Chapter 2: The First Day of the White Month, Asuta’s Day (Second Half)

1

The sun had reached its peak.

It was at this time of day that I left the stalls up to Sheera Ruu’s group and headed around to the inns.

Since I needed to take someone along with me to assist with the cooking, Li Sudra joined the team at the stalls in my place. And just as Reina Ruu had said, the Rutim and Lea each sent two young hunters to town, allowing our initial group of four bodyguards to accompany us and leave the stalls to the newcomers.

Naturally, Reina Ruu was the one I asked to act as my assistant. While she was clearly jealous of Sheera Ruu being left in charge of the stalls, she also seemed to have a strong interest in helping out at the inns.

The first place we headed to was The Sledgehammer, which was frequented by easterners. Normally Ludo Ruu would follow us to the kitchen, but Shin Ruu took that role today while the other three kept watch outside the shop.

“Listen, if you see a brat with red hair, make sure not to charge in alone, alright? Blow your grass whistle and summon everyone else instead.”

Honestly, Ludo Ruu looked more excited than worried as he gave those instructions. I guess he wanted to see just how strong this hunter of Masara who even drove back Shin Ruu really was.

At any rate, after temporarily parting ways with them, we stepped into The Sledgehammer.

“Nail, I brought the giba meat I promised you.”

As I entered the kitchen and opened up one of the bundles I had brought, Nail’s eyes started sparkling with joy. Since he had gone and made up his mind to purchase giba meat, I wanted to bring him a sample to try as soon as possible.

“Thank you. You said this meat today was to get a taste, correct?”

“Yes. The taste changes based on the part of the giba the meat comes from, but some parts have a lot more volume to them than others. And so, I would like to adjust the price based on the cut of meat,” I explained, opening up the bundles one after another as I did so. “However, it’s not as if any cut is necessarily higher quality just because you can get less of it. I believe they’re all delicious in their own ways regardless of price, so I’d like you to start by trying them all.”

“I see. Karon torso meat is softer and tastier than leg meat, but I don’t know how it is for giba. I’m certainly interested to find out,” Nail said, seriously observing the meat atop the counter.

For today, I brought 200 grams each of four different cuts: Shoulder, sirloin, rib, and thigh. Since you could get a lot less fillet and chuck, they were much more expensive cuts, so I didn’t include them in my lineup.

“You can get the greatest amount of meat from a giba’s hind legs, so I’d like to set the price there the same as karon legs. Then I decided to adjust from that baseline based on how much of each cut you can get from one giba.”

Nail had said he wanted to start by trying out a purchase of enough meat for ten meals each day, or roughly 2.5 kilos.

As for my prices, they were as follows:

Thigh: 9 red coins.

Shoulder: 11.5 red coins.

Sirloin: 14.5 red coins.

Rib: 16.5 red coins.

“The taste changes quite a bit based on whether you grill or boil them too, for example, so please go ahead and try all sorts of stuff. And of course, I don’t have any issue if you want to buy, say, five meals worth of thigh meat and five of shoulder meat or the like.”

“Thank you. And on that point, are there some parts that are better grilled and others more suited to boiling?”

“Personally, I feel that thigh and shoulder meat are easier to eat boiled because they’re tougher. But if you beat them with a pot or wooden stick to break up the fibers and then cut the sinew and slice them up thinly, that should also soften them up quite a bit.”

“I see. It certainly seems like this will be worth grappling with,” Nail replied, his eyes happily narrowing.

Kamyua Yoshu had said that the food at inns was like an extension of home cooking. However, I got the impression that Nail here and Naudis from The Great Southern Tree put a great deal of effort into what they offered.

And I was certain that what drove them to work so hard was their desire to satisfy their customers from the east and south who came far from their homes to reach Genos. It was because they were that kind of men that they were willing to buy more expensive seasonings from other nations, and why they asked some stranger like me to sell them cooking to serve at their places.

“Well then, I’ll go ahead and get to work for today.”

With that, I set about making 30 meals worth of giba sauté arrabbiata with Reina Ruu’s assistance.

◇

A bit under an hour later we wrapped up our work at The Sledgehammer and headed out for The Great Southern Tree.

Yesterday, this was when Jeeda attacked us along this same road, but this time we arrived safely without incident.

“Ah, I’ve been waiting for you, Asuta,” the owner Naudis greeted with a smile. However, that expression darkened quite a bit when he heard my request to once again have hunters of the forest’s edge keep an eye on the entrances to the inn. “Did you get mixed up in some sort of trouble again? Have the talks with the folks from the castle gone that poorly?”

For the sixth time now, I repeated what I had already explained to Milano Mas, Dora, Zasshuma, Sanjura, and Nail. That it wasn’t just the talks going bad, but also the fact that we were attacked by someone with a grudge against the people of the forest’s edge, so we wanted to shore up how many guards we were using. It was a rather unsettling story, so it was no surprise to see Naudis’s expression grow more and more clouded as I talked.

“Hmm... That certainly does sound troubling...”

Unlike Nail, Naudis didn’t seem to take much of a stance when it came to the people of the forest’s edge. He neither avoided them nor did anything to protect them. However, I got the feeling that he respected me as a valuable business partner. Even so, I felt like if this went on for too long, there was a risk that he’d eventually judge it too dangerous to keep being involved with us... But once again, he didn’t tell us to leave.

“I had been thinking it was a bit troubling that the folks from the castle hadn’t put out any sort of notice even after all that commotion. If they had just said it was the fault of both the people of the forest’s edge and the castle, and that they were working hard so the same mistakes wouldn’t be repeated, I believe that would have done a great deal to put everyone in the post town more at ease,” Naudis stated. “I’ve certainly found that sense of uncertainty as to whether or not everything is now out in the open more than a little unpleasant. Well, not that I ever really expected the folks from the castle to own up to their own shameful mistakes, though.”

Those words really went to show just how strained the connection between the Genos post town and the castle really was.

It had already been a month and a half since I first stepped foot in the post town. And in all that time, I’d never heard anyone who worked or lived there have anything positive to say about the castle or the guards, not even once. If Melfried really did become the lord of Genos in the future, would he find that a troubling situation he needed to do something about?

“All that aside, there’s the matter of our business. I’ve been truly looking forward to the chance to eat the new dish you’ll be making today.”

“Right. I’ll get started on that now.”

As of today, I would be changing the dishes on offer at The Great Southern Tree.

For now, that meant making a soup. But what should I call it, exactly? Giba soup prepared with tau oil? To be honest, it was pretty much the same dish I had been making for dinner at the Fa house.

I used giba thigh, shoulder, and rib meat, as well as aria, tino, chatchi, and gigo for vegetables. After boiling all that together, I then added rock salt and tau oil for flavor to create a new giba soup that brought to mind Japanese tofu and vegetable chowder.

Though I used a lot of different vegetables, I didn’t put in a ton of each, which kept the cost/price ratio at a minimum. Without the meat it was 23%, and with meat we were talking 60%. And since cubed giba meat stew used a whole lot of tau oil and fruit wine, it went up another five percent from there.

The one point that differed from my regular soup was that when I initially boiled the meat, I added lilo leaves to thoroughly remove any stench. Since the meat had been bloodlet, there shouldn’t be any strong smell left lingering about it, but since there were probably plenty of folks out there who would have an issue handling the taste of the meat compared to the less quirky kimyuus or karon, I added that extra little twist.

The real selling point to the dish, though, was definitely the potato-like chatchi and yam-esque gigo. The chatchi was heated steadily along with the water from the start, while the gigo got added last, after all the other vegetables were nice and cooked. Thanks to that, both of them came out soft and flaky.

“Once you’re done scooping scum, maintain a low flame, alright?”

“Yes, just leave it to me,” Reina Ruu replied with a smile. She had at least as much skill as me at making this soup, if not more, so I had no problem leaving it up to her. As an aside, Ai Fa hadn’t come out and said that my soup was tastier. Ultimately, her impression was, “I’d have to say that they’re about equal...”

At any rate, after entrusting the soup to Reina Ruu, I set about making the sample dish. Though Naudis had been satisfied with the taste of the giba soup, he had also asked me not to remove the cubed giba meat stew from the menu. And so, what I was unveiling today was a new replacement for that dish.

“So does today’s dish have a name?”

“Yes. I call it meat and chatchi stew.”

Upon hearing that, Naudis’s eyes opened wide.

