Chapter 6: The Ruu Clan Festival of the Hunt

1

It was the 27th day of the blue month. In other words, the day that the festival banquet was set to be held at the Ruu settlement. And also, the end of my third contract to rent stalls in the post town.

After wrapping up business for the day, we returned the stalls to The Kimyuus’s Tail like always, then I called out to the place’s owner.

“Milano Mas, thank you once again for everything. Umm... Would it be alright to ask to keep borrowing stalls from you from tomorrow on?”

“Renting stalls is good business for me, too. I’ve got no reason to refuse,” Milano Mas replied with his usual sour expression as he checked over the stalls to make sure there wasn’t any damage. “But you’re going to keep on doing business with The Great Southern Tree, right? So wouldn’t renting from there cut down on all the running about you need to do?”

“Ah, that’s no trouble at all. So as long as it’s not a problem on your end, I’d like to keep counting on The Kimyuus’s Tail,” I replied, feeling a bit concerned. “But you don’t really earn much profit from renting out the stalls and space, do you? And so, I can’t help but worry that I’ve been doing nothing but trouble you... Are you really not getting put into a worse position by getting involved with us?”

“You sure do prattle on all the time, don’t you? Like I’ve told you, if you were a hassle I would’ve long since tossed you out.”

Having finished checking the stalls, Milano Mas turned my way with an even more annoyed look on his face than before.

It had been the same with Leito, but I really couldn’t spy any serious changes in the man, even after all that stuff with the Suun clan. Though I got the feeling that his gaze was a bit less harsh and he was talking to us just a little more. But it’d be rude to go and say out loud just how happy that slight change made me feel.

Still, it’s already been over ten days since all that commotion... I thought to myself, unable to keep from feeling surprised at the fact.

Since the meeting with the folks from the castle was postponed to the 30th of the blue month, these past ten days had been completely peaceful. Of course, the feelings the townsfolk had towards the people of the forest’s edge still remained, and so we got no shortage of questioning, suspicious gazes. But at least on the surface, everything was peaceful.

The sales at the stalls had stabilized at around 140 meals, and my cooking for the inns sold out every day. However, we had no choice but to wait for the results of the meeting three days from now to determine whether or not these peaceful days would continue.

“More importantly, are you going to be doing business from tomorrow on again, without any days off? Normally folks put in at least one day off at the end of a contract. And it’s not like you’re especially hurting for money, right?” Milano Mas asked, crossing his hefty arms in front of his chest.

Naturally, we had no problems in terms of cash whatsoever. For my first 30 days of business, I had earned a total of 5484 red coins of pure profit.

5484 red coins... Converted to giba horns and tusks, that would be 457 of the beasts’ worth.

On top of that, our Fa clan didn’t even use a hundred red coins in a month in terms of daily expenses, and since purchasing the knife and iron tray and the like, as well as the necklace for Ai Fa, I hadn’t bought any more expensive items. As for pricey ingredients like tau oil and cheese, they only cost around ten to twenty red coins at most, so they didn’t put so much as a dent in our savings.

Ah, and tomorrow we would finally be receiving the wagon we had ordered, which was the greatest expense so far at 1200 red coins, but even subtracting all that out, we still had 3700 red coins left. So rather than having money trouble, I was actually at a loss as to how to spend all those coins.

However, there was still a reason I didn’t want to take any days off.

“To be honest, I have regulars from the east and south who’re leaving Genos at the end of the blue month. And so, I’d like to stay open for business till then.”

“Folks from the east and south, huh...? Now that you mention it, you started making food for an inn that primarily serves easterners too, didn’t you?”

“Yes. It’s called The Sledgehammer, and the owner is a man named Nail.”

“Oh right, that oddball who acts like an easterner,” Milano Mas grumbled, but then he seemed to hold his tongue. A moment later, he put on a pretty serious expression.

I worried that there was some sort of strife between him and Nail, but it looked more like he was distracted by some sort of thought.

“Um, is something the matter...?” I called out, only for Milano Mas to snap back to his senses and shoot me a glare with a bit of anger behind it.

“It’s nothing! If you’re done here, then hurry up and leave. I’ve got my own work left to handle.”

“Sorry. Well, anyway, I look forward to keeping on working with you.”

I still couldn’t help but feel a bit concerned, somehow, but Milano Mas had disappeared into his storehouse, so I had no choice left but to withdraw.

Carrying the pots and ingredients, the four women (Vina, Sheera, and Lala Ruu, plus Li Sudra) and I headed back around to the front of the shop. However, before we hit the main road, we ran into Kamyua Yoshu.

“Hey there, good work today. And thanks for the delicious snack as always, Asuta.”

“No, thank you for the purchase. And it’s been a bit since we last saw each other, hasn’t it?”

The last time I had seen Kamyua Yoshu had been three days or so back, when we settled the matter with the totos. However, Leito had been stopping by each day to purchase a snack for the two of them.

As Kamyua Yoshu casually stood there, he shot us the same relaxed grin as always.

“If I could help it, I’d have loved to have your cooking while it was nice and hot. But I’ve been busy making all sorts of arrangements for that upcoming meeting. Melfried isn’t exactly in a position to just go leaving the castle as he pleases, so I’ve ended up having to run all over.”

Arrangements for the meeting...

The request to postpone hadn’t come from Cyclaeus but rather from Melfried, so he was surely making moves in secret again.

“I’m sure that must be quite an undertaking. And I can only hope those ‘arrangements’ aren’t part of some sort of plot to take down the people of the forest’s edge,” I threw out there, only for Kamyua Yoshu to spread both arms wide and look upset.

“Why would you think we’d do anything to hurt the people of the forest’s edge?! Our goal is to expose Cyclaeus’s old crimes.”

“Sorry, it was just a joke. Lately when I’m talking to you, my teasing side always ends up showing itself. So sorry about that.”

“Ah, well, if that’s your true nature, then that may just be a welcome change from my point of view,” Kamyua Yoshu replied, scratching his blond hair. “Well, whatever. More importantly, Asuta, I’ve got something I want to ask you... Is it the grilled dish or the soup on the menu at The Sledgehammer tonight?”

“Huh? It’s the soup, but...”

Why in the world was he asking that?

“Ah, I see. Thanks a ton. In that case, I’ll go with The Sledgehammer for today. If both of them always offered the same dishes I’d just alternate between it and The Great Southern Tree each day, but as things are it can get kinda tricky.”

“What? You’ve been eating dinner at The Sledgehammer and The Great Southern Tree? But you’re staying at The Kimyuus’s Tail, aren’t you?”

“Yup. But I can eat western cooking anywhere, not just Genos. So I can’t help but want to eat as much of your giba meat dishes as I can while I’m staying here,” Kamyua Yoshu answered, grinning once again. “I’d actually say there are more folks out there like me than you may think. The Sledgehammer and The Great Southern Tree are always packed at dinnertime. And there are always a good number of folks from the west, so many that I can’t imagine everybody’s staying there. Heck, yesterday I even saw a few easterners in The Great Southern Tree.”

“I’m certainly grateful to hear that, but... I mean, you stay regularly at The Kimyuus’s Tail, don’t you? That’s not offending Milano Mas, is it?”

“Customers are free to eat dinner wherever they please. Milano Mas isn’t a petty enough man to get upset over something that slight. And besides... If you ask me, the quality of the food at The Kimyuus’s Tail isn’t all that great. I mean, Milano Mas lost his wife at a young age, after all. And so, his daughter didn’t really get much of a chance to learn how to cook. So even without your giba cooking and the like, I’d still end up heading to another inn anyway.”

“I really can’t beat you when it comes to badmouthing people, Kamyua Yoshu...” I didn’t quite know what to think of the fact that he could poke fun at Milano Mas’s family circumstances so lightly. Even more so because the Suun clan’s wrongdoings were one of the reasons behind the man’s wife passing so young. “So, what? Are you trying to suggest I should sell my cooking to The Kimyuus’s Tail too, or maybe even teach Milano Mas’s daughter how to cook?”

“I’m not particularly trying to suggest anything. However, I have thought before that if I could eat giba cooking at The Kimyuus’s Tail, it’d spare me the trouble of having to go to some other inn.”

“As long as what sort of relationship I’ve got with the folks from the castle remains unclear, I have no intention of going and thoughtlessly getting Milano Mas involved.”

“Oh? But you don’t mind involving the owners of The Sledgehammer and The Great Southern Tree?”

“They’re in different positions than Milano Mas. Unlike him, they don’t have anything to do with that incident from ten years ago,” I said while trying to cool my head from the boil I had been about to reach. “I’d like to repay my debt to Milano Mas, but the meeting in three days has to come first. Um... I can’t imagine this is the case, but you wouldn’t go putting him in danger in order to corner Cyclaeus, right?”

“Do I really look that cruel and heartless? I set my sights on Cyclaeus and the Suun clan in the first place because I knew about Milano Mas and Leito’s pasts, so I wouldn’t go and put the cart before the totos like that. Listen, this is just between us, but... I’ve got three bodyguards staying here at The Kimyuus’s Tail. Despite appearances, I’ve seriously been burning myself out to make sure no wicked plots from Cyclaeus come to fruition on the off chance that he’s up to something.”

“In that case, please say important stuff like that before you go cracking jokes. So... Milano Mas really is in at least some danger, then? Would it be better if I really did move my contract for the stalls over to The Great Southern Tree?”

“Ah, no, there’s no way Cyclaeus has his eyes on Milano Mas now. It’s true that he’s tied to that incident from ten years back, but even the hunter’s necklace his wife’s brother was gripping was handed over to the guards as evidence back then. And heck, if his word as a witness held weight, then Melfried would’ve cast judgment on the Suun clan and Cyclaeus’s crimes then and there.”

“Then why are you asking bodyguards to keep an eye on him? If there’s no danger, then that shouldn’t be necessary, right?”

“That was just making absolutely certain. I wouldn’t exactly be able to smile like this on the off chance something happened to Milano Mas, after all.” His grin had an aloof feel to it, but his purple eyes looked hazy and hid away what he was feeling. “So you don’t need to worry about anything, and can just go ahead and do what feels right to you. But I’d be real happy if I could eat giba meat here at The Kimyuus’s Tail, y’know?”

“You’re just saying that because it would be convenient for you. Plus, I can’t imagine Milano Mas would let me give cooking lessons to begin with, anyway.”

“I’m not so sure about that. But well, it’s true that Milano Mas wouldn’t exactly be the sort to go throwing the idea out there on his own.”

Now that he said that, Milano Mas’s sudden silence from earlier only bugged me more. I mean, he looked like he was holding back his feelings for some reason, didn’t he?

I gave a small sigh, then stared straight back in Kamyua Yoshu’s murky eyes.

“At any rate, everything will have to wait for the meeting three days from now. And I can’t exactly go taking on more work till the blue month is over, regardless.”

“Yup, got it. I’ll expend all my meager skills to hopefully guide things in a positive direction. Ah... but would you mind keeping that thing about the bodyguards a secret? If Milano Mas heard that, he’d say I was worrying too much or something, and may even go and kick them out,” Kamyua Yoshu said, and I was still unable to firmly make out what he was feeling as he smiled away.

◇

“Ugh, geez! You kept on blathering away so long that we’re totally running late!” Lala Ruu said in a huff as we walked down the path to the forest’s edge.

As I watched her red ponytail sway back and forth, I replied, “It’s not that different a time than usual, is it?”

“If there was nothing going on today, I wouldn’t care! But today’s the festival banquet! The men’ll probably all be gathered up and starting the contest of strength soon!”

“Oh, so they start the banquet when it’s still this bright out?”

“The banquet’ll be after the sun sets! If they didn’t finish the contest of strength before that, then we’d never start eating, right?! Geez, you don’t know anything!”

It was certainly true that I knew nothing of what was going on. Apparently festival banquets were only held by clans of a certain size, so I hadn’t been able to get any information out of Ai Fa.

Well, all I was asked to handle was making dinner for the winner of the contest of strength, so I hadn’t been too concerned. But why was Lala Ruu in such a rush to get back?

“The contest of strength at a festival of the hunt is a time for the men to shine. And that means it’s an important event for unmarried women too, to choose their husband...” Vina Ruu whispered into my ear as she carried a mountain of ingredients.

