Chapter 4: The Appraisal Ceremony
Chapter 4: The Appraisal Ceremony
Five and a half years had passed since Allen was first born into this world. It was now spring and halfway through April. Today, Theresia and Rodin had been quite restless ever since the morning.
“Don’t make trouble for the father, okay?”
“I understand, mama.”
This exchange had already taken place more than ten times since yesterday. Allen stood patiently as his mother brushed dust off his outfit again.
“Theresia, Allen’s a smart kid. You know he wouldn’t do anything he shouldn’t. It’s time. We’re off.”
Today was the day of Allen’s Appraisal Ceremony.
My parents sure are gung-ho about this, he thought as he reflected over what he had been told the past few days.
The Appraisal Ceremony was an occasion to appraise each individual for their innate Talent, if they had one at all. It was law in this kingdom that everyone, from royalty to serfs, must undertake this ceremony when they reached five years of age. Depending on the Talent, the child could be promised a government job in the future, regardless of social class. This was one of the few ways for serfs to escape their lowly station.
Allen found himself making his way to the center of the frontier village. It was just him and Rodin; Theresia had stayed behind to take care of Mash. As his father led him down the farm road, Allen heard a very familiar voice.
“Alleeeen!” Krena shouted, energetically waving her arm as her pink hair fluttered in the wind.
Thinking about how long it had been since he last saw her without a wooden sword, Allen replied, “Hey, Krena. You’re going to the Appraisal Ceremony too?”
“Mm-hm! I’m gonna get Swordswoman! And then I’m gonna become a knight!” Krena replied with a bright smile.
Krena was also going to take part in the ceremony today. It was held only once annually in April for all the children that turned five within the year. The Church was hardly going to make the arrangements again and again for each child’s birthday.
Beside Krena was the burly Gerda. The two families began walking together as a group of four. Before long, they had left the fields behind and arrived at the area of the village packed with buildings. Along the way, Krena went into detail about her dream of becoming a knight, practically repeating word for word what she had told Allen yesterday and the day before.
Even after Allen was born, the population of this village had continued rising. By now, the village center was quite well-developed. The last time Allen had been here was when Rodin brought him to watch a great boar butchering when he was one year old. Back then there were only a handful of buildings, the memory of which proved a sharp contrast to the current state of the village.
The ceremony would be starting at 9 a.m. Although it was still a bit early, there was already a crowd of nearly a hundred in front of the building that was very clearly the church. What Allen first noticed about the people was the cleanliness of their clothing. Although everyone was wearing hemp, there were some—serfs—with conspicuous brown stains on their clothes, presumably from working frequently in the fields and having no easy access to soap. The stains served as a conspicuous visual mark of the difference in accessibility to various resources between social classes.
Whoa, the difference between commoners and serfs is that obvious, huh? Wait, so the commoners are appraised together with the serfs?
When the nine o’clock bell clanged, the large double doors opened and clergymen emerged, wearing full-body robes of matching design.
This is gonna be my first time entering the church, Allen thought as he and his father were guided inside by the clergy.
The exterior appearance of the building seemed to imply that there were two floors, but it turned out to be a single floor with a vaulted ceiling. At the far end, pure white statues—both male and female, similar in style to the ones made of Greek mythological figures—towered over all who drew near. There was little doubt that these were representations of this world’s deities.
Let me guess, this one’s holding what looks like a rice plant, so he’s probably the God of Bountiful Harvest. And that one is holding a weapon, so...Goddess of War, I’d guess. But the one standing in the middle and farthest in the back...that’s definitely the God of Creation.
The statue of Elmea depicted him as a man in his late twenties with waist-length hair, a toned build, and fair features. Both of his eyes were closed and the top half of his body was bare. None of the deities had wings. Allen thought back to when he turned one and received a message from Elmea through his grimoire. He had not received any other contact since.
The group of parents and children were instructed to sit together in a group on the ground. When they were all settled, the one who appeared to be the most senior clergyman came forward.
“Thank you all for gathering today for the Appraisal Ceremony.”
The serfs started when all the commoners bowed their heads, then quickly mimicked what they saw. The commoners apparently visited the church frequently—at least, enough to have a basic grasp of the etiquette involved. Of course, Allen obediently followed suit as well.
The senior clergyman continued, “Elmea, the God of Creation, grants opportunity equally to all. Those of you born as serfs might not be as familiar with the stories, but there are those of your status who have gone on to become champions of our country.”
