Chapter 18 People who don’t learn their lessons
Chapter 18 People who don’t learn their lessons
The day after Rumba came to the mansion, my swordplay training began early in the morning.
When I was about to leave sparring with Eleanora-neesan to Rumba, I was caught by Nord-tousan.
“Al, let’s train with dad. If you hear stories of dad’s past, you’ll want to swing the sword.”
It didn’t feel like the usual refreshing smile, but it was a somewhat black smile. You know, right? Training’s with wooden swords, you know?
Anyhow, now I am sparring. Of course I’m disadvantageous. I can’t even scratch Nord-tousan.
He blocked, parried, and sometimes even tripped me over to the ground.
“Wait, Nord-tousan! Tripping me, aren’t you being too harsh today?!”
“……That’s not true. Now, come at me.”
Gunununu. It’s about yesterday, right? He’s angry about that, right?
Inside my head, I assumed that the training was strict because of what happened yesterday.
I’m just training with Nord-tousan, but I lost count of how many times I did deep kisses to the floor!
Not mature, not mature at all, Nord-tousan.
“Dear~ Good luck~. Come on Al, get up!”
From inside the mansion, Elna-kaasan shouted. Isn’t that weird? Shouldn’t she be saying the reverse?
After that we faced off many times and I received sincere blows to the head with a wooden sword every time.
I wonder how many of my precious brain cells died today.
“Now, this is the last. Hang in there.”
“Yes!”
Alright! I’ll be free with this. Eleanora-neesan was completely focused on intensely assailing Rumba. I can relax today!
“Come hit me. If you don’t you’ll get hit in the head again?”
Nord-tousan smiled and provoked me as if to put some energy into me.
I see. Then, I’ll do the same.
“Nord-tousan, no matter how many times you hit my head, I won’t forget that you’re the Dragon Slayer?”
“……”
Huh? That’s weird—. Weren’t we provoking each other? There’s no response—.
As I stared at Nord-tousan, he grew faint for a moment. When I came to, the wavering blue sky came into my sight for some reason.
It didn’t hurt.
“……That guy is stupid……”
It felt like Rumba said something but I can’t hear well. That’s weird?
Ah—, the sky’s blue again today.
While looking at the clear blue sky, my consciousness faded into darkness.
.
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“Ah, Al’s up!”
When I opened my eyes, I found Eleanora-neesan looking at me with a worried expression.
Huh? Where is this? Who am I?
My name is Alfried. Original name Inaka Yuuji…… Yup, I’ve got my memories.
“Oi, ojou-chan, don’t shake him like that. Let him rest today.”
“Alright.”
“Though, the right to take him out tomorrow is mine since I won.”
“Kii—! Frustrating! Why can’t I land a single hit!?”
Rumba laughed heartily and exited the room.
“Al, here’s some food and water. If you can’t have it, I’ll feed you.”
“I can eat on my own.”
“Tch.”
“Eh?”
Eh? Did she just click her tongue? Isn’t that unimaginable for a girl?
“Nnn, nothing! If you can’t eat on your own, call me!”
Eleanora-neesan made a smile like a blooming flower and emphasised, if you can’t eat on your own!
There’s no need for the ah—n. Because if I allow it once, Eleanora-neesan will barge in every time.
“Yeah, it’s not that bad. Just a concussion.”
“Really? I don’t know what you said, but it happened because you made Nord-tousan angry—”
By the way, the previous “Nothing!” translates as this with the Womanese dictionary.
“Nothing!” = “No, I’m actually displeased, but it’s alright for now.”
That’s what it is. There are other terms in the Womanese dictionary.
“Yeah, probably.” = “Of course not.”
“This one or that one, which clothes is better?” = “You know the answer, right? Of course? This one, right? Right?”
“I don’t mind.” = “I do mind.”
“Can you wait a bit?” = “I’m telling you this, maidens need time. It takes more time, okay?”
