Chapter 2: Life

Haruhime's POV

A week had passed since I arrived in Bell's home village. It was a relatively small village nestled in the foothills between two mountains. The land was relatively flat in most places, and it was there that the village's crop fields lay, currently empty as the harvest season had wrapped up. A river flowed through the village and continued north; the path we had followed to the village ran alongside it, and it continued on south into the forest where it joined up with another branch and led to a small lake. This branch passed through the heart of the village and ran the waterwheel that drove the village mill. Bell's home sat on the other side of a bridge crossing this second stream.

Bell's home itself was quite a bit smaller than I had expected, but I soon realized that it was foolish of me to expect it to be the size of the manor I grew up in. It was a very cozy house anyhow, made of stone and wood. Some of the other buildings in the village were made with bricks, but Bell's grandfather, Jove told me that their home was newer and more hastily constructed.

It was nice and warm in their home thanks to the centrally located hearth, and I had only left a few times during the past week to look around the village. Most of my time here thus far had been spent in Bell's room reading through all the adventure stories he had in his collection. On a related note, I also slept in his room, as their home didn't have any spare beds, Bell slept on the floor while I took the bed at his insistence; I really hope that his grandfather will be able to get us a second bed soon so I don't have to feel guilty each night—although sleeping in the same bed as him was something I'm not sure how I would've dealt with.

The stories ran the gamut from ones I'd known from my family library's copy of the Dungeon Oratoria to ones I'd never heard of written in thin books. They covered tales of all sorts relating to adventurers and their deeds, from firsthand accounts and autobiographies to fables and legends, to the classics. Even among those classics I already knew, Bell's copy of the Dungeon Oratoria was so different from my own, filled with so much rich and interesting detail and the most wonderful illustrations I'd seen. I could see myself happily immersing myself in these stories forever, although getting to read and talk about them with Bell was even better. I'd never had somebody I could talk about these things with before. It's really fun!

It was now dark out and I was sitting at Bell's desk reading the adventure diary of a member of Zeus familia from 100 years ago by candlelight—Honestly, it was such a crazy cool thing to have in my hands, and Bell had dozens of them! What kind of life must Bell's grandfather have lived to have a book like this?—This was the third of these diaries I'd gone through and was the most compellingly written thus far. This author, a woman named Cateria had been a level 4 adventurer when she wrote this volume and had written accounts of her familia's expeditions into the deeper levels of the dungeon as she supported them from the backline as a mage. The current expedition she was writing on was one to the deep floors. This floor was yet another floor that was super different from the ones before.

It was a sprawling ocean covered in scattered islands and sandy beaches, giant spires covered in glowing multicolor crystals, and huge coral reefs. The monsters were all aquatic and the expedition team had had a notable encounter with a group of giant sea serpents as they followed the narrow winding sandbars and mapped out the floor. It was apparently one of the more challenging floors of the dungeon to navigate due to how frequently the layout changed as the sandbars formed and eroded, and how little footing adventurers had.

The expedition team had to develop a unique formation to allow for traversal through such narrow and treacherous paths while protecting the backline (including the author) from being sniped by the monsters that clung to the spires, the flying monsters, and miscellaneous monsters that would try to drag stragglers into the waters.

Hearing about their strategies to overcome the odds was so enthralling that I didn't even notice Bell had entered the room until he peeked over my shoulder.

"Haruhime?"

"Ahh!" I startled and turned toward him, taking a moment to focus back on the present. "Oh, Bell," I responded. "What is it?"

He moved back and dropped himself onto his bed, bouncing a bit as he sat down. "Grandpa says that dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

"Ooh, what is it going to be?" I asked.

"Stew again," was his response.

"Oh, okay. His stews are nice." I said with a smile.

"Mmm," he agreed. "What are you reading now?"

I placed the bookmark, shut the book and handed it to him showing him the cover. "This one. The diary of Cateria."

"Ooh. I really liked that one. She was really good at making her stories interesting, it reads like a novel!"

"Yeah! I thought so too." Ahhh… It was so nice chatting like this. "I'd never read a story talking about those kinds of monsters or floors of the dungeon that looked like that! I always thought the dungeon would be more enclosed rocky places, but that floor sounds nothing like that. I really wish I could see it, it sounds so beautiful!"

"Yes! Definitely!" Bell agreed emphatically. "Although I don't think we're strong enough to get there or fend off the monsters.

"I guess," I conceded. "I wish more adventurers were artists. I'd love to see paintings of these places."

"That would be really cool. The pictures are what make the Dungeon Oratoria so special. They're so cool. I wish I could've met the artist!"

"Me too! Although they've probably passed away by now. Isn't your copy quite old?"

"Yeah." He looked a bit sad at that.

At that, we were silent for a bit.

"I want to start a diary too." I declared, having just come to the decision. I wanted to be able to write engaging stories, and I wanted my life to be interesting, so my diary would be interesting too.

