Suteko Ni Narimashita Chapter 7
A body that defies convention
Two years have passed since the boar incident.
After it gets cold and snowy, and that snow melts and it gets warmer, they celebrate the new year. Is this the case for this village only? Or does this apply to the whole region? I don’t know if it’s only for this village, for this region, or for this country, but a small festival is held during the New Year.
On these rare occasions, everyone forgets about work and enjoys dancing and special dishes.
On New Year’s Day, it is customary to eat sugar candy in the shape of a cow to wish for a Happy New Year. The ingredients are handed to the person in charge that year, and they take some time out from their work to make them. This year, Frau’s mother was in charge, and it was hard to stop him from trying to interfere by saying, “I’ll help too.”
Everytime she kneads the sugar dough, breaks it into pieces and shapes it into a cow, Frau would say, “I’ll do it too.” And thanks to him, she could not finish her quota of 30 pieces faster. And so, she made about 3 pieces a day and finished in a week.
However, they didn’t know I made some of them and added it secretly.
During the festival, I snatched one and ate it. However, it was difficult to eat because the hardened sugar was strangely lumpy.
During this time, fortunes are also told in the square at the center of the village.
There was a large tub filled with water, and in a pot next to it, some kind of metal was being heated and melted. Those who wish to have their fortune told must pay the fortune teller the equivalent of a half-copper coin. Then he scoops the metal with a small ladle and drops it into the tub. The metal hardens with a hiss and steam, and the shape of the hardened metal is used to tell fortunes.
To be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference between the shapes. The fortune teller would make a complicated face and say something like, “This corner here is no good,” or “This roundness is so on and so forth,” and sometimes he would say the exact opposite of what just said to the previous customer.
But in the end, they would usually say, “This year will be a good year for you.”
I found this kind of thing to be rather fun, as it seemed to be the highlight of the festival.
There was also a practical benefit for me during this time.
The fuel that melts the metal used for divination is discarded clothing. After the winter, they all bring their old or unused clothes to the plaza and throw them into the fire as needed.
From there, I would take a few pieces of clothing that I think I could use for the whole year. These might be old clothes to them, but they somehow felt good against my skin and looked new to me.
Meanwhile, Frau was now old enough to help with the farm work.
Of course, it was still too dangerous for him to handle a hoe, but he could already do simple tasks such as carrying things.
And today, Frau was fetching water.
First, he drew some water from the well, placed it in a bucket, and transferred the contents to the water bottles placed beside the field and repeated the process several times, and I would casually support him when he is about to lose balance.
There are times when he almost notices me, and he would get that puzzled look on his face and move on. Thankfully, he hasn’t found out about my existence yet, or rather, I didn’t want him to find out.
Once, when I first started helping him, Frau knocked over a tub full of water and both of us were drenched. It was the worst.
At first, he looked in my direction as if he didn’t understand what happened. Then, he quickly snapped back to reality and checked himself. He was soaking wet all over. After he realized what happened, his face became a mix of emotions: astonishment, fear, anger, and disgust. These emotions, especially the fear of getting scolded, was too much for him to bear, and he ended up crying loudly. Hearing his cries, his father and mother rushed outside, but their appearance only panicked him and he cried louder.
After that incident, I promised myself that I wouldn’t let that happen again. To prevent such a thing from happening again, I was forced to watch over Frau whenever he helped out. Frau had to keep smiling.
Today, I was finally able to slip out and come to the training grounds when Frau took his afternoon nap. Since the boar incident, it seems Kasok and Shium were taking turns training the villagers.
Apparently, Kasok and Shium had been friends during their time as Explorers, which was way before the village was built.
An Explorer is kind of like a jack-of-all-trades in this world, but their original occupation was to explore the ruins in the Holy Lands and to bring back treasures such as Magic Tools and gold coins.
However, the Holy Land’s environment was harsh, and there seemed to be more deaths than there were profits. And so, some explorers used their expertise in exploring the Holy Land to gather medicinal herbs and sell them. They were also able to capitalize on their experience in killing monsters for self-defence when they started receiving subjugation requests. Similar to dispatch work for day laborers, they also started taking on other jobs such as transporting goods and escorting people, which contributed to their profession being known as a jack-of-all-trades.
