Chapter 16: Bring To The Forest
The snow in the forest has begun to lt, and the tiny sprouts of new plants have begun to appear. That’s what Tory told , when she ca back from there. The children have started heading to the forest again to forage, which ans that my long, idle hibernation where I had nothing to read and too much ti on my hands is over at last.
Finally, I can make my clay tablets! I really want to head to the forest as well, so that I can get to work.
Tory said that there’s still a lot of snow left, walking is difficult due to treacherous footing, and there’s not very much out there to gather right now. However, I don’t particularly care if there’s a lot of stuff to gather or there’s nothing at all.
What I’m after is slimy, clay-like earth, which ans excavation. If I can just get to the forest, I’ve already won.
Of course, there’s no way that anyone would let head out to the forest by myself. I need to get Tory to supervise . So, I’ve drawn up close to her in order to beg for her kindness.
“Please, Tory! I wanna go to the forest too, and make friends with the other kids. Could you take along with you, please?”
“No way, you can’t even walk that far.”
Her answer hasn’t changed at all. If she’s going to keep having this little confidence in , I’m facing total defeat here.
“I’ve gotten a little stronger! If I can’t go with you, I can wait for you at the gates! Pleeease!”
Tory hesitates. I’ve been doing radio calisthenics every day, eating as much as I can, and going out with Tory when she goes downstairs to the well to wash the dishes. I’ve worked hard to boost my strength, and I think I’m just about ready.
“…If Dad says it’s okay,” she says.
Giving up on just shooing away, she foists responsibility off on my father. Practically, though, if I were to end up waiting at the gate, I was going to need to ask my father anyway, so this was inevitable. Next, I must persuade my father.
“Daddy, can I go to the forest? I haven’t gotten sick in a while!”
“Hmmm, that is true…”
During the winter, I took extra good care of my health, and the rate at which my fevers spiked went down. I only got five of them!
Ah, that’s not a lot, you know? That’s way lower than it once was. My family even kept admiring how much healthier I was, saying “whoa, amazing” and so on.
Since my fevers didn’t co very often, I was able to keep a lot more food down. As a result, naturally, my nutritional intake was way better, and I’ve even grown a bit! Most likely, my physical strength has increased as well.
“If I can’t make it for so reason, I can rest at the gates with you! Well? Well?”
“Hmmmmm,” he says, thinking things over.
He didn’t dismiss the notion imdiately, so I think I might actually have a chance with him, unlike Tory. I cling to him desperately, trying to get his approval.
“Once I get used to it, I’ll make it through! There’s three-year-olds that go to the forest, right? So it’s not impossible that I could do it!”
“Ahh, well… sure, there are, but they’re the kinds of kids that get into trouble when they’re left alone at ho, so they have to get brought along.”
“…So, if I get in trouble, I’ll get to go?”
“No need to do that,” he scolds. “Don’t be stupid.”
If I can’t sohow secure my father’s permission, then when springti cos around and my mother goes back to work, I’m going to be left once again in the care of old lady Gerda. That would be very hard on my ntal state. Absolutely no way. I don’t want to have to look after all the other children left with her.
“Daddy, are you worried about because I’m not very strong? How can I make you think that it’s okay if I go out to the forest?”
“Hmmm, let think…”
My father closes his eyes, deep in thought. I wait breathlessly for his reply.
“…For now, just co with to the gate.”
“Only to the gate? How long is ‘for now’?”
“Until you can walk all the way to the gate without help. Once you can walk without slowing everyone down, you’ll be okay to head into the forest.”
As I expected, it isn’t quite so easy to get permission to go out to the forest. It feels like the clay tablets I’ve staked my ambitions on are getting further and further away. Working to build my strength by walking to and from my father’s workplace at the gate is probably the biggest compromise the completely unreliable can squeeze out.
Tch, I really wanted to go, too. My tablets…
I can’t go to the forest, but at the very least this plan ans that I don’t have to stay with old lady Gerda. This is an acceptable compromise.
“…Okay. I’ll do what you said!” I say, nodding once in agreent.
My father suddenly looks relieved, all the tension draining from his face. Did he really think I wasn’t going to agree, and that I’d start running amok?
“Hey, Daddy. When you said you wanted to walk to the gate, do you an just going back and forth?”
“Nah, I’ll have Otto teach you so more of the alphabet,” he says. “Eh?! …Really?”