“Not ‘giba and chatchi’ but ‘meat and chatchi?’ Why did you name it like that?”

“Ahaha, it’s because that’s what it was called back where I come from. And I have a dish called giba chitt over at The Sledgehammer, so I wanted to differentiate it from that.”

However, back in my home country, there was nothing known as a chatchi. Instead, we had the very similar potato. And so, naturally, the dish was meat and potato stew back in Japan instead.

I used to make it a lot back in the Tsurumi Restaurant.

Still, I needed to revise the recipe thanks to the differing circumstances. The chatchi and aria filled in for the potatoes and onions just fine, but unfortunately I didn’t have any soy sauce, sugar, or mirin on hand. What I did have was the soy sauce-like tau oil and the fruit wine. The latter definitely had a much higher sugar content than normal wine though, which was what led me to the idea of making the cubed giba meat and meat and chatchi stews.

The ingredients are one thing, but what I really need to do something about is the seasonings, I thought to myself as I dropped a pinch of giba fat into the metal pan and started frying the rib meat.

Once there was just a little red left I mixed in the aria and chatchi, and then when the fat had spread out properly, I added the tau oil, fruit wine, and water.

As soon as it reached a boil I scooped the scum, then put the wooden lid on and let it heat over a medium flame. Now I just needed to let it cook till the chatchi softened, and it would be done.

“So you just need to wait now, Asuta...?” Reina Ruu asked from the neighboring stove, having passionately watched me work.

“That’s right,” I answered.

“Then that’s a rather simple dish, isn’t it?” she replied.

“Yeah, the work itself is simple enough. But on the other hand, the proportion of tau oil and fruit wine, the amount of cooking time, and the strength of the flame can have quite an impact on the taste.”

And there weren’t any measuring cups or gas stoves here in this world, either. That made a chef’s intuition all the more crucial.

“Back in my old home country, it’s been practically synonymous with ‘home cooking’ for quite some time. Surprisingly enough though, it may be harder to explain how to make it than the hamburger steak or cubed giba meat stew.”

“Really?” Reina Ruu asked, looking all the more interested.

“Aah, what a wonderful aroma of tau oil and fruit wine,” Naudis said with a big sniff. “It’s not as if I’ve never used fruit wine in my own cooking, but I certainly haven’t used it as boldly as you do, Asuta. I’d say that mellow sweetness you get from it is just the way southerners like it.”

“Ah, now that you mention it, is there any sugar in Jagar?”

I vaguely recalled Aldas saying something to that effect.

“It exists in Genos too. However, I’ve never seen it sold outside of the stone walls.”

“So it’s rare enough that you can only get it in the castle town, huh? Hmm, the seasonings on offer here in the post town really don’t feel like enough. I mean, it’s not like you can even get a hold of tau oil without a special relationship with merchants from the south, right? Actually, now that we’re on the topic, are any seasonings other than rock salt usually sold around here?”

“I think saying they’re not would be the most accurate answer. After all, it varies from person to person whether or not they treat herbs like myamuu as a seasoning or a vegetable.”

As I tossed a small bit of firewood into the stove, I replied, “I see,” with a nod. “Now that I think about it, I’ve hardly ever seen pico or lilo leaves being sold. It’s only very rarely that I see them at a place selling rock salt.”

“That’s because around here, you can only harvest such things in the forest of Morga. The right to gather as much as they please is one of the very few special privileges granted to the people of the forest’s edge,” Naudis answered, carefully choosing his words so as not to sound sarcastic or snide. I was sure that he was also striving his hardest to not treat us differently.

“So then in the post town, you’ve got to pickle meat in salt in order to preserve it?”

“That’s correct. It would take too much time to buy fresh meat every day, and you can get it cheaper by purchasing in bulk. And so, I generally buy a few days’ worth of meat and pickle it in salt.”

“I see.”

With any luck, I may get a chance to use karon or kimyuus meat to give Milano Mas cooking lessons. Would I be able to prepare a proper dish with something other than giba meat, though? I was honestly getting excited at the thought of the challenge.

“Ah, excuse me for a moment,” I said, taking the lid off the pot as I figured it was about time.

Instantly, steam filled with the smell of tau oil and fruit wine exploded forth.

I had sufficiently submerged the ingredients in water, but now about half of that was gone.

After stirring the contents of the pot with a wooden spatula, I then stabbed some chatchi with a grigee toothpick. It smoothly slid on in without any resistance, but how was the taste?

The chatchi had already been split open by the toothpick, and so I tossed a chunk of that and the rib meat into my mouth.

It had a mildly sweet, subtle flavor. The chatchi was soft and flaky, while the meat was suitably tender. And when I bit into them, a perfect harmony of further sweetness and delicious flavor filled my mouth.

Still, the sweetness really is a bit on the weak side. I think a bit of a stronger flavor would be ideal...

I poured some tau oil into a wooden spoon until it was about halfway full, then dissolved that into the stock atop the plate and added it all into the pot.

While carefully stirring so as not to break apart the chatchi, I brought it to a boil once more and then gave it a taste.

Yup, that was seeming pretty good. Normally I would say that it was best to treat this like the cubed giba meat stew and let it cool down first to let the flavor permeate the dish. But even at this point, the taste was already satisfactory.

And so, I scooped out the contents of the pot onto a fresh plate.

“Please, dig in. I would say this is around half the size of a meal for one.”

Contained within was around 120 grams of meat, half an aria, and a fourth of a chatchi.

I would have liked to add a greater volume of chatchi if at all possible, but since I needed to keep the costs of making it around the same level as the cubed giba meat stew, that was as much as I could use. After all, chatchi cost two and a half times as much as aria.

It really does feel awfully pricey, but then again I’m used to looking at aria and poitan as a standard, and they’re actually super cheap, I thought to myself as I served up the other half on another plate.

“Reina Ruu, I’ll take over manning the fire, so would you like to give this a try?”

“Huh? Is it really alright?” she asked, sounding childishly excited.

Naudis had an equally big grin on his face, too.

The pair of them both brought their spoons to their mouths in sync, and exploded with joy at exactly the same moment.

“Asuta, this is so tasty!”

“Yes, it’s truly delicious.”

With Naudis in particular, I didn’t think I had ever seen him look so overjoyed.

“Aah, it really is good. The chatchi are wonderfully soft, and aria with the sweetness soaked into them are especially superb. Ah, but the giba meat is so delicious too... And the taste of the vegetables seem to stand out here even more than with that cubed giba meat stew dish!”

“Thank you... But unlike with that dish and the soup, I didn’t use any lilo leaves here. And I didn’t season it all that strongly either, so I’m still a little concerned that the quirkiness of the giba meat may not be to the tastes of your customers from the south.”

“I think that shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, I also felt that you may not need to add the lilo leaves to that giba soup either. It seemed to me that the strong aroma from them was interfering ever so slightly with the flavor of the tau oil.”

That was some rather keen perception, there.

If the lilo leaves had harmonized perfectly with the giba soup, then I’d have used them in the Fa house, too. Ultimately, it was nothing but a desperate measure to eliminate the smell of the meat.

“I don’t think giba meat has much of a stench to begin with, to be honest. In fact, I’d find it strange if there were any customers who disliked the taste,” Naudis said, tilting his head a bit while still smiling. Despite him being a hairy-faced middle-aged man, it really was a rather charming expression. “Perhaps it’s just down to the impression that ‘normal’ people shouldn’t eat giba meat? It’s true that it tastes very different from karon or kimyuus, and it’s a strong flavor at that, so I could see how having such thoughts in your head could lead to a bad impression.”

It was true that Pops and his group had thought so when he tasted my giba burger and said it was bad. But just a month later, he went and chose to buy a ton of giba jerky rather than karon. “A month of eating the stuff is plenty enough time to get used to a strong flavor like that,” Pops had said.

“It’s been a month now since you started doing business with your stalls, hasn’t it? In that case, the idea that giba meat is worth eating must have spread throughout the post town by now. This flavor is where the giba’s deliciousness lies, so I don’t think there’s any need to purposefully season it to weaken that.”

“You think so...? It’s very reassuring to hear you say that,” I replied with a smile. “Well then, will you be purchasing this dish?”

“Of course! Ah, but still... I find it difficult to imagine just abandoning the cubed giba meat stew. I don’t mind if it’s once every five, no, even ten days, but could you please still sell it to me...?”

