Volume 1 Chapter 7 Puruun
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
It’s been about 6 months since I started living in the village with the Barua family.
I think I’ve learned a lot of everyday greetings and various words.
But when it comes to having a real conversation, I can only understand simple words and sentences, so I still have a long way to go.
Since I arrived in the village, it’s been getting colder every day, and at its peak, there was about 2 meters of snow. But lately, it feels like spring is finally here, the snow is melting, and I can see the trees starting to bud.
Honestly, I can only think of it as a blessing that I got help at that time.
Ms. Akari and I wouldn’t have made it through that winter alone. Well, I’m still treated like a pet on the straw floor of the barn, though.
My main job lately has been to work in the fields. After waiting for the snow to melt, everyone in Tokura village starts preparing their fields all at once. Ms. Akari mainly helps with the household chores of the Barua family.
It seems that Puruun and Melon don’t have a mother, but I can’t really understand the situation since we can’t have a proper conversation. One warm afternoon on a nice day, I went out with Barua, Puruun, and Melon, and it looked like we were heading to a cemetery.
In front of a small stone pile, Puruun and Melon placed a bouquet of flowers and stood in silence. This must be their mother’s grave.
”Looks like they have something like Obon here too,” Ms. Akari said. If you look closely, you can see people coming to the cemetery and offering flowers. It must be that kind of time of year.
Puruun and Melon aren’t really replacements for their mother, but they are very attached to Ms. Akari. Sometimes, Melon sneaks into our straw bed at night to sleep with Ms. Akari.
Of course, if I touch Melon, Barua wouldn’t stay quiet, so I have to be very careful and change my sleeping position during those times. But that night after visiting the grave, Puruun and Melon both crawled into the straw bed with me.
I thought, “Well, I guess I can let my fake wife have them for tonight,” and I stepped out of the barn.
Even at night, it was pretty warm, so I wouldn’t freeze to death sleeping outside. But I thought it was still a bit early to sleep, so I started practicing with the wooden sword I made the other day. I hadn’t practiced kendo since coming here, so my skills had definitely gotten worse. I need to train more if I want to make a big impact in the capital in the future, so I was really focused.
Then Barua came out of the house and said,
”Yuuta. Hunting. Together. Go?”
”Hunting? Sounds fun. What are we catching?”
”Birds, rabbits, raccoons…”
”But I have this, a wooden sword.”
”Drive them in. Hit them. It’s okay!”
I managed to understand what he meant.
Two days later.
I, along with Barua and a few other men from the village, went out hunting.
”The village, outside, monsters, dangerous. Alone, no good.”
I see, that’s why everyone is wearing greatswords and swords along with their hunting gear. No wonder the kids wanted to tag along, but they were told not to. Well, I thought it might be dangerous too, so I asked Ms. Akari to stay behind…
The beastmen in the village seem to have a much better sense of smell than I do. Once we entered the forest, they quickly found a path where small animals had passed and set traps there.
”Here. Wait. We will drive them in.”
Barua told me to wait by a small cliff. They were probably going to drive the animals toward me. After a while, something came rushing toward us at full speed. I sharpened my senses and got ready with my wooden sword.
From the bushes in front of me, a big black shape jumped out and slowed down in front of the cliff. In that moment, I quickly swung my wooden sword at what I thought was its head.
”Crack──────.”
The black shape fell over right there. The villagers nearby quickly jumped in to finish it off. It looked like a wild boar.
”Yuuta. Good job. Amazing,” Barua praised me.
”Yuuta. Wolf. Did it. Really.”
What? Did he not believe in me until now? But it felt good to be recognized.
One of the villagers, a young guy named Okia who seemed to be the leader, lent me his sword. He told me to give it a swing. Using a Japanese sword is really different from a Western sword, so I didn’t look very cool swinging it, but people clapped, so I guess I did okay.
He said to Barua,
”Barua, give Yuta, sword.”
So, I ended up with a sword master.
It seemed like the hunt that day was a big success, and the whole village had a party. I didn’t really know what the food was, but they served some fruity drink that tasted like wine.
Since I was underage, I didn’t drink, but Ms. Akari was drinking a lot and turning red, like she was letting out all her stress.
”Yuu-kun~! That was amazing! You took down a wild boar in one hit! Thanks to you, I finally got to eat meat again! It might be the first time since we ate that wolf!”
She seemed to be having a great time, so I thought I’d leave her alone. Then, Puruun came over to me and said,
”Yuuta, sword. Learn? I want, learn.”
