Dragon Princess Will Do Her Best To Prevent The World's Destruction

Chapter 76: The Hunter's Hubris

Sometimes, I dream of the outside. I, Abigail, dream of a different life. Within this mad dream of mine, I often see things that would otherwise be impossible. Life in the village I was born in was...hollow. I knew nothing of a life different from it, yet I grew to despise it. I grew to hate it. I grew to dread it. The thought of spending the rest of my life here among individuals who could not dream inspired only despair.

Father used to say life often gives us what we want, but in forms that we would not recognize them in. Perhaps, then, the greatest joke and challenge the world imposed upon me in response to the dreams of the outside...would be an outsider stumbling into our village. Twisting my desire of seeing the outside world by sending the "outside" here.

In many ways, she was a young girl who did represent the outside. The endless enigma that surrounded her life, the chilling silence that radiated from her whenever she observed the conduct of others, and the act of ignorance when conversing with others. The outsider was very much not just a young girl who got lost. Still, I did not, and will not, question it.

No matter who Roselia was outside, when she was here, she was most definitely lost. She may know things that matter more than the things I do in a million life times, but it was clear she knew nothing of mine. Be it gods or kings, when they were in this miserable village, they knew nothing about the life here. In a way, that was the eternal solitude such an isolated settlement suffers from.

To me, I didn't really care who Roselia was. She had somehow gotten lost all the way out here, so it was my responsibility to give her a brand new life. That was something I firmly believed in. No matter where one went, they deserved a chance to make a new living for themselves. And so far, Roselia was adjusting quite well.

I did not expect it, but she hit it off quite well with Jin and Ingrid. Those two inseparable lovebirds that bore their fangs at almost everyone in the village. It's hard to blame them for their deep rooted distrust for adults and strangers, though. Still, that made it all the surprising when I saw the three of them playing together.

Roselia seemed like she was just humoring the pair, but she appeared to be enjoying the distraction. As long as everyone involved was happy, I suppose. Speaking of the children...

Roselia would ask odd things about them, and sometimes things that were completely unrelated, from time to time.

"Why are they named Jin and Ingrid?"

"Are you sure they're born and raised in this village?"

"When was the last time someone from the outside came here? Or perhaps did anyone from this village leave and then return?"

What strange questions. At the very least, I could answer the last one with absolute certainty. There were no outsiders in at least a century or so, according to the elders. However, there was a traveler. Someone left this place, then returned.

"Dad."

What a bizarre word to have rolled off my tongue on the night I was posed with that question. Hadn't uttered that word ever since I was orphaned all those years ago. It was quite likely that he had died all those years ago, but we never did find a corpse. He used to travel frequently to the outside, and always returned safely after each and every adventure, making it all the more ironic when he was presumed dead during the rare times he was in the village.

Dad used to tell stories about the outside, and I still could recall them as clear as day. They fed my impossible dream, whispering sweet promises into my ear. Tangent aside, why was Roselia so curious about the outside? Or rather, the existence of the outside within this village? And what does that have to do with Jin and Ingrid?