Chapter 1: Intrusion

1

Three days had passed since the observers from the capital had interrogated us, meaning it was now the thirteenth of the green month. Since we’d had yesterday off from the stalls, today was the start of a new five-day business period.

The interrogation the other day had ended in a rather unnerving manner, but the three days following it had fortunately gone just fine. In fact, things had almost been too quiet. No people of the forest’s edge had been summoned to the castle town, and the soldiers hadn’t caused any more trouble in the post town, so it kind of felt like we had returned to our normal everyday lives.

But naturally, Duke Marstein Genos and the observers had continued to have daily meetings all the while, and thanks to Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma, we had been able to stay apprised of how those were going. The observers were still persistently trying to find fault with Marstein, but he had managed to keep staving them off without too much trouble.

“Frankly, Duke Genos is far better at playing politics than those observers are. But of course, he doesn’t have anything to hide in the first place, which is why he’s able to meet their attacks head-on without worry,” Kamyua Yoshu said when he swung by The Kimyuus’s Tail. “We still have to be cautious moving forward, though. Since their frontal assault is failing, there’s no telling what the observers will try next. They might even resort to actions that push the limits of the kingdom’s laws in an attempt to stir up trouble, so all of you need to stay vigilant too, okay?”

We kept his advice firmly in mind as we continued with our day-to-day lives. However, we hadn’t noticed anything suspicious so far. We had been doing business with our five stalls the same as always.

“After they summoned you so suddenly, I was really worried about what might happen when you went to the castle town, Asuta. I’m glad things turned out okay,” Aldas, the second-in-command of the construction group, said when he arrived shortly before the sun hit its peak. “And it’s been known for practically a whole year now that you weren’t born here on this continent, so it’s ridiculous that they’re making a big fuss about it now.”

“Yeah, well, if I had lived a quieter life, they probably wouldn’t have gotten so antsy about me being here. But I did play a big role in what happened with the house of Turan and the old leading clan at the forest’s edge.”

“Maybe, but they should’ve been able to tell you aren’t a bad guy just by looking at you. With a cute face like that, it’s hard to even imagine you deliberately doing wrong,” Aldas remarked with a hearty grin.

Next to him, the leader of the group, Balan, was looking as displeased as always. “The nobles in your capital spend their days constantly plotting and scheming, so they assume everybody else is the same. They’re irredeemable.”

“Well, I’m going to be very careful with what I do from now on, so hopefully, I’ll be able to earn their trust sooner or later.”

“Hmph. The issue is how those nobles see things, not you.”

He was completely correct, and I had no idea how to respond.

“Well, whatever,” Aldas said with a shrug. “I’m just happy you’re all right, Asuta. You’ll be able to keep on doing business in the post town like always, yeah?”

“That’s right. Duke Genos said he wants us people of the forest’s edge to keep going about our lives normally, so there shouldn’t be any issues on that front.”

“Seems like the lord of Genos is better at his job than I thought. He’s not half bad for a noble!”

After ordering the daily special, twice-cooked giba sauté, the members of the construction group headed over to the restaurant space.

We hadn’t seen any significant decrease in the number of customers we were getting. In fact, now that the soldiers from the capital had started taking an interest in our cooking, our sales seemed to have picked up instead.

For the innocent, the truth was the strongest weapon at one’s disposal. That was the principle Marstein was currently basing his strategy on. Rather than trying to hide the fact that the observers were suspicious of him, he was putting everything right out in the open in order to establish his innocence.

As a result, word of the allegation the observers had made during the interrogation—that I was a spy sent to the settlement at the forest’s edge by Marstein in order to take down the house of Turan—had already reached the post town. According to Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma, those who heard it generally had one of two reactions: They either laughed it off as ridiculous or grew furious at the accusation. Marstein’s thinking was that when the soldiers stationed in the post town noticed those reactions, the observers would soon learn of them as well, and that would show them just how off the mark their suspicions were.

“In other words, it’s a plan based on the recognition that you’ve built up a great deal of trust with the people of the post town. After all, if there were a lot of people in town who thought poorly of you, it would have the opposite of its intended effect,” Kamyua Yoshu had explained, which had kind of worried me. After all, I had only formed bonds with a very limited number of people compared to the entire population of the post town, so I had no way of knowing what other folks thought of me.

But even now, after three days had passed, there hadn’t been any indication from the observers that they had heard any negative rumors about me. That drunkard Dregg had been here in Genos for over ten days with nothing to show for it, so he must have been feeling seriously annoyed.

That’s why we have to be wary of any sneaky tricks they might try to pull, huh? Still, I don’t know how we’re supposed to guard ourselves against their next move when we have no idea how they’re going to come after us... I thought.

We were getting close to when we’d be wrapping up for the day, but before we reached that point, a small incident occurred.

As I was laying out the last of my ingredients atop a tray, Raielfam Sudra came up behind me and whispered, “Asuta, someone with an abnormal aura about them is approaching. Prepare yourself to move at a moment’s notice.”

“Huh? U-Uh, got it.”

As I put my ingredient bag away, I glanced left and right down the road, but nothing seemed out of place. The lower second hour was fast approaching, and the flow of customers coming our way had slowed to a trickle. There were some travelers here and there along the path, but that was it. However, a single easterner with a hooded cloak was approaching the stalls from the north.

Raielfam Sudra directed an intense glare at the hooded easterner. “Stop right there. Are you a customer?” he called out, and the figure halted.

“Yes. Would I, be able, to purchase, giba cooking?”

“Who are you? I’ve never seen such a perfectly guarded easterner before.”

“I am not, an easterner,” the person said, pulling back his hood.

When I saw who it was, I gasped. “Sanjura! What in the world are you doing here?”

“I came, to purchase, giba cooking. And I also, wished to speak, with you, Asuta.”

It had been quite a while since I had last seen him. Sanjura was of mixed blood from the east and west, and aside from his chestnut-colored hair and reddish-brown eyes, he looked entirely like an easterner.

As he glared at the man’s gently smiling oval face, Raielfam Sudra placed a hand on his blade’s grip. “Sanjura...the underling of that noble girl who once kidnapped Asuta, correct? What is someone like you doing here?”

“As I said before. Would I be, permitted to, purchase giba cooking, and speak, with Asuta?” Sanjura said. Then he pointed at his own sword under his cloak. “If it, is necessary, you may hold on, to my blade. I simply wish, to speak.”

“Merely taking a sword from an easterner hardly counts as disarming them.”

“I am a westerner, born here in, this kingdom. I do not know, how to use, poison.”

With his glare still fixed on our smiling customer, Raielfam Sudra asked me, “Asuta, what do you want to do? If you wish to fulfill his request, I’ll need to have another hunter join us.”

“All right. Please do so, then.”

Sanjura hadn’t visited our stalls since everything with Cyclaeus had gone down, but he was doing so now, completely out of the blue. Turning him away would have felt wrong to me.

Cheem Sudra was summoned over from the restaurant space, and the two hunters took up positions on either side of me. I left the stall in Fei Beim’s care so I could talk with Sanjura.

“Shall I hand you, my sword?”

“You can keep it. Just don’t step any closer to Asuta.”

We had moved a short distance away from the stalls for this discussion.

With the smile still fixed on his face, Sanjura gave a shallow bow. “My apologies, for interrupting, your work. And thank you, for speaking with me.”

“It’s fine. If you’re coming to us now, it must have something to do with the observers, right?”

“Yes. I find myself, in a very, difficult position. I am sure, it is not, proper to make, this request...but I would like, to ask for, the help of, the people, of the forest’s edge.”

That was certainly unexpected.

“Wait, so you’re saying that you personally are in a tough position, not Lefreya? What exactly is going on?”

“It seems, the observers, from the capital, have learned, of my background. And so, it appears, they wish, to use me as, a tool, in their plot.”

“Their plot? If it’s because of your background... Wait, you mean that thing about you coming from the house of Turan?”

“Yes. I am Cyclaeus’s, illegitimate child. There is, no evidence, proving that, but it seems, they are searching for it, anyway.”

The name “Cyclaeus” made Raielfam Sudra’s eyes gleam. “I see. That’s right. You were the son of that criminal, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I was born, and raised, in Dabagg. Five years ago, my mother, passed away, and I was, taken in, by Cyclaeus. They are heading, to Dabagg, to try to find, evidence that, I am his son.”

“B-But what would proving that now even do? Wait, do you mean...?”

“Indeed. They wish to have me, inherit the house of Turan. I am male, and also older, than Lefreya,” Sanjura said, flashing me a troubled grin.

I was truly, deeply shocked. “W-Wait, what would the nobles from the capital stand to gain from that? Weren’t they suspicious of there being a link between Genos and Sym too?”

“I believe, they have discarded, that line of thinking. In fact, I would say, they did not, seriously believe that, in the first place. Sym is located, far away, so it would, be difficult, for them, to provide backing, to Genos.”

Shumiral had pointed that out during the interrogation too, and Taluon had subsequently retracted their theory without much of a fight. But even so, I couldn’t see the point in trying to make Sanjura the head of the house of Turan.

“They wish to place, me in their debt, to earn, my obedience. Then, they would use me, to fight back, against Duke Genos.”

“Put you in their debt? Ah, I guess you would owe them if they did that, huh? So, they’re planning on becoming the backers of the house of Turan?”

“Indeed. I do not wish, for such a future. If it would, bring Lefreya happiness, I would oblige...but I cannot, possibly believe, it would be proper, to make an enemy, of Duke Genos. It would make, Lefreya suffer, worse than, she is now.”

It made sense that he’d think that way, at least from what I knew of Sanjura. In order to protect Lefreya, he had even been willing to forsake the man he believed was his own father.

“I understand. But what exactly can we do to help you out?”

“You are, already doing so. If the observers, from the capital, come to believe, I am on, friendly terms with, the people of, the forest’s edge, they will surely, give up on, their plot,” Sanjura said with a smile. “That is why, I would like, you to permit me, to come and, purchase giba cooking, on a daily basis. That will lead, the observers, to become suspicious, of our bond. Even if we, do not actually, form such a bond, so long as they, believe that we have, that will be, more than enough.”

“Hrm. So your plan’s to play at being friends with us in order to run from your troubles?” Raielfam Sudra grumbled. “You truly are a despicable man. You asked us to help you, but you’re really just trying to use us, aren’t you?”

“I am, a criminal who, kidnapped Asuta. The people of, the forest’s edge, would not wish, to form bonds, with one, such as me, surely.”

“Save those words until you’ve actually put in the effort to try. The members of the main Suun house committed crimes every bit as awful, but they accepted their punishment and we’ve forgiven them.”

That was true—Diga and Doddo had gone so far as to try to kill me. Half of it had been Yamiru Lea putting the idea in their heads and the other half had been the fact that they’d been drunk, sure, but that was still far worse than what Sanjura had done.

As Raielfam Sudra continued to glare at him, Sanjura gave a troubled smile. “But I am, a shameful person, at my core. I am not, worthy of, being called friend, by your people.”

“I can’t stand that way of speaking either. If you stop thinking of yourself as nothing more than a poison, you would have a much easier life.” It seemed every little thing Sanjura said was annoying Raielfam Sudra. Our guest’s eyebrows were drooping as he looked more and more troubled.

“I see that I have, angered you, because I am, such a shameful person. My apologies.”

“I’m telling you, if you think the way you are is shameful, then do something to fix that. You possess great strength, so why are you so lacking in nerve?”

“Surely because, my spirit, is weak. I am, such a weak man, that I cannot, shoulder any desires, other than Lefreya’s happiness.”

“You came all the way here to try to help her, didn’t you? If so, then you need to give this everything you’ve got.”

With that deeply glum look still on his face, Sanjura turned toward me and asked, “Asuta, what should I do?”

“Well, if you’re going to be coming to buy giba dishes on a daily basis, why not use that chance to try to form real bonds with the people of the forest’s edge?” I replied after giving it some thought. “You know, if someone from the capital were to ask a person of the forest’s edge about our relationship with you, they’d have to say that you just came here on your own to buy giba cooking. It’s a crime for our people to lie, so that’s not something we’d be willing to do for you no matter how much you beg.”

“Ah... I would, of course, never ask, you to lie...”

“Sanjura, you said you don’t want to make an enemy of Duke Genos, right? In that case, try becoming allies with the people of the forest’s edge first. If you want to reach the point where we can call you a friend, then you’ll have to put in the effort.”

Sanjura sighed, still smiling faintly. “Very well. I am certain, it will prove, quite difficult, but I shall, give it my all. And know that, I think of you, as my allies. I am skilled, at investigating, so I can, tell you, the state of affairs, with the observers.” Sanjura had initially served as a spy of sorts for Cyclaeus, so he was probably every bit as experienced with that sort of work as Kamyua Yoshu. “For example, today, Luido, the leader of, the soldiers from, the capital, sent an envoy, to the post town. Has anything, seemed different with, the soldiers?”

“Huh? No, not especially... A number of them stopped by the stalls, but nothing really seemed different about them.”

“I see. That Luido man, seemed to be, acting in secret. It is concerning, that he would, dispatch an envoy, while making sure, that the people, of Genos, would not notice, is it not?”

He was probably right about that. After all, if the folks from the capital weren’t doing anything shady, they’d have no reason to hide what they were doing.

“What time was it when you saw the envoy?” Cheem Sudra interjected, speaking up for the first time.

“Let me think...” Sanjura replied, staring up at the sky. “I believe it was, before the bell tolled, for the upper sixth hour. If he headed, straight to, the post town, that would place, his arrival, at around half an hour, before the sun, hit its peak.”

“I see. In that case, you may be telling the truth after all.”

“Huh? You saw the envoy, Cheem Sudra?” I asked.

After a moment of hesitation, Cheem Sudra nodded and replied, “I did. Right around that time, some kind of soldier rode in on a totos from the north. You all were busy running the stalls, so you must’ve missed him.”

“Really? You’re right, I didn’t see him at all.”

For some reason, Cheem Sudra was staring intently at my face. But he didn’t seem to want to say anything else, as he simply went silent and frowned at that point.

“I believe, it is essential, to remain cautious. Please stay on guard, until you return, to the forest’s edge,” Sanjura said. Then he glanced over at Raielfam Sudra. “I can convey, information from, the castle town, in this way. If I continue, to do so, could we form, a bond of friendship?”

“I’m not sure. It took three hundred and thirty days for the criminals from the main Suun house taken in by the Ruu and Rutim to officially be granted clan names. And the two who were sent to the Dom clan who committed the greatest crimes still don’t have clan names even now. Past crimes cannot be washed away so easily,” Raielfam Sudra replied, an intense look in his eyes as he stared at Sanjura.

As the hunters gaze bored into him, Sanjura bowed and said, “I understand. I shall continue, to do whatever I can, to earn your trust. Now then, could I go ahead, and purchase, some giba cooking? I believe it will, make Lefreya quite happy, as well.”

“Yeah, you should probably do that now. A few of our dishes are gonna be selling out pretty soon. I’ll pick out ones that’ll be easier for you to take back with you.”

To be honest, I personally didn’t hold any sort of grudge against Sanjura at that point. But considering how angry everyone at the forest’s edge had gotten when I’d been kidnapped, I couldn’t simply forgive him so lightly. Ai Fa, Ludo Ruu, and Shin Ruu in particular still held some serious hostility toward the man. I also really trusted their ability to judge people, so I had to assume that it wasn’t safe to trust Sanjura again unconditionally.

I’m sure Sanjura isn’t the sort of person who thinks about good and evil when acting. Just like he said, he puts Lefreya first and foremost, so if it was for her sake, he’d be willing to commit whatever crime he had to.

But on the other hand, that meant that if we could form a solid bond with Lefreya, Sanjura wouldn’t be dangerous anymore. Sure, this time it was Sanjura who had approached us, but I hoped that this would prove to be a good opportunity for us to get closer to him.

“For the time being, we will convey your words to the leading clan heads and Kamyua Yoshu. Do you have any issues with that?” I asked.

“I do not. In fact, I very much, appreciate it.”

Not long after, Sanjura headed back to the castle town along with some keru giba and herb-grilled giba.

As he watched the man leave, Raielfam Sudra snorted, “Hmph. What a suspicious fellow. Still, I suppose that’s not solely his fault, considering the man who raised him.”

“Yeah. I’m sure it was really rough on him, living as Cyclaeus’s hidden, illegitimate child,” I earnestly replied.

As we approached our closing time, all of our stalls sold out one by one. As I was cleaning up, Cheem Sudra approached me, having traded posts with Raielfam Sudra.

“Asuta, I have a little something I’d like to ask you.”

“Of course. Do you have some sort of concern about Sanjura?”

“No, nothing to do with that. But Asuta...do you know how old I am?”

That really wasn’t what I had been expecting. I shot him a dumbfounded look as Fei Beim and I picked up our hot metal trays. “Yes, I heard back when you got married. You’re sixteen, aren’t you?”

“That’s right. And you turned eighteen, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

Cheem Sudra made a face like something was caught in his throat, his brow furrowed. “You tend to speak politely even to people who are younger than you. I don’t think you’re wrong to do so, exactly...but when you speak with the young members of the Ruu clan, you’re much more relaxed.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“So are the young people you’ve known the longest special to you, Asuta?”

By this point, even I could get what he was hinting at. “Hmm. Well, Ludo and Shin Ruu were obviously younger than me at a glance, so I was more relaxed around them right from the start. But when that isn’t the case, I usually do speak politely with people. And unless something happens to change that, I just naturally keep talking the same way.”

“I see.”

“Do you feel like the way I talk to you is too distant, Cheem Sudra?” I asked, causing the young hunter to look even more troubled.

“Well, I haven’t had too many opportunities to speak with you, so I suppose it wouldn’t make sense for me to ask you to make that change at this point... Still, I just...can’t help but feel a bit down when I see you enjoying yourself chatting with the young members of the Ruu clan.”

“In that case, I’ll try to change it. I might be a bit awkward at first, though.”

Cheem Sudra narrowed his eyes worriedly. “Is that really all right? I don’t want to add to the things you have to worry about for no reason.”

“It’s no trouble. I mean, I had someone actually hit me because I spoke too politely to him even though we were the same age.”

“Someone hit you? Who would do such a ridiculous... Wait, was it the Lea clan head?”

“Yeah, I’m surprised you knew.”

“Raielfam told me. Everyone in the Sudra clan was incredibly angry about it.”

That had happened back on the day when Yamiru Lea had been accepted into the Lea clan. That had been before I’d known Raielfam Sudra’s name, and I hadn’t even met Cheem Sudra at that point.

“Thinking back, I spoke to Yun Sudra normally from the start too. Sorry if I came across as distant, Cheem Sudra.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. But it does make me happy to hear you speak more casually...” he said with a bashful smile. Cheem Sudra always seemed pretty mature despite his small build, but with an expression like that on his face, he really did look his age. If he was sixteen, that meant he was about as old as Ludo Ruu.

“I’m sorry for interrupting your work. It looks like that one stall has finished selling the last of its meals.”

“Oh, then I guess we’re fully closing up shop. Now we just have to buy some fresh ingredients, and then we can head back to the forest’s edge.”

And so, our day’s work came to a close without any trouble.

However, Sanjura’s statement about the thousand lion commander Luido sending an envoy into the post town remained stuck in the back of my mind, like a fish bone caught in my throat.

2

After that, we made it back to the settlement at the forest’s edge without any issues.

We were scheduled to have a study session today at the Ruu settlement, so aside from Toor Deen and Yun Sudra, the rest of our group headed back to their homes ahead of us. Those two were especially passionate about learning cooking techniques, though, so they had been given permission to take part in the event.

One of the Sudra hunters accompanied the carriage that was heading back to the area where we all lived, while the other three remained with us. They would continue to guard me until Ai Fa returned from giba hunting. I felt bad about it, but Raielfam Sudra insisted that they needed to keep a watchful eye on me, even within the settlement at the forest’s edge.

“If anything were to happen to you, Asuta, we would never be able to forgive ourselves. We’re doing this for our own peace of mind, so there’s no need for you to fret about it,” he had said.

Even on days where I held study sessions at the Fa house, they would still be there to guard me. Since they’d made it clear that they would stick with me no matter what I did, I didn’t see any reason to adjust our schedule, so we were continuing to have sessions at the Ruu settlement every other day.

There was definitely some question as to why we were studying cooking techniques at a time like this, but even if we stopped, we’d just focus on other work instead, so it wouldn’t really make any difference. Even Marstein had said that we should keep living our lives as we always did, which I very much appreciated. The idea was that it would be best to show the observers that the way we people of the forest’s edge comported ourselves normally didn’t cause any kind of disruption in Genos.

“Hmph. There’s no way we could keep doing things the same way we always do with that many soldiers swarming around!” Tsuvai Rutim complained as we headed over to the main house’s kitchen. Three days ago had been a meat market day, and she had gone to help with the sales. It had been their third time selling at the market, and they brought a large number of Fou and Ran men with them to the post town.

Most days, the soldiers from the capital slept until around when the sun hit its peak. But on that day specifically, twenty of them had gathered in the plaza to observe the people of the forest’s edge participating in the meat market. They hadn’t caused any trouble, of course...but with all those soldiers and hunters around, there had been plenty of townsfolk at the market who had gotten awfully nervous.

“How long are they planning on staying in Genos anyway?! Paying for two hundred people to stay at the inns has got to be ridiculously expensive! I can’t believe how foolish they are!”

“Yeah, their travel expenses and lodging fees alone must add up to an absolute fortune. But aside from coming here to inspect us, they also brought a lot of ingredients with them.”

Genos bought all sorts of different foodstuffs from the capital, and much of it arrived with the observers that came once or twice a year. Merchant groups from Sym like the Silver Vase or the Black Flight Feathers were responsible for delivering most of the remainder, but the observers brought the majority.

“Hmph. Then they should just do their business and leave quickly! They’re such an eyesore, I can hardly stand it!” Tsuvai Rutim continued to grumble.

Her mother, Oura Rutim, turned toward her with a gentle gaze. “You’re worried about Asuta, aren’t you, Tsuvai? There’s no need for concern, though. The leading clan heads would never turn him over to the nobles.”

“What are you talking about?! I’m not worried about him!” Tsuvai Rutim shrilly objected.

While they were talking, Reina Ruu, who was at the front of our group, opened the door to the kitchen.

“Ah, welcome back. I’m glad to see that you’re all okay,” someone said to us from inside.

Several members of the Ruu clan were already there in the kitchen, working hard to prepare for business the next day. Sheera Ruu was leading the group, and I also saw Mia Lea and Lala Ruu, as well as Mikel. He was undoubtedly there for the study session.

When she spotted her father, Myme’s eyes sparkled and she ran over to him. “Dad, I’m back. Did anything happen here?”

“As if. You were in far more danger, heading into town,” Mikel replied, frowning even as he patted his daughter’s head with his hand. Apparently, the father-daughter pair were finding it difficult to act like everything was normal too. Most of the attention had been on me during the interrogation, but the observers had hit them with some groundless accusations too.

“What about all of you? Did anything unusual happen today?” Mia Lea Ruu asked, and I decided to explain, bringing up Sanjura’s visit and the suspicious moves the thousand lion commander Luido was making. “Luido is the leader of the soldiers, isn’t he? Was there any sort of disturbance in the post town while you were there?”

“No. We saw some soldiers here and there on our way back from the spot where we do business, but nothing seemed different as far as we could tell.”

Around when the sun had hit its peak, the hundred lion commanders Doug and Iphius had also visited the stalls, and they had been acting the same way they usually did.

Well, even if they did get new orders from their boss, it’s not like they would tell us.

Kamyua Yoshu had already left for the castle town when we got to The Kimyuus’s Tail, so I had asked Telia Mas to pass along the information we’d been given when she got the chance. But since Sanjura was involved, I had decided to share the finer details with him myself when we returned that evening.

“All right, I’ll go ahead and convey all of that to our clan head. I sure do wish all this nonsense would end soon, though,” Mia Lea Ruu said before quickly flashing us a reassuring smile.

The observers’ suspicion that I was a spy sent by Duke Genos had been conveyed to all of the people of the forest’s edge without hiding anything, but not a single one of them had been acting any differently around me as a result. In fact, most of them had laughed it off as an utterly ludicrous idea.

Naturally, I thought that laughing was a totally reasonable response too. The observers had just been throwing out a completely illogical armchair theory, after all. If they had seen how I interacted with the people of the forest’s edge and everything I had done to reach my current position, it would have been impossible for them to deny the blindingly obvious truth, and they would have been unable to avoid recognizing how ridiculous their assumptions were.

Even so, the way that everyone had reacted still made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It didn’t matter what the observers said. Nothing would shake the firm bond of trust between us. The people I trusted believed in me too. How could I possibly not feel overjoyed about that?

“All right, we should start the study session now. What will you be teaching us today?” Mia Lea Ruu asked me.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t have any specific plans at the moment... Do any of you have something you’d like to suggest?”

Sheera Ruu timidly raised her hand. “In that case, I would like to learn more about making desserts. Would that be all right?”

“Desserts, huh? Did you have anything in particular in mind?”

“Yes. I would like to learn more about decorated cakes. You’ve taught us about them before, but Toor Deen’s created an even better version since then, right?”

“N-No, most certainly not,” Toor Deen said, shrinking in on herself. “I-I just used chocolate cream. I don’t think anything I’ve made is better than what he could create.”

“But you’re even more skilled than he is at making chocolate cream, aren’t you?”

“That’s true. Nowadays, I have to ask Toor Deen what quantities to use,” I chimed in, and then I gave the matter some thought. “Okay then, how about we learn about methods for preparing chocolate cream and sauce, as well as a dessert that uses them?”

“Oh, you’re going to teach us how to make something new?”

“Yeah. Now that we can make great chocolate sauce thanks to Toor Deen, I was thinking of taking things even further.”

Toor Deen had been a nervous wreck a moment ago, but now she was staring up at me with anticipation shining in her eyes. Next to her, Yun Sudra was giving me the same sort of look.

We covered the chocolate cream and sauce recipes first. Though she looked embarrassed, Toor Deen stepped up and went over the ingredients while Reina Ruu wrote them down in a notebook. It had been around twenty days now since I had first brought pens and notebooks to the forest’s edge, and Reina Ruu was making more use of them than anyone at this point.

Based on my impressions of them, I had expected Sheera Ruu to be the most adept at that sort of thing, but Reina Ruu showed a surprising aptitude for it. She could already read and write numbers and the names of several dishes, and she was making good progress with her multiplication tables too.

“I see. Her recipe uses more milk fat and karon milk than the one Asuta taught us. And did we grind up the gigi leaves that thoroughly before?”

“W-Well, gigi leaves contain a lot of oil, so when you grind them up well enough, they kind of get sticky, as if you had added flour to them, which seems to make the chocolate feel smoother in your mouth.”

“Amazing. I really can’t compete with you when it comes to making sweets,” Reina Ruu said with a smile, causing Toor Deen’s face to go red as she looked down at the ground. “So, what kind of dessert are you going to teach us how to make today, Asuta?”

“Well, up until now, we’ve only been kneading a little chocolate sauce into our fuwano batter, but I’d like to try increasing the proportion further to give it a richer flavor. Back in my home country, we referred to this as chocolate cake.”

I recalled my childhood friend Reina using melted chocolate and pancake mix in order to make chocolate cake, and that was what I was aiming to re-create. Honestly, I would’ve loved to try making stand-alone chocolates too, but I wasn’t sure if that’d work out without any sort of refrigeration, and I didn’t know how to in the first place. I had thought about mixing chocolate sauce with fuwano flour and drying it out in the sun, but if I was going to resort to that kind of technique, it felt like I might as well aim for chocolate cake instead.

“For now, let’s do a trial run using the chocolate sauce Toor Deen showed us how to make. I think we should start by adding milk fat to the chocolate sauce, then mixing it with an equal amount of fuwano batter.”

“Wait, the same amount of chocolate sauce and fuwano? That sounds...incredibly sweet,” Reina Ruu said.

“It will be. But if its sweetness ends up being excessive, then we can just make the chocolate sauce less sweet next time.”

Thinking back, I was pretty sure my old friend Reina had used bitter chocolate when she had made chocolate cake. But we weren’t adding any sugar to the batter here, so I didn’t want our cake to end up too bitter.

“Let’s try making it without adding sugar to the batter this time. We’ll start by combining the fuwano, karon milk, and eggs, then mix the chocolate sauce into that.”

“Got it. I’ll use this pan for that, then.”

Toor Deen took the lead. When she got all fired up like this, she was a lot less timid than usual. In the past, it had been hard for her to even look people in the eyes when she spoke, but at this point, she had grown enough that she was able to be put in charge of entire banquets at the northern settlement.

Actually, some of the Deen and Liddo women once told me that she’s super reliable when I’m not around, didn’t they? If she wasn’t, it would probably be very difficult for her to take on a leadership role like that. I really wanted to see how impressive she looked when she was put in charge of one of those events, but that seemed like it would be hard to arrange, since I didn’t want to go around spying on her.

“Whoa, what’s this?! Are you working on desserts?!” I suddenly heard the voice of Rimee Ruu shout as we were preparing our sample dish. Looking up, I saw her standing in the entrance to the kitchen, holding Kota Ruu’s hand.

The two-year-old toddler narrowed his eyes, entranced by the aroma of chocolate sauce.

“You’re boiling chocolate sauce in a pan? What for? What’re you gonna do with it?!” the young girl asked excitedly.

“We’re just heating it up a bit so we can mix it with milk fat. Otherwise, it wouldn’t blend in properly.”

“Wait, what are you doing that for? Wouldn’t that make it too oily and ruin the taste of the chocolate sauce?!” Rimee Ruu was almost vibrating with curiosity, and it felt like she might leap toward me at any moment. But she couldn’t bring Kota Ruu into a place where we were working with fire, so she was stuck stamping her feet in place. Noticing that, Kota Ruu started jumping up and down, mimicking her.

“Stop being so noisy. You’re in charge of watching Kota, aren’t you? It’s dangerous in here, so go away,” Lala Ruu bluntly stated.

“But, but...!” Rimee Ruu said, hopping in place. Kota Ruu grinned and followed suit.

“I swear, you’re so pushy when it comes to sweets. If you’re really that curious, how about you trade jobs with me?”

“Wait, really?!”

“It’s better than listening to you complain. And besides, you’re more skilled at making desserts than I am anyway.”

Lala Ruu could have a harsh tongue at times, but she was kind at heart, so she promptly departed with Kota Ruu riding on her shoulders. With an excited “Yay!” Rimee Ruu came running into the kitchen as soon as she was free. Now that we had her reinforcing us, we got back to work on the chocolate cake.

After adding an equal amount of chocolate sauce to the mixture of fuwano flour, egg, and karon milk, we started stirring them together. I would’ve liked to add cocoa powder at this point, but we didn’t have any ingredients that could serve as a substitute for that.

When preparing the eggs, we had separated out the whites and made them into a meringue. I couldn’t remember what my friend Reina had done with the eggs she had used, but chocolate cake had a heavy texture, so I figured it would be best to try to make the batter as light as possible.

“Once the chocolate sauce is mixed in, we just have to cook it. We should use the oven for that.”

I poured the batter into the same large heat-resistant dish I had employed when making gratin. The dish was pretty wide, so the cake batter ended up rather thinly spread, but there was no helping that.

The oven was outside the kitchen, so Toor Deen, Reina Ruu, and I were the only ones who went to take care of that part. The rest of the group got to work grinding up more fresh gigi leaves in the meantime.

“Hmm? You’re using the oven?” Raielfam Sudra asked, sounding confused. He had been standing guard outside of the kitchen, and Lala and Kota Ruu were there beside him.

“Yeah. This is something we need to bake. Is Kota Ruu going to be safe there, Lala Ruu?”

“Yes. He’s been taught not to go near the oven. That oven is ouchy hot, right, Kota?”

“Ouchy hot,” the toddler repeated with a smile and a nod. Kota Ruu had been growing rapidly, and the range of emotions he was able to express was growing too, making him look all the more cute and innocent. He already seemed to be more active and mischievous than Aimu Fou.

“Are your babies doing well, Raielfam Sudra?” I asked as I finished setting up the oven.

With his gaze still directed at Kota Ruu, the hunter nodded and replied, “Yes. Hodureil and Asura are both growing well. They seem to get bigger every day.”

Those were the names of the Sudra twins. Hodureil Sudra was the boy, and Asura Sudra was the girl. Apparently, in the old language, Hodureil meant “a sword that will not break,” while Asura had been chosen because it was the name used among the people of the forest’s edge that sounded closest to mine.

“We gave her that name in the hope that she’ll become a fine chef like you, Asuta. Is that all right?” the twins’ mother, Li Sudra, had asked me one time a while back when we had been dropping Yun Sudra off. Naturally, I’d had no objections. In fact, it had been a real struggle to not start crying happy tears.

“So, this child is two years old now?”

“Yes, I believe that’s correct.”

“To think he’s gotten this big in only two years... I’ve never seen a child grow so much so quickly in my own family,” Raielfam Sudra said, his voice heavy with competing emotions. I was feeling them too. “By the way, I’ve heard that it’s going to be a bit longer before we can hold a festival of the hunt, right?”

“Yeah. The forest around the Fa, Fou, and Ran hunting grounds is still full of fruit, after all. I guess you’ve been hunting giba more efficiently with the help of the dogs, huh?”

“Yes, I’m sure we have. The fruits of the forest will be depleted around the Deen and Liddo grounds soon as well, and there have been discussions about letting them head to the Suun hunting grounds when that happens.” Up until the last several days, the Sudra hunters had been going to the Suun hunting grounds once every few days, but now that they were guarding me, they had stopped doing that for the time being. “Hunters of the Havira and Dana clans, which are related to the Liddo and Deen, have been showing up there as well. It’s a good opportunity for the Jeen and their related clans to deepen their bonds.”

