Chapter 4

Volume 1: Commoner's Children

Chapter 4: The Ordinary Forest

"Your mother and father are preparing the dinner menu, so Leon and Marie can go play," said mother.

"Yeah, be careful," added by father.

As if just remembering something, Marie stood up from her chair and exclaimed, "Oh, I almost forgot! Brother, we made a promise to go with Nicola and Luke to the forest today!"

"Is that so?" I replied.

"Yeah, did you forget?" she asked.

"N-no, I remembered. We need to get ready quickly," I answered inwardly feeling anxious. I checked Leon's memories and it seemed like we did make a promise.

It's a bit inconvenient that these memories don't come up unless you consciously try to remember them. Well, it's better than not having them at all, so I'm grateful.

Nicola and Luke are children from the neighboring tool shop. They are childhood friends and seem to get along well, frequently playing together. Nicola is the same age as me and it's probably why he gets along with me, and Luke is the same age as Marie.

"We're going to the forest today? Be sure to bring the bell to keep the animals away," mother reminded us.

"Of course, we won't forget. We'll bring back lots of fruits!" I replied.

The bell to keep animals away is something you must bring when you go to the forest. It's like a bear bell in Japan. According to Leon's memories, there are no monsters in the forest, only animals like bears. They are mostly found in the deep parts of the forest, so they rarely encounter them in shallow parts. If you wear the bell, you won't encounter them at all.

In another world, monsters are a common occurrence, but are they not present in this world? Were they only in stories? Well, if they don't exist, that's a good thing. It's impossible to fight monsters and it's too scary.

"Brother, let's get ready!" said Marie.

Marie took my hand and led me up the stairs to the storage room on the second floor. She said she was going to change into leather boots when we go into the forest and bring a backpack with a knife, a skin bag of water, and things we harvested.

I was wearing pants made of the same material as a scratchy t-shirt, tied with a rope. But it seemed we were going to the forest as is.

"Okay, we're ready. I'm nervous carrying a knife on my waist. It's a whole other world to hold a knife even for a child."

"Marie, are you ready?"

"I'm ready!"

"Okay, let's put water in the skin bag and go."

Since the drinking water is from a well, we have to go to the well to draw water. The well is not a pump-type but the type where you pull up the water with a rope, so it's quite a challenge to draw the water.

When we arrived at the well, I dropped the bucket and filled it with water. Pulling the rope up was harder than expected, and my hand hurt from the weight.

"Phew, I finally made it to the top. Even for an eight-year-old, drawing water from the well is tough. Putting the water in the skin bag, we're ready to go to the forest."

"Okay, Marie, let's go!"

"Okay!"

We opened the kitchen door, said goodbye to our father and mother, then left the house.

"We're going now!"

"Take care and come back before it gets dark."

"Yes!"

When we left the house, we headed to the neighboring house. The neighboring house had a similar layout to ours, with the dining area turned into a tool shop. They sell various tools used in everyday life such as knives, skin bags, and hemp bags.

"Hello! Is Nicola and Luke here?"

"Oh, Marie, welcome."

"Hello, ma'am."

"Leon is here too. Nicola and Luke will be here soon, so please wait a moment."

Nicola and Luke's mother was behind the shop counter. I called her "ma'am," but she was still a young person around the same age as my mother. She was a bit plump, had a friendly smile, and was sitting on a chair behind the counter, smiling kindly at us.

"Is uncle not here today?"

"Ben went out for supplies, I'm sorry. I think he'll be home by the time you come back from the forest, so you can see him then."

"Yay! I love uncle!"

"Haha, if Ben heard that, he'd be thrilled."

Ben is the father of Nicola and Luke and a very cheerful and energetic person. Marie loves her uncle and often visits him. By the way, the name of her aunt is Sarah.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Leon and Marie."

"Nicola! It's alright, we haven't been waiting long."

Nicola opened the door and came to the store. Nicola has green hair and green eyes, which are quite unusual colors from my perspective as a Japanese person, but they are normal in this world. From Leon's memories, Luke has blue hair and blue eyes, which are also amazing colors.

"Luke will be here in a bit too."

"Big brother Nicola, let's pick some fruit today!"

"Sure thing. Let's pick a lot."

"Yeah!"

Nicola takes care of Marie like a real little sister. Even now, he gently strokes her head with a kind face. Despite his age, Nicola is a reliable guy you can count on.

"Sorry! Did you wait? I couldn't put my shoes on properly."

Luke came to the store saying such words.

"It's okay, Luke. Did you manage to put on your shoes?"

"It's perfect now!"

Luke puts his hands on his hips and puffs out his chest, proud of himself. Unlike Nicola, Luke is a slightly mischievous boy, but from Leon's memories, he seems to be a kind and honest child.

"Luke, you're late! Come on, we have to hurry or we'll run out of time to pick fruit."

"Sorry, sorry. I'll help pick fruit for Marie too."

"Really!? Yay, thank you."

Marie was initially angry and frowned, but as soon as Luke offered to help pick fruit for her, she beamed with a smile. The sweet things they have eaten in Leon's memories were only forest fruits, so fruit must be a precious sweetness for them.

"Let's go then. Did you bring the bell to ward off animals?"

"I brought it!"

Nicola did the final check and we set off. In Leon's memory, the capital was not surrounded by walls but rather passed through densely populated areas of houses, fields, and pastures before arriving at scattered houses.

As we walked along the dirt road in front of our house for a while, we began to see fields and pastures, and then a road that veered to the right. If we followed that road for about ten minutes, we would reach the forest. We walked silently and arrived at the forest at a surprisingly fast pace for children.

"Shall we take a break and look for some fruit?" said Nicola.

"I'm still okay, big brother Nicola. Let's find some fruit quickly!" replied Marie.

