Side Story 32 – In the case of Kaede Yukawa (Age 41 at the time of accident)
T/L: IonMan
Editor: Zioming
Notes:
- Due to various circumstances and changes in people assigned to this project, it took us a moment to get things sorted. Moving forth we will try to keep a weekly schedule of half-chapter releases, before switching to full chapters, once we feel we’ve accumulated a reasonable backlog.
Raw Chapter: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9511bs/389
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That day, Kaede Yukawa was feeling tired.
Her son and daughter have just entered their rebellious phase. Her husband was a salaryman, who did not pay much attention to his family, always repeating that “I should leave the family to you.” Thankfully, her mother-in-law did what she could, to help with various household chores like cleaning, washing, and cooking.
She suddenly felt seriously disappointed by these people, whom she kept forgiving all this time, thanks to her generous heart.
“I want to be spoiled for once.“
She told her mother-in-law, that she was going shopping for some Valentine’s Day chocolates for her husband, and that she would be taking the train to the department store in Shinjuku.
With such an opportunity, she planned to enjoy a lunch course worth 2,500 yen, she once saw in a magazine.
But in the end, she got distracted and ended up getting a meal worth 648 yen at a coffee shop in front of the local station.
Still, she took her time enjoyed her coffee.
After that, she fell victim to an accident, just before reaching her destination, the station in Shinjuku.
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
(What happened? Was I rescued!?)
“Ugyaa, Ugyagyaa!?“
Kaede desperately tried to keep calm. She couldn’t afford to die and leave her family behind. Whether it be her children, or her hard-working husband, they were all important to her. Without her, keeping an eye on them, her son would not study, and her daughter would turn out a complete disappointment. She understood, that it was all thanks to her, that her husband could devote himself to work with peace of mind.
Because of that … because of that reason, she couldn’t afford to die in an accident like this!
(Please! Help!)
“Abya! Abyabya!“
(Eh? What … is this voice?)
It was a big accident. She thought there would be a lot of injured people. There could have been a baby as well. But, for some reason, she felt, that the voice belonged to her instead. She had difficulty breathing, probably because her lungs were filled with blood.
Kaede cowered in confusion. She managed to cough out what seemed to be pooled up blood and adjust her breathing. Coupled with the shock from the accident, she could not maintain her mental balance. On top of that, her stomach hurt (the pain was due to the removal of the umbilical cord). She believed she was seriously injured.
(Calm down, me. Take a deep breath first.)
She fell asleep while wondering about the situation.
Her new mother got worried about her newborn baby suddenly becoming lethargic, and out of distress, she smacked her baby daughter’s rear. The husband came into the room alerted by the commotion, but calmed down a bit hearing the baby’s voice and, once he checked her breathing, he reassured his wife to relax as well.
The baby was named Grace.
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
A dozen years later.
Grace Mimlot [1] managed to grow up without any major incidents and remained a serf to this current day. A little darling girl was born in Mitos Village[2], slightly inland from Karm[3], the capital city of Viscount Penlaid’s territory of the Kingdom of Rombert. It had already been over 10 years, since she got reincarnated on Orth.
After so many years passed by, her memories of her son, daughter and husband started to fade. When she got reincarnated, at first she was devastated by the incomprehensible situation, but soon, she decided, that it was pointless to keep fussing over, after pondering on it a couple of times. She simply let it go and accepted her new life. She also noticed that she now had a tail.
Her appearance was similar to that of a human, but she was no longer one. When she realized that, it helped her accept the death of her old self.
Except for Grace’s, there were only two other tiger-kin families in Mitos Village. One of them was a commoner’s family, that moved in, to take up the position of one of the Village Lord’s Squires, about ten years ago, but their oldest son already got married several years ago.
The other family was a serf’s family, just like Grace’s, but by some weird stroke of good, or maybe bad luck, only daughters were born into that family, and it was decided, that they would all be married to Grace’s brothers.
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
Grace had just turned nineteen. There were very few tiger-kin in Mitos Village to begin with, and they all had yet to reach their marriageable age, which caused Grace’s owner and her parents to seriously discuss about her future.
Apparently her uncle and aunt were also sold to another village in the past, and they both got married there. It was pretty clear, that, sooner or later, she would have to follow a similar fate.
Allegedly there was a single unmarried tiger-kin serf in the neighbouring village, but he was already close to forty. Still, Grace’s owner had already consulted with that man’s owner for her to be sold.
Grace hated the idea of being sold off, but there was no helping it in her situation. There weren’t many cases where the slave’s opinion was given any consideration, when selecting whom they would marry. She has already given up on this issue.
