I Picked Up A Female Knight In My Rice Field

I left the house early in the morning, but the outside world was already gripped by sweltering heat.

Even though I had only walked a short distance from home, sweat was already beginning to bead on my forehead and back.

“Damn, it’s hot again today.”

I wanted nothing more than to turn around and go straight home, but my beloved crops were waiting for me in the fields and rice paddies.

It had been four years since I quit my office job and started farming in my rural hometown. My life had finally begun to stabilize.

I couldn’t afford to slack off now and ruin my precious crops.

I steeled myself and headed over to inspect my rice paddy.

That was when I noticed something silver gleaming in the middle of it.

“…What’s that?”

Lush green rice plants, water covering the fields, small creatures like freshwater snails and insects, and swallows and herons hunting them were all perfectly normal sights. A mysterious silver object, however, had no business being there.

The only explanation I could think of was that someone had illegally dumped something in my rice paddy.

“Goddammit! Who the hell dumped their trash in my rice paddy?!”

I was already irritated enough by the heat. Having to deal with illegal dumping was the last thing I needed.

Cursing under my breath, I went to investigate the supposed trash, only to discover that it wasn’t trash at all. It was a person.

She had long golden hair and pure white skin. She wore a suit of Western-style armor, and what appeared to be a sword hung from her waist.

If I remembered correctly, women dressed like this were called female knights.

“Wait, why the hell is a female knight lying in my rice paddy?!”

When I looked more closely, I saw that she had an almost unbelievably beautiful face. Judging by her hair color and facial features, she clearly wasn’t Japanese.

Was she some kind of foreign cosplayer?

She wouldn’t have looked out of place at an otaku convention in Tokyo or some similar event, but unfortunately, this was the middle of nowhere. Our little town had a population of fewer than thirty thousand people, and there weren’t even any particularly interesting tourist attractions. It wasn’t the sort of place foreigners would normally visit. Much less a young woman who enjoyed cosplay.

The only possibility I could think of was that the town had become a pilgrimage destination for fans of some anime or manga, but I had never heard anything like that.

If that were the case, the old geezers on the neighborhood association would have been falling over themselves trying to promote it.

Anyway, since someone was lying unconscious in my field, I needed to wake her up.

If she stayed out here under the blazing sun much longer, there was a good chance she’d suffer heatstroke.

“H-Hey. Wake up.”

“Mm… Mmm…”

I shook the female knight, whose body was completely soaked, and called out to her. Fortunately, she seemed to regain consciousness.

Her closed eyelids fluttered open, revealing a pair of beautiful, emerald-green eyes.

The female knight stared blankly for a while, but the moment she noticed me, she shouted.

“Who are you?!”

“No, that’s my line! What the hell are you doing in someone else’s field?”

She was the one who had been lying in my rice paddy, so why was she looking at me like I was some kind of suspicious stranger? It made no sense.

“R-Rice paddy?”

“That’s right. This is my rice paddy.”

When I stated that simple fact, the female knight hurriedly looked around.

For some reason, she seemed completely dumbfounded.

Hadn’t she come here of her own free will? She had the bewildered expression of someone who had suddenly been dropped into an unfamiliar land.

I was curious, but getting too involved with her sounded like more trouble than it was worth.

“I don’t know why you came all the way out to the countryside, but don’t go wandering into other people’s rice paddies without permission. If you want to play around, do it somewhere else.”

“W-Wait!”

“Hey! Don’t grab my clothes with those muddy, dripping-wet hands!”

“Where am I? If you know, please tell me.”

The female knight ignored my protests and continued questioning me.

Great. Now my work clothes were soaking wet and covered in mud.

“Huh? Are you still half asleep?”

“I’m sorry. Please, I need you to answer me seriously.”

I found her ridiculous question suspicious, but the female knight’s expression was completely serious.

Eventually, her desperation got the better of me, and I gave her the obvious answer, feeling utterly ridiculous as I did so.

“Japan.”

“J-Japan? I’ve never heard of a country by that name.”

…How could she have come here as a tourist without ever hearing of Japan? That made no sense.

“What’s your name?”

“I am Seraphim Stattefeld, eldest daughter of a knightly family serving the Kingdom of Laforia.”

She had suddenly thrown so many unfamiliar terms at me that it was almost enough to give me indigestion.

“The Kingdom of Laforia? I’ve never heard of a country like that.”

“What?! Impossible! The Kingdom of Laforia is a great nation! Every adult should know of it, even a peasant!”

Well, I certainly didn’t…

“Oh, I get it. You’re pretending to be some female knight from an anime, aren’t you? Your sword and armor are pretty elaborate, too. You must really be dedicated to staying in character.”

“…Anime? I don’t know what that is, but I can tell you’re insulting me. How dare you make a mockery of a knight! Even if you are a peasant under my protection, I will not forg—”

The female knight rose to her feet with one hand on her scabbard, but suddenly swayed and toppled sideways.

A tremendous splash sent water flying across the rice paddy.

“Whoa, hey! Are you okay?”

“I-I’m sorry. I haven’t slept for some time now, and I’ve reached the limits of my endur—”

The female knight who had introduced herself as Seraphim muttered those feeble words before losing consciousness.

