Hard Work Will Never Betray Me - CH 8

“Wow!”

Lily’s eyes sparkled as she ran around the flower garden. Although her tongue was lisping in some places, she was able to greet us with a firmness that was frightening for a six year old, but it seems that there are parts of her that are appropriate for her age. She looked just like a six-year-old girl as she happily played with nature in a garden full of colorful flowers.

She was so cute that I would love to take pictures of her if I had a camera. (I’m not a pedophile!) But unfortunately, there were no cameras in this era.  There is apparently a magic tool called a telephoto camera, which has a camera-like function using magic, but it seems to be terribly expensive., to the extent that even the legitimate son of a great nobleman cannot easily obtain one.

They are using to record the historical buildings of the empire, or when important meetings and ceremonies are held, they are taken by photographers who report directly to the imperial family. The few photographs that were taken can only be accessed by going to a reference library like the Imperial Library. It is said that they have letterpress printing technology, but they don’t have the technology to do fine and advanced printing like photography, so I guess that’s to be expected.

Well, what can I  do if I don’t have a camera? I’ll just have to capture it in my mind’. If things go on like this,   she probably become  my wife in the future.

It’s nice, isn’t it? I feel like we’re childhood friends. We’ll play a lot, and grow up together, happy, worried, sad, and laughing. It’s a feeling I couldn’t experience in my previous life, and it makes me feel very warm inside.

“Hey, isn’t there anywhere else good to go?”

Lily, who had been repeatedly rolling around on the lawn beside the flower garden in a manner unbecoming of a duchess, asked me if I had anything more interesting to do, as if she had grown tired of that game. Her expensive white dress is covered in grass and I can’t even look at it. She’s cute, but she’s still a kid.

“All right, let’s go to my secret base.”

“Secret base?

“It’s a secret  from adults, j it’s will be our secret place .”

“What?　I don’t know what is it , but it sounds fun!”

Lily came running up to me with the grass stuck in her hair. I shook her hand and walked to the backyard. It’s time for me to show my manly wiles.

“Wow, this is amazing!　Did you make this, Hal?”

“Yes,  I did. Isn’t it amazing?”

Lily was surprised to see the secret base I had built. In front of me stood a pit dwelling that looked like something out of a history textbook. I worked hard on it  FOR about  year , and I’m proud of it.

A pit dwelling. It may not be as stylish as a log cabin or a tree house. But in terms of convenience and practicality, it’s a wonderful  place that can’t be compared to other!

First, convenience. With a tree house, you don’t have to go up and down the trees. Besides, considering that I’m still a kid, I’d probably reject a treehouse because of the danger of falling.

Next, practicality. Treehouses and log cabins are very difficult to build. In fact, they didn’t appear until much later in human history. On the other hand, the pit dwelling appeared in ancient Japan very early on. And until the Heian period (794-1185), they were functioning properly as dwellings for farmers. The ease of construction and practicality of the pit dwelling is proven by the history of ancient Japan.

And last but not least, let’s not forget the romance. This is the most important thing. Log houses are certainly good. If a log house suddenly appeared in the middle of the forest, you could have a fantasy that a witch living in seclusion might be living there. A tree house would also be uplifting, like an athletic activity in a forest park. But that’s not good enough!　Log houses and tree houses are both “houses”!　They are not “secret bases.”　On the other hand, a pit house doesn’t feel like a house at all, but it ca be  to withstand practical use.

While it was a secret base, considering its livability, practicality, and most importantly, romance, it was an inevitable choice to become a pit house.

“Why don’t you come inside?”

“Yes.”

I went into the secret base first, and then invited Lily in. Lily looked excited as she walked into the base.

“It’s huge.”

“Right?”

The pit dwelling I built was a relatively large one, about five meters wide and four meters  high. , about the size of a one-room apartment with a high ceiling. It is impervious to rain and wind, so it is quite habitable. In addition, on the bare dirt floor, I laid out a kind of tatami mat made of igusa-like grass. In addition to the fact that I am an ex-Japanese, this is also because this world is not a dirt-foot culture. I don’t know much about how the lower classes live, but at least the aristocracy doesn’t seem to live with shoes on their feet. I think it’s very hygienic.

“It’s so fluffy!”

Lily said happily as she jumped into the futon made of woven straw. When I first met her, I had an image of her as a young lady, somewhat divine, but now I see that she is indeed a tomboy. But Lily is cute  that way .

“Let’s have a snack.”

“Snack?”

“Yes, come on.”

Then I took out two lango nuts from a jar on the wall. I picked them from the orchard at the edge of the backyard. They are grown by a servant as a hobby, and as long as I pick them every once in a while like this, I am thanked rather than criticized for eating them. Well, I don’t think there are many servants who can be angry with the head of the family’s heir in the first place. ……

Aside from that, I loved the Rango berries, having eaten them since I was a baby. The servants work hard to grow them and they taste so sweet, juicy and delicious. They would often serve me lango pie made from them as a snack.

“Rango nuts?”

Yes, they are. Yes, from the orchard.”

“Don’t you cut them?”

Lily asked with a curious look. Of course you don’t. Normally, a noblewoman would not bite into a whole Rango. It’s bad manners. But right now, I’m the only one  who is looking at her .

“It’s okay, just take a bite!”

I said, and took a big bite of Rango as if I was showing  her an example.

“Wow, big mouth.”

“Munch, munch, munch, , munch.”

“Uh-huh. Aah!　Bop!

Lily bites into Rango with a mischievous look on her face, like she’s never eaten such thing before in her life. There was a lot of Rango juice on her cheeks, so I took out my handkerchief and wiped it off.

As we ate the Rango together, I somehow felt like Lily and I were truly getting along.