Chapter 2: A Wild Morning

1

That night, I had a dream back to when I was in farming camp and ate that boar stew. Man, was it ever tasty... The light-brown miso stock was chock full of enoki and shiitake mushrooms, cabbage and carrots, and even burdock and taro. Plus there wasn’t any of the stink to it that I had heard so much about. Though it was wonderfully thick, the meat was actually softer than pork, and it wasn’t overly fatty in the least, so I could eat as much as I pleased.

It had been December, right smack in the middle of winter. Because of that, I was able to thoroughly experience my chilled body warming up to its core.

Before the meal, I got a chance to prepare the boar, which I had previously only gotten to do with chickens and ducks and the like. That meant I was feeling both nervous and excited the whole time.

I was really grateful to have the experience, but it also seriously drove in just what it meant to eat the flesh of an animal.

Unfortunately, the meat needed to be cured for a few days, so the boar I ate was actually one that had been prepared in advance by the hunting club rather than the one I had handled. Still, it was delicious enough to die for.

It was a three-day camp, so my old man and Reina came to visit on the second night. When Reina saw the boar I had prepared she looked like she was about to faint, but she ended up eating just about as much of the stew as I did. It was really hard to judge whether she was a hearty girl or a weak one.

“Well, you wouldn’t ever get to prepare a boar back home!” my pops said with a chuckle.

“Aw, I wanted to eat the meat that you’d prepared, Asuta-chan,” Reina added with a giggle of her own.

I probably laughed, too.

I wasn’t quite sure at first whether or not I had it in me to take three days off working at home for the farming camp. But in the end, it turned out to be a really enjoyable, worthwhile experience.

“Hey, wake up.”

When I bragged that the next day I’d be preparing a deer, Reina’s big, round eyes grew even wider in surprise.

“You can eat deer? Don’t you feel kind of bad for them, though?”

“Why? That doesn’t seem especially fair, considering all the boar you just gobbled down.”

“Huh? But boars just look like pigs, right?” she responded, puffing up her cheeks.

I mean, that’s exactly what I was calling unfair...

“Hey, have you ever really taken a good look at a pig or a boar? If you asked me, I’d have to say that they’re cuter than deer.”

“Cut it out! I won’t be able to eat pork either!”

I wanted to tell her that there were people overseas who ate meats that would be even harder for a Japanese person to accept, but I felt bad for her, so I stopped.

“Hey, how long do you plan on sleeping for? Get up already!”

So noisy.

But man, that boar stew sure was tasty... The miso flavor was really strong, so I would’ve liked to try cooking it in a way that focused on bringing out the taste of the meat. I mean, wouldn’t making stock out of the boar’s bone marrow just be the best?

“I told you to stay here, but I’ve got no intention of letting you be a freeloader! Hey!”

Ah, my shoulders are getting shaken all violently.

Putting that aside, though, I seem to have a real fondness for quirky meats. I mean, I’ve only had it a few times, but I love the taste of lamb. And I’m just a big fan of the smell of fat and meat in general. I must’ve been a real carnivore in my previous life.

Heck, my favorite type of ramen is soy sauce tonkotsu. Of course I’d have to pass on ramen that was just swimming in fat, though. Heck, I had a plan to add tonkotsu ramen to the regular menu after I took over the shop.

“Hey... Cut it out already. Or do you want me to hurt you?”

Right, that’s the smell. Who was it that said giba stunk, again? Hmm? Wait, what’s a giba?

At any rate, that was a seriously delicious smell.

I’d just chowed down on all that boar, but I was already starving again.

Besides, last night’s stew made me want to spew. Heh, that rhymed.

Well, whatever. I’m feeling hungry, so it’s time to chow down!

I felt the wonderful sensation of delicate meat on my teeth and tongue... and then in the next instant, white fireworks exploded in the back of my eyelids.

◇

“...Huh?”

It took a moment for me to grasp just what had happened.

The scent of meat and spices filled my nose, and the morning light streamed in through the windows. I felt the stiff fur beneath me, and looking around I saw the wooden walls and the ceiling with its exposed beams.

Ah, that’s right. I’d spent my first night here in this alternate world. This was Ai Fa’s house, not my room back home. And currently, the girl herself was standing imposingly before me. My savior was holding her left palm to the side of her neck, her pretty face was beet red, and she was pointing a drawn knife in my direction.

“H-Hold on! I’d taste awful, probably!”

I was instantly awake, and rolled all the way to the rear wall.

The metallic knife shone brightly, reflecting the light of the morning sun. And the hand Ai Fa was holding it with was trembling, as if she was holding back her fury.

“I’ll kill you...”

“Wait, why?! Why are you acting so violent right now...?” I yelled out, feeling a throbbing pain from the top of my head. Hmm? Now that I think of it, I feel like somebody hit me in my dream...

“Wait, did you just whack me one? Seriously, what kind of person goes and hits someone who’s sleeping in the head?!”

“Try asking yourself...”