Then, one winter night.
A terrifying monster came down to the village from the mountain. It’s was a horned bear, that failed to gather enough fat to go into hibernation.
It didn’t happen often. Being at the top of the food chain, horned bears rarely had any problems with finding enough food, before the arrival of winter.
However this year, the young horned bear happened to be injured during a territorial dispute with another horned bear, and it failed to prepare in time.
The horned bear gave out a blood curling roar, before murdering a family of hunters, who lived on the outskirts of the village. The villagers were all struck with the [fear] condition from hearing the roar in the middle of the night, so the ones unlucky enough to be found by the bear, had no chance to survive.
The roar woke Grace up.
The moment she and her family heard the terrifying sound, causing them all to tremble, a memory triggered within her. In a blink of an eye, the fear that welled up within her heart disappeared, when her unique skill [Resistance (Mental Abnormality)] [4] activated. With the level of [fear] applied, substantially reduced, by the considerable distance from the source of the roar, and its volume, reduced, by the fact they were indoors, Grace and her family members were fortunate enough to just quiver in fear.
Right after her reincarnation, Grace was unaware of the existence of her unique skill, but she learned to use it a few years later. Her skill would activate whenever she had the awareness of her emotional state being disturbed by fear, panic, anger, sadness, or joy, and would help her regain balance. It would be quite daft to use it for joyous events, so she only ever used it in times of sadness, or emotional trauma. There was no actual level for this skill, but for conveniences sake, let’s say it’s level five.
The next morning, upon learning, that the entire hunter’s family had been consumed by the bear, all she could do, was to try and calm her family down from their state of fearful depression.
Now, that it had tasted human meat, the horned bear would soon attack again (at the longest, in about two weeks, but if they were unlucky, the very next day).
The Lord of the Village, Vested Knight Bedett[5], aware, that the village’s remaining forces would not be enough to defend against the horned bear, sent a message to Karm’s administration, asking them to place a subjugation request at the local adventurers’ guild. They promised, that “if no one responds to the request in three weeks, the knights of the Viscount Penlaid’s territory would be dispatched instead.“
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
A few days later, fortunately before another attack from the horned bear had happened, a young man visited the village, apparently on a request from Karm. He had a solid and sturdy body, and donned a well-maintained armor.
Lord Bedett was slightly disappointed, that only the young man came, as he was hoping for a party of at least six skilled adventurers. Alternatively, he could endure somehow, for another three weeks, and wait for the local knights to arrive, but, since he forgot to mention this in his message to Karm’s administration, they sent the young man instead.
Regardless, the village’s squires were already spread thin, so any assistance, that would let them rest and regain some strength, while they awaited further assistance from the capital city, was highly appreciated.
In the meantime, Lord Bedett decided to confirm the status of the young man, which gave him a sense of lingering hope.
The young man had black eyes and jet-black hair, could use magic, and had actual knight training. On top of that, he hailed from the knight group of Count Faruelgaz, where he’d been known in the past, to be reasonably strong, even among the other knights of the capital city, before leaving to become an adventurer.
“My lord. I understand your reasons for concern, but please rest assured. I’ve hunted a horned bear before.“
His speech was refined and polite, as one would expect form someone serving under Count Faruelgaz.
“Ooh, those are truly reassuring words. To think that you’d be able to face against one, if needed!“
With that being said, there weren’t that many individuals with the abilities to actually defeat a horned bear on their own. There wasn’t a single knight, who didn’t know about the beast, and what it was capable of. That’s why Vested Knight Bedett had also assumed, that the young warrior in front of him meant, that the horned bear he defeated last summer, was taken down in a collaborative efforts with other adventurers.
The former knight adventurer decided to stay alone in the house of the murdered hunter family, and lie in ambush for the horned bear. He even went as far, as to argue, that the assistance of the squires was not necessary, as it would only increase the number of potential deaths. Lord Bedett tried to dissuade the reckless young warrior from acting alone, but the man just laughed and said “It’s fine. Please be assured. Rather, I would like you to keep the people from the surrounding houses away from this area, until it’s confirmed, that the horned bear has been defeated.“
Because of that, the surrounding people were forced to vacate their homes for a few days. The young warrior, followed by a squire, went around the village visiting all the soon to be displaced families, as well as the families that would be taking them in, and asking them to “Please be patient with my request.” and bowing his head.
Among the commoners and free people who became knights, many would start behaving in an arrogant manner. Far from that however, in the eyes of the villagers, he seemed the very opposite of such detestable attitude.
