Homecoming (7)
The first thing we did after coming home was clean.
Mother had kept the place well, but it still needed a more thorough tidy.
"Shall we start with cleaning?"
"Yes, let's get it done quickly."
Sister Mary and I set to work while Emma hauled our luggage inside and stacked it with efficient ease.
Once the rough cleaning was finished, we unpacked. Clothes went into the wardrobe, the alchemy equipment was arranged properly, and everything else found its appointed place. Only then did it truly feel like we had come home.
"Whew. That went faster than I expected."
Probably because the three of us worked together. It was over sooner than I'd thought.
"Will we be staying here?"
"Yes. Is the house too small?"
It had been meant for a newlywed couple, so it was larger than an ordinary village home.
"Ah—no, not at all."
Sister Mary looked a little startled by the question.
"Ahaha."
The four of us sat quietly around the table.
"For now, Sister Mary, you can stay here. There's a spare room."
"What about me?"
Emma cut in without warning.
"No, Sis, you can just go sleep at home."
"That's mean…"
Why was that unfair?
"Go spend some time with Mom and Dad."
"…Fine."
She answered with a face full of complaint.
"And, um… what about you, Priest Daniel?"
Back when I had first become a woman, I probably would have thought nothing of sharing the house with both Priest Daniel and Sister Mary. Now it was harder.
First, I had developed something like an awareness of myself as a woman—something I had never wanted to notice. Second, I was thinking of Sister Mary. Even if they were fellow members of the Church and he was a priest, she might still feel uncomfortable. Third, there was Maximilian's confession. After that, I had resolved to be more careful. I wasn't going to leave any room for misunderstanding.
"M-me, you mean?"
"Yes. You weren't planning to stay in a house full of women, were you?"
I said something I didn't strictly need to say out loud. I had done it on purpose, but I still felt a twinge of guilt.
"N-no! Of course not! Still, for escort duty it would be best if I were nearby."
Was there an empty house near mine? I thought there might be one… but the distance would still be considerable. The whole village only had about a hundred and fifty people. Land wasn't scarce, so there had never been any reason to build the houses close together. People valued their privacy, too.
"I'll have to ask Father."
The village did have a few animal pens, but they were small and few. How many animals could a place this size support? A handful of chickens for eggs and a few sheep for wool and milk were already more than enough. Raise any more and the village's food supply would suffer. In short, there was nowhere here to keep a large packhorse.
The cleaning was more or less done. Time to walk Emma home.
"Rest for now. Feel free to use anything in the house."
"Julian? Where are you going?"
"I'm taking my sister home, and I need to find a place for Daniel to stay. We'll need a stable built as well."
"I see."
"I'll come with you."
Priest Daniel rose from his seat.
"All right."
"I'll start preparing dinner at a leisurely pace."
Leaving Sister Mary behind, I took Emma and headed out. Priest Daniel stuck close behind us like a proper escort.
When we stepped into our parents' house, Mother was already home. She welcomed us as a matter of course, and even my usually blunt sister softened into something almost fluffy in front of her.
"So the problem is where he'll sleep?"
"Yes. I can't put him up at my place."
Father glanced toward Priest Daniel. The look in his eyes was a little… fierce. He was clearly sizing the man up with open disapproval.
"Right. Having a man in a house full of women is no good. No good at all."
Father nodded. Finding a house, at least, looked like it would be easy.
"Could you find him a place nearby? And we'll need a stable built, too."
"A stable, you say?"
"Yes. We have a horse to keep."
We could take it back with us later, or leave it in the village—either way, it would be useful.
"It's a packhorse, strong and gentle. You could even use it for farm work."
"I've heard of people using animals for farming, but I've never done it myself, so I wouldn't know how."
"I'm no expert either, but I know enough of the theory to help."
Priest Daniel approached Father—the village chief—with easy friendliness. The man who had first eyed him with open suspicion gradually let his guard down.
The two of them talked for a while and then went outside together. Father was probably going to show him a house.
Emma and I were cornered by Mother and drawn into conversation after conversation. I had sent a letter once, but only once, so she had no end of questions—how we had been, what we had done, and so on.
"It sounds like you had a good time."
"Yes. I saw and learned a great deal."
Home really was the best. Comfortable, somehow. The kind of place where every worry seemed to melt away.
When we finally wound down the talk and I stood to head back, Emma caught my hand.
"Sis?"
"I—it's nothing."
"We'll see each other tomorrow anyway."
"Yeah."
"See you tomorrow."
I said goodbye to Emma and left our parents' house.
Looking out over the quiet village, I felt truly at ease. I stretched, working the stiffness out of my body, and started for home.
On the way I ran into Father and Priest Daniel again. From what they told me, Daniel's new lodging was a small shed near my house.
"A shed?!"
"It used to be a storage building, but it's more than enough for sleeping."
Apparently Father had tried to offer him a proper spare house, but Daniel had refused because it was too far from mine. The shed also had the advantage of being easy to expand into a stable.
