76 - Tampu Village and Meiyu Village
The autumn and winter clothes I ordered from the tailor at the beginning of summer began arriving at the residence one after another. Whether it was Leonardo's taste or not, there were still plenty of frills and ruffles, but in terms of keeping warm, I was grateful for them in the coming season. For that reason, my wardrobe was also changing to autumn wear.
"Leonyaldo-san, do you need something?"
Most of the clothes were delivered to the residence, but the ones Leonardo wanted to check the finish on were delivered to the fortress. Since it was hard to predict when Leonardo would be at the residence, it was more efficient to have them delivered to the fortress from the start. After that, all he had to do was call me from the residence for a final confirmation.
I stepped into Leonardo's office, which I was finally getting used to, and looked at the boxes piled on the couch. A folding screen had also been prepared off to the side, so it seemed I would be made to try on the clothes here. To be thorough, a tailor and a female attendant had even been prepared, presumably to help with dressing.
"...Does it suit me?"
The clothes the attendant dressed me in were that wa-gosurori from before. A crimson jacket tailored in a kimono style, and a black skirt, as ever in the Grenore Knights specification. There was also a stiff-looking obi, but with a kimono of this color, it might be fine to pair it with the heko obi from the jinbei I had commissioned in the summer. The frills at the cuffs seemed a bit bothersome, but people of the social status who normally wore clothes focused on fashion like this did not do housework anyway, so maybe it was not a problem.
When I spun around on the spot to show him, Leonardo nodded with satisfaction, then beckoned me over. When I approached as called, he placed a cat-eared headband on me.
"Huh? What is this?"
"You were interested in cat ears before, were you not. It is a bit early, but I prepared a costume for the Divine King Festival."
At the strange sensation on my head, I reached up to confirm the object without removing it. The soft, fluffy texture... at least the feel of it was unmistakably good quality.
...Did they make this from real fur, perhaps?
More likely than not, this must have been quite an expense just for a cat ear costume. A little girl in wa-gosurori wearing cat ears... to an onlooker, it would certainly be a feast for the eyes.
...If it were not me wearing the cat ears, I would honestly be rolling around in moe bliss myself.
Embarrassing as it was inside, the tailor who had simply made the clothes as ordered was blameless. Each time I was asked whether the specifications were as ordered or if the fit was comfortable, I answered, and the delivery of the goods was completed smoothly. After seeing the tailor bow to Leonardo and leave the room, I only then realized I was still wearing the wa-gosurori. That was probably my only mistake today. Even though it was a short distance, I ended up having to walk back to the residence in wa-gosurori and cat ears.
"...Can I look at the others?"
"Sure. They are all your clothes anyway."
After checking with Leonardo to be sure, I opened the boxes piled on the couch. They must have been from the same tailor, as they contained different colors of the wa-gosurori, hair ornaments, and a fur collar.
"...Oh? Pants."
Since I did not remember ordering these myself, these pants must have been ordered by Leonardo. For Leonardo, who preferred to dress me in skirts with lots of frills, this was a rare choice.
"Leonyaldo-san, there are pants here. Was it a mistake in the order?"
"No, those pants are my order. You will need them when riding a horse."
"...Am I going to ride a horse?"
When I asked in the speech that I felt had finally started to stumble a little less often recently, Leonardo showed a gesture as if thinking for a moment.
...Huh? That is not it?
If he said they were needed when riding a horse, I thought he might be planning to teach me horseback riding, but being asked about it made him pause, so that apparently was not it. What on earth had Leonardo been thinking when he ordered pants for riding a horse?
"...It would be good to teach you horsemanship when you are a bit bigger, Tina, but for now these are pants for when you ride with me."
With a skirt, the only options were to ride sidesaddle or straddle the saddle with your knees exposed. When we moved to Waiyakku Valley, I had straddled the saddle while worrying about my skirt, so he must have remembered how that went.
"Do you have any business to go out on horseback with Leonyaldo-san?"
"This winter it is Mandez. Tina, let us travel to Mandez city for the winter Divine King Festival."
"I will stay home and mind the house, you know that."
At some point, I had heard that during the Divine King Festival season, there was a ceremony at the fortress to honor the War God Herkeiles. That ceremony was supposed to be performed by the lord of the fortress, and Leonardo was the lord of four fortresses including Grenore Fortress. The ceremony could not be held at different times, so at fortresses where Leonardo was not present, the vice-commander performed it instead. But apparently it was considered unfair that only Grenore Fortress had the commander perform the ceremony every year, so Leonardo was forced to take a short trip every winter. If I thought of it as an opportunity to inspect the various fortresses that were normally handled by reports alone, it was not a bad deal, but I swallowed the retort that came to mind about how he should just move every year instead. If that were implemented, I would be the one forced to move every year too. As someone who was more of an indoor type, I would like to refuse not just yearly moves, but even short trips if possible.
"...You might change your mind and want to come along, you know?"
Speaking of possibilities, I could not say it was zero, but I could not imagine myself ever wanting to go on a trip in winter. When I let it go without bothering to retort, Leonardo seemed to give up on the idea. He said to let him know if I changed my mind, and the topic of the Mandez trip ended for now.