And to fulfill those demands, these explorers often come in groups called Parties. In exchange for sharing the reward, they also share the work they are not good at.
Shium and Kasok also belonged to a Party. There seemed to be other members, but they seemed to be the ones doing most of the fighting.
Like always, Kisch remained after the Watchman training and practiced more. Kisch is going to come of age when he turns 16 next year. And because he has plans of leaving the village after he turns 16, Shium and Kasok had been working so hard to teach him for the past six months.
“Too slow! I’m putting all my energy into my right hand, so watch your thrusts!”
“Yes!”
Kisch, who was following his instructor’s lead, was amazing. His movements are much better than they were two years ago, and his reaction speed and physical strength have also increased dramatically.
“Alright! Let’s take a short break! We’re going to do fitness training after.”
“Eh, eeeeeh, alreadyyy!?”
Physical training was tough, but I honestly thought Kisch was amazing for doing it everyday.
“It’s when you can’t move that the real work begins! What you do when you can’t move your spear anymore, or when you can’t take a step anymore is where your life or death is decided, so hurry up and move it!”
“Yes, sir…”
Kisch began with push-ups. He did two sets of 2000 push-ups with no rest. After that, he pushed himself to the limit and did 3000 full squats, climbed a 10-meter tree twenty times, and did other exercises.
Next to him, I did the same exercises. Although I couldn’t possibly match the equal number of sets he does, I tried to give it my all without worrying about the number of times while Kisch was moving.
And just as expected, I couldn’t do half of his routine training before I reached my limit.
I looked at Kisch while he was trying to catch his breath.
This was a world where Fighting Auras and Magic Powers existed. I didn’t know how strong Kisch was in this world, nor did I know anything in this world outside the forest and the village. But what had me feeling a little sad lately is that no one knew of my existence in this world.
“Th-thank you… for… to… today.”
Kisch and I were done with training today. It seemed Kisch was at his limit, and so was I. Since I couldn’t move my legs anymore, I decided to fly back to Frau’s side even though my eyesight was getting somewhat dark.
“Whoops…”
My feet dragged and my flying seemed somewhat strange. I didn’t feel well either.
Lately, my Magic didn’t seem to work properly. I didn’t really mind it since I could still fly albeit strangely and I could still turn invisible and mute myself, but this was the first time that my body felt heavy.
When I reached the nearby forest, I slumped down on the tree where I usually slept. I guess a little nap won’t hurt. I’m worried about Frau, but he should be fine until… I wake…
“Uwah!”
I jumped at the sound of chirping birds. It was morning, obviously.
Well, even though it was so dark it was still practically evening, it seems I had slept from around yesterday afternoon till the next day. And without any protection, even.
It’s great that I was safe, but I was obviously careless. My invisibility wasn’t a one-stop solution after all. There was even a time when a dog who was suspicious of my scent stood in front of me.
I used magic to produce water to wash my face and rinse my mouth.
After breakfast, I went to Frau’s house.
Today, Frau was cutting grass. But of course, he wasn’t doing it alone. His whole family had come to the fields to cut grass and take out weeds.
Frau crouched down and pulled weeds as sweat dripped from his brow. Even though it was spring, it was warm enough to make people sweat. And so, as Magic practice, I tried to make a cool breeze.
But how could I make a “cool breeze”? If I prodI always did, then the temperature would drop to about room temperature. It was also considerably cooler, but I wanted to make a colder wind.
So I made ice. It consumes more Magic than water, but it was easy.
That’s right. I could make a cold wind if I moved this around. It was easier too.
It wasn’t a great way to practice Magic, but it would be a shame not to use it, so I decided to use it on Frau.
Frau closed his eyes and enjoyed the breeze. Yep, it was worth it.
Then one day, my body felt unusually great. I felt so refreshed and light.
I jumped from the tree where I usually slept and landed without a sound. Looking around, I felt like I had a wider view than usual.
It was a beautiful morning.
