Chapter 2: Thus Spoke the Page

Ever since then, Father Folke had been passionately engaging with the ancient language. Since he was likely to just cling to his work desk if left to his own devices, even forgetting to sleep and eat, I cautioned him not to revert to his former zombie priest self. I told him that not getting enough sleep was inefficient, as it weakened his ability to think. I also told him that not eating made him slower on the uptake. I could have told him that it was shortening his life span as well, but that probably would not have been very effective. Besides the average life span being (probably) quite short in this world, there was also a high death rate from illness. I could not have blamed anyone for wanting to do things as fast as possible in a world where they did not know whether they were going to be alive the next day. I was also aware that because of this I was probably living more in the present compared to my past life.

“Hey, Ash! If ya got time to read, come ’n ’elp! Readin’ books will only make ya a lazy bum. And lazy bums a’nt gonna find wives!”

So, in spring, when work in the fields had increased and my father interrupted my rather sparse reading time, I was ready to ki—kindly push and roll him over. Very kindly. Of course, I was not actually going to do this. At least not yet...

“Of course, Father. What do you need me to do?” I replied obediently and my father smiled.

“Quid’s here. Gonna bring him the winter wheat.”

“Oh, Quid has come. It is already that time again.”

Quid was a peddler who frequently visited the village. Going at a slow pace by carriage, there was a large city about half a day away from here, or so I had heard. I had never actually been there or even seen it from far away, but I assumed it existed. Given the proximity, one might have thought that the farmers carried their produce directly to the city to sell them at the morning markets, but that was not the case. Instead, a merchant like Quid came to the village to buy produce and sell it in the city. He was also selling commodities in the village that he had brought from the city. It seemed that in the city transactions were mostly made with money, whereas in the village it was closer to bartering. With the peddler acting as a middleman, the produce was sold at a lower price in the village than in the city. It was unfortunate, but otherwise, the merchant would not have been able to turn a profit and make a living. The question was why were the villagers willing to pay a middleman.

“Ey, Quid! Looks like once again the demons didn’t get ya!”

“Haha, yes. I am quite confident in my ability to outrun them.”

You probably could have guessed the answer from their little exchange—although I could not. I had been wondering for a while now what exactly those demons were supposed to be. Were they a metaphor for dangerous animals or bandits? Or were they indeed something worse? I had inquired about it before, but from the answers I had received, I was not able to tell whether it was just a story made up to scare children into obeying or a warning for a real threat. I wish they didn’t treat me like a child when asking serious questions. I mean, I am a child, but still...

We laid the bundles of winter wheat in front of Quid so he could check the volume of the harvest. “Yes, this is indeed very dense; excellent wheat. And with this amount, I can offer you four copper. How does that sound?”

As always, he did not properly weigh the produce. Weight measurements existed in this world, but it looked like he did not bother to carry around a scale. The transactions were built on a bond of certain trust, as there was a risk of being refused business if you tried to deceive the other person.

My father promptly started picking out goods worth four copper coins. “How much for salt?” he asked.

“One jar is 12 iron. I’m afraid prices go up in winter.”

One copper coin was worth 20 iron ones. The stability of the currency value was most likely due to the absence of counterfeit circulation. However, it was strange that there even was a monetary economy considering the current level of civilization.

“If ya say so. How ‘bout the usual herbs? And whetstones.”

“A set of the usual spices is 15 iron. The whetstone is eight iron. Do you not need any medicine?”

“Yeah, fever med’cine is lo’.”

“One bottle is eight iron coins.”

My father groaned with a solemn face while wistfully looking towards a porcelain bottle of alcohol.

“Ah, yes, the mead would be 20 iron,” said the merchant.

That was quite steep for a luxury item that was likely only going to last for a night, but that was to be expected. Mead was different from our homebrewed ale. In this world, homebrewed ale had no other value than replacing drinking water. You could have even said that there were not any worse free drinks, as drinking pure water entailed certain risks. Essentially, homebrewed ale had a strange taste even though it was free. Compared to that, Quid’s alcohol was the real deal; it was possible to actually enjoy drinking it. In a village where pleasures were few and far between, delicious alcohol had the power to drive people mad. Although you could have said that this was the case in any world.

“Couldn’t I give in jus’ a lil’? Just a lil’ bit...”

“Oh? Is that all already?”

“No, not yet...”

Seeing the pitiful look on my father’s face, I pointed towards one of the goods lined up. “We should get that piece of cloth before thinking about any alcohol, or mother will get angry.”

“What? Ah, right. Haha, y’ere a good boy, Ash!”

It was not necessarily the finest piece of cloth; most likely it was a scrap or leftovers from the fabric used by a tailor in the city. However, it was still good enough to fix worn-out clothes, to use as a dust cloth, or to cover up the cracks in the house.

“Would it be possible to get two needles for free as an extra?” I asked.

“Give me a break, boy! A cloth is ten iron and two needles are an extra six.”

This was all we needed. The right thing to do would have been to have the rest paid out in cash and save it for emergencies.

My father was always trying to buy—and on several occasions had bought—alcohol, which always led to him getting scolded by my mother. I was on her side. Simply put, he was a hopeless case who was still regretfully looking towards the bottle of mead.

“Not t’day, I guess...” he mumbled.

“I’m afraid that if I go any lower in price, I will end up starving myself to death.” Quid pursed his lips while shaking his head. He stole a glance at my father, who had dropped his shoulders in disappointment. “Although... if I don’t sell this bottle soon, it will go to waste. And since it doesn’t look like anyone else wants to buy it, I will throw it in as a bonus!”

“Really?!”

“Only today, Mr. David! And make sure not to tell anyone else, okay? I can’t cut everyone a deal like this.”

And thus, with a grin on his face, my father had used all of the money, which we probably should have saved.

“Are you okay with this, Father?”

“Shut up! Adults are talkin’! ‘Dis is fuel to any workin’ man!”

What reasoning! There was nothing I really could have said to object. More than anything, I understood that some form of comfort was necessary in this world. Anyway, he was going to have to face the wrath of his wife later.

“What about you, Quid?” I asked him.

“Haha! As a merchant, I can’t really say I won’t sell the good that the customer has decided to buy.”

“No, I was asking you regarding the price.”

“Hm? Oh, well, even if I took it back to the city, I doubt there would be anyone willing to buy it. And by the time of my next trip, it would already have gone off, so I might as well give it as a bonus!”

“Is that so?” I’m not finished with you yet, merchant Quid—I’ve been waiting for this moment. My face muscles naturally started smiling when I thought about the taste of the prey that had just walked into my trap. Quietly, I walked next to Quid, who was standing behind the goods, and whispered into his ears. “I’m afraid you calculated the wrong price.”

In that instant, not a single muscle on his face was moving, but I thought I heard his breathing stop.

“What do you mean?” he carefully asked.

“That’s not like you; you have always been so good at math. Not counting the bottle of mead, the total price for our purchased goods should be 59 iron coins.”

12 for the salt, 15 for the spices, eight for the whetstone, eight for the medicine, ten for the cloth, and six for the needles: amounting to a total of 59 iron coins. There was no mistake. On the other hand, our winter wheat was valued at four copper coins, or 80 iron ones. Even if he had included the bottle of mead at the mentioned price, there still should have been some change left over.

As a matter of fact, I was on alert, as I had been suspecting Quid of overcharging his customers for a while now. On a previous occasion like this, when there had been only a few customers, I had overheard Quid miscalculating. Back then, I had thought that it was me who had gotten the numbers wrong, as it had not even been my own shopping. However, since it had bothered me, I had made it a habit to double-check his calculations, and he had done it again. This time, I was sure that it was a premeditated crime. He purposefully chose victims who could not do math themselves and engaged them when there were not many other customers—or rather witnesses—around. And given that there were barely any villagers who knew how to do math, he did not have to be picky either.

