As for the village head and his family, they had done their best to stay here as long as they could, but the cold mornings and evenings—as well as the decline in strength and endurance that comes with aging—had taken a toll on them. Husband and wife had moved to the village down below three years ago, and their children apparently had a house in N-Town.
They had still owned the land though; they’d been coming here every week to take care of the buildings and fields. That explained why the house had still been in good shape when I’d moved in, but naturally, they hadn’t been able to keep it up through the winter.
If it weren’t for that, I would’ve had to rebuild the house from scratch, and getting the road back to a usable condition would’ve been hard work too. I’m sure I would’ve given up in no time anyway. It was about twenty minutes by car between the village at the bottom of the mountain and this house. The road was narrow and winding, so it was a pretty tough drive. In winter, snow didn’t pile up that much around here, but it was still rather difficult to reach the village during colder months.
I’m really glad I got those chicks. Well, they’re not babies anymore, I guess. Really clever ones, they are. So clever that I fear someday they might replace me.
Maybe it was because I’d bought this place as an escapist impulse, but I’d had no idea what living in the mountains would be like. I would have surely found myself at a loss in no time if not for the help of Yumoto-san, a friend of a relative on my mother’s side of the family. He’d been concerned about me—he’d even lent me a minitruck and had also made me a shopping list of mountain life essentials.
I’d moved here at the end of March, and now April was already over.
There was electricity and signal here, which meant I could watch TV and browse the internet no problem. For gas, I bought propane down at the village, and water was drawn from the river. Technically, it’s from a nearby spring.
The toilet could flush, but there was no sewage—it ran on a septic tank, so I had to call someone to clean it out at least once a year, which wasn’t cheap.
But enough about utilities and infrastructure. I had to find a way to dispose of the vipers. They probably had a nest somewhere in one of the abandoned houses on the property, and they’d become active with the arrival of warmer weather.
I recalled my first encounter with them, which had been around two weeks earlier.
Pochi caught his first one. It wasn’t all that large—probably not an adult snake. He dutifully came to me to show me his prey. It certainly took me by surprise.
“Huh? A snake... A viper, I think? Are you guys gonna eat that?”
Pochi nodded.
“Uh... Is it safe to eat? I guess if you want to... I’m good. Help yourselves.”
The three of them started gobbling away at it. Is it normal for chickens to eat snakes?
With some research, I was able to confirm that it was indeed a viper. It had a striped pattern and a rather menacing aura.
However, when I looked again, there was no trace of the viper. Huh, did they eat everything? What did they do about the venomous bits? Did they throw those parts out somewhere? I spent a few days watching them for anything unusual, but thankfully, all three of them were as full of energy as ever. I was relieved that they didn’t get sick and die from the venom or anything.
Then, two days later, Tama brought me another viper.
“Whoa! Um, yeah, feel free to eat it...”
Having received my permission, the three chickens began devouring the snake. Apparently, they did understand that I was their owner. They would often come and show me things they had caught. I wish they would stop with the snakes, though. I might have a heart attack one of these days.
And then, again, two days later, it was Yuma’s turn to show me the snake she had caught.
Just how many snakes are there on this mountain anyway?!
Later that day, I went down to the village to buy some stuff. I also paid Old Man Yumoto a visit. Pochi wanted to ride in the passenger seat, so I took him along.
“Vipers, huh? Must’ve taken over and proliferated after everyone left,” Yumoto mused.
I shuddered at the thought. The recent spring weather had brought more bugs around, and the snakes were also waking up from their hibernation.
I then told him about how my chickens had been catching and eating vipers.
“Bit of a waste,” he replied. “I’ve been craving some snake wine. Bring me a live one next time you see ’em. I’ll buy it from you.”
“I’m afraid I’m not brave enough for that!” I exclaimed.
“Don’t worry—I’ll show you the ropes.”
At that point, he decided that he would come over tomorrow during the daytime. And it just so happened that the next day, Tama caught a viper, so Yumoto was able to give me a live demonstration.
“Never heard of chickens eating vipers,” said Yumoto. “But anyway, it’d be great if you could bring me one every three days. Should be fine to let the chickens eat the rest, I reckon.”
He headed back home in a cheerful mood and took the viper with him in a plastic bottle.
This all happened about a week ago. And now, I’d captured another one—the second viper I’d caught since moving here. I was certainly still somewhat afraid of them, but I was also glad they would be of use to someone.