Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 28: All This Snow
Kai did not give up.
Desperate to secure Ren’s help, he clasped his hands and bowed.
“Then come only for the outward journey. You don’t have to make the round trip–even one way would help us enormously.”
Ren felt bad about refusing such an earnest plea, and being valued for his strength was flattering. Even so, he could not agree.
The one-way journey alone would take more than two weeks. That was not suitable work for the caretaker of the old manor.
Before Ren could refuse again, the wolfman intervened.
“With an explanation that vague, the Hero could never agree. You should tell him the details.”
Kai sighed beside his smiling companion.
“Meidas is right.”
Meidas?
The wolfman laughed at Ren’s puzzled expression.
“That’s my name. I never imagined both of us would introduce ourselves in circumstances like these.”
Meidas offered his hand.
“A pleasure.”
After shaking Ren’s hand, he elbowed Kai in the ribs.
“This man is always like this. I constantly tell him that he leaves too much unsaid and explains everything far too roughly.”
“You didn’t have to tell him that.”
Kai propped his cheek on one hand with a sullen expression. Meidas merely laughed.
“Ignore him,” Kai said. “This is the route we’re planning.”
His finger moved over the map.
Ren recognized most of it. He had traveled the same roads while touring Clausel’s villages with Licia, Weiss, and the knights.
There was one difference.
Kai’s finger continued north and crossed the Baldor Mountains.
Ren’s eyebrows rose.
“We don’t need much extra strength before reaching the mountains. Inside them, though, the roads are poor, winter makes everything worse, and the monsters are more numerous. That’s where we want you.”
Ren was immediately grateful he had not agreed too quickly.
The Baldor Mountains made the request even less suitable.
Absolutely not.
Part of him still wanted to go. The mountains held the treasure from a hidden game map, and a Steel-Eating Gargoyle was guaranteed to appear there. Killing it could strengthen the Shield Magic Sword.
Nevertheless, he did not change his answer.
“I’ve heard this winter will be unusually cold. Is crossing the Baldor Mountains now truly wise?”
The plan seemed almost suicidal. If Ren had been the merchant, he would have avoided that route without hesitation.
Kai’s answer at least made the insistence understandable.
“I think it’s reckless too. But the merchants say they absolutely have to deliver the goods to those nobles. They’re paying extremely well, and there will be a bonus if we get them there safely.”
They were probably desperate to preserve their relationship with their patrons.
Kai wrote the proposed payment on a sheet of paper. It was an exceptionally generous sum.
“What do you think? Not bad, is it?”
“No, the money is excellent.”
“But the job is still impossible?”
“It will take too long, the route crosses the Baldor Mountains, and the weather is dangerous. House Clausel has entrusted the old manor to me, so I must decline.”
Kai finally sagged over the table and sighed.
“I suppose that’s that.”
“It cannot be helped,” Meidas said.
“I’m sorry,” Ren added.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll find another adventurer I trust. Meidas can’t come because he already has a different job, which is why I asked you.”
Kai and Meidas did not always work together. They sometimes accepted separate requests, so traveling apart was not unusual.
“I am still sorry after you went to the trouble of inviting me.”
“It’s fine. We have almost two weeks before departure. I should be able to find at least one person by then.”
“I didn’t realize there was such a delay.”
“It depends on the merchants’ schedule. I’d rather leave and return as quickly as possible, but complaining won’t change it.”
Winter in the Baldor Mountains would be brutal, particularly that year. The cold was expected to be severe, with equally fierce snowfall.
Kai knew the risk. During summer, Meidas had carried winter magic tools through Clausel’s villages and must have heard many warnings about the coming season.
“Since you came all the way to the guild, let me buy you a drink,” Kai said.
“I’m still a child. Juice, please.”
In Leomel, adulthood began at fourteen.
Ren sipped the juice when it arrived and murmured, “I suppose I really have grown.”
â—‡ â—‡ â—‡ â—‡
Ren had wondered how he would continue hunting during winter, but he had no time to leave the old manor for extended expeditions. Being its caretaker brought an entirely new set of seasonal duties. Even when he occasionally left town, he could do little beyond the monster surveys Lessard had assigned him.
Several weeks after he declined Kai’s nominated request, the weight of the snow caused part of the old manor’s roof to collapse.
From the entrance hall, Ren could look through a hole large enough to reveal the sky.
“Now that you live here, heat from inside the manor reaches the roof,” Weiss explained. “Some snow must have melted, frozen again, and then gained even more weight beneath the next snowfall.”
He had come that morning after hearing the commotion. Standing outside beside Ren, he looked up at the roof and laughed. Ren’s cheek twitched.
“I’ve been clearing the snow regularly.”
“There are limits to what one person can prevent. Last night was exceptionally cold. It is not surprising that this happened in a single day. Still, that is an impressive hole.”
“It isn’t very funny from where I’m standing.”
“True enough. In any case, it must be repaired.”
“Will we call a carpenter?”
“Yes, but the craftsman responsible for House Clausel’s carpentry does not live in this town. He resides in another village within the territory, and someone must travel there to fetch him.”
The thought of leaving the roof open until then made Ren’s expression tighten further.
Weiss had no intention of abandoning it, however.
“We will make an emergency repair ourselves.”
“Of course. That will keep the manor protected until the craftsman arrives.”
“Precisely. We may not match a professional, but we cannot allow snow to fall inside. It would damage the building and leave you freezing.”
A little carpentry work was therefore unavoidable.
Weiss left to explain the situation to Lessard and collect materials from the storehouse.
Licia arrived in his place, her breath white in the cold.
“Are you really going to repair the roof?”
“We have to. Otherwise the snow may ruin the inside of the manor next.”
Licia laughed softly, the hem of her white coat swaying with her light steps. The Platinum Feather ornament she had worn every day since her summer birthday moved gently in her increasingly mature silver hair.
“You’ll have to climb onto the roof, won’t you?”
“Yes. There is no other way to repair it.”
“Then–“
Her sparkling smile told Ren exactly what she intended to ask.
“No. You may not come up.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
She did not need to. He knew Licia well enough to predict her interest.
“You cannot climb onto the roof. You may watch from below, but even then you need Lord Lessard’s or Weiss’s permission. Snow, tools, or materials could fall.”
“Stingy.”
Ren gave a dry laugh and looked away. No matter what she said, he would not yield on a matter of safety.
I’m glad Ren didn’t take the cliche sidequest nobody wants to read about. That werewolf is suspicious imo and it sounded like a setup to make him step into the baldor mountain territory.
I’m not sure about that.
I think he should at least have run it past his guardian. Looks like having a mansion is giving him a lot of grief I think it would have better to rent a room in town. He has a mansion to clean plus all that gardening
Yeah, having to take care of an old abandoned mansion and being tied there is annoying. I personally think he has to step into the Baldors at some point. But i felt like the interaction was weird. Why would the author include them getting rejected and not make any development around it? Maybe something will happen anyway…
He cannot rent as he is still 11 years old. We have now learned the drinking age is 14. That is most likely the minimum age to rent.
I was sure he would fold when the guy started saying sorry and the like, but I’m happy with this result.
Although I know they’re somehow gonna drag Ren to those mountains with something like “Kai disappeared, pls help”