Living as a Recluse Deep in the Forest - Episode 22: Aurora's Whirling Punch of Fury
The door to the guest room slammed open with a loud bang.
When Yuu turned around, there she was—Aurora, who was supposed to have been cooped up in her room until just a moment ago, stood before him.
Her eyes were slightly red, with a faint trace of tears still clinging to the tips of her long eyelashes. Her cheeks and earlobes were flushed a deep peach pink, and her shoulders were trembling in tiny, frantic shudders.
"...Uh, hey. Princess?"
The moment he timidly spoke up—
"Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!!"
Aurora charged at him with terrifying momentum.
"Whoa?!"
In the next instant, she practically grabbed Yuu by the collar as her fists rained down on him in a flurry of soft thuds.
"If it didn't have to be tomorrow, you should have just said so sooner, you idiot!!"
"Ow, hey! What gives?! I mean, technically it doesn't really hurt all that much, but still! Calm down, Princess!!"
"Shut up! You idiot!! You dense blockhead!!"
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
Naturally, each individual strike did absolutely zero damage. Although Yuu had mostly deactivated the wind protection enveloping his body, his physical capabilities were still incomparable to those of an ordinary person.
However...
(...Man, this is incredibly annoying.)
Frankly, the mental toll was far greater than any physical pain. As his chest was rhythmically pummeled with soft, light blows, Yuu just stood there and let her have her way.
"W-Wait, Your Highness?!"
"Princess, please calm yourself!"
The maids hurriedly started to stand up to intervene, but one of the guards subtly held out a hand to stop them.
"...Leave it. It's best not to stop her right now."
At those words, the maids exchanged glances and quietly sat back down.
Thud, thud. Thud, thud.
Everyone knew that no matter how much she hit him, it wouldn't leave a single scratch. Even so, Aurora kept swinging her fists like a child.
(...Her Highness really was agonizing over it quite a bit, after all.) (To think that just a single sentence—"We can push it back a day or so"—would provoke this kind of reaction...)
Inside the hearts of the maids and guards, sighs born of half-exasperation and half-affection swirled together.
After raining down blows single-mindedly for a while, Aurora's arms seemingly grew tired, and her momentum began to wane. Giving his chest one final, soft pat, she spun around on her heel.
And then—her face completely crimson—she shouted:
"I'm going to bed for the night!!"
"Uh, oh, okay?"
"Yuu!!"
Whipping back around with a sharp snap, she pointed her index finger squarely at him.
"Tomorrow morning... just you wait and see!!"
"Huh? See what?"
"You better take a good look!!"
"Look at what, exactly?"
"Just do it!!"
Having said everything she wanted to say, Aurora spun back around and stomped off toward the guest room in a huff. Thump, thump, thump went her heavy, angry footsteps against the floor, followed by the loud slam of the door shutting tight.
Left behind in the log house's central courtyard were Yuu, standing there utterly bewildered and alone, and the maids and guards, who had already settled back into relaxation mode.
"...Hey," Yuu said, turning back toward the table. "What was that all about? What's gotten into the Princess?"
His face was completely blank with genuine confusion.
The maids giggled, turning their heads away or pointedly looking up at the sky.
"Oh, who could possibly say?" One of them smiled, covering her mouth.
"Just as Her Highness said, I believe it would be best if you took a very good look tomorrow morning." One of the guards shrugged while tilting his teacup. "A man's only job is to obey in silence, Lord Sage."
"Exactly. At times like this, a man's best bet is to just shut up and do what a woman says."
"...No, no, no, hold on." Yuu scratched his head, looking thoroughly unconvinced. "I mean, sure, whatever... but seriously, what is her deal...?"
Even if he grumbled, it didn't look like anyone was going to clue him in. Everyone present was on Aurora's side. Yuu was like a lone piece left stranded on an entirely different game board.
Muttering to himself, Yuu gathered the empty plates and carried them off to the kitchen. The maids also took their places at the sink with practiced ease; cleaning up around this house had become second nature to them.
A little later, having finished drying the dishes, Yuu clapped his hands together.
"Oh, right." He turned around and scanned the faces gathered around the table. "Anybody up for some Mahjong tonight?"
With that single sentence, the atmosphere shifted completely.
"Ooh! Count me in!" One of the younger maids raised her hand enthusiastically.