Ai Fa’s face had gone a vivid red from her anger.

It was the same way yesterday, too, but she sure did lose her temper easily for someone who’s normally so cool and composed... But on the other hand, she didn’t seem to be the type to get angry over nothing. Did I go and do something crude...?

“Sorry. Did I do something to you? I don’t have any memory from when I was sleeping, but if I did something untoward to you, I apologize.”

“You...”

“Hmm?”

“You... You tried to eat me!” Ai Fa yelled out louder than I’d ever heard her before, then gripped the knife in both hands.

Up until now her left hand had hidden her neck, but now it was exposed, and... there were clear, definite bite marks left on it.

“Oh...” I muttered, finally getting it. “I remember now. I was eating something in my dream. It must’ve been the delicious scent wafting off of you that got me confused, right?”

“I’ll kill you...”

“Gah, hold on a second! I’m totally at fault! Seriously, I’m sorry! I apologize from the bottom of my heart! Just please, at least find it in you to spare my...”

“Shut it!”

And so, my second day in this other world got off to a truly turbulent start.

The one silver lining in this whole unfortunate incident was that, though it should go without saying, this didn’t awaken any cannibalistic tendencies in me.

2

“As soon as we eat, we’re heading out,” Ai Fa stated, looking roughly 40% more displeased than usual. Well, it was my fault that she was angry in the first place, though, so there was nothing I could do about it. Still, she’d already whacked me on the head at least five or six times with the grip of her knife, so you’d think she would hurry up and snap out of it already...

By the way, the breakfast Ai Fa provided was giba jerky, which proved to be quite tricky in its own way. Despite the fact that it was sliced super thinly like they do with dried squid snacks, it was unbelievably tough to chew. Honestly, it was more like meat-flavored rubber than anything. On top of that, it had a real animalistic stink to it, so it must not have been properly bloodlet.

Ai Fa was on the opposite side of the room giving off a “don’t come near me” aura, so I just stood stock still next to the stove all by myself, chewing my giba jerky. As I peered into the freshly cleaned metal pot, I thought back on last night’s dinner. That dinner... was seriously the worst. To me at least, it was practically torture.

I mean, that was just way too much...

That may well have been the first time in my life that I ever blurted out, “Gross!” about food someone had given me. Normally, the event would’ve sent me into a spiral of self-loathing. The only reason I was spared that fate was because Ai Fa herself ended up feigning ignorance.

“...When it comes to food, there is no good or bad taste.”

It was the third time in one day that she uttered those fighting words.

Maybe all of the people of the forest’s edge really did just think of eating as a means of gaining nutrition and nothing else.

But still... Even still... That food was just way too awful.

The first problem was the giba meat. To put it bluntly, it was hard. It also had an unusually strong animal stench to it. No matter how bad a cut it may be, no pork or beef would ever stink this bad. And it was heated enough that it wasn’t too hard to chew, but the surface was all mushy, while still sinewy on the inside, making it sort of like eating melted rubber... In other words, the texture was just the absolute worst, too.

The pseudo-onion, on the other hand, had a nice, crisp texture... but that was all there was to it. My number one impression was honestly just, “Onions really just don’t belong in a stew.” Of course there were stews like a motsunabe or a kimchi hot pot where they did fit just fine. But at least in my household, we just plain didn’t use them in stews.

The real issue, though, was that pseudo-potato. Just what was that thing? There wasn’t anything solid of it left in the end. All that remained was a sort of cream-colored floury substance, which felt like she had just thrown it in to completely ruin the balance of the dish. The closest thing I can think of is water that had wheat flour dissolved in it.

Go on, just imagine it. Oozy soup made from diluted flour. Crisp, crunchy onions. Smelly, slimy meat. And the only thing used for seasoning is black pepper. Now does that sound appetizing to you?

Sad to say, I wasn’t able to grasp even a fragment of deliciousness from it.

The roughest part of it all for me, though, was that the smell alone was so amazingly good. It was just the absolute best. I had zero doubt that the delicious flavors of the meat and fats had seeped plenty enough into the cloudy liquid. And when paired with the smell of the black pepper-esque spice, it made for a scent so powerful that smelling it alone was as satisfying as eating a bowl of white rice.

And yet, it tasted awful.

The second I brought the meat and soup into my mouth, that wonderful scent was blown to smithereens by the animal stench.

And so, it ended up feeling like absolute torture.

My hunger had been so thoroughly stimulated, and yet my mouth was rejecting the substance entering it. To be honest, if it weren’t for my gratitude towards Ai Fa and the ingredients she had used, I likely wouldn’t have even eaten half of my portion.

And yet, I ended up eating three bowls of the stuff. By the end, it was a real battle with my gag reflex.

Thanks to that, even though my stomach was full, my brain kept on mumbling, “So, when’s dinner?” all the way until I fell asleep. And it was probably why I had that dream last night, too...

“What’s with that stupid look on your face? Come on, it’s time to get going.”

