CH 3.5

V1: CHAPTER 3 PART 5 – A BLACKSMITH’S DAUGHTER

Next afternoon. Having gotten a cart, I came to May’s house empty-handed.

“Maaay, are you theeere?” I didn’t have a promise to play with her, but well, I could just go back and do other stuff if she wasn’t home, so I called out to her without much expectations.

I was waiting there for a while and—thud thud thud thud—I heard a sound of someone coming down stairs, and May popped out from inside the workshop.

“Har-dono! It has been a long time!”

“What long time, hasn’t it been just two days?”

“It was a long time for me who had no friends other than Har-dono!”

For a moment I thought, ‘that’s just like me!’ but then I got reminded that I got Lily. Well, Lily was a fiancee rather than a friend, and it also felt closer to a relationship where I’d call her a girlfriend, so me having forgotten it didn’t mean I was heartless; totally not. In the first place, Lily wasn’t within easy reach even if I wanted to see her; not physically.

“I’m sorry about that. Well, it’s not like I can come here everyday either.”

“Would it be better if I go to yours instead?”

Not that it was such an issue, but I got something to tell for now, so that’d come first.

“Yeah, so about that. May, will you come to the mansion?”

“Is it your house, Har-dono?”

“Yep. Like I haven’t invited you either, and I got something I want a bit of your help with,” I told her so, and May smiled broadly.

“I will come over! Please wait for a bit,” May said and immediately got back into the house. And when I was waiting there for about dozens of seconds, May came back with a paper bag.

“What’s that?”

“It is snacks; since I’ll be intruding.”

“You sure? Aren’t snacks like, expensive because they’re sweet?”

Sugar was a high-class item in this world. Although it was somewhat cheaper in the Fahrenheit territory compared to other territories since crops like sugar beets were being cultivated here, it was still mainly used to add a touch of flavor to everyday dishes. Something like snacks that were using plenty of sugar were a luxury, and ordinary people should rarely have the chance to eat them.

“No, it’s not sweet snacks.”

“It’s not sweet?”

Is it like rice crackers? I didn’t know there was such an oriental snack, though.

“It is a snack eaten in the dwarven country. You probably won’t see many of them around here.”

“Oh, I see. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll gladly accept it.”

Having reached an acceptance, I walked with May towards the mansion. May was looking mery at first, but as the buildings around us gradually were becoming more luxurious, she started to talk less and less.

“A-are were there yet?”

“Nnn, I guess not yet.”

“It is somehow a very luxurious street…”

“I agree. I’d like to live on the top floor of one of these buildings.”

The buildings around here were at least two floors high, and the tall buildings could even reach five or six floors. Naturally, the high vertical height of the building would make it possible to achieve a reasonably wide space area per floor. Well, in Japanese terms, it should be possible to accommodate about two to three LDK rooms. But on the other hand, the rent would probably be like 100,000 to 200,000, though.

This country’s currency was ‘ell,’ and one ell was worth about one yen based on feeling. From the materials available in the study, it seemed that the average income of the ordinary people of Heitburg was about 200,000 ell per month or less. The farmers living in the suburb would have slightly less than that. Well, farmers were practically self-sufficient regarding food, so that didn’t seem to be an issue, though.

Although I said 200,000 ell per month, the cost of living was low, so the actual value seemed to be a bit higher but in any case, it must be difficult for ordinary people to live in these apartments. Even a working married couple, they would end up starving to death if all they could pay for was the rent. The lower the Engel’s coefficient was the better, but people couldn’t live with it completely zero.

Well, in short, there were a lot of very rich people around here. A blacksmith was a craftsman requiring a specialized skill, so I figured that they were earning a decent sum among the ordinary people, but to be expected, they probably wouldn’t reach the genuine upper class, who’d live in places like Shoto in Shibuya or even take a first class flight. It was understandable even if May were to feel a little uncomfortable in the high-class streets.

But you know, May. Right now you’re going to a much crazier place…

As I was feeling a little sorry while thinking so in my mind, May, perhaps feeling something unsettling, looked to the side and stared at me in the face, next to her.

“?”

