Chapter 30
From the Rock’s Shadow At the moment Isaac heard Colts’ words, inside of his head he illuminated the deception held within his memories.If Isaac’s memories were correct, there was no one with the name of “Kazura” living in this village.If that person really existed then that meant the Village Chief and Valetta were lying.
Isaac was smiling while desperately holding back his rage and made a response to Colts’ words. 「Ah, that’s right, his name is Kazura. I want to talk a bit with that person, do you know where is he now?」(Isaac) 「Um, Mom said that he would return to G.o.d’s Realm for awhile before noon, I don’t think he is in the village anymore.」(Colts) 「...... G.o.d’s Realm?」(Isaac) Hearing the unexpected words “G.o.d”, Isaac unconsciously repeated the question back.What was the meaning behind Colts’ words? Isaac wasn’t able to understand it right away. 「That’s right. You didn’t hear this from Village Chief?」(Colts) 「......That G.o.d’s realm, where is it located?」(Isaac) When Isaac asked that, Colts made a shocked expression and looked at Isaac. 「It’s inside that tree copse...... Nii-chan, you came to this village many times, but you didn’t know about it?」(Colts) Isaac looked at the direction that Colts pointed out, he could see a tree copse in the distant view.That tree copse has a relation with the Legend of Greysior, so Isaac obviously already knew about it.He knew about it, but that person Kazura and Greysior in the legend, Isaac couldn’t see the connection between them. 「Ah, no...... That tree copse is the copse where Greysior-sama appeared[1]right?」(Isaac) 「What? So you already know. Then, let’s quickly go to my house.」(Colts) 「Eh? Wa-wait a moment! That Kazura person, did he enter that tree copse?」(Isaac) As if the conversation has been finished, Colts began walking toward his house, so Isaac hastily restrained him.From the way Colts has been speaking, it was as if that person called Kazura was someone similar to an envoy of the G.o.ds. When Isaac asked that question, Colts, who was walking in front of him, suddenly stopped his feet and turned his head to look at Isaac. 「......Nii-chan, are you possibly......」(Colts) Colts stared straight at Isaac’s eyes and was about to say something before breaking off midsentence. His face suddenly went pale and he turned his back towards Isaac once again. 「I will return home.」(Colts) 「Ah, wait!」(Isaac) Colts replied shortly and ignored Isaac’s call to stop him, before running towards his own home. Isaac looked dumbfounded at the sight of Colts running away. While remembering what Colts had said, he pondered on the spot for a moment. ✦✧✦✧ Meanwhile, Kazura, who had returned back to j.a.pan from Grisea Village before noon, was digging a large number of small holes with the shovel under the sun that began its descent down the sky.This place was 1000 tsubo[2] field in a certain district on Saitama prefecture. It was a field Kazura’s father Shinji had rented from his acquaintances.Why was Kazura doing that in this place? When he transferred back to j.a.pan, he quickly turn on his handphone and then called Shinji who told him「Go back to your home once in awhile」. When he heard this, he had to return back to his home in a hurry, 「Help me plant the asparagus in the field.」(Shinji) So he was asked to, and then got dragged to the field in a light pickup. The asparagus seedlings that were planned to be planted were currently inside the large vinyl pot and was placed down in large quant.i.ties beside the holes that Kazura had dug in the field. 「Oh, you are really skilled in this. You have already dug this much.」(Shinji) Kazura silently dug the holes at equal interval, there was just 3 more rows to be dug before it ready for transplanting the seedlings when Shinji arrived pushing the wheelbarrow filled with fertilizer and a flat hoe.
