Chapter 35: Bear ※Drop-Shipped
Volu 1 — The Temporary Snow Country Life of the Northern Nobleman and the Raptor Wife
A white bear’s head was poking out. I couldn’t see Teoporon himself.
The first floor is built higher than usual. The snow might block the way out, so stairs are built first.
Sa for the windows, they’re built higher so that they won’t be smashed by the heavy snow.
When I opened the window, Teoporon was there.
Because of the house’s structure, it seed that he did not see inside.
When I asked him what it was, Teoporon pointed to the ground.
“——A bear!?”
A real one this ti.
He hunted a bear.
“Sieg, look at that.”
“……What”
It’s been a long ti since I saw a caught bear. A brown bear tied to a sleigh. It looks like a young adult bear.
I jumped out from the window, but a tingling pain shot up my foot. To Sieg who was looking out the window, I crossed my hands over my head while crouching to show her that it was dangerous to jump out from the window.
Sieg went around and ca out from the front door.
“Are you okay.”
“Yup, I’m fine.”
After checking my health, our eyes focused on the brown lump.
The bear in the front yard was incredible.
“Teoporon, what’s this?”
“A present for the great king.”
“……Y-ye~ah.”
As usual, I couldn’t understand him. I laughed it off.
Sieg too shook her head.
“I was mistaken. I thought that she was a warrior. I heard from my wife. Warrior Sieglinde, no, queen of the great king should I say……”
Teoporon was declaring sothing with great vigour today. As Sieg and I nodded, he continued.
“I wanted to hunt a white bear, but I could only find a brown one. However, this one is good. You can see that from the fur. Now, please accept this!”
Teoporon pointed to the bear, then to us. That ant that he’s giving it to .
“Eh!?”
I pointed to the bear then to myself. ‘You’re giving it to ?’ it ant. Teoporon nodded.
“W, wa~. I’m happy!”
Teoporon hunted the bear as a gift.
He pounded his chest and bowed.
“Ah, wait, wait!”
I stopped Teoporon who was about to go with his white bear fur.
“Sorry, but help us with processing it! I can’t do it with just the two of us!”
A bear is as big as an average adult male. SInce it would take a long ti to butcher this I asked for his help.
◇◇◇
Since the bear was to big to move to the hut, we did it at the front yard.
“Iyaa, I didn’t imagine that he’d give a bear.”
“You look happy.”
“I wanted to let Sieg try so.”
“Is it really that tasty?”
“It’s great.”
It’s been five years since I had bear at. That at was from the white bear Teoporon was wearing.
“Plus it’s a young female.”
“……”
This is the second best season for bear at.
Having just awoken from hibernation, the famished bears go on a binge. Thus, their at thickens and their fat becos tasty.
By the way, the tastiest season is in autumn just before it goes to hibernate. Here, nature’s abundant blessings make the bear at even better.
I knew that Sieg was looking at strangely, but this excitent did not go away.
“By the way, you don’t hunt bears?”
“We don’t. Never.”
Bear hunting is dangerous so no one in the village dares to…… except for Teoporon.
Safety first. Thinking about the taste and quality cos after that.
As for the bigger animals like deers and boars, our ancestors learned how to deal with them through trial and error.
However, for bears, no matter how many centuries passed, they are still very threatening so we don’t hunt them for their at.
Fundantally, our life is focused on surviving as much as possible in this harsh environnt.
Therefore, we don’t risk our lives for hunting.
The bear that was caught had barely any scratches.
It appeared that the bear died by a spear through its heart. Teoporon is still very reckless.
Its throat was already slit open, so I think he drained the blood already.
I brought out knives.
First, we had to skin it.
Before the fur is bathed in dicinal water, we can’t touch it with our bare hands. Because there are bugs and things like that.
I put on leather gloves and started skinning it.
Bear fur is warm, and rchants buy it at high prices. Since the value falls if it’s damaged with a knife, I did the skinning carefully.
We cleanly skinned it off from the bottom to the head, and carefully collected the oil from the fur too.
Then, we removed the subcutaneous fat.
I heard that if it’s carefully processed in hot water many tis, panacea is made.
Bear oil is said to be good for abrasions, burns, and for boils from bug bites. I never used it before, so I don’t know if it’s true though.
Now that we trimd off the fat, we then disembowelled it by slashing it open from the chest to the belly.
Bear organs are used for dicine, so these are also traded at high prices. To not spoil it, I put it in a sack full of ice.
Then we butchered it up by its parts. Since the bones are hard, we carved the at off fully.
So ti later, the butchering was finished.
The bear, now reduced to chunks of at, is then matured for a month. It’s big, so it takes longer.
Bear at is mostly fat. The at is red, but it turns black after maturing it. The at doesn’t beco that soft though. Depending on how it’s cooked, it can beco hard like rubber.
If it’s cooked well after maturing, it’s top grade. The fat becos soft from the heat, and it lts on one’s tongue.
“Teoporon, thanks!”
He even helped with moving the at.
I’m looking forward to eating the at a month later.
Though I’m already spent from butchering the bear this morning, this was just the beginning of work today. I have to work.
Around noon, the two of us were drooping.
“……Oh no. My energy is spent from butchering the bear this morning.”
I had an elbow on the table as I had my head resting on the table. Sieg too looked exhausted. She was staring vacantly at a spot on the table.
“Let’s do sothing we can do indoors in the afternoon.”
“Okay.”
One can really feel the limits of one’s stamina in spring.
The bear is a formidable enemy, indeed.
◇◇◇
A few days passed since grandfather returned ho and we had that battle with the bear.
We still worked from morning to evening.
Then, a letter arrived. It was from grandfather.
His recent events were written on it, and he also wrote that he wanted to see auroras soti soon. Finally, it said, ‘I’ll give you a marriage present, so write down what you want.’
However, I didn’t have a specific wish so I replied, ‘I don’t need anything as long as grandfather is healthy.’
A reply arrived soon.
‘That wasn’t what I wanted to hear!’ I received a reply full of his rage.
And it also said that he’ll just give a huge bear statue and a part of the vast marquess’s land. Both are troubling gifts.
But then I rembered that there was sothing I wanted to get.
When I wrote that down, it soon arrived.
What I wanted as my marriage present was a cushioned chair.
The furniture sold in this village are all made from wood, so there are no soft furnitures.
I thought that I wanted a soft chair like the one I saw in the marquess’s mansion.
I installed the long chair where there were two single chairs.
That place is the best place to take a nap.
“Why a chair?”
“To get a lap pillow.”
“……”
Sieg glanced over here and then sat on the chair.
She looked at again and tapped her lap.
“Eh, really!?”
“I’ll say this beforehand. My thighs don’t feel that good. I train, so my muscles are hard.”
“Is that so? Well, I won’t know unless I try it out.”
I decided to lie down on her lap before she could change her mind.
Sieg said that it will be uncomfortable, but her thighs were not too soft nor too hard, but just perfect.
Sieglinde-san, thank you very much. These are really good thighs.
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