“The Havira and Dana, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever interacted with anyone from those clans.”

“That’s because they live farther to the north than the Suun. Until recently, I had only ever seen them at clan head meetings myself. They seem to be a rather good-natured lot,” Raielfam Sudra said, his face taking on a rather serious look. “Meeting you has led to us starting to use totos and hunting dogs. You’ve made us stronger and helped make the forest’s edge a more just place. Why can’t the nobles of the capital understand that?”

“I’m sure it’s because they don’t want to understand. It seems like they decided right from the start that I must have malicious intentions.”

“Utterly ridiculous. Those nobles have no idea how forthright you’ve been.”

The chocolate cake continued to bake as I chatted with Raielfam Sudra. Roughly fifteen minutes later, it was done, and when I opened the metal door to remove the dish from the oven, an indescribable aroma filled the air.

“What a scent! I can tell how sweet it is just from smelling it!” Reina Ruu excitedly exclaimed, while Toor Deen stared intently at the contents of the dish.

The fuwano with chocolate sauce mixed into it had become a splendid blackish-brown, having gotten even darker during the baking process than it had been initially, and it had taken on a powerful fragrance. We had made baked treats quite a few times already, but in terms of smell, this one was clearly on a whole other level.

“Whoa, that’s amazing! Can Kota and I try it too?” Lala Ruu asked.

“Yeah, but it has to cool down a bit first, so you’ll have to be a little patient, okay?”

When we headed back into the kitchen, excited cheers erupted there as well. Rimee Ruu and Yun Sudra in particular, both of them being serious dessert lovers, seemed like they were barely able to contain themselves.

“It looks like it didn’t expand as much as an ordinary baked dessert would. Is that because we used so much chocolate sauce?” one of the women asked.

“Yeah, and it will probably have a pretty heavy taste,” I said.

Still, that was the appeal of chocolate cake. If it didn’t fit the tastes of the people of the forest’s edge, though, then we could just lower the amount of chocolate and aim to make it lighter instead.

At any rate, the cake cooled down a fair bit once it had been sitting for a few minutes, and then we placed the bottom of the dish in water to cool it further. Once it had cooled to around body temperature, I finally went ahead and picked up a knife.

When I cut into the cake, I found that it was pretty dense, as expected. After cutting all the way through it and pulling my knife out, I saw that the blade was coated in sticky blackish-brown batter.

“It doesn’t seem to have fully solidified. Should we have cooked it longer?” Reina Ruu asked.

“No, it should be fine, at least for now. This is actually pretty close to my personal ideal,” I said.

Even if you didn’t reduce the amount of chocolate you added, if you baked chocolate cake too long, it would lose that stickiness and come out as something closer to regular cake. Or at least, that was what I recalled Reina saying. When making chocolate cake, careful heat management was very important.

At any rate, I went ahead and cut it into slices. There were ten of us, so we were each only going to get around two bites’ worth.

“The color is pretty much the same on the inside too. Despite how dark it is, it looks incredibly sweet.”

“Yeah. I imagine it’s probably the sweetest dish we’ve ever made. But this is ultimately just a test dish, so please keep that in mind,” I said.

And with that, we finally gave the chocolate cake a try.

As expected, it was intensely sweet. And yet, the cocoa-like gigi flavor remained quite strong in spite of having been so thoroughly cooked. It had a dense texture to it, just like the chocolate cake that I remembered having in the past, which made sense, given that we had used the same amount of chocolate and batter.

Personally, I got the feeling that it might have been a bit too sweet. It was a heavy dish, so its sweetness was hitting me a little too hard. Reining that in a bit would probably let the gigi’s flavor shine through better.

Other than that, though, it definitely earned passing marks. It had the appearance of chocolate cake and didn’t taste bad at all. It was gooey and dense, but since we were trying to re-create chocolate cake, that was a good thing. It probably would have come out too dense if we hadn’t whipped the eggs into meringue, though.

“What do you think? I’d say I more or less managed to hit the target I was aiming for,” I said. When I turned around, I found two different types of expressions on the faces of the people around me: looks of wonder, and looks of total captivation.

“I was shocked by how sweet it was. I don’t think even eating sugar or honey by themselves would be this sweet,” Mia Lea Ruu said on behalf of the wonderstruck crowd. Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, Tsuvai Rutim, and Yamiru Lea were all in that category.

“But it’s super tasty! I love this stuff!” Rimee Ruu exclaimed. She and Yun Sudra were in the captivated group, their eyes narrowing ecstatically as they savored the dish. Kota Ruu looked much the same over by the entrance to the kitchen.

Out of everyone, Toor Deen alone looked conflicted. “It certainly is good. But don’t you think it’s a bit too sweet?”

“Huh?! I think it’s amazing as it is!” Rimee Ruu chimed in.

“Yes, but if you were to eat the same amount of this as you would eat when having ordinary pancakes, I feel like it would make you sick. And it’s not just the sweetness but the density too,” Toor Deen said, half of her slice of chocolate cake still sitting on her plate. It had only taken her a single bit to reach that conclusion. “Of course, I can’t say that for certain without actually eating that much, but still... What do you think, Asuta?”

“Yeah, I agree. In my home country, we treated this as a heavy sweet, not something you’d eat a lot of, like pancakes. But even with that in mind, I think it would be ideal to make it less sweet.”

“I see. The gigi leaves wouldn’t make it too bitter then, would they?”

“Naturally, we’ll need to carefully adjust things to make sure that doesn’t happen. What do you think about changing the amount of milk fat we add, as well as the sugar?”

“That sounds good. And you said that normally you would add sugar to the fuwano as well, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s how it’s made back in my country, because we use bitter chocolate instead of sweet.”

“It’s possible that the nature of the sweetness may change even if you use the same amount of sugar, depending on if you add it to the chocolate or the fuwano. Why don’t we try making the chocolate sauce more bitter and then add sugar to the fuwano instead?” Toor Deen said, her expression growing even more intense. She was always serious when it came to cooking, and her focus was always at its strongest when she was working on desserts. And as her bond with Odifia had grown deeper, that had become ever more strikingly apparent.

The desire to give Odifia delicious treats is really igniting her passion, I thought, shooting Toor Deen a smile. “All right, I think we’re ready to get started on our next experiment. Toor Deen, could I ask you to decide what we should do with the sugar?”

“Okay. Let’s start by halving the amount of sugar in the chocolate sauce. Then we’ll add that same amount to the fuwano, then half, and finally none, and see how it affects the flavor.”

“Got it. Then let’s start with the gigi leaves and—” I started to say, only for a loud voice full of tension to interrupt me.

“Asuta!”

Turning to look, I saw Raielfam Sudra standing in the entrance to the kitchen.

“Soldiers from the capital are approaching the Ruu settlement! Around fifty of them!”

“What?!” Mia Lea Ruu said. There was an intense gleam in her eyes as she turned toward Reina Ruu. “I’m going to go ask them what’s going on. All of you, stay here. We don’t have any fires going at the moment, so Lala, you and Kota come inside as well.”

“Got it,” Lala Ruu replied, stepping inside with Kota Ruu in her arms. “Asuta, stay with us. Their objective may be to abduct you,” she said to me as Mia Lea Ruu was rushing out of the kitchen.

“R-Right. But what are soldiers from the capital doing here?” I asked. And then I remembered what Sanjura had said.

The thousand lion commander Luido had to have sent orders to Doug and his men to do this.

But there’s no way they could know that I’m here at the Ruu settlement. So are they actually targeting the Ruu clan?

Feeling uneasy about how little we knew, I ran over to the Sudra clan head. “Raielfam Sudra, I’ve spoken with the leaders of the soldiers before. Wouldn’t it be better if I were out there talking to them with Mia Lea Ruu?”

The hunter looked down at the ground, hesitating for a moment, and then he replied, “Yes. It’ll be difficult for us to take action without knowing what they’re after. And if it comes down to it, we can always flee into the forest to lose them. But listen, don’t leave my side no matter what, all right?”

“Understood,” I said with a nod, and we hurried out of the kitchen too.

There was already a great deal of noise coming from the plaza.

3

Cheem Sudra and another young hunter were waiting outside of the kitchen. Since the older one had left with the other women to escort them home, these three Sudra hunters were all we had with us at the moment. With an intense glare in his eyes, Raielfam Sudra looked at the two of them.

“We are going to exchange words with the soldiers. Cheem, ready your bow and watch from the shadows. But no matter what, do not fire an arrow until they draw their blades.”

“Understood, clan head.”

With a deadly serious look, Cheem Sudra took hold of the bow that was looped over his shoulder. And then, with Raielfam Sudra and the other hunter on either side of me, I walked out into the plaza.

Once we had walked around the side of the main house, the plaza was only a few meters away, and we were able to see the soldiers quite clearly. There were around ten of them gathered in front of the main house, all clad in armor and equipped with swords. Mia Lea Ruu and Bartha were standing in front of them with crossed arms.

The real issue, though, was what the other soldiers were doing behind those ten. A significantly larger number of them were over by the branch houses, actively forcing their way into them.

There were dozens of totos in the plaza, which the soldiers must have ridden here. And as we’d been told, there seemed to be around fifty of them for fifty soldiers.

“What in the world is this about? I didn’t hear so much as a single word about us receiving this many guests,” Mia Lea Ruu called out boldly.

One of the soldiers facing her had a fine tassel on top of his helmet. “We came here to investigate how you people of the forest’s edge live. We mean you no harm, so simply return to your houses and behave yourselves.”

“What do you mean, investigate? If you want to visit someone’s house, you have to show the proper decorum, don’t you?” Mia Lea Ruu said, pointing at a nearby branch house. “Look, right there. Your men are trying to shove their way into a house when the people living there are trying to stop them. At the forest’s edge, our customs state that entering a home without permission is punishable by having a toe cut off.”

“That’s your custom, not the law of the kingdom.”

At that point, the Sudra hunters and I had come up beside Mia Lea Ruu.

“Doug, that’s you, isn’t it? What in the world are you doing?!” I asked.

“Asuta of the Fa clan? Why are you here?” Despite the visor hiding his face, that was undoubtedly the hundred lion commander Doug.

“I was giving cooking lessons to the members of the Ruu clan. Now why did you and your men come here?” I said, feeling my heart starting to beat faster.

“We’re here to look into the lifestyle of the people of the forest’s edge. We don’t intend any harm.”

“Hmph. And what exactly are you investigating that requires you to shove your way into our homes without even taking off your shoes?” Mia Lea Ruu said, sounding completely undaunted by the situation. She was standing tall and proud, glaring at Doug without restraint. “The leading clan head Donda Ruu placed me in charge for when he’s away, and I can’t permit such lawless acts.”

Next to her, Bartha had a more intense expression on her face than I had ever seen from her, and her hand was already on the sword at her hip.

Doug’s gaze shifted over to the two spirited women. He didn’t look concerned—from what I’d been told, he was apparently much more skilled than Bartha. “If you have complaints, then bring them to our superior. We’re just carrying out the mission we’ve been given.”

“Hold on. Where is this superior of yours? Tell me his name.”

“The one who gave the order was the thousand lion commander, Sir Luido. He’s in the castle town waiting for our report.”

Doug then signaled to his remaining soldiers, and they started moving closer to the main house.

“I said wait!” Mia Lea Ruu shouted, the forcefulness of her voice making the intruders halt. “The Ruu clan elder is currently resting in this house. I cannot allow a dangerous group such as yourselves to approach her.”

“How many times must I tell you that we don’t mean any harm?”

“If you want me to believe that, then don’t you think you should show some restraint?” Her gaze still fixed on Doug and his men, Mia Lea Ruu stepped back until her back was up against the door to her home. “Until I am satisfied with your reassurances, I cannot allow you to pass. Either bring your superior here, or wait for our clan head to return.”

Doug stood firmly in place, glaring at Mia Lea Ruu.

I turned toward the Sudra clan head, clenching my fists. “Raielfam Sudra, with the way things are going...”

“Yes, I know.”

Raielfam Sudra grabbed my wrist and fearlessly walked over to stand next to Mia Lea Ruu, the other hunter following behind us.

“Soldier of the capital, I will not permit you to lay a hand on the wife of the leading clan head. If you don’t wish for bloodshed, then leave this place,” he said.

“If you intend to get in our way, then we’ll have no choice but to draw our blades.”

“You wish to lose your lives in a place like this?” Raielfam Sudra asked, sounding confused.

Behind his visor, Doug seemed to be sneering. “We have fifty soldiers here. Even including Bartha of Masara, there are only three of you. You really think a mere three people can stop us?”

“But right here, right now, there are only ten of you. Do you truly believe ten of your men are enough to defeat the three of us?”

The soldiers silently waited for Doug to give an order. I almost couldn’t believe that these were the same men who had smiled at us and cheerfully ate our giba cooking at the inn and stalls. In fact, the air seemed to be coming alive with anticipation for the fight that was threatening to break out.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” an angry voice roared out. When I looked in the direction it had come from, I gulped. There were two hunters moving around the totos clustered in the center of the plaza, approaching the soldiers while carrying a giba. “You’re soldiers from the capital, aren’t you? How dare you enter the Ruu settlement without our permission!”

They were Darmu and Ludo Ruu, and the two of them were clearly furious. Once they were close, the two of them tossed their giba aside and came running over. The ten soldiers all took up positions around Doug to protect him.

“Hmph. I was just thinking that things have been pretty quiet for the last few days, and here we are. Are you trying to pick a fight with the Ruu clan?” Ludo Ruu asked in a challenging tone, patting the blade hanging at his side. Both of them had fire in their eyes, and they looked like they were ready to attack at any moment.

“So now we’re dealing with four monsters,” Doug muttered, regaining his usual rough and wild tone.

Darmu Ruu shot him a glare like that of a starving wolf. “Answer me, soldiers. Do you intend to fight the Ruu clan?”

“No, we don’t. We simply came here to investigate the settlement at the forest’s edge.”

“Investigate?! Those soldiers are shoving their way into our homes without permission!”

“Yeah, if any of them had gone into your house, Darmu, blood would probably be spilling already.”

Darmu Ruu was one thing, but this had to be the first time I had ever seen Ludo Ruu get this angry. He had a faint smile on his face, but even that was frightening. He looked as wolflike as his older brother. I wasn’t any kind of warrior or whatever, but even I could sense the blazing hot intensity surrounding the two of them. Their rage over having their precious family’s homes violated was like an inferno.

“Darmu, Ludo, you mustn’t draw your blades first,” Mia Lea Ruu called out, remaining calm even now.

Neither of the Ruu hunters had done so yet, but their hands were at their waists, and the soldiers were responding to their obvious belligerence by preparing to draw as well.

“This is bad. At this rate, there really will be bloodshed,” Raielfam Sudra quietly commented. He was still hoping to avoid conflict, and of course, I felt the same way.

As I racked my brain for a way to fix things, I finally arrived at a single hope. “Hold on, Doug! Did you get permission from Duke Marstein Genos for this investigation?”

Doug shot me an annoyed look. “We don’t take orders from the Duke of Genos. What are you going on about now?”

“So you don’t have his permission? In that case, you’re clearly going against the laws of Genos.”

Doug rolled his shoulders in a way that looked doubtful to me, then turned to face me fully. “Now you’re bringing the law into this? Do you really think soldiers of the capital like us would be that careless?”

“If anyone was careless, it would have to be the person who gave you your orders. The fact that I’m bringing up the law should make it apparent that what you’re doing is a crime.”

“You’re so stubborn... You lot are citizens of Genos. We’ve been given the authority to investigate how people in this domain live.”

“It’s true that we’re citizens of Genos, but we’re also people of the forest’s edge at the same time. Were you not aware of the fact that this settlement was granted the right to self-govern?”

That was enough to finally make Doug go silent. In all likelihood, the observers’ plan was to have their men harass and provoke the people of the forest’s edge in ways that skirted the limits of the laws of the kingdom but remained within them. But here in Genos, what they were doing was unquestionably illegal.

“When the path was cut through the forest’s edge, new laws regarding the settlement were put in place. Whenever an outsider sets foot in the forest’s edge, we were granted the authority to ask them their reason for being here. And if the people of the forest’s edge judge their reason to be invalid, we have permission to remove them by force.”

Doug didn’t respond. He simply listened to what I was saying in silence.

“Plus, we were given the authority to pass judgment on anyone who breaks the laws of the forest’s edge ourselves, so if someone forces their way into a house without permission, they won’t have any legal recourse if we do decide to cut one of their toes off.”

“That’s ridiculous. That kind of punishment would never be allowed in the territory of the kingdom!”

“I’m telling you the truth. If you think I’m lying, you should go read the sign at the entrance to the path through the forest’s edge. It’ll confirm everything I’m saying. What I just told you should be written there in the languages of both the east and the west.”

Doug once again went silent, so I decided to keep the pressure on.

“You’re the ones ignoring the laws of Genos, not us. That means you’ll be considered criminals if you attack the people of the forest’s edge now. You’re supposed to be an elite troop from the capital. Are you really okay with breaking the law and harming the citizens of this land?”

He had nothing to say to that.

“When you came here, you were violating the laws of Genos without realizing it. Please, just back down. If I’m lying, then you can summon me for another interrogation or whatever.”

Silence fell over the plaza for several seconds. Then Doug finally spoke, his voice deeper than normal. “Hey, we’re pulling out. Pass the order along to your subordinates too.”

His soldiers saluted him, then took off running toward the nearby branch houses. After watching them go for a moment, Doug turned back to us and said, “I’ll confer with Sir Luido and verify what you’ve said. If you’re telling the truth, then I’ll return and apologize... Woman, you’re the wife of a leading clan head?”

“Yes. I am Mia Lea Ruu, the wife of the leading clan head Donda Ruu.”

“I cannot offer you an apology until I have confirmed what the truth is. But, well...I simply wish to say that I had no intention of attacking you, no matter what happened.”

Having said that, Doug turned the other way and started walking, only for Ludo and Darmu Ruu to block his path.

“You’re planning on leaving without so much as bowing your heads after everything your men have done?” Darmu Ruu said.

“As I already said, as a soldier of the capital, I cannot apologize until I have confirmed the truth.”

“You know, we apparently have the authority to chop off your toes.”

“Hmph,” Doug snorted. “Asuta of the Fa clan managed to settle things peacefully, but you still wish for violence? We can’t let you take our toes without orders from our superior.”

“Ludo, Darmu, stop. Are you trying to start a war when our clan head isn’t even here?” Mia Lea Ruu chided him.

Though the two hunters were still radiating bloodlust, they stepped aside. Doug passed by them, then kept on going toward the totos.

“Damn! This is completely out of hand! Our old man is gonna think so too when he finds out, right?” Ludo Ruu complained.

“Well then, we simply need to wait until the clan head returns. He naturally won’t forgive this lawless act so lightly,” his mother said. Then she smiled at me. “Thank you, Asuta. We had heard about that grant of self-governance, but I never would have imagined it would silence the soldiers like that.”

“It came to mind because I’ve been hearing a lot about how they would never break the laws of the kingdom. They must have really not known about us having the right to govern ourselves.”

The seriousness of what had happened made it hard to accept that it had just been the result of a careless mistake, though. That particular right was important enough that Marstein must have informed the observers about it.

Luido is the one who gave Doug and his men that order, but it had to have originated from one of the noble observers. Where did the error in communication occur, though? Actually, was this even the result of a mistake in the first place?

A hazy doubt was starting to take shape in my mind, and I wanted to bring it up to Kamyua Yoshu as soon as possible.

“Is Sheera in the kitchen? She should be working in the main house’s kitchen at this time of day, right?” Darmu Ruu asked in a subdued voice after watching the soldiers leave the plaza.

Mia Lea Ruu turned toward him with a smile and replied, “Yes. The soldiers didn’t get anywhere near there, so you have nothing to worry about. Would you like to go see her before returning to the forest?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We have no idea when they may return. There’s no way I can leave now.”

“Exactly. I’ll head back into the forest as quickly as I can and let our old man know about this. In the meantime, you can handle things here, Darmu.” Ludo Ruu said before he took off running again.

Mia Lea Ruu shrugged in exasperation. “Goodness. Our men certainly are hotblooded. I’m going to go around and talk to the members of the branch houses. Asuta, you and the others can keep working on your desserts in the meantime.”

It was difficult to switch gears like that, but we wouldn’t be able to meet with Kamyua Yoshu until the sun set anyway. Until it was time for us to head to The Kimyuus’s Tail, we had our own work that needed to be taken care of.

“I just don’t get what they’re up to... What do they stand to gain from doing something like this?” Raielfam Sudra muttered as we headed over to the kitchen with Darmu Ruu. “Even if they had been allowed to investigate the Ruu settlement, it wouldn’t have benefited them in the least. It’s like the only reason they came here was to anger the people of the forest’s edge.”

“Honestly, that may have actually been the goal,” I said.

“What? Why would they want to anger us? And it makes even less sense that they’d go so far as to commit a crime to do so.”

“Yeah, I haven’t quite figured that part out.”

Darmu Ruu then whirled around incredibly fast at the head of our group and shouted, “Stop prattling on and on! They’re nothing but a group of shameless criminals! If our leading clan head gives his permission, I’ll cut them down myself!”

“Yes, if they had done this at the Sudra settlement, I’m sure I’d be as furious as you are now. We should hurry to your family,” Raielfam Sudra said.

Darmu Ruu clicked his tongue, then turned back around and picked up the pace.

As he followed after the younger hunter, Raielfam Sudra gave a small sigh. “They certainly seem to have succeeded at angering the Ruu clan. I hope that the leading clan head Donda Ruu doesn’t fly into such a rage that he loses control.”

“Yeah. I think I’ll try to talk to him before he runs off to the castle town,” I muttered.

Donda Ruu was certain to head straight there to report this crime. But it would be dangerous for him to let his anger take control when we didn’t know anything about what the other side’s plans were.

No matter how angry he gets, though, I’m sure he’ll listen. If this is all some sort of plot, then we need to consider our actions carefully moving forward, I thought as I clenched my fists tightly.

That was when I noticed the powerful emotions that were now swirling around in my chest. Those soldiers had violated the settlement of the Ruu clan, our precious comrades. The anger at that unjust act seemed to finally be hitting me, and it was really spurring me on.

No matter what they were thinking, something like this is absolutely unacceptable, I thought as I followed after Darmu Ruu.

Two hours remained until we would head to The Kimyuus’s Tail.

4

“I certainly never expected them to go to the settlement at the forest’s edge without getting permission. That was surprising to hear, even for me.”

It was now after sunset. The evening crew and I were at The Kimyuus’s Tail meeting with Kamyua Yoshu, who immediately let us know that he was aware of what had happened before I could even begin to explain.

“Supposedly, there was a bit of a miscommunication between the observers and the leader of the soldiers. They said they want to offer an official apology to Donda Ruu, but I’m guessing you’ve already heard that.”

“Yeah. We ran into Donda Ruu’s wagon on our way here, as it was coming back from the castle town.”

After hearing Ludo Ruu’s report, Donda Ruu stopped hunting immediately and returned to the settlement. Then, after talking to me, he headed off to the castle town with Ludo and Darmu Ruu.

“Naturally, the observers were informed about Duke Genos granting the people of the forest’s edge’s right to self-govern. However, Luido wasn’t informed of that, which is what led to today’s incident.”

“Okay, but why wasn’t Luido told? Is he not always there with the observers?”

“According to Duke Genos, he spoke to the observers about that on the first day of their visit to Genos, when Luido was in the post town commanding his soldiers rather than participating in meetings.”

That explanation did basically make sense. But I still had trouble accepting it, personally.

“The observers were the ones who ordered the soldiers to investigate the Ruu clan, though, right? But they didn’t warn their men about what they’d been told?”

“Well, supposedly Dregg was the one to give the order. He’s always drunk, so he tends to give sloppy instructions. But from what I’ve heard, Taluon apologized as well, saying this never would have happened if Luido had been properly informed about you having the right to self-govern.”

Donda Ruu had indeed mentioned that Taluon had apologized to them in the castle town. Duke Marstein Genos had been there too, and he had of course been pushing for things to be settled peacefully.

“That...Darmu Ruu, was it? I was told he took a real threatening attitude, demanding a toe from each of the soldiers who broke your customs, but Donda Ruu somehow managed to get him to back down.”

“And it’s a really good thing that he did. I don’t know what would’ve happened if Donda Ruu had let his anger take control of him too.”

Naturally, Donda Ruu had been furious. But before he had left for the castle town, Raielfam Sudra and I had brought up our concerns, and he had listened to them even as his eyes had blazed at us like an inferno. He hadn’t roared in fury like Darmu Ruu, but it had been plain to see that he had been filled with a seething rage inside. Even having known him for some time, I hadn’t been able to stop myself from trembling a bit.

“It’s true that this might have been a plot to anger us. If so, they certainly accomplished their goal,” he had eventually said. “Regardless, our only option for now is to hear what the nobles have to say. I’ll decide what to do after that.”

Donda Ruu had then gone straight to the castle town, where he had spoken with Taluon and Marstein and accepted their apology before promptly returning. And when we had encountered him on the path, I’d heard him mutter, “They won’t get a second chance.”

“As I’ve told you multiple times now, the reason they came all the way out here was to protect the peace and stability of the nation. They would never intentionally break the law of the kingdom, which is why today came as such a shock to me,” Kamyua Yoshu said.

Just then, Milano Mas’s displeased voice called out to us from the entrance to the kitchen. “Hey, I see you’re getting in the way of business back here again, Kamyua... Telia, we’ve got two orders for giba boiled in tau oil and three for giba curry.”

“Got it. Asuta, could you handle the boiled dish?”

“Yup, on it.”

Milano Mas had finally returned to work two days ago. His dislocated right shoulder still wasn’t fully healed, and the doctor had insisted that if he pushed himself too hard he would end up with a fever again, but he insisted on at least waiting tables. Since he didn’t have to take any more of the pain medicine that wasn’t agreeing with him, he did have his energy back. The bandage around his head was painful to look at, but his cheeks didn’t look so emaciated anymore, and his face had regained its color.

“I’m not surprised that the soldiers are behaving themselves a little better today. Still, what a mess for the Ruu clan,” Ai Fa said.

“No kidding! If I had been there, I probably would have sent a couple of them flying no matter who tried to stop me!” Dan Rutim remarked with a hearty chuckle.

While the two of them were still with us like always, our other guards had been replaced for tonight. Ludo Ruu had accompanied Donda Ruu to the castle town and Jiza Ruu had needed to watch over the settlement while his father had been away, so Shin Ruu and Rau Lea had been sent with us in their place.

“They really are such fools. If they had hurt even one of our people, no apology would ever have been enough,” Rau Lea said with a smile, looking glad to be back in the post town for the first time in a while. But the next instant, his pale blue eyes sharpened and gleamed in the light. They looked like those of a hunting dog. “If they had hurt a member of my clan, there would be no silencing me. I’ve got to give my thanks to the mother forest.”

When those soldiers had arrived, Yamiru Lea had been attending the study session. As bad as that whole mess had been, we could at least be thankful that the soldiers hadn’t laid a hand on any of the women.

“My father Ryada protected our house, so the soldiers weren’t able to get in, but even so, I cannot forgive their actions,” Shin Ruu chimed in, the expression on his face calm. Even if he was furious on the inside, it wasn’t in his nature to let it show.

As I plated the reheated giba boiled in tau oil, I looked over at Kamyua Yoshu again and said, “Kamyua, could I ask you something?”

“Hmm? What is it? Go ahead and ask.”

“You said that those people from the capital weren’t villains, right? And because of that, they might be more troublesome than Cyclaeus. But is that really accurate?”

“Hmm. I suppose that depends on how you define good and evil,” Kamyua Yoshu said with a grin. “I can at least guarantee that they aren’t wicked villains like Cyclaeus. But I wouldn’t expect them to be as honest and forthright as a person of the forest’s edge. Does that help you understand?”

“It does. Still, breaking the law is wrong, and I’d say the people who do that are villains.”

“Are you talking about the soldiers? Or someone else, perhaps?”

“That’s what I want to ask you, Kamyua. What kind of people are those two observers and that Luido man?”

Kamyua Yoshu’s hand emerged from his cloak, and he began stroking his stubbly chin.

“I can’t say that I know them all that well myself. I was technically hired to guide them from the capital to Genos, which allowed me the opportunity to ask some people I’m on good terms with about their personalities. As far as what they told me directly, Dregg is upset with his current position. Though he was born into the house of Archduke Banz—a very fine house indeed—as the third son, his position is uncertain, and he’s upset with being placed in the role of an observer.”

“So the house of Banz is pretty high up in the ranks, then?”

“The house of an archduke is second only to the royal house of Selva. On top of that, they were granted one of the five great domains that surround the capital, which should make it clear how high-ranking they are.”

In other words, his house outranked the house of Genos. That explained why he was always acting so high-handed.

“But as the third son, he must not have that high of a position, right? Is his situation something like how things used to be for Polarth and Ciluel?”

“Indeed. That’s why he’s been drowning his sorrows in fruit wine. I’m sure he wants to clear all this up as soon as possible so he can return to the capital.”

“I see. And what about Taluon?”

“His noble rank is very much on the low end, in contrast to his partner. As a member of the house of Baron Bery, he’s only slightly above a knight. That’s why he’s so passionate about his work as an observer. He’s desperate to elevate his own name. In spite of how he looks, he is extremely ambitious.”

That was a little surprising to hear. I wouldn’t have thought that he was hiding that kind of passion behind his elusive exterior.

“Then, what about Luido?”

“He’s an archetypical soldier. Though maybe not to the same degree as Melfried, he’s honest, diligent, and unwavering, not to mention the fact that he’s exceptionally skilled as a military leader and has a promising future. My contacts thought it was a shame that he had a job like this thrust upon him.”

“I see. So this isn’t the sort of job he’d usually do?”

“The job itself is important enough, but these people belong to a proud expeditionary force. What they want is to fight the forces of Mahyudra and Zerad, so guarding observers on the edge of the kingdom must be an awfully unsatisfying job for them.”

“Is Luido the sort of person who would ever shirk the observers’ orders?”

“Ah, no. I said he’s unwavering, didn’t I? He’s here on orders to serve the observers and act on their behalf, so I imagine that everything he’s done is something he’s been told to do.”

With that, the image that I had in my mind finally solidified. I finally had a firm grasp on the vague suspicion that had been floating around in my head since the incident earlier today.

“Kamyua, I’ve given what happened today some thought, to the best of my ability. Could I ask you if you think I’m off the mark?”

I laid out my thinking in full. When he was finished listening, Kamyua Yoshu smiled at me, looking satisfied.

“Yes, that’s a pretty well thought-out insight. I’ve been wondering if that was the case myself.”

“So you guessed that they might be up to something like that from the start, Kamyua?”

“Ah, no. It’s more like I was figuratively tilting my head, wondering about the possibility. Their conduct today was just too sloppy, so I couldn’t help but wonder if they had caused this commotion with some other objective in mind. If things truly are as you say, Asuta, that would make a number of oddities click into place.”

“In that case...should we discuss this with Doug and his men? If I’m right, that would make them victims of this plot too.”

“Yes, I agree. And you seem to be done with work for the moment, so why not take this opportunity to talk to him?”

“Huh? You want me to tell him?” I asked, taken off guard.

Ai Fa, who was standing right beside me, glared at the bodyguard. “Kamyua Yoshu, if you intend to expose Asuta to danger, don’t expect me to simply allow it to happen.”

“He’d be bringing them helpful information, so there shouldn’t be any danger at all. In fact, they might even be grateful and start to form a real connection with him, wouldn’t you say?”

“But it shouldn’t matter who tells them.”

“I disagree,” Kamyua Yoshu said. “They’re fully convinced that I’m an underling of Duke Genos, after all. Hearing about our suspicions from me would put Doug and Iphius on guard. They’d have to wonder if it was some kind of trick, and they might even ignore me entirely. But Asuta was right there in the middle of things today, so I’d say he’s the best choice to tell them.”

I turned toward Ai Fa. “I think it’s important to tell them about this. They’re the ones who’re in the most danger, after all.”

“Asuta, you’re worried about their safety?”

“Huh? Well, yeah... If I’m right about this, then I’d feel really bad for them if something were to happen.”

Ai Fa gave a deep sigh, brushing aside her blonde bangs. “You’re unbelievable... Very well. But if you’re going to talk to those two, you’ll need an additional guard.”

Ai Fa only needed to glance over at the other guards for Shin Ruu to step forward.

“In that case, I’ll come,” he said. “If we leave Dan Rutim and Rau Lea here, there shouldn’t be any danger.”

“What’s that? If you think things might get violent, you should take me along,” Rau Lea said with a smile, only for Ai Fa to shoot him a harsh glare.

“Have you not been listening? If there were any real chance of that, I wouldn’t allow Asuta to go in the first place.”

“Aw, how boring. In that case, do whatever you want.”

“What he said! Just leave Reina Ruu’s safety to us!” Dan Rutim chimed in, seemingly not having any objections either. Reina Ruu and Telia Mas, meanwhile, both sent worried looks our way.

“Well then, shall we get going? Iphius should still be here, so now is a good time,” Kamyua Yoshu said.

“Hmm?” Ai Fa looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “You’re coming along as well, Kamyua Yoshu? If you are, you might as well convey the message yourself.”

“Ah, no, I’m only planning to join in so I can mediate. And I should be able to back up what Asuta has to say in my own way. We have to work together if we want to convince that stubborn lot, all right?”

