Goodbye Tanaka

Translated by Raizu

A few days had passed.

I had a vague sense of it, but I think that this is not Japan, and that the time is probably different.

Time travel should’ve been just fiction, but I couldn’t help but consider the possibility because of the reality before me.

It’s strange that there were no electronic appliances. Even if it’s in the countryside.

Even if it was a community that insisted on living a natural life away from civilization, they should at least use civilized things, but there was absolutely no such thing here.

And about the giants.

They looked huge to me not because they’re actually huge. It’s the opposite.

It’s me who was small.

My present appearance is that of a child.

....unbelievable, right? I couldn’t believe it either.

Right now, I look like a foreign boy..about 7 to 8 years old, maybe?

Both my hair and eyes are black. And while my face doesn’t look odd, I strangely looked grumpy.

Apparently, I was named Varian.

And apparently the man and woman from the other day are my parents.. I didn’t get what they’re saying, so pardon me for the insolence.

Since then, I’ve been treated as an amnesiac.

I was given medicine(?) by someone who seemed to be a doctor, and when they found out that it didn’t work, I was brought to a church-like building and received a lot of prayers and exorcism.

I didn’t know if it’s by a monk or a priest, but I was sprinkled with water and doused with foul-smelling incense. But of course it had no effect.

For a moment, I thought that I was exorcised as an evil spirit or something, but it seems that’s not the case.

What is going on here?

If it’s reincarnation, how come I directly reincarnated to a young boy instead?

There are endless questions about what happened to Varian up until now, or whether I was reborn in the past in the first place.

For the past few days, I’ve been lying around in my stinking bed without even thinking about doing anything.

First of all, how long will this state last?

Maybe one day the real Varian will suddenly wake up and I’ll be gone.

When I think about it, I don’t feel like doing anything.

『Tanaka Sei』had already died anyway.

And I don’t know what to do with the life of this unfamiliar Varian either..

As I was rummaging around while Varian’s mother worriedly watched, I suddenly remembered the words my grandfather had taught me.

『Don’t chase the past, don’t wait for the future. Live as best as you could in the present』

I’m pretty sure he quoted it from Buddha.

I grew up listening to a lot of stories like this because my parents’ house is a temple.

....to live in the present, huh? Buddha says good things..

Trapped in the past or worried about the future that hasn’t even happened.. it’s certainly barren.

If you think about it, you might have become a useless person by just rummaging around instead of going back to normal.

I thanked my Grandfather.

..thank you, gramps.. I’m sorry for ranting about not wanting to inherit the temple.

I apologized to my grandfather in my heart and gently put my hands together with my grandfather in my heart.

Even if I die, I’ll try to do my best.. I’m sorry that it took me four days to arrive there.

But I don’t think it was a waste of time.

It was the time I needed to accept the reality in front of me.

From now on, I will start living here as Varian, not as Tanaka.

===============

For starters, I need to understand the current situation in order to do anything.

When I looked around again, the environment here was noticeably inhospitable.

The rice is thin and tasteless, and I eat black bread twice a day.. Maybe it’s because I’m treated like a sick person, but it doesn’t seem to be a very good diet.

The toilet is just an unglazed pot.

Hygiene is poor; these people bathe, but they don’t seem to have a bath.

Of course, they don’t wash their hands either. Not to mention brushing their teeth.

There is no gas in the kitchen, so we cook with a hearth or firewood.

Since there are cast iron pots, it is at least an iron civilization.

However, the kitchen does not have a smoke exhaust system and is very smoky.

The housings are mostly single-storied houses with rugged stone houses, thatched roofs, and thatched roofs. Varian’s, no, my house is also a one-story house.

Passersby are wearing crude wool and hemp clothes.

There are people with swords and bows, but I don’t see guns.

Some are seen riding atop of horses.

There are some barbarian-like people who wear fur on their jackets, but they may be of different nationalities.

They are foreigners, Caucasians. Most have brown or blond hair. Black is apparently a rarity.

The size of the town is large, and the rows of houses are quite continuous. There seems to be a wall on the edge of the city.

From a distance, I could see something like a tall stone castle, but is there a lord or King?

....how about that? At first, I thought it would be medieval Europe, but I feel that civilization is less developed than the medieval age I had in mind..

Anyway, I have to observe and get myself accustomed to this world.

And the bare minimum to survive in this land is language.

Thus I desperately tried to learn the language.

==========

About two months had passed.

The season was summer-like and the sun was strong, but the overall climate felt refreshing, unlike Japan’s heat and humidity.

My language skills had improved enough to hold a conversation, and I was able to gather information.

Acquiring a language in two months is amazing to me. But, it’s not entirely my ability. It’s because Varian’s body remembers it, and the words come in smoothly.

It just fits in the ears.

Varian’s full name is Varian de Lioncoeur. He’s 7 years old.

A fine name, isn’t it? As expected of a noble.

The Lioncoeur family is an Earl family, a great noble family that cannot be pushed around.

The territory seems to be the Lioncoeur Basin surrounded by the Eastern Mountains in the far east.

This town where I live is the capital of the Kingdom of Amoros.

The head of the family is Rudolf..that black-haired giant. He was my father after all.

Normally, you’ll think that nobles are always stuck up and speak sophisticatedly, right? That’s an outrageous scam.

In the Kingdom of Amoros, the nobles and warriors’ families are not separated like in Japan, and it seems to be a western style in which nobles are obliged to fight.

『Noblesse Oblige』, where nobility comes with obligations..or something like that.

Rudolph de Lioncoeur was 32 years old, active as a warrior, and apparently started living in the royal capital after gaining prominence in the kingdom.

He’s also known as the Hawk of Lioncoeur.

I could already tell from how he looked.

My mother is Rushieno, that bright brown-haired beauty. She’s 32 years old, the same as my father.

Apparently she’s a daughter of a noble family.

I thought that noble women would not do housework, but it seems that they are doing housework under the direction of the maid servants.

The maid servants were there to assist you, or so they say.

Varian has two brothers and a sister, but this seemed to be a little complicated.

The only brother who lives with me is the oldest, Robel.

My other brother and sister seemed to have been born from my father’s mistress, so they’re not treated as my siblings, but rather as servants.

In other words, even though I’m the third son, I’m treated like the second son.. It’s hard to believe, but that’s how it is.

If I’m not mistaken, it’s like Nobunaga Oda who had an older brother of lower rank.

..but I’ve never heard of the Kingdom of Amoros before..

I’m not very knowledgeable about geography, but I’ve never heard of the Amoros Kingdom or the Amoros region.

It may be the name of a location somewhere in ancient Europe, but..there are endless questions.

I made up my mind to live as a Varian.. However, my father always looked at me with some level of wariness, and there seemed to be a lot going on at home.. I wonder if I, who used to be just an ordinary office worker, can make it through.