I looked up in response to the thorny voice, and saw that Ai Fa’s fur cloak was already draped over her shoulders, with her large blade and knife dangling from her hip. She was 100% ready to head out.

“Ah, hold on a second! What about my kitchen knife?”

“Kitchen...?”

“My blade. I entrusted it to you yesterday, remember?”

Ai Fa silently gestured with her chin towards the doors in the rear of the room.

From what I could recall it was the one that was furthest to the right, so that was the direction I headed.

Ai Fa and I both ended up sleeping out here in the reception hall, so those three inner rooms were still a mystery to me.

I carefully, slowly opened the door... And in that instant, a tremendous smell exploded forth.

Gah... This is seriously something.

Just like I’d expected, it was a pantry. There were various bags around that were made of some sort of linen-esque material, with what looked like onions and potatoes peeking out of them. And there were also a variety of plants dangling from the walls. There were pitch black ones that looked like shrivelled up seaweed and ones with strangely long, thin vibrant green leaves all packed into the crowded room.

And in the back of the room was an area about 2 meters square blocked off by square boards, which was packed tight up to around the height of my knees with black powder. That was the source of the smell.

It was the black pepper-esque spice that had coated the giba meat.

Rather than the scent being something I could judge as being good or bad, it was just plain overwhelming. Those particles had thoroughly blended into the air of this windowless room, so it felt like I could easily wreck the mucous membranes of my eyes, nose, and throat if I wasn’t careful.

I see. So this is how they preserve the giba meat...

Despite that aforementioned danger, my natural curiosity won out and I continued to investigate with slightly watery eyes. There must have been giba meat sealed away in this mountain of spice, right? So rather than pickling meat in salt, they did it in pepper. Well, without any sort of refrigeration device, you absolutely needed to do something like this. The climate around here was like it was at the start of summer back in Japan, so raw meat would surely spoil in no time at all.

Hmm... Is this dried stuff what it’s made out of?

I was looking at those shriveled leaves hanging from the walls. It looked like a weirdly black-ish seaweed, but when I went to touch it, the fibers started to crumble.

I see. So when you dry out these leaves, they turn into a spice that’s akin to black pepper. I’m sure if Europeans from the Age of Exploration saw this, they’d get so excited they’d have a convulsion.

As I jumped to that abrupt conclusion in my head, a voice called out from behind, “What are you doing?”

Ai Fa’s silhouette was standing in the door to the pantry, backlit by the morning sun. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her head tilted just a bit, with the greatest look of doubt in her eyes that I’d seen yet.

“Your blade is right here. Now hurry up and get out of there. You’ll end up wrecking your sense of smell if you stay in there too long.”

“Ah, sorry. There was just all sorts of stuff in here that caught my attention.”

When I followed Ai Fa’s suggestion and stepped outside, I found the morning sunlight to be blindingly bright. I couldn’t have been in there for more than a minute, but I already felt like I had been pickled in pepper, too.

“Gah, my nose seriously stings! That spice sure is no joke!”

“...Are you some sort of idiot? What’s so enjoyable about staring at food that you aren’t even going to eat?”

“It is enjoyable. I told you yesterday, right? I’m the son of a chef.”

“Chefs don’t exist outside of the walls of the city of stone. If that’s how you wish to make a living, then you should learn the ways of this world as soon as possible, and then depart immediately from the forest’s edge,” she said with a pout, shoving my knife at my chest.

“Nah, it’d probably be impossible to try to become a chef in a world where I don’t even know my left from my right... By the way, why’d you choose to store my knife in such an overpowering room?”

It wasn’t like I was thinking the spices would cause the blade to rust or anything. Though I was a little worried about the smell sticking to it...

“...That’s the only room without a window. Of course, it’s rare for anyone to be as shameless as Diga Suun and break through a window’s bars in order to sneak into someone’s home, but still, it’s the most secure location in the house.”

“Ah, so that’s it. I see you really were treating it well... Thanks.”

Ai Fa’s brows furrowed a bit, telling me that she probably wasn’t the sort who was all that used to getting thanked.

“We’ve already wasted plenty of time. We have to gather up pico leaves and firewood by the time the sun reaches its peak. And if you don’t want to be called a freeloader, then you better be of at least a little use.”

“Aye aye, sir! But... do you mind if I make a request before that, Ai Fa?”

Naturally, Ai Fa looked incredibly annoyed. She was seriously ruining that natural beauty she exuded...

“So, you intend to impose on me ever further? You’re a surprisingly shameless man, Asuta.”

“No, I was actually thinking it’d be good if I could take even a tiny fraction of the burden off your shoulders, so... From tonight on, could I handle the dinner?”

Ai Fa had been frowning, but when she heard my question, she made a face like a pigeon that had been hit with a peashooter. Honestly, it was kind of cute...

“What sort of question is that? It’s not exactly much of a burden to prepare dinner. Even a ten year old child could handle it.”