Still, that wasn’t enough to clear up my questions.

“But Lala Ruu is still only 13, so she can’t get married, right? So shouldn’t it have nothing to do with her?”

“I don’t know about all that... Maybe she has her eyes on someone in particular...?”

I guess if she liked someone, she’d want to see his big moment.

With that, everything clicked into place. I really could be dense, sometimes.

“Um, just let me confirm... A chef like me isn’t going to get dragged into all that, right?”

“Hmm...? Well, you were invited to the banquet, so you could probably participate if you wanted to...”

“I don’t want to. I definitely, definitely don’t.”

I couldn’t see so much as a single nanogram of a chance of me winning against a man of the forest’s edge. No matter what the competition was, I could probably only put up a decent fight against Reina or Lala Ruu at most. Honestly, I didn’t think I could even manage to do much in a test of strength against Vina Ruu.

“More importantly, Asuta... Did you always get along that badly with that man...?”

“Hmm? By ‘that man,’ do you mean Kamyua? I wouldn’t say we get along especially poorly.”

“Really...? But you looked pretty angry back there...”

I had been trying to wear my poker face, but I was completely transparent, huh?

“Well, I’ll admit that I did get pretty annoyed. But I had decided that at times like that, rather than trying to hide my thoughts and feelings, I’d let Kamyua hear them head on. After all, it’d be pretty tricky to drag out what was really going on in that aloof guy’s head, otherwise.”

“Hmm... That sounds pretty troublesome, somehow...” Vina Ruu said with a shrug of her seductive shoulders, not looking especially interested.

After 40-50 more minutes of walking down the heavily sloping path, we made it back to the forest’s edge. The trail widened a bit as we headed north, and soon enough the Ruu settlement came into view. Before heading inside we said farewell to Li Sudra and took the ingredients she was carrying off of her, then we stepped foot into the unusually crowded plaza.

And as we did so, I felt completely overwhelmed.

There were far more people than I had expected packed into the settlement. There must have been more than half of the hundred folks who fell under them gathered here.

The majority of them looked to be young. The ratio of men to women seemed pretty even too, but I wasn’t seeing many older folks or children. At any rate, they formed a crowd in the plaza and were cheering... and in the center, there was an impossibly large man having a fierce battle with Ai Fa.

“W-What are you doing there, Ai Fa?!” I yelled, but it was drowned out by the crowd. Those young folks under the Ruu were all shouting away, excited by the fight.

Both Ai Fa and her opponent were barehanded. Neither had any blades at their hips, nor were they wearing fur cloaks. However, that just made it all the more clear to me how desperate of a pinch Ai Fa found herself in.

The man she was facing was an absolute giant, every bit as tall as Mida. He had to be nearly two meters tall, and I couldn’t imagine he weighed less than a hundred kilos. Plus he was long-limbed, barrel-chested, and plenty muscular. And right now, those long arms of that frighteningly huge man were reaching out to grab Ai Fa.

Of course, thanks to Ai Fa’s excellent physical abilities, he wasn’t finding it too easy to get ahold of her. However, she was just dodging left and right, and it didn’t seem like there was any chance for her to launch a counterattack. Even for Ai Fa, taking on such a massive foe barehanded just felt utterly reckless.

“What’s going on here?! Why isn’t anyone trying to stop this craziness?!”

“Huh...? It would be bad to interrupt a contest of strength between hunters, though...” Vina Ruu replied, shooting me a confused look.

“Contest of strength? That’s what this is? It’s just a plain old fight, isn’t it?! And why should Ai Fa have to participate in something like that, anyway?!”

“I have no way of knowing that... But at any rate, there’s a strong taboo against wounding your opponent, so there’s no need to worry...”

Wounding your opponent was a taboo?

Even so, that grizzly of a man was frantically chasing Ai Fa around while swinging his arms about. And those thick limbs looked like they could easily snap bones if they hit.

“I can’t watch this! Please, someone put a stop to it!”

“Ah, you mustn’t...” Vina Ruu protested, only for a louder cheer to resound throughout the forest.

I looked that way in a panic, and almost dropped the tray I was holding from shock. Ai Fa had leapt backwards, but her foot must have hit a divot in the ground or something, as she seriously staggered.

Naturally, the mountain of a man took that opportunity to press forwards and close in on my clan head.

It was clearly over.

As I screamed out in despair, I could practically see Ai Fa’s slender body being sent flying as if she had been hit by a dump truck.

However... As Ai Fa’s posture collapsed, rather than trying to force herself up, she half let herself fall while swinging her right leg high in the air. The tips of her toes hit the man’s shoulder as he rushed forwards, then Ai Fa leapt even further back, borrowing the charging man’s momentum as she did so. On top of that, she bent backwards in the air and let her right hand hit the ground for just an instant, resulting in her landing a splendid backward handspring.

With that, the cheering grew even more intense.

In turn, the monster of a man let out an angry roar and charged at Ai Fa again, head first.

The six or seven meters Ai Fa had earned seemed like they were about to be closed in an instant. And this time, the man would surely manage to grab her.

And yet, just before his fingers grabbed hold of her arm, Ai Fa suddenly disappeared.

She had dropped down. And as she did, she stretched her right leg straight out, then swiped it backwards. It was a low sweep, performed like she was in a kung fu action movie.

Ai Fa’s right heel caught the man’s right ankle from diagonally behind him, and he went tumbling.

With that, my clan head swiftly rose to her feet, while the man sat up in a fluster.

At the same time, a piercing cry of, “Stop!” cut through the excitement in the air. “The winner is Ai Fa of the Fa clan. Ji Maam of the Maam clan must withdraw,” the solemn voice stated, and applause and cheers filled the air.

As for the large man, he gave a frustrated yell and pounded his fists into the ground.

“That’s amazing! She beat Ji Maam! He’s strong enough that he can even put up a good fight against Darmu!” Lala Ruu excitedly exclaimed.

I almost collapsed to the ground while clinging to my iron tray, but I somehow managed to brace myself.

And then, Ai Fa came over our way, being showered with thunderous applause as she went.

“So you’re finally back, huh? You’re late, Asuta.”

“I-I am not! And what in the world have you been up to, anyway?!”

“What are you making such a fuss about? I was just taking part in the contest of strength, as a hunter.” Despite that intense battle she had just participated in, I couldn’t spy so much as a single bead of sweat on Ai Fa. “I hadn’t ever heard of festival banquets before, but I’ve enjoyed the contests of strength held between hunters since I was young. And that man was nothing compared to my father Gil.”

“But still...! That’s no reason to go and do something that dangerous just because, right? We’re just guests here!”

“I didn’t do it ‘just because.’ It’s because I was challenged,” Ai Fa replied in a displeased tone and started shifting into a pout. But then she noticed everyone else watching, and instead maintained a serious expression.

“Still, it was a real shock seeing you take down Ji Maam. You really are a strong hunter, Ai Fa,” chimed in Sheera Ruu, as if trying to smooth things over. “Asuta, it may be called a contest of strength between hunters, but they are absolutely forbidden from harming their opponents. Instead, they employ their barehanded techniques, and whoever makes the other side’s torso touch the ground first wins. I also have trouble watching the men act so fierce, but you have to understand, it most certainly isn’t dangerous.”

Sheera Ruu’s relaxed voice seemed like it had a sort of calming effect. And so, I scratched my head, feeling a bit bad about letting myself get carried away and critique Ai Fa.

“Er, sorry for suddenly shouting like that... Still, you’re supposed to help me out soon, aren’t you? Or do you want to keep on participating in the competition?”

“I already explained that I wasn’t competing because I wanted to, didn’t I? That Ji Maam man said that a woman couldn’t serve as a hunter, and then he challenged me. I couldn’t back down from such a slight, and so I simply displayed my strength,” Ai Fa replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’ll help you with manning the stove today, just as I promised. I hung the giba I brought from the house over there.”

“Huh? You caught another giba today? That’s two days in a row, isn’t it?”

“Whenever the chance presents itself, I’ll catch a giba. It’s not as if I’m using sacrificial hunting, you know,” Ai Fa stated, beating me to the punch.

It seemed she had completely recovered from her wounds, and was in perfect form in terms of mind and body. She just looked so darn dependable that I couldn’t help but give a sigh.

“Got it, thanks. In that case, let’s hurry up and start preparing.”

“Right,” Ai Fa nodded with a serious look, and then she drew her face close to mine. She made the move look casual, but I noticed that only I could see her expression now. “You truly are a worrier, Asuta. It would take a more skilled man than that to get the better of me.”

“That may be so, but still...”

“Stop right there. I have no intention of scolding you for worrying about me. It’s just that it was my first contest of strength in some time, so I couldn’t help but feel interested. Thanks to that, I felt even less like refusing. My apologies...” Ai Fa stated, then she shot me a grin from so close I could feel her breath.

Seeing that smile, I lost the will to put up a fight, and simply gave another sigh instead.

2

The kitchen allocated to us for the day was the one in Shin Ruu’s house.

Of course, I was only tasked with making the meat dish for the winner of the competition, so that was no trouble at all. As for the other kitchens, they should have been moving ahead with the dinner preparations under Mia Lea Ruu’s command.

Between the men participating in the competition and the women watching while preparing the banquet, there were apparently around 70 people gathered here. Honestly, this festival of the hunt celebration was large enough in scale that I couldn’t help but feel like they should’ve just gone all the way and gathered the whole hundred or so folks under the Ruu.

As the sun hung high in the sky, things were getting seriously heated up at the Ruu settlement. Even after Ai Fa and Ji Maam’s match ended, the hunters kept on competing in the center of the plaza. And so, I couldn’t help but glance at the crowd over that way out of the corner of my eye as we headed for Shin Ruu’s house.

“Ah, Shin Ruu! What are you doing here?” Lala Ruu questioned. Shin Ruu was seated there in front of the house we were coming up on, and Mida was there next to him, panting heavily. As for Shin Ruu, he looked up at Lala Ruu a bit listlessly.

“Nothing in particular. This is my house, so what’s so strange about me being here?”

“That’s not what I meant! Did you lose already...?”

“Yeah. It looks like I still can’t beat Ludo Ruu after all.”

“You dummy! Why do you two always, always have to be the ones to fight each other? Despite how he looks, Ludo’s seen as a full-fledged hunter even in our house! If you chose someone other than him, you could get an easy win, right?”

Was the competition a knockout tournament? I couldn’t help but feel a little concerned that that would mean Ai Fa would be obligated to participate in a second match.

But still, Lala and Shin Ruu came first.

“But if I were to challenge someone else before beating Ludo Ruu, it just wouldn’t feel meaningful to me...”

“If that’s the case, then that’s fine. But don’t go getting so down, alright?”

“I’m not down.”

“Yes you are! In a contest of strength between hunters, even if a victory is something to be proud of, a loss is nothing to feel ashamed about. So hold your head up high and enjoy the banquet!” Lala Ruu argued at Shin Ruu, and then she glanced over at Mida. “So, what about you? From looking at you, I’m guessing you participated too, right?”

“Yeah... I gave it my all...” Then, Mida’s eyes turned my way as he breathed heavily, coated in sweat. “Asuta... If I win all the matches, I’ll get to eat your cooking, right...?”

“Yup, that’s the plan.”

“So I’m fighting real hard... If I beat four more people, I can eat the food you’re making...”

“Huh? You already won two matches? That’s amazing!” Lala Ruu exclaimed, sounding more astounded than impressed.

I didn’t really know, so I asked, and apparently in this contest of strength, whoever won three preliminary and three finals matches was declared the winner. The preliminaries were held in a rough round robin style, and the first eight to win three matches got to move on to the finals. In other words, it was a survival tournament in which two losses disqualified you while three wins let you advance. Then, in the finals it shifted to single elimination, with the one to win all three of their matches emerging as the victor. It seemed like a pretty rough set-up for handling the preliminaries, but it was ultimately a means to whittle things down from the 30-40 participating to a more manageable number.

By the way, it seemed that Donda Ruu and Dan Rutim had both already earned their three wins. Fittingly for people of the forest’s edge, they had received a great number of challenges off the bat thanks to their overwhelming strength.