Let’s just gloss it over by broadly smiling for now, and let’s also hold her hand so she can’t escape. And then May also smiled cheerfully and squeezed back my hand. Cute…

While feeling a heart pounding sensation different from the time with Lily, I kept walking while holding May’s hand tightly, never letting go.

We walked for about 10 minutes. After passing through the upper class, and public service district, we finally arrived at the main gate of the lord’s mansion.

“Huh? Where is your home?”

May restlessly looked around and tilted her head, maybe wondering why there were no more houses around anymore. And to her, I pointed at the gate, saying, “welcome, to our home.”

“Howah?”

I greeted the gatekeepers and asked the gate to be opened. Shriek shriek shriek… the splendid gate was slowly opening.

It seemed that my first attempt in my life, including my previous life, to invite a friend over to my house somehow succeeded, albeit rather bit-by-bit-ish.

“It-it-it, it is a big castle!”

May was so excited to see my parents’ home, which was more of a mansion than a castle.

The lord’s mansion of our House of Margrave Fahrenheit was not a tall building type of castle, like the C*derella Castle or Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany as you might imagine when hearing the so-called ‘castle.’ It was closer to a wide type of castle, like the Chambord Castle or Villandry Castle in France. Or maybe calling it a palace would be a better description.

When I still had been living in Japan, I’d been interested in castles from all over the world, and had done some research on castles in various countries. The current mansion looked just like the castle I’d thought as so beautiful at that time, making every day a very exciting one as someone living here.

But well, maybe it was because I’d been a Japanese living in a cramped and crowded country in my previous life, but I just couldn’t get into the idea of having too much land. Just going to the next building within the ground would turn into taking a walk, and it’d just be the worst if it were to rain. I wished that the distance between buildings was closer at least.

“We-were you a prince, Har-dono!?”

“I’m not a prince. A prince is in the imperial capital after all.”

“Then a noble?”

“Nnn, well yeah. My real name is Eberhard Karlheinz von Flensburg Fahrenheit. I’m the eldest son of the House of Margrave Fahrenheit.”

“Yes sir!!” When I revealed my real name, May got down on her knees and prostrated on the spot. She even thoroughly stretched out her arms; somehow like a gesture coming out of a manga. Actually, I’ve never seen anyone actually doing this. Since it’s on a lawn, I guess it’s fortunate that she doesn’t get any dirt on her clothes.

“Err, May? …Mayle-chan?”

“Yes siiir!!”

It looked like she got the wrong idea regarding the nobles. Perhaps this odd, distinctive way of speaking also came from the same thing. Maybe something happened in May’s past, I got a bit curious.

“Raise your face.”

“Yes sir!!”

May raised her face with her arms still outstretched, so she looked like she was doing a ‘hooray!’ It’s somewhat funny.

“…Umm, I think I’d appreciate it if you act normally.”

“Normally, is it?”

“Yep. I mean, you and I are friends, right? Then things like status are irrelevant.”

“…Certainly, we are both friends!”

A smile returned to May, who had gotten humble. Yep, May really is cuter when she’s smiling.

“Now then, I’ve a reason why I invited you here, May.”

“A reason?”

“Nn well, since you don’t really need a reason to invite a friend over, so strictly speaking, I just invited you at this timing, I guess.”

“Uh-huh. What could it be?” May sweetly asked with a question mark floating above her head.

“You see, I want to modify a cart.”

“A cart, huh.”

“Yep. Follow me.”

I took May to the back garden where I’d left the cart.

I’d invited May here today because I wanted to modify a cart. The cart I’d received yesterday was certainly sturdy and well made, but unfortunately because of the technology of this world, the resistance of the spinning wheels was just so great that it couldn’t be easily ignored. For the time being, the axles were coated with some kind of pelt and grease, but as expected, it was undeniable that it felt tougher to move when compared to the wheels in present Japan.

That was why I’d like to do the true charm of parallel world reincarnation: cheating using modern knowledge. What I’d like to make was ball bearings. The so-called mechanism called ball bearing was made by placing metal balls between two metal rings and closing it to make it possible to rotate with little force by reducing the frictional resistance during rotation. It surprisingly had a long history on Earth, and I figured that there was nothing that couldn’t be done with this world’s technology. This would surely make the cart’s wheels perform better.