"Well, there are still three months until the Mandez trip, so that is fine for now... but I am thinking of going to inspect the settlement village soon."
"The settlement village... is that where Jean-Jacques and the others are?"
"That is right. It is a village where those infected with Wards disease are isolated and live until they lose their infectiousness over the course of a year. Do you not want to see Jean-Jacques's face after all this time?"
"I do not really care about Jean-Jacques, but I would like to see if the other people are doing well."
Thinking back, Jean-Jacques had stood out with somewhat mean-spirited comments from the start, and when I thought he had recovered from Wards disease, he chased me around in a mummy style saying "I am a Franken-man!"... I had nothing but bad memories. It was not like we were close enough to go visit him specially, but I did feel a bit of guilt about the Wards disease, so going to check on things once might be good. If it was early autumn when it was not yet too cold, a short trip on horseback would not be bad either.
The settlement village where Wards disease patients were isolated for a year was about a one-day ride by horse from Grenore city. Since I did not know how far a horse could travel in a day, I could not tell the exact distance from the city. Since it took a day each way, we would naturally need to camp overnight. The prospect of camping out for the first time in a while, along with Leonardo's vegetable soup, somehow made me feel nostalgic. After a leisurely journey in a relaxed mood, Leonardo and two other Black Knights arrived at the settlement village around noon the following day.
"We are here, Tina."
"Nn...?"
Having been rocked on the horse for so long, I must have been dozing off from the pleasant vibrations. Leonardo's voice made me involuntarily flinch my shoulders.
"Is this it? What is the name of this village?"
"It was a village called Tampu... but now it is just a settlement village."
"Is it not Tampu Village?"
"It is a village that was wiped out once. It should have a different name next time."
Besides, it was not even decided whether a new village would form, Leonardo said with a wry smile. The current settlement village was called a 'settlement' in name only... it was actually just a living space to keep Wards disease patients away from populated areas until their infectiousness faded over the year. Since most of them originally lived in the city, there would naturally be those who wanted to return to the city once the one-year isolation period was over. It was hard to imagine them settling here permanently and forming a new village.
While receiving this explanation from Leonardo, I looked out over the settlement village. The ground was black in various places... probably traces of when the village had been burned down once. There were few houses. In the center of the village was a large building, and around it there were only two new houses.
"There are not many houses."
"It might only be a temporary place to live. They probably built a large building first and all lived together there."
The village that had been wiped out by the epidemic was thoroughly burned down once. Since the infected could not live in a place with nothing, they first lived in tents prepared by the knights, built one large building together, and the tent life ended. Then they made the large building their base of living, tried cultivating fields, and for those who planned to settle in the village, they built individual homes... that was life in this village, every day consumed by work.
...Privacy must be tough.
Especially for women, I imagined they would be concerned about men's eyes during changing and such. I could not tell without going inside, but I wondered if that large building had private rooms prepared.
...But firewood in winter would probably be less of a burden.
Rather than each household gathering firewood and warming themselves separately, gathering in one large building and burning firewood together would probably use less firewood overall. For city people not used to village life, if it meant spending less time gathering firewood, winter life would be a little easier.
Whether because the soil was poor, or because city people who did not know how to cultivate were tending the fields, as I gazed at the meager crops, the Black Knight who had been posted as a guard to prevent escapes came over to report on the current situation.
"...So it is impossible for them to survive the winter on their own after all."
"Yes. There are a few people who were originally villagers, but most are city people. At first they could barely even hold a hoe... We tried cultivating the fields, but as you can see, this is the result."
"We will need to provide support through the winter as well."
As if tax revenue this year was not already dropping due to multiple villages disappearing, they had also invested a large sum in preparing medicine to contain the disease. I had only watched Aurelia making medicine, so I had not been particularly aware of large sums of money being moved, but it seemed the blow was enough to make Leonardo want to hold his head.
"...Why do you not stop wasting money?"
I looked up at Leonardo and made that suggestion. When it came to Leonardo's wasteful spending, it was mainly on me. Even though secondhand clothes would be good enough, Leonardo kept having new clothes made for me. I picked up the hem of the coat I had just had made and pointed out Leonardo's wasteful spending.
"I do not think spending on Tina's clothes is wasteful, but the damage to tax revenue is for Grenore city as a whole, so my wallet has nothing to do with it."
He had never used the fortress's money on me, Leonardo said with an exasperated look, pinching my cheek. Even if I cut down on my clothing costs, it seemed it would not change the amount the fortress could use.
When Leonardo helped me down from the horse and I peeked around various parts of the village, I was occasionally called out to by former residents of the isolation ward. I imagined they had hardships living in this unfamiliar village, but everyone seemed to be getting along reasonably well, which was a small comfort. Whether it was fellow sufferers pitying each other or simply because they were close by, several couples seemed to have formed in the village. They said the couples were discussing whether to return to the city after a year or stay in the settlement village.
"Oooi! Tina-kko!"
"Ah, Jean-Chack."
"It is Jean-Jacques-sama! Jean-Jacques!"