Jiza and Ludo Ruu, as well as Gazraan Rutim had already taken down two, and so Lala Ruu had been so surprised since that put Mida on the same level as them.

“Still, in the end you’ll need to either beat my dad or Dan Rutim. That’ll be pretty tricky, but well, give it your all, I guess.”

“Yeah, I will...” Mida replied, his fatty cheeks trembling.

Lala Ruu gave him a nod, and then turned back towards Shin Ruu.

“So, did you give up already? If you beat three more now, you can still make it into the top eight, right?”

“I haven’t given up. I’m just building up my strength for now.” I couldn’t tell if that was true or not, but Shin Ruu then decisively rose to his feet. “Everybody else should have their second win by now. I better get going so that I don’t fall too far behind.”

“Yup! Good luck!” Lala Ruu responded with a satisfied smile.

However, after Shin Ruu departed, she cast her gaze downward pensively. Figuring I needed to make up for my denseness earlier, I nonchalantly called out, “Well then, how about we go watch Shin Ruu shine, too? We should still have time to spare.”

“Huh?” Lala Ruu questioned, her eyes opening wide with shock. “Is it alright to be taking things that lightly? You’ve still got to prepare for tomorrow too, right?”

“But you all are helping me out too, aren’t you? So it’ll be easy.”

“You’re taking things way too lightly! If you present some weird dish to him, my dad’ll probably send you flying, you know,” Lala Ruu stated, but despite her words I could see the joy shining in her eyes.

And so, we placed down our luggage and approached the crowd, only to be blocked by a tall figure. It was Darmu Ruu, second son of the main Ruu house. A man about half a head taller than me who reminded me of a wild wolf.

“Ah, Darmu! When did you get back?! Ah, and thanks for the flower from before, too!” Lala Ruu loudly exclaimed, while Vina Ruu silently smiled and nodded his way.

“The Jeen clan are going to be keeping an eye on the Suun settlement from here on out, so I was finally able to come back home,” Darmu Ruu replied, and then his sharp gaze turned my way... or more precisely, towards Ai Fa, who was standing beside me. “Clan head of the Fa, Ai Fa... Allow me to challenge you in the contest of strength, as a hunter.”

“Hmm? My apologies, but I have to help with manning the stove. And besides, as I don’t fall under the Ruu, this is no place for me to be showing off.”

“Are you running from my challenge? Manning the stove is more important to you than proving your strength as a hunter? Then you should stop calling yourself one, and devote yourself solely to cooking instead,” Darmu Ruu quietly spat out, stepping closer and bringing his face, with a deep scar down the right cheek, in close to Ai Fa’s ear. “I swear that if you beat me, I’ll acknowledge your strength as a hunter and never make light of you again. However, if I win, you’ll join the Ruu clan.”

He was speaking so quietly that I was probably the only other one able to hear it, since I was standing right beside Ai Fa.

As Darmu Ruu glared at her from up close and personal, Ai Fa replied in just as low of a voice, “In that case, what would happen to Asuta?”

“If you want, then I’ll smooth things over with my old man to get that chef accepted into the Ruu, too. You shouldn’t have any complaints about that, right?” As Vina Ruu looked a bit troubled and Lala Ruu was just plain confused, Darmu Ruu stepped back away from Ai Fa. “If you truly have any pride as a hunter, then you’ll accept my challenge. And if you don’t, then I’ll never acknowledge you as one.”

With that, Darmu Ruu walked off towards the center of the plaza.

After giving a small sigh, Ai Fa went to follow after him, and I reached out and grabbed her arm without thinking.

“Hey, you can’t possibly be thinking of accepting that one-sided challenge, right?”

“Now that my pride as a hunter has been questioned, I can’t back down. And that second son must have worked up a fair bit of resolve to make such a statement, too...”

“But still...!”

“The Ruu are also currently one of the leading clans of the forest’s edge. If I don’t form proper bonds with them, I could invite disaster once again for those close to me. And so, I see this as an opportunity to right things between me and that man.” Ai Fa’s gaze remained calm, but I could see some serious determination shining deep in her eyes. “I can’t say we have a very good relationship with the clan head, eldest son, and second son of the main Ruu house. However, Donda Ruu seems to have softened quite a bit because of your efforts, Asuta. That’s why I would like to do what I can to improve things with the second son as well,” Ai Fa said with a gentle yet reassuring grin.

And maybe she did it unconsciously, but she also gripped the blue stone hanging around her neck.

“As long as the conditions are fair, that second son won’t get the better of me. So just stay there and watch, Asuta.”

With that, Ai Fa also left us.

“Hey, you’re all back?” Ludo Ruu asked as he nonchalantly wandered over our way. “Was that Darmu and Ai Fa with you? Are they gonna have a go at it?”

“Seems like it. I can’t imagine Ai Fa managing to beat Darmu, though,” Lala Ruu replied.

“Hmm...” Ludo Ruu muttered while ruffling his yellowish-brown hair. “Guess I should go look for someone else to fight, then. If I just leave those two be they’re bound to advance, anyway.”

“Ludo Ruu! If Ai Fa and Darmu Ruu fight, then which one will win?” I asked, unable to hold back the unease swirling about inside of me.

However, Ludo Ruu just replied, “I’ve got no clue,” with a shrug of his shoulders. “In a contest of strength, any little thing can lead to a weaker opponent beating a stronger one. Well, unless there’s a huge gap between them.”

“So which one’s stronger? Ai Fa or Darmu Ruu...?”

My rather blunt question was met with the youth sticking out his tongue.

“As if I’d tell you that. Ooh, is Shin Ruu up?”

Just as Ludo Ruu had said, Shin Ruu had advanced to the center of the plaza alongside a youth I wasn’t familiar with.

Meanwhile, Ai Fa and Darmu Ruu were standing behind the tall old man who seemed to be acting as judge, the Rutim elder Ra Rutim. They must have been up next.

“Umm, is that the youngest son of the Min? Shin Ruu may be able to beat him, then. Huh...? What’s the matter, Sheera Ruu? It’s Shin Ruu’s time to shine.”

Those words hit me hard, and I turned to face Sheera Ruu.

The girl looked like she hadn’t even noticed Ludo Ruu calling out to her, as she stood there fixated on the center of the plaza. However, her lightly teary eyes may have been staring at the pair in the back rather than at her younger brother.

In the meantime, Shin Ruu showed some splendid close combat skills and defeated that youngest Min son. And as heated gazes and cheers fell over them, Ai Fa and Darmu Ruu moved into the center of the plaza in their place.

“On the right, Darmu Ruu of the Ruu clan. On the left, Ai Fa of the Fa clan. Display for us your pride as hunters,” Ra Rutim declared, his voice coming through clearly despite the commotion.

Ai Fa and Darmu Ruu stood about five meters apart as they faced one another.

Their difference in terms of height was around half a head. However, he probably had over 10 kilos of weight on her. Darmu Ruu had a pretty slender physique compared to the surrounding men in their prime, but Ai Fa was even thinner than that.

Could my clan head really beat him?

Since the loser was determined by whoever’s torso touched the ground first, the match wouldn’t be decided by physique and strength alone, though. I could at least understand that much. Still, in that case, it felt like a large man like Ji Maam would be a lot easier for her to handle.

For an extreme example, I felt like Ai Fa could definitely win a match against Mida. Even Vina Ruu had managed to trip him up with a grigee pole, after all.

But what about when she was up against an opponent like Darmu Ruu? There was an obvious gap between them because of their genders, but they both seemed to have the same body type. They each had a physique taut as a leather whip, yet honed like steel, as well as long limbs and an equal amount of agility and strength. On paper, Ludo or Shin Ruu may have been closer to Ai Fa, but overall Darmu Ruu gave off a very similar impression.

And though they were extremely similar types, Darmu Ruu was still a size larger. He would be a seriously troublesome opponent, right? For example, it was like boxers fighting with a 10 kilo deficit on one side.

If we were talking a boxer versus a sumo wrestler, I feel like the former could find an effective way to fight despite the disadvantage in terms of physique. The same was true for a boxer versus a pro wrestler or a karate master. What would decide things then would likely be down less to their different builds and more to the rules of the contest.

There were no real advantages or disadvantages from the rules here, though. They probably worked against Mida, but I certainly didn’t think the same applied to Darmu Ruu.

Just how exactly can Ai Fa grab ahold of victory here...? I worried, just as Ra Rutim gave the starting signal.

“Begin!”

Darmu Ruu lowered his stance, and Ai Fa did the same.

Even watching from 10 meters away, I could clearly sense the animalistic glares in their eyes. It was like a wolf and a wildcat were squaring off, staring one another down.

Darmu Ruu started by reaching out with his right arm, almost like a casual gesture. In turn, Ai Fa made a prompt leap to the outside to dodge it. However, before she could close the distance, Darmu Ruu swiftly moved her way.

There really didn’t seem to be all that great of a difference in how agile they were.

If it really were a battle between a wolf and a wildcat, it’d come down to who could land a crippling blow on the eyes or throat or whatever first, but such attacks were off-limits in this match.

Darmu Ruu carefully thrust out his legs and arms over and over again, and Ai Fa somehow managed to dodge each time. As time kept stretching on, it was looking more and more like a one-sided battle.

It was then that I noticed all of the surrounding crowd had gone silent. It was like the tension between the two fighters had infected them, too.

And then, things finally shifted.

Ai Fa had been doing nothing but defend up till now, but suddenly she boldly leapt forward, slipping past Darmu Ruu’s guard. Her head was down low, like she was trying to headbutt him in the stomach or something. However, Darmu Ruu nimbly twisted and dropped his right elbow down towards Ai Fa’s neck.

As if she had eyes on the back of her head, Ai Fa saw the attack coming and dropped down even lower to dodge it. Then, she slipped past his right side and reached out towards his back. And sure enough, she managed to grab ahold of his clothing.

“Wha?!” the youth angrily proclaimed, swiping his right elbow back towards Ai Fa. However, she moved just as much as he did, remaining right behind him so that the attack completely whiffed.

With that, Ai Fa grabbed hold of Darmu Ruu’s clothing with her other hand, too. She was right up on his shoulders, so much so that it was sort of reminding me of a conga line.

“You coward! Fight me face to face, fair and square!” Darmu Ruu wailed, swinging at Ai Fa with his elbows and heels. However, thanks to their positions, none of his blows landed.

“Attacking an opponent where their guard is down is a perfectly valid fighting technique,” Ai Fa replied, spinning her back to face his but still holding onto his clothing. And as she did so, she kicked out Darmu Ruu’s left heel with her right. With that, Ai Fa bent down, and with his posture already crumbling from her kick, Darmu Ruu’s legs both lifted into the air. His body did a single backwards flip before crashing headfirst into the ground.

It was a mysterious, frightening technique, a backwards shoulder throw or something. If this were judo, it’d probably be judged as one heck of a foul.

However, it was a contest of strength rather than judo, and so Ra Rutim declared, “Stop! The winner is Ai Fa of the Fa clan! Darmu Ruu of the Ruu clan must withdraw.”

It looked like Darmu Ruu managed to guard his head with his arms at the last second, at least. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had a concussion in spite of that. After all, he was laying on the ground holding his head and groaning.

A wave of cheers exploded forth like a dam had burst, and Ai Fa stood there silently for a moment before worriedly leaning over Darmu Ruu.

With that, Darmu Ruu’s right arm shot up like a snake and grabbed hold of Ai Fa’s shoulder. I had been in the middle of breathing a sigh of relief, but with that, I froze in place.

However, Darmu Ruu didn’t make any further moves. He just lay there on the ground, holding onto Ai Fa’s shoulder and glaring up at her face.

“Ooh, she sure got you there! Can you breathe alright, Darmu Ruu?” a loud, cheery voice called out as Dan Rutim stomped on over. It was my first time seeing him in quite a while.

After the clan head meeting Gazraan Rutim had become Donda Ruu’s right-hand man and was sent running all over, while Dan Rutim was apparently tasked with protecting his own clan instead. So for me and Ai Fa, it had been around half a month since we last saw him.

Of course, he didn’t seem to have changed at all in that half month, still wearing a carefree grin on his genie-like face.

