Chapter 141
Chapter 141
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: 15. Adding Insult to Injury? (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[The season where trash falls from the sky has arrived.
That's right. Winter is finally here.
So much has happened in the meantime.
The onslaught of countless women seeking me out, and while dodging them, protecting this place!]
“Ow!”
“Don’t throw in weird narration from behind.”
“I’m bored~”
I smacked the iron bat on the forehead again as she grumbled.
It was true that trash was falling from the sky, but everything after that was a lie.
Just like the past few years, it had been a string of utterly ordinary days with nothing going on.
Well, if you could call the crises that—okay, maybe not crises.
“Daddy~ Food~”
And sure enough, that crisis had come knocking again.
“Ugh... What a hassle.”
Her soft, sweet voice, accompanied by the rumble of her stomach, filled me with helpless dread.
Unlike the empire in the middle of the continent, this place was up near the northern edge.
It barely had four seasons, but the winters here made the empire’s look like a joke.
Every house in the kingdom had a fireplace for that reason!
Right by the fireplace was paradise.
Warm and cozy, and with a carpet laid out and a blanket on top? Pure heaven.
But it was a fireplace, not central heating.
No matter how warm it was up close, the farther you got, the colder it became.
And cooking meant water—which was freezing cold.
Every time I did dishes, I wanted to die from the icy water.
But humans are animals that exist to eat and survive.
So, three times a day, hell inevitably arrived.
“Ughhh...”
I fetched the water I’d stockpiled ahead of time and got ready to boil some soup.
First, the dried jerky I’d preserved, then the vegetables.
“None left...”
Unfortunately, my prepped veggies were pretty much wiped out.
Which meant this was...
“The heavens telling me to starve!”
“It means go to the cellar and get some veggies!”
The iron bat’s sharp voice rang out from afar.
She was peeking out from under the blanket, all smug about it.
“Daddy~ Hurry~”
In spring, summer, and fall, she was the first one out there tending the fields like nobody’s business. But come winter, she turned into a sloth.
Especially after buying those mystery eggs under the pretense of raising chickens—she’d been clutching them even tighter, barely moving at all.
“Is there no one on my side...?”
Even in the heat of summer, the basement cellar stayed cool enough to store meat and veggies.
So what was it like in winter?
“No fridge needed.”
My breath came out in white puffs, telling me just how cold it was.
“Potatoes, carrots, cabbage, corn, and some meat too, I guess.”
I grabbed a hefty load of cooking supplies with quick hands.
Winter meant they wouldn’t spoil even if left out, and more than that, coming back down here was a pain.
Slam!
“Ughhh... So cold.”
I shut the cellar door behind me and climbed back up, finally feeling a faint hint of warmth from the fireplace.
A brief moment of bliss. But once the meal was done, Avalon awaited—turning this bliss into child’s play.
“Gotta hurry up and finish.”
First, I washed the veggies, peeled them, chopped them.
Washing the first one, I seriously protested why no cat-picture door to some otherworldly diner ever appeared in our house.
By the second, I thought running a food delivery service here would be a goldmine. By the third, I cursed my past self for not stocking enough firewood to boil water. After that, it was pure determination to wrap this up and crawl back to that warm Avalon.
“Done.”
By the time my wet fingertips were numb from the cold, I’d finally whipped up some hot soup and a simple salad.
“Food’s ready~”
My daughter poked out from under the blanket, shivering.
“Daddy, the world outside the blanket really is dangerous...”
“Couldn’t agree more, sweetie.”
Ellis, bundled up with her egg like a blanket burrito, had won her battle against the cold and made it to the chair.
“Daddy, why can’t we eat lying down?”
“Because if you spill, no more blanket.”
“Eek~ That’d be bad.”
I finally got why Japanese manga folks obsessed over kotatsu every winter.
Coming out just to eat was this much torture, so next fall, I’d seriously consider making one.
“I’ll dig in~”
“Dig in~”
“Nyaang!”
Following my daughter, the iron bat and the cat—who’d descended from Avalon into hell—mumbled in weak voices.
“Tasty...”
“But cold...”
“Nya~”
We all shivered after a spoonful of steaming soup.
Hot food always tasted better in the cold.
“Misha, yummy, right?”
“Nyaang.”
My daughter raised her spoon watching the cat lap at the soup.
I’d worried at first since she’d never had anything but kibble, but she devoured whatever we gave her, so we just shared our meals.
I knew human food wasn’t great for cats, but with the iron bat around, sickness wasn’t an issue.
So eat up, kitty.
“NyaAAAAANG!”
“Misha?”
The cat suddenly raised her tail and let out a fierce yowl.
She glanced around nervously, like something was wrong.
“All done!”
Meanwhile, the iron bat—who’d scarfed her food—dumped her bowl and spoon in the dish pile and bolted back under the blanket.
“Ah! Sis!”
“Hee hee! This prime spot’s mine now!”
“Eeek!”
The iron bat had snagged the comfiest spot: right by the fireplace, the warmest one.