Biting into a piece of fruit for breakfast, I made my plan for the day. I’ve been living a stable life for years now, so there’s nothing to do but hang around the village and work out.
Then, without a second thought, I walked deeper into the forest. I was used to this area by now. I dipped my feet into the riverbed and wiped my sweaty body with a wet rag. The cold water felt good.
I looked at the surface of the water and stopped moving. Something didn’t feel right. I tilted my head and thought about it, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
With a refreshed body, I ran through the forest. Using the roots of the trees as a foothold, I climbed over the bushes and made my way out of the forest.
As expected, it was hard to run as fast as I could in the morning, and I was trying to catch my breath in no time. Breathing deeply as I looked towards the village, I cast my invisibility spell. This was always my morning routine.
“Ah, hello.”
Today, Frau unusually called out to me.
“H-hello.”
“Nice to meet you. Where are you from? I’m Frau. I live just around there…”
I began to sweat all over. That’s strange. Did the invisibility spell not work? Why? I was thinking about it even while I talked to Frau. But nothing made sense.
“I just recently moved around here. Frau… are you in the middle of doing chores?”
Why can’t I use invisibility magic? It’s not like I can test it right now. Besides, it would be strange if I just disappeared right before Frau. But before that, how long has it not been working? I was sure it was working when I left the forest. I had been watching Frau work in the farm for a while now, but until the time he caught me, it should’ve still been working. In other words, a few minutes had already passed. If I left now, then I could still keep him from wondering how I just appeared out of nowhere.
“Yeah, we’re cutting grass! We’re about to plant sugarcane around this season, so there’s a lot of things we have to do on the farm!”
“I see. Good luck with that.”
“Thanks.”
I waved and walked away from Frau as he walked into the house. I had to hurry and get to the forest. In this village, where all the villagers knew each other, it would be extremely unnatural for a strange child to suddenly appear.
It would be no problem if only a small child found me, but I would be in trouble if an adult did. Fortunately, Frau’s house was close to the outer edge of the village. It was only about five hundred meters away, in the middle of the forest.
I had to get back before the adults found me, so I tried to fly. I would be less conspicuous if it was just above the ground, and it would be faster than running. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t spread my magic no matter how many times I tried.
After a moment’s hesitation, I decided to start running. There was no time to dawdle.
Then, something even more unexpected happened.
Was it a stroke of luck? The scenery around me seemed to go fast and my legs felt light. Obviously, I was faster than anyone during my previous life could be.
I ran while keeping an eye on my surroundings. No one was watching me. Since that was the case, I continued running to the forest as fast as I could.
I wonder what happened to me. Having calmed down somewhat, I pondered at the base of the tree I usually slept at. I finally realized what was wrong. I couldn’t use magic.
This was bad. Very bad.
I had been using magic for the entirety of my life up to now. If I didn’t have magic, then I couldn’t hunt. Even wandering around the village was possible because of my invisibility magic. It would be difficult to protect myself during bed time as well.
If I couldn’t use magic, I would be a mere child with no identity. It’s not that I can’t live in the forest, but it would be difficult.
I need to be able to use magic again as soon as possible. Otherwise, I would have to find another way to live. Should I think of a not-so-natural reason and consider going to the village?
Leaving the village should be one of the options. After all, it would be difficult for an unidentified child to be accepted by the village.
In addition to losing my magic, there was another strange thing.
My body felt strangely light. Or rather, I feel like there was an unusual increase in my physical abilities.
This was by no means inconvenient, but it happened at the same time I ceased to be able to use Magic. It’s not surprising that there is a connection. Or perhaps the loss of my magic was because of this power.
But what should I do?
As I stared at my reflection, I saw what looked like a pale light rising from my body. Was it because of this? It was coming from my own body, but it made me a little angry. Because of this, I had to change my way of life. Because of this, I had to worry about my future.
I looked at the light that shook the air and rose up, and I suddenly realized that I had seen it before. I had seen it somewhere before. I knew right away what it was. I’ve seen this up close and personal for years now.
It seems I could use Fighting Spirit now.