“Right, then I suppose it wouldn’t really be helping you out, huh...? So is it no good, then? I kind of wanted to test out if the cooking techniques from back home would work with this world’s ingredients.”

Ai Fa’s eyebrows slumped down in a bewildered manner, and she looked me up and down. The expression on her face made it look like she’d run into a dog walking on two legs or something. Maybe our standards differed, but I thought I was pretty cute...

“I don’t get it... Is that how so-called ‘chefs’ think?”

“Well, I’m ultimately still just in training. But I’m sure full-fledged chefs would feel the same way, too.”

“...Do as you please. I honestly don’t care in the least how dinner preparations are carried out.”

After saying that, Ai Fa walked off towards the door. As I hurried after her slender figure, I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. It was kind of like I had just told her, “your cooking tastes awful, so let me handle it,” so I’d been half ready for her to start swinging her knife at me. But apparently Ai Fa really didn’t concern herself in the slightest with culinary matters. It made for an odd feeling, like I was both happy and sad about it at the same time.

Still, it really is true that I’m fired up to take on the challenge.

Last night I felt dissatisfied and just plain gloomy, and I wanted to wipe all that away by my own hand. The way I saw it, giba meat was an ingredient that could make for an incredibly delicious dish. And at least in my mind, it was pure blasphemy to eat such a tasty smelling ingredient in such an awful form. I may not have figured out how to tackle those pseudo-onions and potatoes just yet, but I could say with certainty at least that none of the giba meat’s potential had been utilized.

I only had cursory knowledge on how a boar stew should be prepared. Just how well would those techniques be able to draw out the true potential of the giba meat? That thought alone was enough to get me all excited and make my stomach growl.

And... I thought to myself, sneaking a peak at Ai Fa as she wrapped that leather belt-esque footwear around her feet. I want to have her eat my cooking, too.

As a mere chef-in-training, there wasn’t a whole lot I could make. And since Ai Fa didn’t have any interest at all in the subject of food, there’s a chance she just plain wouldn’t care. But still, there isn’t anybody alive who would pout because they had a delicious meal.

I guess I’ll say I’ve earned a passing mark if I can make this perpetually displeased girl look even just a little happy. Yeah, I’d cook up the giba meat and bring my savior a bit of joy.

It’s definitely ridiculously extreme to think of it this way, but right there, I’d found a purpose for my life. Just like that, I felt like the dark clouds that had been accumulating inside me cleared up just a little.

“By the way, is your foot alright?” Ai Fa suddenly asked, having finished putting on her footwear.

“Yeah. Seems like it’ll be fine for walking, at least... Thanks for worrying about me.”

“I did no such thing. It’s just that if we head into the forest and you suddenly say something like ‘I can’t walk anymore,’ then I’m leaving you right then and there.” Then, with an serious pout, she added, “...So if anything feels wrong, don’t push yourself and tell me right away.”

Man, I really was saved by someone it was worth paying back my debt to.

“Got it,” I replied, then I stepped out into the bright morning light of this other world.

3

“Pico leaves grow alongside bodies of water in the forest. The best place for gathering them would be the area around the Lanto river, but the upper part of the river is the domain of the Suun clan and their related families, so we’ll be heading downstream.”

“Got it, captain!”

The plan was to retrace the path from last night and head into the forest.

Even though we had that whole big commotion that delayed us heading out, there wasn’t so much as a peep to be heard from the other houses in the settlement. Occasionally, I could spy a flickering silhouette, but not a soul came out as we passed on by.

“Hmph. Nobody would actually choose to head out into the forest first thing in the morning. This time of day is meant for various chores such as tanning furs and chopping firewood.”

“But you’re doing just that, aren’t you, captain?”

“Thanks to an added freeloader, I’ve been left uneasy about my firewood stockpile. I’d never normally head off into the forest this early.”

“So it’s this lowly private’s fault, then?! Your subordinate is truly, deeply ashamed!”

“If you don’t fix the way you’re talking right here and now, I’ll chop off that tongue of yours.”

“Got it. Sorry.”

Ai Fa still seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood, so I decided to behave myself for the time being.

What spread out before my eyes now was the sight of my very first morning in this alternate world. I couldn’t tell last night since it was so dark out, but the scenery around here really was something.

Mount Morga stood imposingly, piercing up through the misty sky. The peak spread out so wide in front of me that I couldn’t help but be impressed by the size of the thing.

Our destination right now, though, was deep in the forest.

Looking around this area that had been cleared out for the settlement, I saw that it was all covered in a verdant green. The air was crisp and clear, without a hint of the smell of exhaust. There were even birds fluttering about through the sky.

The beauty of nature was spread out all around me, as far as the eye could see.

The temperature didn’t seem to have risen too much just yet, as I was still feeling pretty comfortable in my long-sleeved chef uniform.

As my gaze returned to the nearby scenery, I spied morning dew shining on the bushes and shrubs all around. If this had been some sort of camping trip, I’m sure even I would’ve felt plenty satisfied.

