Chapter 8

In the third person, the story begins.

Under the clear blue sky, the sun gently illuminated the earth. The warmth was so inviting that the chirping of the little birds, who seemed to think spring had arrived, echoed through the trees. Not only the birds were excited; the young leaves, which had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring, sprouted all at once as if in a competition.

The white snow had completely melted, and the melted snow, after hiding deep in the soil, burst forth with great force and flowed into the rivers. In the cold spring rivers, the fish, which had been stiff during the winter, began to dance and even leaped out of the water in their excitement.

All the living things in the mountains, which had been waiting for spring, were finally about to welcome it.

In the mountain, where the new green leaves overflowed, a girl stepped through the undergrowth, which had just begun to sprout and was still weak, and made her way into the depths of the mountain. Despite walking at a considerable speed, her eyes never wavered as she searched for her goal.

She had come quite far into the mountains, but still, it was nowhere to be found. However, her senses told her that it was very close, and she must be right next to it.

Narrowing her eyes as if peering through the trees, the girl gazed into the distance for a while, then let out a long breath to release her tension.

She opened the water bottle she had brought and took a big sip. The fragrant aroma of roasted tea gently filled her nose. Though not hot, the slightly warm tea seeped into her stomach, and she realized she had been thirstier than she thought, which made her a little surprised.

She took a salted candy from her pocket and popped it into her mouth. Playing with the candy in her mouth, she leisurely looked around and spotted a familiar head of blonde hair in the distance.

Finally, the person she had been waiting for—Cain—appeared, gasping for breath and sending a resentful glare her way.

"…Huff, huff. Hiyori, you’re too fast."

—Compared to someone climbing a mountain in heavy armor, of course, she was fast.

Swallowing the words that almost escaped her throat, she smiled and Cain wiped his forehead with a complicated expression.

Still, Cain was fast, and the guards who were supposed to protect them were nowhere to be seen.

Noticing that Cain had nothing, Hiyori handed him her water bottle and salted candy. Cain, who drank the contents of the water bottle without hesitation, let out a sigh and finally seemed to catch his breath.

"So, what’s the real reason you suddenly wanted to come to such a remote part of the mountain?"

In response to the question, Hiyori thought for a moment, "Hmm?" She remembered that she had made up an excuse about training but hadn’t told him the real reason.

After a brief hesitation, she decided to be honest, thinking it was something he would figure out anyway.

With a slightly mischievous smile, she said cheerfully, "I came to gather some delicacies, Cain."

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"Um, so this is called a vacuum cleaner and…"

"Hmm, does it use wind magic?"

"No, it doesn’t use any magic at all."

It was mid-afternoon, with no clouds to block the sunlight, and the warm weather was making everyone sleepy.

Thinking about how nice it would be to take a nap on the veranda, she inwardly sighed at the person in front of her, who didn’t seem to allow it.

The man, with his neatly combed dark brown hair and a face that always had a frown, had emerald green eyes and silver-rimmed glasses. His thin lips only spoke in a businesslike manner, with no unnecessary words. He was diligent, but also inflexible and stubborn.

This man, who introduced himself as Luwan, was the prime minister of the country and had a deep knowledge of magical artifacts. He often visited this house to try to incorporate technology and knowledge from her original world.

Although the prime minister was supposed to be the second most important person after the king, and she thought he could delegate such investigations to others, he always visited during his busy schedule.

Dressed in a perfectly ironed, wrinkle-free civil servant’s uniform, he followed her around the house, listening to explanations of household appliances. She was secretly relieved when it was finally time to finish.

Because of the atmosphere Luwan exuded, she always felt unusually tense, and walking around the house with him left her very tired.

Thirsty, she offered Luwan some tea, but he immediately declined. In fact, she had never once been able to get him to accept her offer of tea.

"By the way, I hear you’re using the guard knights for things other than their official duties?"

She inwardly flinched.

Luwan’s relentless, accusatory gaze stabbed at her.

Indeed, she had been taking advantage of Jade’s kindness to get him to help with cooking, even giving him an apron. She had heard that the head of the knights, Dajiru, had given permission, but she knew it wasn’t a good look.