It was the same this time: my father David did not know how to calculate, and on top of that, he had made several smaller purchases, which made it even more complicated. Therefore, Quid must have thought that he could get away with swindling us out of a few iron coins—that must have been what he expected. However, what he did not expect was that the boy who accompanied David knew how to do math. If needed, I could have even recited the multiplication table from memory, but it did not seem like that would have been appreciated by either of them.

“By the way, this is just small talk, but lately I have been quite friendly with Father Folke. If you happened to imprudently swindle me or my father, I probably would have to go pray at the church out of sheer sadness,” I said meaningfully.

Since the priest of the temple church oversaw all the important ceremonial occasions in the village, he had a strong influence. If that priest were to cast doubt on the peddler’s reputation, the longstanding trust towards the latter would have crumbled in an instant. In a village, where most people did not know any math, trade could only take place if everyone trusted the merchant not to tell lies. What would have happened if that trust were betrayed? Most likely, people would no longer have wanted to engage with that particular merchant. After all, there were many others out there.

If Quid messed up, there was surely going to be another peddler coming to replace him and fulfill the demands of the village; the lives of the villagers would not have been affected by such a change at all. The only reason they had not started trading with a new peddler without any track record already was that they felt Quid was less likely to betray them.

“Everything is fine, Mr. Quid. It was only an honest mistake, right?” I asked in a kind and thoughtful voice.

Of course, I was currently his best ally. The only one who had noticed his ‘miscalculations’ so far was me. If I stayed silent, this highly-trusted peddler could still save himself.

With that in mind, I pushed my advantage. “Making mistakes is only human. Even an experienced merchant like you can make one or two mistakes... Oh, that is right, I noticed you also got the prices wrong with Johil last time. And before that, I think it was Ban, the hunter.”

I was letting him know that I was aware this was not his first offense. At this, his face started to turn pale. You don’t have to be afraid of me; I’m on your side. Hehe. “You are a trustworthy peddler who has been truly kind to this village up to now. I will keep this to myself.”

“Re-Really?”

I put on a reassuring smile and gave my word to the poor, frightened peddler. “So I hope you will be a good peddler who earns my trust from here on out.” If you earn my trust, you won’t have to rely on the trust from the other villagers. You know what that means, right? I drew back my face, which had been close enough to his ears that my father could not have heard anything.

I tilted my head to check for a response, and luckily it seemed like Quid, the peddler, had received the message. “Young boy... I mean, Ash, that was indeed a remarkably interesting story. Let me get you something as a sign of gratitude.”

I looked at the bundle of cloth that I had bought earlier and then glimpsed at a more expensive fabric.

“Oh, would you like this cloth?”

“Can I really have something so exquisite? I am sure my mother will be extremely pleased. Thank you so much, Mr. Quid!”

And thus, the deal was concluded. I did not intend to blackmail him for price reductions in the future—as long as he was going to ask for the correct price, I was perfectly happy. I assumed he was going to take this into consideration when calculating the price, and I was not going to refuse a good deal. After all, I was still a nine-year-old child; if an adult was going to spoil me, I would of course take advantage of it.

Grinning to myself, I gathered our shopping and headed towards my father, who had no idea what had happened. I composed myself and explained to him. “I told Mr. Quid an interesting story I read in a book. It looks like that was also a valuable commodity to a peddler. He gave me this fabric as a token of gratitude.”

“Oh, I see. What story?”

“I am afraid I cannot tell you, even considering you are my father. I sold it to Quid, so if you want to hear it, you will have to buy it from him.”

My father seemed to be quite intrigued, but not enough to pay money for the story. Although I doubted that Quid would have sold it at all, no matter how much he was offered.

“By the way, Father.”

“Ye-Yeah?”

“You were right—reading books will not improve the harvest,” with a big smile, I was ready to deliver the final blow, “but they can make Mother happy. I believe that is an extremely valuable skill.”

In that moment, my father stared at me in disbelief. He had not yet understood the value of books, but it was only a matter of time—a very short amount of time. To be precise, the time it took for us to get back home and meet the wrath of my mother after finding out about the bottle of mead worth one copper coin. I was sure my father would be deeply grateful once I put her back into a good mood by offering her the expensive fabric.

Ever since our encounter with Quid, my father had stopped complaining about me reading books. He was still grumbling to himself, but he no longer confronted me. I was satisfied with myself. Once again, life in this world had become a little more comfortable. As a result, I was able to walk towards Father Folke with a light-footed step.

“Father Folke, have you been properly eating?”

“Are we married?”

You realize you are talking to a child? I was only worried about the health of a certain absorbed researcher whom I respected very much. Also, same-sex marriage was not legal in this world. “You sound ridiculous.”

“It’s because you keep lecturing me. You are quite insolent to meddle with adult affairs like this.”

“Considering that a child is currently worrying about you, you should probably re-evaluate your capability to manage your own life before talking about ‘adult affairs.’”

“You really have a way with words.”

That was a reasonable assumption considering that I was probably older than him if I included my age from my past life.

“So, have you been able to read anything?” I asked.

“Unfortunately not; I haven’t deciphered a single letter,” he said with a surprisingly radiant expression. Compared to his gloomy spirit in winter, it looked like he was enjoying himself simply engaging in research. “But it’s not like I haven’t made any progress; I found a few symbols that look like names and keep reappearing in the text.”

“Oh! That seems like a good starting point.”

“Indeed. This seems to be the fastest way to decipherment, just like you suggested.”

Previously, when talking to Father Folke, I had suggested starting by looking for proper nouns which repeatedly appeared as a first step to decipher the ancient language. I had thought that it was possible that the phonograms might function as particles, similar to Japanese. Once you knew a noun, it was possible to look for corresponding content in sources from the later period of ancient civilization.

For example, if you were able to find the name of a god whom people still worshiped today, it was likely that the surrounding text corresponded to the content of current scriptures. It was a smart way to quickly progress at once. Of course, I was not the first person to come up with this technique; I had heard of it before in my past life. However, I did not have the perseverance to engage in the large task of solving a cryptic ancient language; I was going to leave that to our dear Champollion from another world.

“So, what book are you going to read today?” Father Folke asked.

“Let me have a look.”

“Of course, I signed a contract after all.” Father Folke nodded with a wry smile. I could not help but smile myself, remembering our first encounter.

I took out several books and sat down in a chair in the chapel to read. That day, I was not going to borrow a novel, but rather a book that contained some common knowledge. Travel diaries and autobiographies from noblemen looked quite interesting too. From those, you could obtain a variety of knowledge with some lies sprinkled in between. Surprisingly, there were also more technical books about farming, smithing, and construction. It was entirely possible that a lot of knowledge had been passed down from the ancient civilization. However, there was no one who could read those books, and those who could read them were not likely to engage in manual labor, so the knowledge was effectively lost.

The moment I took out a botanical guide, someone else entered the chapel. It was unusual for anyone to stop by outside of ceremonies. When I looked up, I saw a girl my age.

“Oh, hello there, Maika.”

The person who had timidly entered and looked around the church was Lady Maika.

“Oh, hey, Ash.”

It looked like she was nervous, perhaps because she was not used to visiting the church. The priest was a bit of an oddball, but the building itself was still a solemn religious place. If there had been proper teaching seminars, there probably would have also been a space arranged for children.

