CH 20

I’m already 9 years old. I’ve known the little kids and the older children who work on the farm and the ranch for more than 9 months now. I think I got along well with everyone, and they treat me normally. Even though I’m supposed to be a knight’s apprentice, they’re not afraid of me, and it’s really a relationship like age-appropriate friends.

Recently, the number of my tutors’ classes has decreased considerably, except for Olivia’s etiquette classes. The main thing I’m doing now is researching and gathering educational materials by myself. I feel like I’m making reports from my university days, researching and developing my own spells, researching domestic affairs and governance methods, researching old wars, researching tactics and strategies, and so on.

Of course, I continue my daily training. However, recently, I feel that it’s becoming more difficult to continue using magic until it’s empty like it used to be. My magical power does not seem to run out anymore.

“Hey Floto, is this right? … Hey, is this right?!”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. Which one was it again?” I asked.

Louisa’s voice brought me back to reality after I lost myself in thought. We’re on the bank of a stream that’s a short distance from the farm. Lately, or rather, for quite some time now, we’ve been together on this bank of the river after farmwork.

It’s not a love affair like a date. Louisa had a talent for magic. Or rather, by nature, everyone in this world has the talent to use magic. However, most of the commoners who don’t have the environment or the means to receive a solid education since childhood don’t have the opportunity to acquire magical skills and spend their entire lives with that talent lying dormant.

One day, when I happened to check Louisa’s magical power capacity, it turned out that she had more power than normal children. Not only was she older than the others, but Louisa had more magical talent than normal. So I decided to teach Louisa magic for a short time after work on the farm until noon.

Louisa is quick to take to everything and she’s not stupid. She just had to live like this because she grew up poor and didn’t have the opportunity to get a formal education. Louisa’s already making significant progress by already being able to use even simple spells, for the most part.

Since she was able to use magic that was rarely used by anyone other than nobles, or those who were considered to be of noble lineage, she would be recognized by the world as having sufficient talent.

I also teach Louisa my style of magic. I didn’t teach anything like how to pray to the gods, or about offering magical power to a spirit. Just gather the magical power, construct a spell formula, and then activate it. Even with this teaching, spells can be activated properly, so there is no need for superfluous chanting or anything like that.

Also, I’m trying the same method of increasing the magical power that I used. Make my student conscious of absorbing magic from food and air, take in more magic than usual, meditate and refine their magic, use magic until they are on the verge of depletion, and then after they’re refilled, use magic to the limit again. It’s the exact same way I’ve been doing over and over again.

I don’t know if it’s the result of training, but Louisa’s magical power capacity has increased considerably. If she keeps going like this, I wonder if I can become a magician who could be recruited anywhere.

“How about this?” Louisa said. “I don’t know if I’ve got it right, but…”

“Wait! Louisa! Too close!”

Louisa who was sitting next to me reading the magical studies textbook I brought, then she snuggled up to me. I know she’s just trying to read the text together with me, but I can’t concentrate because I’m conscious of her body.

You may wonder what I’m saying about Louisa, who is still 11 years old, but I think Louisa’s chest has started developing recently. They’re not large, but they’re small and puffy only around the tip… probably? There are times when she has an oddly girlish face that makes my heart flutter.

To begin with, from my previous life until now, I don’t remember being popular with girls. No, to put it bluntly, I’ve never been popular! Even though I’m a small child, in this life I’m going on dates every day with a girl who’s a little older than me.

“Huh? Do I… do I smell like sweat?” Louisa asked as she suddenly pulled away. Then, she blushed and made it as if she was sniffing her own arm. She’s kind of cute.

“Ah…, no, um…, you don’t smell like sweat, okay?” I said.

Actually, she smells a little from the Japanese perspective. It’s not just about the smell of sweat, it’s about the fact that baths aren’t popular, and the differences in constitution and sense of smell between Westerners and Japanese. It’s not just Louisa who stinks, all normal people in this world stink a little to me.

I’ve already gotten used to that, and in this world this much odor is normal, so Louisa isn’t the only one special. Rather, if it’s Louisa’s smell, I’d rather smell that. … I’ve somehow sounded like a pervert. I don’t mean it in a weird way, but it’s like… sweet and sour youth’s smell, or…

Ahh! Who am I making excuses for? It must be Louisa’s fault for approaching me while I’m defenseless!

“Honestly?” Louisa asked.

“Uuh!” I gasped.

Louisa makes a cute gesture, looking up at me with her cheeks blushing slightly, it’s adorable. She usually scolds the younger children, but when the strong-willed Louisa is with me, she’s kind of quiet and meek. It makes me almost think that Louisa might like me.

Everything in this world comes so early. There are many people who get married and have children as a matter of course, even at an age where marriage and childbirth are not allowed on modern earth. Of course, even on modern earth, history shows it’s only a relatively recent fact that the age for marriage and childbirth has been set after your late teens. Just a little bit, 100, 200 years ago, it was possible to get married in the single digits and give birth right after entering your teens.

The average life expectancy in this world isn’t that long, so everyone gets married and gives birth early. It’s only natural for someone like me, a noble, to already have a fiancé decided, and it seems like it wouldn’t be strange for a commoner like Louisa to be looking for a marriage partner soon, too.

Of course, it will still be several years before I actually get married or give birth, but I’m approaching the age where I start to be conscious of such things.