"Huh? What would you write in it?" He looked quite confused. And also quite cute, I thought…

"Hmmm. I'm not sure… But I want to. I can figure out what to write as I go. I think it would be fun."

"Okay. But we'd have to get you a notebook, which might take a bit."

"That's okay." I could already think of a few things I'd enjoy writing about. Especially the time I spent with Mikoto when I was little and how Bell saved me last week. I want to write down and be able to remember how I felt forever. I could feel myself smiling and blushing a bit at the happy thought.

I looked up, and Bell seemed pretty happy as well, (and looked cute) which made me happier too.

"We should probably go to the kitchen now." He said.

"Yeah." I took the book back from him and set it with the others on the desk before getting out of my chair and following after him, taking him by the hand on the way—even though we were only walking down the hall.

Bell's POV

Haru seemed to really like holding hands with me as she seemed to take every opportunity to do so, even for the shortest bit of time. I didn't mind though, her hands were very soft and silky and felt wonderful to touch. I also hadn't really had the chance to touch other people very often; the most I've ever really touched somebody was when grandpa would give me a hug or I'd shake hands with some of the older men in the village, but neither of them were girls, so it felt really different. This was really nice. Haruhime's hands were very delicate with slender fingers and neat, flawless nails without any of those white spots. I suppose it made sense that her hands would be so clear of scars and calluses if she had lived her life as a sheltered noble girl and then spent the past year doing nothing in the back of a carriage.

When we arrived in the dining room, Grandpa was already sitting at the head of the table and had served up the food in steaming bowls. The smell was really nice, although it seemed a bit different to what I was expecting and I couldn't really recognize it.

I looked toward Grandpa to see if he'd explain what it was but he was looking at Haruhime and giving her one of those looks. I didn't really know what it meant in this context but it meant something, because Haru's ears went flat and she blushed, quickly letting go of my hand before scurrying over to the far side of the table, taking her seat, putting her palms together, and quickly mumbling "Itadakimasu," before digging in, which she did in a very refined manner despite being flustered.

I decided to just sit down myself and begin eating. I took a bite and instantly realized it was spicy. I had to put the spoon down and drink some water. I looked up to see what Haruhime thought of it but she seemed to be really enjoying it and had a big smile on her face as she ate, our eyes met and she looked at me curiously.

"Do you not like it, Bell?"

"It's… spicy." I replied.

Rather than Haruhime, my grandfather responded. "Once Haruhime, here, arrived, I put in a request to get some eastern spices to cook with. This stew is flavored with peppers and curry seasoning." He scooped a bit of the broth up in his spoon. "Although the flavors don't really work too well in a soup. It definitely needs to be smoother and have some rice or something."

Haruhime cleared her throat. "It could definitely use rice… And not be soup," she complained. Although she still had a smile on her face. "But the spices are the right ones."

"Hah!" Grandpa barked. "Well at least I got one thing right." "Kinda turned out more like a weird chili than anything else," He mumbled.

"Thank you," Haruhime said. "It was really nice of you to try." I could see her tail wagging behind her—it was adorable.

"Well maybe I'll do better next time, since I already put in a second request for some bags of rice."

"Ooh… I can't wait to try it!"

I enjoyed watching Haru and my grandfather getting along, although I still wasn't sure I could eat it. I took a second bite, and found that it went down easier than the first. In actuality it wasn't that spicy—now that I knew what to expect at least. It was creamy and filled with beans, carrots, potatoes, and chicken. I didn't know what a curry was supposed to have, but it didn't taste half bad, and the spice was really warming. I was excited to try the actual thing someday, although I wasn't sure if Grandpa was the best person to look to for any kind of authentic food.

The conversation went on from there, bouncing from topic to topic as we finished our meal.

"I think the winter preparations are coming along nicely, though. But Bell, you'll need to come start helping me with chopping firewood for the next couple weeks. We'll also have to slaughter and butcher the animals, cure the meat…" Grandpa listed things off.

Haruhime blanched the moment Grandpa mentioned slaughtering the animals, and I had to agree it was pretty nasty. But I honestly really appreciated being able to keep eating red meat through the winter—bacon and ham tasting amazing didn't hurt matters.

"Umm. Maybe we shouldn't talk about that gross stuff while we're eating, Grandpa."

"Ah!" He straightened his back and scratched his head giving Haruhime an apologetic look. "Sorry, lass, didn't think that one through. How about we move to a different topic," he rather awkwardly transitioned. "Since Bell's gonna help me out with the chores, why don't we find a job for you to do? Can't be good for you to stay cooped up in here over a book all day, every day."

Haru still looked like she'd lost her appetite, but thankfully she'd finished most of her meal and didn't look like she was about to vomit anymore. She pushed her bowl away and responded, "yeah, that sounds okay. But there's no way I can chop wood…" She flexed her borderline non-existent arm muscles for emphasis—which was adorable.

