Monogusana Kenja Vol 1 Chapter 1.2

Chapter 1.2
Chapter 1-2

 

The troupe of entertainers I was part of lived in tents. The tent I had just been in was a storage area for tools.
Lower-ranked people generally slept together in a single, larger tent, but the big earners in the troupe were given their own rooms, even if they were a little smaller. Other times, when the profits in the city were good, the big earners stayed at inns.
Clau’s mom was an expert with a sword, and she was a big earner with her popular sword dances and mock battles. I was supposed to be sleeping together with the others, but because Clau’s mom was friends with my own Mama, I got to stay with them in their room.
“Mom, we got dirty. Got any towels?”
“Oh my. Quite dirty indeed. Clau, go change your clothes, including your coat. Ocht, just washing your face should be fine for now.”
“I’m sorry.”
A black-haired woman was in the room, and she seemed to be polishing the swords she used for work. She smiled as she looked at Clau. She was a beautiful woman with strict-looking eyes, but her smile was kind of lovely. As I entered the room behind Clau, I lowered my head in apology.
“It isn’t your fault, Ocht. That girl, Iris, shouldn’t have pushed her work onto you.”
“That’s wrong.”
I shook my head.
I was supposed to be the one in charge of miscellaneous tasks. Tidying up the work tools was also my job. Well, going as far as sharpening the knives was probably overdoing it by a bit, or maybe even by a lot, but it couldn’t be helped if they told me to.
Besides, it was because there was work to do that I was allowed to stay here. In this situation, blaming Iris was barking up the wrong tree.
“I’m not wrong. Ocht is too nice of a person.”
“That’s also wrong.”
“Yeah, yeah. I understand, so let’s leave this for later. Clau, go change quickly. Mom will prepare a wet towel and leave it for you. Ocht, Iris isn’t going to get popular right now, so there’s no point in flattering her. If you’re going to gain someone’s favor, go get it from someone higher up, since you’ll gain more in return.”
What was that supposed to mean?
I tilted my head in confusion. In the first place, the only ones who tried to bully me were half-baked people like Iris. Similarly, a popular person would just use people who were around Iris’ level. However, I believed there were ways to avoid provoking Iris’ displeasure.
Certainly, if I gained the favor of a popular person, they couldn’t carelessly lay a hand on me. However, I probably couldn’t do anything helpful for a popular person. If I was a bit older, I could do physical work, but to my regret, this little body couldn’t do much.
In order to be ready for the future, I needed to get as much knowledge as I could.
As these thoughts raced through my head, I followed Clau’s mother, Alfa. She got water from the washing room, soaked the towel, and handed it to me.
“Come on, stop furrowing your eyebrows and wipe yourself quickly.”
“Thank you very much.”
“It’s fine. Ah, I’m already favoring you, by the way, so there’s no point in flattering me.”
Ahh, speaking of which, wasn’t Alfa a popular person? I had finally managed to realize that, but I was given a preemptive warning just before I managed to think that far ahead.
“If it’s work, I’ll give you as much as you want. However, more importantly, think about doing something like stealing my techniques. Doing that is a shortcut to not getting picked on.”
In other words, it was to become a popular person… In short, an impossibility. Yup, I understood now.
While feigning ignoranc