And so, the four of us stepped out of the kitchen and into the dining hall.

When we got there, we found Milano Mas, Leito, and two women working hard waiting tables. After I told Milano Mas what was going on, one of the women headed over to the kitchen to help out.

“Sorry about this, Milano Mas. I know you’re still in the middle of working.”

“Hmph. Let me speak to them first. They may be trouble, but they’re still customers.”

Milano Mas led us toward the back. Sunset had been an hour ago, so the dining hall was quite lively. A good number of people had come from other inns to get their fill of giba cooking, and they were happily chatting away. As we weaved through the crowd with two hunters in our group, quite a few of the diners became concerned and tried to speak to us, but all we could say to them was, “There’s nothing to worry about.”

The soldiers from the capital always sat at the tables that were the farthest back in the dining hall. There were twenty-two of them, with twenty staying here at the inn, plus Iphius and someone who was accompanying him. Sure enough, they seemed more subdued now than when they’d been eating at our outdoor restaurant. Only a few of them were chatting with each other as they focused on eating their dinner, which was mostly giba dishes, and they didn’t look to be drinking all that much either.

“Hey there. How rare for you to come out and see us. Did you decide you couldn’t wait to hear us praise you again?” Doug called out as we lined up in front of his table.

Milano Mas looked down at him sullenly. “Our apologies for interrupting your dinner. Asuta’s been helping out in our kitchen, and apparently he wants to talk with you.”

“Sure, I don’t mind. I’m sure you won’t be satisfied until you’ve unloaded your complaints on us, right?”

“I didn’t come here to complain. Um, would it be possible to discuss this somewhere quieter?”

When I said that, one side of Doug’s lips quirked up. “Oh? Do you want to get me alone with a couple of your hunters and Kamyua Yoshu so you can really grill me? There’s no denying that with a lineup like that, even I would end up on the floor in no time.”

“I have no intention of blaming you for what happened. I just want to speak with you and Iphius if at all possible.”

Iphius looked over at us. He was wearing an apron coated in curry and was breathing eerily, as he always did.

Doug furrowed his brow suspiciously. “What business do you have that involves Iphius too? Let me just say, my unit was the only one that entered your settlement. Iphius stayed back in the post town.”

“We know, but I want to talk to both of you as the leaders of the soldiers stationed here. I wish I could speak with that Luido man too, but he’s in the castle town, isn’t he?”

Doug scratched his head and slowly rose to his feet. “I really don’t know what this is about, but it seems like we won’t get anywhere chatting here. Why don’t we head to my room?”

“Of course. I would appreciate that.”

Iphius removed his apron and stood as well.

The soldiers remained silent, but Doug shot them a grin. “Like you heard, we’re gonna go talk with Asuta of the Fa clan. Don’t order the next round of food until we’re back, okay?”

We then parted ways with Milano Mas and headed up to the second floor, where the guest rooms were located. This was actually the first time I had ever gone up to the second floor of The Kimyuus’s Tail. Just like the inn we had once stayed at in Dabagg, there were a bunch of doors spaced out along the wooden hallway we were walking down.

After leading us all the way to the end of the hall, Doug casually opened a door and stepped inside. Then he lit a candlestick with a lana leaf and invited us in.

The room was about ten square meters in size, and there were bunk beds along the left and right walls. There was a window in the wall straight ahead of us, and the only other furnishings in the room were a table and a water jug.

Each of the beds had a familiar suit of armor on it, along with some sacks. When they went to sleep, it seemed like they would need to move all of that to the floor. The space looked like it was meant solely for sleeping, just like our rooms in Dabagg had been.

“If you want to sit on the beds, go right ahead. As long as you don’t touch our armor, I won’t raise a fuss,” Doug said as he opened the window and took a seat on its sill, as Iphius walked over and stood next to you. As for us, we remained standing in front of them. “Now then, before we start, would you two hunters introduce yourselves? I’ll have to report this little meeting to our boss, you see.”

Ai Fa and Shin Ruu gave their names, and when Doug heard them, he instantly broke out in an amused grin. “Oooh, so you’re Shin Ruu? That hunter from the forest’s edge who won the Genos swordsmanship tournament? Our superior told me about you.”

“I see,” Shin Ruu said calmly.

“Yeah. He also said that Don of the Red Fangs was in that tournament. But I guess a guy like that might as well have been a toddler to a monster as strong as you are.”

“I remember fighting a man named Don... He certainly did seem to be skilled, but Melfried and Leiriss from the castle town were tougher opponents for me.”

“Hmm. So there are swordsmen with that kind of skill in a dull, peaceful place like this?” Doug said with a shrug before turning toward me. “Well, since we slipped out during the middle of dinner, let’s hear what you have to say without any pointless preamble.”

“All right. Doug, were you really not informed about our right to self-govern? From what I’ve been told, you and your men who came to the forest weren’t the only ones who were unaware. Your superior officer who gave you your orders didn’t know either. Is that correct?”

“Hmph. What are you going on about now? What, do you think we went and broke the law because we felt like it?”

“No, I don’t. Since you pulled back when I asked you to, I trust you on that. But the observers did know about that law. Are you aware of that?”

“Yeah. That drunkard of a noble actually forgot something that important. It was incredibly careless of him.”

“Did he really just carelessly forget to tell you? Or is there a chance that he intentionally kept that information from you?”

Doug went silent as he looked me up and down, seemingly feeling me out. Iphius, meanwhile, remained silent, except for his eerie breathing.

“I just don’t understand what your goal could possibly have been today. What did you expect to find by forcing your way into the settlement at the forest’s edge? What exactly were the orders that your superior gave you?”

“We were ordered to look into the living conditions at the Ruu settlement, since they’ve been making a killing doing business in the post town. Stuff like the size and layout of the houses, how they were furnished, and how many people lived in them.”

“Why wasn’t your mission discussed with Duke Genos first? If someone had communicated with us about your investigation, the members of the Ruu clan would have gladly invited you in.”

“Hmph. If you had been told in advance, you could’ve hidden anything that would have been inconvenient for us to find. Is it really so strange that we wouldn’t inform you that we were coming?”

“I suppose not. But you also could have avoided any issues by having someone from Genos accompany you. Even if you didn’t tell the people of the forest’s edge until immediately beforehand, you still could have carried out your business that way.”

“You and your comrades defied the observers pretty strongly during your interrogation, didn’t you? I’m sure they didn’t bring our mission up with the Duke of Genos because they’re still angry about that.”

“I see. If that’s really all there is to it, then I guess I was wrong, but I still have my doubts. If the observers intended for things to go peacefully, they wouldn’t have forgotten to mention our right to self-govern.” Everything I was saying was ultimately just a hypothesis I had come up with. I had no solid evidence to prove any of it. The only thing I could do was explain my thoughts to them as clearly as possible. “I don’t see any real purpose in investigating how people live at the Ruu settlement to begin with, so my suspicion is that this was a plot meant to anger the Ruu instead.”

“To anger the Ruu? How would doing that benefit the observers?”

“It might have given them something to point to so they could argue that the people of the forest’s edge are a dangerous barbarian tribe. And if they had been able to make that argument, it would have become a lot easier for them to also argue that Duke Genos had acted wrongly when he gave us the right to self-govern, wouldn’t it?”

That was the main thrust of my hypothesis.

Doug held his tongue again, but he was shooting me a suspicious look.

“If you had actually been able to force your way in to do your investigation, the leading clan head Donda Ruu would have been even more enraged. He might have even gone ahead with demanding that your men have one of their toes cut off. Then the observers could’ve just let the punishment happen so they could use it to insist it was dangerous to grant us the right to self-govern.”

Doug remained silent.

“If soldiers of the capital were harmed due to a law established by Duke Genos, that would be a really big deal, wouldn’t it? Even if you were the ones who broke the law, Duke Genos and the people of the forest’s edge would still find ourselves in a difficult position. The lord of this land would be in a pretty serious bind if he was accused of causing your men to be maimed like that because he granted our people the right to govern ourselves in the first place, don’t you think?”

“You’re saying the observers planned to turn us into sacrifices for the sake of some dirty plot?”

“I’m not saying anything for certain. I’m just asking if it’s a possibility. You know what kind of people the observers are better than I do, right? Do you think they would come up with an idea like that? If you can say that they wouldn’t, I’d honestly be glad.”

A heavy silence descended over the room. But then, Kamyua Yoshu finally spoke up after having been standing back all this time.

“I can’t say that I’m particularly familiar with them either, so I would like to hear your opinion as well. There are a lot of nobles in the capital who see soldiers as nothing more than tools, aren’t there? So there certainly is cause to be concerned.”

“Even so, the observers were dispatched here under royal orders. Do you really think they’d go so far as to break the law?” Doug asked.

“Even if it is a law, it’s a newly established one made by Duke Genos. Breaking it surely wouldn’t weigh on them as heavily as breaking the long-established laws of the kingdom, don’t you think?” Kamyua Yoshu remarked with a smile. “The fact that they’re afraid of Duke Genos and want to curtail his power is the whole reason they came here in the first place. If they were to decide that sacrificing a few soldiers would be a small price to pay to further their objectives, well then, you and your men would be in a lot of trouble, wouldn’t you?”

Doug didn’t have an answer to that.

“Furthermore, they seem to have judged the people of the forest’s edge to be highly dangerous. In all likelihood, they heard your report and realized how formidable the hunters from the forest are, which I’m sure has made them feel like they have even more reasons to be worried than they thought. After all, if each hunter possesses the strength of ten soldiers and there are hundreds of them, that would make them equivalent to an army of several thousand men. In fact, the observers are so worried about the threat they think those hunters pose, they’re now taking steps against the people of the forest’s edge as well.”

“Hmph. Having hundreds of those monsters running around is a serious threat.”

“Yes, since you don’t live here in Genos, you would think that, because you don’t know how honest and forthright the people of the forest’s edge truly are. It’s no surprise that they would seem frightening when you know nothing about them except for their strength as warriors. Ultimately, the observers believe that the people of the forest’s edge have made Duke Genos feel powerful and confident in his position,” Kamyua Yoshu said. Then he turned to speak directly to us. “As it turns out, I have something else to report to all of you. During the meeting with Duke Genos today, the observers made another absurd proposal.”

“Another absurd proposal?” I asked.

“Yes. They proposed having the people of the forest’s edge leave the forest and become the same as any other citizen of the west. Donda Ruu has likely already heard about this, by the way.”

A burning light immediately appeared in Ai Fa’s blue eyes. “What do you mean, have us leave the forest? You can’t be suggesting that they want us to live as townsfolk, surely.”

“That’s exactly what they want. Their idea is to do away with the northerners working the Turan lands and have the people of the forest’s edge live there instead.”

“Do away with the northerners? Wait, are they planning on executing people who haven’t even committed any crimes?!” I interjected without thinking.

With a calming smile, Kamyua Yoshu replied, “Whether they would be executed or sold to another land would be up to Duke Genos, supposedly. Either way, there would no longer be anyone left to cultivate the fuwano and mamaria, so that task would be given to the people of the forest’s edge instead.”

“That’s ridiculous. If we did that, the forest would become overrun with giba,” Ai Fa said.

“Yes, but the observers suggested that the townsfolk could form a vigilante corps or something like that to deal with the problem. Officially, they are justifying their proposal by claiming that it’s unfair for the people of the forest’s edge to have to deal with the harsh work of giba hunting by themselves,” Kamyua Yoshu said with a shrug. The look on his face was still as aloof as always. “During the previous interrogation, they mainly focused on you, Asuta, because they see you as the key player in Duke Genos’s efforts to manipulate the people of the forest’s edge. It truly is a troublesome line of thinking.”

“And this makes what we were discussing before sound all the more plausible, doesn’t it?” I said. “The more they provoke the people of the forest’s edge, the easier it’ll be for them to assert how dangerous we are.”

“Yup. That’s why I’d say Donda Ruu was right to handle things calmly. He probably left the observers grinding their teeth in frustration when he didn’t take the bait,” Kamyua Yoshu said before turning back toward Doug and Iphius. “Well, I suppose that concludes our little chat. We don’t have any proof, so we can’t make a move against the observers yet. But I think you’ll agree that it only makes sense for you to be on the lookout for traps. After all, there’s no harm in being careful.”

“Hmph. I’m guessing that you already know about the new orders we’ve been given, then?” Doug asked.

“Yes,” Kamyua Yoshu replied with a nod. “Apparently, you’ll be entering the forest of Morga tomorrow to see just how dangerous giba actually are, correct? Yet another ridiculous idea.”

Ai Fa spoke up then, seemingly unable to hold herself back from interjecting again. “Hey, Kamyua Yoshu, why did you stay silent about such an important matter? You told us that you wouldn’t hide anything, didn’t you?”

“Sorry about that. I got so wrapped up in my discussion with Asuta earlier that I forgot to bring it up. And I’m sure that Donda Ruu was told about this as well when he visited the castle town this evening.” Kamyua Yoshu’s eyebrow drooped as he smiled. He looked like he was brushing off Ai Fa’s anger.

Ai Fa glared back at him, crossing her arms with a displeased expression. “Why didn’t he mention any of this to us when we crossed paths, then? He didn’t say anything about a plan to force our people out of the forest, or that this lot would be going on a giba hunt.”

“Maybe he didn’t think it was very important because Duke Genos made it clear that he was firmly opposed to the idea. I’m sure he’ll discuss it with you once you get back to the settlement, though. Regardless, the notion that they’d be able to get you to leave the forest is awfully unrealistic, right?”

“Of course it is. There’s no way we’d ever agree to that.”

“There’s also no way that anyone else could handle the task of giba hunting. If a group of vigilantes were enough to drive them off, the people of the forest’s edge wouldn’t have been allowed to settle here eighty years ago in the first place,” Kamyua Yoshu said. Then he turned toward the hundred lion commanders again. “That goes for you as well, Doug and Iphius. You may be excellent soldiers, but your swords are meant for cutting down enemy forces, not wild beasts.”

“Hmph. Even so, we have no choice but to carry out the mission given to us. Right now, the giba are our enemy,” Doug replied, a fire burning in his eyes. However, it seemed to be a blaze filled with regret over how his pride as a soldier had been hurt.

Noticing the look on Doug’s face, Shin Ruu narrowed his eyes and said, “Telling soldiers to kill giba is as illogical as telling us hunters to kill humans. Is your superior not able to refuse such a senseless order?”

“Of course not. As long as we’re here in this land, the observers’ authority over us is absolute. If our boss were to defy them, he’d be considered a traitor,” Doug said, closing his blazing eyes and grinning boldly. “So, if that’s all you wanted to discuss, we’ll be heading back to the dining hall now.”

“Yeah, but Doug...” I said haltingly.

“I told you before, the nobles are the ones who decide everything. Our only choice is to act as faithful blades, doing whatever they tell us to.” With his eyes still closed, Doug tousled his blackish-brown hair. “Oh, and Iphius, if what I’m about to say wrongs the kingdom in any way, you should report me to the commander, all right?”

Iphius remained silent.

Doug then addressed me again. “Between the two observers, Taluon is the one who’s really driving things forward. The haughty drunkard he’s partnered with is just dancing in the palm of his hand without even realizing it.”

“Oh, is that so?” Kamyua Yoshu asked, leaning forward and looking intrigued.

“Hmph,” Doug muttered with a frown directed at the bodyguard. “I was talking to Asuta of the Fa clan. You stay out of it, Northern Whirlwind... Now, like I was saying, Taluon’s been responsible for everything that’s happened during their mission here. Dregg runs his mouth constantly, but that’s only because Taluon’s spurring him on behind the scenes. Not that I’ve got any sympathy for a noble who gets drunk in the middle of the day. I’m just letting you know so you don’t misunderstand who you’re really up against.”

“Understood... Thank you for telling us that. I’m sure it’ll turn out to be valuable information.”

“Hmph. If you hadn’t been there today, a lot of people who are very important to me might have had one of their toes cut off. If I didn’t repay that debt, I wouldn’t be fit to wear that tassel on my helmet.”

With that, Doug finally opened his eyes and looked over at Iphius.

“By subordinades are pressous do be doo... I hully ubbersdand how hyu heel...” the other commander said in his muddied voice between heavy breaths.

“Hmph. Then you’ll overlook me telling them that?”

“I’wul bink on dad madder carehully...”

“Gotcha. If I get demoted to the rank of foot soldier because of this, I expect you to at least make good use of me, okay?” Doug said, springing up from the window sill. “Anyway, let’s get back to dinner. We’ll be ordering lots more food, so make sure not to serve us any raw meat, all right?”

“Yes, of course,” I replied with all the emotion I was feeling at that moment.

Today had been a massive disaster, but we had gained a lot from it too. That was what I truly felt as I watched Doug grinning fearlessly as if he were trying to dispel his concerns.

Chapter 2: Taboo

1

The next day, Zasshuma showed up at our stalls shortly before the sun hit its peak.

“Sounds like yesterday was pretty rough, huh? I’ve got a message for you from Sir Melfried,” he said.

“Huh? For me, or for the Ruu clan?”

“They’re sending an official envoy to the Ruu settlement, but since I was planning to come here around this time anyway, they asked me to deliver this message to you, Asuta,” Zasshuma said with a cheerful smile. “Well I guess it’s not a message for you specifically, but I figured I’d take the opportunity. And I’m sure you’re interested in what’s going on too, right?”

“Are you talking about how the soldiers from the capital are going to enter the forest of Morga? If you know anything about that, I’d definitely like to hear it.”

“Of course. It’s only natural for you people of the forest’s edge to be interested. The soldiers are going to head out from the post town today when the sun hits its peak, and there will be fifty of them. Their leader will be the hundred lion commander Doug—the same one from that incident yesterday.”

If Doug was leading their hunting team, that meant he hadn’t been demoted after all. That was good to hear, but it was hard to be completely happy about it, considering the nature of his current mission.

“They’re being reckless. No matter how skilled they are as soldiers, giba hunting is totally different from the kind of fighting they’re used to. Are they planning to enter the forest in full armor?” I asked.

“Well, yeah. If they tried to take on a giba without it, the first hit they took from a giba’s tusks would probably end them.”

“But if they encounter a starving giba dressed like that, they won’t be able to climb up trees to escape. And even if their armor can protect them from a giba’s tusks and horns when they get hit, they could still die from the force of the impact.”

“Donda Ruu said that too. Not that the observers listened to him.” Zasshuma scratched his head below the turban-like headwear he always had wrapped around it. “By the way, the observers also turned down his offer to have hunters of the forest’s edge accompany them. You probably already heard that too though, huh?”

“Yeah. We were told after we returned from the post town last night. Apparently, the soldiers are gonna be entering the forest somewhere that no clan uses as a hunting ground.”

“Right. They’re going to head east down that newly cut path and enter the forest somewhere along the way. If they run their totos for an hour or so, that should put them well clear of your hunting grounds, or at least that’s the hope.”

There wouldn’t be too many giba in that area. But a starving giba had shown up and attacked the northerners and guards there while the path was being cleared. Normally, a giba wouldn’t go anywhere near a crowd of fifty people, but a starving one sometimes would.

“But this time, they’ll have someone from Genos with them to keep an eye on things. If they were to pick any of the fruit that grows in the forest, or even worse, wander onto the mountain, that’d be a really serious issue. Folks from Genos regard Mount Morga as a sacred ground that’s totally off-limits, right?” he said.

“Yeah. Supposedly, setting foot on Mount Morga would lead to the destruction of Genos. I don’t know all that much about those stories myself, though.”

“You mean the ones that say the three great beasts of Morga—the varb wolves, giant madarama snakes, and red savages—are embodiments of the mountain’s anger? I was born in Dabagg, but even I’ve heard the legends about them. Speaking of which, you actually ran into a madarama snake, didn’t you?” Zasshuma asked with a big grin. “That’s amazing, running into a monster out of a fairy tale. You sure do have a lot of weird stuff happen to you.”

“You think so?”

Dan Rutim’s life had been saved twice by a varb wolf, so at least to the people of the forest’s edge, the three great beasts of Morga were no mere fairy tales.

“Still, I’m a little worried. If the soldiers happen to run into an unusually weak giba and manage to take it down without too much trouble, it sounds like things might get a little problematic,” he said.

“You mean with how they want to make the people of the forest’s edge move to the Turan lands? If they try to do that, we’ll just leave for another forest instead.”

“Duke Genos is firmly against that, so things’ll probably work out. But let’s pray for their giba hunt to be unsuccessful anyway.”

With that, Zasshuma stepped away toward the restaurant space with a large plate of food. I couldn’t help but sigh as I thought about the situation.

Yamiru Lea then called out to me from the neighboring stall. “You certainly look down. Are you worried the soldiers will be attacked by giba, Asuta?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. It’d be a shame for them to get injured because their bosses gave them such a reckless order. That said, I don’t want their hunt to be successful either...so it’s difficult to know how to feel.”

“You only have to deal with this anxiety because you insist on caring about these people from the capital. My clan head often laughs about how limitless your kindness is.”

If all he did was laugh, that was fine with me. Last night, though, Ludo Ruu had gotten really sulky and asked me, “What, you’re gonna try to make friends with them?”

Luido and the soldiers under him are just following orders, and Dregg is supposedly getting led around by Taluon too...so Taluon’s the only one we really need to deal with. Kamyua must have told Duke Genos that by now, so maybe they’ll be able to come up with some sort of plan, I thought to myself as I worked on the daily special—deep-fried giba. But then, someone truly unexpected showed up in front of my stall.

“It’s been a long time, Sir Asuta. I’ve heard that things have been quite hectic for you lately, but I’m glad to see you looking well.” It was Bozl, one of Varkas’s apprentices. He was a tall southerner, much like Aldas.

“Yeah, it feels like it’s been forever. Are you out buying meat today?”

“Yes. I was able to get ahold of some rare barobaro bird today. The person I was dealing with was late, though, so I’ve been stuck here for some time. But at least now I get to have some giba cooking for the first time in quite a while.”

Bozl had the frank nature of a southerner, but also the sort of politeness you’d expect from someone living in the castle town. I hadn’t seen him since that dinner at The Silver Star, but he still had the same big grin on his face as always.

“I heard that you came to the castle town to prepare a meal the other day. Varkas deeply regrets that he wasn’t able to meet with you during your visit.”

“I don’t doubt it. Timalo from Selva’s Spear was the other chef manning the kitchen with me that time.”

“Yes, I’m aware. Our guests from the capital are displeased with Varkas, which is why they didn’t reach out to him.”

“Wait, really? This is the first I’ve heard about that.”

“Duke Genos ordered him to prepare food for them, only for one of them to complain that he couldn’t eat something that looked so odd and throw his plate. Varkas’s dishes have unusual appearances and smells, and it seems that is enough to upset some people.” The only person who would’ve done something that ridiculous was that drunkard Dregg. “At any rate, I’d be happy to see them go as soon as possible. As long as they remain here in Genos, there will be very few opportunities for you to come to the castle town, or for outsiders to visit the forest’s edge, correct?”

“That’s true. Duke Genos said it would be okay if we keep doing things the way we always have, but this really isn’t a good time to hold a banquet, or for us to have guests over.”

“What a shame. Both Shilly Rou and I are looking forward to the day when you will be able to invite us to your settlement again. We have received a large amount of shaska from Sym, so I would like to have all of you take a look at it as well.”

“Ah, nice. I’ll be looking forward to that too.”

The sun had reached its peak while we were talking. It was now time for Doug and his men to head out to the forest’s edge. I felt like sighing again as I wondered what I should be praying for.

“Well then, could I order some food? I have some containers with me, so hold on for just a moment,” Bozl said, returning to where he had parked his wagon off to the side of the road. When he emerged from within holding a pair of sizable containers, my eyes shot open wide.

“You sure are well prepared. Didn’t you say it was a coincidence that you were able to stop by today?”

“Yes, but whenever I go to the post town to purchase meat, I always bring along a few containers like these. I usually come here in the morning or the evening, so your stalls aren’t open for business, but I always make sure to be prepared, just in case.”

I definitely appreciated hearing that.

After we filled those containers with giba curry and cream stew, he went and grabbed some more. He must have been buying enough for Varkas and his fellow apprentices waiting back at The Silver Star to all have some. I was glad that they were going to be able to enjoy my cooking, even if it took an inconvenience to make it happen.

“Of course, I will purchase something from Lady Myme as well. I would prefer to have it with a bit more sauce than usual, if that would be possible?”

“Of course. Please say hello to Varkas and the other apprentices for me,” Myme said with a happy smile as she poured a good amount of the karon-milk-based broth into the container. Personally, I really wanted to invite Bozl to the forest’s edge as soon as possible to have him meet Mikel.

But before that, we’ll have to handle the observers from the capital. I’d like to help with that too, but I’m not sure what I can do.

I ended up swamped with work after that, with fresh customers streaming in one after another. Some of them had noticed the soldiers heading toward the forest’s edge both yesterday and today and asked about that with concern, but all I could offer them was a canned response. Marstein had said the truth was our greatest weapon, but I didn’t know how much I could reveal without asking him first.

However, that concern was cleared up a little under an hour later, when the members of the construction group showed up a bit on the late side.

“Around when the sun hit its peak, a proclamation from the castle town was announced over there in that plaza. So, the soldiers from the capital went into the forest’s edge to hunt a giba, eh?”

Apparently, the castle town had sent a messenger to make a public announcement in the plaza so that people would have an explanation for what had happened both yesterday and today—that yesterday, the soldiers had been dispatched to our settlement to investigate our living conditions, but had not been informed about our right to self-govern, and that the observers had apologized. And today, they were sending soldiers into the forest of Morga to gather information on the ecology of the giba.

It sounded like the parts about having the people of the forest’s edge live in town and the formation of a hunter militia to deal with the giba hadn’t been revealed, though. Marstein must have been waiting until the time was right, as both of those propositions were sure to garner intense opposition from the people of Genos.

But as long as those observers don’t retract those proposals, they’ll have to be announced eventually. I’m sure when they are, the townsfolk will direct all their criticisms toward the observers, but still...at this rate, it feels like the rift between us is just going to keep widening.

As the lord of Genos, Marstein was trying his best to make peace with the people of the capital, but since the observers kept taking such heavy-handed actions, the situation was only getting worse as time went on.

Are things gonna turn out okay? I wondered to myself as I fried some giba.

A moment later, though, my thoughts were interrupted when Raielfam Sudra called out to me. “Hey, that Sanjura man is here. It seems he really does intend to come by the stalls every day.”

It was around half an hour after the sun had hit its peak, and our midday rush had slowed down a bit at this point. I noted that Sanjura was holding a rectangular bundle in his hands as he approached us.

“Lefreya said, she wishes to eat, a soup dish, so I brought, this container. Would I be, allowed to ask, you to fill it?”

“Of course. So, is Lefreya doing all right?”

“Yes. But she was, terribly shaken, when she heard, about the discussions, on how the northerners, might be dealt with, yesterday,” Sanjura replied with a faint smile. “However, when she heard, that Duke Genos, was opposed, she was able, to calm down. It would be, quite difficult, for Lefreya to recover, if Chiffon Chel’s, older brother, was disposed of.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t accept that happening either. Not that we’d agree to move to the Turan lands in the first place, mind.”

“I have heard, that the soldiers, of the capital, have entered, the forest of Morga... Do you think, they will be able, to kill a giba?”

When Raielfam Sudra heard that, he said, “Don’t be ridiculous. It doesn’t matter how good they are as soldiers, they won’t be able to hunt down a giba with their skills. We hunters use techniques that require a lot of skill too.”

“Is that so? I do not, know much about, either soldiers or hunters... I am, a bit uneasy.”

“With all that armor on, they won’t be able to either chase a giba or run from one. They might be able to bring one down, but it would cost several of them their lives,” Raielfam Sudra explained with a sour look on his face.

“I see,” Sanjura said with a sigh. “Then I will, trust what you say, and pray that, their hunt will be, a failure.”

“You shouldn’t pray for people to find misfortune. Your way of thinking is a real problem,” Raielfam Sudra remarked, turning away in a huff. At least he was making an active effort to engage with Sanjura in order to get a feel for the man’s true character. Despite his harsh words, I still felt like he was being pretty open-minded.

“At any rate, Lefreya is trying, with all her might, to fight back, against her fate. And I intend, to support her, even if, it costs me, my life,” Sanjura said, his expression remaining perfectly calm and composed.

The observers must have put Lefreya through a thorough interrogation too. How must she have felt, having her own crimes and those of her father Cyclaeus dredged back up like that? That was another big worry of mine.

“Sanjura, there’s actually something else I wanted to ask you... Does Lefreya hold a grudge against me?” I said.

Sanjura blinked in surprise. Though he looked like an easterner, as a westerner, he was a lot more open with his emotions. “I see no reason, that Lefreya would hold, a grudge against you, Asuta. You went out of your way, to grant, peace of mind, to Cyclaeus.”

“I just prepared a meal like Lefreya asked me too. Still, if she doesn’t hate me, I’m glad to hear it.”

“Are you not, the one with, reason to hold, a grudge? Lefreya abducted you. It would make sense, for you to still, resent her, for that.”

He was right, but Lefreya was already being punished with confinement for that crime. Of course, the duration of her punishment had been shortened greatly from what had originally been decided on in order to have her inherit Cyclaeus’s rank so he could face judgment, but the leading clan heads had reluctantly accepted that outcome. That meant that the people of the forest’s edge had forgiven Lefreya and Sanjura for their actions, at least on the surface. Even people like Ai Fa who weren’t able to drop the wariness and hostility they felt did their best to suppress it.

If we could make some more progress on that front, would it help us with this huge problem we’re facing now?

The observers from the capital were concerned about the fall of the house of Turan upsetting the balance of power in Genos. Setting aside the idea of making Sanjura the new head of the house, would elevating Lefreya help to put them at ease? I definitely wanted to ask Kamyua Yoshu for his opinion on that when I got the chance.

“Lefreya and Chiffon Chel, talk about you often, Asuta... You are, significant, to both of them. They would not, talk about you, they way they do, if they held grudges. In fact, I believe Lefreya, is worried that, you may hate her.”

“Oh, really? But I don’t hold any grudge against her at all. Could you let her know that?”

“Yes. Lefreya will be, overjoyed. Though I would imagine, she will not, let it show openly,” Sanjura said with a gentle smile, an expression that had once reminded me of Shumiral. As dangerous as he was, I didn’t believe that Sanjura was a bad person...or perhaps it was more that I wanted him to be a good person, probably because of that gentle smile he showed so often. “By the way, I have news, from the castle town... Today, Counts Daleim and Saturas, were both summoned, to meet with, the observers.”

“They were? That sounds like a pretty big deal.”

I hadn’t had much interaction with either Count Paud Daleim or Count Luidross Saturas, but they were second in authority only to Marstein here in Genos.

Still, I’m sure that both of them would be firmly opposed to the idea of having us leave the forest. Especially Count Daleim, since his territory stands to suffer the most damage from rampaging giba.

A fence was gradually being constructed to protect the Daleim fields, but finishing it would require a huge amount of material, effort, and time, so from what I had heard, it probably wouldn’t be finished until next year.

And even when it is finished, if the people of the forest’s edge stop hunting, giba are gonna come pouring out of the forest. They could break through the fence, show up in the post town, or even endanger the nearby highway.

There was a high probability that the prosperity of Genos would be seriously harmed if the hunters of the forest’s edge were to ever stop. Marstein was fully aware of that, which was exactly why he was putting so much effort into getting along with us. The proposal that the observers had made would completely do away with one of the key pillars that made the current system work, so it was obvious from the very beginning that he would never agree to it.

In the worst-case scenario, where the observers don’t care at all about the damage their plan would do to Genos, it’ll be impossible to reconcile with them. I pray that isn’t how things are.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t stop thinking negative thoughts. I still had no idea what the people of the forest’s edge could do to fix things.

The observers keep causing new problems faster than we can respond to them. I wish I could come up with a proposal to help lead to peace between Genos and the capital... Honestly, I’d love to consult with Gazraan Rutim about it, I thought to myself as I stared upward absentmindedly.

The sky over Genos remained clear and bright, naturally knowing nothing of my worries.

2

A few hours later, we returned to the forest’s edge, where I held a study session in the Fa house’s kitchen. Today, we had more than ten women in attendance. Now that the Sudra twins had been born and were doing well, and things were running smoothly with the raw meat preparation and sales, the Fou and Ran women were once again showing up just as often as they used to.

Today’s focus was on coming up with more variations of pasta sauce. Toor Deen was also there, but she was working by herself on refining the chocolate cake from yesterday. I had decided to have her work on it solo because the clans neighboring the Fa didn’t seem that interested in using expensive gigi leaves. They did allow themselves to be that extravagant when it was for big banquets, like for a festival of the hunt, though. That was why I was having Toor Deen continue to experiment with it. I was hoping she would be able to perfect the recipe before then, while I would be helping the other women with their own studies in the meantime.

Of course, it wasn’t like I was having Toor Deen do everything by herself, as I had asked the others to help prepare the gigi leaves, and when we came up with a new pasta sauce idea, I brought her into the loop. Everyone seemed to be learning to adapt to the needs of the moment, dividing up the labor when it made sense to do so and working together when necessary. Their passion for cooking was on par with that of any woman from the Ruu clan.

We worked hard and had a peaceful, fulfilling time together again today. That said, it was difficult to stop thinking about what was going on with the observers. While we were pausing to wait for ingredients to boil or whatever, the topic always managed to come back up.

“So, are those soldiers from the capital chasing giba around the forest of Morga right now? It feels strange to know that townsfolk have entered our territory like that,” the young Matua girl remarked as she stirred some tarapa sauce that we had slightly tweaked the flavor of.

