Chapter 1: An Unexpected Visitor

1

Three days had passed since the people of the forest’s edge had undergone the rite of initiation. The observers and the two hundred soldiers from the capital had departed from Genos, and the post town had regained its usual peaceful atmosphere. Naturally, we had continued to run our stalls, and at least on the surface, it was like nothing had changed in our everyday lives.

However, for the people of the forest’s edge, all of us undergoing the right of initiation to become children of the western god was a massive change. Having all five or six hundred of us up in town had been a big surprise to the citizens of Genos. But since that was mostly an internal matter for our people, once the ceremonies had been completed, any commotion it might have caused in the post town quickly died out. The majority of the people of Genos hadn’t even been aware of how little the people of the forest’s edge had cared about the western god in the first place, so it must have been difficult for them to comprehend just how meaningful this truly was.

“I’m glad that this is going to make us even closer than we were before and that we’ll be able to keep working with each other,” Dora said after hearing a summary of everything that had happened. Once he had understood how much resolve it had taken for us to follow through on our decision, the smile he had shown us had been brighter than any I had ever seen from him. “It was a surprise to hear how little regard your people had for the four great gods. But as long as you intend to live proper lives from here on out, it shouldn’t be any issue. After all, we’ve thought of you as fellow westerners from the beginning!”

“Thank you. It makes me really happy that even though I’m from a foreign land, I finally have the same standing as everyone else,” I said.

“Yeah. The fact that you were a foreigner always felt unreal to me. Still, it’s definitely something to celebrate,” Dora said with a big grin.

Next to him, his daughter Tara smiled brightly as well. “Hey, we can come play at the forest’s edge now, right? I’ve really been wanting to go there again!”

“Yeah. We’re planning to hold a banquet at the start of the blue month. The exact date should be decided on soon, so just hold on a little longer, okay?”

Today was already the twenty-fifth of the green month, and three days from now, we would be holding a festival of the hunt with the clans that lived close to us. The banquet that we would be inviting our friends from town to would have to be a few days after that. Because of everything that had happened with the observers, we had been forced to delay it quite a bit, so both the townsfolk we wanted to invite and the people of the forest’s edge who would be attending had been eagerly waiting for the date to finally be set. And now that we had made the decision to truly become children of the western god, the banquet would be even more meaningful.

There was one more matter that had been pushed back because of the arrival of the observers: the plan to have the Sym merchant group Black Flight Feathers return to the eastern kingdom using the newly cut path through the forest’s edge.

“We had originally planned to return to Sym soon after the start of the green month. But due to the doubts the observers from the capital raised regarding the relationship between Genos and Sym, we had no choice but to delay,” the leader of the group, Kukuluel, had informed us. He had come all the way from the castle town to visit our stalls and let us know what was going on. “We shall depart from Genos early tomorrow morning. We owe you and your fellow people of the forest’s edge a great deal, Asuta.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m already looking forward to your next visit.”

“Thank you. We will bring a large amount of foodstuffs again when we return, which I hope you will be able to use to make all kinds of delicious food.”

If they were heading home, that meant it would be several months before I would be able to see Kukuluel and his people again. However, both the Silver Vase that Shumiral had led and the construction group that worked under Pops Balan had eventually come back, so I knew that the Black Flight Feathers would return eventually.

There had also been one other noteworthy occurrence: Marstein had dispatched Melfried to the capital as an envoy. He had departed Genos with the observers, carrying a letter from Marstein to the king of Selva. Sending the heir to the house of Genos was apparently meant to show how important the duke considered this matter to be.

A round trip between the capital and Genos would take two months by totos. Of course, there was no way to know how long he’d be staying in the capital on top of that. In the meantime, though, his assistant Polarth would be stepping up to act as the chief liaison between the castle town and the people of the forest’s edge.

“I need only continue to do my job as I always have. I would imagine that the vice leader of the ducal guard will have much more difficulty taking charge for however long this takes,” Polarth had told Ai Fa and me during our visit to the grand temple, having approached us for a little chat after we had undergone the rite of initiation and been preparing to get back into our carriages. “Still, I am certain Lady Odifia will feel quite lonesome, having her beloved father leave on such a long trip. No doubt Lady Toor Deen will be invited to a tea party again in order to help cheer her back up, so I hope that we’ll be able to count on her for that.”

“Of course. I’m sure that would make Toor Deen really happy too.”

When I had told Toor Deen about that after returning to the post town, she had looked pained at first, probably imagining how Odifia must have been feeling, but then she’d broken out in a bright smile. “It’ll be hard for a girl as young as Odifia to be without her father for over two months. I’d be glad to do anything I can to make things easier for her.”

Toor Deen’s bond with Odifia seemed to be growing stronger day by day. Though they had only seen one another in person a handful of times, they really were getting incredibly close. And now that the people of the forest’s edge had decided to live properly as citizens of the west, their connection would hopefully become a beacon for us all.

At any rate, our lives in Genos were proceeding peacefully, without much happening. After wrapping up business in the post town, we returned to the forest and held a study session in the Fa house’s kitchen. Since our festival of the hunt was fast approaching, we were doing some rehearsals in preparation. After explaining the circumstances to the members of the Gaaz, Ratsu, and Beim clans, we took a break from the ordinary topics of our study sessions in order to focus on building up experience with food suitable for banquets. Everyone who was attending was from a clan participating in the festival of the hunt: the Fou, Ran, Sudra, Deen, and Liddo.

Now that the threat of the observers had passed and we were fast approaching our long-awaited festival of the hunt, everyone’s expressions were bright and cheerful. This event had been delayed for more than half a month. With the observers gone, though, we were finally able to hold it, and everyone was super excited.

“The festival of the hunt was delayed so much because the giba took an unusually long time to move on from the Fa and Fou hunting grounds, right? If the men start using more dogs when they go hunting, is that going to make our break periods get further and further apart?” Yun Sudra asked. She was helping out by taking charge of one group of chefs, while I guided another.

“It probably will,” I called out over my shoulder. “It’s been more than five whole months since our last one ended halfway through the gold month. At this rate, we’re going to end up with only two festivals of the hunt per year instead of three.”

“That’s true. Still, I’m grateful for the fact that the dogs make hunting so much safer.”

Break periods happened when giba ate all the fruits in one area of the forest and moved elsewhere. However, the Fa, Fou, and Ran were now hunting more giba than they ever had before, resulting in the fruit supply lasting longer, and delaying the break period in turn.

The hunting grounds of the Sudra, Deen, and Liddo were already exhausted and giba were no longer coming there, so at present their hunters were heading to the Suun hunting grounds each day to carry out their work. That required a wagon for transit, so the Fa clan had decided that this was a good time to purchase three more of them.

The other clans had, of course, expressed their appreciation, but I just felt that it was a necessary expense for the sake of having our joint festival of the hunt. And besides, even adding this many more totos and wagons to our supply didn’t feel excessive to me. It would let everyone go shopping in the post town or visit each other with less walking, which would help them live happier lives.

“The Fou clan head said he wanted to purchase hunting dogs of his own, didn’t he? When will they arrive?” Yun Sudra asked.

“I haven’t heard any specific date yet, but I figure they’ll arrive at some point during the blue month. And when that time comes, the Fa clan is planning on buying another dog too,” I replied.

“Huh? Ai Fa is going to use two hunting dogs?”

“Yeah. Shumiral of the Ririn clan uses two at once with good results, and apparently, Ai Fa took some kind of inspiration from that.”

“I see. You just got your new guard dog Jirube as well, so things must be getting quite lively at the Fa house.”

Jirube was currently balled up by the entrance to the kitchen. He was quite a bit bigger than a hunting dog and had a fluffy mane like a lion, giving him a fierce appearance that fit with the name of his breed—lion dog—very well. It had been three days now since he had become a member of the Fa clan, so everyone was used to seeing him at this point.

He had been trained to act as a guard dog for nobles, and in the last few days, he had been retrained to guard a house, which had included being taught that people who smelled of grigee fruit were not his enemies, so he wouldn’t bare his fangs at anyone from the forest’s edge now. Everyone who lived at the settlement wore a bracelet or necklace of those fruits in order to ward off pests, so that had seemed to be the safest way to teach him to identify us. However, he would still bark a single time when someone approached the Fa house, to announce that a visitor had arrived. And he did exactly that as we were wrapping up our study session, when our sundial indicated that it was around half past the lower fourth hour.

“Pardon me, but your cooking lesson is almost finished, isn’t it? Once you’re done cleaning up, we would like to have the Fou, Ran, and Sudra women gather at the Fou settlement,” a young Fou hunter called out as he approached.

“The Ran and Sudra women too? What exactly is going on?” I asked.

“I need to continue on to the Ruu settlement, so I don’t have time to explain in detail...but something unbelievable has happened.”

“Something unbelievable? Has someone been seriously injured?”

“No,” the hunter replied in a bit of a hurry. “On our way back from hunting, we picked up a red savage from the Lanto River.”

“Huh?”

“Like I said, we picked up a red savage, one of the three great beasts of Morga. It seemed to be severely wounded, but we didn’t know how to treat it, so I’m supposed to ask the leading Ruu clan for their opinion on what to do.”

The mouths of every single chef present had dropped open, and I was no exception. Honestly, I was probably more shocked than anyone.

As he turned to leave, the Fou hunter glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and said, “We aren’t shorthanded or anything, but our clan head has asked for everyone to gather in our settlement so they can hear what he has to say, so please head over there soon.”

And with that, the man quickly left. Instantly, a commotion like someone had poked a nest of hornets broke out in the kitchen.

“A red savage descended from the mountain?! What in the world is going on?”

“Those soldiers almost trespassed on Mount Morga, so did it come down here because it was mad?”

“Beasts that descend from the mountain can be dealt with however we please, can’t they? You took out a giant madarama snake that washed down the Lanto River, didn’t you, Asuta?”

“Y-Yeah,” I said, “though I wouldn’t quite say I ‘took it out.’ All I did was deal with a threat to our lives. After I hit it with a rock, it fell into the river and was swept away.”

When I had informed Marstein and the other nobles about that, it hadn’t been seen as a crime. Setting foot on Mount Morga and injuring one of the three great beasts would have been, but when one came down from the mountain on its own, that rule didn’t apply.

“But why did they bring it back with them, I wonder? If it was seriously injured and the Lanto River was carrying it away, they should have let it be,” an older woman from the Fou said with a troubled look on her face. “Still, I suppose there’s no point in us making a fuss about it. We need to head back and hear what the clan head has to say, so let’s hurry up and finish cleaning!”

The cleanup didn’t take long, and the chefs from the clans related to the Fou said their farewells and exited the kitchen. They had Fafa’s wagon hitched and ready to go, so it would only take them a few minutes to make it back to the Fou settlement. That just left me, Toor Deen, and two women each from the Deen and the Liddo. Gilulu’s wagon was always kept at the Fa settlement, so I would be able to take them home myself without a problem.

“Hmm. I have to admit, I’m really curious about what’s going on at the Fou settlement. I’m thinking of going there too, but what do you all think?” I asked.

“Well, I would certainly like to see a red savage with my own eyes if at all possible. Once it returns to the forest, I’ll probably never get another chance to see one for as long as I live,” one of the Liddo women said, and the others agreed.

However, Toor Deen looked a little uneasy. “But the three great beasts of Morga are all stronger than giba, aren’t they? Is it not going to be dangerous?”

“If it’s seriously injured, going to see it should be safe enough. If it was dangerous, the Fou men never would have brought it home with them in the first place, right?” the woman replied.

And so, we headed to the Fou settlement as well. Ai Fa had given strict orders to leave Jirube alone as little as possible, so he came with us in the wagon. For my clan head, he was more a precious member of our family than he was a guard dog meant to protect the house.

When we arrived at the Fou settlement, we saw quite a crowd gathered there in the plaza. Three days from now, our festival of the hunt would be held here. The seven of us—six humans and one dog—stepped down from our wagon and joined the crowd.

“Oh, you all came as well?” one of the women I had just said farewell to called out, pointing toward the center of the crowd. There was a mat spread out in front of one of the houses, with a beast lying on top of it. When I saw it, though, I was definitely more than a little surprised.

That’s a red savage?

It was around a meter or so tall, with a short and stout build and rather long arms. Its whole body was covered in brown fur, and there were three sharp black claws growing from each of its feet and hands, reminding me of a sloth. It was lying on its side with its eyes shut, and it really looked to me like it had breathed its last.

Well, I guess I could see someone mistaking this thing for a person if you saw it wandering in the distance out on the mountain... Still, for something that people sometimes call “wild men,” it doesn’t look all that human, I thought. When the soldiers from the capital set foot on the border between the forest and the mountain, someone shouted at them, and I figured it must have been a red savage...but I can’t imagine this thing speaking like a person.

There was one other thing that was bothering me too: This beast didn’t look red at all. I couldn’t see any reason at all to call it a red savage.

“Asuta, did you come to see the red savage?” a familiar voice said behind me. It belonged to the clan head of the Sudra

“Oh, Raielfam Sudra. Did you hunt here with the Fou today instead of heading to the Suun settlement?”

Now that they had been released from guard duty, the Sudra hunters had been alternating day by day between hunting alongside the Suun and the Fou. Raielfam Sudra’s already wrinkled face got even wrinklier as he nodded and replied, “Yes. We finally got rid of the observers from the capital, only to have this drop into our laps. How troublesome.”

“Yeah. But if one of the three great beasts comes down from the mountain, how we deal with it is our choice, right?”

“That may be so, but I never expected a red savage to look like that. There’s no way we can simply leave it to its fate.”

I tilted my head, not quite getting what he meant.

When he saw that, Raielfam Sudra furrowed his brow. “Asuta, have you still not seen the red savage?”

“Huh? You can see it from here.”

“What are you talking about? That’s a mountain beast the savage was clinging to,” Raielfam Sudra said as he pointed past the crowd. “The savage is sleeping over there. Once you look upon it, you should understand how I feel.”

Feeling rather surprised, I glanced past the crowd in front of us and saw an even larger one nearby.

“Don’t approach carelessly,” Raielfam Sudra warned me. “There’s no telling how the savage may react to us if it awakens.”

“I understand,” I replied with a nod as I headed over that way. The people in the other crowd noticed me and parted so I could see better. The older women and young children of the settlement all seemed to be gathered there.

“Ah, Asuta. This is quite a problem, isn’t it?” the Fou clan head Baadu Fou called out.

I was about to reply to him, but before I could, I froze with a gasp when my eyes fell on what they were all looking at. There was another mat laid out in front of a second house, with an unfamiliar being lying on it. This was clearly the red savage of Morga. She was fully clothed. She even had a very well-made cloak on and a belt of some kind wrapped around her waist with a wooden scabbard tucked into it.

Also, she was unquestionably human, just like us.

2

I stood stock-still for a long moment, feeling dumbfounded as I stared at the red savage lying before me.

All I saw when I looked at her was a young girl. She had a small build, being around 130 centimeters tall at most and quite slender. Her loose and disheveled hair was hanging down over her face, so it was hard to make out her facial features. However, I could tell that her eyelids were closed, like she was sleeping soundly. And the way she was lying down all curled up in the fetal position made her look even smaller still.

Her crude outfit had been dyed in a mottled pattern, and there was wooden scabbard hanging from the wrap around her waist. She was barefoot and had a splint with a gray cloth wrapped around it stabilizing her right shin. In all likelihood, she had fractured her leg.

If I looked at her without making assumptions, she really did appear to just be an ordinary human being. It would be natural to think she was simply an outsider who had slipped into the forest’s edge and had fallen into the river. But like everyone else who was present, I was confident that she was a red savage.

The first reason for that was the cloak she wore over her shoulders. It was made from scaly skin that was shiny and blackish-blue in color. You would need an awfully large reptile to make a fine cloak like that, and its color was the same as that of the giant madarama snake I had encountered long ago.

The other big reason was the girl’s skin color. She looked like a perfectly ordinary person, but her hair and skin were both very red—a reddish-brown that was a bit redder than the red bricks I was familiar with. Though, since her hair and skin were both that color, it was probably from some sort of dye rather than being natural.

“Between her red appearance and that madarama-scaled hunter’s cloak, this is undoubtedly a red savage. No one but a resident of Mount Morga could hunt a madarama snake,” Baadu Fou muttered in a low voice. “From their other name, ‘wild men,’ I had assumed they might look similar to us... But this is unmistakably a human being. That is why we brought her back here rather than leaving her be.”

“R-Right... So, has she been unconscious this whole time?”

“Indeed. In addition to her fractured right shin bone, she seems to have taken a powerful blow to the head. It’s hidden behind her hair at the moment, but there is a large wound on her forehead. We’ve applied medicine to it...but we are waiting to hear back from the leading clan heads and nobles about what we should do next.”

Since we were standing three meters away from the girl, I couldn’t see the wound on her head for myself. However, I did discover something new when looking at her: There was some sort of black pattern drawn on both of her cheeks, the backs of her hands, and the tops of her feet. They seemed like they had some sort of meaning to them, like they were magic sigils or something.

“We took her weapon from her to be safe. When we found her, she was holding on to this blade, as well as that beast,” Baadu Fou explained, signaling with his eyes to one of the other men, who held out the girl’s blade for me to see. It looked like a thick short sword that seemed to have been carved out of some sort of shiny black stone, with vines wrapped around it to serve as a handle. “Her clothing was made from plants that can be gathered on the mountain, most likely. Our ancestors who lived in the black forest used stones and plants to make their weapons and clothes too.”

“This is really shocking,” I said. “I never expected that red savages would be this indistinguishable from humans.”

“Indeed. I’m sure it must have been a red savage who threatened those soldiers from the capital too,” Baadu Fou replied.

Just then, the red savage girl suddenly took a sharp breath. Instantly, Baadu Fou raised his long arm to call his relatives’ attention to him. “She’s waking up! Women and children, step back!”

The three-meter-wide empty circle around her suddenly expanded to five meters. In the middle of it all, the girl placed one of her hands down on the mat and sat up with some effort.

“Listen to what I have to say and don’t move from that spot. Are you a red savage of Morga?” Baadu Fou called out, his voice tense.

The girl looked up with a dubious expression on her face. Her big eyes sparkled through the long bangs hanging down in front of her face, and I noticed that they were reddish too. Unlike her skin and hair, she must have been born with those. They were a deep, dark-red color that reminded me of garnets.

Such beautiful eyes. If she can understand what we’re saying, there shouldn’t be any— I thought, only for the girl’s red eyes to light up like a blaze. A split second later, my vision went dark. An incredible force slammed into me and sent me flying. Then, when I opened my eyes, unable to move and utterly bewildered, I saw Baadu Fou standing several meters away.

“What are you doing?! Let go of Asuta!” Baadu Fou’s eyes were burning with fury, and the men to his left and right had already drawn their blades.

It was then that I finally noticed the intense pressure on my throat that was making it hard for me to breathe and realized what had happened. Someone had grabbed me by the throat from behind, and my mind could only provide one answer as to who it was: that red savage girl.

And yet, I had to have been at least five meters away from her, and Baadu Fou and a number of other hunters of the forest’s edge had been right there beside me. It felt impossible that a human being could slip past them when they were on guard against exactly that, especially with a fractured leg.

“Do you intend to break the taboo of Morga?! If you don’t leave this place immediately, your world shall be destroyed!” a voice angrily roared in my ear, incredibly loud. The red savage girl who had restrained me was shouting. My memory was taking me back to another dangerous situation I had once had found myself in—the terrifying moment when Tei Suun had grabbed me.

“What are you talking about?! You’re the one breaking the taboo! The law of Morga states that outsiders are not to touch the mountain and that the three great beasts of the mountain will not come to the outside world!” Baadu Fou shouted back just as loudly, having unsheathed his sword as well. I had never seen the man show such an intense aura. He was tall but skinny, and I could almost see the flames of his fury rising up around him. “Despite that, we still decided to treat your injuries! Do you intend to trample upon that kindness and harm one of our people?!”

“Get off this mountain! Or do I need to rip this man’s head off before you’ll understand?!”

The bones in my neck started making an eerie creaking sound right after she said that. It was even more painful and unforgiving than what Tei Suun had done to me in the past. I wasn’t able to speak, and though I was desperately pulling on her arms, they didn’t budge at all, as if they were made of steel.

“I’m telling you, this isn’t the mountain! We’re in the forest at its base! We aren’t breaking the taboo at all!”

“Ridiculous! Mount Morga is our sacred land! I’m going to offer this man’s soul up to the great god if you don’t leave!”

“Stop! If you harm Asuta, we will cut you down!” Baadu Fou shouted as he adjusted his grip on his sword.

But then, I spied a smiling figure silently approaching. It was a young hunter—Cheem Sudra. “Red savage, look there. Then you should see that we speak the truth,” he said, pointing off to my right. That was the direction where Mount Morga towered above us, I was fairly certain.

After a few seconds, the grip around my neck suddenly loosened. In that very instant, my body was forcefully pulled away from the girl.

I fell to the ground and was finally able to breathe again. Whoever had saved me placed a gentle hand on my back.

“Are you all right, Asuta? Calm yourself and slowly get your breathing in order.”

As I gasped for breath, I somehow managed to turn to look at my savior and saw none other than Raielfam Sudra kneeling there beside me. “Thank you... Looks like you saved me again, Raielfam Sudra.”

“Why does this always happen to you in particular, Asuta? That really made my heart fall into my stomach, and now I feel numb.” Raielfam Sudra was giving me a surly look as he caught his own breath. I could see the relief in his small eyes, though. I smiled back at him as I held my throat, which was aching as if it had been burned.

Jirube then circled around Raielfam Sudra and licked my cheek with a very apologetic look in his eyes. It was possible that he had been unable to move until now because the intensity of the red savage had overwhelmed him.

“Don’t worry. I’m glad you didn’t do anything reckless, Jirube,” I said as I stroked his mane, and he brought his face closer to me so I could dote on him more. At this point, he fully recognized me as one of his masters, just like Ai Fa.

As Raielfam Sudra continued to gently rub my back, he glanced to the side and said, “Her strength is frightening. I can see why they’re said to be more powerful than giba.”

I looked in that direction too and found the red savage girl surrounded by hunters from the Fou and Ran, all with their swords drawn. The girl had collapsed to the ground and was hanging her head.

“I can’t believe it... So this is truly the world outside of the mountain?” Her voice matched her small frame a lot better now. It sounded so quiet and dejected that it was hard to believe how loudly she had been shouting before. Her voice was quavering a bit, but aside from that, she seemed to speak the western tongue much more fluently than most of the easterners or northerners I’d met.

“That’s what we’ve been telling you. We didn’t break the taboo. You were getting carried away by the river, so we rescued you and treated your wounds,” Baadu Fou stated in a harsh tone, the tip of his blade up against the girl’s chest.

She slowly looked up at the tall hunter. “I understand. I am the one who broke the taboo, so you may use your sword to take this criminal’s life. I, Tia, will not run or hide.”

“Tia? Is that your name?”

“I am Tia Hamura Namukal of the red people of Morga. I have committed a serious crime, so my soul should be offered up to the great god. I ask that you find it in yourselves to forgive me once I have paid for my sins,” the girl said, her shining red eyes now closed.

A faint line of tears was rolling down her cheek, which had that mysterious pattern drawn on it. Her youthful face now looked completely overcome with absolute sorrow.

“I see... So that’s what happened,” Ai Fa grumbled, her voice dripping with anger. It was now a bit later, right before sunset. We were in the main hall of the Fa house, and she had just finished listening to the story of what had occurred earlier in the afternoon. “No one could have predicted that a savage with a broken leg would be able to leap at you with such strength. Even having heard your account of events, I find myself struggling to believe that it actually happened, so I cannot accuse you and your fellow hunters of having poor judgment, Baadu Fou.”

“I am glad to hear you say that. At this point, I deeply regret not having everyone aside from our hunters stay away from her right from the start,” Baadu Fou replied, sitting before her looking very remorseful. He had come all the way to the Fa house personally in order to offer an explanation to Ai Fa.

“So, you’re going to wait until you hear back from the nobles of Genos before you decide what to do with the red savage?”

“Indeed. Donda Ruu should be in the castle town discussing the matter with the lord of Genos about now. In all likelihood, we will hear their response tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, if it does come that soon, I would not be surprised, considering how this supposed beast looks exactly like a human. The citizens of Genos place much more importance on the taboo of Morga than we do, after all,” Ai Fa said. There was an intense shine in her eyes. “But why, exactly, is that savage sitting here in the Fa house?”

“Yes, I knew you would be angry about that, but she absolutely insisted,” Baadu Fou said, turning his apologetic gaze toward the spot where the red savage girl was sitting and looking all dejected. She wasn’t bound in any way, and her splinted right leg was sitting on top of some of our bedding. “She said that since she injured Asuta despite him being completely innocent, she must remain at his side in order to pay for her crime. I don’t quite understand it, but supposedly, that’s their custom.”

Ai Fa just kept on silently glaring.

“We, of course, tried our best to talk her out of it, but when we did, she started crying and said that if we were going to refuse to allow her to do that, then we should take her life immediately. The realization that she violated two taboos one after another by leaving the mountain and then hurting an innocent person seems to have left her rather dispirited.”

“Even so, do you truly intend to ask us to allow the one who injured Asuta to live here with him?”

Ai Fa was furious because of the obvious blackish-blue bruises that had been left on my throat. I hadn’t been injured this badly since the night of the clan head meeting, when Doddo had kicked me in the stomach, and that had been quite a while ago now. I felt as if I could see a pale aura of pure fury rising from Ai Fa’s graceful figure.

“This girl will not harm Asuta again. Please believe that if nothing else. If you are unable to do so, then we will stay here and keep watch over her until tomorrow morning.” There were two young hunters beside Baadu Fou, and all three of them had been keeping a close eye on the girl since the beginning of our conversation. Of course, the girl had already demonstrated that she possessed physical strength eclipsing that of the hunters of the forest’s edge despite the serious head injury and the broken leg she had. The fact that he had only brought three guards in spite of that showed that Baadu Fou trusted her words. “If you do not mind, though, I would like you to speak to her as well. If you do, I think that will make it easier for you to accept what I’ve told you,” Baadu Fou stated.

In response, Ai Fa stood up with her sword in hand before getting down on one knee in front of the girl and staring straight at her small face. “Raise your head. My name is Ai Fa of the Fa clan, and Asuta, who you injured, is family to me.”

The girl slowly did as she was told. Her deep-red, garnet-like eyes stared straight at my clan head as she spoke. “Ai Fa of the Fa clan...I, Tia Hamura Namukal, apologize from the depths of my heart for injuring your family member, Asuta of the Fa clan.”

“I will accept your apology. And since I have done so, I wish for you to leave the Fa house.”

“I cannot do that. I broke two serious taboos. The great god will never forgive me if I leave things as they are,” Tia said with a very sincere look on her face. She had taken her scaled cloak off, which had left her looking even smaller now than she had before. It truly was unbelievable that her tiny frame hid such incredible power inside.

Now that a few hours had passed, her hair and clothing had completely dried and were no longer dripping wet. I could also smell the aroma of some kind of fruit or flower coming from her hair, which had been cut unevenly to around shoulder length.

The face I spied under her long bangs looked so young. Her eyes and mouth were large, while her nose was little, which gave her an appearance like some sort of small animal. According to what she had told us, she was twelve years old, but with her small frame, it felt like she was even younger than that.

“If you are angry, Ai Fa, then please behead me. My crimes were serious enough to warrant being punished that way, and I can pay for my sins by accepting your judgment.”

“I simply do not want someone who hurt a member of my family to stay here,” Ai Fa said. “Is it not possible for you to take my wishes into account?”

“As I said, you should take my head in that case. I cannot understand why you are not doing so.”

After staring at Tia for some time, Ai Fa gave a deep sigh and stood up, then tousled her own hair in a way that made it look like she was having a temper tantrum.

“What a truly difficult person to deal with. It seems she really is a child of the mountain.”

“Yes. She is unable to lie. That is why I decided to trust her,” Baadu Fou said, his voice filled with deep emotion, and I nodded in response without thinking. I’d had a chance to talk with her a bit at the Fou settlement too, and during our conversation, I had been truly impressed by how pure the look in her eyes was.

Aside from the unusual color of her hair and skin, she looked just like any ordinary human being. But those big red eyes of hers were as pure and innocent as those of a newborn infant. Or maybe her eyes looked similar to those of a totos or a hunting dog. She spoke the same language as the rest of us and was undoubtedly human, but her gaze was like that of a wild animal.

In fact, it was the same sort of impression I’d had of the people of the forest’s edge at first. Though interacting with them felt completely normal to me now, their extreme earnestness and wild nature really set them apart from the townsfolk. This girl was very similar to them, but it was like that aspect of her nature had been refined into something even more distinctive. It truly shocked me that we had encountered another human being who had that kind of personality. If somebody had told me she was actually a wild beast changed into human form using magic, I probably would have accepted that without questioning it.

“Since they’re called savages, I suppose it’s only natural that they would differ from other humans,” Baadu Fou said. “But still, I don’t want to force her to suppress her feelings.”

“Is that why you’re saying you want me to let her stay here at the Fa house until tomorrow morning?” Ai Fa asked.

“If you are still worried about her, Ai Fa, the three of us will stay here and keep watch until morning without sleeping. Please, I beg you to give her your permission to stay.”

Ai Fa sighed once more, then sent a reproachful look in Baadu Fou’s direction. “I do not doubt her sincerity... You three can return to your own houses.”

“Are you really sure? We’re the ones who brought her back to the settlement, so there’s no need for you to worry about troubling us.”

“There is no point in keeping watch over someone who does not pose a threat. Go eat dinner with your families back at home.”

Apparently, Ai Fa had complete trust in Tia too. For her to so readily believe the words of someone who had harmed me like that, she and the other hunters must have been able to see her true nature even better than I could.

“Well then, as soon as we receive word from the Ruu, we will return and pass it along to you. I’m terribly sorry for forcing this burden on you.”

After that, the Fou hunters exited the Fa house, and Ai Fa stepped down into the dirt-floored entranceway to bolt the front door. As she did, our hunting dog Brave and guard dog Jirube padded over and nuzzled up against her legs. They must have been worried about Ai Fa, since she was giving off such a different vibe than usual. My clan head petted both of their heads, then she returned to the main hall.

“Ai Fa of the Fa clan, you will also not take my life?” Tia asked from where she was sitting up against the wall.

My clan head shot her a displeased glare. “You heard what was said, didn’t you? The leading clan heads of the forest’s edge and the nobles of Genos will be the ones to decide your fate.”

“You are a strange people... Though you belong to the outside world, it seems you do resemble us red people in some ways after all.”

Ai Fa took a seat on the carpet, then faced Tia once more. “What do you mean, ‘after all’? Did you know what the people of the forest’s edge were like before now?”

“Yes, of course. You are the people who hunt giba at the base of the mountain. From what I am told, you have done so since before our leader Hamura was born.”

I had been busy preparing dinner, but when I heard that, I turned around and said, “Huh? Hold on. Hamura is part of your name, isn’t it? Are you from the ruling bloodline of your people, then?”

“Tia Hamura Namukal. I am Tia, child of Hamura who leads the Namukal people. Hamura is the current leader of the Namukal.”

“So, you are the daughter of your people’s leader? But not the leader of all of the red people, correct?” Ai Fa interjected.

“Correct,” Tia answered with a nod. “Many live on Morga. The Namukal ally with the varb and fight the madarama. We get along poorly with the tribe that allies with the madarama and fights the varb. But when we eat madarama, that adds to the strength of Morga. The madarama, varb, and we red people are all children of Morga.”

“It is the same for us. Giba, giiz, and mundt are dangerous, but that does not change the fact that they are our fellow children of the forest.”

Tia deeply furrowed her brow and stared at Ai Fa, looking all the more confused.

“You people truly are strange. You are from the outside world, but you mimic the red people?”

“We cannot mimic those we do not know. We have hardly ever even seen your people since we came here eighty years ago,” Ai Fa replied, her eyes narrowing as she looked rather displeased. “In fact, this is surely the first time we have ever spoken with any of you. Up until recently, your people have stayed hidden deep within the territory of Morga. What changed that caused you to appear before us now?”

“People from the outside world came close to Morga,” Tia muttered, a disquieting look shining in her eyes. “Not long ago, a large group approached our mountain. Since then, Namukal hunters have been taking turns on lookout duty to see if they were going to come back. Today was my turn, so I was keeping watch on a valley near the base of the mountain while I was out hunting... But then, as I was chasing a peifei, I was attacked by a madarama and fell into the river.”

“What is a peifei?”

“Peifei are blessings from Morga. The red people, madarama, and varb all eat them. I am certain the madarama was trying to hunt it, the same as I was.”

Ai Fa was tilting her head in confusion, so I decided to speak up with my own guesses about what Tia had meant. “That’s probably a different animal that lives on Mount Morga. I think one of them was carried down the Lanto River with her.”

“Yes. Peifei meat grants great strength, and their claws and pelts have many uses. It was rare for one to appear in a place like that, but pursuing it led to me falling into the river.”

“So, your people only assigned guards to watch that area because the soldiers from the capital approached the border of the mountain,” Ai Fa said with a deep sigh. “At last, everything comes together. This is ultimately a lingering consequence of the trouble those observers from the capital caused.”

“From what I have heard, you giba hunters would never pillage Morga... However, there were a great many of those other people, and they seemed to be planning to set foot on the mountain. The red people would never forgive anyone who tried to break the taboo of Morga,” Tia said with an intense glare in her eyes.

Ai Fa gripped the hilt of her sword that was resting on the floor and said in a threatening tone, “Curb your bloodlust. Those people have already left Genos, and they will never again approach Mount Morga.”

“I see,” Tia replied, closing her eyes. “I still violated our taboos, though. I can’t return to Morga with my leg in this state, and I have to atone for my actions against Asuta. That is why I would very much like you to take my life.”

“As I said, we aren’t the ones who get to decide that. But do you mean to say that even if your crimes are forgiven, you still won’t be able to return to Morga?”

“Of course not. As things stand, I wouldn’t make it a hundred steps onto the mountain before a madarama ate me.”

“But your comrades are watching the border between the forest and the mountain, aren’t they? Couldn’t you seek their aid to return safely?”

“No. They would never save a hunter who has both lost her strength and broken taboos as well. If I were to return to Morga like this, I would likely fall to the blades of my people before the madarama got me, in fact.”

“This is getting more and more and more troublesome,” Ai Fa muttered, placing a hand on her forehead and sighing yet again. “Very well. The only thing we can do is wait until we hear what the leading clan heads and the nobles have to say. Asuta, I’m feeling hungry.”

“Oh, I just finished up. I’ll go grab the pot from the kitchen. This should only take a moment.”

“I shall accompany you, then,” Ai Fa said, and we left Tia there and headed to the kitchen together.

As I reached out and grabbed the pot with our dinner in it, I asked Ai Fa, “You and Baadu Fou really trust her, huh? Not that I think she’d lie or deliberately cause any trouble either.”

“Indeed. She is like a newborn infant, or a dog or totos. There’s no reason at all to doubt her words,” Ai Fa said, and then she gently brought a hand up to my throat. “If she hadn’t hurt you, I’m sure our conversation would have been much more relaxed. It truly is regrettable.”

“Y-Yeah, you’re probably right... Sorry, Ai Fa, but that tickles a bit.”

Ai Fa pulled her hand back, frowning in displeasure. She looked shockingly adorable as she glared at me with upturned eyes.

“At any rate, I am certain she would never harm us. It is fine for you to believe that as well, but don’t allow yourself to grow too attached to someone who is not one of our people, all right?”

“I know. She isn’t even a westerner. But I can at least share food with her, right?”

“Yes, I suppose it would be bad to leave her unfed until tomorrow morning.”

With that, the two of us returned and found Tia sitting in the exact same position she had been before. Brave, Jirube, and Gilulu were all lying down by the entrance like normal too.

“Okay, time to eat. I prepared a portion for you too, if you want it,” I said to her.

Tia shot me a suspicious look. “You not only aren’t going to kill me, but you’re even going so far as to give me food? It is certain that my life will be taken soon, so that’s just a waste of supplies.”

“We don’t know what’s going to happen yet. I’m not sure if it’ll be to your tastes or not, but please, feel free to have some,” I said as I served up some giba soup with tau oil from the pot and placed it in front of Tia. She gave it a sniff and then scrunched up her face in a way that reminded me of an animal.

“It has a strange smell.”

“I didn’t use anything that might be bad for you. And I flavored it lightly just to be safe.”

Since her people lived on the mountain, she probably didn’t have any experience with seasonings, so I had decided to go with a simple giba soup that didn’t have too strong of a flavor.

After accepting the wooden dish, she gave it another doubtful sniff. Then her long, narrow tongue poked out of her mouth toward the surface of the soup. She lapped up a bit of it without using a spoon, and her eyebrows drooped. She looked rather troubled.

“It’s like I’m drinking peifei pee. You’re bad at making food, Asuta.”

All I could do was laugh in response to that.

As for Ai Fa, she stamped her feet while still remaining seated. “I really can’t stand this girl! Why do I have to let someone this ungrateful stay here in the Fa house?!”

And so, the twenty-fifth of the green month came to an end, but the commotion surrounding the daughter of one of the chieftains of the red people, Tia Hamura Namukal, was only just getting started.

3

It was now early in the morning of the following day, the twenty-sixth of the green month, and we had a visitor. Ludo Ruu had come to the Fa house as we’d been handling prep work for the stalls, acting as a messenger for his father, Donda Ruu.

“Ooh, so that’s the red savage? Sure enough, she looks totally human,” he said.

Tia was currently making herself small in a corner of the kitchen. She remained silent as Ludo Ruu looked her over with his arms crossed, her red eyes shining back at him.

“But why are her face and limbs that red color? They aren’t naturally like that, are they?”

“This is proof that I am one of the red people. Once a year, when the great god’s eye blinks directly over Morga, the red people cleanse themselves in holy water.”

Ai Fa and I had asked her the same question last night and learned that what she called holy water was some kind of concoction made by grinding up a bunch of different kinds of flowers, fruits, bark, and stones. They coated their bodies in it, which dyed their hair and skin that distinctive color for a full year, apparently protecting their people from many types of misfortune. As for the patterns on her cheeks and limbs, those were apparently something similar to tattoos and were meant to indicate her bloodline.

“I don’t really get it, but whatever. My old man asked me to deliver a message to the Fou clan head, and now I’m here, since this is where the red savage is staying. Where’s Ai Fa?”

“I’m right here. Tell me, what decision did the leading clan head and Duke Genos come to?” my clan head called out as she stepped into the kitchen behind Ludo Ruu. She always had some kind of chore to handle out behind the house after she was finished with collecting firewood.

“Well, it’s turned out to be kinda complicated. The leading clan heads are gonna have to get together and discuss what to do with her.”

“What? What did Duke Genos say?”

“The lord of Genos said he’d leave it to us people of the forest’s edge to make a decision. The law says we’re free to deal with any of the three great beasts who leave Morga however we please, after all.”

What part of that was complicated, exactly? That was what both Ai Fa and I were probably thinking as we waited for him to explain further.

Ludo Ruu joined his hands behind his head before continuing. “But the duke apparently didn’t know that red savages looked like humans either, so he handed down two conditions.”

“Yes? What are they?” Ai Fa asked.

“The first is that she’s not to be allowed to go into the town of Genos, no matter what. The townsfolk fear the three great beasts of Morga even more than giba, so he wants to prevent any trouble from being stirred up.”

“That is only natural. What is the second condition?”

“The second one was that we are absolutely not to accept her as a person of the forest’s edge. Forming blood ties is out of the question. And apparently, he said that if at all possible, we should chop her head off at the first sign that she might start causing trouble.”

I gulped, and Ai Fa deeply furrowed her brow.

“Naturally, I have no objections to the order to not make her one of our people. But does he truly mean that we should take her life just like that without even talking to her?”

“I can’t say I really get it, but supposedly, there’s something about her that the four great gods can never forgive, so even if she looks like a human, we should treat her the same way we would a wild animal like a varb wolf or a giant madarama snake.”

“As long as they don’t bare their fangs at us, we wouldn’t needlessly kill a varb wolf or a giant madarama snake either. It’s true that she once tried to harm Asuta, but she has been behaving herself perfectly ever since she realized her mistake.”

“Well, truthfully, the lord of Genos doesn’t even know that she tried to strangle Asuta yesterday. I only heard about it myself when I was at the Fou settlement just now.”

That certainly made sense. After all, the Fou’s messenger had left to deliver the news to the Ruu before Tia had woken up. That also meant that Marstein probably also wasn’t aware that Tia could speak the western tongue.

“Is Marstein under some sort of misconception, then? If he knew how human Tia actually is, he wouldn’t tell us to kill her so lightly, and—” I started to say, before Ludo Ruu cut me off.

“No, he said that no matter how human she may seem, she should not be treated as one. The three great beasts of Morga are not allowed to live outside of the mountain, supposedly.”

I was left at a loss for words.

Tia rose to her feet, using the wall to support herself. “That is the correct decision. It is forbidden for people from the outside world to set foot on Morga, and the same is true for those from Morga who would go to the outside world. Our peoples made that agreement with each other, and we now live as children of our own respective gods.”

“Hmm. We’re children of the forest and the western god, but what do your people consider to be their god?” Ludo Ruu asked.

“Our god is the world itself. Until the great god awakens, we are to protect Morga and our bloodlines. Those of you from the outside world are living fleeting lives on top of the body of the sleeping great god.”

Those words strongly resonated with something in my memory. “Tia, is the great god’s name Amusehorn? Supposedly, our western god Selva is the child of the great god Amusehorn.”

“The great god is a singular entity and has no true descendants. If I had to say that anyone was a child of the great god in that way, those of us who protect Morga come the closest.”

My idea had been immediately shot down. But even so, I couldn’t help but wonder if the god that Tia and her people worshipped had been given the name Amusehorn by the people of the outside world later on. But given that the myth involving the great god Amusehorn and the four other great gods who were his children had been passed down for hundreds of years, there was no real way to ascertain the truth of the matter.

“Anyway, that’s how things stand right now,” Ludo Ruu said. “We people of the forest’s edge will have to decide what to do with her ourselves. The leading clan heads will all be gathering tonight, so the Ruu clan is going to be taking charge of her, okay?”

Tia deeply furrowed her brow. “I need to atone for my crimes against Asuta, so I can’t go too far from him. Unless you are saying that those leading clan heads intend to take my life?”

“Huh? Like I said, that’s something they’re gonna be discussing tonight, but they won’t be able to make a proper decision if they aren’t able to see what kind of person you are themselves.”

“But I have to atone, so—” Tia started to argue further, but Ai Fa cut her off.

“Hey, you’ve said that again and again since last night, but just by staying near him isn’t accomplishing anything, so how exactly is what you’re doing atonement for your crimes?”

“If Asuta finds himself in danger, then I’ll save his life. And I can offer Asuta my assistance in all sorts of other ways too.”

“And what use can you be with such severe injuries?”

“The only issue is that Asuta won’t order me to do any work. When I tried to carry his things for him just now, he grabbed them from me instead,” Tia said, sulking.

That was true, but I really didn’t feel like asking Tia to carry things for me when she had a fractured leg that dragged behind her everywhere she went. She wouldn’t even let me separate from her to gather firewood, so I had asked Ai Fa to take care of that on her own today.

Tia had cleanly broken her lower right shin bone, which was being held firmly in place from her knee down to her ankle. The injury to her forehead wasn’t too serious, but even so, if she kept moving around like she was, her leg wouldn’t heal properly. And even the romu leaves she had been given yesterday to dull her pain must have been wearing off at this point.

As he looked down at the little girl, Ludo snorted and scratched at his nose. “Hmph. But Asuta’s gotta go work at his stalls, and you’re not allowed to enter town, so you’ve gotta stay behind either way.”

“No, I will stay with Asuta.”

“Oh no you won’t. If he brings you with him, Asuta will be considered a criminal. We’re not gonna let that happen.”

Tia then glanced my way, looking like she was on the verge of tears. “If I stay by your side, you’ll become a criminal, Asuta? In that case, you should take my life before—”

“We can’t do that until the leading clan heads make their decision,” I quickly said. “I’ll be back in the early afternoon, though, so could you wait at the Ruu settlement until then?”

“When is the early afternoon?”

“Um, I’ll be back before the sun hits the midpoint between its peak and when it sets. After that, I’ll remain at the Ruu settlement until the leading clan heads arrive, so we’ll be able to stay together until then.”

I’d been dealing with Tia constantly since last night, so I had a bit of a grasp on how to handle her now. The young girl stared up at me, looking helpless, and said, “Okay... I don’t want you to become a criminal, so I will endure it.”

“Thanks. That really helps me out too,” I said with a sigh of relief. Then I turned and found that Ai Fa had been watching our exchange with a displeased look on her face.

“When you stop by the Ruu settlement later, you can bring her along and drop her off then, okay?” Ludo Ruu said. “It doesn’t look like there’s any risk of her starting trouble, so that’s one less thing for me to worry about.”

Then, having completed his task as a messenger, he swiftly departed. Tia had never stopped staring at me while he’d been talking. It kind of felt like an animal had imprinted on me or something.

“This is terribly painful for me... I’ve committed two serious crimes, and I want to pay for them.”

“Hmm. But isn’t dealing with suffering another means of atoning? I’m sure that giving up your life can’t be the only way.”

