2 2. Snow Angels

There was a flowing stream nearby and soon the group of Samurai made camp. One of them made a small fire soon to warm ourselves as dusk was approaching soon. The ponies were tied up together and were fed with some hay that was carried on its back. I counted a total of 5 Samurai warriors in the group and I asked them what I could do to help and I was handed a small axe to help chop some deadwood and branches to keep the fire roaring through the night.

I went off a short distance away and chopped at some deadwood from some trunks that had toppled to the ground. I chopped away and cleared the small twigs from the trunk. After I had made a pile of twigs, smaller branches and trunks in 3 separate groups, I took 2 pieces of twine and tied both ends of it to 2 pieces of stick. I then laid the two sticks that had been tied to the twine and dumped the twigs and small branches on it. I took the two sticks and bundled the wood together like as if I'm carrying a shopping bag.

"You see... Hahaha...! This kid really got some potential. He got brains by the way he carried those wood to us instead of carrying them bit by bit in his thin sickly arms. Hey kid, come here right after you're done, alright? Come and tell me about yourself...!"

The burly man, named Hiko-sama called me over once I had carried the wood over to the fireplace. I went to him and bowed slightly. "Hiko-sama, thank you for rescuing me from that village. I am called Yokoso Harune and I do not have a recollection of my living parents or any other siblings at all. I am an adopted son of Himeko-sama, a childless spinster whose main livelihood was tailoring and embroidery and I had been living with her since I was three years old."

"Himaru-kun, how old are you and which year are you born? You don't seem to be quite shabby in terms of the kimono you are in." the burly man named Hiko-sama asked me in a friendly chat as we had known for months or even years. There were no signs of restrictions when Hiko-sama was talking to me and this made me feel comfortable.

"Hiko-sama, as far as I recalled, I was born on June 20th, 1849 and I am 11 years old now. I was also self-taught at home by my mother, in Hiragana and Kanji and was instilled with some herbal medicinal knowledge by an elderly woman called Kaede-sama from that village."

This information that had just been divulged to the rest of the Samurais were not cooked up by me somehow but it flowed out as if it was meant to be. Hmm...this Yokoso kid was born 7 days earlier than me and 123 years ago... That would make him be my great grandfather if he was still alive over the years...!

"So you were able to make some medicinal herb pastes and pills as and when needed? Very good for you to have that kind of knowledge, Himaru-kun."

"Thank you Hiko-sama, I was also taught the basics of forging and blacksmithing as well and able to forge simple tools and repair weapons if need be. But it was a simple knowledge and the work over the furnace was tough."

"Oh.....thats very good to hear Himaru-kun. You, at this young age, is able to perform basic blacksmithing and forging, so you were able to forge from pig irons or from raw ore?"

"Hiko-sama, I am able to identify the ores and I had ever mixed those ores to become iron, steel and copper ingots. I also learnt the art of smelting so it's much faster to forge weapons or tools if the smelted iron or steel was poured into the mould."

"Haa...! Haa...! Haa...! You heard that, guys! This boy is a gem in the rough... He would be valuable in our little village and would fit multiple roles in his life later on. So tell me, Himaru-kun, what would you like to do 5 years down the road?"

"I would like to be a level 5 blacksmith, a renowned pill maker, a great alchemist, a superb wizard, a wise mage, an invincible and great swordsman and I'd like to earn a gold coin every single hour for 24 hours every single fucking day!"

Damn...! Am I asking too much in this series? Back to reality, mister... Sigh...!

"I would like to seek redemption for the ones who perished in my village and seek justice in the path of a Samurai... Hhhhuuaarrgghhh....!" I hollered at the end of the sentence to make it sound serious enough and flexing my muscles in a kind of Hulk Hogan pose.

"Haa...! Haa...! Haa...! You are full of ambition, young boy... But I like the way you think and the experiences that you got. How come you mention about being a wizard and a mage... Do you dabble with runes and incantations of some sort?"

"I won't be able to show you just yet, Hiko-sama. It would be a spoiler too early in this series and people who read this would already know the plot of the story in the next few 10 chapters or so."

"Hmm, that's right..." as Hiko-sama rubbed his chin when he thought about it. Oh yeah, I forgot to add something, at this moment, none of the Samurais had removed their helmets and mask yet as they gathered around to listen to my story and was simply awestruck behind those red and black coloured hideous masks...

"By the way, we would be travelling for another day after the break of dawn before we reach our village. I am sure you would be of some use over there and get accustomed to the culture there quickly, you understand that, Himaru-kun?"

I nodded in acknowledgement and excused myself to carry on with my collection of the chopped wood. I bowed slightly to Hiko-sama and was wondering if these people never have to take off their helmets and face masks when eating or drinking? Or somehow use a straw to suck in their food and drinks through the tiny gaps in place of their masks?

I wonder what Mr Director was up to in making the lives of the Samurai difficult.