Back during the silver month, the Gamley Troupe had also delved into the forest, trying to catch a live giba. However, there had been Ruu clan hunters with them every time. This was probably the first time anyone from town had ventured into the forest to hunt giba without any hunters accompanying them in the last eighty years.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that those soldiers are going into the forest to intentionally try to run into a giba! I’m sure they’ll learn very quickly how frightening those beasts truly are!” Dora had said back in the post town earlier today. He had experience with finishing off giba that had fallen into the pitfalls set up around his fields using handmade spears. Even just looking at an immobilized giba from overhead had been a hair-raising experience for him.

I had only encountered a live giba twice myself—one on the day when I had first awoken in the forest of Morga, and the second the day after that. The first time, I had escaped from the danger by tumbling into a pitfall, and the second time, Ai Fa had saved me. However, the fear I had felt was still carved firmly into my memories, even now.

Giba strongly resembled boars, but they were far more dangerous. Boars were threatening enough to begin with, but even though I wasn’t a hunter or anything, it was obvious to me that giba were exceptionally vicious.

But honestly, learning how incredibly strong the people of the forest’s edge are probably had an even bigger impact on how I look at giba, because even the best hunters are putting their lives on the line every time they go out hunting. That’s how dangerous giba can be.

I had seen plenty of contests of strength between hunters, which had proven to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that their physical capabilities far exceeded what I had been used to. For example, Ai Fa was just a bit shorter than me and very slim, but she had far more muscle strength than I did. The difference was so striking that I couldn’t help but think the makeup of their muscles and bones had to be different.

And then there was Shin Ruu. He was shorter than me, but he had sent a large armored man flying back a couple meters with a single swing of his blade. According to what I had previously considered to be common sense, no ordinary person could do something like that.

On top of all that, the hunters of the forest’s edge possessed exceptional reflexes, vision, and hearing, as well as the ability to sense the presence of others while hiding their own. That was all a part of what made them so incredibly capable.

If the song the minstrel Neeya had once sung—“The Black King and the White Queen”—was true, then they had been hunting vicious apes in the black forest since before the modern kingdom of Sym existed. Then, after being driven from that forest, they had wandered about aimlessly before finding this second home here in the forest of Morga.

Granny Jiba had once said that a lot of her people had fallen to exhaustion on the path here. And even once they had started living at the forest’s edge, their struggles against the unfamiliar giba had cut their numbers in half. Only the blood of those who overcame that harsh fate survived to today.

Because of who they were, they were able to keep on hunting giba even now. After hundreds of years of surviving in harsh conditions, the people of the forest’s edge had grown to become abnormally strong.

Of course, Doug and his men were undoubtedly exceptional soldiers. But like Kamyua Yoshu had said, they honed their skills with the aim of becoming better at fighting other soldiers. If they were to fight the people of the forest’s edge, they would be able to bring all of their skills to bear and make a good showing of themselves. But it was hard to imagine that they would be able to fight giba anywhere near as effectively.

“You look down, Asuta...” Yun Sudra said from beside me, giving me a worried look. “The sweet in the oven should be done soon. Are you going to go check on it?”

“Ah, sorry, I’m fine. I just had something on my mind.”

“I see. I’m sure that you’re going to play a part in getting us out of this,” Yun Sudra said with a somewhat pained smile. “You’re undoubtedly a person of the forest’s edge. But it’s obvious that you also possess a power that we don’t. That’s what has allowed you to help us again and again in the year that you’ve been here.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? All I can do is cook food.”

“You’re wrong. Before you came to the forest, you lived in some sort of town, right? You understand the thoughts and feelings of the townsfolk, which is something we can’t do. That’s why you were able to get the soldiers to go away yesterday and hold back the fury of the leading clan head Donda Ruu, right?” The expression on Yun Sudra’s face looked incredibly mature, somehow. She seemed to be a little sad, but at the same time, she looked happy as she smiled. “It makes me feel a little lonely on your behalf, since you feel so far removed from us. But at the same time, I’m also proud and happy to be able to call you one of our people. I hope that you’ll continue to lift us up with your strength.”

“Yeah, of course... Thanks, Yun Sudra.”

“I’m the one who should be thanking you, Asuta. Now come on. If we keep Toor Deen waiting too long, she’ll start to worry,” Yun Sudra replied, pushing me on my back and directing me toward the kitchen’s exit.

As we headed over to the oven, I pondered Yun Sudra’s words. It really is like she said. I think more like the townsfolk, so I’m able to come up with ideas that would never occur to anybody else at the forest’s edge. If I can put that to full use, then maybe I can do something to help out, I thought as I saw Toor Deen standing there in front of the oven with a serious look on her face. Cheem Sudra was next to her, acting as a guard.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Are we late?”

“No. There isn’t any sort of strange smell, so I don’t believe it burned. And the sand in the hourglass just finished falling now.”

“I see. In that case, let’s hurry up and take it out.”

I glanced all around, looking for the metal pole with a hook on it that we used to open the oven door. As it happened, though, Cheem Sudra already had it in his hand, and he silently held it out to me.

“Thanks, Cheem Sudra,” I said. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you and Toor Deen together before. Did you end up talking about anything?” I asked as I opened the door.

“No,” Cheem Sudra answered with a shake of his head. “Toor Deen was constantly checking the flames and smelling the smoke and all that, so she didn’t seem to really notice me at all. I imagine that intense focus is how she’s able to make even better sweets than you.”

“A-Ah, no, that’s not it. I’m lacking in ability, so I need to work harder than most. That’s all,” Toor Deen said, instantly shrinking back.

Cheem Sudra stared at her, tilting his head a bit. “Hmm. But I’ve heard things about you from Yun every now and then. The fact that you were put in charge of an entire banquet at the northern settlement is definitely impressive. And despite how young you are, you even received a marriage request that time, didn’t you?”

“Huh?! Is that true, Toor Deen?” I asked.

“N-No, it wasn’t anything like that!”

“Really? I heard there was a bit of a commotion among the Dana women about a Havira man falling for you.”

“Th-That was just a misunderstanding. B-But how did Yun Sudra learn about that?”

“No clue. Women love to gossip. She probably heard it from a Deen or Liddo woman at a gathering like this one.”

Toor Deen went red all the way to the tips of her ears and looked like she wanted to disappear.

As he watched her blush intensify, Cheem Sudra tilted his head with a confused look. “What’s the matter? Both Yun and those other women simply wanted to express how exceptional of a chef you are. Honestly, Yun sounds so proud of you a lot of the time that it almost feels like she’s bragging about herself. But if I upset you somehow, my apologies.”

“Y-You didn’t,” Toor Deen replied, her face bright red as she shrunk in on herself even more. I felt bad for her, but it wasn’t like Cheem Sudra was trying to be mean, and as an outsider, I honestly found the exchange to be quite charming.

Since it seemed like they were done talking, Toor Deen and I pulled the heat-resistant plate out of the oven. And as soon as we did, the overwhelming aroma of chocolate cake filled the air.

“The color looks good. I’m looking forward to giving it a try,” I said.

Toor Deen silently nodded. I headed back to the kitchen with her, where we were immediately surrounded.

“The smell of this cake is unbelievable! It might even be able to overpower the scent of myamuu!”

“What’s it going to taste like this time? I’m really looking forward to it!”

Their eyes were sparkling with anticipation, Yun Sudra’s foremost among them. As they had continued trying samples, they had only grown more and more enraptured by chocolate cake.

We had three plates of samples this time, each using a different amount of sugar, karon milk, and milk fat. They were thin and only big enough around for everyone to have a single bite, so they wouldn’t be filling on their own. Once they cooled down and we gave them a try, every single chef present looked entranced.

“Ah, this really is delicious. I want to hurry back home to give my kids a taste.”

“That’s for sure. But it grabs your attention so much that it would probably be best to serve it last at a banquet.”

As I watched the excited women out of the corner of my eye, I turned to Toor Deen and said, “You seem to have improved the flavor a lot between yesterday and today. I think you’ve struck just the right balance between sweetness and bitterness.”

“Yes, but I’d like to make it a bit lighter and easier to eat. And...unless I can find a way to make the flavor vary a bit, I worry people may grow tired of the dish while eating it,” Toor Deen said with a serious look on her face, seemingly back in the groove. She had made a staggering amount of progress, considering it had only been two days, but she still wasn’t satisfied yet.

“If you want to give it a lighter texture, it might be good to cook it for longer. If you increase the amount of fuwano instead, you could end up having to tweak the flavor again.”

“That’s true... What about trying to use poitan, then? That would make its texture lighter.”

“Ah, I see. That could be good, yeah,” I replied.

Then, from the entrance, I heard Ai Fa’s voice say, “Hmm. Judging from the smell, I take it you were preparing desserts today?”

“Ah, welcome home, Ai Fa. You’re back early today,” I said.

“Not quite. There’s still a giba out in the forest, so I’ll need to head out again later.”

Based on what she was saying, she had apparently already killed a giba and brought it back. It seemed like she was bringing down as many of them as always.

Down by her feet, our hunting dog Brave was sniffing curiously, probably reacting to the intense smell of the chocolate cake.

“The next time I return, it will be about time for us to leave. Make certain you’re prepared before then.”

“Got it. Take care, Ai Fa.”

“Of course,” she replied, and then she dashed off.

As we watched her go, Yun Sudra leaned in close to me and said, “Asuta, is Ai Fa in a bad mood?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve been helping out at the inn for half a month now, haven’t you? So you’ve been eating away from home every day for all that time, which is really unusual for people of the forest’s edge.”

Yun Sudra was certainly right about that. To the people of the forest’s edge, it was very important to eat dinner together with your precious family.

“Well, things seem fine for now, at least. And in a few more days, we won’t need to go to town in the evenings anymore. We expected that this would last for about half a month from the start.”

“I see. In that case, I suppose it’s fine,” Yun Sudra said, sounding a bit worried, but I wasn’t concerned. After all, Ai Fa and I had already discussed that matter a few days back before going to sleep.

“I’m getting a little anxious, waiting for the day when we can relax and eat dinner at home again,” Ai Fa had said, lying atop her bedding, turned toward me. There had been a very gentle, very faint smile on her face.

Because of all the trouble the nobles from the capital were causing, Ai Fa had been wearing an intense expression on her face an awful lot lately, but it wasn’t as if she was tense all the time from morning through night. She would still sometimes give me the same kind of gentle looks that she normally did.

Ever since my birthday, those special looks had started affecting me more and more. Just seeing her open, unguarded affection like that was enough to get my heart pounding faster.

“Looks like there was no need for me to be worried,” Yun Sudra said with a bright smile. “I got a really strong urge to pinch your nose there, but that would be the kind of unnecessary contact that goes against our customs, so I’ll restrain myself.”

I wondered what she had picked up on that made her say that, but then I remembered that it was best not to underestimate Yun Sudra’s perceptiveness.

Before my face could start turning red, I turned away and started cleaning up. All that remained was trying out the boiled tarapa sauce, so the study session would be wrapping up soon.

“I’m really looking forward to the festival of the hunt. I want to see everyone’s happy faces!” the Matua girl said as she cleaned the cookware we had used with water from a jug. Despite the cheery smile on her face, though, I could see a hint of anxiety in her eyes. “I just hope we can wrap all this up before then... Asuta, be careful when you head to town tonight, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks. Ai Fa and the other hunters will be with us, though, so there’s no need to worry.”

We finished sampling the tarapa sauce and cleaning up, and Ai Fa returned at around the same time after dealing with the second giba. It would soon be the lower fifth hour, when we would have to head over to the Ruu settlement. We left Brave and the chunk of meat that would be his dinner with the Fou women, then departed in Gilulu’s wagon.

“How did the women from the other clans seem?” Ai Fa asked from up in the driver’s seat.

I leaned out of the wagon cover next to her and nodded as I replied, “Well, they were looking good, and it seems like they’ve gotten used to the process of preparing meat for the market. They’ve also gotten pretty good at making notes about how much of each ingredient they need to use.”

“I see. I’m looking forward to the festival of the hunt.”

“Yeah. It’s been months since the last one, so we should be able to prepare dishes that are even more elaborate than last time.”

We were just having a perfectly ordinary conversation. After all, there was no point in discussing the soldiers who had entered the forest now. Once we arrived at The Kimyuus’s Tail, Kamyua Yoshu would probably tell us anything we needed to know anyway. With that in mind, we were both pretty eager to get to the Ruu settlement.

However, we actually received some extremely serious news before we even arrived at our first destination. As Gilulu’s wagon proceeded south down the path, a hunter on a totos came into view ahead of us, traveling in the opposite direction.

“That’s...Ryada Ruu, right?” I asked.

“Is he delivering a message to the northern settlement again?” Ai Fa wondered aloud.

On the day that the observers from the capital had arrived, Ryada Ruu had been assigned to the role of messenger. That first evening, he had taken Leito along with him in a wagon, but it was already late, so he must have been prioritizing speed. The reddish plumage of the totos he was on indicated that it was Jidura.

“Has something happened, Ryada Ruu?” Ai Fa called out as she brought our wagon to a stop, and Ryada Ruu pulled back on his reins as well.

“Yes, but please ask for the details at the Ruu settlement. I must reach the northern clans as soon as possible.”

“What in the world is going on? The soldiers who entered the forest haven’t caused even more trouble, have they?”

“They have indeed. And this time it is even worse than it was yesterday,” Ryada Ruu replied. The look on his face was deadly serious.

Without realizing I was doing it, I leaned even farther out of the wagon. “Wh-What is it, then? Was someone killed?”

“Considering that they entered the forest of their own free will, they would have no grounds to complain even if some of their men did perish. I’m sure they had the resolve to face the risk of dying on their mission,” Ryada Ruu answered with a firm shake of his head. “So no, that isn’t it. They’ve broken a taboo.”

“A-A taboo?”

“Indeed. They stepped over the border between the forest and the mountain and were attacked by varb wolves.”

That hit me hard enough that I felt like a hammer had slammed into the back of my head.

Ryada Ruu readjusted his grip on his bird’s reins, an intense look on his face. “Fortunately, though the soldiers have a lot of wounded, it seems that they didn’t inflict any injuries on the wolves. If they had set foot on Mount Morga and harmed one of the three great beasts, the wrath of Morga might well have destroyed Genos. That can’t have been their intention from the start, right?”

“N-No way, they couldn’t...”

“At any rate, you’ll have to hear the rest at the Ruu settlement. I must hurry north.”

After a quick farewell, Ryada Ruu gave Jidura a kick in the sides as I turned toward my clan head in a fluster.

“A-Ai Fa, what in the world is going on?”

“Regardless of what those soldiers’ intentions were, this is an unforgivable act,” Ai Fa stated quietly. She used her whip on Gilulu’s side, and the totos enthusiastically started running forward. She looked incredibly tense as she manipulated the reins.

3

Dari Sauti of the leading clan heads had been the one to inform the Ruu about the incident.

Since the soldiers from the capital had entered the forest via the newly cut path to the south, the Sauti and their related clans had been the closest to them. Though they hadn’t been permitted to accompany the soldiers on their giba hunt, they still felt that it would be important for them to see what the result was, so Dari Sauti had wrapped up his work early and ridden over to the path on a totos.

“Then, after riding on his totos for around an hour, he ran into a group that had been left behind along the side of the road. Apparently, they brought wagons with them,” Ludo Ruu explained during our ride to The Kimyuus’s Tail.

The soldiers’ wagons had been packed with medicine and bandages to treat wounds. The group that had stayed behind had also been keeping a fire burning to act as a beacon, so that the soldiers who had ventured into the forest would know what direction they needed to go in to leave the forest.

And it hadn’t just been soldiers from the capital there. Some had been from Genos as well. Two had gone with the group into the forest and two more had stayed behind to keep watch. Since they had caused such a serious disturbance at the Ruu settlement the day prior, Marstein had forced the observers to accept that condition.

But in spite of all that, they had still broken the taboo of Morga.

“They apparently stopped just barely short of actually setting foot on the mountain itself. They stepped on the border between the forest and the mountain, and then the varb wolves attacked them.” Ludo Ruu didn’t look as furious as he had been yesterday. He probably didn’t feel like breaking the taboo against setting foot on the mountain was as bad as having his family’s homes violated. “Well, it was the lord of Genos who made the law that said we aren’t to go on the mountain. The thing about not pillaging the fruits of the forest is to protect our pride as hunters, but that stuff about the mountain being sacred land has nothing to do with us. So yeah, I can’t see any reason to get angry about it.”

Naturally, if the people of the forest’s edge broke that law, it would mean breaking their agreement with the lord of Genos, which would be met with a punishment just as harsh as the one for harvesting the fruits of the forest. But if the people who broke the law were townsfolk, the people of the forest’s edge wouldn’t really be impacted at all.

“Besides, all they did was go right up to the border, correct? So strictly speaking, they didn’t actually break the law. If they were driven back and some of their people were injured, shouldn’t that be enough of a punishment?” Shin Ruu chimed in. Since Donda Ruu was heading to the castle town again today, Jiza Ruu needed to stay at home.

“You set foot on that boundary too, didn’t you, Dan Rutim? But a varb wolf saved your life instead of attacking you,” he continued.

“Indeed! That was a truly purehearted animal! I would certainly like to meet it one more time before I perish!” Dan Rutim said with a hearty laugh. Then he turned toward Ludo Ruu. “Still, I wonder why the varb wolves went after them. I can’t imagine those noble creatures mindlessly attacking humans.”

“That must be because they were townsfolk, not hunters, right? And there were fifty of them, so the beasts probably thought they were going to pillage Mount Morga,” Ludo Ruu suggested.

A group of armored soldiers walking up to the border of the mountain did seem like it would be unnerving. But that was from a human point of view. A wild beast surely wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a hunter and a soldier.

“So why did they go that far in? They couldn’t have intentionally broken the taboo to bring disaster to Genos, could they?” I interjected.

“Hmm?” Ludo Ruu tilted his head a bit. “It probably wasn’t on purpose. I mean, that’s why the lord of Genos assigned people to watch over them, right?”

“Indeed. It wouldn’t be surprising at all for those not accustomed to the forest to lose their way. They must have intended to head east, only to end up turning north without realizing it. Since they had their armor on, they wouldn’t have even been able to climb the trees to check the position of the sun,” Dan Rutim noted.

“Exactly. Then, after they had walked for a long, long time without running into a giba, right when they were about to turn back, they heard the voice,” Ludo Ruu said.

“The voice? Whose voice?” I asked.

“No clue. But Mount Morga was angry, right? The voice called out ‘Do you intend to set foot upon our land?!’ and then the varb wolves attacked after that.”

I blinked in surprise, but Dan Rutim and Shin Ruu’s expressions didn’t change one bit. And Ai Fa was in the front holding Gilulu’s reins, so Reina Ruu seemed to be the only one who was thinking the same thing I was.

“Hold on, Ludo. Sure, it’s natural that Mount Morga would be angry, but still...mountains and forests don’t talk in the language of humans, right?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t know. Maybe it was the varb wolves?”

“It might have actually been a red savage. According to the legends, some of them can speak to the minds of varb wolves and giant madarama snakes,” Dan Rutim said, catching me off guard again.

“H-Hold on, red savages can speak? I thought they were just animals in the same vein as those black vamda apes.”

“Well, I’ve never seen one myself. But since they’re sometimes called wild people, it wouldn’t be strange at all for them to be able to do so.”

“The three great beasts of Morga are supposed to be mythical creatures that protect the sacred land, aren’t they? So it wouldn’t be weird at all if the wolves and snakes were able to talk too,” Ludo Ruu added.

“Indeed! The varb wolf that saved my life had very intelligent eyes! It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least if it were able to speak a human language!” Dan Rutim agreed.

Somehow, things seemed to be drifting in a more and more unrealistic direction.

“But...I had a run-in with a giant madarama snake, and it didn’t seem to be anything but a really big snake.”

“Couldn’t that have just been a baby snake that didn’t yet know how to speak? The legends say the king of the madarama is supposed to be massive enough to wrap around the entire mountain!” Dan Rutim said with a hearty chuckle, patting me on the back. “At any rate, something that lives on Mount Morga gave those soldiers an angry warning about breaking the taboo! Did whoever it was say anything else?”

“Yeah,” Ludo Ruu replied. “After the varb wolves put the hurt on the soldiers and they were about to run, it said something like, ‘If you break the taboo, you will be destroyed! Never forget that!’”

“I see. So that means their crimes today were forgiven. That’s good news for everyone,” Shin Ruu said with a calm nod.

If that was true, then they were very fortunate.

“Still, what kind of condition were the soldiers in afterward? I’m sure they didn’t get away unscathed, right?” Shin Ruu asked.

“Dari Sauti looked them over with the group that stayed behind, and it sounded like they at least all made it back on their own two feet. Some of them had dislocated shoulders and broken arms, though,” Ludo Ruu said.

“If they had run into a starving giba as they fled, they wouldn’t have gotten off so lightly. That is also fortunate,” Shin Ruu replied, only for Ludo Ruu to frown and lean toward him.

“Hey, Shin Ruu, you’re talking like you’re worried about those guys. Are you pitying them like Asuta?”

“I wouldn’t say that. But in their position, all they can do is follow orders. It’s not so different from how things were for the branch families of the Suun clan. If we don’t fix things with the people above them, this situation will never be resolved.”

“Hmph! Maybe, but don’t forget that they’re the ones who ransacked the Ruu settlement!” Ludo Ruu grumbled with a childish pout.

Just then, I felt the sensation of the wagon rolling onto smooth ground.

“We’ve made it to the end of the path through the forest, and will be entering the post town soon,” Ai Fa reported. She then nimbly descended from the driver’s seat, and started walking with Gilulu’s reins in her hand.

Sunset was fast approaching, so it had gotten rather dark in the surrounding area. We soon entered town on the main road, and there was once again a line of burning braziers set up down the middle of the street.

“It was that Doug guy and his men who entered the forest, right? Do you think they returned to the inn?” Ludo Ruu asked.

“I’m not sure. If they were injured, they might have been moved elsewhere,” I said.

Personally, I couldn’t help but worry about how Doug was doing. It was certainly unexpected for them to be attacked by varb wolves when they went out to hunt giba. And I couldn’t even imagine what impact this incident would have on the relationship between Genos and the capital.

As we approached The Kimyuus’s Tail, the front door opened and Leito stepped out to greet us. “Welcome. I’ll take care of your totos and wagon from here,” he said. It seemed he was helping out in the dining hall again today, since he had an apron on. “Zasshuma told me about what happened to the soldiers earlier this evening. Are the leading clan heads still in the castle town?”

“Yeah. Unsurprisingly, it seems like tonight’s meeting is going to be a long one,” I said.

“I’m sure it will be. The observers’ hunting team was careless enough to break Genos’s greatest taboo. Half of the soldiers staying here were injured and are resting up in their rooms,” Leito said with a deep sigh. “I wonder what that angry voice that yelled at them was, though. Do spirits dwell on Mount Morga or something?”

“You find it strange too, even though you were born in Genos, Leito?”

“Of course I do. The three great beasts of Morga are the stuff of legends, and they never appear before people. It’s like those soldiers from the capital earned the wrath of the gods,” Leito said, his reddish-brown eyes shining intensely. “At any rate, this was a massive blunder on their part. There were even soldiers from Genos accompanying them who witnessed what happened, so there won’t be any talking their way out of it. I’m sure Duke Genos will be able to use this to move things forward in a positive direction.”

“Oh yeah? That’d be an impressive display of turning disaster into opportunity.”

Our initial discussion ended with that, and we headed over to the kitchen. Today, both Telia and Milano Mas were doing prep work there.

We greeted Milano Mas, and he replied to us with a sullen look. “Yeah, sorry for troubling you like this day after day. In just a few more days I’ll be able to work again properly, so I’d like to ask you to keep helping us out for a little longer.”

“Of course. Please don’t push yourself too hard, Milano Mas.”

The inn owner silently nodded, then glanced back down at the pot in front of him.

Ludo Ruu tilted his head questioningly. “What’s the matter? You look like you’re in a bad mood, Milano Mas.”

“Sure am. We’ve been having doctors coming in and out of here and making a real fuss up until just a little while ago. Those soldiers that went into the forest sure did mess up badly.”

“No kidding. And it sounds like you’ve had it rough too,” Ludo Ruu said, putting his hands behind his head as he approached the window. “Well, I’m sure they won’t want to go anywhere near the forest now. And they didn’t manage to kill even a single giba in the end.”

“Of course they didn’t. As if those fools ever could.”

“Still, I bet they never expected to get attacked by varb wolves when they went out on a giba hunt,” Dan Rutim added with a smile.

Milano Mas’s entire body twitched, and there was a loud clattering sound as Telia Mas dropped a plate to the floor.

“S-Sorry,” she mumbled, her voice noticeably trembling.

Before we could reply, Milano Mas said, “You’re Dan Rutim, aren’t you? What was that you said just a moment ago?”

“Hmm? Did I say something to upset you?”

“It sounded like you said something about varb wolves,” Milano Mas growled, slowly turning toward the hunter. His expression had instantly gone straight past displeased to outright furious. Behind him, Telia Mas was frozen in place, looking dumbfounded.

“I certainly did, but what of it? Has Leito not told you anything?”

“Leito only just showed up a little while ago, and that was the first we’ve seen of him today. He hasn’t had time to tell us about what’s been going on yet. So, what is this about varb wolves?”

“That lot apparently went too close to the border around the mountain and were attacked by varb wolves. They should be grateful to the forest that none of them lost their lives,” Ludo Ruu explained.

“I see,” Milano Mas quietly muttered. “I’m going to step out for a bit. Telia, you take care of things here.”

“Okay,” Telia Mas replied, her face looking deathly pale. Then she brought her hands together in front of her chest and started quietly chanting something. The plate she had dropped was still sitting there on the floor.

“What’s this all about, Telia Mas? Are you worried about those varb wolves that appeared?” I asked.

“Th-They’re one of the three great beasts that protects the sacred land, aren’t they? Earning the anger of Morga... That’s unforgivable,” she answered in a trembling voice, leaning against the wall listlessly. “If Morga is angered, Genos will be destroyed... Our ancestors believed that if Morga was disturbed, their world at the base of the mountain would come to ruin. So even when they handed their land over to the kingdom, there must have been a promise made to not violate the sacred land of Morga... Why is this happening?”

“The people who broke that law came from the capital, not Genos. I can’t see any reason for you to be scared,” Ludo Ruu said.

But Telia Mas shook her head and replied, “No. Our ancestors were permitted to live on this land because we promised not to violate the sacred mountain. If that promise with Mount Morga is broken, we are the ones who will be destroyed... The people who live here in Genos.”

“I see. Your family are descendants of independent settlers, right? And they were among the first people to exchange that promise with Mount Morga?” Shin Ruu asked with a worried look, peering in from the entrance to the kitchen. “In that case, the people who would be most upset about that taboo being broken would be people like you, not the people of the forest’s edge or the nobles in the castle town. Is it possible that Milano Mas is planning to confront those soldiers?”

I immediately turned toward Ai Fa in a fluster.

My clan head had a piercing gleam in her eyes as she looked at Shin Ruu. “If he is, we should follow him. Could you accompany us, Shin Ruu?”

“Of course.”

And so, we left the kitchen with a parting glance at Ludo Ruu, who looked like he was about to object. And right at that very moment, there was a threatening shout from somewhere in the back of the dining hall. The seats in the hall weren’t even half full yet, but the customers seated there were sending questioning looks in that direction.

“Oh, now it’s you lot, is it?” Doug grumbled, glancing at us over Milano Mas’s shoulder. He was seated the farthest toward the back. There was a bandage wrapped around his head, but he still had the same dauntless look on his face as always.

“M-Milano Mas, what’s going on here?” I called out, but the inn owner didn’t turn around. His back was trembling with rage.

“You have to ask? I can’t have these people staying at my inn, so I’m here to drive them out.”

“Huh? But that’s—”

“Mount Morga is a sacred land! If you violate it, we’ll all be destroyed! I would never let such abhorrent criminals stay under my roof!” Milano Mas angrily shouted. Then he slammed the large cloth bag in his hand down on the floor. It must have been filled with red and silver coins, as it made quite a solid sound. “Here’s the lodging fees you paid in advance! Take them and leave! Now!”

“Well, that’s going to be a problem... I have some badly injured men resting in their rooms right now.”

“What do I care?! You lot can go ahead and die by the side of the road!”

That was when Leito came running over. “What’s going on, Milano Mas?” he asked.

“Leito? I’m just throwing these criminals out of my inn.”

“Criminals? Oh, that thing that happened near Mount Morga,” Leito said quietly as he picked the bag up off the ground. “I’m sorry for not explaining sooner. They only set foot on the boundary between the mountain and the forest. Strictly speaking, they didn’t break the taboo.”

“But they were attacked by varb wolves, weren’t they?!”

“Mount Morga gave them a warning because it seemed like they were going to break the taboo. If they had actually done so, they surely would have died then and there. The fact that they’re still alive is proof that they didn’t cross the line,” Leito said, holding out the bag, but Milano Mas didn’t look at him.

Leito’s brow furrowed for a moment. Then he turned to face us. “Let me ask all of you from the forest’s edge something. Your people have set foot on that boundary before, haven’t they?”

“Indeed. Back when we first came to this land, our people came close to breaking the taboo many times. After all, it’s not as if the boundary is clearly marked,” Shin Ruu calmly replied. “But since the lord of Genos had issued a law against that, and it was made clear to us that it was a very important one, our ancestors trained themselves to recognize the boundary. As long as you don’t overlook things like the trails of slithering madarama snakes, the signs of varb wolves sharpening their fangs, and the branches broken by red savages, you won’t accidentally set foot on the mountain.”

“Then it’s possible to encounter the three great beasts of Morga at that border?”

“It is. Dan Rutim, who’s back in the kitchen right now, has encountered a varb wolf as well, supposedly.”

Leito nodded, then gently reached out to touch Milano Mas’s arm. “Did you hear that? The people of the forest’s edge have set foot on the boundary as well. They’ve done the same thing the soldiers did, but the soldiers just happened to run into a pack of varb wolves and were given a rather painful welcome.”

Milano Mas remained silent, so Leito continued.

“If they have committed an unforgivable crime, then Duke Genos is sure to punish them for it. You’re a citizen of Genos, so shouldn’t you leave it up to the lord of this land to pass judgment on them? The house of Genos has maintained the promise made between the independent settlers and Mount Morga. You know that.”

There was still no response from the irate man.

“A proclamation from Duke Genos should arrive tomorrow morning. Please, just wait until then. If you still don’t want them here after that, then make an official request about it. For the sake of your inn and your family, please don’t go back on the commitment you made to the nobles.”

Milano Mas squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then looked at Leito for the first time during their conversation. “I’ll listen to you for now... But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven them for what they’ve done. Genos might still be destroyed because of their actions.”

“Of course. I feel the same way.”

Milano Mas gave a big nod, then accepted the bag of coins from Leito. “I’ll hold on to this for a little longer. But if the lord of Genos makes the wrong decision, then I’m throwing you out no matter what anyone says.”

“That sounds just fine to me,” Doug replied with a fearless grin.

After shooting the man one last glare, Milano Mas returned to the kitchen.

“Good grief. I never expected to be saved by you guys. Let me thank you on behalf of my men who are resting up in their rooms. Both of you, Kamyua Yoshu’s apprentice Leito and Shin Ruu of the Ruu clan.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Leito said. “All I wanted was for my adoptive father to follow the proper path forward.”

“Yes, and all I did was respond to a question I was asked,” Shin Ruu added.

“Hmph. What an unendearing bunch you are,” Doug said before taking a swig of fruit wine. Apparently, the head wound he had received wasn’t enough to get him to refrain from drinking. “So, if we’re done talking, then let us order some food. I’m completely exhausted after today.”

It was hard for me to just let the conversation end, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Plus, I could feel Ai Fa behind me, urging me to step away. And so that’s what I did, accepting the outcome and turning around to head back to the kitchen.

“We didn’t have any role to play here. In the end, it was nothing more than a waste of our time,” she said.

“Still, I was glad to see you rushing out here for Milano Mas’s sake,” I quietly replied, earning me a firm poke to the back.

On our way back to the kitchen, I overheard someone whisper, “They broke the taboo of Morga?”

I didn’t know the names of any of the other customers. They were all average westerners. The kind of people we saw everywhere. Most people who went to an inn’s dining hall to have dinner were merchants visiting from other towns. There couldn’t have been all that many residents of Genos in the room.

In spite of that, though, everyone who was sitting at the tables looked like they were trembling with fear.

4

It was now the following day, the fifteenth of the green month.

After finishing up the prep work, we headed over to the Ruu settlement in two wagons, where we found someone unexpected awaiting us: the young head of the Rutim clan.

“What are you doing here at this time of day, Gazraan Rutim?”

“Well, I’ll be heading to the post town, so I decided to wait here for you. I figured we could go together,” Gazraan Rutim replied with a friendly smile, holding the reins of the Rutim clan totos Mim Cha. The totos was staring at Ruuruu and Jidura, who were hooked up to wagons as Reina Ruu and the others loaded up the food for the inns.

“Sorry about this, Asuta. We’ll be ready soon, so hold on just a little longer.”

“Okay. We’ve still got time to spare, so no need to rush,” I replied, then I turned back toward Gazraan Rutim. “So, why are you going to the post town? Do you have some sort of business there?”