“You say difficult things, Asuta... But I know that you’re thinking of what is best for me.”

As those mysterious red eyes remained fixed on me, I almost felt like her gaze was pulling me in. I couldn’t help but be secretly impressed that anyone could maintain such purity and innocence while growing up.

And then, a black stick was thrust into the space between me and Tia.

“How long are you two going to keep staring at one another? You still have work to do, don’t you, Asuta?” Ai Fa said.

“Oh, sorry... Wait, what’s with the grigee stick?” I asked.

“I grabbed it while picking up firewood. If she keeps dragging her leg behind her, she’ll cause her injuries to worsen.”

The grigee stick was Y-shaped on one end and looked like it had been trimmed down to serve as a crutch. The length was perfect for someone of Tia’s height too.

“My life will be gone soon, so why would you go out of your way to prepare something like this for me?” Tia asked.

“The leading clan heads are the ones who will decide whether your life will be taken. It’s unpleasant to hear you constantly saying things that make it seem like you want to die as soon as possible,” Ai Fa stated angrily as she thrust the grigee stick toward Tia.

Tia grabbed it with both hands and bowed her head deeply.

“I am grateful for your kindness, Ai Fa. You’re always so angry, but you’re a very kind person.”

“I’m always angry because you keep putting me in a bad mood! Just don’t interrupt Asuta’s work!” Ai Fa shot back in a huff as she exited the kitchen.

As I got back to cooking, Yun Sudra leaned in close to me with a look of worry. “It feels like things have gone in a strange direction, huh? What are the leading clan heads going to do with her?”

“I’m not sure. I can’t imagine them deciding to take her life without a good reason, but still...we apparently can’t welcome her in as one of our people either, so I definitely can’t say there’s no reason to be worried.”

“Yeah. But even if leaving Morga is strictly taboo for them, it’s not like she did it on purpose. I hope they show her mercy.”

All of the people of the forest’s edge who had interacted with Tia had felt for her at least somewhat. Even Ai Fa was only irritated with her because she had injured me. If Tia hadn’t made that terrible mistake, my clan head’s attitude toward the girl would probably be totally different.

And even then, she decided to make a crutch for our new guest because she was worried about her broken leg. Ai Fa really is a kind person, I thought.

Yun Sudra smiled at me. “You’re thinking about Ai Fa, aren’t you, Asuta?”

“Huh? Wh-Why are you asking that?”

“There’s a certain look that you get in your eyes when you think about her, so it’s really easy to tell,” Yun Sudra replied, then she grabbed a box filled with giba manju and exited the kitchen.

As I felt my cheeks heating up a bit, I quickly got started on my next task. Tia, meanwhile, was standing silently up against the wall, gripping her grigee crutch.

Not long after that, we made the trip to the Ruu settlement in our wagon, where we found a huge crowd waiting for us. It looked like there were even people from the surrounding clans in the mix. And as soon as Tia appeared, they all started talking at once.

“Wow. She really is red all over!”

“But other than that, she looks like a totally normal person, doesn’t she?”

“No, I wouldn’t say she’s normal. She’s extremely well trained for such a young girl.”

All kinds of people—men and women, young and old—were making comments about her, and they had a wide variety of opinions. And then, the Ruu clan head Donda Ruu and his oldest son Jiza Ruu pushed through the crowd and approached us.

“So, this is the red savage? Thank you for bringing her,” Donda Ruu said with crossed arms as he stood in front of Tia.

She stared up at the hunter’s massive frame, using her grigee crutch to support herself, without even the slightest hint of fear showing on her face.

“Hmm. She really does have the feel of a wild animal about her... But you can understand human speech, can’t you?” he asked.

“I am a red person of Morga, and my name is Tia Hamura Namukal. I place myself in the care of the leading clan head of the forest’s edge, to face judgment for the taboos I have broken,” Tia replied, sending another commotion running through the crowd. Donda Ruu’s eyes blazed brightly, while Jiza Ruu’s remained narrowed as the two of them observed the small girl in front of them.

“I am one of the three leading clan heads of the forest’s edge, Donda Ruu of the Ruu clan. Our clan will look after you until the other two leading clan heads arrive.”

“Huh? Wait, you’re a leading clan head?” Tia asked, her eyes opening wide in utter shock.

Donda Ruu furrowed his brow suspiciously and replied, “That’s right. Is there something strange about me being a leading clan head?”

“Men never lead the villages of the red people.” There was yet more murmuring from all around. And actually, that was news to me as well. “Women work as hunters until they turn thirteen, and only those who survive are permitted to have children. After that, our women have as many children as possible, and one of us takes up the mantle of leader of our people. I was told that Ai Fa was the head of the Fa clan, so I thought the forest’s edge had the same custom of having women lead.”

“I see... So then, it was possible that you could have become the leader of the Namukal?”

“In another year, I would have turned thirteen and taken over as leader from my mother Hamura... After I perish, my younger sister will be chosen as our leader instead.”

There was no hesitation in Tia’s voice. It was abundantly clear that she was fully prepared to die.

“Hmm...” Donda Ruu pondered, stroking his beard. “Understood. The other leading clan heads and I will decide how you are to be dealt with. Until then, you may rest here at the Ruu settlement.”

Tia silently nodded. Baadu Fou then stepped forward beside her, carrying a bundle. He had used a separate wagon to come to the Ruu settlement as well because he felt responsible for this situation, having been the one who had picked up Tia in the first place.

“Donda Ruu, I’m deeply sorry for troubling you. I would like to give you this, along with the savage girl.”

“What is that? It’s quite big.”

“These are the remains of a beast called a peifei that this girl was hunting on Mount Morga. She said it would be a waste to just throw it away, so I brought it along.”

Since it was wrapped up in a large cloth, we weren’t able to see the strange beast at the moment. However, Donda Ruu was giving the bundle a suspicious look.

“It came down the river along with the red savage, didn’t it? Wouldn’t the meat have already gone bad after having been left out overnight?”

“Peifei won’t go bad in a single night. It would pain me to make your people share your food with me, so I thought I could eat its meat until the time comes for me to be judged,” Tia calmly responded. “I’d like to ask to have my knife back, so I can skin the peifei and cut up its meat. Would you permit that, leading clan head of the forest’s edge Donda Ruu?”

Donda Ruu slowly got down on one knee and stared into Tia’s eyes up close, and the girl met his gaze straight on. For ten whole seconds, they stared at one another, until Donda Ruu finally stood and said, “Very well. Give the red savage her blade back. But once you’re done, we’ll have you return it to us to take care of, as that is the custom here at our settlement.”

“Understood. I thank you for your kindness, Donda Ruu.”

Baadu Fou then took out another bundle, and opened it to reveal Tia’s blade inside. It was a rather primitive-looking weapon made of shiny black stone. After accepting it from him, the young girl sheathed it in her wooden scabbard with a smooth motion.

“Well then, the Ruu clan will now take the red savage into our care. You have done well, clan head of the Fou. Return home and see to your work.”

Baadu Fou gave a single bow in response, then he left in Fafa’s wagon.

Ai Fa, who was standing beside me, leaned in close to me and said, “Hey, I know I’ve told you this again and again, but don’t grow too attached to that girl. No matter what happens, she will never be one of our comrades.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be back in time for dinner, okay?”

Ai Fa nodded and shot one last glare at Tia. Then she departed behind Baadu Fou. The rest of us who remained would be going to town to do business, so I said one last farewell to Tia. “I’ll see you later, all right? Make sure you keep your promise and behave yourself, Tia.”

“I understand. I will wait here until you return, Asuta.”

Donda Ruu and the other members of the main house then surrounded Tia and brought her over to their kitchen. As they were leaving, Sheera Ruu approached me from where she had been standing a short distance away.

“She’s quite strange, just like Ludo Ruu said. But I’m relieved to see that she doesn’t seem to have a wicked heart.”

“Yeah. If there’s one thing about her we can be certain of, it’s that. I hope that everything goes well and there aren’t any problems.”

“I’m sure it will be fine with the leading clan heads in charge. Now then, shall we head to the post town?” she said, and then turned around and headed toward one of the nearby wagons, with all the other women who were going to town doing the same.

When I saw Myme among them, I called out to her. “So you came to see Tia too, huh Myme? What did you think of her?”

“It was a big surprise to see that red savages look just like humans. But she doesn’t seem quite as frightening as a giba,” Myme replied with an earnest smile.

I then glanced over at the house she was staying at, and saw Mikel, Jeeda, and Bartha chatting as if nothing particularly interesting was happening.

Jeeda and Bartha aren’t from Genos, but Mikel and Myme are. And yet, they still don’t seem to have any kind of automatic fear of Tia.

Seeing their reaction gave me a reason to feel at least a little less worried. The leading clan heads couldn’t afford to let anyone’s personal feelings influence their decision, but if at all possible, I wanted them to choose a path that would make everyone happy. For now, though, all I could do was pray that things would turn out well.

4

Business was booming like always. We had all kinds of different people streaming in to buy food from us, including the members of the construction group currently staying in Genos. Since the information about the red savage our people had found was being kept under wraps, everything was nice and calm too. The only people we saw who even knew about what was going on were the bodyguards Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma.

“I certainly never expected a red savage to pop up in Genos. What a shock,” Kamyua Yoshu said with his usual aloof smile, while Zasshuma nodded along, looking impressed. Apparently, the two of them had heard the news from either Marstein or Polarth. “Still, I suppose you did run into a giant madarama snake before, Asuta. That means you just need to see a varb wolf, and then you’ll have had an encounter with all three of the great beasts of Morga.”

“Ah ha ha,” I laughed. “I was barely able to stop that snake from strangling me to death, you know.”

Tia had also strangled me yesterday, but at least for now, we were keeping that a secret.

“Well, I’m sure even a red savage wouldn’t be too much for the people of the forest’s edge to handle. But if it comes down to it, you really should just leave it at the border between the forest and the mountain. If it gets eaten by a varb or a madarama, it’ll be because that was the will of Morga,” Zasshuma remarked with a bright smile. He and Kamyua Yoshu hadn’t been born in Genos, so neither of them seemed to consider the matter very important.

However, Kamyua Yoshu did say something when they were going to leave. “It’s quite interesting to hear that the red savages revere a deity other than the four great gods. If possible, I’d like to speak with her before she’s dealt with.”

“I see. Well, she’s currently being held at the Ruu settlement.”

“Ah. I probably shouldn’t go butting in, since I’m an outsider. Still, I’d be very interested to hear what the leading clan heads ultimately decide to do.”

And with that, Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma walked off to take a seat in the restaurant space. They had both been invited to the friendship banquet that was going to be held at the Ruu settlement, since they were currently staying in Genos for a bit of rest and relaxation—a sign of how peaceful the town was now.

Then, shortly after the rush that we usually saw when the sun hit its peak, we had some more customers show up who we were expecting to join us at the upcoming banquet: two young chefs from the castle town, Roy and Shilly Rou.

“Hey. It’s been a while, huh? Has the date for the banquet still not been set?” Roy asked.

“Ah, sorry about that. We should be able to get it finalized soon. At the very least, it shouldn’t be any later than the tenth of the blue month.”

That was when the annual clan head meeting would be held. It had been decided that the friendship banquet would be before that.

“It would be best if you could make that decision as soon as possible. We do have our own jobs to worry about, after all,” Shilly Rou said in a displeased tone, her face hidden in the shadow of the hood of her cloak and partially covered by a scarf.

Roy glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, shrugged casually, and said, “We can’t slip out on days when there are reservations at The Silver Star. If at all possible, could you try to avoid scheduling it on any of those days?”

“Yes, of course. Just let me know which days would be inconvenient for you between the first and the tenth of the blue month.”

“That should be very helpful. You’ve been fretting about what you would do if the timing ended up being bad, haven’t you, Shilly Rou?”

“I-I wasn’t fretting!” Shilly Rou denied, the area around her eyes going all red.

Regardless of whether Roy had been speaking the truth, though, I was glad to have the chance to invite the two of them to the forest’s edge again.

“Um, so, from your group, it’s only gonna be you two and Bozl coming?”

“Yeah. Tatumai seemed like he was wavering back and forth for a while, but he finally decided not to come this time. As long as that guy gets to play around with herbs alongside Varkas, he’s happy.”

Apparently, it would be difficult for Varkas to visit the settlement at the forest’s edge due to his constitution. That was disappointing to me personally, but I was still overjoyed that we would have three people from the castle town in attendance.

“Anyway, we’ll see you later,” Roy said. “And we’ll be counting on you for that hoboi oil and shaska study session that’ll be happening soon.”

“Right. I’m looking forward to working with you then,” I replied.

Roy and Shilly Rou had brought along a wagon today, which they were going to use to transport the large amount of food that they were planning to buy. After the observers had left, a lot of different things that had been frozen in place had started to move again. So long as nothing major changed, we would finally be able to start making progress on deepening our bonds with the citizens of the west again.

A short while later, Sanjura showed up too. This was the first time he had come by the stalls since the day before our meeting with the observers. When he pulled back his hood, I saw that he was smiling apologetically at me.

“My apologies, for not coming, for so long. Lefreya’s situation, has shifted, so it has been, difficult to leave, her side.”

“Oh, yeah. They’re letting Lefreya participate in society again now, aren’t they? I figured that would mean you’d be pretty busy.”

“I am grateful, for the kindness, your people, have shown. And I wished, to express, my gratitude, as soon, as I could,” Sanjura said, deeply bowing his head.

The other customers lined up for the stalls were looking at him curiously, so I hurriedly said, “Please, raise your head. We people of the forest’s edge decided that we should reconcile with the house of Turan because we thought that was the best way forward for us. There’s no need to go that far to thank us.”

“But Lefreya’s crimes, were finally forgiven. I am, truly happy.”

“Yeah, I’m glad too. And I hope that you’ll keep assisting her in the future.”

When Sanjura glanced up, he had the brightest smile I had ever seen from him on his face. The Matua woman working beside me went wide-eyed in surprise. With how much he looked like a citizen of Sym, it was always a little surprising to see him express his emotions so overtly.

“Lefreya will, be able to, live a more proper, life than she ever was before. And I would, risk my life, to protect her.”

“I’m sure you would. And if that leads you to the right path too, Sanjura, then I’m sure we’ll be able to become true friends someday.”

“I shall try, my hardest. Um, is Raielfam Sudra, angry?”

“Huh? Why do you ask?”

“I broke my promise, to come by, your stalls everyday. For the, people of the forest’s edge, it is not acceptable, to go back on, your word, correct?”

Now that he mentioned it, I recalled hearing that after he was done with guard duty, Raielfam Sudra had been asking Yun Sudra pretty much daily if Sanjura had ever shown up at the stalls, so Sanjura’s concerns might not have been that far off the mark.

“Right. It probably would be a good idea for you to explain why you weren’t able to come. That girl with the ashen hair working in the restaurant space is Yun Sudra. She’s part of Raielfam Sudra’s family, so how about telling her?”

“Yun Sudra... I see. I was thinking, I would like, to visit your stalls, once every, few days. I am worried, about leaving, Lefreya’s side...but she very much, enjoys giba cooking.”

“I bet. And I appreciate hearing how Lefreya is doing too.”

Sanjura then purchased a large amount of giba cooking and headed off to the restaurant space. He must have been planning on taking the food back to the castle town with him, so he was probably trying to speak with Yun Sudra right away.

Having the opportunity to forge a relationship with Sanjura and Lefreya with no more roadblocks in the way was something I was very much grateful for. Though things with the observers had gotten pretty dicey and worrying for a while, a lot of good had resulted from their visit in the end.

The only new point of concern we had was Tia. If we wanted to continue living in peace, we would have to make sure that issue got resolved smoothly. I spent the rest of the work day praying that it would be.

Time kept on ticking by, and eventually we returned to the forest’s edge. Just like always, our first stop was the Ruu settlement, which looked nice and peaceful, as it usually did. The women were chopping firewood and drying out pico leaves—their normal everyday tasks—while the young children were running around and enjoying themselves. The older children were climbing trees and sword fighting with sticks to train, among other things. They were all bursting with energy. I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight, then headed around to the main house’s kitchen, where Tia was waiting.

“Asuta, you’re back,” Tia said as she unsteadily approached me using her grigee crutch. She didn’t have any particular expression on her face, but it was easy to see the joy shining in her red eyes. “You kept your promise. I’m so glad.”

“Yeah. It’s a crime at the forest’s edge to lie, so you can be sure that I’ll always tell you the truth.”

“Good,” Tia replied with a childish nod.

Then, Mia Lea Ruu walked up behind her with a smile. “Welcome, Asuta. I hear that you’ll be giving a cooking lesson here today.”

“Ah, yes. Sorry for the sudden shift in plans.”

I had been planning to continue with my banquet food practice at the Fa house until the day of the festival of the hunt, but today, I had asked Toor Deen and Yun Sudra to take charge and help the other women with that.

“You have nothing to apologize for. We’re all thrilled to be able to learn from you, Asuta. You should’ve seen how Reina sulked when she heard you wouldn’t be showing up for a while.”

“I-I didn’t sulk! Festivals of the hunt are important! There was no helping that he couldn’t come here!” Reina Ruu shot back loudly, her face bright red and her tone a lot more childish than usual since she was speaking with family.

After chuckling a little at that, I turned back toward Tia and said, “All right, I’m going to get to work. What have you been up to here, Tia?”

“I’m not doing anything right now. Up until a little while ago, though, I was skinning the peifei,” Tia said, pointing outside.

I tilted my head in curiosity as Bartha walked over with a smile. She didn’t look like she was helping out with the cooking, so she must’ve been keeping an eye on Tia. “The tanned pelt is outside drying. Before you get to work, why don’t you come take a look for a moment?” she suggested.

And so, Tia, Bartha, and I exited the kitchen and circled around the side of the building, where I found a rather unexpected sight. The pelt was hanging from a wooden pole suspended between a pair of tree branches, but that wasn’t all. There were others with roughly cut chunks of meat and cleanly washed innards hanging from them as well.

“Apparently, all you have to do to make dried meat out of the flesh of these peifei things is to leave it out in the sun. I’m jealous of how convenient that must be,” Bartha said.

It was a surprising amount of meat, considering it had come from a single creature. The torso had been split in half, and the arms and legs left to dangle. It was a brilliant red color, and even discounting all the tendons, the amount of fat on the meat was remarkably small. It looked like she had removed every single one of its organs as well. Even as someone who was fairly well accustomed to handling innards, seeing them all dangling in the air like that still felt pretty surreal to me.

“Supposedly, you can eat this stuff raw too. She cut some meat right off the bone earlier and ate it just like that.”

“Peifei eat a lot of ramoramo herbs, so their meat doesn’t go bad easily. But madarama, rionnu, and naccha meat goes bad in a day if you don’t wrap them in ramoramo leaves,” Tia explained as she leaned her crutch up against a branch.

When she noticed what Tia was doing, Bartha’s eyes widened and she said, “Hey, are you trying to grab something? If you are, you should let me get it for you.”

“No, I don’t want to be a burden,” Tia replied. Then she jumped upward using only her left leg. That alone was enough for her to jump two meters high and grab the peifei hide hanging from one of the poles. She landed on her good leg as well, before grabbing her crutch and walking back over to me. “Peifei hides are very sturdy and incredibly soft. I made sure to chew it thoroughly for you, Asuta.”

“Ch-Chewed it? Is that how your people tan hides?”

“If you don’t, then the pelt will go bad. Do the people of the forest’s edge not do that?”

The people of the forest’s edge used some sort of sap when tanning giba hides. But as I stood there at a loss for words, Bartha smiled and explained.

“We didn’t do that on Mount Masara either, but I have heard of that tanning method before. Apparently, human saliva can prevent hides from going bad.”

“Really? I had no idea,” I said.

Tia held the peifei pelt out to me in her left hand as she stared up at my face. “We red people sleep on peifei pelts. They feel nice and soft if you pile up a lot of them... I want to give you the pelt of this peifei I hunted as part of my atonement, Asuta.”

“Are you sure? I really appreciate it, but still...”

“If you appreciate it, then please accept it,” Tia said, her eyes deadly serious.

Her earnest gaze really touched me, so I nodded and replied, “Okay, I’ll accept your gift. Thanks, Tia.”

At that, the young girl broke out in a bright smile, the first I had ever seen from her. It was an incredibly pure expression, one that made her look even younger than twelve years old.

“I’m really happy,” she said. “I’ve finally repaid you at least a little. Enough to amount to a little toenail’s worth.”

“Huh? Wait, so you’re still not done paying me back?”

“Of course not. I tried to take your life. This isn’t anywhere near enough to make up for that. Are you trying to say your life is only worth as much as a single peifei pelt?” Tia shot back, though she was still smiling at me. Her red eyes were sparkling like gemstones and radiating pure joy without any sense of restraint. “Anyway, we should let the hide dry a little more for now. Oh, and I’d like you to accept the peifei’s claws too,” Tia said, grabbing something from the sash around her waist. They were definitely the claws I had seen on the peifei’s hands and feet, shining black with tips that looked as sharp as a needle. “Peifei claws can be used to open holes in meat and pelts or to crack open tough tree nuts. You can also use them to make arrowheads that will even be able to pierce through the scales of a madarama. They’re very useful.”

“Thanks. They’ve got a really pretty color to them.”

“I rubbed the claws together to polish them. They’re very sharp, so please take care not to hurt yourself.”

She then carefully dropped the peifei claws onto my palms, and they made a little rattling sound as they settled. There were twelve of them, all less than a centimeter thick and around ten centimeters long, with a slick sort of shininess to them that almost made them look like some sort of decoration. “I’ve repaid another little toenail’s worth with this. That’s wonderful,” Tia said with another smile. Then she jumped again, the same way she had before, to hang the pelt back over its pole. But after that, as she turned back toward me, I noticed that the expression on her face suddenly looked all disappointed. “I’m sad, though, because I’ve heard the people of the forest’s edge only enjoy giba meat. Peifei meat can grant you great strength, so I wanted to give it to you too.”

“Ah, I see... But this meat hasn’t been bloodlet, right?”

“Yes. It’s been many hours since I finished it off, so I wasn’t able to extract the blood. Peifei blood grants great strength as well.”

“Huh? You drink peifei blood?”

“When we can’t extract the blood, we eat it along with the meat. There are many blessings to be gained from a peifei.”

As I was tilting my head in confusion, Bartha went ahead and offered another explanation.

“The blood of snakes and lizards is used to make medicine on Mount Masara. Gaaje and giba blood is rather toxic, but that varies from creature to creature.”

“Ah, I see. I’ve heard that you can eat karon raw too, if it’s fresh enough.”

But even so, butchers still bloodlet karon meat when processing it. I was naturally very curious to find out what peifei meat tasted like when the blood hadn’t been extracted from it.

Then again, I guess it’s probably dangerous to eat the meat of an unfamiliar animal. Tia and her people eat it, but I don’t know how it might impact other people. As soon as I had that thought, though, I immediately found it a little strange. Looking back, giba, karon, and kimyuus had all been unfamiliar beasts to me once upon a time, so it felt wrong to look at peifei as possibly being uniquely dangerous. This must be how the townsfolk felt when first eating giba meat, I thought. Then I turned to face Tia directly. “In that case, I’ll speak with the leading clan heads and Ai Fa about it. If they give their permission, I’ll accept it as a gift.”

“Really?” Tia asked, her eyes sparkling.

“Yeah,” I replied with a smile. “Plus, you didn’t seem all that fond of giba cooking, so maybe I could cook this meat for dinner tonight?”

“There’s no need to make dinner for me. I’ll be dying soon, so it would just be a waste.”

“Hey, that hasn’t been decided yet.”

“But there is no other option. I’m very glad I was able to repay you at least a little while I was still alive, though,” Tia said with another earnest smile. It was the same expression as before, but now it seriously pained me to see it.

My emotions must’ve been showing on my face, because Bartha then scratched her head and whispered into my ear, “There’s no need to look so worried. If Donda Ruu’s the kind of man I think he is, there’s no chance that he’ll say that she should be executed.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way, but still...”

“It’ll be fine. What I said before doesn’t just apply to Donda Ruu. No person of the forest’s edge would ever condemn such a pure and earnest girl. Honestly, she’s a lot more similar to the people of the forest’s edge than the townsfolk are, right?”

I understood what Bartha was saying painfully well. But even so, the people of the forest’s edge had recently sworn to live as citizens of the kingdom. That meant that when Marstein directly ordered us to do something, we couldn’t not do it.

How can we make sure that Tia stays safe...? Maybe Gazraan Rutim would be able to come up with something. As I stared at the smiling young girl, I felt overcome with the desire to protect her.

It would be quite late in the evening before my worries were cleared away.

“I see... So that’s why you accepted the meat of that peifei beast?” It was now night, and we were back at the Fa house. Ai Fa was sitting on the floor cross-legged, looking displeased again.

“Yeah, since the leading clan heads didn’t object. They just said they don’t approve of eating it raw.”

“Naturally. If you eat raw giba meat, you’ll become terribly ill. Consuming the uncooked meat of any animal should always be avoided.”

“Would you mind if I try grilling it as part of our dinner, though?” I asked. I was already preparing our evening meal, and I had a single slice of peifei meat sitting by the stove, ready to be cooked.

Still looking displeased, Ai Fa scratched her head and replied, “I can’t see much point in people of the forest’s edge eating meat that doesn’t come from a giba... Still, if that peifei is a beast of Morga, you could say that it is closer to a giba than karon and kimyuus are.”

“Thanks. In that case, I’ll grill this up for us.”

I excitedly placed a metal tray atop the stove and added a little reten oil. Peifei meat was all red, so if I tried to grill it completely dry, it would probably burn. As a pleasant sizzling sound filled the air, the thin slice of meat took on an ivory-white hue in no time at all. After sprinkling a bit of salt and pico leaves on top, I quickly flipped it over.

“It smells good, but its scent is certainly unique,” she noted. And she was right—its smell did differ quite a bit from that of giba, karon, and kimyuus. In my past life, I had eaten deer and sheep meat as well, and it didn’t match those either. “Asuta, I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, it’s fully cooked now. Sorry for the wait.”

I transferred the freshly grilled meat to a plate, put out the stove, then returned to my spot. Ai Fa then launched right into her premeal chant, and once that was done, I picked up the plate again.

“What do you think, Ai Fa? You can have half if you’d like.”

“I don’t need any.”

My clan head immediately grabbed her plate of keru-fried giba and started satisfying her hunger. After glancing at her for a moment, I used my handmade chopsticks to pick up the peifei meat.

Its smell really was distinctive. There was an herbal component to it, even though I hadn’t used any. Tia had said peifei didn’t go bad very quickly because they eat a lot of ramoramo leaves, so maybe the meat took on the scent of those leaves as well.

Well, at any rate, I’ve just gotta give it a try.

I went ahead and took a small nibble on the edge of the oval slice of meat. It seemed to be tougher than karon but less so than giba. As I chewed, a bit of meat juice came out of it, which tasted rather sweet, in a way that seemed like it might have come from fruit sugars. It had a very unusual flavor.

“That’s so odd.”

It didn’t resemble the meat of giba, karon, kimyuus, or any other animal. Aside from that fruity sweetness, there was a sharp sourness to it as well. It was also fairly resilient—I was chewing it, but it didn’t seem to want to break apart. It wasn’t sinewy, though, and had a very pleasant texture to it. And the more I chewed, the more the sweetness and the deep, delicious flavor seemed to fill my mouth.

“It wasn’t bloodlet, but the blood isn’t making it foul at all. It seems like really high-quality meat. I can understand why Tia thinks it’s so great,” I said as I glanced over at Ai Fa, and found my beloved clan head staring back at me. Even though she wasn’t saying anything, I could easily tell what she wanted, so I returned the partially eaten meat to my plate and smiled at her. “Should I prepare some for you too, Ai Fa?”

“That is unnecessary,” Ai Fa replied as she reached out toward me with a metal skewer. Then she pierced what was left of the slice of meat and popped the whole thing into her mouth.

“Clan head, isn’t that bad manners?”

“Quiet, you,” Ai Fa shot back as she chewed the meat. A moment later, her eyes shot open wide in surprise. “You only used salt and pico leaves on this meat, correct?”

“Yeah. But it’s still got a really rich flavor, doesn’t it?”

“I can see why the three great beasts of Morga would fight over the meat of these creatures.” It had such a mysterious flavor that even someone as stubborn as Ai Fa couldn’t help but praise it. However, she still looked just as displeased as she had before. “I’ve never seen such a creature in the forest before, though. It must not leave the mountain, like the three great beasts. That makes them irrelevant to us.”

“Yeah. But I’m glad that Tia’s gift turned out to be so delicious.”

“Hmph,” Ai Fa snorted, then she quickly slurped down some soup.

I breathed a sigh as I placed the empty plate on the floor. “You’re worried about Tia, aren’t you? I feel the same way.”

Ai Fa didn’t respond. She couldn’t, because it was a crime to lie, but I was sure that I hadn’t misjudged her feelings on the matter. She was definitely worried about what would become of Tia too.

The most efficient thing to do would be to leave Tia at the border between the forest and the mountain. That would abide by Marstein’s orders and satisfy Tia as well.

But that was the same as deliberately sending Tia’s soul back to Morga. Like she had said, with her body in that state, she wouldn’t be able to survive if she encountered something like a giant madarama snake. Even I was able to see that.

What would the leading clan heads decide that her fate should be? Both of us were thinking about that question as we quickly ate the rest of our meal. And right after we finished, Jirube barked once. There was a knock on the door at pretty much the exact same moment. Ai Fa rushed over to the entrance, and I hurried along after her. As soon as she opened the door, the person on the other side let out a hearty chuckle.

“Sorry for stopping by so late! Glad to see you looking well, Ai Fa, Asuta!”

“Dan Rutim. What are you doing here?” Ai Fa asked.

“Well, I was part of the discussions between the leading clan heads! And I felt like coming to see the two of you, so I decided to volunteer to be their messenger! Gazraan was worried about Ama Min, so he went straight back home, but he said to give you his regards!”

“I was going to come here anyway, so I don’t see why they needed a messenger,” Baadu Fou said as he stepped inside as well. And then, Tia’s small figure entered behind him. She was hanging her head deeply, and her long bangs were completely hiding her expression.

“So, what decision did the leading clan heads reach?” I hurriedly asked, and Dan Rutim gave another big chuckle.

“Naturally, we’re going to return the girl to Mount Morga! What other option is there? That’s the law of Genos, and it’s what she wants too!”

“Th-Then...we’re leaving her at the boundary between the forest and the mountain?”

“That’s right! We can’t go any farther than that, so she’ll have to return the rest of the way herself!”

I felt like all the strength was draining from my legs. Ai Fa bit down firmly on her lip. But all the while, Dan Rutim kept on cheerfully smiling.

“But we won’t return her to Morga until she’s regained her strength!” he said.

“Huh? What do you—?”

“In her current condition, she’d die to a madarama or her own people, so we’re going to shelter her here at the forest’s edge until her leg has healed enough!”

That came as a huge surprise to me. Ai Fa seemed shocked too as she stared at Dan Rutim.

“But...Duke Genos said that she should be disposed of, didn’t he?” my clan head asked.

“All the lord of Genos said was that we should treat her like a wild animal! And he forbade us from bringing her to town or accepting her as one of our people. But it shouldn’t be any issue to keep her in our care until she’s healed and then return her to Morga afterward, right?” Dan Rutim said, giving Tia’s hair a rough tousling. “Say, for example, that we saw a seriously injured varb wolf or madarama snake washing down the Lanto River! As long as it didn’t bare its fangs at us, we wouldn’t draw our blades on it either! So, since we’ve judged her to have a just heart, it makes sense to treat her the same way before we return her to Mount Morga, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Did you use that argument to persuade the leading clan heads, Dan Rutim?” Ai Fa asked.

“Oh, I wouldn’t call what I did ‘persuasion’! I just told them what I would do in that situation, and asked if they’d do the same! After all, I’ve had my life saved by a varb wolf twice now, so I know full well that the three great beasts of Morga aren’t monsters!”

“Exactly,” Baadu Fou added with a nod of his own. “It’s clear to anyone and everyone that this girl has a noble spirit, so the leading clan heads didn’t have much difficulty making their decision. Of course, the Beim and Rutim clan heads felt the same way, as did I.”

“Indeed! I’ve heard that you two have fought a madarama before, but that was because it threatened your lives, right? I know she attacked you too, Asuta, but she deeply regrets what she did, so there’s no need for us to respond with violence! You two do agree with that, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course!” I replied, feeling relieved. Then I knelt down beside Tia. “I’m so glad, Tia. Are you satisfied with this too?”

“I’m incredibly grateful for the kindness the people of the forest’s edge have shown me,” Tia said in a muffled voice. Her head was still lowered, but I could tell that she was sobbing. She cried and cried, and her tears rolled over those strange patterns on her cheeks. “I could not be happier at the thought of being able to live as a child of Morga once more... If all of you from the outside world forgive my sins and I regain the strength I need to be a hunter, I’m sure my people will welcome me back.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Now you just have to be patient until your leg heals up.”

“Yes... But before that happens, I need to make up for my other crime too,” Tia said, looking up at me with teary eyes. “I will atone for the sin of harming you before my leg is healed, Asuta. And then I’ll finally be fit to return to Morga.”

“Hold on. Are you saying you want to stay at the Fa house until then?” Ai Fa asked in a harsh tone, and Tia turned toward her with a look of confusion.

“If I’m not by Asuta’s side, I won’t be able to pay for my crime. But I won’t try to follow him to town. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! How long do you think it’s going to take for your leg to heal?! Do you really plan to live here for that long?!”

“When my father’s younger brother fractured his leg, he was able to return to full strength in less than a hundred days. I’m sure I’ll have my strength back by then too,” Tia said, smiling despite her tear-stained face. “Before those hundred days are over, I will repay Asuta. And if I lose my life to save his, it will simply be the will of Morga.”

“Yes, you are a truly fine person! That is why we’re choosing to help you get home!” Dan Rutim said with a hearty laugh, drowning out Ai Fa’s complaints.

And so, it was decided that the Fa clan would be welcoming in a most unusual guest.

Chapter 2: A Festival of the Hunt for Six Clans

1

The red savage girl Tia was now living with us at the Fa house.

That said, it wasn’t like this was a serious problem for us. Tia was obedient and she was mindful of the laws of the forest’s edge, so she was able to adapt to this new way of life rather smoothly. The one thing that was troubling to me was the fact that no matter how much I warned her about how she was risking making her wounds worse, Tia refused to leave my side.

“If the laws of the forest’s edge and the outside world do not permit it, I will obey. But otherwise, please allow me to stay with you so that I may atone for my crimes,” she had said.

And so, aside from the times when I headed to the post town, Tia shadowed me all day long. Of course, that didn’t cause any real harm in and of itself, but it made me feel kinda bad for Ai Fa.

Additionally, having Tia come along with me while I was gathering firewood and pico leaves was a bit of a concern. On our first day together, I had given up on it and let Ai Fa handle it alone, but I couldn’t keep doing that forever. I might have been able to leave the gathering work for our business up to the other clans, but it was the Fa clan’s way to gather all the firewood and pico leaves we needed for our own personal use ourselves.

“In that case, do as you please. But if you collapse in the forest or worsen your wounds, don’t expect me to lend you a hand!” Ai Fa had said, and the three of us had made our way to the outskirts of the forest together. However, it seemed that our concerns had been completely unfounded. Even with the ground being somewhat uneven in the forest, Tia had been able to keep up with us no problem by skillfully manipulating her crutch to stabilize herself.

Mount Morga was also covered in dense vegetation, so the girl was obviously used to dealing with that kind of environment. But what was really impressive was how Tia had remained barefoot, even while we’d been out foraging. She had apparently never worn shoes in her life, so the soles of her feet were as tough as leather, and even when she had stepped on rocks or thorny plants, it hadn’t seemed to hurt her.

So, despite our worries, it was looking like she would be able to accompany us when we went out gathering without any issues. However, we had ended up needing to have another discussion about bathing, since that was something Ai Fa and I did during our morning outings. On that first day when we had gone out together, Tia had insisted that she didn’t want to leave my side even when I was cleaning myself.

“If I can assist you with washing your body, Asuta, that is a means of atonement. I want to do everything I can to repay you,” she had insisted.

Naturally, Ai Fa refused that request with a disquieting tone in her voice. “At the settlement at the forest’s edge, if a man sees the naked body of an unmarried woman, his eyes are to be gouged out. You may not be one of our people, but as the clan head of the Fa, I will not allow Asuta to be put in that situation.”

“But I’m still only twelve. On Morga, you aren’t considered to be a man or a woman until you turn thirteen.”

“At the forest’s edge, you are a woman from the age of ten onwards! As long as you are not a member of the same family, you are not permitted to look at the naked flesh of another!”

Tia had frowned in dissatisfaction, but in the end, she had joined Ai Fa and the two of them had bathed together instead. Meanwhile, I was left leaning up against my usual boulder and watching over our stuff. On the other side of the large rock, I could hear Ai Fa and Tia having a lively chat.

“The people of the forest’s edge wash their bodies daily? We only do it once every few days.”

“Quiet, you. As long as you are living at the forest’s edge, you will abide by our customs.”

“How annoying. It’s uncomfortable waiting for your hair to dry after getting it wet, isn’t it?”

“It’s far more unpleasant to leave it dirty. Now sit still and behave.”

I could hear the sound of water splashing as they talked. Tia couldn’t remove the splint on her leg, so she must have been seated at the edge of the river as Ai Fa wiped her down.

“Your body has such a strange color to it that it’s hard to tell where you’re dirty.”

“You all are the ones with skin that’s brown like wet dirt, aren’t you? By the way, why is Asuta the only one with skin of a different color?”

“Because Asuta was born outside of the forest’s edge. But he is now one of our people, regardless of skin color.”

“I see. I went after Asuta first because he was the only one who looked different. Oh, and he looked pretty weak for a grown man too, so... Ai Fa, it hurts when you scrub my head that hard!”

“Silence! If you hadn’t harmed Asuta, I wouldn’t have to deal with this hassle!”

Tia never got angry, so Ai Fa always ended up being the one raising her voice. Honestly, it was kind of awkward for me to listen to.

“Ah, there’s one other thing I’ve been wanting to ask,” Tia said. “Did all of the kids the two of you have had join other houses?”

“What are you talking about? Asuta and I don’t have any children.”

“What? But you and Asuta aren’t parent and child or siblings, right? So if you’re family, what other option is there than the two of you being married?”

“I judged Asuta to be a good-hearted person and welcomed him in as a member of the Fa clan. That’s all there is to it,” Ai Fa stated, sounding perfectly calm and steely.

Unfortunately, Tia was a little too innocent to just leave it be at that. “Then did your husband pass away, Ai Fa? If you’re this old now, you must have had a lot of babies, right?”

“I haven’t given birth, because I live as a hunter.”

“Huh? But your breasts and butt are so big. A woman without children wouldn’t have a body like that, right?”

“That’s incorrect... And hey, where are you touching?!”

“But look at how weighty your breasts are! Wow, they’re so soft, but they’re heavy too! See, look?! Ow...! Why did you hit me?”

Naturally, that exchange left me holding the sides of my head as I was leaning against the boulder by myself. But yeah, that was more or less how our chaotic life with Tia was going.

The one other point of note was, unsurprisingly, dinner. While Tia was staying at the Fa house, I decided to take full advantage of the peifei meat by using it to make her meals for the time being.

“This is meat I gave you, so you should be the one to eat it, Asuta,” Tia had said on the first night. However, after a bit of wheedling, I was able to get her to agree to eat it.

“I was the one who was gifted the meat, so I’m free to use it however I want, aren’t I? Besides, a single peifei worth of meat will be gone within a few days regardless. You’ll have to eat giba meat until you’re fully healed after that, so you should enjoy it now while you still can.”

“Uh, but—”

“You eating peifei meat would make me happy, Tia. And making me happy is a way that you can repay me, right?”

Tia was skilled with words and very clever for her age, but she was extremely straightforward too, and that meant that she was unable to refute my somewhat shaky logic.

“Okay... If that’s what you want, Asuta, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“Thanks. So, what sort of food do you prefer, Tia? You clearly didn’t like the tau oil soup we had before.”

“On Morga, we eat meat layered with herbs. It’s prepared by boiling the meat together with herbs and tree nuts.”

I decided to have Tia do a taste test to see what sort of spices she liked, and the ones that she selected were an herb like lemongrass, a cumin-esque nut, and ira leaves and chitt seeds. Those last two were pretty similar to each other, both being a lot like chili peppers. All in all, it was a pretty stimulating collection of ingredients.

“I’m surprised. I wouldn’t have thought that there would be herbs with such intense flavors up on Mount Morga... That explains why making something so mild backfired on me,” I noted.

For Tia’s dinner, I prepared the herb-grilled meat recipe that Reina and Sheera Ruu had taught me and the arabiatta-style dish served at The Sledgehammer. It wouldn’t feel right to have her eat all of the peifei meat herself, though, so I prepared a small portion of the same dishes for myself and Ai Fa as well. When I tried them, it quickly became apparent to me that Tia preferred dishes with much stronger flavoring than Ai Fa did.

“I think I could call this delicious, certainly. It seems you aren’t that bad of a cook after all, Asuta,” Tia remarked with a satisfied smile.

Unsurprisingly, that made Ai Fa frown in displeasure again, but she remained silent. She was able to recognize that their tastes were very different, so the young girl’s complaints from before weren’t entirely unreasonable.

“Peifei meat tastes great if you just grill it by itself, but it pairs really well with these herbs too,” I said.

“Actually, it’s delicious even if you don’t cook it at all,” Tia replied. “My favorite way to have it is between two raya leaves before it dries out.”

As she was saying that, a certain question hit me. “By the way, the red people use fire regularly, don’t they? But I don’t think anyone’s ever seen smoke rising from Mount Morga or the light from your fires at night.”

“Of course you don’t. We hide the light and smoke from our fires so they aren’t visible from a distance. It would be dangerous if people from the outside world learned where our villages are, after all,” Tia said while enjoying the peifei meat I had prepared. “For the last several centuries, we haven’t had any big conflicts with people from the outside world. But if wicked outsiders were to come for us before the great god awakens, the people of Morga would surely be wiped out. That’s why we work so hard—to protect our bloodlines.”

“Ah, I see... Still, why did the red people and the people of the outside world decide to separate so completely? Since we speak the same language, it seems to me that the two groups must have lived together at some point.”

“I don’t know. All I know is that we revere different gods.”

Tia was still perfectly calm and composed, but I was getting rather interested in this topic. “It’s not just our language either. We share specific terms. For Mount Morga itself, and the creatures that live there... So there must have been some interaction in the past, right?”

“I couldn’t say. If so, it must have been hundreds of years ago.”

It didn’t seem like there was much of a chance that we’d be able to solve this grand mystery.

After that, the next few days were peaceful, yet lively for us as we got used to living with Tia. And all the while, the festival of the hunt for the six clans in our area was getting closer and closer.

“What’s a festival of the hunt?” Tia asked on the day of, standing in a corner of the kitchen. However, this wasn’t the Fa house’s kitchen, but rather one at the Fou settlement. Though the Liddo clan were the organizers for this event, the Fou had the only settlement that could easily accommodate all six clans, so that was where we were preparing the meal for the banquet once again.

“I’ve explained that to you before, haven’t I? It’s an important celebration here at the forest’s edge, to give thanks to the forest for the blessings it grants us.”

“Hmm. So you’re preparing a more complicated meal than usual for the event? I don’t really get it, but it sounds like a birth celebration.”

“Oh, so the red people celebrate birthdays too?”

“Yeah, whenever a new child is born to our people, and for every ten years that our leader lives.”

Saris Ran Fou, who was currently next to me, watching a pot on the stove, then smiled at Tia and asked, “So you track days and months on Mount Morga too? Our ancestors learned that stuff from the townsfolk, from what I understand.”

“Huh? On Morga, the only important day is the one where the great god’s eye blinks over the mountain. On that day, the red people become one year older.”

“Ah, so you all get a year older on the same day? The western people follow the same custom.”

It was now the fourth day since Tia had ended up at the forest’s edge, and she was able to interact normally with most members of the clans that neighbored us at this point. However, everyone was aware that getting too friendly with her would be going against the will of Genos, so they all seemed to be trying to maintain a proper distance. But even so, Tia was incredibly charming. Her earnestness and pure nature made her fit in with the people of the forest’s edge very well. That might have been part of the reason that everyone was being so careful to not get too friendly with her, actually, so they wouldn’t become attached.

“Okay! It’s almost time for the contests of strength between the hunters to begin! Make sure not to get started on anything you can’t finish in time so you don’t leave it half-done, all right?” the Liddo clan head’s wife energetically called out, she being the one in charge for today. She was about as tall as me and seemed to be about fifty percent more muscular. Fittingly for the wife of such a cheerful and openhearted guy, she was every bit as spirited as Mia Lea Ruu as well. “What do you think, Asuta? We should be on schedule for the moment, yes?”

“Yep. It looks like everything we’re working on right now is progressing as it should.”

“In that case, I’ll have to go check on things in the other kitchens! Ah, I’m so busy!”

As usual, I was the one who was really in charge. But not wanting to put all of the burden on me alone, from now on we were going to have a woman from the clan that was organizing the festival in command, at least officially. Radd Liddo’s wife seemed quite excited to have been given such an important task, and it looked like she was really enjoying herself.