"Nooo… Nothing like that, although some exercise would do you good." He assured her and appraised her in one go. "I was thinking you could help with planting and tending to our winter crops. We're replanting our potatoes, carrots, onions, turnips, broccoli, and a few others."

"Uhhh… Okay. I've never done any farming before though."

"Well I certainly didn't expect a noble girl to have gotten her hands dirty in the soil," he conceded. "But you're willing to learn, aren't you?"

"Of course!" She quickly agreed. "I don't want to be a burden…"

"There you have it. I'll walk you through it tomorrow."

"Alright."

Since they had that settled, "Is that it for tonight? I wanna head to bed now."

Grandpa nodded and I got up, Haruhime coming after me.

Haruhime's POV

My first season living with Bell passed peacefully. The brisk autumn weather and intensive preparations for winter gave way to cold sunny days, layers of snow, and days mostly spent indoors together by the fire where we could keep warm.

I managed to learn a bit about farming and had been helping tend to the winter crops. I also learned that I am very bad at cooking.

It wasn't that the food I make doesn't taste very good, but more that I cannot be trusted to handle cookware and knives. Meaning all I ever really do is maybe stir a pot every once in a while.

The first time I tried helping peel and chop the vegetables I cut two of my fingers open and did it again later that same day. Bell handled the prep from there, and I just stayed to the side and watched. I want to be able to handle a knife eventually. It… well it kind of feels weird being the girl of the house and not cooking for the boys… Maybe that's just a stereotype from all the stories I read, but I still want to do it!

More than that… Well… I really want to cook a meal for Bell. I want to find more ways to help him and thank him with more than just my words and company.

…

On the matter of the dishes, the number of porcelain plates and bowls I've accidentally knocked over or dropped… Some things are best left forgotten.

Anyhow! The blizzard that had been raging on and off the past few days finally cleared up last night, so me and Bell were currently outside, trudging through snow up past our knees. After being cooped up inside for nearly a week, all the other kids in the village wanted to head out to play in the snow, and we were joining them.

Moving through the snow was made a bit harder because I was wearing clothing that I wasn't used to. While I had worn warm clothing before to head outside in the winter and to keep warm during the colder stretches of my journey here from the Far East, I'd never really gone out and played in the snow before.

I was now wearing multiple layers, and a big puffy jacket I got as a hand-me-down from an older girl in the village named Lissa. She was the village chief's daughter, and the chief was a good friend of Bell's grandfather—by now I'd begun to call him Jove when talking aloud, although it felt a bit weird to just use his first name—and so I'd interacted with her and her family more than anybody else in the village.

Lissa was also the one I was referred to for help after I'd had my first period a month ago. I had sort of understood what was happening at that point but it was quite frightening to experience and Jove was terrible at explaining, but Lissa was very helpful. She told me she wanted to become the next village doctor of sorts and was learning from the current village doctor, a middle aged lady named Suzanne—who supposedly preferred others call her Sue, but I'd only spoken to her a couple times before.

Since that incident, Lissa had kind of been acting like a bit of an older sister to me, helping me out with a lot of things that Jove just wasn't able to. She was a really nice girl.

Either way, over half of the clothing items I now wore day to day were hand me downs from when Lissa was younger. She was her family's third of six, and the only daughter, having three younger brothers and two older ones who were learning her family's main trade of carpentry—her family were some of the main organizers for construction and repairs around the village—and so the clothing meant for younger girls was just lying unused at the bottom of a closet in their home.

Because I was mostly wearing hand-me-downs, my wardrobe consisted of more western style clothing than I was used to. Shirts, blouses, skirts, stockings, and dresses. She'd even considered giving me some old braziers of hers, but I didn't need them yet. Clothing items like undergarments were much simpler to make thanks to their small size, so the women in the village—many of whom had skills in sewing—had made me some. Although it would be a while before I had a full wardrobe, especially because some garments like dresses and hats needed adjustments to account for my tail and ears—I usually skipped the hat, though.

Not being accustomed to trudging through snow in boots, thick pants, and a coat meant I was moving very slowly, so Bell and I had fallen behind most of the others as he walked me along toward the open field where the other kids were playing.

It also meant that I would trip every so often as my legs weren't used to the motions I needed to make with each step.

"Careful." Bell interjected as my foot got a bit caught when I failed to lift it high enough for my next step. He was holding onto my arm and stabilizing me.

"Ah. Thank you." I thanked him and gave him a smile before looking onward. We weren't too far from the field where the other kids were playing and I could see a few of the boys already starting a snowball fight.

I gulped. Would I really be able to handle joining in?

Bell's POV

It was evening now and we were in the village hall. Haru, I, and the other villagers had spent the whole day outside playing in the snow. The snowball fight went terribly to tell the truth. It started fairly well; we got to the group, I started throwing snowballs, Haru tried to make one, failed her first few attempts, threw her first one, and it was on. At first when we joined, the other kids didn't target us much. I managed to hit a few others, but they quickly started targeting me as well.

