"Fwaaah!" Lily shouted.
Lily ran around the flower field with her eyes shining. Her speech was a little babyish in places, but for a six-year-old she had already managed a greeting so solid it was almost scary, though it seemed she still had her age-appropriate sides, too. Playing naturally among the colorful flowers blooming in the garden, she was just like any six-year-old girl.
She was so cute that if I had a camera, I'd definitely want to take a picture (I'm not a lolicon!). Sadly, there are no cameras in this era. Apparently there are magic tools that mimic cameras using a spell called thoughtography1, but they're outrageously expensive. So expensive that even the eldest son of a great noble couldn't easily get one as a child.
When are they used? For recording the Empire's historic buildings, or when a royal photographer takes pictures at important meetings and ceremonies. And even those few photos can only be viewed by going to an archive like the Imperial Library. Apparently there's letterpress printing, but no technology for the fine, high-level printing that photos need, so I guess that makes sense.
Well, no camera means no camera. I'll just burn this firmly into my eyes right now. At this rate, she'll probably become my wife someday.
It's kind of nice, you know. That childhood-friend feeling. Playing together a lot, sharing joy and worry and sadness and laughter while growing up. It's a feeling I never got to have in my last life, so it makes my heart feel really warm.
"Heyyy, isn't there anywhere else nice!" Lily called.
Lily, who'd been rolling around on the grass beside the flower field, a scandalous act unbecoming of a duke's daughter, seemed bored with that game and asked me if there was anything more fun. Her expensive-looking white dress was covered in grass and it was painful to look at. Cute, but still a kid.
"Alright, then let's go to my secret base," I said.
"Secret base?" Lily repeated.
"A liberation zone just for us, secret from the grown-ups."
"? I don't really get it, but it sounds fun!" Lily agreed.
Lily came running over with grass still stuck in her hair. I took her hand and started walking toward the back garden. The time to show off a man's romance has come.
"Waaahhh, amazing! Did you make this, Hal?" Lily cried out.
"Yeah. Pretty amazing, right?" I asked.
Lily was surprised to see the secret base I'd built. In front of us stood something like a pit dwelling straight out of a history textbook. It was my proud work, built with a year of effort.
A pit dwelling. Sure, it might not be as stylish as a log house or a treehouse. But when it comes to convenience and practicality alone, it's a wonderful building that those can't compare to!
First, convenience. With a treehouse, you have to climb up and down the tree every time. Plus, considering I'm still a child, a treehouse where you could fall is a no-go.
Next, practicality. Treehouses and log houses are hard to build. In fact, in human history they don't show up until much later. Pit dwellings, on the other hand, appeared quite early in ancient Japan. And up until around the Heian period2, they functioned properly as homes for farmers. The ease of building and practicality of pit dwellings is proven by ancient Japanese history.
And finally, the romance you must not forget, which is the most important part of all. Sure, log houses are nice. If a log house suddenly appeared in the forest, you could imagine a witch living there in quiet seclusion, and that's fun to picture. A treehouse would get you excited too, like an obstacle course in a forest park. But that's no good! Log houses and treehouses are "houses," not "secret bases," A pit dwelling, on the other hand, doesn't really feel like a house, yet it has solid, practical performance.
As a secret base that also has livability, practicality, and, most importantly, romance, a pit dwelling was really the only inevitable choice.
"Go on inside and take a look," I said.
"Okay," Lily agreed.
I went into the secret base first, then invited Lily in. She came in looking excited too.
"It's so biiig," Lily breathed.
"Right?" I asked.
The pit dwelling I built was fairly large, about five meters wide and four meters tall. Maybe as spacious as a one-room apartment with a high ceiling. It keeps out rain and wind, so the livability inside is pretty high. Plus, on the bare dirt floor I laid down something between a straw mat and a tatami mat3, made from rush-like grass. This was partly because I used to be Japanese inside, and partly because this world isn't a shoes-on culture. I don't know the details of lower-class life, but at least the noble class doesn't live with their shoes on. I think it's very hygienic and good.
"It's so fluffy!" Lily cheered.
Lily said happily as she dove onto the straw-woven bedding. When I first met her, she had a proper young-lady air, almost divine, but sure enough, she really is a tomboy. Still, that Lily is cute too.
"Let's eat a snack," I said.
"A snack?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, here."
Saying that, I took two Rango Fruits out of a pot by the wall. These were picked from the orchard at the edge of the back garden. The servants grow them as a hobby, and as long as I pick a few like this now and then, they say "thanks for enjoying them" and are grateful rather than angry. Well, honestly, there aren't many servants who'd get mad at the lord's eldest son anyway.
Anyway, having eaten them since I was a baby, I loved these Rango Fruits. The servants work hard growing them, so they're very sweet and juicy and delicious. For snacks, they often serve Rango pie made from them.
"Rango Fruit?" Lily asked.
"Yeah. Picked from the orchard," I told her.
"You're not going to cut it?" Lily asked, puzzled.
Well, a noble's daughter wouldn't normally bite straight into a Rango. It's bad manners. But right now, only I'm watching.
"It's fine, just take a big chomp!" I said.
Saying that, I bit into the Rango hard to show her how.
"Whoa, what a big mouth," Lily said.
"Mmph, come on, Lily, you too," I said around a mouthful.
"O-okay. Aaahn! Chomp," Lily complied.
Lily bit into the Rango with a face like she'd eaten it this way for the first time in her life, like she was doing something mischievous. She had lots of Rango juice on her cheeks, so I took out a handkerchief and wiped them for her.
Eating Rango together, totally absorbed, I somehow felt like I'd really, truly become good friends with Lily.
Trivia:
- The narrator's careful reasoning about why a pit dwelling beats a log house or treehouse reveals a pragmatic, historically minded personality carried over from his past life in Japan.
- Haru notes that Lily's speech is babyish in places yet her greeting was scarily solid for a six-year-old, hinting at noble upbringing mixing with childish innocence.
- The detail that this world is not a shoes-on culture and that nobles go barefoot indoors quietly signals a hygienic, Japanese-like custom, a clue the reincarnated narrator would naturally notice.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ A psychic-photography concept from Japanese paranormal lore, where images are imprinted onto film or paper by the mind rather than a lens; here it names a rare magic-tool substitute for cameras.
2 ↩ A classical era of Japanese history (794-1185) known for aristocratic court culture; the narrator cites it to argue pit dwellings stayed practical as farmer homes well into that era.
3 ↩ A traditional Japanese woven straw floor mat; the narrator compares his improvised rush-grass floor covering to something between a straw mat and tatami.
Notes:
• Lily - Henriette Lily von Bernstein, eldest daughter of the Duchy of Bernstein. Six years old, beautiful with a bell-like voice. Switches between a formal company voice drilled into her by her father and a frank, cheerful everyday manner. Might become Eberhardt's fiancee. Young daughter of a duke, six years old. Cheerful and energetic with a tomboy side, though she carries herself with a proper young-lady air at times. Her speech is slightly babyish in places. White dress, grass-stained from play. Childhood friend of Haru.
• Haru - Alias for the eldest son of a noble house and a reincarnated former Japanese person, retaining memories of a past life on Earth. Reborn as Eberhard Karlheinz von Flensburg Fahrenheit, a two-year-old noble of the Fahrenheit Frontier Count family. He has a status screen only he can see, with an innate magic called Impact and an innate skill called Persistence Pays Off. Pragmatic, romantic about secret bases, and fond of Lily. Loves Rango fruit. Has a four-year-old sister, a father aged 25, and a mother aged 22. Built a pit-dwelling secret base in the back garden over about a year.