Right beside her, the older head maid raised her hand with a serene smile. "I shall play as well. I would like to settle the debt from earlier's curry using scoring sticks."
"Wait, what do you mean, 'curry debt'?"
"You placed us heavily in your debt with that sense of fullness and happiness."
"Yeah, yeah."
One of the guards stood up. He was a short-haired man with a cheerful aura. "Alright, I'll jump in this time."
"Oh, feeling motivated, are we?"
"It's one of the few rare opportunities to beat the Sage, after all."
"Don't raise the stakes like that."
Exchanging banter, the group moved inside the log house.
Soon, the distinct clattering sound of tiles clashing against each other began to echo from inside the house—the sound of washing Mahjong tiles.
A game like Mahjong didn't exist in this fantasy world. However, after Yuu used magic to craft a table and tiles, bringing them in as a "pastime," it had now become a near-nightly ritual whenever Aurora and her retinue stayed over.
It had all started when Yuu taught them the rules to kill some time in the evenings. At first, everyone had been thoroughly perplexed.
“Let’s see… so we collect three tiles of the same suit?”
“Right. That’s a triplet, or a Koutsu.”
“And three numbers in a row is…?”
“A sequence, or a Shuntsu.”
“...This is quite difficult...”
Such had been their initial reaction. However, once they got the hang of it—the maids and a few of the guards hooked on it spectacularly. Now, whenever they stayed in the forest, gathering around the table at night had become an absolute tradition.
Inside the main room of the log house.
In the center sat a table at just the right height for four people to gather around. Atop it, the tiles were neatly arranged, with hands extending from all four sides to mix them.
Clatter, clatter, clattering... Clack, clack...
"Ah, what a beautiful sound. I could drink just listening to this."
"Except you aren't drinking right now."
"It's about the ambiance, the ambiance."
Seated at the table were:
East: Yuu
South: One of the guards, the short-haired, perennially cheerful man.
West: The younger maid.
The black-haired head maid alone carried an entirely different aura. Her back was perfectly straight, and there was zero wasted movement in her fingers.
(...So she's at the table today. Can't let my guard down.) The guard internally adjusted his strategy.
Yuu, meanwhile, was grinning happily.
"Alright, one half-round to start. As usual, we begin with twenty-five thousand points."
"""Understood."""
The dealing began. The sound of tiles sliding and being organized filled the room. While it wasn't that people stopped talking, a natural focus began to sharpen the air.
(...The Sage generally plays it safe.) The guard glanced briefly at Yuu's hand movements.
The man in question opened his initial hand, took one look, and chuckled darkly.
"...Heheh, hehehe."
"Could you please stop laughing like that?"
"Why? It's fun."
"Whenever that laugh slips out, Lord Yuu, you almost always have a dreadful hand." The younger maid cast a flat, judging stare his way.
The oldest maid silently observed her tiles. She was the type whose emotional shifts were impossible to read.
"Well, my turn first."
Yuu discarded a tile. The sound of it hitting the table resonated with uncanny clarity.
For a while, the game proceeded with nothing but the rhythmic clacking of tiles and the occasional quiet sigh.
"...Dammit, another mediocre hand..."
"You're just being too greedy."
"A man is a creature that chases dreams. Let me aim for a Bangan at least."
"And that's exactly how you end up dealing into the Princess's hand and going bankrupt, isn't it?"
"The Princess isn't here today, so I'm perfectly safe."
"Oh, come to think of it, you're right."
Aurora was currently holed up in the guest room. In Mahjong, she was a highly volatile player who would constantly deal into others while chasing high-value hands, yet pull off absurdly massive victories whenever things aligned perfectly. Today, with that wildcard absent, the table seemed relatively peaceful.
Or so it appeared. The storm blew in from a completely different direction.
"Ron."
Margarita, the oldest maid, announced quietly.
"Green Dragon, Half-Flush... three thousand nine hundred points."
"Ugh, of course it's that one..." Yuu groaned. It was a sniper shot, catching his discard precisely as planned.
The guard in the South seat breathed a massive sigh of relief.
"Man... I'm just glad it wasn't my discard..."
"You've been playing complete defense this entire time anyway," the younger maid said, exasperated.
The guard replied with a weary expression, "When the Sage and Lady Margarita are seriously throwing down, there's no way an amateur like me can just barge in..."
"Did you actually read Sister's winning tile just now?"