I thought that my father burned with seething jealousy over how Otto was teaching how to write. I wonder what caused this sudden transformation? I tilt my head to the side doubtfully, and my dad’s eyebrows furrow a little bit.
“Maine, you’re pretty weak, but Otto says you’re very smart. He says that you’d be very suited to a job that required you to use your brain, when it cos ti to find you one, so if you learn your letters now, you can find a job that’s a little easier on your body.”
Otto convinced my muscle-brained, excessively doting father of that? He really is wonderful. I’m getting a little misty-eyed. I did not at all expect that I’d get official fatherly approval for Otto to teach how to write.
“You’re good with your hands, so I was thinking that you could find a job using those, but there’s a lot more money, and a lot less strain on your body, in jobs that require thinking.”
“Jobs that require thinking? Like what?”
It never actually occurred to that there might be jobs in this world that relied on brainpower. It seems that there are jobs where the labor is ntal, not physical, huh?
“Let see… You could work as an amanuensis, copying out official docunts for governnt officials and aristocrats. I heard that if you do that, you can bring your work ho with you if you get sick.”
Being paid to write out docunts sounds kind of like a notary public, huh. If it’s like that, and I had the right qualifications, then I probably could bring work ho if I needed to. I’m not really sure, though, because I don’t have any qualifications.
“Otto is a soldier now, but he was originally a trader, and he still has ties with the comrce guild. The kinds of jobs that your mother and I could refer you to wouldn’t really suit you, I don’t think, so you should be grateful for Otto’s connections.”
…My jealous, immature father is suddenly looking like a fine example of parenthood!
“Thanks, Daddy. I’ll try my hardest!”
He pats lightly on the head, then turns to Tory.
“Tory, will you help out?”
“…She can’t do it,” she says, shaking her head.
Tory is refusing to listen to a single word of her little sister’s wish to co along to the forest. She shakes her head vigorously, all the way back and forth. Not trying to dismiss her concerns, my father nods slowly in comprehension.
“I understand, but, Maine’s going to be in trouble if she never gets strong enough to go to the forest.”
“I guess so, but… she’ll get in the way…”
“That’s right. Right now, she’ll just be a hindrance.”
Both Tory and my father quite plainly said I am a hindrance. I already know that myself, but hearing them affirm it right in front of like is still a blow to my pride.
“If she can at least get to the point where she can keep up with you, then even if she can’t go all the way to the forest, she’ll co with you as far as the gate. Until she can make it to the gate herself, I’ll be the one to go with her, but when she’s ready I hope you’ll cooperate too.” “…Okay, I’ll try.”
Tory, the burden of responsibility weighing down on her, nods her head in agreent. My shoulders, however, still slump. It seems that my family’s estimation of my strength is still the lowest it could possibly be.
I see… they still don’t think I’ll be able to walk all the way to the gate, even though I’ve been going all the way up and down those stairs to get to the water well lately without being out of breath at all…
***
The next day, as the sun climbs high in the sky, my father and I set out for the gates. I only follow along with him when he has the day shift. Guard duty operates on a three-shift system. The morning shift lasts from when the gates are opened in the morning, until about noon, the day shift then goes until the gates are closed in the evening, and the night watch guards the gates from when they are closed in the evening until when they are opened once again the next morning.
Until I can walk all the way to the gates by myself, I accompany my father to the gates on his day shift, then I either go back with Tory if I’m feeling up for it at the ti or I wait for my father to finish his duties and go ho with him.
“Make sure Maine doesn’t overdo it,” says my mother to my father. “Keep a close eye on her!”
“Ahhh, of course,” he replies. “Let’s go, Maine!”
“Bye, Mom!”
Waving goodbye to my worried mother, I grab my father’s hand and head off for the gates. Making it all the way down the stairs doesn’t give much trouble anymore, but by the ti we make it out to the main street, I’m starting to feel a little out of breath. Co to think of it, this is the first ti I’ve ever walked out this far on my own. I’m usually being carried on soone’s back, riding in a wagon, or riding piggyback on soone’s shoulders by this point.
“How are you holding up, Maine?”
“I’m… still… fine…!”
If I give up here, they’ll never let go to the forest. My unrelenting obsession forces to say I’m fine, but my physical condition is anything but fine right now. My body is heavy, and I’d like nothing more than to just sit down right here.