“To think there was someone around other than me and Donda Ruu who could send Darmu Ruu flying like that! Man, that was an exciting match! Hey Ai Fa, hurry up and win another one so you can face off against me, alright?” Dan Rutim stated while he slipped his arm under Darmu Ruu’s left armpit and lightly lifted him to his feet. As he leaned heavily on the rotund man’s frame, the youth finally let go of Ai Fa’s shoulder.

“Ah, no, I don’t want to interfere in your banquet any further. And I have to help out with manning the stove, too, so I was planning on withdrawing at this point,” Ai Fa replied while standing up straight.

“That’s no good!” Dan Rutim replied loudly with a big grin. “Darmu Ruu’s strong enough to be considered one of the five best hunters among all the men under the Ruu. And you beat him that flawlessly, so it’d ruin the festivities to not show everyone just how strong you really are!”

“No, but...”

“This is a festival of the hunt, isn’t it? An event for hunters to show off and celebrate the strength that lets them take down giba out in the forest! Chefs have their work, and we hunters have our own job, too! And you’re a splendid hunter, so that’s what you should be doing!”

With that, Dan Rutim left while supporting Darmu Ruu, without Ai Fa offering any further objections. And with thundering praise raining down on her again all the while, my clan head once again triumphantly returned to us.

“Good work out there. At any rate, I feel seriously relieved.”

Ai Fa just sighed rather than giving any sort of response.

And then, a small figure came popping into view, clinging onto her back from behind.

“Ai Fa, that was amazing! You didn’t just beat Ji Maam, but even Darmu! You’re so awesome!”

“You’re heavy... Let go of me, Rimee Ruu.”

“Don’t wanna!” the girl retorted with a satisfied grin, rubbing her cheek up against Ai Fa’s.

It was then that I remembered my concern from earlier and turned to face Sheera Ruu. Her eyes were firmly shut, and she was gripping her hands tightly in front of her chest, as if she was desperately praying away.

3

“Well then, I’d like to get started cooking,” I said after we returned once more to the kitchen at Shin Ruu’s house.

Along with me were Vina, Sheera, and Lala Ruu, my usual stall group.

In the end, Shin Ruu lost to Ji Maam and had to retire with a record of one win and two losses. And so after that, we came back here to work on dinner.

I was still worried about Ai Fa as she got gradually dragged into continuing further and further in the contest of strength, but she had at least safely won her match with Darmu Ruu, so I just had to keep praying that there weren’t any unfortunate accidents for the rest of the event.

“We’ll start with the preparations for the heart. After all, freshness is key here.”

The innards from the giba Ai Fa had caught today were gathered in a pot by my feet. Since she was preoccupied, I actually ended up removing them all personally for the first time in a while.

It was decided that since Ai Fa had managed to catch it and bloodlet it properly, we would offer them as a side dish.

And so, we carried them along with us and headed for the river flowing in the rear of the settlement. The area used by the main house for washing was located further downstream. Apparently, the river ran along the east side of the Ruu settlement. Actually, now that I thought about it, they probably built the settlement where they did precisely because there was such a fine river right there. After all, the Ruu were a leading clan even 80 years ago, when the people of the forest’s edge moved here.

At any rate, once we reached the washing area, I taught the Ruu women the washing techniques I had only learned myself just yesterday. Fortunately, they were quick learners, so we got the bloody entrails nice and clean in no time at all.

“Please remember the color of these innards carefully. When a giba is ill they’ll be a more sickly shade, and you could get terrible food poisoning by eating them. So if you’re concerned at all about what you see, it would be wise to discard them in the forest instead.”

“Hmm, sounds like a real hassle in a number of ways... Are giba entrails really tasty enough to be worth all the extra trouble...?”

“I think that’ll vary from person to person. In fact, there may be a big split between people who like and hate eating them.”

After that we returned to the house and found Shin and Ryada Ruu waiting in front of the kitchen.

“Asuta, if you still need to skin the pelt, then we’ll help with that.”

“Huh? But what about the contest of strength?”

“Now that the final eight have been decided, they’re taking a short break over there, too. And I’m not a hunter anyway, so that had nothing to do with me to begin with,” Ryada Ruu replied.

With their long blackish-brown hair, eyes like someone from Sym, and calm, composed expressions, this father and son pair really were a lot alike. I could certainly imagine Shin Ruu ending up looking every bit as somber as his father when he grew older.

“Thank you, Ryada Ruu. Ah, Shin Ruu... Did Ai Fa manage to make it to the finals after all?”

“Yeah. One of the Lea men challenged her, and she defeated him. When added to the fact that she already beat Darmu Ruu and Ji Maam, she has certainly brought no shame to her title as a hunter. Ah, right... She asked me to tell you she was sorry for not helping out with manning the stove during this break. It seemed that Rimee Ruu was forcefully dragging her to Jiba Ruu’s bedroom instead.”

Was that why Shin Ruu had chosen to tactfully go ahead and accompany Ryada Ruu? I really was indebted to their whole family, Sheera Ruu included.

“Hey, so who else is moving on? There’s dad, Dan Rutim, and Ai Fa... And I’m sure Jiza and Gazraan Rutim must still be in it too, right?” Lala Ruu asked, and Shin Ruu nodded.

“The remaining three are Ludo Ruu, Rau Lea, and Mida.”

“Wow! Mida really did manage to keep on winning, huh?! That seems sort of cheeky of him, somehow! Wait... Ji Maam got knocked out?”

“Yes. Mida was the one to ultimately take him down.”

With that, Lala Ruu spread her arms out wide and reiterated, “He really is cheeky!”

Then, Sheera Ruu timidly stepped forwards. She had looked rather listless for a while now, too.

“So, um... Is Darmu Ruu alright?”

“I didn’t see him, but he should be. If he wasn’t, then Ai Fa would have been disqualified for injuring him, and someone else would have been chosen for the final eight. However... even though he only lost once, he apparently returned home rather than challenging anyone else.”

“I see...” Sheera Ruu muttered, then gave a sad sigh.

After watching over that, Shin Ruu’s gaze turned back my way.

“Well then, let’s get to work. The giba is in the shed, isn’t it?”

“Ah, hold on! There’s something else that needs to be done before skinning it.” With that, I returned the pot stuffed with organs to the kitchen, grabbed what I needed, and then followed Shin Ruu to the dissection shed. “Just a moment, please.”

In the middle of the room hung a giba a size bigger than the one from yesterday, looking to be somewhere in the 60-kilo range. I lowered down the beast, its torso already cut open and innards removed, and smeared the right rear leg with lard I had brought along from the Fa house.

“What exactly are you doing there, Asuta?”

“Ah, maybe it’s a bit wasteful, but I wanted to try burning the fur off of just this one rear leg.”

As I saw the father and son pair shooting me questioning looks out of the corner of my eye, I lit a single piece of firewood with lana leaves. When I brought that up close to the leg, the lard I coated it in and the black fur started smoldering. And man, did the bloody smell from the stomach and the stink from the burning fur ever make for one heck of an awful stench.

Of course, if I overdid it then I would burn the skin too, so when it looked about right I dashed water over it and called it done.

“Well then, would it be alright if I cut off just this one leg before you skin the pelt? I was thinking I’d try cooking with it for tonight.”

Though there were undoubtedly question marks swirling around their heads by now, neither Shin nor Ryada Ruu asked why. They were taciturn enough by nature that neither of them were going to say anything about my chef work, for better or worse.

“Is it any issue if we just skin the pelt like always from here on out?”

“No, and thank you. I’ve still got all my prep work for the stalls left, so you’re seriously helping me out here.”

After saying my thanks to the silent father and son pair, I triumphantly returned to the kitchen with my spoils of war in hand.

“Whoa, what’s that?” Lala Ruu asked right away, speaking as a representative for the not-at-all taciturn women.

“As you can see, it’s a giba leg. I burned just the fur off of it, so that should make it easy to handle later.”

However, the prep work for the innards had to be taken care of first. That meant burying the heart, liver, and kidneys in pico leaves, and dicing up the rest, then soaking them in a marinade made with myamuu, fruit wine, and tau oil. The plan with the former for tonight was to use just salt and pico leaves in place of pepper.

“So, with this leg, first up is getting rid of the rest of the hair that the fire didn’t take care of.”

It was already roughly cleaned off, but to get it the rest of the way, I let it soak for a bit in a water-filled pot, then went at it with a scrubbing brush made with hardened giba fur. It felt a little ridiculous, somehow, cleaning away giba fur with something made from the same stuff.

At any rate, once I was done with all that, the skin of the hind leg was now clearly exposed. It was a pale pink color, reminding me a lot of human skin, or maybe that of a pig.

This was an alternate technique for dealing with a pelt once taught to me in my previous life before coming to the forest’s edge, by a hunter in that camp I once attended. I had already tried it out once back at the Fa house, but Ai Fa hadn’t seemed too pleased with it, as it left you without a pelt to sell.

It was an open secret by now that she had been distributing the pelts from the giba she caught to smaller clans, but officially she just discarded them. And so she wasn’t able to complain about it, which made me feel bad for her and led to me only trying it out once.

“So, why go through all the trouble of doing that rather than just skinning the pelt...? And the pelt can be sold for plenty of coins when you do it the normal way, too, right?”

“Well, the only answer I’ve got to that is ‘because it’s tasty.’ And I figured this sort of extravagance would be allowed during a banquet. Or was I wrong on that point?”

“I don’t know... I guess it’s fine. And besides, Ai Fa was the one to take that giba down to start with, wasn’t she? In that case, the Fa clan is free to do with it as they please.”

I had thought similarly and chose that method as a result, but it was reassuring to hear that agreement, there. After all, the people of the forest’s edge liked to keep things plain and simple to begin with, so I had been rather concerned as to just how extravagant it was alright for me to get.

This time around, I effectively only had a single day to spare between being asked and having to do the job. And so, I had seriously racked my brains to figure out a tasty combination from the trial and error I had done at the Fa house that would also feel fresh enough for the banquet.

“So, what’re we doing with this leg? The contest of strength will probably wrap up just before the sun sets.”

“It’ll take some time for the seasoning to seep in, so that should be just fine... Sheera Ruu, I could teach you the cooking technique if you’d like. It’s a little different than usual,” I threw out there, as she had seemed like her mind was somewhere else at the moment, which was quite unusual for her.

“Huh? Ah, I’m sorry... We’re working right now, so I shouldn’t let my mind wander like that,” Sheera Ruu replied, then gave her own cheeks a slap. “I’m paying attention, now. But... I don’t think my house will be cooking giba with pelts still on like this.”

“I only left the skin on because I wanted to make things feel a bit more luxurious for the banquet. And if Ai Fa hadn’t gone and caught that giba, I was planning to just cook this dish using regular thigh meat. So, let’s start with the prep work.”

First off was cutting the meat off the bone in blocks as big as could be managed. Considering it was just the one leg, we would probably only get around four kilos. And so, the plan was to set aside one kilo for the champion in the contest of strength, while the other three would be used when needed in other dishes.

Once the meat was cut off we washed it nice and clean and then carefully beat it with wooden sticks. Then when we finished that step, I ground plenty of salt and pico leaves into just one kilo worth of meat. By my rough estimate, it looked to be around twice what I usually used for steaks.

Next, I added some cuts in several places along the block of meat for inserting some slices of the garlic-esque myamuu. With that, the preparations were complete.

“Now, we’ve got to let it sit for a bit. In terms of time, we’re talking about as long as you need to let the meat steep in the marinade for myamuu giba.”

In other words, around an hour. Then it would take roughly an hour to cook, meaning we were set to finish up just before sunset.

“Let’s try to finish up the preparations for work tomorrow in the meantime. Vina and Lala Ruu, you mince the meat for the giba burgers, and Sheera Ruu, please dice up aria.”

As for me, I went ahead and started cutting up meat for the other dishes. First up, that meant cutting the loin and rib meat off of the giba Shin and Ryada Ruu had skinned. Since the taste of the meat could change significantly based on how it was cut, this was the most delicate step and the one that I really couldn’t leave up to anyone else.

I handled the initial cuts with the knife I had been given by Ai Fa, then went with my kitchen knife for the following slices.

I’ve been overusing my old man’s knife, so I really would like to get a knife specifically for meat, soon.

