After eating a simple lunch, Aila went down to the village with Valentin. They needed to sell the deer antlers to get money.

This was the first time the two of them had gone down to the village together, so Aila felt a bit excited. Valentin had now grown accustomed to walking around in human clothes.

Occasionally when he felt good or excited, his deer ears would pop up, but aside from that, he really wasn’t different from an ordinary human, so she repeatedly urged him to keep his ears hidden well.

The village people easily ignored and looked down on anyone even slightly different from them. 

Even Aila herself received unfriendly looks for being abandoned in the forest, so how much worse would it be for a beastman like Valentin?

The village was bustling from the entrance and filled with the smell of people. It was a place where civilization existed, incomparable to the wild forest.

The solid walls surrounding the outskirts, the armed soldiers guarding them, the order they created.

Valentin seemed curious about the village he was seeing for the first time, but he didn’t show great enthusiasm. It was different from when Aila first came down to the village with eyes wide as saucers.

“How is it?”

“Mm, it’s a noisy place.”

“Really? It’s because there are lots of people here.”

“There’s a strange smell too.”

“What smell?”

“The smell of humans.”

Aila had never smelled it before, so she couldn’t tell what it was like. What mattered was Valentin. He kept wrinkling his nose, seemingly finding it an unpleasant smell.

Then had Valentin been smelling a strange odor from her all this time too? Seemingly noticing her complicated feelings, Valentin beat her to it before she could ask.

“Don’t worry. You smell good, Aila.”

“Really? That’s a relief then.”

Valentin stroked Aila’s hair and took her hand.

“Do you know where we need to go?”

“Yeah. There’s this hunter named Rex who runs a shop with his wife. He deals with animal horns and hides, so we should go to him.”

“Do you know him well?”

“Not really. It’s just that when you come and go from the village, you naturally learn faces and names.”

Aila led Valentin, who was holding her hand tightly. After walking for a while and entering the marketplace, various shops including a fabric store and a produce shop came into full view.

“That place sells delicious fruit, and that’s where they sell cloth needed for making clothes. And next to it is where they sell meat…”

Aila explained, pointing out each shop one by one. Valentin listened quite enthusiastically.

She usually came and went alone, so there was no one to talk to, but now with Valentin beside her, she kept talking about trivial things.

“Is this the kind of thing you said was fun?”

“No, that’s a shopping district where you can buy things you need.”

Aila turned her body slightly at an angle and pointed toward where a purple sign hung. Valentin’s gaze moved there as well.

“What do they do there?”

“An astrologer tells people’s fortunes.”

“They tell fortunes?”

“Yeah! If you pay money, they tell you everything that’s going to happen in the future.”

Valentin chuckled.

“How would they know that?”

“Who knows. Anyway, they say she’s really good.”

“Pure scammer. Don’t fall for it, Aila.”

“I don’t have money to spend on that anyway. And it’d be a waste.”

Aila led Valentin again and moved her steps. Walking a bit further, they heard the sound of an instrument.

“Here you can listen to flute playing.”

“Why is that person making such a racket in the street?”

“He’s playing the flute and asking people for money. That’s why you can’t stand in one place watching for too long. You have to cleverly move around between people to avoid paying.”

“You have to endure that noise, and pay money on top of it?”

To Aila’s ears it was a very exciting sound, but it didn’t seem that way to Valentin’s ears. He frowned again with an expression that said he couldn’t understand.

Until Valentin appeared, the village she occasionally came down to had been a truly fun place for Aila, who lived boringly in the forest, but that seemed to apply only to Aila.

Valentin seemed less interested in the village than expected, so Aila moved her legs toward their destination without delay.

“Oh, this is Mrs. Weed’s bakery. Where I bought the bread last time.”

Aila said as they passed a shop with a sweet bread smell. The inside was crowded with customers.

“You said white bread is delicious, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Then let’s buy some and go back today.”

“You barely ate any of the rye bread last time. It didn’t seem to suit your taste.”

“You like it, Aila. That’s reason enough to buy it.”

