Chapter 23

This is a story from the perspective of how the protagonist spends his day.

September 25th.

As usual, I wake up before dawn.

Although my body is that of a child and I often struggle with strong drowsiness upon waking, I manage to wake up thanks to my daily routine.

I fight off the drowsiness and change into the clothes that the maid, Molly, has prepared for me in the dark room. Thanks to my enhanced vision, I can see things even in near darkness, which is quite convenient.

After changing, I first do some light exercise in the room.

I slowly stretch my body, and as expected, the body of a four-year-old is very flexible, allowing me to touch the floor with my chest while doing a 180-degree split.

I want to maintain this flexibility, so I never skip my daily stretching. Thanks to this, while I may not be in a circus, my range of motion is quite large.

By the time I finish stretching, the night slowly begins to turn into day.

As usual, I take my small wooden sword and head to the garden.

When I step outside, the rising sun behind the Aquila Mountains in the east casts a light that gradually makes the distinctive jagged ridgeline more distinct. The colors of the four hills to the south also become more vivid as the morning mist clears.

By then, my grandfather has finished his warm-up and I stand beside him, greeting him.

"Good morning, Grandfather. It looks like it will be a nice day today."

"Good morning, Zack. Yes, it seems it will be a hot day."

As we enjoy our morning conversation, my older brother, Rod, appears.

"Good morning, Grandfather, good morning, Zack. You're always up early."

After my grandfather and I greet him, the three of us take up our swords.

When my grandfather starts swinging his sword, my brother and I begin our practice swings in silence.

Since I still have few forms to learn, I swing the few I know with all my might.

My brother seems to choose his forms based on his mood that day, and today he is focusing on thrusting techniques.

My grandfather swings his sword with sharp shouts, as if there is an enemy in front of him, yet it is a beautiful form, almost like a sword dance.

When the sky is fully bright, Mel and her brother Sim, Dan and Sharon's brother, climb up the hill.

After greeting my grandfather, they start their practice swings as well.

Sharon, however, does the exercises I taught her on the side while watching us.

We continue swinging our swords until my grandfather finishes his practice.

It's about thirty minutes, but even in the cool morning air, we end up out of breath and sweating.

After that, we each swing our swords in front of my grandfather, and any mistakes are corrected.

After the morning training, Mel and the others return home, and we head to the well in the back.

By then, Walt has already drawn water from the well, and the bucket is filled with cold water. Splashing this water on my face makes my head feel clear.

Soaking a towel in the cold water and wiping my body makes me feel the heat from my body gradually cool down. This feeling is irresistible to me.

In my previous world, I did sports during my student days, but after joining the company, I hardly did any real exercise. I only moved my body when I got a free gym pass or something like that, and I hadn't done any serious exercise for over twenty years.

Moving my body and sweating is just that, but it feels really good.

After wiping my body, I head to the dining room. By then, the fragrant smell of baking bread for breakfast is wafting around the well, making my appetite grow.

In the dining room, Molly and her daughter Tricia are preparing breakfast, and my father and mother are already seated at the table.

When we appear, my father, mother, and Liddy greet us with smiles. We greet them back and sit down at the table.

The breakfast menu is mostly the same, but at my request, it now includes boiled milk, butter, and cheese—since it's a hard cheese, it's lightly baked with the oven's residual heat.

I suggested this because I thought calcium was necessary for my brother and me during our growth period.

Until then, we only had dishes with butter and cheese at dinner, but I thought we should get a bit more calcium.

To be honest, I don't know much about nutrition, but I just thought that "milk" was good for children.

The breakfast was still hard bread and soup with no ingredients, but adding dairy products made it feel more like a proper breakfast. I'm thinking of trying to make ham or bacon soon.

In this village, meat and fish are not smoked, and the only meat available is fresh—mostly wild animals—or salted.

After finishing breakfast and washing my face, a leisurely time flows.

This is because my father goes to work managing the village, and my grandfather goes to do paperwork for the vigilante group, so we can relax for about an hour. I usually spend this time reading a book or chatting with Liddy.

When my grandfather finishes his paperwork, the morning training begins.

The men of the vigilante group also climb the hill and bow to us as they greet us.

About ten men of the vigilante group line up in the western square of the mansion. Walt checks each person's equipment, and if there is a problem, he yells at them like a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army.