Lady Maika seemed unsure of what to do once inside, so I tried to reassure her with a smile on my face. “Are you looking for Father Folke? He is at the back, in his study.”

“Oh, okay. Tha-Thank you! Uhm...”

Lady Maika kept just standing still, playing with her ponytail. It was charming to watch her nervousness come out like this; it reminded me of watching that TV show where children would go on their first errand.

However charming it was, though, just letting her stand there would have been rude, so, as a gentleman, I sent out a rescue boat, saying, “Do you want me to go and get Father Folke?”

“Ah, no!”

My rescue boat was rejected by the motion of her shaking her head and hands. It looked like she just refused without even thinking about it, which was a normal behavior for someone extremely nervous.

However, after having been frozen for a while, she said with a red face, “I’m sorry. If you don’t mind, could you call him?”

“As you wish, my Lady.”

I tried answering slightly jokingly to put her at ease, but I was not sure it had worked. It felt so out of character that I shivered with embarrassment.

“Father Folke, Maika is here. It looks like she wants to talk to you.”

“Maika? Was she supposed to come here?” He looked clueless as he came out of his study, scratching his head. “Hello, Maika. What brings you here?” He was speaking in a soft voice. Why was his attitude so different compared to when he talked to me? When I first came in, he called me a stupid brat. Was the zombie priest maybe also a lolicon priest?

“Uhm... I want to learn how to read... Could you teach me, maybe...?” Lady Maika spoke timidly while her ears turned red, and she kept glancing in my direction.

By now, the whole village seemed to know that I had learned how to read. Considering how often I visited the church, it was not surprising that this would have become a widely-discussed topic.

Lady Maika must have overheard this. As the daughter of the village chief, who was supposed to know how to read and write, she must have felt some pressure hearing that the son of a farmer had done so before her.

Surely, it was awkward for her to be in the same room as me. Father Folke must have guessed the same thing, as he gave me a sideways look of acknowledgment.

Wait a minute. What’s up with that mischievous smile? Don’t frighten an innocent girl like that!

Most people in the village did not like studying—I was the exception to that rule.

“In that case, I will help you in my capabilities as a priest. Education is part of my duties, after all.”

It was unusual to see him this enthusiastic considering he had not wanted to teach me at all, and even though he was currently quite busy with deciphering the ancient language. I was a little worried seeing how serious he was about teaching Maika, especially knowing Father Folke, who was another hopeless case, albeit in a different sense than my father.

“Yes, Father Folke is an excellent teacher.” I praised him in an attempt to cut off his retreat. I’ll root for you, Lady Maika. It may be difficult, but if you persevere, you will be able to read so many wonderful books.

However, for some reason Father Folke cut into my path. “Unfortunately, I am quite busy, so I won’t be able to teach you all the time. Luckily, Ash here also knows how to read and write.”

Why?

“Yeah, he seems like a good substitute,” he continued. “You both are close in age, so I imagine it is easier to talk to him. Ash, you don’t mind, right?”

Wait a minute, was it not going to be awkward for Lady Maika with me around?

“Yeah, if you are busy, I can ask Ash...” It looked like she reluctantly agreed.

I was trying to find a way to save her from this situation, but Father Folke quickly wrapped things up. “It is decided then! Ash, you are my best disciple; don’t disappoint me!”

“Wow, what an honor to be your best disciple! I guess I should call you Master Folke!”

What a blockhead! No wonder he still was not married. With an attitude like that, he was bound to become the Master of Solitude.

Father Folke, or the Master of Solitude, was cruel. The next day, he already put me in charge of teaching. There were not any ceremonies going on at the time, so it must have been purely to engage with his research. What a slacker. I felt like it was time to resume the holy war.

However, there were also some mitigating circumstances that prevented the war from breaking out. My father had been told by the village chief that I was going to tutor his daughter. As a result, the same man who had been grumbling about me reading books told me to take it slow with the manual work and sent me off to church. I felt refreshed! Since I did not have to work as much, my head was clear, and I was able to take some time to read for myself while teaching. While it may have been awkward to Lady Maika, it was a trivial problem that I tried to make her forget.

“Let us get started then!”

“Yes, please go ahead, Ash.”

Lady Maika still looked nervous, so I tried speaking in a soft voice and with a smile on my face. People mostly formed their impressions from looking at someone’s outward appearance, and, to a lesser extent, from listening to the tone of their voice. The content of the conversation was mostly influenced by those impressions, so what you were saying was not actually that important. Or at least I remembered hearing something like that from my past life.

“Different studying methods work for different people, but how about we start by using the same book that I first read?”

“The one that you first read?”

“Yes, the one that Father—I mean, Master Folke let me borrow.”

Well, he did let me borrow it, but refused to explain anything. What a great teacher!

I handed her the book of prayers which was used during ceremonies—Father Folke’s manuscript which had taught me so much.

Lady Maika took the thin book and stared at it as if she was deeply moved. “The book that you read...”

I saw enthusiasm spilling from her gaze. She had made her first step towards the world of reading. I understood the excitement of learning something new. While I had been dragged into this situation and was not too eager at first, I started to become motivated.

“In this book there are all kinds of prayers that Master Folke uses during ceremonies. You probably have heard them before, so it should not be too difficult to remember them; that was the reason why I chose it.”

“How clever.”

“It was just a hunch I had.”

There was no need to flatter me that much. It was probably for the best to quickly proceed with the lesson.

“I think that, for a start, it would be good to choose a phrase or some words that you are familiar with. Do you have any favorite prayers?”

“What about the one you read first?”

“That would be this one.”

It was a basic prayer. Usually, it was used when something good had happened and you wanted to express your joy. I was not particularly religious myself, so I had rarely used it.

“Can we start with that one?” Lady Maika asked.

“If you are fine with it, sure. So, let us look at it one by one.” First, I started with the phrase ‘Strong wolf god.’ While reading out loud, I traced the letters with my finger to show which sounds corresponded to them. “So this reads ‘strong,’ followed by ‘wolf,’ and then ‘god.’ And all together it is ‘Strong wolf god.’”

I wondered if she was going to understand it this way. I took a look at her face while she was staring at the book. As expected, she did not seem to get it right away, as she gave me back a puzzled look.

“Let us look at it again word by word. So this is ‘strong.’ ...Maika, are you listening?”

“Oh, yeah! Sorry! This is ‘strong,’ right?”

“Yes, exactly. And then we have ‘wolf’ and ‘god’ next, which gives us the phrase ‘Strong wolf god.’ Since the wolf god is very healthy and vigorous, he is often worshiped before hard physical work or childbirth.” I did not want to cram too much at once, so I tried to lighten the mood with some small talk.

“So that’s what ‘strong’ means...” she muttered.

I was slightly caught off guard when she murmured this with a surprised expression. I see. We have to start there.

At the same time, her face turned red, as she seemed to think that she had said something embarrassing.

I tried my best to stay serious; if I had rolled my eyes in front of a child like her, she would have ended up being hurt. And yes, I realize I’m a child her age, too.

I was not sure how successful it was, but I tried to just carry on the conversation in a cheerful tone. “You can also use ‘strong’ to describe your feelings.”

“I see... Uhm...”

“Feel free to ask me anything. And if I do not know the answer, we can just go and ask Master Folke,” I followed up desperately. It would not be beneficial for our future lessons if she thought it was embarrassing to ask questions.

“What about ‘Wise monkey god?’” Lady Maika asked.

It seemed like I had put her at ease a bit. She was still embarrassed, but over time I was sure we could get to a point where she would ask me questions without hesitation.

