v3 Chapter 6: A World of Swords and Magic

“The wind is cold, but shall we tour the grounds a bit more?”

“Yeah.”

Saying that, Silas led Riku to the stable. Two beautiful brown horses were watching Riku with interest. They weren't particularly large horses, but their legs were sturdy and their manes were thick.

“That's Hak and Lak.”

“Hak, Lak, nice to meet you.”

Hak and Lak looked at Riku with eyes that seemed to say, Well, alright then. Silas led Hak out, saddled him, and first lifted Riku onto his back. Hak stood still. Behind the stiff Riku, Silas mounted nimbly, and they headed out towards the pasture where the cows were grazing.

Riku, who had never ridden a horse, was tense, but he gradually grew accustomed to Hak's slow walk. The pasture wasn't flat. There were gentle hills and clumps of trees here and there. Silas guided the horse to the top of one of those gentle hills.

“Around here, this hill is one of the taller ones.”

At the top of the hill, the view from horseback was magnificent. Riku took a deep breath of air.

Thin rivers flowed through the plains stretching out below. Here and there were hills like this pasture, and houses were clustered in small groups scattered amongst the farmland. Off to the right from where they looked down, there was also what looked like a slightly larger town.

“You can only see it faintly,” Silas explained, “but there's a sea at the southern edge, and plains stretch from there far north of this hill. At the northern edge are mountains, bordering three other territories. As you can see, this territory, made up almost entirely of flat land usable as farmland, is called the Plains, and it supports the food supply for this entire continent. Did you know that?”

“No, this is the first I've heard of it.”

“I see.”

Silas seemed to be thinking something in response to that answer, but he didn't say anything in particular.

“Among these lands, hills like this one are inefficient for farming. Unlike the flatlands, the soil isn't fertile. Even if you try sowing wheat, what should normally be two harvests a year yields only one, and poor quality at that.” He sensed Silas shrug behind him as he said that. “But grass grows. And the cows happily eat that grass, which has no utility value for us.”

It really is another world, Riku thought. His maternal grandfather, whom he occasionally visited, had a field, and Riku had only said 'agriculture' because helping out there was fun; Riku himself had no real knowledge of farming. But wasn't wheat harvested once a year, and didn't you have to let the farmland rest or the soil would be depleted? Yet here they said twice a year.

“My family too, we've been wheat farmers for generations,” Silas shared. “But since I was small, I was more interested in horses and cows.”

“Is that so?”

“From my apprenticeship days, I became a disciple to a farmer specializing in cows, and from there, well, my life of increasing cattle began.”

As Silas talked, he turned Hak towards the bottom of the hill. “For now, let's go to the edge of the pasture.”

“Okay.”

As they rounded the hill, Hak hesitated slightly before sidestepping.

“Riku, wait here a moment.”

Silas dismounted nimbly from behind Riku and approached the patch of grass Hak had avoided. He stared intently at the grass, then took a step forward as if timing something, and quickly moved to the left. Did something fly out? Just as Riku strained his eyes, Silas cut something with the knife tucked at his waist. The thing slowly losing its form was-

“A slime...”

Silas glanced at Riku, then turned his palm towards the slime and produced water.

“Eh, water from your hand? Why?”

Then he picked something up and showed it to Riku.

“Riku, this is a magic stone. Are you bad with magic?”

“Magic stone and magic? Was that water just now magic? This world really is a world of swords and magic after all!” Riku exclaimed, getting excited.

“'This world'...” Silas mused. “Well, swords aren't used much in the Plains. If you want to learn swordsmanship, you have to go to the Deep Forest.” Saying that, Silas gazed towards the north. “Well, fine. I'll explain everything later.”

He explained various things on the way back to the house, but Riku was too excited about magic and magic stones for much of it to sink in.

They returned to the stable, tended to the horses, and went back inside. Riku's body, thoroughly chilled on horseback, now felt warm and cozy. Still, Silas poured him some warm tea. But as Riku took a relieved sip, Silas asked,

“Children of the Plains take farming for granted, but dairy farming isn't widespread yet, so I took you to the pasture thinking that, but... Riku, are you really a child of the Plains?”

Riku was taken aback.

“How did you know I was supposedly a child of the Plains?”

“That hair and those eyes. They're the most common colors in the Plains. It's fairly characteristic depending on the territory—green hair and violet eyes in the Lakes, blond hair in the Deep Forest, light brown in Iwadou. What's more, people rarely marry those from other territories.”

“I-Is that so?”

He wished the goddess had properly explained things like that. Riku's shoulders slumped, and he looked down. He'd been relieved thinking his caretaker was decided, but as Silas said, he really should think properly about what he'd been doing until age 10.

Should I pretend I have amnesia? Or that there are circumstances I can't speak of? Silas silently waited for Riku's reply.

Living nearly 30 years in Japan, Riku hadn't met many people like Silas. Taciturn, makes quick decisions. A good person, a hard worker. How should he deal with someone like this? Riku agonized over it. Then, he raised his head.

Slightly messy, short black hair. Straight, bright brown eyes.

The issue isn't what kind of person Silas is. It's how I want to live.

Riku swallowed hard.

“Actually... I wasn't born in this world.”

Silas's eyes widened just slightly.

Trying to curry favor for short-term gain is pointless. The root of work, and relationships too, ultimately comes down to sincerity. Temporary deceptions are unnecessary. I'm going to walk forward properly in this world. For that, lies are unnecessary.

“I originally lived in a different world and was about to turn 30.”

Putting it like this sounds suspicious right from the start. But, I'll tell him everything. The truth. Riku began to firmly recount the story of his reincarnation.