Emily
I sat perched atop the wooden fence, fussing with my hair.
What met my fingertips was the rough, scratchy feel of bandages.
Falling from a tree, cracking my head open, and then suddenly recalling memories of a past life…
How many people would believe me if I seriously tried to explain something like that?
On the first day I came to my senses, I had earnestly told my mother while she was giving me first aid. All I got in return were her tears.
Seeing her like that, I couldn’t bring myself to say another word about my previous life.
Or were those past-life memories even real? Possession? Maybe the fall had simply driven me mad.
Heavy thoughts unfit for a thirteen-year-old girl began to circle through my mind.
“Emily!”
A boy came running up in a fluster and stopped right in front of me.
A basket woven from twigs hung on his back, piled high with dirt-caked potatoes.
His gaze was just as full of goodwill as the potatoes stacked behind him.
What kind of feelings could a boy this age really hold for a pretty girl?
His emotions were simple. And because of that, they burned hot.
In other words, they were a burden.
I turned my eyes slightly away from his stare and opened my mouth.
“What?”
“A-are you okay now…?”
My cold reply seemed to fluster him a little.
His gaze was fixed, of course, on my head.
The worry filling his eyes as he looked at the bandaged spot was every bit as burdensome.
“I’m fine. I’m moving around, aren’t I?”
“Oh… right…”
The conversation died. The boy kept glancing at me as if he wanted to keep talking, but I didn’t bother opening my mouth again.
A slow breeze stirred, scattering my hair.
It looked like golden threads slowly coming undone.
“Hey.”
“Y-yeah?”
I was the one who broke the silence. It was about time to head home, and besides, I couldn’t remember the boy’s name.
“What was your name again?”
“M-my name…?”
His face crumpled into a near-tearful expression.
If I made the effort, I could probably dig up his name from my memories, but I had no desire to go to that much trouble just to recall the name of some sweaty boy.
“It’s Jack!”
“Right, Jack. Hope you find that beanstalk someday.”
“B-beanstalk? My family grows potatoes.”
I tossed out whatever came to mind.
Naturally, Jack didn’t understand a word of it.
I hopped down from the fence and started walking.
“Where are you going…?”
“Home.”
On the way back I looked up at the sky.
Across the vast expanse, some enormous nameless creature was soaring through the air.
A fantasy world, huh.
Hard to believe, yet for me right now, this world was reality.
After I recovered my past-life memories, the thing I heard most from the village adults was that I had “become so well-behaved.”
In a way, it was only natural.
My memories of living as an adult man were longer than my memories of living as Emily. How could I possibly go on the same way as before?
On top of that, Emily’s personality and my original one were wildly different.
“Heading out again today?”
“Yes.”
A week had passed since the memories returned.
I nodded at my mother’s question and left the house.
If I sat around at home, she would pester me to help with chores.
Protesting that I’d hurt my head did no good. Something about how I could still move my hands, so sewing was fine?
In the end I chose to go outside.
Mother watched me with worry, but she didn’t try to stop me.
She seemed to be quietly hoping I’d wander around and bring back a decent husband prospect.
Of course I had no intention of living up to her expectations, so I headed for the village entrance.
The Gatekeeper lived there, and his hut stayed pleasantly cool even in the heat, so I planned to kill time there.
“You again today…?”
When I reached the entrance, a rough-looking middle-aged man in leather armor gave me a sour look.
His face might have said otherwise, but I knew he was secretly glad to see me.
“Should I just leave?”
“No…”
He shook his head at my question.
I couldn’t remember his name, but somehow it didn’t feel awkward.
According to the village adults, the Gatekeeper was a retired knight.
He never confirmed or denied it, so no one knew whether the rumor was true or false.
“Mister.”
“What.”
“Show me some swordplay.”
“Hmm…”
A knight ought to have swordsmanship worthy of the title.
I looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
But he only twitched his brow at my request and turned his head away.
“My sword doesn’t come out just any time…”
“You pull it out plenty when you’re chopping firewood.”
“Hmm…”
In the end the Gatekeeper never drew his blade.
Apparently he wasn’t in the mood today.
I had no intention of being stubborn either, so the conversation naturally died.
My interest in his swordsmanship was only natural.
This was a world that had things mine never did—magic and sword arts.
How could I not be curious?