Recognizing me, Jean-Jacques ran over and we exchanged our usual greetings. Same as when we parted in the city, Jean-Jacques was still covered in bandages all over his body.
"Jean-Chack, you look well."
"Tina-kko is still tiny... no, did you get a bit bigger?"
"Eh, really?"
If I had grown taller, I would be honestly happy. When I asked back without thinking, I felt like Jean-Jacques grinned under his bandages.
"...Wider."
Getting wider equals getting fat. I had always been thinking I needed to be careful about the snack attacks from the Black Knights including Leonardo, but having someone else... and Jean-Jacques of all people... point it out was not pleasant. I wanted to puff out my cheeks in a huff but held back, and instead smiled brightly and decided to show off my shoes.
"Jean-Chack, look look. Leonyaldo-san had these shoes made for me."
"Huh?"
"Are they not cute?" I said with a smile, lifting one foot and wiggling it. The cute but sturdy shoes were a special order made by the shoemaker. Of course, the toe area was the custom part... my usual shoes.
As I was having Jean-Jacques experience the practicality of cute shoes, Jean-Jacques, holding his shin, suddenly turned serious. It was hard to read his expression under the bandages, but I could somehow tell from the atmosphere.
"Hey, um... I am sorry."
"For what?"
"Did you not hear from the Commander? That I sold off your..."
Father's ring, Jean-Jacques said, looking awkward but speaking clearly out loud. It felt fresh, though that might be rude, that he was apologizing sincerely.
"...I heard from Leonyaldo-san."
"I see. I am sorry, really. I was tempted for a moment, you know... No, it is not something that can be fixed with a simple sorry..."
Whether he was not used to apologizing sincerely, Jean-Jacques scratched his head in embarrassment. His dandruff should still have some infectiousness, so I wished he would be a bit more careful.
"It is alright. Leonyaldo-san hit you for me, and I heard you reburied my father's grave after the dogs dug it up."
"...I see. Well, if anything is bothering you, just tell me. It is not by way of apology, but I will help you out."
"I still cannot go back to the city for another year though," Jean-Jacques laughed, so I brought up what happened at the martial arts tournament the other day. I could not very well make him a victim of my custom shoes, but I wanted to know how to deal with a brat who suddenly pulls a girl's hair. Leonardo had said the boy should not be at the Menhishumi Church from autumn onward, but since I went into the city, there was a chance I would encounter him somewhere.
After hearing Jean-Jacques's advice on how to handle a brat, I returned to Leonardo, who was looking at the southern sky. Wondering what he could see, I looked in the same direction and had my head patted by a large hand.
"What are you looking at?"
"Oh... I was just thinking Meiyu Village is about three hours round trip if I spur the horse."
"That is pretty close."
I had thought we had been traveling for days on horseback, but apparently it was only about a day and a bit by horse in light condition. When we came, we were pulling a wagon, and on the way back we had a child who was not used to riding. That must have slowed us down.
"...Are you interested?"
"I think I would like to at least visit the graves..."
When you lived in the city, you almost never left it. There was no need to go into the mountains to gather firewood like when I lived in the village, and everything I needed could be bought within the city. There was no need to risk being attacked by beasts or bandits by going outside the city. Living that kind of life, I did not know when I would next come near Meiyu Village, but Leonardo was here for work, so I could not go wandering off on my own. Besides, even if it was a distance that could be covered there and back in a day by horse, that would not be the case on my own feet.
"If we decide to stay in this village tonight, we can at least go see how the graves are doing."
"If Leonyaldo-san's return schedule gets delayed, Alf-san will have trouble."
So do not worry about it, I intended to decline, but in the end Leonardo pushed through anyway. Even the Black Knights who came with us, upon hearing that my hometown was nearby, cheerfully saw us off.
I felt bad for interfering with his work, but still, somewhere in my heart I was happy. Happy, and lonely, and sad.
My hometown, which I had not seen in about half a year, had nothing left. Same as the settlement village, there were patches of black ground here and there, and I recalled the houses of former villagers that had once stood there. The difference from the settlement village was that no one lived here anymore. The ground in the settlement village, where people walked, had grass trampled down and was sparse, but after just half a year without anyone walking on it, the weeds had grown wild. Even the fields visible in the distance were overgrown with weeds and neglected. Of course my house was no exception... nothing remained but blackened ground.
After seeing a settlement village struggling to come back to life, looking at my dead hometown was a little painful.
Wanting to leave this place quickly, I pulled Leonardo's hand and walked toward the cemetery. They apparently had not set fire to the cemetery, as several grave markers remained. I still remembered the position of my parents' grave. The stone marker Leonardo had told me to make was gone, but the earth was piled higher than when Leonardo had raised it.
...So what Jean-Jacques said about reburying it was true after all.
I resolved in my heart to properly thank him when we returned to the settlement village, offered a short silent prayer at my parents' grave, and of course prayed for the souls of the Daltowas as well, reporting that I had met Jasper, who apparently knew them.
Tina's mispronounced speech has improved slightly.
I will fix typos and errors another day...
Found and corrected typos and errors. I will skip the update on the 12th.