That was what I thought, but the ones sold in the post town didn’t really cut much better than hunting knives, so I still hadn’t made up my mind and bought one. And I had been able to buy such a wonderful vegetable knife from Shumiral, so that made me feel even less like compromising.

They probably sell some pretty nice knives in the castle town, but I can’t go buying one without seeing it with my own eyes. If only Shumiral was selling a meat knife... I thought to myself, only for a cheer to erupt from the plaza again. The break must have ended and the competition resumed.

Around 15 minutes or so later, Rimee Ruu came flying into the kitchen, out of breath and her face beet red.

“It was so amazing! Ai Fa won again! If she wins just two more times, then she’ll be the champion!”

“Huh? Who was she up against?” Lala Ruu asked, voicing the same question I had been thinking.

“Rau Lea! He was really strong too, but Ai Fa threw him like whoosh! Whoosh!”

So she had fought Rau Lea, huh?

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that she beat him after having already taken down Darmu Ruu, but I guess that meant she had made it to the final four. However, I couldn’t say for certain whether or not I felt earnestly happy about that fact.

“What about everyone else? How did Ludo do?” Lala Ruu asked.

“He lost! He tried to trip up Mida, but he ended up falling first!”

“Hmm, so he lost before he got to face off against dad, huh? He’s gotta be real frustrated, then. In that case, the matches left are...”

“Papa Donda and Gazraan Rutim, and Jiza and Dan Rutim! Jiza’s up next, so come watch!”

Donda Ruu versus Gazraan Rutim, and Jiza Ruu versus Dan Rutim... So oddly enough, it ended up being matches between the Ruu and Rutim clan heads and heirs. Those sure made for some crazy matchups, so much so that I almost felt intimidated by the idea of watching them.

“Jiza and Gazraan Rutim are strong too, but they’ll never beat dad or Dan Rutim. Those two have always faced off against each other at the end these past ten years,” Lala Ruu stated, which took me a bit off guard.

“T-Ten years? That’s one heck of a record. And these festivals of the hunt are held three times a year, aren’t they...?”

“Yeah. There’s a big one once a year, and two small ones. And today is one of the smaller ones. For the big one, everybody under the Ruu gathers.”

So that meant that over those ten years, it was always either Donda Ruu or Dan Rutim who won, 30 times in total. I had vaguely sensed as much, but it seemed those two really were exceptionally strong even among the people of the forest’s edge.

And... it was already set that Ai Fa would have to face off with at least one of them very soon. No matter how much her safety may be assured, I still couldn’t help but feel concerned by that thought.

Ai Fa couldn’t possibly win that match, right?

That thought somehow worried me, too. If Ai Fa ended up clashing with Donda Ruu in the final match, my heart might just stop right then and there.

At any rate, time flowed on and the end of the prep work finally came into sight. By my estimate, there was probably around an hour left till sunset, so that meant it was time to get back to working on the meal for the victor.

“Well then, let’s get started. We’ll begin by cooking the meat’s surface with a strong flame, like with the cubed giba meat stew.”

The seasonings had thoroughly been absorbed into the chunks of meat, and so I dropped them in and cooked them till they reached a golden brown. Just like with the steak and burgers, this was to make sure none of the juices escaped.

“Then, we’ll add the vegetables we cut up to this pot which we’ve got on a low flame.”

The vegetables in question were aria, neinon, and chatchi. The aria and neinon had been cut into four even wedges, while the chatchi was split in half. And so we spread those out across the bottom of the pot, and then added the grilled meat on top.

“Now all that’s left is to pour in a fourth of a container of fruit wine, then put on the lid and wait. Let’s place plenty of rocks on top of the lid for weight, too.”

“So, is that it? It certainly does seem to resemble that cubed giba meat stew dish a bit.”

“Right? But that’s cooked in water or sauce, while this just uses fruit wine to add a bit of flavor. Rather than boiling, it uses the evaporating moisture from the fruit wine and vegetables to steam the ingredients,” I said, adding more firewood while taking care not to make the flame too strong. “With hamburgers and steaks, we bake them in a covered pan to heat them all the way through, right? Well, this meat is even thicker, so please keep in mind that it takes longer to steam in turn.”

“I see... So, what sort of dish is it?”

“For now, I’m calling it roast giba.”

Rather than coming from my house or the family’s restaurant, it was based on the roast pork and roast beef we would sometimes make when I was camping with my old man or Reina.

It would have been better if we had a tight-fitting metal lid to seal the pot properly, but unfortunately those didn’t seem to be sold in the post town. Still, I guess it acted as proof of just how much I had practiced that I was able to use this method to steam a ten-centimeter thick block of meat.

At any rate, the theme this time around was just plain using thick meat. That seemed like the right way to go for a dish to be presented to the victor of the contest of strength, but I still didn’t actually know how it would go.

“What’s important here is managing the flame. You should try to retain it at this level, which is weaker than even a usual low heat. That’s because if it’s too strong, it’ll end up burning the vegetables directly touching the pot.”

After somewhere between 40-50 minutes of steaming, we would be done.

Since we had finished the prep work for the stalls, I was thinking it was about time to let the women go, only for Rimee Ruu to show up again.

“Asuta, are you still not done cooking?! Ai Fa’s up against Dan Rutim next!”

“Huh?! She’s going to be facing off against him?!”

“Yeah! Jiza and Gazraan Rutim ended up losing after all! So after Ai Fa’s match, it’ll be Papa Donda against Mida!”

Ai Fa versus Dan Rutim, and Mida versus Donda Ruu, huh?

I could feel my heart beating way quicker for some reason upon hearing those matchups.

“Asuta, why not go watch? If it’s just managing the fire, then I can take care of that,” Sheera Ruu chimed in with a gentle smile. “And Vina and Lala Ruu, you two must be interested in Donda Ruu’s match, right? Just leave things here to me.”

“Huh? Is it really alright?” Lala Ruu asked while squirming a bit and turning my way.

I felt super anxious at the moment, but I still somehow managed to hold back my selfish urges in spite of that.

“We’re mostly done with work here, so sure, you two can go ahead and leave. And Sheera Ruu, you can go too if you’d like.”

“No, nobody from my house will be competing. Are you really okay with not going, Asuta...?”

“Yup. I’m sure Dan Rutim would never go and hurt Ai Fa, and so I’ll focus on my own work here.”

“Well then, we’re off! We’ll come back to tell you how it turned out once the match is over!”

With that, the sisters of the main Ruu house exited the kitchen, leaving just me and Sheera Ruu.

However, we didn’t exactly have anything to do but add a single piece of firewood every couple of minutes. And as I stared at the flickering orange flames, I just kept on praying that Ai Fa would be alright.

“Ai Fa really does possess great strength as a hunter, doesn’t she...? After all, I believe Darmu Ruu and Rau Lea had become strong enough to compete with Jiza Ruu and Gazraan Rutim lately...” Sheera Ruu quietly murmured eventually as we sat there watching the flames.

“Really? Well, it’s true that it usually surprises folks to hear how many giba Ai Fa catches. Still... hopefully Darmu Ruu will be back to his usual self soon, right?”

All I got back to that was a pained sigh.

I still felt on edge, though, so I kept on talking.

“Um, last month, Darmu Ruu got that injury from protecting Shin Ruu, right? I’ve had the least interaction with him out of the main Ruu house, though. What sort of person is he?”

“Darmu Ruu, he... he has a very rough temperament. My father Ryada has said that he most resembles Donda Ruu out of the clan head’s sons.”

“Ah, yeah, his eyes really are just like Donda Ruu’s.”

“Yes... I believe both Donda and Darmu Ruu are splendid hunters, fitting for the main house of one of the leading clans.”

Unfortunately, I still hadn’t been able to establish much of a friendly relationship with those two.

Still, it hadn’t taken me long to realize Donda Ruu was more than just rough and wild, and even though I had trouble dealing with him, I didn’t especially dislike the man. As for Darmu Ruu... there was that quarrel with Ai Fa from the very start, which probably created a pretty serious gap between us. He had gone and said such awful things to her that I couldn’t help but find him just about as irritating as Diga.

“Does Ai Fa really intend to live as a hunter until she dies out in the forest...?” Sheera Ruu eventually muttered, sounding as if she was just talking to herself. “She was born as a woman, and yet she will have no children and instead live as a hunter... Ah, I don’t mean to criticize her way of living. I just can’t understand how she thinks like that.”

“I don’t get it either, but it really does feel just like her to me.”

Ai Fa had once said she’d hate a life of just waiting around for men to return. In all likelihood, she wanted to be a protector rather than one of the protected.

I still hadn’t truly come to understand that statement, but I remained firm on the fact that I wanted to respect her feelings. However, I didn’t just solely want to let her protect me, and hoped to help her out in ways that didn’t require arm strength, too.

“Ai Fa doesn’t intend to marry either, right...?”

“Yeah. That’s—” I started to answer, only to be taken aback. Sheera Ruu was sitting cradling her knees and staring intently at the fire, her face redder than I had ever seen it before. “W-What’s wrong, Sheera Ruu?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean... You look kind of out of sorts, somehow.”

“Really? Maybe that’s so...” I couldn’t see the bottom of her beet-red face from behind her cradled knees. Her eyes were shooting me a real uncertain look, though. “The thought that you know just what I’m feeling made me feel embarrassed all of a sudden, somehow. I’m so sorry.”

“Y-Your feelings? Do you mean about Darmu—”

“P-Please don’t say it!”

That had to be the first time I had ever heard Sheera Ruu that flustered. And she was usually so calm and composed, so I couldn’t remember her openly showing such maidenly feelings before, either.

Now that I think about it, despite how mature she seems, she’s only a year older than me.

For some reason, I was starting to feel uneasy. Maybe this overly unfamiliar feeling was a desire to protect her or something.

“Asuta...”

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell anyone, alright...?”

“Right! Of course!”

“And I don’t need you to worry or feel sympathy for me. A woman like me who can’t even properly carry a water jug couldn’t possibly be worth marrying.”

“That’s absolutely not true!” I stopped and thought for a second, then rose decisively to my feet. “Sheera Ruu, could you make a single meal’s worth out of the meat with skin on it that we’ve got left?”

“Huh?”

“I was planning on making a simple steak or something for everyone with that meat. I’d like to leave one meal’s worth of that up to you, Sheera Ruu. And please make the sauce yourself, too.”

“W-What are you telling me to do...?”

“That’s up to you, Sheera Ruu.”

With that, Sheera Ruu hung her head, her face still bright red. Then, she looked up and tilted her head suddenly.

“Now that I think of it, Lala and Vina Ruu still haven’t returned. Didn’t they say they would come back to announce how the match between Ai Fa and Dan Rutim went?”

“Ah, now that you mention it, that’s true.” At least 15 minutes had to have passed by now. And with that thought, the unease I had buried deep inside came bubbling right back up. “Um, does a single match usually last this long?”

“Not normally. That’s why I found it unusual.”

I was still hearing the same cheers as always from the plaza, though.

“In that case, maybe Donda Ruu and Mida’s match started so quickly that they weren’t able to slip away.”

“No, after it’s down to the final eight, there’s a small break inserted after each match. Asuta... Don’t you think it would be good to go check on her, at least for a short while?”

“Ah, but—”

“I want to pay you back for worrying about me. Please, go. Besides... I think I’d like to be alone for a bit right now, anyway.”

That may have been nothing but an excuse, because she sensed what I was thinking. But either way, the unease I was feeling was reaching a point where I wouldn’t be able to hold it back any longer.

“Sorry. I’ll go take a quick look, then,” I said, then I went flying out of the kitchen.

Ai Fa was up against Dan Rutim. He had called the Fa clan friends, so there should be pretty much zero chance of him doing anything to harm her. I truly believed that, but I still couldn’t help but feel shaken, too.

What if one of them ended up getting injured in a way that would never fully heal? Or maybe some ill-meaning third party could’ve jumped in...

With such concerns driving me forwards, I stepped into the plaza only for a hearty laugh from Dan Rutim to instantly wipe away my needless fears.

“Ai Fa, you really are a splendid hunter! You’re the first to ever give me this much trouble, aside from Donda Ruu!”

Dan Rutim was standing there in a daunting pose right in the center of the plaza. However, his plump face, shiny bald head, and pronounced potbelly were all pouring forth so much sweat it looked like a waterfall.

