Volume 8 - Chapter 36 – Side Story 7: Meanwhile, in Kaina Village (1/2)

08-36 Side Story 7: Meanwhile, in Kaina Village

April, Kaina Village was brimming with energy.

Spring was the season when hills and fields began sprouting plants, and children concentrated on nothing but playing outside.

The adults plowed the fields in preparation for planting crops.

Last autumn even the wheat that had been sown had grown a lot, and weeding the field was necessary.

“Hannah-chan, there’s a lot here~”

“There’s a lot here too~”

Hannah and Patty who was a year younger than Hannah were picking wild herbs at the riverbed of river Elume.

Angelica, cress, and mitsuba. They were herbs even children could pick. Because tere were no poisonous plants that resembled them, they could be collected without worry.

“Ah, Hannah-chan, found you~”

The one who came and spoke out was the tomboy Jessie.

This season, the girls of the village were busy picking wild herbs. The riverbed and the fields, edges of the forest, and other grassy places were visited and the herbs were picked.

After overcoming the season of winter, they fully enjoyed spring’s delights in the hills and fields, while also being able to resupply the vitamins that one was prone to lack during winters.

Without even being aware of such a thing, the knowledge of how to pick herbs in the spring was imparted from parent to child, and from child to grandchild.

The children who had picked herbs until the long spring day was coming to an end went to the hot springs to wash off their sweat before returning.

“Ahh~, it feels so nice~”

“Hanna-chan, I’ll wash your back.”

“Mh, thanks~”

In the hot springs the children washed each other’s backs.

Just before Jin left the village, he had taught the people how to use the ritha seeds to wash their bodies and clothing.

The ritha seeds ripened in autumn and were said to become poisonous so no one had got involved with them but,

“Isn’t this washnut?”

Jin had muttered by himself, brought a large quantity of the seeds to dry in the sun, then ground them to a powder. Mixing a little bit of that with water and rubbing made foam which made dirt to come off.

“If you use it every day your skin will become rough, so it’s better to use it only when you’re very dirty.”

He had said something like that.

Until then they had used lye for washing, but as the powder made out of ritha seeds was better for getting off dirt, everyone in the village had gathered ritha seeds together.

“Granny, I’m back~”

“Welcome back, Hannah. You gathered a lot, I see.”

Grandma Martha looked at the plentiful herbs in the basket Hannah was holding and smiled.

“Let’s make a lot of things out of them this evening, shall we?”

“Yeah! Great~!”

That evening they had herb salad and boiled greens. Of course they also had bread made out of sieved wheat flour.

“Delicious.”

“Thanks to everything Hannah picked up, of course it’s delicious.”

And so the cheerful dinnertime passed.

The evening in Kaina Village passed quickly. The sun had set and most of the houses were dark so it was about time to go to bed.

For lighting they did have torches and tallow lamps, but normally using them was wasteful so nearly no houses did.

“Good night, granny.”

“Good night, Hannah.”

Even in Martha’s house the dinner was at five in the evening, and by seven o’clock they had fallen asleep.

Accordingly, everyone’s morning came early.

Everyone woke up together with the sunrise.

“Good morning, granny.”

“Good morning, Hannah.”

Everybody went to rinse their mouths and wash their faces at the common well.

“Onii-chan…”

Every time she operated the pump and water came out, she couldn’t help but think about Jin.

“…I hope you’re well.”