Weekly chapters (1/2)
Happy Merry Christmas everyone!
Wishing you all wonderful Christmas filled with hope, happiness, and health.
Enjoy the chapter.
Translator & Editor: Raizu
Chapter 25 – The Catcher in the Rye
At the age of 13, I was already as tall as that of an adult, but there were no signs of stopping.
I think it’s a blessing.
After all, the taller the better.
Today we were working hard on horse training.
Albert’s special training is practical, and you can call it horse training in a variety of ways.
Sometimes we simply gallop quickly, and sometimes we charge at a target while holding a spear on horseback.
Today’s exercise was to swim through the river while riding a horse.
Rolo was surprisingly good at it.
On the other hand, Andre was the worst at it, but no matter what you let him do, he always does well.
Even when we were making our horses swim, we couldn’t just concentrate on the flow of the river.
Arrows were flying above our heads.
Albert was firing arrows mercilessly from the shore.
It’s difficult to defend against that.
Even though it didn’t have an arrowhead attached, getting hit by it would still hurt, so everyone desperately held up their shields and crossed the river while blocking it.
[Hehehe, all of you have to learn to do this. If you can’t swim, you’ll die. If you don’t want to be cornered by the river, learn it, one more time.]
This time, I made the horse swim even though I was shot with an arrow from behind.
Horses also get tired, so choosing shallow waters and reading the current are important as you cross the river.
It’s difficult to twist your upper body to a position where you can also watch what’s behind you.
I blocked the arrows that flew at me twice with my shield and made it across.
[Rolo got out first… Tsk, I won’t lose next time.]
[Jean crossed through the deeper part of the river. There’s no difference in our skill.]
By the time I crossed, Jean and Rolo were already making small talk.
[The two of you are so fast, I couldn’t catch up at all.]
By the time I got off my horse and joined the two of them, Andre seemed to have arrived as well.
He seemed to have been hit by an arrow and was holding his side.
[Damn… I couldn’t block arrows coming from behind…]
Andre seemed to have some confidence in his horsemanship, but among us, he’s just a newbie.
Andre…well, you could say that he’s the most normal among us..
Swords, bows, and horse riding skills were average. He could read and write. His physique is also normal.
The test that Albert imposes seems to be extremely tough for him.
After making sure that all of us had crossed, Albert also swam with his horse to catch up.
Actually, I think Albert is better at it than any of us.
[Andre died this time. The enemy has momentum while you’re retreating. Always be prepared to block attacks from behind.]
After a [That’s all for today] from Albert, everyone returned to the capital.
On the way home, Albert repeatedly told me things like [Soldiers can hide there] and [If a bird flies out of the forest, there’s an ambush waiting].
By listening to it over and over again, I had naturally come to understand dangerous places and advantageous positions.
Albert’s teachings are practical, and he is so thorough that he will teach you how to attack a city just by looking at the capital… I have a bad feeling that I, the second son, will be attacking the capital, but Albert doesn’t care.
We returned to the mansion and dispersed.
Jean and Albert returned home, while Rolo headed to the stable to take care of the horse.
I quickly grabbed Andre who was taking a breather.
[Andre, do you have time to talk for a moment?]
[Yeah, sure.]
I called out to Andre and urged him to sit on the stone in the garden.
[Well, I have a small request…if there is an empty house in Andre’s village, I would like you to lend it to me.]
[An empty house? Hmm, I wonder if there’s one?]
Andre rubbed his chin while murmuring.
[Ah, no… rather than a house, a barn on the outskirts of the village will be more fitting. Good place to take a break.]
By the way, a barn is a storage shed.
Andre tilted his head.
[If it’s taking a break…but if you want to rest, you can just visit my house…]
[No, well, there are times when I want to be alone with Sumina. I mean… ah, you get it, right?]
Andre made a strange look at my choice of words.
I basically told him “to find a place where I could fuck your sister privately”… I’m sure there’s a part of him thinking that.
[Well, if it’s a barn… Well, we need to do a little work so we can make it, I guess.]
[Oh, I’ll bring a stove for heating, also a space so I can tie up the horse, and as long as there’s a little space left, that’s fine… Please. If possible, please do it in secret.]
Please don’t get me wrong.
Actually, I’m planning to use the place for research on sugar beet.
Even if someone becomes suspicious of me and investigates me, as long as I’m dating Sumina, they’ll think they know the secret and be satisfied.
I’m sure people won’t dig beyond that point.
Of course, it would be nice if you could use it as a love hotel as well.
[If that’s the case, we can do it right away. Should take about 2~3 days.]
[Good, a place on the outskirts of the village where it’s not noticeable is better.]
The reason why I say “inconspicuous” is just purely coincidence.
==================
As a result, it was easy to extract sugar from sugar beets.
Boil the finely chopped sugar beet to make syrup and remove the sugar beet.
After boiling down the syrup to a certain degree of consistency, it is dried and crystallized.
However, the resulting sugar is brown and has rough crystals.
To put it simply, it has a rich and unique taste.
To put it poorly, it’s quirky and has a bad taste.
