‘If he sauntered around with his build, they could only have seen him as a bear searching for honey.’
The man was incredibly large. Crouched down as he was, he still looked like a boulder that had been rolled here. His dark fur cloak on his shoulders only added to his imposing figure.
But the uneasiness lasted only a moment.
When the man lifted his head, Anna looked at his face and became speechless.
Underneath his manly forehead, his deep eyes were of a blue, like someone had poured the winter lake into them. Dust and dirt were heaped on top of his black hair, which was just long enough to cover his ears slightly.
But what caught Anna’s eyes was his sharp jaw…. Or, actually, the sunken cheeks that made his jaw look even sharper.
Pity filled Anna’s eyes.
The people nearby, too, sensed the change in Anna.
‘No.’
‘Anna’s about to pick up a person and fatten them again…..’
As everyone expected. Anna grabbed the uninvited man’s sleeve.
“You there!”
“…….Yes?”
A dignified but raspy, very, very dry voice.
Every time he spoke, it felt like sand would be falling from his mouth.
All the young villagers took one step back. Only Anna squatted in front of the man and looked at him.
“You were so parched, you couldn’t even speak. Come to my restaurant. I’ll give you food.”
“I don’t need a meal. What I need is—”
“It’s free! Just eat! I happen to have a potato I found on the way here, see? If nobody eats it for me, then I need to throw it away!”
Anna brought out the potato the thieves had attempted to take earlier and shook it.
Had he let himself be tricked by this transparent nonsense?
Whatever the reason might be, the man, who had been expressionless even when he was being threatened by the villagers, followed Anna into the restaurant.
As he stood up and headed to the restaurant, the shoulders of the villagers unconsciously tensed.
They’d already expected his frame to be huge from when he’d been seated, but—
Set upright, this man’s height was a head taller than most of the young men. Which meant, he was two heads taller than Anna.
And his shoulders—they were so large that, if they propped him up against a doorframe, he could be used as the door instead.
On the other hand, Anna was feeling a different emotion rather than pressure.
‘I wonder how much I’d need to feed him so that he looks pleasantly plump.’
It seemed like a few potatoes would not be enough to solve this.
After seating the man in the restaurant, Anna pulled out other ingredients from the kitchen. She cut the bacon a finger’s width, brought out some cheese, and took out some unsavory wine on the side.
Once a full meal was set, the man reached out his hand without a word of thanks.
He neither smiled nor frowned as he put the food into his mouth. Rather than eating, he was placing the food in. Anna wondered if she was treating him to some lumps of clay.
That bacon over there was thick and hard, so it should definitely feel good when you crunched and swallowed them, that feeling you get when you swallow soft and chewy and toasty hot pork fat…!
But the man barely even chewed before his meal ended.
He opened his mouth with a much more stabilized voice than before.
“Hello. My name is Bertram.”
“Wow, that’s a cool name. I’m Anna Wirth! I manage this village’s public farm, and I’m the owner of this restaurant! Was your meal alright?”
“Yes. They were good nutrients.”
Anna failed at controlling her expression.
‘What is this guy saying? I feed him ‘til he’s full and he can’t even say that it was good?’
Even as Anna’s chin wrinkled like a walnut right in front of him, the man called Bertram peacefully searched his bag for a piece of paper and thrusted it towards her.
A dirty, tattered piece of paper. There even seemed to be blood on that, too.
Not wanting to touch it, Anna read the written words with hazy eyes.
“A rental of the aforementioned product for an indefinite period…. Reimbursement to be made after the war…. Is this a promissory note?”
*Promissory note: also known as an IOU, it’s basically a legal acknowledgement of debt that you promise to give back.
“Yes. Ordinarily, we would have to fill out specific paper forms, but at the time the forms weren’t available and we had to use leftover paper. However, it still is legally binding.”
Binding or not, the paper was just full of complicated language using technical terms, and the name of the borrower was not even written.
However, the name of the one who’d lent out the item was clear.
Hans Wirst.
Anna’s father’s name.
“Hans Wirst? This person, he’s my father!”
“So I’ve come correctly. Where might he be?”
“That’s…. He passed away a few years back. I’ll receive it on his behalf! What item was it?”
Anna attempted to appear especially cheerful in order to avoid a somber mood.
But even at the reveal of Hans’s death, Bertram wasn’t flustered, nor did he say the commonly offered words of ‘my condolences’.
‘What kind of wacko is this guy?’
Anna was taken aback, but she was soon to meet an even more absurd situation.
“The item to be returned has been lost.”
“……excuse me?”
“For that reason, I was going to ask the worth of that item to Mr. Hans Wirst personally and pay him back that way. It’s something that looks like this, do you know what it is?”
Bertram drew a picture on the back of the paper.
The shape that was as big as a fist, as two green horns sprouting out of it, was….
“An onion?”
“It’s not an onion. Mr. Hans Wirst said it was a special bulb prepared for his farm. Do you also not know of it, Miss Anna?”
“……It seems I don’t. I don’t think it’s something we need, though.”
Getting a plant that you didn’t know about would be nothing more than a headache.
Anna shook her head.
“You don’t need to pay us back. Please don’t be burdened and….”
“I cannot.”
“Huh?”
“I plan to pay my debt no matter what.”
Saying such a phrase with an expressionless face and a voice without undulations, the pressure was incredible. Even Anna flinched, though she regularly smacked the backs of horse-sized young men without a thought.
“Um, it’s not really something we need, and…. J-just, have some food and go on your way!”
“Do I appear to be incapable of repaying the debt.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“If not, please tell me the price you want. I will meet the price that you imagine.”
“……does it look like I’m trying to negotiate with you?”
The fear was only for a while. Anna slowly began to feel annoyed.
But Bertram did not notice this. No, he in fact brought up even more insulting words.
“Your intentions are irrelevant. Please call a price so I can repay my debt. I will also consider substituting the price for any goods or any other way you want.”
“Goodness gracious, you’re so dreadfully sorry that I don’t know what to do!”
“Please don’t feel burdened.”
That single phrase vaporized all of Anna’s patience.
In the end, the rage that had built all the way up to Anna’s throat consolidated into one shout.
“Then pay me back with your body!”
T/N: Please don’t tell me I’m not the only one who laughed at ‘manly forehead’ up there lol