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Actually my wife (japanese extraction) was routinely carded for age at bars until she was 40ish. I suffered a lot of "how dare you be with such a tiny young thing" looks for several decades. Even now, I'll catch 20-somethings giving her the "look" (which makes it hilarious when they discover she's old enough to be their mom). But it isn't just asians... a couple of my son's best friends (age 17 of European extraction), each young lady could easily pass for 15, 20, even 25 (they carry themselves well). Its just not that easy to nail an age estimate.
From what I've read.. the "average lifespan of 40" had more to do with the massive number of newborns that usually died (some cultures didn't even count the kid as born until a week had passed after delivery --- there's a reason that christening isn't done right after birth) and then injury, infection... respiratory illness... so the mortality chart looks like an upside down bell curve with bumps throughout.
Joan of Arc was executed at age 19 after having led armies. Alexander the Great did 90% of his conquering before the age of 25 (died in his 30s). Live fast, die young....
Since Horo is a young goddess (only 600), she thinks of herself as a young woman and that's how she instantiates herself. Her talk and the look in her eyes belie much more age. Thinking a bit of Elda from the series Karin.
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