I recommend everyone to review this dictionary before meeting, or going out with women.
In my experience, the most dangerous one was “It’s okay!” When I replied, “Really? Alright,” afterwards, she complained a lot about me the next day.
They say humility is the virtue of Japanese people, but this is. No, she just let out her rage later. Not humble at all.
“Then, I’ll get going.”
“Yeah, thank you, Eleanora-neesan.”
Eleanora-neesan waved to me who was lying down and exited the room.
“Weakened Al is cute too—! I wanted to ah—n with him—”
……Eleanora-neesan, I can hear everything.
.
That day, I relaxed and rolled around in bed.
.
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The next day, Rumba came from the morning and said, “You’re alright now! Let’s go outside!”
And forcefully dragged me to the village.
He wanted me to give a tour of the village. Mn, alright then. I’ll teach him the good points of Coryatt Village!
I walked down the usual path form the house.
“There are lots of wheat in this are. Around autumn, these green wheats should turn into a beautiful golden shade.”
“Right right. These wheats welcome the people coming to the village and see them off.”
“……Like a mother.”
“Maybe.”
Thinking like that, the wheats felt larger, kinder. There are lots of mothers in this village.
By the way, today too, ojisan (Roland) wasn’t at the wheat field.
Oniisan, grandpa, and grandma are doing work here and there it seems.
“Then, why don’t we go to the square. There will be various people there.”
“Oh—, right. Triela did say that there’s a lot of bartering at the square.”
.
The closer we got to the square, the more concentrated the huts got. In this village, newcomers don’t have to live at the outskirts, but the rule seems to be that they have to build their huts or houses some distance from the centre. There are cases where people build houses near the centre for work.
Thus, near the centre the houses are those of the oldest settled people, those of people with restaurants like Celia-san (I definitely did not say that she’s the strongest), or those of people with occupations like Elman-san.
“Heh—, there’s quite a bit. There might have been more people if this was closer to the capital.”
Looking at Elman-san’s furniture and vegetables and wild greens that are available only here, he occasionally asked questions.
Rumba looks hearty and rough, but he looks at the fine details and thoroughly investigates new things. Seeing those sides, it does make me think that he is an adventurer.
It seems like he became famished like that because he was giving food to starving children on the way.
So there are such impoverished regions on the way here.
.
“Al! I’m hungry! Let’s go have some food!”
“Then, let’s go to Celia-san’s restaurant. Do you have money?”
“Leave it to me! I brought a gold coin today!”
Rumba proudly held up a shining gold coin with two fingers and showed it off.
“We barely use gold coins here. It might trouble you if you use a gold coin, you know? Are you planning on eating that much?”
“What!”
“No, well, if it’s Celia-san’s restaurant I think you should be alright. It seems like she’s earning a lot recently too.”
“……Why is a village restaurant earning a lot.”
“You’ll know when you get there.”
Soon we could see a restaurant with ‘Celia’s Restaurant’ written on it.
“Looks pretty big.”
“Restaurants in other villages were quite small.”
“There’s a reason why it expanded.”
I said that and opened the door with a wry smile.
“Ah! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I lost again! My egg roll!”
The person who screamed was that ojisan. So you were here.
He probably did a match of Reversi or shogi with a dish at stake. He really doesn’t learn.
I haven’t seen her, but I can tell that Natalie-san’s suffering.
Anyway, this orison likes games even though he’s not good. Logan too. People like that keep challenging others. There’s no helping.
“……What’s this?”
“Reversi or shogi, probably. Thanks to these, there’s a lot of commotion every night. Because of that, we decided to expand the store.”
“Reversi? Shogi? Must be the things Triela mentioned before.”
Last year, I gave Triela the right to sell Reversi. Of his profits, some percentage of it regularly comes in to House Slowlet.
Unexpectedly, it seems there are patents in this world too. It’s because magic tool crafting would not be worth it or something. Looks like the world of crafters is tough too.