"I'll have to look after the horse anyway."
"You're going to a lot of trouble."
"In exchange, I'll be freeloading meals."
"Of course."
Daniel grinned with the air of a man who had landed on his feet. Well, meals were no great burden.
I gave Father a quick farewell and walked home with Priest Daniel.
"He said they'll gather people tomorrow and build the stable."
"It doesn't have to be fancy."
As we neared the house, smoke was curling from the chimney and a delicious smell drifted out to meet us.
"Ugh, I just want to eat and rest."
Sister Mary welcomed us inside, and the three of us sat down to dinner together.
"Well then, I'll be off."
"I hope you'll be able to rest comfortably…"
"Haha. I'll get used to it."
Priest Daniel made light of it. He claimed he had steeled himself for this sort of thing the moment he decided to follow me.
"See you at the training ground in the morning."
"Understood."
I turned in a little early myself. I was tired, I had to join the self-defense force's morning training, and nights came early in a village like this anyway.
Because I had gone to bed so soon, I woke a little earlier than usual.
"Are you going out?"
The rustling must have woken her; Sister Mary sat up rubbing her eyes.
"Yes. Just a light workout."
"All right… I'll have breakfast ready."
I stepped outside in simple clothes and found Priest Daniel already waiting.
"Shall we?"
"Yes."
Together we headed for the self-defense force's training ground. Even at that early hour, my friends were already pouring sweat.
I greeted them lightly and joined in.
"Training?"
"Yes—just basic conditioning."
The Instructor kept glancing at Priest Daniel with open interest. In any case, ten easy laps around the clearing were enough to get the blood moving.
"Whew. Feels good to move."
Almost no one stayed for the full training session; most of them finished after the conditioning drills. It was the busy season for farming, after all.
Before long the Instructor was deep in conversation with Priest Daniel. He seemed curious about the younger man's skill.
"So. Can you tell me what brings you back to the village?"
The Instructor must have sensed the uneasy currents of late as well.
I gave him a brief account of what had happened in the capital, and of the possibility of raids and plunder from the neighboring country.
"I see… There have been some suspicious signs lately, true enough."
"There have?"
"Yes. Traces of people moving near the Forest of Delusion and along the border."
He had heard it from a former comrade stationed at a border outpost, so the report was reliable.
"As I thought."
"I was a little worried, but with the two of you here I can rest easier."
Even if the Instructor was Knight Class, he was a retired knight and no longer young. I had taken Emma—who was supposed to be the village's protector—away with me, so of course he had fretted.
"That's why I came back as soon as I could."
"Good. You've taken a weight off my mind."
After that I watched the Instructor spar with Priest Daniel. The older man's seasoned sword work met the younger man's almost genius-level talent, and Daniel turned every blow aside. It was clear just how strong he really was.
"That movement—shield work?"
"Yes, sir."
"Impressive. If you're willing to help defend the village, that would be a great blessing."
"That's exactly why I came."
"Is that so?"
Daniel's declaration lit the Instructor's face with relief. He even told the younger man to come by every day.
I left the two of them to it and wandered through the village.
And that was when I learned something astonishing…
"This is your child?"
My friends Ted and Annie had had a baby. It was still a newborn, and the sight of it was genuinely strange.
"What do you mean, 'this'? That's someone else's daughter you're talking about."
The last time I had seen him, Ted still had a boyish look about him. Now he was a father.
"Isn't she cute?"
Annie, too, had become a complete mother.
"The baby is already six months old?"
"Yeah. She must have gotten pregnant right around the time you two left."
Well, I'll be…
I had never expected to feel the passage of time quite so sharply. Besides Ted and Annie's child, quite a few babies had been born while Emma and I were away on our journey.
The most surprising of all was the Instructor's.
He and his wife had been married for years without a child, yet one had been born not long ago.
I was truly, thoroughly astonished.
"Well, I'll be…"
"What about you and that guy, huh?"
Ted asked with a teasing grin. Thoroughly annoyed, I kicked him in the shin.
"No. He's just a companion."
"So when are you two getting married?"
Marriage… The word came far too suddenly.
"I don't know. You know my situation."
That I had once been a man and was now a woman. Everyone in the village knew.
"Right. What about Emma?"
"No idea. She doesn't seem interested in that sort of thing."
"True. I always figured you'd marry her."
Honestly, if none of this had happened, I had vaguely assumed I would end up marrying Emma someday. Becoming a woman had made that impossible.
"I feel bad for Emma, but I wish she'd hurry up and produce the next village chief."
Listening to Ted left a faintly bitter taste. With Emma and me around, our generation would be fine—but he was fretting about what would become of his own children's generation. If Emma had a child, that child would become the next chief, and the worry would vanish.
I had no answer to give him.
"The future of the village, huh…"
It was a real concern.
Would I keep living here? Honestly, I didn't know. Considering the Church's affairs, there was a high chance I would have to leave for the city again.
And Emma?
It was a truly difficult problem.