The next day after getting permission to go out from dad. After having changed into a cotton button-up shirt and chino pants—an outfit looking like a slightly well-off commoner—I was standing at the entrance. Nope, I was getting stopped at the entrance.
“Anything you forgot? Did you bring your wallet? Do you have enough mana?”
“It’s just a city right down there, so I can just come back if I forgot anything. I’ve also got my wallet ready with a small sum of copper coins, and for mana, it’s not like I’m going to be fighting in the city, so don’t worry so much.”
“I know you’re certainly strong, Har-kun, but I’m just worried. Maybe it’s better if I come with you?”
It’d already been 30 minutes since I was being stopped at the entrance. I was glad that she was worrying about me, but I’d like her to just let me go already. Let me on my trip if I’m cute!
“Don’t worry, Teresia. Eberhard is growing up so much more than we thought. And even if there’s trouble, it’s also a necessary experience of failure for growth. He’s so strong it’s hard to think he’s 10 years old, so we should just see him off with a smile instead since there’s no need to worry too much about him getting injured or kidnapped, right?”
Nice one, pops. Please keep the support going.
“Is that so? It’s lonely, somehow like he’s going to leave me.”
“You’re overreacting; I’m just going to the castle town…”
“Har, for you, it’s the outside world you’ll see for the first time, outside people you’ll meet for the first time. Also think of seeing the state of the people in the city, different from the nobles and merchants coming to the mansion, as studying for the future.”
The chance is now.
“I got it. I’m off.”
“Yeah, go out there.”
“Aah, wait! Har-kun, be carefuul!!”
“Yeeess!” I replied while running towards the gate.
The last time I’d been outside of the gate was six months ago, when dad had taken me to greet my uncle at the shrine—it was a religious facility like a blend of a shrine and a church—where he was a priest. For me, who had never left the grounds of the castle residence of our House Fahrenheit aside from that time, today was the day where I’d take the first step to spread my wings to the outside world. I wasn’t Jean-Jacques Rousseau, but this was like a second birthday, so to speak.
“Oh, young master. How unusual. Would you be going out?” When I got to the gate, the gatekeeper who was also a servant of our family talked to me. He usually didn’t talk to me much, so this was somewhat refreshing.
“Yep. I finally got permission to go out from dad. I’ll be sure to be back by dinner.”
“I see. I believe the public order in the streets of Heitburg is quite good since there are also patrols, but please do be careful.”
“Thanks.” Saying my thanks to the gatekeeper, I took a step outside of the gate.
I was remembering the excitement I’d felt in my childhood in my previous life in Japan. That time also felt like this. The skies were blue and the sun was dazzling, like today.
Although I was out of the gate, it wasn’t like the castle town was immediately outside. The mansion of House Fahrenheit was a castle on a plain, not a castle on a mountain. That said, it didn’t mean the mansion was built in the center of the city.
I’d like you to remember ancient Kyoto. The city was spread out in a grid pattern, and the emperor’s dwelling, imperial palace, was located on the northernmost side; that layout. The capital of the territory of Margrave Fahrenheit, Heitburg, also had a somewhat similar layout typical of a planned city, even though it was not strictly a grid-like city.
And that was why I would have to walk for a while after leaving the mansion to reach the city area. Actually, thinking about it the other way, if you could reach the lord’s mansion immediately from the city, it would make a rather poor situation security-wise. For security reasons, our house was double guarded by an inner gate and an outer gate.
I was walking briskly along the path leading from the inner gate to the outer gate. There was no one around.
I arrived at the outer gate. I headed to the door beside the gate and opened it from the inside.
“Young master?” A gatekeeper called out to me again. This time there were two.
“I got permission to go out. I’ll be back by dinner.”
“I see, please be careful.”
“Please be careful.”
Seen off by the gatekeepers, I took my first step towards the city. In front of me stretched out a very beautiful city that looked like the Middle Ages to early modern Europe.
“OOOOOOHHH…!”
Beautiful buildings about five stories high were standing straight ahead as if making a line. The road was very wide, like the main road in the inner city area of present day Japan. And carriages and people were moving left and right, going in any direction they wished. Although there were carriages, it looked like there were also some pulled by earth dragons(?) that looked like a big lizard. Would it be called dragon carriage and not horse carriage?