The same was true for Ai Fa, who was standing a few meters away. She had remained cool and composed when up against Ji Maam, but now her face was coated in sweat and her shoulders were heavily heaving up and down.

Did that mean they really had been having an even match for 15 whole minutes, then?

“Still, hurry up and let me finish this already! I’m starving over here!” Dan Rutim yelled out, spreading both arms wide and attempting to grab Ai Fa.

It really did surprise me just how nimble he was. He couldn’t have weighed less than a hundred kilos, yet he could move as quickly as Ai Fa and Darmu Ruu.

Ai Fa barely managed to dodge by leaping to the side, but Dan Rutim didn’t stop moving. As he groaned, one of his spread arms lashed out again for my clan head.

In response, Ai Fa kicked him in the side and jumped even further back. However, Dan Rutim pivoted and followed her just as quickly.

Seeing that, Ai Fa bent over and tried to use the same low sweep that took down Ji Maam. And yet, Dan Rutim swiftly leapt into the air and easily evaded her attack.

Without a moment’s delay, Ai Fa touched both palms to the ground and leapt like a wildcat. Dan Rutim’s hand then crashed into the space where her head had been just a second earlier.

The cheers that erupted were almost overwhelming, louder than any I had heard up till now. I was honestly at a loss for words at the fact that such superhuman fighting had been going on for 15 whole minutes now.

Dan Rutim really was something else. Despite that huge belly of his, he was able to move just as quickly as Ai Fa. It was pretty ridiculous, considering he had to have over double the body mass of my clan head.

On top of that, he’d let out a hearty, “Gyahaha,” whenever he could spare a moment. When you added the grin on his face, it was abundantly clear just how much he was enjoying himself.

Ai Fa, meanwhile, looked downright desperate. It was like I was watching a wildcat under attack by a massive brown bear or lowland gorilla or something.

“A—” I muttered without thinking. “Ai Fa! Don’t give up! Give it everything you’ve got!”

I had no idea if my voice reached her or not, but my clan head then leapt inside Dan Rutim’s guard with some serious resolve. Unlike Darmu Ruu, though, the Rutim clan head didn’t move to dodge in the least, instead firmly planting his feet and swinging his arms down towards Ai Fa.

My beloved benefactor dodged that attack, then moved to circle around Dan Rutim’s right side. At that point, the man had already grabbed hold of her arm. However, in the same instant, she stooped down and went to sweep his legs.

If Dan Rutim had kept holding onto Ai Fa’s arm then, another impressive throw may have decided things then and there. However, he instead just let go and lifted his one leg in order to avoid her attack.

With her assault missing its mark, Ai Fa stumbled forward and almost fell, only for Dan Rutim to once again grab at her from behind.

“Ai Fa!”

My clan head pivoted on one leg, swiftly turning back towards the mountain of a man. And with that, Dan Rutim’s thick fingers grabbed hold of one of her shoulders.

It was all over.

Ai Fa collapsed backwards, seemingly unable to stop Dan Rutim’s charge. But as she fell, her right arm grabbed hold of his collar, then she kicked at his right foot with her left before it could hit the ground.

For the first time, Dan Rutim’s stance seriously crumbled. But at this rate, Ai Fa would fall along with him and end up underneath his massive frame. And so, she sunk her right knee into Dan Rutim’s potbelly, then let her weight pull downwards.

Grabbing his collar, kicking his leg, and dropping her weight... All of those factors combined together, causing Dan Rutim’s body to lift into the air as he fell forwards.

In all likelihood, this was the sort of overhead throw you saw in judo. However, Ai Fa was trying to reach out backwards with her left hand as she did so. No wait, maybe I was just misunderstanding, since instead of doing so, she lifted his stomach with her left knee and followed through with her truly impressive throw.

Dan Rutim’s huge body did a half flip in the air, then came down with a loud crash.

With that, the crowd erupted in cheers, overcome with excitement.

However, that was once again cut off by Ra Rutim’s stern voice.

“The winner is Dan Rutim of the Rutim clan! Ai Fa of the Fa clan must withdraw!”

What followed was, unsurprisingly, a storm of complaints.

The bald-headed, white-bearded Rutim elder glared out over the crowd with eyes like a hawk.

“Ai Fa’s waist touched the ground before Dan Rutim fell. Therefore, the winner is Dan Rutim!”

So that was why she reached out with her left hand partway through, huh?

Right now, though, Ai Fa was sprawled out on the ground and panting heavily. And the man she had thrown, Dan Rutim, was doing much the same just two meters away.

Once I saw Gazraan Rutim push through the crowd towards his father, I also stepped into the plaza. As rough cheers mixed with complaints filled the air, I ran over to my clan head.

“Ai Fa! Are you alright?!”

“This is... nothing...” Ai Fa replied in a hoarse voice, her mouth open wide and her eyes closed. I had never seen her this utterly exhausted before. “Lend me... your shoulder... I don’t think I can... walk properly on my own...”

“Right.”

I took hold of Ai Fa’s right arm, then gently helped her up while supporting her back. As she listlessly leaned against me, her body was so hot that it felt like she was on fire.

“I’m getting you... all sweaty...”

“Don’t worry about that. You’re in no state to be concerned about stuff like that, anyway.”

It was then that Dan Rutim’s strong son helped him sit up, and the man, who had appeared to be dead tired, broke out in a grin.

“I thought for sure that I had lost! Ai Fa, why didn’t you support your body with your left hand? If you had, you would’ve won!”

“My left arm only just recently healed, so I wasn’t confident I could use it to support your weight. If the bone popped loose again as a result, then I would no longer be able to carry out my work as a hunter.”

“So that was it! I can certainly understand that!” Dan Rutim then approached us, though it was honestly more like Gazraan Rutim was dragging him. And then, he brought his sweaty smiling face in close towards Ai Fa. “You really are a splendid hunter! Not only in terms of that amazing strength, but also in how you firmly understand what’s most important in our way of life! I feel glad from the very depths of my heart to have someone like you as a friend, Ai Fa!”

“I’m greatly obliged for that excessive praise. Now then, excuse us...” she replied, kicking me in the leg as she did so.

That must have meant, “get moving.” And so, as Dan Rutim shot an overjoyed grin and Gazraan Rutim joined in with a bashful smile, I bowed back at them and then retreated along with my clan head.

And as we went, Ai Fa was showered in unending applause and cheers. I couldn’t help but break out in an awkward grin myself, realizing just how exceptional my clan head truly was.

“What...? Are you laughing at my unsightly loss, Asuta?”

“Huh?” I questioned, looking at her in surprise, only to find her frowning as she leaned heavily on my shoulder. “What part of that was ‘unsightly’? I can’t imagine many hunters under the Ruu could put up that much of a fight against Dan Rutim.”

“But a loss is still a loss...”

“Umm, didn’t Lala Ruu say victory is something to feel pride over, but a loss is nothing to be ashamed of? And I don’t think that was the sort of match to feel frustrated over...”

“What are you saying? Of course I’m frustrated, coming that close only to lose,” my clan head retorted, still wearing that adorable pout as her sweet-smelling blonde hair rubbed up against my cheek.

4

“Thanks for waiting. This is what I prepared for today.”

Around when the sun was setting out over the forest to the west, I presented the dinner I had made to the winner of the competition, illuminated by the torches set up around the plaza.

And naturally, that winner was Donda Ruu.

In the end I never saw even one of his matches, but from what I heard, in the semi-finals against Mida he took the physically larger youth’s charge straight on and tossed him, and even during the finals with Dan Rutim, he met the man head-on rather than trying to drag things out against his exhausted opponent.

And now, he was seated with one knee up as always, atop a small wooden stage. A grass crown presented by the elder Granny Jiba sat atop his unkempt blackish-brown hair.

Despite the fact that he had only just finished three matches in a row against such strong opponents as Gazraan Rutim, Mida, and Dan Rutim, he was still wearing his usual sour expression and giving off as much of an overwhelming presence as always. The only real difference I could spy as he looked down at the plate I presented was that his stern face was sweaty and I could see his chest and shoulders moving up and down a bit heavily.

My dish for the night was presented atop the largest wooden plate in the Ruu settlement. Plenty of piping hot aria and chatchi blanketed the plate, and enshrined in the center was a kilo chunk of roast giba.

“I was wondering how odd of a thing you’d present, but this looks surprisingly normal. On the outside, at least.”

“Right. I hope that it’s to your tastes, Donda Ruu.”

Roast giba was made by cutting the meat thicker than what I’d call “slices,” then pouring a special sauce over top. For that sauce, I took a tau oil and fruit wine base, added diced aria and myamuu, rock salt and pico leaves, and the amber-colored juices that came from the roast meat, creating the best sauce I could make at the moment.

“Please try it while it’s hot, if you don’t mind. It should still be plenty tasty even after it cools off, but the people of the forest’s edge prefer to eat food while it’s warm, right?”

“Hmph,” Donda Ruu snorted, and then he rose to his feet.

The 70 men and women under him surrounding the stage were all waiting for the banquet to begin.

“Well then, let’s get this banquet started! All of you under the Ruu, grant your thanks to the forest while making its blessings into your own flesh and blood!”

A hearty cheer sounded out in response, and folks started picking up their skewers and containers of fruit wine.

Seeing that, Donda Ruu thumped back down, then casually reached for the plate. He thrust a skewer into a chunk of roast giba and bit into it with his white teeth, which looked tough enough to crush stone.

The dish wasn’t as tough as steak. However, that didn’t mean it was overly soft, either. That was why I ultimately chose the thigh meat over the loin.

Unlike with roast beef, it was essential to heat the giba meat all the way through, but I was able to pull it out just before it became too dry, resulting in a juicy pink steamed meat bursting with delicious flavor. Then, the jiggly bit of fatty meat and golden-brown skin I had cooked just a bit extra added even further to the texture and taste of the dish.

And I went light on that sauce that I was so proud of, intending to really let the flavor of the main ingredients shine. Normally, just the undercurrents of flavor from burying it in salt and pico leaves and then adding myamuu here and there would have been plenty. Once it cooled down, the delicious flavors would seep in even further, but it shouldn’t taste any less wonderful fresh.

By now, it had been roughly 60 days since I had come to the forest’s edge. And this dish was made using techniques from all the way back when I first got here up to ones I only just learned recently. But how did it taste, though? Well, I couldn’t exactly expect Donda Ruu to go say something like “delicious,” but—

“Delicious...”

“Huh?” I questioned, looking up in utter amazement.

However, Donda Ruu was just roughly chewing away at his second bite of roast giba with the same look on his face, not so much as glancing my way. Instead, his eyes fell down by his feet. That was where giba soup filled with plenty of vegetables made by the Ruu women, the baked poitan, and the dish made with innards were lined up.

“Hey, what’s this meat here? There’s some stuff in a shape I’ve never seen before mixed in there. You didn’t use meat from something other than a giba, did you?”

“Ah, that’s made with giba innards. I only just learned to make it yesterday, but I’d say it has a pretty interesting taste to it.” I had grilled up the giba heart, liver, and kidneys, and chopped up the rest to make into fried offal. “Ai Fa seemed to be especially fond of the heart. It’s the least quirky in terms of taste, and has a texture that’s pretty much the same as regular meat.”

“A giba’s heart, huh...?”

Donda Ruu casually pierced the grilled heart with a skewer and tossed it into his mouth. His brightly burning blue eyes were hidden behind his eyelids as he slowly and steadily chewed away.

After swallowing it down, Donda Ruu removed one of the necklaces he was wearing and held it out towards me.

“Good work. Here’s your payment.”

“Huh? Payment?”

Now that he mentioned it, we hadn’t discussed payment at all. But the Ruu clan had helped us out a ton with the clan head meeting and all the stuff that happened after, so I was just thinking of this as a way to repay that debt a bit.

“Thank you. But isn’t this a bit too much?”

There had to be around 20 horns and tusks dangling from the necklace in total. That was enough to equal five giba, or 60 red coins.

“You rate your skills as being worth that little...?” Donda Ruu questioned, thrusting the necklace at me and then returning to eating away at the roast giba.

However, it wasn’t long before he shot me an annoyed glare.