“If you’re fine with it being that rarely, then that would be okay. In that case, how about on the first day of a ten-day contract I’ll prepare the cubed giba meat stew, and then alternate between the meat and chatchi stew and the giba soup after that?”

It seemed that rather than what his customers wanted, Naudis was primarily focused on his personal desire for cubed giba meat stew. It seemed that unlike Nail, he was also eating the meals he purchased from me for dinner. I definitely felt honored thinking how he wanted to eat it badly enough to sacrifice one meal’s worth of profits.

At any rate, the reason I had wanted to remove the cubed giba meat stew from the menu was because of the cooking time it took. But if it was just once in ten days, I should be able to balance that out with my other work. And even if I couldn’t, I would just have to shorten my time at the stalls that day.

Ah, but with the current circumstances, I guess we’d need to increase the number of guards we have around early in the morning, huh...? I’d certainly like it if we didn’t need them anymore by the time I’m able to start working with the other inns...

As that thought was running through my head, Naudis called out to me with a bit of a worried look.

“By the way, Asuta... You said you wanted to take a break every ten days, didn’t you?”

“Right. So from here on out, I’d like to make our future contracts ten days each to align with that.”

“I don’t mind that, of course. However... Your plan is to take two days off this time around, correct? The seventh and eighth of the white month?”

“Yes. I want to take the chance to work on my cooking skills.”

“I see...” Naudis said, hanging his head.

In the meantime, Reina Ruu had gone and shared her meat and chatchi stew with Shin Ruu.

After I stole a glance at the boy’s eyes narrowing with satisfaction when he took a bite, I turned back towards Naudis.

“What is it? Is there some sort of issue?”

“There is... But it’s something I need to handle on my own,” Naudis replied, raising his head again with a look of determination. “Asuta, earlier you asked me if I would consider purchasing giba meat and cooking it myself. Is that offer still valid?”

“Huh? Yes, of course.”

“In that case... I believe I would like to buy some giba meat.”

“Why is that?” I couldn’t help but ask.

I found it hard to imagine that Naudis was just that interested in my proposal.

“For the sake of my business, of course. If there are two days in a row in which I’m unable to offer your cooking, my customers may end up heading to another place to eat instead.”

“A-Aren’t you just overthinking things, there? When I take a break it’ll be from all the inns, so my cooking won’t be sold anywhere on those days.”

“But you’re selling giba meat to the owner of The Sledgehammer, aren’t you? And you said you’re hoping to sell your cooking to The Westerly Wind and The Kimyuus’s Tail, too... In that case, it’s possible those inns may also come to offer their own unique giba dishes, isn’t it? That’s what concerns me.”

“Right...”

“I can’t imagine the other inn owners possess anywhere near your level of skill. However, frustration at being unable to eat giba cooking can only be resolved with such dishes, wouldn’t you say? At the very least, that’s how I’d think if I were in my customers’ shoes,” Naudis said, then he deeply bowed his head. “Please, sell me giba meat too. I’d like to work hard with my wife over these remaining few days to create a dish that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to serve.”

Naturally, I bowed my head too and said, “Thank you.”

My primary goal was selling the giba meat itself rather than my cooking. For not only Nail but also Naudis to make up their minds on that matter was something I felt so grateful for that it left me a little taken aback.

At any rate, I was able to complete my business in the post town for the day without the red-haired boy Jeeda attacking or Cyclaeus employing any wicked schemes. And with that, this strangely fulfilling first day of the white month was now two thirds of the way done.

2

The sun was now midway between its peak and sunset, or around 3:30 in the afternoon by my internal clock.

Having finished all of our work, we departed the post town and headed back towards the settlement at the forest’s edge.

Fortunately, despite my regulars in the Silver Vase and the construction group all leaving at once, the sales at the stalls hadn’t taken an appreciable hit. Today, we sold 143 meals in total. That was good enough that if Shumiral and Pops and everyone were still around, we would have easily sold out.

In other words, there seemed to be just as many folks coming to Genos as there were leaving, and the proportion of them who’d come visit our stalls seemed to be about the same.

But at any rate, we had managed to carry out our work for the day. As we parted ways with the young hunters of the Rutim and Lea in front of the path back to the forest’s edge, I took hold of Gilulu’s reins. Though I felt bad about not offering them a ride back, with Li Sudra and the youths from the Ruu branch houses added to our group, the wagon was already at capacity.

And since we had a ton of ingredients and pots and the like with us too, I had Gilulu walk at a slow march on the way back so as not to push him too hard. However, this road had a pretty harsh slope to it, so it was definitely placing a fair bit of burden on the totos.

Even so, Gilulu wore the same aloof look on his face as always as he energetically pulled the wagon along. And despite the slow but steady pace, it didn’t even take 30 minutes to reach the Ruu settlement.

After arriving there, I gave Reina and Sheera Ruu some detailed advice as they made the giba burger patties for tomorrow, then headed off back towards the Fa house. The one difference from yesterday this time around was just that Ludo and Shin Ruu were now riding atop Ruuruu and guarding us. On days when Ai Fa wasn’t around, this was how we were staying vigilant even here in the settlement at the forest’s edge.

It certainly didn’t seem likely that Jeeda or Cyclaeus would set foot here, but even so... Donda Ruu’s intention seemed to be to do everything that he could about this. And so I felt grateful for that, praying all the while that my peaceful everyday life would soon return.

“Hey there. We’ve been waiting for you, Asuta.”

There were six women already there in front of the Fa house when we arrived: two each from the Fou, Ran, and Deen clans, all here for cooking lessons. Saris Ran Fou wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but in exchange, Toor and Jas Deen were present.

“It’s been a while, Asuta,” Jas Deen said with a calm bow of her head. She was the elder sister of the head of her clan, and was an older woman with an intense gaze.

Toor Deen, meanwhile, timidly followed suit. The young girl was just ten years old, and had been taken in from one of the Suun branch houses.

I had thought she had opened up to me quite a bit when she instructed me on how to prepare innards, but now that a bit of time had passed, it seemed her shyness had returned. Still, that just meant I had to put in the time and get her to steadily warm up to me again, and so I shot her a smile.

“Today the plan is for me to show you all how to make hamburger patties. You’ll give it your all, right, Toor Deen?”

“Ah, y-yes...” she replied while hanging her head.

However, there were no dark shadows in her big eyes as they glanced upwards at me.

“By the way, about the custom of the forest’s edge that you aren’t supposed to grill meat on another house’s stove... Is it alright as long as you’re just handling the preparations before grilling?”

“Yes. And with that in mind, we brought along the necessary ingredients,” one of the Ran women replied.

The Ran and Fou women were also pairs of a younger girl and an older lady, just like with the Deen. Adding me and Li Sudra to their six, there were eight of us in total, making for a fairly large gathering.

“We’ll go patrol until Ai Fa returns,” Ludo Ruu stated.

“Thanks,” I replied, then headed through the front door along with the women.

“First off, we’ll boil down poitan in order to make the thickening agent. If you can’t spare the time or effort then you could grate down gigo instead, but that would end up costing some coins. Anyway, it won’t take long for this many poitan to dry out, so let’s dice up the aria in the meantime.”

There was still a bit over two hours left until sunset. And now that I had decided to cut up the meat in the morning instead, I was completely free at this time of day.

And so, after sautéing the diced aria in fruit wine, we set about mincing up meat until the vegetables cooled down. Once that process was done, I started working on my own research.

The current topic was a careful examination of the produce I hadn’t used up until now.

I had done similarly in the past before starting big jobs like the Rutim wedding or beginning business in the post town. As a result, I had encountered not only aria and poitan, but also tino, pula, tarapa, chatchi, gigo, and myamuu. But naturally, there were still plenty of other sorts of produce sold in the post town.

However, among them were also ones that I hadn’t found a way to use. In other words, I was talking about ingredients like the poitan that I couldn’t relate to familiar produce.

On top of that, there was also produce that was unsuited for use in my business. Those were ones where the amount harvested seemed to be unstable, and so it was questionable as to whether I could purchase enough each day.

Eliminating all those didn’t leave me with all that many options at hand.

Hmm... I don’t have that much time to spare today, so I guess I’ll just tackle this one, I thought, reaching out for an orange fruit that had a spiky skin like a durian.