I tried shaking her, but she wouldn’t wake up.

“…Sheesh. Guess I don’t have much choice.”

She was a suspicious foreigner, but I couldn’t just leave her lying unconscious beneath the blazing sun.

Reluctantly, I pulled the unconscious Seraphim out of the rice paddy.

“Urgh! You’re heavy!”

I had heard that people became much heavier when they lost consciousness, and apparently, it was true.

On top of that, she was wearing heavy armor, and her clothes were soaked with water.

If I had still been the office worker I was before farming had toughened me up, I might have struggled just to pull her out.

For the time being, I hoisted the female knight onto my back and started walking.

And that was how I ended up picking up a female knight in my rice paddy.

“Mm? Where am I?”

Just as I arrived home, the female knight on my back woke up.

“My house. I don’t really know what’s going on with you, but I can’t have you collapsing again. You should rest here for a while.”

“I’m grateful.”

I felt a little uncomfortable bringing a young woman into my house, but with someone in such poor condition, this was hardly the time to worry about appearances.

Perhaps Seraphim understood that as well, because she didn’t complain.

“What a magnificent house. Are you truly a peasant?”

As soon as we entered the house, Seraphim spoke in apparent astonishment.

Was this her first time entering a Japanese-style house?

“It’s a pretty big house for someone living alone, but there’s plenty of land and empty houses out in the countryside. Most houses around here are like this.”

“I-Is that so…?”

“Sorry to ask when you’re exhausted, but if you’ve got the strength, could you walk on your own?”

“Y-Yes. I can manage that much.”

I couldn’t do much of anything while carrying Seraphim on my back.

Since she had regained consciousness, I decided to let her down for the time being.

However, the female knight immediately stepped into the house without removing her shoes.

“Ah, we don’t wear shoes inside here. First, take off your dirty armor and your socks.”

“U-Understood.”

After I pointed this out, the female knight removed her shoes and socks, then began taking off her armor.

The clothes beneath her armor were surprisingly simple.

They weren’t the sort of clothes I was accustomed to seeing around here, either. Perhaps they were made from some kind of material native to her homeland.

“I’d like to give you something to eat and let you sleep for a while, but I can’t exactly let you into the rest of the house looking like that.”

After falling into the rice paddy twice, Seraphim was completely covered in mud. If I let her wander around like this, she’d track mud all over the house.

“For now, take a bath first.”

“A bath?! You have a bath in this house?!”

“Of course.”

I led the thoroughly astonished Seraphim through the changing room and into the bathroom beyond.

Some people might picture an old-fashioned wood-fired bathtub when they thought of a rural Japanese bath, but there weren’t many places left that still had anything quite so traditional.

Mine was a perfectly ordinary bathroom. Though, perhaps because land was plentiful in the countryside, it was unusually spacious.

The only other unusual feature was that I had renovated the interior to give it a more natural appearance.

“…A peasant’s house has a bath.”

Seraphim stared at the bathtub in a daze.

I mean, sure, I was a farmer, but that didn’t mean I was dirt poor, you know? I was becoming seriously curious about what Seraphim thought a peasant’s life was supposed to be like.

“Anyway, I’ll fill the tub with hot water.”

I operated the water heater and started filling the bathtub.

“What?! Hot water suddenly started pouring out! Could that thing attached to the wall be some kind of magical water device?! There’s no way a peasant should possess something like that!”

“No, it’s just a water heater.”

The sight of hot water flowing into the bathtub left the female knight astonished yet again.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

“Ah, you idiot!”

By the time I tried to stop her, it was already too late. The female knight had pushed the shower lever, sending water raining down on both Seraphim and me.

“Waaaaah! W-Water!”

“Of course water comes out when you turn on the shower!”

I pointed out the obvious while returning the lever to its original position.

“I-I’m sorry. There are so many things I’ve never seen before that I don’t understand.”

When I scolded her a little, Seraphim lowered her head apologetically.

Apparently, she hadn’t meant any harm.

“…Don’t touch things you don’t understand. Ask me before touching anything.”

“Yes, I will.”

Even if she was a foreigner, she should at least have had a bathroom in her house. Surely she knew what water heaters and showers were. And yet, she was reacting as though she had never seen a household bathroom or water heater in her entire life. I couldn’t help finding that strange. Just how had this woman been living until now?

“…Do you know how to use a bath?”

“I’m afraid I don’t. I’d appreciate it if you could teach me.”

I had only asked to be safe, but I hadn’t actually expected her to need an explanation.

For the time being, I explained how to use the bath and shower in my house, along with the shampoo, body wash, and other necessities.

While I was doing that, enough time passed for the water heater to play its little melody announcing that the bathtub had finished filling.

Seraphim flinched at the sudden sound.

“Looks like the bath is ready. Seraphim-san, do you have a change of clothes?”

“Please, call me Seram. And no, I don’t have any spare clothes. I’d be grateful if you could lend me something.”

“All right. I’ll get you some clothes and towels, so go ahead and take your bath.”

“Very well.”

I pretended not to notice Seram peeking out from behind the changing room door to watch me as I went off to find her some clothes.