“How long do you intend to keep on staring at me as I eat, anyway? Your work’s done, so hurry up and fill your own stomach, already.”

“R-Right. Well then, excuse me...”

As I stepped down from the stage, I could sense a faint tinge of uplifting satisfaction welling up inside.

And near instantly, a figure came leaping out at me like a faithful hound and grabbed firmly ahold of my collar.

“Hey, Asuta, what in the world is this stuff?!”

“Y-You scared me there. What’s with that look on your face?”

The golden hair made me think it was Ai Fa for a split second, but I was actually talking to the young Lea clan head, Rau Lea. And his light blue eyes were fiercely ablaze as he stared at me from up super close.

“Do you even have to ask?! I just ate this food you made!”

“Ah, really? Then what are you looking so angry about? Did you not like it?”

“Of course I did! It was so delicious I was left feeling shocked! Were you holding back at the clan head meeting?!”

I had no idea what was going on.

But well, I’d seen people lose control of themselves due to how delicious something was plenty of times, which seemed like a reasonable enough explanation.

“That was bugging me, too. Asuta, were you still hiding away your true skill with the dinner for the clan head meeting? Or have you instead really come this far in a mere half a month?”

A large figure approached from the darkness, which would soon only be illuminated by the torches. He had a gentle face with square contours, and was clearly young but had a large, well-tempered build. Yes, this was my first time in a while seeing this member of the three leaders of the forest’s edge.

“Ah, Dari Sauti. I see your injuries seem to have all healed up.”

“Yep,” he replied with a firm nod.

Ai Fa had run into him during the incident with the totos, but for me, it had been since the day before Zattsu and Tei Suun caused all that commotion. And just as Ai Fa had said, he seemed to have completely recovered.

On top of that, back when I last saw him he had just finished meeting and talking to Kamyua Yoshu in the post town, leaving him rather irritated. But tonight he was back to his usual composed self, and was wearing a gentle grin.

“Ah, yes, I’m sorry for worrying you back then. And I’m glad to see you well, too. So... do you intend to answer the question the Lea clan head and I have raised? We have no reason to be angry with you for hiding your skills, but it will leave things feeling rather awkward if we don’t at least hear why.”

“Um, you’re saying I hid my skills...?”

Just the other day, the members of the main Ruu house had been saying my cooking ability had improved. However, from the flustered look on Rau Lea’s face, the nuance seemed to be a bit different this time around.

“What are you raising such a fuss about? Asuta only prepared so much food this time, so if you don’t hurry up, it’ll all get eaten,” Ludo Ruu chimed in, snacking on the thigh meat steak atop the plate he was holding all the while. It was made with the meat that still had skin attached, and was about three kilos worth in total. There looked to be only around a fourth of the steamed aria and chatchi left, too.

“Leave enough for me! I’m still really hungry! So, what’s going on here, Asuta...? You manned the stove at the clan head meeting in order to show everyone your cooking skills, didn’t you? Did you hold back in spite of that, though?”

“Hey, that hurts. I never hold back when it comes to cooking.”

“Then you really improved that much in just half a month? But I had your cooking back at Gazraan Rutim’s wedding, too! There were 20 days or so between that and the clan head meeting, but it didn’t seem like you had improved this much.”

Rau Lea seemed more confused than resentful, to be honest. And I was left even more befuddled than he was.

However, Ludo Ruu then swiftly butted in to clear away that confusion.

“What, you’re surprised because Asuta’s cooking is too delicious? That’s not exactly anything to feel shocked over, though, is it, Rau Lea?”

“Why do you say that? Do you know what’s going on here, Ludo Ruu?”

“Of course I do. After all, Asuta wasn’t the one to make the food presented at the clan head meeting, right? Though I was stuck chewing jerky with Shin Ruu, so I didn’t even get to eat any...”

At first I hadn’t understood what he was getting at, but with that, everything clicked into place.

“Ah, so that’s it, huh?”

“That’s right. The goal back then was teaching the Suun women how to cook, so you said you and our women intended to do as little as possible yourselves. And even if the method used was the same, there’s no way they’d ever be able to make anything as good as you can, Asuta.”

It still should have been an incredibly overwhelming flavor to folks who had only ever eaten grilled and boiled giba meat that hadn’t even been bloodlet. The same was true for the baked poitan, too.

Plus, I had gone with myamuu giba, which shouldn’t have changed that much based on who made it. Well, how the heat was handled and how much sauce was added would have an impact on the toughness and taste of the final dish. And as instructors, we had just been giving the Suun women simple instructions like “Don’t burn it,” and “Don’t undercook it.”

Still, the fact that rustic guys like Rau Lea and Dari Sauti were noticing differences on that level and feeling surprised by them seemed like something I should feel proud of.

“But I’ve had the cooking Asuta makes for his stalls in the post town, too. That didn’t seem as tasty as this, either,” Rau Lea added, still not satisfied.

“Back then, I couldn’t prepare enough patties, so I had everyone eat myamuu giba instead. And I’ve been making that dish with the seasoning a bit on the heavy side to match the tastes of the townsfolk. But I don’t think that’s how to best prepare it for the people of the forest’s edge,” I replied.

“That’s right. Plus, back at the Rutim banquet, the Ruu women helped out. It’s just that this is your first time eating something made solely by Asuta for us people of the forest’s edge,” Ludo Ruu added, tossing some chatchi into his mouth. “Ah, that’s so good! The meat’s tasty too, but this chatchi is the best! I seriously love it!”

With that, Ludo Ruu broke out in an adorable, almost girlish smile that seriously caught me off guard.

I figured that had brought things to a close and breathed a sigh of relief, but then someone suddenly grabbed Rau Lea’s arm from the side.

“Hey, are you acting rudely towards Asuta? If you don’t have a damn good reason, you’ll have to answer to me, clan head of the Lea.”

This time around, it really was Ai Fa.

Rau Lea’s expression said that he had a lot of thoughts about her intervention, but sure enough, he finally let go of my T-shirt.

“I wasn’t picking a fight or anything, so don’t go glaring at me like that. Or could it be that you want to have another go in a contest of strength against me, Ai Fa...?”

“No matter how many matches we have, the results won’t change,” Ai Fa replied in a chilly, angry tone as she pushed the man’s arm away.

With that, Rau Lea childishly rubbed the end of his nose.

“Something’s just not fair about you guys, Asuta and Ai Fa! You’re a clan of just two, but one’s a master at manning the stove, while the other’s a skilled enough hunter to push Dan Rutim that far! I just can’t accept it!”

“Your feelings have nothing to do with me,” Ai Fa stated while haughtily crossing her arms and glaring back at Rau Lea. And seeing that, Dari Sauti gave a light chuckle after remaining silent for so long.

“I hadn’t thought Donda Ruu was a relaxed enough man to go and hold a festival of the hunt during such a turbulent period, but this has proven a meaningful day for me, at least. Perhaps we should have had Gulaf Zaza attend as well, since we have those convenient totos around now.”

“Huh? What’s this about Gulaf Zaza?”

“The Ruu clan truly does excel in terms of strength. The power of the hunters is certainly amazing, but even more than that, I could sense great strength from all those who fall under the Ruu,” Dari Sauti stated, glancing around.

The folks all around wore bright smiles, illuminated by the flames of the torches and simple stoves. It really was a cheerful event, reminding me of the Rutim wedding banquet.

They were with their beloved family, chowing down on delicious food and drinking fruit wine. And they were overflowing with enough strength that it made someone from another world like me feel dizzy. But this wasn’t totally normal here at the forest’s edge...?

“The Zaza up in the north are the next strongest after the Ruu. Then after that comes us down in the south. However, we never have such joyous smiles all around at a meager festival of the hunt like this, that isn’t even the main one for the year. For us, giba meat and the vegetables we buy from town are just tools to keep on living, like air and water, not something to grant us happiness.”

“Right...”

“Eating brings forth the joy of living. And as that joy grows, so does the strength to keep on going. You said something like that before, didn’t you, Asuta? At least, that’s what Donda Ruu told me.”

“D-Donda Ruu told you that?”

“Yes. This day alone has been enough to teach me of the strength of the Ruu clan. And it also taught me the power of the Fa as well,” Dari Sauti stated, his square face breaking out in a wild grin. “The meeting with the folks from the castle is three days from now. Going up against them, the people of the forest’s edge need to gain even more power, and join our strengths together. I firmly hope that both of you will keep giving your all for our comrades, Asuta and Ai Fa.”

“R-Right.”

“That’s only natural, as people of the forest’s edge.”

Dari Sauti answered our responses with a nod, then turned around.

“I’ll go accept the women of the Ruu clan’s kindness and fill my stomach, too. Take care.”

With that, Dari Sauti left, only for someone else to approach in his place. Multiple someones, in fact: Lala and Shin Ruu, as well as Mida.

“We finally found you! Don’t just go walking off with Asuta’s cooking like that, Ludo! We’ve been running all around looking for you!” Lala Ruu complained as she approached her brother and gave his left ear a serious twist. And despite being a skilled warrior, Ludo Ruu was utterly unable to avoid her assault while carrying that large plate of food.

“Ow, that hurts, dummy! And if I just left it there, that big belly would’ve eaten it all in no time flat!”

“You’re every bit as gluttonous as Mida, though! Anyway, just hand it over already!”

As the two siblings argued away, Mida just watched on with his little piglet-esque eyes.

“I won’t eat all of it, but I’d like to have some of Asuta’s cooking too...”

Not only did Mida not run wild like usual, he even looked almost a bit dejected as he said that.

“Alright. But this is all that’s left, so savor it, alright?”

“Yeah, I will...”

“Tch. Hey Mida, next time we fight, I’m definitely gonna win! So you better not lose to anyone but me, alright?”

“Hmm...?”

There was such a gentle feel in the air.

Back during the Rutim wedding banquet, I had stuck thoroughly to working behind the scenes, so I didn’t really get much of a chance to just enjoy the party with everybody like this. That one plate contained all the food I made this time around, but folks were happily eating away at the stuff cooked by Mia Lea and Reina Ruu and everybody. Normally the people of the forest’s edge acted so reserved, but these banquets that occurred every few months were chances for them to finally cut loose.

A little bit further away, Granny Jiba sat atop a fur rug, surrounded by a big crowd. Meanwhile, the large figure holding ribs in both hands while laughing away like a fool had to be Dan Rutim. And was that Rimee Ruu by his feet in the same pose? Then even further away were two tall folks talking away about something while holding containers of fruit wine. My guess was they were Jiza Ruu and Gazraan Rutim.

Every last one of them seemed to be seriously enjoying the banquet. The men, women, and though there were fewer of them, the old folks and kids too... 70 clan members under the Ruu were gathering around with their faces illuminated by the flames, eating meat, getting drunk on wine, and just generally rejoicing in their lives here at the forest’s edge.

Just as Dari Sauti had said, the discussion with the folks from the castle was just three days from now. I felt it was precisely because of those circumstances that Donda Ruu had decided to go through with this festival banquet, in order to reaffirm the lives and happiness they sought to protect.

“Asuta, have you eaten anything yet?” Ai Fa asked, shooting me a glare with half-opened eyes.

“No. Though I did take a few bites here and there while cooking.”

“I knew it! I see you still haven’t grown any on that point. I mean, you—” Ai Fa complained, only for Ludo Ruu to cheerfully butt in and cut her off.

“Ah, you’re finally up, Darmu! Look, here’s Asuta’s cooking.”

Ai Fa and I shared a quick glance, then we both turned around back towards Ludo Ruu. And sure enough, we saw Darmu Ruu lightly brushing aside his younger brother and advancing our way.

“I’ve got something I want to discuss with you, chef of the Fa clan.”

The strongly blazing eyes he got from his father were practically piercing right through me.

It didn’t take long for Ai Fa to move to say something, but Darmu Ruu then spoke up again instead, as if trying to beat her to the punch.

“I’ve settled things with the clan head of the Fa. So that just leaves you, chef... No, Asuta of the Fa clan. There’s something I wish to discuss with you alone, without anyone else around.”

“Will you swear that you won’t do Asuta any harm, second son of the Ruu?” Ai Fa sharply interjected.

