Chapter 26 (1/2)

Chapter 26 – The Lumber

In order to ers lead? What kind of tools would help?

Eiji, who had begun this sort of investigation, moved toward his first direction, Philip’s place

Besides Tanya, Philip was the person who has offered the

Were it not for him, Eiji wouldn’t have been able to make the furnace, nor find the iron ores

Furthermore, it was probably troublesome for him to provide Eiji with lumber as a source of fuel

That fact, however, hadn’t changed even after Eiji acquired the position of a blacksmith

He wanted to becoth as much as possible, and supposedly be able to make use of his own skills and wisdom

While bracing hi toward the forester’s lodge He could feel that the at

The scent of the grass turned into the one cos and birds, the sounds of wild ani

It see the sides of the path little by little, instead of the grass

As he continued to climb the slope, his body temperature increased

Sweating inside his overcoat and breathing out the air from exhaustion, Eiji finally reached the destination

In front of the barn, a single coas standing same as the previous time

Even though the weather was quite chilly, the cow continued to eat the grass with its usual appearance

Its rotund eyes grasped Eiji and wouldn’t separate from him

Not even the slightest sign of caution could be felt from it

The cow see side to side

…Speaking of which, recently I haven’t a chance to taste a steak – he thought while having the i with the cow in front of his eyes

The coas shi+vering from fear, which Eiji noticed

– Sorry, sorry I don’t plan to eat you

– moo

Standing right in front of the cohich backed off, treazed at the barn

There were nus piled up in rows inside the barn, whereas next to them, the ones with removed branches were accumulated

The wood characteristic fragrance, which was pleasant, hung in the air near Eiji’s vicinity

As he took a deep breath, it seeh his heart was calmed down

Together with the rustling sound of grass, a big object was drawing near him

At first, Eiji was able to prepare hi bear; nevertheless, what appeared fro from his waist and shouldered a hatchet

What’swood behind him

-L-Long time no see

– Long time no see Philip-san That’s an incredible amount of wood, isn’t it? Is that what you’ve just felled

– No I left all of these to dry three days ago, so as to hter

Rustle rustle – the sound of the rustling grass could be heard as the lu

Had he been pulling all of that alone…? It was a tres and loins

Philip, who hadn’t been seen for a long ti as always

His alave out the impression of the existence which could overwhelm whatever stood in its way

While ly beard near near his mouth, Philip spoke

– Because the ah time to let the lumber rest

– It’s because of me, isn’t it? I’m sorry for that

– …Fine That’s fine Thanks to that, my tool was improved

– Since then, how has it felt while using the hatchet?

– Truly nice Still, it’s inconvenient when I have to cut down trees with slanted surfaces

– That’s because it’s not double-edged, isn’t it? I’ll make it this time

Philip, as trying to endure while saying ‘I look forward to it’, smiled with his whole face

It was sort of a pristine s air vanished like a joke

Wasn’t that unfair? If soiven such a s to make the tool quickly

Even craftsmen are humans

Despite Eiji working with all his ht on a daily basis, he couldn’t resist

Because it was rare for Eiji to receive such a genuine evaluation for his tools, he wanted to respond to Philip’s glad reaction

– After cutting trees, how do you process them?

– I use the hatchet to cut branches, and then peel off the bark with a scythe

– How do you split the wood?

– Here

Philip showed his execution in practice

What he held in his hands were a wooden hae

As he stood in front of the log with its bark removed, he carefully watched it The atmosphere froze for a moment

What is he looking at? – wondered Eiji

Thinking suspiciously, Eiji couldn’t convert his thoughts into the words Philip focused all his nerves on the log

The silence continued for a , he continued to observe the log Eiji could finally predict what Philip was looking for

He was observing the grain of the wood