I was initially very surprised to see this other side of Walt, who is usually quiet and kind to us.

When my grandfather and I start training together, it looks like a movie instructor and a drill sergeant. I remember laughing a little at the sight, which was a bit disrespectful to them.

My younger group, including Mel and Dan, stands at the far end of the square and swings our swords tirelessly.

A few days ago, Mel's sword skill level went up to two, and it seems Dan's spirit has become even stronger.

Next to us, my brother and Sim are also swinging their swords and occasionally receiving my grandfather's scolding.

We take a break after thirty minutes, but my brother and the others continue with mock battles.

Most of the time, they fight against my grandfather or Walt, and occasionally against Mel's father Hector or Sharon's father Guy.

I think my brother and Sim are doing quite well for eight-year-olds, but my grandfather and Walt can handle them with one hand while watching the vigilante group.

When the break is over, we start swinging our swords again.

We repeat the forms that my grandfather instructs, and to be honest, it's quite boring. I think more practical training would be more interesting, but I can't go against my grandfather's teaching method.

Besides, my brother has been training under this method for three years, so it would be wrong for only me to complain.

Our training lasts about an hour, but my brother and the men of the vigilante group continue to train.

We wipe the sweat off and rest in the shade, and when we feel refreshed, we start playing.

The "play" is more like training, such as climbing ropes, climbing trees, and using wooden ladders and balance beams that Walt made for us.

Climbing trees, for example, is a dangerous game for a small child like me. In fact, I've been taken to the healer many times due to injuries.

The first time the healer cast a spell on me, I thought:

A broken bone can be fixed immediately. As long as I don't hit my head or damage my internal organs, I can do quite a lot.

Yes, for minor injuries, magic is more effective and immediate than modern medicine. That's why I started to think that a bit of intense training was okay.

In addition to using these tools, I can now do forward and backward rolls, so I practice side rolls and back handsprings, and play catch with a ball made of rolled-up cloth. These games are centered around what I think would be good training. These games are also popular with the other three, and sometimes I end up more tired than they are.

While Mel is active, I thought Sharon might get bored, but despite her quiet appearance, she has good motor skills. I think she can do quite well in sword training, but her personality may not be suited for it.

Today, I have to go to the dwarf Beltram's workshop, so Nicholas will take me by horse and I will return for lunch.

At Beltram's place, I will check the progress of the still and resolve any questions he has, then return to the mansion.

It's about one kilometer away, so it doesn't take long by horse.

I don't know about other households, but at least in the Lockhart household, we have a proper lunch.

The menu is not much different from breakfast, but sometimes we have boiled fresh vegetables or fish and meat brought by the vigilante group.

Then, nap time arrives.

One thing I've noticed since becoming a child is that my body strongly demands food and sleep.

The amount of food is quite large, but my body still craves snacks. I told my mother and Molly about this, and they prepare high-calorie snacks like cookies, honey-covered rusks made from leftover bread, and other similar items.

At first, my mother and Molly were against snacks, but when I explained that children who exercise need calories, they were easily convinced. They seemed to think it was good for a child's body based on my knowledge from my previous life.

To be honest, I'm not sure if taking in high-calorie snacks is a good thing, but since my body demands it, I think it's necessary.

Of course, with the intense exercise I do, there's no worry about obesity... I don't think so.

As for sleep, the bedtime is early—around 8 PM in this season, about two hours after sunset, when even adults are asleep—but the wake-up time is also early, so I get about nine hours of sleep at night.

After lunch, I'm always incredibly sleepy. A terrible drowsiness hits me, worse than the boring meetings after lunch during my salaryman days. I usually sleep for about two hours and wake up around 2:30 PM.

After that, it's Liddy's magic lessons.

While sword training is fun, the most enjoyable times for me now are these magic lessons and the evening magic training.

Sharon and I study magic, while Dan and Mel read relatively easy storybooks that I brought.

Dan and Mel, despite being five years old, are already studying letters seriously and can read easy books without help from me or Liddy. I don't know about children in English-speaking countries, but these two might be geniuses in a way.

As for Sharon, she is far more advanced in her studies than a four-year-old in this world.

I taught her the letters and multiplication tables, and now she might be at the level of a middle-grade elementary school student in Japan. She memorizes everything perfectly the next day, so I got carried away and taught her more, but she never complained, so I kept going.