“You’re not fine at all! …Up we go!”
Of his own accord, my father stops walking, turns around, and picks up. I cling desperately to him, my breath rough and ragged as I suck in air.
Impossible! This will kill ! My family’s absolutely correct. There’s no way I can make it to the forest.
My father winds up carrying in his arms for over half of the trip to the gate. When we arrive, he carries into the night duty room so that I can rest. In all honesty, I don’t think I can do anything that isn’t taking a break. I am absolutely dead tired, so when my father lays down on one of the benches inside, I lay there for quite so ti. After noonti has co and gone, I finally am able to sit myself upright.
“Hey, Daddy. You said Otto’s going to be teaching how to write, but that takes a lot of ti, right? Is that okay? What about his other work?”
I’m pretty sure Otto has gatekeeping duties, and I’m pretty sure that teaching the alphabet is not one of the usual duties of a soldier.
“Otto’s job actually is teaching people how to write. We have new recruits coming in.”
“New recruits?”
“After the springti baptism, we get about five new apprentice soldiers. It’s Otto’s job to teach them how to read and write.”
It’s a good thing for a soldier to be able to read and write. If you can’t write down the nas and titles of the people who pass through the gate, then you can’t be a gatekeeper.
“Am I going to be learning with them?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan. But, you’re not there as a new recruit, you’re there because you’re Otto’s assistant.”
“Assistant?”
Can a kid like really be an assistant like that? This might just be talking, but I look like I’m three years old. I don’t think anyone would believe for a second that I really was Otto’s assistant.
“Maine, you helped Otto with his work before, right?”
“Yeah, with the financial reports and the budget… but those were just calculations.”
I only helped Otto out that one ti. Since he looked so ashad to have asked for that favor, I felt like I shouldn’t tell anyone about it, not even my father. Otto, however, seems to have told him, even though that might have gotten him in trouble.
“Ahh… I might have put too big of a burden on Otto when I asked him to do all of that work, all by himself, with nobody to help him. He suggested that you might be interested in helping him, in exchange for learning how to read and write.”
Although I’d decided that being taught the alphabet was my reward, I actually wasn’t joking when I said I wanted to be Otto’s assistant.
“You’re going to basically be Otto’s personal assistant, but it’s not allowed for kids who haven’t been baptized yet to have a job. So, we’re going to say that he’s really teaching you how to write, which is why you’re coming to see him at the gates. Your salary will be in slate pencils, and you’ll have ti off whenever you’re not feeling well. Otto wanted to emphasize that this isn’t easy work, you’ll be helping him with budgets and more.”
Apparently, Otto specifically asked for so that I can learn how to write and help him out with the paperwork. Is he thinking ahead to next year’s budget season? On top of that, by going through his superiors, he was able to get my slate pencil salary officially approved from the budget instead of having to pay out-of-pocket. As expected of a rchant! It feels like he’s working to maximize his own profits.
“Maine,” calls Otto, “We’re about to start, are you ready?”
“Yes!”
I grab my tote bag and head from the night room to the training room. In one corner, a wooden table and chairs have been set up. Five boys sit there, probably the apprentice soldiers my father was talking about.
“This is Maine, the squad leader’s daughter. She helps out with so of the paperwork here. She wants to learn how to write, so she’ll be joining us today. Don’t make a big deal out of this.”
After giving that kind of introduction, Otto begins his lessons. He writes out what appears to be the fundantal letters of the alphabet. Well, I haven’t morized all of these, so it can’t be helped that this is the first step.
“These are all of the letters of the alphabet.”
Today, we’re practicing five out of the thirty-five letters of the alphabet, writing them out on our slates while repeating their pronunciations. Since I was already taught a little bit about so of these letters, morizing these takes little effort at all.
“…Maine, you really do learn things quickly,” says Otto.
“I really like doing things like this, more than I like doing things physically,” I reply.
Unlike the ordinary children of this world, I am already very much accustod to studying. I also have no problem at all with studying on my own, and my mory is very good. Basically, this is sothing that I both like and am very good at. Placing next to these rank beginners, clumsily sweeping their poorly-gripped pencils in amateurish strokes, makes them look even more pitiful by comparison.
“Mister Otto,” I say, “I think we should move on to the next thing soon.”
“Eh? Already?”
