PDCOO Chapter 12

Dieter made a face and whipped his body around. He seemed to finally realize that the more he talked with Bertram, the more he lost.

"Anna, what were you talking about with this man?"

Anna scrunched up her face.

"We were discussing what to make for tomorrow. Why?"

"Don't tell me you eat breakfast together too?"

"Of course. Should I let him stay in the restaurant and then kick him out at breakfast?"

"What? You're letting a grown man sleep at the house? There's communal housing by the farm. Make him sleep there!"

"Why are you picking a fight? Is the restaurant yours?"

Then Bertram interjected in a solemn voice.

"After consideration, I prefer potato dishes."

"Ahaha, you said you can't taste anything. But you still like potatoes?"

"The texture of the potato soup you made the day we first met was pleasant."

"Good! Then I'll grind the potatoes finely and cut the other ingredients coarsely so there's a nice chew?"

"With thick bacon, please."

Unable to join the conversation again, Dieter clutched his head.

The villagers watched the three of them warmly.

But they could laugh because they knew Bertram wouldn't stay in the village long.

Outsiders being won over by Anna and getting farm jobs—that was an old story from when workers were scarce. There was no reason to accept outsiders now.

Eat some food and get lost. We'll tease Dieter and Anna with the unwanted guest as material for a while, but within a few years, the two would marry. By then, the unwanted guest would be just an occasional memory to chew over.

Everyone believed that without doubt.

For now.

The small feast soon ended.

After hanging the wolf carcass in Anna's storage, the young men waved goodbye one by one. The chief danced home clutching the wine Anna had packed for him.

After seeing everyone off, three people remained on the night road.

Anna, Dieter, Bertram.

"Dieter. Why aren't you going home? You followed us all the way?"

"I don't want to let you go home alone with a man you don't know."

"Bertram protected me the day before yesterday. You know that!"

"Of course he did, after feeding you something weird and causing trouble. Besides, he was fine himself. Maybe he used you as a test subject?"

When Anna tried to grab Dieter's collar, Bertram elegantly blocked her hand and said to Dieter.

"Dieter. If you're afraid to go home alone and that's why you're doing this, I'll walk you to your door."

"That's not it!"

"Then that's fortunate."

Anna clutched her stomach laughing.

But even humiliated, Dieter followed to the end. He seemed determined to watch until Bertram fell asleep.

When Anna was about to really give him a piece of her mind, Bertram spoke.

"You mentioned there's communal housing at the farm? I'll sleep there tonight. Will you guide me?"

"W-what are you scheming now? Guilty conscience?"

"No. I was simply moved by Dieter's initiative in voicing his opinion."

"...What?"

"Many residents besides Dieter must have been wary of me, an unwanted guest. But only after Dieter spoke did I realize that obvious fact. Thanks to Dieter's courage."

"C-courage? Ah, it was nothing."

"Speaking necessary words at the right time also requires great courage. I'll accept your suggestion. Would you wait until I pack my things?"

"Of course! Uhaha!"

Dieter grinned ear to ear and positioned himself at the restaurant gate.

Bertram entered the restaurant, and Anna followed.

"Bertram. You don't need to humor him. Sleep here! Mom already gave permission."

"Dieter seems too anxious. It appears Dieter likes you, Anna."

Anna froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Ahaha! What are you talking about? That guy always teases me, saying I need to grow for ten more years before I can marry!"

"He probably means he needs ten years before he gains the courage to confess."

"How do you know that when you said you have no emotions?"

"Humans fear those who can't feel emotions and try to exclude them from society. Therefore, to survive, I learned to observe others' emotions. The more typical the emotional expression, the easier to read. He's jealous of me."

"If Dieter heard that just now, he'd explode."

"That's why I'll pack and leave before Dieter bursts... but."

Bertram hesitated slightly before speaking.

"The cloth you used to cover my feet last night—may I borrow it?"

"There are plenty of communal blankets at the housing, so you don't really need to take the apron."