And from the perspective of the prime minister, it probably wasn’t favorable either.

"…Um, I’m sorry."

"You don’t need to apologize. I know Dajiru has given permission, so I don’t intend to say anything more. …However, you should consider your position."

She apologized out of habit, but his words made her a little dejected.

Luwan, who saw her with half-closed eyes, snorted and said, "I’ll take my leave," and left with his usual efficient movements.

"Shizuka? Has the prime minister left?"

As she counted the tatami patterns, feeling dejected, Jade’s face appeared in the hallway.

Noticing her dejected state, he widened his eyes slightly, then approached her without hesitation and placed his hand on her head, peering down at her.

"Did he say something about me? …Don’t feel responsible, Shizuka. I’m doing this properly and helping you, as I explained the other day."

Jade always spoke to her with his usual gentle words.

However, something was still bothering her, and she couldn’t easily accept it, knowing it was partly her fault.

"You’re so serious, Shizuka. That’s one of your virtues, but please don’t overthink it."

Jade said this and gently reached out his hand. His rough, masculine hand, with long, beautiful fingers, gently caressed her cheek.

"If anything happens, always consult me."

—Because I’m your guard knight.

Her heart beat faster, ignoring her will.

Her body temperature rose, and her face felt hot.

Not wanting to show such a face, she looked down and murmured a small thank you. She could feel his gentle gaze. Jade’s kindness made her feel like she was melting.

—No, I need to calm down.

To find peace, she made up an excuse and left the room, retreating to her own room.

After a while, while wandering around her room to cool her flushed face, she heard her sister’s voice from the entrance.

Peeking out from the stairs, she saw her sister spreading something in large quantities at the entrance.

She had pulled out the old tatami from the shed and was spreading it out happily.

Noticing her, her sister said with a beaming smile,

"Onee-chan! We had a great catch!"

Of course, there were no fish.

Instead, there were various mountain vegetables that signaled the arrival of spring, which she was familiar with from her original world.

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Udo, tara no me, warabi, bamboo shoots, and fuki no to.

Piled up in a large heap, they emitted a rich mountain scent.

At first, she was surprised by the amount, but gradually, she felt a sense of unease.

Yes, a sense of unease she had felt before.

Staring intently at her sister’s face, she saw her quickly avert her gaze.

—Ah, this is it.

—This is the reaction her sister shows when she’s hiding something or has done something wrong.

Perhaps it’s a guardian’s intuition, but she could always tell when her sister was hiding something.

"How about it, Onee-chan? Isn’t it amazing?"

"Wow, it’s amazing. …But, sister."

"What, what is it?"

"Onee-chan has a question."

"Gi, gi, gi, I don’t have any questions!"

"One. Some of the mountain vegetables that should be out of season are here. …Fuki no to is usually around March when the snow melts, and warabi needs it to be warmer, right?"

"Well, it’s just a coincidence, isn’t it?"

"Two. This is a different world, not Japan, so I don’t think the same mountain vegetables would be available."

"This world is mysterious, isn’t it?"

…Are you still going to insist, sister?

Then.

"Three. When I used the identification magic, it said ‘Blessings stolen from the Lord of the Mountain.’ What does that mean?"

"Onee-chan, you can’t use magic without Jade, can you!?"

"I can do it once in a while. Don’t underestimate me."

"Guu…"

Her sister’s eyes darted around, and she began to sweat, clearly not intending to tell the truth.

With no other choice, she looked up at Prince Cain, who was standing behind her sister, and heard a somewhat silly snort.

"!!?!"

She found a small, cute gourd at Prince Cain’s feet.

With its large, black eyes and small, brown body, it had a round nose and tiny, sharp teeth. It stared at her intently, occasionally looking around and kicking the soil lightly.

The very cute gourd wouldn’t move from Prince Cain’s feet. Our beloved dog, Leon, was sniffing the gourd’s bottom, and the gourd, trying to avoid him, was struggling to stay in place without running away.

