ITK C248: How We Spent Our Winter (Two)
We will continue to look back on how everyone spent their winter.
The next thing on our list is this unusual incident.
A nude woman runs out into the snowscape.
“Hmm?”
I tried to shut my eyes immediately, but I still saw a fleeting glimpse of it.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
I covered my eyes with my hands so I can’t see, but I can still hear shrill voices.
“No! It’s cold!!!”
“My entire body is freezing!”
“Alcohol! Alcohol!!!”
“Warm up with it!”
…
What’s going on here, seriously?
With my vision blocked, I can’t grasp the situation except by guessing.
“This is their training.”
Hmm?
Is that Bacchus’ voice, the god of alcohol?
He’s been living on our farm for some time now, energetically brewing alcohol.
“Um… Is it just me, or are there actually naked women running around in front of me?”
“Nope, they’re really there. 15 of my Maidens are completely naked!”
Woah!
That was close! I almost uncovered my eyes!
“Why? Why are they running around naked?!”
“I told you. This is training for Bacchus’ Maidens.”
Training?!
But what kind of training makes you run around naked in the cold?
Oh, is it a mid-winter marathon?!
“Listen. You know how it’s cold when you dive into the snow naked?”
“Just imagining it makes my spine freeze over.”
“But when you pour the alcohol onto your cold body, it warms you up. Then you dive back into the snow to cool yourself down. Then you drink some alcohol to warm up. By repeating this process, you can…”
“You can?”
“Increase the amount of alcohol you can consume daily!”
The hell is that kind of training?!
They’re already part of a drinking cult, yet they still have to undergo rigorous training to drink more?
Bacchus’ Maidens sure have it rough!
“It’s a seasonal event that can only be done during winter.”
“You can leave me out of it, but at least don’t make them go stark naked. It’s corrupting public morals!” I say while still covering my eyes.
“But won’t their clothes get wet if they dive into the snow wearing them?”
“Why does your commonsense only apply to that part?!”
My guess is that Bacchus, the insane leader of this training, doesn’t feel anything when he sees naked women.
With a lifespan of thousands of years, his libido must have dwindled into nothingness.
The only thing he has eyes on is alcohol.
“This is how I train and develop my elite and provide momentum to our new plan next spring.”
“New plan?”
“We’re going to sell the alcohol we brew.”
Why would you do that?
Not that I won’t allow you.
“Good wine should be shared, don’t you agree?”
This part of him really makes him stand out as the god of alcohol.
Although, the training had an unexpected effect on the other women on our farm, who had been influenced by the Maidens, and awakened the pleasure of repeatedly tossing their bodies into the snow and then warming up in the bathhouse.
As a result, more women were running out of the bath completely naked.
To protect the public morals of the farm, I had to enforce stricter control.
Then, there’s Princess Letasreit.
I thought she’d be bored during the winter, not being able to grow her fava beans, but she was enjoying the winter in her own way.
“Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!”
I look to see what she’s doing and see her rolling a snowball to make it bigger.
“Are you making a snowman?”
It’s something I taught them last winter. Now, snowmen are lining the farm like the Five Hundred Disciples of the Buddha.
“Yeah! I’m going to make a high-class snowman worthy of being a princess’s work, one that will stand out from all the other snowmen!”
As usual, this girl is taking pride in her royal bloodline in strange ways.
“Well, if you want to make a snowman, you need another snowball. Do you want me to help?”
Two snowballs, one for the body and one for the head.
And since it’s winter, I’d start lacking exercise if I’m not careful, so I need to take the initiative.
“Don’t worry! The other snowball is already being made by a reliable helper of mine!”
Oh, you already have an assistant?
I guess I’ll start making my own snowman then.
“Holly! How’s your snowball coming along?”
“It’s going well, Letasreit.”
Huh?
Horkosfon is helping Letasreit build a snowman?
The angel Horkosfon?
If she, who’s one of the strongest on our farm and has a reasonable amount of strength, makes a snowball…
“The snowball for the head is complete.”
“TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BIG!!!” exclaim me and Letasreit.
Its size is towering over our surroundings.
It’s not even a snowball anymore, but a spherical mountain of snow.
Its diameter exceeds the roof of my house by a considerable margin.
So, if Horkosfon were to make a snowball, it’d be this big?
Yikes.
“Hey! That’s too big, Holly! It doesn’t balance out with the snowball I made!”
Comparing the size of Horkosfon’s snowball and Letasreit’s would be like…
The earth and the moon.
“I’ve finished its head, Letasreit. Please hurry on making its torso.”
“I’ve also finished mine!”
Horkosfon’s snowball is supposed to be the head?
It’s apparent that it’ll crush its body.
“I’ll place it on top then. Ready…”
She places it mercilessly.
As expected, Horkosfon’s snowball crushes Letasreit’s.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! My masterpiece!!!”
Since then, their collab snowman became the biggest one on the farm, attracting everyone’s attention.
Her goal of making a “special snowman” has been accomplished.
Lastly, we have Panu’s satyr group.
They’re in charge of making dairy products on our farm, but it appears that they used the cold, piled-up snow to mass-produce ice cream.
I can understand why they’d want to take advantage of the cold environment to make something cold.
However, when it’s cold, our instinct is to regulate our body temperature by consuming warm food.
In fact, hot milk and cheese fondue are more popular among our residents.
Barely anyone is brave enough to eat ice cream in winter.
Panu and the rest of the satyrs have no choice but to consume the ice cream themselves.
But they got carried away and made too much.
“Lord Saint… If you’d like, please have one…”
Feeling sorry seeing their pale lips as they urge me, I decide to join.
“It’s giving me brain freeze! How many do we have left?”
“138 cups, including the ones we made today.”
“Why did you make another batch?!”
In the end, we somehow managed by placing them in the after-bath corner of the bathhouse to encourage consumption.
That’s pretty much how the residents of our farm spent their winters.
The orcs and elves were busy creating Orkubo’s Castle attractions, while the goblins were busy tending to the farm.
All in all, it was a productive winter.
Now that we’ve passed the period of hiding in the cold, let’s move on to spring.
the hot spring-cold snow-hot spring cycle reminded me of the ‘hot sauna cold plunge’ technique I learned from a rap song about sauna facts lol.
also we’re 42 chapters away from kidan jr’s long-awaited appearance
And so the first bobble-head was thus created 😂😂
“With a lifespan of thousands of years, his libido must have dwindled into nothingness.”
Too much drinking will make you impotent too, that doesn’t require long life to work.
Yeah. And yeah, the whole barrel thingy is just a fictional story for the most part (there apparently was one at some point…). As I said, giving alcohol to someone that’s cold is a very bad idea after all.
Thanks for the chapter
Thank you for the chapter 👍
That big furry dog you mentioned carrying a barrel of liquor around its neck could be a saint bernard was it?
In case anyone took the idea seriously, please don’t use alcohol to warm yourself up. That can kill you.
Alcohol causes the blood vines to widen, which in turn makes the contact surface of them with the flesh around them increase. This leads to more of the warmth from the blood to reach said flesh around them which results in the feeling of warmth.
The problem is that this warmth isn’t generated. It’s directly taken from the core of the body like heart, lungs and brain. Since the heat is moved to the external parts of the body, like limbs, in a larger amount, it is also lost in larger amount. As a result, the body as a whole is getting colder leading to potential hypothermia, when otherwise there would be no such thing.
But then where did the concept of a fluffy mountain rescue dog having a barrel of alcohol come from? Or why is tea with alcohol drank commonly when it’s winter?! Simple. It helps to prevent frostbite in the limbs. However, note that it is only done when the person can be heated externally. In a room by the fireplace, or simply by the big, furry dog hugging onto the person (until the rescuers come and take it from there).
Seriously, this myth that alcohol somehow warms people up is way too popular. It’s friggin dangerous.