The villagers stirred, buzzing with amazement at this claim. Many of the parents present today were hearing this for the first time, as they were here with their first child to reach five years of age.
The village itself had been founded ten years ago. The first two to three years saw rather meager harvests, which made it difficult to survive, much less consider children. By the fourth year, however, the development of the village had gradually gotten on track and the crop yields started stabilizing. Thanks to this, the families finally had the leeway to start having children. Rodin and Theresia were part of this group. In other words, the thirty or so children here, including Allen, made up the village’s first baby boom.
“As examples, Clasys the Saintess was born as a commoner. Dverg the Sword Lord, who is actively serving our kingdom even today, was born as a serf.”
As the clergyman’s voice reverberated through the room, the villagers became increasingly astonished, their murmurs buzzing louder in turn.
Ahh, I get it now.
Among the crowd, Allen was the only one who actually understood what the clergyman was saying. He thought back to when he was still choosing his preferences for this “game” on his computer. When he selected classes with lots of stars, such as Hero or Sword Lord, the game restricted the social classes that he could become to the lower strata. The setup was such that class and social class were inversely correlated. It was therefore impossible for powerful classes to be born from royalty or upper nobility.
Which means that what I saw as settings for character selection are the actual foundations of this world. So that’s why the people here are so thorough about testing even the serfs for Talents, which I assume refers to the job classes. So that no Talent-holder goes undiscovered.
As the senior clergyman went on to give a simple rundown of the Appraisal Ceremony, other clergy members carried over a crystal and set it up in front of him. The children were to place their hands on this crystal, after which the results of their appraisal would display on the pitch-black surface of a 170-cm-tall metallic panel that stood next to the clergyman.
Hmm, so the crystal won’t change colors or glow? The results of the appraisal will just show u— Wait, so it’ll be all public? Well, I guess there’s no hiding the results, not in front of this many people.
Soon enough, the Appraisal Ceremony began.
“Pelomas, son of Deboji. Step forward and place your hands on the crystal,” the senior clergyman said in a sonorous tone, reading from a parchment that likely contained the list of the names of all thirty or so children present.
The village chief Deboji led his son forward and brought him before the crystal. Upon being prompted again by the clergyman, the little boy laid both his hands on the ball. It emanated a faint glow that was sucked toward the metallic panel, which then displayed silver-colored lines of text.
Hold on a moment! So, it basically works like how my grimoire does?! Does that mean the function of the Appraisal Ceremony was just incorporated into my grimoire automatically?
“Wonderful! You have the Talent of a Merchant. Congratulations.”
Name: Pelomas
HP: C
MP: D
Attack: D
Endurance: C
Agility: D
Intelligence: B
Luck: B
Talent: Merchant
The village chief whooped with delight as he saw the Talent and threw his arms around his son, squeezing him fiercely. Pelomas also looked happy, albeit a bit smothered.
Is Deboji happy about Merchant specifically, or is he just happy that his son had a Talent at all? And the stats are displayed as ranks. I see.
Allen called out his grimoire and noted down the results of Pelomas’s appraisal. Another commoner boy was called up next. His father also brought him forward, and he placed his hands over the crystal.
Once again, silver text appeared on the metallic panel. The Talent field said “None,” causing the father’s shoulders to slump in disappointment. However, he then simply withdrew with no attempt to protest the result, as if understanding that the reading was absolute.
The appraisals continued. After Pelomas, most of the other children were Talentless and had stats that only went up to C at most. Because the senior clergyman was calling the commoners first, the serfs were still waiting. Those who had already been appraised were free to either return home or stay behind to watch the other children’s results.
“I did it, papa! I got Ax User! It says I’m an Ax User!”
The seventh child, a stocky little boy, rejoiced with his father when the clergyman informed them of his Talent.
Name: Dogora
HP: B
MP: D
Attack: A
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Intelligence: D
Luck: C
Talent: Ax User
Wow! That’s the first time an “A” has shown up in anybody’s Status. And he has a Talent! That can’t be a coincidence. Does this mean those without Talents naturally have lower stats? Just as he had done for all the others, Allen copied down this boy’s Status into the grimoire, jotting down his thoughts in the margins.
It was not long before the senior clergyman had finished appraising the commoner children and moved on to calling the serfs. Most of them also turned out to be Talentless. When one child was pronounced to be a Cleric, the clergyman told both the child and parent to stay behind afterward.