=*=

"Hey kid, stop what you're doing, we are not going to camp here for a few days, you know. The firewood you had fetched could well burn for a few days. Here, go get yourself something hot to drink."

One of the samurai gestured me to get a drink after seeing me gather enough firewood to last through more than a few nights. I gingerly walked over to the fire and a small kettle was sitting near it. I poured myself one using a wooden cup and found that they had made green tea in it. The smell of the green tea was welcoming and there were also some roasted fish that had been caught earlier while I was busying myself collecting firewood.

The masks from all the Samurais had been taken off along with their protective helmets. I can see that Hiko-sama had a clean-shaven face, and he looked pretty young, almost mid 20's. His hair was straight black and through his eyebrows, it was slanted and this gives him a kind of permanent frown look. Otherwise, he looked pretty decent.

I took the cup of green tea with me and sat in front of Hiko-sama. I wanted to ask about his life experiences but I held back since I had transmigrated into this 11-year-old boy's body, and any question may incite suspicion. So I better stick with some boyish and innocent questions instead.

"How long would we need to travel in this weather? So the night would be safe for us to idle around and rest and continue our journey once day breaks tomorrow, Hiko-sama?"

"We can't put it as idle around, even if there were no signs of enemies, each of us would be taking 1-hour watch from 11 at night right till daybreak. There would be another 2 days at most to travel to my village and there will be a night to rest like this. Unless we would be unfortunate enough to meet with common enemies at night, then we need to break camp and push on. Why don't you take dinner, there's some onigiri if you like."

"Thank you Hiko-sama for your enlightenment and thank you for your kind offer of dinner. I would love to have an onigiri and right after, I would do some meditation." I nonchalantly replied and was greeted by raucous laughter from the guys.

"Haa... Haa... You really surprised me, Yokoso-kun. Go on ahead, ask for the onigiri dinner from Miroku-sama, and eat it with the fresh fish we had caught during your absence."

"Thank you again, Hiko-sama. I go on ahead now." With that, I bowed and approached Miroku-sama who was busying himself by staking the fish he and his other buddies had caught using some slender sticks that he poked through the mouth of the fish right to its tail. He then poked it into the ground near the fire and let the heat generating from the fire slowly cook the fish.

Miroku-sama took an onigiri out from his side bag and offered one to me. I took it in both hands, thanked him and bowed slightly and ate there beside the fire as I watched the fish being grilled. He took one that had been cooked earlier and offered one to me. I ate ravishly as I soon discovered that this body of mine had not eaten for the past 24 hours or more and had been lying in the snow half-buried until I got transmigrated in it.

Luckily the brain was not frozen over and I'd definitely become a pickle for life. The stickleback fish I ate was fresh and was well done and it accompanies well with the onigiri that I was eating. It was a staple food for Japanese with the rice that was shaped like a triangle. It could last a good 3 days if stored in a proper way.

The fish head and its spinal bones were so succulent that I devoured everything, leaving only the wooden stick that once held the fish up for cooking. Seeing me done with eating, Miroku-sama offered another fish and onigiri for me but I refused, saying that we still have a long way to go and I would like to meditate instead.

He laughed at me, for seeing a scrawny kid that eats so little and wishes to continue to meditate instead. He finds it a bit weird but he didn't take the matters too seriously.

After thanking Miroku-sama for his share of onigiri and grilled fish, I went near the stream, found a flat spot and began to sit in a lotus position. I was trying to find out if I am still able to perform the Kamehameha, gathering of the energies and perform Psi energy spheres by using this body.

After a few minutes, I am able to visualise myself gathering energies and capturing it within my two hands at the sides. I let it dissipate as I do not intend to openly show what I could do to any of the Samurais unintentionally. The rest of the practises also was successful as I was able to summon the Psi energy spheres. Even the handseals worked perfectly.

At least in this Leap, I still had acquired the skills I had attained in my previous few Leaps. I wonder what I would learn next as I sat there, searching for the memories deep within the recesses of my mind. The previous skills I had spoken to Hiko-sama was not a lie as it formed the foundation of what this Yokoso had learned throughout his life in the past village.

At least with the new set of skills, I could slowly increase its proficiency. Unlike some novels with a system, I had to rely on someone to access my skills. Even when comes to pill making or blacksmithing, I still have to access the memories and be physically in front of a furnace, a mixing pot, mortar and pestle and the apprehension of mixing certain herbs to make a herbal medicinal paste or pill.

"Sigh... Nothing is a free lunch for me in this novel. Others can simply have a system to check their progress and attain certain abilities just by touching, unlike me... Everything has to come from practice." I thought to myself as I wished that I had a system to rely on but there is always Max to rely on sometimes. But in this 19th-century era, where can I find a phone that doesn't even exist, that I could summon Max as and when I needed?!?

"So unfair... Sigh..." I relaxed from my meditative state and position and just lied flat on the sides of the stream spread eagles like someone who was about to make snow angels. Maybe I should playfully make some snow angels since I am considered as an 11-year-old kid.