３７
Becoming like a hero in the Reincarnators Association, I also head towards the Men’s Club. Of course, they don’t desire something like chicken bones so I’m empty-handed. I’m going to meet Haruka. I’m sure he’ll become interested in that handsome brother.
Kent and Duke weren’t in the Men’s Club today either. They must be stuck with their husbands to work again. Both of them are such hard workers.
[A blond hottie?]
[Yes. He was sparkling.]
[No way, what’s that? I want to see it……]
Haruka’s eyes were also shining.
[Haruka, do you like handsome men?]
[That’s right. Muscular guys may be popular with gay guys but, in my case, the face is more important than the body. Blond hair and blue eyes, doesn’t that sound like a Prince Charming? What’s your type, Allec?]
[I like it thick and hard. My favorite is a distinct glans.]
[I’m not talking about a pen*s……]
[But since I have tasted the joy of raising my own cherry, I now like whatever it is. As long as it’s thick.]
Maybe he gave up asking about Allec’s type of men, Haruka shook his head lightly and faced me. His eyes are quite serious.
[So, that handsome man. Where can I find him?]
[I’m not sure if he’s always there, I met him in the square. The Eastern Section’s square.]
[Ooh, there? Hmm…… that’s difficult. It’s in a totally different direction on my way home from the Men’s Club, and it’s too unnatural to pretend that it’s by coincidence.]
Haruka is seriously worrying about it.
[Can’t you go to the square?]
[Instead of going to the square, I can’t go out alone. But if I’m with my husband, I can even go the end of the Southern-south Section.]
[The distance a Reincator can walk alone is basically set. Because all husbands hate it when their Reincarnator walks alone.]
I tilted my head to Allec’s words.
[Even male Reincarnators?]
[Regarding this topic, it doesn’t matter whether it’s men or women. But then, it’s because they’re wary of their female Reincarnator being stolen. Although in the case of male Reincarnators, it’s to hide their shame to not hurt their pride.]
[If it’s just to hide their shame, I think it’s fine to let them out alone, though.]
Aah, it’s this after all. I’ve also concluded that Saine was talking about this. I shouldn’t be walking around, exposing Saine’s shame, should I? I should stay still a bit more.
After thinking about it, I suddenly realized.
[Hey, during you both’s Ceremony, what color of the crest was drawn on the floor?]
[It’s white.]
[It’s white. Or rather, there are other colors?]
So it’s white after all……
I looked away from the two of them and softly sighed.
I receive my desired stick from Allec and return home. With this, I can finally make a broom. I arrange the silver grass look-alike that I cut with Saine before in the garden, then I prepare the stick and rope.
Saying that it’s better to cut it to my desired length, Allec’s husband gave me a long stick. I start by cutting the stick that’s as tall as me. But there’s no saw in Saine’s house so I brought the smallest axe instead.
The stick is about half as thick as my arm. I think even I can cut this much. I actually want to do it while standing up but I don’t have anything to put the stick on, so stood on my knee to swing the axe on the stick that I put on the ground directly.
I take my aim, confirm it, then I swing down the axe. It had a good *plonk* feeling…… or not, I guess. Yup, I already know that so I’m not shocked. I stand up and pin the stick with my foot, then I ‘mugigigi~’* pulled out the stuck axe. I overenthusiastically fall on my bottom. That was close. It’s really dangerous to fall over while holding a blade. Let’s be careful next time. (TN: He’s basically grunting or grinding his teeth in overexertion, but leaving it as is sounds funnier.)
Looking at the stick, I think I cut about 1/3 of it. I might be able to cut through it in one swing next time. I took aim and swung the axe down at the same place. There was a *plonk* and then…… it’s not cut. When I intently looked at it, the axe was stuck in a different place. It won’t work at this rate. I quipped at myself and, ‘mugigigi~’, tried to pull out the axe. (TN: Hey, at least you can swing it hard enough that you struggle to pull it out!)
[Move.]
[Uwaaah!]
A voice suddenly came down so I awkwardly tumbled down.
[Sa, Saine, you’re back?]
How can Saine not have any presence? Rather, at least make some noise. And he also came home early today. He used to come back after it was dark, or return at least when the sky had turned reddish-brown at the earliest. For some reason, this current trend has become the norm.
Glancing at me with my loudly pounding heart, Saine stepped on the stick with his leg and pulled out the axe with one hand. While it’s the usual stuff, he sure makes the stuff I struggle with look easy.
[What do you want to do?]
[Eh? Are you going to help me? Waah~, thank you! It’s actually something that I have to do by myself but if I did it, I feel that the stick will become useless so you’re really helping me greatly. So then, I’m sorry, but please cut around here.]
When I pointed at the place I wanted to be cute and stepped back, Saine cut it in one strike. At the indicated point. Even his technical proficiency is good. And the wood isn’t damaged because he did it so swiftly.
[What do you plan to do with that?]
[I’m going to make a broom out of it. You see, I received the stick from Allec at the Men’s Club today. To be precise, it’s from Allec’s husband, though.]
I’m going to attack the pseudo-silver grass to the stick. While constraining it with my hand, I adjusted it until the stick got into the middle. Now I only have to tie it up with the rope and it’s done.
[If you wanted a stick, you could’ve just told me.]
[Why?]
