#649 Before Winter Arrives

As we fully enjoy the taste of autumn, the footsteps of winter steadily draw nearer.

Winter arrives at our farm once again.

It’s the first winter that my second son, Norito, will experience.

However, neither I nor the other farm residents are worried about the approaching winter, as we have experienced it many times. 

We have prepared enough firewood, charcoal, and blankets to keep us warm. We welcome the cold season with the sentiment of “Come at us any time!”

Meanwhile, the earth spirits retreat into the soil to sleep when their life force is scarce.

“Good night!”

“See you again soon!”

“It’s time for us to part for a while!”

With their cheerful voices, the earth spirits dig and burrow into the ground.

When the lively earth spirits go to sleep, the farm becomes quiet and is enveloped in the winterscape. 

Amidst this, an unusual event occurred.

* * *

“Huh? A souvenir?”

Bearmon suddenly approached me.

I know he’s here to stay at the farm for a while as part of his homecoming and all, but doesn’t he hibernate?

Though I guess he’s no regular bear; he’s a bear monster.

We encountered him in the mountain dungeon’s Winter Area, so he’s probably naturally resistant to the cold.

Back on topic, he brought...a souvenir?

“Yes, My Lord. Bearmon thought he should bring a small gift as a courtesy for visiting, but he ended up putting it off unexpectedly because the whole salmon-catching event got too intense...!”

As usual, one of the goblins acts as an interpreter.

“Oh no, you didn’t have to go through all that trouble...!”

If you were born on the farm, this place is like your hometown. 

It’s not necessary to bring souvenirs even for family visits; that’s just too formal!

“He learned from experience that showing maximum respect to others, even if they are family, is what makes human relationships work well.”

Wow, he even learned worldly wisdom.

All right, let’s gratefully accept Bearmon’s thoughtfulness. 

So, what did he bring?

“Gou.”

“He says it’s this, My Lord.”

What he presents to us is... 

A young girl—tied up in ropes so she can’t escape.

“Help! Please don’t eat meeee!!!” she cries while struggling.

However, she can’t break free from the ropes.

“Bearmooooooooooooooooooooon!!!”

Why are you offering us a person as a gift?!

Isn’t this human trafficking? 

Slavery?!

I don’t accept any of that, not in today’s society or even if it’s accepted in this world!

Did you go outside and learn all the bad things?!

“Gou, gou...!”

“He’s saying to calm down and listen to his story in more detail first, Lord Saint...!”

Thanks for the interpretation, goblin! It must be tough.

By the way, our interpreter isn’t Gobukichi but one of his subordinates.

“He did not intend to present her as a slave. She is also, by no means, of mortalkind.”

“Huh?”

“She’s a monster. A bee monster, Royal Honeybee. She’s a queen bee, to be exact.”

“A bee?!”

Come to think of it, this girl in restraints...

Upon closer observation, she has several features not common in humans.

She has transparent insect-like wings extending from her back, and black compound eyes. 

The two thin lines extending from her forehead are antennae, maybe?

The various characteristics scattered throughout her body clearly indicate that she’s not human.

“Monsters with such a humanoid form are rare, so it’s understandable that my Lord is confused. Normally, they cannot speak so fluently, either...” says the goblin.

Looking at him, I thought, he has a humanoid form too!

“So, she’s an anthropomorphic monster like you?”

“Perhaps it’s better to call her a demi-human monster, as she has mixed features of other creatures... But regardless, she shouldn’t be able to communicate so fluently like this.”

Could it be that she has already been affected by the farm’s influence and has acquired self-awareness?

Anyway, she’s desperately begging for her life.

“Please don’t kill me! I don’t want to die yeeeeeeeeeeet! I don’t want to be mixed in with food and cooked together! Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee!!!”

Isn’t that something done at their larval stage?

Either way, as someone who isn’t from central Japan, I don’t have the courage or guts to try cooking her.

“What happened to her? Did the previous queen bee expel her for lazing around instead of becoming independent?”

“No, she was captured after her hive was completely destroyed.”

Her hive was destroyed?

Who would do such a terrible thing?

The bear has a look on his face that says, “You know how honey is one of my favorite foods? So...”

You’re the one responsible for this?!

“Now that you mention it, I can imagine a bear’s favorite food being salmon or honey.”

Licking the honey off its front paws vividly comes to mind.

“On the way to the farm, he found a Royal Honeybee hive and got so excited that he rushed in and completely destroyed the whole thing.”

In my mind, I pictured a bulldozer crashing into a house.

That's probably what it was like.

“But on the other hand, these monsters are a real problem for nearby residents. They are not your average bees, and with their large numbers and individual ferocity, they could wipe out a whole village if they attacked. So it’s a relief that Bearmon was able to destroy the beehive.”

“Seriously?”

Monsters really are scary.

That must be why Bearmon was hailed as a hero by the locals for destroying the bee monster’s hive.

“Do you do this kind of thing often, Bearmon?”

“The honey collected by the Royal Honeybees is denser and more nutritious than usual, making it a high-end product that can be sold for a good price. So after destroying the beehive, all the honey was collected and distributed to the nearby village, which was a great economic boost for them. That’s why Bearmon was even more appreciated.”

Bearmon is treated like a hero, but...

At what cost?

“However, because of this, he had to share the honey with others, which he wasn’t happy about. He wanted to keep it all for himself, but he couldn’t.”

“Bearmon!”

What a selfless soul!

“So, he was only left with half.”

“What the...He still gets a decent portion after all.”

But Bearmon wasn’t satisfied with the amount he received, so he went as far as to capture the queen bee and bring her to us.

“With the farm’s technology, he thought he could obtain honey from the Royal Honeybees more easily.”

“He’s really stubborn about his food, isn’t he?”

At first glance, Bearmon seems to have a heroic personality, but he apparently can’t control his desire for honey.

A stable system for supplying honey? 

That means...

“Beekeeping...?!”

He wants us to use the queen bee monster to engage in beekeeping and ensure a stable honey supply?

“Huh? What? I won’t be killed and eaten?”

The queen bee monster, who is most familiar with death, suddenly realizes she is valued and changes her attitude.

“Hohhhhhohho! You, humans, have quite the eye to desire the honey that I collect! Very well! If you give me the entire mountain to turn into my hive and gather enough nectar from the flowers to the point that they wither and die, I might consider giving you a spoonful of honey in return!” 

I sense an ill omen.

So this is how bee monsters originate.

“What will you do, My Lord?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

In response to the goblin’s question, I answer...

“I firmly refuse.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

The queen bee and Bearmon are shocked, as they didn’t expect to be refused.

“I mean, one spoonful of honey can’t possibly be worth an entire mountain and all the surrounding flowers withering away into nothingness.”

“But that was a mere figure of speech, or perhaps an expression of enthusiasm!”

This monster is the type to blurt out unnecessary things in the heat of the moment.

As a result of the plan’s failure to receive a honey shower that even Bearmon had anticipated, the bee monster begins to fret and panic.

“But honey is sweet and delicious! It’s so smooth! Isn’t having such honey on your dining table a great benefit? Won’t you reconsider the offer?!”

The queen bee suddenly becomes a salesperson and insists, but too bad for her.

There are many people in the world who love honey, but I don’t find it that appealing.

Why, you ask?

“Because I have this!!!”

Famous as a substitute for honey...

Maple syrup!

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for the first time, 彼(kare, 3rd person male pronoun) was used to refer to bearmon, so it was only in this chapter that i found it he was male. ive been using 'it' just to be on the safe side

oh, and, as mentioned in the chapter, bee and wasp larvae is a sweet and crunchy delicacy in central japan :')