TFOA Chapter 24

2. Summer. Cabin, Hunter, Japanese Morning Glory

In the painter's shaded house where no sunlight ever found its way in, the heat of early summer could still be faintly felt. The painter began cleaning his house.

While scraping old paint stains from the floor, the painter discovered an umbrella tucked under a canvas. 'Did I have an umbrella like this?'

A strange umbrella that didn't seem to belong to him no matter how hard he thought about it. The painter opened the worn umbrella and examined it from all angles.

Then something suddenly flashed through his mind. That day when drizzle was falling, when he met that noisy farmer on the stone bridge. He couldn't remember the process of collapsing from the heat and returning home, but that neighbor had been carrying a similar umbrella.

What should he do? After pondering, he decided to return it to the farmer's house. He needed to get that sleeping medication from the self-proclaimed genius chemist anyway.

Having to go see someone who drained his energy just by being in the same space required great resolve. He let out a groaning sound, then stretched while turning his stiff neck this way and that.

As it happened, Niksi was watering her field. Her front yard, which had been desolate with weeds, now looked quite like a proper field.

To the left of the house was a plot where she'd planted sweet potatoes and potatoes. Shoots and stems grew abundantly on the long mounds of earth. On the opposite side were leafy vegetables like lettuce and red chicory, with scallions and onions scattered here and there. In the garden plot prettily divided by white fencing, strawberry blossoms bloomed from the strawberries she'd devoted the most care to.

"Oh, painter! What brings you all the way to my house?"

Niksi was just in the middle of sending a ladybug that had been tormenting her sweet potato shoots straight to hell.

"Did you finish the painting by any chance!?"

"No."

"What then. Are you here to help with my farming?"

"As if."

Benjamin casually hung the umbrella on Niksi's fence. Niksi, whose memory was like a goldfish when it came to things that didn't interest her, just blinked without knowing what it was.

"It's an umbrella."

"I have good eyesight, so I know that much."

"The umbrella you left at my house the day you disposed of my entire supply of sleeping medication."

Only then did Niksi remember what it was and let out an "Ah~" of understanding.

"That's not mine. It's Gilbert's. I borrowed it and forgot. I almost made the village head walk around with a lace-trimmed umbrella."

Anyway, his goal of returning the umbrella to its owner was achieved. His next goal was to get the medication.

Benjamin leaned against the fence and swept his gaze over her field. But there was one odd part of her field. There were traces of tilled earth in a radius around her house, as if she was planning to make a flower bed near the fence.

'Roses or tulips would be nice there.'

"Is the medication ready?"

"I was just about to talk about that."

Niksi winked one eye and pressed a hoe into Benjamin's hands.

"I'll bring it right away, so watch over our babies until then!"

She scurried into the house like a rabbit. What were the babies supposed to be? Of course, Benjamin had no idea what she meant, so he stood in her potato field like a scarecrow as she'd instructed.

He occasionally shooed away ladybugs that wanted to build love houses on the potato leaves with the hoe. By the time he'd crushed the home-owning dreams of about ten ladybugs, Niksi poked her head out the window.

"Painter! Do you like strawberry flavor?"

"I prefer medication flavor."

"Sorry! I already made it strawberry flavor before I could ask you!"

Niksi waved a cute and charming pink pill. There were several points he wanted to object to, but he held back.

"Here! Just take one a day. It's even better if you don't have to take it at all."

The advice sounded reasonable.

Until that moment, he'd been skeptical about the pink, strawberry-flavored medication, but he obediently accepted the pill bottle. It was prettily wrapped like a birthday present.

"You should only take it when you really feel like you need to sleep! Since I made it, I guarantee the effectiveness. It's not a vitamin, so don't take it regularly. Well, if you really want to take it regularly, it's better to take it at the same time consistently... Hey painter! Weren't you listening to me?"

When Niksi said 'You should only take it when you really feel like you need to sleep!' Benjamin had rustled with the medication, and before she finished speaking, he put one pill in his mouth and chewed it.