“‘Wise’ means that he is intelligent. For example, you could pray to the monkey god when you are studying like we are now, so he will share some of his intelligence with us.”

“Oh! Then maybe I should go ahead and pray!” Lady Maika gave me a shy smile, which I wholeheartedly reciprocated.

I was relieved. The road ahead looked rocky, but I was sure we were going to be alright. I could not wait for Lady Maika to start reading books on her own. I now understood why Father Folke had been so happy to talk to me about deciphering the ancient language. After all, it was much more fun to be able to share your interests with someone else.

We continued studying for a while afterwards, but once the sun started to set, we called it a night. Father Folke had ordered me to accompany Lady Maika home, as it was already quite dark, so we were both currently walking towards the village chief’s house. As a gentleman, I had no problem walking her home, but I wondered why that priest had such a smirk on his face.

“What book are you currently reading?” Lady Maika asked me about the book I was holding in my hands. By the way, Lady Maika was holding a manuscript in the same way. I had told her to go over and practice writing the parts we had covered today.

“This book explains a lot of things about trees and plants.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there were books like that.”

“Yes, there are all sorts of books! There are books about everything that exists in this world! And even things that do not exist!”

“Things that do not exist? What do you mean?”

Lady Maika looked confused. The gods in the book she was carrying right now were also things that did not exist in this world. Right? Gods don’t exist. I’m pretty sure they don’t.

Thinking about it, I realized that in this world it was much harder to outright deny the existence of gods than in my past life. Maybe I should try respecting religion a bit more, just in case. Praying is free, after all.

While I was pondering metaphysical questions, Lady Maika had already moved on to the next question. “So, is that book interesting?”

“Yes, very much. And it can be useful, too!”

“Trees and plants can be useful?”

This botanical guide did not just list all sorts of flora, but it also explained which ones were edible or could be used as medicine, so it was quite useful. It also included a lot of plants that were not native to this region, but I had also come across some species which I remembered having seen before. If all went to plan, there was a chance that this poor village was going to have an expanded menu. And maybe we no longer would have to rely on Quid’s medicine—either one would be reason for joy.

Finding plants for medicine was especially urgent. It was not so much that Quid’s medicine was expensive, but rather that it did not work that well. At least, it had never worked for me. My parents said that it worked for them, but I was convinced it was merely a placebo effect.

When I explained something along those lines to Lady Maika, she was also convinced of its usefulness.

“Wow! That’s amazing!”

“Yes, books are amazing!”

Seeing the excitement on the face of this innocent young girl made me happy.

Soon it was going to be the season for gathering wild edible plants. I looked forward to making use of my newfound knowledge. It was the start of an expedition to name all kinds of weeds that had so far been ignored.

Finally, the day of gathering edible plants had arrived.

Groups of children entered the outskirts of the woods to find ingredients. Following the lead of comparatively older children, everyone participating had congregated. From the outside, it must have looked like a fun picnic, but everyone’s eyes looked as dead and resigned as those of a salaryman leaving for work. Their sense of duty was competing with their worries.

Anyone who had experienced at least one season of gathering edible plants would have turned out like this—it was extremely exhausting and dangerous. Every year someone was caught up in an accident, and every other year someone died. Therefore, we were made to form small groups so that we could observe each other and make sure no one was going to wander too far off into the woods.

This time, I was the leader of my group. I was still among the younger kids, but I was specially selected because I had managed to spot a person who nearly was separated from his group last year. Compared to the other children, I had a lot of self-restraint, as you might have expected considering who I really was.

Anyway, this was to my liking, because the group leader had the right to choose the area where they were going to search. I was going to make as much use as possible of the botanical guide that I had borrowed from Father Folke.

“Let us start by going over there! If I remember correctly, there were a lot of plants growing near the bracken,” I told the two slightly older boys in my group, who agreed with a sour look on their faces.

They were only one or two years older, but they seemed to be bothered by the fact that they were being led around by someone younger. Just bear with me. Mentally I’m much older than both of you.

Before setting off, I checked my equipment again. I had made a makeshift shoulder bag out of my spare jacket, where I kept the book. Everything seemed fine.

When I was getting ready to depart, I heard a voice coming from another all-girls group. “Take care, Ash!” It was Lady Maika, who today was not nervous at all.

I felt blessed to hear her cheerful voice greet me. “Thanks, Maika! You too!” I waved my hand and started walking.

The other two boys had an even more sullen look on their faces now. They probably feared all the good spots would get taken up quickly. Yes, I’ll hurry. Don’t be so grumpy.

At the place I had pointed out, there were a lot of edible plants growing this year as well. While paying attention to the other boys, I started collecting.

I felt slightly bad for my family, but after a short while, I stopped gathering and started looking for some of the plants that were listed in the botanical guide. I thought I had previously seen some of the ones which I considered useful in this area. I was not particularly good at remembering plants, but I had a feeling I had seen something like this one in my past life.

There was a fallen tree ahead which had collapsed into a rock, with its tip pointing upwards. I did not lose any time climbing it up to have a look at my surroundings, and as planned, the area was filled with splendid, tall-grown trees.

And then, I found it. Unlike most of the trees, which had grown vertically, this specimen was expanding horizontally. Halfway, the trunk branched out at random directions, which gave it a wide look. However, the most peculiar thing was its leaves. They looked hard, serrated, and absurdly thick. I had thought I had seen it somewhere before, and I was convinced of it once I checked its use in the botanical guide.

This was a type of aloe tree. It was good against cuts, burns, stings, all sorts of internal disorders, and it was good for your skin too. On top of that, it also tasted nice—it was truly a useful plant. In my past life, most aloe plants were just made up of leaves, like small bushes, so it took me a while to realize their common points, since in this world aloe was found in the form of splendid trees. Thinking about it now, I seemed to remember having heard about aloe trees before.

I was not sure how to properly use it yet, but I was prepared to find out through experimenting little by little. Still, even just using the liquid coming from its leaves directly was likely more effective than any medicine we bought from Quid. This was a huge first discovery. I would have been so happy if there was another book about aloe plants in Father Folke’s library, but I doubted it.

I was already counting my chickens before they had hatched when... I suddenly passed out.

So this was it—my first accident...

I did not know what to do. I was on my own in a forest with no recollection of what I was doing. My head hurt horribly—this was probably the reason why I could not remember anything. The only thing I remembered was going into the woods in the morning to gather wild edible plants, but that was it.

I had probably woken up a while earlier. I had a vague memory of absentmindedly wandering about the forest with my consciousness scattered, even though I was well aware of the ironclad rule to not move around in case of an accident. I would have kicked myself, but in my dizzy state of mind, I had probably not been capable of thinking straight.

Now, I was deep inside the thick of the forest. When I touched my head—extremely in pain—I got some nearly-dried blood on my hands. While this must have been the reason for my passing out and losing my memories, I had no idea why or how I had hit my head.

First and foremost, I had to rack my brain in order to survive this situation.

“It looks like I can think straight enough again to deal with reality.”

Once I spoke these words out loud, it became clear to me that I needed to survive. I still wanted to read so many books. I also wanted to help Father Folke decipher the ancient language. And I had only started to teach Lady Maika how to read and write. Thanks to my books, I had more than enough reasons to go on living—I was not scared of dying. I mean, I already died once. But I wanted to do anything in my power to keep on living.

“I need to find out where I am first. North seems to be that way, so the village should be that way,” I concluded from the position of the sun and the moss growth on the trees in the area. In my past life, I would not have been able to do this, but living in this world for nine years had taught me a thing or two.

“It looks like the sun is about to set. I should probably give up for today and get ready for the night,” I decided.

