10-I'm lost

Surprisingly, the winner of the onion eating contest was a teenage boy.

Even though nine out of the ten contestants were all fierce-looking uncles, he actually won against them. Amazing.

At first the uncles ate vigorously, but after the third onion, they all began to sport a thousand-yard stare as they woodenly ate onions. They were so stiff they were like wax dolls.

They got energized from the jeers and heckling of the crowd, but after two bites they once again froze and looked like they were doing all their best just to avoid spitting what was in their mouths.

Meanwhile, the teenager who won in the end just kept on placidly eating, creating a huge lead which ultimately led to his win.

"Poor boy. Having dead taste buds at such a young age," Couge muttered with a pitying expression on his face. Though he put onions into his salads, they were not that spicy. After all, he soaked them in water first to reduce the spiciness.

The teenager had kept munching on the onions as if they were pears, and in the end, ate six of them in total.

The teenager raised the envelope with his prize money high above his head, face full of smiles. Looking at him, I thought, he truly wasn't ordinary at all.

Anyway. So that's how a fifteen-year old looked like, huh. If you'd told me he was a university student I'd believe you. He looked so mature.

I said, "The people of this world really look mature. I thought he was the same age as me, but he's actually just fifteen years old."

"""Huh??"""

"......Yes, that's right," Norn replied.

Wait. Before Norn spoke, it sounded like there were sounds of shock coming from the people around us. Was I imagining things? I wasn't, right?

Well, I understood how they felt. From their perspective, I looked like a ten-year old. Of course they'd be in shock.

But I refuse to accept that tiny bit of pause and eye widening you did there, Norn!!

Couge chuckled. "You messed up, Norn. Come on, Shinobu, stop pouting. Since this is a rare occasion, let's eat something before we head back. We can take our time since the restaurant's closed for today."

"Let's eat!!" I enthused.

I was a little upset before, but with Couge's words I immediately bounced back. Because the delicious smells from the food stands all around us have been bombarding me all this time.

And now I was hungry.

"What should we eat?" Norn asked. "Let's take this chance to eat something you haven't tried yet, Shinobu."

Norn headed to a food stand that served quickly. Maybe he was hungry, too. It looked like he'd gotten livelier compared to earlier. Good.

It was good to relax and hang out with friends like this.

We went around various food stalls, exchanging our opinions on the food as we ate. Once we'd filled our stomachs, we went to look at the market.

The place was crowded as well. It seems the people who had watched the competition went to the market afterwards to do some shopping.

Couge and Norn followed along with me. We looked at the vegetables on display and discussed whether we thought they or the vegetables I grew looked more delicious. We dawdled in front of the meat shops. We saw meat that looked like a fully-skinned rabbit and unconsciously averted our eyes.

Meanwhile, my eyes were looking around everywhere excitedly, trying to find someone selling rice and soy sauce.

Though this world was nowhere near the size of my previous world, it had a lot of the same vegetables, so I thought, there should be rice here too.

We went past shops selling fresh produce, shops selling meat, and arrived at a store selling livestock young. By the side of the store, there was a huge sack full of seed-looking things. When I saw it, I couldn't help running over.

This was rice. The rice I was familiar with was polished and white, and the one I found now still had the husks, but this was definitely rice.

"I found you! I finally found you!!" I exclaimed.

When I hurriedly took a piece of grain and peeled off the husk, there was a slightly yellow rice grain inside. I was so happy I couldn't help but raise my arms in joy.

"Uncle, give me this, please!!"

"Alright, some animal feed, right? How much do you want?"

"Eh, these are animal feed? Not people food?"

The old man waved his hand in denial. "Eat this? I can't imagine. It's something that cattle and horses eat, I doubt humans can eat them."

To all the people of this world, I just wanna ask you something. You can even make bread from wheat, so how come you don't eat rice?!

Not knowing the taste of rice, the hint of sweetness with every chew, and that soft and fluffy texture...they were really leading unsatisfying lives.

But, how was I going to turn these into white rice? If I tried peeling the husks off one by one, how long would it take for me to fill a whole rice bowl?

I thought about it but couldn't come up with anything. Still, I couldn't just give up. So in the end, I bought a kilo of husked rice.

Now that I know where to buy them, once I solve the problem of hulling them, I'll be able to eat as much rice as I wanted.

Since they were being sold as animal feed, they were much cheaper than wheat flour. I hugged the bag of rice in my arms, ecstatic, and turned around.

Couge and Norn were nowhere to be found.

"Huh? Couge? Norn?"

Oh, that's right. The moment I saw the rice, I stopped paying attention to anything else and ran ahead without letting them know.