Seeing as Haru was one of the few girls in the fight, a lot of the boys avoided targeting her on principle, which gave her the chance to get her bearings. That came to an end once she went on the offensive though, and despite missing almost every shot she took, any reservations were soon forgotten once she beaned a boy in the back of the head.

To put it simply, she was a really easy target. She had big fluffy golden ears and a tail that stood out a ton in the bright snowy landscape. She wasn't agile, in fact she was pretty much a sitting duck, so she pretty quickly started getting pelted.

Once things took that turn, I took her by the wrist and ran with her up the slope and started making us some cover by bunching some of the snow up to make an embankment. We hid behind it to try and recover, and more importantly, I started making us a stockpile of snowballs.

They all came in handy as I started throwing more down the hill and managed to rack up quite a streak. Eventually it came to an end as they ganged up on us and we went tumbling back down the hill.

Later in the day we went sledding down that very same hill, which was a much nicer way for Haru to get introduced to the idea than her actual initiation.

Maybe later in the winter I'd get to go with her out onto the frozen lake we have in the forest. When there isn't a thick layer of snow we can even go ice skating. Admittedly I'm terrible at it and only tried once before deciding it wasn't for me, but having Haruhime around really made me want to try more things. If nothing else, it would let me spend more fun time with her.

Haruhime's POV

A few months had passed and the season had now changed to spring. The snow had mostly melted and the landscape was turning green once more. The leaves were coming back in, the fruit bearing trees were blooming, and the grass had been exposed and begun to grow. The rivers were running fast and heavy with the snowmelt from up in the mountains, and the weather had warmed enough that I only needed to wear a light jacket to head outside.

More importantly, though, today was my 13th birthday.

I was currently as happy as could be, Bell had brought me some beautiful flowers that I'd just finished placing in a vase in my newly completed bedroom which had been built as an add-on right next to Bell's room right after the snow cleared—it was nice to have my own room now and more space, although I was a bit disappointed that I no longer got to share a room with Bell, even despite how difficult it was sometimes to maintain our privacy like that. Too many times had we accidentally walked in on each other and nearly died of embarrassment.

I was wearing a short pair of boots and white stockings and bloomers under a pale green sundress—fitted with a hole for my tail to poke through—and a white shawl overtop. Over the winter my bust had also begun to grow enough for me to start wearing a bra, so I was wearing that too. Admittedly the white clothing was all a bit more of an off-white than anything—I remember some of the clothing I wore as a kid was a much more pure white, but that seems less feasible in a place like this.

After a few weeks of weather warm enough to dress like this, I'd come to love doing so. It was warm and comfy, and I could enjoy the breeze against my arms and legs.

Now, dressed like that, Bell and I were sitting on our porch reading through and chatting about one of our books—the story of Argonaut again—as we enjoyed the morning sun, still a few hours from noon. Jove, after making us breakfast—a couple of omelets—had left us to our own devices for the day, going off to tend the wheat fields.

"Haaah…" I let out a contented sigh, as I closed my eyes and let the light from the sun warm me up. This was just perfect. I'd never been more content with my lot in life than I was when I could just sit down and read with Bell.

As we finished up one of the last chapters of this version of the story, Bell called out to me. "Haru."

I looked up from the book. "Yes?" I replied.

"Can we stop here? It's almost lunch time and… I want to take you somewhere." He explained, seeming a bit sheepish.

He wanted to take me somewhere? Wait. Is this a date? I could feel a blush rising to my cheeks.

"Umm… Okay." I replied. "Where are we going?"

I looked towards him and watched as his eyes flitted about a bit. "You'll see. It's a surprise. Since it's your birthday and all." He responded. "C'mon." He stood up before reaching out and offering me his hand. I took it, and it was as comforting as always.

Once that was handled we walked down from the porch in companionable silence as we matched our pace.

The dirt path we walked down was a little wet from last night's rain, but it wasn't enough to really be considered muddy. I did have to be a bit careful though not to accidentally dirty my outfit, so I took some care to watch where I stepped as we went down the path toward the village center—apparently that was where we were headed. I wondered what kind of new place Bell had to show me there, but I contented myself to go along for the ride.

We walked past the wheat fields on our home's side of the river where Jove was working. I could spot him on the far side near the slope leading down to the river working on sowing the seeds for the year's first crop alongside a few of the other men from the village—our nearest neighbors, whose homes we also passed by. One of the ladies nearby said hello to us as we passed near her where she was hanging clothes out to dry.

We reached the bridge crossing over the river, a wooden bridge that spanned maybe 10 meters. Most of the bridge's span was just to pass over the low river bed rather than the water itself. Bell and I had gone down below the bridge back during the autumn. It was quite nice and quiet there when nobody else was around, but it wasn't anywhere new. I took a moment to glance down—the water level was definitely higher this time of year than it was back during the fall, though. I don't think we'd be able to head down there for the time being.