e, I wiped my face with the towel.
What she said was unreasonable, but I was grateful to Alfa. If she hadn’t prepared a wet towel for me, I would have continued to be dirty until cold bathing time tomorrow. I wouldn’t have been able to do something like borrowing a towel from the wash room by myself, and just being a Mixed Breed made borrowing the water well difficult.
What an unfortunate childhood.
When I returned to the room, Clau had already finished changing his clothes. He was wiping his face with the towel Alfa had handed him.
“Oh right. We’re gonna go hand out flyers after this. Then, we’re gonna go play.”
“Hmm. In that case, go wear some more showy clothes. I took great pains to give birth to your cute face, after all, so make better use of it.”
“Ehhh. We’re playing after we’re done, so it’ll just get dirty.”
“Play in a way that won’t dirty it. If you’re going to get dirty, just come back and change into clothes you can get dirty in. Looking good is the mark of a first-cla.s.s performer.”
While saying that, Alfa handed a naval sailor uniform-like theatrical costume over to Clau. The collar area was sparkling brightly and was conspicuous, even at a distance. On top of that, she then took out another set of children’s clothing.
“Okay. Go change into this too, Ocht.”
Conversely, I had a pink outfit. She probably got this because it contrasted with Clau’s blue clothes, but I hesitated. By the way, Clau’s had shorts while mine had a skirt. Considering our ages, the outfits gave off a charming feeling, but it was too cute when compared to those in my previous life’s memories, so I hesitated over it.
…Wasn’t this almost like a female fighter’s appearance from somewhere? The word “cosplay” came to mind.
“I wo-”
“Go change into this.”
“-Okay.”
On the other hand, we would look ridiculous if we didn’t match each other.
Yep. Let’s face the future while thinking that.
I took off my clothes while telling myself that this was also work. Speaking of which, even with my past life’s memories, I wasn’t really opposed to taking off my clothes. Clau was like a sibling, and in the first place, he was also six years old. It wasn’t really an age for me to feel embarra.s.sed over anything either, but…
In my past life, what gender was I?
I had ordinary, commonplace knowledge, but details about the kind of person I was were vague and often lacking. It was possible that even though I was biologically a girl now, I was a boy in my past life.
Nonetheless, it didn’t matter which one I was in my past life. Since I was a Mixed Breed, marriage was impossible for me, so there was no point in thinking about which gender I was.
“Yes. As expected of my best friend’s daughter. You’re too cute. Now then, see you later!”
Alfa gave us a firm push on our backs and pushed us out of the tent. I couldn’t help but think that it was a good thing that I had not looked at my appearance in the mirror and lost my motivation. Yep, it was the “ignorance is bliss” strategy.
“Ocht, let’s go!”
Clau urged me on, and I nodded.
In my case, because I was still very young, I never needed to head out to the town for errands like buying things. Also, I had not gotten a break this past month, so it had been a while since I was able to leave and go to town. Even so, it wasn’t like I didn’t want to go.
“This town has a water fountain that lots of people go to. If we give out flyers in front of shops, they’ll get mad at us, so let’s go there.”
Was that how it worked?
As we talked about handing out flyers, handing out tissues in front of a subway station came to mind. That stuff was probably mostly done in shopping districts, though. It was because the more people who pa.s.sed by, the more who would be talking about it.
After I tilted my head, Clau explained further.
“If we want to advertise in a place with many stores, we have to submit an…ap-aplikayshun? to the important people.”
“Important people?”
“I don’t know. It’s okay. No one will get mad at us at the water fountain.”
Well, he was right. Just, if the water fountain was part of something like a park, it could take a really long time if we didn’t manage to attract people.
We proceeded with our sights on the water fountain, and a shopping district appeared. The shopping district gave off a slightly different atmosphere compared to earlier, and the tiles stretched on the ground. The brick built shops lined up together and gave off a unified outer appearance. It was like Medieval Europe. Carriages occasionally pa.s.sed through the area.
“Clau. What shops are there?”
Carriages served the same purpose as a bus or a train, and the average person also used them, but only n.o.bles or rich people would ride them up to the store like this. In other words, it meant that there were shops that catered to that kind of customer.
“Umm, that’s a restaurant, and that’s a general shop. After that is a magic tool shop, a jewellery store, and probably a place that sells weapons.”
“I see.”
It was like an RPG world. If they were fine with a child entering, I wanted to see something like a magic tool shop or weapons seller at least once.
In this world, which had races that would only show up in a fantasy video game in j.a.pan, magic existed. People who studied at school and pa.s.sed the necessary qualifications were called magicians, and those who didn’t were called magic users. If a magic user pa.s.sed an examination, they could call themselves magicians, but it seemed like the test was quite difficult.
It seemed that even the average person could use a trifling magic tool, so given the chance, I wanted to touch one. It was something I had strongly yearned for in 2D after all, but magic was romance. It couldn’t be helped.
“Next is a medicine shop and…umm, right. The troupe head said there’s an uddawruld shop.”
“Uddawruld shop?”
What kind of shop was that?
Applicable words didn’t come to mind, and I tilted my head. Udder word shop? Ether workshop?
“They sell uddawruld stuff, umm, things made in a different world, there.”
“…Something like that exists?”
In other words, an “Uddawruld shop” was an “Otherworld shop”. After I got the word, a moment pa.s.sed before it struck me like a bolt of lightning.
“Yep. Sometimes they wash up at Leikconyuu. Most are junk that no one knows how to use, but enthusiasts pay a lot for them.”
Another world. It wasn’t just my own delusion; there really was one.
My heart started pounding wildly. Was that other world the place I knew? Would it show me that the stuff in my head wasn’t just a big delusion?
Suspense and expectation whirled around inside me.
“Ocht, want to go there later?”
It seemed like Clau had picked up on my excitement.
Even though he knew, I immediately nodded at Clau’s words.