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| Kazura"s Father, Shino Shinji |
Maybe it was because Shinji usually worked in the field every day, he practically didn’t have any excess fats tissue and was quite muscular.His height was 170 cm, just a little shorter than Kazura’s height. With his tanned dark brown skin and some white color mixed in his hair, along with his good health, his appearance was rather dandy. 「Since I had been helping the farmer near the house with working at the fields every day recently, I am quite skillful with this.」(Kazura) While Kazura was speaking these words, he had finished digging the remaining hole. He stabbed the shovel to the ground and wiped the sweat with towel that hanging from his neck. Compared to the field work he had done in the Grisea Villages field, Saitama’s heat and humidity was quite harsh to his body, even if he was doing nothing the sweat would still be gushing out. 「Oh... Helping the field is it? No wonder you become quite brawny. Do you get along with the neighbor?」(Shinji) Hearing about helping in the field, Shinji nodded, as if he had understood the reason why Kazura’s physical appearance suddenly became much brawnier, as compared to before.Kazura, whom never partic.i.p.ated in sports that specifically required strength until now, so he could be cla.s.sified as a person with poor physical strength, however, in just under several months, he had became quite muscular due to him helping out in the field.The core of Kazura’s meal was rice and canned food that he had brought to the village, and during his stay he almost practically didn’t eat any snacks so basically, he wasn’t eating excessively. This beneficial manner brought out a detoxifying effect, so his body was in excellent condition.Sometimes, when he returned to j.a.pan he eats a lot of food in a family restaurant, however that was only for enjoyment. 「Yes, since everyone are good people....... Ah, that’s right, I want to ask something about that residence from you.」(Yuuji) 「Residence? Ah, it’s an old house but there aren’t any dusts, right? A long time ago, when I went there, the place was also excessively clean.」(Shinji) While Shinji talked about this he brought out the fertilizer from the wheelbarrow, and began to talk in detail about the condition of the residence. when he personally visited it a long time ago. However, that wasn’t the story that Kazura wanted to know. 「No, it’s not about that.」(Kazura) And so, he interrupted Shinji. 「Deep inside the residence there was a door to a room which was secured with a padlock, do you know something about that room?」(Kazura) 「Padlock? ......Was there any room like that? When I went there a long time ago, there isn’t any room with a padlock.」(Shinji) Shinji tilted his head with confused expression, Kazura though that somehow or another he could obtain some information about the room, which connected to another world, however it was different from his expectation.As it was possible that there were people other than Shinji that knew about the house, he could visit every blood relatives to find someone who may know about it. However, he didn’t have any plans to meet with his closest relatives.After all, he didn’t immediately need the information about the house so he decided to postpone this matter for the time being. 「Leaving that aside, there’s also only a few other houses near that residence’s neighborhood, so is the public order good? There were quite a lot of robbers, so you need to be careful.」(Shinji) 「I never heard such dangerous story before...... Don’t rural area have better public order than the city?」(Kazura) When Kazura replied like that, Shinji looked at him with very worried expression. 「No, it may not be so. But you cannot be too careful. Since I have prepared several personal security goods, so you may take it when you return.」(Shinji) 「Personal security goods, huh... Also, about the thing earlier, I only want to hear about the water service on the residence.」(Kazura) While speaking about that, Shinji kept working on transplanting the seedlings into the hole that Kazura had dug before and mixing the fertilizer into the soil. It looked like the asparagus field would be splendidly expanding. ✦✧✦✧ It has been 2 hours since both of them began transplanting the seedlings.Finally, all the asparagus had been transplanted. As the sun also began to set, the both of them decided to return home.Kazura was, at first planning to pick some books as souvenir for Valetta in the city inside Gunma Prefecture and also purchased some delicious delicacies to bring back as souvenir, when he returned to take a look at Grisea village’s condition on the noon of the next day. However this plan went off the drawing table when Shinji summoned him.So, it looked like he would stay at his parents’ home for today, then he would revise his planned schedule so it would be finished before tomorrow evening. The light pickup window was wide open, so the pa.s.senger seat was bathed in a wind that had a bit scent of exhaust gas as the light pickup traveled through the highway. Then Shinji, who was in the driver seat, began to talk, “That reminds me”.