It was about as big as a grapefruit, and had an elongated shape like a rugby ball. The price for one was half a red coin. That was the same as a chatchi, but you definitely got more mass with it, making it what I’d still classify as a reasonably priced ingredient.

As for the name, it was called a sheel. Though they were sold all throughout the post town, apparently they were rarely ever purchased by anyone here in the settlement at the forest’s edge.

The thorny skin was rather tough, and so I tried cutting it with my newly purchased meat cutting knife rather than my vegetable knife. Such so-called butcher’s knives were fine to be used on ingredients other than meat, just like with my old man’s knife. And the blade certainly didn’t betray my expectations, as it sliced cleanly through the sheel.

The smell of fresh meat hanging about the room was soon overpowered by a sweet and sour aroma. Yup, that was clearly a refreshing citrusy scent.

The freshly exposed cross section was yellow, and it was full of little round bits like a pomegranate.

When I squeezed it atop a plate, a faintly yellowish fruit juice came trickling down, and the aroma filling the room grew even stronger.

“It smells really sweet, doesn’t it...?” Toor Deen said shyly, turning back my way while she was mincing meat.

It seemed children really were more sensitive to sweetness even here in this world, too.

“This is called a sheel fruit, and from what I hear it isn’t eaten much here at the forest’s edge. Would you like to give it a try?”

“Huh? Is it really alright?”

“Yup,” I replied, scooping up a bit of the fruit juice with a wooden spoon.

Toor Deen had a troubled look in her eyes thanks to her hands being dirtied by the fat from the meat, and so I said, “Here,” and held out the spoon.

Despite her cheeks turning red with embarrassment, she went ahead and took the spoon into her mouth.

Almost instantly, her cute little lips loudly proclaimed, “So sour!”

“Yeah. I figure that’s why it isn’t used here at the forest’s edge.”

Just like you would assume from the smell, it was certainly a citrus fruit, but a sheel had a powerful sourness about it like a lemon. It was just a bit sweeter than that familiar yellow fruit, but its sourness still definitely overpowered everything else.

Toor Deen gave an angry, “Geez!” and raised her hand. However, perhaps because she didn’t want to hit me with a dirty hand, she instead bonked me on the back with her elbow.

“Sorry, sorry! But I think it’d be pretty tasty if you watered it down...”

“It’s not tasty at all! My mouth hurts!” she wailed, then she turned away in a huff.

Jas Deen looked very satisfied as she watched Toor Deen act so cutely, like someone her age should. And the Fou and Ran women were all suppressing their quiet giggles as best they could.

“Asuta, how does this look?” Li Sudra suddenly asked with a smile, pointing to her cutting board.

There was a nice little pink mountain of minced meat sitting there.

“Yes, that’s plenty. Now knead in the aria from before along with the poitan broth. Oh, and it’ll taste better if you mix in a bit of rock salt and pico leaves too. The Fa clan can share some with you all for today.”

After that, the rest of the women all finished their mincing one by one.

The people of the forest’s edge sure were robust. Mincing meat like this involved quite a bit of manual labor, but they finished the task just as quickly as I did.

With how things were going, perhaps it would be quicker to finish giving them instructions first. And so, I placed the sheel and the plate with the juice I had wrung from it in the corner of the room, then walked them all the way through forming the patties.

“It’s also possible to use two stoves with one on a high and one on a low flame to cook large patties, but managing the flames is difficult, so for today we’ll just do small ones. Separate out around this much meat, and then make it into a round shape. Once you’ve done that, toss it back and forth to get all the air out of the meat.”

With that, I played catch with the patty between my hands, making a pat, pat sound. It was with this task that a bit of a gap in dexterity started to become apparent. Toor Deen and Li Sudra were definitely on the more skilled end. They really did seem to have a strong sense for cooking.

And though the Fou and Ran women murmured stuff like, “This is pretty tricky...” they all definitely looked like they were enjoying themselves. They seemed truly happy to finally be taking on a complex dish like hamburger steak.

“Ah, right... There’s something I’d like to discuss with all of you from the Fou and Ran clans,” I said, suddenly recalling my conversation with Lala Ruu from this morning. Which is to say, the matter of how to assign the work in the post town.

I wanted to spread the wealth around evenly, and so I went ahead and asked the four women present if they would help out in place of the Sudra clan.

However, their reaction wasn’t exactly enthusiastic.

“Working in the post town...? The Fa clan has helped us out so much, and we’d of course like to repay that,” the slightly older Fou woman replied, a serious look on her face. “You can ask any task of us, and we’ll be sure to see it through.”

“Ah, no, I wasn’t looking for repayment. I just thought you might enjoy taking on a different sort of work than usual,” I said, recalling the satisfied smiles worn by Lala and Reina Ruu and everyone else.

However, there was no shift in any of their expressions.

“Asuta, you aren’t currently short of hands in the post town, are you?” Li Sudra asked with a gentle look.

“No, that’s not currently the case. If I eventually increase the number of stalls up to three I’ll need more personnel, though.”

“I see. In that case, it wouldn’t be too late to ask the Fou and Ran for help then, right? To be blunt, aside from large clans like the Ruu and Rutim, most houses would find it difficult to spare anyone for half a day,” Li Sudra stated with a refreshing smile. “For our Sudra clan it actually works out in that we are so small we have an excess of women. Despite the fact that in recent years the branch houses and the like have all been absorbed into the main house, there are still ultimately only four men and five women in the Sudra clan. And we don’t have any infants that need to be taken care of, either...”

Now that she brought it up, it was true that the Fou and Ran both seemed to be fairly short on women. In fact, it seemed to have taken quite a bit of effort just making the time for these cooking lessons.

On top of that, they were already earning plenty just by selling meat to the Fa clan. In that case, there was no real benefit to forcing them to switch with Li Sudra. And yet, these women had said they were prepared to take on that extra hardship as long as it was for the sake of the Fa clan, to whom they owed so much.

“Well then, when I really do need more help, I’ll talk to you all again. And there are a number of other clans like the Gaaz and Ratsu that I’d like to reach out to, too.”

“Right. Well, when that time comes, please don’t hesitate to ask. We would like to be of help to the Fa too, after all.”

“Thank you. Those words alone are enough to make me feel grateful.”

That settled that. However, there was one girl still standing there with a gloomy expression on her face: Toor Deen.

Before I could ask her what was wrong, though, Jas Deen spoke up.

“Our Deen clan has at least a little bit of leeway to work with in regards to our women. But as you know, we fall under the Zaza clan, who do not approve of the Fa’s business dealings. It pains me greatly that we are unable to repay the great debt that we owe you.”

“Ah, no, that’s not...” I murmured.

I was well aware of that fact, which was why I hadn’t extended the offer to the Deen. Since they fell under the Zaza clan, they were only permitted to take bloodletting and cooking lessons, but they were forbidden from supporting our business in the post town.

“You wish to help Asuta, don’t you, Toor Deen...?” Jas Deen quietly asked.

However, Toor Deen just shook her little head back and forth, her two tied-off braids swaying along with the motion.

“I will follow the orders from our clan heads,” she said in a firm voice, even if it wasn’t overly loud.

However, I could see the tears welling up in her eyes a bit.

“I’ll try my hardest so that the Zaza clan head one day acknowledges me. If that time comes and I ask the Deen clan to help out, could I count on you then?”

“Yes,” Toor Deen nodded.

Right now we had our hands full with Cyclaeus and Jeeda, but someday I would definitely have to devote some serious effort to finding how to join forces with the Zaza clan head and everyone else who thought like him.

And even among my greatest allies at the moment, the Ruu clan, the next in line for clan head was Jiza Ruu.

It had been a long time now since I last had an open discussion with that eldest son of the main Ruu house. The last time I had heard his true feelings had likely been way back before the clan head meeting.

I really don’t even want to imagine it, but if something were to happen to Donda Ruu, the Fa clan’s position would end up seriously worsening.

We had such friendly relations with the other clans under them like the Rutim and Lea that I couldn’t imagine even Jiza Ruu could go and do a complete about-face all of a sudden.

Still, I had no idea how things would turn out if two of the leading clans, both the Ruu and Zaza, started acting uncooperatively towards us.

Though I still felt there were plenty of troubles lying ahead of us, I went ahead and cheerfully called out, “Alright then,” to clear away any gloomy feelings. “It looks like everyone’s roughly formed their patties. And so I’ll finish by grilling up a sample patty on the outdoor stove as an example.”