Truly a different world. It was an emotionally moving sight.
“Wow wow amazing!”
The people walking were all basically human-like, but I’d also occasionally catch sight of people with ultra realistic animal ears, so much so it should obviously be not a cosplay. Apparently there were also beastmen in this world!
It was a shocking fact I knew for the first time at the age of ten. By the looks of it, there might even be elves and dwarves and others, eh.
After leaving the grounds of House Fahrenheit, I proceeded to walk straight ahead along the wide main street similar to Suzaku Boulevard of the old Kyoto or Champs-Élysées of Paris.
Apparently, this area seemed to have many buildings with high publicness, such as administrative relations and libraries, perhaps because of its close proximity to the lord’s mansion. Many of the mid-rise buildings—by this world’s standard, it could be said to be plenty high-rise—that I’d occasionally see that seemed to be privately owned were very fancy, and the social class of its residents seemed to be high at a glance. The public order in this area seemed to be worry-free.
Once I proceeded ahead for a while, the street was gradually becoming more crowded and lively. If the area up until now was a business district like Ginza and Marunouchi, this area would be more like a downtown area like Shinjuku or Shibuya, huh. The first floor was a store in each building, and I could see a lot of people incessantly going in and out.
“Welcome, welcome! We have fresh meat brought in today!”
“We have freshly baked bread!”
“Would you like some exotic spices!?”
“We have handicraft from the elf forest! Buy it, and you’ll be blessed!”
I turned a corner, and then there was a small alleyway. Although on the small side, there were stalls lined up in a row in the alleyway, just like a flea market. The population density also soared up in a breath, and I proceeded down the road while paying attention not to bump into any passersby.
This somehow sure did remind me of the open air market in Taito. It was a scenery of a staggering amount of people walking in a small alleyway, and aunties and uncles shouting to advertise their products. The world might be different, but there was also similar scenery.
“Hey, kiddo! Want some grilled skewers?”
“Yeah?”
As I was walking, I was called out by an uncle behind a food stall, grilling skewers of some kind of meat that I didn’t have much of an idea what it was. Although I had no idea what meat it was, at least it was being grilled nicely at a glance and smelling really good.
“How much?”
“150 Ell a stick.”
“Two please.”
“Sure, that’s 300 Ell.”
I took out three 100 Ell copper coins from my wallet filled with my spending money.
“Thank you for your patronage!”
And then I proceeded to walk down the market street while stuffing my mouth with skewered meat I’d received. The skin on the surface was crispy, the meat was cooked nicely all the way inside, and yet not losing its juiciness; it was superb to say the least. While the sauce wasn’t soy sauce-based, it had a peculiar seasoning of exotic spices, and even judging from me, a noble who would eat good stuff regularly, there was no question about its quality.
With a ten year old kid’s stomach, even eating two skewers of grilled meat would fill it up in a jiffy. And as I was strolling to the road that way and to the road this way while also to give my stomach a rest after a meal, I found myself in an area that was strangely noisy even though there were few pedestrians around for some reason.
There were only a few people walking down the street, and yet the shouting voices and the bang-bang sound of metal hitting one another were incredible. And those sounds were coming from the houses lining up on both sides of the street. Apparently, this was the area where the blacksmiths were living.
Feeling curious, I peeked in through a door that was slightly opened and saw a group of brawny men swinging down their hammers at the glowing red iron while sweating down like a waterfall.
“…So cool.” As I was unconsciously marveling at the craftsmanship, tap-tap, my shoulder was tapped from behind. “Ah, I’m sorry. Am I disturbing?”
When I turned around while apologizing, there was a girl about my age standing there. She was a girl with pretty red hair, and skin that was smudged with black dirt that was probably soot.
“Do you have any interest in black smithing?”
“In blacksmithing? Yep, well not like I wanna do it, but I guess I wanna see more.”
Once I answered her, the girl smiled pleasantly and grabbed my hand.
“Then come this way!”
“Eh, eeh??” I suddenly got dragged away. Well, it didn’t look like a kidnapping or anything, and this girl also looked like she was involved in blacksmithing anyway. If she was saying she’d show me the working area, then it’d be most welcome.
It seemed that my wish to expand my world was already coming true on the first day.
TL notes:
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I Can't Read Japanese TL 
and another waifu gg ez
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Thanks for the new chapter.
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