"Rest first. We still have to walk all the way back home even if we get tired," said Nicola.

"Oh, right. Okay," Marie said, disappointed.

So we followed Nicola's suggestion and sat down for a short rest. It was about a thirty-minute walk to the forest, but it was quite tiring for children.

"Big brother, can we find lots of fruit?" asked Marie.

"It's not really hot yet, so there might not be much to pick," Nicola replied.

"What? That's boring," Marie pouted.

"Can we not find any fruit, big brother Nicola?" asked Marie, her eyes starting to water.

"No, no, there are still things we can pick even at this time of year, right Leon?" Nicola asked me, panicked.

Why ask me!? Marie looked up at me with tears in her eyes. Let's see, according to Leon's memory, we could pick wild strawberries at this time of year!

There are a lot of plants and animals in this world that are similar to those in Japan. There are a few differences, but there are many similarities.

"Marie, this is the season for picking wild strawberries. Shall we try to find some?"

"Really!? I love wild strawberries! They're sweet and delicious."

"We can find them? Yes! I love those."

"Okay, let's go look for them today."

"Okay!"

Marie nodded with a smile on her face, which was good to see as she seemed to have cheered up. I breathed a sigh of relief and gave Nicola a side-eye. How dare he sacrifice me... I thought as I met Nicola's gaze and he apologized.

Watching this, I felt pathetic for not acting like a 20-year-old mentally, and decided not to blame Nicola.

Ever since I became Leon, my actions and thoughts seem to have regressed to that of a child. Maybe I'm being influenced by Leon to some extent... well, being a child now, it's probably good to be led by Leon.

"Okay, let's find some wild strawberries."

"Sounds good."

We entered the forest and split up to search for wild strawberries. However, we only entered the outermost part of the forest and did not venture any further, as it was dangerous to get lost in the forest.

There is a river flowing deeper in the forest, but we decided that we'll go there when we're a little older.

"I found some wild strawberries!"

We heard Marie's excited voice. I hurried over to where she was, and saw a tree with many ripe wild strawberries on it.

Nicola and Luke also rushed over, their eyes sparkling. Nicolas may seem mature, but in situations like this, he's quite childlike and cute.

"Shall we harvest them? Marie, I brought a bag for you to put them in."

"Okay, thank you, big brother! I'm so happy we found so many."

"Indeed. Let's work hard and pick them, and then give some to our mother and father."

"Okay!"

Marie started to pick the wild strawberries with her small hands. I joined her, while Nicola and Luke started picking on the other side.

There were quite a lot, so it was a lot of work. However, in this world, there are hardly any sweet things, and my memory of eating fruit is limited to the ones we pick in the forest. So, these wild strawberries are precious. Let's work hard and pick as many as we can.

Then we continued to work hard and harvested until our hemp sacks were full, and we stopped.

"Should we finish soon? The bag is already full."

"Really? It's full!"

"I picked quite a bit too, so it should be okay."

"I picked a lot too!"

All three of them had picked a lot of wild strawberries, and their eyes were sparkling. I couldn't help but smile too.

"Should we take a break and eat a little?"

"Yeah, let's eat!"

"Then let's all sit on that rock over there."

We all sat on a rock that was just high enough to sit on and decided to eat the wild strawberries. The color was dark and it looked delicious, but how would it taste? *crunch*... It's sour!!

"What is this? It's so sour! It's definitely sweet, but the sourness overpowers the sweetness, and I can hardly taste the sweetness."

"Can everyone eat it?" I thought, and looked at Marie beside me. She was eating it with a smile and seemed to be enjoying it.

"Marie, isn't it too sour for you?"

"Why? It's sweet and delicious!"

"Really? What about Nicola and Luke?"

"It's sweet and delicious!"

"It's so delicious! Wild strawberries are the best!"

Everyone was eating it with a really happy look on their face. I wonder why... When I think of strawberries, I think of something sweeter and juicier.

Oh, I see. It's because I've eaten so many sweet things in Japan that this tastes sour to me. If I had grown up with only forest fruits, this would be the sweetest thing to me.

Everyone might be fine with it, but I already know a lot of sweet and delicious things. I want to eat sweet fruit, cake, cookies, chocolate, just thinking about it makes me want to eat them.

If I have sugar, I might be able to make simple sweets. If I can't find sugar, it's urgent. While thinking about that, everyone had finished their break and stood up.

"Since it hasn't been that long today, let's pick up some firewood on the way back."

"Yeah. I'll pick up the most!"

"I'm the one who'll pick up the most!"

The three of them were having that kind of conversation and started picking up firewood. Even though it's just picking up branches that have fallen on the ground, it's quite laborious and carrying them back is also difficult because they're heavy.

The reason why we're picking up firewood and taking it home is that we can get pocket money for it. Since we run a cafeteria, we consume a lot of firewood. Basically, we buy it, but it's quite expensive, so we go to the forest and pick up branches to use as firewood to save money.

It seems that many other households also pick up firewood from the forest to save money, and Nicola and Luke's house is also one of them.

"Big brother, pick up faster too!"

"Sorry, sorry, I'll do it now."

Marie urged me, so I started picking up firewood too, but the carrying basket became heavier and it was also painful to crouch down. But since Marie and Luke were doing it without complaining, I, who was older, couldn't complain. I also have to do my best.

Children in this world are strong. I thought so while continuing to pick up firewood.

"It's getting late, so let's go back."

Starting with Nicola's words, everyone started preparing to go back home. There is no clock in this world, so they don't know the exact time, but they can roughly tell the time by the position of the sun.

"Okay, is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

"I can still walk a lot!"

"I'm fine too. Let's go back."

On the way back, everyone walked silently towards home. And we arrived home a little later than we did on the way there.