The young warrior, accompanied by the Lord’s son, also visited the Mimlot family, as they were pretty close with the hunter’s family, given how their houses were only 80 meters apart. During his visit however, Grace was absent, as she was performing regular maintenance on some farming tools in the house of one of this village’s squires.
The Lord’s son introduced the young warrior, “He is an adventurer, who took up the assignment of exterminating the horned bear. He is also an outstanding individual, who had received an investiture as a true knight.“
When the young warrior got introduced, he politely greeted the family, assured them, that he will safeguard the village with care, and then explained his strategy, of vacating the radius of 200 meters around the hunter’s family’s house.
Listening to his explanations, the Mimlot family members looked at each other. Although he explained it in an easy-to-understand manner, they still felt it was much too reckless, to confront the horned bear alone. The roar they heard barely four days ago was so frightening, that their spines got frozen stiff.
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but I will have to trouble you to stay at Mr. Biggs’s[6] house for a while, starting from tonight.“
The young warrior bowed to them while donning a well-maintained leather armor, with a longsword at his waist. A knight who would treat a slave’s family in such a polite manner was a strange sight to behold.
The father of the Mimlot family answered on behalf of the entire family, that they understood. Of course, the Mimlot family members were slaves, and they had no right to refuse the knight’s request, especially when he was accompanied by the village Lord’s son.
Right as the two men turned around to leave the Mimlot family house, Grace returned from her chores. By pure chance, she run into an unfamiliar young warrior that came out of the house, through a doorway that was pretty small for the tiger-kin’s household.
“What’s this? You are …?“
Grace examined the facial features of the young warrior, who raised his head up to meet with hers, before leaking an unintentionally voice.
“Mu?“
The young warrior stared back at Grace’s face. However, he immediately turned his eyes away and walked off to a different location.
Later on, close to the end of that day, the young warrior was observing the Mimlot family from a distance, as they were carrying some blankets over to their temporary new home.
Seeing she was done, he approached Grace with simple, but fast and precise movements.
Her family moved away from the scene, while giving her a quick wink. All of the Biggs’s family members also quickly withdraw back into the house. Of course, they didn’t fear the young warrior. Rather than that, it was a “Do your best.” type encouragement that they provided to Grace, because the young warrior was a fellow tiger-kin.
Grace’s parents didn’t want to interfere with the young warrior, coming to speak with their daughter alone, for the first time.
“Hey, can we talk a little bit?“
The young warrior spoke to Grace with a soft demeanor.
“What is it about? Knight-sama.“
He wasn’t exactly sure if Grace would understand him, so he decided to ask her in the common tongue at first.
“Excuse me, are you a Japanese?”
The young warrior asked in Japanese this time around, with a wry smile.
“Eh. That’s right. Were you also involved in that accident?”
“That’s right. Fufu. Now, this makes me much more enthusiastic about this job.“
The young warrior said with a smile. He slowly changed his expression a little.
“Excuse me, but may I see your status?”
Grace agreed and presented him the back of her right hand.
“I see. If you want, I think I could release you from your slavery, if you’d like? Ah, I’m sorry, but I can only release just you. But as expected, it’s up to the family to decide … to … “
Grace felt suddenly elated.
“Thank you for your offer. But, I do thank you for that chance … “
After all, it’s not like the village Lord would just let her go for free. Although she was just a cheap serf, those of the of the tiger-kin bloodline were usually quite strong, similar to those of the Laius race, which would considerably raise her price as a slave.
“Yup. However, the request fee this time around is 3 million Zenis. By tonight, no that’s wrong, at the least I’ll be able to get it all, if I can get it done before the other adventurers arrive. At that time, I’ll tell them that I wish to receive you as a reward, instead of the request fee. If I have the three million Zenis, I can buy you from the village Lord directly, and if he doesn’t have the cash on hand, he can just barter using his slaves instead.“
The young warrior continued with his plans for Grace, while she seemed too astonished to be able to come with any words in return.
“I’d like to repay the loan to you eventually, but, even if I’m released, I’d still just be a free person … I’m a little troubled by this.“
The young warrior’s face became slightly distorted.
“Is that a problem?”
“Well, If you’re not a commoner, you cannot leave your Lord’s territory.“
While he obviously already knew that, it somehow completely slipped his mind.
“… I am very grateful that you’d try to release me from slavery. I thank you for your nice act, however, I’m afraid I have to decline your offer. Even if I can become a free person, I can’t make money, if I don’t have a job. I believe the payment for my poll tax is coming up soon as well.”
