CH 8

“I told you I’m not a bug, okay!?”

“Oh, you surprised me!?”

“…… Huh? Brother?”

When I woke up, I came face to face with my brother who was trying to wake me up. I remember the conversation with Regal, but I wonder if it’s safe to say that it was a dream …… which was somehow more like a bad dream ……

Anyway, it’s the day after I received my skills, and I’m excited about everything.

“Good morning brother!”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been worried about you because you’ve been having nightmares, but I feel like I’m missing out ……”

“Sorry, and thanks! Let’s go have breakfast.”

“Nina said they’re serving fried eggs with sausage today!”

“That’s great.”

My brother left my room and went to the living room while we were having this conversation. I went to the sink to wash my face. There, I look in the mirror and think about this house.

“…… Come to think of it, this house is really nice even though we don’t have much money. Maybe my father and his family were rich in the past. And then they failed in business and became poor?”

…… It’s possible.

I love my parents, but they’re kind of carefree and gullible, after all, them both ……

“This house may be our last stronghold, and I have to protect it with brother.”

Somehow, I’ve made up my mind and hurriedly made my way to the living room where breakfast is waiting. In the living room, everyone is seated, and Nina pulls out a chair and smiles at me as she sits down.

“Let’s eat then”!

Dad said, and we started to eat our breakfast, which consisted of buttery bread rolls and a fried egg. The rolls smelled of butter, fried eggs, and as my brother said, sausages were on the side …Hmm? Dad and Mom had one sausage each, and we had two. I wonder if they’ve already eaten it? As I was thinking about this, Mom said.

“You should eat your vegetables, too, okay?”

“Yes. I like Dad’s vegetables because they are delicious.”

“Me too.”

In fact, they are so delicious that I continue to eat my fork. The previous me used to hate cucumbers, but now I can eat them, or maybe I like them a lot.

“Oh, my sons say some nice things! I’m going to go work in the fields again today.”

“Ufufu, Delaide-sama and Lars-sama are both growing up well.”

“Of course they are, they are my children. Nina is going into town today, right?”

Nina sometimes goes to town, and after breakfast, she often doesn’t come back until the next day.

It seems that she spends most of her time in this house, but sometimes she goes back to her parents’ house. Then I had a flash of inspiration.

“Hey, Nina. Can’t I go to town with you too? Mom and Dad insist that I don’t go alone. I also want to meet this Nord guy I met when I was getting my skills, can’t I?”

“No.”

“That’s quick!?”

She replied without hesitation. When I was surprised, Dad put down his fork with a troubled look and opened his mouth.

“Dad will take you back to town. I mean, it’s almost harvest festival time, and I need your help in the fields. I just need you to help me gather the crops, okay? When the harvest festival comes, we’ll all go to town! It’s a festival, so I’m sure it’ll be fun, you know?”

“A festival! Yeah, I’d like that!”

“Hmmm …… It can’t be helped ……”

So there was a harvest festival ……. I’ve never been to one in the past five years, so I didn’t know. …… My brother, who is only two years older than me, doesn’t seem to have been to one either. It seems he doesn’t want us to go near the town that much.

But they want us to go to the academy, so maybe they have some ideas?

After breakfast, I helped them work in the fields, thinking that for now I should just listen to what they had to say.

It was a little hot to move around after noon, as the weather was not much different from spring in Japan. My dad and brother went back to the house and I stayed near the field to play outside.

Of course, I stayed near the field to test my skills.

“Now …… If it’s just like what Regal says, it means I can get infinitely stronger if I put in the effort. Let’s start with strength training and dashing to build up my strength! …… I want to be strong enough to beat the likes of Ryuuze.”

For now, I decided to do what I could for now. I read in a book that there is a total amount of magic power in each person, and that it grows just like physical strength.

“Fuh …… Fuh …… I don’t know if it’s because I’m a child, because I feel lighter than I did in my previous life when I was twenty-seven years old ……”

I made a menu of jogging, push-ups, sit-ups, and swinging a wooden stick as if it were a sword, and I followed it. After about three days of this, my brother seemed to miss me when I didn’t come back until the evening, and we started training together.

I spent my mornings in the fields or gathering materials for my mother’s medicine, and my afternoons and evenings training. After about two more weeks of this kind of life

“Why are you two so tired every day? What are you doing?”

“Eheh …… Secret …… Mnya ……”

“It’s a secret ……”

“Hey, hey, if you’re going to sleep, sleep in your room.”

This is what my dad says to me when I’m lounging on the couch after taking a bath. But I feel more comfortable on a place like a sofa.

Then, Mom came out of the bath and spoke to Dad with her mouth in a frown.

“Is everything alright? I’ll have to tell her not to go too deep into the mountains.”

“Ohhh. You mean the witch? I’ve never seen one, but I heard they live deep in the mountains.”

“Yeah …… I saw one once when I went into the mountains to get some herbs, and it was creepy.”

“We’re close to the mountains, so I’ll check on the kids tomorrow.”

I listen to her with sleepy eyes. …… Witches, huh? I imagined a long-nosed, black-clad grandmother, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

–And the next day…

“Taa!”

“Ei!”

Thump thump! and the sound of wooden sticks clashing echoed near the field. Today, Dad had placed a log nearby to watch us.

“Fuh  …… Fuh …… I lose, brother.”

“Yes! I won today!”

Our mock battle was over and I lost. The two-year age difference is huge, and even though we do the same training, my brother is bigger than me, so I tend to lose a lot.

As we were slumped on the ground, Dad put a towel on our heads and opened his mouth.

“So you guys have been doing this every day. No wonder you’re exhausted! I didn’t get to see it because I was busy preparing for the harvest festival, but Dad will be with you from now on.”

“Will you be able to keep up, Dad?”

“Hahaha, I’ll do my best, Delaide.”

Dad rubbed my brother’s head with a towel. I was watching the scene with a smile on my face when I suddenly felt a gaze on my back and turned around.

“……!?”

Rustle, rustle, rustle ……

There was a figure with long hair standing on the path leading to the mountain behind me. As soon as our eyes met, the figure fled into the grass as if in a panic. Is that the witch ……? In the warm weather, I felt a little chill run down my spine.

A little more childhood to come!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater!]

“Afu……”

Oh, are you sleepy?

“No, the story is boring ……”

I’m sorry. I’m trying my best.

“The Imperial Ensign is not popular at all, too.”

Noooo!? And I’m in the top 200 for the day ……!