Before long, there was a signal to gather out in the plaza. It was now the lower first hour, when the contests of strength would be starting. Now that we had finished the first half of our work, we felt ready to head outside.

As we did, Tia limped along next to me with her crutch. Once we reached the plaza, I quickly saw that the hunters of the six clans had already gathered there. Two young hunters had turned thirteen since the last festival of the hunt, so there were thirty-five of them in total. Those hunters-in-training who were participating for the first time had a mix of pride and nervousness on their youthful faces as they stood among the others.

Once the women who were taking a break from cooking and the young folks over the age of five were added to that, there were around eighty attendees in total. Among them, Sufira Zaza was the only one who didn’t belong to one of the six clans, instead acting as an observer. The other leading clans and the Beim had decided that watching our last festival of the hunt had been sufficient, meaning that in their judgment, there were no serious issues with having unrelated clans hold such an event together. The Zaza had probably only chosen to send an observer this time because two of their subordinate clans, the Deen and Liddo, were participating. In fact, Geol Zaza was supposed to come too in the evening after finishing his hunting work.

“Thank you for your hard work today, everyone! Now it is time for the contests of strength to begin!” Radd Liddo loudly declared as the one in charge for today, his gaze fixed on Tia. “But before that, I suppose I should offer an explanation regarding the red savage. I’m sure everyone has heard about this by now, but many of you have not seen her yet. Asuta, could I have you bring her over here?”

With that, Tia and I stepped forward closer to him. After looking down at the young girl with a smile, Radd Liddo turned his gaze back to the gathered crowd again. “As you all know, this girl is currently in the care of the Fa clan. Though we couldn’t officially invite her to this festival of the hunt, we don’t expect that she’ll get in the way, so she is permitted to stay here by Asuta’s side. From what I’ve heard, she’s banned from taking part in the banquet the Ruu clan will hold soon, but that’s only because townsfolk will be there, so it shouldn’t be any issue for us to do as we please.”

Radd Liddo was talking about the friendship banquet we would be inviting our acquaintances from town to. The date for that had been set for the first of the blue month, and Duke Marstein Genos had repeatedly told us not to allow Tia to participate. He had not extended that to today’s festival of the hunt, though, leaving that matter for us to decide based on our own judgment. He also hadn’t objected to our plan to allow her leg to heal before returning her to Mount Morga, so it seemed he generally trusted us to make the right decisions.

“If she causes any trouble, though, we’ll bind her hands and feet and toss her into a house! Make sure you keep that in mind, savage child!”

Tia looked out over the crowd with her usual guileless gaze, then gave a little bow of her head. There was a bit of murmuring among the people who hadn’t seen Tia in the last four days, but nobody seemed to be concerned or upset. That was no surprise; it wasn’t like any of the other clans had objected to the decision the leading clan heads had reached. On top of that, even when faced with this many people of the forest’s edge, Tia wasn’t intimidated in the least, maintaining her usual straight and resolute posture as her red eyes sparkled like those of a proud beast.

“Well then, that’s enough about the savage girl! Thank you, Asuta!”

“Of course, Radd Liddo.”

After taking a moment to glance at Ai Fa, I returned to the crowd of spectators. My clan head was, of course, focused on the contests of strength, and she had a serious look on her face.

“Now, we will begin with the target shooting contest! Everyone, please move over that way!” Radd Liddo said.

The crowd shifted over to the edge of the plaza. For this competition, they would be aiming at targets dangling from trees using bows and arrows.

“Last time, the champion of this contest was Cheem Sudra, head of a Sudra branch house! Let us all challenge him now, to see if his strength remains worthy of that title!”

Whether they were part of a large clan or a small one, the winner of a contest wasn’t considered a true champion until they demonstrated that they could emerge victorious repeatedly. Having Radd Liddo’s brash grin directed at him seemed to be making Cheem Sudra rather tense.

“I would like to start the event, but do you need a moment to ready yourself again, Ai Fa?” Radd Liddo asked.

“No. I have been using a bow regularly ever since we got our hunting dog, Brave, so there is no need for that.”

“Ah, of course! Then you must be even more skilled than last time! I’m looking forward to seeing how this goes!”

Last time, Ai Fa had lost to Masa Fou Ran in the semifinals of the single-elimination tournament, but for that match, she hadn’t used a bow and arrow in over two and a half years. She had also had excellent results in the other competitions aside from the weight pulling, so people seemed to be expecting a lot from her in the target shooting competition now.

“We will compete in groups of four once again! Let us begin with one each from the clans other than the Fa and Sudra, who are few in number!” Radd Liddo called out, and four hunters stepped forward.

In this competition, targets hanging from branches were sent swaying like pendulums, and the hunters tried to hit them with arrows. The targets were located ten meters away, and they had to fire three arrows in under ten seconds. As for the targets themselves, they were wooden boards about ten centimeters tall and wide with a mark drawn in the middle, and the competition was decided by how close to that mark their arrows landed.

Additionally, there were a few younger people standing off to the side who had been tasked with shaking the targets, while the little kids were given the job of counting the seconds. Personally, I found it really adorable to watch those little kids who were under the age of ten counting out loud with big smiles on their faces.

“I see. So it’s a competition of archery skills? That sounds like a fitting contest of strength for hunters,” Tia said, staring at the competitors with as much passion in her gaze as any of the women who were standing around us had. Of course, the women were getting excited because of how gallant all the men looked, but Tia seemed more interested in just seeing hunters like her in action.

“Oh yeah, you said the red people use bows when hunting too, right? Are you a good archer, Tia?”

“Yes. But unfortunately, my precious bow seems to have been carried off by the river,” Tia replied, her eyes positively sparkling as she watched the hunters compete. I even thought I could see her small body trembling with excitement.

“You look like you want to join in too.”

“Yeah, of course! But I’m not related to any of you, so I shouldn’t. I understand that.”

The competition was proceeding as the two of us chatted. As expected, the Sudra hunters, who were highly skilled with bows, all made it past the first round. Three more hunters who had put up good results last time—Masa Fou Ran, Jou Ran, and Toor Deen’s father—also advanced to the semifinals. My beloved clan head Ai Fa also made it past the first round with ease. She really was incredibly skilled in all kinds of ways, and her steady training had given her tremendous fortitude too.

Just the sight of my clan head firing off arrows was enough to elicit shrill cheers from all around us. It seemed that Ai Fa was as popular with the other women as always. Of course, I thought that she looked incredibly cool too as she shot her bow with a serious look on her face.

“All right, next you are to compete in groups of three!” Radd Liddo announced, having gotten knocked out in the first round but not sounding discouraged in the least. From what I had seen, hunters with large builds like him seemed to specialize in swords rather than bows.

The semifinals would narrow those nine hunters down to three. Ai Fa ended up getting matched with two strong opponents—Raielfam Sudra and Jou Ran, the latter of whom in particular was skilled enough to have competed with Cheem Sudra for first place in the previous archery contest.

“Those two are very skilled, but I’m certain that Ai Fa will win,” Tia said with a smile. Ai Fa never really acted sweet toward anyone, but Tia had gotten thoroughly attached to her after having lived with us for a few days. And sure enough, my clan head advanced, just as the young girl had predicted. Jou Ran lost first after missing the mark with one arrow, and in the rematch she also defeated Raielfam Sudra in a splendid display.

“You sure got the better of me, Ai Fa. I guess I should have expected as much from you,” Jou Ran remarked, smiling with drooping eyebrows.

Ai Fa didn’t say anything in response, but Raielfam Sudra glared at the young hunter on her behalf.

“You defeated me in the previous contest of strength, did you not?” he said. “You’re young, so you should be growing stronger over time, not letting an old man like me get the better of you.”

“That’s not so easy with a fine hunter like you, Raielfam Sudra.”

“I never said it would be easy...but you should be feeling more regret for your loss right now, and letting that motivate you to gain greater strength.”

“Ah, you have nothing to worry about, then. I’m just not the type to let that kind of thing show on my face,” Jou Ran explained with a smile.

With a strained smile of his own, Raielfam Sudra said, “Very well, then,” before turning the other way.

While they had been talking, the second round of the semifinals had already commenced. It ended with Cheem Sudra defeating a hunter from the Fou and one from the Sudra. Then, in the third match, Toor Deen’s father beat Masa Fou Ran and a young Sudra hunter. Toor Deen’s eyes welled up with tears of joy when she saw her father emerge victorious after having lost in the semifinals last time.

And so, the finals ended up being between Ai Fa, Cheem Sudra, and Toor Deen’s dad.

“Cheem Sudra is the only one among you who reached the finals last time! I must praise our two new finalists for having improved your skills so much since then!” Radd Liddo commented with a smile.

And with that, the finals began. It was once again a fierce competition. At the last one, it had taken only six rounds to declare the winner, but this time, all three of them were still in the running.

Ultimately, the match was decided in the eighth round. All three of them still hit the targets, but Cheem Sudra alone hit the mark in the center with all of his arrows, making him the champion once again.

“Splendidly done! Once again, the victor of the target shooting contest is Cheem Sudra!”

Men and women all cheered at that announcement. As for Cheem Sudra, he gave a big sigh, then turned to face Ai Fa and Toor Deen’s father.

“I was even more on edge than I am when hunting giba. You two are definitely worthy of being called champions as well, in my opinion.”

“Even so, you were the one to emerge victorious. I acknowledge your win with no reservations,” Toor Deen’s father stated with a very kind smile on his wrinkled face. He kind of reminded me of Ryada Ruu.

As she wiped the sweat from her brow, Ai Fa nodded and said, “Agreed.”

Hearing their exchange, both Ia Fou Sudra—Cheem Sudra’s wife—and Toor Deen broke out in huge smiles. I was certain I had a similar expression on my face too. In a contest of strength between hunters, there was no shame in losing, and their wonderful match was further proof of that.

2

The contests of strength between the hunters continued.

The next competition was weight pulling, which involved running five meters while pulling boards with multiple children riding on them behind you, their weights adding up to around seventy or eighty kilos. Naturally, in this competition, large and powerful hunters had an advantage. All of the Liddo hunters who had lost in the first round of the target shooting ended up doing very well. They and the Deen men tended to have the most robust builds among the six clans.

Unsurprisingly, it was none other than Radd Liddo who emerged victorious. Despite looking like he probably weighed a hundred kilos or so, he was a swift runner, just like Dan Rutim. And once again, none of the hunters had been able to overcome him.

Being at a disadvantage because of her build, Ai Fa barely managed to survive the first round and lost in the semifinals. Still, she didn’t look as frustrated as she had been last time. She must have resolved herself to yield the title of champion to another hunter, at least in this contest.

Following that was the tree climbing competition, which Ai Fa specialized in. However, there was a bit of an upset in the results. Ai Fa made it all the way to the finals without much trouble, but even though Jou Ran had put up a fierce fight against her last time, he actually lost to Toor Deen’s father. Jou Ran had a handsome face and a gentle nature, which made him very popular with the young women, so a lot of them cried out when he lost. While they were bemoaning his defeat, though, I whispered to Toor Deen, “That’s amazing. Your dad’s in the finals again.”

“Y-Yes, but Ai Fa’s with him, and she’s amazing too,” Toor Deen said, tearing up with joy once again. From what I had heard, her father had really been throwing himself into his training in order to atone for the depravity of the Suun clan. It was only natural that she’d be this happy to see the results of his efforts being made so apparent.

The lineup for the finals was Ai Fa, Raielfam Sudra, and Toor Deen’s father. Cheem Sudra had also been a finalist last time, but he had lost to Ai Fa in the semifinals.

“The people of the forest’s edge can climb trees rather quickly too. I didn’t think they would bother with that sort of thing, since they hunt giba, which stay on the ground,” Tia remarked, still looking elated.

The finals kicked off then, and as I had pretty much expected, Raielfam Sudra emerged as the champion once again, the same as last time.

“That older hunter seems kind of similar to us red people. Especially since he’s not as big as the others,” Tia muttered.

A question came into my mind, and I decided to go ahead and raise it with her. “Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking that you’re pretty small from your age, but are the red people small in general?”

“Hmm? I’m not big or small. I’m normal for a girl of twelve.”

“I see. Then, it is also normal for your grown men to be around the same size as Raielfam Sudra?”

“Yeah, that would be normal too, I’d say.”

Raielfam Sudra was shorter than Reina Ruu, probably less than 150 centimeters tall. If that was the average height for a grown man, then the red people were clearly rather diminutive on the whole.

“All right, now let’s take a bit of a break! I ask that the women please prepare a snack for us!” Radd Liddo called out, and we went to get to work on that, myself included. We were going to be cooking until half past the third hour, and in that time, the hunters would be treated to a simple meal and some chatchi tea in order to restore their energy.

Today’s snack was something akin to a hotdog, prepared with sausage and poitan bread. The hunters all sat down in the plaza and started enjoying the food, and before I headed back to the kitchen, I went over to see my clan head.

“Good work, Ai Fa. You got real close in the target shooting and tree climbing contests.”

As she sipped on her chatchi tea, Ai Fa nodded and replied, “Indeed.” And then she glared at the girl by my side. “Tia, you haven’t gotten up to any trouble, have you?”

“No. But watching all of you compete is making me feel kind of antsy. If my leg wasn’t injured, I’d probably be climbing a tree on my own right now,” Tia answered with a smile. As the days had passed, she had been smiling more and more. My clan head had the same strict expression as always on her face, though.

“Just make sure you don’t get in Asuta’s way.”

“I know. And I’ll be hoping that you become a champion, Ai Fa.”

My clan head gave a small sigh, then turned toward me and said, “The other chefs seem to have returned to their work. You should get back to your tasks as well.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll see you later, then.”

Whenever Tia was with me, Ai Fa didn’t really smile, which meant that I hadn’t seen her look truly happy in four days. That left me feeling a bit sad as I headed back to the kitchen.

Fortunately, the preparations for the banquet were going smoothly. We had been practising for tonight’s meal for the last several days, and the results were clear. We had split into three groups of chefs, with me, Toor Deen, and Yun Sudra taking charge of the teams. In the meantime, Radd Liddo’s wife was running all around, making sure there were no problems.

“It’s impressive how Ai Fa seems to have grown even stronger. I’m proud to call her my friend,” Saris Ran Fou said from the workstation beside me, her feelings clearly visible on her face.

“You were watching the contests of strength too, right, Saris Ran Fou?” I asked. “Oh, but you were in charge of watching over the young children for part of the first half, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I volunteered to look after them during the weight pulling. I was sure that target shooting and tree climbing were going to be the contests where Ai Fa’s true strength would be on full display,” Saris Ran Fou replied, breaking out in an embarrassed smile. Unmarried women were given the priority when it came to watching the contests of strength, but she had probably been watching Ai Fa with just as much passion. “I hope that Ai Fa manages to become a champion again. She’s most skilled at combat, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. But she’s great at target shooting and tree climbing too, and those events still went to other hunters.”

“You’re right. The Sudra are very skilled at those contests. Actually, I wonder who the pole tugging champion will be. Jou Ran won last time, but I imagine it’ll be a lot more difficult for him this time around.”

Jou Ran had done very well in all of the competitions during the last festival, but he had only won at pole tugging. However, I remembered part of the reason for his victory being the fact that he was left-handed. I didn’t think that the other hunters would go so far as to specifically practice to counter him, of course, but he definitely wouldn’t have as much of an advantage as before.

“Well, Jou Ran is still young, so there’s a lot he can learn from losing. It all comes down to the forest’s guidance,” Saris Ran Fou stated, speaking as Jou Ran’s cousin. That was the last thing either of us said on the topic.

An hour and a half later, the contests of strength resumed.

The fourth event was pole tugging, in which the hunters each grabbed the end of a pole with one hand and competed to steal it away from one another. The participants each stood on top of a thick, square wooden plank, thirty centimeters on each side, and if they stepped off of it, they lost. In order to win, you needed good reflexes, a lot of strength that you could use in quick bursts, and the ability to read your opponent’s breathing.

The pairings were decided with lots that were made using vines. How hunters matched up against each other made a huge difference here, so they were very strict about making sure the pairings were properly randomized. It only took a moment for the seventeen pairs to be assigned, with the Ran clan head getting the bye.

The women and young children watched intently as the first matches got started. Ai Fa, Baadu Fou, Radd Liddo, Raielfam Sudra, and Cheem Sudra were all people I was close to who easily advanced past the first round. Meanwhile, the skillful archer Masa Fou Ran faced off against a burly Liddo hunter and ended up on the ground in no time.

The final match of the first round was between Jou Ran and Toor Deen’s father, a matchup that we had seen in the semifinals last time. Since this was a one-on-one event, the semifinals wouldn’t be until the fourth or fifth round. The two of them had gotten that far last time, but were facing each other immediately now.

As the two hunters faced each other on top of their respective boards, Toor Deen watched them with a prayer in her eyes. When Jou Ran had beaten her father as the only left-handed person in the tournament before, the young girl had called it unfair. I almost never heard her criticize others, so it had left a strong impression on me.

How will things go this time, though? I’m sure her father’s mentally prepared to fight a left-handed opponent now.

Personally, I wanted to cheer for Toor Deen’s father too. It wasn’t like I had anything against Jou Ran, but I felt a strong need to support the person who was most important to the young chef I was so close with.

And then, the match began...only to quickly end in a truly unexpected manner. Radd Liddo shouted, “Begin!” and Toor Deen’s father immediately pulled with incredible strength. There was nothing odd about that in and of itself. He was just launching the first attack. What was shocking was how the pole instantly flew right out of Jou Ran’s hand. He clearly hadn’t been prepared for his opponent to take such quick action.

“It’s over! What splendid skill! You’ve improved quite a bit, haven’t you, Zei Deen?!”

Apparently, that was the name of Toor Deen’s father. I turned toward the young chef and found that she was stunned by the outcome. After a few seconds, though, joy crept across her face, and she threw her arms around me and cheered, “He did it!”

“Yeah, I’m glad. He was so fast just now that I couldn’t even see what happened,” I replied with a smile, and then Toor Deen’s face went bright red as she stepped back.

“O-Oh, sorry! I-I lost control of myself there.”

“No worries. I really am happy for you, Toor Deen.”

Still blushing, the young girl lowered her head and said, “Thank you.”

On my other side, Tia was nodding solemnly. “His attack was very impressive. It might have even caught me off guard.”

That was only the first round, though. Toor Deen’s father Zei Deen and Jou Ran stepped away from where the rest of the matches were ongoing, and a short while later, it was time for the second round. The number of participants had now been narrowed down to eighteen. After a close match, Ai Fa triumphed over Baadu Fou. Raielfam Sudra, Cheem Sudra, Radd Liddo, and Zei Deen also won. There were now nine hunters left in the running.

In the third round, Ai Fa ended up against Radd Liddo, the hunter with the most monstrous physical strength out of everyone in the six clans. He gave Ai Fa a lot of trouble, but in the end, she still managed to emerge victorious. A slender hunter like her triumphing over such a massive man made people cheer and start chattering to each other about her win all around us. Naturally, I stealthily made a joyful little sound myself.

“Hmm. So, I’ve now lost to you in pole tugging as well, Ai Fa! You certainly are quite the hunter!”

Radd Liddo had lost to Ai Fa in the combat competition last time. And yet, he seemed to be smiling at her without any reservations as she breathed heavily, her shoulders heaving as she nodded back.

After that, Raielfam Sudra beat the Deen clan head and Zei Deen triumphed over Cheem Sudra. A hunter from the Fou and another from the Liddo moved on too. It was amazing how much the matchups could change the outcome in a one-on-one competition. The only people who had gotten to this point last time as well were Ai Fa, Raielfam Sudra, and Zei Deen.

In the next round, Zei Deen faced the Fou hunter while Ai Fa went up against Raielfam Sudra, with the Liddo hunter getting the bye. Zei Deen won his match quickly enough, while the second was so close that it must’ve dragged on for five whole minutes before Ai Fa finally triumphed. She had made it into the finals.

After a short break, the semifinals between the Liddo hunter and Zei Deen began, with Zei Deen winning yet again, meaning he would be up against my clan head in the finals.

“Hmm. If I look at the two of them the way I normally would, I feel like Ai Fa should be the winner,” Tia muttered beside me and Toor Deen. I was sure that all three of us were feeling our hearts pounding in our chests. “But I’m not so sure... Asuta, would Ai Fa go so far as to let herself be injured in order to win?”

“Huh? Nobody should ever get hurt in a pole tugging competition. And if you injure your opponent in the combat competition that’s coming next, you get disqualified.”

“But if she pushes herself too hard, she will get injured. What would Ai Fa choose in that case?”

I didn’t get what Tia meant, but I understood once the match was over. It was another extremely close bout that went on for over five minutes, and I watched with bated breath, wondering just how it would end. But then, Ai Fa finally let go of the pole.

Zei Deen, who had been tugging with all his might, fell over and landed hard on the ground. With his brow furrowed in confusion, the man glared up at my clan head.

“Ai Fa, you released the pole intentionally, didn’t you? Why did you do that?”

“Because I believe the skin on my palms would have been seriously damaged if I had continued. It likely would have taken more than half a month for my hands to heal, so there was no way I could keep going,” Ai Fa calmly replied while rubbing her right palm. “Darmu Ruu of the Ruu clan suffered a similar wound in battle with the lord of the forest, and he was forced to stop hunting for quite some time afterward. I chose to stop because it’s improper to let yourself suffer an injury like that in a contest of strength.”

“I can’t see how our match could’ve caused you to be injured that badly... But thinking back, you did fight the Fou, Liddo, and Sudra clan heads to get here.” Zei Deen then rose to his feet and turned toward Radd Liddo, who was acting as judge. “I don’t feel as if I won with my own strength. Am I still to be declared the victor?”

“Of course! That is why we leave it up to the mother forest to decide who we compete against! You have nothing to worry about!” And then, Radd Liddo turned toward Ai Fa with a smile. “You showed excellent spirit as well, Ai Fa! If it had been me, I definitely would’ve gotten all hotheaded and refused to let go, even if it meant getting injured!”

“Hmph. You did hurt my hands quite a bit with your ridiculous strength, you know,” Ai Fa said, clearly trying very hard to keep herself from frowning.

Then, with an even brighter smile, Radd Liddo raised his right hand and declared, “The pole tugging champion is Zei Deen! Let us celebrate our new champion!”

Everyone erupted in cheers all at once, as if they had been waiting for that moment. Toor Deen, meanwhile, was staring at her father with tears in her eyes. I was pretty annoyed that Ai Fa had lost without being able to give her all, but that didn’t do anything to devalue Zei Deen’s win, so I was able to celebrate his victory with no real regrets.

“Now then, at last we come to the final contest of strength! Everyone, show the mother forest your skill!”

A loud roar erupted from the hunters. The final competition would be the combat one. Last time around, Ai Fa had also failed to become a champion up until this last competition, coming close each time only to suffer a narrow defeat.

“She even made it to the final three in target shooting. It’s amazing that her results have been so good in everything aside from the weight pulling,” Saris Ran Fou said. But it was easy to see the worry and anticipation swirling around in her eyes. Mine probably looked the same. We both were praying that our dear companion Ai Fa would be granted the honor that her strength warranted.

“Hmm. So the final contest is grappling? How interesting. All these big hunters are grappling like children,” Tia said not long after the competition began. She lacked the ability to use sarcasm, so she was being totally serious there, and the passion burning in her eyes was as strong as ever as she watched.

In the first match, Ai Fa was up against a large Liddo man, who she managed to take down in seconds. I was relieved that her tender palms didn’t seem to be holding her back. After that, various notable hunters won one after another. Perhaps thanks to the forest’s guidance, there weren’t any first-round clashes between powerhouses this time around.

Including the hunter who got the bye, eighteen moved on to the second round, and this time, Cheem Sudra and Jou Ran ended up fighting one another. The two of them were the young hopes of their respective clans and had fought each other last time too. Jou Ran had just barely managed to win.

The spectators were cheering louder than ever before as they watched the match. There actually seemed to be a pretty intense rivalry between the two sides. Cheem Sudra was the faster of the two, but Jou Ran was very skilled in a lot of different ways, and neither side was giving their opponent any openings.

In the end, though, Cheem Sudra was the one who emerged victorious. Jou Ran extended his arm to the side a bit too much, and Cheem Sudra was able to grab it. Then he slid one of his hands up to the shoulder of his opponent’s clothing and sent Jou Ran to the ground with a shoulder throw.

Ia Fou Sudra—Cheem Sudra’s wife—was hugging Yun Sudra as they both shrieked with joy. There were cheers coming from all around too. In the middle of all their celebrating, Jou Ran sat up and stared at Cheem Sudra with a sad look in his eyes.

“Um, I know that there’s no point in bringing this up...but at the last banquet, you said I was the stronger hunter between us, didn’t you?” he asked.

I remembered Cheem Sudra saying that. Geol Zaza had asked if the five champions were stronger than him, and Cheem Sudra had replied that the other four all were, Jou Ran included.

“Back then, that certainly felt true. But that was months ago now,” Cheem Sudra quietly replied, holding out his hand toward Jou Ran. “And we both have a ways to go as hunters, after all. As members of two clans that are subordinates of the Fou, we always need to keep training.”

“Yes. You’re right,” Jou Ran said, taking Cheem Sudra’s hand and letting himself be pulled to his feet. The two young hunters then walked away from the center.

A little later on, Ai Fa faced off with Zei Deen, and my clan head easily emerged victorious. After he was brought down with an arm twist technique that looked like an aikido move, he stared up at her with an intense light shining in his eyes. “You truly are exceptionally strong. My victory in pole tugging really was just luck.”

“That’s not true at all. Saying things like that is making light of the other opponents you defeated in that competition,” Ai Fa said, her expression calm and her eyes gleaming softly. “And besides, I wouldn’t have been forced to let go if you weren’t such a skilled hunter. You should be more proud of yourself as someone who has the strength to claim the title of champion.”

Zei Deen silently looked up at Ai Fa for a little longer, and then he slowly rose to his feet. His eyes now had a soft gleam in them too as he faced her. “In any event, you are the victor of our match. Show the mother forest that you also possess enough strength to be called a champion.”

The two then walked away as voices cheered all around them.

Nine competitors once again moved on to the third round, and in the first match, Raielfam Sudra was able to defeat Radd Liddo. Though the latter was a hunter who possessed incredible strength and agility, Raielfam Sudra was even nimbler still, and won by sweeping Radd Liddo’s legs out from under him.

“You beat me! If the Fou hadn’t gotten you first, I would’ve loved to form blood ties with the Sudra!” Radd Liddo remarked with a hearty laugh.

The five hunters in the fourth round were Ai Fa, Raielfam Sudra, Cheem Sudra, Baadu Fou, and the Deen clan head. My clan head went up against Baadu Fou first, and she won an overwhelming victory. Though he had been tough for her to overcome in the pole tugging competition, in combat she had Baadu Fou down on the ground in seconds.

Because she had only ever been able to train with her father as a child, Ai Fa was very used to handling tall opponents, and a tall and skinny guy like Baadu Fou had a high center of gravity, which might have made it even more difficult for him to keep her from throwing him. The man was an exceptionally strong hunter, but he wasn’t able to do much of anything when facing my clan head.

The next match was between Raielfam and Cheem Sudra, and it made for quite a spectacle too. The two of them excelled in agility even among the Sudra hunters, so their bout was incredibly fast-paced. On top of that, they had fought each other in lots of contests of strength within their clan in the past, so they knew each other very well. At no point did their speed ever start to drop as their match stretched on, which only made the crowd more and more excited as time went on.

In the end, Raielfam Sudra was the one who emerged victorious, which, being the head of their clan, was pretty fitting. He shot forward like a speeding bullet and hit Cheem Sudra with a really low tackle, bringing the young hunter down at last.

“You came very close. The only thing you have to do is keep up with your training,” Raielfam Sudra stated, sounding kind of like he was bragging to everyone else about how much the young hunter had grown. When Cheem Sudra looked up at his clan head, it was easy to see how much he respected the man.

After a short break, Ai Fa faced the Deen clan head in the semifinals. He was a man of average height who had a robust build, and he proved to be very tenacious, but he eventually fell when his legs were swept out from under him.

And so, we came to the final match. Surprisingly, the two finalists were the same as last time, with Ai Fa facing off against Raielfam Sudra.

“That older hunter has some rather interesting moves. If punches and kicks are forbidden, Ai Fa will probably have some real trouble,” Tia said.

Just as she had predicted, their match was every bit as intense as last time. Ai Fa could beat most hunters in no time flat, but she couldn’t avoid getting pulled into a protracted battle when she went up against Raielfam Sudra.

Ai Fa was less muscular than most men, so she usually won by reading her opponent and choosing the perfect moment to strike. But Raielfam Sudra was a head shorter than she was and extraordinarily agile, so things were entirely different with him.

Naturally, Ai Fa also excelled when it came to agility and maneuverability. It was just that Raielfam Sudra exceeded even her in that regard. He would constantly jump from left to right, or even occasionally plunge straight forward, moving about like a wild monkey.

Just like the match with Cheem Sudra, watching their bout was like watching a fight between two acrobats. Their back-and-forth continued relentlessly, until Ai Fa suddenly came to a complete halt. She stopped following Raielfam Sudra’s movements, and simply stood there before him. With a look of great caution in his eyes, the Sudra clan head retreated three meters back. However, Ai Fa remained completely still, keeping her gaze focused straight ahead even when he started moving around to her left.

“What’s going on? Did she give up on the match?”

“Trying to make him drop his guard is a waste of time!” a particularly enthusiastic man shouted out.

Indeed, Raielfam Sudra wasn’t showing any signs that he was getting careless. He remained completely vigilant as moved around behind my clan head.

Ai Fa’s eyes still didn’t turn. Raielfam Sudra circled around until he was behind her and a bit to one side, and then he finally darted forward, launching into a low tackle like the one that had defeated Cheem Sudra. The moment his fingers were just about to reach her knees, though, Ai Fa’s hand came straight down at Raielfam Sudra’s back from above. Her wide-open palm slapped hard into the man’s back, and in the same moment she swung her left leg upward to avoid his grasp.

Since he wasn’t able to support himself by grabbing onto Ai Fa’s leg, the blow from directly above forced Raielfam Sudra’s body to hit the ground and slide forward for some distance. As she lowered her leg back down, Ai Fa breathed a heavy sigh.

“Ai Fa is the victor! She is our combat champion!” Radd Liddo declared, his voice followed by an explosion of cheers.

Raielfam Sudra sprang back up and faced my clan head. “You really got me good there. How were you able to do that when you couldn’t see me, though?”

“I gave up on using my eyes and focused solely on sensing your presence in other ways. If I had made even a tiny mistake, I would have been the one on the ground instead,” Ai Fa explained, slumping her shoulders. “Still, I’m exhausted. If you hadn’t moved so soon, I would have had no choice but to go with a different strategy.”

“You truly are quite the hunter... I am deeply glad to be able to call the Fa clan friends,” Raielfam Sudra said with a big, wrinkly smile.

The corners of Ai Fa’s eyes crinkled like she was smiling. “I feel the same way, Raielfam Sudra.”

That relaxed exchange earned them even more cheers and applause from the crowd, myself included, naturally. Then I felt something well up deep inside me that I couldn’t hold back, and I shouted out, “Congratulations, Ai Fa! You were so cool!”

Amid all the cheering, I thought my voice might not have reached her. But just as I was thinking that, Ai Fa turned toward me, with a huge smile on her face that she clearly couldn’t hold back either. She usually never smiled in front of so many people. It was the first time in four days that I had seen her beaming grin.

3

It was now sunset, the lower sixth hour.

As the sun disappeared from the sky, the ritual flame was lit, and the banquet finally began. The five hunters who had emerged from the contests of strength as champions were sitting on a platform constructed out of logs. Since Radd Liddo was one of them, his oldest son and heir took charge of the event from that point forward instead.

“Now then, it is time to give our five champions their crowns to celebrate their victory! Firstly, the target shooting champion, Cheem Sudra!”

Cheem Sudra’s lips tightened as he slowly rose. When a Liddo woman stepped forward and placed a grass crown atop his head, everyone in the plaza cheered for him again.

“The weight pulling champion, Radd Liddo!”

After his son called his name, Radd Liddo stood up too, smiling as he was crowned.

“The tree climbing champion, Raielfam Sudra!”

With his usual solemn expression, Raielfam Sudra accepted the crown. Up until this point, all of the champions were the same as they had been last time.

After taking a quick breath, the Liddo heir announced the next name. “The pole tugging champion, Zei Deen!”

A louder round of cheering reverberated throughout the plaza. Though we had all gathered together for this banquet as equals, it was only natural that people would be especially happy to see one of their relatives crowned as a champion, so the members of the Deen and Liddo clans were all cheering for Zei Deen with all their might.

Toor Deen had made sure to grab a hand towel in preparation for this moment. As soon as her father’s name was called, tears started streaming down her face as her small body trembled.

“The combat champion, Ai Fa!”

My clan head’s name was finally called, and the cheers grew even louder still. There were plenty of shrill shrieks from the young women who loved how gallant she had looked. And of course, the men were shouting out with just as much passion.

“Four of these five champions are the same as last time! That is proof that they possess true, unshakable strength! Our new champion, Zei Deen, and Jou Ran who lost his title this time, as well as those of us who failed to claim victory must continue to hone our skills in order to measure up to them!” the Liddo heir declared, earning a hearty response from the hunters.

He then held up a container of fruit wine and declared, “Now, let us begin this banquet! Members of the Fa, Fou, Ran, Sudra, Deen, and Liddo, give your thanks to the mother forest and make the strength of this blessing your own!”

“Thanks to the mother forest!” everybody shouted out in response. Incredible passion filled the air, no less intense than what I had experienced at the Ruu clan’s banquets. After repeating the chant myself, I walked over to a simple stove set up at the edge of the plaza.

“You still have more work to do, Asuta?” Tia asked as she followed along after me.

“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “I have to serve the food now. Enjoying the banquet myself will have to wait until after that.”

“I see. Then I will wait until you’re done working as well.”

Tia must have been feeling pretty hungry by now. Despite her small figure, her appetite was as hearty as Ai Fa’s. Still, this wouldn’t take all that long, so she would only have to endure for a little while longer.

“Now then, this should be ready to eat shortly. I just need everyone to wait a moment while the pasta finishes boiling.”

Once again, I was in charge of two types of pasta. Like last time, one was a giba bone soup, while the other featured a meat sauce. Both of them were really popular, so there was no way we could remove them from the lineup.

Giba bone soup took a fair bit of time and effort to make, so to the small clans, it was one of the most luxurious dishes they could imagine. During the Sudra clan wedding celebration, I had gone with a gnocchi-style pasta, but today I had made it in more of a spaghetti style, ending up with a soup and pasta dish that reminded me of tonkatsu ramen.

The bone soup had a rich white broth. I hadn’t held back at all with it, filling it with tino, nenon, nanaar, and the mushrooms that resembled cloud ears and common mushrooms. I had also prepared a huge amount of giba rib char siu for it.

“Asuta, five plates of each over here! We’ve got to serve the champions first!”

“Got it! It’ll be finished boiling soon, so hold on just a little longer.”

I wouldn’t be able to congratulate Ai Fa until I was done with this. I had to drop loads of pasta into the boiling pots in several batches before there was enough. Then I flipped over an hourglass and got to work on some other things.

Fifteen minutes later, a large figure approached my stove.

“Asuta of the Fa clan, huh? It feels like it’s been quite a while.”

“Oh, Geol Zaza. Did you just arrive?”

“Yeah. I’m about to go greet the heads of the six clans,” Geol Zaza replied, a deep shine in his eyes as he looked down at me with a giba pelt over his head. Then his gaze shifted over to Tia. “So, that’s the red savage, huh? She really does have a strange appearance, just like my old man said.”

Tia stared up at Geol Zaza with an unflinching gaze, devoid of even a hint of fear. “I remember that amusing outfit. Are you family to the leading clan head Gulaf Zaza?”

“Yeah. I’m Gulaf Zaza’s son, Geol Zaza.”

“I see. I’m deeply grateful for the kindness the leading clan heads showed me,” Tia replied with a casual bow of her head.

“Hmm...” Geol Zaza stroked his chin in exactly the same way that his father did. “I’ve heard that she’s even stronger than our hunters are, but I’m not very good at sensing that kind of thing. Is this little girl really that strong?”

“I saw the strength of the hunters of the forest’s edge a little while ago. I’m sure they would be stronger than me in a battle on the ground,” Tia said.

“On the ground?”

“Yes. The red people don’t fight on the ground much, since it’s really dangerous to take on madarama like that.”

“I don’t really understand, but it’s not like the people of the forest’s edge and the red savages would ever cross blades anyway...so I guess there’s no point in trying to measure your strength,” Geol Zaza said with a shrug of his burly shoulders, then he turned back toward me. “Anyway, I’m gonna go greet the clan heads. That food’s not gonna be gone before I get back though, is it?”

“Of course not. We prepared a lot more than last time.”

“That’s good... Also, where’s Toor Deen?”

“Toor Deen? She should be manning a stove somewhere on the other side of the ritual flame. I’m sure Sufira Zaza will be there with her.”

“I see,” Geol Zaza grumbled. Then he walked away. He was as intense as always, but he didn’t seem as rough as he used to be. Or maybe we had just gotten a little closer after that candid conversation we’d had with each other during the whole incident with Sufira Zaza and Leiriss.

We haven’t really had many chances to interact, but I’d like to get closer to everyone at the northern settlement too, I thought as people started approaching me one after another. Now that the festival of the hunt we had all been waiting so long for was finally happening, everyone looked positively overjoyed. And naturally, I shared in their joy even while I was hard at work. To me, festivals of the hunt were the most exciting events that ever happened at the forest’s edge.

The sun had fully set by this point, so we only had the light from the ritual flame to rely on now. It shone brightly in the darkness that surrounded us, illuminating my comrades who were all so full of life. The young women were all dressed up in their banquet attire, while the men were casually drinking from containers of fruit wine. I’d seen sights like these many times now, but they never got any less exciting. Before I had come to the forest’s edge, I had never had a chance to see an event so filled with passion and vigor. It felt like something out of the pages of myth, and I found it incredibly moving.

The people of the forest’s edge had pledged to live as citizens of the kingdom, but it was important that they never lost the passion that defined them. Not that I could even imagine that ever happening anyway. As long as the forest remained their mother, they would continue to be steadfast, zealous, joyful, and blessed.

“Everyone’s acting all excited like children,” Tia suddenly muttered. After throwing some fresh pasta into the pot I turned to look at her, and saw her rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. “You don’t have to worry about me. I was just thinking about my family,” she told me before I could say a single world.

After flipping over the timer and adding more firewood to the stove, I smiled and asked, “Are the red people’s banquets as lively as this?”

“The red people don’t light fires like this even during big events. But we bring out special wine, and everyone shares their joy with each other.”

“Oh? You make wine on Mount Morga too?”

“Of course. If you crush up peruli fruit and seal it in a numo shell, you can make delicious peruli wine out of it,” Tia said, and then she wiped her eyes one more time.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to return to your family once you’ve healed up.”

“But before I do, I need to repay you, Asuta. And at the rate I’m going, I don’t see how I’ll be able to finish before a hundred days are up.”

“Well, we can put some more thought into that later,” I replied, and then I heard a woman’s energetic voice call out from some distance away, “Sorry for the wait! Our oven-cooked dishes are ready now!”

Today, we had tried making some dishes that required an oven to prepare. One was the gratin that had been so popular at the recent Ruu banquet, as well as the tarapa and dried milk dish I had unveiled in the castle town, which had lots of gnocchi-style pasta in it.

The women who were appearing from behind the main house were working in pairs to carry out a series of large heat-resistant plates on wooden boards. The people who were enjoying the banquet throughout the plaza gradually started streaming over that way.

“They’ve got quite a crowd over there. Asuta, around half of the pasta seems to be gone now, so how about taking a break for a bit?” the Ran woman working alongside me suggested.

“All right,” I answered with a nod. The giba bone soup with pasta was really popular. Half of it had vanished in no time at all, so we stepped away from the stove, planning to return later to let people keep enjoying it in the back half of the banquet.

“I was thinking about going to talk to Ai Fa for a bit before having dinner, but what do you say?” I asked Tia.

“That would be fine. I will follow you wherever you want to go, Asuta,” she replied.

I was worried that making her way through the crowd with a crutch might be difficult, but Tia didn’t have any trouble keeping up with me. Since Tia’s skills were on par with those of the hunters of the forest’s edge, or were even greater, it seemed like I didn’t really have much need to worry about her.

As we approached the platform where the winners were, we found that things were pretty lively there too. Of course, that was pretty much guaranteed to be the case wherever Radd Liddo was, plus there were a bunch of people crowding around to offer their congratulations.

Naturally, there were tons of people visiting Ai Fa too, despite how unsociable she was. Working my way through them all to get close enough for her to hear me was quite a challenge on its own. I ended up off to the side of the platform the champions were sitting crosslegged on, which was about a meter tall.

“You were amazing, Ai Fa. Congratulations again.”

Ai Fa turned my way with a warm gaze and said, “Thank you.”

“Have you been able to eat? If you want anything, I’ll bring it to you.”

“No. So much food is being delivered that I cannot eat it fast enough. You’re the one who should be eating,” Ai Fa said, and then she furrowed her brow a bit. “But first, have Brave and Jirube been properly fed?”

“I think they should be fine, but I’ll go check on them to be safe.”

Still looking rather serious, Ai Fa said “Please do.” Then the intensity of her gaze softened. For the time being, that was enough to satisfy my desire to speak with her. We’d be able to take our time chatting when it was just the two of us later, so I felt that it would be best to give other people a chance to talk to her now.

Though, I guess lately, Tia’s always been around too, I thought as I headed over to one of the branch houses. As I stepped in front of the entrance, I heard Jirube bark once. Rather than being a warning, though, that was him greeting me as a member of his family. I could feel his affection as I knocked on the door.

“It’s Asuta of the Fa clan. Is it all right if I come in?”

“Go ahead,” a familiar voice replied. As I opened the door, Jirube, Brave, and the Fou hunting dog all came rushing over to me. “What is it, Asuta? Do you have some sort of message to deliver?” Saris Ran Fou asked me from where she was seated inside the main hall.

Raielfam Sudra’s wife, Li Sudra, was there beside her too, and the children surrounding them who were younger than five and couldn’t attend a banquet yet looked like they were having a great time. The dogs and kids were all being looked after in the same house.

“No, I came to see how Brave and Jirube were doing. I didn’t know you were here too, Li Sudra.”

“Yes. I have children who are still drinking milk, so I’ve been staying in here as much as possible.”

Currently, the infants she had mentioned, Hodureil and Asura Sudra,were sleeping beside her in a woven basket. Despite all of the noise around them, they both looked to be fast asleep. And then, Saris Ran Fou’s son, Aimu Fou, toddled over to me. I said “Good evening” to him, and he broke out in a bashful smile. “Have the dogs finished eating?” I asked. “If they haven’t yet, I can help feed them.”

“Oh, we gave them some meat and bones a little while ago. Is it really all right to give Jirube nothing but meat, though?”

“Yeah. Once every couple of days, we give him some vegetables and fuwano too, but for today, just meat is fine.”

That was something we had made sure to confirm with his former owner, Dregg. Lion dogs were the result of selective breeding using dogs from Jagar that only ate meat, so giving him fuwano and vegetables once every couple of days was enough to maintain his health.

“You should enjoy the banquet too, Asuta. I managed to find time to go congratulate the champions a little while ago,” Li Sudra said with a graceful smile. She was still a bit rounder than she had before her pregnancy, which gave her an even softer and kinder appearance.

“Thank you. Before I go, though, could I see the babies for a moment?”

“Yes, of course.”

I released the strap on my leather sandals and stepped into the main hall. Tia was barefoot, but she avoided the hassle of having to wash her feet by following on her hands and her left knee. When they noticed that the red savage had arrived, the kids’ eyes all shot wide open.

The twin infants were both sleeping peacefully. They were really tiny—it had still been less than a month since they’d been born. They seemed to have put on quite a bit of fat, sure, but they were still so little. Just being able to look at their adorable sleeping faces was enough to fill my heart with joy.

“Your babies are so small. Do such tiny infants really grow into people who’re that big?” Tia asked as she stared intently at the babies. Looking at her face from the side, I could easily see the affection she already had for them. “They’re cute too. Are babies treasures to the people of the forest’s edge too?”

“Yes, of course,” Li Sudra calmly replied, earning a satisfied smile from Tia.

“So you’re their mother? I hope that you birth many more children and bring blessings to your people.”

“That’s what I wish for too.”

“Good,” Tia said with a nod. Then she shot me a smile too. “You too, Asuta. Ai Fa is a fine hunter, so I’m sure she’ll give birth to strong children.”

“S-Stop that. If Ai Fa heard that, she’d hit you again.”

“I see. Before that can happen, the two of you have to get married first. You should hurry up and do that and start making babies. That will bring more strength to your people.”

The troubles that Ai Fa usually had to deal with were falling on me instead today. It wouldn’t have been that big of a problem if it had just been the two of us at least, but she had said that right in front of Saris Ran Fou and Li Sudra, so my face went bright red.

