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It is May 25, 312 in the year
of the Tria Calendar.
Today is my tenth birthday.
The house has been bustling
with preparations for my birthday since this morning.
Although I am the second son
and not the successor0, families above the knight class celebrate their tenth
birthday grandly.
It is normal for farmers and
merchants to work at the age of ten, considering them full-fledged members of
the family.
Even in the homes of knights,
serious training in martial arts begins at the age of ten, and many join the
knighthood at the age of twelve. So it is considered a turning point, or a
milestone, between an adult and a child.
Today, instead of the usual
cheap clothes of linen, I am dressed in fine clothes like a knight’s uniform. I
can’t see myself, so I don’t know what it looks like, but at least I must not
look like a wild child playing as a hunter.
Liddy took one look at me and
said, “You look pretty good,” but she immediately started giggling,
which made me wonder if I really looked good.
The Zack Quartet compliments
me, but they also praise me for looking good even with the fur vest I got from
Rob the hunter – a wild-looking thing that looks like something a bandit would
wear – also the three of them don’t have much to say about it. I can’t rely on their
opinion.
Just like on my brother’s
tenth birthday four years earlier, the village representative brings various
gifts to celebrate.
There was no time to catch my breath
in the morning, as Gordon, the village representative, gave a congratulatory
speech and a priest sent from the town of Bogwood gave me their blessing.
After lunch, personal
acquaintances began to trickle in.
Rob the hunter and his crew
brought a magnificent whole boar, and Scott, the distillery manager, brought
three barrels of specially fortified “Scotch” and three barrels of
“Marl” – a distillate made from wine pomace. –Craig, the woodworker,
gave me a beautifully polished desk.
Bertram, the dwarven
blacksmith, held a sword in his hand that he was in the process of making and
said, “This is a sword that I am hammering with a special steel from Ars.
Come to the workshop tomorrow so we can make the final adjustments”, and
he promised to let me strike the sword.
In addition, all of the
squires gave me various small items to help me get into the forest, including a
sturdy cloak, a backpack, and a belt that can also hold throwing knives.
Dan gave me a glove made from
a rabbit he had killed himself, and Mel and Sharon, with embarrassed looks on
their faces, gave me baked goods they had made together.
Theophilus and Seraphine, the
twins, my younger brother, and my sister, gave him a bouquet of flowers they
had picked from their garden.
And for dinner, sautéed wild
boar was the main dish, followed by pastries baked by Mel and Sharon. It was a
pound cake-like baked good that turned out quite well since we had recently
started buying sugar.
That night, in my
grandfather’s room, I received a celebration from my family.
My grandfather took a leather
bag out of a drawer and said,
“Here are twenty platinum
coins. You may spend them as you please.” (Govan)
My grandfather handed me 20
platinum coins, or 20,000 C (=20,000,000 yen) worth of money was handed over to
me.
When I looked at him
curiously, my father began to speak.
“I could have given you a
weapon, but I figured Bertram would give you a sword. Besides, you are going to
the Magic Academy, aren’t you? With that much money, you will be able to pay
for admission and tuition. Even if you don’t go, with that much money you can
do whatever you want.” (Matt)
After saying that much, my
father chuckled and added, “Well, it’s the money you made originally.”
Apparently, he had kept some
of the proceeds from the sale of the soap-making process.
And then my mother laughed.
“We’re really troubled.
In your case, other people will bring gifts that we can give… Fufufu, it’s
strange to give money on your tenth birthday, but it’s the better choice. That’s
what we thought after talking with Father-in-law and Matt (Mathias, my father’s
nickname) —” (Tanya)
“And you had Nicholas look into
the Magic Academy. So we could give this to you and you can go there without
any worries.” (Govan)
It seems that my grandfather
knew that I was looking into the school and wanted to give me a push.
“Thank you very much. I was
going to talk to you afterward, but I will tell you here now. I’m going to take
the entrance exam which is in July…” (Zack)
I go on to tell my parents and
grandfather what I told Liddy yesterday.
When my grandfather finished
listening to me, he said.
“…I know what you are
prepared to do. We are your family. You can always count on us. Do you
understand?” (Govan)
I nodded my head.
“I understand. But I’ll do my
best to get as far as I can. I’m still a Lockhart.” (Zack)
After that, I went to Liddy’s
room.
“My father and the others
were aware that I was going to the Magic Academy. My birthday present was
tuition.” (Zack)
Liddy chuckled,
“Govie and his family are
just like you. When are you leaving?” (Liddy)
“There are exams in late
July, so I will leave in July. Father or one of the squires will probably
escort me, so half a month is plenty of time. ” (Zack)
“Yes, it’s only a little
over a month away. Okay. I’ll decide by then.” (Liddy)
When we finished talking and I
was about to leave, she stopped me and said, “I haven’t given you your
present yet.”
I took out the ring around my
neck and said, “You gave me this five years ago. It’s enough,” I
laugh, but Liddy’s expression is more serious than ever.
“If I die, I’ll give you
my Magic Crystal. That reservation is my gift to you.” (Liddy)
I stood there, speechless.
“I will protect you. Even as
your shield. So if I die… I want you to have my Magic Crystal. I want to be
with you forever.” (Liddy)
I reacted violently to those
words.
“Don’t say such ominous
things! In my world, that’s called a death flag! Please… Don’t ever say to me
you’re going to die as my shield…” (Zack)
At that moment, I knew what
she was thinking.
So I was ready to do the same.