“Oh? You’re a new face? Want to try Reversi?”
“How do you play this?”
Having noticed Rumba, ojisan stood up and seated Rumba.
“I see, I can do this too!”
After hearing ojisan’s explanation, Rumba became motivated.
“How about betting an egg roll?”
Uwa—, ojisan, trying to rip off a beginner.
“What’s an egg roll? Grilled egg?”1
“It’s this.”
To Rumba’s question, ojisan showed an egg roll on a table.
“Try it.”
“Ah—! That’s mine!”
Maybe it wasn’t ojisan’s since another man protested.
“Just one should be alright.”
“Then, thank you for the meal.”
““Ah—!””
“Ah, he ate it all.”
Come to think of it, Rumba heartily ate spaghetti in large bites.
“I told you, one piece!”
He probably mistook one as the whole thing. Since his mouth is big too.
“Delicious!”
“Of course! I’ll give Roland’s special egg roll for you!”
Ah—, I had that before too. It was an egg roll with various things like mushrooms and wild greens. It was quite delicious but it doesn’t look good.
“I want another dish!”
“No, later. Reversi comes first! If you want to eat it, you have to defeat me first!”
“Al, can I hit this guy?”
“Defeat him with Reversi.”
Ojisan got a little scared from Rumba’s words, but hearing my words he relaxed and set the pieces.
At first, Rumba was restless because he couldn’t have egg rolls, but maybe because the game got more interesting, he slowly got absorbed into it and leant forward.
“Uoh! I can’t place it anywhere!”
“Fu…… then you’ll have to pass.”
What do you mean ‘fu’ ojisan.
“Roland’s still coming every day.”
The proprietress of the restaurant, Celia-san, came up next to me.
“If there’s this much people already during the daytime, it must even more amazing at night.”
“Really. It’s rowdier because they also drink at night. Fights happen too. If a fight breaks out, someone frail like me can’t do anything.”
“Ha?”
“What do you mean, ‘Ha?’”
Eh? What did this person say? She’s stronger than her husband the militia captain.
“No no, I was just thinking about people fighting. Aha, ahaha.”
Relieved at my word, the pressure directed towards me disappeared. Is she a pirate king or something?
“So, when that happens, my husband kicks their asses!”
As if she were shadow-boxing, she shot a right straight. at the part ‘kicks their asses’.
Amazing posture. Even a heavyweight boxer would go home crying.
“And then Celia-san kicks his ass! Right?”
I mimicked her and shot a right straight. Nope, my right arm won’t be enough to aim for the world.
“Right right. If he ogles women a bit or skips work I’ll kick his ass! Wait, Alfried-sama? Can you please come with me?”
When I nodded twice with a smile, Celia-san grabbed my hand and dragged me to the kitchen.
Eh? Isn’t this dangerous?
The men looked at me pitifully. Stop! Don’t look at me like that.
After that, I was hit on the head with a ladle with a dokon! and was forced to wash the dishes.
While I was washing the dishes, Celia-san’s daughter Karla’s sympathetic gaze pierced my cheek.
‘You don’t learn either,’ the gaze said.
****
“Hey, Roland. I think this every time, but is he an idiot? He did the same thing yesterday at the mansion with his father.”
“Ah—, everyone knows that. Though, this egg roll, the frying pan for that, Reversi and shogi were thought up by him……”
“Well, they say that the difference between a genius and a fool is paper-thin.”
“Well, he is one of the seven mysteries of this village after all.”
“That guy! Heheheh, funny. What are some of the other mysteries?”
“There’s a luxurious stone house that was built secretly, you know? Everyone says that the spirits build them though.”
“Haa? Al said that he built that though?”
“Then, that mystery is also because of him!”
“What other mysteries are there?”
“Well, Rumba, let’s have some drinks first.”
“Right.”
““O—i, another bottle of alcohol!””
Note:
1 Egg roll in Japanese is translated literally as grilled egg.