"My name is Becca, not Deka!"
Awkwardly, Elara covered her face with her right hand, spontaneously hiding her red, embarrassed face after mispronouncing someone else's name. Her left hand rested on Becca's shoulder, filled with guilt.
"Oh, I, I'm sorry, Becca,"
Unfortunately, for Becca, Elara's actions now seemed as if she were laughing at her.
"... How dare your filthy hand touch my shoulder!" Becca shouted, swatting away Elara's left hand that had been holding her shoulder.
"Agh!" Elara winced as Becca's long nails scratched her cheek, causing blood to trickle down. For the first time in her nine years in this other world, Elara could only gape, as if she had run out of words.
There was only a drop of blood due to a small scratch on her cheek, but Elara felt paralyzed as she saw the red color ooze out from her face.
"...."
Seeing Elara, who had suddenly become motionless, lower her head and fall silent, Becca and her two followers instinctively took a few steps back, sensing that something strange was about to happen.
However, Becca disregarded this and clenched her teeth. She decided to release the emotions she had suppressed for the past few years, pointing her index finger at Elara, who remained still and silent.
"I couldn't care less about your long-winded rambling!" Becca stared at Elara, who was now ten steps away from her.
She glared at Elara, who was still bowing her head. Becca now felt confident in asserting her dominance.
"Listen, country bumpkin! The most important thing here, in this land you're standing on, is that it belongs to my father's domain, so the highest position here is mine, not yours, just a baker's daughter!"
Becca felt her confidence building up after saying this loudly, so she unconsciously took a step closer to Elara. Now, the two of them were close, facing each other, while her two followers remained some distance away from them.
"Let me make it clear, you don't need to pretend to be smart to teach me because I've actually had private lessons from a famous noblewoman in the Kingdom of Terra!"
"That's right! How dare you act so clever in front of the village chief's daughter, who has received an education on par with the ladies in the capital of the Kingdom of Terra!" Lia, one of the girls accompanying Becca to belittle Elara as usual, finally found her voice again to insult Elara.
Becca nodded satisfactorily, seeing her follower praise her.
"Hmph! Seeing you still act smart in front of me when your status is lower than mine makes me sick to my stomach." Becca muttered loudly, causing the two girls listening to burst into laughter.
"Haha! Look, she seems so shocked that she can't say anything anymore, like a fool!"
"Hahaha!"
Contrary to what the three of them thought, Elara remained silent because she was shocked by the small scratch she had received.
'I just realized that I've never been injured since I was a child in this world.' Elara thought, suddenly tensing her body.
A stinging sensation followed, but Elara focused on a tiny drop of blood that had managed to seep into the ground she was currently stepping on.
Swoosh~
For some reason, she felt strange seeing red blood flowing from her face. Her nose also caught a faint scent before the wind blew strongly towards her, erasing the fleeting scent that felt like an illusion.
Vaguely, Elara felt her awareness slowly becoming hazy, as if taken over by something powerful around her. Something strong and dangerous, yet it didn't feel dangerous to her, but rather to others.
"..."
Elara moved her stiff hand to touch her chest, sensing something more than just surprise or pain deep within her heart.
Whether it was a feeling or just a hunch, Elara sensed something slowly but surely starting to move.
Swoosh~ Ba-thump!
Nonchalantly, Elara felt the wind around her picking up speed, and she also noticed the air around her growing warmer, even though the sun hadn't reached its zenith yet.
"... Not yet...."
Elara jolted.
"Oh, no, ■■■■, please don't get hurt!"
"It can't be allowed, we must, ■■■■ ...!"
"Don't ... ■■■■ can...!"
Elara heard a faint noise in the distance, but it only lasted for a moment before the surroundings fell silent once more.
'??????? What's going on?' Elara stared straight ahead, but she didn't know, so she decided to set aside her thoughts for now. Thanks to that, the air around her returned to normal.