The women seemed to have collected themselves again as they smiled and nodded, then rose to their feet.

For the sample patty, I had Li Sudra knead some meat from the Fa house, so while she did that, I opened up the door so we could take it outside alongside the fruit wine I was going to cook it with. And when I did, I found my beloved clan head Ai Fa standing there.

“Whoa, that sure is a big one!” I said before even thinking to tell her, “Welcome back.” That was because Ai Fa had a male giba on her back that had to weigh at least 70-80 kilos.

“Indeed,” Ai Fa nodded, her face glistening with sweat as she sounded just a bit short of breath. That was only natural, though, seeing how she lugged such a heavy load through the uneven terrain of the forest. At any rate, she lowered the giba to the ground with a small sigh. “It got caught in one of the traps I had set up relatively nearby. The bloodletting went well too, so I hurried back with it before the mundt showed up. However, it’s left me feeling a bit tired...”

“Of course it did. Good work there, Ai Fa.”

“Right... You too.”

There was a faint, gentle light shining in Ai Fa’s eyes. And there was little doubt in my mind that that was because she was glad to see I had made it home safely.

However, perhaps because of all the women lined up behind me, her expression retained its usual solemn dignity as clan head.

“You’re amazing, Ai Fa! You took down this big guy all on your own?” Ludo Ruu called out as he and Shin Ruu suddenly came running up.

With that, Ai Fa turned around and thanked them with her eyes.

“You have my gratitude for protecting the Fa house.”

“Aw come on, don’t act so distant. Still, that sure is something. You said it got caught in a trap?”

“Yes. It fell into my pitfall, so finishing it off was no great task.”

“In that case, I guess it’s true that anyone could’ve taken it down. But knowing where to set the trap is proof of your resourcefulness as a hunter. And then on top of that, you pulled it out of the hole on your own, bloodlet it, and then carried it all the way here, right? That’s seriously impressive,” Ludo Ruu stated, his eyes filled with earnest admiration.

Still, maybe I was just imagining things, but Shin Ruu seemed to be a bit broody as he stood there. He had once asked Ai Fa to teach him the dangerous technique known as sacrificial hunting. Thanks to his elder sister Sheera Ruu now working in the post town, they didn’t have to worry about coins anymore, but was the young 16-year-old head of his house still dissatisfied with his current strength?

It was true that Ai Fa, Ludo Ruu, and Rau Lea all possessed far more strength than one would expect from their ages and builds. And on top of that, Shin Ruu had to be feeling ashamed for having let Jeeda slip away yesterday.

I think it’s just that all of them are abnormal, so there’s no reason for him to feel so inferior there... Still, I guess if that was enough for him, he wouldn’t be having that problem in the first place.

Even I had to say that if I was losing out to everyone my age in terms of cooking, I’d probably feel so frustrated I couldn’t sleep at night.

Still, it didn’t seem like there was really anything I could do to help Shin Ruu out.

As I was pondering the matter, though, Ai Fa stared at my hands and asked, “Is tonight’s dinner hamburger steak?”

“Ah, I’m just cooking this up as an example,” I replied, but then I hurriedly shook my head. “No wait, let’s have it for dinner tonight, too! Watching everyone make them has made me want to eat some, too.”

Ai Fa murmured, “I see...” and her momentarily clouded gaze started sparkling again. As always, hamburger steak really was her favorite. She certainly hadn’t done anything wrong, so I felt earnestly relieved that I hadn’t gone and crushed her expectations there.

It was then that Ludo Ruu tilted his head and went, “Hmm? That’s a totos approaching. Is it the Zaza or Sauti?”

Ai Fa and Shin Ruu both nodded and looked out towards the path.

I couldn’t hear anything at all. However, less than five seconds later, a huge totos came into view. It had come flying out of the shadow of the forest and was quickly charging right towards us.

“Gyah!” I shouted out as I almost dropped the plate I was holding.

And a number of the women started to shriek, too.

But fortunately, the totos didn’t collide with us. Or to be more accurate, the rider pulled back on the reins and brought the bird to a sudden stop right before crossing the point where Ai Fa or Ludo Ruu would’ve struck it down.

“Ah, sorry about that! I was just enjoying myself so much that I ended up kicking the totos’s side more than I should’ve,” a cheerful voice called out from overhead.

It wasn’t anyone from the Zaza or Sauti, though.

“Huh? Rau Lea?”

“Hey, there! I haven’t seen you since the festival of the hunt, Asuta.”

It was the young head of the Lea, with his long blond hair, light blue eyes, androgynous face, and a wild grin that didn’t quite fit with his looks.

“I really wish you would stop that... I thought we were going to die,” another voice moaned from behind him.

It was a slightly listless yet captivating voice that lingered in her throat a bit... In other words, it had come from Yamiru Lea. She was clinging to Rau Lea through his cloak.

“What are you doing riding a totos, Rau Lea? Did you borrow the Sauti clan’s?” Ludo Ruu questioned.

“No,” Rau Lea replied from atop the massive bird with a shake of his head. “This totos belongs to the Lea clan. I went to the post town today and bought it.”

“Huh?! You bought one? From one of the totos stables in town?” I was really taken off guard.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rau Lea replied, puffing up his chest with pride. “I definitely lost quite a few horns and tusks as a result. But I wanted one, so I guess there was no helping that. Anyway, in the end I still went with the cheapest one I could find.”

Now that he mentioned it, his totos seemed to be a size smaller than the other ones we had here at the forest’s edge. Maybe it was still young, and not that used to having people ride it just yet. And its plumage was even lighter than Gilulu’s. The look in its eyes wasn’t quite so keen either.

“Anyway, sorry for scaring you all. I didn’t mean anything by it, so cut me a break, alright?” Rau Lea said as he nimbly hopped down to the ground. Then, he turned back towards Yamiru Lea atop the totos with a puzzled look on his face. “What are you doing? Hurry up and get down here.”

“Could you not treat the matter so lightly...? I’m not a hunter or anything of the sort.”

“Oh come on, that’s no height to be whining and hesitating over. Just jump on down already.”

“Hey, don’t move the totos,” Yamiru Lea demanded, shooting Rau Lea an icy glare. Her hands were rather desperately clinging to the totos’s back feathers all the while.

“Your looks sure are deceiving. You’re tall for a woman and look pretty strong too, but you’re as weak as a little kid. Guess that’s all down to how corrupt the Suun clan had grown, though,” Rau Lea grumbled with his usual bluntness.

It was certainly true that Yamiru Lea possessed less arm strength than the average woman here. I was able to sense that much just from giving her cooking lessons a mere handful of times.

Still, it’s not like it’s enough to prevent her from doing her work, and having a fault like that is a bit charming, I guess... I thought to myself, only for Yamiru Lea’s glare to turn my way too for some reason.

“Geez, you’re helpless. Come on, hop down,” Rau Lea said, holding out his hand.

With a little “Hmph,” Yamiru Lea placed her hand on top of Rau Lea’s head instead, then elegantly descended to the ground.

“Hey! Who uses their clan head’s head as a support?!”

“So noisy...” Yamiru Lea muttered while swiping up her long blackish-brown hair.

Yamiru Lea’s proportions were every bit a match for Vina Ruu’s, but she had a completely different, somehow eerie feel about her. The way she let her elegantly braided hair just hang down was a bit unusual for a woman of the forest’s edge, and though she had lost her ominous viper-like aura, there was still a chilly intensity lingering about her. But at least she looked to be doing well rather than seeming all gloomy, and that was what mattered most.

“So, why are you two here...?” Ludo Ruu asked for the group.

“Hmm? I brought Yamiru Lea here for cooking lessons, of course! We’ve been relying on the Rutim women’s help up till now, but I figured she’d improve quicker learning from Asuta directly.” Then, for some reason, Rau Lea stared at Ai Fa with eyes like those of a hunting dog. “And I came here to challenge the clan head of the Fa to a contest of strength! You may be a hunter too, but I can’t simply let things stand when a woman has gotten the better of me!”

“What?” Ai Fa questioned with a tilt of her head, and then she gave a small sigh. “I know you’ve come quite a ways, but I have work to handle around the house, so I have no time to deal with a bother like that.”

Rau Lea had lost to Ai Fa in the contest of strength held at the Ruu clan’s festival of the hunt. And from what I could recall, he had looked pretty darn displeased the night of that banquet, too.