We walked through the village center where a bunch of the villagers worked through miscellaneous chores as many of their children assisted, girls and boys alike.

Bell brought the two of us towards the house of one of Jove's friends in the village, and said friend of his' wife came out to greet us. Bell told me to wait where I was for a moment and let go of my hand and hurried inside. I dawdled in place, a bit unsure what to do with myself, but he came out a minute later with a picnic basket and blanket.

I suppose he was taking me out for a picnic.

As we departed, continuing down the path out of the village, doubling back south except on this side of the river now, I spoke up. "Are we heading to the forest, then, Bell?"

He nodded, "Yeah. It's really nice at this time of year. My favorite spot is a bit of a walk to get to though, it'll be another half hour or so to get there, but I thought having a picnic there would be nice."

"Mmm. Okay. I think so too." I replied.

Looking forward again, we continued onward into the forest. As we neared, I could hear the sound of birds chirping and insects buzzing, the sound of the river fading into the distance, but never quite vanishing. The forest wasn't particularly dense, although and was mostly populated with deciduous trees—the confires here mostly lined the steeper slopes of the mountains and foothills rather than the valley the village sat in. Light filtered in through the trees, the tree leaves providing ample shade along the slightly winding path we were taking.

"What path is this, Bell?" I asked him.

"Hmm? Oh. It's a path toward the lake, we haven't been there before, since it's hard to get to during the winter, but many of the villagers go there to swim during the summers. This path is also sometimes used for hunting. I've never really used it for anything like that before though.

"Then, are we heading to the lake?"

"Well… The spot I want to take you to is quite close to it, so yeah, kinda."

I nodded, and we continued yet again.

When we cleared the edge of the forest and reached the lake side, Bell pointed and directed my attention up to a hill overlooking the lake. "Over there. That's where we're headed."

And so we did. We walked around the lake, the spot we were headed to was up a gentle slope and about a third of a lap around the lake away from where we arrived.

It was another five minutes before we reached it, after which we sat down in the shade of one of the trees, layed out the blanket and opened up the picnic basket.

The meal was simple, a few sandwiches of a couple different varieties: egg salad—which I'd been introduced to during the winter months, and a few made with chicken—meat was a bit more of a luxury here than eggs. There were fruits as well, apples and plums.

"It's a nice view isn't it, Haru?"

"It is… I can see the whole lake from here." It was true, I could see the whole of the crystal blue body of water, from off on the far side where it was fed from the mountains, to where it flowed out into the river that passed through the village.

As we snacked, we chatted again, passing through the now familiar topics. Our discussions of stories never really got old, but Bell told me some stories about his time spent here in the village, his first memory of this place, the times swimming down there during summers past, dumb things he'd done, injuries he'd gotten when he was little. Small things like that.

It was really peaceful here, so far away from everything. When we'd finished our meal, we just layed down on the blanket and dozed in the shade.

This was the most enjoyable birthday I'd ever had.

The end of summer was approaching, and I had only one thing on my mind. I needed to do something special for Bell's birthday.

I had been in the village for nearly a year now and after the lovely day Bell treated me to earlier in the year, I wanted to do something special for him for his birthday, too.

As such, I'd spent a lot of time thinking it over for the past few months and had passed over a few ideas already.

Initially I had wanted to return the favor and take him somewhere, but I quickly realized that there wasn't anywhere in the village that I knew about that he did not, so I didn't think I could replicate it. Even if I found a nice spot to show him that he didn't know about—which would be even more difficult because I never leave the immediate bounds of the village without him—I don't think it quite suits the occasion anymore. We go on little expeditions like that all the time now, so it would have lost a lot of the novelty.

Eventually though, I hit upon an idea I really liked.

Our biggest shared interest and passion was hero stories like the Dungeon Oratoria, which chronicled the Age of Heroes, and more recent collections of tales from the Age of Gods including tales about the Dungeon and harrowing encounters, daring escapes, and all other sorts of stories.

I also enjoyed writing in my diary and even had little scribbles and descriptions already written about how he saved me that day.

So. The obvious answer was that I should write him my own hero story, retelling the day he rescued me, and fill it with all the mystique and awe and joy I felt, but in the style of the telling of stories from the Dungeon Oratoria.

It would be perfect!

And so, secretly, I had been spending my free time when Bell wasn't around working through an attempt at retelling the events.

I had gone through a few drafts as they called it, but I also didn't want to be too long winded, which was kind of hard. The format of most of the heroic tales I'd heard didn't usually put such a huge emphasis on the feelings of the characters involved and were more of an objective view of events. It was a challenge to detach myself enough to write something like this without spending a really long time gushing.

To be honest, I initially did write a whole retelling of events that did, in fact, include that much gushing, and I finished writing it all into my notebook a few weeks ago. After that I brought it to the girl I'd mentioned previously, named Lissa, who was usually the first person I'd ask about most things which I wanted to keep private. Jove was definitely not trustworthy about these kinds of things, especially girly things, as I'd had to learn the hard way by now on a number of occasions.

