Last Minute Translations

Dieter’s mother, Collie, tried her best to make sense of her son’s rambling.

 

“So, Anna said she ‘made too much’ and dropped off some onion porridge earlier. And now, you’re saying that if you tell her, ‘It’s dangerous at night, I’ll walk you home,’ it might help you win her over. So, you’re going out right now, is that it, son?”

 

Dieter’s face turned bright red.

 

“Mother, I’m not trying to win her over!”

 

“You think I don’t know you like her? Anyway, don’t do anything foolish.”

 

“Why not?! I know this village isn’t particularly dangerous, but—”

 

“It’s not that. If you go out, are you protecting Anna, or is Anna protecting you?”

 

Dieter couldn’t retort.

 

Despite her small frame, Anna acted as bravely as any member of the village watch.

 

She had even once made a wolf she encountered in the mountains slip on muddy ground and smashed its skull.

 

“I would be more worried about sending you out. Besides, there is that strange man in the village now.”

 

“You mean the one who went to Anna’s restaurant?”

 

“That’s right. They said no one saw him leave the village even after Karla kicked him out. Because of that, the watch is on edge. They were worried he might try to get revenge on the village men who picked a fight with him… Wait, Dieter! Where are you going?!”

 

“Are you telling me to stay home after hearing all that?!”

 

“Was everything I just said nonsense?!”

 

Ignoring his mother, Dieter dashed out.

 

How had he forgotten about that guy?

 

What if Anna feels sorry for him again and brings him food, only to get eaten?!

 

He meant that literally.

 

To Dieter, Bertram was exactly that kind of man.

 

Expressionless. Impossible to read. Unnecessarily huge. Not to mention that black fur cloak he wore, which made him look like some lord of beasts.

 

(T/N: Hahahaha! I would love someone to draw the leads so I can imagine it.)

 

Dieter’s imagination grew more frantic. Just before the imaginary Bertram bit into Anna, he managed to wake two village uncles and drag them out into the road.

 

The two men grumbled, gripping pitchforks and shovels.

 

“You’ve got no one else to worry about, so you worry about Anna, huh?”

“Yeah. Do you know how gutsy she is? Once a wolf got its head stuck in the pasture fence and was snarling. While the shepherds ran away, Anna grabbed a rock and smashed its skull.”

 

“Uncles! The wolves aren’t the only problem! That man’s the problem. Doesn’t he look like a deserter or a criminal?”

 

“What deserter stands out that much?”

 

“H-he could be using that stereotype to his advantage!”

 

“Look at you, using fancy words just because you don’t want to lose to adults. Now you’re worried about your childhood friend?”

 

“I’ve always been worried—ugh!”

 

Dieter’s voice was cut off.

 

One of the men punched him in the stomach.

 

“Shh.”

 

The man pointed at a gray wolf circling around the village at a distance. Maybe it had been separated from its pack. It was thin, but still a predator capable of killing one or two people easily.

 

“Dieter, go down to the village and get more people.”

 

“A w-wolf? What’s it doing here?”

 

“But… judging by how it’s heading towards the mountain, it seems to be targeting someone else. Should we just leave it?” the other man muttered.

 

“The mountain? Come to think of it, didn’t that kid, Dean, brag about how he tricked the big guy along with the village youths earlier today?”

 

“Huh? What did they do?”

 

“Apparently, they told him that the clown mushrooms growing at the mountain taste good if you boil them. Surely that guy didn’t take them seriously, eat the mushroom, and pass out, right?”

 

“…You got to be kidding me.”

 

The two men tightened their grips on their tools. No matter how suspicious an unwelcome guest might be, they didn’t want him dying because of a village prank. That would be a year’s worth of nightmares.

 

One of them irritably kicked Dieter’s leg.

 

“I told you to go get people!”

 

“U-Uncle! Up there.. Doesn’t it look like there is something moving?”

 

The two men squinted where Dieter pointed.

 

At first it looked like nothing more than a fluttering black leaf. But as it approached, it revealed its shape under the moonlight.

 

It was the unwelcome guest.

 

Beneath his dark, black hair, his blue eyes gleamed ominously.

 

The wolf, finally facing its target, growled.

 

“Should we go help? Standing in front of that big guy, I can’t even tell if that’s a wolf or a dog.”

 

The wolf, initially imposing, now visibly tensed as Bertram approached. If it collided with that massive frame, even a wolf wouldn’t come out unscathed.

 

But the wolf did not abandon its hunger or pride.

 

…And that became its final moment.

 

Bertram simply kicked the wolf out of his path.

 

(T/N: I am dead. This is so funny!)

 

“Yelp!”

 

The wolf flew through the air like a tossed bag.”

 

Bertram didn’t even slow down. He continued to run straight ahead.

 

While the uncles stared dumbfounded at the wolf, Dieter kept his eyes locked on Bertram and spotted corn-silk-like blonde hair fluttering from beneath the fur cloak.

 

“Anna!”

 

Bertram and the Anna slung over his back disappeared in an instant.

 

Dieter rushed after them, shouting, “Hurry! That bastard kidnapped Anna!”

 

“What are you talking about?! Hey! Hey!”

 

Though his steps were slower than Bertram’s, Dieter’s voice thundered through the village.

 

One by one, people opened their doors, only to recoil at the shadow of a bear-like figure running past them. 

 

“Catch him! Anna’s been kidnapped!”

