I left home early in the morning, but the heat outside was already sweltering.
Even though I had only walked a short distance from home, sweat was already dripping from my forehead and back.
"Damn, it's hot again today."
I want to turn around and go home, but my beloved crops are waiting for me in the farm and rice fields.
It has been four years since I quit my job as a salaryman and started working as a farmer in my hometown in the countryside. My life has finally stabilized.
I can't afford to be lazy and neglect my precious crops.
I check my rice field in high spirits.
Then, I see something silver shining in my rice field.
"...... What is that?"
It is normal to see green rice, water, tiny creatures such as snails or insects, swallows, and herons that hunt for them. Still, it is unusual for a silver object to be there.
The only thing I can think of is that someone illegally dumped it in my rice field.
"Damn it, who dares to dump garbage in my rice field?"
The weather is already scorching and humid, and now there is illegal dumping. This is unacceptable.
I unconsciously cursed and checked the trash, but what I found was not trash. It is a human being.
A woman with long golden hair and fair skin. She is wearing Western-style armor and something that looks like a sword on her waist.
They call this female knight if I'm not mistaken.
"Why is a female knight lying in this rice field?"
If I look closely, I can see that she is lovely. From her hair color and facial features, she is clearly not Japanese.
Is she a foreign cosplayer or something?
It would not be strange if it happened to be an otaku festival or something similar in the city. Unfortunately, this is a small town with a total population of fewer than 30,000 people. There are no unusual tourist attractions. No matter how I think about it, it is not a place that would attract foreigners. It is not a place where young women who like to play cosplay would come.
If I had to guess, it could be a sacred place for anime and manga, but I had never heard such rumors.
If that were the case, the old men of the neighborhood association would surely be eager to promote it.
Anyway, a person is lying on the ground. I have to wake her up.
She will get heat stroke if she stays under the scorching sun like this.
"Hey, hey. Wake up."
"Mm, mmmm..."
She regains consciousness when I shake the female knight's body and call out to her.
She opens her eyes, and her beautiful emerald-like eyes are revealed.
The female knight looks blank for a while, but when she sees me, she screams.
"Who? Who are you?"
Hey, that's my line. What are you doing in my family's rice field?
You were the one lying in my rice field, so why the hell are you looking at me as if I am suspicious? I don't get it.
"Rice, rice field?"
That's right. This is my rice field.
When I told her the pure fact, the female knight panicked.
Then, she looks stunned for some reason.
Did she not come here of her own will? She looks stunned as if thrown into an unknown land.
I'm curious, but it would be troublesome to get involved with her.
"I don't know why you came to this country, but don't go into people's rice fields without permission. If you want to play, go play somewhere else."
"Wait!"
"Hey! Don't grab my clothes with your hands covered in mud!"
"Where is this place? If you know, please tell me."
Even though I protest, the female knight ignores me and asks.
Ah, my work clothes are wet and muddy.
"Huh? Are you half asleep?"
"I'm sorry. Please answer me honestly."
Her question was so silly that I was puzzled, but the female knight's face was serious.
Her desperate expression overwhelms me, so I answer her question without thinking.
"Japan."
"Japan? I never heard of that country before."
... She's here for sightseeing, but why has she never heard of this place? Isn't that weird?
"You, what's your name?"
"I am Seraphim Stadtfeld, the eldest daughter of a knight family that serves the kingdom of Laforia."
I heard a lot of keywords that I usually don't hear at once. I feel like I'm going to get heartburn.
"The Kingdom of Laforia? I've never heard of that country?"
"What?! That's impossible! The Kingdom of Laforia is a big country! Any adult, even a farmer, should know it!"
No, I never heard of it...
"Oh, I get it. So you're acting as a female knight character from an anime? The swords and armor are well made, and you take the setting very seriously."
"...... Anime? I don't know, but I do know that you're insulting me.
How dare you make fun of a knight? I cannot forgive you, even if you are a farmer who should be protected..."
The female knight stands up with her hand on her sword sheath, but her body falls sideways.
The water in the rice field splashes out.
"Hey, hey, are you okay?"
"I, I'm sorry. I haven't slept recently, and my consciousness is at its limit."
The female knight who called herself Seraphim muttered weakly and lost consciousness.
I tried to shake her body, but she didn't wake up.
"... For God's sake. It can't be helped."
She is a suspicious foreigner, but I cannot leave her under the scorching sun.
