046: Snow and Snowballs

“Snow and fox, fox, fox, fall and fall” Al

What’s the next line? I wonder if I got the first line of the song right in the first place. At the end, the cat would have been rhymed with a kotatsu…

“Al sometimes sings strange songs.” Thor

As we walk down the snowy road, Thor looks back. I wonder if I’m tone deaf, I’d butcher the song if so.

“What? Right?” Asmo

“Somehow, the melody is uselessly good and is catchy. It was a melody I had never heard here.” Thor

Was it good? I guess I didn’t butcher it too much. It’s true that the melody is completely different than the common songs sung by the villagers. The songs have big choruses and the verses are long. They’re reminiscent of sea shanties.

“But I like Al’s songs. They’re shorter and easier to understand than the village songs.” Asmo

Asmo is walking with us like to say upbeat things. By the way, Asmo is the same age as Thor (seven years old), we got along quickly thanks to Thor knowing him for years.

“Thanks, Asmo. You seem to have a sinking problem, are you ok?” Al

If you look, Asmo’s feet get deeply buried in the snow from his weight. That’s why it’s hard for him to walk well in snow. Each footstep leaves a big hole.

“Would it be faster to roll?” Thor

“Thor is clever!” Al

“That’s right. It’s better to roll… of course not!” Asmo

Despite making a sharp rejection, Asmo changes his stride to avoid being caught in the snow, but still sinks in each step. Hey, are you okay? You may be sinking in more now.

“Yes, yes. It’s deep snow, so come over here.” Thor

“Oh” Al

I’ll attract Asmo over here where the snow isn’t as deep.

“Oh! Look! There are Asmo’s buttprints!” Thor

Looking at the where Thor is pointing, there were certainly spots with marks that looked like Asmo’s butt.

Is it really snowy around that area?

Thor is checking out a deep hole hole, this sounds like a great setup for a prank. When I glance at Asmo, he seems to be thinking alike. Amso notices me and smiles back, I smile to agree. It’s prank time for Thor.

“Heave-ho” Al

“Oh, eh? Oof!” Thor

Asmo and I pushed on Thor’s back and he fell into the hole. Thor is covered in snow now, he looks cold.

“Wooh” Asmo

Asmo and I start laughing and high five to celebrate the satisfying prank.

“Augh! How am I going to get out, this is pretty deep.” Thor

The hole was a bit deeper than we expected, Thor is taking a while to climb out and is getting winded. It was difficult to climb the hole with thick snow shoes on and snow likes to collapse when you try to push off of it with your hands.

“Hey, can you help me some? I don’t like that smile… Oh, please don’t! Don’t bury me with more snow! Hey!” Thor

A little while later, the three of us arrive at Koriat Village.

The golden wheat heads that welcomed me when I visited the village in the fall are gone, they were cut down before the harvest festival and the remaining parts were plowed into the soil. Those fallow fields are now covered in snow. The houses and fences in and around the village are also covered in snow.

We were playing in the snow along the way, so it took longer than a normal day. Thor got worried on the way, but I placated him by giving him some Eleanora anecdotes. Suddenly, Thor jumped up excitedly.

“Hey, it’s already started.” Thor

“What?” Al

“Village Snowball Fight!” Thor

Asmo and I hurried to follow Thor as he ran into the village. We pass by villagers having small snowball fights here and there.

“I’m rooting for Team Roland”

“Yeahhh! Ah Ah Ah!”

“Team Wester is going for it!”

“Woahhhh!”

A large number of villagers have divided into two groups while running around holding snowballs. Both children and adults are throwing snowballs or ducking behind cover.

“Go, yeah! Come on!”

“Take me on!”

“Herman was taken out!”

“Oh, I got Herman right!”

“No, I’m not dead yet!”

“Ugh!”

“Humph!”

“Oh, well. Herman!”

“No, wait! I just threw a snowball and you collapsed…”

“Lardo hit Herman and fainted!”

“Oh?!”

“Who is Lardo?”

“Celia’s husband!”

“Yeah, he’s pretty good.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter to me!”

“At that time, the secret grudge was revealed to the public.”

“I was just admiring Carla’s figure, but I got hit with a tray.”

“A grudge from when my family found out how much I was spending on dinner.”

“That’s not me, it’s all on Celia making a fun place?! Give it to him.”

“You can’t do that”

“What was that? You coward!”

“Speak up then!”

“You guys are next on the list!”

“Oh, yeah? Do it then! Get even then!”

“Form up, form up!”

“It hurts! Hey! Who put rocks in the snowballs?!”

“Damn”

This it turning into a violent snowball fight. This is different from the one I had with Bartolo this morning.

“Hey, is Thor in this fight?” Al

“I think so, let’s go to where the other children are playing.” Asmo

The villagers are quite aggressive, Thor and Asmo move to the edge of the fight. We move behind a house to bypass the battlefield.

“Hahahah! Where’s your confidence Wester? Are you going to attack?!” Roland

Ahead of us, Roland is hiding behind a house, he currently has no shirt on and seems energetic despite his state of dress.

“Shit! You’re cowardly to use my own house as your shield!” Wester

A little further ahead is Wester, who is also shirtless.

“It’s such a shame, you’re hiding behind a house as well!” Roland

“What’s wrong? Scared to throw? Are you scared to throw a snowball?” Wester

Wester avoids Roland’s snowballs, but looks to be regretting it? When Wester tries to counterattack, Roland immediately ducks behind the house.

“Damn!” Wester

Looks like he doesn’t like using the house for a shield.

“What’s wrong? Too scared to throw? I know. The walls here are too fragile, the windows are broken, right?” Roland

“Don’t damage people’s homes without permission!” Wester

Wester’s snowball heads towards Roland. Roland ducked out of the way, the snowball hits the window, and a crunching sound was heard.

“Wester just broke his own window.” Villager A

“Do you have no respect for houses! Ahhh! Damned Roland!” Wester

The angered Wester is throwing a lot of snowballs.

“Hey! That’s your own house!” Villager B

The fast snowballs thrown by Wester bounce off the walls of his own house.

“Let Herman fix it later!” Wester

“Is this really necessary?!” Villager A

Eventually, when the snow around the two runs out, they resort to fisticuffs.

“It seems like those two are always fighting each other?” Al

Perhaps Thor and Asmo know why those two are like that?

“Well, they do that a lot.” Thor

“Yeah, they have various reasons.” Asmo

“What? Like what? I’m curious.” Al

“Yes, let’s talk over there. It’s dangerous here.” Thor

I asked Thor and Asmo, but it’s too dangerous to talk here, so we headed for the edge of the battle.

Eh? What happened?

Translation

Good Job!

Do Better!

Chapter

Love It!

What?

FFS!

Really?