The market had a confusing layout, with shops cluttered all around and complex roadways. I still hadn't gotten used to walking around on my own.

"Ahh, I messed up! I have to catch up to them!!"

Panicked, I forgot that the ironclad rule when one is lost is to stay where you are. I headed right into the stream of people.

"Wah, wawawah!"

The walls that had been blocking the crowd from pressing me, Couge and Norn, were no longer around. I had no choice but to find gaps to squeeze through.

Because if I stopped walking, the people behind me would definitely push me forward.

I could no longer move to where I wanted to.

The wave of people carried me with them, and before I knew it, I was standing all alone in an unfamiliar place.

"Where is this? I've never been here before."

Exhausted, I suddenly felt the bag of rice in my arms were heavier. Wanting to rest a bit, I walked around while avoiding the crowd, looking for somewhere to sit down.

There were benches scattered all around town as places where people could take a break, but today all of them were in use. As I was searching, I came across a different entrance to town than the one I usually used.

Though I said 'entrance', it was really just an area where wooden stakes were stuck on both sides of the road to mark that it was the town proper further in.

Finally, I found a free bench and sat down with a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it was under the shade of a tree. A gentle breeze blew, cooling my tired body down.

As I sat there bonelessly, my eyes wandered to the stone wall outside the town entrance. I wondered what it was for.

Beyond the wall, it looked like there were a lot of trees. But there was something strange about them. All of the leaves were yellow, and further in, there were even some with brown leaves. Rather than them changing color because of the season, it was more like the trees were withering.

Stone walls were usually found around castles or the residences of wealthy people to prevent people from trespassing, but I couldn't see any buildings. There were only trees.

Then, was the wall protecting those trees?

"What are you doing here?"

I'd been in a daze so I didn't notice that there was a person standing beside me for who knew how long.

Thinking the voice familiar, I turned around. It was the knight, covered in armor from head to toe as usual.

"Oh, it's uncle knight," I said.

"Unc—......... I'm 22 years old."

Eh, he was that young?! His voice was so calm and deep that I thought he was much older.

Ever since I came to this world, I'd always be mistaken for a child, so I knew how disappointing it was for someone else to mistake your age.

Feeling bad, I bowed my head to the knight. "S-sorry."

"No, it was me who mistook you as a kid first. I'm sorry, too," the knight replied.

Though there was a difference in our ages, having both mistaken the age of the other, there was a feeling of camaraderie. The two of us smiled at each other.

Since the moment I met the knight, it felt like we were on the same wavelength, so I had a feeling we were going to get along well.

"Hey, knight-san. What's wrong with those trees? Why are their leaves turning yellow?"

"Those? Those are trees of life. They have a very important role in this world. Ten years ago, they started withering, and now almost all of them have turned yellow."

Trees of life, huh. I wonder what their important role was?

"So you don't know the cause?" I asked.

"Yes. Nothing changed even when we changed the soil and the water."

Outside of the wall, the trees and grass were all growing fine, but all of the trees beyond the wall were withering. Were they sick?

"Oh yeah, can't Firks-sama talk to plants? Why not have him ask them?"

"We've already tried that. But Firks-sama's ability isn't all-powerful. It's true that he can speak to plants, but unlike animals that have a clear will, plants are difficult to converse with. Though he could tell that they're suffering, he couldn't really ask exactly where or how."

I see. If those trees have an important role, then the people living here must be worried.

"I hope they get better soon."

"Yes. By the way, what were you doing here?"

Knight-san, do you not remember my name? Even though I clearly introduced myself back when we first met.

"Shinobu."

"Hm?"

"My name, it's Shinobu."

"Oh, that's right. Shinobu, what were you doing?"

This knight was really conscientious. He even asked again while using my name.

"Um, the truth is, I got separated from my friends......"

It was hard to spit out the words 'I'm lost'. Last time, I had told him confidently, 'I'm not a child'.

But getting lost like this, wasn't that like a child?

I continued, "I'm not really familiar with this area."

"So you're lost," The knight stated bluntly.

".........Yup."

I was figured out just like that. How embarrassing...

"I'll escort you. Where do you want to go?"

"Is that alright? Aren't you working, knight-san?"

"Helping troubled citizens is also a part of my job."

Waahh, I'm so glad. Honestly, I was worried about how I'd get back home. I didn't think I'd be able to take diving back into that sea of people by myself.

"Then, please. Oh, what's your name, knight-san?"

I carried the bag of rice I'd bought in my arms as I stood up, but the knight quickly took the bag from my hands. It was a very smooth and gentle movement.

I wanted to grow up into a man who could carry a girl's things like this someday.

"I'm Krish," the knight said.

Surprisingly, the knight's name sounded a little cute.