“No, but I’d like to check on the state of the place with my own two eyes. I don’t have any particular reason to go there other than that.” Despite his explanation, I still didn’t get what he meant. The soldiers from the capital would still be sleeping at this time of day, and probably wouldn’t be up and about before he needed to return to the forest to go hunting. So what exactly was he trying to check on? “After all the serious incidents that have happened these last few days, I’ve grown concerned about the state of affairs in town. Especially the one from yesterday, where the owner of the inn you’ve been working at lashed out at the soldiers staying there.”

“Oh, you must have heard about that from Dan Rutim. Yeah, he was absolutely infuriated that they almost intruded on the sacred land of Morga.”

“He is a descendant of the independent settlers, correct? But from what I’ve been told, it has been two hundred years since the town of Genos was formed here, so there may be a lot of other people who are disturbed by this news, aside from those who trace their ancestry back to the original inhabitants of this land, right?”

Remembering the fear on the faces of the customers last night, I replied, “Yeah. Giba have always been seen as living natural disasters in Genos, and supposedly the story goes that they were driven from the mountain by the three great beasts of Morga... I feel like that’s a pretty clear indicator of how terrifyingly powerful they are, and how much people must be afraid of them.”

“Yes, and so I’ve been concerned about the potential for some kind of disturbance to happen in the post town.”

Raielfam Sudra, who was standing beside me, tilted his head. “Hmm? No matter what occurs in town, we will make sure to protect the chefs. Do you intend to join us as a bodyguard, Rutim clan head?”

“No. I’m just concerned about the state of the town. Once I’ve learned what I can, I intend to return to the settlement before the sun hits its peak.”

“I see. Well, I may not understand your aims, but you’re known to be one of the wisest in all of the forest’s edge, so do as you please.”

Gazraan Rutim smiled and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Raielfam Sudra. “I myself have heard you are outstandingly prudent and decisive. And it was your initiative that united the clans around the Fa, correct?”

“You must have heard that nonsense from Baadu Fou, right? I’m no one special.”

“But weren’t your words what originally prompted the Fou and Beim heads to start working with the leading clan heads?” That was certainly true. Raielfam Sudra had been the one to propose having representatives from the smaller clans attend important meetings and swiftly inform all clans of the results. Gazraan Rutim also frequently went to meetings with the leading clan heads, which must have been where he had heard about Raielfam Sudra’s reputation from Baadu Fou. “Baadu Fou told me he was overjoyed to form blood ties with the Sudra clan, and I would also like to offer you my well-wishes.”

“Hmph. We were only able to escape ruin because the Fou took us in when we were about to die out. I’d prefer it if people would refrain from overpraising me,” Raielfam Sudra shot back, his body shifting uncomfortably as he stared at Gazraan Rutim “What’s more important right now is those nobles from the capital. Sounds like things have been quite tumultuous in the castle town too.”

“Yes, I’m sure that Duke Genos will be unable to turn a blind eye to what happened. He had a very long meeting with the leading clan heads about the incident last night.”

We had already heard about that through our contact network this morning. Only Donda Ruu and Dari Sauti had participated in the meeting yesterday, and they hadn’t gotten back until late, so the Fou hadn’t been able to pass the news along that evening.

According to what they’d told us, the observers had been criticized quite harshly. Of course, that was only natural considering they had broken Genos’s greatest taboo. Even if the soldiers had been the ones to actually commit the act, the observers were the ones who had given them their orders, so they hadn’t been able to completely worm their way out of taking responsibility.

“The nobles claimed that they absolutely did not intend to endanger Genos, correct?” Raielfam Sudra asked.

“Yes, they went so far as to swear it to the western god.”

“Hmph. Did the leading clan heads believe them?”

“They did. The observers looked deeply flustered. That Dregg man is not especially skilled at hiding his feelings, so I don’t believe our leading clan heads misjudged him.”

What about Taluon, though? I threw out the question, and Gazraan Rutim nodded and answered me.

“Yes, I would say that Taluon is difficult to read. But the leading clan heads said he didn’t seem to be lying either.”

I had already heard Taluon’s explanation from the Fou clan. According to him, since he and Dregg were representatives of the king, if their methods brought disaster to Genos, it would invite accusations that the king of Selva had authorized them to take those actions, which would paint him as a tyrant, and that was not something they would be forgiven for.

Since we didn’t really understand the hierarchy of the kingdom, it was difficult to judge how credible that claim truly was. But based on his attitude and manner of speech, Donda Ruu and Dari Sauti had judged that Taluon had not been lying. On top of that, Marstein had also guaranteed the veracity of the statement.

“Such an act would be tantamount to pushing Genos toward rebellion. The elites of the capital wish to prevent this land from seeking independence. They would never do something like this intentionally,” Marstein had said.

Meanwhile, Dregg had apparently been furious that the soldiers had screwed up in such a massive way.

“It seems the incident yesterday did quite a bit of damage to the observers’ standing. They claim that Duke Genos has been acting improperly, and yet they have now almost caused a disaster themselves.”

“I see. Still, those nobles are the ones who ordered the soldiers to hunt giba. They should lament their own foolishness before blaming their men.”

As Raielfam Sudra and Gazraan Rutim continued with their relaxed chat, I spared a glance over to Reina Ruu and the others who were preparing to depart, and then decided to bring up something that had been on my mind since last night.

“Um, do most people of the forest’s edge not consider it a big deal that townsfolk almost set foot on Mount Morga?”

The two of them looked at me questioningly.

“Not as such,” Gazraan Rutim replied. “If they had fully broken the taboo of Morga and trampled upon the sacred land, that certainly would be a serious matter. But the varb wolves prevented that from happening, so I can’t see any reason to make a fuss over it.”

“I see. Then, if they had injured the varb wolves and set foot on Mount Morga itself, would that have upset our people?” I asked.

“No. Our people simply respect the agreement we made with Duke Genos eighty years ago. If townsfolk were to break the taboo and trample upon the mountain, it wouldn’t especially upset us.”

“But don’t they say that the anger of Morga will destroy Genos?”

“That’s true... I suppose you point to that and say that it shows how we people of the forest edge don’t think of ourselves as true citizens of Genos...” Gazraan Rutim muttered, staring at the ground and thinking deeply. “We now have friends in both the post and castle towns. Considering the disaster that could have befallen them, perhaps we should feel more anger at those who almost broke the taboo.”

“Sh-Shouldn’t we be worrying about ourselves before all that? If the three great beasts of Morga descend from the mountain, the settlement at the forest’s edge will be the first place that gets hit, won’t it?”

“Should that happen, we will of course fight back with all our strength. If it was townsfolk who broke the taboo, there would be no reason for us to simply accept destruction.”

“That’s right,” Raielfam Sudra agreed. “Besides, none of us fully understand the mindset of the people who treat Mount Morga as a sacred land. We see the forest as our mother, but that’s not how the folks of Genos treat Mount Morga, is it?”

“That’s true. They seem to consider it to be a place of great peril that humans must never approach.”

“In that case, it’s only natural that they wouldn’t go anywhere near it. To us people of the forest’s edge, Mount Morga is a dangerous place, yes, but that is all it is. Only the citizens of Genos refer to it as a sacred land. Trespassing on it wouldn’t anger us.”

In other words, the people of the forest’s edge didn’t see the mountain as sacred at all. That was why they weren’t upset about those soldiers almost breaking the taboo.

“But that is why I’m worried about the state of the people of the post town,” Gazraan Rutim said with a gentle smile. “As I cannot truly understand their feelings regarding Mount Morga, I can’t help but feel concerned about how they may be reacting. I am certain Duke Genos has already issued a report about yesterday’s incident, stating that there is no need to be angry because the taboo wasn’t actually broken. However, he can’t hide the fact that the soldiers were attacked by varb wolves...and that worries me.”

“Yeah. After seeing how things went at the inn yesterday, I’d imagine there’s a lot of upset people in town,” I replied.

Just then, Ludo Ruu approached us and said, “Hey. You’re going to check out the post town too, Gazraan Rutim? If you don’t mind, could I come along?”

“Of course. I do not have a wagon for my totos, though, so we would need to ride together. Would that be acceptable?”

“Yeah. I can sit in one of these wagons on the way there. Then we’ll only need to ride together on the return trip,” the young hunter replied with a casual grin. Rather than being concerned about the state of the post town like Gazraan Rutim, he must’ve been asking to come along out of idle curiosity.

In the meantime, Reina Ruu and the others had finished up their preparations. Since we were bringing bodyguards with us, we were taking four wagons in total. Ludo Ruu ended up riding with his sisters Reina and Rimee Ruu, while Gazraan Rutim took up the rear on Mim Cha’s back.

The Sudra hunters were taking care of driving all of the wagons, so we chefs were all riding together inside the wagons along with the massive amount of ingredients and cooking implements we were bringing. Toor Deen and Yun Sudra were with me, and they didn’t look different than usual either.

It seems like people really don’t care much about Mount Morga here at the forest’s edge. Is that why they didn’t have any objections to living at the base of the mountain?

However, Milano and Telia Mas had looked seriously disturbed last night. Mount Morga didn’t generally come up in conversation, but the moment they heard that the taboo had almost been broken, they had been gripped by intense fear and anger.

I’ve heard that there aren’t many people left with family names from the days of the independent settlers, but that’s just the result of them getting married to people from elsewhere a lot of the time... And even the customers at the inn who looked like they weren’t from Genos were pretty badly shaken up. I’m sure Gazraan Rutim’s concerns are right on the money.

It was possible that there was going to be unrest in the post town worse than anything we’d seen before. I couldn’t stop thinking about what that would mean as we headed into town.

“Things don’t look all that different than usual,” Raielfam Sudra called out as he stepped down from the driver’s seat. Shortly after that, the wagon moved onto the main road and I peeked outside.

The street was full of people, just like always. Folks from the west, south, and east were coming and going constantly, heading to work or taking care of errands. There were even a good number of cheerful individuals from Jagar who wasted no time in greeting us.

“The news must have spread by now, but people don’t seem to be all that anxious,” Gazraan Rutim said as he came up alongside us holding Mim Cha’s reins. “What are you going to do now, Asuta?”

“First we have to get the stalls from the inn, then we’ll head over to our space. Oh, but the members of the Ruu clan are in charge of delivering cooking to the inns today, so they’ll have to take care of that too.”

“In that case, I will accompany you until you settle in place.”

At some point, Jidura’s wagon split off from the rest of us and headed down a side path to deliver food to The Sledgehammer. Bartha was with them, walking alongside the hunter who was leading Jidura.

The rest of us, meanwhile, headed straight to The Kimyuus’s Tail to borrow our stalls. Reina Ruu and the other women in Ruuruu’s wagon delivered the inn’s food order at the same time.

“Are the soldiers still in their rooms?” I asked Telia Mas as we were finishing up our business.

“Yes,” she replied with a nod. She seemed to be a bit more listless than usual. “An announcement was made in the plaza this morning. It said that the soldiers hadn’t broken the taboo, so there was no need to worry.”

“I see. Is Milano Mas doing okay?”

“Yes, though he’s planning to meet with the man who heads up the inn meetings about whether to continue housing the soldiers.”

The request to house the soldiers had come from the castle town and gone through Tapas, who was in charge of those meetings. Milano Mas seemed to be making an effort to use the proper channels going forward, just like Leito had asked him to.

After we said goodbye to Telia Mas, we headed directly to our stall spaces. There still didn’t seem to be anything out of place, though the fact that the soldiers were still asleep at this hour probably had something to do with that. Plus, to easterners, southerners, and westerners who came from far away, yesterday’s incident would have been of little interest.

“Hey, nothing seems to be off around here at all. Maybe you were just overthinking things, Gazraan Rutim,” Ludo Ruu said, having come up to the front to walk with the Rutim clan head.

As he glanced around our surroundings, Gazraan Rutim smiled and said, “True. If my fears turn out to be unwarranted, then I will be very happy about that. Though I will have made you come all this way unnecessarily, in that case.”

“Nah, I wanted to check things out with my own eyes too, so no worries there.”

That caught my attention as we pushed our stalls along. “Wait, you were worried about the state of things in town too, Ludo Ruu?”

“I mean, you heard what Gazraan Rutim said, right? I wanted to make sure the folks I know here are okay.”

Ludo Ruu wasn’t acquainted with all that many people in town. Probably just Milano and Telia Mas, Yumi, Granny Mishil, Dora, and Tara.

“Oh yeah, you’re pretty friendly with Tara too, aren’t you?”

“I didn’t even mention that runt. Stop saying weird stuff like that, or I’ll smack you,” Ludo Ruu shot back, glaring at me and sounding oddly irritated. I couldn’t help but feel a little curious about that.

It’s rare for Ludo Ruu to worry about anyone other than Rimee Ruu... Though now that I think about it, Tara and Rimee Ruu are the same age. The two of them had a very sisterly friendship, and since Ludo Ruu secretly adored his younger sister, he must’ve had strong feelings about Tara now as well. Well, Tara likes Ludo Ruu too, so it would be wonderful if they could become great friends.

I started feeling pleased as I thought that. But then, that peaceful feeling was blown away in an instant when we heard an older woman shouting up ahead.

“Never mind your excuses, just get out of here already! And don’t show your faces around my inn again!”

Gazraan Rutim and Ludo Ruu instantly looked in that direction, and when I followed their gazes, I spotted a crowd of men shuffling out of a large building. Their attire marked them as soldiers from the capital, and there looked to be around twenty of them. The sudden commotion was also causing passersby to stop and stare.

“We aren’t allowed to move to a different inn of our own volition. And I’m certain that you can’t simply back out of an agreement you made,” one of the soldiers stated in a firm tone.

A man then stepped closer to the soldiers from behind and gave a powerful snort. “Hmph! You’re the ones who caused all that trouble yesterday, aren’t you? We don’t want to have anything to do with a bunch of complete fools who don’t know better than to not break the taboo of Morga!”

“Our squad didn’t participate in yesterday’s giba hunt. The fact that none of us are injured is proof of that.”

“That’s enough out of you! Even if you didn’t break the taboo, your buddies did! Don’t act so superior when your people are running around committing these outrages!”

An especially large man then appeared behind the shouting woman. He was holding a large amount of luggage in his arms, which he tossed on the ground at the soldiers’ feet. Then he threw out their shining silver armor as well. There must have been people assisting him inside the building as well, as more and more luggage was constantly being handed to him, all of which ended up being unceremoniously dumped on the stone-paved street.

“Woman...do you truly intend to defy the esteemed noble visitors to this town?!” the soldier asked with an unmistakable note of anger in his tone.

Gazraan Rutim frowned deeply and held Mim Cha’s reins out to me. “My apologies, Asuta, but could you hold on to Mim Cha?”

“Wh-What are you going to do, Gazraan Rutim?”

“If those soldiers cut that woman down, it will cause an irreparable rift between the capital and Genos. I cannot ignore what is happening here.”

As Gazraan Rutim took off running toward the soldiers, Ludo Ruu muttered, “Guess I better go along too,” and followed after him.

Toor Deen, who was helping me push the stall, leaned closer to me. “A-Asuta, that woman... Isn’t she the one from the inn meeting and that one study session?” she asked in a trembling voice.

Sure enough, we were acquainted with that woman, just like Toor Deen had said. The middle-aged lady with a burly build and a strong presence about her was none other than Lema Geit, the owner of The Arow Bud.

Oh, right. She has a last name, so she must be a descendant of the independent settlers too, I thought to myself, feeling overwhelmed as I stood there holding Mim Cha’s reins.

Raielfam Sudra looked over at me and called out, “Hey, make sure to keep your distance, Asuta. It would be best to leave this to the Rutim clan head.”

“I-I know. But...” I started to reply, only for a cracking voice to interrupt me from somewhere in the surrounding crowd.

“That’s right! They didn’t just force their way into the settlement at the forest’s edge! They almost trespassed on Mount Morga too! What were you even thinking?!”

I looked around in a fluster, but I couldn’t tell where the voice had come from. And as I was searching, another voice shouted from a different direction, “Are you trying to destroy Genos?!”

“Criminals like you should get out of town already!”

Raielfam Sudra started to look tense as he moved closer to me. The previously calm atmosphere was steadily heating up to a boil. Lema Geit’s furious voice seemed to have lit a fire in quite a few of the people standing around us. The southerners who didn’t know what was going on were shooting those people questioning looks, while the easterners simply stood in place silently. And the westerners who weren’t influenced by Lema Geit’s anger looked afraid and tried to distance themselves from the commotion.

“Hold on. I’m certain it goes against the laws of Genos to fight in a place like this,” Gazraan Rutim firmly interjected at that point.

The surrounding crowd fell silent, but Lema Geit turned toward him in a rage. “Nobody called for you people of the forest’s edge! Butt out of this!”

“I will not. While it is true that I am a person of the forest’s edge, I am also a citizen of Genos, and that means I cannot close my eyes to what is happening here and call it someone else’s problem,” Gazraan Rutim replied, stepping between Lema Geit and the soldiers without the slightest hesitation. Ludo Ruu positioned himself beside the young clan head, glaring at the soldiers and analyzing them with his eyes.

“Are you taking this woman’s side as well?” one of the soldiers asked in a threatening tone.

“No,” Gazraan Rutim replied. “I am not anyone’s ally. All I wish to do is uphold the laws of Genos.”

“The laws of Genos?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, I am unable to judge whether you or this woman are at fault here. However, I am at least aware that causing a disturbance in the street and drawing your blades are clearly crimes. I am simply asking you to please continue to abide by the laws of Genos.” None of the soldiers had drawn their blades just yet. However, a number of them had their hands on their weapons’ hilts. They must have been furious to see their precious armor tossed out on the street. “Some of the men in your unit have brushed up against the laws of Genos, both yesterday and the day before. If there are any more incidents like those, you won’t be able to avoid being called criminals. Do you think it would be possible for you to carry out your royal orders like that?”

The unexpected arrival of a hunter from the forest’s edge had silenced the crowds. However, the soldiers remained agitated, like they might lash out, and Lema Geit’s eyebrows were raised. The look on her face was one of animosity.

“What do you think you’re doing, butting in on this and talking up a storm?! You’ve got a real clever tongue on you too... Are you really a person of the forest’s edge?!” she groused.

“I am indeed. Gazraan Rutim, the head of the main Rutim house. And I suggest that you attempt to calm yourself at least a little. If you wish to abandon a job you accepted from the nobles of Genos, you must follow the proper procedures, correct?”

“I don’t see why I should have to put up with a stranger running his mouth to me, all high and mighty! This problem is between me and them!”

“No, this issue is between Genos and the capital.”

If you only paid attention to his voice and the look on his face, Gazraan Rutim didn’t seem to be worked up at all, but the force of his will was nonetheless shining through clearly enough to cause even Lema Geit to hold her tongue. As someone who had known him for quite a while, I could definitely tell just how unshakable his resolve was as he stood there.

Despite his calm expression, Gazraan Rutim’s brown eyes held a piercing light within them. They were like the eyes of a raptor staring down at the ground from high above, coolheaded and yet powerful enough to silence Lema Geit.

“Whoa. His eyes look like the Rutim elder’s,” Rimee Ruu said quietly, standing nearby at a different stall. And indeed, Gazraan Rutim’s grandfather Raa Rutim possessed a similarly piercing gaze.

“If you have a quarrel, you should ask the guards of Genos to settle the matter. That is my understanding as a citizen of this land. Am I mistaken in some way?”

A number of the men from the capital started backing away, biting their lips. Even though they were veteran soldiers, Gazraan Rutim’s aura was still overwhelming them.

Then, as a weighty silence fell over the street, another soldier pushed his way over through the crowd.

“Dad’s enouhh... I hwon’t bermit hyou to cause a commossun.”

The people nearby looked startled and stepped aside, revealing the hundred lion commander Iphius.

“S-Sir, you see...”

“I ubbersdand. I hwas worried someding like dis mide habben,” Iphius said in a hoarse voice, making that eerie breathing sound a couple times as he spoke.

Gazraan Rutim shot the man a piercing look. “You are Iphius, the leader of these soldiers, are you not?”

“Yes... Allow be do abologise for de rubeness ohf by subordinades.” His metallic beak-like mask dipped down and back up ever so slightly. It seemed like he was bowing his head, though only a tiny bit. “Mmen, grab hyour belongiggs... Hwe will hind hyu new lobgiggs bwefore nighd, so leabe hyour dings ad by inn until den.”

The soldiers silently picked up their belongings without a single complaint. The looks of anger toward Lema Geit had vanished from their faces. With one more bob of his metallic mask, Iphius elegantly turned the other way. The soldiers followed after him in an orderly manner.

“Hmph!” Lema Geit snorted one last time before vanishing through the door of her inn. With that, the crowd finally started moving again too. A number of them, likely the ones who had been shouting at the soldiers, had really awkward looks on their faces.

“Just what I’ve come to expect from you, clan head of the Rutim. That way you handled that was excellent,” Raielfam Sudra said as we approached, and Gazraan Rutim calmly turned toward us. A bit of the piercing look in his eyes from before still remained.

“It seems I was right to come to town after all. The taboo against setting foot on Mount Morga is clearly of great importance to some of the people of the post town.”

“Yeah, you’re right. That woman from before is named Lema Geit, so she must be a descendant of the independent settlers,” I replied.

“I see,” Gazraan Rutim said with a nod. “Asuta, could I ask for a little of your time tonight?”

“Tonight? Well, I’m supposed to help out at the inn, but I could probably ask someone else to trade places with me.”

“Then I would very much like to have a gathering at the Ruu settlement this evening, with you in attendance. I will see to it that the other leading clans are informed, as well as the Fou and Beim.”

“You’re planning to call a meeting of the three leading clan heads?” Raielfam Sudra asked.

“Yes,” Gazraan Rutim replied. “The people of the forest’s edge and Duke Genos must join forces in order to resolve this issue as soon as possible. And we must show the people of the capital the proper path forward.”

“You’re saying you think you know what that path is, Gazraan Rutim?” I asked.

“No, but our only option is to walk the path we believe is correct. We need to search for the best option both as people of the forest’s edge and as citizens of Genos,” Gazraan Rutim said, a faint smile that had been absent for a while now showing on his face. “Please, lend me your aid in this endeavor, Asuta, as the one who has made our people stronger than they have even been before.”

“Of course. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

He might have denied it a moment ago, but Gazraan Rutim must have caught at least a glimpse of a solution to our problem. He seemed to be in a rush, though, which made me feel like the situation had to be much more urgent than I’d thought.

As someone who had lived in a town, I was able to come up with ideas the people of the forest’s edge wouldn’t, and that was sure to be of help to our people. Or at least, that was what Yun Sudra had said yesterday. However, Gazraan Rutim was a truly exceptional man, being able to think of radical new ideas while still being a pure-blooded man of the forest’s edge.

“Gazraan Rutim, if we leave a message at the inn, it should be possible to summon Kamyua Yoshu too. Do you want to ask him to come to the meeting as well?”

“Yes, that would be very helpful. With Kamyua Yoshu in attendance, the path forward should become all the more clear,” Gazraan Rutim replied with a hearty nod. “We will overcome this trial no matter what, in order to bring peace back to both Genos and the forest’s edge.”

“Yeah,” I said, returning his nod.

I found it difficult to even imagine the plan Gazraan Rutim seemed to have hit upon, but I didn’t feel uncertain or anxious in the least. After all, with so many of our most reliable comrades and allies gathered together, we would surely be able to overcome any challenge. That was what I firmly believed.

Intermission: Night at the Forest’s Edge

1

Later that day—still the fifteenth of the green month—Gazraan Rutim asked the three leading clan heads to meet with him. After we chefs wrapped up our business in the post town and the subsequent study session at the Ruu settlement, I remained there and helped the Ruu prepare dinner.

Toor Deen and Yun Sudra had also taken part in the study session, but they went home with Cheem Sudra in Gilulu’s wagon in order to tell Ai Fa about the meeting. It hadn’t been planned in advance, so my clan head didn’t know about it yet.

I was originally supposed to help out at The Kimyuus’s Tail today, so I was sure that Ai Fa would return home early. After that, she would come over to the Ruu settlement in a separate wagon, while Cheem Sudra would come back to meet up with Raielfam Sudra, and they would return to their own settlement together.

“It would be great if Baadu Fou and the Beim clan head could make it back before sunset, but we’ll have to see how things go,” Raielfam Sudra said as he stood at the door to the kitchen. The other hunter who had remained with us was keeping watch over the plaza.

“Yeah. That way, they’d all be able to come together in a wagon. It’s a pretty long walk on foot,” I replied.

“Indeed. Before we started using totos, that always seemed perfectly natural to us... Of course, back then we hardly ever visited clans we weren’t related to anyway.”

“I’m sure the fact that long trips felt like a waste of time played a role in that. I suppose in a way, that would mean when it comes to bringing the people of the forest’s edge closer together, the totos are doing most of the work.”

Without those massive birds, it would have been seriously difficult to summon Gulaf Zaza and Dari Sauti all the way to the Ruu settlement. For the northern clans, that was a four hour trip on foot.

“The northern settlement remains distant even with totos, though. If Gulaf Zaza and the others take too long to return from the forest, they won’t arrive at the Ruu settlement until quite late.”

“That’s true. If you don’t use a wagon, you might be able to make the trip in an hour or so...but that would still mean arriving pretty late,” I said, right before Raielfam Sudra suddenly turned his head to shoot a suspicious look at the door.

“It seems that isn’t the case.”

“Huh?” I turned around, and Raielfam Sudra stepped aside so I could see the massive figure that had appeared there.

“I received the message about a sudden meeting and came here. Is this where the wife of the leading clan head Donda Ruu is?”

“Yes. It’s been some time. Welcome to the Ruu settlement, leading clan head Gulaf Zaza.” Mia Lea Ruu greeted him with a smile, as she had been manning the kitchen alongside me.

“Thank you,” Gulaf Zaza said with a nod, his blazing eyes looking over the kitchen interior. The man wore a giba pelt with the skin of the animal’s head still attached and was very imposing. The top half of his face was hidden in the shadow of the giba’s snout, which made him look terribly intimidating. Looking at him now, I couldn’t help but think that even his son Geol Zaza seemed a whole lot easier to get along with. “It has been a long time, Asuta of the Fa clan... From what I’m told, you’ve faced a fair bit of trouble too, so I’m glad to find you in good health.”

“Ah, thanks... Um, you certainly made it here early today.”

“The sun will be setting soon, so I wouldn’t say it’s especially early in the day right now.”

Even just talking with him normally made me feel like I was under a lot of pressure. But then, Mia Lea Ruu came in to lend me a little support.

“Considering how suddenly today’s meeting was called, though, it seems to me like you did get here rather quickly. You would’ve still been out in the forest when our message arrived, correct?”

“Yes, but we got quite a haul today, so we returned to the settlement while the sun was still high in the sky. That was when the women informed me about this meeting, so my hunters and I finished up our work as quickly as we could.”

“Ah, I see. At any rate, I’m glad we’ll be able to have dinner together. We’ll prepare a fine meal, so I hope you’ll be looking forward to it.”

“I will,” Gulaf Zaza answered with a nod, and then his glaring eyes turned back toward me. “I heard the Fa will be participating in today’s meeting as well.”

“That’s right, and I believe Kamyua Yoshu will probably be here too.”

“If Gazraan Rutim wishes to invite him, then I have no objection,” Gulaf Zaza said, and then his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “So...is it just you today, Asuta of the Fa clan?”

“Huh? If you’re asking about Ai Fa, she should show up after she’s done with giba hunting.”

“That’s not what I meant. When you train at the Ruu settlement, you bring along women from the Deen and Sudra, do you not?”

Gulaf Zaza naturally knew about everything Toor Deen did, as she needed his permission to participate in our activities, though I was a little surprised that he knew about Yun Sudra.

“Yeah, the two of them were here until just a little while ago. They returned to their own houses after the study session wrapped up.”

“I see... Well, I suppose it’s rather unusual for one to man the stove at a house that is not one’s own,” Gulaf Zaza said, raising his burly shoulders and turning around. “I’ll await the others in the Ruu house. I can hand over my blade there, right?”

“Yes. Our clan head should be back soon, so make yourself at home in the meantime.”

With that, Gulaf Zaza left, and the tension in the kitchen let up a bit immediately. Even now that the Ruu had restored their bonds of friendship with the northern clans, the man was so intense that we couldn’t help but feel nervous around him.

“Gulaf Zaza didn’t seem to be in the best of moods. Are the nobles from the capital irritating him that much?” Raielfam Sudra pondered off to the side, tilting his head.

Rimee Ruu, who was stirring the contents of a pot, said, “But he was in a good mood at first! I think he was disappointed that Toor Deen wasn’t here, though.”

“Hmm? Why would Toor Deen’s absence put Gulaf Zaza in a bad mood?”

“I don’t know. But he looked at everyone in here before he asked Asuta about Toor Deen, and then he suddenly got all sad. I bet he was excited because he thought Toor Deen was here, and hearing that she wasn’t was a letdown.”

Rimee Ruu was far more skilled at picking up on subtle emotions than I was.

Raielfam Sudra nodded and said, “You may be right. Gulaf Zaza’s mood did seem to be better when he arrived than when he left.”

“Yup! Toor Deen’s related to Gulaf Zaza, so he must’ve wanted to eat her cooking!” Rimee Ruu said with a beaming smile.

I see... I thought, as I considered her words.

“So yeah, that was one of the things that came up yesterday,” I said in the early afternoon the next day. We had finished up work in the post town and were holding our study session at the Fa house.

Toor Deen had been getting close to completing the chocolate cake recipe and was working hard on it even now, but when she heard that, her eyes went wide and she said, “Huh? I-I can’t imagine Gulaf Zaza ever getting unhappy because of something like that. Besides, the Ruu clan has lots of great chefs.”

“That isn’t the point. It’s not about the skill of the chefs, but the fact that he wanted to eat your cooking, don’t you think?”

“N-No, that can’t be... I worked on the banquet for the wedding at the Zaza settlement just the other day.”

“That was over half a month ago now, wasn’t it? It’s easy to see why he might be craving your cooking if that’s how long it’s been.”

One of the women working on a stew at a nearby stove chimed in, “That’s right! Gulaf Zaza is quite taken with your cooking. He must have gotten his hopes up that you’d be there too when he heard Asuta would be taking part in the meeting.” She belonged to the Liddo clan, which meant she was a relative of Toor Deen’s. And if my memory wasn’t failing me, she had helped Toor Deen on that banquet last month. “Still, it’s so childish to get all upset because you weren’t there, Toor Deen. Gulaf Zaza is a fine hunter, but that’s actually kind of cute of him.”

“N-No, I’m sure this is just some sort of mistake.”

“The leading clan heads will be having another meeting at the Ruu settlement tonight, won’t they? Would it be a problem for you to bring Toor Deen along?” the Liddo woman asked.

“No,” I replied. “Before we left, I spoke with Mia Lea Ruu, and she said she’d love to have Toor Deen help out too in that case. What do you say, Toor Deen?”

“H-Huh? B-But it’s an important meeting, isn’t it? I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“Well, the main Ruu house will all be eating dinner together first, and then the meeting will come after. You’d be late getting back, but we can take you home in a wagon, and you’d have a chance to spend some time with Rimee and Lala Ruu after dinner.”

Toor Deen looked seriously flustered at this point. “B-But...Gulaf Zaza says manning the stove for another clan isn’t something we should normally do. So if I do that without a good reason to, well...”

“But he wouldn’t get many chances to eat your cooking without opportunities like this, right? Plus, Donda Ruu and Dari Sauti will be there too, so this is a good chance to show them how much the chefs from the clans close to the Fa have improved their cooking skills, right?” I said, shooting Toor Deen a smile. “Of course, the main reason I want you to join us is to make Gulaf Zaza happy. There’s been a lot of trouble lately, and everyone’s pretty stressed, so it’d be nice if we could all relax and enjoy some delicious food together.”

Toor Deen’s whole body squirmed. Then she looked up at me and said, “My cooking will put Gulaf Zaza at ease?”

“Of course. Good food gets so much better when it’s prepared by a relative. Isn’t that only natural, with how much the people of the forest’s edge value ties of blood?”

Toor Deen went silent.

“If we’re mistaken and Gulaf Zaza scolds you, I’ll do my best to make him understand.”

“No,” Toor Deen said with a shake of her head. “I’ll take responsibility and accept him scolding me if he decides it’s necessary. So, would you mind bringing me along to the Ruu settlement?”

“Of course not.”

Toor Deen smiled weakly at me. She clearly wanted to help Gulaf Zaza too. I was sure that he wouldn’t be able to criticize her for that.

At any rate, this is the second night in a row that the leading clan heads will be meeting. The situation is pretty serious, so we’re all under a lot of strain.

The meeting last night had gone on until fairly late in the evening, and we hadn’t been able to come to any conclusions. Unsurprisingly, deciding what the people of the forest’s edge should do about the issues the observers from the capital were causing was no simple task.

However, it did feel like there was hope on the horizon, as we had eventually been able to see what my wise friend Gazraan Rutim saw. I was sure that another night of open discussion would give us our answer.

The leading clan heads of the forest’s edge hadn’t needed to put this much thought into choosing their next course of action since back when Cyclaeus had been in power., so I wanted to help them unwind at least a little.

And so, Toor Deen and I headed to the Ruu settlement later that afternoon. It was half past the lower fourth hour, and we had wrapped up the study session a bit early in order to be ready to help prepare dinner. Naturally, Raielfam Sudra and the other hunters from his clan were accompanying us.

The Ruu clan had been holding their own study session with the clans related to them, and the women who had participated in it were just heading home when we arrived. It seemed that those who lived farther away like the Ririn, Maam, and Muufa had traveled by wagon to get here.

“Welcome to the Ruu settlement. We’re so glad to have you here today, Toor Deen,” Mia Lea Ruu said with a smile as we approached the kitchen.

