The Power of the Saint is All Around (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter SS7

Winter in Another World 1

I ADDED GINGER, lemon, and tea leaves to a teapot filled with hot water. The leaves were a kind of herb, so I was in essence making an herbal tea.

I was wearing a pendant that was enchanted to stave off the cold, so I didn’t feel the chill at all. However, as I walked down the hall, the fact that I could see my breath told me that the temperature was indeed dipping toward frigid.

I figured that hot drinks were best on cold days like this one, so I had come to the kitchen and prepared a drink with ginger in it.

I glanced outside and guessed the time based on how high in the sky the sun sat. Yup, my internal clock’s on the money. It’s just about our usual time for tea.

I placed a tea set on a cart along with a plate of cookies and made my way to Johan’s office with the haul in tow. I knocked on the door and went inside. There, I found Johan seated at his desk, writing away.

“In the middle of something?” I asked.

“Yes, sorry. This’ll take a little bit longer.” He probably wasn’t at a good stopping point yet. He glanced briefly at me before returning his attention to the document.

“Okay.” I figured he’d come over when he was ready, so I started setting the tea on the table between the sofas, where I placed the plate of cookies, a jar of honey, and other condiments.

The tea probably steeped for long enough while I was bringing it in here. I poured it into a cup that sat on the cart. The liquid had a pale golden color. The scent of ginger and lemon wafted into the air.

Just as I was putting the teacup on the table, Johan stood from his desk.

“Care to join me? You were planning to take a break now too, right?” he asked.

I had indeed planned to do just that. “Yes. I’ll gladly take you up on your offer.”

I poured my own cup, which I had brought just in case, as he did sometimes invite me to join him like this.

I sat across from him on the other side of the table, and we both lifted our cups of tea.

After taking a sip, Johan’s face broke out in a smile. “Ooh, is this ginger?”

“Yeah, I used it because I thought it’d be good to warm up with.”

“Wonderful idea. It’s especially cold today.” He smiled happily and brought the cup to his lips again.

Enchanted objects were very expensive, so ordinary people didn’t own pendants that protected against the chill like I did. Johan was no exception to this, hence the fireplace in his office being lit.

Nevertheless, the chill had to be seeping through the window behind Johan’s desk, which he worked with his back to. He seemed to have been feeling the cold. I could tell because he was holding his cup in both hands to warm them, which he normally never did.

Hmm, maybe I should’ve brought mugs instead of teacups. I’ll do that from now on, on days like this, I thought as I enjoyed my time with Johan.

While he took his break, Johan mainly wanted to discuss herbs. You might wonder: Wouldn’t that be considered work? But, well, it was his hobby. Mine too, for that matter.

“I can’t believe how cold it is today,” I said.

“Me neither.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it snowed.”

“I don’t know about that. We rarely get any snow around here.”

“Really?”

“Indeed.”

Now that I thought about it, I didn’t think I had seen any snow since I came to this world. Even back in my old world, I had lived in a region that didn’t get much snow, so I guessed it was the same kind of climate.

It would have, in actuality, kind of sucked if it snowed all the time. Yet for some reason I longed to see it.

I turned my head to gaze out the window. As I did, I thought I saw something white flutter by. “Huh?”

“What is it?”

Instead of answering him, I put down my teacup and walked over to the window. “Johan. It’s snowing.”

“Really?”

I gazed out at the fluttering snowflakes. Johan came to look as well, his teacup still in hand.

“Huh, you’re right.”

“This is unusual, isn’t it?”

“Quite. I hope it doesn’t pile up,” Johan murmured as he looked up at the sky.

This was the same in both worlds too: dealing with a rare heavy snow in regions where it hardly ever showed up could get pretty gnarly.

But Johan seemed somewhat happy about it at the same time, which reminded me of the way a puppy might get excited about something. To be clear, I understood that feeling of elation.

Will the ground tomorrow be all blanketed in white? I wondered excitedly as I gazed up at the sky too.