“Hey. Now that I think of it, just what exactly is a pico leaf, anyway?” I asked as we approached the edge of the forest.

“It’s that thing that made you so happy you could cry,” Ai Fa replied, looking annoyed.

“Huh? You mean that spice? That’s a pretty cute name for it.”

“...Pico leaves lose their effectiveness in less than a month, so it’s important to build up a stockpile before then. After all, without pico leaves, meat won’t last two days before going bad. So if you don’t want to eat rotten meat, then work hard.”

“Got it... Hey, do you just gather those vegetables from last night from out in the wild, too?”

“I trade these in town in order to obtain aria and poitan,” Ai Fa responded as she pushed her way into the forest thicket, her necklace jangling as she went. “With the tusks and horns from one giba, I can get about ten days worth of aria and poitan. I suppose that will be five days with two of us... In other words, if I don’t hunt one every five days, we won’t have anything to eat but giba meat. We do have a little bit of leeway to do this now, though.”

“Hmm? But you’ve got such a splendid mountain right there. You should be able to get ahold of as much food as you need from there, right?”

“It is forbidden to pillage the abundant blessings of Mount Morga.”

“Huh?”

“If we disturb the mountain, then the starved giba will end up ransacking the fields of the Genos domain. We people of the forest’s edge are only permitted to gather herbs like pico and lilo, or the highly poisonous grigee fruit. In other words, the plants that the giba don’t eat.”

“Wait, who handed out that ‘permission’? Nobody should own the forests and mountains, right?”

“Mount Morga and the forest are both the territory of the Western Kingdom of Selva. 80 years ago, we people of the forest’s edge fled from the ravages of war, moving our settlement from the Southern Kingdom of Jagar to here. Since then, we have abided by the agreement to leave the mountain alone and only hunt giba, and the kingdom has granted us permission to live on this land in exchange.”

“What the heck? This mountain’s so big that there’s no way just taking a bit from it would cause the giba to starve.”

“That’s not true. Giba are only able to live at the base of the mountain. Giant madarama snakes and varb wolves that prey on giba live farther up the mountain, as well as fiendish savages. This forest’s edge at the base of the mountain is the only place my people and the giba can live.”

“Hmm...”

I could understand what she was saying, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy me.

The giba were driven to the base of the mountain as part of the struggle to survive. That was perfectly natural, but why should that mean that the people of the forest’s edge are only allowed to hunt them, all for the sake of strangers’ fields...? They were seriously getting the short end of the stick here.

The fact that I heard yesterday about them being mocked as “giba eaters” was also weighing heavily on me.

“We people of the forest’s edge are ultimately just people of foreign blood who fled from the Southern Kingdom, after all... We tossed aside the Southern God Jagar and dedicated our swords and souls to the Western God Selva. And yet to the people of the city of stone, we’re still outsiders rather than brethren,” Ai Fa muttered emotionlessly, having read what I was thinking.

“Outsiders... But you’ve been living here for 80 years, right? I can’t imagine you’d be punished for advocating for your rights a bit stronger...”

“Just as I don’t seek the protection of the Suun family, our people don’t seek the protection of the kingdom. And besides, hunting giba suits us more than plowing fields.”

“I see... Well, I suppose I’m far more of an ‘outsider’ than anyone, so it may not exactly be my place to talk...” The way I was speaking must have gotten on Ai Fa’s nerves, as she was shooting me a real glare. “Wait, I’m not trying to talk down on your way of living. It’s just that I’m not exactly fond of how the people from that city of stone do things.”

“Hmph. The city of stone would suit a pale man like you far better than the forest’s edge.”

As I shot a glare back at Ai Fa for her mean-spirited words, a thought suddenly hit me.

“Hold on a second. You said that you need a giba’s horns and tusks to feed one person for 10 days, right? So that means for a family of 10, they’ll need to hunt a giba each and every day... Hey wait, if the total population of the people of the forest’s edge is around 500, then that means your people hunt 50 giba a day in total?!”

Ai Fa tilted her head as if to say, “and?”

Hey, that’s not something to be brushing off so lightly!

“That means the people of the forest’s edge have been hunting 50 giba a day for 80 years now, right? So why haven’t the giba been wiped out by overhunting?”

“As if the giba could be wiped out. I hear that they’ve actually been multiplying over these past few years, and the damages to fields have only increased. The giba aren’t so few that we could hunt them all, and besides, the forest is unbelievably vast.”

“Oof... That’s a pretty crazy story...”

In that case, that Western Kingdom or whatever leaving such a huge task up to the people of the forest’s edge alone felt awful sloppy. And I couldn’t help but feel something unscrupulous behind the whole system where they could only hunt giba and couldn’t get ahold of other food.

They weren’t given permission to gather from the forest or farm, and could only hunt giba... So that was how things were. Add to that the way that they were ridiculed as ‘giba eaters,’ and it was just plain ridiculous.