「Does the farmer that you helped use Tractors? Since if one was unlucky, it could cause serious injuries, so if they do use it, then you need to be careful, kay.」(Shinji) 「They didn’t tractor or any machine. Because they didn’t have anything other than hoe and shovel.」(Kazura) 「Is that so?...... Don’t you have any plans to help them on the things they use?」(Shinji) 「Mm...」(Kazura) Hearing Shinji’s question, Kazura unintentionally began to think about the future of Grisea Village.By using machines, it was possible to plow a vast extent of land in one sitting, so it could greatly reduced the work burden of the villagers.However, thanks to the food that Kazura brought from this world, the villagers had transformed into supermen who didn’t know the meaning of being tired, so the machinery power was currently unrequired.In addition, there wasn’t any reason to plough the field hurriedly either and currently the vegetable were growing very well, so Grisea Village didn’t need any further agricultural support.And above all, rather than waterwheel, by bringing the personification of overtechnology, like a tractor, if by any chance it were seen by outsiders, then there would be no good excuses for it. 「No, it’s not like I particularly don’t plan to help them, but it is already adequate with just using hoes.」(Kazura) When Kazura replied like this, Shinji was feeling relieved for some reason and murmured. 「Is that so?」(Shinji) Seeing Shinji like this, Kazura thought that he worried too much when his son already was 25 years old, however maybe it was something that parents would do.Since Kazura was the only child, his parents were maybe just very concerned about him. ✦✧✦✧ 「Welcome home. It’s hard to help on the field, right?」(Mutsumi) When they arrive at the house and entered the house, Kazura’s mother Mutsumi[3] came to greet them in the entryway.Unlike Shinji, Mutsumi didn’t have a single lock of white hair, even though her age was just like Shinji, whom was 54 years old, her skin was still smooth so she was considerably youthful.Is it because she always paid attention on her dietary habits, or was it the latent power of a woman, whom was never negligent in taking care of her skin? 「I’m back. I drove long distance from Gunma, and then went to the field, so I of course am tired.」(Kazura) While saying this, Kazura took off his shoes and noticed a delicious smell, wafting from inside the house.It appears that the dinner was sukiyaki. 「AraOh my, haven’t you became a bit thinner? Have you been eating well?」(Mutsumi) 「I wish you would say that I have lost the useless fat, and became muscular instead. I do always properly eat my meal.」(Kazura) While showered by his mother’s gaze, who was scrutinizing his body, Kazura entered the house and after washing his hand, together with Shinji, they move to the living room.On top of the table which was in the living room, was a pot of boiling sukiyaki, raw eggs and the meal for 3 people was already been prepared. After Mutsumi finished distributing the rice into the bowls, everyone clasped their hand and said, 「Itadakimasu」 Then, they took the sukiyaki on the pot with their chopstick. 「Nee, it had been almost one month since you went to Gunma, how long do you intend to stay in that residence?」(Mutsumi) It had been a long time since he tasted his house’s flavor so Kazura was chomping the sukiyaki vigorously. Mutsumi asked him this, as she took out additional meat from the refrigerator. 「I still want to stay at that residence a little bit longer. Since one thing or another I also enjoy the country life, and there also no one who comes begging for money for the time being.」(Kazura) Since he traveled to the residence in Gunma, he was able to completely shake off the fellows who gathered for his lottery winning money, there was not a single person that intruded on him in that residence.Since he only came back to j.a.pan once per week and was practically living on the other world, this might be one of the main cause for this condition. Either way, since Kazura had became familiar with living at Grisea Village and is fully enjoying the slow life of the other world, he wanted to continue this life of 90% in another world and 10% in j.a.pan. 「Is that so?...... However, please contact the house once in awhile. The area of that residence is deep in the mountains, so even if you carry a handphone you would barely get any signals. It seems that you were able to connect with Shinji’s handphone by chance today.」(Mutsumi) 「She’s right. You would never make any contact with us, and make us worry. Even if it was just once per month, do give us a call, okay?」(Shinji) 「Ah...... That’s true, I’ll remember it.」(Kazura)
