Volume 6 Chapter 21 The Oath of the Tangerine Grove
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I woke up to the rooster crowing again and again. As I was falling in and out of sleep, there it went. Sigh. I guess it is time to get up. Just one rooster, but it works like a loud alarm clock.
I slowly crawled out of the soft, fancy bed. It was covered in gold thread embroidery. The bed looked old. The embroidery was worn and torn in some places. It even smelled a little bit like mold. It might be over a hundred years old. It was like a piece in a museum.
Anyway, this bed made me feel like a king. Still, I never thought I would sleep in a bed with a canopy.
I tried not to wake the girl next to me. But Sar-Sar woke up fast too. She smiled happily when she heard the rooster. She really loved the sound.
The rooster’s voice was very loud. It was probably trying to show off to the hens. In Japan, a rooster like that would bother the neighbors. But here, no one cared. Most people except the rich went to bed early, so they got up early too.
In the capital, many people used lamps with vegetable oil. Even common people could afford olive oil for light. But many thought it was better to eat the oil with bread than use it for lamps. The poorer the area, the earlier the night came.
You need money to buy oil. To get money, you must work. So if you go to bed as soon as it gets dark, you do not have to work. That is logical, I guess.
Compared to Toyata Village, people in the capital used money more. But their work was less hard than in Japan. They had wall barley to eat. That meant they never starved. This helped a lot. For rulers, it was easier because they did not need to help poor people. But since people worked less, the economy moved very slow. If the rulers tried to collect taxes by force, people might not fight back. But they would run away to other countries.
Recently, the culture from summoned Heroes was making people want more things. But it did not work well on lazy people. Still, this world worked fine, so maybe people did not need to work hard.
”Good morning, my husband.”
”Ah… good morning.”
Sar-Sar’s face turned red. We had slept in the same bed all night. As a young girl, she had many thoughts. From her face, she did not dislike me. We were just engaged, so I had not tried to be closer to her yet. Last night, Ms. Laara told me to sleep beside Sar-Sar for a ritual. But sleeping in the same bed with a girl was dangerous. If feelings started, things could go very far. Maybe Ms. Laara wanted that to happen. I had to be very careful.
Sar-Sar did not seem to care much about marriage or engagement. But maybe she did not understand everything. In this world, she was at a good age to marry. Nobles often had political marriages early. So she probably knew some things.
Before things got too far, I should ask Miss Floria about the laws and other details.
Sar-Sar changed quickly behind a screen. Then she ran out to the garden to take care of the chickens. She liked the chickens more than me. It was strange. I felt happy and a little lonely. She still acted like a child.
Anyway, I got ready too. I opened the gate Sar-Sar had passed. The smell of sewage mixed with the morning air. It was not nice, but plants and soil smells covered it a bit. The royal capital once had good water and sewer systems, like Toyata Village. But now, only the royal palace and rich streets had working systems. Poor people broke the public stones whenever they could. The law said stealing stones meant 100 lashes, but stones still disappeared.
This mansion was still nice because if outsiders tried to steal stones, the guards would beat them badly. If they did not teach a hard lesson, the thieves would come again. These guards were strong but scary.
Many groups like these guards lived in the capital. They were like vigilantes or mafia. Even bad Heroes who caused trouble were sometimes caught. They were tricked with honey traps, got drunk, and tied up with magic.
Is it really easy to trap a summoned Hero? Maybe the stories were exaggerated. But these people were dangerous enemies. Last night, before sleeping, I heard scary stories. Sar-Sar was not there. It was a warning that betrayal would not be forgiven.
Sar-Sar, not knowing the grown-ups’ plans, smiled like an angel while watching the chickens. The hens pecked the ground to eat. The rooster cared more about showing off than food. It followed the hens. Sometimes it stretched and fluffed its feathers. It wanted to look strong. Boys do the same. Thinking this way made me understand it well.
* * *
”Why does this guy look at me so proud?”
Three boys I saw yesterday were there. They sneaked through a hole in the fence. The rooster scared them. Did they come early to help Sar-Sar? They looked like chickens too.
They started working happily, doing jobs Sar-Sar gave them. It seemed like they were a bother, but they thought they helped.
”Jupiter is bragging about Yasmin to everyone. They are very close.”
The rooster’s name was Jupiter. A big, proud name for a chicken. Malik was the boy who liked Sar-Sar the most. But all the boys here liked her. She was like a class idol.
”Fruit. Orange fruit.”
Malik gave me a yellow trifoliate orange fruit. It was a little big. This fruit grew near the garden as a thorny tree. It looked just like a real trifoliate orange. I knew trifoliate orange well because it grew in my family’s garden long ago. Trifoliate orange is related to oranges. I used to feed Ageha caterpillars with it. My sister hurt herself for a long time before going to middle school. Our angry father cut the tree down.
The boys and Sar-Sar took one fruit each. They looked serious and ran off. Trifoliate orange fruit is bitter and sour. They wanted to tease me. Was it a kind of ritual? Is trifoliate orange tasty in this world?
I tried the fruit. It was different from Japanese trifoliate orange. It was less sweet, a bit sour and bitter, but juicy. It smelled like a mix of sudachi and lime. I wondered if eating it like this was okay, but it was valuable.
After that, I took out some grilled fish from my bag. It was magic-caught, secret from Sar-Sar. If I took out more stuff like this, she might get suspicious.
The fish looked like a bluegill caught from the canal. It tasted okay but smelled a bit like mud. People in Toyata Village did not mind and ate it.
I squeezed some juice from a fake trifoliate orange and used chopsticks to break the fish. The flavor spread in my mouth. It tasted good and filled the mansion with a fresh smell.
Sar-Sar and the children wanted to eat, so I gave them a bite each. The children lined up, munching away. It felt like I was feeding baby birds.
”Delicious! What is this—some kind of carp?”
Now that I think about it, back in Toyata Village, we used to call all the little fish carp, no matter what they were. There were even some real ones in the canal, and those tasted decent too. Still had that muddy river smell, though.
Alright, time to try the grater. Just a homemade tool—copper plate marked up with a chisel. I grated the whole thing, skin and all, then set the paste on the white meat and took a bite. Hmm… definitely a grown-up flavor.
I gave each of the kids waiting with their mouths open a little taste. Maybe this was a bit much for them just yet?
”It is strange. It tastes like fresh bread. Is it magic?”
Character Notes:
• Laara – Saria’s mother and the head of the Toyata Viscount house. She is a noble lady with a strong sense of duty and tradition.
• Miss Floria – Elegant, silver-haired noblewoman in her 40s, referred to as an ‘older sister’. Judge of the Supreme Court and Baroness. Former tutor of Princess Auroora. Initially stern but warms up, showing a playful side. Close with Ms. Nina (Princess Auroora’s doll copy), treating her like a sister. Trustworthy and explains legal matters clearly.
• Jupiter – A pompous rooster named by the children. His behavior is compared to human males trying to show off.
• Yasmin – A white hen raised by Saria, the last descendant of a family that provided eggs to the Toyata Viscount house for generations.
• Malik – A brave slum boy who tried to protect a girl from Agito, a summoned hero, and was helped by the main character after being injured. The main character sees him as courageous and worthy of respect, noting his toughness and life-or-death resolve to protect the girl, whom he seems to care for deeply.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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