Sense of Responsibility

The next morning, Gerda came by again, this time with a huge lump of meat in hand. When he placed it down, he said that this was Rodin's share.

The size of the portion made it painfully clear just how much Rodin had been risking his life for his family's sake. Theresia crumpled to the ground in the earthen-floored room, weeping.

"Is Rodin still sleeping?" Gerda asked as he returned from helping to refill the family's jug. Instead of commenting on Theresia's tears, he simply said, "Don't worry. I'll definitely make sure your family can make it through the winter. All you have to focus on is safely giving birth."

"What? Oh, th-thank—" That very moment, Rodin woke up, looking somewhat disoriented.

"Ughhh...where's this?"

"R-RODINNNN!!!" Theresia rushed over and enveloped her husband in a hug. He let out a groan, indicating that his wound was not fully healed yet.

Mash also glomped onto him, crying, "Papa! Papa!"

A spike of pain shot through Allen's chest as he took in the sight of his three family members hugging each other.

'Just what have I been doing? '

If he was to be honest, he did not really have much of an opinion on having been born a serf.

He was a serf because the character selection only allowed him to be a serf. Being a royal or a wanderer would have equally meant nothing to him. Anything would have been fine, really.

Back when he had been on Earth, Allen had been playing games ever since he was seven or eight years old.

Of the countless games that he had come across, not once had he chosen to pick it up or not based on who the protagonist's parents were. After all, it was just a piece of inconsequential lore that had no bearing on the enjoyment of the game itself.

But then he was born to Rodin and Theresia.

Every day of his life in this world, he had watched the two of them living their lives to the fullest up close. Mash eventually came along. And now, there was a third baby in Theresia's belly.

The last traces of childishness seemed to seep out of Allen's face as a powerful sense of responsibility welled up from deep within him.

He felt as though he had woken up in a way. Six years, and he was finally reincarnated in the fullest sense of the word. He was now standing here, in this world, on his own two feet.

"Hey there, tough guy," Gerda chuckled as he looked at his grimacing friend.

"Gerda...? I'm...alive?"

"You got lucky. You doin' all right?"

"Mm." Rodin tried to sit up, but immediately sank back down as if an intense pain had just run through his abdomen. Clearly he was still far from being fully recovered.

"Looks like there's no way around it. Don't worry about the great boar hunts—I'll handle them," Gerda said to his friend of many years.

Although his tone was brusque, his kindness came across loud and clear. "And I'll also see your family through the winter. You just make sure you get all better by spring."

"Thanks, man. I'm gonna owe you big-time."

"That's not right, father."

"...Hm? 'Father'?" Rodin reacted to being called "father" for the first time ever. Something seemed different. He turned to look toward Allen, as did Theresia.

"I agree that you should rest up and get better, but I will be the one to take care of our family."

"It makes me really happy to hear that, Allen, but Ge—" Rodin cut himself off. He could not continue the sentence, not after seeing the resolve in Allen's eyes.

"I swear I will protect this family."

In late autumn, at six years of age, Allen came into his own. An unfortunate incident had forced him to truly awaken.

***

The next morning, Allen arose and walked out into the main room.

"Good morning, mother."

"...Good morning, Allen."

As of yesterday, Allen had stopped calling his parents by "papa" and "mama" and adopted the more mature "father" and "mother."

He grabbed the two wooden buckets from the earthen-floored area of the house by their handles and strode outside. The mornings were getting quite chilly now, with it nearing the end of October, but he did not complain.

With the empty buckets in hand, he headed toward the closest communal well. There were several that had been dug throughout the village for the villagers to use as water for drinking, cooking, washing, and other things.

One of them was not all too far from Allen's house.

"Good morning."

"Ah, Rodin's son. Good morning."

There was already a line of four or five people present. Allen went to stand at the back.

By watching the others in front of him, he figured out how to draw water using the rope. This was his first time seeing this task being performed up close.

Several of the villagers sent puzzled glances his way, wondering what a child was doing here. However, they quickly remembered what had happened to Rodin the day before and their looks turned into ones of sympathy.

Soon, it was Allen's turn. He dropped the well bucket down, then pulled it back up with the rope. Under the eyes of the surrounding adults, he filled both the buckets he had brought with him.

"Hey, kid, you might wanna go easy on the water there. You won't be able to carry your buckets if they're both too full."

"Huh? Oh, thank you for your consideration."