"I need it."

At the firm answer, Anna looked flustered but handed over the apron.

A worn apron with red flower patterns.

Bertram tucked it into his bag as if it were a precious gift.

Soon after Bertram returned to the housing and fell asleep mulling over the word 'cute'.

Karlah tried to calm her unsettled heart while checking the wolf's front paw.

The wolf paw stored in the shed glowed with blue light. If Bertram's words were true, these creatures hadn't attacked humans but dug up graves.

But the relief from seeing that lasted only a moment.

'The chief is going to think even better of Bertram.'

The anxiety that the villagers might grow fond of Bertram and try to make him settle here tormented Karlah.

Around dawn, when she'd barely started to fall asleep, the sound of sweeping—swish, swish—suddenly began in the yard. Karlah's back erupted in goosebumps and she sat up.

Bertram had definitely been sent to the housing near the farm, and Anna wasn't the type to do this at dawn.

Karlah cautiously peered outside with a hand mirror.

The hand mirror soon filled with the shape of a large man's body.

No need to look further. It was Bertram.

Coming down at dawn to sweep, of all things. Karlah muttered in disbelief.

"Why is he so diligent?"

Bertram swept the dried grass that had rolled into the yard without so much as a yawn, then organized all the cleaning tools and headed back toward the communal housing.

It didn't seem like he was simply trying to make a good impression on Anna and her mother. If that were the case, he would have made a show of his cleaning.

Bertram hadn't made a show of anything since he started working in the kitchen. He only asked if he was working efficiently and followed the procedures Karlah taught him. He'd clearly spent a long time in the military.

But still behaving this way in every aspect of daily life, three years after the war ended—that was a problem.

"War trauma, maybe... His family fell during the war so he can't return home, and his body adapted to military life so he can't do other work."

Unfortunate, but not a man she wanted near her daughter any longer.

Karlah looked at her daughter sprawled in her own room, sleeping in a completely unrestrained position. A grown young lady sleeping like that, she wanted to say, but Anna's small frame made her look like nothing more than a mischievous girl asleep.

A child who'd been so tiny from birth that Karlah had worried she might die at any moment. But that child had grown into an adult while staying small, picking up young men twice her size, feeding them, training them as workers, and sending them home.

Stubborn as hell, but a daughter to be proud of anywhere.

Karlah clasped her hands in prayer.

"Hans... Please. I don't know what debt that bear owes you, but give me strength to send him away safely today."

It was a good morning.

That's what Anna thought the moment she opened her eyes.

'Because I had such fun playing and eating last night... No, wait! Mom, why didn't you wake me?'

When Karlah didn't wake Anna, it meant her mother was that busy.

If she enjoyed this time any longer, she'd get scolded: 'Even when your mother is dying of work, you can't wake up until someone rouses you?'

Anna rushed out to the yard where Karlah was, and immediately understood why her mother had been busy since morning.

In the yard, Karlah was speaking to Bertram.

"Sorry for the sudden news this morning, but thank you for accepting it. Stay healthy there. I'll bring your laundered things right away."

The village chief also clapped Bertram's shoulder.

"You've worked hard all this time. I can't pay you, but I can see you to the nearest city."

At that point, Anna interjected.

"Wait juuust a minute! Wh-what are you talking about? Bertram, you're leaving? Today? Right now?"

"Oh my, child. Anna! Where are you rushing out without even washing your face? Don't tell me you slept until this hour?"

"Mom, don't change the subject! Why is Bertram leaving?"

"Well, should he stay here forever? We're counting his help at the restaurant and catching that wolf as full repayment of our debt. We can't keep a perfectly healthy bachelor peeling onions indefinitely. Bertram agreed."

"...But still."

"Or what? Did you want to see him longer?"

"It's not like that!"

Anna shouted in flustered protest.

She'd fallen for Karlah's provocation, but there was no taking it back now.

The village chief chuckled.