I wanted to learn magic, but in a backwater village like this there wasn’t a single magical item to be found.
That was why I had started visiting this retired knight.
Whenever the mood struck him, the Gatekeeper would demonstrate his swordsmanship.
Even then it only looked like blurry afterimages to my eyes, but just watching was enough.
It felt like attending a marvelous magic show.
“Emily!”
“Emily, come out!”
I had been reading a book in the Gatekeeper’s hut when two children’s voices called from outside.
Peeking out the window, I saw a pair of twins waving, long fishing rods slung over their shoulders.
The fish dangling from their backs suggested they’d had a decent catch today.
Hanging out with little kids was a hassle.
But if I wanted to keep spending time here, I had to deal with them to some extent.
I stepped out of the hut, recalling their names.
The girl with long blue hair was Su; the short-haired boy beside her was Shu.
Thinking how uncreative the names were, I waved back at them.
“Hi. Looks like you caught quite a few today.”
“Yeah!”
Of the two, Shu was the one who had business with me.
Face slightly flushed, he launched into a proud recounting of the day’s events.
His story was packed with lies and exaggerations, turning the catching of a small fish into a battle against some giant monster.
It was a boring tale, but if I just smiled a little and played along, he was overjoyed.
The stories always ended with a gift.
Shu handed me the biggest fish he had caught.
“Thanks.”
“Y-yeah…!”
After giving me the present, Shu mumbled something and then bolted away.
Left alone, Su stared after her twin for a long while before turning her back.
Unlike Shu, who wore his emotions on his sleeve, Su seemed like a child without any feelings at all.
“Fish today, is it?”
“Yes. Looks pretty big.”
“Hooh…”
His gait was like a hyena closing in on prey.
I handed the fish to the Gatekeeper as he slowly approached.
Claiming a beautiful female is animal instinct.
Most of the boys in the village brought me all sorts of gifts to win my favor, and I passed every single one of them on to the Gatekeeper.
It was a kind of transaction.
If I hadn’t handed over those gifts, he would have kicked me out long ago.
Once word spread that I spent my time in the Gatekeeper’s hut, even more boys started showing up.
Naturally the gifts multiplied as well, and today I received an especially large haul.
Today’s take: one big fish, five potatoes, two sweet potatoes, three ears of corn, and a small lump of cheese.
In a place like this, cheese was especially precious.
The Gatekeeper laughed heartily at the gifts.
Seeing him in such a good mood, I figured he might grant my request.
I casually sidled up beside him and sat down.
“Mister.”
“What is it?”
“Teach me swordsmanship.”
“Swordsmanship…? You? What for…?”
“Self-defense. It’s dangerous outside.”
“Hmm… is that so…?”
The next morning.
I headed to the Gatekeeper’s hut as usual.
He tossed a long wooden stick toward me.
Looking closer, I saw it was a carefully carved wooden sword.
“This is…?”
“You asked me to teach you swordsmanship, didn’t you?”
“You’re really going to teach me?”
“What, you don’t want to?”
“No!”
And so I began learning swordsmanship from him.
Of course, “swordsmanship” amounted to nothing more than how to swing and thrust.
Unable to hide my disappointment, I asked him,
“Isn’t there a way to handle mana…?”
“What, mana? You want to become a mage or something?”
“No, in storybooks knights use mana too…”
“Quit the nonsense and just swing the sword.”
Did he even seriously intend to teach me properly?
When I eyed him suspiciously, the Gatekeeper shook his head and returned to his post.
As if whether I practiced what he’d shown me or not was entirely my business.
Word that I had started learning swordsmanship from him spread quickly.
Before long, the boys who had been interested in me began showing up as well, claiming they wanted to learn too.
The Gatekeeper neither drove them away nor welcomed them.
Since he clearly had no intention of teaching them anything, the boys started offering him bribes the same way they had given me gifts.
Naturally, his income doubled overnight.
Most of the kids who started learning swordsmanship quit within a week.
After a hard day’s labor they simply didn’t have the energy left for training.
And since there was no visible progress, they lost interest just as fast.
Of course, a few didn’t give up.
There were the twins Su and Shu, and that boy Jack who always made me think of beanstalks.
Shu and Jack seemed to stick around more for the chance to spend time with me than for the swordsmanship itself, but Su looked a little different.
Time flowed swiftly.
Winter arrived.