The young warrior was a bit surprised hearing Grace’s answer.
“In my past life, I didn’t have a job … Excuse me for asking, but what was your job back then?”
Grace responded that she was a regular housewife.
“If that’s the case, then it’s fine. I don’t see any problems. You can just work selling food. There are many things that are still lacking in this world, like the seasonings and familiar ingredients, but if you can cook well, you could come up with new dishes, that would prove popular with the customers … ”
He mentioned, that if she were to go to a larger city, she could obtain much better ingredients, than in Mitos Village. He told her, that with just a little ingenuity, even the nobles of Orth would enjoy the cooked dishes, that they have never eaten before.
“But …“
The young warrior gently smiled at Grace while she refrained herself.
“… It may take some time on your part, but it’s not like I’m in a hurry.“
Apparently he had a Japanese acquaintance in Baldukk, which was famous as a labyrinth city, near the royal capital. Said acquaintance was also a Japanese reincarnated person, and was acting as an adventurer, challenging the labyrinth with fellow Japanese reincarnates and his combat slaves, plus he a bunch of connections with various important people. He ran his own business, and it was thriving. Of course, he also had a lot of money. He said that if he contacted the man and explained her situation, the man would surely agree to help her out.
Grace welled up with hope hearing his explanation. Yet, the slight frown on the young man’s face did not help to convince her.
When she asked him why, the young warrior reluctantly explained that he would owe something to his acquaintance, causing Grace to immediately refuse his offer. She couldn’t have her benefactor, who’d help her start her own business, on top of granting her her freedom, be burdened with such a thing.
Grace already spend nearly 20 years of her life as a serf on Orth and became accustomed to giving up on her dreams. She even believed that having a dream, just for a few moments, in the first place, was already enough to be grateful for.
Seeing her in such a pitiful state, the young warrior responded with a gentle expression.
“There is no other way then … It may sound pretty rude to you as a Japanese person, but please don’t be angry at my suggestion. Another way would be to buy you and then marry you immediately on the spot, to release you from slavery. I am a commoner, so you would also become one. Afterwards, I promise to divorce you soon after, because I am currently in training. I realize it’s a really rude suggestion on my part, but you wouldn’t have to worry about being a married to a total stranger.”
Grace spouted out unintentionally after listening to his plan.
“You say something very interesting. I’m not the least angry, but rather, I’m grateful that you would worry about me so much. Thank you truly, but, why would you go so far, in order to help me?”
The young warrior’s appearance turned a little serious.
“Well, it’s not lake I gain anything financially. There will be no social benefit either. If I had to say, it would be simply to accumulate more virtue.“
His response came as a shock to Grace.
Why was he accumulating virtue?
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I’m in training right now. If you don’t return the gesture to me in the future, that’s perfectly fine with me. In a sense, I am also a human being. It wouldn’t be fun to be ignored, and I might feel upset, or even betrayed, for believing that that promised day would come … or you may rise to the occasion. In the end, it will just be an unpleasant encounter for me to remember, while for you, it will result in you being released from slavery. I believe it’s all worth It, if you can regain your freedom, in turn for just some bitter feelings on my part.“
Was that really the virtue he was looking for? Grace pondered intently, but arrived at the understanding that this person wasn’t trying to deceive her. She didn’t want to be a slave any longer.
“… A premise for a divorce. This is the first time I hear such a proposal. “
The young warrior laughed shyly while scratching his cheek.
“Let me thank you as much as possible. I’ll be in your care from now on.“
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
Two days later, the moment he heard the roar from the horned bear, that attempted to attack the village again, the young warrior rushed out with his spear, from within the houses, where he laid in ambush. The battle to the death lasted for tens of minutes.
The village’s retainers that rushed to support him, were completely frozen by the horned bear’s roar, becoming utterly useless in their panicked state.
Fio however, was not affected by it in the least, and accurately thrust his spear while staying at a safe distance.
The villagers observed the battle from a safe location a few hundred meters away.
Loud cheers erupted in response to his final thrust.
“Surely, he is one of the best warriors in this country.“
“As expected of a man who protects the nobles.“
The people kept praising him.
Vested Knight Bedett’s prior prediction of him failing in a single fight against the bear, did not come to fruition.
“My lord. The Horned bear had been exterminated.“
A blood soaked young warrior reported to the village Lord, after he healing his injured arm with magic.
“Umu, the battle was brilliant! This is a glorious deed! How did you manage it? Would you like to serve me as a squire? You’ve definitely earned it today.“
As a landed noble, Vested Knight Bedett was always on the lookout for promising new retainers, but the young warrior politely refused, saying that he is still in training.