It was then that Lissa told me that it would be really awkward for both me AND Bell to read through something packed with my personal feelings. I initially didn't quite get what she meant, but when she told me this was practically like me giving Bell my diary for his birthday, I realized what she meant.

Lines calling him handsome, or dashing, or cute, or… well I used a lot of descriptors in that vein—It was my diary! I wanted to remember how I felt!—would be really embarrassing to read to him, or even have him read. So Lissa began to help me trim things down and it helped to have her there to guide me. Even if neither of us had ever done something like this before, I managed to produce something much closer to one of the stories I was aiming to replicate once I had a second set of eyes helping.

That became my daily routine for the past few weeks. Copying bits of my diary into a draft of my recounting, sneaking it out of the house without Bell—usually while he was off helping his grandpa tend the fields—, blushing as I tried not to die while Lissa read over my work, taking her suggestions, and then repeating the process with a new draft.

Finally, though, I had something I liked and that I was comfortable with sharing.

I just wish it had some illustrations…

Something to work on, I guess!

Bell's POV

It was my birthday, and Haru woke me up very early. Much earlier in the day than I would have preferred to get up today, but she seemed excited, and her wagging tail and alert ears were cute enough that I didn't mind.

"Happy birthday, Bell!" was what she woke me up to after shaking off my covers with a smile I couldn't stay mad at. It's not like I usually take a while to wake up, having to get up early in the morning to help with the fields wouldn't let me be lazy, but I had gone to bed last night expecting to get to doze in, and that expectation was not being met.

I yawned and responded. "Yeah. Thanks, Haru." I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and waited a moment for them to stop being so blurry. Maybe I rubbed them with a bit too much force. "Umm… is there anything you need from me this early in the morning?" I looked toward my window, and judging from the light in the room, it was just an hour after dawn. Sleeping till noon would've been nice.

"Well… I have something special I want to do with you today." She glanced out the door. She had a bit of a goofy smile on her face she was trying to suppress by pressing her lips together. It still showed through. "I also have a present I want to give you." She looked pretty antsy, as she tilted ever so slightly from side to side with a touch of nervous energy.

"Okay. Well, can you let me get dressed first?" I was still just wearing pajamas.

"Ah! Yes! Of course!" She seemed like she completely forgot that would be an issue. "I'll see you at breakfast, Bell!" She said as she departed my room.

"Hah… I guess I should get up, then."

I never usually did too much on my birthdays, although we always marked them and knew when they came around. Grandpa always made me something nicer than usual to eat—usually by asking some of the other villagers for help—, and when I was younger we'd have some friends from around the village come over to celebrate and acknowledge the day, but little more than that. He'd usually give me some kind of present. When I was younger it was toys, most of which I still have in a chest in my room. But once I got older and into books like the Dungeon Oratoria, he'd start bringing me new titles to read.

I finished buttoning up my shirt and slipped on a pair of socks to walk around the house and made my way to the dining room for breakfast.

Breakfast was still a simple affair, although it did come a bit later. Grandpa wasn't even up and about when Haru woke me up, so we hung out together in the living room, sitting in our chairs around the unused fireplace as he worked to make us something in the kitchen. He ended up just making us pancakes with syrup and some eggs he'd brought in from outside. I suppose he didn't have time to make the nicer breakfast today when put given such short notice.

After we'd finished up though, Haru ran to her room and grabbed something which she refused to show me. Was that my gift, then? I wonder what she got me.

"Is that for me?" I asked her.

She looked at me. "Mhmm. But I'm not ready to give it to you yet." She looked out the window. "Can we go to that spot by the lake? I want to give it to you there." She looked back to me with inquiring eyes.

"Sure. But it's a bit chilly out. You might want to wear something a bit warmer if we're heading outside." The weather had changed as fall came around. The warm temperatures of summer passed and the winds were stronger.

I myself was ready, wearing pants, a shirt and a light jacket, but Haru might want to wear some stockings under her dress, and maybe bring a shawl. That was the kind of clothing she'd worn last year around this time when she'd gotten her first hand-me-downs from the villagers. She'd been a bit reluctant to switch her wardrobe back once it cooled down again, though. She said she liked wearing sundresses and didn't want to change back. Maybe we should see if we can get her some kimonos like she had when we found her. She had already grown a bit and her old kimono which had been fitted to her over two years ago when she still lived with her noble family was much too small now. I think she'd enjoy receiving a new one. Although I had no idea how I'd get a hold of one here.

Either way, she nodded and went to her room, returning a couple minutes later with the clothing choices I mentioned. We both put our shoes on and made our way out to the lake.