“S-Sis! Kkoko needs the warm spot!”
My daughter—who’d been guarding that prime real estate—panicked and yelled.
(For the record, Kkoko was the egg’s name. Most folks named hatchlings “Peep,” but my daughter seemed to prefer tasty chicken over cute chicks.)
“Then I’ll hold Kkoko!”
“K-Kkoko... uh, as her mom, it’s only right I hold her!”
She blew on her hot soup furiously while eating, but the pile wasn’t shrinking much faster.
She wasn’t a fast eater to begin with, and with all her focus on the iron bat, it was slowing even more.
Even the cat had finished and was eyeing the blanket.
“M-Misha too...”
My daughter despaired at her cat—former owner? No, staff—choosing the fireplace over her. She shoveled in soup without blowing on it.
“Hot!”
And stuck out her tongue with a sad face.
“Sigh... You spilled.”
“Sorry, Daddy.”
Her tongue was more cat-like than the cat’s.
I’d used one of our few earthenware pots since metal ones froze solid, and she’d scarfed it down hot.
“You rushed it.”
“Yeah...”
With her tongue out, words were muffled, but she pointed accusingly at the iron bat like a loyal minister admonishing the king.
“So unfair!”
She looked extremely wronged.
“Eat your salad first.”
“Mm!”
As Ellis munched cabbage, I grabbed a wooden plate and scooped soup from her earthen bowl. It cooled fast.
“How do you handle hot chicken if you can’t take hot soup?”
“Chicken’s different.”
Her tongue must’ve recovered some; she sipped slowly, and her eyes shifted.
Bad sign.
“Daddy, for dinner...”
“No chicken for a while.”
“Hiiing...”
Just as expected.
She’d been plotting to sneak in a chicken dinner at the mere mention, but no dice.
“I want to make chicken for you too, Ellis...”
I pointed out the window.
The world outside was a blinding white.
Snow piled higher than Ellis herself.
Over a meter deep.
“Going out for chickens might mean Daddy doesn’t come back.”
No joke. Fetching one meant shoveling a path to the village.
Solo? Days of work, and no guarantee no more snow in the meantime.
“That’d be bad.”
“Right?”
Ellis nodded sadly, then her eyes lit with fierce determination.
She was probably thinking: If I raise chickens hard enough for self-sufficiency, we can have chicken even now.
Adorably childlike.
(Though the odds of a chick hatching from that egg were zilch...)
Even in a fantasy world, a chick popping from an egg fifty times normal size would be suspicious as hell.
“All done!”
Ellis scarfed her soup and salad, then dove under the blanket.
Heh, somehow my face now mirrored her abandoned look from earlier.
“What can ya do.”
She worked harder than anyone in three seasons despite her age. Letting her slack in winter was fair.
Other kids ditched daily to play; ours stuck by me, hoe in hand, farming diligently.
“So I’ll handle the icy dishes.”
I steeled myself for round two.
My hands met the numbingly cold water again.
They scrubbed furiously to escape this hell, and soon the dishes were done.
“Done!”
Any daddy pride had frozen off long ago.
I dove into the blanket by the fire, thawing my icy hands.
“Paradise...”
I could die happy like this.
“Good job~”
Something squirmed inside the blanket, and a cute face popped up.
Seeing her soft smile made all the hardship vanish.
“But dinner’s still coming, Daddy~”
“Damn...”
Unlike water-logged humans, this metal-bodied squatter hogging the prime fireplace spot sapped my will to live.
“Why do we have to eat to live? Such bad efficiency.”
“Daddy, but being human means we can eat chicken.”
I stroked her head as her soft smile turned serious, and she beamed.
Crackling fire, cozy peace.
[But that peace didn’t last long.]
“Stop with the weird narration!”
“Eek?!”
Too lazy to move, I pressed the iron bat’s toes with my foot in punishment.
But really, the peace didn’t last.
“D-Daddy!”
My daughter’s urgent cry shattered it all.
#1 Their Circumstances: Some People’s Story
There are types you see everywhere, yet anyone would peg as suspicious.
Men in black robes!
One or two together might be odd enough, but four? You’d think heads would turn—thankfully, no one was around.
“Nothing here?”
“No reaction.”
“Tch, such a pain. It’s not in the empire, is it?”
“The empire? Even we’d struggle there...”
The four suspicious figures lamented their fates while chatting.
“To think all four of us have to hunt one puny human.”
“Damn, I get it’s important, but...”
“Overkill.”
“No choice. It’s for the greater cause. Our lord trusts us most, so he sent us all.”
The others grudgingly nodded at his words.
Their mission served their lord’s grand vision.
Success would rewrite history.
“No helping it.”
“We repay our lord’s faith.”
“As his strongest weapons, we must give our all.”
“Exactly. That’s our role.”
The last speaker noted the grumbles fading and pulled a map from his robes, showing the others.
“Next target: Belselk Kingdom. Smaller than here, so it won’t take long.”
He pointed to a small northern kingdom: Belselk.
Home to a certain man living peacefully with his daughter under the name Melrn.