“I value Ai Fa’s feelings above everything else. Still, it would make me very happy to be able to meet her children,” Saris Ran Fou chimed in with a bright smile. Li Sudra, meanwhile, just kept on smiling silently. My face and neck were getting incredibly hot. I decided to beat a swift retreat.

“W-Well, we’ll be heading back to the plaza now. Sorry for bothering you.”

“Oh, it’s quite all right. Please, enjoy the banquet.”

After patting the three dogs on the head, I exited the house and closed the door behind me. As I was trying to calm my breathing, Tia called out to me again. “Asuta, if you and Ai Fa decide you want to do the child-making ritual before my hundred days are up, I can sleep on top of the house when you do.”

“Agh, I get why Ai Fa wanted to slap you!”

“You want to slap me? If that would make you feel better, I could count it as a form of repayment, so I won’t stop you from doing so,” Tia said, closing her eyes and leaning forward so her face would be easier for me to reach.

I sighed again, then rustled her hair and said, “I’m not going to hit you! Let’s go back to the plaza and eat!”

“Okay. I’m very hungry,” Tia said, opening her eyes and smiling brightly.

An indescribable feeling of exhaustion washed over me as the two of us walked back to the plaza where my precious comrades were celebrating. The sense of excitement in the air was as strong as ever, and it almost felt like the atmosphere itself was reaching out to wildly embrace us.

4

Tia and I started by heading to the stove where Toor Deen was serving people a stingingly spicy offal stew with tarapa. Unsurprisingly, Tia’s nose twitched when she smelled the aroma of herbs coming off the dish.

“Looks like things are going great, Toor Deen. Oh, and our two guests from the Zaza are here too, huh?”

The Zaza twins, Geol and Sufira, who really didn’t look alike at all, were standing there beside the stove. Geol Zaza had apparently been drinking, since I could tell that his face was red, even as dark out as it was. Plus, his expression looked a lot more relaxed than it had before.

“Ah, Asuta of the Fa clan... Wait, the giba bone soup isn’t gone already, is it?” Geol Zaza asked.

“Nope. Only half of it. We’re taking a break before we serve the rest. I take it you haven’t had any yet, Geol Zaza?”

“That’s right. We’ve been talking over here, and it’s just been dragging on and on,” Geol Zaza cheerfully replied, earning him a chilly glare from his sister.

“You’re the only one who’s been talking on and on, aren’t you? Plus, Toor Deen’s working, and you’ve clearly been troubling her.”

“How could I be causing trouble for her? All I was doing was praising Toor Deen’s skill. I haven’t been bothering you, have I, Toor Deen?”

“N-No, I was very honored to hear you say those things, Geol Zaza,” Toor Deen said, though her smile looked kind of anxious.

“Good!” Geol Zaza said with a satisfied grin of his own.

Sufira Zaza gave a big sigh. “Your duty is to observe this banquet, Geol, and you can’t do that by remaining in the same place the whole time, now can you?”

“I did a full loop around the plaza before coming back here, so I have no idea what you’re complaining about.”

As that perplexing conversation between the Zaza siblings continued, Toor Deen remained standing off to the side, still smiling, though her eyebrows were drooping a bit. The two of them were probably hanging around here in order to get to know her better.

Was Toor Deen born under a star that makes it so strong-willed people are drawn to her or something? Well, I guess Odifia is an exception, though.

Toor Deen was undoubtedly a very charming person, and personally, it made me really happy to see her becoming more popular with other people.

“All right, why don’t we have some food too? I’m sure you’ll like this dish, Tia,” I said.

“Yeah, it smells really good.”

Toor Deen swiftly dished out two portions of her stew for us. Despite how hot it looked, Tia immediately started slurping it down, then broke out in a bright smile that reminded me of a small animal.

“This is tasty. It’s just as good as the food you make, Asuta,” she said.

“Oh yeah? I guess you really like tarapa, huh, Tia?”

“Yeah. I enjoy the sourness of this red broth.” Tia then held her wooden spoon in a sort of reversed grip and started using it to shovel some of the fillings back toward her mouth. It had been a little while now since she had last eaten giba cooking, and this was a rather unusual dish—offal stew—but her smile remained bright as she ate. “What an interesting taste. Are these giba innards?”

“Y-Yes. We used a variety of organs such as the heart, intestines, and stomach,” Toor Deen explained.

“Hmm. I was told that giba meat wasn’t worth the effort to use as an ingredient, but I guess that wasn’t true.”

That comment made me wonder about something as I enjoyed my own helping of stew next to her, and I decided to ask her about it. “So, you hunt giba on Morga too, then?”

“Every once in a while, a giba will wander onto the mountain, but they tend to get devoured by varb or madarama, so the red people hardly ever hunt them.”

“I see. The legends say that the three great beasts drove the giba from Morga, and that’s why they live in the forest at its base.”

“I don’t really know much about that. From what I’ve heard, the giba have been living at the mountain’s base since at least as far back as when my mother’s mother was the leader of our people.” Of course, that was only natural, given that the giba had already been making the forest’s edge their home eighty years ago. “But I’ve seen giba at the border between the mountain and the forest plenty of times. They can only run around on the ground, so I can’t imagine how they’d be able to survive up on the mountain. The red people and madarama can defeat them from up in the trees, while varb can run faster than giba.”

“Hmm. By the way, between the red people, the madarama, and the varb, which one is the strongest?”

“You can’t really compare us to each other that way, and there’s no point in trying. We’re all fellow children of the great god.”

That was enough to satisfy my curiosity for now. We finished eating our stew, and I decided that it was time to head to the next stove. We said farewell to Toor Deen as the Zaza siblings continued to loudly argue with each other.

The next stove we visited was serving okonomiyaki. It was the improved version I had unveiled in the castle town, and Yun and Ia Fou Sudra were the ones in charge of the dish.

“Hey, Asuta. We’re just about to finish up a fresh batch.”

“Great. We’d love to have some. Oh, but we don’t use any herbs in this one, so I’m not sure you’ll like it, Tia.”

Since that was a bit of a concern, I had Tia try a small sample first. As she tilted her head and popped it into her mouth, she solemnly furrowed her brow before saying, “Hmm...it has a strange taste and texture. I’m fine with only having one bite.”

“I see. You don’t like stuff that doesn’t have herbs in it, huh?”

“Not always. Berinbo dumplings don’t use herbs, but they’re still really tasty. I like those baked poitan you make too.”

I was incredibly curious about what Tia’s diet was like up on Morga, but a banquet wasn’t exactly the right time to dig into that topic. Instead, I switched to chatting with Yun Sudra and a few other people who were standing around while I enjoyed my okonomiyaki.

Then another group walked over to us. When I spotted my beloved clan head among them, I excitedly called out, “Hey, Ai Fa. You’re already free of the winners’ stand? That was pretty quick.”

“Yes. We’ve already finished accepting everyone’s congratulations,” Ai Fa said. She was accompanied by Raielfam and Cheem Sudra, as well as some men from the Fou and Ran.

“Radd Liddo is at that stove over there, talking to Geol Zaza. Zei Deen went there too, to speak to his daughter,” Cheem Sudra explained.

Meanwhile, Ia Fou Sudra greeted her husband with a dazzling smile. “Cheem, have you already had some okonomiyaki? If you’d like, I can cut a piece off for you.”

“All right. I’m still not full yet, so please do.”

Cheem Sudra’s expression remained largely the same, but his eyes looked very fond as he gazed at her. Though he was two years younger than me, he was already the head of his own household. It had been two months since their marriage, and the atmosphere around the two of them was really full of love now.

“You only just started eating, right, Asuta? Instead of worrying about us, you should be enjoying as much food as you can,” Raielfam Sudra said.

“I suppose so,” I replied with a smile. “But we should talk later, okay? And I’d love to chat with you too, Cheem Sudra.”

“Yeah,” Cheem Sudra said with a bashful smile. Then I said farewell to the chefs and moved on, with Ai Fa now accompanying us.

As we walked, my clan head shot the young girl at my side a harsh glare. “Tia, you haven’t caused any trouble for him, have you?”

“Of course not. I’d never break the rules of the forest’s edge,” Tia replied, a deadly serious look on her face. Even though it had been four days since they had first met, the way they interacted with each other remained the same.

For Ai Fa’s part, she clearly felt a strong sense of responsibility toward the young girl in our care. The leading clan heads had managed to come up with a peaceful solution, so she undoubtedly felt that it would be really bad if things went wrong because of poor supervision on her part. Tia seemed to be fully aware of Ai Fa’s feelings on the matter too. Normally, she was pretty casual around my clan head, but she most definitely hadn’t forgotten how shaky the position she found herself in was.

Anyway, as we walked through the plaza, I felt really invigorated now that the two of them were with me. It was still too soon for the women to dance, so everyone was just enjoying the good festival food and fruit wine.

“Ai Fa, did you already get enough to eat?”

“Indeed. Or perhaps I should say I’m around eight-tenths of the way full. I get the feeling I’ve eaten as much as I usually do already, but I hunted a number of giba during the day, so I used up a great deal of energy.”

“Asuta, I’m still really hungry,” Tia chimed in.

“Okay, then let’s hope the next dish is to your tastes.”

Surprisingly, that wish came true in the best way possible. The next stove had the dish that Tia had enjoyed the most over the last few days: curry. As she took a bite of the helping the Liddo woman served her, the young girl’s eyes narrowed blissfully.

“I don’t believe I’ve had anything that smelled or tasted quite like this before, but it’s very good,” she said.

“Yeah. This curry uses giba meat instead of peifei. What do you think?”

“It’s delicious. Every bit as good as the kind with peifei.”

Our peifei meat seemed like it would be gone in a few more days, so that was good to hear. Tia ate some of her curry with a spoon and some of it by dipping baked poitan into the sauce, and in no time at all, she had devoured three servings of it.

The Liddo women serving the dish and the other people around us were all watching her eat with smiles on their faces. Even if she was an outsider who couldn’t be welcomed in as one of us, that didn’t stop a warm, fuzzy feeling from welling up in everyone who saw the charming sight. Meanwhile, Ai Fa had swiftly finished off half a serving herself and was calmly staring down at Tia. She seemed to find it satisfying to see Tia enjoy a giba dish so much.

“Okay, why don’t we head to the next stove?”

My approach to banquets was to make a lap around the plaza and have a bit of each type of food on offer. Talking to all the different people we met along the way was the real fun of events like these for me. After all, with six clans coming together for this, there were plenty of people I didn’t know all that well around. Of course, with my unique background, everyone knew who I was, and it made me happy to hear all the friendly voices calling out to us wherever we went.

“Hey there, Asuta. If you’d like, you can have some of this dish as well,” an older Deen woman called out as we approached a stove where they were serving meatballs, each of which had about a cubic centimeter of giba tongue blended into them. They were a variation on the tongue hamburger I had come up with the other day. The tongue meat was kind of like the bits of octopus hidden inside takoyaki, and it was pretty interesting to have those two very different textures in each bite.

“Yeah, it’s really good. What have people been saying about it?”

“Well, we’ve been serving it in our house for dinner already, but everyone trying it for the first time looked really pleased with it.”

“Glad to hear it. Have you already had some of this one too, Ai Fa?” I asked.

“I’ve had a bit of all of the dishes. Still, I’ll take three of those,” she replied.

Ai Fa was a big fan of hamburger steak, so it was no surprise that she was fond of meatballs too. She looked really pleased as she chowed down, but next to her, Tia seemed to be troubled as she tried one for herself.

“This meat is rather strange. I’ll just have the one,” the young girl said.

Instantly, Ai Fa glared at her. “Do you have some sort of issue with this dish, Tia?”

“Hmm? No, not especially. But Asuta told me I only have to eat what I want today, and like I said, I’m fine with only having one of these.”

“But before you said that, you called the meat strange, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. The fact that it’s so soft makes it feel weird to me. The tough bit inside was better, though.”

The red people apparently didn’t employ minced meat in their cooking. When people encountered novel styles of food like that, there was no way to know if they would enjoy it or not. It varied from person to person.

Ai Fa looked seriously displeased, as if someone had insulted her beloved hamburger steak. Realizing that, Tia tugged at the wrap around my clan head’s waist with a worried look.

“Did I do something to upset you again, Ai Fa? If so, I’d like to apologize.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, so there’s no need for that.”

“But if I hurt your feelings, that would make me sad.”

After placing her now empty plate down, Ai Fa breathed a sigh. As we started walking again toward the next stove, she explained herself to the young girl. “It is a crime to lie, so allow me to speak directly. Most of the food prepared at the forest’s edge now consists of dishes Asuta thought up, so hearing you complain about so many of them really gets on my nerves.”

“I see. In that case, I won’t talk about the things I eat.”

“There’s no need for you to suppress your feelings like that. It would be better for you to simply stop worrying about every little shift in my mood.”

“But I don’t want to make you feel bad, Ai Fa.”

As my clan head walked along, she slowly shook her head. “It’s far more upsetting to have someone as young as you be so concerned about what I think. And besides, there’s no point in trying to please me by withholding your opinions, so stop fretting and just be yourself.”

“I understand. You really are kind, Ai Fa. That’s why I hate upsetting you,” Tia said with a smile. “And you care so much about Asuta too. You should hurry up and get married and have lots of babies.”

Instantly, Ai Fa’s face went bright red and her clenched fists started trembling. “Your people’s customs differ from ours in many ways. Don’t speak of such things so casually.”

“But you said there’s no need to hide my feelings, Ai Fa. That’s why I said what I really felt. If I made you angry, though, you can hit me.”

“Quiet, you! Do not talk about marriage!” Ai Fa shouted out right before we arrived at the next stove. Fortunately, it was the stove with pasta that I was currently taking a break from, so nobody was around to hear.

“All right, why don’t we do one more lap and have a little more of our favorites? After that, it’ll be time for me to get back to work at this stove,” I said, trying to force the matter to a conclusion.

Tia was still in a pretty good mood despite their little dispute, so she simply smiled and said, “Okay,” with a nod.

Meanwhile, Ai Fa was holding her clenched fist over her heart, seemingly trying to calm her emotions a bit.

Before we could get going, though, a hunter approached us from another direction—Jou Ran. As he came closer, he nodded to us and said, “Hello.”

“Hey there, Jou Ran. Is something the matter?” I asked.

“No, I just thought I would greet you since I happened to catch sight of you.” Despite the smile on his face, Jou Ran looked like he was dealing with some rather complicated feelings. “Ai Fa, Asuta, you seem to have formed something of a bond with that savage girl.”

“Huh? Yeah, I’d say we get along pretty well.”

“Seeing you from a distance, it almost looked like she was your daughter. I could tell that Ai Fa was angry about something, but she looked more like a mother scolding her child than anything else.”

Ai Fa directed a rather intense glare at Jou Ran as she approached him. “Jou Ran, I’m in no mood to listen to your frivolous chatter.”

“Huh? Did I do something to upset you, Ai Fa? If so, I apologize.”

Unlike Tia, who was very innocent and extremely straightforward, Jou Ran seemed to be something of an airhead. And right now, his timing was just the worst.

“I didn’t mean anything by it, really,” he said. “I guess I simply had the thought that Asuta would make a fitting husband for you.”

“Silence! Are you trying to threaten the relationship between the Fa and Ran once again?!”

It felt like Ai Fa was seriously going to hit him at this rate, so I tried to mediate between them. “Come on. I know why you’re feeling annoyed, but it’s not like Jou Ran heard what Tia said, so if you take it out on him, that wouldn’t be fair, right?”

Ai Fa’s shoulders trembled, but she finally turned away with a “Hmph!” Meanwhile, the pair who had unintentionally launched a team attack on her were standing there looking dumbfounded. Before Jou Ran could make any more upsetting comments, though, I decided to change the topic.

“By the way, you got really close to winning in a couple of those contests of strength. I don’t think you have anything to be ashamed about with how you performed.”

“Ah, yes. Ai Fa and the other four hunters who won were all worthy of being called champions, so it’s no surprise that things turned out the way they did. If anything, I did better than I should have at the last festival of the hunt,” Jou Ran replied with a listless smile. “That said, I feel like I trained harder than I ever have before in preparation for today. Since that still wasn’t enough, the only thing I can do is put in even more effort for next time. I’ll keep on training, and aim to become as fine of a hunter as you, Ai Fa.”

“Stop comparing yourself to me at every turn,” Ai Fa said, her face still turned away. “You might not have been crowned as a champion, but that is simply because there are so many excellent hunters related to the Ran gathered here, is it not?”

“That’s true,” Jou Ran replied with a sigh. “At any rate, I definitely realized how inexperienced I truly am today. I really don’t feel like I’m ready to take a bride the way I am now.”

“Oh, did you get a new marriage proposal?” I interjected.

“Yeah,” Jou Ran weakly replied. “After I caused that whole mess with Ai Fa and Yun Sudra, the Ran and Fou clan heads told me to not get involved in that kind of discussion for the time being. But there are a lot of unwed women among the Ran and Fou, and a few of them approached me in secret.”

“Ha ha. You sure are popular, Jou Ran.”

“It was nothing all that serious. Only two or three of them reached out to me.”

He really was a natural airhead if he could go around saying stuff like that in earnest. Fortunately, though, I wasn’t in any position to feel jealous about something like that. If anything, I felt bad for him since he had to deal with so many people expressing their affection for him.

“Well, you’re still young, Jou Ran. And there’s going to be some discussions about marriage customs at the next clan head meeting, so it might be better to wait until after that anyway.”

“Yes, that’s what I intend to do. But even if they do decide to allow marriages between members of any two clans, there’s no other woman like Ai Fa out there.”

Ai Fa started grinding her teeth at that, but she somehow managed to hold herself back from audibly complaining. Jou Ran just grinned at me, though, apparently not noticing how irritated she was getting.

“I’m surprised that you’d care enough to offer a guy like me advice, Asuta.”

“Huh? Well, of course. The Fa and Ran are friends, aren’t we?”

The only thing I was worried about was whether giving him that kind of advice might have been a little presumptuous. But instead of being offended, he was looking at me with an almost pleading expression.

“If it were me, I don’t think I’d be able to act like that with someone who upset the person I cared about most that badly. You really are a big-hearted man, Asuta.”

“Uh, well, I’m sure that’s just because I was raised in a town. You might be a little odd by the standards of the forest’s edge, Jou Ran, but you don’t seem all that strange when I compare you to people from my home country.”

“Oh really? I’ve hardly ever spoken with townsfolk, so I wouldn’t really know.”

“In that case, why not ask if you can participate in the banquet the Ruu clan will be holding? You might find some people you get along well with there.” Jou Ran was a fine hunter, but he also had a gentle disposition and didn’t give off the kind of wild aura that so many others did. It would definitely be easy for townsfolk to get along with him. “For the people of the forest’s edge to live as citizens of the kingdom, it’s important for us to keep strengthening our bonds with the people of Genos. I’m sure that’s something you could help with, right?”

“Really?” Jou Ran replied with a childlike grin. “I don’t really understand, but if you say so, Asuta, I’ll consult with the clan heads. I’d be very happy if I could be of any help.”

“Yeah, please do.”

“I will,” Jou Ran said with a nod. Then his gaze turned Ai Fa’s way. “For now, though, I’m sorry for the interruption. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the banquet as well, Ai Fa.”

Without the slightest hint of friendliness in her voice, my clan head simply replied with, “Of course.”

Tia had been politely holding her tongue, but as soon as Jou Ran was gone, she said, “Something about him felt different from any other hunter of the forest’s edge that I’ve met. Do you hate him, Ai Fa?”

“He runs his mouth unnecessarily, like you, so he annoys me.”

“I see. You get angry so quickly. That must cause a lot of trouble for the people around you.”

“N-Not really,” I quickly chimed in, feeling bad for Ai Fa. “Jou Ran just strays from the customs of the forest’s edge a bit, so plenty of people other than Ai Fa get annoyed with him too.” It seemed my efforts were successful, as my clan head resumed walking without any further complaints. Tia and I followed a step behind her.

The next stove had a very simple meat and vegetable sauté, but there were a whole lot of people gathered around it. Radd Liddo and Geol Zaza were both there too, and their presence was making things even livelier. At first I thought Geol Zaza had finally said goodbye to Toor Deen, but when I looked closer, I spotted the young chef behind those two huge figures, talking to her father. It must have been her turn to take a break from her responsibilities as a chef, and she was now walking around with them. Oh, and Sufira Zaza was there beside her too.

“So you’re on break now too, huh, Toor Deen? I take it that it’s not time for dessert yet, then?” I asked.

“Ah, yes. We want to wait a little longer so the young children don’t end up getting too focused on desserts over normal food,” Toor Deen replied with a joyful smile. She must have been so happy because her father Zei Deen was there by her side. I rarely saw the two of them together, and I hadn’t interacted with the man much in general.

“Zei Deen, congratulations again on your success today,” I said. “And not just in pole tugging. You were amazing in the target shooting and tree climbing competitions too.”

“Thank you,” the hunter replied, with a grateful look in his eyes. He was slender and not all that tall. He also had a mustache that I thought made him look handsome and refined. He had always reminded me of Ryada Ruu, but there did seem to be a fairly wide age gap between them. I assumed that he was at least in his early thirties, given that he had an eleven-year-old daughter, but I didn’t know.

The Suun hunters abandoned their duty and started pillaging the fruits of the forest over ten years ago. Zei Deen can’t have had much giba hunting experience at all until recently. And yet, the man had trained enough to get this strong in less than a year. Perhaps he was simply that talented, or maybe he had trained in secret at the Suun settlement. Either way, his results were undeniably impressive. It’s only natural for Toor Deen to be this happy for him.

The young chef was absolutely overjoyed, and Zei Deen looked like he felt the same as the two of them chatted. I wondered if the rest of the members of the Suun branch houses who had been taken in by other clans were also this happy. And what about the people living at the Suun settlement, or Diga and Doddo, who I didn’t really get a chance to see at all? I prayed that they were all living proper lives now and were happier than they had been before.

“So, you’re still stuck to Asuta’s side, savage girl?” Geol Zaza suddenly called out. He must have drunk a whole lot of fruit wine with Radd Liddo—his face was visibly red under his giba pelt. He was smiling cheerfully, but his gaze was fixed on Tia.

As she stared back at him, Tia nodded and replied, “Yeah. I need to repay Asuta, so I’m staying close to him.”

“I heard about that from my old man too. But what can you even do to help Asuta in a place like this?”

“I’m not certain. But a beast could suddenly attack—”

“If that happened, the Fa clan head would take it down before you could do anything! She’s one of the strongest hunters in this whole settlement!” In contrast to his sour mood at our previous festival, this time Geol Zaza was heartily laughing his head off. But, well, that had to be at least partially because of the alcohol. “And besides, a giba wouldn’t come anywhere near a place as noisy as this! Otherwise we wouldn’t let the women and kids roam around outside!”

“Obviously. But there could still be some other opportunity for me to be of help.”

“Hey, you got special permission to be here even though you aren’t one of our people, yeah? And yet all you’re thinking about is your own situation, eh?”

I was starting to feel anxious about what Geol Zaza was trying to say. The hunter pointed one of his thick fingers at me.

“You’ve been staying at the Fa house for several days now, haven’t you? Give them a bit of freedom already! Having an outsider like you around means they can’t deepen their bonds as family!”

Tia looked rather troubled as she glanced back and forth between me and Ai Fa. I was perplexed, while Ai Fa was giving a doubtful frown. I was worried that it could be trouble if he poked at the delicate relationship between me and my clan head yet again, but apparently that wasn’t what Geol Zaza was actually complaining about.

“We people of the forest’s edge value blood ties above all else! Well, these two aren’t actually related by blood, but the two of them are still family all the same! So you should be aware of the fact that you’re getting in the way, don’t you think?”

“But I need to repay Asuta.”

“I’ve already heard that excuse. I’m telling you that you should at least give them a little space during the banquet at a festival of the hunt!” Geol Zaza leaned over, and with his eyebrows drooping sleepily, he stared directly at Tia’s face. “My old man told me that you value family, just like us. If that’s true, you should get what I’m saying.”

After a long pause, Tia nodded once and said, “Yes, I think I understand.” Then she turned toward us with a resolute expression. “Until this banquet is over, I will leave your side, Asuta. I promise I will not go against the customs of the forest’s edge. I simply want the two of you to be able to enjoy this event.”

“A-Are you really okay with that?”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about! If she causes any trouble, we’ll just punish her!” Geol Zaza said with a laugh as he stood, flicking his hand like he was shooing off a dog or a cat. “Now get going already. You must have all kinds of things to share with each other after the last few days.”

I was still feeling pretty uneasy, but I knew that if I acted stubborn now, I would be trampling over Geol Zaza’s and Tia’s feelings.

Ai Fa, on the other hand, accepted the proposal easily, turning around and saying, “Let’s go.”

I looked down at the young girl. “W-Well, we’ll see you later, Tia. You still haven’t had enough to eat yet, so make sure to have some more food.”

“Yes, I understand,” Tia replied with one last dauntless smile.

I gave her a quick nod, then hurried off after Ai Fa. My clan head was already a few meters ahead, and when I caught up to her, she brushed aside her bangs and remarked, “I was wondering what in the world Geol Zaza was going to say, but surprisingly, he seems to be more astute than usual when he’s drunk.”

“Ah ha ha. Well, Geol Zaza is set to inherit the role of leading clan head. He’s still much younger than Jiza Ruu, but I’m sure he’s got his act together on some level.”

“Hmm. To be honest, I might have underestimated him somewhat,” Ai Fa replied with a solemn look on her face. However, she was definitely stealing glances over at me. “At any rate, we should start by eating. I’m sure you’re still far from full.”

“Yeah, but since we have the chance, I’d like to take my time chatting with you too.”

Ai Fa’s cheeks went just a little red, and she gave me a light jab in the side with her elbow. “You’ll be returning to your work after this, won’t you? So you should be sure to fill your stomach before that. Also...”

“Also?”

“Tia said she would leave us be until the banquet is over, didn’t she? That means we’ll have plenty of time to talk after you’re done with your work.”

Unable to stop myself from grinning widely, I nodded as I replied, “Yeah.” And then, I leaned in close to whisper into Ai Fa’s ear. There was something I had been curious about for a while. “By the way, I noticed that you’re not wearing your hair accessory today.”

Ai Fa’s eyes narrowed and she shot me a suspicious glare. “For festivals of the hunt, I participate as a hunter, and hunters don’t wear such things.”

“Ah, so that’s it. And I guess that makes sense, considering you’ve got such a fine woven crown to wear instead.”

Even so, a part of me had been looking forward to seeing her wearing it, so I had wanted to confirm her reason for not wearing it, just to be safe.

My clan head directed an unimpressed look at me and snorted, “Hmph. We’ll be attending a banquet at the Ruu settlement in a few days, so you will simply have to wait until then.”

“Oh, you’re planning to wear it to that one? Glad to hear it,” I said with a smile that came from the bottom of my heart, causing Ai Fa’s face to go red. She elbowed me with a fair amount of force, making my ribs throb painfully, but I was so happy that I barely felt it. And all around us, there were people who were just as happy as we were as they deepened their friendships with their precious comrades.

Chapter 3: A Study Session in the Castle Town

1

It was now the day after the six-clan festival of the hunt, the twenty-ninth of the green month, and today we were going to be participating in a study session in the castle town that would be focusing on some new ingredients that had arrived. Having to go do that right after a big festival was making things pretty hectic, but once the blue month began, we were going to need to give the friendship banquet and the clan head meeting our full attention, so we had decided it would be best to get this out of the way as soon as possible.

I also needed to run the Fa clan’s stalls, which hadn’t been open yesterday because of the festival. Due to a lack of prep time, our offerings were limited to dishes we were able to throw together in the morning. Of course, the Ruu had stepped up to compensate for our absence. Just like when we had been going through the rite of initiation, we had decided that if one of our groups wasn’t able to open for business, the other would do what they could to make sure things stayed as close to normal as possible.

Despite how busy we were, our chefs weren’t showing even the slightest hint of exhaustion, though. Women of the forest’s edge all possessed exceptional stamina, and they were undoubtedly all excited at the prospect of getting to see some new, unfamiliar ingredients, so if anything, they seemed more energetic than usual.

After we wrapped up our business at the stalls, around half of our group and all of the hunters who were working as guards today got together and headed to the castle town. Our lineup was the same as it had been for the black fuwano study session: me, Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, Rimee Ruu, Toor Deen, Yun Sudra, and Myme. Seven of us in total. We also had four guards from the six clans now in their break period: Ai Fa, Cheem Sudra, the oldest son of the main Deen house, and the oldest son of the main Liddo house.

The Deen and Liddo hunters had been selected because of a request from the head of their parent clan, Gulaf Zaza. Toor Deen was related to them and was participating, and he also wanted the members of the Deen and Liddo clans to expand their views by accompanying us. It seemed that Gulaf Zaza had a lot of things on his mind related to us all undergoing the rite of initiation to become children of the western god. In any case, the two young hunters acting as representatives for their clans looked very proud to be with us.

“I’m surprised that we were invited to come to the castle town again just ten days after we did that rite of initiation. I never would’ve thought that I’d be given an opportunity like this,” the Deen man remarked.

“That’s for sure,” the Liddo man added with a grin. The Deen hunter was a slender young man with a cheery face, while the Liddo hunter had inherited his father’s robust figure. Though I wasn’t close with either of them, I at least recognized them after our last two festivals of the hunt.

“But anyway, our job here is to protect you chefs. From what I understand, we have no reason to suspect that the nobles of Genos will try to cause trouble for us anymore, but we won’t let our guards down no matter what, so you can relax and focus on your own work,” the Deen man said to Toor Deen.

“Thank you,” she replied, smiling gently. Since Toor Deen was a member of the main house, the two of them lived together. She was the daughter of the current clan head’s younger sister, so the two of them were cousins. The two of them apparently hadn’t had many chances to interact before Toor Deen had been removed from the Suun clan. They seemed to be pretty close now, though.

The totos carriages used in the castle town were quite large, so all eleven of us were able to ride together in one of them. As he looked out the window at the townscape, the Liddo man glanced at Ai Fa with a look like a thought had suddenly come to him. “By the way, Ai Fa, we’d like you to act as our leader for today. Would that be all right?”

“Hmm? I don’t especially mind, but normally wouldn’t one of you be in charge, as members of clans subordinate to a leading clan?”

“We hardly know anything about the customs of the castle town. You’ve come here many times before, so you’re a much better fit to take charge,” the Liddo hunter said with a wide grin on his face.

“I see. Well, being in charge is not that big of a deal, so I don’t mind taking on the responsibility,” Ai Fa calmly replied.

“Good. You may be younger than us, Ai Fa, but you’re strong enough to have been crowned champion twice in the combat contests of strength, so we have no concerns about relying on you.”

The members of the Liddo and Deen clans weren’t the kind of people who would throw around their status as subordinates of a leading clan, and the two joint festivals of the hunt we had participated in together had made them rather friendly toward us. Plus, Ai Fa and Cheem Sudra had both been crowned champions twice now, and it was easy to see how much respect they had earned from doing so.

Rimee Ruu was watching them talk with a really happy expression on her face. She must have been glad to see how strong Ai Fa’s bonds with the clans that lived near us had become.

When my clan head noticed that, she asked, “What are you smiling about?”

“Oh, nothing!” Rimee Ruu replied with a laugh as she hugged Ai Fa’s arm.

Before long, the totos carriage came to a stop at our destination. Just like always, the study session was being held at the former Turan manor. Though it was the place where I had been confined after Lefreya had kidnapped me, those bad memories had long since faded to become a lot less important than my other experiences here over the course of the last year.

Now that we had arrived, we first had to cleanse ourselves in the bathhouse. Since it was their first time using one, the Deen and Liddo hunters got all worked up like little kids, but Cheem Sudra had attended the previous banquet, so he was perfectly calm.

After our men and women had finished taking turns getting cleaned up, Polarth came to greet us, accompanied by two soldiers. “Ah, we’ve been waiting for you. There seem to be some unfamiliar faces among you, so allow me to introduce myself. I am Polarth of the house of Daleim, and I have been tasked with being the assistant mediator between the castle town and the people of the forest’s edge.”

Since it was their first time meeting him, the Deen and Liddo hunters looked serious once more and gave their names.

“Hmm, the Deen and Liddo are subordinates of the leading Zaza clan, correct?” Polarth asked. “Sir Gulaf Zaza has been very helpful to me in the past, and I am quite grateful to him.”

“We’re grateful to you too. I’ve wanted to offer you my thanks for some time now,” the Deen man said.

“Your thanks? Whatever for?”

“You lent us your aid back when that noble kidnapped Asuta, didn’t you? You helped us save him, and that is very much worthy of our gratitude.”

Polarth grinned bashfully. “That was nearly a year ago. Of course, I’ve found it extremely gratifying to have been able to forge such a strong bond with the people of the forest’s edge in that time. Now then, why don’t we head to the kitchen?”

Polarth led us to the massive kitchen that was the manor’s pride and joy, where there were around twenty other chefs waiting for us—even more than had been at the last study session. Those present included Varkas and his three apprentices; Roy, his unofficial assistant; Yang, the head chef of the house of Daleim; and Timalo, who was in charge of Selva’s Spear. The few who were seeing people of the forest’s edge for the first time seemed rather nervous, unsurprisingly.

For the time being, Ai Fa and the Deen hunter came inside while Cheem Sudra and the Liddo hunter stood watch outside of the door. As the person in charge, Ai Fa had been the one who had made that decision.

“Thank you for waiting,” Polarth said, speaking in his capacity as both a mediator with the people of the forest’s edge and an assistant to the officer in charge of external affairs, the latter being relevant because today’s session involved goods being brought in from other lands. “I am truly glad to have been able to gather so many chefs here today. It is my hope that all of you will be able to come up with some wonderful ideas about how to effectively utilize these new ingredients to bring even more prosperity to Genos. Our main focus will be the foodstuffs that were delivered to us the other day from the capital and Barud, as well as the hoboi oil that has arrived from Jagar and the shaska we acquired from Sym. I would now like to have Sir Varkas and Sir Timalo explain a few things about them to start us off.”

Unsurprisingly, the two of them had once again been given the role of teaching us all about the new ingredients. They had been the head and assistant head chef for the house of Turan back when it had been monopolizing all of the imported ingredients it could, so it made sense to have them do that. But while Timalo looked all fired up, Varkas appeared to be as unenthused as always. He had a rather strongly held belief that chefs whose skills he didn’t acknowledge shouldn’t be allowed to use rare and valuable ingredients.

“The majority of the ingredients from the capital are dried goods which can be very effective at adding depth to a dish’s flavor, and each of them has a variety of potential uses,” Timalo triumphantly began, paying no attention to Varkas as the man just stood there silently. At the last study session, the ingredients that had been delivered from the capital had been provided to us in relatively small quantities, so I hadn’t been able to do much more with them than using dried fish and seaweed to create a stock for black fuwano dipping soba. This time, though, in addition to those two making a reappearance, there were a bunch of other kinds of dried seafood that looked like crustaceans, shellfish, and octopuses. “You can add water to them and use them as normal ingredients, or you can create a broth with a rather unique flavor by boiling them. These ingredients all come from the ocean, so they go quite well with one another. However, they also tend to clash in flavor with a great many of the ingredients we usually work with, so whether any given chef is able to master them will be up to their own individual skills.”

Timalo was really energetic as he spoke. He greatly enjoyed both showing off his own skills and instructing others. Many of the people in the room with us were probably business rivals of his, but he never held back at all when it came to sharing his knowledge.

The first time we shared a kitchen and competed against each other at a big dinner, I remember him saying that he wouldn’t use any ingredients that I didn’t know how to work with. Maybe he thinks there’s no point in a competition if it isn’t on an even playing field.

Timalo had a ton of confidence in himself, but he was also rather fastidious, and fairness was important to him. That was something he demonstrated very thoroughly in the previous study session. As he continued to talk, I noticed Polarth looking quite pleased with him.

“Sir Asuta, I heard that you have only been using the dried fish and seaweed, so were you not interested in the other ingredients?” Timalo suddenly threw a question my way.

“Umm...” I uttered as I got my thoughts in order. “I wouldn’t say I wasn’t interested. But just like you said, these ingredients have strong flavors that make them well suited to being the core of a dish, and at the forest’s edge, our custom is to always use giba meat for that. And, well, I believed those flavors would probably clash somewhat.”

“Hmm. At the previous banquet, you utilized giba meat and dried maroll together, did you not? I was quite impressed with that dish... Still, I suppose creating a recipe like that cannot be easy, even for one such as you.”

Timalo was referring to the giba and maroll okonomiyaki I had presented to the observers. It actually hadn’t been that hard to come up with the concept, since I had based it on a pork and shrimp mix I was familiar with, but it would probably be very difficult to pair ingredients that were more like crustaceans and octopuses with giba meat.

On top of that, at the forest’s edge it was seen as improper to dispose of the ingredients we used to make stock. And besides, I didn’t really see a need to bring any more kinds of animal protein to the forest’s edge in the first place.

“So, Sir Asuta, if you were to not use giba meat, you wouldn’t find it difficult to work with ingredients like these?” Varkas finally interjected after having been completely silent so far.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Personally, I find it easier to bring different kinds of seafood together without other meats. For example, seafood curry would probably be quite tasty.”

Though Varkas was still standing there expressionlessly, I could see his body swaying a bit as if he were dizzy. “You would use these ingredients in that curry dish? Just imagining it is making my chest feel tight with anticipation.”

“Ah, sorry, but I don’t have any plans to make something like that for now.”

Setting aside my personal preferences, the people of the forest’s edge didn’t have any interest in dishes that didn’t use giba meat.

When he heard my response, Varkas gave a disappointed sigh and said, “I see.”

Timalo paid him no heed and went back to his explanation. “You should each take some of these dried ingredients back with you and check their tastes on your own. Though they are terribly expensive, I guarantee that their strong flavors justify their prices.”

After that, Timalo launched into an explanation on how to rehydrate the dried ingredients and how to get a delicious stock from them, while a scribe made notes about the steps as he spoke. Once he had finished explaining all of that, we moved on to the ingredients the Black Flight Feathers had brought from Barud.

“At present, these are the ingredients we have enough of to spare. Tinfa, lemirom, buleh beans, and dried aneira.” Tinfa was like napa cabbage, lemirom was akin to broccoli, buleh beans were similar to red beans, and aneira was something like a flying fish. Timalo seemed to have experience with using all of them, so he once again launched into an exultant speech on how they could be utilized. Tinfa and lemirom could be boiled or sautéed, while buleh beans were best boiled just like tau beans, according to Timalo. “Sir Asuta, you’ve already tried these ingredients, correct? Were you able to come up with any good ways to use them?”

“Ah, yes. Tinfa doesn’t have a strong flavor, so it should be fine to use it the same way you’d use tino. As for lemirom, it’s got a fairly strong grassy flavor to it even after it’s been cooked, so I get the feeling it would be well suited to pairing with milk products like karon milk or gyama dried milk, or with highly sour ingredients like tarapa and mamaria vinegar.” The kind of recipes I was thinking of that used those sour ingredients were things like mayonnaise, ketchup, and other dressings.

With a very serious look on his face, Timalo nodded and said, “I see. It seems you have a complete understanding of the unique taste of lemirom as well. When I cook with lemirom myself, I generally employ milk fat.”

“Oh, milk fat would be good too. I really love using it,” I replied without thinking, a broccoli and butter stir-fry coming to mind.

Timalo blinked, looking a little like that had caught him off guard. “I see. I admit, I wasn’t expecting you to be so positive about preparing them that way, Sir Asuta. After all, our cooking methods are very different.”

“That’s true, but I’d imagine we’ve got plenty of overlap on the fundamentals.”

Timalo seemed to be having trouble figuring out what sort of face to make, but ultimately he settled on an awkward smile. “So, what about the buleh beans? They remain rather tough even if you sauté them, so I believe the only way to cook them is to boil them.”

“Yeah. The other thing I was thinking was that I’d like to mix them with sugar and use them as an ingredient in a dessert.”

“A dessert?! That’s...quite the novel idea.”

Unfortunately, the ingredients from Barud were in short supply, just like last time, so we were only going to get enough to do a few experiments with them. If I could get my hands on a sufficient amount eventually, though, I really wanted to teach Toor Deen and Rimee Ruu how to make something like sweet red bean paste with them.

That just left the dried aneira, but they were fairly similar to the seafood that had come from the capital, so I didn’t really have anything to say about them. Varkas didn’t so much as open his mouth either, so we ended up moving right along to the next ingredient.

“Next up is hoboi oil, correct? With your permission, I would like to say a few things about it in place of my master Varkas,” Bozl said as he stepped forward from the crowd. He was one of Varkas’s apprentices, a man from Jagar with a robust build. Smiling widely, he looked out over the crowd with his bright green eyes. “Just the other day, I was finally able to learn how to make hoboi oil from a fellow southerner. It isn’t all that different from reten oil, so I don’t believe you would have much difficulty making it from hoboi seeds you buy personally.”

You started by roasting the golden sesame-like hoboi seeds, and then mashing them up. Then you filtered them and let them ferment for a while, after which you filtered them once more. That was the basic process.

“When you’re finished, you should be left with a small amount of this oil here. It’s far more fragrant than reten oil is.”

There was a glass bottle on top of the table in front of him filled with a brownish liquid. Bozl removed the cork, then he passed it around to everyone. When I gave it a sniff, I found that, sure enough, it smelled just like sesame oil.

“It has a strong aroma, so I can’t say what sort of dishes it would pair well with, but it provides an entirely different flavor than reten oil or milk fat, so I believe it will prove quite useful,” Bozl said with a smile, his gaze shifting my way. “I believe you raised the idea of extracting oil from hoboi seeds before, Sir Asuta, so do you have any idea how it could be used?”

“Well, I thought it would be good as a flavoring in the tau oil sautés I prepare, and it could also go well in soups.”

“Hmm. Would it be possible for you to prepare a sample dish?”

I was supposed to just be watching today, so that was a rather unexpected request, but I was happy to share my knowledge to help make Genos more prosperous, so I agreed and got started.

Since I didn’t want to take too long, I decided to go with a simple stir-fry using karon breast meat, aria, pula, and chamcham, plus tau oil, sugar, nyatta spirits, myamuu, and keru root for flavoring. After rubbing some salt and pico leaves into the breast meat, I sliced it into thin pieces, then stir-fried it with the vegetables and hoboi oil. Once it was cooked about halfway through, I added the seasonings, then let it cook the rest of the way.

The flavoring I was using was pretty much the same as the twice-cooked pork-style dish we served as a daily special at the stalls, but this time, I had cut the karon meat into strips so it came out closer to pepper steak. Making enough for everyone to have a bite took quite a lot of effort, so I ended up asking the other chefs from the forest’s edge to help, which they had no problem with.

Bozl took a bite of the finished dish, and when he spoke next, he sounded really impressed. “My, this is quite splendid. It’s hard to believe this is your first time using hoboi oil.”

“Well, there was a similar kind of oil back in my home country.”

When I took a bite as well, I found that the hoboi oil had managed to give the dish the feel of Chinese cooking all on its own. If I had added some chatchi starch to make it a little thicker, I figured it would have been pretty much perfect. That would be everything I needed to prepare a dish I could proudly call twice-cooked giba.

“This really is delicious. You used quite a few seasonings, but rather than getting in their way the hoboi oil seems like it’s making their flavors even better,” Myme whispered to me, her eyes positively sparkling. Reina Ruu and Toor Deen looked deadly serious, but also satisfied as they tried the sample dish too.

Rimee Ruu, meanwhile, grinned brightly and said, “It’s so tasty!”

“Yes, it is indeed good. If you were to add a few more herbs, I’m sure it would become quite popular in the castle town,” Timalo said, his brow deeply furrowed.

Next to him, Varkas breathed a sigh. “So you truly are capable of making high-quality dishes with karon meat after all, Sir Asuta. Still, you were even able to use a live fish before, so I suppose that is only natural.”

“Ah, yeah. I actually had the opportunity to help out at one of the post town’s inns recently, and I had to cook a lot of karon and kimyuus for that,” I replied.

Varkas’s sleepy-looking gaze shifted to aim directly at me. “Is that so? If you had sent word, I would have come to have a meal there.”

“I imagine it would be quite difficult for you to visit an inn in the post town, Varkas,” Bozl said with a placating smile. Varkas was supposedly very bad with crowds. If not for that, I would have loved to invite him to come to one of our banquets at the forest’s edge. “Well, at any rate, I would say this did a fine job of demonstrating the unique flavor of hoboi oil,” he continued. “If any of you wish to use it, though, we will need to purchase a large amount of hoboi in order to produce it.”

“Indeed. Fortunately, the people of Jagar would very much like to purchase fuwano and fruit wine from Genos. We still have a great deal of surplus fuwano in the Turan pantries, so expanding our business dealings with Jagar would be quite beneficial,” Polarth said, seeming quite satisfied with how the study session was going. “Now then, we shall finish with the ingredient from Sym known as shaska. Sir Varkas is the only one who knows how to work with it, so please, go ahead.”

“Yes, of course,” Varkas said. He then looked over at Tatumai and Shilly Rou, which was apparently their cue to bring a large bundle that had been sitting on the table beside them over to him. The shaska that had been used to make part of the meal we’d had at The Silver Star had to be inside it. Varkas had used it in a dish that was like tan tan ramen without broth, but this would be my first time seeing it before it had been prepared.

“These are shaska seeds. This is the form they are in when they are delivered from Sym.”

