Volume 2 Chapter 10.11 - Extra 3.1 (1/2)

Volume II Extra 3.1

Translator: Reflet

Editor: Weasalopes

Side Story 3

“Let’s get up an’ at ‘em in the field!”

“Yeah!”

As Hiroshi called out with a hoe in one hand, Haruna and Mio followed with strange enthusiasm. The gardens that used to be the slums of Wulls were now getting to the point where Hiroshi’s party could delegate the management.

“The soil’s just about done. Once we plant the seeds, we’ll pass it along to Artiem, I reckon.”

“Yes, sir! You can leave it to me!”

Artiem answered with more strange ernesty. The three workers who had been carrying seeds, bulbs, and fertilizer with them watched with distant amusement.

“It’s a little early for plantin’ just yet, but we’re almost done with the vegetables we’d be harvestin’ in summer and fall.”

With that, Hiroshi turned to the seeds of Corn and Reve Beans. They were both plant monsters that tormented farmers, but since they served as good materials for training new soldiers and knights, they had been requested by the government to plant them on the farthest plot.

The Gardens of Wulls were more experimental than not, so it wasn’t like they were going to sow the entirety of their considerably large farmland. The rice farms, which they would start sowing later, for instance, along with the good number of crops that need to be planted around June and harvested during fall and winter.

“We’re almost done with sowin’, people! Keep at it!”

Everyone responded to Hiroshi’s call, starting another day of farmwork.

“The Boss Man’s got a few admirers, huh?”

“Quite a few.”

“Yep. Despite his usual demeanor, girls love him.”

Teres’ group, having finished carrying the bulbs and left with nothing else to do, were grinding down crops and chit-chatting about the familiar sight since Hiroshi had returned, now that they had enough experience in the process not to mess up even if they talked through it.

“To be honest, I was surprised that Artiem came over here, but I was more surprised that Artiem is looking like a schoolgirl with a crush.”

Recalling her sister, who had been toyed by the old ones in the village only because she hadn’t matured as a woman, Teres explained. Despite her body being developed much more than the average elf, Artiem was literally a child when she left the village. She certainly hadn’t expected her to pulvolt up the steps to adulthood within the three years since she had left the village.

“I’m astonished that Haruna-san is clearly self-aware of her feelings.”

“Right, that was surprising.”

“I wonder what happened.”

Nora mentioned another shocking matter. Even before they came to the village of Ortem, Haruna had spent a long time chasing Hiroshi in the time they spent together. Albeit subtle enough that it couldn’t be noticed without careful observation, she had left some impression that she had slightly lost her cool when seeing Hiroshi speaking to other women. The right pair of eyes could not have mistaken Haruna’s feeling for Hiroshi. In fact, it was bizarre how Haruna was so obvious to her own feelings.

Under ordinary circumstances, Hiroshi and Haruna were unbalanced a pair as could be. On one hand, she was an indisputable beautiful woman, despite her few lapse in judgement or awareness. On the other hand, he was a sheepish-by-day, female-phobic and sloppy-looking man with no interest in anything but crafting and cooking. Just as they themselves had said, they would have never come in contact with each other without this extraordinary circumstance.

While this metaphor would go over the heads of Teres and the others, Hiroshi was a typical Nobita, his grades notwithstanding, in both his failures in ordinary life, and his strangely manly demeanor and decisiveness during major incidents, like in the theatrical releases. The only difference, per se, was that he didn’t feel pain in continuing to put in efforts to anything he can’t do, rather than give up on it like Nobita. Of course, the flipside was that Hiroshi couldn’t find the right time to give up on something that he couldn’t do.

That was the couple they were talking about. Ordinarily, they would have had nothing in common. With some inescapable situation where they were struck into a cohabitation, however, it wasn’t impossible for them to, after growing close through their predicament, for the woman to have her protective nature evoked. In fact, Haruna had done exactly that, and had fallen from Hiroshi’s transformation into the reliable man in the time of crisis.

“Elle-sama, I can get.”

“That’s just powerful conditioning.”

“Having her life saved, and then having her stomach controlled? What can a girl do?”

“From what I’ve heard, just about the same thing happened with Artiem.”

“Yep, yep.”