“Honestly,” I said.

“I see… that’s a relief,” Louis said.

I can’t help but be conscious of Louisa who is smiling and sitting next to me. Am I the only one aware of this? Or maybe this is Louisa’s way of appealing to me…?

“Did I use a spell for a moment?” Louisa asked.

“Huh? Ah, yeah. I think you can use it well enough, yeah?”

I don’t know about the other nobles, but from the point of view of commoners who can’t use magic, Louisa would be in the same category as capable mages. In this case, she could serve a noble family somewhere…

“I see… then maybe some noble will take me as a concubine?” Louisa asked.

My heart ached when I heard those words.

Ah…, yeah… That’s right… Louisa’s reason for studying magic so hard is because her being able to use magic gives her a high chance of catching the eye of some noble and being taken in as a concubine.

A male mage would probably be recruited as a subordinate. And if it’s a female mage, it’s likely that the child born from them will show a high level of magical ability, so it seems that they’re often kept as concubines. For Louisa, a poor commoner, becoming a concubine of an aristocrat is a one-shot reversal of her life. For Louisa’s family and all her many siblings to escape poverty, Louisa has no choice but to sell herself to the aristocrats.

Louisa isn’t particularly beautiful, but she’s charming. Looking at her as an ordinary commoner, if she worked at a shop somewhere, she would probably be able to become famous as a signboard girl. If she has that kind of ability and her magical background is high, there is no doubt that she will catch the attention of some noble.

Aristocrats around here… Louisa being laid down and defiled by them… I don’t even want to imagine it, but I can’t stop thinking about it and it makes me sick. And I have no way of stopping it. If Louisa is prepared to sacrifice herself for her family and become some noble’s concubine, then I, a total stranger, can’t say anything about it…

Ah, what is this pain in my chest? Ah… why did I teach Louisa magic…?

“If it’s Louisa…any aristocratic family… will be happy to take you…”

It was all I could say as I looked down and tried to squeeze out the words.

“Really? Then…” Louisa started.

After that, she continued talking about being taken on by a noble but I couldn’t hear the words.

These past few days I’ve been lounging around the house a lot. Of course, I continue to train in the morning and evening, and I also go on patrols. I’m taking classes from the tutors, and I’m continuing magic classes for Louisa.

But what is this? The emptiness of this gaping hole is… I didn’t even get to do any research, so I spent a lot of my free time lazing around like this.

And while I was doing this, I realized something else. On the ranch and the farm, I’m supposed to be the “knight apprentice” Floto. How would you feel if the friend you had been with for more than 9 months was actually a completely different person who lied about both gender and name?

Some adults will think that they must have had some kind of circumstances. Of course, having been an adult, I know that not everyone is like that. Nowadays, there are more and more people who are adults in terms of age but are still children in spirit, so there are probably a lot of people who get mad at the other person without caring about their circumstances, get upset, and just criticize them just because they want to blame the other person.

What about young children who are inherently mentally immature? We all have memories of quarreling with friends over even the smallest of things. If it’s an unforgivable problem, will the children be able to forgive it?

Don’t you think it’s such a big deal just because you lied about your gender and name? It is, isn’t it? I am the only daughter of Margrave Carruthers, the one who governs this land. If it were known that such a person had misrepresented her name, status, and gender and mixed in with the common people, we would surely receive a big backlash.

Just thinking about it myself, I understand. Powerful people and rich people who are on a different level from us are mixing in with the commoners, disguising their social status and names, and asking themselves, “What is the life of the common people like?” and sneaking into them thinking “I came here to learn how the commoners live.”, the commoners in question would probably protest.

Of course, I don’t mean that. But it’s a matter of how the other person interprets it. If the only daughter of Margrave Carruthers, the highest aristocrat in this area, misrepresented her identity and name and mixed in with the commoners and soldiers, they would think that she was looking down on the others from her high-and-mighty position.

That’s why I’m absolutely doomed if my true identity is known. No matter what happens, I must pass myself off as a knight apprentice. If by any chance those children find out who I really am, I will never be able to spend time laughing with them like I used to.

When I thought that, it became more and more troublesome to go outside. I’m afraid to go out to the farm because I’m afraid that if I meet someone, I’ll be exposed. Since when did I become so bad at interacting with people? This shouldn’t have happened in my previous life.

In my previous life, I made friends and enjoyed my student life. Even if I wasn’t popular, it doesn’t mean I don’t have sweet and sour memories with girls. I had one or two of those memories.

But what about me in this life? I’m not good at socializing, and even if I get close to someone a little, it won’t go well. Since when did I become so bad at socializing?

But I can’t help but go out. The thought that I would have to go on patrol again tomorrow made me feel heavy and depressed.

I don’t like it, but it’s too late. It’s time for another tour today. I go out on patrol with the soldiers. When I get to the farm, as usual, I leave the patrol and help out on the farm. I hope I have a smooth day today…

I wonder if something will happen only because I think so. Is this what you call a flag? I just wanted to live in peace and safety, but the world doesn’t seem to let me do that.

After all the patrol soldiers had passed and gone over to look around the town, I felt a bad vibe in the northern woods. I’m not a master of anything, so I don’t have the cheat ability to detect something by looking at it. Still, I can’t help but feel something.

Following that bad premonition, I turned my gaze to the northern forest and the source appeared quietly.