I still haven’t been called... Not that I mind—I’m glad I’ve got the chance to survey such a large sample of Statuses.
As it turned out, Krena and Allen were the last two children. While the majority had already left, a handful of families stood in the back of the chamber, having chosen to stay behind out of curiosity.
“Krena, daughter of Gerda. Step forward and place your hands on the crystal.”
“Okay!” The pink-haired girl approached the crystal, led by her father. She placed both hands onto it, beaming.
That instant, the crystal lit up far brighter than it had all day. The clergy and remaining parents all jolted in surprise. Even Gerda’s face was filled with astonishment.
When the light subsided, the metallic plate displayed the results of Krena’s appraisal. The senior clergyman started trembling like a leaf as he fell into an even greater shock, stuttering, “I-It appeared! I can’t believe it!”
“What is it?! Father, what does it say?!” Gerda asked pressingly. Like most serfs, he did not know how to read or write aside from the names of his family members. Everything on the metallic panel was gibberish to him aside from “Krena.”
“S-Sword Lord! Your daughter’s Talent is Sword Lord!”
Name: Krena
HP: S
MP: C
Attack: S
Endurance: A
Agility: A
Intelligence: C
Luck: B
Talent: Sword Lord
“Did he just say ‘Sword Lord’?!”
“A Sword Lord has been born!”
The inside of the church immediately fell into an uproar. Everyone kept exchanging looks between Krena and her appraisal results.
The girl herself, however, looked both disappointed and confused. “I’m not a Swordswoman?” she asked, her head tilted.
The pitch-black surface now displayed the words “Sword Lord” and stats that were head and shoulders beyond that of any other child so far, all in brilliant silver letters.
Both Gerda and Rodin were entirely petrified, seemingly having trouble processing the revelation. Allen was the only person still calm, occupied with recording his childhood friend’s Status into his grimoire.
I had a hunch this was how it’d end up. Honestly, there was no way she was just a Swordswoman—not with her laughably overwhelming strength.
It had been two and a half years since Krena and Allen started playing knight together. Although they did so for only an hour each day, it had still been enough to raise Allen’s Sword Mastery to Lvl. 3. The number of wooden swords that had been snapped now numbered more than ten. As such, he had taken to making his own wooden swords as of late.
After the appraisal was done for all thirty-one children, the final tally was as follows:
1 x Sword Lord (Krena)
1 x Ax User (commoner)
1 x Cleric (serf)
1 x Merchant (village chief’s son)
27 x Talentless
If I’m to make an educated guess from this sample, it means the large majority of people in this world are Talentless. Only roughly one out of every ten actually possesses a Talent.
“Lastly, Allen, son of Rodin. Step forward and place your hands on the crystal.”
Finally, it was Allen’s turn to be appraised. Rodin brought him before the crystal.
My parents will learn about me being a Summoner after this. Before, there was no way for me to explain to them even if I wanted to, so this makes for a perfect opportunity.
During the past five and a half years, even after Theresia had reduced countless Denkas into bubbles of lights, Allen had not told his parents that he was a Summoner. One reason was because he had no answer if his parents asked how he knew of his own class. Moreover, he had no need to run the risk of explaining himself.
When Allen’s hands got close to the crystal, it practically exploded in light.
“WHAT?!”
Once again, everyone reacted with complete surprise. The light was even greater than during Krena’s turn. It shone like a small sun, prompting several to throw up a hand over their eyes.
When the light faded, silver letters appeared on the black metallic panel.
“Th-This is...but...” The senior clergyman rubbed his eyes as if doubting what he was seeing.
Rodin, who could not read, asked apprehensively, “Um, Father, what is the result?”
“Huh? Oh, um... I’m sorry, your son is Talentless.”
“I...see...”
Rodin had watched Allen and Krena play knight many times before. The way his son handled his wooden sword was completely different from what other children the same age could do. This had given Rodin the expectation that Allen was a Swordsman.
Looks like my father’s disappointed about the result. I don’t really mind being “Talentless” all that much, but what I wanna know is what the heck is actually going on with my reading?! Was the God of Creation slacking off?!
Allen stared at the metallic panel, somewhat incredulous.
Name: Allen
HP: E
MP: E
Attack: E
Endurance: E
Agility: E
Intelligence: E
Luck: E
Talent: å☐¬å—šå£«
Why is the text in my Talent field all garbled?!
The silver text on the jet-black panel showed all of Allen’s stats as “E” and his Talent as unintelligible gibberish. The senior clergyman had likely declared him Talentless because the text did not mean anything.