On that signal from his master, Tatumai portioned out the contents of the bundle onto a number of plates, and when I saw what shaska actually was, I had to stop myself from shouting in surprise.

The shaska was a bunch of small oval-shaped grains. About five millimeters long and three millimeters wide. Slightly transparent, but a very pure white in color. In other words, this ingredient looked incredibly similar to the rice that I was familiar with from back home.

2

“Now then, we will start by demonstrating how shaska is processed,” Varkas stated, and Tatumai and Shilly Rou got to work.

The two of them added shaska grains and water to a large pot in equal quantities and put it on a strong flame, stirring it once it reached a boil. Apparently, if they just let the shaska sit, it would burn.

“Now we wait for the shaska to absorb the water and for any excess to boil off. It’s fine to use the strongest flame you can maintain in order to shorten this process,” Tatumai—an older man with Sym blood—calmly explained as Shilly Rou took over the stirring. Sweat quickly started forming on her brow. Apparently, she was allowed to not wear a white mask when performing this task.

“Once the shaska has finished absorbing moisture, it will be noticeably sticky and a fair bit heavier than before,” Tatumai continued. “That means the grains are ready for mashing.”

Once enough time had passed, Shilly Rou swapped out the wooden spatula-like utensil that she’d been stirring with for a tool that looked more like a pestle, using it to roughly pound down the contents of the pot. It definitely looked like tough work.

“Remove the pot from the flame after the last of the excess moisture has completely boiled off. If you wish to flavor the shaska directly, this is when you should do so. But for today, our aim is to show all of you the taste of the shaska itself, so we will be leaving it as it is.”

All of the thirty chefs in the audience were watching Shilly Rou work with great curiosity. Among them was Yang, the head chef of the house of Daleim, who leaned over and whispered to me, “I’ve heard that shaska is used like fuwano in Sym, but the way it’s prepared seems to be quite different.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” I replied, feeling elated inside. The mellow smell wafting from the pot was incredibly similar to that of freshly cooked rice. Shilly Rou almost looked like she was pounding mochi as she mashed up the shaska.

“Crushing the shaska grains like this increases their stickiness. Once the grains are fully pulped, you should begin kneading the shaska,” Tatumai explained as the sticky shaska started clinging to the pestle in a way that really reminded me of glutenous rice clinging to a mochi mallet. “One person should be sufficient to process this amount, but if you wish to prepare more, it would be best to have multiple people mashing it up. It’s essential to move on to the next step before the shaska cools and solidifies, so make sure to be mindful of how long you’re taking.”

Since the shaska was sitting in a heated pot, it would probably take quite a while for it to cool down. As Shilly Rou continued to mash up the shaska, it was easy to tell that the pulp was getting stickier and stickier over time. When she raised her pestle, a thick line of shaska clung to it without tearing until it had stretched out quite a bit, earning surprised reactions from much of the crowd.

“Its viscosity is incredible. It’s almost like mashed gigo.”

“Can you really use that to make the kinds of things you’d make with fuwano? I’m finding it hard to imagine that, at least right now.”

Shilly Rou didn’t seem to be paying any attention to those whispers, though, as she just kept on silently mashing and kneading the shaska.

Several minutes later, Tatumai declared, “That should be plenty. Now we move on to the next step. Sir Bozl, please bring that over here.”

The object he was referring to looked like some sort of large metallic bowl. Shilly Rou was a sweaty mess at this point, so she accepted a hand towel from Roy, wiped down her face, and picked up a bottle of red mamaria vinegar, which she poured a bit of into the bowl along with a good amount of water.

“The ratio of water to vinegar should be ten to one. You can also use sheel juice rather than vinegar, but here in Genos, the latter is more readily available,” Tatumai explained, stepping forward with a strange device in his hand. It looked like a long, narrow metal box, around thirty centimeters in length with a square open end that was about ten centimeters wide, while the opposite side had countless small holes in it. “By placing the shaska in here, you are able to shape it.”

He then proceeded to fill the inside of the box with gooey shaska before placing a wooden plunger into the wide opening. It was a perfect fit, and when he pushed on it firmly, white strands of shaska started snaking out of the holes on the other end into the liquid-filled bowl.

“Doing this coats the shaska in a film of mamaria vinegar so the strands remain separate rather than sticking together. After a little while, you can wash them with water to remove the taste and smell of the vinegar. They won’t become sticky again when you do.”

I had never heard anything about using acid to reduce the stickiness of starch, so that must have been due to something specific to either the shaska or the mamaria. But if sheel juice could be used as a substitute, then it had to be related to some unique quality of the shaska.

“Hmm. How unusual. Why is it necessary to make it so stringy?” Timalo asked, sounding doubtful.

Tatumai continued working with machinelike precision as he replied, “If shaska cools in a large mass, it becomes tough like wood. You can heat it up to soften it, but then the stickiness will come back. This is the process that the easterners devised in order to make the best possible meals out of shaska, which can be fairly difficult to work with. Though from what I’m told, in Sym they wrap an oil-soaked cloth with holes in it around the shaska, and then squeeze it to force the shaska through the holes to shape the noodles.”

As he spoke, the long strips of shaska continued to flow into the bowl. With precise skill and an expressionless face that was typical of an easterner, Tatumai looked like he had become a shaska-making machine.

“In the Sym grasslands, they place pots of shaska steeped in vinegar water over a flame and add meat, vegetables, and herbs to make soup. The people who live in that area prefer to do things that way because it’s convenient to be able to cook everything together in a single pot. And in the capital of Sym, adding shaska on top of other ingredients after the excess moisture has evaporated is a popular way of serving it.”

Timalo still looked dubious. “It seems to require a great deal more work to prepare than fuwano regardless of which method or recipe you use. Is it truly worth all the effort?”

“I believe the only way for anyone to answer that is to eat some themselves.”

The bowl was soon filled with shaska, so Bozl prepared a second. The contents of the first were then dumped into a wooden strainer and washed clean with water.

“Please go ahead and try this shaska without any sort of additional flavoring.”

Tatumai kept on working as Bozl and Shilly Rou started dishing out the initial portion onto a set of small plates. The watching chefs accepted the plates and began sampling the shaska with looks of great curiosity on their faces. Those of us from the forest’s edge stood back and waited to try it last.

It had the appearance of white somen, just like the noodles that had been served at The Silver Star. But there had been seeds of some sort kneaded into those noddles, so this would be my first time trying plain shaska.

“So this is shaska, then? It looks pretty similar to pasta, like you all said,” Yun Sudra remarked with a smile, as she was the only chef we had with us who hadn’t gone to the dinner at The Silver Star.

After nodding at her, I took a single bite of shaska, and found that it had the same texture as when I had tried it before. Despite only being about a millimeter thick, it was impressively springy. Actually, looking back, I recalled thinking that it was similar to glutinous rice back then.

You couldn’t stretch out normal glutinous rice this much, though. That’s a pretty clear sign that this stuff is abnormally strong.

And then there was the taste of the shaska. Before, it had been flavored in a way that reminded me of tan tan ramen, but because of the seeds kneaded into it, I hadn’t been able to figure out what the flavor of the shaska itself was like. Having it plain now for the first time, I found that it was faintly sweet. Rather than having a strong flavor, it had a faint one with a light aroma that spread throughout my mouth and then soon vanished. The mamaria vinegar had been completely washed off, leaving no hint of its taste or smell, so I was able to analyze the mild flavor of the noodles in as much detail as I wanted.

It’s totally different from rice vermicelli. From what I remember, I’m pretty sure that stuff is made using indica rice, which isn’t sticky. This definitely feels like I’m eating glutinous rice that was made into noodles.

I was getting pretty excited, but the other chefs who were with me looked pretty doubtful as they tried it.

“Hmm. It doesn’t have any real flavor to speak of...but I suppose pasta made from fuwano and poitan is kind of the same way when it’s plain.”

“Yeah, but its texture and chewiness does set it apart. I think it’s pleasant in its own way, so maybe we could use it to make a dish that’s totally different from pasta.”

Toor Deen, Reina Ruu, and Sheera Ruu all wore deadly serious expressions, while Myme, Rimee Ruu, and Yun Sudra looked like they were really enjoying themselves.

Then, a bit more shaska with a minuscule amount of red sauce poured over it was distributed. This batch had been made in advance, and Varkas had heated it back up while we had been sampling the plain shaska.

“This is a sauce we prepared using stock made from karon meat and bones, as well as a bit of salt, tau oil, and ira leaves.”

Once people started eating that one, I began hearing sounds of satisfaction coming from quite a few of them. Just adding a lightly flavored sauce to the shaska made it dramatically more delicious. Varkas, who preferred to season things in elaborate ways, probably thought of it as nothing more than a simple bit of flavoring, but the sauce was unbelievably good on its own. And it had definitely been made specifically to highlight the unique characteristics of shaska. The karon stock paired wonderfully with the spicy ira leaves, and it seemed to me that the shaska noodles with that sauce on top was a perfectly fine dish already.

“This is delicious. In fact, I’d say it’s equally as good as the black fuwano dipping soba sauce Sir Asuta once taught us how to make,” Yang said, sounding deeply impressed.

Having finished all of his current tasks, Varkas was scanning the crowd of the chefs before him with a somewhat vacant gaze. “What do you all think? If any of you wish to use shaska, we will move ahead with ordering it regularly from Sym. This is an ingredient I intend to keep spending a lot of time on in the future.”

“Hmm. Well, it certainly does seem to be an ingredient worth grappling with. It requires a fair bit of preparation, but the same is also true of the black fuwano dipping soba Sir Asuta devised... And I am sure there will be plenty of people who would be thrilled to be able to try dishes that could only be found in Sym up until now,” Timalo replied in a polite tone. Most of the other chefs seemed to agree with his assessment.

After glancing around the crowd with a look of satisfaction, Polarth turned to me and said, “What do you think, Sir Asuta? As you are already experienced with preparing black fuwano dipping soba, I would imagine that you could use this to come up with something wonderful in no time at all.”

“Yeah, that’s true... But before that, I’d like to try a different preparation method and see if that works.”

“A different preparation method?” Polarth questioned, tilting his head, while Timalo furrowed his brow dubiously.

Behind them, Varkas glanced at me with a look that was impossible to read. “What do you mean by that? Are you saying you’ve worked with an ingredient similar to shaska before, Sir Asuta?”

“I won’t know for sure until I actually try what I’m thinking of. But I would really like to give it a shot.”

Needless to say, I was hoping to find a way to eat shaska in its whole form. As someone born in Japan, that desire was only natural. Though I had encountered all sorts of different ingredients here in Genos, I hadn’t been able to find anything that even came close to rice until now.

“How terribly interesting. If you do not mind, could you show us some of the experiments you’d like to try now?”

“Huh? I don’t really mind, but, well...it’s going to take a while, and it could end up as a massive failure.”

“That is no concern. We still have time to spare, do we not?” Varkas directed that question at Polarth, as he was the one in charge.

Smiling, the noble nodded and replied, “Of course. This shaska is the final ingredient we intended to present today, and there should still be some time before this manor’s chefs will need this space for their own work.”

“I see. Well, in that case, I’ll see what I can do,” I said.

I was already planning to start buying shaska, even if I had to pay for everything out of my own pocket, so I was grateful for the chance to do a little research on it. All that said, though, I didn’t know how similar shaska actually was to rice. There was a strong possibility that this wasn’t going to be as easy as I was hoping. After giving the matter some careful thought, I decided on four different approaches to try out.

“Okay, then let’s start by portioning out the shaska. I’d like to make enough so everyone can have a taste, so enough to fill five of these containers should be plenty.”

With assistance from Reina Ruu and the other chefs, I got the shaska portioned out into the containers. Actually touching the grains told me that dried shaska was quite hard in a way that definitely resembled uncooked rice. When I looked at them up close, though, I found that they had a really smooth oval shape, with no cavity to indicate that its germ had been removed. In short, it was a totally distinct grain from a whole other world that just happened to resemble rice.

Since it wasn’t actually rice, it was possible that there wasn’t a need to wash it in water to remove the bran. Even so, I tried washing it in two of my four tests to see what would happen. I wanted to know if doing so would reduce the shaska’s stickiness a little. It appeared to be significantly stickier than even glutenous rice, so that was the first issue I would need to overcome if I wanted to make it into my ideal substitute for rice.

As part of my efforts in pursuit of that goal, I made sure to carefully measure the amount of water I was using. My initial assumption was that I would need more water than Tatumai had used. His aim had been to have it all absorbed by the shaska, but you needed more than that in order to steam rice.

Back in my home country, one would typically use one-point-four to one-point-five times as much water as rice if measuring by weight. And since I was experimenting here, I decided to try using water in two different proportions, the first being one-point-five times as much weight as the shaska, and the other one-point-seven. I was also making two batches of each, one washed and the other not, and those were my four variations.

Getting the strength of the flames right was also going to be crucial, but all I had was my limited experience with cooking rice using a mess kit to help me figure that out. My old man had shown me how to cook rice in earthenware pots plenty of times, but since I was dealing with metal ones here, a mess kit would be a closer approximation.

Well, I went camping with my old man and Reina once a year, so I should be able to manage.

I lit one of the stoves in the kitchen while explaining my plan to Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, and Toor Deen, and then they did the same, following my lead. We were going to start slow, then increase the heat later. That meant using a medium flame at first until the heat permeated our pots, and once steam started coming out around the edges of the lids, we would build up to a strong fire. However, the steam made the lids rattle in a way that made me uneasy, so we put some weights that were sitting nearby on top of them. The shaska was probably dancing around inside the pots. Or maybe it was clumping together into a single mass because of the differences between it and the rice I was used to. Honestly, there was no way of knowing until we lifted the lids.

The other chefs were all standing around watching us as we worked. They probably had difficulty understanding what exactly I was trying to do, and not just the chefs seeing shaska for the first time, but Varkas and his apprentices too.

Eventually, two of the lids that had been rattling so intensely that it seemed like the pots were constantly about to boil over settled down, so we reduced the flames back down to medium strength. However, the ones where I had added more water were still rattling as hard as ever. Because of the extra water, they hadn’t fully run out of steam yet. That meant I had broken the ironclad rule to never turn the heat down until the pot stopped making noise, but that was why I had used more water in the first place.

“Okay, let’s go ahead and remove the lids from these two. Be careful though, because they’re gonna release a bunch of steam.”

After giving my fellow chefs from the forest’s edge that warning, I removed one of the lids myself, and just as expected, there was a big burst of steam. My comrades remained calm and collected, but the people around us made some surprised noises.

Once the steam settled down a bit, I peeked inside and found the white shaska dancing around in the boiling water. It at least hadn’t turned into one big mass, so I used a ladle to remove the excess water from the pot, placing it in an empty bowl. I wanted to take a look at it later.

“Asuta, why did you use so much water in these pots? I don’t understand what the point of that was if you were just going to remove it later,” Myme asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

As I repeated the process with the second pot, I replied, “One of the things I’m trying to do is make the shaska less sticky. My hope was that whatever causes it to do that would dissolve into the extra water, but I’m not sure if it actually worked out that way.”

This was based on what my old man had taught me about how to prepare indica rice, which was used a lot in southeast asia. It started out less sticky than Japanese rice, but people would often twice-boil it to make it even less so.

In Japan, one would typically cook rice in a precisely measured amount of water in order to make sure that it would absorb as much as it needed to soften up without getting gooey. But in southeast Asia, it was often eaten as fried rice or served with curry, so people there had come up with ways to reduce its stickiness further.

There was a story from out of the pages of history that my old man had told me about once. “Way before you were born, there was this huge rice shortage. Cold weather caused a ton of damage to rice fields all over Japan, and a lot of it couldn’t be harvested. Because of that, we ended up having to import a bunch of indica rice from elsewhere, but there was a problem with that. You can’t cook that stuff the same way you would cook Japanese rice. They’re totally different varieties of rice, so you have to approach them in different ways if you want them to turn out well.” Apparently, trying to cook indica rice like Japanese rice made it come out all dry. But most people in Japan hadn’t known that at the time, so they had ended up believing that indica rice simply tasted bad. “If they were gonna sell us all that indica rice, they should’ve taught us about twice-boiling. And if they had told us how to make tasty fried rice too, they would’ve gotten way fewer complaints,” my father had concluded.

Anyway, setting my old man’s opinions on the matter aside, that was what had led to me learning all about indica rice and twice-boiling. Of course, shaska was a very different beast, being more sticky than Japanese rice rather than less, but that was where I had gotten my inspiration from.

“The extra water looks all white and murky. Is that from the stuff that makes the shaska sticky?” Myme asked, pulling my attention back to reality.

As I buried the image of my old man’s big grin in the back of my mind, I nodded and said, “Yeah, probably. And I’m sure some of the shaska’s nutrients dissolved in there too, so if we start using shaska at the forest’s edge, I’ll try to find a way to use this broth in a different dish.”

“I see. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you do with shaska, Asuta.”

Then Reina Ruu chimed in. “Asuta, the steam has gone away and it’s stopped boiling now. Does that mean all the moisture is gone?”

“Oh, yeah. Let’s take them off the heat, then.”

Just like Shilly Rou and the others had done before, we grabbed the pots by the handles and moved them over to unlit stoves. Now the shaska needed to steam, which would take between fifteen and thirty minutes.

Polarth was wringing his hands like he could hardly wait any longer. “So, all that is left is to wait? Doing it this way seems to take quite a bit of time, but it does appear to be far easier than the ordinary method.”

“That’s true, but you do have to be careful to use the right amount of water, and to manage the flame properly,” I noted.

At this point, the chefs were all whispering to their acquaintances. That even included Varkas, who was conversing with Tatumai. Shilly Rou and Bozl were discussing something too.

Roy, on the other hand, had nothing to do and nobody to talk to, so he approached me and said, “Hey. I never expected that you would know how to work with shaska of all things. And you seem pretty passionate about it too, even though it’s got nothing to do with giba meat.”

“Yeah. If I can prepare shaska the way I want, it’ll really expand the range of giba dishes I can prepare. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve felt this excited.”

“Hmm. Then I’d love to have you show it off at that banquet at the forest’s edge.”

Polarth, who was standing a bit off to the side, reacted to those words with interest. “Ah. So you’re one of the chefs who’s been invited to the banquet at the forest’s edge? You’re Varkas’s apprentice, um...”

“My name is Roy. I was unable to become one of Varkas’s apprentices, though. Instead, I currently work under them,” Roy said with a bow and an incredibly serious look on his face. I didn’t think I had ever seen him interact with a noble before, or at least, I was sure it hadn’t been very often.

“I see,” Polarth replied, rubbing his plump cheek. “There is actually something I wished to convey to everyone from the forest’s edge about that. And since all of you who were invited to their banquet are here, I wonder if you and the others would be able to remain behind after we finish with this demonstration so you can listen in.”

“I can do that, and I’ll tell the others to stick around as well,” Roy said with another bow, then he quickly stepped away to speak to Shilly Rou and Bozl.

“What’s this about? Is there some sort of issue with the friendship banquet?” I asked.

“No, I wouldn’t say that... Or perhaps there is? Well, either way, this is something I would rather not have uninvolved parties overhear, so we’ll be discussing it in another room after this,” Polarth said, shooting me a smile. “Before that, though, we have shaska to try. You seem quite excited about it, Sir Asuta, so I find myself becoming quite eager to see how it turns out.”

3

Half an hour later, we finally removed the lids from the pots. White steam puffed out of them once again, and the sweet, mellow aroma that accompanied it was seriously getting my hopes up.

As far as I could tell, everything looked about how I had expected it to. The shaska grains had swollen up and were now a slick, shining white. Personally, I was really satisfied with how it had turned out, but when the other chefs looked into the pots, they reacted with surprise.

“There’s quite a lot of it, isn’t there? It looks like its volume has more than doubled,” someone said.

“Yeah, because the shaska absorbed the water. I imagine that the other preparation method probably caused it to swell up quite a bit too,” I replied as I used a large wooden spatula to break up some of the clumps that had formed. As expected, the shaska in the first pot had remained very tough and sticky, but its appearance and aroma were incredibly similar to that of white rice. My expectations were getting higher and higher. “Okay, time to give it a try. We’ll use these plates here to serve everyone enough of each variety to make for a good mouthful.”

And so, we started doing just that, loading up the plates with a little of each of the four types and passing them around to the thirty chefs who were present. And as we were doing that, I looked into each of the pots to check their bottoms and found that hardly any of the shaska had burned. I couldn’t tell if that was because of the extra water I had added or because shaska was simply less prone to burning, though.

Once everyone in the audience had gotten a plate, I went ahead and gave it a try myself. I started with the shaska that hadn’t been washed or twice-boiled. I was expecting it to be the stickiest of the four, and sure enough, when I scooped some up with a wooden spoon and took a bite of it, I found that its stickiness remained incredibly strong. It was quite a bit tougher than glutenous rice, and as I chewed it, I felt like I was making mochi right there in my mouth.

But before I could start to feel disappointed by that, the shaska’s taste hit me and made me want to shout out with joy. It didn’t just feel like mochi, it also tasted like it too. That was proof that shaska was similar in flavor to glutenous rice.

“What an unusual texture. It’s hard to tell when I should swallow,” Myme said, though she looked like she was really enjoying it.

After nodding at her, I went ahead and tried the other varieties of shaska. Out of all of them, the one that had been both washed and twice-boiled using the extra water was unsurprisingly the least sticky, and its texture was incredibly close to that of the white rice I was familiar with. For red rice or sweet rice balls, that level of stickiness would be perfect. So far, every kind of shaska I had tried had been similar to rice, but with how this one had turned out, I would probably have believed it if I had been told that it was white rice.

To truly re-create the texture of the rice I had eaten on a daily basis in my past life, I would need to reduce the stickiness even further. Still, I couldn’t help but feel moved. The joy of getting to taste white rice again for the first time in over a year washed over me. The last time I had felt like this was back when I perfected the giba curry.

If I washed it for longer or maybe used more water for the twice-boiling process, I was sure that I would be able to reduce the stickiness a bit more. And if I did, it was possible I would be able to reach the ideal taste I was aiming for. Just the thought of it was making me extremely excited.

“Its texture is quite interesting. Are you satisfied with how it turned out, Sir Asuta?” Polarth asked with a smile.

I reined in the elation I was feeling inside, then turned toward him and said, “Partially yes, but partially no. I was able to confirm that shaska is very similar to an ingredient I know, but I’m not totally satisfied with how I’ve prepared it yet.”

“I see. Then I suppose you’ll simply have to take your time working with it at the forest’s edge. Personally, as interesting as I find it, I have no idea what sort of dishes it could be used in.”

That opinion seemed to be shared by the other chefs around us too. But they had felt the same way when they had tried the plain shaska noodles earlier. Though it was clearly something new and unlike any other ingredient we had, they had no idea how to implement it in a recipe like they did with fuwano. Still, that was no surprise when they were completely unfamiliar with white rice.

“My apologies for saying so, but I felt as if I were eating shaska that was only half done. It is possible that easterners would not be especially happy with this,” Tatumai noted.

But then, Bozl chimed in with a hearty grin. “Ah, but westerners don’t know anything about shaska. Those long stringlike shaska and this grain-shaped version would both feel novel to them. And having two methods of eating the same ingredient will give us more ways to use it.”

“Yes, that is only natural. Sir Asuta, I will be very happy for you when you manage to find a preparation method that meets your standards,” Polarth said with a pleased smile. “A fresh shipment of shaska recently arrived, and there is enough of it that Sir Varkas could not possibly use it all himself, so all of you, not just Sir Asuta, may feel free to take as much of it with you as you please. We’ve already decided to set a good amount of it aside for this, so there is no need to pay for it.” The houses of Duke Genos and Count Turan were treating this as an upfront investment. Still, I was sure that I was going to need a ton of shaska in order to find my ideal cooking method. Because of that, I intended to start purchasing it myself, but I would have to consult with Ai Fa first. “Well then, that will conclude today’s study session. Please inform the scribe there of how much you need of which ingredients.”

The other chefs promptly began forming a line in front of the scribe. After briefly glancing in that direction, Varkas approached me instead, with his apprentices following behind him. “That was a splendid display of skill, Sir Asuta. Despite Tatumai’s doubts, I believe I feel the same way Bozl does,” he said.

“Thank you. I’m really just trying to figure out how to make something close to a dish from my home country, so I don’t know if the people of Genos will appreciate it or not... But even if they don’t, I still want to try to find a way to cook it that I can be satisfied with.”

“What sort of dish are you referring to, exactly? Do you intend to pour broth over it in order to flavor it?”

“Huh? Yeah, that’s one of the ways of eating it. In my home country, we would add curry on top of it.”

Varkas had a tendency to get all worked up any time the topic of curry was raised, and judging from how his upper body was swaying, this time was no exception.

“Adding curry to shaska prepared in that way? I am terribly interested to see how that would turn out.” It seemed that curry was a really special dish for Varkas because there were so many different herbs used in it.

I was also able to spot a gleam in Tatumai’s eyes, which didn’t surprise me, since he had blood from Sym flowing through his veins.

“You previously added curry to your soba noodles, correct?” Varkas continued. “That made me think that curry could be added to shaska noodles as well, but it seems my assumptions were off the mark.”

“Oh, shaska noodles would probably go really well with curry too. But what I’m aiming for is something you would eat in a totally different way.”

While easterners might dislike my way of preparing shaska and consider it improper, I was very curious to see how they’d react to curry and shaska prepared in the style of curry with rice.

“It seems that everyone I need to speak to is here now, so would it be all right to complete the discussion I wished to have before you submit your requests for ingredients?” Polarth asked us from where he was standing a short distance away.

“Of course,” I replied. Then I turned to Varkas. “He wants to talk to us about the friendship banquet, apparently, so I guess this is goodbye, Varkas?”

“Yes. That has nothing to do with Tatumai or myself, so we will go wait in the carriage. If it were possible, I would have liked to attend the banquet as well.”

“I know. I hope you’ll get a chance to taste our cooking again, Varkas.”

Varkas gave a single nod, then looked around at the other chefs from the forest’s edge who had come with me. “The rest of you seem to have been quite diligent in your studies as well. As have you, Lady Myme,” Varkas said. Then he tilted his head uncertainly as he stared at Sheera Ruu. “My apologies if I am mistaken, but are you perhaps Lady Sheera Ruu?”

“Yes. I’m honored that you remember my name,” she replied with a gentle smile.

“Ah, good,” Varkas said with a small nod. “I have difficulty recalling faces, so I thought I might have been mistaken. Is this how your face has always looked?”

“M-My face? Yes, though I did have my hair cut recently.”

“Your hair? Yes, I understand now,” Varkas said with another nod, his face somewhat unreadable. “Lady Sheera Ruu, Lady Reina Ruu, and Ladies Toor Deen and Rimee Ruu who have prepared such wonderful treats for the noble ladies’ tea parties... With all of these fine chefs gathered, in addition to Sir Asuta himself, I have no doubt that the food at your banquet will be truly exquisite. I am quite jealous of my apprentices who will be able to enjoy it.”

“Indeed. I’m looking forward to the day when you’ll be able to eat our cooking again too, Varkas,” Reina Ruu replied, her voice steady yet full of passion. She must have been excited that Varkas had finally remembered her name. And honestly, that made me feel really proud too.

“Well then, I shall excuse myself here. I hope to see you all again eventually,” Varkas said, then he and Tatumai walked away toward the door. Polarth was waiting there for us, so we started moving that way too, only for Timalo to jog over to our group.

“Sir Asuta, are you in some sort of hurry?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. Polarth has something he needs to talk to us about.”

“I see. In that case, there is something I would like to ask you now,” Timalo said, the look on his face oddly serious as he leaned in close to me. “I’ve heard that you served food to the observers again after the day when we did so together, Sir Asuta. How did that go?”

“Yes, I did. I’d say they seemed reasonably satisfied, but why do you ask?”

“I was concerned that they might have perhaps done something ill-mannered once again.”

Timalo was referring to the time when he and I had cooked a meal for them together and the observer Dregg had fed all the giba dishes I had prepared to his dog Jirube. After we had left the dining room, Timalo had been so indignant you would have thought it had been his own cooking that had been disrespected so blatantly.

“Yes, we managed to get that observer to have some giba meat that time. Karon was still more to his tastes, but he didn’t do anything rude.”

“I see,” Timalo said, stepping back. “That is good to hear. My apologies for taking up your time.”

“Ah, no, it makes me happy that you were worried for me like that,” I said with a smile from the bottom of my heart. Once again, Timalo looked like he was having trouble figuring out what kind of expression to make, but he settled on an awkward smile before hurrying off.

After watching him go, Reina Ruu smiled teasingly at me and said, “It’s funny how concerned that guy was on your behalf, Asuta. He seemed so arrogant when we first met him.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think that he’s a bad person or anything. He just looked down on the people of the forest’s edge at first.”

“Well, I can’t say the same wasn’t true of us. It’s not that we looked down on the townsfolk, but we thought of them as people without pride.”

“But that Varkas guy and everyone else here are all children of the western god, just like us!” Rimee Ruu chimed in with a bright smile.

“That’s true,” I replied as I patted her head.

After that, we were finally able to make it to the door, where we found that Polarth had already gathered all the hunters who had come with us as guards.

“Now then, shall we move to the next room over? I’ll make sure that you’ll be able to get the ingredients you want later,” Polarth said.

He then led us to the small room where we would sample the food we made when we cooked meals at this manor. He took a seat at the table there, so we chefs from the forest’s edge did the same, as did Bozl, Roy, and Shilly Rou. Ai Fa and the eldest Deen son had also entered the room along with us, but they remained next to the door.

Polarth then turned to face Reina Ruu, who was the member of the Ruu clan seated closest to him. “The Ruu clan are in charge of the friendship banquet to be held at the forest’s edge, correct? I would like to have one of you convey my exact words as a mediator to the leading clan head Sir Donda Ruu. Is that all right with you, Lady Reina Ruu?”

“Yes, I understand,” Reina Ruu said with a polite bow in her seat. At times like these, the rule was for the eldest person from the main house who was present to take charge.

“Firstly, your people have no issues with what was previously discussed in regards to what you are expected to do with the red savage at this banquet, correct?”

“We do not. She will be kept inside a house to ensure that nobody from town will see her.” Reina Ruu glanced at me, and I nodded to her. A festival of the hunt that only had people of the forest’s edge in attendance was one thing, but since a large number of townsfolk were being invited to the friendship banquet, we had already been told that it wouldn’t be proper to allow Tia to roam about freely. Tia had accepted that after we had explained to her that it was because of the laws of both Genos and the greater outside world. “But it isn’t forbidden to have anyone meet her at all, correct? After all, Myme has met her already.”

“Yes, that is not an issue. But if a red savage were to participate in a banquet that has the stated goal of deepening friendships, it could lead to some serious misunderstandings down the line, so we wish for you to be careful.” That was in line with what we had already heard that Duke Marstein Genos had decided. With a relaxed look on his face, Polarth turned to face Bozl and the others. “I ask solely out of curiosity, but do any of you fear the red savages? You especially, Lady Shilly Rou, as you come from an old bloodline, correct?”

“I do,” Shilly Rou said, her expression as calm as always, but with an ever so slight bit of tension showing. “I have heard that one of the three great beasts has come down from the mountain, but I am not especially concerned. Of course, I most certainly do not wish to see it.”

“Yes, I feel similarly. Still, in a settlement with so many hunters around, I cannot imagine there being any danger,” Polarth replied before directing his gaze at Bozl and Roy too. Neither of them had any issue with it either, though.

“I was born in Jagar, after all,” Bozl said. “I’ve heard people talk about Mount Morga being a sacred land lots of times, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard the term ‘red savage,’ so I cannot see any reason for me to feel afraid like the people of Genos.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I’m glad to hear that this will not interfere with the friendship banquet. I hope that you all enjoy it and are able to strengthen the bonds between you,” Polarth said. Then his expression shifted ever so slightly. He was still smiling, but his eyebrows had drooped somewhat. It seemed he was about to get to the main topic he wanted to discuss. “In that case, let’s move on to the second matter. Please keep that in mind that this is only a proposal and most certainly not an order from Duke Genos... Would it be possible to invite a noble of Genos to the banquet?”

I was sure that every one of us was shocked to hear him say that. Reina Ruu quickly composed herself, though, and asked, “You are asking to have a noble of Genos participate in a banquet held at the forest’s edge? Who exactly are we talking about?”

“The current head of the house of Turan, Lady Lefreya.” That caused even more of a stir than before. And it wasn’t just those of us from the forest’s edge who were surprised. The chefs from the castle town were too, unsurprisingly. “The people of the forest’s edge and the house of Turan officially reconciled the other day, correct? Lady Lefreya herself made this proposal, in the hopes of demonstrating that doing so was not merely for show.”

“I see... And Duke Genos gave his approval?”

“Yes. He said he has no objections, if the people of the forest’s edge decide to permit it. However, we do see how a noble attending such an event might make it difficult for others to enjoy themselves freely. As the people of the forest’s edge are so broad-minded, I don’t expect that you would be overly bothered by her presence, but I believe it is important that you take the feelings of the guests you have invited into account before answering.”

Those invitees didn’t just include these chefs from the castle town, but also residents of the post town like Yumi, Tara, and Telia Mas. It was kind of difficult to imagine Lefreya mingling with people like them.

“The leading clan heads will have to be the ones to make the decision, so it may not be my place to comment, but...does Lefreya understand what sort of event a banquet at the forest’s edge is? They are very different from the banquets held in the castle town, from what I’ve seen.”

“Ah, as I recall, you were indeed invited to our house’s dance party as a chef, Lady Reina Ruu. But yes, Lady Lefreya is fully aware of how different it will be. It seems she has even heard from someone that you hold such events outside.” Her source was probably Diel, a metalwork seller we were both friends with. I remembered chatting with the young southerner about banquets at the forest’s edge before. “However, when nobles leave the castle town, they need to have a sufficient guard accompany them. After all, there is no guarantee that criminals would not attack her as she traveled between the castle town and the forest’s edge. At a minimum, I believe that she would bring twenty soldiers with her.”

“Would those soldiers also be participating in the banquet?”

“Ah, no. After arriving at the Ruu settlement, they would stand on guard by the entrance to the plaza. Since the rest of the settlement is surrounded by thick forest, it’s impossible to imagine that outlaws would be able to approach from any other direction. They would most certainly not interfere with the banquet.” Polarth, incidentally, had visited the Ruu settlement before to observe the match between Leiriss and Geol Zaza. Marstein clearly knew how it was situated as well, and had taken that into account before giving his approval. “Nonetheless, just having a noble personage present may be enough to cause the other invited guests to worry. So please, make sure you consider the matter carefully before answering.”

“Understood. In that case, we will make sure to discuss this with the townsfolk and get their consent as well.”

“Good. You should also put some thought into whether any of those townsfolk would try to do a noble harm.”

Reina Ruu thought for a moment with a serious look on her face, then replied, “I will convey that message. How should we send our response?”

“The banquet is only two days away now, correct? I am sorry for rushing you, but could you have your answer ready by tomorrow evening? I will send an envoy to the Ruu clan then. My deepest apologies for the imposition during such a busy time,” Polarth said, then he rose from his seat. “As for those of you who live here in the castle town, I imagine that you could share your opinions right now. Sir Bozl, please let our friends from the forest’s edge know what you think about all this before you leave.”

Polarth then left the room with the two soldiers he had brought with him. He must have figured that as a noble himself, he would be in the way if he remained.

Once he was gone, Bozl stroked his beard and said, “Hmm. It certainly is a surprise to hear that Lady Lefreya wants to participate in a banquet at the forest’s edge. It would be impossible to imagine the girl she used to be doing so.”

“Indeed. The way she was before was like the concept of haughty, stuck-up arrogance had taken human form, put on a dress, and started walking around. She’s changed a lot in the last year.” Though Roy was speaking in a polite tone since he was talking to his superior, Bozl, his words were seriously harsh.

Meanwhile, Shilly Rou glanced at us with a prickly expression. “I can’t see any need for you to take our feelings into consideration. It isn’t as if it’s rare for us to encounter nobles.”

“Oh, right. Since you all used to work in the Turan manor, does that mean you’re acquainted with Lady Lefreya?” I asked, causing Shilly Rou’s gaze to become all the more stern as she looked over at me.

“The members of the house of Turan never took much interest in mere cooking assistants. The only ones who were personally acquainted with them were Varkas and Timalo.”

“But you were snacking with the nobles at one of those tea parties, weren’t you, Shilly Rou?! So were you friends with them?” Rimee Ruu energetically interjected, causing the older chef to backpedal with a look of surprise.

“I-I’m surprised you remember that... Yes, I come from the house of Rou, so I have occasionally had opportunities to interact with high society.”

“Oh yeah, you were there with the noblewomen at that first tea party, huh? It’s sort of hard for me to imagine you in that kind of company,” Roy interjected, earning him a glare from Shilly Rou as her cheeks went slightly red.

“Th-There’s no need for you to imagine that in the first place. You were a skilled enough chef to be invited to the Turan manor, so you must have interacted with nobles from time to time yourself, correct?”

“Well, not as much as you. But anyway, we’re hardly going to be thrown off by a single noble being in our midst, so it’s the folks from the post town you all should be worrying about.”

“Very true. If her being there would scare our guests from the post town, then I imagine the leading clan heads would have to decide to not allow her to attend,” Reina Ruu said.

She was exactly right. If the presence of one guest would cause the others to become afraid, it would ruin the friendship banquet. But even so, I felt really happy. Lefreya had gone out of her way to express a desire to participate in a banquet at the forest’s edge. I didn’t think I was capable of understanding how much resolve that must have taken for a noble accustomed to living behind the safety of the stone walls.

What will the leading clan heads and everyone from town think, though? I really hope they accept Lefreya’s request.

At any rate, that matter wasn’t one that would be settled today. We all had a lot on our minds as we headed home, though.

Chapter 4: The Friendship Banquet

1

A few days later, we reached the first of the blue month, when the friendship banquet was to be held. Normally, it would have been a day off from work at the stalls, but we had decided to shift our schedules in order to accommodate our guests. All we had to do was make it through the day, and then we would finally get our long-awaited break. This was the last stretch of a long chain of events that had started with the festival of the hunt, followed by the study session, and was now ending with the friendship banquet.

The stalls associated with the Fa were the only ones doing business. The members of the Ruu clan were preparing for the banquet, so we were putting lots of extra effort in to make up for their absence. That meant running five whole stalls with our full complement of workers on duty: me, Toor Deen, Yun Sudra, Fei Beim, Lili Ravitz, and the Gaaz, Ratsu, Matua, Meem, and Dagora women, for a total of ten of us. Of course, all of them were experts when it came to manning the stalls by this point, so they were able to handle things with no issues at all. And aside from Lili Ravitz, who had a face like a Jizo statue that made it impossible to read her emotions, everybody looked happy and content.

“You’re holding that banquet at the forest’s edge tonight, aren’t you?” Pops Balan, leader of the Jagar construction group, said to me. His stern face usually made him look like he was in a bad mood, but now his expression was downright depressed.

“Are you still sulking, Pops? It’s an event to deepen the friendship between the people of the forest’s edge and the westerners. Of course outsiders like us wouldn’t be invited. And besides, if we went to an event like that, we’d have to take the next day off work, yeah?” Aldas said with an awkward grin, patting Pops on the back.

“I know, I know,” the older man muttered with a sigh.

Personally, I would’ve really liked to invite the members of the construction group too, but just like Aldas had said, our main goal today was to deepen our friendship with the people of Genos, so it had been decided that we would refrain from inviting southerners and easterners. Diel, our metalwork dealer friend who was staying in the castle town, had been rather displeased about that too.

“You guys start work really early in the morning, don’t you? But if you have a day off, would it be possible to invite you to a banquet at the forest’s edge then?” I asked.

Aldas titled his head questioningly. “I’d love to visit the forest’s edge, but we don’t really have days off. Taking breaks would only delay our return to Jagar, which’d mean we’d have to pay more inn fees.”

“I see. Then what about the night before you all leave Genos? We could call it a send-off banquet,” I suggested.

Pops’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’d seriously just invent a pretext like that in order to be able to invite us to your forest?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t gonna bring it up until after I got permission from the leading clan heads and the nobles, but not being able to invite all of you to today’s banquet was really disappointing, so I was thinking we could have one to send you off instead.” I was very fond of the members of their construction group, and they were only in Genos for two months out of the year, so I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible during that short time. “Oh, but if you want to spend that last night by yourselves and hold some kind of private event...”

“We spend every day together; why would we want to hold a private event?!” Pops shouted.

“Hey now, you’re making it sound like you’re angry at Asuta,” Aldas said with a strained chuckle. “But yeah, if you’re serious about this, Asuta, we’d be happy to come.”

“Of course I’m serious. I’d really like to bring all of you to the forest’s edge. And I’m sure the leading clan heads will give their permission too.”

“We’re big eaters, though, so if you’re throwing a banquet, you can expect us to eat about twice as much as a westerner would.”

“No worries there. The people of the forest’s edge are the same.”

“Then it’s decided!” Aldas said with a big grin. “But you need permission from your leading clan heads and the nobles first, right? We’ll be looking forward to the end of the green month, but we’ll try not to get our hopes up too much.”

Their food was ready, so Aldas headed off to the restaurant space, grinning all the way. As for Pops, he poked me in the chest, looking almost angry, then he followed after Aldas.

After that, the rest of the construction group walked off too, and behind the stall next to mine that was selling keru giba, Yun Sudra turned to me with a big smile. “I had a thought, Asuta. Why not hold that banquet at the Fou plaza?”

“Huh? Instead of at the Ruu plaza?”

“Yeah. You’d obviously have to hold a banquet like today’s at a leading clan’s place, but you’re the one who’s closest to those southerners, right? So holding it at the Fou settlement, which is close to the Fa house, makes a lot more sense,” Yun Sudra replied with an amused smile on her face. “I’m sure a lot of folks from the Ruu will want to be there too, but they can be invited as guests. It’ll be the opposite of today, where we’re being invited to the Ruu settlement.”

“I see. Well, I feel bad about always imposing on the Ruu clan, so that’s actually a pretty good idea.”

“In that case, make sure to invite us too!” the Matua woman helping out at both my stall and Yun Sudra’s chimed in with a smile of her own.

I turned toward her and nodded. “Of course. Everyone who works in the post town like this should be given a chance to attend. I’ll make sure to bring that up when I discuss this with the leading clan heads.”

I had never been to a banquet with any members of the Gaaz, Ratsu, or Ravitz in attendance. This was starting to sound like a great opportunity to have one that would be very different from a festival of the hunt or the various events that were held at the Ruu settlement.

Before that, though, we’ve got the clan head meeting on the tenth of the green month. I would be shocked if they decided to make us stop running the stalls at this point, but I still need to be ready for any outcome.

And of course, we had today’s banquet before any of that, so I had to suppress my elation and focus on doing my job without any mistakes.

Closing time finally rolled around.

We’d had a bit less food prepared than usual, so we sold out of everything well before when we normally finished at around the second hour.

Then, as if it had been waiting for that very moment, a totos wagon approached from the north. A boy with flaxen hair, reddish-brown eyes and an expression that made him look wise beyond his years stepped down from the driver’s seat—Kamyua Yoshu’s apprentice, Leito.

“So you’re already wrapping things up here? It looks like I was right to head out a little early,” he said.

“Thanks for coming, Leito,” I replied. “I hope you didn’t have too much trouble getting a wagon for today.”

“We didn’t have any trouble at all. There’s a shop where you can rent totos wagons in the castle town,” Leito replied as several other people descended from inside: Kamyua Yoshu, Zasshuma, Bozl, Shilly Rou, and Roy.

“Hey there. We brought the chefs with us, as promised. It’s okay if we just take them to the forest’s edge in our wagon, yeah?” Kamyua Yoshu asked.

“Of course. Thanks. I’m glad to see you all looking well.”

The three chefs all gave polite greetings in response. Aside from Roy and Kamyua Yoshu, everyone among them, bodyguards and chefs alike, were already acquainted, and they all seemed to be getting along okay.

“Well then, shall we get going? Everyone else should be gathering at The Kimyuus’s Tail,” I said.

After we finished cleaning up, we headed over to the inn, with all of us from the forest walking next to the totos wagon Kamyua Yoshu and the others were riding in. We ended up saying hi to Dora when we passed his place along the way as well.

“Hello there. Is Tara already at The Kimyuus’s Tail?”

“Yes. Yumi passed by a little while ago, so I asked her to take Tara with her. Please do take good care of them.”

Dora was going to have to work in his fields early tomorrow morning, so he wasn’t able to attend. This would be Tara’s third time visiting the forest’s edge on her own, though, so he didn’t look concerned.

“We’ll make sure Tara gets home safely for sure. It’s okay if we bring her back tomorrow at the same time we did before, right?”

“Of course. And please give my regards to everyone in the Ruu clan.”

After saying farewell to Dora, we got back on our way. When we arrived at The Kimyuus’s Tail, we first greeted Milano Mas, who by this point had fully recovered from the injuries he had received last month. He looked at us sternly as he replied.

“Telia and the others should all be waiting by the storehouse in the back. I gave her the key, so you can return the stalls to her. Just don’t forget to have her give it back to me before you head to the forest’s edge.”

“Of course. And sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Forget about it. I’m the one always inconveniencing you. Give my regards to the folks in the Ruu clan, okay?”

