Epilogue: An Old Country Bumpkin Senses Defeat
“Haaah... I’m back.”
A while after my bout with my dad, not quite sure where to go, I’d ended up settling on simply going back home. I mean, my face was a total mess. I couldn’t let Mewi see me like that. The sun was still high in the sky, and she wasn’t going to leave the village, so I’d decided it was fine for me to go home on my own.
Honestly, I had no idea what kind of face I should be making. I hadn’t been able to look my dad in the eyes the entire time before we’d parted ways.
“Oh, welcome home.”
So, as I opened the door in a heartbroken mood, my mom greeted me. Huh. I’m only just thinking about it now, but what would’ve been my plan if my dad showed up instead? It really feels like my brain isn’t working. At any rate, I just wanted to settle my feelings and calm down.
“Hm? Where’s dad?”
Something was a little off about his absence. He’d left the dojo ahead of me, so I figured he’d be here.
“He said he wanted some meat and left,” my mom explained. “You didn’t bump into him?”
“Oh, I see...”
So he was just as cheerful as ever. And he did have a point—this was a rare opportunity to have as much meat as he wanted. The me from last year would’ve been trading stupid jokes with him and enjoying some by his side. However, though it might sound a little twisted, I could get as much meat as I wanted in Baltrain so long as I spent a little money, so I didn’t have a particular craving for saberboar meat. Was this an adverse effect of living in the city?
“Want something to drink?” my mom asked.
“Aaah, sure.”
My dad had called me out before I could finish my lukewarm ale, so now that she mentioned it, my throat was pretty parched. I hadn’t drunk enough to get tipsy, and even if I had, I would’ve sobered up by now.
“Here, have this to help you calm down.”
“Aaah, thanks...”
She placed a cup of hot water before me. I wasn’t in the mood for alcohol, and the only wine we had in our house was that stupidly bitter one anyway. Water was the perfect choice for calming my heart and throat.
Hang on, help me calm down? Do I look that flustered? The scary part about my mom was that she was always dead-on about people’s mental states even without anyone saying a word. Her keen eye was a cut above the rest. She didn’t even have to ask.
“Haaah...”
I slowly sipped the small cup of hot water. Having something to drink definitely seemed to calm the heart better than food. This was just plain water, so it was flavorless. Regardless, it helped settle my restless feelings.
“So? How was it?” she asked after seeing I’d calmed down somewhat.
“How was what?”
“You overcame it, right?”
Overcame what? She was intentionally keeping the subject obscure. She probably saw through the fact that I wouldn’t honestly accept it if someone else told it to me straight. She was terrifying in an altogether different way than my dad.
“Mm, well... I guess so,” I said, looking up at the ceiling.
This was the same ceiling I’d known for decades—old and sturdy, with maybe a few more stains than before. Had my perspective changed at all after the bout? The scenery around me was the same as always. I was deeply moved, but it didn’t feel like anything had changed dramatically.
My mom possessed no strength in the martial sense—she knew nothing about fighting. She might even lose against the local brats, and at most, she would hit my dad’s shoulder or back jokingly. Nevertheless, I felt like I could never win against her. Just because I beat my dad didn’t mean I could win against my mom. I didn’t know if this was because my mom was special...or if that was simply what it meant to be a mother.
“Isn’t that nice?” she said.
“Uh... I guess? Yeah...”
My mom didn’t dig too deeply. She simply uplifted her son’s spirits and chose her words wisely. Also, she had to have mixed feelings about it. I was her son, but my dad was her husband. I didn’t want to argue about who ranked higher, but I didn’t think it felt good to have the one you loved knocked down—even against his own son.
Still, I hadn’t said a single word about fighting my dad or winning against him. How had she inferred so much just from me coming back home? It really was a little scary.
“Were you actually watching...?” I asked, wondering if she’d been sneakily peeping on us.
“Watching what?”
“Oh... Never mind.”
My suspicion vanished instantly. It would’ve been really embarrassing for her to see me fighting, but she wasn’t the type to go that far. Although, maybe my mom had imagined this outcome already. Both my dad and I were incapable of winning against her. Much like with the weather and people’s hearts, when my mom was “looking” at something, she was never wrong.
“Hey, mom?”
“What is it?”
My mom had a lot more white hair and wrinkles now, but she still maintained her beauty.
“Who do you think is stronger? Me or dad?”
I regretted it the moment the words left my mouth. What answer was I hoping for? She wasn’t a fighter. She couldn’t discern a swordsman’s strength. Did I want peace of mind from hearing her say it? I couldn’t help but feel like, despite winning against my dad, it would take far longer for me to have confidence in myself.
“Him, of course,” she answered, making a face like she didn’t have the vaguest idea what I was expecting to hear.
“I-I see...”
“I don’t know how strong you are with a sword. I have no idea how to fight, after all. But he protected a woman while raising a son. That is a splendid feat. You can’t do the same yet, right?”
“No, I can’t...”
She wasn’t speaking with any passion in her voice. She stated it like it was a simple fact. He’d protected a woman—my mother—and had raised a son—me.
I was definitely grateful for my parents. I didn’t see myself as a potentially awful parent, but it was easy to imagine how hard it was to raise a human being from scratch. I was made to fully realize this due to the odd circumstances that had brought Mewi to me as an adopted daughter.
Mewi was an intelligent child. Given the environment she’d grown up in, she’d ended up with a sharp tongue, but she was an awkward and kind girl at heart. That must’ve been because her big sister had raised her so earnestly. It certainly wasn’t a result of my guidance.
Say, for argument’s sake, I had a child of my own. I was confident I could shower them with affection. But could I raise them into a splendid adult? My answer to that was a definite no.
“So once you’re able to, you’ll win against him, right?”
There was a hidden meaning behind her declaration. She was right. I’d gotten the better of my dad in a bout, but that simply meant I’d surpassed him in terms of swordsmanship. It didn’t prove that I was superior as a human in any way whatsoever. It was naturally wrong to rank people based on their merits, but in the sense of coming to terms with matters in my heart, it was a necessity.
“In that case, you’ll have to find a wife quickly,” my mom added. “You’ll always be on the losing end at this rate.”
“You make it sound so simple...”
This was the truth of the matter—I was still too lacking to tell my dad to his face that I’d won. Even though I’d defeated him with a sword, my dad was over sixty. He was already more than enough of a monster to move like that at his age.
Also, I didn’t believe my mom was being serious. Naturally, she wanted her son to grow up into a fine man, but being able to find a spouse didn’t really mean you were winning at life or anything. This was simply provocation. “How old are you going to get without finding a single lover?” If only I could let that stir me into action, but I just didn’t have any confidence in that particular field. It was rather depressing.
“Ah, but if you get desperate in your search for a wife and ignore Mew Mew, I won’t forgive you.”
“I know that!”
This time, she was dead serious, but I would never do such a thing. If I did, my mom would kill me. And she was several times more terrifying than my dad.
“Man...I really can’t win,” I muttered.
“Against who?”
“Dad or you.”
“Ha ha ha! You’re a hundred years too early for that. Try again after getting more experience in Baltrain. Oh, would you like a refill?”
“Sure.”
My cup was empty before I knew it, so my mom filled it with more hot water.
“Whew...”
It was just water—it didn’t taste of anything. Regardless, it nourished me like a mother’s cooking. One way or another, I was deeply moved by it.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login