There were a few commoners present who could read. Allen’s stats, when considered together with his lack of Talent, set off a wave of murmurs discussing how “pitiful” his Status was. Rodin, who seemed to have heard all those whispers, looked at his son with a face filled with shock.
“Ahem. Rodin, do not forget that Allen is still your precious child. Raise him well.”
When the clergyman in charge of keeping records of all the Status readings finished writing down Allen’s as well, the letters on the metallic panel disappeared.
Although the Appraisal Ceremony was already over, it was still before noon. Rodin left the church with Allen, his shoulders slumped as they started for home. Gerda and Krena quickly followed after them, the church staff making no move to stop them. Just like everyone else, they were apparently free to go. While on the road back, Gerda did his best to cheer Rodin up, but he was largely unresponsive to his efforts.
They let Krena go just like that? After all the fuss they made about her being a Sword Lord? Ah, no, they’ll probably come talk to her again another day, I imagine.
Because Allen’s head had been bowed the entire way, Rodin assumed he was depressed. When Gerda and Krena parted with them and he was finally alone with Allen, he turned to him and said, “Allen, you are my son. Don’t worry—I will raise you with everything I’ve got. However, mama will worry, so let’s still let her know what the father said, okay?”
“Wha—?” Allen looked up, then pulled a smile. “Oh, of course, papa.” Indeed he had been engrossed with his thoughts, but it was not from being depressed. He was simply preoccupied with analyzing all the new information that he had added to his grimoire this morning.
Rodin patted his head a few times before the pair continued home, walking in silence. When they got home, they shared the news with Theresia, who gently stroked Allen’s head and reassured him that he was still her child, just as Rodin had done.
Allen then headed into the nursery for his afternoon nap. He lay down next to his two-year-old brother, Mash, who was breathing peacefully in sleep. Their bare-bones wooden cot had been replaced with a proper bed. His parents’ warmth filled his heart.
Just before he allowed himself to fall asleep, however, Allen wanted to go over everything he learned from today’s Appraisal Ceremony and properly write down all the conclusions he could deduce.
I mean, this has got to be a mistake by some god or person in charge, right? The fact that my Talent was in garbled text must mean they either forgot or hadn’t gotten around to making sure that my class shows up properly when appraised.
I do feel bad seeing how worried my parents had been for me today, but since the Ceremony officially declared me “Talentless,” I guess I should probably continue keeping the fact of me being a Summoner a secret. That means skilling up out of my parents’ and Mash’s sight, same as before.
Once Allen finished deciding on the direction he would take his training going forward, he turned to another page in his grimoire that he had filled out a while ago.
On a different note, the fact that all my stats came out as “E” confirms something that I’ve suspected all along.
During the past five or so years, there was one burning question that Allen had desperately wanted to know. And today, he finally got his answer thanks to what he learned at the Appraisal Ceremony. While all his stats being “E” may have disappointed his parents, it was not necessarily all that bad an outcome for him.
Allen looked at the corner on the page where he had written:
Hell Mode and Normal Mode:
Hypothesis 1: Everyone in this world is in Hell Mode.
Hypothesis 2: I am the only one in Hell Mode, and everyone else in this world is in Normal Mode.
Allen erased his first hypothesis. I finally got the confirmation I’d been wanting so badly. That’s the only way to explain why I got “E” for everything.
Within the past few hours, Allen had largely finished analyzing the Appraisal Ceremony. First, he concluded that the ranking displayed for each stat was more of an indication of potential. With everyone being five years old, there shouldn’t have been that great a difference between the actual stat values between all the children. Chances were that most of them were, just like Allen, still only Lvl. 1. As such, the rankings were likely either an indication of how much a stat would increase upon leveling up or of the maximum value a stat could cap out at.
In light of this, Allen’s stats all being “E” was a strong indication that he was the only person in Hell Mode. The reason they were ranked so low was likely because both the potential and rate of growth were being considered, and he, being in Hell Mode, would be improving at a rate a hundred times slower than everyone else in this world.
In his past life, Kenichi had lamented how modern games had shifted toward undemanding gameplay. After being reincarnated into this world as Allen, he was the only person in Hell Mode. Some would consider this a hellish situation to be in, but the emotion that Allen felt welling up inside his heart was something else entirely. He felt as if he had discovered a goal to strive toward.