But in contests like that between hunters, while there was pride to be had for winning, there wasn’t supposed to be any shame in losing. However, Rau Lea had seemingly been so frustrated he couldn’t stand it in spite of that. And that indifferent response from Ai Fa caused his eyebrows to raise even further.

“What do you mean, ‘a bother?!’ You carried out your work as a hunter already, didn’t you?! That’s a fine giba right there!”

“Yes, and now I need to skin it and remove its innards. On top of that, I would also like to learn how to wash the intestines...”

“Huh?” I questioned, taken off guard.

While keeping her glare fixed on Rau Lea, Ai Fa bluntly stated, “It takes time to wash the innards. Asuta has to prepare dinner and has work related to his business in the post town, and so I’ve taken on that task instead. Therefore, I have no time for dealing with you.”

“I’ll help out with that work too! Then you can use the extra time that makes for me.”

Ai Fa gave yet another sigh.

“I said I’m going to try to learn how to do it, so there’s no point in borrowing someone else’s aid for such a task. And besides, as I already told you that evening, no matter how many times you try, the results won’t change.”

“What’s that?! Are you saying I’m really that much weaker than you?!” Rau Lea shouted, the glare in his eyes growing all the more dangerous.

However, Ai Fa just looked puzzled at those words, her eyes narrowing.

“I’m sorry to say so, clan head of the Lea, but I simply cannot imagine losing to you. Still, hmm... That certainly may seem unusual, I suppose. I sensed greater strength from you than even the second son of the Ruu...”

“Right?! I pride myself on being so strong that even Darmu Ruu wouldn’t beat me!”

“Hmm... In that case, perhaps...” Ai Fa murmured, suddenly turning towards Shin Ruu. “Shin Ruu, my apologies, but could you take up the Lea clan head’s challenge?”

With an incredibly calm look in his eyes, the boy stared back at Ai Fa.

“Rau Lea was strong enough to be chosen as one of the final eight... I would surely be no match for him.”

“I’m not so certain of that. I can’t help but get the feeling that you would win.”

With those words, Rau Lea lost his temper rather than Shin Ruu.

“Alright, then I’ll take him on! But if I win, then you better face me, Ai Fa!”

“As you please,” Ai Fa replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

And so, the Fa house was suddenly hosting a contest of strength between two hunters.

The pair removed their cloaks and blades, and faced one another atop the grass.

“You better come at me with all you’ve got, Shin Ruu. I won’t hold any grudges or anything if I lose.”

Since he said that, it seemed abundantly clear that Rau Lea didn’t have the slightest intention of holding back either.

However, that was probably only natural. This was likely no ordinary test of strength, but something even more sacred than that to these hunters, in a way.

Even Shin Ruu’s normally calm and composed eyes had the look of a hunter in them as he lowered his hips. From where I was standing, he felt every bit as intense as Rau Lea.

It wasn’t exactly easy to stay calm when watching such a contest between hunters from up close and personal. And so, I was definitely on edge as the two of them squared off.

Ultimately, though, the match was settled in an instant.

As soon as Ludo Ruu shouted, “Begin!” Rau Lea had ferociously reached out to grab at Shin Ruu... only for his hand to be twisted around and the larger man to find himself on the ground in no time at all.

“Huh?” Rau Lea questioned, springing up. “You’re pretty darn quick, Shin Ruu. Sorry, but could I ask you for one more round?”

“Of course.”

This time around, his chest was grabbed and he was taken out by a foot sweeping from behind his heel to knock out his leg, more or less.

“What the? You’re seriously strong, huh, Shin Ruu! Why’d you lose so quickly back at the festival of the hunt, then?” Rau Lea complained while still sitting on the ground.

Shin Ruu turned and faced Ai Fa with a seriously confused look.

However, Ludo Ruu soon murmured, “I see... I’ve got it. Shin Ruu’s overwhelmingly faster. And even though you’re pretty slender, you fight like Darmu and Jiza, Rau Lea.”

“Huh? What does that mean?!”

“To put it simply, you’re relying on brute force. But Shin Ruu and I could never beat someone like Darmu with strength alone, and that’s probably true of Ai Fa too. If we don’t use our opponent’s strength against them as much as we can, we’d never have a chance.”

“I don’t get what you mean. It’s only natural to use brute force in a contest of strength, isn’t it? What sort of technique do you mean when you’re talking about using your opponent’s strength or whatever?”

“Man, thinking more on it, it’s honestly impressive that you were beating folks bigger than you like that. Have you ever lost to Ji Maam before?”

“We’ve fought three times, and I’ve won twice,” Rau Lea replied, puffing up his chest as he sat cross-legged atop the grass.

Ji Maam was a hunter with an exceptionally large build, even among the clans under the Ruu. Ai Fa and Mida had both beaten him, while Shin Ruu had lost to him.

“Were you perhaps an especially large child, clan head of the Lea...?” Ai Fa asked, crossing her arms as she thought.

“Well, yeah,” Rau Lea answered with a nod. “When I was a kid, I’m pretty sure I was the biggest one in the Lea settlement. And when I became a hunter, I was still larger than most. But two or three years later, everyone ended up bigger than me.”

“So that’s how you ended up relying on your strength so much. I really am surprised you were taking down larger opponents like that... But you’ll never beat Donda Ruu or Dan Rutim that way. And it would be difficult to beat Jiza Ruu or Gazraan Rutim, too.”

“I mean, I wasn’t exactly thinking I could beat any of them just yet, either...” Rau Lea murmured, but then his pale blue eyes shot wide open. “Hold on, there! Are you saying you’re confident you could beat Donda Ruu or Dan Rutim, Ai Fa?”

“I have already lost to Dan Rutim... However, I believe I could win depending on how the match played out.”

“Ah, same here. Well, I still haven’t laid a finger on my old man or Jiza yet. But still, if I thought I had no chance at all, then I wouldn’t bother trying to start with.”

Though Ai Fa and Ludo Ruu’s voices were calm, there were indomitable flames burning bright in their eyes.

“I am a woman. So from the very start, I was weaker than any other hunter. And so, I am always training while thinking intently on how to strengthen myself as a hunter.”

“Hmm, so you’re the same way, huh? I just haven’t really been growing, so I’m always worrying about how I can avoid holding everyone else back,” Ludo Ruu said with a daring grin. “And since I want others to acknowledge my skill, I’m always thinking on how I can beat them in a contest of strength. I’m sure it’s the same for you, right, Ai Fa? Your dad seemed like he was a crazy strong hunter.”

Ai Fa just looked down at the ground, not saying anything in response.

Keeping the same expression on his face, Ludo Ruu then looked over Rau Lea and Shin Ruu.

“In other words, it’s like Morga’s three-way deadlock, right? The varb wolves beat the savages, the savages beat the giant madarama snakes, and the madarama beat the varb. Shin Ruu’s the wolves, Rau Lea is the savages, and Ji Maam is the giant snakes.”

“Why am I a savage?! And which ones are you and Ai Fa, Ludo Ruu? What about Donda Ruu and Dan Rutim?”

“Those two wouldn’t ever lose to wolves or snakes. And that’s exactly why I want to beat my old man...”

Losing his temper, Rau Lea started seriously scratching his head.

“Now that I think about it, I can’t ever remember beating you, Ludo Ruu... I only recall going up against you two or three times, though.”

“Yeah. Sorry, but I can’t imagine ever losing to you either, Rau Lea.”

“I knew it! In other words, I’m not even on the same level as you or Ai Fa...” Rau Lea murmured, furiously shooting to his feet. “Shin Ruu! Could I ask for one more match? Actually, could we just keep going without me having to ask each time?!”

“No, but... It’s not like I’m having an easy time beating you, Rau Lea. It’s more like I’m giving it all I’ve got and managing to squeeze out a win. If I didn’t beat you to the punch with the first move, you probably would have crushed me.”

“Then you should build up your strength, too! I mean, you lost to Ji Maam even though you beat me, right? Doesn’t that frustrate you?!”

With that, Shin Ruu’s brow tensed, and he muttered, “It does...”

“In that case, let’s grow stronger together! If you don’t have any hunting work right now, then it’s the perfect chance!” Then, Rau Lea glanced over at Yamiru Lea, who was just standing there showing no interest whatsoever. “Like you heard, I’m gonna go train with Shin Ruu! You go take Asuta’s cooking lessons... No wait, if they’re washing innards, then you should learn that too! That giba heart was pretty darn tasty, after all!”