Nonetheless, although I only got superficial knowledge of it, I got no metalworking skills myself. And then, the chosen one for that was May, who had made her debut as a blacksmith a few days ago.

“So, May, I want you to make certain things according to what I say from now on.”

“I understand! It sounds somewhat interesting!”

I was pretty much thinking of stopping if May seemed to dislike the idea, but she looked kind of happy to hear about the crafting topic that she had just heard. This might go well then.

I immediately went to explain the construction of a ball bearing with a diagram. May’s eyes shone as she listened seriously with ‘uh-huh uh-huh.’

I never would’ve thought that this would be the moment that would give birth to a great inventor of the future. I never would’ve expected this at the time.

“OOOOOOHHH!!”

I ran around the vast back garden while pulling the overwhelmingly improved cart.

“UHYAAAAA~~~!!!” On the back was May, screaming with her red hair flailing. “It’s fast, it is so faaaaaasssst!!”

“I’m not all out yet!! I’m gonna push the limits!!”

“HIEEEEEEEEE!!”

I never had thought that May was that skillful. Regardless of how blessed she was with an excellent teacher, the chief, and the special characteristic of the dwarves as a race excelling at blacksmithing, she’d started training only just a few days ago. Geez, even though I’d assumed she’d just be a bit better than me who completely had no experience, the result was this. Frankly, May was a genius.

“It’s light… The cart’s so light…!”

She got quite the small build because of her race characteristic, but even May was a 10-year old girl, so she should be at least 30 kilos. If you were to imagine a jute bag of rice of the same weight, you should get the idea that it was fairly heavy; yet it was this light! The pulling was so light like there was nothing in the back, and the handling was smooth. It was a refreshing feeling like riding a bicycle down a hill road.

The time was dusk. The sun was beginning to set, and it was a good time to call it a day. But nothing could be done about this joy of completing something that had taken several hours to complete, and I let it out by placing May on the cart and running around like this.

＊

Tracing back the time to noon—I’d invited May over and explained the manufacturing process, then led May to the area of the secret base. We arrived at the same old magnificent pit house, and began the work there.

First was to secure the materials. We’d use metal. However, even if I said a single word of metal, lead and copper were out of the question. It was necessary to use iron for its overwhelming strength and durability.

Regardless of how vast the House Fahrenheit’s mansion was, it was a nobility mansion, so it didn’t have a facility like that of a workshop. There was only just about a small kiln to bake bread and an incinerator for burning trash; no such a thing like a lump of iron here. Much less would there be a high-performance furnace for melting iron.

And it got crazy from there. It was so crazy that a simple ‘it got crazy’ was the only impression that came out.

First, May fully demonstrated her dwarven special characteristics there. Dwarves were originally a race native to a land called Nord Peninsula, located north across the sea from the Empire. As it was a peninsula, the Nord Peninsula and the Empire were connected by land. However, since there was another country in between, the only direct route was through maritime transportation, but I’d leave that topic to the side for now.

The dwarves living in that Nord Peninsula were different from the human race like in that, ‘both men and women were short,’ ‘men were muscular and hairy; women were growing remarkably, always young looking,’ and in addition to this characteristic, there was also another one which was: ‘loved by the spirits called gnome.’

Gnome was a general term for the spirits dwelling in the earth. It was said to rule the earth attribute magic, and seemed to exist all over the world. It seemed that the gnomes’ boss was called the Mother Earth Goddess, but I wasn’t that knowledgeable about the earth attribute, so I wouldn’t go into details.

And so, as a result of the race called the dwarves having high affinity with these gnomes, the whole race got a high aptitude for earth attribute magic. And it was a universal characteristic that even applied to an ordinary ten-year old dwarven girl, who wasn’t particularly skilled or well-trained in magic. It was a long explanation, but the dwarven girl Mayle Aalendal used earth attribute magic through her inborn instinct and intuition, without someone even teaching her nor any training!

“Gnome-san, iron please!”

Like even a gnome gonna respond to such a halfhearted incantation! The next moment I quipped so in my mind, I had to quip to myself again for having such a reaction.

As soon as May recited an incantation that couldn’t be said to be a serious or not serious—rumble rumble—the ground began to rise, and then familiar black grains of sand began to rise up from under the ground.