Elara wiped away the remaining blood on her cheek, and miraculously, the blood vanished without a trace. The brief stinging sensation on her face also disappeared, as if she had instantly healed.
After staring at the mysteriously disappearing blood on her palm for a while with an unusual gaze, Elara suddenly jolted as if awakening from something.
She quickly lifted her face, gazing at the three girls her age in this world, who were laughing with their irritating high-pitched voices, causing Elara's eardrums to ache.
'... Oh, I forgot they were still here... Why aren't they leaving?!!!' Elara furrowed her brow.
While contemplating many things about the three annoying little girls in front of her, something suddenly occurred to Elara.
'Why do these three girls, no, why does this girl named Becca dislike me so much? What have I done?' Elara couldn't understand.
Throughout her time in the village of Flora, Elara had never socialized with the village children, let alone form relationships with the kids from the neighboring village, Fauna. Consequently, Elara was absolutely certain that she had never caused any issues for the children, both in Flora and Fauna.
So why did the chief village's children dislike her so much to the point of behaving like this?
<"... the chief village's daughter, who has received an education on par with the ladies in the capital of the Kingdom of Terra!">
'Ah, yes, I remember she said that sentence with full of pride!' Elara praised herself for successfully recalling one of the many useless taunts from the three girls who incessantly emitted annoying high-pitched sounds.
Actually, from the beginning of this encounter, Elara could already guess their main reason for openly approaching her, especially after her ears were forced to endure the endless noisy mockery they directed at her.
'That's because I've become quite famous as a genius child, even among the merchants and nobles who often pass through and visit this remote village.'
Elara scratched her nape.
'Furthermore, there have been some rumors circulating that I am actually a hidden noble's child.'
Initially, the rumors about Elara being a noble's child had started to die down several years ago. But for some reason, these rumors resurfaced recently.
Many people believed that Elara, who was highly knowledgeable in making delicious bread, had secretly been trained by a renowned chef in one of the three kingdom capitals.
'There are even some absurd rumors claiming that I am the hidden child of the Kings....'
Elara thought that the little girls in front of her were struggling to accept the reality that she, just an ordinary baker's child, had suddenly become so famous and received many absurd rumors that were hard to comprehend for young minds.
'They are jealous... of me....'
It was only natural for girls living in a small and remote village like this to have big dreams, such as having a higher status or at least obtaining a good job in the capital of one of the three kingdoms on this continent.
Therefore, instead of hoping for which elemental affinity they would have during the Spirits Contract Ceremony, most girls in secluded areas like this chose to focus on beautifying themselves and trying to make connections with wealthy merchants or noble families passing through to Galatea territory.
Which parent wouldn't be pleased if their children, who only lived in the corner of the center territory, received attention from nobles passing by with their charm as a young, innocent, and graceful girl from a closed-off village? Especially if their daughter became a concubine, or even managed to become the first wife of a respected noble family.
That's what Becca Safi, the only daughter of the village chief in the outskirts of this area, had been doing all this time.
Despite living on the outskirts, Becca didn't lose her spirit. Every day, Becca tried to beautify herself, wearing the latest fashion dresses from the capital and studying the manners of the capital's nobility.
With her father being a village chief who has numerous connections with various merchants, Becca Safi was greatly assisted in appearing like a perfect noblewoman from birth!
In this way, Becca is confident that she can easily find a noble suitor!
In essence, Becca had done her best to show off her grace as the most beautiful woman in this small village.
Unfortunately, her belief began to crumble and shatter into pieces with the arrival of Elara, who began to disrupt Becca Safi's perfect plan.
Initially, Elara, that girl, was only known as a strange child who seemed a bit clever in this small village. That's why Becca didn't bother and ignored other unimportant rumors.
"Why should I care about a rumor about a fatherless child living in poverty?" That's what Becca had been thinking about Elara all this time.
But there was another rumor that began to circulate, one that Elara could no longer ignore so casually.