“Why is someone so thoughtless in charge of the Lea, I wonder...?” Yamiru Lea said with a little sigh. She had really started acting more like a human lately.

As I repressed the faint happiness I was feeling at that fact, I turned to face Ai Fa.

“Well then, I’ll leave the skinning and organ removal to you. In the meantime, I’ll teach everyone how to cook hamburger steak, and we can meet up at the washing place after that.”

“Hmm? You’re coming too?”

“Yeah, I’m also still an amateur when it comes to handling innards, after all. And we’ve got a reliable teacher around today, too...” I said, turning around only to be taken aback. Our little instructor Toor Deen’s face had gone pale, and she was clinging tight to Jas Deen.

Her big, round eyes were open even wider with fear, and her slender little shoulders were trembling bit by bit. As I followed her terrified gaze... I found Yamiru Lea standing there.

As for Yamiru Lea, her eyes narrowed questioningly as she stared at Toor Deen.

“Ah... You’re from one of the Suun branch houses, aren’t you, girl?”

Toor Deen was too terrified to answer.

“In that case, do you belong to one of the clans that was under the Suun?”

“Yes. I am the elder sister of the Deen clan head, and my name is Jas Deen,” the older woman answered, shooting Yamiru Lea an intense glare as she did so. All the while, her sinewy hands gently supported Toor Deen’s little shoulders.

Jas Deen’s younger sister had married into the one of the Suun branch houses and given birth to Toor Deen. And then, that woman was forced to obey the twisted rules of the Suun, unfitting for people of the forest’s edge, and to pillage the fruits of Morga. In the end, she died young and full of regrets.

Yamiru Lea then shook her head, her long hair swaying as she did so.

“If you wish to disparage me, then feel free to do so. You all certainly have that right.”

“No,” Jas Deen said with a shake of her head. “From what I have heard, you’re atoning by cutting your blood ties and living properly as a member of the Lea. That is what our clan heads decided, and we can only abide by that. That’s fine by you, isn’t it, Toor Deen...?”

“Yes,” Toor Deen quietly answered.

Though her little face was still pale and her body hadn’t stopped trembling, she didn’t turn away from Yamiru Lea.

As she looked back at the young girl, Yamiru Lea broke out in an amused smile.

Rau Lea chimed in, “The Suun clan has lost the right to lead our people. From here on out, it’ll be up to us to guide the Suun and those who used to belong to their clan. She certainly has her flaws, but even so, I entrust Yamiru Lea to you, woman of the Deen clan.”

“I understand,” Jas Deen replied with a nod.

“Well then, how about we get to work too, Shin Ruu? Oh, right! Asuta, how’s Yamiru Lea smell?”

“Huh? Her smell?”

“Yeah. It’s been over 20 days since the clan head meeting now, so I had her stop with the lilo leaves. I don’t think there should be any of that awful blood smell left, but what do you think?”

“Ah, yeah, it’s fine. That wasn’t an issue at all.”

“Really? Make sure you check properly. Hey, Yamiru Lea.”

With a small sigh, Yamiru Lea came over our way. Then, she lifted up her long hair and brought her neck in close to my nose.

The smell of the forest I expected from her people, as well as the natural scent of a young woman, crept into my nose.

“How is it...?”

“Completely and utterly fine!”

Yamiru Lea lifted her head and glared at me from up close and personal.

Her eyes had once had the chilly look of a serpent’s, but now they seemed somehow sulky.

“I-I’m just glad to see you doing well,” I suddenly found myself saying.

Thinking about it a little more deeply, it had been around half a month since I had last seen Yamiru Lea. Not since the day that Tei Suun lost his life in the post town, and we returned his body to them to bury in the forest.

Yamiru Lea turned away, and then she ever so quietly whispered, “You too...”

3

“Man, today sure felt packed, somehow.”

By this point, the sun had set. And having finished eating cheese and giba hamburger steaks made with dried milk from Sym, Ai Fa and I were now sitting there talking in the dark like always.

“Seems like we saw a lot more people than usual, and all sorts of business-related stuff happened... Even though Jeeda and Cyclaeus didn’t make any moves, it sure was a hectic day.”

“I see,” Ai Fa replied with a look of feigned disinterest as she carefully observed one of the wine glasses. It seemed she really was quite taken by that gift from Shumiral. In fact, she had kept on playing with it last night too, never tiring of it.

However, her gaze felt a bit more clouded this time. She seemed somehow displeased, but also somehow not? I couldn’t read what she was feeling at all.

“Ah, right. Now that we have the wine glasses and some fine wine, how about we treat ourselves to an after-dinner drink sometime?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just talking about having a drink to unwind at the end of the day. You’re definitely a drinker, right? I mean, you already had fruit wine in the pantry to start with.”

In spite of that, though, I had hardly ever actually seen Ai Fa drink the stuff.

Since it was just before bedtime now, Ai Fa’s long blonde hair had been undone, and so she halfheartedly brushed it up.

“But you don’t drink, right? And it would feel awkward if I was the only one partaking. You can use it as an ingredient in your cooking though, can’t you?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I mean, Donda Ruu chugs down fruit wine all on his own, doesn’t he?”

“Are you trying to say that Donda Ruu behaves more fittingly for a clan head than I do...?”

“That’s not what I meant. I just want to enjoy the kindness those folks gave us to the fullest.”

While starting to fear that she really was displeased, I went and got two bottles from the pantry.

One was of the high-class fruit wine from Pops and his men, while the other was filled with the sheel juice I had squeezed this afternoon.

“I’ll have some of this, so drink as much as you please.”

“Isn’t that juice you intended to use in your cooking?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t end up with too much time to experiment today. It’d be a waste if it just went bad tomorrow, so I figured I’d indulge myself a little.”

To be honest, I had planned to use it as a squeezed lemon substitute with giba steak and the like. My thinking was that the refreshing aroma and acidity would suppress the quirkiness of the giba, allowing the delicious flavor of the meat to be enjoyed more directly.

And if I paired it with fruit wine and other seasonings, making a lemon sauce of sorts also sounded nice. At any rate, I was trying to think up new approaches for tackling giba meat.

However, such experimentation got deferred to tomorrow. And so, I poured the sheel juice into my own wine glass, then cut it with water in a two-to-one ratio, using less of the fruit juice.

I poked at it with my fingertip and gave it a lick, and from what I could tell that had restrained the acidity well enough. However, it was still pretty much just lemon water. If it was possible, it would have been nice to add some honey or ice at least.

“Hmm, I think I will take just a bit of fruit wine to add some flavor.”

Ever so carefully, I poured in so little that it wouldn’t even fill a teaspoon.

However, even that was enough to drastically improve the aroma. While I didn’t drink, I still definitely enjoyed the scent of wine and rum and the like.

“I mean, the fun of a wine glass is pouring something into it, right?”

The sheel juice was a faint yellow, and I had gone so light on the fruit wine that it hardly had any impact on the color. Still, just faintly swirling the glass was enough to scatter brilliant light from the candlestick about.

Perhaps that had finally been enough to catch her attention, as Ai Fa then poured the fruit wine into her own glass. And with the clear reddish brown of the liquid, the change really was striking. There were cuts made in the surface of the wine glass here and there, and they reflected a deep crimson light.

“So pretty...” Ai Fa let slip.

Feeling glad to see the first smile from her in a while, I went ahead and lightly clinked my glass into hers.

“Good work again today,” I said, and then I sipped my drink.

Well, the taste made sense for pretty much adding lemon juice to room temperature water and using a bit of wine to add to the aroma. It was hard to call it especially tasty, but it was still rather pleasant, I had to say.

After a single shrug of her shoulders, Ai Fa drank down the fruit wine, and in no time at all, the nearly 80% full wine glass was completely empty.

“Hey, I know I’m the one who suggested it, but don’t push yourself too hard, alright? This stuff’s supposed to have a higher alcohol content than normal fruit wine.”

“Alcohol content...?” Ai Fa questioned, tilting her head as she poured more fruit wine.

“It means it’s stronger, and will get you drunk easier. That’s how it is with flammable wines.”

I had once used this high-class fruit wine to flambé at the Rutim banquet. Most of the stuff was only about as strong as the wine from my world, but from what I could tell, this particular fruit wine seemed to be closer to brandy or whisky in terms of alcohol content.