“I’m telling you, though, that it’s forbidden for anyone to pillage the mountain’s blessings. And if you commit a taboo, then you have the scalp peeled from your head. If nothing else, make sure you pound that fact into your brain.”

“...Got it.”

Ai Fa suddenly stopped in place, then grabbed me by the collar.

“Hey, what’s with that attitude you’ve had for a bit now? If you have some sort of issue, then come out and say it clearly.”

“I’m telling you, I’m not mad at you all! I just don’t like the way that the kingdom and city folks and all them do things!”

Ai Fa’s eyes had been boiling with anger like last night’s giba stew, only for that heat to suddenly dissipate.

“Why is that? You’re not even one of us, so why would such a thing anger you?”

“I mean, it’s just the kind of thing that can’t help but tick you off when you think about it objectively, right? And it’s only natural for my empathy to fall with the people of the forest’s edge, since you’re the one who rescued me, Ai Fa.”

“You truly are a strange man...”

With that Ai Fa let go of my collar and started pushing onward once more.

“And besides, what you’re saying is wrong, too. It’s not as if we’re being forced to abide by the agreement at swordpoint. I don’t care for the folks from the city, but the fact that we maintain their peace is a point of pride for us. And if we were to leave this place, some other people would surely be forced to abandon their current jobs to fight the giba... As those who have pledged their blades to the Western God Selva, we are tasked with the role of bringing about part of the prosperity of the nation by hunting giba.”

“Right... Well, I can’t exactly say I completely get that, though, since I wasn’t born around the forest’s edge.”

“We take pride in our lives here. In addition to being our means of obtaining sustenance, these horns and tusks are also the symbol of our pride. So remember: It would be a shameless act to pillage the mountain and thus harm the kingdom as a result, as it would be like trampling all over that pride.”

“Got it. I don’t give a damn about what’s convenient for the kingdom, but if you say it’s to protect the pride of the people of the forest’s edge, then I understand and I’ll promise to be good.”

I half-forced myself to do so, but I was able to leave it at that for now.

As Ai Fa swiftly pushed her way forward through the foliage, she suddenly turned around and shot me a look.

“You truly are an unusual man, Asuta...”

Oddly enough, the displeasure from this morning seemed to have completely disappeared from Ai Fa’s gaze.

After around 10 more minutes of walking, the sun was no longer visible overhead, and we had reached our first destination: the Lanto river’s edge, where pico leaves grew.

The river’s width was around 5 meters. It was flowing about as slowly as you’d expect from hearing that it was downstream, and it actually looked like it was fairly deep, too. And the sunlight filtering through the trees reflected off the crystal clear water, making for a truly magnificent sight.

But rather than any proper grass and foliage, the area around the river was nothing but rugged rock faces.

When I turned around to ask Ai Fa if we were heading even further in, I found her starting to remove the fur cloak from her shoulders for some reason.

“I’m going to cleanse myself before we search for pico leaves.”

“Huh? ‘Cleanse’?”

“What? It’s rather uncomfortable to be walking around covered in giba oils and sweating.”

Her mood may have seemed like it had completely turned around, but Ai Fa’s default was still to be incredibly blunt. And as she explained that in her extremely curt tone, she handed me the cloak she had just taken off. Man, this thing sure has some heft to it... Looking closely at the inside, I noticed that there were a ton of small pockets sewn into it, full of things like berries and nuts I’d never seen before, iron needles, and bundles of leather straps. It must have weighed around 2 or 3 kilos in all.

“Take this, too,” Ai Fa said, taking off her fang and tusk necklace and passing it my way.

Your lowly servant has his hands full with your leather cloak though, princess...

“Bow your head,” she added, kicking me in the leg.

As I thought, You know, I would’ve done it even without the kick... and bent forward, I saw Ai Fa approaching me with her necklace spread wide. Oh man, she was close. Excluding a certain early morning incident that I couldn’t remember, this was probably as close as she’d ever gotten to me... And as I thought such questionable thoughts, my gaze drifted to the nape of her neck without even thinking about it. There were still distinct bluish-purple teeth marks on the left side of her slender neck.

You seriously couldn’t at least exercise a little restraint, past me?

The fragrance coming off this princess of mine seriously was to die for, though. And her face was so close... Her skin’s gorgeous, and her pink lips sure are sexy... Maybe this is some new sort of torture?

Ai Fa, meanwhile, had no idea of the idiotic thoughts floating around my head, and simply put the necklace around my neck and then swiftly pulled back.

“Alright... The giba should still mostly be asleep, but there are some oddballs amongst them that start prowling around early in the morning. If you sense a giba nearby, then call out to me immediately.”

“Got it. I just need to keep an eye on the forest, right?”

I thought I had hidden what I’d been thinking pretty well, but Ai Fa was glaring at my face with some seriously cold eyes.

“...Just to be safe, let me inform you that it’s a taboo to look upon the naked body of an unmarried woman.”

“Huh. So it’d be okay if it’s a married woman, then?”