It feels like it’s only been about thirty minutes, but it looks like the boys think that sitting still and practicing writing is torturous. They’ve started fidgeting in their seats, proof that they’ve already had enough.
“It’s hard for soone who’s just picked up a slate for the first ti to focus on one thing for so long. We’ve practiced writing, now we should do so math, then draw maps of the area around the town, then learn the things soldiers need to know. We should take breaks every once in a while to move around. If we experience a little bit of a lot of different things during the day, we’ll master them a lot better.”
It’s probably best to think of these children as elentary schoolers. In Japan, we’d never sit down an elentary school student and force them to write _hiragana_1 over and over for an entire day. They wouldn’t be able to handle it, and the boys of this world, who aren’t accustod to sitting still at all, would fare far worse.
“Let’s work on calculations next,” I say. “How about we start with counting?”
Since everyone’s been shopping before, they all know how to count up to about ten. However, there’s a few kids that don’t quite seem to get it, so we spend so ti writing out the nurals from zero to five while reading them aloud. Again, the boys all start to fidget in their chairs after a while, so I wrap up the lesson and send them away to work on their physical fitness.
“Let’s wrap up studying for today. Make sure you morize the letters and numbers we learn today by next ti. If any of you don’t have them down, you’re going to spend a lot more studying in here, alone, until you get it right. It’s very important that you learn these!”
The children spread out through the room. I’m no longer needed in the training room, so Otto leads back into the night duty room. He frowns at , disapprovingly.
“Maine, you’re being too soft,” he says. “They’ll never learn that way.”
“Nuh-uh. If we know that learning is hard for them, and that it’ll take extra ti, then it’s okay if we only teach them that much at once. Don’t compare them all to !”
“Ah… right…”
Otto scratches at his face, his stubble crackling under his fingertips. It seems like he’s realized that he might have been subconsciously comparing the other children to .
“On top of that, if we go over it next ti and they haven’t morized it, they won’t get to go ho until they do, right? So now it’s a matter of personal duty. That’s not soft at all, you know?”
“I see! That’s actually pretty strict towards these kids that have just barely started to work.”
A grim smile crosses Otto’s face. I smile back at him, and breathe a soft sigh.
I never asked about helping out with teaching the new recruits as well, but if kids like that are my classmates, my own studies will get nowhere.
Otto cos back into the night duty room, then spends the remaining ti with doing private tutoring. He teaches how to write certain vocabulary words, then I practice them. While I’m busy, he works on his paperwork.
“Well, Maine, it looks like you’ve got the alphabet morized, so let’s get you started on so vocabulary. I’ll teach you so of the most common words.”
“Okay!”
Mr. Otto does in fact teach vocabulary words, but a lot of the words he’s teaching have to do with equipnt or gatekeeping duties. It really does look like he has his sights set on making help him write up official docunts. If he can make more useful, then he’s probably going to draft into helping out with all of the paperwork co next year’s budget season.
So of the first words he taught were “character reference”, “nobleman”, “letter of introduction”, and “petition”, you know? How are these “the most common words”? At the very least, if we started by learning the nas of goods, I could learn words like “hay” or “foodstuffs”, and the nas of kinds of weapons and armor…
My pencil clacks against the slate as I continue to spell out words. Suddenly, my father’s voice cuts through the room, telling that it’s almost ti for the gates to close and that Tory and her friends have just returned from the forest. I put my slate back in my tote bag and run outside to et everyone.
“Tory!” I call, waving.
“Let’s head ho, Maine.”
There are a few other children with Tory. They all have bags and boxes strapped to their backs, packed full of their tools and the things that they’ve gathered. A couple of them give strange looks, eyeing my single tote bag suspiciously.
“Eh? 'Maine’?” says one of them.
“Is that Tory’s little sister? I’ve never seen her before.”
I hide behind Tory, shielding myself from the impolite stares of these filthy children.
“Maine doesn’t co outside very much,” says Tory, chuckling wryly, “so it’s only natural you wouldn’t have t her.”
It seems like the fact that I never show my face at any of the big local events is causing these kids to treat like they just saw a rare monster spawn. Tory tries to reassure that they’re just curious and not trying to tease , but their stares still hurt.
“Maine, you’re going back with us?” asks a familiar voice.
“Lutz!!”
Inwardly, I breathe a huge sigh of relief, seeing Lutz’s familiar face in the group. I look around, trying to find Ralph, but there’s no sign of his red hair and strong build anywhere.
