbed the branches casually. That speed was impossible for a 3-year-old child. However, stamina remained a fatal problem. I was out of breath when I climbed the branch.

“Hey, Nicole, are you really fine?” “Yea, I’m fine…… just leave it to me.”

It was pitiful, but I was gasping for breath and my fingertips were trembling. However, there was no problem with picking fruits. I slowly moved to the end of the branch, tore off the cherry fruit and dropped it to a child on the ground.

Finally, I finished all the places that I could pick easily and descended to the ground. Then, we tasted the sourness of fresh cherries together and enjoyed the taste of spring. My belly was satisfied. There were quite a few cherries, but they seemed to be a bit insufficient to satisfy the belly of the six children in the group. The boys specifically seemed to be unsatisfied.

“Well, that tree over there is also growing some too, so let’s go fetch some?” “Oh, but isn’t that tree beyond the fence?”

One of the boys pointed to a big tree and said so. There was a big cherry tree on the other side of the fence that warded off monsters. Perhaps it budded before the birds could eat it. However, the tree was outside of the village, although only a little bit.

“It’s dangerous. My dad will get angry.” “It’s alright! After all, it’s only a few feet from the fence, right? Even if a monster comes out, we can just run away.” “Is that so?”

One of the girls and I began but we were pushed by the boys’ forceful arguments. However, this was a bad idea.

“No, I came here on condition that I stay in the village.” “Tsk, then fine, we’ll go alone!”

The boys, who lost their temper at the girl’s indecisive attitude, passed under the fence. The fence whose purpose is to ward off monsters had a large gap, so children could pass under it.

“Ah, come on!”

No matter how you put it, I could not overlook the reckless action of the children going outside, could I? After I kicked the ground and expressed frustration, I chased after them.