“The only one permitted to view her in the nude would be her husband.”

Ah, I wish I hadn’t gone and said that. I got the feeling that the look in Ai Fa’s eyes had just gotten twice as chilly.

“Keep an eye out.”

“Got it.”

I searched for the biggest rock I could find, then put my back to it and started keeping an eye on the forest.

Still, she had entrusted me with the necklace she’d just described as the pride and fortune of the people of the forest’s edge, and I was trusted not to be a voyeur, so I couldn’t help but consider all this a pretty significant honor.

But man, I seriously had no idea what was going on in that girl’s head...

At first I thought she was more cautious than most people, but then she went and trusted me like it was nothing. And I was really impressed by how caring she was, but then she went and acted all cold.

I felt like she was a kind, caring person at her core, but I couldn’t deny that she was stubborn and prone to some serious mood swings.

But still, she’s also someone I know I can trust.

It was as those thoughts were running through my head that it happened: Ai Fa’s shrieking voice broke the calm silence of the riverbed.

4

“Hey! What happened, Ai Fa?!” I cried out, getting up into a kneeling position.

There was still a chance that she had just slipped or something, and if I messed up this time, she would kill me for real. I couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

But I wasn’t getting an answer back.

All I could hear was the sound of the water violently splashing and the echo that followed, which was more than a little disconcerting.

“Hey! I’m looking over that way! If it’s nothing, then just let me know in the next three seconds!” I yelled out, worrying all the while that she may not even understand what a second is.

Sure enough, though, I didn’t get a response back.

Despite feeling so impatient that I thought my heart was going to burst, I still stopped and counted to three.

“One... two... three!”

I shot to my feet, turned around, and looked at the river. And... there wasn’t anybody there.

However, I spied familiar wrappings and blades on a rock a little further away, and then a rather impressive splash shot up from the surface of the water.

I threw aside the fur cloak, climbed over the rock I had been resting my back against, and took off running in that direction. It was then that Ai Fa’s face suddenly appeared from beneath the water. And not just that: she was clearly in pain.

“Ai Fa!”

She desperately gasped for air, but the river water mercilessly flowed into her open mouth instead.

It was only so deep that it would come up to her waist if she stood, but she didn’t seem to be able to get up any further out of the water.

“What are you doing?! Hurry up and grab on!” I yelled, holding out my right hand from atop the rock.

As I desperately struggled like a madman, Ai Fa’s eyes just stared back at me listlessly.

“Don’t come... any closer...” Ai Fa eked out, her voice sounding a bit hoarse. Her body slowly began drifting downstream.

“Don’t give me that crap! Just grab on already!”

I had no other options left, now that it had come to this. And so I plunged my right leg into the water while bracing myself so that I wouldn’t get swept away, then reached out to grab hold of Ai Fa. The second that my hand grasped Ai Fa’s silky-smooth shoulder, though, I felt something snake its way around my right arm.

“Whoa!”

In no time at all, a sharp pain shot through my arm, and I heard the sound of my bones creaking. Whatever it was that was wrapped around my right arm, it was constricting with some seriously insane strength. It was a strange creature about as thick as my arm, coated in bluish-black scales... In other words, I had been grabbed by the tail of a huge snake.

The moment I realized that, Ai Fa let out a pained “ugh!”

With an eye-catching splash, both of Ai Fa’s arms shot up above the water. Thanks to that, I could see that her fingers were wrapped around the neck of the massive snake. Its crooked, sickle-shaped neck looked to be about the size of a rugby ball, and it was baring its fangs at Ai Fa.

Beneath the surface of the water, Ai Fa was battling the huge serpent.

“Bastard...!”

I tried even harder to brace my legs, enduring the pain in my right arm all the while. The foot I hurt yesterday was throbbing in pain, but I didn’t pay that fact any heed.

It was so insanely strong that it felt like it could crush bone, but I couldn’t help but feel grateful that it wasn’t letting go. I’d just keep on at it and pull it straight out of the water!

The flow of the river was nothing, and Ai Fa didn’t weigh all that much, so I could do it! No, I’d do it even if it killed me!

“Grr...!” I yelled out, wringing out every ounce of strength in my body to finally pull both Ai Fa and the giant snake towards the riverside. I planted my right foot on the shore, then put my left hand around the snake’s throat just like Ai Fa was doing. After that, it was pure weightlifting.

Well, not that I had any weightlifting experience, though...

“Graaaah!”

Once again, I squeezed out every bit of strength I had. And with that, I finally succeeded in dragging Ai Fa up atop a rock.

“Ugh...” Ai Fa let slip in a weak voice.

The gigantic serpent had wrapped itself several times over around Ai Fa’s naked body. It was coiled around her chest, waist, and right leg, and the excess stretched up over her shoulder and then tangled around my right arm. At its fattest point, its body was probably as thick as my thigh. In terms of both thickness and length, this thing was far beyond the norm.