Toor Deen had only manned the Ruu clan stoves once before, at the friendship banquet where we had invited townsfolk to visit us. This would be her first time having a normal dinner at their house. Having a meal at someone else’s home was a pretty unusual event for most people of the forest’s edge.

“We invite Asuta over all the time, so we’re completely used to it. You don’t have to worry about a thing; you’ll do great if you just cook like you always do,” Mia Lea Ruu continued.

“O-Okay, I understand,” Toor Deen said.

After that, we hurriedly got to work on dinner alongside Mia Lea, Vina, and Lala Ruu. Reina Ruu was currently on her way to The Kimyuus’s Tail—she hadn’t helped them make dinner in almost half a month at this point because she wasn’t eating with them.

“I feel bad for Reina, but we can hardly have her help us prepare dinner if she won’t be eating with us. Still, she seems to be enjoying herself, so I suppose it’s okay,” Mia Lea Ruu said.

“Yeah, Reina Ruu has definitely been full of enthusiasm lately. I’m sure her experience helping out at The Kimyuus’s Tail will help her improve even more,” I replied.

“I’m certain you’re right. Still, her time helping out at the inn will be over soon, won’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s been almost half a month now, and the innkeeper’s been looking a lot better.”

However, Milano Mas had tried to throw out the soldiers staying at his inn two days back. I couldn’t help but be concerned that something else might have happened after that.

That’s one more reason to make sure we figure this out at tonight’s meeting, I thought as I glanced over at Toor Deen. She was working alongside Lala Ruu, who was smiling brightly. The two of them seemed to get along surprisingly well.

“Pretty soon, it’ll be a year since we first met! It kinda feels more like ten years, though!” Lala Ruu said.

“Oh, yeah... I’m sorry for the trouble I caused you back then,” Toor Deen replied.

“No need to apologize! That was forever ago, and you didn’t even do anything wrong in the first place!” They were discussing the day they had met, before the clan head meeting held at the Suun settlement. Toor Deen had gotten burned by some hot stew that was splashed on her, and Lala Ruu had helped her out. “Back then, your face was so gloomy, you looked like you were sick. Still, I guess that’s no surprise, since you were living at the Suun settlement!”

“Uh, I suppose.”

“But you look a lot better now! And you’ve been getting along so well with everyone too.”

Lala Ruu tended to be very open with her emotions. It was nice to see her grinning at Toor Deen in that wild and boyish way. The younger girl was smiling bashfully in return.

Time passed, and twilight descended outside. Gulaf Zaza showed up right around when we were finished preparing dinner.

“I was told to stop by the kitchen; what is this all...” the man grumbled, but then he stopped himself. There was a gleam in his black eyes. “Toor Deen, what are you doing here?”

“Welcome to the Ruu settlement, Gulaf Zaza. Since Toor Deen is one of your relatives, I thought it would be good to have her help us prepare dinner tonight, so I invited her over,” Mia Lea Ruu said with a wide smile.

“Y-Yes,” Toor Deen nervously added. “I’m sorry for acting on my own without getting your permission first. Will you permit me to eat dinner alongside you?”

Gulaf Zaza stared at the young chef for a bit, then said, “Do as you please,” and left.

“He’s as unsociable as Papa Donda, isn’t he? But I can’t imagine him complaining about being served a good meal,” Lala Ruu said.

“Yeah,” Toor Deen replied with a nod.

Mia Lea Ruu gave the young chef a firm pat on the back and said, “Let’s go ahead and bring the finished dishes out to the main hall. Everyone should be hungry and waiting by now.”

The five of us then started moving the food over to where everyone was gathered, other than Kamyua Yoshu, who would be joining us later. We had a crowd large enough to fill the main hall.

Firstly, there were the three leading clan heads taking part in the meeting, Gazraan Rutim, Baadu Fou, the Beim clan head, and Ai Fa. Both Gulaf Zaza and Dari Sauti had brought a clan member to accompany them as well. Then there were the members of the main house, consisting of Granny Jiba, Granny Tito Min, Rimee Ruu, Sati Lea Ruu, and Kota Ruu. And finally, there were five of us chefs, bringing the total up to nineteen. Jiza, Ludo, and Reina Ruu were in the post town. If not for that, the room might not have been big enough to fit everyone.

“Our apologies for the wait. Today, Toor Deen of the Deen clan manned the stove with us, so tonight’s dinner should be even better than last night’s.”

“Toor Deen? Ah, you’re one of the girls who helped out at the Sauti settlement during our time of need... I don’t believe I’ve seen you since the dance party held in the castle town,” Dari Sauti noted with a smile, and Toor Deen gave an embarrassed bow of her head. When a handpicked group of elite hunters had been sent to the Sauti settlement to deal with the lord of the forest, Toor Deen and I had come along to cook for them. She and Dari Sauti had later met again at a dance party in the castle town in a rather different capacity. I couldn’t really remember the two of them talking much, but they must have interacted at least a little. “I’ve heard a lot of rumors about you since then. They say you’re now a chef as skilled as the women of the Ruu clan, so I’m definitely looking forward to this.”

“Ah, no... I-I just hope it’s to your taste.”

Lala Ruu had to sit in her assigned spot as a member of the family, so Toor Deen ended up next to me.

After waiting for everyone to take their seats, Donda Ruu said in a serious tone, “It’s rare to have guests for dinner two days in a row. We’ll need to be sure to finish our discussions tonight, but for now, go ahead and fill your stomachs.”

The premeal chant came next, and it felt all the more solemn with so many hunters gathered. But after that, it was time to enjoy dinner. Ludo Ruu was usually the first person to make an excited comment about the food he was served, but he wasn’t here today, so that role fell to Rimee Ruu instead.

“This looks really tasty! What did you make, Toor Deen?”

“U-Um, I made the soup.”

“Indeed. Our second daughter specializes in soups, but since she’s busy helping at the inn today, I asked Toor Deen to handle that,” Mia Lea Ruu chimed in.

After listening to her explanation, Dari Sauti picked up his soup. “Hmm. It has a pretty strong aroma, and it seems to be rather spicy too.”

“Y-Yes, I went with a tarapa soup, since I was using giba offal,” Toor Deen said.

That was the very first dish that Toor Deen had dedicated a lot of time to. She used lots of giba offal in it, plus a large amount of tarapa and several kinds of herbs to cover up the smell. The end result was something similar to an Italian-style hot pot stew.

“Giba offal? That takes quite a bit of effort to prepare, doesn’t it? The Sauti clan always has meat to spare, so I haven’t had many chances to try it,” Dari Sauti said with a gentle smile. Then he drank a little of his soup, only to immediately sit up straight with a look of surprise. “That is spicy.” After saying that, he tried a bit of the offal, and his eyes shot open wide. “Ah, this is delicious. Shockingly so. It’s definitely spicy, but more than that, it’s... Hmm. I can’t seem to find the right words.”

“Yeah! It’s really tasty! It’s kinda hot, but it goes down easy!” Rimee Ruu added.

Hearing their reactions, everyone else reached for the soup too. Toor Deen had even prepared a version of the soup broth with lighter seasoning for the young Kota Ruu.

“Ah, it’s very good... The flavor is quite striking,” Granny Jiba said with a smile. Her eyes sparkled as she looked over at Gulaf Zaza, though her eyelids were drooping down so much that it was hard to see. “I had heard the rumors, but this truly is a tremendous display of skill... You must be quite proud as well, yes, Gulaf Zaza?”

“Hmph. I only permitted Toor Deen to work with the Fa clan so we could observe them. It’s only natural that she would become this skilled after studying under Asuta, whose skills are the equal of any Ruu woman’s,” Gulaf Zaza grumbled before taking a sip of soup. And then, his eyes shot open wide in surprise under his giba pelt. “Toor Deen, this... Did you truly make this?”

“Huh? Y-Yes... Of course, I had help from the members of the Ruu clan too.”

“All we did was cut up the vegetables and giba innards like you told us to. Toor Deen handled the flavoring and managed the flame all by herself!” Lala Ruu proudly declared, puffing up her chest. Hearing her friend praised seemed to make her as happy as being complimented herself.

“I’ve had soup made with offal and tarapa at the northern settlement numerous times now, but it never tasted like this,” Gulaf Zaza said.

“Y-Yes... The Ruu have many different ingredients here that I was able to take advantage of. The dried seaweed, reten oil, and ira and nafua herbs I used should make it taste quite different.”

The clans in the northern settlement didn’t keep very many ingredients on hand, so she must have prepared a simpler version there. On top of that, she had probably needed to simplify the recipe even further in order to explain it to chefs who didn’t have that much cooking experience. Of course I was sure that it had been delicious regardless. After all, a long while back, Toor Deen had asked me to sample the dish because she had been planning to serve it at a northern banquet, and I had given her my approval.

“Meaning, you used expensive ingredients that we don’t purchase?” Gulaf Zaza asked, causing Toor Deen to break out in a very worried look.

“Are you upset, Gulaf Zaza?”

“Hmph. I have no right to object to how the Ruu choose to spend their coins. After all, they’ve built up a fortune doing business in the post town,” Gulaf Zaza said, and then he had some more of the dish.

Toor Deen slumped her shoulders, looking dejected.

Seeing that, Lala Ruu’s eyebrows raised and she turned to face the Zaza clan head. “Hey, Toor Deen did her best to make that, so what’s with the attitude?”

“Quiet, Lala. Don’t go running your mouth at guests,” Donda Ruu chided.

“But...!” Lala Ruu said with a frown.

Ai Fa stopped silently eating her meal and tilted her head a bit as she looked over at the Zaza hunter. “You do find this soup delicious, don’t you, Gulaf Zaza?” she asked.

“I don’t see the need to bother saying such things.”

“I see. But your relative, Toor Deen, prepared this dish for your sake. If you think it is good, then wouldn’t it be proper to offer at least a brief statement of appreciation?”

It was pretty unusual for Ai Fa to get involved in the affairs of other clans. Gulaf Zaza shoveled down the last of his soup even faster before saying, “There’s no way that Toor Deen would ever prepare something bad. That much is obvious, so I see no point in going out of my way to say it every time.” And then, he held out his empty dish toward Toor Deen. “Hey, I don’t just get the one serving, right?”

“O-Oh, there’s still plenty left in the pot!”

“Then dish up some more for me, quickly.”

“Sure!” Toor Deen replied with a smile that seemed to come from the bottom of her heart. Gulaf Zaza was every bit as stubborn as Donda Ruu, but Toor Deen was able to understand how he felt from his actions.

“What a troublesome lot,” Ai Fa muttered quietly so no one else could hear, then she also slurped down some of the soup Toor Deen had prepared.

As I looked at the nonchalant expression on her face, I broke out in a smile. “I agree with you, but you hide your feelings in front of other people too, don’t you, Ai Fa? It’s kind of the same thing.”

Naturally, that comment earned me a stealthy poke in the side.

At any rate, we had seemingly succeeded in bringing a bit of peace to the leading clan heads before their important meeting.

2

The following day, the seventeenth of the green month, I prepared dinner at the Fa house for the first time in half a month.

Yesterday and the day before, Reina and Sheera Ruu had taken care of our work at The Kimyuus’s Tail since I had been invited to the clan head meetings held at the Ruu settlement, and then today, word arrived that Milano Mas was finally fully recovered.

Of course, Milano Mas had tried to force Doug and the other soldiers out the other day, so I had been a little reluctant to skip out on going to The Kimyuus’s Tail, but after he had communicated with the nobles in the castle town through Tapas, he had agreed to let the soldiers from the capital stay for a bit longer. Apparently, the nobles of Genos had said that they were not going to allow the soldiers to continue to remain at the inns anymore without having additional rules imposed on them, and Milano Mas had decided to trust that they had it handled.

A number of other inns housing soldiers had lodged similar complaints, and the same message had been delivered to them as well. It seemed that for the citizens of Genos, they absolutely couldn’t turn a blind eye to the close brush with violating the taboo of Morga that the soldiers had stumbled into.

Lema Geit of The Arow Bud had refused to listen to any argument and had expelled the soldiers staying at her inn, but fortunately the authorities had decided not to treat that as a crime. She had simply had the reward money and inn fees she had been paid in advance revoked. Since the other inns were putting up with the remaining soldiers, they had probably reached the conclusion that there needed to be some sort of punishment for doing otherwise. It seemed to me that she was lucky that all she had to do was pay a fine after backing out from a job she had accepted from the nobles like that.

At any rate, there was definitely a disquieting feeling in the air throughout the post town. And according to Dora, folks in the Daleim lands were feeling just as much animosity toward the visitors from the capital as people in town were.

“How foolish can they get?! Not only did they do something as ridiculous as sending soldiers to hunt giba, those soldiers almost ended up breaking the taboo of Morga! The old folks at our place were so furious, I thought they might keel over!” Dora said in a huff. Everybody had been thrown for a loop by this incident, with some becoming angry, and others afraid. Dora was clearly the former.

Granny Mishil, who was another vegetable farmer we knew from the Daleim lands, simply muttered, “What fools,” with the same displeased look on her face as always.

The people living in Genos came from all sorts of different backgrounds, so it was no surprise that they would have different reactions when hearing the same news. Some folks who had moved here in recent years, for example, just seemed bewildered, like they didn’t get what all the fuss was about. Yumi’s father Sams fell into that category.

Meanwhile, those who had lived here for a long time and whose parents and grandparents had passed down legends about Morga to them were much more likely to be seriously disturbed by what had happened. Milano Mas and Lema Geit, descendants of independent settlers, were prime examples of that.

There hadn’t been any serious quarrels between the citizens of Genos and the soldiers—at least, not yet. But if steps weren’t taken and things were left as they were, who could say what would happen. If somebody were to throw a rock at a soldier, that could set off a huge riot. That was how things had felt in the post town for the last few days. Gazraan Rutim was definitely right that we needed to settle things as soon as possible.

On both the fifteenth and sixteenth, the leading clan heads had met with each other to discuss what we should do about all this. Ai Fa, Kamyua Yoshu, and I had also been invited to participate, and there had been some seriously heated debate. Then, when we had finally reached a consensus, we informed the castle town and got Marstein’s approval.

Our plan was to settle things tomorrow. It was currently the evening before the big day, and Ai Fa and I were eating dinner together in our own house for the first time in half a month.

“It sure was an unusual experience, eating dinner away from home for so long. I think the last time we did that for such a long period was back when we stayed with the Ruu clan during the incident with Cyclaeus,” I said as I was finishing up our dinner at our house’s main stove. “We also spent some time helping out at the Sauti settlement and went on a trip to Dabagg, but neither of those lasted more than a few days... I’m glad that Milano Mas is doing all right now.”

As she watched Brave chew on a chunk of meat by the entrance to the house, Ai Fa nodded and said, “Indeed.” Then she shot me a rather reproachful look. “By the way, Asuta, I’m so hungry I can hardly stand it.”

“Sorry, sorry! This is our first proper dinner in half a month, so I ended up going all out. But I added all kinds of special touches for you to enjoy, so just hold on a little longer, okay?”

“I’ll enjoy anything you make, even without any ‘special touches.’ I’m starving.”

“Got it! In that case, sorry, but could you go grab the pot from the kitchen for me? This’ll be done soon.”

“The pot? Understood.”

“It’s a small one sitting on top of an oven. I put out the flame, but there’s hot charcoal still keeping it warm, so make sure not to burn yourself.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Ai Fa hurriedly exited the house through our front door, and while I was waiting for her to return, I added fruit wine to the pot and covered it in a lid. Once it was finished heating, the main dish would be complete.

In the meantime, I went ahead and laid out some utensils for us, as well as the plates that the side dishes were on. I poured a bit of chatchi tea into the glass cups Shumiral had given us, then piled up a fresh vegetable salad on the large glass plate we had gotten from Radajid. We had a nice variety of utensils that belonged to us, like the chopsticks I had made out of thick wooden skewers and the forklike utensils I’d bought from the castle town.

“I’ve returned,” Ai Fa said, stepping back inside with a small pot, little enough for a single person to easily carry it. It also had a lid that went with it, so it was quite handy for making our dinners.

“Thanks. Leave it on top of this stand, okay?”

“Got it,” Ai Fa replied, placing the pot down. I swiftly removed the lid and scooped the minestrone-style tarapa soup into some bowls. As I did, Ai Fa watched me with a forlorn look in her eyes. “So, is that still not ready yet?”

“It’ll be good to go soon. You’re pretty antsy tonight, huh?”

“Is there something wrong with being eager to have our first dinner alone together in half a month?”

“No, of course not! I’ve really been looking forward to it too.” I removed the lid from the large pot and used a wooden skewer to check on whether its contents were done. It looked like they were fully heated through. Still, this was a new recipe I had only started working on earlier that afternoon, so I was being extra careful with how I managed the flames. “Okay, it’s ready. Just let me serve it up.”

After transferring the contents of the pot onto a pair of plates, I used the remaining meat juices to make some sauce and completed the dish. And as she looked down at the plate in front of her, Ai Fa nodded solemnly and said, “I see. So it’s hamburger steak.”

“Yeah. I haven’t had a chance to make it in half a month, after all. But today I did something special with it.”

As I took my seat too, Ai Fa closed her eyes and gave her premeal chant. The two of us had eaten dinner together at The Kimyuus’s Tail too, but getting to relax and eat in our home like this was a totally different experience. I felt warm inside as I did my own quick chant.

Having completed that little ritual, Ai Fa swiftly picked up her plate of hamburger steak. There were two round patties on the plate, accompanied by a sauté of chatchi, nenon, and brown beech-like mushrooms. As for the sauce, it was a simple gravy made from a base of meat juices, fruit wine, and diced aria.

“Hmm. I can’t tell what you did differently just by looking at it,” she said.

“I’m not surprised. Let me tell you up front, there isn’t any dried milk inside.”

Hamburger steak with gyama dried milk was Ai Fa’s all-time favorite, so I figured it was best to inform her of that in advance so she wouldn’t feel disappointed.

“I see,” Ai Fa said with a nod as she picked up a fork. Even when she cut into one of the patties, her expression didn’t shift. I had managed to come up with a trick she wouldn’t be able to figure out at a glance. The only thing that would be visibly different was the lack of diced aria.

With a tilt of her head, Ai Fa popped a slice of the patty into her mouth. As I slurped on my tarapa soup, I stole a glance at her and saw her eyes opening wide in surprise.

As she carefully chewed the meat, Ai Fa looked at me intensely. Feeling around eighty percent excited and twenty percent worried, I waited from my clan head to swallow.

“Asuta, what is in this hamburger steak?” she asked immediately after finishing her first bite, a very serious look in her eyes.

“That’s hamburger steak made from giba tongue.”

“Giba tongue? That’s how you were able to make it like this?”

“Yeah. It’s got a pretty unique texture, doesn’t it? I hope it’s to your liking,” I said timidly.

“It’s delicious, of course,” Ai Fa quickly replied.

As I gave a sigh of relief, Ai Fa took another bite of the giba tongue hamburger steak. She looked as restless as a young child.

“I’m just glad you like it. You’ve always loved hamburger steak, so I was a little worried about whether it would be to your taste.”

When she heard me say that, Ai Fa shook her head to tell me I had no need to worry. She was stuffing her cheeks so hurriedly that she didn’t even want to pause to talk. Feeling incredibly happy, I took a bite of the hamburger steak myself.

Giba tongue was a pretty tough cut of meat. I had coarsely ground it up for the dish, so the patty was pretty chewy as well. However, it wasn’t like there was no benefit to its toughness. Rather, it seemed to have a nice, dense resistance to it. It had a very powerful flavor that felt more meaty than ordinary meat. It was also very juicy and didn’t have too much fat, so its taste was wonderfully refreshing. It went down easy and had a mouth feel that reminded me of high-quality red meat.

“I used a different trick for the other patty. I’d say that one’s a bit more unusual, but what do you think?”

Instantly, Ai Fa redirected her fork to the other patty. As she cut into it, her eyebrows lifted questioningly. “You seem to have added something to it.”

“Yeah. Well, it’s still one hundred percent giba meat, though.”

“One hundred percent?” Ai Fa questioned with a tilt of her head as she took a bite of that patty too. After chewing on it for just a moment or two, her eyes shot open wide again. Its texture was probably really unexpected to her.

“For that patty, I mixed normal minced giba meat with larger chunks of giba tongue.” By large, I meant around a cubic centimeter. I had kneaded those cubes into a pile of coarsely minced meat in order to mix them evenly, then formed the meat into a patty. I had basically added the firm texture of the tongue into the middle of the softness of a normal patty. I had first tried coarsely mincing both types of meat, but I hadn’t gotten the results I’d wanted from that method, so I had switched to this one instead.

Personally, I felt that the way it had turned out was pretty interesting. But Ai Fa was more taken with hamburger steak than most, so I was very eager to hear what she thought.

At last, she said, “It’s delicious. Both versions are. They’re every bit as good at your usual hamburger steak.”

“I see. Glad to hear it. Then, in that case, which version do you prefer?”

Ai Fa opened her mouth for a moment, only to close it again, then she stared at the two patties with an extremely serious expression on her face. Eventually, her eyebrows drooped and she looked up at me. “Asuta...why must you ask me such difficult questions?”

“Ah, sorry. If you’re really fond of both of them, then that’s the best outcome I could hope for.”

“You should have said that from the start,” my clan head replied, pouting a bit. Then she finally remembered there was more food to be eaten and grabbed some baked poitan.

After that, she dug into one dish after another with incredible speed. I had prepared 250 grams of each type of hamburger steak for her, but when she finished her last bite, she looked terribly disappointed. Then we ate all of the tarapa soup, fresh vegetable salad, and baked poitan, bringing our first dinner in half a month that we were able to eat alone together to a close in a flash.

Once we loaded our empty plates into the pot and poured some water from the jug into it, the two of us sat down against the wall. With a sigh of satisfaction, Ai Fa looked at me and said, “Asuta, that was very delicious.”

“Glad to hear that you were satisfied with it.”

“That was never in doubt. Still, this dinner exceeded even my expectations,” Ai Fa said. Then she frowned a little sadly for some reason. “Asuta, for our people it is considered shameful to go back on what you once said.”

“Huh? What’s this about?”

Rather than replying, she gently lifted my right hand that was lying on the floor and wrapped her own hands around it. The sudden action and the warmth I felt from her fingers immediately got my heart pounding.

“I am the one who said we should avoid touching one another unnecessarily, but I find it difficult to ignore my desires. Please, permit me to at least hold your hand.”

“H-Hey, you don’t need permission or anything.”

Back on my birthday, I had wiped away Ai Fa’s tears, and we had made a pinky promise too. As long as it wasn’t anything extreme, I didn’t see any need to hesitate.

Though with that said, just having her hold my hand and gently smile like this was enough to cause my heart rate to speed up even more.

“I wouldn’t have thought that you could still surprise me this much with hamburger steak... I’m amazed that you thought up such an idea.”

“Well, I actually came up with it because of Donda Ruu.”

“Donda Ruu? How did he help you come up with this?” Ai Fa asked, but then she happily narrowed her eyes and said, “Ah, I see. Donda Ruu dislikes the softness of hamburger steak, so you looked for a way to make a version that is a bit tougher, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Whenever I get invited to the Ruu house to help out with dinner like yesterday and the day before, I still can’t bring myself to make hamburger steak, since it’s not to Donda Ruu’s tastes.”

It wasn’t as if Donda Ruu got upset if he was served hamburger steak alongside some ordinary grilled meat or meat that was added to some kind of soup. He simply wasn’t fond of it, and I wanted to figure out a way to overcome that.

“If it turns out that Donda Ruu likes this giba tongue hamburger steak, then I’d feel a lot more comfortable with making it when the Ruu clan invites me over. And I wanted to make it really badly yesterday and the day before, since I couldn’t serve you hamburger steak while we were helping out at The Kimyuus’s Tail.”

“If you wanted to make it that badly, you should’ve just done it. This new recipe is one you’ve been thinking about after you’ve finished with business each day, right?”

“Yeah, but, well...I really want you to be the first one to try any new types of hamburger steak I come up with. So I was waiting until we’d be able to have dinner here again.”

Ai Fa’s fingers gripped my hand tighter, and her eyes glistened as she stared at my face. “Asuta, our people consider it shameful to go back on your word, but...”

“Huh? Ai Fa?”

The heat from Ai Fa’s fingers vanished, but in the next moment, I found myself encircled by a far greater warmth. With the agility of a hunter, she had swiftly wrapped me in a hug.

“Hey, Ai Fa, you don’t have to get that emotional.”

“Quiet, you. You’re the one who caused this in the first place,” Ai Fa whispered faintly. Then she rubbed her cheek up against mine.

She must have been using giba summoning fruit in traps, since I could smell their sweet aroma on her. It captivated me. My heart was pounding like an alarm bell, and I could feel Ai Fa’s pulse through our thin clothing.

Ai Fa’s warmth was seeping into me from every direction. We hadn’t gotten this close since the rainy season, after I had finally been able to move again following my battle with Amusehorn’s Breath and Ai Fa had hugged me tightly while saying it would be the last time she ever did so.

“I swore not to touch you anymore because I adore you, yet I went and broke that promise,” Ai Fa said, her arms still wrapped around my back. And then she whispered, “But my feelings for you have grown even stronger since then, and my resolve has crumbled into dust.”

“A-Ah, I see...”

“Indeed. And you share much of the responsibility for making me feel that way.”

In that case, I would have to step up and take responsibility for that. I was so incredibly happy, and I wanted to help my clan head feel at ease. That was the thought that passed through my mind as I wrapped her slender body in my embrace. And with a pleased sigh, Ai Fa started rubbing her cheek against mine again.

“Tomorrow, we will finally show the nobles from the capital the path we intend to follow,” Ai Fa suddenly said in a quiet voice. “I don’t know if that will put an end to this turmoil or not...but as long as you’re by my side, I can overcome any hardship that lies before me.”

“Yeah. I feel that way too, Ai Fa.”

My clan head hugged me even tighter. I was feeling a bit short of breath, but I couldn’t tell if that was because of her incredible strength or if I was simply so worked up that I was having trouble breathing. All I knew was that I was the happiest man in the world.

And so, our first night in the Fa house in half a month continued in silence, without anyone interrupting us.

Chapter 3: The Path Forward

1

The day ended, and the eighteenth of the green month arrived. In the early afternoon, we headed to the castle town to attend a meeting with the nobles of Genos and the observers from the capital.

This time, we had been the ones to propose the meeting so that we could share the results of the discussions we’d had at Gazraan Rutim’s request on the fifteenth and sixteenth. We had argued a lot, but thanks to the decisiveness of the people of the forest’s edge, we had eventually managed to settle things and agree on what our path forward should be. All of the clans and Duke Marstein Genos had been informed of the conclusion we had reached, and that had led to the events of today.

“Is this actually going to settle everything? I really don’t get it,” Ludo Ruu remarked after we boarded a totos carriage at the gates to the castle town. We were bringing along a number of chefs who wouldn’t be participating in the meeting today, so we had guards with us too.

The reason for the chefs was that there was a banquet planned after the meeting. But if our proposal was turned down, the observers from the capital obviously wouldn’t be in attendance. However, Marstein had said that even if that happened, he still wanted us to serve food to the nobles of Genos.

“There was a guy who refused to eat giba cooking before, right? Wonder if he’ll be happy with today’s food!” Rimee Ruu said with a smile. She was seated next to the pouting Ludo Ruu. Ever since the leading clan heads had decided our path forward, she had seemed a lot more relaxed.

To be honest, I felt like there was only about a fifty percent chance that we would be able to communicate our intentions properly. But even so, Marstein had already given his approval to our plan. The real issue was whether it’d be enough to satisfy the observers.

Regardless, we had already decided on our path. We had searched as hard as we could for a solution and found what we believed to be the best possible choice at present. If there was a more constructive route that we hadn’t noticed, then the observers would have to be the ones to present it.

“Um, is it really okay for us to man the stoves with you today?” the woman from the Matua who was seated next to me asked. The Matua and Ratsu women were both seated there with worried looks. They were helping out today, and it would be their first time in the castle town.

“Yeah. I’m the one who asked, so you’ve got nothing to worry about,” I said.

“I’m feeling anxious about it. We’re still far less experienced than Toor Deen or Yun Sudra.”

“Like I said, it’ll be fine. I pay attention to everyone’s skill levels while we’re running the stalls and doing prep work. You can trust that I chose you because of that and feel proud about it,” I added.

The Matua girl finally smiled and said, “Okay.”

I had chosen them as chefs based on Mia Lea Ruu’s advice. She had pointed out to me that I only ever brought along Ruu relatives at times like these, and it would be better to give members of the smaller clans a chance too.

Of course, for today, everybody I brought along was highly experienced. In addition to those two, our group included Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, Rimee Ruu, Toor Deen, and Yun Sudra. There weren’t going to be any chefs from the castle town involved in making the food today, just us from the forest’s edge. And there were going to be a fair number of people at the meeting, so I had figured that we were going to need quite a few chefs.

As for the hunters guarding them, we had Ludo Ruu, Darmu Ruu, Cheem Sudra, and Jou Ran. The latter two had been chosen for the same reason we were bringing the two chefs who had never gone before. It had been decided that the other Sudra hunters would head to the Ran hunting grounds and fill Jou Ran’s spot.

Ai Fa, Yun Sudra, and I definitely had a bit of a past with Jou Ran, but he had apologized for the trouble he had caused and been forgiven, plus he was a highly skilled hunter. That was why he had been chosen this time around. Plus, as Baadu Fou saw it, this was an important task that the Ruu had given them, so it was only natural to assign two of the champions from the joint contests of strength between our small clans to the job. Neither Ai Fa nor I had felt any need to argue against his decision.

The people we were bringing for the meeting itself were the three leading clan heads, Gazraan Rutim, Baadu Fou, the Beim clan head, Ai Fa, and me, adding up to a total of nineteen people of the forest’s edge. It just happened to be a day off from our work at the stalls, and the hunters accompanying us were those who were able to entrust their work to their relatives.

“How do you think things will turn out today?” I whispered to Ai Fa, and she shot me a questioning look.

“Hmm? We’ve already decided on the path we will take, so there’s no point in worrying. The only thing left to do is to see how the nobles of the capital react.”

“Yeah, but that’s what I’m worried about.”

“Worrying will do nothing to change the results. Everything comes down to the guidance of the mother forest,” Ai Fa said, and then the skin around her eyes wrinkled as if she was smiling at me. “Your words, and Gazraan Rutim’s, strongly resonated with me, and I’m certain the leading clan heads feel much the same. That’s why I’m sure that there’s no need for concern.”

Ai Fa’s gentle gaze was more relieving to me than anything else ever could be.

“We’ve arrived. Please watch your step when getting out,” a soldier of Genos announced after opening the door of our carriage, and we descended from the carriage in front of the manor for noble guests that used to belong to the house of Turan. This was where the meeting was to be held, since we were planning on holding a banquet as well.

The seven chefs and four guards were led to the bathhouse, as they would be heading straight to the kitchen to cook. The results of the meeting would determine when we saw them again.

Those of us participating in the meeting, meanwhile, were guided up the stairs by a soldier to the large dining hall where we had first met with the observers. Today, there was a massive table placed in the middle of the room. The hunters handed their blades over before stepping inside, and the soldier showed us to our designated seats.

Ai Fa had come along as a participant in the meeting, not as a guard. She wanted to be with us because there was a good chance that my status was going to come up as a topic of discussion.

Furthermore, the leading clan heads had decided not to bring any guards along to wait outside the door. They never brought guards to their regular castle town meetings either. They didn’t consider it necessary when so many hunters were attending the meeting, even if they had been disarmed.

There should be no need for blades on the path forward that we chose, so I don’t think there’s any risk of today’s meeting turning violent anyway, I thought to myself as a bell rang far off in the distance. It was now the agreed upon time, the lower third hour.

As if waiting for that very moment, the curtains on the far side of the room were pulled open. And just like before, twenty soldiers streamed into the room to take up positions on the left and right sides. The nobles of Genos appeared next. There were seven of them in total: Duke Marstein Genos, the mediator Melfried, his assistant Polarth, Count Paud Daleim, Count Luidross Saturas, and finally Countess Lefreya Turan and her guardian Torst.

It had been quite a while since I had last seen Lefreya. Her graceful appearance that reminded me of a French doll was the same as always, though her pale, dignified face looked more and more mature each time I saw her.

After that, the observers from the capital finally stepped into the room: Dregg, Taluon, and the thousand lion commander Luido. Today, Luido was dressed in the formal attire he had worn on the night of the dinner we had served them rather than his armor, and he sat up straight in his seat.

“Well then, it seems everyone is here. To start, I’d like to thank you all for responding to such an abrupt summons,” Marstein declared with a relaxed smile. We people of the forest’s edge were the ones who had requested this meeting, but he had needed to approve it for us, and he was the one who had arranged for everyone to gather here. “I decided to call this meeting in response to a proposal from the people of the forest’s edge. Our purpose here today is to find a path forward to overcome the misunderstandings and discontent that have arisen over the past few days... Is that correct, leading clan heads?”

“Yes,” Dari Sauti replied. “The incidents that occurred on the thirteenth and fourteenth of the green month have disturbed the peace here in Genos. We wish to do everything we can to put these problems to rest.”

Dregg looked like he was sulking as he listened, while Taluon had his usual smile plastered across his face, and as always, that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking. All of the recent unrest throughout Genos had been caused by orders they had given, and because of that, they hadn’t been able to refuse to participate in this meeting.