Our walk went quicker than normal. While Haruhime wasn't running, she did seem very excited to give me my gift. She seemed to be anticipating the gift giving even more than I was anticipating the gift receiving. I suppose she must have something really nice. I wasn't sure what she would have been able to get me or even what she'd have chosen to get, so I didn't really have many expectations. It wasn't like the times I'd asked grandpa for something specific and got really excited when he finally got it.

We arrived at the lakeside a few hours before noon, and the lake was still lit by bluish morning light. It was quite pretty, and I rarely came to this part of the forest so early in the morning. We climbed the little hill and settled in under the tree and Haruhime finally pulled out what she'd been hiding beneath her jacket.

It was a small book.

"Oh! It's a story." I looked at her and she nodded. "What's it about?"

"Umm… It's… Well, I… It's a hero story." She fumbled over her words and blushed. That was a strange reaction.

"Hmm… Where'd you get it?" Did grandpa help her acquire it?

"I… I made it myself." She said quietly.

"You did?" I took the book from her hands and she hesitated for a second to let it go before releasing it. I sat down and placed it in my lap then looked up at her. She looked really nervous, her ears turning back and forth and her tail wagging irregularly behind her. She had her arms at her side and her hands intertwined over her belly as she nervously wrung her hands together. "Come on. Sit down, Haru." I gestured for her to sit down beside me with a pat of my hands against the grass.

She followed through and sat beside me to my left. She brought her left arm up in front of her and rested her hand above her chest, nervously rubbing the fabric of her dress between her thumb and first finger. Stopping for a second when she noticed I saw her tick. I figured we should talk about it then. "Can I read it?"

"Yes. You can." She didn't say anything else and just looked down at the book in my lap, continuing to fiddle with her collar.

I did so and opened the book up. It was a story written in Haruhime's handwriting as I expected. Her handwriting was neat, and clearly much more practiced than mine. I suppose she was taught writing by noble tutors at some point, I know beautiful penmanship is highly valued in the Far East, and it seems those lessons stuck for her even when she was young. She'd told me that her family's role was as civil officials in her country's government and that her father was often busy with paperwork during the times he was home. I assume she was likely brought up with many of those skills in mind as well, prior to being disowned.

The first page I read had her name on the back of the front cover and some descriptions of her life. This looked more like a diary than anything else.

"Umm… skip to the bookmarked page, please." She gestured toward the bright red bookmark peeking out of the page. It was one of mine that I'd given to Haruhime when she first asked for one. She had kept it ever since. "The earlier parts are just the drafts. I wasn't able to get a whole new notebook just for this." She blushed. "Please don't read the earlier parts."

I nodded and quickly looked away before opening up to the marked page.

It was told in first person, and very quickly the main character named themselves, herself, as Haruhime. "Is this…?" I began to ask Haruhime what this was about.

"Just… keep reading, okay." She looked toward me with the slightest hint of pleading in both her expression and tone as she urged me onward. And so I did. The story continued, following the main character, who I now knew was Haruhime, as she was taken from her home and carried far away against her will. The story recounted her thoughts and feelings throughout her travels in relatively short form—The whole story only made up about 50 pages of writings in total after all—as she went from places near home, to further and further away and as she described herself as less and less hopeful as time went on.

I suppose I could see why she was so embarrassed to share this with me, if it was her own personal feelings expressed through a short novelization of her life. It was really sweet though, and I told her as much as I kept going, failing to notice the way my comment had made her blush.

The story continued on as she traversed the continent with descriptions of the scenery she saw, until at last she recounted arriving in a small village and encountering… me. Oh.

I looked at her but couldn't maintain eye contact as she was already looking away from me. I couldn't keep looking either and I turned back to the story as she described me and my actions in… very embarrassing terms. There were even a few lines that were completely scribbled out. Okay. So this was why she was so hesitant to hand it to me.

Once I'd finished reading through it I heard her speak. "It… It's a hero story, because I think of you as my hero, Bell." Her blush was furious by this point.

"Oh." I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks." I sat the book down on the grass beside me and hugged her. She stiffened but quickly relaxed and hugged me back. This was nice. This was the best birthday gift I'd ever received.

It was just a few weeks later, and Haru and I were attending the village harvest festival together. I'd told her when she first arrived a year ago that I was sad she missed it and would have to wait for this one. Back then she'd seemed very disappointed. Festivals of this kind were held all the time in the Far East, but she had never been allowed or able to attend any before, having to content herself with hearing or seeing them from afar but never being allowed to join in the festivities. She was frustrated that she just missed the biggest one of the year, but that only meant she was even more excited tonight to finally get to attend one.

On paper, we'd say the festival began at sunrise, but that mostly meant that the whole village had been in the festive mood since then. Truthfully we'd been in the festive mood much longer, ever since the harvest was finished, the village had secured an ample food supply for the winter, and everything else that came along with a completed harvest. It was just that the festivities only properly began in the late afternoon once the villagers had gotten all their activities set up.