“I see, so this new life of mine is itself an act of defiance against hopelessly easy games. I’ll live my life to prove the worth of games with actual challenge!”
Allen finally went to sleep, slightly embarrassed that he had gotten so excited he spoke his thoughts out loud.
Later when 3 p.m. rolled around, he played knight with Krena as usual. However, that was not all that happened that day. Around dusk, Allen’s parents said they had business to take care of and left the house. Theresia came back not long after, but Rodin did not return until an hour later.
“Huh? Wait, what happened, Rodin?!” Theresia exclaimed in shock when she saw the bruises all over her husband’s body. His face was swollen where it looked like he had taken several punches. However, he said nothing and simply kept his head down.
Three days passed with Theresia repeatedly questioning Rodin after the bruises and him continuing to stay mum with a sullen face. On the fourth day, the answer came through Krena. As it turned out, he had gotten into a fight with Gerda. She did not fully understand the reason for the fight, but considering how it had happened on the same day after the Appraisal Ceremony, Allen suspected that it had something to do with himself being Talentless and all his stats being “E.”
Allen had been sending telepathic messages to the gods requesting clarification and rectification in regards to his appraisal results every single day since the Ceremony. He did so clutching his grimoire, but had yet to receive an answer, glowing page or otherwise. However, back when he had been Kenichi, he had once lost a piece of equipment he had spent a whole year crafting due to a server crash, something that was inarguably the game company’s fault. After that, he spammed the management staff on a daily basis until they finally used backup data to restore his item. In the same vein, Allen intended on praying to the gods every single day until they responded.
“Allen, are you ready?”
“Yes, mama.”
There was not really all that much to do in preparation, so Allen just grabbed his wooden sword. In a flash of self-awareness, he realized that he had picked up a weird habit from Krena.
“Come on, honey, you’re coming too. I know you’ve been awake for quite a while already. Stop pretending to be asleep!” Theresia barked, holding Mash with one hand and tugging at Rodin with the other. Apparently her husband was still feeling sullen.
Currently, their family was just about to head over to Krena’s house. They were going to have dinner together, so Theresia grabbed a basket filled with ingredients before they set off.
It’s been so long since I last visited Krena’s place.
It was now five and a half years since Allen had been born into this world. He had started playing frequently with Krena after turning three, but she was the one who came over almost every single time. As such, he had had very few opportunities visiting her house.
Around fifteen minutes later, Allen’s family reached their destination. They found a woman with short, curly pink hair and blue eyes waiting for them. When she spotted them, she said in an energetic voice, “There you are!”
“Mathilda, I’m so sorry for all the trouble that Rodin caused you the other day.”
“Oh, hey, don’t worry about it! Gerda’s also old enough to have known better.”
This woman who spoke in the tone of a reliable older sister was Mathilda, Krena’s mother. She led Allen’s family inside her house. They were going to be staying over for the night.
As soon as they stepped inside, Krena bounced out and said, “Welcome, Allen!” This was the first time Allen’s entire family had come over, so she was even more excited than usual.
There was an area with an earthen floor, an inner space with a sunken fireplace, and two rooms. The layout of the place was practically identical to Allen’s house.
“Seriously, how much longer do you plan on sulking for?! And you’ve been awake for the past while, haven’t you?!” Mathilda exclaimed as she used one hand to drag Gerda’s bear-like body out from their bedroom. His face was also covered with bruises, just like Rodin’s.
After that, Theresia and Mathilda worked together to prepare dinner. During that time, Krena brought her younger sister out. “Allen, Allen! Look! Lily is so big!” she cried.
Just like Krena, Lily had also ended up inheriting Mathilda’s pink hair—instead of Gerda’s brown hair—and blue eyes. The baby babbled happily and reached out with both hands, making grabbing motions.
Oh damn, I feel so at peace just watching her!
Lily was still only a year and a half old. Although Allen had not had that many opportunities to see her in person so far, he had already heard plenty of stories from Krena.
Soon enough, dinner was done and everyone gathered around the sunken fireplace. The fare was nothing fancy—it was the usual beans, potatoes, unleavened wheat bread, and vegetable soup with a few chunks of meat.
It feels like the birthday party that my classmate in kindergarten invited me to.
The house was not large, and so the two families had to sit close together in order to fit around the fireplace. However, none of them was bothered by it. In fact, there was a certain warmth to it.
“Want a cup?” Gerda asked while casually bringing out what looked like an earthenware jar.