Valentin adjusted all his standards to Aila. Grateful for that, she smiled gently. Thanks to him, Aila’s voice, gestures, and footsteps remained cheerful throughout until they arrived at the shop to sell the deer antlers.

“We’re here. This is Rex’s shop.”

As they entered the shop, Rex, whose bushy beard covered from below his ears to his entire jaw, greeted them in a deep voice.

“Welcome.”

Rex’s expression after confirming Aila’s face changed subtly from when he first greeted them.

“What brings you here?”

It was a familiar look, so she didn’t particularly care and stated her business.

“I’m here to sell this.”

At Aila’s words, Valentin placed the antlers he was holding on the display counter. Rex picked up a magnifying glass and examined the antlers carefully. Though his impression wasn’t particularly good, his expression while examining the antlers was quite serious.

“Where did you get this?”

“It just appeared.”

“Did you steal someone else’s property?”

“No!”

An aggrieved voice burst out suddenly. Aila had never once in her life touched someone else’s belongings.

Being treated like a thief felt bad, but the fact that the precious antlers Valentin brought were being treated like stolen goods was even more unbearable.

“Then?”

Rex’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

“I happened to find a dead deer. The antlers had already fallen off beside it.”

When Valentin intercepted the answer, Rex’s unpleasant eyes turned toward Valentin.

“Who’s this guy?”

“A friend.”

“You have a friend?”

Rex laughed unpleasantly with a sneer.

“Friend? That’s funny. Already shacking up with a man at your age? Well, street rats do open their eyes to that kind of thing quickly.”

Finding his own words so amusing, Rex laughed loudly and looked the two of them up and down.

“Just give me the money.”

At the same time, Valentin’s face hardened fiercely. It was unbelievable even while watching how his always gentle and kind face could become so frightening.

Aila seemed to be the only one who didn’t understand what “shacking up” meant. But there’s such a thing as nuance you feel from a person’s expression and tone, isn’t there?

It was definitely words that ignored and insulted Aila. Just looking at how gentle, kind Valentin wore such an angry expression showed that.

At Valentin’s confident demand, Rex tapped the display counter unpleasantly, then opened the money box and counted it out.

“Check it. See if it’s right.”

Valentin said to Aila. Aila quickly counted the money. It was accurate.

When Aila nodded, Valentin collected the money, put it in Aila’s pocket, grabbed Aila’s hand, and turned around.

“Let’s go, Aila.”

After leaving the shop, Aila asked right away.

“Um, what did those words mean earlier?”

“What?”

“The words about shacking up.”

“Words not worth worrying about.”

“Tell me. You know, right, Valentin?”

“It’s just because we came from the forest. That’s why he looks down on us.”

“Is that it?”

“Yeah. They’re worthless words from a worthless human, so there’s no need to keep them in your heart.”

Stroking Aila’s slightly sunken face, Valentin changed the subject.

“Let’s go to Mrs. Weed’s bakery now. You said you’ve never tried white bread.”

“Mmm. That’s true, but.”

“Let’s go quickly. Maybe white bread will suit my taste. I want to try it soon.”

“Really?”

“I said so. Let’s go!”

This time Valentin, who had learned the way, led Aila. Aila, who had felt bad for a moment, quickly forgot.

The two bought one white bread each, held them in their hands, and wandered around the marketplace here and there. They stopped by the fabric store to buy winter cloth, stopped by the butcher shop to buy meat, and bought miscellaneous daily necessities at the general store.

The white bread she was eating for the first time in her life was truly delicious. Compared to the low-quality rye bread, the surface was soft and the inside was moist. The full flavor of milk and butter made it well worth the expensive price.

While Aila nibbled away and finished one bread, the bread in Valentin’s hand remained as it was. His words about wanting to try white bread had been a lie for Aila’s sake after all.

He naturally handed what he was holding to Aila.

“I’m full.”

“Eat it anyway.”

“I’ll take it to the cabin.”

‘I should save it and eat it.’

Thinking that, they returned to the forest. Aila had so much fun spending the half-day at the marketplace with Valentin.

This winter was going to be warm.