Looking at it closely, the giant snake’s blackish-blue scales were torn and broken here and there, and it appeared to have a rather serious old wound to its eyes. If it weren’t for that, maybe all the bones in Ai Fa’s body would’ve been long since crushed down to a powder.

“Alright! Don’t let go of that hand, Ai Fa!”

With that, I grabbed hold of a nearby rock and started pounding away at the huge snake’s head. Its slick, shiny, scale-covered body spasmed in response. It’s just a superstition that says snakes can’t feel pain, and I sure could see that now.

As Ai Fa held its head in the air, I brought my rock down upon it again and again. Around the fifth blow red blood came spurting out, and Ai Fa let out a shriek at the same time.

I could feel my right arm creaking, too.

“Damn it! Don’t coil tighter! Let go already!”

Though it was being held in place, its head was still up in the air, which seemed to be softening the impact of the blows.

What about the stomach, then?!

I took aim toward the part on the ground, and swung down as hard as I could. I could clearly feel the disturbing sensation of flesh being pulverized, even through the rock.

Finally, the massive serpent’s grip on us slowly loosened.

Without a moment’s delay I scooped Ai Fa up and kicked the fleeing snake back into the river. With a heavy splash, the monstrous beast sunk below the surface. After making sure it was swept away downstream, I turned to the girl in my arms and yelled out, “Hey! Just hold on! Are you okay? Please don’t die on me, Ai Fa!”

After laying her down on the surface of the rock, I started firmly shaking her exposed shoulders. In response, she let out a weak groan, then vomited up a mass of water.

Usually her long golden locks were worn up, but now they were clinging to her face and chest. In this weakened state, she looked like a completely different person.

When Ai Fa dug her nails into the back of my hand, her eyes still firmly shut, I called out, “Are you in pain? Do you still need to get more water out?”

I moved the powerless Ai Fa onto her side and gave her a firm hit on the back, and sure enough she spat up even more water.

“Ugh... Asu... ta...?”

“Are you alright? I knocked that damn snake back into the water, so we shouldn’t need to worry now.”

Her blue eyes were still unfocused, and she looked at me in a daze. Ah, what a pitiful expression...

But still, she was at least alive.

I picked Ai Fa up, and hugged her slender body tight with both arms.

Thinking back on it now, I’d reprimand myself for doing that to Ai Fa just after she had gotten away from that snake’s grasp, but I hadn’t quite been myself at the moment, either.

“Thank goodness... Don’t make me worry like that...”

I’d become dripping wet too in an instant, but I didn’t give a damn about that.

However... Ai Fa’s arms pushed back at my chest with with a strength I didn’t think she had left in her.

“Let go... Take your arms off of me!”

“Huh?”

I was caught off guard so badly that my grasp naturally loosened, just as she had asked. She gave me a strong push at the same moment, sending me falling straight onto my rear.

“W-What is it?!”

Ai Fa’s eyes practically looked like they were ablaze.

In an instant, she grabbed her sheathed blade, which had fallen by her feet.

“W-What’s going on? I have no idea what’s happening right now!”

As I was left dumbfounded by this sudden transformation, Ai Fa drew her savage blade from its leather sheath.

Her face had been like that of a sick child just seconds ago, but now it was filled with an unmistakable bloodlust.

Had I broken some sort of unforgivable taboo or something in regards to Ai Fa? Was it because I had seen her naked, even considering the unexpected circumstances involved? Or because I’d went and hugged her without thinking?

Well... If those are such serious crimes around here, then I guess there’s no helping it.

Too much stuff had happened out of the blue, so maybe I wasn’t thinking straight myself. But the only thought floating through my stupid head was that it was way better to be killed by Ai Fa than to have to watch her die.

Ai Fa readied her sword, completely naked and down on one knee. I wondered why she was pointing the back of the blade at me rather than its cutting edge, but I’m sure that thing was hefty enough to bludgeon someone to death with even so.

I stared straight into Ai Fa’s eyes. However, her eyes weren’t looking back at me. Those blue flaming pupils weren’t pointed in my direction, but towards the space behind me.

A noise like the heavy rumble of an exhaust pipe resounded from behind me, far closer than I would have thought. There was something... right behind me.

“Grah!” Ai Fa yelled out, and I could hear the overflowing fighting spirit in her voice.

The savage blade drew a silver arc through the empty air beside me. And then, I felt myself being squashed by something.

“Ugh...”

Something unbelievably heavy had come down on my head with some serious force. It felt pretty damn stiff, but it also had an overpowering animal stench to it.

“Phew...” Ai Fa sighed, then plopped down on the ground. I could see her blue eyes staring back at me with their usual force between her disheveled golden hair. “Don’t let your guard down just because you’ve escaped from a single threat. You won’t possibly be able to survive at the forest’s edge like that.”

She sure was pompous, considering she was buck naked.

But, well, I’d finally grasped just what had happened, too.

The heavy object cloaking my head and back was a twitching giba whose skull Ai Fa had smashed in with her blade.