Sharon and I listen to Liddy's explanations with serious expressions, and Liddy teaches us in a way that is as easy to understand as possible. She is so good at teaching that I think she should become a teacher.

After thirty minutes of lecture, it's time for practical training.

Since I have no problem with magic manipulation, Sharon receives one-on-one training from Liddy.

During this time, I go to Dan and Mel and start reading books with them.

While they read stories, I read a magic book borrowed from Liddy, but sometimes Mel comes to bother me. I would read while giving her some attention.

It's like a father reading a newspaper while a child comes to bother him.

I would read while giving her some attention, but recently, she has started climbing on my back or pulling my legs. I put down the book and played with her a little, which has become a daily routine.

When Sharon's training is over, it's usually around 4 PM.

This is when the vigilante group's training ends, and they return to the village in our place. They look completely exhausted, almost dragging their feet.

I learned from Mel's father, Hector, that on the two training days each month, the group enjoys a party after training.

Hector also heard at the vigilante group's party that the men endure my grandfather's strict training just to drink at the Black Pond Inn, the only tavern in the village, as if they were bathing in alcohol. This is apparently the correct way to be a man in this village. Hector, who is in charge of the vigilante group, laughed and said he was troubled by the detailed explanations from everyone.

However, the villagers seem to be grateful to my grandfather. They say the village has become peaceful since he arrived, and now monsters rarely enter the village, and even the bandits—there are quite a few in this area—don't target the village, all thanks to my grandfather.

Around 4 PM, the practice swings start again.

Unlike the cool morning air, the muggy heat remains, and we start sweating immediately when we begin swinging our swords.

My brother and Sim are swaying as they swing their swords. At this time, my father and his assistant, Walt's son Einos, also join the training.

My father is still doing better, but Einos is swinging a spear while enduring Walt's continuous scolding. He is also a spearman like his father Walt, but he doesn't seem to be very good, possibly due to the short training time.

I can't say anything about the reason for the shortened training time—Nicholas, who is in charge of internal affairs, became my assistant, which is the main reason—but I always think he should move his body more.

My father is always beaten up by my grandfather in mock battles, so he might be complaining with his childhood friends after dinner.

All the day's training ends before 5 PM.

Mel and the others return home, and we head to the well again.

This house has no bath, not even a shower. We draw water from the well for drinking and cooking, and rely on rainwater—there is a large tank for collecting rainwater—for livestock, laundry, and cleaning. When I regained my memories, this was the most difficult thing for me as a former Japanese person.

I want to soak in a hot bath and let out a sigh as my body warms up from the inside. I plan to build a bath in this mansion someday, and I will definitely do it in the near future.

I've been writing the time, but there are no clocks in this village. So, the times I've written are rough estimates based on the position of the sun.

For someone who lived by the minute and sometimes the second with a wristwatch and a mobile phone, a life without a clock was often bewildering. But now, I think this kind of life is also good.

By the way, there are special magic devices for clocks, and in towns and villages along the road, they are usually placed in the town hall or the mayor's house.

After taking a cold shower at the well, it's time for dinner.

The evening menu mainly consists of ingredients brought by the vigilante group or obtained by Hector and Sharon's father, Guy, who often go out.

Especially the wild birds and boars that Guy brings from the forest are quite a treat in this mansion.

This season, pheasants, mountain birds, and quails are often caught, and roasted wild birds often appear on the table. For someone like me who loved wild game in my previous life, this place is heaven, but unfortunately, I can't drink alcohol yet.

I want a full-bodied red wine—personally, I prefer Pinot Noir over Cabernet—with the gamey taste of pheasant, and a sweet white wine—such as Sauternes or other noble rot wines—with the fatty belly of a boar. I also want red wine with the tender texture and rich aroma of snipe and the delicate meat of wood pigeon—while there are no Pyrenean palombe, ordinary wood pigeons sometimes appear on the table. I also want to try the unique bitterness of grouse, but it doesn't exist in this area.

However, sadly, I can't drink alcohol. Moreover, there is no good quality wine in this village. It looks a bit cloudy and seems to have impurities.

From what I saw in the vineyards, black grapes were growing, but I have no knowledge of grapes or winemaking, so I can't improve the quality at my current age.

Unfortunately, today's dinner is a regular salted meat