When I tilted my head, I got glared at.
Huh, did I get him mad? I was so nervous that I accidentally let my hand go, the pseudo-silver grass fell to the ground.
[No, that’s because, see, Allec’s husband is a lumberjack so I thought that it’ll be easier to get a stick from him……]
As I was all shook up trying to explain, Saine gave a sigh.
[From now on, before you depend on some other men, tell me first. I’ll do something about it.]
[Erm, tha, thank you……]
I don’t really get what he means but in the meantime, I should offer my gratitude. I’m sorry and thank you are the top 1 and 2 lines that I must say intermittently, after all.
Saine looked at me with narrowed eyes and sighed again. What’s wrong with him, is he tired? Or was I not supposed to say thank you earlier?
I resume making the broom while glancing at Saine from time to time. However, it’s quite difficult. Simply tying the grass and the stick together, I underestimated it. While apologizing to the broom makers in my heart, I try to bind them together with rope. But it’s really hard.
If I hold the grass and the rope with one hand, I can no longer tie the rope with my remaining hand. I’m holding the end of the rope with the thumb of the hand holding the stick but maybe I don’t have enough strength, it suddenly falls off in the middle of winding.
Even so, I challenged it repeatedly until I finally managed to tie it up. Alright. I can do it if I try.
[I did it!]
I was so happy that I shook my newly made broom but the grass that was supposed to be tied up came off and fell. (TN: Aww…)
[Uwaah, I wasn’t able to do it.]
I hurriedly pick up the grasses that fell to the end of the garden. I’m kind of pathetic. Saine is watching me working without going inside the house, even though I don’t want to show him my uncool side.
Maybe because I got the knack of it, I managed to tie it up in one try this time. In order for it not to slip out, I tie the knot very tightly. Even so, when I confidently shook it, it slipped and fell off.
Saine is quiet, and I also silently bundle up the grasses again. I wonder, what am I doing wrong? Do I have to tie it even tighter? I put the stick and grass on the ground after wrapping the rope around them, and this time, I used both hands to very tightly tie the rope while pinning the stick with my knee.
This time for sure, it should be fine. I lightly shake it but it doesn’t fall. Okay, I tried shaking it a bit harder. But it doesn’t fall.
[It’s done~]
It may have taken me three times, but I still did it. When I turned to Saine with a triumphant air, he quietly took the broom from my hand and, *swish*, shook it hard. The silver grass flew off. (TN: Man y u do dis?)
[………]
As I thought, it didn’t work. An amateur’s knot just won’t work, huh. Alright, let’s go ask an expert.
I carried the stick and rope and said to Saine.
[I’ll ask the grandpa next door to tie it up for me.]
When I said that, Saine glared down at me.
[I’ll tell him quickly and come back soon. Don’t worry, dinner won’t be delayed……]
Saine’s eyes are so scary that my voice is fading. It’s not evening yet and it will be stir-fried today so it won’t take time. But I feel like Saine is very pissed off. Is he that hungry? The broom can be made at any time, I guess making Saine the priority is a must here.
[Uh, actually, I’ll just put off the broom for tomorrow. I’m going to fetch grandpa water tomorrow so I’ll ask him to tie up the broom then, so I’m going to make dinner now, okay?]
So don’t be mad, I put my hands together internally and went back inside the house. But as I did, Saine tightly grabbed my shoulder. Hey, that seriously hurts.
[Why are you going to ask the elder next door?]
[Well, isn’t he a former fisherman? Aren’t fishermen good at tying ropes?]
Saine keeps staring at me. His pitch-black eyes are intently staring at me. I somehow just want to say, Saine’s eyes are really expressionless. It’s pitch-black, just like this place’s dark night sky.
I know that I’m dense, I won’t understand it if it’s not explained to me. It’s probably like this, I don’t want to move based on shallow thoughts and step on landmines.
While I was groaning in thought, Saine took his eyes off me and held out his hand.
[What?]
I don’t understand what he means so I’ll shake his hand in the meantime. When I grabbed his huge hand and shook it up and down, Saine gripped my hand with crushing strength.
[OWW!]
I unintentionally groaned. Hold your strength back, I think my bones are gonna break. But Saine said nothing and took away the broom materials from me who was shouting ‘UGYAA’.
With the broom material in hand, Saine sits directly in the garden. Could it be that he wanted to make the broom?
Saine easily grasps the stick and the silver grass and skillfully winds the rope around it. He wound it round and round, and then tightly grasped it. It’s a know that I’m not familiar with.
He shook the finished broom. Saine shook it hard enough to make a flapping sound in the air, but the silver grass stayed in place.
[Woah, it’s finished!]
[Didn’t I tell you? Tell me first. If it’s something you want to do, I’ll do something about it.]
I receive the newly made broom. Looking really closely at it, it looks like he didn’t simply wind it. It looked like the rope was winded in a diagonal pattern. I wonder how he did it to make this form.
[That’s amazing! Saine, you really can do anything.]
The tip of the broom is also uniform. He did not simply tie it up but also adjusted the height of each silver grass so the tips of the broom were also aligned.
[I make the tools I need with the materials around me. It’s a required skill for a guard.]
Saine nonchalantly says. The sky’s color was turning to dusk and Saine’s face was also becoming redder.