I reaffirmed my possessions. Luckily, the book was still there. Excellent. I also had the knife and the basket that I had used for gathering the edible plants. However, it looked like I had dropped the plants themselves somewhere. The flint and the tinder which I always brought just in case going out gathering were in the inside pocket of my jacket.

“I thought something like this might happen, so I came prepared!” I had never thought that one day I would say that line.

I shivered thinking how important it was to be prepared. It looked like it was somehow going to be alright.

“First, I need to light a fire before sunset. And ideally, I also need to find a source of water.”

I walked northwards while picking up the thing that I needed: A stick which acted doubly as a cane to reduce my fatigue from walking and a weapon of self-defense, as well as branches and leaves that looked like they were going to burn easily. I also picked up some edible plants, but since I no longer remembered whether it was bracken or royal fern which you could not eat raw, I had to rely on parsley to fill up my stomach. I probably was going to stay quite hungry.

More importantly, I had to find drinking water. Thirst was much more likely to hinder my actions than famine. My throat was already drying out. A spring in the woods was probably clean, but I was only prepared to drink directly from a clear source. Otherwise, there was a high chance of contracting a disease or a parasite, considering all the other animals that surely drank the same water. It would have been fine if I had been able to boil the water, but I did not carry around a pot.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of water. I hoped it was drinking water. Embracing my fleeting hope, I walked towards the sound... only to be disappointed.

I arrived at a small river. As it had not rained, it looked clear, but that did not mean it was safe to drink—after all, bacteria were invisible to the eye. It was still useful for other things, such as cooking or washing, though. And if worse came to worst, I had the option of trying my luck.

I decided to put up camp for the night next to the river. I felt much lighter after unloading the bonfire equipment and the edible plants. Although it nearly broke my heart, I also let go of the book temporarily—I needed to collect more wood if I wanted my fire to last throughout the night. The scarlet sun was warning me that there was not much time left.

As I did this, I came across an aloe tree. I remembered also finding this tree before passing out. This seemed like a good opportunity to test its healing properties on my head wound.

The fire started without any problems inside the pseudo-stove which I had made of stones from the river. Without the flint and the tinder, I most likely would have been shivering in the darkness of the night. I was not really confident that I could have lit a fire through mere friction; that was one of the reasons why I had come prepared. I was glad I had some light and a bit of warmth. Considering the memories from my past life, mentally I was already an adult, but even so, a forest after the sunset was a very scary place. This must have been instinctive.

I enclosed some aloe inside a cloth—which I had originally brought to wipe off my sweat—and wrapped it around my head to cover my wound. You were supposed to grate the aloe, but that was impossible without any containers. I felt the heat disappearing from my wound, but surely that was just a placebo effect. I had to experiment a bit more to find out how effective it truly was.

However, I had discovered something else. While the surface of the aloe was bitter, I tried the jelly-like substance on the inside and it turned out to be quite delicious for a raw vegetable. Was it a vegetable or a fruit? I was not sure, but either way, I cut off some more jelly with my knife, as its high moisture content also helped to quench my thirst.

I also ate some parsley after washing it in the river and lightly roasting it over the fire to make sure it would not be covered in insects. Moreover, I hoped to gain a tiny bit of liquid from the heated water sticking on the parsley.

Maybe it was because I had managed to eat a little, but I felt slightly relieved.

Finally, I wanted to get some protein. If only there were some snakes around, I would have chopped their heads off, drunk their fresh blood, and eaten their roasted flesh. That way, I would have taken care of my thirst and hunger all at once.

As I indulged in my fantasies, I slowly dozed off. I ended up dreaming about having a full-course snake dinner.

Maika’s Perspective

My heart froze when I noticed that Ash was gone.

At first, I had heard someone shouting that a wild boar had appeared. That was scary, but it was also something that the adults had warned us about countless times. One of the older girls, who was the foraging leader, had reminded us to stay calm and ordered everyone to gather slowly and quietly at the entrance of the forest. There had been a few children who made some noise, but fortunately the wild boar had not been running wild, and so no one got hurt.

After everyone had gathered, they all looked relieved. However, soon they realized that someone was missing. Although I might have been the first to notice it, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

“Where is Ash?” our leader asked. Everyone stared at Ash’s group partner, Jigil, who had a pale look on his face. “What happened, Jigil?”

“The boar appeared next to Ash and then...” Jigil couldn’t bring himself to say anything more, but that was all he needed to say.

“Everyone, go back to the village! And Maika, could you tell your father... Maika, are you okay?”

I know. I have to tell my parents.

My dad was a master swordsman—my mom was always boasting about how he was the best in the kingdom.

My dad was going to save Ash.

If he could find him. If it wasn’t already too late.

If Ash hadn’t already...

Before I knew it, I was crying. I was embarrassed, but I couldn’t stop. No! I don’t want to think about it. Ash can’t die yet.

“Everything is going to be alright, Maika. We’re talking about Ash after all; I am sure he knows how to deal with a wild boar.” While I was crying my eyes out, my mom had rushed towards the forest and embraced me. She desperately tried to comfort me, but I couldn’t stop worrying.

All the adults looked concerned themselves. They were saying that Ash had been taken away by a boar, and how unfortunate it was that Ban, the hunter, wasn’t around at a time like this. Even my mom wasn’t smiling in the slightest. I was getting more and more scared; I was shivering. I couldn’t stop crying.

In that moment, Folke, who unusually had come out of the church, approached me. “Hey there. Don’t waste your tears so easily.” He was speaking in a calm voice.

How can he be so composed? And it doesn’t look like he is faking it, like my mom and all the others either; he seems genuinely unconcerned. I blankly looked up at him.

“At this rate, you won’t have any tears left for when he comes back,” he said.

“He will come back?”

“Of course he will.”

How? Didn’t the boar ki—

“As if a mere boar could harm that demon-like Ash! That boy could talk even Death itself into signing an unreasonable contract and come back unscathed.” Folke sneered at the dangerous boar, considering it much weaker than Ash.

He cleared his throat and continued in a serious tone, saying, “Let me tell you a story, Maika.” Folke leaned in to stealthily tell me a secret that had been passed down for generations. “There is a legend about a bird god who was alive a long, long time ago. He was different from the gods whom we worship today at the church; this god did not die. He was known as the Phoenix. Whenever he got injured, or when he grew to be of old age, he prepared himself a nest out of cinnamon twigs, sat down in the nest, and lit it up with a magical flame to burn himself alive.”

“But wouldn’t he die?”

“Yeah, normally this would have killed him. But the Phoenix was not normal. After the magical flames had burnt out, he revived and rose from the ashes mightier than before.”

From the Ashes? Ash?

“Don’t you think that gives the name ‘Ash’ a quite powerful meaning? Although I guess only researchers of ancient writings would really know the origin behind it.” Folke was smiling. “So, you should save your tears for when Ash comes back,” Folke added while wiping off my tears. “Tears are a woman’s best weapon after all; don’t hold back when you use them on Ash. Otherwise, that blockhead will just act as if nothing happened.” Folke, who had just comforted me, looked like a true priest with a gentle smile on his face.

●　●　●

The next morning, I woke up at the first signs of the sun, as I had not been able to get any sound sleep. In the night, I had woken up several times, each time checking on my wounds and throwing more branches into the bonfire to keep it going. I just could not get rid of my extreme fatigue. I decided to stay and rest here for a little while longer. Since I could not think straight, I was not sure whether this was a rational decision or a lazy one, but I prayed it was the former.

I needed protein. I thought of the extremely delicious snake I had eaten in my dream. I was also thirsty. For now, I was just going to gather some more of what I assumed to be aloe (although I was almost certain that it was indeed aloe after tasting it the night before).

