Mother’s Favourite
It was the morning of the second day we moved and stayed at Nemophila Kingdom.
I woke up from how cold it was. It’s probably because it’s December and also a northern country; it’s distinctly colder than the Moon Palace.
Come to think of it, every one in the Nemophila Royal Family, is tall. Ojii-san and Oji-san are above 190cm, and Okaa-san and the others, the adult women are also above 170cm for many of them.
I’ve heard it before in Japan. That there are apparently many people whose body becomes bigger when they’re raised in a northern country’s cold environment. I wonder if that’s really true. I was thinking about such things in a daze.
Before my eyes, Okaa-san is still sleeping. The things I was told by Okaa-san last night, stabbed my heart deeply.
It seems I don’t have a self. Now that she mentions it, she might be right. I wonder if it’s especially so after reincarnating in this world. Honestly speaking, my heart stayed an empty husk after all……
I was all of a sudden, born in God’s household with supernatural powers, and all I did was think about what I could do from a doctor’s perspective and responded to the demands before my eyes despite being in confusion.
In other words, I’ve only been doing things within the scope of a doctor, and all that is is just me being pushed about by the situation that I was placed in. There isn’t my own will or my own wish there.
Okaa-san said to search for my self here. If I don’t find it here, I can just go around the world after coming of age. So she says. Will I find it? Is it necessary to find it? I don’t know……
Nevertheless, Okaa-san is beautiful. There’s the expression ‘clear white skin’, but that is what this skin literally is. Long eyelashes. Her bottom lashes sure are long as well huh. Her nose is well-defined, neither too tall nor too low. You can both say she’s beautiful or adorable. Her lips are lightly pink even without applying lipstick, and they’re adorable.
I, unwittingly, felt like touching Okaa-san’s cheek with my hand. After stroking her cheek, her eyes with long lashes slowly opened. Okaa-san touched my hand with her own, placing hers on top of mine. And then she smiled.
“Morning. You are already awake huh”
“Morning. Okaa-sama. The morning in Nemophila sure is cold huh”
Okaa-san hugs me tightly to warm me up after I say that.
“Eeh, that’s right. It reminded me of how hard it was to get out of bed”
“I did feel slightly cold at the Moon Palace as well. But as I thought, it looks like it is colder over here”
“Do you hate the cold?”
“No, I resided in a northern cold region even in my previous life. It is nostalgic for me as well since there was also a lot of snow”
“I see. I am glad you don’t hate it”
Ton Ton!
It’s the sound of somebody knocking on the room’s door. It looks like one of the maids came. We turned around and looked over there.
“Excuse me. Good!……go-. Good morning”
Mira, who came in and saw the sight of us, is somehow extremely surprised.
“Morning. Mira. What’s the matter?”
“N-, no……uh. Erm, i-, it is nothing”
No, no, it can’t be nothing when your face is beet red, and you’re that surprised, right.
“You can say anything. What’s the matter?”
“Er-. Erm. Th-, the sight of you two is, a-, all too beautiful. So, I was surprised……my apologies”
Eh? Beautiful? What does she mean? Aah, did Okaa-san come off like a Goddess? It’s true that this sleep-wear belongs to the Moon Palace, and it’s pure white and has a ‘Goddess’ garment’ vibe huh.
“Fufuu. The Mira who says that is also beautiful, you know. Now then, Tsukuyomi. Let’s go and have breakfast”
“Yes. Okaa-sama”
While Mira was dressing Okaa-san, I changed by myself. I noticed my hair had gotten pretty long when I looked at the full-length mirror. It has already reached all the way to my back. My hair is beautiful like Okaa-san, and I kinda end up hesitating to cut it.
I wonder if this appearance of mine is beautiful? I’ve never thought about whether the me I see every day is beautiful. I stared outside while thinking about such things in a daze. There was a thin blanket of snow outside. Telling you that snow will be piling up from here on out.
“Okaa-sama. You will end up being unable to ride Sonia if the snow ends up piling up too much, no?”
“Eh, yeah. We end up being locked in during winter. But we have made a spacious horse-riding hall in a room on the castle’s first floor. We can let her exercise over there, you know. Tsukuyomi can probably just have horse-riding practice over there as well”
“I see. This winter, can we not go outside anymore?”
“Yeah. If we don’t go too far, I guess it is probably still alright”
“I want to see the scenery outside if possible after all, so I want to try going before being locked in though”
“Yeah! Let’s go today then, shall we!”
“Yes. Thank you. Okaa-sama”
When we went for breakfast, I was told by Oji-san that we would be having swordsmanship training after this. That’s right. We were talking about starting the basic training immediately, from today.
“Tsukuyomi. Let’s have the horse-riding in the afternoon, shall we”
“Yes. Okaa-sama”
I got myself a bit of time since we can’t be having training right after finishing breakfast.
