128 Part 2

My daughter shouted in surprise as she had taken that spot there. Coco was the egg’s name, and she seemed already dreaming of a delicious chicken rather than a cute chick.

“Then I’ll hold Coco.”

“Coco…should be held by her mother!”

While she was eating the soup in earnest with blowing on each spoonful, the speed with which she ate did not increase. Since she was not a fast eater and was paying attention to the Metal Bat, her speed inevitably became slower. Even the cat was trying to go inside the blankets after finishing its meal.

“Even Misha…”

My daughter fell into despair as she saw the cat choosing the warm fireplace over her, and she ate a spoonful of soup without even blowing on it.

“It’s hot.”

She let her tongue out and frowned.

“You spilled some.”

“Sorry, Daddy.”

My daughter had a tongue more sensitive than a cat’s, and she was trying to eat fast from an earthenware pot instead of a steel one, which I used due to the cold.

“You tried to eat too fast.”

“But~”

Since she could not speak well with her tongue sticking out, the face she made as she pointed at the Metal Bat was that of a loyal subordinate who was counseling the king.

“It’s not fair!”

She looked like it.

“Eat some salad first.”

“Yes!”

I left Alice eating cabbage and took out a wooden bowl to portion some soup from her earthenware pot, and the soup began to quickly cool down.

“How can you eat hot fried chicken when you can’t eat hot food?”

“Chicken is different.”

My daughter’s eyes changed a bit as she slowly drank the soup since her tongue seemed to be healing. It was not a good sign.

“Daddy, for dinner…”

“You can’t have chicken for a while.”

“Oh…”

As I expected, Alice had been trying to say let’s have chicken for lunch at the word and was now seriously disappointed, but it could not be helped.

“While I want to make you fried chicken…”

I raised my hand to point at the window. The world outside was white, and the snow had piled higher than Alice’s height. That meant it had snowed more than a meter.

“I may not be able to return after getting the chicken to fry.”

Without joking, I would have to shovel a path to the village to buy a chicken. It will take me days if I do it alone, and it might snow again during that time.

“That shouldn’t happen.”

“You think so too?”

Alice’s eyes showed strong will as she nodded with disappointed eyes. She was probably thinking that she may be able to eat chicken in a situation like this if she raised chickens independently. It was a cute child’s thought.

‘Of course, that egg won’t lay a chicken…’

Even in a fantasy world, if a chick came out of that egg, which was fifty times bigger than a normal chicken egg, that was suspicious in itself.

“I finished!”

Alice finished her soup and salad and quickly delved into the blankets. I probably had the same expression Alice had on before.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

I would have to turn a blind eye to my daughter playing in winter since she would work the hardest in the other three seasons despite being a child. Even while other children would run away to play, she held a hoe in her hand and worked with me.

“I’ll wash the dishes in this ice water since it’s the least I can do for her.”

I made a resolution and started the second battle of the day. My hands went numb in the water, and they worked quickly to get out of this hell, and I finished soon.

“It ended!”

I had let my pride as a father fly in the cold, and I ran into the blankets in front of the fireplace to melt my frozen hands.

“It’s heaven…”

I thought it would not be so bad to die like this.

“Thank you~”

A cute face appeared after the blankets wiggled, and her smile made my sufferings go away.

“However, there’s still dinner, Daddy~”

“Damn…”

I felt my body go weak at the Metal Bat’s words, who was hoarding the warmest spot despite being made of metal instead of water.

“Why do human beings have to eat to live…aren’t we too inefficient?”

“Daddy, but we can eat fried chicken because we’re human.”

My daughter smiled as I stroked her hair to see her peaceful face turn serious in an instant. I was at peace with the burning fireplace.

[However, that peace did not last long.]

“I said, stop putting in weird narrations!”

“What?!”

I avenged on the Metal Bat by pressing down with my toes since I did not want to move. However, my peace did not last.

“D, Daddy!”

It ended with my daughter’s urgent voice.

#Other stories: Their story

Men in black robes were common but were suspected by everyone. If four such men went about together, they might draw suspicion, but no one saw them nearby.

“Not here?”

“No response.”

“It’s tiring. Not at the empire by any chance?”

“If so, it will be a chore even for us…”

The four suspicious beings talked about their plights.

“To think that all four of us have to find a human.”

“Damn, I know that this is important…”

“It’s too much.”

“It can’t be helped. This is for the greater good, and our master has sent us his most trustworthy subordinates.”

The others could not help but nod at the words. What they were doing was for the master’s greater aim, as history would change when their attempt succeeded.

“It can’t be helped.”

“Our role is to answer to our master’s trust.”

“We have a duty to do our best as our master’s greatest weapon.”

“Yes, that’s our purpose.”

The last one to speak felt that the others were in a better mood and took out a map from his bosom to show them.

“Our next goal is the Belselk Kingdom, which won’t take long since it’s smaller than here.”

The northern kingdom marked on the map had a village where a guy with the name Merln lived peacefully with his daughter.