Milano Mas didn’t know the meaning of the phrase “day off,” so he still hadn’t ever come to the settlement at the forest’s edge. I pondered ways that we could create an opportunity for him to visit us eventually as we circled around to the back of the inn, where there was a small herd of young people talking excitedly as they waited for us. The group included Telia Mas, Yumi, Tara, and three young guys who would be visiting the forest’s edge for the first time.

“Hey there, Asuta! You’re already done with the stalls? That was quick!” Yumi energetically called out before anyone else.

For some reason, Telia Mas hid behind her friend’s back when she noticed us approaching.

“What’re you hiding for?” Yumi asked her. “We’re gonna spend the whole night together, so what point is there in not letting them see now?”

“Th-That doesn’t make me any less embarrassed!”

I could see Telia Mas’s face over Yumi’s shoulder, and noticed right away that it was unusually red. When I spotted the beautiful shining accessory in her hair, though, I immediately understood why. “Ah, did you borrow a banquet outfit from Yumi?”

“Yup! Since we’re allowed to dress up, it’d be a waste not to, right?” Yumi replied. She was wearing more accessories than usual herself, and had a transparent shawl draped over her shoulders. Tara was standing next to her with a smile on her face and a flower in her dark brown hair. Neither the people of the forest’s edge nor our guests had gone to the trouble of dressing nicely at the last friendship banquet, but after having seen the showy outfits everyone had worn at Granny Jiba’s birthday celebration, Yumi had proposed doing so this time around. And apparently, she had also pressured Telia Mas into borrowing some banquet attire from her, even though her friend had dressed plainly for the birthday celebration. “Are you gonna hide behind my back for the whole event? You know Asuta pretty well anyway, so what’re you getting all embarrassed for?”

“Th-The fact that we know each other makes it more embarassing!”

“Hmm? Well, now that we’ve come this far, you’ve just gotta accept your fate,” Yumi said as she smoothly hopped to the side.

Having suddenly lost her shield, Telia Mas shrieked, “Aah!” and shrank back in on herself, but there was no way for her to hide now.

She was wearing the sort of clothing that Yumi liked that was similar to the attire worn at the forest’s edge, which people in the post town referred to as Sym-style fashion. There was a single piece of cloth wrapped around her chest, leaving her shoulders and midriff exposed, and though her long skirt covered from her hips down to her ankles, it had a deep slit in it that revealed one of her legs. She also had a number of wooden and metal accessories on her neck and arms, and her medium length hair was done up in a cute way with accessories too. Telia Mas’s appearance wasn’t as naturally flashy as Yumi’s, but the outfit really didn’t look bad on her.

“Pretty good, right? If you dressed like that normally, you’d probably get more customers at your inn.”

“A-A little girl like me dressing like this just looks awkward!”

“A little girl? You’re older than me, aren’t you? Do you think I look awkward?”

“W-Well, you look more mature than me, so it fits you, Yumi. People always think I’m younger than I actually am.”

“That’s only because you always dress so unfashionably. Nobody will think you’re a little girl when you’re dressed this sexily.”

Telia Mas’s body wasn’t as fully developed as Yumi’s, but today she looked charming in her own way. Was that because of the difference between how she was dressed now and her usual modest attire? I was kind of having trouble figuring out where to look.

“The way that she gets all embarrassed just makes her cuter. She’s totally different from Yumi,” one of the young guys teased.

“Oh, shut it!” Yumi retorted, glaring at them with wide eyes. “I’m warning you now, if you make a pass at Telia Mas, I’ll make sure that you pay for it.”

“See, this is what makes you so un-cute.”

“Hmph. You guys thinking I’m cute would send a shiver down my spine,” Yumi said sharply. Then she turned toward me and pointed at the three, apparently finished with insulting them. “You’ve met them before, Asuta, but I’ll remind you of their names just to be sure. Starting from the right, these are Ben, Lebi, and Kalgo.”

They were all young men from the post town who were under the age of twenty, and anyone could tell just by looking at them that they were rather boisterous people. The three of them were close friends with Yumi and were regulars at our stalls. They had also joined us for the party in the Daleim lands during the revival festival. Though this was the first time I had actually heard their names, I was certainly familiar with them.

“Yo. Been looking forward to today, Asuta,” the oldest and biggest of the boys, Ben, remarked with a grin. Way back when I had first opened a stall in the post town, he was the one who had told me to go back to the forest’s edge. But more than a year had passed since then, and Yumi had been right there next to him complaining about us too. They had all become regulars eventually, and any antagonism they felt toward us was gone now.

It was actually the Ruu clan that had suggested inviting them too. Since we had only been able to invite Tara from Dora’s household this time around, they thought it would be a good idea to have a few more guests, which was why the three boys were here, plus Yumi, of course. Apparently, they’d been jealous of Yumi for a while now, as she had been invited to the forest’s edge several times. Though they were all kind of rough around the edges, like Yumi, they weren’t outlaws or anything, and they had gotten pretty friendly with the chefs who ran the stalls by this point. That had made them a pretty fitting choice for the friendship banquet.

“Could you guys divide yourselves into groups of three? We’ll take half of you in my wagon and the other half in Fei Beim’s.”

“Ah, then the guys should go with you, Asuta. I’m sure they’d be a bit more comfortable with that, right?” Yumi proposed, and Tara and Telia Mas didn’t seem to have any objections. It hadn’t even been two months since they had attended the celebration for Granny Jiba’s birthday, so they didn’t look worried at all about the trip they were about to take.

“Okay then. Ben, Lebi, Kalgo, you three hop into my wagon here. And let’s have Yun Sudra and Toor Deen join us, since they’ll also be taking part in the banquet.”

And just like that, we had all of our seating arrangements worked out. Toor Deen was extremely anxious around strangers, but Yun Sudra was very friendly and sociable. Plus, she was a wonderfully charming young woman, so the boys all looked like they were in a really good mood.

“Let me remind you, just to be safe: Don’t try to make any moves on the women of the forest’s edge, okay?” Yumi told the boys as she was boarding the other wagon.

Ben stuck his tongue out and said, “Yeah, yeah. We shouldn’t lay a hand on anyone unless we’re prepared to marry into the forest’s edge, right? We all know how scary the hunters of the forest’s edge are. None of us are gonna cause any trouble.”

“Yeah. Right. Just don’t forget that after you start drinking.”

We then departed for the forest’s edge with four vehicles in total. Inside Gilulu’s wagon, which I was driving, the conversation was pretty lively. Ben, Kalgo, and Yun Sudra were having an amusing chat, and then Lebi called up toward the driver’s seat, “Hey, Asuta, that noble girl won’t be showing up until it gets dark, right?”

“Yep. She should arrive shortly before sunset.”

In the past, I had usually spoken politely to Lebi, but today I had learned that he was actually younger than me, so I was trying to be a bit more casual. I remembered Lebi and Ben making the biggest commotion on the night of the revival festival back in the Daleim lands. And from what I could recall, Ben was the one whose knees had given out the first time Mida Ruu had shown up, while Lebi had been the one who had informed us of Mida Ruu’s past misdeeds.

“I’m really glad that everyone was willing to accept a noble participating. From what I’ve seen, nobles aren’t very well-liked in the post town.”

“Yeah, but ever since that huge mess was finally settled, folks have started looking at the nobles a little differently, I guess. I haven’t really heard any nasty rumors about them since then.”

The mess he was talking about was of course our conflict with the house of Turan. Once the lord of Genos, Marstein, had officially passed judgment on Cyclaeus, who had been the figure with the second greatest amount of political power in the domain, the animosity that the townsfolk felt toward the nobles seemed to have softened quite a bit.

That was something Marstein had really been aiming for too. Cyclaeus had covered for the Suun and foisted false charges upon the Red Beard Bandits, and in the process had seriously damaged people’s perception of the nobles of Genos. And by bringing those crimes to light, Marstein had sought to win the hearts of his people. The lord of Genos had also used that opportunity to stress the value of transparency in governance. Then, during our dispute with the observers from the capital, he had also chosen to publicly announce the truth of what had been happening in order to keep the support of the citizens.

“So, that noble girl from the house of Turan who kidnapped you is the one that’ll be coming today, right, Asuta? I heard about you guys burying the hatchet during that last big crisis, but are you really okay with her being there?”

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem at all. I’ve seen Lefreya a number of times in the last year, and she really seems to have turned over a new leaf ever since her father was brought to justice.”

“Heh heh. You really are amazing, Asuta, meeting with a noble lady from the house of Turan multiple times,” Lebi said half-jokingly. While he might have felt less animosity toward nobles now, I was sure he still didn’t want to go anywhere near them. But even so, none of them had objected to Lefreya joining us, and the same was true of Yumi, Telia Mas, Tara, and their parents—Sams, Milano Mas, and Dora. After we had gotten all of their opinions, Donda Ruu had conveyed his approval to Polarth.

I wonder if Lefreya will get a chance to speak with Yumi and the others... I feel like watching them talk would make me anxious, but, well, there’s really no telling how any of this will go, I thought as our wagons arrived at the settlement at the forest’s edge. As we turned our wagons off the narrow, harshly sloped trail onto the wide one that ran north to south, Ben and the other boys suddenly grew a bit quieter.

“We’ll arrive at the Ruu settlement soon. Are you all ready?”

“Y-Yeah. Just hurry up and get us there, okay?”

I nodded, then gave Gilulu a quick whip. Now that we’d made it to this point, the Ruu settlement wasn’t far. It wasn’t long before I was bringing the wagon to a stop right in front of it and the other wagons lined up alongside us. Then Yumi and the other guests exited them. Once I confirmed that they were all out, I shot a smile over at Fei Beim, who was in the driver’s seat of the wagon next to mine.

“Well then, we’ll be parting ways here. For tomorrow, could you show up at the study session at the usual time?” I said.

“Of course. Please enjoy the banquet.”

She then started driving her wagon off to the north, and the one with the Matua woman holding the reins followed after her. Then Leito pulled the wagon he was driving up alongside mine.

“So, we’ve made it. What should we do with the wagons?”

“We just need to park them off to the side of the road and bring the totos with us. I guess we should probably move a bit closer, though, so we don’t get in the way of the soldiers Lefreya will be bringing with her when she shows up later.”

We advanced until we were ten meters away from the entrance to the Ruu settlement before stopping our wagons and unyoking our totos. And as he stepped down to the ground, Ben finally started to look nervous as he glanced around the area.

“H-Hey, giba really don’t come near places where people live, right?”

“That’s right. We cut down all the trees that produce the fruits giba eat around our settlements, so there shouldn’t be any danger here. I’ve never seen a giba come anywhere near a house,” I replied, but Ben and the other boys still kept glancing around nervously. Giba lived out in the forest, so for townsfolk like them, coming to this place was like entering a strange, foreign land.

“Ah, I’ve finally made it to the settlement at the forest’s edge! I’m actually surprised at how excited I am!” Zasshuma exclaimed with joy as he checked out the forest all around him. This would be his first visit too.

“There are going to be a lot of people who you’ll be meeting for the first time, so why don’t we do some introductions here?” I suggested. “These two chefs were invited from other clans, and their names are Yun Sudra and Toor Deen.”

Yun Sudra politely bowed her head, and Toor Deen did so as well, though more timidly.

“Then we have these three chefs from the castle town, Bozl, Shilly Rou, and Roy. Shilly Rou and Roy were invited to the previous friendship banquet as well.”

Shilly Rou had removed her hood and scarf but was half-hiding herself behind Roy with a tense look on her face. I couldn’t help but think that it would’ve been better to try hiding behind Bozl, who was a lot bigger, but I managed to keep myself from saying so. Ben and the other boys stared at them with open curiosity.

“Next are the bodyguards Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma, as well as Kamyua’s apprentice Leito. They’re all regulars at the stalls and they also serve as go-betweens for us and the nobles of Genos, so we people of the forest’s edge owe them a lot.”

Yumi then joined the boys in observing Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma with great interest. She had become friends with Leito during the incident with the observers, but this must have been pretty much her first time ever meeting Kamyua Yoshu, though she had undoubtedly heard a lot about him from Tara and Telia Mas.

“We also have Telia Mas of the post town inn The Kimyuus’s Tail, Yumi of The Westerly Wind, and Tara, the daughter of a vegetable seller from the Daleim lands. Then...”

“Oh, our families are nothing worth mentioning. We’re Ben, Kalgo, and Lebi, and we get into trouble with Yumi. And we’re also residents of the post town.”

“Hey, don’t go around slandering people like that! You’re the only ones who actually cause any trouble!” Yumi shouted.

“Are you joking? You’ve been taken away by the guards more than any of us, haven’t you?”

Yumi gave Ben a kick in the rear, then she turned toward Shilly Rou and said, “Ah, look, you’ve made Shilly Rou all frightened! We were finally starting to get along, so don’t go and ruin that!”

“I-I’m not frightened!” Shilly Rou retorted, her face going red as she hid farther behind Roy.

As he glanced around at everyone in our group, Kamyua Yoshu broke out in an aloof grin. “This certainly is quite a crowd. Not counting you guys from the forest’s edge, we’ve got twelve people here. And Lady Lefreya and her attendant Sanjura will be joining in later too, right?”

“Yeah. And there should be a number of people from the other leading clans and the smaller clans too. I believe we’re expecting seventy people from the Ruu clans alone, so altogether, we should end up with about a hundred people attending.”

“A hundred?! That’s quite a number!”

“Sure is. Though, when everyone from the Ruu clans gathers, that already adds up to more than a hundred, so it’s still smaller than a large festival of the hunt.”

“Ah, I see,” Kamyua Yoshu remarked with a grin. “As I recall, that was around the number of people who showed up for Gazraan Rutim’s wedding banquet, wasn’t it? Though I was only able to spy on that particular party from the shadows.”

“You spied on their banquet? Why did you do something like that?” Yumi asked in surprise.

“Ah ha ha. At the time, I hadn’t formed a proper friendship with the people of the forest’s edge yet. In fact, one of them had even pointed his sword at me before that,” Kamyua Yoshu replied.

“That takes me back. Darmu Ruu’s the one who did that, so I hope that you two will be able to become a bit friendlier today,” I said, taking another glance over the crowd. These twelve guests were all people I had met at different times and in different ways, and they came from all sorts of different backgrounds as well. It made me seriously happy that we had been able to invite such a wide variety of people to the banquet.

Of course, the Ruu clan were the ones hosting the event, so I was kind of an invitee myself. Still, if I hadn’t come to live at the forest’s edge, I was sure that none of the townsfolk would ever have been invited to one of their banquets like this. I felt pride in my accomplishments and a sense of determination as I mentally shifted gears for the party.

2

I walked into the plaza at the Ruu settlement alongside twelve guests and two of our people. Naturally, it was already full of people rushing all about, trying to get things ready for the banquet. A number of simple stone stoves had been constructed, there was white smoke rising from the various houses, and only the especially young kids looked to be taking it easy.

Zasshuma, Bozl, and the three boys from the post town were all visiting the settlement for the first time, so their gazes darted all about and they looked like they were vibrating with curiosity. And this was only Shilly Rou and Roy’s second time, with it having been around seven months since they had last come, so they looked a little nervous. Everyone else seemed to really be enjoying themselves, though.

“Okay, let’s stop by the main Ruu house to say hello first. Mia Lea Ruu, the leading clan head’s wife, should be in the kitchen, so follow me this way,” I said.

As we cut across the plaza, several women from the branch houses waved at me, and I returned their greetings. There was already a mountain of firewood, meant for the ritual flame, stacked up in the center of everything, which we navigated around on our way to the rear of the main house. The energy and enthusiasm coming from the room was palpable as we approached.

“Ah, you’ve arrived. Welcome to the Ruu settlement, dear guests,” Mia Lea Ruu quickly said to us after I had stepped through the entrance, as the door to the kitchen had been left open. With brightly shining eyes, she looked over the collection of guests we had brought. “Allow me to start by greeting you in place of our clan head, Donda. Would those of you I’m meeting for the first time please tell me your names?” At that, Zasshuma, Bozl, Ben, Lebi, and Kalgo all introduced themselves, while Mia Lea Ruu nodded along and smiled even more brightly. “I am Mia Lea Ruu, the wife of the head of our main house. Welcome to all of you, and welcome back to Asuta and all of the other chefs who went to town today.”

“Of course. We’d like to get started, so can we entrust our totos to you?” I asked.

“Yes, that won’t be any issue. Oh, and could we take charge of your steel as well?”

At that, the men all held out their weapons. It was no surprise that Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma were armed, but it seemed that Leito and the boys from the post town had knives on them too.

“Hmm. I feel like I might drop something if I try to carry all of this myself. Vina, could you lend me a hand?”

“Yes? What is it?” Vina Ruu replied in a listless tone as she approached elegantly. Since she worked at the stalls, everyone should have already been acquainted with her, but the boys’ eyes went a bit wider when they saw her even so. It was customary for women of the forest’s edge to wear veils and shawls when they went to the post town, so perhaps they were being thrown by the bewitching sight of Vina Ruu’s exposed skin.

“We’re taking charge of their steel. I’ll handle the long ones.”

“Ah, in that case, I’ll take those,” Vina Ruu said, holding a hand out to the three boys, who all handed over their knives, looking terribly flustered as they did.

“Oh, Asuta, Ai Fa said to let her know when you arrive. She’s in one of the main house’s bedrooms speaking with Jiba,” Mia Lea Ruu informed me.

“All right. And where’s Tia?”

“She’s with Jiba and Ai Fa. Jiba said she wished to speak with her.”

A gleam appeared in Kamyua Yoshu’s eyes. “So you brought the red savage here? Would it be possible for me to speak with her as well?”

“Hmm? We were told that we should limit how much the people of Genos interact with her, but now that I think about it, you were born elsewhere, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I’m a wanderer who calls no place home. I have permission from Duke Genos to speak with the red savage, so if you don’t have any objections, please allow me to do so.”

I remembered Kamyua Yoshu seeming really curious about Tia from the moment he’d heard about her.

Mia Lea Ruu smiled and nodded, saying, “Very well.”

Everyone else decided to observe the women cooking in the kitchen. The three from the castle town wanted to say hello to Mikel and Myme first, though. The remaining seven split into two groups.

“Very well, all of you may do whatever you please. After we’ve put away these weapons, I’ll take the group that wants to speak to Mikel to the house where he currently is,” Mia Lea Ruu said.

Yumi and her group started observing the goings on in the main kitchen, while Mia Lea Ruu took the rest of us over to the main house. As soon as we stepped in front of the door, though, there was a sudden bark, causing Shilly Rou to hide behind Roy’s back again.

“Wh-What was that? That sounded like a dog just now.”

“Oh yeah, that’s the guard dog that belongs to our house,” I explained. “We brought our dogs along with us today.”

There had previously been guard dogs that had been let loose on the grounds of the Turan manor at night, so the chefs from the castle town must have been familiar with the animals. However, Shilly Rou’s face had gone rather pale, and she had started clinging to Roy’s back.

“Um, do you have trouble with dogs, Shilly Rou?” I asked.

“D-Dogs are very dangerous if handled improperly. It’s only natural to be wary of them, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry. Our dogs won’t attack anyone without being provoked.”

Mia Lea Ruu regarded us with a smile as we were talking about the dogs, then she reached out toward the door, only to suddenly change her mind and turn toward me instead. “Ah, but doesn’t Jirube of the Fa clan see anyone not wearing grigee fruit as an enemy?” she asked.

“No. As long as Ai Fa or I are there, there shouldn’t be any danger. You’ve got nothing to worry about, Shilly Rou,” I said.

Mia Lea Ruu was satisfied with that, so she went ahead and opened the door. Immediately, Jirube excitedly leaped out at us, earning a shriek from Shilly Rou. He was just happy to see that I had returned, though. All he did was plop down next to my feet and start wagging his tail.

“Wh-What is that thing? I-Is that truly a dog?!” Shilly Rou asked.

“Yes. He’s what’s known as a lion dog, and he was trained to guard nobles in the capital,” I explained, but she still kept on trembling and clinging to Roy’s back in fear.

Roy sighed and tousled his hair with one hand. “Listen, Shilly Rou...if that ridiculously huge dog actually attacked, I wouldn’t do much good as a shield, now would I?”

“W-W-Well, it’d be better than nothing!”

“So you’re not denying treating me as a shield?” Roy replied with a frown.

Bozl chuckled heartily. “This is my first time ever seeing a lion dog, but he has a really cute face, doesn’t he? So then, is that one over there your hunting dog?”

“Ah, yes, he is.”

The Ruu clan hunting dogs were all out working now, so Jirube and Brave were the only ones here presently. Brave didn’t need as much attention as Jirube, so he was just lying there at the entrance to the house and looking up at us with his black eyes.

“Well then, let’s put these weapons away. Asuta, shall I call for Ai Fa?” Mia Lea Ruu asked.

“No, I want to talk to Tia a little too, so I’ll stop in for a bit.”

And so, Kamyua Yoshu, Leito, and I entered the house with Mia Lea and Vina Ruu, who were still carrying those blades. After storing the weapons in the empty main hall, Mia Lea Ruu guided us to Granny Jiba’s bedroom.

“Jiba, I have Asuta and two guests with me,” she called out.

“Come in,” a voice said in response. With that, Mia Lea Ruu opened the door, revealing Granny Jiba seated on top of her bedding, with Ai Fa and Tia sitting right beside her.

“It’s been a while, Jiba Ruu. Ai Fa, Tia, I’m back.”

Granny Jiba smiled, while Ai Fa gave an expressionless nod in response. Tia, meanwhile, quickly stood up on just her left foot.

“Asuta, you made it back okay. There wasn’t any trouble, right?” she asked.

“Of course not. Have you been behaving yourself, Tia?”

“Yeah. The Ruu clan elder summoned us, and we’ve been speaking with her for some time.”

I was really curious about what Granny Jiba had been discussing with Tia, but before I could ask, Kamyua Yoshu peeked his head into the bedroom.

“Hello there, Elder Jiba Ruu. I’m glad to see you looking well.”

“Ah, so it’s you. I see that you’re doing just fine too.”

“Yes, fortunately. I’m very happy to have been invited to today’s banquet.” After that customary greeting, Kamyua Yoshu’s mysterious gaze shifted over to Tia. “So, this is the red savage of Morga? Would it be all right for me to listen to what she has to say too?”

“Hmm? I see no reason not to. What do you think, Tia?”

“The leading clan head Donda Ruu told me not to talk too much with people who aren’t from the forest’s edge,” the young girl answered with a serious look on her face.

Kamyua Yoshu smiled and gestured toward Leito, who was standing behind him. “Don’t worry. I’m a wanderer with no home, not a citizen of Genos. Leito and I have been given permission by Duke Marstein Genos to speak with you.”

“I don’t really know what you mean by that, but I’ll follow whatever instructions the people of the forest’s edge give me on the matter,” Tia said, looking at Mia Lea Ruu.

The middle-aged woman smiled and said, “The person they mentioned, Marstein, is the one who told us to keep you away from the townsfolk. If they have his permission to speak to you, we have no reason to say otherwise.”

“I see. Then I don’t mind either.”

Kamyua Yoshu and Leito stepped into the room, and at the same time, Ai Fa stood up and whispered into my ear, “It wouldn’t be right to leave Tia alone with Granny Jiba, so I intend to stay here until they’re done talking, but you can go ahead and see to your work in the meantime.”

“Got it. What has Granny Jiba been talking to Tia about, though?”

“It seems she was interested in how people live on Mount Morga. They’ve been discussing that ever since we arrived at the Ruu settlement. The red people have a very peculiar way of life, so I suppose I can understand Granny Jiba’s interest.” Ai Fa was in the middle of a break period, so she must have come here to the Ruu settlement with Tia after finishing with her hunter training when the sun hit its peak. That had been over two hours ago.

“I see. I’d love to hear about that too if I get the chance.” For the time being, though, I had a job I needed to focus on—the chefs invited by the Ruu clan were supposed to cook the banquet food under my guidance. “Anyway, I’ll excuse myself here. I’ll see you later, Jiba Ruu.”

“Of course. I’ll be looking forward to some delicious food, Asuta,” Granny Jiba replied with a gentle smile. Tia looked really reluctant to let me leave without her, but after I had said goodbye to her as well, I exited the bedroom with Mia Lea Ruu, who smiled at me as we headed back to the main hall together.

“That Tia certainly is a mysterious girl. Still, she seems to have an incredibly pure heart. I think I would probably want to welcome her in as one of our people if only the law allowed for it.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way.”

Unfortunately, the laws of both Genos and the red people would never permit that. Plus, what Tia wanted was to return to Mount Morga, so it was important for us to show strict respect for the customs of the red people.

It’s always best for people to return to the place they call home. And I want to see Tia off with a smile when the time comes.

I had no way to get back to my original homeland, but I had decided that this settlement at the forest’s edge was my second one. Even if there was some other place out there that would warmly welcome me, this was where I could be happiest. And I wanted Tia to return to her own home as soon as possible, so she could be happy too.

“Oh, Asuta, are you already leaving?” Yun Sudra called out to us when we entered the main hall where she and Toor Deen were playing with Jirube and Brave. Vina Ruu must have already taken the chefs from the castle town to where Mikel was, as they were nowhere to be seen. But at any rate, it was about time for us to get to work too.

“We’ve planned things out with Tari Ruu, so you can feel free to use their stove however you wish. I’ll certainly be looking forward to seeing what sort of banquet food you all prepare,” Mia Lea Ruu said.

After saying farewell to her as well, we headed over to the kitchen at Shin Ruu’s house, where we would be working today. And as we approached, we found Ryada Ruu and his second son training with wooden swords off to the side of the building.

“Ah, there you are, Asuta. The women have already gotten to work,” he informed me.

“Good. Thanks for letting us borrow your kitchen.”

As we went to move past them, the man’s son shot us a smile and bowed his head. He was the older of Shin Ruu’s younger brothers, and in a year or so he’d turn thirteen and become a hunter in training. He had a slender build, just like his father and older brother, and a friendly face that he seemed to have gotten from his mother. It was hard to believe that an adorable kid like this would be heading out into the forest in a year.

I’m sure Shin and Ludo Ruu must have looked pretty cute when they were that age too, though, I thought as I knocked on the kitchen door.

“Coming,” a voice called out. The door opened, revealing a young Fou woman standing there. “Ah, we’ve been waiting for you Asuta. Yun Sudra, Toor Deen, good to see you too.”

A Ran woman and a Liddo woman were waiting for us inside the kitchen too. They were my cooking team for today. The five clans that lived around the Fa had said that they wanted to participate in the friendship banquet too, so permission had been given for one man and one woman from each clan to attend, and the chefs had gathered here early.

“We’ve gotten a good start on preparing the vegetables. The ones we’ve chopped already are in this pot here and that one over there.”

“Thank you. We’ll be getting to work right away too, so please continue as you have been.”

There were around three hours left until sunset. These three had arrived first and had been working steadily, though, so it seemed like there was no need to rush.

This was the first time the three of them had been invited to a Ruu banquet, and they looked to be in really high spirits as they worked. Since they didn’t help run our business in the post town, they must have been really excited to form bonds with the townsfolk they had heard so much about.

“The Fou clan has started selling giba meat in town, so we do interact with the townsfolk a bit, but I have to imagine that it’s nowhere near as much as you and the chefs who work with you do, Asuta.”

“The Liddo clan doesn’t even get to do that. I was so excited for today’s banquet that I had trouble sleeping last night.”

Everybody was continuing to work as they chatted. After washing my hands in a water jug, I shot them a smile and got started too.

“I’m really glad to hear that you’re all looking forward to getting to know the townsfolk. A year ago, that would’ve been unthinkable,” I said.

“Well, everyone who got to participate in that festival in town or in the Ruu’s last friendship banquet seemed to have really enjoyed themselves. We’ve all been feeling jealous of them ever since,” the Ran woman stated.

“That’s right,” the Liddo woman agreed. “If the Fa clan’s business is accepted as a proper endeavor at the clan head meeting, the Liddo clan will be able to help you out too, Asuta. So when the time comes, I hope that we’ll be able to work together.”

“Yeah. I’ll be hoping things turn out that way too.”

At this point, the clan head meeting was just nine days away. That was when the vote would be held to determine whether doing business in town was a boon or a poison for the people of the forest’s edge. In the last year, had I successfully managed to get through to the clans that had been opposed to us, like the Zaza, Beim, and Ravitz? How did previously neutral clans like the Sauti feel? And would the other clans lend the Fa their support now too? I was sure that it would work out okay, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous and uneasy deep down.

Some time later, the chefs from the castle town showed up, led by Bozl.

“Ah, so this is where you’ve been, Sir Asuta. The person out front gave us permission to enter, but is that all right with you?” he asked.

“Of course. Everyone, these are the chefs from the castle town who were invited to join us today. And the six chefs here all come from different clans,” I said, and those who were meeting for the first time bowed to one another. “So, were you able to talk to Mikel and Myme?”

“Yes. And when we were done, we decided to go around and take a look inside all the kitchens. We’ve seen some very interesting work being carried out in every single one we’ve visited so far.”

Bozl seemed greatly satisfied, Roy appeared to be just as sullen as always, and Shilly Rou still looked kind of tense. It was difficult to tell how they felt about their first encounter with Mikel in seven months from their expressions alone.

“I apologize for saying this, but I was rather surprised by how skilled all of the people we saw were. They looked more like professional chefs than people doing work around the house.”

“Yeah. The people of the forest’s edge are all hard workers. And today they’re really giving their all to make the best banquet food they can.”

“I see. Still, seeing how much they were all enjoying themselves left quite an impression too. I feel like we should all try to remember to find joy in cooking, even when doing it for business.”

Perhaps due to his age, Bozl’s words felt very weighty. He had a huge grin on his face, though. It was easy to imagine him drinking and enjoying himself alongside hunters like Dan Rutim.

“Hey, are you really planning to serve shaska today?” Roy asked after watching Toor Deen and everyone else working for a while.

“Yes,” I replied with a nod. “We worked with it all of yesterday and the day before, and we’ve finally arrived at something close to my ideal. We’re preparing enough for everyone to have at least a little, so I’d love to hear your impressions.”

“Obviously, we’d be sure to let you know, even if you didn’t ask. Still, I never expected you to complete a shaska dish in just two days.”

At that point, Shilly Rou sent an intense glare my way. “Even if there is plenty to spare, you’re still using a large amount of shaska, an ingredient that Varkas was the first person in Genos to purchase, and out of his own pocket at that. If you prepare a crude dish, he is sure to be deeply disappointed.”

“I know. Personally, I’m really satisfied with how it turned out, but I’m also looking forward to seeing if it’s to everyone else’s tastes or not,” I earnestly replied. It made me happy to be able to prepare shaska in a way that was similar to my beloved white rice, but would other people find it tasty too? So far, I had asked Ai Fa and several chefs from the forest’s edge to try it, and they had all thought it was good, but I was definitely curious to see how the townsfolk would react to it.

But for the moment, I still needed to focus on prep work. In order to give everyone a taste of freshly cooked shaska, I had to watch the time very carefully as I prepared it. I was very excited, and felt a great sense of anticipation as I got back to work.

3

As sunset approached, things got more and more lively at the Ruu settlement.

The hunters of the Ruu clans and the invitees from the other clans all showed up, and the crowd quickly swelled to over a hundred people. After wrapping up with my cooking work, I headed out to the plaza to watch them all arrive. Toor Deen and the women on our team were in the main building of Shin Ruu’s house getting changed into their banquet attire at the moment, so for the moment it was just the guys from the post town with me.

From the clans that lived near the Fa, the hunters who had joined us for the banquet were Baadu Fou, Jou Ran, Cheem Sudra, and the eldest sons of the main Deen and Liddo houses. Aside from Baadu Fou, they were all young hunters. And the women who had come to help out as chefs were all young too, so they must have been picked intentionally in order to give some younger people who would be responsible for the future of the forest’s edge a chance to deepen their ties with the westerners.

The other leading clans and one of each of their subordinates had also sent two people each. The Sauti had sent Dari Sauti and a young woman, while the Vela, who were their subordinates, had sent the young head of their main house and, once again, a young woman. Then the wagon from the Zaza clan rolled up, and things got even more lively in the plaza. As it happened, the subordinates of the Zaza who were joining us were the two members of the main Dom house.

“Hey, Asuta. It’s been way too long,” Lem Dom said with a daring smile on her face as she stepped down from their wagon. Deek Dom then stepped out after her, wearing a giba skull on his head, like always. The Zaza clan, meanwhile, had also sent a familiar pair—Geol and Sufira Zaza. As the four of them stood in a line side by side, Ben reached over and tugged on my arm.

“H-Hey, those guys are crazy intense. And it’s not just the men. That woman is scary too.”

“Oh, that’s because Lem Dom is a hunter in training. She isn’t wearing a hunter’s cloak, but you can still kinda tell, huh?”

“I mean, she’s got crazy muscles. Sure, her face is pretty, but I feel like she’ll grab me and eat me if I make the wrong move.”

Lem Dom must have heard that, as she glanced over our way at that point. “Were you calling me pretty? I appreciate it, but it goes against our customs to go around praising the appearances of women lightly.”

“I-It’s not like I was saying it to you, so it’s fine, right?”

“Heh heh, if you’re trying to have a chat in secret, you should speak a bit quieter,” Lem Dom said with a grin. She wasn’t just daring, she was bewitching too.

Ben shrunk down a bit and then whispered to me so quietly that even I could barely hear it. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen a woman that sexy and scary at the same time. She even makes your clan head look cute, Asuta.”

I didn’t really know how to react to that, so I just laughed it off.

And then, a number of totos carriages started pulling up to the entrance of the plaza. It seemed that Lefreya’s group had finally arrived. Soldiers in silver armor and helmets lined up along the entrance with mechanical precision, causing a stir throughout the plaza. And when two figures in leather cloaks, one large and one small, appeared from between those soldiers, the commotion grew even louder.

With people commenting about their arrival all around them, the two figures steadily walked into the plaza. As they did, Donda Ruu, Jiza Ruu, Dari Sauti, and Geol Zaza quickly moved to the front of the crowd.

“Thank you for inviting us today. I am deeply grateful for the magnanimous treatment you have shown us,” the small figure said while flipping back the hood of her cloak. As expected, it was the young head of the house of Turan, Lefreya. She was quite pretty, and had her light brown hair styled in a short bob. I had grown fairly accustomed to seeing her in the castle town, but it felt kind of unreal to see her at the forest’s edge.

The tall figure standing right by her side removed his hood as well. And when I looked up at Sanjura, a sense of déjà vu was added to the surrealness.

“How nostalgic... This is now the second time we’ve set foot in this land,” Lefreya noted. Immediately after Cyclaeus had been arrested, Lefreya and Sanjura had briefly visited the Ruu settlement. She had asked me to prepare a meal with giba meat for Cyclaeus as one last offering to the man, and had chopped off her chestnut-colored hair when making the request. “Nearly a year has passed since then, but today we have been invited as guests. I am truly grateful for that.”

“As the head of the Ruu clan, I welcome you, Countess Lefreya Turan,” Donda Ruu replied in a serious voice. “The sun will set soon, so we will begin the banquet shortly. If you have any weapons, we will take charge of them.”

“I left my sword, in the wagon,” Sanjura replied with a relaxed smile.

Donda Ruu then turned around and led the new arrivals through the plaza, while calling out in a solemn tone, “I’d like to have all of our guests from town and the other clans gather here. Before the banquet begins, we should take care of the introductions.”

At that, I stepped forward and started following Donda Ruu with Ben and Lebi. And as I did, the other guests gathered from all around in front of the main house. Yumi’s and Telia Mas’s eyes were wide open in shock as they walked behind Lefreya.

Once all the guests had formed a single line, the Ruu relatives in the plaza all got together facing us. After looking around at everyone, Donda Ruu furrowed his brow with a look of suspicion and turned toward me. “Hey, I don’t see your clan head anywhere.”

“Huh? You’re right. I haven’t seen her for a little while myself, but—” I started to reply, right before the door behind us opened, causing a big commotion.

“My apologies. Preparations took longer than expected.”

Ai Fa stepped out of the house. The reason her appearance had caused such a stir was the banquet attire she was wearing. She had worn the outfit before at Cheem Sudra’s wedding and Granny Jiba’s birthday celebration, but no matter how many times you saw her dressed like that, you would still be left in awe by how beautiful she looked. Naturally, my heart was pounding away as I greeted her.

“I’m getting far too many stares... And what are you looking so surprised about?” she asked.

“Oh, I thought I had prepared myself, but, well...”

I saw Ai Fa’s mouth shift into a frown behind her iridescent veil. And when I saw her hair accessory sparkling like a rainbow in her blonde locks, I grew even more entranced.

Vina and Lala Ruu also exited the house and slipped into the crowd of the members of the Ruu clans, having been helping Ai Fa get changed. And just like all the other unmarried women in the plaza, they were dressed in banquet attire too. Toor Deen and Yun Sudra had also finished changing, so they were lined up beside me. Shortly thereafter, Donda Ruu ordered the ritual flame to be lit, and its light caused the veils, shawls, and accessories the women were wearing to sparkle all the more beautifully.

“Now then, allow me to offer my greetings before the banquet kicks off... As I said before, we’ve invited a great many guests here today. Twenty members of other clans, and fourteen people from outside of our settlement.” Donda Ruu then stated each of our names, starting with those under the leading clans, then the small clans, and finally the townsfolk. Once he had finished reciting them all, he gestured toward Lefreya and Sanjura. “As I mentioned the other day, we people of the forest’s edge have reconciled with the house of Turan. These two once committed serious crimes, but they have already been punished in accordance with the laws of Genos and deeply regret their actions. I ask that we all trust their word and attempt to form a proper bond with them from this point forward.”

Lefreya and Sanjura both bowed elegantly. Nobody in the crowd seemed to be looking at them with any scorn or anger, though. Just pure curiosity.

“Furthermore, now that our people have undergone the right of initiation under the western god, we have sworn to live properly as westerners. Many elements of what that means remain unclear to us, but at the same time, we must also continue to consider the forest of Morga to be our mother. I ask that as you all deepen your bonds with these guests that you also continue to search for the proper path forward for us.” Donda Ruu looked out over his silent relatives gathered before him, then accepted a container of fruit wine from Mia Lea Ruu. “Well then, let us share our joy as we share this space, and enjoy the same food together! Our thanks to the mother forest and our father, the western god!”

Nearly a hundred people of the forest’s edge chanted back, “Our thanks to the mother forest and our father, the western god!”

Our guests from the post town who were joining us for the first time looked outright astonished at the intensity of it all. But Kamyua Yoshu, Zasshuma, and Leito just let the excitement wash over them with smiles on their faces.

Then, with bottles in their hands, the members and relatives of the Ruu clan quickly started approaching their guests, which I noticed made Ben and the other guys go “Eep,” for a moment. Ai Fa and I moved away from the crowd along with the five other guest chefs.

“Okay then, let’s go finish up our preparations. Good luck, everyone.”

We might have been invited guests too, but we still had food that we had to serve. Everything but the shaska was already in place on top of a few of the simple stoves, so I left that to Toor Deen and the other chefs while Yun Sudra, Ai Fa, and I headed back to the kitchen.

As we circled around to the rear of Shin Ruu’s house, the hustle and bustle from the plaza became just a bit more distant. I breathed a small sigh of relief as I stepped into the kitchen, where two pots were awaiting me on two unlit stoves.

“Are we carrying these out? If so, you can leave one of them to me,” Ai Fa said.

“Huh? You don’t mind? Take care not to get any soot on your banquet attire, okay?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Ai Fa replied as she slid a grigee pole through the handles of the pot and easily lifted it. Then Yun Sudra and I lifted the other heavy metal pot together, and the three of us headed over to the simple stoves that had been assigned to us.

“Sorry for the wait. Is everything ready?” I asked.

“Yes. We can get started whenever,” one of the women said.

Two stoves had been prepared for us, and there was a table made of logs and planks beside them, with a large number of wooden plates, spoons, and trays.

“This is a special dish prepared by the six clans invited as guests! We only have a limited amount, so please keep it to one plate per person!” I shouted with my hands around my mouth. We instantly found ourselves swarmed by a huge crowd, and when I lifted the lid off of the pot and white steam wafted into the air, there was a loud cheer.

Using a big wooden spoon that had been dipped in water, I started scooping out the freshly cooked white shaska. This was the result of two days of experimentation. Hardly any of the shaska was burnt at all, and it was still piping hot.

With the washing and twice-boiling method I had used at the study session, I had been able to prepare the shaska in a nearly ideal form. The washing took quite a while, and when heating it, I now used nearly twice as much water as shaska. Then, while the core of the shaska was still hard, I removed the excess water and steamed it for a length of time that I had adjusted very carefully, which succeeded in noticeably reducing the natural stickiness of the shaska.

The grains of shaska were far more intact now than they had been two days prior. I stealthily tried a bit that had stuck to the spoon, and found that it had just enough stickiness and chewiness to leave me totally satisfied. At this point, it was definitely closer to everyday rice than it was to glutinous rice, and had the delicious taste of white rice that I had been accustomed to for as long as I could remember.

After looking into both pots for a moment, I placed a lid back on one of them. Then I grabbed a plate and started dishing up shaska while being careful not to smush it too much. That sensation was one I hadn’t gotten to experience in over a year now.

“Your turn,” I said as I handed the plate over to the Fou woman standing at the other stove, who accepted it with a smile. She was the one in charge of the giba curry.

“Now then, one plate per person! Please enjoy this dish while you wait for our other one to be ready!”

Though this was the first time that these chefs had taken part in a Ruu banquet, they didn’t look intimidated in the least.

The person who got that very first plate was none other than Rimee Ruu. She looked adorable in her banquet attire, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at the plate. “Whoa, amazing! You put curry on top of shaska! What’s it gonna taste like?!” Rimee Ruu had already tried shaska at our study sessions at both the castle town and the Ruu settlement. However, this would be her first time having it in a proper dish. “See, look! This is shaska! Isn’t it neat? It’s all squishy and has a really interesting taste!” Rimee Ruu said as she handed the plate she had accepted over to Tara. At this point, it was pretty much expected for the two of them to stick together like that.

“Wow!” Tara excitedly exclaimed.

Ludo Ruu was standing behind her like that was totally natural too. This was his first time seeing shaska, and when he saw it, his eyes opened wide and he muttered, “What the heck is that? They’re like little specks. This is what guys from Sym eat instead of poitan and fuwano?”

“It’s a staple food there. It’s only natural for crops to vary from region to region, after all,” I explained as I prepared one plate of shaska after another, which the Fou woman accepted and added curry to before handing them out to the crowd. Most of the people around us were exclaiming in admiration.

“Please, go ahead and eat up while it’s still warm,” I told them.

Unsurprisingly, Rimee Ruu was the first one to take me up on that. She shoved a spoon into her helping and lifted an equal amount of curry and shaska up to her mouth. Then, after she chewed for a bit, her face started positively sparkling. “It’s really interesting! And super tasty too!”

“It really is! It’s totally different from dipping poitan into it!” Tara said. The two girls were almost jumping up and down in excitement.

As Ludo Ruu looked down at them, he brought his own spoon to his mouth, then his eyes shot open wide in amazement. “This stuff’s crazy soft. And it’s sticky too, but not as much as gigo... Hmm. It feels sorta like a mix of gigo and chatchi mochi, I guess.”

“Ah, you can make mochi with shaska too. I imagine it would end up a lot stickier than chatchi mochi, though.”

“Oh yeah, it actually is sorta like chatchi mochi too! I really like both chatchi mochi and shaska!” Rimee Ruu chimed in.

“Me too! But it’s all gone already,” Tara added.

To strike a proper balance with the other dishes, I had only prepared enough to give people about half a serving of shaska. Because of that, Tara was far from the only person who looked like they thought that what we had given them had been insufficient.

“We’ve got one more shaska dish, which we’re going to prepare for later. If you’d like, please stop by again after enjoying the other food.”

Toor Deen was presently preparing that second dish. It needed a little too much time to serve at the start of the banquet, but that simply meant that people would have a good gap between having our giba curry and trying that other dish.

“Okay, I’m gonna go bring some to Papa Donda and Granny Jiba! Give me a hand, Ludo!” Rimee Ruu said.

“All right. Granny Jiba could probably eat this stuff too.”

The two kind Ruu siblings and Tara then took off with some plates on top of a tray. In the meantime, a whole bunch of people had formed a line in front of our stoves. The Ran and Liddo women had been assigned to washing the utensils in a water jug after people finished eating.

“This shaska really likes to stick to these wooden plates. I wish I could use warm water,” one of them noted.

“Ah, that’s true. I’m sorry for all the trouble,” I said.

“Don’t be. We’re looking forward to eating it too.”

The chefs had gotten to sample the shaska too. Of course, we had prepared a bunch of batches during the Fa’s study sessions, so they were probably a little sick of it at this point. But for folks who were unfamiliar with white rice, it was probably hard to tell how delicious it was without actually trying it in a dish. Because of that, for the members of the Ruu and the clans that lived near the Fa who had tried it, their first impression of shaska had generally amounted to little more than, “This is interesting.”

“Ah, so this is where you were, Sir Asuta!” Bozl exclaimed as he approached through the crowd of people of the forest’s edge. Roy and Shilly Rou were there next to him too. “We were walking around wanting to sample your cooking first, but we nearly made a full lap around the plaza before we found you. There are wonderful aromas coming off of all of the stoves here.”