"...I had a bad feeling about it."
"If you can stop yourself based on 'just a feeling,' then you're doing exceptionally well."
And then came the next hand. The air grew even more tense.
Yuu played defensively, carefully maneuvering his hand. Right from the deal, he could sense that the head maid's hand was incredibly "heavy."
(...That woman is genuinely terrifying.)
Her reading ability was unnatural. It wasn't just tile efficiency; she factored in the discards of others, their micro-expressions, and the rhythm of their breathing. Synthesizing all of it, she intuitively grasped exactly where and what kind of danger was lurking. This world had no history of Mahjong as a form of gambling. However, the intuition of a mature woman who had survived countless battlefields of psychological warfare and social maneuvering was a terrifying weapon all on its own.
As for the guard in the South seat—his spirit was entirely broken.
(It's impossible... That woman is seriously merciless...)
At this point, he discarded safe tiles exclusively. Seeking nothing but escape routes to avoid taking damage. But that choice was a blunder. A foolish move, burning through vital safe tiles at such an early stage. Trying to survive for the moment... what a pathetic, short-sighted mindset.
Outrageously naive...! Such a mindset... dooms him to be prey... a mere snack...!
Thus, the outcome was bound to be gruesome. Four discards remaining. Zero safe tiles.
"Riichi."
And there came the declaration from the North seat. Neither East nor West had given up the fight; the air was thick with the scent of an impending ready hand. The guard in the South seat had absolutely no idea what to throw away.
But then—
(This is it... a saving grace in the jaws of death...! The tile I drew is the fourth Nine of Characters...! No way am I going to Kong this... if it passes even once, it'll carry me through four turns...! I can escape...!)
Yet that very thought was the ultimate trap laid by the one lying in wait...! Pure idiocy...! A foolish act of offering up his own throat...!
"Fufu... Ron."
Once again, a soft voice dropped upon the table.
"Riichi, Ippatsu, Pinfu, Straight, Flush."
The head maid calmly tallied her hands, one by one.
"...Sanbaiman. Twenty-four thousand points."
A massive mountain of scoring sticks changed hands. The South guard's points instantly plunged past zero into the negatives.
"And there it is, you're bankrupt."
"Gyaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!"
The guard clutched his head and slumped over the table. It almost felt like his face had warped into a distorted, melting grimace.
Total annihilation...! The guard, utterly crushed...!
"Thanks for the game," the younger maid said, laughing as she patted his shoulder. "Sister, you're in peak form today."
"Not at all. I simply had a bit of luck with the draw." The head maid offered a modest smile, though her eyes held a faint, sharp glint of the pleasure of securing a kill.
"...Seriously, you're a veteran of a hundred battles," Yuu muttered, somewhere between admiration and a sigh. "You're scarier than a magical beast."
"What a thing to say, Lord Yuu. The only thing I fear is my points decreasing."
"Oh man, look at her. Before I knew it, she turned into a professional hustler..."
Exchanging jokes like these, the night deepened.
Meanwhile...
Upon the bed in the guest room, Aurora had finally buried herself deep under the blankets.
Faint traces of her earlier tears still lingered around her eyes, but the harsh tension between her brows had melted away.
Clutched tightly against her chest was a beautiful pouch she had brought all the way from the royal capital. Inside, a gorgeous dress was meticulously folded.
Curling up on her side, Aurora let out a soft whisper.
"...Idiot."
It was a word meant for no one in particular, yet entirely directed at Yuu.
"Seriously... you're so dense..."
However, there was no longer any anger left on her lips. Instead, a relaxed, gentle smile crept into its place.
(Tomorrow morning... I wonder if he'll take a good look.)
A ticklish warmth stirred deep in her chest. It was a little scary, but more than anything, she was looking forward to it.
When she closed her eyes, she can hear the rustling of the forest from afar. This space, protected by a barrier, is surprisingly quiet and warm.
It's a surprisingly safe place, considering it's right in the middle of a secluded forest. At that moment, Aurora's consciousness quietly faded away.
Outside the log cabin, stars twinkled, casting a thin veil of light over the forest.
The campfire was dying down, and instead, the lantern's light softly illuminated the inside of the house and the windowsill of the guest room. There is no sense of despair or tension anywhere now. It's just lively, silly, and a little bit heartwarming. That "usual night" quietly drew to a close deep within this forest.
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