"How can you take it without water?"

She admired his bravery and stuffed a cherry tomato from the table into his mouth.

Contrary to his expectation of a refreshing strawberry flavor, it was considerably bitter and harsh. It had the 'straw' but not the 'berry.'

Benjamin swallowed the pill and coughed exhaustedly. Cough cough.

"Why is it so bitter?"

"Did you think medication would be sweet? You haven't tasted enough bitter things?"

"If you're going to add strawberry flavor, at least make it convincing. Cough..."

"Once I harvest strawberries, I'll make it so you can't tell whether it's candy or sleeping medication."

Niksi proudly patted her chest.

He cleared his throat a few times as the bitter taste seemed to linger. His business was finished. He put the medication in his shirt pocket and stood up.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes."

"Do you have urgent business?"

Niksi rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. The second hand moved without making a tick, tick sound.

Thinking she might ask him to help with her farming, Benjamin replied, "If it's about chasing ladybugs, that's nature's way, so leave it to fate."

"No, that's not it."

"I'm going."

He put down the hoe and started walking. Step, step, step.

—Tick, tick, tick.

Niksi counted three seconds to herself. 3, 2, 1.

—Thud.

Benjamin collapsed onto the grass floor like a deflated balloon.

"I told you I guarantee the effectiveness."

But Niksi's words couldn't reach him. He was sleeping soundly, breathing evenly.

"Should I have told him in advance? Hey, if you sleep here, you'll become tick food."

It couldn't be helped. Worried about tick disease, Niksi dragged his legs and brought him to her house entrance.

When climbing the two steps in the middle, there was a crack! sound like his skull splitting in two.

Oops. Niksi broke out in a sweat and frantically felt around the back of his head. Fortunately, there was no blood.

She let out a sigh of relief and was about to drag Benjamin all the way into the living room when several squirrels scampered past the window. Unripe strawberries were clamped in their mouths.

"Hey, you thieves!"

Niksi abandoned his legs and ran outside.

Gasp. He woke up with a start and bolted upright.

He looked around in all directions. Unlike his own desolate house with not a single piece of furniture, this was a room with charming furniture and a sweet smell.

Inside Niksi's house. It was the living room.

'When did I fall asleep?'

Benjamin got up from his spot while rubbing his legs that felt like they'd been beaten and his oddly throbbing back of the head. He hadn't slept for long—the sun was still up, though it was setting low.

Had he slept for two or three hours? He estimated the time by looking at the color of light beyond the open door.

He felt like he'd slept deeply without any dreams. Sleeping somewhere other than his own home was a minus, but the drowsiness that still lingered was truly welcome.

So instead of stretching, he deliberately washed his face dry.

"Oh. You're awake?"

Niksi, who had picked an armful of sweet potato shoots, set them down at the entrance. Her gloves were stained green from pulling weeds all day.

"You don't usually fall asleep that quickly. Just how many nights did you stay awake?"

Benjamin held up three fingers.

"Three days? Are you senile? It's amazing you were still alive."

"Hands."

"Hands?"

At Niksi's question, he briefly added, "Rain."

Ah. So his hands were aching because rain was coming soon, which is why he couldn't sleep well. The painter's hands had a remarkable talent for detecting weather.

Benjamin looked around for a clock, his disheveled hair sticking up all over.

"How long did I sleep?"

Niksi held up three fingers, copying Benjamin.

"Three hours... I slept quite a lot."

"No. Three days."

"What?"

All drowsiness vanished. He was so startled he kicked off the yellow blanket he'd been covered with.

Surprised by his sudden denial of reality, Niksi couldn't think to lower her fingers and giggled.

"Just kidding. Wow, you should go around putting some forced intensity into your eyes like that. You're much more handsome."

Benjamin scrunched up his face again.

"Ugh. You never willingly do anything even when I tell you to do something good. You're really such a contrarian."