Now that he thought about it, after he called Shinji one month ago, he had never gave his parents a call again.Although he does sometimes returned to j.a.pan to purchase groceries, he practically never turned on his handphone, so he never phoned his parents.Furthermore, while he was in the other world, there were no phone signals, so no matter how much his parents tried to call him, of course they wouldn’t connected to Kazura’s handphone. 「Then, how is your first country life? There is no electricity in the residence, so did it cause you any inconvenience?」(Mutsumi) 「No, I’m used to it, so I’m fine even if there was no electricity. For the lighting, as long as there is a lantern there, then it will be enough.」(Kazura) 「What kind of living is that?......」(Shinji) They continued their talk as the family sitting, that almost never happens since Kazura became a working adult, kept going while the night slowly grew old. ✦✧✦✧ On the next morning.Despite the clock’s hand was just pointed at six in the morning, Kazura had already put his change of clothes into the travelling bag inside of his car, which was inside the garage of his parents’ house.Shinji also already woken up and was packing a large travel carry case into the car’s back seat.Mutsumi hadn’t woken up, so only Kazura and Shinji were inside the garage. 「However, you are returning so early in the morning. Do you have an appointment later?」(Shinji) Finished with packing the bag into the back seat, Shinji asked, while restng his hand on the door’s handle. 「Yes, since I had already promised to help out with the farmers for a bit...... Other than that, the contents of that carry case are......」(Kazura) 「Yeah, I packed the suitable personal security goods, that would serve to be useful for your country life.」(Shinji) 「Suitable you say, but that carry case is really big......」(Kazura) While saying this, Kazura sneaked a peek of the inside of the car, over here was a L-sized carry case that no matter he saw it, was big.Say what you want but it was packed really full. 「Well, isn’t that good? It’s not like they would rot. Then, I will go to the field. Today I’ll plant Shougoin Radishes.[4]」(Shinji) After Shinji said this, he closed the car door, and boarded his own light pickup.Seeing Shinji like this, Kazura could only shake his head and let out a sigh, before entering his own car and starting the engine. 「Then, I’ll return to Gunma. Please tell mother I said take care.」(Kazura) 「Alright, be careful with your body, kay?」 They exchanged farewells, Kazura stepped on the gas pedal, and headed back towards Gunma. ✦✧✦✧ It had been 4 hours since he left his parents’ house.Kazura who had arrived at Gunma prefecture, after finishing with purchasing groceries like canned food or soap, and several volumes of books as souvenirs for Valetta, went to the private herb shop that he visited before.Similar to when he had visited before, the store interior’s traditional j.a.panese atmosphere was unchanged, and still displayed various types of herbs stored inside acrylic bottles.Behind the cash register was a single female employee who was sitting and reading a book. Noticing that Kazura entered the shop, she pa.s.sed him sample paper cup, filled with chilled bergamot[5] herb tea. 「Umm, nettle, lemon, verbena, and ........ Oh, this herb tea is delicious. Can you also gave me 30 grams of this tea?」(Kazura) Kazura said this as he gulp a portion of the herb tea he received, the female gave affirmative reply happily, and began dividing the herbs from the acrylic bins into small bags.While examining the store interior, there were several blends that didn’t stocked when he arrived before.Like the one he was sampling today, they might be new merchandises.Furthermore, there were numerous pots with herb seedling displayed on the floor, along with their price tag. 「Ah, so you also started to sell herb seedling?」(Kazura) 「Yes, when customer came before, you said you wanted herb seedlings, right? Because of that I decided to sell some of the raised herbs in the shop.」(Female clerk) He never thought his statement would be the reason for the expanded variety of goods, but Kazura was happy for this consideration.Although the seedlings that was put to sell was few in variety, but the leaf and stems were st.u.r.dy, so it was a good seedling.Every seedling at that place was of the kind that Kazura haven’t bought before.