“Huh? Is Ralph not with you today? Is he okay?”
“Ralph turned seven this spring, so he’s working today.”
“Ahhh…”
Ralph was only seven? That’s what Maine’s mories seed to say, but since he was so strong and so caring, I thought he had to actually be at least eight or nine. Huh? Is it just , or did Lutz grow a bunch over the winter? It looks like this world still obeys the laws of heredity.
As I’ve been carefully considering these matters, we’ve started walking. These kids have been out in the forest all day and want to get ho as quickly as possible to get their heavy packs off of their backs, so they’re walking at a pretty decent pace. Tory and Lutz notice that I’m in danger of getting left behind, and call out to the group to slow down for .
“Hey, everyone, don’t rush!”
“You doing okay, Maine?”
I was planning on powering through and keeping up with them, but no matter how hard I tried the group started steadily pulling ahead. Children are rciless. There’s no way they were going to wait up for .
“Everyone, you’re going too fast…” says Lutz.
“Sorry, Lutz,” says Tory. “Do you mind slowing down for Maine? I have to keep an eye on all of the kids.”
Tory is the oldest of this group of unbaptized children, so she needs to look out for everyone in the group, not just her little sister.
“Got it,” says Lutz. “Maine, take your ti. I’ve got a lot of things I’m carrying today, so I won’t be able to carry you too if you get tired halfway through.”
“Okay,” I reply.
I may have been left behind, but Lutz falls back to walk with on my way ho. I don’t want to get tired and burden Lutz any further, so I slow down to conserve my energy.
“What were you at the gate for, Maine?” he asks.
“I was studying the alphabet,” I reply. “The alphabet? You can write?!”
Lutz is extrely shocked by this revelation. His eyes gleam with respect as he turns to look at , but it only makes feel uncomfortable. I wouldn’t really describe myself as being able to write, since I only really know a few specific words.
“I can’t really write anything but my na very well. I’m still practicing.”
“Whoa, Maine! You can write your na?!”
Huh? Did that sohow make him respect more?
I never would have thought that just being able to write your na would be so impressive. Although, now that I’m actually thinking about it, if the village elder is the only person in an entire village of peasants who can read and write, then it really is comparatively amazing that my father can write down other people’s nas.
I consider that first-grade level skill, but in this world, it’s really worthy of respect…
I suddenly realize how precious being able to help out with paperwork is. It did seem like Otto was more interested in my upbringing than the other soldiers. If I decided that it was good enough for to just be able to write other people’s nas, there’s no way he’d be able to teach how to write up official docunts.
“Hahh…… hahh……”
“Maine, you okay?”
In my case, learning how to write is the easy part. Building up my strength is what’s painful. Lutz helps along the entire rest of the way, but by the ti I make it back ho, I’m so exhausted that I can’t even speak.
As expected, I’m imdiately stricken with another fever, lasting two whole days.
“That’s why I said not to push yourself too hard!” huffs my mother, but I seem to have actually gotten a little stronger. Ordinarily, I’d be out of action for five days, but this ti I was actually ready to head back out on the third day.
***
After a while, I settled into a routine. I’d walk with my dad towards the gate, although I got tired about halfway through, requiring him to carry the rest of the way. I spent the day practicing how to write and helping Otto with calculations. When the children ca back from the forest, I went along with them, but would imdiately lose my breath and fall behind, causing Lutz to hang back with , worried. Then, after I got ho, then I’d be out for another few days.
This lasted for over a month, but then I definitely started to get stronger. I started with one day of going out and three days of rest, but then I got it down to two days, and then I started only resting every other day. At that point, I was still going very slowly, but I was sohow managing to make it all the way to the gate on my own. After that, I started going two, even three days in a row, still only taking a day off in between.
When I first made it to the gates five days in a row, my family was thrilled.
“You did it, Maine! That’s the first ti you’ve made it all the way without a break,” said Tory.
“You’ve really gotten stronger. I’m so proud of you!” said my father.
“You should be about ready to head to the forest,” said my mother.
Right after my family finally praised , I was imdiately hit with another fever, taking out for another two whole days. It seems like things didn’t work quite as well as I planned.
***
Three months after I started going back and forth between the gates, I’m finally given permission to head into the forest. Here and there, I can see glimpses of sumrti. It seems that spring is at its end.
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