Chapter 46

"Snowy konko, the fox is konkon, falling and falling."

What was the continuation of this? I'm not even sure if I remember the first lyrics correctly. It was supposed to end with the cat curling up in the kotatsu, right?

"Al, you sometimes sing weird songs, you know."

While walking on the snow-covered path, Tore looked back and said.

By "weird," do you mean I'm tone-deaf? That's a bit discouraging.

"Huh? Really?"

"Your pitch is unexpectedly good and you have a sense of it. I've never heard such a pitch around here."

Well, that's a relief. I'm not tone-deaf then.

Well, the rhythm is completely different from the songs the villagers sing. The village songs are long and hard to sing, like something pirates would sing.

"But I like Al's songs. They're shorter and easier to understand than the village songs."

Asmo, walking beside me, said something quite pleasing.

By the way, Asmo is the same age as Tore, seven years old. He doesn't use polite language at all, probably because of the initial vibe. It's easier and I'm happy about it.

"Thanks, Asmo. By the way, you're sinking really deep. Are you okay?"

Looking at Asmo, he's buried deep in the snow due to his weight. It's amazing he can still walk. Every time Asmo moves, a large hole is left behind.

"Maybe rolling would be faster?"

"Tore, you're smart!"

"Yeah, rolling would be—no way!"

While making a sharp comment, Asmo tries to walk with large steps to avoid sinking, but he keeps sinking. Oh no, are you okay? You're sinking deeper and deeper.

"Okay, okay. It's deeper over there, so come this way."

"Alright."

I pull Asmo towards me.

"Whoa! Amazing! There are marks of Asmo's butt on the snow!"

Pointing to where Tore indicated, there are indeed spots that look like Asmo's butt.

So that area is deeper in snow.

Tore is looking into the deep hole with interest. This makes me want to push him into it.

Glancing at Asmo, he looks eager too.

When Asmo notices my gaze, he grins.

I smile back. There's only one thing to do.

"Ready, go!"

"Hey? What, huh!? Buh!"

Tore, pushed from behind by me and Asmo, falls helplessly into the deep snow hole.

Oh, he went in face-first. That must be cold.

"Yay!"

Asmo and I high-five, satisfied with the result.

This kid is pretty good. Asmo and I laugh together, deepening our friendship.

"Yay! No way! You pushed me into a hole! And it's pretty deep here."

It seems deeper than expected, and Tore is having trouble getting out of the snow hole.

It's up to his chest. With the thick snow boots, it's hard to use his feet, and it's difficult to climb out with just his arms in the snow.

This is turning into quite an interesting situation.

"Hey, you guys, help me... Hey, what's with those smiles? Hey! Don't come closer, fatso! Ah, sorry! I'll apologize, so don't bury me! Hey! Al, don't throw snow silently! Stop it, ohhhhh!"

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After all that, we finally arrived at the village of Koriatt.

The golden rice fields that always welcomed me first are now a field of snow after the harvest festival. The village huts and fences are all covered in snow, as if they are wearing makeup.

The snow play on the way was so much fun that we couldn't move forward easily.

Tore got sulky at one point, but he perked up with the information from Elinora. Tore is so easy to please.

That guy is now walking happily in front of us. Suddenly, he turned around and started shouting excitedly.

"Hey! It's already started!"

"What is?"

"A snowball fight!"

Tore ran ahead, and Asmo and I hurried to follow. There, the villagers were having snowball fights everywhere.

"Let's go, Team Roland!"

"Yessss!"

"Charge, Team Westa!"

"Yessss!"

Looking around, the villagers were divided into two teams, shouting and running with snowballs in their hands.

The teams, mixed with children and adults, were using the huts as shields and throwing snowballs at each other.

Hey, are you all meeting your work quotas?

"Go! Get them!"

"Kill them!"

"Elman is down!"

"Damn, you got Elman!"

"No, I'm not unconscious yet—"

"Strike!"

"Choked!"

"Damn, you got Elman!"

"No, wait! I just hit him with a snowball, you made him unconscious—"

"Rald hit Elman and knocked him out!"

"Hey!?"

"Who's Rald?"

"Celia's husband!"

"Wow. That's interesting."

"Hey, that's not related to me!"

"At that time, you were slapped in public."

"I was just staring at Carla's butt and got hit with a tray."

"You told the family how much was spent on dinner."

"That's all Celia, not me! Tell her!"

"You can't do that!"

"What's that? Coward!"

"Shut up, you're getting hit in the butt!"

"You guys too!"

"Hey! Do it! Vent your frustrations!"

"Burrrry, burry!"

"Ouch! And hey! There are stones in the snow!"

"Damn!"

What a violent snowball fight. It's scary in a different way from this morning's Baltro.

"Hey, Tore, are you really going to join in here?"

"Y-Yeah. Let's play with the kids, a bit away from the adults."

Maybe he was scared by the villagers' earlier exchange, Tore started walking to the side.

Asmo also agreed, and we slowly moved in the shadow of the huts, bypassing the battlefield.

"Ha ha ha ha! What's wrong, Westa! Not attacking!?"

In the direction we were heading, Roland, despite the freezing cold, was shouting loudly while hiding behind a hut, shirtless.

"Damn! You're cheating! Using your house as a shield!"

On a nearby path, Westa, also shirtless, was holding a snowball and shouting angrily.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm just using it to hide."

"Ugh! You're so sly! You deliberately hid here."

"What's wrong? Throw it! Are you afraid to throw? Here, here!"

Westa, clenching his teeth and looking frustrated, dodged the snowballs thrown by Roland.

Westa tried to counterattack, but Roland quickly hid in the shadow of the hut.

"Damn!"

Using someone's house as a shield, Roland is quite resourceful.

"What's wrong? Not throwing? I know. The wall here is already weak! The window is almost broken!"

"Don't touch other people's houses!"

A snowball thrown by Westa headed towards Roland.

Roland easily dodged it, and the snowball hit the window, shattering it.

"Westa, you broke your own house!"

"…I don't care about the house anymore! Die, Roland!"

In a fit of rage, Westa threw a large number of snowballs.

"Hey! That's your own house!"

The fastballs thrown by Westa mercilessly chipped away at the weakened wall of the hut.

"Elman will fix it!"

"That's a good idea! Fair enough! Get lost!"

Eventually, as the snow in their hands ran out, the two started grappling.

"I always think, those two are always fighting."

I asked Tore and Asmo about something that had been bothering me.

"Well, those two have their reasons."

"Right, they have their reasons."

"Huh? What's that? I'm curious."

"Okay, okay, let's go over there. It's dangerous here."

When I asked Tore and Asmo, they didn't tell me and pushed me towards the side.

"Huh? What happened?"

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