Lazy Mornings and Flower Crowns
The morning air on the farm was crisp and clean. For once, I was thoroughly enjoying a rare stretch of pure leisure.
I sat atop the farmhouse roof, gazing out over the fields. I counted a few sheep and goats, whistled a lazy tune, then leaned back against the rough chimney and stretched until my joints popped.
With the sun rising beyond the gentle horizon, I rolled around like a cat that had finally found the perfect sunbeam.
“Nice weather today.”
Rai was still locked up in the stable, and the men had left at dawn with the farm owner to earn their keep. Something about fixing broken fences and the storage shed on the far side of the fields.
Lox had grumbled with his usual straight-line eyebrows, insisting we should be out searching for the cup instead of wasting time. But once Ash—the party leader—decided this would be a proper way to repay the farmer’s hospitality, the rest of them had no choice but to tag along.
I, of course, was exempt.
“Mmm.”
After so long, simply soaking up the sun like this made my body and mind relax on their own. The breeze was gentle and refreshing, and the sea of greenery filling my vision was breathtakingly beautiful.
The occasional birdsong was more than enough to put anyone in a good mood.
Yeah, lazing around doing absolutely nothing was clearly my calling. The only problem was that the world refused to cooperate with my diligent efforts to perfect that particular talent.
“Big sis! What are you doing up there?”
At the bouncy voice, I peered down from the roof. Little Lil was standing on tiptoe, waving both hands wildly as she shouted up at me.
“How did you even get up there?”
She was the farm owner’s granddaughter, a little girl named Lil.
Smoke had started rising from the chimney, so I’d been thinking it was about time to head down anyway. I called Undain and floated gently to the ground.
“Whoa…… So spirits can do things like that?”
Lil’s pure, unfiltered admiration was honestly a lot cuter than Einy’s.
“That’s amazing! So cool!”
“I like the sound of that. Keep the compliments coming.”
“I wanna be a Spirit Master too!”
“I don’t think that’s in the cards.”
“Why not!”
“Because some things just aren’t going to happen, kiddo.”
I firmly crushed the young girl’s dream, then turned away to find a new spot to lounge.
The farm was wide enough that good napping spots were everywhere. Maybe I’d try rolling around in the shade under a tree this time.
“Lil! What are you doing over there!”
“Ah, Mom.”
“I told you not to wander off by yourself! You never stay still for a second! You were like this on the ship too!”
That was a mother’s scolding I hadn’t heard in quite a while. I turned toward the voice and saw Lil’s mother leaning out the kitchen window, ladle in hand, looking ready to march over at any moment.
“Get over here right now!”
It wasn’t an overreaction. In this world, a young girl wandering alone was practically the same as holding up a sign that said come and kidnap me.
At least, that was how it worked here.
“It’s fine! This is Grandpa’s yard! It’s safe!”
Lil was putting up a half-hearted resistance by hiding behind my leg. I could relate. There was always something about the things your mom told you to do that made you want to avoid them on principle. I knew that feeling well.
Even if I hadn’t felt it in about nineteen years.
“Come inside this instant! They say there’ve been foxes around here lately!”
“I don’t wanna!”
So that was why the men had gone off to repair the fence.
“Lil! You traitor! You ran off by yourself again!”
Soon even Lil’s older brother poked his head out the window to join the scolding.
“I don’t want to peel potatoes!”
“Well I don’t either! So hurry up and come do it!”
“Your face looks like a potato, so you peel them!”
“What! You potato-looking little—!”
So they both looked like potatoes, huh. From the sound of it, Lil was a little troublemaker who loved dodging chores and running away. Just like me.
“Lil! Do I have to come out there myself? You’re in trouble if I catch you!”
“Stupid Lil! The fox is gonna drag you off!”
“I’ll stay right next to big sis! I just wanna play with the spirit!”
“Hmm? Why are you throwing me under the bus when I’m just quietly existing over here?”
Against my will, I met a pair of sparkling, expectant eyes.
“Big sis! It’s okay, right? You’ll play with me, won’t you?”
I glanced over at Lil’s mother, who had been storming out but had stopped at the doorway.
From the savory smell drifting over since earlier, it was clear she was in the middle of preparing a meal. And right now, I seemed to be the only one not doing any work.
I could understand not wanting to peel potatoes, and since I had nothing better to do, I figured I might as well keep an eye on the kid.