That’s right, let’s go to Tsukikage-nee-sama’s shrine and have her show me every nook and cranny during this time.
“Okaa-sama, since there is a bit of free time, I will be going to Tsukikage-nee-sama’s”
“Eeh, got it”
I used Teleportation to the corridor in front of the shrine’s consultation room by myself.
Whoosh!
Don!
“Kyaーh!”
The moment I appeared in the shrine’s corridor, I crashed into someone. Incidentally, there was a shrine maiden walking down the corridor. I got sent flying since my body is still small, but I used Levitation as is and avoided tumbling. But, the shrine maiden fell and ended up on her butt in the corridor. I flew to that shrine maiden’s side in a panic.
“Are you alright? Sorry. It’s all because I appeared suddenly”
“Ah! I-, I……erm, my apologies”
“Can you stand? Give me your hands”
I grabbed that shrine maiden’s hands and pulled her up while using Levitation.
“Did you hit your head? Do you feel off-balance?”
“I-, I am alright. Er-, erm, who are you?”
“I am Tsukuyomi”
“Tsukuyomi-sama! Is it the Tsukuyomi-sama who made that book on the knowledge about women!”
“Eh? Eeh, yeah”
At that moment, Tsukikage-nee-sama showed up from the other side of the corridor.
“Ara, Onii-sama? My! Sienna. Whaーt? You are holding Onii-sama’s hands!”
“Ah! Par-, pardon me!”
No, I was the one holding her though……Sienna brought her hands round to her back and turned bright red on her face.
“Onee-sama, Sienna walked over right when I used Teleportation and appeared in the corridor, and I ended up crashing into her. Now, I am in the very middle of getting her up”
“Ara, I see huh. Onii-sama, Sienna is, you know, a Viscount’s daughter, but she read and was moved by the book Onii-sama made and came here hoping to be a shrine maiden. How rare, right?”
“Is it rare for a Viscount’s daughter to become a shrine maiden?”
“It seems to be unthinkable normally. This is no place for bridal training after all”
“Does Sienna not want to get married?
N-, no, something like that is……it’s just that, because I am the Viscount household’s second daughter, I cannot really expect a good marriage, so I thought it is better to do the things I want to do”
“What kind of things do you want to do through the shrine’s shrine maiden’s job?”
“Yes. I would like to look after those who are ill”
“Is that because you have somebody in your family who is gravely ill or something?”
“No, nothing of that sort”
“Is that so. But a shrine maiden’s job is a very important job. Please most certainly do your best, alright”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Sienna is an adorable girl with a bright and cheerful smile. If this were Japan, she would probably be called an ‘angel in white’.
“Onii-sama, I will guide you around the shrine”
“Eeh, please do. I want to try seeing if there is any difference from the Moonlight Country’s shrine”
“I think it will not be much different, you know”
I walked around every nook and cranny, but it really was pretty much the same. Even the number and size of the rooms. I wonder if there’s some kind of a standard sample?
And then, I returned to the castle since it ended up becoming Tsukikage-nee-sama’s consultation time.
Forlan and my swordsmanship training started.
First, we were made to wear the knight outfit for when you are training, which Oji-san was said to have used when he was a child. Well, it’s child-use, so it’s not as fitting as a knight outfit would be, but it’s certainly easy to move in. I then entered the Royal Palace Chivalric Order’s training grounds with Forlan.
The members of the Royal Palace Chivalric Order were gathered en masse over there. As I thought huh, they’re pretty much all women. There are probably about 30 of them. Oji-san speaks to the Chivalric Order’s knights who have lined up.
“Everybody. My son, Forlan, and Armeria’s son, Tsukuyomi, will start their swordsmanship training from today onwards. Because they’re still at the stage of building up their base physical strength, they won’t be receiving your guidance, but since they’ll be coming here every day from here on out, keep an eye out for them”
“Roger!”
“Well then, Chivalric Order Captain, Sword Saint. Your greetings”
“Yes! I am Nemophila Royal Palace Chivalric Order Captain, Duke Henry Webber. It is an honour. To be able to meet you. I am pleased, to make your acquaintance”
“I am Nemophila Royal Palace Chivalric Order Sword Saint, Marquis Franc Neuuman’s second daughter. My name is Stellaria Neuuman. It is an honour to be able to meet you. I am pleased, to make your acquaintance”
“I am Forlan Nemophila. Nice to meet you”
“Hello, everybody; I will be in your care here with Armeria-kaa-sama until I come of age. I am Tsukuyomi from the Moon Palace. Nice to meet you”
“Oohー!”
“Kyaーh!”
“How, beautiful……”
“Uoohon!”
The female knights became expressive and were saying something one after another, but they went quiet at the Chivalric Order Captain’s loud cough.