…Research to improve quality should continue…for now, perhaps by adjusting the boiling temperature…
I decided to keep the sugar I made and continue further research.
I’m sure it will sell well even in this condition, but I would like to do business with a merchant that I can trust.
As a candidate, I think it would be Millet’s parents’ house or Rona’s in-laws… If Rona’s husband can be trusted, I think that’s fine.
If her husband can handle sugar through Rona’s connections, he won’t be able to ignore her.
This is a side note, but since I had a large amount of wood ash, I decided to try my hand at making soap.
Alkaline lye is made from wood ash.
Soap could have been made by boiling fats and oils with an alkaline agent.
I know this area because my wife back on earth, Yumiko, used to make handmade soap at the culture center.
I also looked up how to make it on the internet.
However, this one failed spectacularly.
It didn’t emulsify.
It may be that the alkaline level is weak, but I have subpar scientific knowledge about that kind of thing to begin with.
Soap is probably something I can make money from, but that’s only “if I can make it”.
It may also change depending on the type of tree.
Of course, I never missed my “breaktime” with Sumina.
When I tied the horse to the barn, she appeared shy.
As a precaution, an attendant would come along, but I guess this can’t be helped.
In the unlikely event that someone other than me was in the barn and cute Sumina was kidnapped, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.
I guess that’s a good thing, since the attendant also retreats as soon as they see me.
Our relationship is an “open secret” in the village, and every once in a while someone comes to take a peek.
No one had any doubts about my research hidden in the shadows.
For the time being, I told Sumina that it was for “pharmaceutical research”.
I’ve read a lot of medical books, and I know more about the medical sciences of this era than the normal doctors, so I don’t get bored when Sumina, an ordinary village girl, asks me questions.
I am grateful to Andre because I now have a facility where I can conduct my research without raising suspicions.
He is also Sumina’s older brother, and is one of the people who will be used heavily if I acquire territory.
=============
Summer came.
I visited the village today after Albert’s training was over.
It looks like Sumina was making ropes from straws while chatting with some of the girls from the village.
The lively atmosphere could be felt even from a distance.
Although she is rich, she is the daughter of a commoner.
She probably helps out with this kind of farming work on a regular basis.
As I was watching from a distance, one of the village girls seemed to notice me and told Sumina while checking on me.
It’s really obscene.
Sumina was 14 years old, and girls of that age dig love affairs.
Sumina trotted towards me while being teased by the village girls.
I also dismounted from my horse and greeted Sumina.
[Varian-sama, I was so embarrassed because everyone was watching.]
Sumina protested cutely.
Perhaps it feels like a high school girl’s boyfriend coming to pick her up in front of her friends?
She looked happy, but she was also concerned about her friends watching.
I knelt down to her and kissed the back of her hand.
It’s a service to the audience.
When I first came to the Kingdom of Amoros, this kind of gesture was embarrassing as I never did such a thing before. But, I’ve gotten used to it by now.
I heard kya-kya voices from the girls, but I just put Sumina in front of me and rode away.
It must have looked to them like I had come to kidnap Sumina.
[Varian-sama, it’s embarrassing.]
[Yeah, I was embarrassed too.]
We looked at each other and laughed.
[Shall we continue on like this for a bit?]
I ran up the nearby hill with Sumina.
The location offers a panoramic view of the village.
Because of Albert’s teachings, I started thinking things like “If I set up here, it would be easy to attack the village”.
I guess he has contaminated me quite a bit.
[…good view.]
Sumina looked at the village while combing her hair with her fingers.
Her hair was not braided and was hanging down her back, so she was probably worried about her hair getting messy.
It’s such a girlish gesture.
[Ah, Sumina, look over there.]
I pointed to the wheat field.
A pair of men and women making out could be seen there.
This is a “normal” sight in rural areas.
The construction of the farmhouse was fine for a village head-class like Sumina’s house, but ordinary farmers’ houses often don’t have a bedroom or only have one room.
Of course, if that happens, there will be no family privacy, and you won’t be able to keep secrets at home.
To begin with, everyone sleeps naked, so everyone shows their skin to each other.
If that’s the case, where will young men and women engage in love?
The answer is simple.
It’s done outdoors.
Hidden in the shade of an elm, under hay, or in a wheat field.
The wheat here is taller than the modern improved varieties I had seen back on earth, and if you bend over in a wheat field, nobody would be able to see you.
By the way, “going to the wheat field” is also a slang term for sex.
[Oh, they’re doing it there too. They’re so bold to do it while completely naked.]
[Wait a minute, Varian-sama, umm…]
Sumina was completely embarrassed and was mumbling something.
In rural areas in this day and age, those of us who stay indoors are an overwhelming minority.
I’m the son of an Earl, and I shouldn’t really have premarital sex with the daughter of the head of the village, but I’m doing it in secret to avoid being exposed.
[Shall we do it here today?]
[Please don’t… everyone in the village can see us.]
Sumina and I also ended up doing it outside for some reason.
I heard later that the top of the hill was almost completely visible from the village.
My 13 year old passed peacefully, even though it was quite busy.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to grow old and live peacefully with Sumina… At that time, I was wishing that from the bottom of my heart.
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