It was regrettable that the pleasantly languid drowsiness he'd cherished was gone. Benjamin got up from his spot with a crumpled expression.

As he left the house, Niksi also took off her gloves, roughly organized her farming tools, and followed behind him.

"Are you stopping by the village?"

"No. I have no business today."

"Then I just need to go with you to that path. I have to return the umbrella to Gil. But more than that!"

Niksi's chatter that began with 'But more than that!' continued until they reached the path.

The village's most wicked thieves, squirrels and tits, and the breathtaking battles she fought with them. How she got hives after encountering caterpillars while going to steal cherries from the back mountain's cherry tree, and how she wailed after pulling garlic seedlings and rubbing her eyes.

How the condition of the sweet potato stems that sprouted around March was very, extremely good, so she was looking forward to the sweet potato harvest in mid-summer.

"I think farming might be my calling."

"That's worth celebrating."

"In my prediction, my sweet potatoes will be incredibly sweet, big, and delicious. Good enough to sell for 10 euros each. What if I become a total nouveau riche like this?"

"...That would be something worth celebrating a lot."

The farmer who seriously praised her own talent despite not having harvested anything yet was amusing. He'd clearly seen that her 10-euro sweet potatoes hadn't even grown to the size of a toe yet.

On the other hand, such carefree attitude was also curious. That's why it was.

It was because the farmer's nonchalance, already worrying about how much to sell each sweet potato for, was strange that he chuckled.

At the place where the path divided toward the village and toward the painter's house. Niksi was waving goodbye to the painter when she said 'Wait' and grabbed his sleeve.

He looked at her with puzzlement and slight irritation. Niksi was looking somewhere else, not at him.

The painter also looked where the farmer was looking. The grass beside the path. It was undergrowth thick with untended weeds.

"Did you see a squirrel that stole your crops?"

"Painter. Don't you smell it?"

Smell? He didn't have a talent for smelling rodents, so he squinted and sniffed the wind coming from the grass.

"Don't know?"

"...Metal?"

"Right. There's a smell of blood."

Niksi quickly jumped into the undergrowth. He, whose sleeve had been grabbed by her, also headed toward that place.

"Helen!"

The identity of the fishy smell from the grass was Helen. Helen was sitting on the ground with a pale complexion.

"Niksi!"

"What happened!"

Niksi quickly rushed to Helen, who was crouched on the ground. Helen seemed relieved now and tightly grasped Niksi's arm.

"Someone seems to have set up a snare here."

"That is..."

Where Helen's pale gaze rested was her right leg. There, wire about as thick as reed stems was woven, and it was wrapped around Helen's ankle, tightly constricting her leg. The smell of blood was coming from there.

"I panicked and pulled on it without thinking... Ugh..."

"Don't move, Helen. I'll get someone..."

—Crack.

Benjamin followed, pushing through the undergrowth. Shaking off the leaves stuck in his hair, he quickly grasped the situation through Helen sitting on the ground, her ankle gradually turning white from lack of circulation, and Niksi's serious expression.

"Painter! Helen is..."

"......"

"......"

Helen and Benjamin exchanged a chilly silence while looking at each other. Benjamin was the first to look away.

He silently knelt on one knee in front of Helen's ankle. Helen flinched greatly.

'It's sized to hunt wild animals. But why is something like this near a path where people walk...'

"Painter, first we need something to cut the snare..."

"If you touch it carelessly, the wire might tighten more."

"Then what do we do...!"

'All I've seen in situations like this is cutting the rope or cutting the foot.'

Niksi muttered anxiously, clenching and unclenching her hands so Helen couldn't hear.

He looked around. If it was a snare to catch animals, there would be a place where the end of the wire was fixed.

Benjamin searched through the grass looking for the end of the wire. Then he discovered an unnatural mound of dirt. When he kicked it aside, he could see metal chunks wound tightly around tree roots.

At a glance, it didn't look like it would break easily.