 

“Kidnapped? Where to?”

 

“W-well—”

 

He had no answer.

 

Bertram was heading further into the village.

 

By the time Dieter had managed to wake half the village, Bertram had already reached the diner.

 

Karla opened the door with a scowl, only to freeze when she saw him.

 

“What in the world is going on?”

 

“I have brought Miss Anna home.”

 

Bertram untied his cloak. Anna, bundled inside the fur like a parcel, slid down from his back.

 

“Miss Anna, you have arrived home.”

 

Anna lifted her head. Even in her spinning world, she could recognize her mother’s exasperated face, Bertram’s expressionless one, and villagers peeking over the fence.

 

“Ha… ahahaha…”

 

“It seems like the symptoms still persist. Miss Karla, some water—”

 

“I’m laughing out of frustration!” Anna weakly kicked Bertram’s thigh as he wiped her face with the fur cloak.

 

It was the first, and worst, escort experience of her life.

 

Various conversations seemed to happen in the diner.

 

“Seemed” because Anna couldn’t resist the final symptom: drowsiness.

 

Karla hauled Anna into her room and tossed her onto the bed, muttered, “Dean, that idiot. Still pulling something dangerous like this at his age.”

 

Dean? That was Mom’s friend. Why was he being mentioned? Wasn’t she angry at Bertram?

 

Anna had no chance to ask. She fell asleep, and finally opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the old ceiling, bathed in morning shadows.

 

She had returned to her ordinary life.

 

I really thought I was going to die yesterday.

 

She rubbed her eyes. She vaguely remembered yesterday’s events, how she cried and laughed like a lunatic. There must have been poisonous mushrooms in what Bertram cooked.

 

But instead of irritation, worry came first.

 

He probably didn’t know either. Mom’s not trying to skin him alive, is she? He was trying to save me!

 

He had wrapped her in his fur cloak and carried her on his back. When she threw up from motion sickness, he stopped to pat her back and wipe her face. When the symptoms didn’t subside, he secured her to his back more firmly, wrapped the cloak around her like a sling, and sprinted to the village in one go.

 

It was the first time I’ve been carried on someone’s back since becoming an adult. It was really uncomfortable. Are all men’s backs like that?

 

Too wide to hold onto easily. Too firm to lean against.

 

But he had been attentive to everything happening behind him. Every time she hiccupped between laughter and tears, he stopped and tried to soothe her.

 

Not very effective, but clearly well-intentioned.

 

If I tell Mom that, will she look at him more favorably?

 

In the worst case scenario, she had already killed him and skinned him. In the best case scenario, she had politely chased him out of the village.

 

Hoping desperately for the latter, Anna left her room and entered the diner, only to be met with an unexpected sight.

 

In the corner, a bear-like man was trimming onions.

 

Bertram.

 

He noticed her gaze first.

 

“Good morning.”

 

“Good… morning.”

 

As if reciting something that he memorized, he greeted her and returned to the onions.

 

His arms were far too muscular for such delicate work to pound the cutting board. When he tilted it, the tendons rising along the back of his hand were thick as tree roots.

 

(T/N: Exaggeration much…?)

 

Anna stared blankly at Bertram until Karla shouted. 

 

“Hey, Anna! What are you staring at like an idiot?”

 

“Mom… why is Bertram in the kitchen?”

 

“You threw up on him last night. I told him he could stay here until his clothes were dry. That damn cloak will take three days at least.”

 

Only then did Anna notice what he was wearing. It was two of her father’s old shirts stitched together. But it is more of a makeshift covering than proper clothes.

 

He couldn’t go to another town dressed like that.

 

Anna clung to her mother and whispered. “Weren’t you going to kick him out?”

 

“I was. If my daughter hadn’t thrown up on him, he would have been gone already.”

 

“…I didn’t do it on purpose.”

 

“I know. You know Dean? That idiot deliberately offered him those mushrooms. Said he didn’t like a suspicious guy hanging around. Since he suffered because of our villagers, we can’t just throw him out.”

 

Karla spun a finger in the air and poked Anna’s forehead.

 

“Besides, my daughter was chasing after him to feed him. Might as well keep him where I can see.”

 

“That’s not what I was doing!”

 

“Sure. At least he’s not bringing up that debt nonsense anymore. He listens when asked.”

 

“Since when is ‘only works when ordered’ a virtue?”

 

“Says the daughter who doesn’t listen to her mother. Go wash up before you become more useless than him!”

 

Karla bonked Anna’s head and stood up.

 

But Anna didn’t move right away. She stared blankly at the diner kitchen.

 

Her ordinary life was restored. And a dark-haired man naturally integrated into her life as if he had always been there.

 

Noticing her gaze, he raised one hand and waved.

 

With that expressionless face, it was a little scary.

 

Is he pretending to be friendly? Or is he trying to say, ‘I saw you throw up’?

 

Suspicious, Anna waved back.

 

Bertram folded his fingers and gave her a thumbs-up.

 

Anna burst into laughter without meaning to.

 

As if satisfied he’d completed his task, Bertram nodded and turned back to the cutting board with piles of spice that Karla hated handling.

 

Without complaint, Bertram sliced the hot peppers.

 

He did all sorts of chores without a single complaint. And yet he suddenly calls her “Lady,” talks about “honor” and such things.

 

“Seriously… who exactly is he?”