Allen bobbed his head, then turned to head home, one bucket filled with thirty liters of water in each hand. The adults saw him off with their eyes wide open in surprise.

'I knew it. Father could do this without breaking a sweat, which means he's stronger than the other villagers. These buckets are larger than what the other people were using too.'

When Allen got home, he promptly emptied the remaining water in the family jug into the ditch beside their house.

Then he returned it to its original position and refilled it with the freshly drawn water, bringing the buckets up higher than the height of his chest.

Theresia simply watched, not saying anything.

"Mother, Mr. Gerda'll be teaching me how to harvest potatoes this afternoon. Is there anything I should get ready beforehand?"

"I...guess so. Yes."

Because Theresia needed to look after Mash, tend to Rodin, and take care of herself for the baby in her belly, Allen had turned to Gerda for instruction instead.

Just yesterday, Allen had declared that he would do everything that needed to be done for the family. That included, on top of all the housework that he was already helping with, working in the fields as well. Refilling the water jug in the morning was also part of the new duties he had taken up.

The night before, Rodin, Theresia, and Gerda had all tried to talk Allen out of this, reminding him that he was but only six years old. However, it soon became clear that he was not going to be dissuaded. Therefore, the adults decided to let him have a go so he could understand firsthand what a monumental task it was that he had claimed for himself.

Because Rodin was still unable to walk out into the main room by himself —despite how small their house was—Theresia brought breakfast into the room they shared. She then fed him devotedly, one spoonful at a time.

At the same time, Allen ate his own breakfast.

Once finished, he helped clean everything up, then proceeded to do the laundry. Lately, doing the laundry had become part of his daily routine. The stone-throwing that he had kept up for three whole years was now fully in the past.

***

It was only after lunch that Gerda came over, as he had to tend to his own fields in the morning.

"Allen, if you really want to help harvest the potatoes, bring this basket." Gerda's tone was slightly steely, as if he was trying to get Allen to give up soon.

The boy somehow picked up on his intention and obediently did as he was told with a simple "Yes, sir."

As a general rule, the fields adjacent to Allen's house all belonged to Rodin.

'There are four or five fields separated by raised footpaths. If I remember correctly, we grow wheat, potatoes, legumes, and leafy vegetables. Looking at it up close really gives me a scale of how much land we have to tend to. As I'd thought, father must've leveled up quite a bit to be able to handle it all on his own. It's gotta be all the great boars that he's hunted.'

Rodin had been killing great boars—Rank C monsters—before Allen was even conceived.

Doing so had surely leveled him up quite a bit, making him significantly stronger than any normal villager.

Of course, the size of the fields under Rodin's management were nothing compared to those in the modern world that were managed using machinery like tractors.

However, they were still quite sizable for a single family to tend using only hoes and plows.

Allen followed Gerda into one of these fields, where the ground seemed to be largely covered with drooping leaves.

As the boy took in the sights, feeling moved, Gerda proceeded to explain the task at hand.

"When you grab the stalk like this and heave—out come the potatoes," Gerda said, using one of his muscular arms to uproot a plant. Potatoes of varying sizes appeared, attached to the stalk. Same as Rodin, he had also gained quite a few levels from all the great boar hunts.

The potatoes that had just come out both looked and tasted like what Allen recognized as sweet potatoes. Mash loved them because of how sweet they were.

"Like this, sir?"

"That's right. The roots are pretty firmly dug into the ground. Use all your strength to pull the whole thing up."

Just as Gerda did, Allen also reached out with one hand to grasp a stalk.

"Wait, you can't use just one—" Before Gerda could finish his sentence, however, Allen already had the full plant in his hand.

"Do I put the whole thing in the basket?"

"Uh...y-yeah. You'll have to sort through them when you get home. The smaller ones you'll need to set aside to use as seeds for next year."

Now that he knew how to do it, Allen proceeded to go through the rows quickly using both hands. Pluck, shake off the dirt, place into basket. Rinse and repeat. It did not take long for the basket to fill up.

'Looks like I wouldn't be able to finish digging them all up within a day. Not that I'm able to dedicate a whole day to this.'

"Do I bring all these to the garden, Mr. Gerda?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, that's right. I never knew you were so strong, Allen."

"I am my father's son, after all."

There were still plenty of potatoes in the ground, as the total harvest was supposed to keep the entire family fed for the entire coming year.