"Painter..."

"Give me that."

"What? The umbrella?"

"Yes. Step back."

Niksi hesitantly handed him the umbrella. Snap! He broke the long umbrella in half. Then he swung it around and struck the wooden post with the two broken umbrella pieces.

Thwack, thwack. After striking it like that several times, he kicked apart the weakened tree roots and pulled out the fixed bundle of wire. The knot strangling Helen's ankle still wasn't loosened, but since the fixed part was removed, she could move.

He took that bundle of wire and went in front of Helen.

"......"

"...It would be faster to go down the road from here than to call a doctor."

He crouched down in front of Helen as if telling her to get on his back.

"That was close. The Achilles tendon almost got damaged."

After arriving at the village and hurriedly bringing a doctor, Helen was able to safely remove the snare from her ankle.

She would have to wear bandages for a while and there would be some scarring, but fortunately the snare hadn't dug in deeply, so there wouldn't be any problems with walking. It was a tremendous relief.

"For now, refrain from moving, and make sure to disinfect regularly so the wound doesn't get infected."

"Phew, what a relief..."

"Thank you, Niksi. What would have happened if I hadn't met you?"

Helen smiled broadly with relief. Gilbert, who had been intently staring at the bundle of snare wire, looked up.

"Helen, you said this was in the grass beside the path?"

"That's right. I dropped my keys and went in to pick them up when this happened. Who would set up such a dangerous thing beside the road?"

"Gil. Is there a hunter in this village by any chance?"

Niksi asked.

If there were hunting snares, there must be someone who set them up. When you think 'who set them up,' you naturally think of hunters.

Niksi asked what anyone could deduce. But strangely, Helen seemed to glance toward Gilbert, as if gauging his reaction.

"...There isn't one now."

An unsatisfactory answer. A suspicious question mark appeared over Niksi's head. But she decided to ignore it. Whether it was from seeing blood, Gilbert's complexion wasn't very good.

"By the way, Gil."

"Yeah?"

"I broke your umbrella. Sorry."

Niksi explained how magnificently his umbrella had met its death. Roughly the content of fighting with a tree to save Helen's ankle.

While Helen steadied herself by putting her bandaged foot on the ground, Gilbert whispered in Niksi's ear.

"So Mr. Richter carried Helen here. The umbrella is fine. It was put to good use. So, where is Mr. Richter?"

"He went home saying he needed to sleep. But I think that was probably an excuse, and since Helen was there, it would be awkward to stay..."

"Niksi."

At Helen's voice calling her name from behind, Gilbert and Niksi were startled.

Helen casually brushed the dirt off her clothes.

"Tell that German soldier not to expect me to be grateful."

"Oh, yes!"

"I'll pay for the umbrella. Gilbert, how much is it?"

"Huh, what?"

"I'll give you a good price, so go have a meal or something."

She took out her wallet and pulled out all the bills inside. It was too much for just having a meal. It was enough to order about three of the most expensive items on the menu, cassoulet, at Raul's bar.

But before Gilbert could firmly decline, Helen left. Thanks to that, Niksi and Gilbert were left alone with the thick bundle of bills.

"It's definitely enough for about three people to eat well and have some left over."

"You thought so too? I was thinking exactly the same thing—enough for about three people with some left over."

"......"

"......"

"Should we call the painter?"

Benjamin, who had washed and reverently lain down on the floor, pulled the blanket up to his neck.

He considered taking another pill, but thinking he should listen to the pharmacist's advice, he didn't take the medication. Instead, he began counting the wood grain on the ceiling.

While counting about 4 meters worth of wood grain, he heard the excited footsteps of two people from far beyond the window where the sun was setting.

It was a sound that would ruin his sleep. He bolted up and locked the door of his house.

▶ Today's Harvest

Sweet potato shoots, a handful of cherry tomatoes, cassoulet for 3 people!

▶ Overall Assessment

The painter showed the amazing feat of falling asleep while eating!