I have no choice but to carry the unconscious Seraphim out of the rice field.
"Ugggghh, she's so heavy!"
I once heard that people get heavier when they are unconscious, and that is true.
Plus, her armor and wet clothes are also weighing me down.
If I were still a salaryman who never worked out, carrying her up would have been difficult.
At any rate, I started walking with the female knight on my back.
This is how I picked up the female knight in the rice field.
●
"Hmm? Where is this?"
The female knight on my back woke when we reached my house.
"It's my house. I don't know what's happening, but it would be troublesome if you collapsed again. Take a rest for a while."
"Thank God."
I don't like the idea of bringing a young woman into a man's house, but I couldn't say that to someone who isn't feeling well.
Seraphim also knew this, so she did not complain.
"It's a wonderful house. Are you really a farmer?"
Seraphim sounded quite surprised when we entered the house's yard.
Is this her first time visiting a Japanese house?
"It is a big house for a single person, but there is plenty of land and houses in the countryside. Most houses are like this."
"Is that true.....?"
"I'm sorry if you are still exhausted, but if you feel better, can you walk alone?"
"Oh, yeah. I can walk by myself."
It is difficult to do anything with Seraphim on my back.
Since she regained consciousness, I asked her to get off my back for the time being.
Then, the female knight walked into the entranceway with her shoes on.
"Oh, shoes are strictly forbidden in our house. Please take off your dirty armor and socks."
"Oh, okay."
When I point this out, the female knight removes her shoes, socks, and armor.
Underneath the armor is a fairly simple outfit.
Her clothes are unusual in this area. I wonder if they are made of materials from her homeland.
"I'd like to give you a light meal and let you sleep, but I can't let you go into the room as it is."
Seraphim's body is covered in mud because she fell twice in the rice field. If she keeps walking around like this, my house will be covered with mud.
"For now, take a bath first."
"Bath!? This house has a bathtub?"
"Yes, it has."
I lead the surprised seraphim into the changing room and the bathroom at the back of the house.
Some people may expect to see Goemon-style bathtubs in the countryside, but very few places still have such old-fashioned bathtubs.
It is a very common type of bathtub. However, the bathtub is quite spacious, probably because the countryside has a lot of space.
Suppose there is anything else that has changed; it is that the interior has been remodeled to look like natural materials.
"... A farmer's house has a bath."
Seraphim stares at the bathtub with a stunned look on her face.
Yes, I'm a farmer, sure, but I'm not that poor, you know? I am very curious about the image of farmers in Seraphim's mind.
"For now, I will fill it with hot water."
I operate the hot water machine and fill the bathtub with hot water.
"Hey! Suddenly hot water is gushing out! No way. This stuck-to-the-wall thing, is this a water magic tool! It is impossible for a farmer to have this!"
"No, it's just a water heater."
Seeing the hot water gushing out, the female knight is surprised again.
''Mm? What is this?"
"Ah, idiot!"
When I tried to stop her, it was already too late. The female knight pushed down the shower lever, and the water poured on Seraphim and me.
"Uwaaaa! Wa, water!"
"Isn't it normal for water to come out when you push the shower lever!"
I quickly returned the lever to its original position.
I'm sorry. I don't know, I've never seen anything like this before.
When I got a little angry, Seraphim turned her head down with an apologetic expression on her face.
It seems that she didn't have any bad intentions.
"... Don't touch anything you don't know. Ask before you touch."
"Yes, I will do that."
Even if she is a foreigner, she should at least have a bathtub in her house. She should at least know how to use a water heater and a shower. And yet, this reaction..... I was concerned about Seraphim's reaction, as if she had never seen a bathtub or water heater before. I wonder how she has been living until now.
"Do you know how to use ...... bathtub?"
"'Sorry, I'd appreciate it if you could teach me."
I taught her to be safe, but I didn't expect her to ask me how to use it.
I explained how to bathe in this house, use the shower, shampoo, body soap, etc.
Meanwhile, time passed, and the water heater made a sound to indicate that the hot water filling had been completed.
Seraphim's body shakes in surprise.
"Looks like the bathtub is ready. Seraphim-san, do you have a change of clothes?"
"Just call me Seram. And I don't have a change of clothes. If possible, please let me borrow one."
"I understand. I'll get you a change of clothes and a towel, so please bathe."
"Oh, okay."
I pretended not to notice Seram's gaze as she peeked out of the changing room door and went to look for a change of clothes.