“However, I do have a request.“
The young warrior asked the Lord for the hand of the village serf’s daughter in marriage, claiming that he didn’t need the requested reward of 3 million Zeni.
Hearing his request, many of the villagers and squires seemed surprised, but pleasantly pleased.
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
“{Status open} … From now on, you are a commoner. You are free to travel anywhere in the country.“
Grace and the young warrior were holding a wedding ceremony at a shrine in Karm, the capital city of Viscount Penlaid’s territory. Grace’s name has now changed, from Grace Mimlot to Grace Hirosukol.
“Thank you. For this, I …“
Divorcing after getting married on the same date was not a well-behaved thing to do. They were thinking of coming back to the shrine a few days later at the least.
“Yup. I need money as well, so if you could return them someday, it would be great. Until then …“
Holding onto Grace’s hand, Fio handed her some of his remaining money, believing she required the funds for her immediate expenses for livelihood and traveling.
“I understand. But, since you gave me all this money, don’t you only have 100,000 Zenis left?“
“Mmm. That … is certainly true… but I can make that money back right away, so don’t worry about it.“
“I want to follow Hirosukol-san if I can. I promise that I will not be in the way of your training.“
“But … like I said before, I know some acquaintances in Baldukk. If you visit Alan Greed and Rodrick Faruelgaz to discuss business, there won’t be any ill-intentions from either of them and all will be just fine.“
Grace has heard the story about them many times already. Even though she only knew Fio for a brief period of time, she would rather not rely on these strange men she had never met face-to-face before. She believed that no one could be more reliable, than the hero, who defeated that terrifying horned bear alone.
Fio turned to her and said, “I didn’t release you from your slavery by purchasing you, but rather it’s a loan from the perspective of another Japanese person. Plus, it would be hard on you to follow me around during my training”.
Given as Fio had already spend the whole day it took them to ride his warhorse from Mitos Village to Karm, on trying to persuade her, Grace felt that she had no other choice, but to resort to her final trump card.
“Am I not your wife, as of now? I’ve decided I’m not going to divorce you.“
“Ehh!?“
Though divorce of non-nobles was free of charge, if the divorce were to be considered as a suffered loss for either side, it would prevent them from obtaining the divorce at the shrine in the first place. Certainly, Fio’s personal status did not change in particular. However, if he happened to get married again, without first declaring that the next person is the second wife, he would surely get struck by a lightning.
As long as Grace retained her status of the first wife of the Hirosukol family, a new marriage was impossible for Fio.
Since he had no intention of getting married, or starting his own family, at this moment, it wouldn’t be a problem for him, for the time being.
On the other hand, it could become a problem for Grace in the future. On Orth, even if you were to get divorced, the fact that you were once married, remained in your personal status for some reason.
“Are you planning on abandoning your wife?“
“Eeeehh!? That can’t …!“
“Don’t you need a traveling companion?“
“No, I don’t see that as a problem …“
“I just got married!“
“No, in this instance, we can simply divorce.“
“Weren’t you the one that proposed that we could get married?“
“Eeeh!? That’s true, but! This is a different story!“
” … I’m sorry. I know I’m being a bit overdemanding, but just for a little longer, please let me stay with you.“
“Mu … In any case, I’m planning to head to Belondo[7] in the north, as my next destination …“
Belondo had a population of about 5,000 and was the crossing point of multiple trade routes. The city was not as big as Karm, but it could be said to be the key transportation hub, so the options for caravan escorts to various destinations one could choose from were much more numerous, than in Karm. There was also a shrine there, so a divorce there was also an option. Plus, it was on the way to Baldukk.
After all, Fio had a soft spot for women, who couldn’t be easily swayed.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Footnotes:
[1] Grace Mimlot (グレース・ミムロット – Gurēsu Mimurotto)
[2] Mitos Village (ミートス – Mītosu) – a Village in Viscount Penlaid’s territory of Rombert Kingdom
[3] Karm (カールム – Kārumu) – the capital city of Viscount Penlaid’s territory of Rombert Kingdom, previously translated as “Karumu”
[4] Resistance (Mental Abnormality) (耐性（ 精神 異常 ）– インサ( ニティ・トレランス) – Insa (Niti Toreransu) )
[5] Vested Knight Bedett (ベーデット士爵 – Bēdetto Shishaku)
[6] Biggs (ビーグス – bīgusu)
[7] Belondo (ベロンド – Berondo) – a trade city in Kingdom of Rombert