After heating it up over the bonfire and eating it, I came to the realization that I needed proper drinking water. The fluid from the aloe may have been enough to quench my thirst while I was idle, but I needed to increase my intake once I was going to move around the forest. Besides, I risked harming my body if I consumed too much aloe, considering it was a plant used to treat wounds and the skin.

I remembered that there were plants that had large amounts of water stored inside them. For example, in the desert it was possible to use the water inside cacti to rehydrate yourself. I wondered if there was a similar plant in this forest.

I reached out for my beloved book in the hope of salvation when it struck me—I could have made a pot out of the book. And I did not mean it as a joke—I was dead serious. I recalled hearing about something called paper hotpots in my past life. Even though it was made of paper, it was durable enough to put it on open fire and let the water or soup inside simmer until it was hot. The paper itself did not even need to be specially prepared; it just somehow worked.

Of course, I did not intend to use my precious book. If it was possible to make a hotpot out of paper, surely it would have also worked with leaves, which were less flammable. What a logical guess! I was ready to start my little experiment right away. In the forest, there were also many more leaves available than pages in my book too.

I decided to use a plant that looked like broad-leaf bamboo. If it was the same in this world, that meant it was not poisonous, and it even had an antibacterial effect. If it turned out to be a different type of plant, I prayed that at the very least it was not going to poison me.

Maybe it was because I had exhausted mind and body in the span of one night, but I felt that my safety standards became increasingly lax. I was pushing my nine-year-old body to its limits. I was resolved to replenish myself as best as possible before the situation became fatal.

It took some effort to create a vessel large enough to hold a gulp of water, as the bamboo leaves themselves were not very big. Considering that the first gulp was also a poison tasting at the same time, this might have actually been for the best. I was going to worry about the size of the vessel once my experiment was a success.

I suspended the bamboo pot from branches that I had set up on top of the stove and started a fire—so far so good. I was feeling warm and fuzzy inside thinking about how I had come up with this idea, and how I had been able to put my nine years of experience in this world to good practice. However, it was nowhere near as warm as the inside of the bamboo pot—it was boiling. While it had been my own idea, it was a strange sight.

After letting the water boil for a little while longer, I let it cool off away from the fire before cautiously starting to drink. At first, I tasted it inside my mouth and looked out for any possible signs of danger. While I was not trained in poison tasting, I considered the lack of any symptoms such as numbness a good enough sign to swallow the water.

It felt like I had come back to life. It seemed like the fluids contained in the aloe and parsley had not been nearly enough after all. I waited for a little while longer to see if there were any side effects before I prepared several more bamboo pots. I could not wait to drink to my heart’s content.

As I suspended as many pots as possible over the stove, I wondered what I should do in the meantime. I mostly thought about food, as you might have expected from someone who had not eaten a proper meal in a while. Looking around with an empty stomach, I noticed the fish in the river. Why had I not thought about this before? I could have fried and eaten the fish. That would have also been safer than eating wild plants. I just needed to figure out how to catch them.

Since I had the basket for gathering plants with me, I figured that I could recreate the fishing method used in the village. It was quite easy, actually. First, I had to set up the basket at a narrow place in the river. If I couldn’t find such a place, I could narrow the flow by placing some stones and branches. Next, I needed to make some noise upstream by splashing the water before chasing the fish all the way down to the basket. It was harder than usual given that I could not corner them as well on my own, and that the basket was quite small, but even so, I managed to catch two fish. Hello, protein. We will become one in body and soul. Like a child, I jumped full of joy. I made a skewer out of some twigs and started frying the fish immediately.

The sun had reached its zenith. This meant that it had already been some time since my experiment with the water, and I was still feeling fine. At least I knew that I could avoid starving or dehydrating to death. I felt a bit relieved. For the rest of the day, I was going to focus on getting a hold of food and water, so that tomorrow I could start my journey back to the village.

I was smiling at the sight of the cooked fish, lost in my thoughts, when suddenly a hand grabbed my shoulder from behind...

“Do not scare me like that!”

I looked at the man who had sneaked up on me and almost made me throw my fish skewer to his face. I had never talked to him before, but I knew who this tough-looking guy in his late twenties was.

“What a coincidence to see you here, Ban!” I was talking to Ban, the hunter.

His lips were tightly closed, and he had a sharp look on his face. He sat down in front of me without saying a word. Come on, say something.

“Do you want to eat one?” I asked.

I tried making conversation, but I was only met with silence followed by a head shake. Since Ban was so silent and unsociable, most children thought of him as a scary person. It was also no surprise that he was still celibate even though he was good-looking.

“What happened?” Hearing a deep voice, I instinctively looked around my surroundings. It took me a moment to realize that this was Ban’s voice. It turned out I had not just never talked to him personally, but I also had never heard him speak to anyone else before. In the meantime, Ban was scratching his head, probably wondering why I did not respond to him.

“Oh, I am sorry. You are right, it is strange that I am out here all by myself.”

Ban nodded in agreement.

“To put it simply, I had an accident and I am utterly lost. Could you help me find my way back to the village?”

After blinking his sharp eyes several times, he nodded again.

Finally, it looked like I was going to make it back home. As a hunter, Ban was one of the only forest experts around here. The other villagers only entered the outskirts when foraging, but he set foot into the depths of the woods.

Relieved, I nibbled on my cooked fish. I was not going to leave my prepared food just because I knew I could go home now.

While chewing, I talked to the quiet Ban. “You really saved me. Yesterday, I was gathering wild edible plants with everyone, but in order to find the aloe tree, I decided to climb up a fallen tree by myself, and after that, I do not remember anything. Apparently, I passed out, and when I woke up again I found myself in the middle of the forest, not knowing where I was.”

Ban was once again scratching his head upon hearing the word ‘aloe.’

“Are you confused by the word ‘aloe’?”

He nodded to answer my question.

“Aloe is this here.” I showed him the leftovers from this morning’s breakfast.

“Ointment,” he murmured with a satisfied look on his face.

“Oh?” Wait a minute. You know this can be used as an ointment? “Did you know about this plant?”

The hunter nodded.

Wow. I wonder why he didn’t tell the villagers about such a useful plant. Especially considering it grows in the outskirts as well.

“Could I ask you how you know about it? No one else seems to be aware of it.”

“The teachings.”

That seemed to be his whole explanation. Maybe he was cursed and bound to die if he kept on speaking for too long.

“Of the hunters.” He continued his explanation with a considerable delay after seeing my puzzled expression.

“The teachings of the hunters? You mean the knowledge that has been passed down from previous generations of hunters?”

Once again, he signaled his agreement with a nod.

I wondered why he seemed so satisfied, but I understood what he was trying to say. Although we may have been foraging edible plants, we were still farmers; our expertise lay in the fields and not the forest or the mountains. Hunters, on the other hand, were experts in the latter two. Spending most of their daily lives in the forest, it was only natural that they had full knowledge of it, unlike the farmers who barely ever set foot inside. I would have liked them to share this knowledge more widely, but I guess that was how things were...

“Could it be that you know more of the plants that are listed in this book?”

Ban tilted his head. While his expression always stayed the same, it seemed that he moved his head a lot. I was starting to enjoy this partially-silent conversation.

“I thought that if I could find more plants that can be used as food or medicine, life in the village would be easier. As a first step, I discovered this aloe.”

Ban nodded.

“If you don’t mind, could you please take a look at the plants in this book? And if there is anything that you recognize, could you show me where it grows?”