“Well then, everybody. I’m counting on you”
“Well then, Forlan. Tsukuyomi. Try holding the sword over there up”
“Yes”
That sword was a Western dual-edged long sword I’d seen before in books and movies. I hold the handle with both hands and try to hold it up. It’s quite heavy. But I managed to lift the sword all the way to the position of Kendo’s chuudan-no-kamae1 somehow. When I look at the Forlan beside me, his hands are shaking, and he’s doing his best to try and lift it.
“How is it, does it feel like you can swing the sword from there?”
“No, it is taking all I have just to lift it”
“Otou-sama. It is heavy!”
“I would think so. That would be normal. Eventually, you have to become capable of swinging that sword even with just one arm. You are building up your base physical strength for the sake of that”
“Yes!”
“Well then, for today, we’re gonna first be running after warming up
After that, we meticulously performed stretching exercises and practice-swung wooden swords. It’s very Kendo-like and exciting. And finally, the three of us ran the perimeter of the training grounds. I guess 1 round is probably about 100 meters. Forlan dropped after 1 round. I managed to run 3 rounds with ease. As I thought, it looks like my body is unique.
“Forlan doesn’t move much, so he’ll first start from running. As for Tsukuyomi, as one would expect from having flown around the world, it seems that you have more stamina than Forlan. First, let’s thoroughly do this basic training every day”
“Understood”
“Well then, today’s training is over with this”
I’m glad it wasn’t harsh right from the start. I was thinking about what I should do if I was overly exhausted and could no longer go horse riding.
I go out horse riding with Okaa-san after lunch. Okaa-san changed into her horse-riding outfit. I’m a child after all, and I don’t have any horse-riding outfit after all, and the outside is also cold, so I’m made to wear through and through on both the top and bottom.
When we went to the stable, Sonia and others turned over here en masse right away. And then Sonia speaks to me.
『ride?』
『Yeah. Is it alright for me to get on together?』
『sure』
And then, I was given the okay readily.
“Okaa-sama. Sonia said it is alright for me to get on together”
“My! That is great! Sonia. Thanks!”
Okaa-sama says that and strokes Sonia’s scruff. Sonia answers by neighing.
“Alberia. I’ll go out with Tsukuyomi today”
“Yes. Armeria-sama”
Okaa-san is equipping the saddle and reins on Sonia with accustomed hand movements alongside Alberia the handler.
Okaa-san straddled Sonia first, and Alberia carried me up and placed me on her. I’m straddling her in a way where I’m enveloped in Okaa-san’s arms.
It’s my first time riding a horse. The straddling position is quite far-up from the ground, it’s a bit scary.
“Okaa-sama. It is quite high huh. It is a little scary”
“Hold onto the reins tightly, alright. I’m supporting you as well, so it’ll be fine”
“Yes”
When Alberia opened the stable’s gate, Sonia started slowly walking outside like she understood. ‘The up-and-down motions sure are larger than I thought huh’, is what I felt.
“Tsukuyomi. Move slowly at first”
“Yes. Okaa-sama”
I’m increasing the speed bit by bit, but rather than galloping, it’s subdued to a jogging extent. Even so, I’m jerking about. Honestly speaking, even just holding on is quite tedious.
Partially also because there was a blanket of snow outside, the wind that hit my cheek was chilling despite being in the afternoon sunlight. But, I didn’t have the leeway to feel it because I was desperately holding onto the reins so that I don’t fall off.
We’re gradually moving away from the castle and making our way into the fields. Snow has piled up in the mountains and trees, but the snow in the plains and fields is melting away now that it’s afternoon.
I guess probably 30 minutes had passed; I finally became capable of matching Sonia’s shaking and my shaking, and I could take in the scenery in the vicinity as well.
“Okaa-sama, I became capable of matching this shaking at last”
“My! You learn quickly huh! Well then, let’s go a little bit further, shall we”
“Yes”
Bit by bit, I increase the speed and gallop away. A mountain was right around the corner before long. A river came into view as I was thinking whether it was alright to come all the way to a place like this. Aah, this was the destination huh.
“Tsukuyomi. Let’s rest here. We have to let Sonia rest as well”
“Yes”
I alighted from Sonia with Levitation. Okaa-sama is pulling Sonia’s reins, going all the way to the lakeside, and letting Sonia drink water.
Nevertheless, what a beautiful scenery. There’s a mountain right to the right side, but there’s a lake before my eyes, and on the other side of that is a stretch of snow-covered mountains. Furthermore, the mountains in the distant are quite tall, and it looks like the snow has completely piled up over there.
Being able to be back in her home country, riding Sonia, and coming to her favourite place, Okaa-san looks like she’s in bliss.
Looking at such a blissful smile of Okaa-san healed me as well.