“Huh?!” Rodin replied in a slightly belligerent tone, but still held out his empty wooden cup. After Gerda finished filling it up, he brought it back close and sniffed it. “Wine?”
“Mm-hm.”
“What’s this out of the blue?”
Wine was a resource that serfs had extremely limited access to. The last time Rodin had some was when he got married to Theresia.
“The village chief came yesterday and left it.”
Rodin frowned. Although he said nothing, it was clear that he had understood a lot from Gerda’s short utterance. Gerda proceeded to go into detail regarding what had happened during the past three days as he downed cup after cup. The village chief had visited, with the wine in hand, to inform Gerda and Mathilda that he was setting off to inform their feudal lord about Krena and that consequently, she might have to stay in their feudal lord’s city going forward.
The sight of Rodin’s face gradually deepening into a scowl as he continued giving his account prompted Gerda to say, “Come on, man. The village chief brought some wine to show he cares and all that now that Krena’s a Sword Lord. You know how he is. No big deal, right? Don’t sweat the small stuff, man.”
“I’m not bothered about that. In fact, I’m glad for you, I really am. Never mind government service, she might even rise to become a noble. And by extension, so would your whole family.”
As it turned out, Rodin was not jealous of Krena being a Sword Lord.
“Then why did you suggest breaking off our relationship?!” Gerda howled in an increasingly loud voice. “UP TILL NOW, WE—!”
He was cut short, however, by a perfectly placed punch that landed square on his face, courtesy of Mathilda. She did not want him shouting in front of the children.
After a heavy silence, Rodin replied, “If you keep associating with us, you might lose your chance at becoming nobility.”
Rodin kept his voice quiet, likely out of fear for Mathilda’s fist. More than half of the bruises on Rodin and Gerda’s faces had actually been dealt by Mathilda when she stepped in to break up their fight.
By now, it was clear what had set off this fight between the two men. In this world, only serfs could marry serfs. Commoners could only marry commoners. And of course, nobles could only marry nobles. The reason for the fight was not, as Allen had guessed, because of him being Talentless and having low stats.
Forget Swordswoman; Krena had turned out to be a Sword Lord. This was a Talent that contained the potential for her to easily exceed the status of being a royal knight and even become a champion of the people. This was such monumental news that the village chief was going to inform their feudal lord two days later in person.
In light of this, Rodin had suggested to Gerda that their two families stopped associating with each other. Gerda’s response had been his fist, and the rest was not hard to imagine.
I see, so it was both of them trying to be considerate of the other but being too boxed into their own points of view. Should I try to prod them?
“Um, is it true that all four of you came to this village together?”
Everyone’s attention turned toward Allen with his innocent smile as he broached a topic that he had heard from Rodin before.
“That’s right, Allen,” Mathilda answered. “We came here together from the neighboring village. We’ve been together ever since we were young, just like how you and Krena are.”
She continued sharing how they had all been born as serfs and played together in their childhood. As serfs, they were naturally poor, but life was good. Gerda and Rodin listened in silence.
Ten years ago, a messenger from their feudal lord visited the village where they were living, proclaiming news of a new frontier village that was being founded. Anyone who came and properly contributed to the expansion efforts would be granted permission to continue using their assigned plot of land indefinitely.
“Back then, we got together to talk it over, just like we’re doing now,” Theresia murmured, ruminating over the memories of the past that surfaced in her mind.
It was true that serfs could not own land, but cases of the land they were working suddenly being seized were very rare. That said, it was usually only the eldest child that succeeded the land. Rodin, Gerda, Theresia, and Mathilda all had older siblings.
The tax for serfs was six-tenths of their harvest. How many people helped with the harvest did not matter. And because the size of the land itself remained the same, the amount of food that it could produce was fixed. If the family working it had children and the children grew up, this single piece of land would become incapable of keeping everyone’s bellies full. This was why these four decided to join the new village and secure their own land.
Gerda nodded with a wistful face. “When we first arrived here, there was nothing at all. So we worked together to build our two houses.”
This was the reason why the interior layout of both houses looked the same. They started off building only the earthen area and the large room with the sunken fireplace for each other. Later on, when they decided to have children, both houses got two more additional rooms.
“We sure went through a lot...” Rodin trailed off and closed his eyes, falling silent. He was reliving the memories of his childhood and of all the difficulties he had overcome when he first came to this frontier village.
The topic of their past and their shared troubles seemed to have succeeded in restoring the relationship between the two men. The fire flickered as the adults talked late into the night.