I swiftly sat down next to him and opened the botanical guide. His sharp gaze, which would have terrified most children, wandered towards the book. As I flipped through the pages, he pointed out all the plants he recognized. There were many more than I would have expected.

“Oh, that is incredible! You are amazing, Ban!”

It went without saying that books were incredible, but so was experience cultivated from actual practice. Both were outstanding accomplishments of the human intellect! There were so many different species of plants that I wondered why none of them had been in common usage until now. Of course, there would also be cases where it may have been more difficult to obtain them in practice, but even so, it felt like there were a lot of wasted resources.

“By the way, could I ask you for a favor?” I threw the leftover fish bones into the fire and politely bowed my head. “Before going back home, I would love to collect some of the plants that you recognized. If it is not a problem for you, could you please show me where they are?”

I did not want to waste the chance of having an expert of the forest share his superior knowledge with me on the way back. Not to mention that it would have been much faster and safer than doing it on my own. It was a reasonable proposal—attempting to turn my misfortune into a streak of luck.

However, Ban looked slightly annoyed.

Come on, don’t say no. Are you really going to turn down the heartfelt request of a cute, innocent child like me?

I was not going to force him, and I was aware that it was still only a day after my accident, but I did not see the harm of collecting the ones that were on our way back anyway. That would have been good enough for me, and I was almost sure that the villagers were going to be happy too.

After giving him a desperate plea, Ban agreed to take me back to the village on the next day while looking after the traps he had set up and, of course, showing me all the wild herbs along the way. He did not want to be negligent in his duties as a hunter, so it seemed that this was a good arrangement for him too. Learning that piece of information from the silent Ban, I regretted sounding so desperate in my request, but this time I chose to remain silent.

On the second day after my accident, Ban showed me wild herbs that I did not recollect ever having seen in my past life.

Now I understood why the farmers were not aware of them. For some, it took a lot of time and effort to get them, and others looked almost identical to poisonous herbs or became poisonous after a certain amount. Ban taught me that even hunters, who were familiar with seeing these herbs every day, often only relied on them in emergencies, and that it was better to leave it be if one was unsure. There were also some exceptional herbs that were not poisonous at all and tasted nice. However, none of them were in the outskirts of the forest, and thus were difficult to reach.

According to Ban, there was also a danger of demons in the forest. I was still not entirely convinced on that matter. Did demons really exist in this world?

Anyway, after spending a night together, I learned that silent Ban was quite good at looking out for others and taking care of them. He walked at my pace and showed me how to take apart the squirrel he had caught in one of his traps. We ended up eating the squirrel together with some wild herbs that I did not know. I have to admit that the dissection of the squirrel was quite grotesque, though.

Altogether, it had been an extremely worthwhile experience. I had been able to eat mea—to put the knowledge from my book into practical use. I wondered if it was possible to help Ban with his work from time to time, considering how delicious the mea—how beneficial it had been to my research of wild plants.

Lost in my thoughts, I suddenly realized we were passing a familiar spot. I recognized the aloe tree and the fallen tree. We found ourselves in the foraging area. The village must have been near.

“I see. This is how it was all connected. Over there is the aloe tree that I discovered before passing out!” I pointed towards it.

Ban nodded and looked at the fallen tree.

“Ah, yes. This is the fallen tree that I climbed to get a better look at the aloe tree.”

The village was almost within reach. First, I wanted to go back to my house and get some good sleep. I had learned that camping outside was not very refreshing. My nine-year-old body was at its limits, and even now I had to push myself in order not to fall asleep on the spot.

“Almost there.” Ban seemed to notice my fatigue and kept looking behind to see if I was alright. He may have been silent and unsociable, but he was very caring. I was bowing my head in gratitude while on the inside I was grumbling and complaining. Woe is me!

Finally, we arrived at the village and I shakily approached the public square, where a large crowd was gathering. We both looked at each other, not really understanding what was happening.

Sure, it was a small village, but usually it was also quiet, since everyone was busy with their daily lives. The people only gathered in a large crowd like this on occasions such as the spring festival, the harvest festival, or the fertility prayer festival. And whenever someone got married or someone had died. Given that the spring festival had already happened recently, it could not have been that. It was also unlikely that someone would have suddenly gotten married without there being any rumors in such a small village. So most likely, someone had suddenly passed away. Unfortunately, this happened often. I wondered who it was. The elder Madel had not been too well recently, but in this life, it was also common that younger people died from a sudden illness.

“What happened here?” I walked towards the villagers, who all looked gloomy.

At that moment, everyone looked at us in shock. Ban and I both scratched our heads at this unexpected reaction. No one really knew what to do or say.

The first ones to break this silence were Lady Maika and my mother. Both called out my name and came to embrace me. Wait.

My legs were trembling from walking all over the forest. It was hard to keep my balance, having not just one but two people throw themselves at me at the same time. Still, I somehow managed to resist. ...For a few seconds at least. In the end, I fell over as expected. I was only a nine-year-old boy after all. It did not help that Lady Maika was already more physically developed than me.

I did not know what to do when both women continued to cry and hug me after I was on the ground. Someone please explain to me what happened!

At that moment, I saw Father Folke walking towards me with the prayer book for ceremonies in his hand.

“I knew you’d make it back.” Father Folke seemed to be in a good mood as he tapped me on the shoulder with his book.

“What do you mean by that? What exactly is happening here?”

“Ah, yeah, I probably should explain. We were about to hold your funeral.”

“What?!” Don’t pronounce me dead this easily! It had only been half a year since I had started enjoying life in this world. My life had only just begun! “Why would I be dead? Sure, I had a little accident, and I understand that you were worried, but it has only been three days!”

“Haha, you’re right! It was only a little accident and only three days!” Father Folke started laughing in a loud voice. I’m glad you are enjoying yourself.

“What a fuss.” Ban was rolling his eyes.

While most villagers seemed surprised upon hearing him speak, they all nodded and agreed with the sentiment. What a fuss, indeed.

Spending a night in the severely cold snow-covered mountain would surely have been fatal, but I had been inside a fairly warm forest in spring. Staying still, I probably could have survived for up to a week.

However, Lady Maika, who was still clinging to my neck, scowled at me with her red eyes. “Stupid Ash! How can you be so calm?”

Did I look calm right now? If anything, I thought that I would have looked confused. Either way, I did not want to talk back to a crying girl, so I just smiled awkwardly, which only made her cry even more.

“Y-You were attacked by a b-boar... B-But y-you are fine... I’m so happy you are back!”

I did not have any memories of passing out, but it seemed like I had gone missing after being attacked by a wild boar, so it was not just an accident. In that case, I could see why they would have held a funeral. Boars mostly eat plants, but they are actually omnivorous.

“Well, I am deeply sorry for making you worry about me.” While I intended it as a heartfelt, sincere apology, Lady Maika and my mother suddenly got angry. They were scolding me for staying calm and acting as if nothing had happened.

In contrast, Father Folke was holding his stomach in laughter. “Hahaha! I knew you wouldn’t die so easily! I am not sure there is anything that could kill you, haha!”

What did that priest think I was? Just like any human, I would have died if I had been killed. As a matter of fact, I had died in my past life.

It looked like I was highly sought after, but I just wanted to go to bed and sleep. I also needed to find out how much I could use the aloe leaves that I had collected. To do so, I probably needed a pen and paper to write down my research notes. I could not wait for the peddler Quid’s next visit so I could rip him o—have him sell it to me for a cheap price.

