Final Volume — [Story of the People who Live with Nature]

  When the short spring of the remote land was about to pass, Aina and Emmerich was to come back.

  I estimated the time when the carriage would arrive, and went outside the fort walls with Sieg to wait for them.

  The carriage arrived on time.

  Aina came back dressed like a princess.

  I met her several times during the year and half they’ve been away, but she feels more like an adult woman now.

  Emmerich is, hm. Same as usual!

  I felt happy that they’re healthy.

  The two of them left here rather awkwardly, but their atmosphere changed by quite a bit.

  A soft mood that fit each other flowed between them.

  We talked about doing a welcoming party tomorrow at my place.

  Mother was full of motivation.

  Sieg checked if there were any loose threads in the traditional clothing that was to be given to them.

  The next day, Aina and Emmerich came as per our invitation.

  While the meal was being prepared, we chatted over Arno.

  Aina happily looked after my son.

  I felt pleased, feeling that she’ll become a good mother.

  Then, Aina blurted out an absurd and problematic remark.

  “I wonder when the Spirit will bring our child?”


  To Emmerich, who was in a state of shock, Aina supplemented her words.

  That children are brought by the Spirit.

  The moment he heard that, Emmerich choked on the berry juice he was having.

  Sieg was looking at me as if to say, what’s going on?

  The story about the Spirit bringing children is a village fairytale used to put children to sleep.

  I got surprised that Aina believed in that.

  Since they said that they married when moved into the countryside, so I, w-well, I thought that the two of them had already……


  I then discovered that Emmerich had only been protecting Aina.

  Throughout the meal, Emmerich had a vacant expression.

  He might be worrying about what he should do from here on.

  After the meal, I picked out a suitable timing and took Emmerich out.

  When I apologised about the village’s fairytale, he forgave me, that it couldn’t be helped.

  I suggested that I could ask Sieg to teach her many things, but he told me that it’s alright for now since Aina is still getting used to this new life.

  Emmerich, what a great person……


  The two of us grabbed each other’s hands and resolved that we’ll work hard together.

  ◇◇◇


  Aina and Emmerich decided that they’ll help out with ‘The Crimson Eagle’.

  Since I did have days where I was helpless because there was too much, I was really thankful.

  I went into the kitchen with Aina, while Emmerich learned how to serve customers from Sieg.

  I was worried about his poor language, but I decided to leave everything to the instructor.

  Aina is, should I say as expected, fast at learning as cooking was her specialty.

  She washed the dishes very quickly too.

  The next day, maybe because rumours of having new employees, there were more customers than usually.

  When I was apologising for the lack of seats to a customer that just came in, Aina came up to me.

  “This store is rather small. The seats are full again.”


  “Ah~ yeah, it was totally out of my expectations.”


  Because, I didn’t imagine that the store would be this successful.

  If the weather gets milder, we’ll be able to serve tea and food outside as well.

  However, it’s still a little cold so we could only serve customers inside.

  While we were chatting, more orders came in.

  I divided work with Aina and started preparing.

  ◇◇◇


  Since the store was not doing business today, I headed into the forest with Emmerich.

  We fished by the lakes, and picked herbs.

  In the middle, we decided to have the packed lunches our beloved wives made.

  The mood was great as we chatted about how great the food our wives made were.

  I brought the fish and herbs back home and asked Sieg to take care of them.

  After a short break, I headed into the forest again.

  Since there should be some honey now, so I decided to check the hives.

  Emmerich said he wanted to help as well, so we put on proper protective clothing and headed there.

  When we walked a bit, we soon arrived at the place where I placed the hives.

  First, I placed dry grass into a metal bucket and set fire to them. This makes the bees well-behaved.

  Before the smoke disappeared, I shut the lid.

  After checking the equipment again, we slowly approached the hives.

  Even if a bee lands on the body, don’t panic. The bees are just investigating if it’s a suspicious person.

  “Emmerich, did you get that down?”


  “……It’s alright.”


  Emmerich looked a little stiff. Is he really alright?

  I’m also still scared of bees. I understand how he feels.

  “If you act confidently, they won’t attack.”


  “I’ll do my best.”


  First, an empty comb is placed of a honeycomb.

  Since the layers are stuck together by wax, they need to be split using threads.

  Thanks to working together with Emmerich, I was able to do the work in a very short time.

  We took the box to someplace away from the hives to open the lid, but there was wax here as well so it didn’t open. I used threads to open them again.

  The lid was full of bees.

  Here, I opened the bucket where there’s burning grass.

  When smoke passed by, the bees that were buzzing noisily all calmed down.

  I gently took off the bees stuck to the top with a brush.

  I placed my hand into the box and took out the comb. It was heavy, filled with honey.

  The first layer is where the bees raise their larvae, while the second layer is where the honey is stored.

  We only collected six frames of honey.

  We returned home with honeycombs.

  We decided to process the honey at my house’s yard.

  First, the hive entrance is carved out with a knife.

  Afterwards, the hive is continuously carved out.

  The split honeycombs are wrapped in cloth, then pressed into jars using sticks.

  Then, the cloths are hung, and we wait for the honey to drip naturally.

  After a while, the honey is completed.

  Thanks to Emmerich helping, the work was completed quickly.

  From one layer of a hive, we collected six frames, which have enough for three jars, so we got eighteen jars of honey in the end.

  “——Like so, we got honey!”


  Mother and Sieg too were excited about the honey.

  We put honey onto the pancake Ruruporon made and into warm reindeer milk.

  On the triple-layered pancake, the honey was gleaming. It looks so delicious.

  Sitting top of my lap, Arno stared at the jar of honey curiously.

  “Sorry, Arno-chan, let’s have some jam grandma made instead, okay?”


  It seems that honey isn’t fed to babies.

  Apparently, for babies whose stomachs aren’t developed fully, they may get sick.

  Though, such symptoms are apparently limited to babies less than six months old, but just in case, we gave pancake with jam to Arno.

  On a special pancake made soft using reindeer milk, mother’s special jam was put on top.

  After finishing the preparations, we started eating.

  First, pancake with honey.

  “Ah, it’s very rich!”


  There’s an elegant sweetness, and the flavour is deep.

  The crispy surface of the pancakes went very well with the soft honey.

  Reindeer milk with honey tasted great too!

  It really was worthwhile to try hard even as I trembled at the bees.

  I shared some to the Rango family, Emmerich’s family, the shop lady and to other people I am indebted to.

  They were all happy, so I felt overjoyed.

  I secretly dreamed that it would be nice if we could get a lot of honey, that it would become a special product of the village.

  ◇◇◇


  A month passed since Aina and Emmerich came back.

  Though I didn’t mean it, a slight change came to the store.

  First of all, on days when Emmerich is working, there are more ladies.

  I thought that it might be because Emmerich is handsome, but there was another reason.

  According to a lady I met in the store……


  “That man, he tries his best even as his language is poor, you know? It’s kinda cute!”


  ——Or so.

  Aina too started socialising with the village ladies.

  I felt glad that the two of them were doing well in the village.