I reached out and roughly patted Lil’s head, hoping the gesture would convey that I’d watch her.
Her mother looked a little apologetic, but soon disappeared back inside, busy as ever.
Of course, I wasn’t actually going to watch the child myself. Who did they think they were dealing with? I was Jeanie Crowell. And Jin-i, too.
“Undine.”
[Master!]
I pointed at the little girl for the cheerfully summoned Undine.
“Play with her for a bit. Looks like she wants to be your friend.”
[Yes!]
“And keep an eye out so no foxes try to snatch her.”
For a child, playing with a fairy would make for a wonderful memory.
After giving Undine a string of instructions that somehow ended with me assigning her as a babysitter, I sprawled out luxuriously across the field.
Lying beneath the apple tree, basking in the sunlight filtering through the leaves, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
To miss even the bickering with your mom… just how far had I distanced myself from my family in my previous life?
When would I finally stop feeling this distance from the parents of this world?
Would the day ever come when they truly felt like my real parents?
Whether I kept them at arm’s length or tried to get closer, both paths filled me with guilt. It was the only kind of guilt I couldn’t seem to shake off.
I remembered my real parents—the ones I had missed so fiercely that I couldn’t even cry, the ones I had to swallow down again and again.
So much time had passed that I had grown far more used to being called “Jeanie,” yet that one thing had never changed.
Sometimes, when I closed my eyes, the realization came to me quietly.
The reason I still couldn’t forget my parents after all this time… was probably because they couldn’t forget me either. Even as Jeanie Crowell, somewhere inside me, I was still clearly Jin-i.
The old me who hardly appeared in dreams anymore. The ordinary high school girl everyone but my parents must have forgotten by now. Jin-i.
I was dead, yet somehow still alive. The fact that only I knew that truth sometimes brought nothing but hollow sorrow.
I must have dozed off at some point.
When Lil shook me awake, the scent of flowers in the air, I realized I had drool at the corner of my mouth. Quite a bit, actually.
“Big sis! A present for you!”
As I sat up and wiped my face, something was suddenly dropped over my head.
“What is this?”
“A flower necklace!”
“Hmm. The way it’s sitting on my head, I think it’s a wreath.”
“Your head is so big, big sis?”
“……How rude. Your head is just tiny.”
Of course it wouldn’t fit. It had been sized for a child. I touched the thing resting on top of my head. The woven flowers and grass had already tangled with my curly hair; if I tried to pull it off now, I’d end up with a bird’s nest.
“I made it with Undine!”
[We made it together!]
Lil spun around on the grass, giggling brightly with Undine, and I decided to leave the wreath where it was for now. I flopped back down on my side.
Those two couldn’t even speak the same language, yet they played together so well. Maybe their mental ages were similar.
“I made one for Undine too, but since it would just fall through, I turned it into a bracelet for her!”
[It went right through me!]
“It wouldn’t stay on!”
“Yeah… Spirits can’t be touched in the normal way, after all.”
[Master, I want to wear one too.]
I was in the middle of a lazy yawn when Undine floated over and pleaded with me.
I blinked, surprised.
Spirits were supposed to be beings that strictly obeyed their master’s commands. They weren’t supposed to be the ones making requests.
Could spirits even ask their masters for things?
It was a first, but I didn’t think too much of it.
I shared a bit of my mana to give her some slight physical form, then patted her head to check if it had worked.
It did. Which meant she could wear the wreath now.
[Thank you.]
Undine smiled adorably, then flew back to Lil. She placed the tiny wreath—barely the size of a bracelet—on her head and began dancing through the bushes like a real flower fairy, fluttering gracefully.
Seeing Undine so happy made me smile too. Our Undine really was the cutest in the entire world.
“Big sis! I want an Undine too! So I’m going to become a Spirit Master. A water Spirit Master just like you!”
“I already said no.”
“Why! Why not!”
I bit into an apple that had fallen beside me and shook my head.
“It’s impossible.”
“Ugh, why! I’m going to become a Spirit Master and adventure across the continent! I’ll defeat dragons! Find treasure! And marry a prince!”
“Pffft—ahahahaha!”
“Why are you laughing!”
“What would you even do after marrying a prince?”
“……Become a princess, obviously?”
Now that was an impressively practical dream of social climbing.