Maika’s Perspective

It had been three days since Ash had gone missing. Everyone else in the village had given up on him; they were already preparing his funeral. The girls who had always been talking about him were crying. Even the boys who didn’t like him had tears in their eyes. Since Ash was so special, it was only natural that everyone would have been sad once he was gone. Of course, I was also about to cry. I had only recently discovered that I liked him, and I had planned to get him to like me too, but now this had happened.

I could not believe it. I did not want to believe it, so instead I believed that he was still alive, as Folke had said. That’s right—I did not have to cry. I tried my best to save all my tears for when he was going to come back. I was just a little bit worried that, if I held them back too much, I would end up drowning him in my tears.

Folke, who had comforted me, was standing in his ceremonial dress in the public square, grumbling to the other adults. “Do you really want to do this? I don’t mind holding a funeral, I’m just saying that it’s still possible he comes back the moment we finish the ceremony.” I was glad to see that he still believed in Ash, just like he had told me. “I will do it, but I just think that it is pointless.”

The other adults stared at Folke, who reluctantly opened his book. It was the same book that Ash and I had studied together.

“So... uhm... Just in case, let us hold the funeral. Silence, please!”

They are about to start, Ash.

The square was eerily silent considering the whole village was gathered. You could only hear some people sob.

...Or so I thought.

“What happened here?”

His voice sounded so normal. Maybe it was a little lower than usual, but it did not sound like the voice of someone who was about to be buried. Not that they would have made any sound.

Everyone turned to look in the direction of the voice—they were all speechless. As they had expected, or maybe contrary to their expectations, the voice belonged to Ash. It really was him. And he looked the same as three days ago.

I had believed in him, but there had still been a tiny bit of doubt left in my heart. I instinctively turned my head towards Folke, who had believed in Ash with even more certainty. He turned away his face and discreetly wiped his eyes. Ah, it looked like he had also believed in Ash. He had not known that Ash was going to make it back alive, but he had desperately believed it.

After Folke finished wiping, our eyes met and he grimaced. At first, I thought that he must have been embarrassed, but it turned out that he was pointing me in the direction of Ash with his grimace. He was asking me to go towards him. I immediately understood and remembered what he had told me three days ago. I had to run towards Ash! Before I knew it, my body was already moving.

I had held back this whole time. My body had done its best! My eyes started flooding with tears. My voice was embarrassingly loud. I pushed aside the crowd and jumped towards Ash at the same time as Mrs. Sheba. I was a little bit disappointed that I could not have Ash for myself, but it was also amazing that I got to him at the same time as his mom.

We both did not hold back in attacking him with our tears. It looked like Folke was right when he said that tears were a woman’s best weapon. Hehe, I had never seen Ash this flustered before.

●　●　●

After a short while, the peddler Quid had come, so I lost no time in paying him a visit to negotiate.

“Do you have a moment? There is something I want to consult with you about.”

“Oh, if it isn’t Ash. What could it be?”

I had not interacted with him at all since last time, but his reaction was stiff. Did he think I was going to threaten him with the incident from last time? Rest assured... and scared; I’m not going to do anything that goes against my conscience.

“I have come across this plant. Do you know what this is?”

When I showed the aloe leaf to Mr. Quid, he shook his head. It didn’t look like he knew what it was. I had thought that maybe it was possible to get a hold of it in the city, considering that it was a robust plant, and that there were so many different types, but it looked like it was not known around there.

“What is this? It is drooping a bit, and it looks kind of gross...”

“It is a leaf of a plant.”

“A leaf? Are you sure it’s not a stalk?”

Considering how thick it was, it looked indeed more like a stalk or a stem than a leaf. It certainly was a strange plant.

“According to a book I have read, this plant can be used as medicine,” I explained.

“Oh... Well, it looks strange, so I suppose it is not too surprising that it would have some kind of healing effect.”

That was quite an arbitrary and dangerous standard. Yet another reason not to trust Quid’s medicine. I remembered that in my past life, there were quite a few cultural spheres that believed the lethally poisonous mercury to be a secret medicine. There were even some people who considered the feces and urine of animals—including humans—to have healing effects, or even parts of dead bodies.

“So, I have been thinking about making some medicine myself, but first I need to conduct some experiments to see how well they work and if there are no problems.”

“Why? Didn’t you already read about it in a book?”

Unfortunately, people here were quick to believe anything someone supposedly important and knowledgeable had said before them.

“Yes, but it is still possible that there are going to be side effects if you use it too much. Or that it will not work at all depending on the method you use.”

“That seems like a hassle.”

“Do you not observe and collect information before engaging with any new customers?” This comparison seemed to convince him. “I am glad you understand. Anyway, in order to conduct my experiment, I need pen and paper.”

“Ah, I see where this is going.” Mr. Quid smiled nervously. He seemed a little relieved to know what threat was incoming. Knowing something was always better than nothing, even if the outcome was bad. “But don’t you need ink as well?”

“Ah, yes, I do.”

“Hmm...” He seemed conflicted.

It seemed that they were expensive goods after all, and he did not want to give them away for free. Although I had some damaging information on him, I did not necessarily want to corner him to a point where he was no longer willing to return; that would have been a detriment to both of us.

“For now, I would only need a little bit. If I could, I would of course pay for the goods... But alas, I do not have any money to my name yet.”

“I would have been surprised if you did. Although maybe not that much.”

What are you implying about an innocent child like me? “If the development of the medicine succeeds, I will give some to you as well. You may even be able to sell it in the city too.” I intended to pay him back after achieving success. For now, I was going to put it on a tab. I swear I’ll try my best, so please forgive me in case I end up bailing on the payment.

“Hmm...” He was only groaning and not agreeing with me at all.

It seemed like I was out of luck. While Mr. Quid may not have understood scientific research methods, as a peddler he was still a realist. On top of that, he was a small-business owner who did not readily jump on any new get-rich-quick schemes that came along. I braced myself to trick my father and extort some money from him.

As both Quid and I were lost in thought, Ban approached us.

“Oh, hello there, Ban!”

As usual, silent Ban only replied with a nod.

It looked like he had come to buy some necessities in exchange for smoked meats and pelts, which he had obtained from a hunt. He pointed out the goods he needed, and Mr. Quid started calculating. Previously, he had overcharged Ban, but considering I was here today, I did not expect anything fishy to happen.

After finishing his groceries, Ban looked at me and scratched his head. “What’s wrong?”

“I just need some pen and paper, so I am checking out how much it would cost.”

He seemed convinced.

At the same time, Mr. Quid had a look of surprise on his face when he heard Ban’s voice. Just how little did this man speak? And how had he been able to buy groceries without any issues up until now?

“How much?” Ban asked.

“Yeah. Mr. Quid, how much was it in the end?” I joined Ban in asking the price.

“Let’s see... Considering it’s a request from Ash... and if you’re fine with a slightly damaged paper... How about 15 iron for one set? Or let’s say 13... No, I can go down to 12.”

Twelve iron coins. He was probably losing money with that price, but to me it was far out of reach. It was the same price as an essential such as salt.

“I’ll pay.” I did not believe what I had just heard Ban say.

“No, I cannot let you pay for something this expensive. I am still in debt to you for saving my life!” I would have loved to just say thank you and take him up on his offer, but I was not shameless enough to just forget my debt.

Ban just shook his head in silence towards me and then nodded with his sharp look in Mr. Quid’s direction.

“Are you sure about this, Ban? As long as you’re fine with it, I don’t mind.” Mr. Quid looked quite surprised, but then Ban confirmed the purchase with another nod, before walking off with his own groceries. What a guy.

“What an incredibly cool person.”

“Yes, very cool.”

However, he had forgotten his change.

I decided to bring it to him on a later date, together with a token of gratitude for the pen and paper.