An A-Ranked Adventurer's 'Slow-living'

Chapter 4: Fairy of The Flower Garden

After putting my luggage in a hemp bag inside the village chief’s home, I went outside with some portable food, such as cheese, berries and biscuits.

I still remember the way to the fields of flowers, somehow.

If I’m not wrong, by heading west from the village’s center plaza following the tree-lined avenue, I should be able to reach the field of flowers.

I walked south from the village chief’s house, and headed west from the plaza.

The number of people and houses gradually decreased as I walked, eventually entering a road surrounded by trees.

The way the lush green leaves are swaying from the wind is as if they are welcoming me.

And, as if the trees are luring me to go deeper and deeper, I continued to advance.

If I listened closely, I could hear the sounds of insects in brushes and the chirping noises of birds on trees.

I could not afford to enjoy the relaxing nature like this back in the days as an adventurer, as I was always at some place where many monsters resided.

If I knew how refreshing this felt, it would have been nice to go for picnics or walks here with my party members.

Even though in those days, all I did was to try to become stronger, as I was desperate to live.

When I passed by places such as these in horse carriages, I feel like all I did was either sleep, or I was doing some kind of muscle training, while ignoring anything else. It makes me think about what a waste it was back then.

I feel like I now understand a little about the feelings of my party members when they looked at me speechlessly during those times.

The air became heavy as I walked deeper down the tree-lined path. It started to resemble the forest which I had once been to.

「However… If I go out from here… 」

The beautiful field of flowers should be there. I am near my destination.

I can feel my feet moving faster and faster as I advanced step after step.

*crunch*, *crunch*, I moved my feet with all my might as I treaded on the road of soil. My pace gradually increased to double what it was.

What is ahead is the place I yearned for.

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I wonder how many times I have dreamed of this moment since the day in the kingdom when I remembered about this place.

I dug out what’s left of my memories from nine years ago, and used my imagination to fill in the blanks that I was missing.

Even so, not once have I been able to remember this scene well enough. I always thought to myself that, “No, it wasn’t like this”, every time I put together an image in my head.

However, this is the real thing here, the spectacle that has not faded one bit since nine years ago.

The road with trees on both sides came to an end, with a dazzling light coming from the end of the path.

I ran towards that light– and there it was, the vast field of flowers.

The flowers in colors of a radiant red, pink, orange, yellow, and white are fully in bloom, and they spread as far as the eye can see. The colors of these flowers are something which I could not fully describe in words due to my lack of knowledge and poor vocabulary; I just know the flowers have a wide gradation of colors.

This is like a flower carpet made of many types of flowers.

The few types that I see as I get closer are Rapeseed blossom, Tulip, Poppy, and Kiruruku[i] etc.

The sky is also all clear, dyed in the color of blue.

When the wind blew from one direction, the sweet scent of the flowers drifted across as the flowers themselves swayed to follow.

「…….. 」

I stared at this scene without blinking. No, I mean, it could be better described as it being too beautiful for me to take my eyes off.

Witnessing a scene so beautiful that one would not think it could exist within this world… It’s almost as if I, alone, was isolated in a separate dimension.

As I looked at this other-worldly scene that is interweaved with colors, I thought to myself-

There’s no need to talk about the memories of my dream anymore, the scenery before my eyes is much more beautiful by comparison.

The colors, the flowers, and the feel of the air are all different from how I imagined them to be. On top of that, I could not imagine the smell, the wind, or the sounds. My imagination was lacking.

I thought the scenery from nine years ago was engraved in my mind because it was that unforgettable. However, it’s a known fact that human memories can be quite off.

「… I’m finally here」

Those words leaked out of my dry mouth.

This is the scenery I dreamed of; the place I have yearned for in the past month and a half.

Here I am now.

Tears came out as warm feelings filled my chest from the various emotions of happiness and excitement mixing together.

I wipe the tears off my cheek in a hurry with the back of my hand as I surprised even myself from that.

I wonder if these tears formed from being deeply moved from all the emotions. I have no idea.

This is my first time experiencing something like this.

I feel confused from not understanding the emotions I’m feeling, but it feels like the hole of emptiness that was created since I became a dragon slayer had been filled a little.

I finished wiping my tears, and I started walking again after my emotions had calmed down.

I wanted to enjoy this spectacle of beautiful flowers from various different angles, not just from one view.

I chose the areas without flowers blooming to walk on.

As my line of sight changes, I see more types of flowers.

Flowers in shapes that I have never seen before, some strangely short, some strangely long, some with many layers of petals stacked together. It’s a shame that I have absolutely no idea what they’re called.

However, it’s somewhat fun to think about it. What their names are, when they might bloom, and the meaning of their names.

I go through the field of flowers as I enjoy the colors and smell of them, along with the smell of soil and grass. Smelling the pleasant fragrances of the flowers that stick to my clothes as I walk, it feels like it’s okay even if I don’t wash them. I suspect the floral fragrance coming from Fiona-san is also created from using the flowers.

I walked over a hill while thinking of those things as I gazed at the flowers.

I’ve already walked about a hundred meters in distance after crossing the hill, but the field of flowers still continued on ahead.

Moreover, their shapes and colors are even slightly different from the ones I saw before.

Just here alone, there were many different types of flowers.

Another thing that is different from a moment ago would be the trees that stood alone in the distance.

Neither large nor small, they are trees that you could find anywhere, but they blended in strangely with the flowers here.

Just like that, I would like to take a break under the trees there.

It would feel nice taking a nap while lying down in the shade of the trees. This definitely would be a good place to avoid heat in the summer time.

I walked towards the trees that I wanted to lie down under.

I was reminded of the season of summer from my thoughts. However, I know the flowers here in particular also changed their colors depending on the season as well.

Who was it that taught me this?

I can’t seem to remember it well, since it was nine years ago…

I decided to chase those thoughts out of my head, since it’s easy to create false memories if you try too hard to remember something while being confused.

It’s not something important right now. Let’s just enjoy the beautiful sights here.

Then, I reached the side of the tree as I enjoyed this beautiful sight thoroughly.

「My feet are a bit tired, I guess I’ll take a break here? 」

The moment I start to settle down in the shade of the tree, a female came out of the field of flowers.

With radiant, blonde-colored hair that reached down to her waist, and big, round jade-colored eyes that are like emeralds.

I could see that she’s younger than I am, as she has a bit of a baby face, but her facial features are just like a doll’s.

Her slender body is wrapped in a white blouse that brings a sense of cleanliness, and her curvy hips are wrapped in a dark-blue colored skirt.

The “fairy” who has unexpectedly dropped by in this garden of flowers is no doubt, a beautiful woman.

From seeing the various flowers and fruits from the basket she had in hand, I understood that she had been gathering those for a while.

The fairy-san is looking at me with a stunned expression.

As it was getting somewhat embarrassing from just looking at each other, I decided to talk to the fairy-san for the time being.

「…Um, hi」

「–?! 」

The fairy-san’s shoulders shivered after I started the interaction by giving my greetings.

Maybe she was startled from a twenty-seven-year-old man suddenly talking to her.

Anyway, in order to not frighten her any further, I put on a gentle expression on my face without moving another inch.

「…..E, erm… 」

The girl was mumbling in a faint voice bashfully, with a face that is a little red.

She restlessly took her round, jade-colored eyes on and off me. Is she a shy person?

When I thought that was the case no matter how I looked at it, an expression appeared on the girl’s face, as if she readied herself after having gathered all her courage and…

「…H, Hello! 」

She yelled. And she ran off in the direction of the village.

While I looked at her small back becoming smaller and smaller as I blink, I muttered to myself.

「… Is my face really that scary? 」