”Uh? You need Barua to say it’s okay first.”
”Imenji. No good. Good. Not saying.”
”Then, it’s a no.”
”Yuuta, teach. I keep secret.”
”Uh? No way, that’s impossible. What if you get hurt…?”
Puruun didn’t seem to understand the last part, but her eyes were serious.
”Why. Learn. Sword. Secret. I want, defeat, beasts.”
Even though she said that, it felt like there was more to it…
But since she didn’t look like she was going to back down, I thought for a moment and said,
”I’ll teach you. But you have to follow my orders. Absolutely.”
”Thank you!” Puruun said, then hugged me tightly and kissed my cheek.
Whoa, I hope Barua didn’t see that! Phew, I just remembered he went to see the village chief.
”Hey, officer! There’s a little girl’s enemy here!” Wait, did Ms. Akari see that?
”Yuuta! How can you flirt with such a cute girl when you have me as your fake wife?” Wow, she was really drunk.
But she was the one who called herself a fake wife. I had no choice but to pick up Ms. Akari and carry her to the hay in the barn. Melon brought some water, but since Ms. Akari was in this state, I tried to tell her she couldn’t sleep here and sent her home.
”Yuuta! I’m lonely! I want to see Tomori!”
She was probably drunk and spilling out feelings she usually kept inside. I had no choice but to pat her head gently.
”Hehe, Yuuta, you’re so nice. I should give you some love too sometimes.” Saying that, Ms. Akari crawled closer to me and suddenly pushed me down. Whoa, she smelled like alcohol!
”Hehe, Yuuta, good boy.”
For some reason, Ms. Akari started to touch me in a way that made me uncomfortable.
”Wait, Ms. Akari! That’s not the right place! Well, it is a head, but not that kind of head!”
”It’s okay! Even a fake wife can kiss!”
Saying that, Ms. Akari buried her face in my lap.
”No, Ms. Akari! That’s not the right place! Well, it is a face, but kissing there is not okay!”
While I was struggling, Ms. Akari stopped moving. It seemed like she fell asleep.
Phew, that was close. But honestly, I felt a bit disappointed too.
Ms. Akari is a really attractive woman, but she’s Tomori’s mom and will be my (my own) mother-in-law in the future, I kept reminding myself.
Then, to relieve the tension I was feeling, I went outside the barn.
* * *
The next morning, I headed to Okia’s house at sunrise for sword training.
It had been a while since I did morning practice, and I was pretty excited.
Ms. Akari was still passed out, smelling like alcohol, so I left her as she was. But since I didn’t tell her where I was going, of course, when I got back from training, she was waiting in front of the barn, looking confused.
”Ah, Yuuta… I’m pretty drunk, and I thought I messed up. I don’t really remember much, but did I do something embarrassing? Ugh, my head hurts.”
”No, no, I didn’t expect to wake up this early… Starting today, we’re going to have morning sword practice at Okia’s house. Ms. Akari just passed out from drinking too much, and it’s good to let off some steam sometimes.”
”Ugh, Yuuta, you’re so nice… I really did mess up, didn’t I?”
After having breakfast, I got to work in the fields like usual. Ms. Akari seemed to be washing with Melon, but she looked really hungover and wasn’t moving well.
The day went by, and when night came, it was time to meet Puruun. Since it was normal for her and Melon to come to the barn, Balua probably didn’t think Puruun was already practicing sword fighting behind the barn.
”Puruun. First, no sword. We train your stamina.”
”What! I want to, swing the sword!”
”No. You need stamina for sword fighting. Basics are important. My orders are absolute.”
”Okay…”
So, I showed her how to do a squat to strengthen her core.
”Today, do this ten times. Tomorrow, add one more. The day after, add one more again. In 3 months, if you can do a hundred, then you can swing the sword.”
I hope she understood. We’ll increase the number of squats by one each day until she can do a hundred. Kids like I’m (Uchi) are flexible, so if I let them do whatever they want, they might overwork themselves and get hurt.
I still don’t know how strong Puruun is, so I plan to start easy and gradually increase the difficulty.
”…Eight, nine… ten. Done. I want to, train more.”
”No way.”
”Ugh!”
Ms. Akari and Melon were watching, but it ended so quickly that they seemed surprised. When Melon started to copy the squats, I hurried to stop her.
”Melon. No. Kids, no.”
Just as I said that, Puruun stopped Melon too. Even though it was only ten, it seemed like she understood how tough this exercise was.
And so, my sword training with Puruun began.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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