Chapter 384 - A Day in Winter

Chapter 384 – A Day in Winter

Looking up at the winter sky, you can see Hiichirou in his dragon form flying around.

He’s currently practicing flying.

He’s better than before but he’s still unsteady.

Flying next to him are neither Hakuren nor Raimeiren but Tier.

When Hiichirou began flying in the sky, he suddenly became close to Tier.

Is she teaching him how to fly?

Hakuren is indeed carefree while Raimeiren is surprisingly strict when teaching.

And I thought she’ll be sweet when she’s teaching Hiichirou.

Why?

「That’s because she had a daughter who jumped out of the nest and only managed to come back two decades later before she can finally teach her.」

Dors was the one who told me that.

So that’s how it is.

She’s so worried that she’s strict.

「By the way, who’s that daughter?」

「Hiichirou’s mother.」

Hakuren huh.

I see.

「Because her first child suddenly jumped out and went missing, Raiemeiren went on a rampage. It was a big mess….By the time the turmoil subsided, Hakuren suddenly came back as if nothing happened. What a trouble maker…. Hakuren giving birth to Hiichirou, that alone makes me think it’s a miracle.」

Looking at Dors’ expression, it seems like he really finds her hard to deal with.

Hnn?

The flying Hiichirou….made a big sneeze.

At the same time, a big fire flies out from his mouth.

The flames were quickly extinguished but it looks like Hiichirou burned his mouth.

He shows his mouth to Tier and asks her to cast healing magic.

Very sweet.

Raimeiren, who’s next to Dors, looks at Tier in a scary way.

Hakuren….is at the mansion teaching Ursa and Alfred.

Actually, the angriest is the one in my arms, Tiselle.

She escaped from the mansion when she saw Hiichirou with Tier but she was caught by me.

Afterwards, she’s hugging me while being sulky.

I can’t seem to fix the mood.

I’ll ask Tier to please her when she returns.

The flying practice lasted for about an hour.

Though Hakuren looked for Tiselle in the middle of the practice, Tiselle’s mood is still bad so she can only keep trying….

Tiselle returned to the mansion while being embraced by Hakuren.

…..

This father is slightly lonely.

Hiichirou, on the other hand, transformed back to human form when he got down. Tier picked him up as if it was the most natural thing to do at that moment.

Tier passes Hiichirou to Raimeiren.

Did she notice her gaze?

After that, Tier did not come to me.

Yeah, she went to Tiselle.

Thank you for your hard work.

By the way, I even prepared a warm soup for Hiichirou but it’s cold now….

The oni maids are already taking care of it.

They were instructed by Raimeiren.

……

Alright, let’s leave Hiichirou to Raimeiren and Dors and go back to a warm room.

When I arrived at my room, Kuro and Yuki were looking at me from the kotatsu.

They didn’t come out of the kotatsu.

The fairy queen silently offers me a cup of tea.

Only the phoenix chick Aegis had welcomed me.

Is it because he’s not in the kotatsu?

Probably.

Aegis gets on the kotatsu, the fairy queen gives me a cup of tea, and I pat Kuro and Yuki’s heads.

Inside the kotatsu….there shouldn’t be kittens.

Don’t get mad, I’ll close it right away.

Yeah, it seems like I can’t use the kotatsu.

Kuro sends me a glance as if asking if he should give up his place for me but he won’t move until I ask him to do so.

………

I gave up.

I’ll just help in cooking dinner.

The kitchen should be warm, right?

Is everyone thinking the same?

The kitchen was full of people.

Actually, the oni maids have been developing packed food since a while ago.

The origin is the jubako I made.

It’s big with four layers.

I packed it full of easy to pack foods something similar to osechi ryori.

When I served it, I told the oni maids about osechi ryori.

Unfortunately, I hardly know how to make osechi ryori.

Because of that, I can only tell them how it looks and how it tastes. They started reproducing it from that.

The only things I’m satisfied with are kuromame and kurikinton while everything else are strange dishes I don’t know….the taste is not that bad though.

I want kazunoko but that’s herring egg.

Can something be used as a substitute?

There’s no place for me in the kitchen so I evacuated to the workshop. I’ll just make additional jubakos.

「Please leave the decoration to us. It’s lacquered, isn’t it?」

I’m making it with the mountain elves.

「Don’t get stained by the lacquer.」

「Don’t worry. I’ve been lacquering for about a hundred years.」

Craftsmen from long-lived races are foul.

They are overwhelmingly good compared to me.

Well, I’m an amateur so I can’t compete with them.

「Okay, I’ll leave it to you.」

「Affirmative. But, aren’t these enough to make ten pieces?」

「If we made more than enough, we can always sell them outside.」

「I see. But, won’t that trouble Youko-san?」

「Ah…..then, let’s not sell them and send them as gifts.」

Youko is troubled by the trade gap between Big Tree Village and the outside world.

Crops, alcohol, and crafts made from Big Tree Village are sold in Village Five but on the other hand, Big Tree Village has too little to buy outside.

For the time being, we tried buying firewoods outside as fuels since a year ago but it doesn’t balance anything.

As a result, money keeps pouring into Big Tree Village.

I didn’t take the money and they are deposited in Village Five instead however, it has become a trouble now since there are too many warehouses.

A little while ago, Youko’s complaint was so exaggerated but when I went out to see, new warehouses really needed to be built.

Moreover, the only things in those warehouses are gold coins, silver coins, and jewelry.

As said by Michael-san before, it’s not good for cash to be stored in a warehouse instead of circulating.

Let’s think about how to use them in spring.