“SUUDWOOOOOOOHD!?” I yelled, like a certain rock-type monster mimicking a tree.

What May procured from under the ground with a sloppy incantation was unmistakably iron sand in its pure state, without the need for reduction.

“M-may, what’s that just now?”

“? No idea. Probably all dwarves can do it, you know?”

Although the person in question didn’t seem to quite understand it, that was probably spirit magic. No other reason but that if someone with no training in magic would be able to use it. This may be the case, given the fact that she was loved by spirits of the earth, the gnomes.

Actually, May got not that much mana in the first place. It seemed to be more than the typical ten years old, but compared to me, it was nothing. In spirit magic, since the spirit would use magic with the highest efficiency even with a small amount of mana, it consumed little mana.

This was not the end of May’s frightening glimpse. Immediately after she’d procured iron sand, a chanting of a different incantation(?) came out next.

“Gnome-san, please make this iron round. And then please make it into ring shapes.”

I wouldn’t be surprised anymore. I decided to just think of dwarves as being that way.

Sure enough, the pile of iron sand scattered on the ground was—srrt srrt—changing its shape into round. It didn’t even get melted by heat, but the iron was neatly forming into shape.

“This IS truly magic, I suppose…”

Well, magic was a part of everyday life in this world, so it wasn’t odd, though. But really, as a former Japanese, I couldn’t shake off this out of place feeling.

“Finally, we can attach this.”

May fiddled with the finished parts, and gradually put them together into the shape of a bearing. I watched it from the side for several 10 minutes. And then the ball bearing of my wish was finally completed.

“It is done!”

“That was quite something…”

When I checked if it worked properly, it rotated astonishingly smoothly. As it was made with spirit magic, the measurement error was probably significantly smaller than when made by hand. It was a deep mystery to me why civilization had not developed with this. I knew it, it was that, huh? When magic was so useful, would people not do research seriously? Perhaps it was the same in any world that civilization wouldn’t develop unless it was driven by necessity.

Afterwards, we repeated this process three more times to prepare the bearings for all the wheels. Since the cart’s wooden wheels weren’t exactly a circle, the two of us shaved and filed them, bringing them close to a perfect circle so that the bearing would fit nicely. In the end, it was almost dusk when the cart was completed.

““It’s doooone!!!””

It wasn’t that much of a struggle thanks to May, but we were happy with the result. May and I hugged each other and shared the joy of completion. And then we were returning back to the beginning scene.

＊

Exhausted from running around so much, I lay sprawled out on the secret base’s floor spread with mat with May, who felt sick from all the rocking.

“U-urrgh… I-I’m exhausted…”

“………I’m tired………………………”

Kids would do stupid things, but this time I did believe it was too stupid. I’d try to be a bit more restrained next time.

After resting and recuperating for a while, we talked about the future prospects.

“Having made this cart like this, I think my income will increase even more. And then, I might have some more things I want you to make. So what do you think? How about making your exclusive workshop here?”

“My exclusive workshop!?” May’s eyes lit up at the ‘exclusive’ part. I supposed having one’s own workshop was one of the dreams of a craftsman after all; even if they were just a child.

“I’d hunt monsters with the tools you made and earn money. And you’d make a lot of new tools with the money I earned. And thus more and more useful inventions would be made. Doesn’t that sound like very exciting?”

“Amazing amazing amazing! It is an amazing idea! You’re a genius, Har-dono!”

As for me, I felt like May was the genius one for having that kind of skill at the age of ten, but oh well, she probably wouldn’t understand that even if I told her.

“Now then, I’m gonna go hunting for monsters outside of the city tomorrow. May, please give the workshop some thoughts. I’ll cover the cost of materials and such, so you can do as you like without worrying.”

“I’m looking forward to it! Nnng, I wonder how I should do it~!”

May had shown me her magic to that degree, but the sight of her getting all happy and excited appropriate for her age was a very heartwarming spectacle.

Here, May could pursue her training as much as she liked, as well as learn the finer details of magic from me; above all—albeit half-heartedly—she could gain scientific knowledge of present day Japan. I wonder what kind of blacksmith she’ll ever become, I was looking forward to and dreading May’s future.