As a result, the gourd and the dog were chasing each other’s tails, creating a rather peaceful and out-of-place scene.

"…Is it a pet, Prince…?"

"I don’t have the nerve to keep this."

Pointing to the small gourd’s bottom, where Leon had been sniffing, a green branch was growing.

This isn’t just a gourd!?

"This is the Lord of the Mountain, Akane. I have a favor to ask."

—Do I have a bad feeling about this?

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

In the living room, in the sunniest and warmest spot by the veranda, she set up a special seat with three fluffy cushions stacked on top of each other for the brown, round gourd.

In front of it, several large plates were lined up, and the gourd was waiting with expectant eyes for the food to be placed on them.

Occasionally, it would let out a "phui" and its wooden tail would sweep the tatami.

The tension in the air was palpable, as the knights, led by Dajiru, stood outside the veranda, watching the cute gourd’s every move, ready for any unexpected situations.

—The gourd that her sister and Prince Cain brought back was the ruler of a certain mountain.

A spirit of the mountain, condensed from the mountain’s essence, possessing a long-lived beast. It governs, protects, and exists for the mountain. While not an ally of humans, it can sometimes bestow the mountain’s bounty if encountered by chance.

Why was such a being here? Because her sister had done something.

In her studies as a holy maiden, she learned about various monsters and spirits. Learning about the Lord of the Mountain and its ability to bestow the mountain’s bounty, her sister’s mind was filled with thoughts of:

—Mountain bounty! Mountain vegetables! Tempura! Spring flavors!

No one could stop her sister once her appetite was stimulated.

After all, she was so greedy for food that she had once thrown a tantrum to eat her sister’s meals. She quickly changed the next training location to the mountains, secured Prince Cain’s schedule, and ignored the guards’ protests, venturing deep into the mountains and finding the Lord of the Mountain.

Using her excess holy power, she "subdued" the Lord of the Mountain and "summoned" the desired mountain vegetables, resulting in the mountain of vegetables they had brought back.

"Well, I found it, but it didn’t offer any mountain bounty and tried to leave. So, I used my power to say, ‘Wait a minute!’ and it started trembling and gave me all sorts of things. They were all Japanese mountain vegetables, which surprised me a bit."

Her sister said this with a slight blush, leaving her speechless.

"The mountain bounty given by the Lord of the Mountain is said to be what the visitor desires. It seems that the mountain’s power was used to ‘summon’ the vegetables from your world."

Prince Cain explained further, frowning.

"Because of this, a significant amount of the mountain’s power has been consumed, and both the mountain and the Lord of the Mountain are quite weakened. If left as is, it could affect the mountain’s productivity and ecosystem. Many people in the surrounding villages depend on the mountain for their livelihood. We can’t just leave it like this."

Feeling responsible as a sister and guardian, she tried to apologize by prostrating herself. However, everyone stopped her at once.

Though they didn’t understand the meaning of prostration, they seemed to understand her feelings.

Reluctantly, she grabbed her sister’s head and forced her to bow and apologize.

However, that wouldn’t solve the problem.

Feeling anxious about how to take responsibility, she learned from Prince Cain that there was something she could do.

The reason the Lord of the Mountain was weakened was due to a lack of power. If she could replenish that, it would help. The vegetables from her world, which had been summoned across the boundary, contained a significant amount of power. By cooking them and offering them as a sacrifice, it might help, he said.

It seemed that offering the ingredients as they were wouldn’t work. The effort and time spent in cooking made it a proper offering. She had heard that this was how offerings were made from humans to non-humans.

So, today’s plan was to have a tempura feast.

However, this was still the royal palace.

The Lord of the Mountain, which looked like a gourd but was a non-human and potentially dangerous, couldn’t be left unattended.

Therefore, today’s security was several times more than usual, with many knights, including Dajiru, dispatched, and the security was extremely tight. Everyone was serious, and no one spoke, creating an unusual tension.

In such an atmosphere, she had to cook, which made her a little teary-eyed.

—As a sister, I will take responsibility for what my sister has done.

With this resolve, she faced the mountain of vegetables.