“I so swear,” Darmu Ruu quietly replied. “If I break that oath, you can take my arm or leg or whatever you please. I swear on my position as second son of the main Ruu house and my pride as a hunter of the forest’s edge that I won’t do any harm to Asuta of the Fa clan. Everyone here can serve as a witness to those words.”

“Hold on! What are you saying all of the sudden, Darmu?!” Lala Ruu questioned in a clearly angry tone.

Meanwhile, Ludo Ruu was furrowing his brows in confusion, while Shin Ruu remained expressionless. Mida looked just the same as always, and Rau Lea... Rau Lea was shooting Darmu Ruu a gaze like a hunting dog.

“Is there some discord between you two or something? Well, whatever. At any rate, I did indeed hear that oath with my own two ears. And if you happen to break it, then I’ll chop off both your arms, Darmu Ruu.”

“Whatever,” Darmu Ruu muttered back.

Ai Fa looked my way, firmly biting her lip as she did so. And so, I nodded back at her, then looked up at Darmu Ruu.

“Alright. Where do you want to talk?”

“Anywhere is fine, as long as nobody’ll go butting in.”

As we left the plaza together, Darmu Ruu remained utterly expressionless. And before too long, we arrived at a dimly lit area between two houses.

The hustle and bustle of the crowd and the light of the torches now seemed rather distant. Darmu Ruu glanced out into the darkness to make sure nobody was hiding there, and then turned back to face me.

“Asuta of the Fa clan... You heard the promise I exchanged with Ai Fa before the contest of strength, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“After saying all that, I lost. I’m no longer qualified to stop her. From here on out... you’re the only one capable of doing that.”

“Stop Ai Fa...?”

Darmu Ruu remained expressionless, but there was a fire burning bright in his blue eyes. If Rau Lea’s eyes were those of a hunting dog, then these were the eyes of a wild wolf.

“I’m not capable of dressing up my words, so I’ll just say exactly what I’m thinking. Don’t you have any interest in stopping Ai Fa...? Or would you be just fine going on as is even if she dies out in the forest, Asuta?”

“That’s... You’re asking me to make her stop being a hunter?”

“Of course. What else could I mean?”

I honestly hadn’t been expecting this in the least.

“H-Hold on! You put yourself in danger as a hunter too, don’t you, Darmu Ruu? So you shouldn’t have any problem with the job itself, right?”

“She’s a woman. It’s not like with us men, who are born to be hunters. Don’t make me go saying such obvious things.”

“But Ai Fa takes pride in living as a hunter. She may have happened to be born as a woman, but she has the same hunter’s soul as—”

“Never mind all that. What I’m asking about are your feelings on the matter, Asuta.”

Darmu Ruu took a step forward, the dirt under his foot crunching as he went.

There wouldn’t be any point to trying to back away. After all, if he meant me harm, I never would have been able to escape to begin with.

“Could you really accept such a fate? She could die out in the forest at any time, even tomorrow. But you can still accept that because she says she’s a hunter?”

“That’s... But... It’s not as if all hunters die young, right? And even though she’s a woman, Ai Fa is incredibly strong and—”

“You sound more like you’re trying to convince yourself. No matter how much a hunter may excel, that alone is not enough to keep on living. And in actuality, she was heavily injured not too long ago, wasn’t she? If she had run into a giba on her way back at that time, she would have died.” The intense glare in his eyes was seriously pressing down on me. And from what I could sense, the flames burning brightly there were fueled by anger and regret. “She’s used dangerous sacrificial hunting techniques, too. Do you really think she’s going to keep on doing just fine like that? Answer me, Asuta. Do you truly not care if Ai Fa dies out in the forest tomorrow? Is that all she means to you in the end?”

“Ai Fa’s more precious to me than anyone else in this world! But... I don’t want to deny her way of life!”

“So you’re fine with losing her as a result? I... I couldn’t stand that!” Darmu Ruu yelled, finally losing control of his voice. The scar on his right cheek seemed to turn an angry red. “I don’t want to lose Ai Fa! I couldn’t bear such a fate! That was why I wanted her to live as a woman! But I... I know that I can’t do anything to stop her anymore.”

“That’s...”

“I wasn’t able to protect her on the night of the clan head meeting, either. And today, I lost to her. I’m not qualified to say anything to her anymore... I lack the strength to protect her. I can’t do a thing!” Darmu Ruu shouted, grabbing me by the collar. His grasp was even firmer than Rau Lea’s... but his fingers were trembling with regret. “You don’t intend to do anything to stop Ai Fa? You’re the only member of her clan... the only one she has accepted as family, but you won’t protect her?”

“I do want to protect her! But—”

How could I go about putting what I felt into words?

I certainly didn’t want Ai Fa to die. That was so obvious that it went without saying.

But even so, despite all that, I didn’t want to deny her way of life.

“But I want to protect her in a way that respects her thoughts and feelings. If she wishes to live as a hunter, then I want to help her while still letting her do so.”

That wasn’t quite it. I was losing something important in putting it into words. And as a result, that statement wasn’t even enough to convince me.

Naturally, that meant it certainly wasn’t enough for Darmu Ruu, and so he gripped my collar even tighter.

“And if that resulted in losing Ai Fa, could you really bear that?”

“Maybe I couldn’t. That could even lead to me regretting it for my whole life. But I believe that if I want to prioritize Ai Fa’s feelings, I have to have enough resolve to accept the risk.”

Was that way of thinking a mistake?

It seemed to me that the Ruu women had far more resolve then I did as they saw the men off when they headed into the forest. Even believing their family is stronger than anyone, they accept the cruel fate that they could perish at any time, and so they just had to keep trusting in them and praying for their safety... Or at least, that’s how it looked to me.

It felt like what I was lacking was that level of resolve. And so, I concluded that I just had to keep on believing in my family like they did... Believing in Ai Fa. Was I mistaken, though?

“You possess definite strength... In such a short period of time, you’ve made that fact abundantly clear. Wouldn’t it be possible for Ai Fa to stop hunting with all the coins you’re earning in town?” Darmu Ruu questioned through firmly gritted teeth.

I was honestly overwhelmed at finding out that Darmu Ruu had been this fiercely worried about Ai Fa.

Was that why I was feeling so shaken? Maybe what she really needed was someone like this, to save her from her cruel fate...

I...

I just silently stared back at Darmu Ruu’s distorted expression.

Then, after who knows how long, he finally let go of my collar, gave an exasperated look, and then turned his back to me.

“If Ai Fa dies out in the forest, I’ll cut you down. No matter what happens to me as a result, I’ll do so without fail.”

With those final words, Darmu Ruu walked away.

However, I didn’t take a single step from the spot.

As Darmu Ruu left into the darkness, I felt like I saw someone slender come running over to him with a plate, but I may have been mistaken. After all, my senses felt numb at the moment.

There was a warm world overflowing with light just a few meters away from me. The orange flames, hustle and bustle of people moving about, and excitement at the banquet could all be strongly felt.

But was I qualified to return to that place...? I no longer could say.

Was I... just letting myself rely on Ai Fa’s strength?

Ai Fa was exceedingly skilled as a hunter. And on top of that, she was always insisting that she wouldn’t go dying in vain. That the proper path forward for a hunter was to live a long life and hunt as many giba as possible. Had my thinking been soft as a result of believing in those words?

Did I believe that Ai Fa couldn’t possibly die? That she would never meet with such an unreasonable fate?

I didn’t know. I really didn’t, but I—

“How long do you intend to keep standing there, Asuta?”

Still in shock, I turned around to look.

There was no way I would mistake who that voice belonged to, though. And sure enough I found that it was Ai Fa standing there resolutely, the orange-lit scenery of the banquet behind her.

“W-What’s wrong, Ai Fa?”

“Do you really even need to ask? The second Ruu son returned, but you weren’t following, so I came to check,” Ai Fa replied, a sulky look on her face as she stomped on over towards me.

I faltered backwards on reflex, only for her to grab hold of my arm.

“Why are you fleeing? And what’s with that pathetic look in your eyes? You should be perfectly capable of handling that second son complaining at you, right?”

As she said that, she angrily looked me up and down. In all likelihood, she was making sure that he hadn’t roughed me up.

“You didn’t eavesdrop on our conversation, did you...?”

“I would never do anything so shameless. I’m not Kamyua Yoshu, you know. I’d recommend you stop making such rude statements if you don’t want to pay for them.”

“Yeah, you’re right... Sorry.”

“Really though, what happened? Are you harboring ill feelings not just toward that second son, but also toward me?” Ai Fa asked, looking down just a bit and giving her usual pout.

She must have been willing to so openly show her emotions because nobody else was watching at the moment. I found that incredibly adorable, but it also seriously caused my heart to ache.

“If that’s the case, then I’ll also earnestly apologize. Just please stop making such a sad face, Asuta.”

“Huh? You didn’t do anything you need to apologize for, though...”

“Really? But I took my anger out on you after losing to Dan Rutim, didn’t I?”

I hadn’t paid any attention to that in the least. I mean, that had been totally normal, right?

“Back then, I failed to restrain my frustration. But once I cooled my head, I realized... Dan Rutim is a match for even Donda Ruu, and even though it was a contest of strength with all sorts of restrictions, I was able to put up a good fight against him. That’s something I should be proud of.” Then, she broke out in a bit of a bashful smile. “My father Gil guided me properly. I’m now more confident than ever that I really am a proper, competent hunter. I know I caused you to worry needlessly as a result, but I truly do feel glad to have participated in that contest of strength.”

“I see...”

“What, do you not feel happy for me, Asuta?” Ai Fa asked, furrowing her brow again and bringing her face in close. “Something really is off with you. I’ve rarely seen such a pained look in your eyes before. You said before that you wouldn’t hide things from me any longer, didn’t you?”

“I did, but this isn’t exactly something that’s easy to talk about...” I replied, only for Ai Fa to shoot me an incredibly displeased look.

And then, she said, “No fair.” Not something like, “That’s not fair,” just, “No fair.” It was that sort of stuff that she did once in a blue moon that really showed her childish side. “I earned honor as a hunter. And as for you, your cooking skills were once more acknowledged by Dari Sauti, Rau Lea, and likely even Donda Ruu. So it’s no fair that you’re looking so sad on such a joyful day.”

“I mean, you say that, but...”

“I’m telling you, it’s just no fair.” With that, Ai Fa grabbed hold of my hand tightly. “You feel distant somehow, Asuta. No, it’s more like... you feel as if you’re going to go and disappear on me,” she stated with a sense of urgency on her face, drawing in even closer to me. “I believe I told you already, but I simply can’t accept the idea of you vanishing, Asuta.”

I was at a loss for words.

“You’re a precious member of my house. I... I couldn’t go on without you.”

I could feel Ai Fa’s breath on my cheek.

There was a sweet smell tickling my nose.

And I could feel her warmth on my fingers, too.

“If I made you feel unpleasant, then I’m sorry...” she muttered quietly, then let go of my hand and hugged me tight from head on. “Stay by my side forever. And I swear that I’ll do the same for you, too.”

Ai Fa’s arms were wrapped around me so tight that it felt like they could crush me.

And though I couldn’t ever possibly match her strength, I responded by gently hugging her back.

“I want to stay with you, too. If you’ll forgive me, that is.”

“What are you saying? I’m the one who said I wanted to stay together to start with.”

There was just one thing that I knew for certain: I really did love Ai Fa, exactly as she was here and now.

She prided herself on being a hunter and was willful, but also had a hidden stubborn, childish side, too... And I loved her for each and every one of those things.

I didn’t want to lose Ai Fa.

If it was possible, I wouldn’t want her to ever do anything dangerous in the least.

But even more than that... I didn’t want to see her change.

If she found some other work she could take pride in and would match with her convictions, then she would of course have my blessing, wholeheartedly. But if that wasn’t the case... If Ai Fa found her greatest joy in life as a hunter, then I wanted to support and protect that way of life for her, rather than trying to deny it.

As I was now, that was about all I could think to say on the matter. But those thoughts alone were enough for me to hug Ai Fa strongly back.

“That’s too tight,” Ai Fa finally complained around 15 seconds or so later.

And so, the night of the 27th day of the blue month, my 64th day since coming to this world, peacefully passed by in that manner, filled with all sorts of emotions from all sorts of people.