“Okay… In return, if I
die first, I’ll give you my Magic Crystal as a present.” (Zack)
Liddy’s eyes widened and she
muttered shakily, “Do you understand what I just said?”
“Yeah, I think I know
what you just said. It’s some kind of proposal. When we die, we will have our Magic
Crystals in the same grave. It means that we will be together even after we
die.” (Zack)
Tears were falling from
Liddy’s wide-open eyes.
“I am an elf. There’s a chance
that you can never have your own child. I can’t…” (Liddy)
In this world, half-elves and
other half-bloods do not exist. Even if it’s very rare, like once every 100
years, it’s possible to have a child. However, they are born as one of the two
races.
“I don’t care. I am a stranger
in this world. I don’t know if I could have children even if I got married
normally, and I don’t even know if I could do it.” (Zack)
I moved closer to Liddy and
hugged her without another word.
I didn’t go back to my room
that night.
The next morning, I went to
Bertram’s workshop.
“Nice to see you. I’ve
asked you how to make a ‘Katana’.” ()
When I had finished making the
distiller, I explained to Bertram how to make a Katana.
It had been about three years
since I had explained the process to him, but he had only confirmed that a
prototype had been made and I did bother much about it.
“I used charcoal, and you
said ‘iron core’ and ‘building it up’…” (Bertram)
The sword in his hand was in
the process of being “unrolled”.
In this world, double-edged
swords are more common, so he uses a variant of the “Three-steel”
method, with “iron-blade spill” on both sides of the blade.
The Ars steel used as a
material is high-grade steel refined by Gold Magic in the Kingdom of Caum,
where there are many dwarves. Although not as expensive as special materials
such as mithril, it is a very expensive material because of its high quality,
and the material used to make a single sword alone should cost several thousand
C (several million yen).
Furthermore, when swords are
forged in the Japanese sword-making process, impurities are eliminated as a
result of the folding and forging process, and more steel is used than for
ordinary forged swords. Probably, this material alone must have cost 10,000 C.
When I mentioned this to him,
he said.
“This steel is the cost
of the scotch. I wrote a letter to the inventor of the scotch to give him a
sword, and the craftsmen in Ars sent it to me. So don’t worry about it.”
(Bertram)
I thought they were truly dwarfs,
but it’s still hard to absorb. While I was looking hesitant he said,
“Just make more good liquor.
They’ll be more than happy to pay for it.” (Bertram)
When I thought of the dwarves
who really like to drink, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I am grateful but they’ll
have to wait five years for me to pay them back. In five years, I will have a
ten-year-old scotch. I’ll give it to all of you.” (Zack)
“That’s good. I’ll tell the
guys in Ars. All right, let’s hear what you want.” (Bertram)
I ordered a large bastard
sword.
With my current self, it would
be more like a two-handed great sword than a bastard sword, a one-handed sword,
but I had it made quite large in anticipation of my future growth.
“I’m leaving the village
in July, do you think you can make it?” (Zack)
“Leave the village? Where
are you going? Are you going to join the Knight Order?” (Bertram)
“I’m going to enter the Magic Academy
in Doctus. I have an exam at the end of July, so I have to leave around the
beginning of July.” (Zack)
“I see. …I have about a
month to go. I’ll make it work. But you have to show up as often as you can.”
(Bertram)
I bowed my head and left his
workshop.
Then, I returned to Castle
Hill and decided to talk to Mel and the others.
“… So, I will leave
this village in July. I will return during the summer vacation, but I would be staying
there for five years.” (Zack)
When I finished speaking, Mel
and Sharon had tears in their eyes.
Then, as if dammed up, they
began to cry and Mel clutched at me, “Don’t go… Master Zack, don’t go…”
Sharon is speechless or just
grabbing my hand and crying.
Dan is the only one who is
relatively calm and says, “We can go… when we’re a little older.”
“I’m having fun here, and
I don’t want to leave. But I want to be a mage, and I can’t do that here.”
(Zack)
I waited until the two girls
had stopped crying, and when they had calmed down, he began speaking again.
“You may have noticed that
I’m not like most kids. I have memories of my past life, since, before I was
born, and I have them. There’s another thing that’s different. I was asked by
God to do something…” (Zack)
I talked about reincarnation,
protecting the person sent by the gods, and so on.
I thought it would be
difficult for a ten or eleven-year-old, but all three of them seemed to
understand somehow.
“…So I have to become
stronger. That’s why I’m going to Doctus. And my mission shouldn’t last
forever. When it’s all over, we’ll all live together happily. I can stay in the
village, or we can be adventurers around Pericritor while we are young, or we
can go around the world. So, I want you all to train hard for it.” (Zack)
The three of them nodded at my
words and seemed to be somehow convinced.
Mel, in particular, seemed
quite fired up. She wiped away her tears and stood up.
“I will become even stronger.
I will be trained by the former lord so that I can stand next to Master Zack… I
will become a swordsman who is second to none!” (Mel)
Perhaps inspired by this, Dan
also declared, making a promise,
“Me too, like my father—Guy
Jakes. I’m going to be a great warrior like my father, a former scout of adventurers!”
(Dan)
Sharon, wondering what to do,
declares in a small voice, but with a firm tone.
“I want to be of some help to Master
Zack…I will study more!” (Sharon)
I was happy with the feelings
the three of them gave.
I thought he was a child, but
he seems to be old enough to think clearly.
“Thank you. We’ll be together
again. Just give me five years. I’ll come back stronger than ever.” (Zack)