“There certainly does seem to have been a great deal of discord in the Genos post town between the residents and the soldiers of the capital. Three inns have refused to continue lodging soldiers, and another four have requested to withdraw from that duty,” Marstein stated, glancing at Luidross.

“Indeed,” the count replied with a nod. He was an elegant, refined middle-aged man who kind of reminded me of Marstein. “We’ve arranged for new lodgings for the soldiers who were forced out of their inns and convinced the four innkeepers who wish to withdraw to be patient for a bit longer... However, if we cannot present people with a solution to the issues we’ve been having, there is a definite risk of more incidents occurring.”

I often forgot about the fact that the post town was a territory that fell under the management of the house of Saturas, so dealing with the inns’ requests would of course have involved discussions between Luidross and Tapas.

“Furthermore, that discord has extended beyond the post town and into Daleim county as well. Isn’t that right, Count Daleim?”

“Yes. The Daleim lands are where you will find the highest proportion of families who have lived in this land for a very long time. It’s no surprise that they would react as they have after the taboo of Morga was nearly broken,” Count Paud Daleim said with a gloomy look. He was a short and stout middle-aged noble with a fastidiously maintained mustache and an overall appearance that was quite different from his son Polarth’s.

“And of course, there is a good reason that so many people in Daleim fall into that category. The post town was only able to grow to its current size and level of prosperity because of the bountiful harvests the Daleim and Turan lands provide. So then, how are things in the Turan lands?” Marstein asked.

“There have not been any significant disturbances as of yet... However, that is likely because we do not have many residents, and most of them are quite old. But the elderly consider the taboo of Morga to be a terribly frightful matter, so I would imagine they must be greatly alarmed at the moment,” Torst replied while bowing his head up and down. He had a weak-looking appearance with a smushed face like that of a pug, but he had supposedly proven himself to be highly skillful in his efforts to revitalize the house of Turan. And he seemed to be a good-natured man, so I had a pretty good opinion of him.

“As you have heard, Genos is currently suffering from a concerning amount of unrest. We must all do everything we can to overcome this difficulty. I’m sure you observers would agree with that as well,” Marstein said.

“Hmph. If throwing cutting remarks and sarcasm our way will improve the situation, then feel free to do so as much as you please,” Dregg finally grumbled. However, his voice sounded a lot less energetic than before. He looked rather dreary, and it seemed like he wasn’t going to be drinking during the meeting today.

“Naturally, we can hardly expect our problems to be resolved that easily. But that is why when the people of the forest’s edge came to us with a proposal, we accepted it and called for this meeting,” Marstein said, turning his gaze back to us.

Among the nobles, only Marstein, Melfried, and Polarth knew what our proposal entailed, so Luidross, Paud, and Torst appeared to be a bit worried about what our plans were as they looked at us.

“We also have concerns regarding the current state of affairs. Even more so considering we people of the forest’s edge find ourselves at the root of it all. Therefore, we felt that we needed to discuss among ourselves to decide what the proper path forward was,” Dari Sauti said, and then he turned to face Gazraan Rutim. “As you are the most skillful speaker out of all of us, I would like to have you take charge of our end of the discussion from here on out, Gazraan Rutim. Would that be acceptable?”

“If that is what the leading clan heads wish, then I shall oblige,” Gazraan Rutim said.

Donda Ruu and Gulaf Zaza both silently nodded.

After receiving their approval, Gazraan Rutim turned to face the nobles. “The first thing I should make clear is that everything I will be saying is the shared opinion of all people of the forest’s edge. Therefore, the essence of what I am about to lay out would be the same regardless of who was speaking to you. My role is simply to explain our position.”

“Hmm. I understand that you spent two days meeting with each other to discuss these matters. Have you already received the approval of all of your people?” Marstein asked.

“Yes. The leading clan heads are the ones who determine our path forward, so there’s no need to receive the consent of every clan during an emergency situation. However, in this instance, we did reach out and told anyone who was doubtful to come forward. No one has said anything as of today, so please consider that as us having the full consent of our people.”

“Getting the consent of all five or six hundred of your people sounds quite difficult. We certainly do hope that it is as you say, though,” Marstein said with the same relaxed smile as always.

After giving a single nod, Gazraan Rutim turned toward the other nobles of Genos. “We have come here today with three matters to discuss. We would like your opinions on whether our judgment is correct in each case.”

“We will gladly welcome anything that helps to settle these difficulties we are facing. What exactly are these matters, though?” Luidross prompted with a smile. The man was fairly skilled in the art of social interaction.

Gazraan Rutim then directed his gaze at all of the nobles present and began talking. “A critical factor in all of the issues that have been arising seems to be the severe lack of trust that the observers have in us. We have been looking for ways to resolve that issue.”

“My, this is already becoming intriguing,” Luidross said.

“Firstly, we would like to reconcile with the house of Turan.”

Torst flinched as soon as he heard that, looking quite pitiable. “Wh-What do you mean, reconcile? I believe the discord between your people and our house has already been settled.”

“Yes, but a portion of our people have found it difficult to cast aside their distrust. They simply forced themselves to accept the way things were resolved out of a desire to form proper bonds with the nobles of Genos. That is something we wish to deal with.”

As Torst went more and more pale, the observer Taluon smiled, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening. “How terribly interesting. Who exactly is it from the house of Turan that you distrust?”

“The head of the house, Lefreya, and her attendant, Sanjura.”

Taluon froze, though the relaxed smile on his face did not falter. Dregg, meanwhile, was a lot more obvious, leaning forward with a look of shock. “S-Sanjura, you say? What is this about?”

“Sanjura once betrayed Asuta’s trust and kidnapped him. We have been told that he atoned for that crime through the punishment of whipping, but we have been unable to truly, wholeheartedly forgive him.”

Lefreya looked incredibly calm as she listened to Gazraan Rutim speak, but on the inside, she was probably even more shaken up than Torst was. For the sake of not leaving her in suspense for too long, Gazraan Rutim quickly pushed ahead to the crux of the matter.

“A variety of punishments exist at the forest’s edge. But no matter how a criminal is punished, there is no meaning in it if they do not change their way of thinking. When one does not believe they have truly been punished, they cannot gain the trust of those around them. And we are unable to believe that Sanjura has reformed.”

“B-But that man is nothing but a servant,” Torst weakly objected.

Gazraan Rutim smiled gently at him. “There has been some suspicion that he is secretly Cyclaeus’s child, and I am told that he was permitted to become Lefreya’s servant due to fears that it would be dangerous to not keep a watchful eye on him. We have remained wary of him for the same reason.”

“I-I cannot imagine him doing you any harm now, though.”

“That depends on his master, Lefreya, does it not? He abducted Asuta on her orders. If her intentions were to turn toward wickedness in the future, it is easy to think that he might commit a crime again on her behalf. Would you not agree?”

Torst held his tongue, looking utterly exhausted.

Lefreya was staring at Gazraan Rutim, her expression unchanging. He briefly sent a smile her way, then turned toward Melfried.

“Lefreya’s past crimes haven’t been forgiven in the castle town either, and she is not permitted to interact freely with other nobles. Isn’t that right, Marstein?”

“Yes. But rather than that being a case of her crimes not being unforgiven, it is actually intended to prevent those with wicked intentions from approaching her. We believe that all of the criminals with ties to Cyclaeus have been dealt with, but there is no guarantee there aren’t others out there who would view Lady Lefreya as a tool they could use in future plots.”

“Have you not also taken into consideration that she might have ill intent?” Gazraan Rutim asked.

“We have,” Marstein replied with a nod. “I am mindful of the possibility that Lady Lefreya may hate and desire revenge against the house of Genos and the people of the forest’s edge because her father Cyclaeus was brought to justice for his crimes.”

“That is the root of the distrust held by our people. You cannot truly trust Lefreya as the lord of Genos, and thus we cannot either,” Gazraan Rutim said in a terribly calm tone. “We do not know Lefreya well as a person. But we do know that she used Sanjura to kidnap Asuta. If those of you who are more familiar with her believed her to be trustworthy, we would assume that you would make an effort to demonstrate that fact... And yet, you still treat her as a criminal. That is why we cannot truly trust Lefreya and Sanjura.”

“Hmm. But your people agreed that she should be kept from acting freely, did you not? That is what I was told,” Luidross chimed in with a questioning look.

Turning toward him, Gazraan Rutim replied, “Yes. If Lefreya were a villain, it would have been dangerous to let her keep her freedom, so we agreed with Marstein’s judgment. But is she a villain, truly?”

“That is a difficult question to answer.”

“Over the course of the last year, we have occasionally had some opportunities to interact with Lefreya, few though they might have been. But not once did one of our people come out of an encounter with her believing her to be a bad person.”

We didn’t know Lefreya that well. Putting me aside, only a handful of other people of the forest’s edge had ever spoken with her. However, we had heard about Lefreya’s wish to improve the conditions the northern slaves in Genos lived in. With the observers from the capital around, we couldn’t openly discuss such matters, but still, that was definitely a major factor affecting how the leading clan heads viewed her. Especially Dari Sauti, as he had also wanted to be able to feed the northerners better food.

“If Lefreya is indeed not a villain, then we would like to forge a new relationship with her. But in order to do so, we must hear how she herself feels. Do you hold a grudge against the people of the forest’s edge or Duke Marstein Genos because of the judgment your father faced for his crimes, Lefreya?”

Lefreya stared straight back at Gazraan Rutim and said, “My father was undoubtedly a criminal, so it would be unreasonable to feel upset because he was punished for his actions. Rather, I believe that I should be asking if you still resent me.”

“As I said, we wish to forge a new relationship with you. It is not possible to do so without both sides forgiving one another.”

“If I would be permitted to do that, then I would certainly like to... You listened to my unreasonable request and prepared giba meat soup for my father even though he was a heinous criminal. And I am grateful for that, from the depths of my heart,” Lefreya said, her eyes narrowing as she seemed to stare off into the distance. “I don’t believe I’ve ever properly thanked you for what you did, Asuta. And as you are a person of the forest’s edge, you would not have been able to make that kind gesture if your leading clan heads had not given you their permission for it, correct?”

“Yes, that is true. After you visited Asuta, there was a meeting between the leading clan heads where they discussed your request and decided to accept it,” Gazraan Rutim said.

“Then allow me to offer you my thanks now. Given that this all happened a year ago, I recognize that it is coming rather late, but...thanks to all of you, I believe that I was finally able to get my feelings across to my father. I am truly, deeply grateful for that kindness.” Lefreya silently rose from her seat and bowed deeply to us. “Thank you so very much. And my deepest, sincerest apologies for having acted so awfully toward your comrade Asuta. I swear here and now to the western god that I shall never involve myself in deeds of that nature again.”

Dari Sauti whispered something to his fellow leading clan heads, who were seated on either side of him. Donda Ruu and Gulaf Zaza then silently nodded, and Dari Sauti looked back at Lefreya with a gentle gaze.

“We accept your apology, Countess Lefreya Turan, and we hope to form a proper bond with you in the future.”

“Thank you,” Lefreya quietly replied before returning to her seat.

Then Marstein nodded and said, “Yes, I no longer have any suspicions in regards to Lady Lefreya’s feelings. But I still believe we must remain vigilant so that she is not approached by those with wicked intent, as she does hold a noble title despite her young age.”

“Do you intend to steal away Lefreya’s freedom even though you have judged her to be guiltless? That is rather unreasonable, is it not?” Gazraan Rutim responded.

“That is true,” Marstein said with a smile. “When the leading clan heads proposed this meeting, they stated that if Lady Lefreya was deemed worthy of trust, she should not be treated as a criminal. And I believe I agree with that sentiment.”

Luidross, Paud, and Torst all looked shocked.

“Duke Genos, are you saying you will permit Lady Lefreya to take part in noble society once more?” Luidross asked.

“That is correct, Count Saturas. Initially, Lady Lefreya was given the punishment of half a year of confinement for the crime of abducting Asuta. That was reduced quite a bit in order to allow her to inherit the house of Turan...but now, much more than half a year has passed, and she has spent it like a bird in a cage. I believe we can say that she has fully atoned for her crimes at this point,” Marstein said, and then he turned to face Torst. “But since she is still so young, she can hardly be expected to take on the official duties of her house, and the usual custom is to leave matters up to a guardian in such cases. I ask that you continue to rebuild the house of Turan as you have been up until this point, Torst.”

“Y-Yes, of course,” Torst said with a grateful bow of his head.

As he watched that out of the corner of his eye, Dregg snorted, “Hmph. This is a farce. What point is there in showing us such a charade?”

“You suspect that the house of Genos and the people of the forest’s edge conspired to bring down the house of Turan, do you not? You have a responsibility to take note when matters relevant to your suspicions are discussed,” Marstein said, his eyes narrowing as he smiled. “Furthermore, you will not find proof that Sanjura is Cyclaeus’s child no matter how much you investigate in Dabagg. We expended quite a bit of effort looking into that ourselves while we were preparing to confront him. Isn’t that right, Melfried?”

“Yes. It seems Cyclaeus was quite thorough in eliminating any evidence. He feared that if the man’s background were to become known, Ciluel might attempt to harm Sanjura.”

“Indeed. But at any rate, control of the house of Turan will remain with Lady Lefreya and Torst. I would like you observers to keep that in mind as you continue to carry out your duty.”

Dregg’s fingers crept about on top of the table, as if searching for a nonexistent glass of wine.

Taluon, meanwhile, stayed firm, his true feelings hidden behind a soft smile.

And as for Luido, he remained every bit as expressionless as Melfried.

“Well then, I believe it is time to move on to our next topic of discussion. Let’s speak about you observers now,” Gazraan Rutim said, still smiling calmly.

2

“We hold serious misgivings regarding the current state of affairs with you observers,” Gazraan Rutim bluntly stated. “The peace in Genos has been greatly disrupted because of the improper orders that you gave. Are you aware of that fact?”

“Hmph. A mere frontier citizen dares to try to accuse us of misconduct?” Dregg grumbled.

“Our goal is to restore peace to this land. Is that not the case for you as well?”

No matter how formidable his opponent was, Gazraan Rutim never wavered, while Dregg was just becoming more and more irritated.

“However, it’s not as if we believe you were deliberately trying to threaten that peace,” Gazraan Rutim continued. “At the very least, I’m certain you had no intention of breaking the taboo of Morga. Yet your reckless demands accidentally caused an incident that was far too serious to be ignored. Why is that?”

“Why? Because the soldiers who went into the forest were incompetent! If you want to blame someone, blame them!”

I stealthily hunched my shoulders. Luido was now glaring at nothing with his gray eyes from where he was sitting next to Dregg. Meanwhile, Ai Fa’s brow was furrowed and she had a look of displeasure on her face. If it were possible for us to say anything without being overheard, I was sure that she would have been grumbling angrily about the slovenly noble.

“You are mistaken. It is only natural for townsfolk to lose their sense of direction after setting foot in the forest. No matter how skilled they may be as soldiers, it would not be possible for them to hunt giba without the proper training.”

“Hmph. So you’re saying we’re the incompetent ones for handing down an order like that?”

“My aim is not to criticize you. I simply wish for you to see how lacking you have been in regards to your understanding of Genos, the forest’s edge, and Morga.” Gazraan Rutim’s tone remained calm, but his words were harsh. However, he must have felt they were necessary if they were the ones he had chosen. “Your judgment was flawed from the start. Your groundless suspicions against Duke Genos and the people of the forest’s edge, the reckless acts you resorted to in order to prove your claims, all of it. I believe that is because you were only looking at the surface of the matter.”

“Hey, if you plan to keep on insulting us—”

“I do not mean to be insulting. We have held multiple meetings at the forest’s edge in order to seek out the reason behind your actions,” Gazraan Rutim gently said, cutting Dregg off. “And we arrived at a single conclusion. It is our belief that both you and our people need to revise our conduct in order to better understand one another.”

“And what exactly are the corrections you believe we need to make?” Taluon finally interjected.

Gazraan Rutim slowly turned toward him. “Allow me to speak without mincing words. You should live here in Genos.”

“Live in Genos?”

“Yes. It is difficult to understand the state of affairs in Genos if you only visit once or twice a year, is it not? But if you were to make this land your home and see how the people here live, I believe you would be much better equipped to judge the situation properly.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Why should we have to move to such a remote territory?!” Dregg instantly exploded.

Marstein then spoke up in a calming tone. “There is truly nothing particularly outlandish about their proposal. The capital already has diplomats who reside in lands closer to them, does it not? Why not assign a few to Genos in the same way?”

“That is only done for territories involved in the wars with Mahyudra and Zerad! There is no precedent for sending diplomats to a frontier region such as this!”

“And yet, the fact remains that you have been unable to properly carry out your duty as observers. That being the case, does it not make sense to look into revising the observer system?” Marstein said, remaining perfectly calm, as he had already heard our proposal. “The two of you...or should I say His Majesty in the capital, fears Genos may revolt, just like the Grand Duchy of Zerad. Placing a diplomat here would allow you to do a much better job of keeping an eye on us, would it not? That seems like the most effective way to establish that we have nothing to hide.”

“Ah, but...”

“Of course, His Majesty would have to be the one to make that decision. That is why I am thinking of sending a message to the king about this.”

Dregg looked utterly astonished.

With a smile in his eyes, Taluon said, “Duke of Genos, is that truly your intention?”

“It is. I am certain that if the request comes from me, it will be no trouble for His Majesty to grant it.”

Gazraan Rutim was just sitting back and silently watching the exchange between the nobles.

We people of the forest’s edge simply wanted to form a proper relationship with the observers, and the only way to do that was to take the time to build up trust between us. It was an incredibly simple answer.

After hearing our conclusion, Marstein had come up with a proposal of his own. This was the first time that we had heard any specifics about it, though, so Gazraan Rutim must have been listening carefully to what was being said.

“Your failures are the result of you rushing to accomplish your goal. If you try to achieve results in a short amount of time, it will lead to mistakes. You have come to learn that firsthand, have you not?”

“B-But even so...moving to Genos of all places...”

“It isn’t as if you would have to reside here permanently. I believe diplomats generally swap out after serving for a term of either a year or half a year. Staying too long in one place could lead to a diplomat becoming too friendly with the locals and failing to properly carry out the task entrusted to them. Even someone with no experience in such matters like myself can easily imagine how that could be a problem.” Then, with an unwavering smile on his face, Marstein continued, “As the lord of Genos, I could never approve of the idea of having the people of the forest’s edge leave the forest and transferring their duty to a group of townsfolk. If you lived in this land, you would have no trouble understanding why that is the correct decision.”

The observers fell silent, offering no response.

“The people of the forest’s edge also intend to alter their own behavior,” Marstein said, glancing at Gazraan Rutim.

My friend nodded and replied, “Yes. You observers seem to hold great distrust toward our people, and I believe we are partially at fault for that as well.”

“Hmm? Have you misstepped in some way that we failed to notice?” Luidross asked with great interest after remaining silent for a time.

However, Gazraan Rutim shook his head and said, “No. Rather than something you failed to notice, it’s something no one has paid any attention to. You nobles, the residents of Genos, and even us people of the forest’s edge.”

“Now I feel like I understand even less. What are you speaking of?”

“The fact that the way our people live is too far removed from the customs of the kingdom.” This was the final thing we had discussed, and for the people of the forest’s edge, the one that required the greatest resolve to follow through on. “As we have refused to interact with outsiders until recently, we have neglected to deal with the fact that our unique status sets us apart from those who live around us. Or perhaps I should say we considered it only natural that we are completely different from the townsfolk, and did not place much weight on that fact.”

“Hmm. It certainly is true that the people of the forest’s edge find themselves in a unique position... But what are you speaking of specifically?”

“I’m speaking of everything. But at the heart of it all, it would have to be our stance toward the four great gods and the kingdoms they preside over. That is why the people of the capital regard us as suspicious barbarians, is it not?”

“Well...to be specific, it is because you people of the forest’s edge comport yourselves as if you were independent settlers. It is no surprise that you would be seen that way,” Luidross stated, seemingly trying to mediate.

However, Gazraan Rutim shook his head once more and said, “No. I believe that we stray further from the norms of the kingdom than even the independent settlers. Our friend Kamyua Yoshu is the one who explained that to us. The settlers see the four great gods as their fathers and the mountains and forests as their mothers, correct?”

“Indeed. In Selva, those who cannot cast aside their alternate gods or family names live as independent settlers. However, the Duke of Genos from eighty years ago permitted the people of the forest’s edge to live like that, and I cannot see any reason to reconsider his decision now.”

“I agree in regards to other gods and family names. However, the issue is our attitude and stance regarding the four great gods.” Gazraan Rutim went silent for a moment, glancing over at the rest of us from the forest’s edge. “We do not place much importance on the four great gods. To speak bluntly, we don’t really care about such things.”

“Don’t care? Ah, but...all who live upon this continent are children of the four great gods.”

“Our people do not have any strong feelings about that. The forest is our mother, and we believe our souls return to it after death. There is no room for the involvement of the four great gods.”

Luidross went a bit pale and glanced around himself. The blood had similarly drained from the faces of Paud and Torst, which wasn’t surprising. The four great gods truly were sacred to them.

“Our ancestors lived in a place referred to as the black forest of Jagar,” Gazraan Rutim said. “And as far as we know, we didn’t have any faith in the four great gods back then either. I am sure that is why our people had no resistance to the idea of changing gods to Selva.”

“But...is such a thing even possible? If the people of the forest’s edge were not children of the four great gods, they surely would not have been permitted to move here to this land.”

“We do not know all the details of how it happened either. However, we apparently had some recognition of the fact that we were citizens of Jagar. Yet, the black forest was only a part of Jagar on the map, and it was not connected to that kingdom through faith in the four great gods.”

It was the Ruu elder Granny Jiba who had informed us of that. She was the only living person of the forest’s edge with memories of the black forest, after all. However, even she had only lived there up until the age of five, so we’d had to fill in the rest with guesses and speculation.

“There is a legend that states that the people of the forest’s edge were born from a mix of Jagar and Sym blood. Those two nations are enemies, so normally ties of blood would not be formed between them. Perhaps that was the original reason for us not highly valuing the four great gods... Regardless, we have lived up until now without any strong conception of being children of those gods.”

“That is...truly shocking. Even the independent settlers would never dare to make light of the four great gods.”

“Yes. And that is something we wish to revise,” Gazraan Rutim said with a gentle smile. “We will always remain people of the forest’s edge, and the forest shall forever be our mother. Our pride in that is something we cannot cast aside. But at the same time, we are citizens of Genos who live in this land, so we would like to walk the proper path forward, treating the other citizens here as our comrades.”

“We do not doubt your intentions. Otherwise, we would never have purchased giba meat from you, after all,” Luidross said with a smile, seeming like he had regained his composure.

“Thank you,” Gazraan Rutim said, returning that smile. “But there are surely people who will question our intentions if they learn we do not hold the four great gods in high regard. Additionally, even without knowing that fact, some may see our attitudes and actions as haughty...just like these observers here did.”

Dregg sat back hard as everyone’s attention turned back toward him and his partner. Taluon, meanwhile, was staring at Gazraan Rutim with a probing gaze.

“That is why we wish to embrace the fact that we are children of the western god. And we would like your aid in accomplishing that goal.”

“We would, of course, be perfectly willing to assist, but what form would that take, exactly?”

“To begin with, we would like to go through the ritual that is meant to mark us as children of the western god. That would be the first step.”

Luidross raised a questioning eyebrow. “Which ritual are you referring to? The rite of initiation that temples perform when a baby is born?”

“We do not know which ritual would be appropriate. However, I have heard that among our ancestors, only those of the leading clan went through the ritual to change gods from Jagar to Selva. That is, perhaps, another reason that faith in the four great gods never took root in our people.”

When he heard that, Paud’s eyes shot open wide. “The idea of the ritual to change gods not being performed is unthinkable. Is that true, Duke Genos?”

“Unfortunately, in the castle, none remain who know precisely what happened eighty years ago... However, when the people of the forest’s edge first arrived at Genos, there were around a thousand of them. I cannot imagine that all of them were invited to the grand temple in the castle town.”

“Yes, that is what the Ruu clan elder said. Only a few of those closely related to the leading clan head were invited inside the stone walls, according to her testimony,” Gazraan Rutim said.

We had learned from Kamyua Yoshu and Shumiral that a grand ceremony was required to change gods, both of them having actually gone through the process. Between Granny Jiba’s story and what they had told us, we had managed to piece together a bit of what must have happened back then.

“The leading clan at that time whose members underwent the ritual was the Gaaze, but they have since fallen to ruin. And among those of us who remain, none have gone through the ritual to change gods. That also goes against the laws and customs of the kingdom, correct?”

“So you wish to undergo a ritual to be recognized as children of the western god. That makes perfect sense. In fact, I would say the Duke of Genos eighty years ago was far too careless in his actions,” Paud said with a deeply furrowed brow.

Marstein smiled at him placatingly. “That was a failure on the part of my great-grandfather. One that I would like to make up for, even if eighty years have passed. I intend to consult with the chief officiant and have the ceremony performed for them.”

“But even now, there are between five hundred and six hundred people of the forest’s edge, aren’t there? You intend to invite all of them to the grand temple?” Luidross asked.

“Of course,” Marstein replied with a nod. “If we simply summoned the members of the leading clans, it would be no different from what occurred eighty years ago. Every single one of them, from newborn infants to the elderly, will undergo the ritual. That is what the people of the forest’s edge have proposed.”

“I see... That is certainly a decisive solution.”

All of the nobles, whether they came from Genos or the capital, looked quite shaken.

Donda Ruu then declared, “For several hundred years, we have lived with the forests as our mother. I believe it will take a very long time for us to feel the same reverence toward the western god as our father. However, as we have taken the Morga forest’s edge as our home, I do believe that this is necessary.”

“Yes, and as the lord of Genos, I was very glad to receive your proposal,” Marstein replied.

Then, with his black eyes shining intensely underneath the giba pelt he wore, Gulaf Zaza spoke up in a tone every bit as weighty as Donda Ruu’s. “Even so, if the time comes when we judge this land to no longer be a fitting home for our people, we’ll have no choice but to abandon Morga and search for a new forest. When we came to this decision, we did so with the resolve to still cut our ties if necessary.” His piercing gaze was directed straight at the observers.

Dregg had turned away in fear, while Taluon looked downward a bit as he returned the leading clan head’s gaze.

“From what I understand, we lost anywhere from several hundred to a thousand of our people when we moved from the black forest to Morga. If we were to move again to a new forest, we could lose a great many of our people once again. It would pain me greatly to inflict such hardship on our people...but none of us would ever choose to give up our pride, not even to avoid an outcome like that.”

The nobles were all silent.

“If you insist on having us leave the forest, then we shall abandon this land even after being made children of the western god. I would like you to be aware that such an action would be tantamount to condemning several hundred people of the forest’s edge to death.”

“There is no need to worry about that,” Marstein said. “The people of the forest’s edge keeping the giba in check is the reason Genos is as prosperous as it is today. I promise as the lord of Genos that your forest shall not be stolen away from you. Our fates are truly intertwined, after all.” And then the duke’s gaze shifted toward the observers. “Those are the three proposals the people of the forest’s edge have brought us. Reconciling with the house of Turan, giving themselves to the western god through the rite of initiation, and having observers who stay here long-term... And every one of them has my full support.”

Marstein’s words received no response, so he continued after a moment.

“There is also one more proposal to consider from both myself and the people of the forest’s edge. I request that you give your approval for it as well, dear observers.”

Dregg and Taluon both turned to face the man, very different expressions on their faces.

“We would like you to lead your two hundred soldiers back to the capital in the near future,” Marstein said with a faint smile. “As for when specifically that should happen, let’s see... How about we set it for after you have confirmed that the people of the forest’s edge have all completed the rite of initiation?”

“Wh-What are you saying, Duke Genos? Did you not just propose that we observers should stay here long-term?!”

“But it is His Majesty who must make that decision, is it not? And if the soldiers do not leave this land for a time before then, it will surely lead to further strife. I wish to have you swiftly depart from this land for the capital, where you shall determine what comes next.”

“Ridiculous! Do you really think we can return to the capital without any results to show for our efforts?!”

“In that case, why not have your soldiers return alone? As long as the two hundred soldiers staying in the post town withdraw, we will not have any complaints,” Marstein replied, intertwining his fingers on top of the table. Though he still had a calm smile on his face, there was a bright, steady light shining in his eyes. “Or perhaps they can erect tents somewhere nearby? If you head north up the highway, there is an arena that belongs to the Genos domain. You will find a good number of stoves there as well, so I believe it should prove sufficient for hosting two hundred soldiers.”

“Tents? This isn’t a battlefield, so why should we have to—”

“Because I wish to avoid Genos becoming a battlefield. Do you not understand why the people of the forest’s edge have come here with such incredible resolve to see their plan through?” Marstein interjected, cutting off Dregg’s whining. “At this point, in order to calm the unrest that has spread throughout the post town, the only option is to have the soldiers withdraw. The people of the forest’s edge have chosen the best possible path forward to accomplish that goal. And if you observers are to stay here in Genos long-term, you should have no need for such a large complement of soldiers regardless, correct? Furthermore, the people of the forest’s edge have proposed reconciliation with the house of Turan and have agreed to undergo the rite of initiation in order to prove they have no intention of rebelling against the kingdom. What more could be necessary?”

“But, well...”

“I shall hear no more objections. Once the last of the people of the forest’s edge have undergone the rite, the soldiers are to leave the post town by the end of the day. That is my decision as the Duke of Genos.” Marstein never raised his voice, but the will behind his gentle tone was utterly unyielding. “If you require tents, I shall have them prepared for you. Fortunately, we can purchase as many karon hides as we need from the neighboring town of Dabagg, so we should be able to get them ready within a few days.”

“That won’t be necessary. However, we would like to ask for you to provide wagons to transport the wounded soldiers,” the thousand lion commander Luido replied in a deep voice.

Dregg turned to stare at him with a look of pure bewilderment. “Y-You don’t have the authority to make that decision on your own, Luido! We still haven’t accepted the duke’s proposal yet.”

“Then do you intend to have my subordinates remain here in this land? What work are they supposed to do when they can no longer enter or leave the post town?”

“As I told you, the duke made that decree without consulting us, so—”

“The problem here is that you have been making decisions without consulting them. That is precisely what has led us to this state of affairs, is it not?” Though Luido remained expressionless, his gray eyes were shining like boiling mercury.

Dregg held his tongue. He had gone so pale that he almost looked sickly.

“If matters progress to the point of war with Genos, my men will be forced to cut down countless innocent citizens of this land. I will not allow that to happen, and I am certain His Majesty would not find it acceptable either.”

“We are the ones who hold the right to command here, not you, Sir Luido,” Taluon doggedly insisted, causing Luido to shoot him the same look.

“Then give your orders. But if you keep pushing and cause a war with Genos, responsibility shall fall entirely upon the two of you. Just who exactly will be judged as traitors here if you ignore our words and cause a pointless conflict?”

“Oho... Sir Luido, you intend to declare us traitors? I must say, I feel surprised to hear you say that.”

“I am solely accusing you, Sir Taluon. Sir Dregg has simply followed your orders, so I see no purpose in pointing the finger at him,” Luido replied, his eyes now blazing brightly.

Taluon met that glare with a terribly artificial-looking smile. “You seem to be laboring under some sort of mistaken impression, Sir Luido. I believe Sir Dregg was the one who ordered the investigations into the living conditions at the forest’s edge and the ecology of the giba.”

“Do you truly think me that blind? You have used Sir Dregg as your puppet so that blame would not fall on you no matter how matters played out. Sir Dregg does not seem to have realized that himself, but I am not so easily fooled.”

Dregg’s mouth flapped open and shut as he sat there dumbfounded. However, Luido paid him no heed.

“It was my men who traveled around the post town and the Turan and Daleim lands asking questions and collecting information so you could judge what the Duke of Genos and the people of the forest’s edge were truly like. But even though hardly anyone saw them as a threat, you enacted heavy-handed measures regardless. Why is that exactly, Sir Taluon?”

“I was simply attempting to carry out my duty as an observer.”

“If I am not mistaken, your duty is to determine whether the Duke of Genos and the people of the forest’s edge had any intention of rebelling. Would giving orders that disrupt the peace not be seen as treason? As going against the will of His Majesty?” Luido asked, his eyes narrowing sharply. When he did so, the light in them seemed to condense, growing even more passionate and fierce. “I believe the house of the Baron of Bery has been very insistent that Genos should be forced into submission through military might, correct?”

“I am afraid I do not understand what you are trying to say.”

“Genos has grown too large. If it were to declare independence, the nearby towns would be likely to join them in their rebellion. After all, from their point of view, it would be impossible to maintain their current level of prosperity without the ability to do business with Genos. That is exactly what happened when the Grand Duchy of Zerad started its rebellion.”

“Yes, and that is precisely why His Majesty has judged Genos to be dangerous.”

“His Majesty wishes to prevent Genos from rebelling, not to take up blades and force the land to submit.”

Most of the nobles of Genos looked bewildered as they watched the argument between the two men. Out of all of them, only Marstein had a calm look on his face. And of course, the people of the forest’s edge didn’t look shaken at all as they observed.

“If Genos were to happen to rebel, the house of Bery could flaunt the fact that they were correct. That would allow them to gain an advantage against the senior statesmen who wished to resolve matters peacefully and gain more influence than you’ve ever had before, wouldn’t you say?”

“It is true that I am a low-ranking member of that house, but do you truly believe I would ignore a royal degree for such a reason?”