“Yep. I hope that you’ll take the time to try all of the dishes on offer.”

“Of course. But first, we’ll be trying your shaska dish, Sir Asuta,” Bozl said with a big grin.

Next to him, Roy’s nose twitched. “Hmm. So you really did add that curry stuff to shaska, huh? This is sure to make a good story to tell Varkas and Tatumai.”

“Both these herbs and the shaska are ingredients from Sym, but that doesn’t mean combining them in a dish will make something good,” Shilly Rou noted with a seriously doubtful look. But of course, she wouldn’t get anywhere without giving it a try. And so, after we served the people who were already lined up, the three of them were finally able to receive their plates of curry shaska.

“Hmm. It certainly is fragrant,” Bozl said with a big sniff before taking a bite. Roy and Shilly Rou then did so as well, and while they were chewing, their brows deeply furrowed.

“Well? What do you think? Do you like it?” I asked.

“Hold on a moment. I can’t say anything based on just a single bite,” Roy replied, hurriedly shoving a second spoonful into his mouth. Bozl and Shilly Rou continued to eat the curry shaska in silence too.

It was only after he had fully cleared his plate that Bozl finally said, “I see.”

“Well? Did you not think it was especially good?”

“No, I... I find it difficult to judge.”

Roy and Shilly Rou were one thing, but it made me a bit uneasy to even see Bozl wearing such an uncertain look on his face.

“Still, there’s no doubt that it’s delicious,” he continued. “Giba curry is always wonderful, so that’s no surprise. But this...”

“Yes? What is it?”

“The texture of this shaska doesn’t resemble that of any other ingredient. That is also true of shaska prepared the ordinary way, but...it seems to stand out even more here. Still, I’m not sure why I find it so surprising. It’s difficult to put into words,” Bozl said, but then he broke out in a smile. “Well, I think I’ll just give you my personal opinion rather than my professional one. This dish is incredibly delicious. It made me feel even more shock and joy than when I first tasted shaska.”

“I see. I’m very glad to hear that.”

“Yeah, I’d say it’s undeniably good. Still, it really is hard to explain why in words... Hey, has Mikel had this dish yet?” Roy asked.

“He hasn’t,” I replied. “Mikel’s leg injury isn’t fully healed yet, so I’d imagine he’s sitting on a mat somewhere. Oh, but a lot of people have been delivering food to those who can’t move around easily, so it’s possible that he has already tried some.”

“I see. I really want to hear Mikel’s impressions. I honestly don’t know how I would explain this dish to Varkas or Tatumai without having them try it personally,” Roy said.

The entire time that we had been talking, Shilly Rou had been standing beside Roy with her shoulders trembling a bit. When he noticed that, he shot her a suspicious look and gave her a little poke in the shoulder. “What’s up? Did you get all frustrated again because of how delicious it is?”

“N-Not at all! I was simply lamenting my own inability to properly critique the dish!”

Apparently, the curry shaska had left the chefs from the castle town feeling rather shaken and troubled.

“We have another shaska dish that we’ll start serving around when this one runs out. If you’d like, please enjoy the food from the other stoves in the meantime,” I urged, and the chefs from the castle town soon departed to do just that. Or I guess it was possible that they were moving away to have a heated debate without me around. Being a chef could be pretty rough sometimes.

“There’s only a little bit of the curry left now, so I suppose everyone will have had it soon,” the Fou woman reported, right before a tall figure approached us with an elegant companion.

“Asuta. At last, I get to, see you.”

“Ah, long time no see, Shumiral. And good work today, Vina Ruu.”

“I haven’t done anything especially noteworthy,” she said, fidgeting awkwardly in her banquet attire. Somebody must have arranged things so that she could spend time with Shumiral today.

“Have you two tried this dish yet? It’s a special one we prepared for today.”

“No. We were drawn, by the aroma, of giba curry,” Shumiral said.

“In that case, please do have some. This white stuff is shaska that I prepared.”

“Shaska?” Shumiral repeated, his brow furrowing doubtfully. “Asuta, you only just recently, got ahold of shaska, did you not? But this is very different, from the shaska, that I know.”

“Yeah. This shaska was prepared in the style of a dish from my home country. I’ve been really curious about what your impression of it will be since you were born in Sym, Shumiral.”

I served up a bit of the last of the shaska onto some plates, then had the Fou woman pass them to Shumiral and Vina Ruu. Vina Ruu had taken part in our study sessions with the Ruu clan, so she didn’t hesitate to dig in.

Shumiral’s tall frame started swaying after he took his first bite of curry shaska, and he ended up bumping into Vina Ruu’s shoulder.

Vina Ruu gave a slightly sensual, “Aaah,” and she stepped away from Shumiral. “Hey... Weren’t you taught that it’s a taboo to touch women unnecessarily?”

“My apologies. I was shocked, by how delicious, this is,” Shumiral replied, deeply bowing his head while still holding the plate in his hands.

Vina Ruu turned away in a huff, but a moment later, she brought her palms up to her red cheeks.

“So you like it, Shumiral? I’m glad to hear that.”

“It is delicious. I have thought, for some time now, that it might be, quite good, to add giba curry, to shaska...but this, surpasses my, wildest imagination.”

“Oh yeah? I heard before that people from Sym might not like shaska prepared this way, since they might see it as only being partially prepared.”

“This shaska, feels like, an entirely different, dish than, ordinary shaska. I cannot see, much purpose in, comparing them.” Shumiral then took a second bite and really savored it, closing his black eyes. “It is very good. All of your dishes, are delicious, Asuta, but I believe, this dish, is the best, of them all.”

“Hmm,” Vina Ruu grunted sulkily, causing Shumiral to turn her way, looking like he had just been snapped out of a dream.

“I am, simply saying, this shaska is, exquisite. But the giba curry, you make, is very delicious as well, Vina Ruu.”

“Oh, it’s fine... Of course the curry Asuta makes is tastier than mine.”

“No, your giba curry, is the best, Vina Ruu.”

“Did you forget that the customs of the forest’s edge say that it’s a crime to lie?”

“No. What I said, was the truth. I am the happiest, when I eat, your giba curry, Vina Ruu.”

Vina Ruu glared up at Shumiral, her face bright red. Whenever I saw the two of them interacting like that, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“In that case, the Ruu clan just needs to buy shaska too, and that should solve everything, right?” I suggested. “I’ve been teaching the members of the Ruu how to cook shaska, after all.”

“Jeez,” Vina Ruu muttered, squirming a bit while Shumiral happily narrowed his eyes. Then the two of them finished eating and left, at which point Ai Fa leaned in close to me after having been standing off to the side in silence ever since we had started serving people.

“I see those two are the same as always. But there’s no need to feel discouraged over him saying that her curry is better than yours.”

“I know. It’s only natural for food made by the person you care about the most to taste better than anyone else’s. Love is the ultimate spice.”

“Hearing you say that makes a chill run down my spine,” Ai Fa said, but there was a very affectionate light shining in her blue eyes.

As the two of us were talking, the last of the people standing in front of our stoves vanished. It looked like everyone had gotten to have some curry shaska at this point, so the seven of us, Ai Fa included, helped ourselves to what little remained, then got to work on the second shaska dish.

4

“Ah, Asuta! So this is where you were!” an energetic voice called out, and when I turned to look, I saw Yumi leading a group over to our stoves. She had Telia Mas, Shin Ruu, and his two younger brothers with her, which I thought was a pretty interesting combination. Telia Mas seemed to have finally gotten used to her banquet attire, as she no longer looked so embarrassed.

“Hey there. I don’t think I’ve seen you guys since we got set up. Did you manage to get a bite of curry shaska?”

“Yup! We were standing around talking over where Sheera Ruu was working, so some folks from the Ruu clan brought us some! That was a really interesting dish!” Even for a resident of the post town like Yumi, her first reaction was still that she found it “interesting.” “I’d love to have my mom and my old man try it out, but if it’s an ingredient from Sym, I’m sure it must be pricey!”

“Yeah, but once the demand for it reaches a certain point, the price should drop somewhat. For now, though, it should probably be considered a luxury good.”

“In that case, we definitely won’t be using it at our inn. Still, I guess I only got to eat food like that in the first place because I get along with all of you from the forest’s edge so well now!”

Now that a decent amount of time had passed since the banquet had kicked off, Yumi seemed to be really fired up.

I then looked over at the three young men who were with her and gave them a smile. “Hey. I feel like it’s been a bit since I’ve seen you, Shin Ruu. Did you all meet up over where Sheera Ruu is serving food?”

“We did. We talked for a while, but Darmu Ruu was being so loud that we ended up stepping away.”

“After that, we went to go see Lala Ruu!” Yumi added. “But then I started thinking that your next dish might be ready soon, so we came here to check!”

“That was a good guess. I just now finished getting it ready,” Toor Deen said with a smile. She had been the one handling the prep work.

“Okay, then let’s start serving it now. Yun Sudra, if you would?” I prompted.

“Right,” Yun Sudra replied, picking up a plate. When Yumi saw what was on it, her eyes shot open wide.

“Are those giba cutlets? Didn’t you complete that dish a long time ago?”

“Not quite. These are going to be part of our dish.”

The pot that Toor Deen was in charge of had a large amount of aria boiling in a salty-sweet tau-oil-based sauce. She scooped out a bit of it and transferred it to a pan on the neighboring stove, which Yun Sudra swiftly added the giba cutlets to, along with some kimyuus egg that we had prepared in a bowl. I plated some shaska for the five of them as the pot came to a simmer and soft boiled the egg. Once everything was ready, we scooped up the giba cutlets, aria, egg, and sauce all together and transferred it onto the shaska, completing the giba katsudon.

“Here you go. Personally, I think this tastes every bit as good as the curry shaska, so everybody give it a try.”

The group in front of us grabbed the plates immediately after I said that, with great interest showing on their faces.

“Delicious!” Yumi exclaimed after taking her first bite. “This is incredibly good! I mean, giba cutlets are great to start with, but this is even better!”

“Really? I’m glad you like it.”

Just as I was wondering what the people of the forest’s edge would think of it, I heard Shin Ruu give a satisfied sigh, while his two younger brothers were smiling every bit as brightly as Yumi was.

“So giba cutlets can be made like this too? And this shaska...it seems to taste even better than it did with the curry,” Shin Ruu said.

“That’s great to hear.”

Most people of the forest’s edge enjoyed giba cutlets a lot, so I had been a bit worried about how they’d react to the giba katsudon, which used a somewhat different flavoring. Of course, it wasn’t as if I didn’t have confidence in it or anything. Ai Fa and the chefs from the nearby clans who had given it a try yesterday had all really liked it, and Shin Ruu and his brothers were clearly enjoying it too.

“Are you keeping this to one plate per person too? Ugh, I wish I could eat more! I feel like I’m even hungrier than I was before I ate it! Maybe we should bring some over to Lala Ruu and her group?” Yumi said, making a huge commotion that drew a crowd of people who now realized that our dish was complete. We could only prepare enough for a few people at a time, so the line ended up even longer than before. But despite that, Toor Deen continued to ready batch after batch of giba katsudon with skill and care, and no sign that she was getting flustered in the least.

“You completed this dish just yesterday, and yet you’re leaving it up to Toor Deen to prepare it,” Ai Fa whispered to me as I continued to make piles of shaska.

“Yeah. It takes a bit of practice to serve up shaska like this, so for today, that’s my job.”

Plus, Toor Deen had gotten lots of experience with giba egg-drop soup at the stalls, so I had no concerns about her cooking with those ingredients.

In order to conform to the tastes of the people of the forest’s edge, we hadn’t flavored the tau oil sauce all that strongly. However, the shaska was able to pick up a whole lot of the sauce, which made this dish pretty distinctive. Nothing like white rice had previously existed at the forest’s edge or in Genos generally, and with this, I had been able to convey the deliciousness of donburi dishes to them for the first time. Everybody looked really happy as they stuffed their faces with the giba katsudon.

“Ooh, you went with giba cutlets this time? That looks super tasty!” Rimee Ruu exclaimed as she and her group approached once more.

After giving Yun Sudra some instructions, I called out to the young girl. “Hey Rimee Ruu, we’re preparing some minced cutlets for Jiba Ruu, so could you deliver them to her?”

“Gotcha! Granny Jiba’ll be really happy! Thanks, Asuta!”

Because of her weak teeth, Granny Jiba couldn’t eat giba cutlets, so we always made her minced cutlets instead. And for today, that meant a special minced katsudon. Then, as I got back to serving up the shaska, Ai Fa whispered into my ear again.

“Asuta, it makes me very happy to see you work so hard for Granny Jiba.”

“Well, she’s important to me too, so putting a little extra effort in for her is only natural, I’d say.”

“Right... Still, I cannot help but wonder what that dish must taste like when prepared with minced cutlets.”

“Oh yeah, minced cutlets are one of your favorites too. I’ll prepare it for dinner soon. I bought some extra shaska to use for our dinners at home.”

“Good,” she replied. Then, a few seconds later, I suddenly felt her tousling my hair. When I glanced up in surprise, I found my clan head looking away nonchalantly. “Please allow me that,” she said.

“Hey, you don’t need to ask my permission.”

Ai Fa had touched me, which must have meant she hadn’t been able to hold back the emotions she was feeling. I quickly got back to work on making piles of shaska while trying to contain the joy I felt because of that.

The majority of the people around us came up to our stoves themselves, but there were also plenty seated on blankets who were getting food brought to them, so we ended up handing everything out without seeing Bozl and his fellow chefs again.

After that, it was time for us to eat too. We split up the remaining shaska evenly and had a taste of giba katsudon, allowing us to share in a bit of the joy everyone else had gotten from the dish. Though the giba cutlets had been prepared in advance and the shaska had cooled off a bit, that didn’t hinder our enjoyment at all.

“This stuff is so good. I’m sure the guests and the members of the Ruu clan must have been happy with it,” Toor Deen said.

“Yeah. I’m honored to have taken part in making such wonderful banquet food,” Yun Sudra added.

The five chefs who had assisted me all said stuff like that too. And with that, our work for the night was done for the time being.

“All that’s left is the cleanup. Let’s wash the pots, then distribute the clean plates to the other stoves,” I said.

“We’ll take care of that. You and Ai Fa should go enjoy the banquet, Asuta,” Yun Sudra suggested.

At times like these, Toor Deen would usually ask to accompany us, but apparently she was going to be sticking with the Liddo woman instead today. This would be the Liddo woman’s first time meeting most of the people here, so Toor Deen was going to show her around. It was the same for the Fou and Ran women too, so Yun Sudra was going to be their guide. I kind of felt like a mama bird watching her babies leave the nest.

“Okay, then I’ll leave all of that to you. You all enjoy the banquet too, okay?” I said, and with that, Ai Fa and I stepped away from the stoves together. “Hey Ai Fa, I wanted to check in on Tia before we enjoy the banquet. What do you think?”

“I don’t mind. I’ve certainly seen enough of her, but I know the two of you have been separated for some time now.”

And so, the two of us headed toward the branch house where Tia was staying. As we walked, and in between responding to the greetings that were coming from all around us, I said to Ai Fa, “You know, I didn’t see you outside until the sun was almost fully set. Were you listening to Tia and Granny Jiba chat about Mount Morga that whole time?”

“Indeed. It seems Granny Jiba is quite interested in the red people. Still, I suppose that’s not so strange, considering how spirited she has always been when she’s spoken with townsfolk in the past.”

Sure enough, Granny Jiba had talked quite a bit when she had gone to Dora’s house in the Daleim lands too. I wondered if she had a general interest in how people from other places lived.

Currently, the Ruu elder was seated on a cloth laid out between the main house and the ritual flame, surrounded by a ton of people. I spotted a number of folks from the leading clans such as Donda Ruu around there, and Lefreya as well, so it sort of looked like they were having a summit meeting or something.

I watched them out of the corner of my eye until we arrived in front of the branch house, and I heard Jirube bark from the other side of the door. The dogs and all the young children from the Ruu clan were gathered there.

“We are Ai Fa and Asuta of the Fa clan. May we step inside for a bit?”

“Go ahead,” a voice replied, so we opened the door and Jirube came running right up to us. Ai Fa’s eyes narrowed affectionately as she stroked his large head. Meanwhile, Brave and the two Ruu hunting dogs remained sitting in place, while Sati Lea Ruu and Granny Tito Min watched over the kids in the main hall.

“So you two are on duty here?” I asked the women

“Yes. Since we have people to spare, we’ve been keeping our shifts as short as possible.”

Only the kids from the Ruu settlement under the age of five were in the house, but it was a huge clan with around forty or so members, so there were a fair number of young children, and they all looked rather worked up from the excitement of the banquet. I was left tilting my head, however, as I didn’t see Tia anywhere.

But then, a familiar voice called out from above us, “Asuta, Ai Fa, why are you here? The banquet’s only just begun, hasn’t it?”

When I looked up in surprise, I saw Tia’s face peering down from the beams that supported the ceiling. Though houses at the forest’s edge were all one story, since they didn’t have separate ceilings, the interior spaces went right up to the roof, which made them fairly tall. Tia had to be easily three meters up on top of that beam as she smiled down at me.

“H-Hey, that’s dangerous. What are you doing in a place like that?”

“It’s not dangerous at all. Those young children have been trying to swarm me, so I’m taking a break up here.”

“You have a broken bone in your right leg, do you not? How in the world did you climb up so high?” Ai Fa asked with a furrowed brow, only for Tia to tilt her head in confusion.

“What do you mean, ‘how’? Given how skilled you are at climbing trees, Ai Fa, getting up this high should be no trouble at all for you.”

I could see Ai Fa managing that with her capabilities, but I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to how Tia had pulled off such a feat with a broken right leg.

“Never mind. Just come down from there. We can’t converse properly like this.”

“Okay. Catch me, Ai Fa.”

Before Ai Fa could even finish telling her to wait, Tia dropped down from the beam. My clan head reached out in a fluster and managed to catch her perfectly.

Then Tia shot me a smile as Ai Fa held her in a bridal carry. “I don’t know why you’re here, but it makes me really happy to see the two of you. Nothing bad happened to you, right, Asuta?”

“I-I’m fine, but you shouldn’t go around doing dangerous stuff like that.”

“It wasn’t dangerous at all. Ai Fa’s very strong.”

Ai Fa frowned about as deeply as I had ever seen from her as she set Tia down on the floor. And as she stood there on her left leg alone, the young girl looked at the two of us with an innocent smile.

“It’s hard to believe she has a broken leg with how she moves about, isn’t it? The power of a red savage certainly is something,” Sati Lea Ruu remarked. However, she and Granny Tito Min both had warm smiles on their faces nonetheless. Those two were among the more even-tempered members of the main Ruu house, and they weren’t thrown off easily.

“So, why are you here? I didn’t do anything bad,” Tia said.

“Oh, right, we just came to check on you for a bit. Did you already eat?”

“Yup. A Ruu clan girl brought me some grilled meat and soup. They were both pretty tasty.”

I had let everyone know that Tia preferred strongly flavored dishes, so she must have had a spicy dinner prepared for her. She had a really satisfied smile on her face, and her deep red eyes were sparkling like garnets. Even when she was stuck in here, away from me, she didn’t look upset about it. She had been really displeased at first, but after having been informed that this was the law of the outside world, Tia had readily obeyed.

She’s so earnest that it feels almost painful.

That was why I’d wanted to speak with Tia before enjoying the banquet. However, now that she was right in front of me, I couldn’t help but feel guilty at the thought of heading back to the plaza and leaving her behind.

“What’s the matter? I’m glad to see you, but the longer you stay here, the less time you’ll have to enjoy yourselves.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah... I’m just sorry that you’re the only one who’s getting left behind.”

“What are you saying? I’m one of the red people, so a banquet in the outside world is no concern of mine. It is a little tough to not be able to stay by your side, though, Asuta.”

“Yeah, but I’m still sorry for making you deal with this.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tia replied with a big grin on her face. “It’s only a burden because I committed the serious crime of trying to harm you. There’s no reason for you to apologize. Besides, you said that dealing with some suffering was a way to atone, didn’t you?”

“Well yeah, but...”

“That’s why I’m glad to suffer a little bit. It makes me feel the same way I did when you accepted the peifei meat and pelt,” Tia said, smiling even brighter as her eyes narrowed. “It also makes me really happy to know that you’re thinking of me, Asuta. And the same goes for you enjoying yourself. That’s why I want you to have fun at the banquet.”

I gave a small sigh as I stared down at Tia. Even if she wasn’t one of our people, it probably wouldn’t be right to touch a girl over the age of ten like her when it wasn’t necessary. Otherwise, I’d have wanted to tousle her unusual red hair at that point.

“All right, then you keep on waiting here until the banquet’s over, okay?” I said.

“Of course. I will stay here and pray that no disaster befalls you, Asuta,” Tia said, shooting Ai Fa a smile too before hopping over to the wall on one leg. Then she jumped up higher than her own head and gave the wall a little kick, which sent her up high enough to grab the ceiling beam. She moved like a monkey, as if she didn’t weigh anything at all. And when the little kids saw her do that, they all started excitedly cheering, while Ai Fa put a hand on her hip and glared up at Tia.

“I see. So that’s how you got up there.”

“Yep. You really don’t have to do anything all that unusual to manage it.”

On the contrary, I thought that her inhuman jumping power was definitely unusual. What did her musculature have to be like for her to be able to leap about the way she did?

“All right then, we’re heading back out to the plaza. Sorry for the trouble, but please keep looking after Tia, okay?” I said to the women who were watching over the house.

“Yes, of course... Oh, hold on a moment, Asuta,” Sati Lea Ruu called out, handing Kota Ruu over to Granny Tito Min and then rushing over to us. “I’m whispering because I don’t want Tia or the young children to hear... Those shaska dishes were so delicious that they made my head spin.”

“Ah, you got to try them too?”

“I did. Since it was supposed to be one helping per person, a branch house woman brought us some. Tito Min and I took turns sneaking out to eat them,” Sati Lea Ruu said with a little sigh. “They eat that stuff instead of fuwano in Sym, right? Foods like poitan and fuwano seem to have become my favorites.”

“Yeah, you really liked our okonomiyaki, pasta, and soba, didn’t you? If business with Sym picks up, anyone should be able to easily buy shaska, so that should be something for you to look forward to, huh?”

“Definitely. I’m thinking I’ll consult with the clan head and Mia Lea about whether the Ruu clan can buy it for banquets too,” Sati Lea Ruu said with her usual graceful smile, looking truly happy. “Well, my apologies for stopping you like that. Please enjoy the banquet, you two.”

“We will. Thank you.”

After waving goodbye to Tia, Ai Fa and I left the house and closed the door behind us. As we walked back into the plaza, my clan head gave a deep sigh.

“Just how strong would Tia be if she could use her right leg as well? Even at the weakest I could possibly imagine her being, I’m certain that I would never be able to beat her at tree climbing.”

“Yeah. I feel like I sort of understand what she meant when she specified that she couldn’t beat the people of the forest’s edge on the ground.”

We made our way to the center of the plaza, where people were enjoying themselves around the ritual fire. Since we had finished up our work so quickly, there was still a fair bit of time left to experience the food that had been prepared for the banquet.

“What do you want to do? I guess the first thing we should do is go say hi to Donda Ruu and Lefreya,” I said.

“Yes, we should at least speak with them briefly.”

And so, we headed over to the large cloth mat where they all were seated. There were a bunch of people enjoying some food there, illuminated by the light of the roaring ritual flame. In the center of that ring of people sat Donda Ruu, Dari Sauti, Geol Zaza, Granny Jiba, Jiza Ruu, Lefreya, and Sanjura. The atmosphere between them was pretty heavy, but there were young men and women having fun all around them, which helped to relieve the sense of tension a bit.

“Donda Ruu, I wish to once again thank you for inviting us to this banquet,” Ai Fa said in a solemn tone as she placed one knee down atop the cloth.

“Indeed,” Donda Ruu replied in an even more serious tone than usual. “Though it is hardly as if we would ever not invite the Fa clan when we’re holding a banquet with townsfolk among the guests. If you’re finished cooking, go ahead and enjoy yourself however you please.”

“Thank you. Did you enjoy the shaska dishes?” I asked as I knelt down too. However, instead of responding, Donda Ruu silently turned toward his eldest son. Noticing that, Jiza Ruu tilted his head in confusion.

“What is the matter, leading clan head Donda? Is there some sort of issue?”

“No. I just figured that you might have something you wanted to say about that giba cutlet dish.”

Jiza Ruu fell silent, but next to him Dari Sauti laughed and said, “Right. You did seem pretty enthralled by that dish. I thought it was splendid too, Asuta.”

“Thank you. I’m very happy to hear that you all liked it.”

Jiza Ruu was one of the people who enjoyed giba cutlets the most. If he had liked the giba katsudon as well, that was great. However, he still wasn’t saying anything, leaving Dari Sauti to ask me a question with a big smile on his face.

“Hey Asuta, can that shaska be prepared without you?”

“Huh? Yeah, it can. The chefs of the Ruu and the clans that neighbor us learned how to cook it alongside me as I was figuring it out, so they should be able to make it anytime.”

“I see. In that case, I’d very much like to have it prepared for the clan head meeting. I’m sure it’ll surprise the heads of the other clans quite a bit.”

If I put in a request to Varkas or Polarth, I was sure that I would be able to purchase another big batch of shaska. However, there was something he had said that had caught my attention.

“Um, why did you ask if it could be made without me? I do intend to be at the clan head meeting.”

“Well, naturally, we’ll have to have you there. And that’s why you won’t be able to help out with dinner preparations, right?”

He was correct. The clan head meeting would stretch from fairly early in the day all the way into the evening. If I was going to be part of that meeting from the start, it would be very hard for me to find time to help with cooking.

“Since the Fa clan’s actions will be discussed, you should participate for the entirety of it, Asuta. And besides, there are only two members to the Fa clan, so you should be there by Ai Fa’s side regardless.”

“Yes, that was what I expected us to do as well,” Ai Fa chimed in. “I cannot imagine the women of the Suun settlement being able to prepare enough food for all of the clan heads, so I believe it would be good to invite chefs from the Ruu, Fou, and Deen to assist them.”

Dari Sauti gave a satisfied nod. “Yes, we should be sure to make arrangements for that. Geol Zaza, I would like you to ask Gulaf Zaza if he has any objections when you return to the northern settlement.”

“Hmph. I can’t think of anything he could possibly complain about with that. And I’m sure the other clan heads must be expecting delicious food too,” Geol Zaza replied cheerfully, his face already red from drinking as he glared around at the people seated on the big cloth with him. “By the way, we’re only going to get to talk to the same few people if we keep sitting here like this. This is supposed to be a friendship banquet, so isn’t it about time to get up and move around?”

“Really? It seems pretty convenient to me. We’ve been having all sorts of people coming over here to greet us,” Dari Sauti noted.

“Still, sitting in one place for this long isn’t my style.”

Lefreya, who had been silently watching us talk, then finally spoke up. “He is correct. I know that I might interfere with other people’s ability to enjoy this event if I start walking around, but even so...would it be possible for me to do one lap around the plaza?”

“Do as you please. I’ll have Jiza accompany you, just to be safe,” Donda Ruu said.

And so, half of the people in the center of the circle stood up and left, leaving just Donda Ruu, Dari Sauti, and Granny Jiba. Ai Fa and I also stood, but Granny Jiba’s clear gaze turned toward us at the same time, which stopped us from walking away.

“Oh, Asuta, thank you for the delicious food. I absolutely loved both of those dishes.”

“I appreciate it. Shaska’s easier to eat than poitan, so I’m glad to hear it was to your tastes.”

“Yes. I’m very grateful too.”

Granny Jiba’s voice was very gentle, but her intonation sounded a little different than usual somehow. I wondered about that a bit as I rose to my feet, only for Ai Fa to immediately whisper into my ear, “Asuta, are you perhaps a little worried about Granny Jiba’s condition?”

“Oh, yeah. She seems a little absent-minded. Is she tired because it’s been a while since she’s participated in a banquet?”

“Granny Jiba has regained a great deal of her strength, so I cannot imagine tonight being enough to tire her out. Let’s stop by again later to check on her,” Ai Fa replied, a deeply worried look on her face.

I briefly turned to look behind me one last time and saw Granny Jiba staring off into the distance with a relaxed smile, as if her eyes were seeing some far away place.

5

With painful reluctance, Ai Fa and I left Granny Jiba despite the strange feeling we had gotten from her, and headed back out into the plaza. Since we had only eaten the stuff that I had helped prepare so far, both of us still had plenty of room left in our stomachs. We started making our way over to a nearby stove, only to stop when we heard someone laughing heartily from where they were sitting on a cloth that was laid out on the ground. Even in a place filled with so much laughter, there was no mistaking that voice.

“So this is where you were, Dan Rutim. Thank you for your help the other day,” I said.

“Hmm? I can’t say I remember doing anything helpful! Still, I’m glad to see the two of you looking well!” he replied.

The members of the main Rutim house were gathered there, but I didn’t see Ama Min Rutim, who was pregnant, or the elder Raa Rutim. Morun Rutim was there, though, smiling with her family, having returned home for the first time in a while. She had come back to the Rutim settlement last night, and had helped prepare the banquet today.

Deek Dom, the head of the main Dom house, was also seated there. Though he was maintaining an appropriate distance from Morun Rutim, this was the first time I’d seen the two of them together since she had revealed her feelings for the man.

“It’s been a while, Deek Dom. I think this is the first time we’ve attended a banquet together, isn’t it?” I called out.

“Yeah,” Deek Dom bluntly replied with a nod. As always, the man had such an intense presence to him that it was hard to believe he was the same age as me and Ai Fa. He was even bigger than Donda Ruu, and as was traditional among the Dom, he was wearing a giba skull over his head.

“Lem Dom doesn’t seem to be here, though. I haven’t seen her since the start of the banquet,” I noted.

“Sufira Zaza showed up a little while ago and took Lem away with her... The two of them have forged bonds with many people here, I’m sure.”

The two of them had previously stayed at the Ruu settlement for a while in order to receive cooking lessons. Then Sufira Zaza had extended her stay until the whole matter of Lem Dom running away from home had been settled, so she had spent quite a bit of time here.

“It’s been some time since I’ve seen you too, Morun Rutim. I’m glad to see you looking well,” I said.

“Indeed. I’ve been making the most of each day,” Morun Rutim replied with a bashful smile. She must have been feeling a little embarrassed, as she was seated next to Deek Dom, the man she had feelings for.

But of course, I wasn’t mean enough to poke fun at her for that, so I just smiled back and said, “Glad to hear it.”

Seeing Deek Dom, Dan Rutim, and Gazraan Rutim all eating together was a rather novel sight. Oh, and Tsuvai and Oura Rutim were also sitting with them, since they were members of the main house. It was difficult to tell how Deek Dom felt about that—the two of them had once been part of his former parent clan.

“Asuta, those dishes before were really interesting! But there was too little of them to be satisfying!” Dan Rutim chimed back in loudly. “Gazraan kept going on and on about how he wanted Ama Min to try it too! Once their child’s born, you have to teach her how to make it, okay?!”

“Yes, I would like to ask that of you as well, Asuta,” Gazraan Rutim added.

“Of course,” I replied with a hearty nod. Ama Min Rutim had noticed her pregnancy two months after Li Sudra, so she would probably be giving birth soon.

“So, are you two still going around to all of the stoves? You’ll come back and talk to us again after that, won’t you?” Dan Rutim asked.

“Ah, yes. We were getting ready to do just that.”

“Then you should start with the food from that stove! It’s incredibly tasty too!”

“All right, we’ll hurry over there.”

We walked over to the stove that had been pointed out to us, where we found that Reina Ruu was the one in charge. As we approached, she shot us a bright smile. “Asuta, Ai Fa. I tried both of those shaska dishes, and I thought they were really striking.”

“Ah, thanks. This one looks tasty too.”

“It is. I’ve made a lot of tweaks over the past few days, so I’d very much like to hear your impressions, Asuta.”

The dish she was serving was a brilliant orange soup. It was a new sort of stew that they had developed based on the nenon sauce they put on giba burgers. Though nenon were a vegetable similar to a carrot, they didn’t have quite as distinctive of a taste to them and were very sweet. Reina and Sheera Ruu had come up with a sauce that combined them with aria, myamuu, and fruit wine, and had since transformed that sauce into a new stand-alone dish.

It was a dish I had sampled many times at Ruu clan study sessions where she had prepared it with herbs from Sym rather than myamuu and had employed kimyuus bones like Mikel had taught her, which had made for an excellent final product. I was really curious about what she had changed for the banquet as I accepted a bowl.

The ingredients included giba rib and shoulder meat, as well as aria, chatchi, nanaar, ma pula, and onda. If you thought of those vegetables as onion, potato, spinach, paprika, and bean sprouts, that would probably seem like a pretty normal combination. In fact, aside from the ma pula and onda, they were the same as the ingredients used in cream stew.

Taking care not to burn myself, I scooped up a spoonful and took a bite, and sure enough, the flavor had changed since the last time I had tried it. It was sweeter and deeper too. She had also used less of the more intense herbs, so it was rather mild.

“Yup, this is good. Did you add karon milk, perhaps?”

“Yep. And I used both red and white fruit wine.”

That was quite a bold experiment. I didn’t know much about using red and white fruit wine together like that, but despite my preconceived notion that they didn’t go with one another, doing so had led to this interesting new flavor. It was the sort of idea that I never could have come up with on my own.

“You used a bit less of the herbs too, didn’t you? I remember it having a more intense flavoring before.”

“That’s right. I felt that for this dish it would be better to bring the sweetness to the forefront instead. That’s why I added the karon milk, though I did wonder if it would end up too much like cream stew.”

“This isn’t like cream stew at all, I’d say. It’s a really distinctive dish.”

“Really?” Reina Ruu asked with a joyful smile.

Right after that, two figures approached us: Roy and Shilly Rou.

“Ah, we finally found you. That second shaska dish was absolutely amazing too. I’m sure Varkas is going to be really jealous when we give him our report about today,” Roy called out.

“Thank you. It’s honestly a serious relief to hear you say that, Roy.”

“I mean, it had a taste that could only have come from shaska prepared in that way. That last one left me at a loss for words, so I can’t do anything but accept how good it is. I’m sure there are gonna be a ton of chefs in the castle town copying your cooking techniques again.”

Shilly Rou was standing next to Roy with her lips firmly pursed. It looked like Varkas would not be disappointed with me after hearing their report.

“Bozl said something similar too. If that’s the kind of stuff you’ll be making, I’m sure we’re going to be getting deliveries of shaska from Sym regularly. The long and thin kind of shaska’s going to earn itself a nice reputation too, so I could see it becoming very trendy in the castle town.”

“Ha ha. If shaska gets too popular, fuwano sales will probably become a concern.”

“We’ll be sending fuwano to Sym in exchange for the shaska, so it shouldn’t be an issue. After all, over there, fuwano will be a novelty too.”

Reina Ruu then spoke up again, joining our conversation. “Um, have the two of you had this dish yet? If not, please give it a try.”

“Hmm? I don’t remember trying this soup dish, so we’ll take you up on that.”

Reina Ruu gave a single nod in response, then served up two bowls of stew. Shilly Rou accepted it nonchalantly, but then she got a gleam in her eyes as she brought it close to her nose. “This soup is nenon-based, is it? It also seems to use a number of herbs from Sym and karon milk... Hmm, and you seem to have employed mamaria wine as well,” she noted.

With a competitive look in her eyes, Reina Ruu simply said, “That’s correct.”

After thoroughly taking in the dish’s appearance and scent, Roy and Shilly Rou finally scooped some up with their spoons and tried it. Roy’s eyes shot open wide almost instantly.

“This is really good. That other soup dish was good too, but this one... Did you make it?”

“Yes. Sheera Ruu and I were the ones who came up with this version.”

The look in Shilly Rou’s eyes intensified as well. Roy glanced up at Reina Ruu and said, “You used a kimyuus bone stock, didn’t you? Did Mikel teach you how to do this?”

“That’s right. We’ve been taking lessons from him on how to prepare stock for quite some time.”

Shilly Rou looked like she was brooding, and next to her, Roy sighed heavily.

“You people of the forest’s edge get to learn from both Asuta and Mikel, so I suppose it isn’t surprising that your skills would have improved this much over the course of just a few months.”

“Yes... It’s all thanks to Asuta and Mikel.”

“No. No matter how skilled a teacher is, a half-wit wouldn’t be able to learn anything from them,” Roy said. Then he ate the rest of his nenon stew. “Today really has been full of surprises. I’m really grateful that you invited us to this banquet.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Reina Ruu asked.

“Today has been very motivational for me. And I’d say it’s probably in a different way than when you lot are invited to the castle town,” Roy said. Then he smiled in a really amused way. It was kind of rare to see that sort of expression from him, considering how stubborn and cynical he tended to be.

Reina Ruu’s eyes widened in surprise. “I-I see. That’s somewhat unexpected.”

“Really? Well, now that I’m under Varkas, it isn’t very often that I get to interact with other chefs in the castle town in a way that spurs me forward. I mean, I’m never going to find anyone as skilled as him no matter where I look.”

“But I heard there was one other chef who was Varkas’s equal. Daiya, I think her name was?”

“Oh yeah, the head chef for Genos Castle. You can’t get invited to the castle if you aren’t a noble, so I’d never get a chance to try Daiya’s cooking,” Roy said. Then he set his empty bowl back down. “If another opportunity like this rolls around, reach out to me if you can, okay? Oh, and I’d like to have you try my cooking eventually too.”

“Of course... I’m looking forward to it,” Reina Ruu replied with a somewhat timid smile.

Then, after having been silent for a while, Shilly Rou tugged on Roy’s arm. “Let’s go to the next stove. That’s why we got up in the first place, isn’t it?”

“Hmm? Yeah, that’s true. Oh yeah, we were with Mikel up until a short while ago, but then he told us that we’re supposed to be here to build a connection with you people of the forest’s edge and drove us off. Bozl was the only one who managed to talk his way into staying.”

Mikel was definitely right to have said that, and the result was that Roy and Reina Ruu had managed to connect a bit more. As those two chefs from the castle town left, the second Ruu daughter gave a rather tired sigh.

“It kind of threw me off to hear that Roy man speak so earnestly... Oh, but you two should enjoy the banquet too, all right?”

“Yeah. We’ll see you later, then.”

I had ended up standing around for quite a while without realizing it when I had only just started my tour around the stoves with Ai Fa. We then returned to the cloth where the members of the Rutim were seated to say a quick farewell, and I found that Zasshuma had shown up there at some point.

“Hey there, Asuta. Looks like I’m finally getting to drink with these Rutim fellows,” he said.

Dan and Gazraan Rutim both had amused smiles on their faces. As I recalled, Zasshuma had indeed gotten to know both of them on separate occasions.

“Yeah. Well, I’ll see you all later,” I said, feeling really glad to see everyone smiling. Since I was completely done with work for the day, I would be able to take my time talking with them as much as I wanted once I was full.

“The more people you know, the less time you have to talk to each of them. It’s a really tricky problem. I’m sure Rau Lea and Giran Ririn are here somewhere, but I still haven’t said a single word to either,” I noted.

“It all comes down to the will of the forest,” Ai Fa replied.

I got the feeling that she was being even quieter than usual. Though I figured that her worries about Granny Jiba had to be the cause, I went ahead and asked her what was wrong, but she just shot back, “Don’t worry about it. First, we need to eat. Granny Jiba did not seem dispirited or anything, and there’s no reason we can’t simply ask her about it later.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I was just a bit worried about whether you’ve been enjoying the banquet, Ai Fa.”

“There’s nothing to worry about. I am enjoying myself more than enough,” Ai Fa said, breaking out in a gentle smile. “We have promised not to attend any more Ruu festivals of the hunt, but it makes me very happy that they will still invite us to banquets such as this one when the opportunity arises.”

“I see. Glad to hear it,” I replied with a sigh of relief before smiling back at her.

There was a pretty big crowd gathered in the direction we were heading toward. I tried to see what exactly that was all about, and noticed that there were a few large tables over there, but no stoves. Food fresh out of the oven was being handed out there.

“Oh, they made that too? We should go have some.”

They were serving piping hot gratin that was sitting on top of a heat-resistant plate meant for being used in an oven. Within the big crowd of people that were gathered around the tables was Telia Mas, who turned around and spotted us, then said, “Hey there, Asuta. Are you planning to try this stuff too?”

“Yup. Did you and Yumi split up, Telia Mas?”

“Yeah. Yumi’s over there talking with Ben and the others.”

During the last banquet, Telia Mas had started to feel comfortable enough with us to move around without Yumi by her side. It was still surprising to see her seemingly alone, though, so I glanced around and saw a familiar man and woman standing diagonally in front of her.

“Oh, you’re done with work too, Asuta? Those shaska dishes were unbelievably good. Right, Darmu?” said Sheera Ruu, the woman I had spotted.

“Yeah, I guess,” Darmu Ruu replied concisely. Since she was part of the group that had been going to The Kimyuus’s Tail for quite some time now, Sheera Ruu had gotten pretty close with Telia Mas. It made sense that they’d get along well, as they both were reserved by nature. But seeing Darmu Ruu hanging out with the two of them was new to me.

We idly chatted with them until it was our turn to be served. The small portions of gratin we were handed were giving off white steam and the rich aroma of gyama dried milk.

“I’ve been really looking forward to the oven-baked dishes, since you can’t get them in the post town. And this one is so luxurious with all that dried milk on top of it,” Telia Mas said. She had previously been able to try gratin during Granny Jiba’s birthday celebration, and the unrestrained smile that she’d had on her face after taking a bite of it had been totally adorable.

As we all enjoyed the taste of the gratin together, a huge figure approached us. It was none other than Mida Ruu, who stood half a head taller than almost anyone else in the crowd.

“That sure looks tasty. I thought we had already taken a full loop around the plaza, but I don’t remember seeing that stuff.”

Those words had come not from Mida Ruu, but from the young man by his side. When she saw who had spoken, Telia Mas’s eyes widened a bit and she said, “Oh, it’s Lebi. And Kalgo too. You didn’t stick with Yumi?”

“She and Ben were talking to some other folks, so we split off since it didn’t seem like they were going to be moving anytime soon.”

The cheeks on both young men had gone red from drinking fruit wine, which might have been making them feel a bit more comfortable with the intense atmosphere of a banquet at the forest’s edge, as they had very bright smiles on their faces now.

Just as I was about to greet them, though, a voice called out, “Well, if it isn’t Asuta!” and Rau and Yamiru Lea stepped out from behind Mida Ruu’s massive frame.

“Looks like we’ve finally found you. So you two were with Mida Ruu?” I asked.

“Yup! Our guests from town were telling us all about the commotion Mida Ruu caused there!” Rau Lea said cheerfully, causing Mida Ruu’s cheeks to wobble a bit. That was probably a topic the young hunter would prefer to not come up much. But it was good that Lebi and Kalgo were laughing and enjoying themselves now, despite having been threatened by Mida Ruu in the past.

“You really are an ill-natured man. Is it that fun to tease Mida Ruu?” Yamiru Lea asked with a chilly glare as she stood there in her banquet attire.

“Hmm?” Rau Lea tilted his head questioningly. “I’m not trying to tease Mida Ruu or anything. He already atoned for those crimes, so there’s no need for him to feel bad about it now.”

“So then why did you dig that topic back up?”

“Because it was interesting! I’d have loved to see Mida Ruu lift an entire stall like that!”

Rau Lea must have been rather drunk by this point too. Though he had a handsome androgynous appearance, the young clan head was every bit as unrestrained as Dan Rutim. Glancing at him out of the corner of their eyes, Lebi and Kalgo both laughed.

“We got to hear some real interesting stuff too. I never would’ve figured that lady there and Mida Ruu were originally siblings,” one of them said.

“Yeah, and it was a real shock that Mida Ruu’s the younger one to boot!” the other added.

Yamiru Lea helped out with the Fa clan stalls on a daily basis, so naturally, Lebi and Kalgo were already quite familiar with her, and I could understand why they’d be shocked to find out that Mida Ruu, the one who had threatened their stalls in the past, was her younger brother.

“And Rau Lea, you two are gonna get married, right? The world here at the forest’s edge is surprisingly small, huh?!”

“Haven’t I already explained to you that that is just something my impulsive clan head has been saying without my approval?” Yamiru Lea grumbled.

“Aw, what’s the problem? A beautiful guy and girl like you two are a great match!”

Rau Lea had also come to the post town a number of times as a guard and during the revival festival, so it made sense that the boys knew him too. It was always interesting to get to see that kind of web of connections as you got to know people better.

After having been quietly listening to us for a while, Sheera Ruu then interjected, “Actually, Mida Ruu has become a member of my younger brother’s house. Half of the people running the stalls come from the Ruu clans, so it’s easy to find connections like those.”

“Oh, really?! Your younger brother is that handsome guy who was walking with Telia Mas’s group before, right? I’ve seen him around plenty too.”

“Yes, since Shin has acted as a guard many times, just like Rau Lea.”

“What about you, then? Are you connected to any of this stuff too?” Kalgo asked Darmu Ruu.

Since he wasn’t much of a speaker, Sheera Ruu blushed a bit as she smiled and replied for him, “Darmu is the older brother of Reina Ruu and her siblings. And now, he is my husband.”