「Ah, I’m sorry if this seems demanding...... Well, I would also like to have one of these wild strawberries and marigolds.」(Kazura) 「Thank you very much. By the way, have the seeds you bought previously sprouted yet? I think the arugula should have sprouted steadily.」(Female clerk) The female employee put the seedlings and the herb small bags into the plastic bag, then she began to ask, as if she just remembered it.It seems that, she happened to recall just as when Kazura made his purchase. 「Yes, I had planted the seed that I purchased that day, the arugula and basil had started sprouting in large quant.i.ty. But the other hasn’t sprouted yet.」(Kazura) It had been 2 weeks since the day he planted the herb seeds, but except for those two, the other haven’t germinated even now.And just like what he had said, the basils were germinating in large quant.i.ties. 「I think that the lemongra.s.s will soon also germinate. Please make sure to improve the ventilation.」(Female clerk) 「Yes, I have paid attention to that while planting them, so I think there would not be any problems, but.... Ah, essential oil.......」(Kazura) As he received the bag with the goods and took out his wallet to finish the transaction, his eyes were caught on the nearby shelf with essential oils.Now that he thought about it, he sometimes purchased herbs for Valetta’s souvenir, however he never bought any essential oil.Since she has background knowledge from the book of herbs, if he bought it then she would certainly be delighted. 「I’m sorry, please put this essential oil with them. And also one set of aroma pot and pouch.」(Kazura) 「Well, since you are buying so many things, thank you very much.」(Female clerk) He purchased several gla.s.ses of 30mL essential oils that had caught his eyes before, together with a rather tall gla.s.s pot. 「Thank you very much. Please came again.」(Female clerk) The female clerk gave a small wave with her hand, as Kazura leaves the shop. ✦✧✦✧ 3 hours has pa.s.sed since Kazura left the herb shop. Near the place where the waterwheel was installed and the aqueduct that continued to the village, several hundred meters away was a rock’s shadow under a hill where Isaac and 3 of his subordinates hid themselves.2 of his subordinates, and Isaac himself wore armor with their spear and shield placed beside them, while the other soldier didn’t wear any armor but only normal clothing, with a short sword on his waist.This 4 people didn’t exchange any word, only drinking water from their wooden canteen, as they maintained watch towards the direction of Grisea Village while hidden.Rather than not have anything to talk, it was more of them taking Isaac, who in a p.r.i.c.kly mood, in their consideration, so the 3 subordinates held their tongues in silence. 「They are coming. Hide under the rock’s shadow.」(Isaac) Maybe because Isaac noticed something in his sight, the three subordinates completely cloaked by the rock’s shadow, and the he whispered to the unarmored soldier. 「When they reach close to the waterwheel, and we approach them, you will run and contact the main unit. Tell them to rush into action according to the previous strategy.」(Isaac) 「I understand. We will seize control of the Village Chief’s house, then detain all the villagers inside their house, right?」(Soldier) Isaac nodded to the unarmored soldier that will act as the messenger, and focused on the approaching figures far away.Although he couldn’t be sure since there was a considerable distance between them, but it looked like that there were two people walking towards this spot.If Isaac’s conjecture was right, then one of those two people is the person named Kazura that Colts had mentioned yesterday. Yesterday, after parting ways with Colts, he returned to the army with a nonchalant look and was marching with the unit towards Isteria until the sun went down, pretending that the unit had completely withdrawn.Afterwards the unit silently marched in the middle of the night once more to a place deep in the forest near Grisea Village, and concealed themselves.Of course, he had sent two messengers from the unit towards Isteria beforehand. He ordered them to report that the unit’s return would be delayed. As a result, the villagers would think that the unit had withdrawn without noticing the existence of Kazura, would then feel relieved and drop their vigilance, then that Kazura, who was taking refuge outside the village. would also surely return.Just in case if Colts spoke to another villager about his conversation with Isaac yesterday and fearing that Kazura wouldn’t return to the village if the army remained near the village, he took on this troublesome method, but it looks like it had turned out well.During the day, he had received the report from the subordinate who conducted reconnaissance of the village that there wasn’t any particularly changes, so it seems that Colts didn’t tell a word about his conversation yesterday to anyone. And like that, they had been in standby for quite some time, when they heard conversation voice from the waterwheel.It appears that, the two people who were heading here had arrived at the waterwheel. 「Let’s go. Even if they resist, you must absolutely not kill them. Since it is to cross-examine, capture them alive is necessary.」(Isaac) Isaac called out to his two subordinates, and without delay, came out from the rock’s shadow.