Haruhime and I had joined in around then. While Haruhime had been too excited to resist heading out early, when we first got there, the villagers were still setting things up. The two of us then helped the adults finish with preparations. In fact we continued helping well after the festivities actually began until grandpa found us still helping and told us we'd done enough and to go join the fun, following which we went out and started wandering around.

The harvest festivals were mostly song and dance affairs with a variety of traditional delicacies made from the fruits of the recent harvest—sometimes literal, sometimes not—made and served around the village square. The preparations were mostly in the decorations put up to get the village into the festive mood. Banners and streamers and tables and chairs and bonfires. Those kinds of things.

Haruhime and I went around to all the little stands and sampled the foods—candied apples, sweets, and other things that we didn't get a chance to eat during other times of the year.

When we finished that, Haruhime and I sat down around the main bonfire off toward the side. Haruhime tried to join in with some of the singing, and while her voice was lovely, she didn't know the lyrics and lacked the confidence to project her voice like the others.

All the while though, I kept eyeing the dancing. I'd never joined in before.

I wonder if Haru would like to dance with me.

Haruhime's POV

The festival had been lovely so far. The atmosphere was so lively and fun and happy. Everybody was enjoying themselves, singing and dancing all over the place.

I'd never gotten to go to a festival before. They'd happen all the time when I was in the Far East, even during a turbulent period for the country like I had been born into, the common folk always wanted to find something to celebrate and be happy about. But that was just it, as nobility, my father forbade me from leaving for such things—well he forbade me from leaving the manor for almost anything so that didn't come as a surprise, but it was saddening nonetheless.

Having the chance to finally attend one was a little dream come true for me. Even more so that I could attend it with someone like Bell at my side.

I'd loved the food and the sound of the singing, I'd even tried to join in with the singing once or twice, but never quite managed to get the confidence to join in myself. Truthfully, even after all this time, I didn't know most of the villagers very well, and attempting to gather next to them and sing with them was too nerve wracking for me, so I abided and just enjoyed the sound.

It was while I was lamenting this that Bell spoke something to me that made me completely forget about that.

"Haru, do you want to go dance together?" He asked.

"Ah." I looked at him, and then at the people dancing, couples, and parents, and children, and all. I did. But. Did I know how to dance? I'd had a couple lessons for dancing as a child, but never any kind of dancing with a partner. I knew I was clumsy and had a tendency to trip over my own feet if I didn't watch where I was going. Could I actually do that and not make a fool of myself.

"Umm… sure. But can we do it somewhere more private?" I asked him sheepishly. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of everybody, or worse, trip and fall on top of somebody else.

"Of course." He agreed, and led me away from the crowds. It took a minute or two to break free of all the crowded areas, but he brought me to the edge of the village center and down a path between some of the currently unused buildings used for crafts and tool maintenance. Perhaps not the best environment for dancing, but it was quiet and secluded and nobody was there to see me if I tripped. The sun would be setting before too long, and long shadows were being cast by the buildings, darkening the path.

With a quick motion, Bell offered me his hand and I took it. He did his best to position our bodies and we began.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was a nightmare to write and the kinds of things covered here are all things I'm terrible at writing. So little actually happens other than just giving the reader a feel for what Bell and Haruhime's life in the village is like. However, establishing their connection to this place is very important for the emotional weight of them leaving it for Orario. So I couldn't skip it.

When I first started writing back in June 2021, I had just finished writing Sunrise then called Sunsets and had turned to just writing everything chronologically with no planning at all, just some cool imagery of Haruhime being a hero I wanted to work toward. That chapter was eventually written in March 2022 and was pretty terrible. It just didn't have anything to it and included information nobody, including me actually cares about. I didn't need to describe their walk home. I'm not the kind of writer who can put in that much detail without dying of writer's block.

So I changed approaches and tried skipping the village segment and just including important events in flashbacks. That idea led to the old chapter Brighter from I think, July 2022 and was the last chapter I properly released. I tried continuing it chronologically again but I noticed a weird thing happening with Bell's character that had him seeming a bit depressed or something and when I asked why that might have happened I had a really good idea.

Thing is, that idea could not be told through flashbacks easily. I also ran into the trouble of just how unrealistic it was for Bell and Haruhime's relationship to not be romantic by the time they got to Orario when they were two young, horny teenagers, living in the same house and with Zeus as their guardian.

As such I had to scrap the approach I took in Brighter and go back to the previous one but with more use of timeskips. I thought I needed a selection of vignettes to build their relationship before paying it off with their confession in a later chapter. It also allowed me to let them have their big moment of "We want to become heroes together" that inspired the whole idea of this fic that one late June night in 2021 before being in Orario as I was getting really stretched trying to find a good way of having it happen at a time post the chapter Brighter in that version of the story.

And so, all of those vignette chapters eventually got merged into just one chapter in the end. Also the super important chapters later got merged together as well and will be up before too long. More than that, most of the vignettes also got shortened as well just so I could get this chapter out the door.

New chapter, probably tomorrow or something. (2/27/24)