“Wow! I’d heard you got married to one of their brothers, but this is the guy, huh?!”

“You really look like a good match. Sorry to be saying this so late, but congratulations.”

With smiles on their faces, both Lebi and Kalgo lifted up their bottles of fruit wine. Darmu Ruu furrowed his brow, looking rather troubled, but he eventually did the same and muttered, “Right.”

“Oh by the way, this dish was made in an oven and they just took it out. It’s being served over there at that table,” I said.

“Ah, then let’s go get some too!”

The energetic group loudly hurried off toward the table. After watching them leave, Sheera Ruu shot her husband a smile.

“Since we have the opportunity, should we speak with them a bit more? Rau Lea and Mida Ruu are there, so that should make it a bit easier for you to join in, right, Darmu?”

“Mida Ruu is one thing, but Rau Lea is really noisy when he’s been drinking.”

“It’s a banquet, so there’s nothing wrong with getting a little noisy right now, is there? And I’m sure those people from town wished to speak with you too.”

Sheera Ruu was a considerate person, so she probably felt a need to act as a bridge between the people of the forest’s edge and the townsfolk. I got the impression that she had even managed to get Shilly Rou to open up a bit at the previous banquet.

“Well, we’ll see you guys later. We’re still doing our lap around the plaza,” I told them, and Ai Fa and I walked away, leaving the group behind. As we headed toward the next stove, I shot Ai Fa a smile and said, “The members of the Ruu clans have all kinds of connections between them, huh? I guess it’s different for us in the Fa clan, since there’s only two of us.”

“Does that displease you somehow?”

“No, not at all,” I earnestly replied.

“Good,” Ai Fa said with a smile.

Just then, we happened to run into yet another group standing around chatting between the stoves, and I greeted them. “Hey there, Ludo Ruu. So you’ve been hanging out with Kamyua and everyone?”

“Asuta. Ai Fa. Hey there. I’ve been feeling pretty full, so we’re taking a bit of a break.”

The group of five consisted of Ludo Ruu, Rimee Ruu, Tara, Kamyua Yoshu, and Leito. Kamyua Yoshu was holding a bottle of fruit wine, but he didn’t look drunk in the least.

“Hello there, Ai Fa,” Kamyua Yoshu said. “I haven’t had a good chance to tell you this before now, but you truly do look beautiful. All of the women of the forest’s edge are pretty, but you’re on a whole other level.”

“It is against the customs of the forest’s edge to praise the appearances of women like that,” Ai replied.

“Ah, that’s right. Then I suppose I should keep those thoughts to myself.”

Kamyua Yoshu and Leito were both smiling. However, they pretty much always did, so it was hard to see any difference from how they usually were.

“Have you been enjoying the banquet too, Kamyua?”

“Of course! No matter where I look or who I speak with, it’s so fun I can hardly stand it. I don’t think I could possibly run out of ways to enjoy myself here in a single night.”

“I see. Glad to hear it.”

Despite what he’d said, I sort of got the impression that Kamyua Yoshu was observing the banquet from an outsider’s perspective, even now. I figured that was just because he didn’t show his excitement openly the way other people did, though.

“Hey, is it still not time to dance yet? Everyone’s gonna be dancing today, right?” Tara called out, still holding Rimee Ruu’s hand. The expression on her face was overflowing with joy, and she looked even more adorable with Rimee Ruu there beside her smiling brightly.

“Well, we’re going to serve dessert after everyone’s done with the main dishes, and it’ll be time to dance after that. Look forward to it, okay?”

“Ah, really? They’re already serving the desserts! They’re getting delivered to the little kids now!” Rimee Ruu informed us.

The ones in charge of the sweets were Toor Deen and the Liddo woman from our team, and Rimee Ruu was in charge for the Ruu. And apparently, while Ai Fa and I had been taking our time, the banquet had hit its midpoint.

“I guess we should try the desserts too, then, so we’ll see you all later,” I said.

I wanted to talk with Toor Deen, so Ai Fa and I passed right by a number of stoves in our search for the dessert table. But along the way, we once again stopped when we ran into a familiar man and woman.

“Hey there, Shin Ruu. And Lala Ruu too. Are you going to get some dessert?”

Lala Ruu turned around with a smile on her face and nodded before replying, “Yeah.” She was letting her red hair hang down rather than doing it up in its usual ponytail, which made her look more mature than usual. Her banquet attire really looked good on her too. “We heard from Rimee that the desserts were out. They’re probably over where that crowd there is.”

“Yeah, that sounds right. If we won’t be getting in the way too much, how about we go together?”

“Wh-Why would you be getting in the way?!” Lala Ruu nervously squawked, her face turning red. Meanwhile, Shin Ruu had the same relaxed look on his face as always, but it seemed possible that if it were a little brighter we would have been able to see his face changing color too.

“Oh yeah, weren’t you with Yumi’s group? I think I remember you being with them earlier,” I said.

“Yumi and that other guy are over there. Um, with the Ran and Sudra men, I think?” Lala Ruu replied.

With as many guests as were here, it’d probably be tough to remember all their names after only meeting them once. Still, Yumi, Ben, Jou Ran, and Cheem Sudra certainly sounded like an interesting combination.

I suggested to Jou Ran that it’d be good for him to form bonds with townsfolk. And, well, I imagine it should be pretty easy for him to speak casually with Yumi and Ben.

When we arrived at the large crowd we had been pointed toward, we found that sure enough, that was where the sweets were being served. Toor Deen, the Liddo woman, Tari Ruu, and an older woman were in charge of the table there. However, what caught my eyes first was the people standing behind Toor Deen: the Zaza siblings and Lem Dom.

“My, Ai Fa, what splendid banquet attire,” Lem Dom remarked with crossed arms, smiling alluringly at my clan head.

Ai Fa’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as she shot back, “And what have you been up to?”

“I was heading around the plaza with Sufira Zaza and Toor Deen, but then Toor Deen had to go back to work, so we’re waiting for her to finish. And then Geol Zaza showed up too.”

“The goal for today is to deepen our friendship with the townsfolk, is it not?”

“Oh, so is that what you’ve been doing, Ai Fa?”

The unexpected counterattack forced my clan head to hold her tongue.

“Hey, it’s fine, isn’t it? This is a valuable opportunity for Lem Dom to deepen her connection with Toor Deen too, right?” I chimed in, trying to smooth things over.

“That’s right,” Lem Dom added, puffing up her ample chest. The Zaza siblings had gotten to spend time with Toor Deen three days ago, but they probably wanted the same thing.

Well, as long as Toor Deen starts showing them around again after wrapping up her work, I guess it won’t be a problem.

At any rate, we went ahead and helped ourselves to some dessert too. Toor Deen and the Liddo woman were serving chocolate cake and roll cake, while Tari Ruu and the older woman had chatchi mochi and steamed pudding.

“Looks like things are going well, Toor Deen. Is there anything I can help out with?”

“No, two people is plenty to cut and serve what we have here.”

Sure enough, they seemed to be in the final stage of their job for the day. All they had to do was cut up the desserts and have people take what they wanted.

As for Tari Ruu and the older woman, they were putting helpings of the steamed pudding and chatchi mochi on some smaller plates, then drizzling caramel, brown sugar syrup, or roasted flour on top. That took a bit more effort, but their work seemed to be progressing smoothly too.

“Oh, Shin. And Lala Ruu too. Are you here for some dessert? The ones Toor Deen and the Liddo woman are serving are very delicious as well,” Tari Ruu said.

“Yeah, I got to try some earlier! That black one is super sweet!” Lala Ruu added. She got along well with Shin Ruu’s whole family, which naturally included Tari Ruu as well. And if she and Shin Ruu eventually got married, Tari Ruu would become her mother-in-law. “The chatchi mochi looks tasty too! Have the little kids already gotten some?”

“Yes, Rimee Ruu’s group took some over to them a little while ago. I’m sure the young children must be very happy right now.”

That was something Yumi had suggested at the last friendship banquet—that even if the kids under the age of five couldn’t take part in the banquet, they should still get to have some treats delivered to them—and now it was something of a tradition.

Speaking of which, where did Yumi’s group go? Do they know dessert is being served? I thought, casually glancing around only to spy yet another group approaching. This time it was Lefreya, with Sanjura and Jiza Ruu on either side of her.

Instantly, the chatter coming from all around us quieted down quite a bit.

As she looked over the treats on offer, Lefreya calmly said, “My, so there are desserts being served here? If it is all right, could I have some as well?”

“Yes, of course. Please help yourself,” Toor Deen replied without any hesitation. Since the young chef had been invited to a number of tea parties in the castle town, she was one of the few people who had been reasonably well acquainted with Lefreya before today’s event.

“Thank you,” Lefreya replied, and then she approached the table. “Ah, this black cake was served at the last dinner, was it not? It was shockingly delicious.”

“I’m glad you liked it. Chocolate cake is incredibly sweet, though, so it may be best to save it until after you’ve tried the other desserts.”

“Yes, that makes sense. In that case, I suppose I shall start here,” Lefreya said. But then her gaze darted around the table. “I cannot see any plates or spoons, so are these meant to be eaten by hand?”

“Ah, m-my apologies. If you need them, we can borrow some from the Ruu clan.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I shall abide by the customs of the forest’s edge,” Lefreya said with a nonchalant look before reaching out and grabbing a piece of roll cake with her slender fingers. “I will sometimes eat fuwano confections by hand at home. It is not as if all nobles feel a need to constantly act elegantly,” she added, taking a bite. “Yes, this is delicious. When Lady Odifia invites you to another tea party, I shall ask that I be invited as well.”

“I-I see. It would make me glad to have you try my sweets then too,” Toor Deen replied with a bright smile.

The Liddo woman and a number of others looked quite moved as they watched the exchange. They had no idea how to interact with nobles, so they must have been surprised to see Toor Deen talk with her so naturally.

“Heh, you sure are bold. But I guess that’s expected, considering you asked to come here to our settlement and all,” Geol Zaza said with a grin. He wasn’t at all hesitant to speak to Lefreya for a completely different reason.

“My.” Lefreya’s eyes widened slightly as she looked up at him. “Geol Zaza, why are you standing back there?”

“I’m just watching over these chefs from my subordinate clans as they work. The Deen and Liddo fall under the Zaza.”

“Ah, I see... Toor Deen can make such splendid treats, and you did very well in the Genos swordsmanship tournament, so the Zaza clans must be no less formidable than the Ruu.”

Geol Zaza snorted, “Hmph,” in response to Lefreya’s words. “My performance was nothing to brag about. Lost partway through. Shin Ruu there is the one you should be complimenting. He won the whole thing.”

Lefreya’s gaze shifted that way casually, though I noticed her shoulders trembling a bit. Shin Ruu was eating chatchi mochi beside me, and he was staring at Lefreya and Sanjura with a terribly calm expression. Meanwhile, Lala Ruu was standing next to him with a decidedly uncalm look shining in her blue eyes.

“I remember you. I believe we spoke at the tea party last year, didn’t we, Shin Ruu?”

“Yes, I recall that as well.”

Lefreya’s elegant eyebrows drooped in a way that looked rather pained as she stepped toward Shin Ruu. “I have been hoping to speak with you again, Shin Ruu. Do you perhaps still hold anger toward Sanjura?”

“No, I hold no anger. I believe I told you last time we spoke that no person of the forest’s edge would continue to treat someone as a criminal after they have atoned for their crimes.”

“However, you said that you would not forget Sanjura’s betrayal for as long as you live. It is entirely my fault that he committed such a crime.”

“Lefreya,” Sanjura said in a low voice, a pained look showing on his face too. “My crime is, my own. I am the one, who betrayed Asuta, and the people, of the forest’s edge. No one else, can shoulder that burden.”

“That’s not true. If I had not given you the order to bring Asuta back to the manor—” Lefreya started to object.

But then, Shin Ruu interjected, “Hold on. What exactly are the two of you arguing about? We already made peace, so there shouldn’t be anything left to worry about.”

“But the anger you felt was far stronger than any of your comrades’ when Asuta was abducted right in front of you, correct? Even after we made peace, I cannot imagine such anger vanishing that easily.”

“The one who was the angriest wasn’t me, but Ai Fa, as a member of Asuta’s family. I was simply furious at myself for failing to protect Asuta.”

Ai Fa had the same perfectly calm look in her eyes as always as she observed their exchange.

Shin Ruu sounded just as calm as her as he continued, “I could not forgive my own weakness after you defeated me, Sanjura. But afterward, I trained myself like mad, and decided to look at my failure as a trial placed in my path.”

“But—”

“Lefreya, you grew into the person you are now because you overcame the trial of losing your father, correct? Then you should be able to understand what I am saying. It may not be possible to find joy in past misfortune, but if we choose to see such things as trials that are essential to our growth, then we can regard them with emotions other than rage and sadness, wouldn’t you agree?” Shin Ruu said, smiling faintly. “A great deal of time has passed since then, and I have no trouble thinking that way now, so I would like for you to form proper bonds with the people of the forest’s edge while never forgetting the frustration you feel because of your past mistakes.”

“Very well... But the lady there beside you is glaring at us the way one would look at an enemy.”

Shin Ruu shot a questioning look over at Lala Ruu, only for her to turn away with a “Hmph!”

Turning slightly red, Shin Ruu brushed aside his long dark-brown bangs. “Lala Ruu...is just worried that I may still be upset. I once made quite a pathetic display of myself because of this.”

“Understood. You have my thanks, Shin Ruu. Both Sanjura and I will never forget your words as we strive to live properly from now on.”

Lefreya’s chestnut-colored hair swayed as she bowed her head, and Sanjura closed his eyes and did the same. Jiza Ruu, who was standing behind the two of them and off to the side a bit, gave Shin Ruu a very satisfied look.

“Hmph, what a crass display to put on when you’re right in the middle of a banquet. As guests of the Ruu, you should just enjoy the festivities,” Geol Zaza cheerfully chimed in, finally clearing away the heavy feeling lingering in the air. All the people around us seemed to pull themselves back together, with some of them starting to reach for more dessert, and Shin Ruu urged Lala Ruu along. The two of them soon vanished into the crowd.

“I’m glad that you and Sanjura were able to come to an understanding with Shin Ruu, Lefreya,” I whispered.

Lefreya gave me a rather listless look. “I knew that he was one of the Ruu, so I should have spoken to him before the banquet. I seem to have gone and caused trouble for everyone again, haven’t I?”

“It’s no trouble at all. If anything, that’s the kind of conversation that should help deepen our bonds the most, don’t you think?”

Lefreya suddenly pouted childishly, looking very much her age.

“So you insist on speaking formally with me even now? I cannot imagine such a thing is necessary without other nobles watching.”

“Huh? I mean, I suppose you may be right, but you’re still the countess of Turan, Lefreya.”

“The majority of the men from the forest’s edge do not change their tone when talking to nobles in any context, though. Your manner of speaking feels rather distant.”

I did feel a bit awkward about speaking with a twelve-year-old girl like Lefreya so formally.

“In that case, I guess I’ll try to talk normally around you... But I’d still like to speak politely when other nobles are watching.”

“I do not mind that. After all, I must act appropriately as the head of my house on such occasions,” Lefreya replied, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction. And then her gaze turned toward Ai Fa, who was standing behind me like my shadow. “Ah, are you angry with Sanjura, perhaps? If so, allow me to apologize once more.”

“There is no need to apologize further after making peace. As long as you live your lives properly, I will make no complaint against you,” Ai Fa replied solemnly.

“Thank you,” Lefreya said, bowing her head. Sanjura placed a hand to his chest and bowed as well.

“So, have the two of you still not made a full loop around the plaza yet?” Ai Fa asked. “I figured you would have made it back to your original seats some time ago.”

“It would be a shame to return so quickly, wouldn’t it? After all, I won’t be able to walk around again for a while once I take a seat,” Lefreya said, looking back up with her usual dauntless demeanor restored. “I intend to take as long as possible to finish my lap around the plaza. I need to talk to as many people as I can to make it worth having come all this way.”

“I see. That’s a really great attitude,” I stated earnestly, and Lefreya gave a small sigh.

“Still, I’m not just getting in everyone’s way, am I? I apologized to Mikel, Bartha, and Jeeda over there a little while ago, but no matter how many times I bow my head, their fates remain irreparably twisted.”

“Oh, you apologized to them too? But I’m sure none of them blamed you for what happened to them, right?”

“That’s what was so difficult about it. It would have felt better if they had thrown rocks at me or the like.”

“They would never. You aren’t the one who harmed Mikel and framed the Red Beards. They don’t blame you because you didn’t do anything to them.” Still, the ones who had committed all of those unforgivable deeds were Lefreya’s father Cyclaeus and her uncle Ciluel, so I understood where she was coming from. I stared straight into Lefreya’s pale eyes as I continued, “Your resolve is really impressive, but you don’t have to be so forward about wanting to apologize. This is a friendship banquet, so it’s enough for you to just enjoy yourself.”

“If I were to simply enjoy myself while causing trouble for the people around me, nothing will have changed,” Lefreya firmly insisted. She was showing the kind of stubbornness that I had very much come to expect from her.

“That’s not true,” I replied, feeling a bit nostalgic. “The old you never would have done something like this, right? You’ve changed more than enough.”

“But—”

“It made me really happy when I heard you wanted to attend a banquet at the forest’s edge. And I’m sure everyone else more or less thinks that too.”

Lefreya shot me a somewhat surprised look, then with an earnest smile she said, “Thank you.” It was probably the first time I had ever seen her smile so openly. “I cannot see things as optimistically as you do, but it makes me very happy to hear you say that.”

“Good. I mean, if anyone should have a grudge, it’s us, but I’m hoping we’ll get along well from here on out.”

“Of course. Still, I suspect that it will be much harder for me to visit the forest’s edge like this again, so you will have to come to the castle town instead, Asuta.”

“Naturally.”

Still smiling, Lefreya nodded, then turned back to the dessert table with a swish of her cloak. “Well then, I believe I would like to have another treat. That one there looks quite delicious as well.”

“Yes, please give it a try, Lefreya. We Ruu women gave our all to prepare these,” Tari Ruu said with a kind smile, and after I watched them out of the corner of my eye for a moment longer, Ai Fa and I walked away.

After we had taken a few steps, my clan head sighed and remarked, “We certainly have used up quite a bit of time while hardly eating at all. If possible, I would like to speak with Granny Jiba before the dance begins.”

“Then why don’t we go talk to her first? It doesn’t look like they’ll be running out of food anytime soon.”

That said, it felt like it would be a shame to just go back the way we had come from, so we finished our loop around the rest of the plaza while briefly checking out the stoves we hadn’t visited yet.

Mikel and Bozl were chatting next to the stove where Myme was helping out, and I spied Jeeda and Bartha there too. I didn’t know what exactly they had said to Lefreya, but they looked to be in very good spirits.

People were enjoying themselves elsewhere too, no matter where I looked. Shumiral and Vina Ruu were spending time with each other again, while Ji Maam and Deem Rutim were drinking together. Had the two of them gotten close after that last festival of the hunt?

As we walked along with the excitement of the banquet washing over us, we spotted a group that was standing separate from all the hustle and bustle: Yumi, Ben, Jou Ran, and Cheem Sudra. They were seated in front of a branch house, and it looked like Yumi and Ben were drinking. Though nothing seemed out of place, that grouping definitely caught my attention.

“Sorry, Ai Fa, but I haven’t greeted Jou Ran or Cheem Sudra yet, so is it okay if we have a quick word with them?”

My clan head bluntly replied, “I do not mind,” and I hurried over that way.

Yumi was seated facing toward us, and she energetically called out, “Oh, it’s Asuta and Ai Fa!” causing Jou Ran’s back to visibly twitch. When she saw that, Ai Fa shot a piercing glare at him.

“Hey, Jou Ran. Hey, Cheem Sudra. So this is where you’ve been? Have you been enjoying the banquet?” I asked.

Looking as composed as always, Cheem Sudra nodded and said, “Indeed.” However, Jou Ran’s eyes were shifting back and forth restlessly, causing Ai Fa’s glare to grow even more intense.

“You seem like you’re enjoying yourselves. What were you talking about?”

“Oh, this Jou Ran guy was talking about romance with us! Sounds like that kind of thing can get pretty complicated here at the forest’s edge too, huh?!”

Yumi and Ben were both smiling brightly and enjoying themselves. Meanwhile, though, despite being in her banquet attire, Ai Fa was starting to give off the intense aura of a hunter.

A few seconds later, Jou Ran stood up in a fluster. “Y-You’ve got it all wrong! Please, just hear me out, Ai Fa!”

“And what do I have wrong, exactly?”

“Jou Ran didn’t say anything that would shame anyone else. He only spoke about his own mistakes,” Cheem Sudra chimed in, still seated.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Yumi added with a smile. “The guy looked kinda down, so I decided to say hi. And he said something was troubling him, so I told him he could consult with us.”

“Right. But if you go around spreading romance stories carelessly, it can cause trouble for others. That’s why I suggested not giving any names,” Cheem Sudra said with a shrug.

“Exactly!” Jou Ran exclaimed. “I spoke at some length about my feelings, but I was careful not to say anything that would embarrass anyone else! I swear to the mother forest that that is the truth!”

Ai Fa kept aiming a suspicious glare at him even so.

However, Ben didn’t seem to notice that at all. “Still, it sure is rough when the person you’ve got feelings for already likes someone else. And when it’s clear it’ll never be mutual, that’s just the worst!” he said.

“Yeah, but there’s no helping that! If you want to put your crush’s happiness first, you’ve gotta step back! And I’d say it’s really impressive how you chose to do that yourself!” Yumi added.

Judging from what the two of them were saying, it seemed like they didn’t know he had been talking about me and Ai Fa. I could feel my face going a bit red, but at the same, I felt really grateful to Cheem Sudra.

“Still, that sort of stuff happens all the time in town. Are romance troubles rare at the forest’s edge?”

“I wouldn’t say they never happen, but who you marry comes down to the guidance of the mother forest. If you learn the person you like has feelings for someone else, you have to let go of your feelings, but I suppose it probably isn’t unusual for people to brood over it for a while afterward like Jou Ran is doing,” Cheem Sudra replied.

“Ooh!” Yumi loudly chimed in. “You people of the forest’s edge are so pure! Normally, folks would get all agitated and be a lot more wishy-washy about it! At least, that’s how it goes in the post town!”

“Is that so? But there isn’t any point in continuing to let it bother you after you’ve given up,” Jou Ran said with a pleading look in his eyes, only for Yumi to slap him on the arm with a big grin.

“It’s human nature to get upset about this kind of thing even if there isn’t any point to it! So you can go ahead and vent your feelings as much as you like! It gets easier when you share that sort of stuff with other people!”

“R-Right, thank you,” Jou Ran muttered, sitting back down. Ai Fa gave a deep sigh, but Cheem Sudra shot her a look that seemed to be meant to tell her not to worry. He must have been staying watchful to make sure that Jou Ran didn’t mention Yun Sudra’s name either.

“Why don’t we leave this to Cheem Sudra and go see Granny Jiba?” I finally suggested.

And so, Ai Fa and I left things at that and stepped away. When we did, though, Ai Fa whispered to me in a tone filled with pent up frustration, “Jou Ran keeps going against the customs of the forest’s edge again and again. What good can come of speaking of such matters with people who weren’t even involved?”

“Well, is it really that big of a deal if it helps make things a little easier on Jou Ran? I’ve always thought that he’s kind of similar to the townsfolk.”

If Jou Ran opened up about his feelings here at the forest’s edge, he’d probably just get scolded. But Yumi and Ben sympathized with him, which might help to soothe his pain. At least, that was what I figured.

As we left that minor fiasco behind, the main house was now straight ahead of us, and Granny Jiba remained seated atop the cloth nearby. The people around her were different, other than Donda Ruu and Dari Sauti who were both still there too. Now Baadu Fou and the eldest Deen and Liddo sons had joined them.

“Granny Jiba, would you like to go around the plaza with us for a bit?” Ai Fa called out, causing the elderly woman to turn toward her with a look of confusion.

“Me, walk around the plaza? But I walk very slowly and I’m so small that I’m hard to see, so I would just get in everyone’s way.”

“If you would like, I can carry you on my back. I’m sure everyone would be happy to see you.”

Granny Jiba went silent for a bit, but then she said, “That’s true... In that case, I shall take you up on that offer. I’ll be stepping away for a bit, Donda.”

Donda Ruu gave a silent nod of approval, and Ai Fa lifted Granny Jiba up onto her own back. As the old woman placed her hands on my clan head’s shoulders, she gave a little laugh. “I feel as if I’m a small child again. Back when my body was weaker, Darmu and Ludo would carry me on their backs, but I wasn’t able to enjoy it much at the time.”

“Yes, I’m enjoying this as well,” Ai Fa said with a smile as she walked away from the cloth.

People throughout the plaza started cheerfully calling out to us when they noticed Granny Jiba, and she looked happy too as she looked back at them.

“Thank you, Ai Fa. I was feeling a bit absent-minded earlier. Did I worry you?”

“Well, perhaps a little. You seemed so lively when you were talking to Tia in your bedroom in the main house.”

“Yes, I enjoyed speaking with her very much. I believe my thoughts were still rather occupied with our chat when the banquet started,” Granny Jiba said. Her voice was very quiet, but since I was walking right next to Ai Fa, I was able to hear what she was saying without any trouble.

“So you were acting distant because you were thinking about the red people during the banquet? That seems rather unlike you.”

“You may be right. I was a bit out of sorts.”

As she walked along, Ai Fa tilted her head in confusion. “You were out of sorts, Granny Jiba? I listened to your entire conversation with Tia, but I don’t recall hearing anything that might make you feel that way.”

“That’s true. I’m sure I am the only one left at the forest’s edge who would have felt so deeply moved.”

Ai Fa’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. “What do you mean by that, exactly? If something is bothering you, please tell us.”

“Nothing is bothering me. After all, no good would come of worrying about it at this point.”

“What exactly are you speaking of?”

After falling silent for a while longer, Granny Jiba smiled gently. “Well, I suppose I was planning on discussing it with Donda tomorrow anyway, so there should be no harm in me telling you now.”

“I agree. And if it involves Tia, then it involves us as well. Did she say something to upset you?”

“No, that isn’t it. This is something I’ve been thinking about since long before today’s conversation. Ever since the first day that girl was brought to the Ruu settlement, in fact.” It had been five days now since Tia had first been placed in the care of the Ruu. In all that time, I had never noticed anything off about her. “She has an incredibly beautiful gaze, does she not? The moment I saw her mysterious red eyes, I remembered...”

“You remembered? Remembered what?”

“My family, and the clans close to us, and my comrades,” Granny Jiba replied, her clear eyes staring off into empty space. “Her eyes are just like those that my people had. The way their eyes looked back when they hunted apes in the black forest of Jagar.”

“What do you mean?” Ai Fa asked, her voice trembling a bit, and I felt my heart start to beat faster too. It was honestly a little scary to imagine where this might be leading.

“That girl, that red person of Morga... Her people have lived on the mountain without contact with the outside world for hundreds of years now, have they not? When we lived in the black forest, that was the sort of existence we had as well. We wove thread from leaves and bark, and sharpened stone blades, never leaving the forest that our souls would eventually return to.”

“I see. So that’s why she has a similar gaze? There doesn’t seem to be anything surprising about that.”

“Yes, but that’s not all. That girl’s way of thinking, her emotions, and the way she lives on Mount Morga. She really is just like how we used to be.”

I felt a chill creep up my spine.

But then, Granny Jiba smiled kindly at me. “Asuta, we had an amusing group of guests at the last banquet that townsfolk were invited to—those traveling performers. Do you remember the song they played for us then?”

“Y-Yeah, the song of the Black King and the White Queen. It was a legend about a tribe from Sym called the Gaaze—the same name as the original leading clan of the forest’s edge.”

“Yes. So, who exactly were the tribe of the white queen that the Gaaze encountered in the black forest?”

“People from Jagar...? Southerners have pale skin, after all. And the legends say that the people of the forest’s edge have mixed blood from Sym and Jagar, right?”

“Indeed. I thought so as well. But in that case, why did we never see ourselves as children of the Southern God Jagar, even after living there for hundreds of years? The Gaaze tribe cast aside their homeland, so they must have done the same with the Eastern God Sym as well. But if they formed blood ties with the people of Jagar, wouldn’t they live as children of Jagar instead?”

I wasn’t able to come up with anything to say in response, and Ai Fa remained silent too.

Granny Jiba quietly continued, “I came to think that perhaps the tribe of the white queen split off from the red people of Morga. That girl’s skin is dyed red, but it might be pale underneath. Or it’s possible that the tribe of the white queen dyed their skin white instead.”

“B-But that’s way too much of a coincidence to be true, isn’t it? I mean, the tribe of the white queen and the red people being the same...” I started to say before trailing off.

“The red people are led by women, are they not? And judging from how they’re described, the tribe of the white queen would seem to have been the same. Furthermore, according to the story, the members of the tribe of the white queen were very short in stature.”

“W-Well, southerners tend to be shorter than westerners too, so to the members of the Gaaze tribe that came from Sym, they probably would have seemed to be pretty small.”

“Yes, that would be a reasonable conclusion to reach. Yet the tribe of the white queen were said to not have had a named god, which sounds just like the red people as well.”

She was right. In the minstrel Neeya’s song about the Black King and the White Queen, the word “Jagar” didn’t come up even once. The song had been so striking that it had really carved itself into my memory, so I was quite sure of that. The tribe of the white queen hadn’t followed any named god. They had simply called the forest their mother. That was what Neeya had said.

If they hadn’t had a named god, did that mean they had revered a nameless god? If that was the case, then that really did sound like the customs of the red people that Tia had spoken of.

“Of course, I have no proof of this... But Kamyua Yoshu said that there are a number of sacred lands similar to Mount Morga in this world, did he not, Ai Fa?”

“Indeed... So, you believe the black forest of Jagar was one of those sacred lands, and that the red people live in such places, Granny Jiba?” Ai Fa asked, her voice utterly devoid of emotion.

Granny Jiba nodded calmly in response. “I know that I won’t be able to arrive at a definitive answer, no matter how much I think about it...but there is no doubt in my mind that Tia is just like how my people were. My parents, my siblings, the members of my clan, and comrades from different clans entirely. Back then, they all had a look like Tia’s in their eyes, and thought as she did as well. But bit by bit, that changed after we moved to the Morga forest’s edge.”

Both of us silently listened to her speak.

“At first, I truly hated that. My beloved family seemed to be changing into something else entirely. But at some point, that stopped bothering me. Since I lived in the same place, it was only natural that I would change too.”

“Granny Jiba, that’s...”

“It is undoubtedly because of our interaction with the townsfolk. We most certainly did not open our hearts to them, but we needed to go to town to purchase aria and poitan. And then, we learned of convenient tools such as steel blades and metal pots. And we were no longer permitted to make clothing from vegetation, so we needed to buy that from town too.”

I was at a loss for words.

“Perhaps our belief that too much interaction with townsfolk would lead to corruption came from the fear we felt at how much we were changing. Everything was different compared to when we solely lived in the forest and thought only of ourselves.”

“Then, Granny Jiba...do you believe it would have been better to have stayed like the red people?”

Just then, the light sound of wind instruments sounded out in the plaza. When I turned to look, I saw Lebi and Kalgo playing some kind of side-blown flutes, which they had brought along with them in order to show them off when it was time to dance. That time must have arrived while we had been distracted.

Young men and women gathered around the ritual flame. Then they started to step along in time with the flutes. A familiar jaunty rhythm filled the plaza. If I was remembering correctly, it was the tune that had been played after the story of the Black King and the White Queen at the banquet the Gamley Troupe had been invited to—Vairus’s Banquet. The men of the forest’s edge banged along with firewood and giba bones, and some joined in with grass flutes as well.

As she watched the dancers from a distance, Ai Fa whispered uneasily, “Granny Jiba, please tell me. Have we strayed from the proper path? Should we have remained like the red people and avoided interaction with the outside world?”

“What are you saying, Ai Fa?” Granny Jiba asked with a small chuckle. “Give it some thought. The tribe of the white queen formed blood ties with the eastern Gaaze tribe hundreds of years ago, did they not? That in itself was an interaction with the outside world. The red people of Mount Morga would never do such a thing.”

“Hmm. That may be so, but still...”

“Yes, I’m sure it is. There is no longer any way of knowing why the tribe of the white queen accepted the Gaaze. But perhaps when the Gaaze cast aside the eastern god, the tribe of the white queen did the same with their nameless god. Otherwise, we would surely have never forgotten the gods we revered.” Granny Jiba’s voice was very gentle, and the kindness in it was slowly easing the chill I was feeling in my heart. “That, I believe, is how we people of the forest’s edge who solely saw the forest as our mother were born. Now that I have had that thought, I don’t think I can see it any other way. It makes sense out of too many things that I had been wondering about. Perhaps that is why we are so drawn to Tia—because the red people are what we were originally meant to be,” she said, stroking Ai Fa’s blonde hair. My clan head made a face like a peevish child, but she didn’t object.

“Then, do you believe it would be proper to live as the red people do, Granny Jiba? Are you jealous of how they live solely on Mount Morga, avoiding interaction with the outside world?”

“Hmm. I am sure I would have thought so not that long ago...before Asuta’s cooking gave me my strength back, when I was still so weak,” Granny Jiba replied, and then she lifted her hand from Ai Fa’s hair and pointed toward the ritual flame. “But look. We have so much joy in our lives now. What need do we have to envy anyone else? If we hadn’t interacted with the people of the outside world, we never would have found such joy, so I believe we are walking the best path we can.”

Everybody was dancing and enjoying themselves, whether they came from town or the forest’s edge.

Yumi once again grabbed Shilly Rou by the hand and dragged her out into the crowd. And right next to them were Sheera Ruu, Darmu Ruu, Ben, Telia Mas, and Jou Ran. Ludo Ruu was surrounded on either side by Rimee Ruu and Tara as they pulled him along. Though Dan Rutim wasn’t doing any dance steps, he was keeping pace with everyone else while swinging his bottle of fruit wine. Normally, only unwed women would dance, but that didn’t apply to a friendship banquet, and once they realized that, the young children and older folks started joining in too.

Lefreya and Sanjura were moving elegantly, as if they were attending a dance party. Meanwhile, Toor Deen was getting dragged along by the Liddo woman, looking rather embarrassed, and the Zaza siblings and Lem Dom followed after them. I spotted Myme and Jeeda too, plus the eldest sons of the Deen and Liddo clans. And Mida Ruu looked to be shouting something as he moved forward with Tsuvai Rutim up on his shoulders.

“All of the people who live on this continent have their own gods. Even the red people revere their nameless great god. And in the middle of all that, we were born from the merging of the tribe of the white queen and the Gaaze, and lost our gods while devoting ourselves to our mother forest alone,” Granny Jiba calmly said in an incredibly affectionate voice. “And now we have finally accepted the western god. I am sure that is something to be celebrated. After hundreds of years, we have finally been freed from the sin and suffering of casting aside our gods.” She then rubbed her cheek against Ai Fa’s blonde hair and quietly continued, “Or perhaps that is all just in my imagination. There is no way to know for sure. The one thing I do know is that we are now so happy I can hardly believe it.”

The last weight pushing down on me finally vanished.

“Yes, I feel the same way,” Ai Fa replied firmly. “I believe that we people of the forest’s edge have chosen the best possible path forward.” And then she turned toward me with a brilliant smile and said, “Asuta, shall we join in as well?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. It’s rare for you to suggest something like that yourself, though, Ai Fa.”

“I have Granny Jiba on my back, but you should go dance with them.”

“No, just being here with everyone is enough for me,” I said as we walked toward the brilliant light before us.

The red people must have had their own sources of joy that belonged only to them. For someone as purehearted as Tia, I was sure that nothing could replace them. And we had plenty of reasons to be happy that belonged solely to us as well. This was the lifestyle we people of the forest’s edge had chosen.

Intermezzo: A Quiet Reconciliation

Jirube had been observing the strange visitor’s sleeping face all morning. The sun hadn’t risen yet, so Jirube’s masters Ai Fa and Asuta were still sleeping soundly. And a short distance away from them, their odd guest was sleeping peacefully too.

The visitor’s name was Tia. She was an odd being who had been living at the Fa house for several days now.

Odd... Yes, Jirube couldn’t help but see her as such. She was a kind of creature Jirube had never encountered before.

Jirube had been born on a farm in Jagar, after which he had been taken to the western capital and had experienced a great many things next to his former master Dregg. In his role as an observer, Dregg had traveled all over, and he would always have Jirube accompany him on such trips as a guard dog.

However, Jirube had never seen a person like her in any of the places he had traveled to. She looked the same as an ordinary human. Her smell was a bit strange, like a mixture of flowers, plants, and stones, but that wasn’t especially unusual. The aura she gave off underneath that, though, differed quite a bit from other humans.

It was similar to the aura he sensed from his new master, Ai Fa, and her fellow people of the forest’s edge. Theirs were rather unusual too, which had been a great surprise to Jirube at first. The people of the forest’s edge were totally unlike townsfolk, and not just because of the smell of dirt and vegetation that clung to them. There was something completely different about who they were as people. If anything, they felt more similar to wild animals than they did the people from town.

Jirube had once encountered a beast known as an algura silver lion. Some eccentric noble had decided to keep it as a pet, and after hearing about that, Dregg had gone out of his way to see it.

“Ooh, silver lions are huge! My lion dog could never hope to compare!” Dregg had exclaimed, though there had been a clear note of frustration in his voice as he did so.

The humans referred to Jirube as a lion dog, and the reason had been obvious after encountering that silver lion. Like Jirube, there had been a fine mane around the beast’s neck. That had been the only similarity between them, though, as the beast had been around twice his size and had an entirely different aura to it. Just like humans and dogs were totally distinct creatures, this silver lion was something else entirely.

However, the silver lion had felt similar to Jirube in a different way, that being how the smell of humans had clung to it. It was the aura of a beast kept by humans. Just like Jirube and the totos that pulled carriages, in the end, the silver lion was a creature humans had raised. That had given it an aura that was nothing like the auras he sensed from the people of the forest’s edge. They actually felt more like wild beasts than domesticated animals did. Yes, wild beasts such as karon. Many karon lived on farms, like Jirube once had, but wild ones existed as well, and at some point, Jirube had gotten the chance to see one while out on the road.

“Look, it’s a wild karon! That’s a pretty rare sight!” one of the soldiers guarding Dregg’s carriage exclaimed. Hearing that, Dregg had exited the carriage in order to take a look.

The wild karon had been standing there all alone out on the plains. It hadn’t looked all that different from the karon on farms, except for the impressive horns on its head, which were cut off of farm-raised karon when they were young. And yet, it had been a whole other sort of beast entirely. It’d had splendid horns, but it had also been dirty, and its musculature had been rather different too, but above all that was the aura it had given off. The strength of a being that lived on its own in the wild without any human assistance positively radiated off its huge body.

“Hmph. What a stringy, unappetizing karon. But if we take it down, perhaps it would make an amusing souvenir,” Dregg muttered, his breath smelling strongly of wine.

Instantly, the soldiers proclaimed, “You mustn’t! Wild karon are ferocious. It would be dangerous to even get any closer to it. In fact, it would be best for us to move on before we upset it too much.”

“Hmph. What a spineless lot. And you’re supposed to be the elite of the capital?”

Despite Dregg’s derision, Jirube had agreed with the soldiers. The karon had just been standing there calmly, but the ferocity he’d sensed from the beast had been overwhelming even for him. Though he believed he would have won if he had fought with no regard for his own life, he wasn’t confident that he could have protected his master while doing so.

Wild beasts possessed a sort of strength that was unique to them, but the auras of the people of the forest’s edge were similar, and the strange girl named Tia had an aura that was even more so.

In terms of pure strength, Ai Fa was surely stronger than Tia was. When Jirube had first faced off with his current master, he had ended up tucking in his tail and cowering before her. No matter how hard Jirube fought, he could never defeat her. That difference in strength was clear right from the start.

However, Tia was even closer to a wild beast. She spoke and walked and ate like any other human, but her aura was similar to that wild karon’s. In fact, it almost felt strange that she was human in shape. And though she was weaker than Ai Fa, she was stronger than Jirube. Most hunters of the forest’s edge possessed strength that exceeded Jirube’s, and Tia was even stronger than many of them. At present, one of her legs was injured, but she would likely win in a fight between the two of them even so.

That was why Jirube had failed to protect Asuta. When Tia had attacked, he hadn’t been able to move a single step, much to his regret. Ai Fa and Asuta were Jirube’s current masters, and Asuta was about as weak as Dregg had been. Jirube had sworn that he would protect Asuta’s life, only to break that oath in just a few short days.

It wasn’t as if Jirube had cowered in fear. No, Asuta had been grabbed before he could even feel afraid. And after that, all he had been able to do was watch until Asuta had been released from Tia’s grasp.

Since Asuta and Ai Fa were very kind masters, they hadn’t scolded Jirube, but that had just made him feel all the more powerless. It might have been easier on him if they had derided him like Dregg had, in fact.

Of course, Jirube’s former master Dregg hadn’t been especially bad. He had gotten drunk often and would sometimes say unreasonable things, but he had never hit Jirube or taken away his food. No, he had treated Jirube like a sword, and had always bragged about Jirube to the people around him. Because of that, Jirube had felt great pride as a guard dog.

But Ai Fa and Asuta were much kinder. They treated Jirube as if he were their child. Just like the hunting dog Brave and the totos Gilulu, they saw him as a member of the family. He hadn’t felt like he was part of a family since he had been taken from the farm.

Asuta was important to him, as both a master and a part of his family, but Jirube had failed to protect him. And that was why he was watching Tia reproachfully this early in the morning.

But as Jirube kept on staring at Tia, her eyes suddenly shot open. Her unexpected gaze caused the guard dog to shrink back without meaning to. Tia tilted her head and crawled over toward Jirube with her uninjured leg.

Ai Fa, Asuta, Brave, and Gilulu were all still sleeping, not having noticed a thing.

Jirube watched as Tia approached, preparing himself to not back down no matter what.

“You’re already awake? You really get up early,” Tia whispered, coming right up to Jirube’s nose. “So, do you hate me because I hurt Asuta?” she asked.

Her eyes like red jewels were staring straight at Jirube. They looked even clearer than those of the wild karon he had seen in that field.

“Hmm. You are a beast of the outside world, so I can’t understand you at all. If you were a varb wolf, we could speak without any words,” Tia said with a small sigh. “Still, your anger and sadness are just. If I had been unable to protect my family, I would have been left trembling with regret over my lack of strength. I am deeply sorry for causing you to feel that way.”

Jirube stared silently at the strange girl.

“However, my life has been entrusted to the people of the forest’s edge, and the leading clan heads decided to let me heal and to forgive me, so I cannot allow you to take my life. I’m sorry for that too.”

Jirube just kept on staring.

“Would you at least bite my arm? If I happen to forever lose my strength as a hunter as a result, I wouldn’t blame you for it. And I am the one asking you to do it, so I would explain to Ai Fa and the leading clan heads that you didn’t do anything wrong,” Tia said, holding her right arm out in front of Jirube’s nose. It was a strange arm that smelled of flowers, plants, and rocks.

Jirube gave the back of her hand a lick.

“You forgive me? All of the members of the Fa house are so kind,” Tia said with a smile that looked like a baby’s, patting Jirube on the head.

At that point, Ai Fa awoke and slowly sat up on her bedding. “Tia...what are you doing over there?” she asked.

“I was speaking to Jirube. I wasn’t able to talk with him properly, but I seem to have gotten my feelings across a bit.”

Ai Fa directed a seriously scary glare at the girl. But despite that, Jirube’s regrets had vanished, and he felt ready to continue living with their strange guest.

Afterword

Thank you so much for picking up this book, the thirty-second volume of Cooking with Wild Game.

It has now been three whole volumes since the twenty-ninth, which was a sort of turning point in the series. I really am incredibly grateful to all of you who have continued reading.

The two-volume story involving the observers from the capital is over, but now things are moving in a different direction with the introduction of the red savage girl Tia. There are a lot of characters who have appeared in this series, but I see Tia as particularly important, and I’m quite fond of her too.

The three great beasts of Morga and the mountain being a sacred land were something I had established before I even started writing. Those terms showed up in the very first chapter of the first volume, and a giant madarama snake appeared and was taken down not long after. However, I wasn’t able to find the time to go back to that stuff again for some time after, so it all faded into the background after Dan Rutim’s bonus story from volume fourteen, “The White King of Morga.”

The reason the content relating to the sacred land of Morga got delayed for so long was because the scope of the main story ended up growing far beyond what I had originally expected. As I fleshed out the Amusehorn continent and the four great kingdoms over the course of years of writing, the sacred land and its three great beasts changed a fair bit as well. One example of that is how I just wrote “savages” at first, but it eventually evolved into “red savages.” That was so long ago that it’s hard to remember when I made that change, but it was definitely before I wrote “The White King of Morga.”

At any rate, Tia’s debut is something I’ve been waiting a very long time for. Things have changed a lot since my initial planning phase, but she was always going to appear eventually. She may be a few years late, but I’ve really enjoyed getting to see her interact with Asuta and Ai Fa, and I hope the same will be true for all of you.

Finally, I want to thank everyone involved with the production of this book, and of course, all of you who purchased it.

See you again in the next volume!

December 2023,

EDA