“Even without such concern from you, I would never be so foolish as to drink myself into a dead stupor. After all, there’s no guarantee that we won’t be attacked under the cover of night,” she said, drinking half a glass this time.

Despite her words, that really was some hearty drinking.

“By the way, Asuta, did that Mikel of Turan person not show himself?”

“Yeah, not today at least.”

The mysterious man who knew of Cyclaeus’s crimes, Mikel of Turan...

I had been told by Shumiral that he would show up at The Sledgehammer at some point, but apparently that wasn’t today.

“Then what about Sanjura?”

“Ah, he stopped by to purchase a meal from the stalls. He seemed really worried about the fact that we hadn’t notified the guards about Jeeda.”

“I see...”

“You seem really cautious of Sanjura, Ai Fa. Is there some sort of reason for that?”

“Not especially. It would just be quite troublesome to make an enemy of him, so I cannot let my guard down,” she replied, downing the other half of the glass in a single gulp.

Apparently, Ai Fa was just as heavy of a drinker as Donda Ruu. It made for quite a sight, as she sat there cross-legged, pouring herself another glass.

“I’ve never seen any townsfolk that strong before. And altogether, the only outsiders I can think of who could compete with the people of the forest’s edge are Kamyua Yoshu and that gray-eyed noble...”

“You mean Melfried? Ah, but what about Jeeda...?”

“Ah, I suppose he’s on the same level of some hunters of the forest’s edge as well... But not to the degree of Ludo Ruu or myself, at least.”

“Then just how strong would you say Kamyua and Melfried are, exactly?” I asked, getting caught up in the conversation.

Ai Fa took another drink of her fruit wine, looking annoyed.

“If my judgment isn’t mistaken, Kamyua Yoshu is at least as strong as Donda Ruu, while that gray-eyed noble is about equal to Jiza Ruu.”

“So if we were to make a ranking, it’d be Donda Ruu, Dan Rutim, and Kamyua at the top, huh? Well, Kamyua’s the only surprising one there.”

“To be honest, I find that man’s strength difficult to judge. However, I can’t help but get the impression that Donda Ruu or Dan Rutim wouldn’t find it easy to defeat him.”

“I see. But you were able to have an even fight with Dan Rutim too, Ai Fa.”

In that case, maybe it was a top four rather than a top three.

Was Ai Fa really that unbelievably strong?

“I’m not confident that I could defeat them,” Ai Fa said while staring into her sparkling wine glass. “However... I don’t feel that I would certainly lose, either. I believe if things went well I could win, and at worst, I could at least defend my life. Even if I couldn’t win, as long as I could escape then things would work out.”

“Got it. So, Sanjura’s around Ludo Ruu’s level, then? Wait, how does Ludo Ruu compare to Jiza and Darmu Ruu, anyway?”

“Why are you concerned about such matters? All I can grasp is how their strength seems to me,” Ai Fa said, licking a bit of fruit wine while looking a bit annoyed. Had she realized she was going too fast there? At any rate, seeing her act so catlike was just adorable. “If the time were to come where they actually faced one another, the outcome could be completely reversed from what is expected, like with Shin Ruu and Rau Lea before. And so, even if I say Ludo Ruu and Sanjura are around the same level, and the same is true of Jiza Ruu and that Melfried man, it is difficult to predict how things would play out in an actual fight between them.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I just wanted to ask about two more, then. About how strong are Zasshuma and Labis?”

“Hmm? Who are they?”

“Zasshuma is Kamyua’s buddy who pretended to be the leader of their merchant group. As for Labis... He’s that southerner who’s always accompanying Diel.”

As soon as she heard that girl’s name, Ai Fa’s brow furrowed and she started chugging down the fruit wine again.

“Who cares about men like that? They couldn’t get the better of even the youngest hunter here at the forest’s edge.”

Was that so?

But Zasshuma earned a living by fighting as a bodyguard, while Labis was supposedly a skilled enough swordsman to take on multiple bandits at once.

In that case, I couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that the hunters of the forest’s edge possessed abnormally great strength, and Ai Fa still stood out as one of the best even among them.

That really is something. I’d say Ai Fa’s a whole lot more astounding than folks like Kamyua or Sanjura, I thought to myself, just as my clan head suddenly brought her face in close.

“What are you thinking about, Asuta? It certainly couldn’t be that girl, could it?”

“‘Th-That girl?’ Do you mean Diel?”

“Don’t play dumb. Or could it be that westerner girl? You seem to be quite friendly when talking with her.”

“You mean Yumi? I had no choice but to talk to her like that. You were there when she went off on me about it, weren’t you?”

“Hmph!” Ai Fa glared while taking another sip from her wine glass. “I’m not fond of noisy women. And suspicious women like Yamiru Lea are out of the question, too.”

“I told you, I wasn’t...”

“If you’re going to take a bride, then someone like Sheera Ruu would be best. I prefer graceful women.”

I had heard such things before. However, that all had nothing to do with me.

And yet, Ai Fa’s face steadily crept closer.

“Li Sudra might be good, too. And Ama Min Rutim’s a fine woman. However, it feels like you’ve tried to keep such graceful women at a distance, Asuta.”

“That wasn’t my intention in the least! And besides, those two are married to begin with, aren’t they?”

“So, you’re looser with unmarried women?”

“I’m not loose with anyone!”

“It couldn’t be that you have improper feelings towards that young Din girl, could—”

“Stop right there! Something’s wrong with you. Are you a bit drunk after all?”

“I’m not drunk,” Ai Fa replied while downing the rest of the contents of her glass, only to limply fall to my chest.

“You really are drunk, aren’t you?!”

“So persistent... This much wine couldn’t possibly do anything to me,” Ai Fa insisted, her warm breath soaking into my chest.

Actually, every bit of her that was touching me felt incredibly warm.

“If you’re to take a bride, then a woman like Sheera Ruu would be fitting...”

“I’m telling you, I’m not marrying anybody.”

“As your clan head, I have to give you my blessing...”

“I told you that won’t be necessary, didn’t I?”

“A clan head must wish for her clan member’s happiness...” Ai Fa murmured, clinging tight to my body.

Perhaps because of the wine, though, she wasn’t properly holding back her strength. Around when I heard my ribs cracking, I shouted out, “Gyah! That hurts! You’re seriously gonna break something! Snap out of it, Ai Fa!”

“Are you rejecting me, Asuta...?”

“That’s not it! It’s just that my pathetic, measly bones are screaming!” I yelled, desperately tapping Ai Fa’s shoulder. With that, she finally loosened her grasp. However, her arms didn’t fully let go of me, and her face remained pressed up against my chest.

I gave a deep sigh as I felt her soft hair tickle my nose.

“My greatest happiness comes from being by your side, Ai Fa...” I somehow managed to get out in a calm tone, though I’m certain she could feel my heart pounding away right now. After all, I could feel her heartbeat, too. “And so, I won’t marry anyone. Doing that has to mean wanting to spend your whole life with someone... And as long as I have you, I don’t need anyone else.”

I got no response.

Was the punchline here that she had already fallen asleep?

With yet another sigh, I gently wrapped my arms around Ai Fa’s head and back. As I felt her warmth all over my body, my heartbeat only grew quicker.

It’s because you’re here, Ai Fa...

In these past two months and some change, I had met many people who were now precious to me. There were lots of folks at both the forest’s edge and in the post town that I couldn’t stand the thought of losing. I was supported by so many people that I couldn’t even count them all.

Even so, Ai Fa remained firmly fixed in the very center of my heart. Those feelings hadn’t changed, even now. Actually, they seemed to only be growing stronger day by day.

And Ai Fa thought of me as someone precious, too. That I could have confidence in that fact made my current lifestyle feel so utterly blessed that it caused my heart to ache.

Until I was cast out of this joyful life altogether, there was no way I would ever marry any other woman. It really did feel strange to me that this fact hadn’t gotten across to Ai Fa.

When exactly will you finally realize just how charming and wonderful of a person you are, Ai Fa? Or will you never be able to realize that yourself?

As that thought ran through my head, I hugged her body ever so slightly tighter.

And then, after a cat-like stirring, she whispered words that filled my heart.

“If you really mean that, then I am also blessed...”

I closed my eyes and pressed my cheek up against Ai Fa’s soft hair.

With that, the long, long first day of the white month finally came to a close.