“On the surface, Sir Dregg was the one who gave those improper orders, so you would not be considered responsible for their outcome. If you could cause Genos to take up arms in that way, you could boast of your own accomplishments without officially disobeying royal orders,” Luido said, his eyes still blazing with ire. “That’s your way of doing things, isn’t it? You wanted my men and Sir Dregg to take the brunt of the consequences while you alone would drink the sweet nectar of victory, and no matter how much blood was spilled, you yourself would not be harmed. A truly cunning way of going about things.”

Taluon didn’t respond to that accusation.

“However, you messed up. Your goal was to anger the Duke of Genos and the people of the forest’s edge, but you enraged the townsfolk first. If your actions lead to a war between the capital and Genos now, Genos will be seen as having just cause in the conflict. And if our allies, Sym and Jagar, decide that they agree with that perspective, it will besmirch the authority of the royal house of our kingdom.”

Taluon still remained silent.

With great intensity to his voice, Luido continued his assault. “Now then, allow me to ask you once more: Do you intend to accept the Duke of Genos’s request and have my subordinates withdraw, Sir Taluon? Rather than having Sir Dregg speak for you, please respond personally.”

A weighty silence filled the room. Eventually, though, Taluon’s voice cut through it.

“No... As an observer operating under orders from the king...I cannot consent to such a request.”

“I see,” Luido said with a small sigh. Then, he suddenly rose to his feet and held out his hand. “Restrain Sir Taluon. I hereby declare him to be suspected of the crime of treason.”

Four of the soldiers standing along the walls silently approached the noble. The smile on Taluon’s face didn’t falter as he stared back at Luido. “Are you in your right mind, Sir Luido? If you accuse me of treason and I am judged to be innocent...you will lose everything.”

“Save your excuses for your hearing. Bring Sir Taluon to his bedroom in Genos Castle. Servants are not to approach, and four men should keep watch over him at all times.”

With hands gripping their blades, the soldiers lined up behind Taluon. The noble slowly rose to his feet, still smiling. “You will regret this, Sir Luido.”

“I have simply come to recognize the enemy that I should be fighting here.”

With that, the four soldiers escorted Taluon out of the room. As the room fell silent, Luido returned to his seat.

Donda Ruu then spoke up, sounding extremely serious. “It seems our conversation has taken an unusual turn. Was that man truly such a villain?”

“Well, it’s hardly a surprise. The only thing we really trusted them about was that they didn’t intend to break the taboo of Morga. He simply turned out to be the sort of person our first impressions told us he was,” Dari Sauti replied.

“That’s for sure,” Donda Ruu said, rolling his shoulders. “Still, even if that man really is a wicked criminal, it’s not our place to pass judgment on him, so why don’t we get back to the business at hand?” Donda Ruu pinned Dregg with a piercing glare, and the noble’s eyes darted around the room frantically. He looked like a cornered rat with nowhere left to run. “Regardless of what that man’s intentions might have been, our position hasn’t changed. Allow us to ask again: Will you listen to our words and have the soldiers withdraw?”

“B-But if I don’t listen, you’ll accuse me of being a traitor too, won’t you? So I have no choice but to obey!” Dregg wailed, only for Luido to turn toward him with a chilly expression.

“Do not mistake me, Sir Dregg. I only determined that Sir Taluon had placed the ambitions of the house of Bery above his royal orders. Please, carry out your mission as an observer without allowing any selfish motivations to interfere.”

“Y-You say that, but—”

“You now hold sole authority to give orders to the soldiers here, myself included. Sir Taluon is being held under suspicion of committing a serious crime, so we must hurry back to the capital... However, the soldiers currently in the post town can only move on your orders.”

Dregg glanced all around, clearly at a loss. Eventually, his gaze settled on Marstein.

“As Donda Ruu said, the situation here remains unresolved,” the duke stated. “It is still a fact that His Majesty harbors concerns about Genos potentially plotting rebellion, so we must do everything we can to put this matter to rest.”

“Y-Yes, that’s certainly true.”

“We have fully laid out our plan. Do you not believe you should return to the capital for now and see what His Majesty decides to do, Sir Dregg?”

“B-But if I return to the capital after blundering so badly...” Dregg seemed almost powerless now that Taluon was gone. His expression almost made it look like he was begging Marstein to save him.

The lord of Genos smiling brightly at him. “It is true that you have made a number of mistakes. But as a result, you have made it clear to us that changes were needed. You could present that to His Majesty as a significant achievement on its own.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Up until now, the people of the forest’s edge have been living even further outside of the normal rules than the independent settlers, but now they are going to undergo the rite of initiation to become true children of the western god. Furthermore, the house of Genos and the people of the forest’s edge are aiming to restore our relationships with the house of Turan. This is all the result of you coming here as an observer, is it not?”

Dregg frowned, looking like he still wasn’t getting it. And so, with a smile like he was comforting a child, Marstein continued.

“Naturally, it isn’t as if these measures will clear away all of the suspicions being directed at us. In the future, Genos shall be judged by a rotating group of diplomats who live here for extended periods. And that, I imagine, should finally ease His Majesty’s concerns regarding this domain. In order for Genos to be inspected properly, what is required is not two hundred soldiers, but rather observers with good eyes. I would like you to testify to that, to bolster the message I shall send.”

“So, you’re not planning on blaming me for my failures?”

“That was the result of you accepting Sir Taluon’s words without proper scrutiny. I think that is something you should reflect on as you put some consideration into the question of what you believe to be the proper path forward for us,” Marstein said, holding an arm out wide and gesturing toward the people of the forest’s edge. “As I’ve said again and again, we have nothing to hide. We only wish to keep contributing to the prosperity of the kingdom. That is what I want you to see as an observer who serves as our king’s representative.”

Dregg’s head drooped. He looked bewildered.

Luido glanced at the observer out of the corner of his eye. “It is important to know when it is time to withdraw. If the discord between the soldiers in the post town and the citizens continues, you will be the one held responsible for that, Sir Dregg.”

Dregg weakly glanced back and forth between Luido and Marstein. Then, a thought suddenly seemed to hit him, and he raised his head. “Now that I think about it...what do you intend to do regarding Asuta of the Fa clan?”

Ai Fa instantly flinched in reaction to those words.

As for Marstein, he gave Dregg a questioning look. “What do you mean? If something remains unclear, please, go ahead and ask.”

“Asuta of the Fa clan is suspected of being a spy for the Duke of Genos. That wasn’t a thought Sir Taluon came up with on his own—there has been a fair bit of discussion about it in the capital. If that doubt is not resolved, His Majesty’s concerns will not be fully assuaged.”

“Hmm. You refer to the suspicion that Asuta was originally a chef from some other town, and I brought him here to use as my agent?”

“Yes. It is quite difficult to believe a visitor from overseas would suddenly show up in the middle of the continent, after all.”

“In that case, there is no need for concern. Having Asuta undergo the rite of initiation should clear away any such doubts.”

Dregg’s face scrunched up with a look of suspicion. “What do you mean? You’re going to have the rite performed on Asuta of the Fa clan as well?”

“Of course. That was what the people of the forest’s edge intended to do from the start. They accepted him as one of their people, so there would be no reason for them to exclude him from the ritual,” Marstein said with a big smile. “Asuta shall undergo the ceremony as a visitor from overseas changing gods. Rather than as a person of the dragon god, it will be as a foreigner from outside of this continent, but he is going to be initiated as a new child of the western god. And if it is true that he was actually born somewhere on the Amusehorn continent, then to say otherwise during his oath would be an unforgivable lie, and his soul would be shattered after death. That should prove he is not my spy, wouldn’t you say?”

“Then...Asuta of the Fa clan really did come from outside of the continent?”

“If that wasn’t the case, he would never consent to the ritual. It’s unthinkable that anyone would be foolish enough to do something that would result in their soul being shattered in order to cover up being a spy, wouldn’t you say?”

Dregg slumped down in his chair with a look of exhaustion. “Very well. It seems we were completely mistaken right from the very start... I accept Duke Genos’s requests and will return to the capital.”

Someone breathed a sigh of relief, probably either Luidross or Torst. Lefreya, meanwhile, closed her eyes and brought her fingers together in prayer.

“I am truly glad that you understand, Sir Dregg. There may have been some unexpected bumps in the road, but now it seems we will finally be able to form a proper relationship with you.”

Marstein turned toward us with a smile. And beside him, Polarth smiled too. He hadn’t said anything since the meeting had started.

“Well then, why don’t we take a small break and then come back to work out the fine details?” Marstein suggested. “And then we can enjoy the meal that the chefs from the forest’s edge are kindly preparing for us. Oh, and Asuta, you may join them if you wish.”

“All right. Please excuse me.”

Polarth wasn’t the only one who hadn’t said a word. Ai Fa and I had remained silent the whole time too. However, we had been able to watch as the proposals we had come up with over the course of those two days of meetings had been accepted, and for me, that was plenty.

After standing up from my seat, I glanced over at everyone else who had come from the forest’s edge and saw Gazraan Rutim smiling. I grinned back at him, and then I left the room together with Ai Fa.

3

“Oh, Ai Fa! Asuta! Are you all done talking?” Rimee Ruu called out as soon as we stepped into the kitchen. The other women also smiled and greeted us as we approached them.

The guards, Ludo Ruu and Jou Ran, were standing on the far side of the kitchen from us.

“That was shorter than I expected. It hasn’t even been an hour yet, has it?” Ludo Ruu asked.

“Yup. It went surprisingly smoothly. I think we have Marstein to thank for that. He was able to break everything down in a nice, clear way.”

Of course, there had also been the rather unexpected plot twist of Taluon getting accused of treason.

When I mentioned that bit, Ludo Ruu shrugged and said, “Hmm, so there was a villain in the mix after all, even though Kamyua Yoshu said there wasn’t.”

“Well, at least for now, he’s only suspected of being a traitor. And besides, whether he was trying to make things worse or not, I’m sure the leading clan heads would still have needed to come to that same decision in order to bring all of this to a close.”

“You mean that rite of initiation thing? I still don’t get what Gazraan Rutim was talking about when he said doing that would help us get those nobles off our backs.”

It was a huge deal that all of the people of the forest’s edge were going to be initiated as children of the western god, but Ludo Ruu wasn’t especially moved by the idea, and he wasn’t unusual in that way. Even the leading clan heads had reacted similarly at first.

Regardless of how things had played out, the people of the forest’s edge had unquestionably been citizens of the western territory of Genos for eighty years now. But even so, it had taken quite a bit of time to get everyone in our meetings to understand what we would have to do to force the observers to see that. That just went to show how little the people of the forest’s edge understood or cared about faith in the four great gods. They still didn’t even now, but after those two days of discussions, they had concluded that it would be best to try to do so.

“As the Morga forest’s edge is a territory of the western kingdom, we should also come to see ourselves as children of the western god. If we can do that without forgetting our pride and the joy the mother forest gives us, then we will finally be walking the most proper path forward,” Gazraan Rutim had firmly stated.

Gulaf Zaza had looked very unhappy with the idea right up until the end. He must have been extremely dissatisfied with the thought of having to place the western god, who he didn’t give a damn about, on the same level as the mother forest. But in the end, even he had consented. After all, denying faith in the four great gods would mean making enemies of the kingdoms. That was something we had kept firmly in mind during our discussions.

“This is a responsibility we who were alive eighty years ago left unfulfilled... And that has caused a great deal of trouble for all of you now,” Granny Jiba had said. On the days when we had met and discussed these matters, the other members of the house had all returned to their rooms after dinner, but she had continued to participate for as long as her stamina allowed.

Our meetings had also resulted in Granny Jiba and Kamyua Yoshu interacting with one another for the first time. He had arrived partway through dinner both nights, and had given us advice on all kinds of things with his usual aloof smile.

“It’s incredible how honest you people of the forest’s edge are. But if you really do care that little about the four great gods, it could definitely lead to a lot of discord with the people of Genos at some point in the future. So yeah, I’d say all of you who are alive now should be sure to make it clear what the proper path forward is, for the sake of your relatives ten or twenty years down the line,” Kamyua Yoshu had stated, with eyes that seemed like they could see straight through to the heart of the matter. That gaze of his had always reminded me of Granny Jiba, and when I had seen the two of them looking at one another, it made me a lot more emotional than I had been expecting.

“I feel much the same... If we had thought that way eighty years ago, our children and grandchildren would not have been left to deal with this problem.”

“But there’s no helping that. Before that, your people had been living in the black forest, completely isolated from the outside world. It seems to me that this path is one you’re only able to see now because you’ve been living in this land for all this time,” Kamyua Yoshu said with a little smile. “I’ve got a lot of affection for you people of the forest’s edge, and I’m truly glad that you chose this land as your home. I hope that your unbreakable resolve sends those observers packing, and that you’ll be able to reclaim your peaceful lives.”

Normally, Kamyua Yoshu kept up his aloof attitude even when saying something serious, but he seemed a lot more humble when speaking with Granny Jiba. That had probably helped a bit to bring the leading clan heads around on the idea.

“Well, as long as everything is settled without any more problems. So, when are we supposed to do that rite of initiation thing?” Ludo Ruu asked, rousing me from my recollections.

“The nobles and the leading clan heads should be discussing that now. I imagine it won’t be possible to have everyone crowd into the castle town all at once, so we’ll probably be split into a number of groups.”

“Hmm. It’s so weird that even Granny Jiba and Kota are going to be coming here soon. I’m having a hard time even imagining it,” Ludo Ruu stated.

Rimee Ruu, who was minding a pot, turned toward us, smiling brilliantly. “But after we’re done, everybody in the west will be our comrades, right? I’m really happy that this’ll make me even closer to Tara!”

“Yeah,” I said with a smile of my own as I patted the girl’s small head. How could I not after seeing that look on her face?

I’m sure it’s going to take a really long time for the previously insular people of the forest’s edge to see everyone in Selva as their comrades. But I’m also certain that the day will come when they’ll all be able to smile like Rimee Ruu is, I thought as I stared at the young girl’s grin.

Then, Ludo Ruu grumbled, “Hey, even if it’s this runt here, you shouldn’t be touching her so casually! And besides, you’ve got work to do, don’t you?”

He was right, so I started getting ready to begin my own cooking tasks. Thanks to the other chefs, things had been progressing smoothly, but there were plenty of dishes that I needed to oversee myself.

“Asuta, we’re done with the prep work here, so if you don’t mind, I’ll go assist Sheera Ruu,” Yun Sudra said.

“Thanks. Are you all doing okay too, Yun Sudra?”

“Yes, we aren’t having any issues.”

Yun Sudra, Toor Deen, and the Matua and Ratsu women all smiled at me. Even though they must’ve been intimidated by the scale of the kitchen at first, they seemed to be working at their usual pace now.

After washing my hands, I was ready to start cooking, but before I could, I noticed Jou Ran walking toward me from his station near the window, seeming rather timid.

“Umm... So, did you manage to put that weird accusation they made against you to rest, Asuta?”

“Huh? Yeah, of course. Undergoing the rite of initiation will prove my innocence, supposedly.”

“I see. I’m glad to hear it... Uh, I’ve been worried about you this whole time. I swear it to the mother forest!”

Ai Fa, who had been standing nearby, then approached us with a sour look. “Hey, don’t interrupt Asuta’s work. What are you even going on about anyway?”

“I-I mean, given our history, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone suspected that I’d be happy if Asuta were to disappear, right? I really want to make sure that nobody thinks that.”

“I wasn’t thinking that at all. I didn’t think you were such a worrier, Jou Ran,” I said with a smile, and the hunter’s eyebrows drooped as he grinned a bit too.

“Really? I’m glad to hear that. I mean, I did cause you a lot of trouble, Asuta.”

“Yes, yes. You can stop interfering with his work now,” Ai Fa repeated with a sigh.

“Of course!” Jou Ran replied, hurrying back over to his spot by the window.

Over at the workstation across from me, Yun Sudra sighed too. It would probably be a while yet before Jou Ran was able to patch things up with them.

Anyway, I was finally able to get to work after that. Reina and Sheera Ruu were assisting me. I felt a little bad about adding to their workload, as they were the top two chefs here, but their aid was essential for this meal.

For all the other dishes, Rimee Ruu and Toor Deen had been in charge. Since Ai Fa and I had both needed to cleanse ourselves at the bathhouse, there were only two hours left of work time, which meant we didn’t have very much leeway.

At some point, Cheem Sudra, who was keeping watch outside the door, announced that we had a visitor, right as the bell for the lower fifth hour rang out. There was only one hour left until sunset. We still had a lot of work to do, but even so, this visitor wasn’t someone we could turn away.

“Seems like everything’s wrapped up nice and smoothly, huh? Feels like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders,” Kamyua Yoshu said. He must have already been told what was going on more or less, as he wore a relaxed smile on his face.

“Glad to hear it. Um, have you heard about what happened with Taluon too?”

“Yup, of course. I certainly never expected Luido to make such an accusation. He must really resent his precious subordinates being treated so poorly.”

“Do you think his actions really were a calculated ploy? If it turns out he was just overly rash, I could see things getting troublesome again.”

“I don’t think there’s any need to worry about that. Luido is a trustworthy man, and I can’t imagine him picking a fight he doesn’t have a good chance of winning,” Kamyua Yoshu replied, his eyes narrowing in amusement. “I don’t know whether Taluon was truly placing the ambitions of his house above his orders from the crown, but it seems clear that he was using Dregg as cover. Even if he isn’t branded a traitor, he’ll still be stripped of his position as an observer.”

“So that man may not be the wicked criminal he was accused of being after all?” Ai Fa asked, having stuck by my side.

“That’s right,” Kamyua Yoshu answered with a nod. “Honestly, even if Taluon was acting primarily to advance the interests of the house of Bery, I cannot imagine him messing up badly enough to leave behind evidence, so it will likely be impossible to definitively prove that he was acting traitorously.”

“Then, will that Luido man be judged a criminal for making such an accusation?”

“No. It’s an undeniable fact that Taluon has been using crude methods that went against the royal orders he was given. Dregg will surely do everything he can to protect himself, which should provide support for Luido’s case. What matters is, Taluon was in a rush to accomplish something big, and he messed up in a very serious way. He didn’t have what it takes to pick a fight with Duke Genos and the people of the forest’s edge,” Kamyua Yoshu said with an impish grin. “Thanks to that, His Majesty and the house of Bery will both judge him to be incompetent at a minimum. And it isn’t as if he personally held any power to begin with, so he won’t be able to come anywhere near Genos again in the future. In a way, you could see that as punishment for trying to trespass on Mount Morga.”

“Hmph. I cannot imagine Mount Morga handing down punishment in such a complicated manner,” Ai Fa said, looking up resolutely. “At any rate, all we need to do is follow the path we have chosen. That has not changed in the least.”

“True. I’m sure some new observers or diplomats will be dispatched from the capital eventually, and forming a proper relationship with them will be our most important task moving forward,” Kamyua Yoshu said. Then his tall, spindly figure started squirming weirdly. “By the way, I have a request I’d like to make of you, Asuta.”

“Oh, would you like to have some dinner?”

“How did you know?! That’s amazing!”

“I think I remember something like this happening before,” I replied with an awkward chuckle. “I don’t know if I should say ‘fortunately’ or not, but Taluon won’t be taking part in the dinner party, so we should be able to provide a meal for you.”

“Really? Then could I ask you to split my part of it into two half portions?”

“Two half portions? Do you want enough for Leito too?”

“No, Leito said he’ll be continuing to help out at The Kimyuus’s Tail until the soldiers have left. But Zasshuma should be back here soon. Right now, he’s making sure that Taluon is truly being held as Luido ordered.”

“Oh, Zasshuma? Of course. We can do that. We’ll try to make as much extra food as we can.”

“You have my thanks! I know it may be a little early to celebrate our success, but this feels like a good time for a toast, don’t you think?”

I wanted to, but Ai Fa and I needed to return to the room where the meeting had been held, so we wouldn’t be able to eat dinner together. He’d just have to have that toast with Ludo Ruu and the others instead.

After wrapping up our conversation with Kamyua Yoshu, I got back to work. There was only an hour left, so I had to stay focused on what I was doing. Once Yun Sudra and the others finished with their tasks, though, they started helping out, so we were able to get everything done.

Sunset arrived at the lower sixth hour. It was then that Sheila, a maid working for the house of Daleim, came knocking on the door.

“It is time for dinner. If you are completely done, we will bring it out now.”

“Ah, thanks for the help. I didn’t know you were here too, Sheila.”

“I only came here after I finished my work in the post town. Lord Polarth gave his permission for me to assist tonight.”

Had she volunteered for the job when she’d heard that Ai Fa would be here? I noticed that she was staring at my clan head as she often did, as spellbound as always.

“Well then, we’ll leave delivering the food to you. Today, we’ll be serving the meal in two parts.”

“Ah, you’ve gone with a more informal style, I see. Very well. You may leave everything to us.”

Sheila then gracefully stepped into the kitchen, accompanied by a number of pages. All of them were pushing carts meant for carrying food, so Ai Fa and I headed back to the meeting hall empty-handed.

“My apologies for the wait. We have brought along the meal that the chefs of the forest’s edge prepared,” Sheila announced as she stepped into the room first.

As I entered behind her, I saw that two more nobles had arrived: Melfried’s wife Eulifia and their daughter Odifia. Since this was now considered a banquet for fostering friendship, they had been permitted to attend.

The rest of the attendees were all the same, except for Taluon, whose seat was, of course, still empty. Dregg, meanwhile, looked completely drained, while Luido remained as expressionless as a steel mask as the plates were laid out.

“We have been eagerly waiting for you, Asuta, as well as your cooking,” Marstein remarked with a relaxed smile. Most of the other nobles seemed to be calm as well, while the group from the forest’s edge was solemnly awaiting the start of the meal.

“For this banquet, we thought quite hard about what to prepare in order to strengthen our friendship with our visitors from the capital. Hopefully, it will be to your tastes,” I said, carrying out my duties as the lead chef while Ai Fa took the same seat as before. Though I had only started helping out with the cooking in the middle of the process, I had been completely in charge of coming up with the menu. “We would like to start by bringing out the appetizer, soup dish, and fuwano dish at the same time. I hope that will be acceptable. I know this is somewhat different from how things are usually done in the castle town.”

First was the appetizer, served in small bowls. I had gone with something rather simple. It was basically meant to serve as an amuse-bouche.

“Hmm. Is this...chan?” Marstein asked.

“Yes, chan seasoned with mamaria vinegar and tau oil.”

Chan was a zucchini-like vegetable. For this dish, we had sautéed some pieces of it in reten oil, then flavored them with red mamaria vinegar and tau oil. We had also used myamuu to flavor it, so I expected that it would do a good job of whetting everyone’s appetites. I wasn’t all that familiar with Western-style appetizers or intermezzos from my old world, so I had put a lot of thought into my selection.

“We prepared two distinct versions of the soup and fuwano dishes. The portions of each are smaller, so you can enjoy both and compare their tastes if you prefer.”

With that, the servers started distributing the soups from the pots that had kept them warm.

I glanced over at Dregg, who was still staring down and looking dejected. “But since you didn’t want to eat giba meat, Sir Dregg, if you would like, you can have just one of them.”

“What? This isn’t all giba cooking?”

“That’s right. I wanted you to be able to try our cooking as well, so for today, we prepared dishes both with and without giba meat.” The first example of that was the cream stew, which had proven to be incredibly popular at our stalls. One variety used giba meat, while the other used kimyuus instead. It was impossible to tell them apart at a glance, but their flavors were quite distinct. “And here is our fuwano dish. It’s... I suppose I would call it oven-fired tarapa and dried milk.”

We now had some pretty good ovens to use, so I had been thinking of making gratin, but that would’ve tasted too similar to cream stew. But then I had come up with the idea of utilizing the compatibility between karon milk products and tarapa to prepare something rather different.

The dish was styled after pasta with tomato sauce. I had wanted it to be easier to eat this time, though, so I had gone with gnocchi-style pasta instead. After making the sauce, which had lots of tarapa in it, we had added dried milk and pasta and cooked the dish in an oven. The meat we’d used in the two versions were giba bacon and kimyuus meat with skin.

“The dishes on your right use giba meat, while the ones on the left contain kimyuus meat. Personally, I think both came out equally good.”

“They all look truly delicious. I very much look forward to seeing how the giba and kimyuus versions differ in flavor,” Eulifia said. It had been a while since I had last seen her, but she was wearing the same elegant smile as always.

Next to her, Odifia was staring expressionlessly down at her plate, looking as much like a French doll as Lefreya did. The moment I saw her, I remembered that there was something I needed to tell her.

“Since I was part of the meeting today, I only worked on the meat dish this time. Rimee Ruu was the chef most responsible for putting together this soup dish, while the fuwano dish was made by Toor Deen.”

As soon as she heard that, Odifia’s face popped up and her gray eyes stared straight at me. I smiled brightly back at her expressionless, doll-like face. “Naturally, the dessert that will be served at the end of the meal was primarily prepared by Toor Deen too. I hope that you will enjoy it.”

Odifia’s expression didn’t shift at all. However, I still got an impression from her like she was wagging a nonexistent tail. She really was a strange one, able to get her feelings across through vibes alone, despite never making any facial expressions for some reason.

“Well then, shall we eat? Odifia, you take care not to get burned,” Marstein said as he picked up a silver spoon. Everyone from the forest’s edge also gave their premeal chant, and then they started eating.

The first person to voice their surprise was Polarth. “Yes, this soup dish is truly delicious! And you say you didn’t have a hand in preparing it at all, Sir Asuta?”

“That’s right. In fact, Rimee Ruu specializes in making this cream stew.”

“Ah, I see. She certainly is a far greater chef than you would expect of one so young.”

Rimee Ruu had lots of experience with making this kind of dish, after having prepared it so many times for the northerners. I was sure that Polarth and Melfried had both seen her teaching the women from Mahyudra how to make something similar.

“This...truly is shockingly good,” the Beim clan head said quietly. He and Baadu Fou always took part in such meetings, but solely as observers, so he hardly ever spoke. In fact, I was pretty sure this was the first time I had heard him say anything since we had arrived in the castle town. “Hmm. So the Ruu women can make dishes that are this incredible even without Asuta? Still, I suppose that is only natural, considering that they are able to learn from him on a daily basis.”

“Yeah, and Rimee Ruu was a talented girl to begin with. Still, it’s shocking to think she could make something like this at such a young age,” Baadu Fou chimed in as he glanced over at the head of the Ruu clan. “Donda Ruu, Rimee Ruu is the youngest daughter of your main house, correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“That’s honestly shocking. The main Ruu house is filled with so many talented people.”

Donda Ruu screwed up his face in annoyance. If we had been elsewhere right now, he probably would have even muttered, “Shut it.”

“This truly is amazingly delicious. As Asuta said, the tastes certainly do differ based on whether giba or kimyuus meat was used,” Eulifia said with a smile. “The one that contains giba meat feels like it’s brimming with strength and has a powerful aroma. In comparison, the one with kimyuus...it feels elegant and delicate. Surely there must be more that separates them than just the kind of meat they use, correct?”

“You’re right. The two soups use different kinds of stock as well. We made the kimyuus version’s stock from kimyuus bones only, while the giba version’s stock came from a mix of giba and kimyuus bones. I imagine that would have a large impact on the flavor.”

That was something that Rimee Ruu had come up with herself. The cream stew that only used kimyuus bones was actually closer to the version from my home country. However, Rimee Ruu had experimented with making stock on her own and succeeded in crafting a novel flavor by using giba bones as well. In other words, the young chef had gone beyond simply replicating my cooking methods. It was only natural that she would earn so much praise.

Feeling satisfied on her behalf, I added, “It was actually Mikel who taught us how to work with kimyuus bones. He’s currently a guest of the Ruu clan. Without him, we would’ve had a pretty hard time making this dish as good as it is.”

“I see. So that is how Mikel of Turan has repaid his debt to the Ruu clan. I’m glad to hear that you have been able to forge such a strong connection with him,” Marstein stated.

Dregg was sipping one of the versions of the cream stew in silence with a look of shame on his face. I was curious about what someone from the capital would think of the dish. Luido was completely expressionless, so it was impossible to tell if he was enjoying it.

“I’ve been suspecting that our visitors from the capital might enjoy the cooking of the forest’s edge more than that of Genos. Are these dishes to your liking?” Marstein asked, and Dregg just gave a halfhearted nod. As he stared at the listless man in front of him, Marstein stroked his mustache thoughtfully. “Hmm. I believe you saw Rimee Ruu at the previous meal. I’m sure you must be especially surprised, knowing she is the one who made that.”

“I remember seeing a girl who belonged to the Ruu clan,” Dregg said. “It certainly is something to be able to make food like this at such a young age.”

“To be clear, the older girl from before was actually Reina Ruu, the second daughter of the Ruu house.”

Dregg looked up with a dubious expression. “Are you speaking of the girl with the black hair? I believe the other one was just a small child, though.”

“That was Rimee Ruu, Sir Donda Ruu’s fourth and youngest daughter.”

Dregg’s expression shifted from dubious to outright astounded. “You’re saying a girl that young prepared food of this level of excellence? That’s preposterous!”

“It’s true,” I said. “Rimee Ruu is the one who made that. I needed Reina Ruu to assist me instead, and Rimee Ruu is extremely skilled at preparing cream stew, so I placed her in charge of it.” In fact, when it came to cream stew and treats in particular, Rimee Ruu was actually more skilled than her older sister. I decided to take the opportunity to shock Dregg even more. “Reina Ruu gave her some advice on how to prepare the kimyuus meat, but Rimee Ruu took care of everything else herself. Honestly, even I would have difficulty making cream stew this good.”

“From what I’m told, the people of the forest’s edge previously only ate giba meat,” Luido chimed in, as Dregg was left at a loss for words.

“That’s true,” I replied. “Reina Ruu and I have had the opportunity to work with kimyuus and karon meat at an inn in the post town, but none of our other chefs have used it much, as far as I know.”

“It’s impressive that she was able to make something like this even so. There is enough skill on display in this dish that she would likely be able to open her own restaurant in the capital.” Luido hadn’t said much the other day. It was nice that he was speaking up now and being so complimentary.

Across from him, Eulifia smiled and remarked, “This fuwano dish is also quite impressive. It seems that Toor Deen can make some excellent dishes other than desserts.”

“Yes,” I said as I turned her way. When I looked at her and her daughter, though, I had to hold myself back from chuckling. The area around Odifia’s face was completely coated in tarapa. Eulifia noticed that as well, and wiped her beloved daughter’s mouth with a napkin-like cloth, then smiled once more.

“You are also familiar with Toor Deen, correct?” she said to Luido. “She is the young chef who Odifia purchases sweets from. I’ve heard that her sweets were served at the previous dinner as well.”

“Yes. She was quite young, so it was certainly a surprise. And this dish is quite good as well,” Luido replied.

“Yes, it really is. The difference is not quite as clear as with the soup, but both the giba and kimyuus versions are delicious. The giba version seems to have a more powerful flavor to it, though.”

I assumed that Eulifia had met the two visitors at a welcoming banquet or some other similar event. She was speaking with all the elegance and boldness that I had come to expect from her. With a smile in her bright brown eyes, she looked at Dregg and said, “Sir Observer, you only seem to be eating one of the varieties. Are you getting enough food? If you would like, we could have another plate brought out.”

“No, I don’t have much of an appetite, so...this is plenty.”

“I see. I don’t believe there would be any issue with serving you two plates of the kimyuus dishes.”

Dregg just powerlessly shook his head as he stared at the empty plate sitting in front of him.

“Hey,” Donda Ruu then called out to me. He seemed to be watching the despondent noble out of the corner of his eye.

“Ah, yes. Do you want a second serving?”

“Naturally. But more importantly, do you intend to let that poitan go bad?”

“Oh, my apologies. I was so focused on explaining that I forgot to have it handed out.” The pages must have been waiting for my instructions on what to do with it. My plan had been to have the baked poitan served alongside the soup dish for whoever wanted it. “At the forest’s edge, we pretty much always have baked poitan with dinner. Anyone who wants to have some with their soup, please just say so.”

All of the people of the forest’s edge were given poitan, then we asked the nobles who wanted some. Among them, Marstein, Melfried, and Polarth asked for it.

Dregg looked terribly suspicious as he watched the bread being handed out. “Is that truly poitan? I feel like you tried to serve us a similarly strange item last time as well that you referred to as poitan.”

“It is. If you boil poitan and then dry it out, you can make it into flour like fuwano. Then if you add water to it again, this is what you end up with.”

Despite my explanation, Dregg just kept on dubiously watching everyone who was eating their baked poitan.

Luido shot him a look that was impossible to read. “Sir Dregg, as one born to the house of the Archduke of Banz, surely you can’t simply ignore this novel way of utilizing poitan? Why not use this opportunity to see how it tastes for yourself?”

“But, well...poitan is just for emergency rations, isn’t it?”

“It seemed to taste good enough when it was served at the previous dinner. I was unable to even tell the difference between it and fuwano.” Luido drank a bit of tea from a glass, then continued, “Did Sir Taluon put some sort of idea in your head about it, perhaps? If poitan were able to be used in everyday cooking, that would be worth quite a lot to the house of Banz... But from Sir Taluon’s point of view, I’m sure he would have found it problematic if you were to have any reason to feel grateful toward Asuta of the Fa clan or the people of the forest’s edge.”

Dregg turned toward Luido with a pitiful look on his face. “Is that true? After the meal, Sir Taluon said that the poitan dish was overly floury and not worth eating.”

“You have an opportunity right now to find out whether that is true for yourself, do you not? You must choose how you want to proceed for yourself, Sir Dregg.”

Dregg still seemed rather uncertain, but he turned toward me and said, “Well then...may I also have one of those?”

“Yes, of course. This is baked poitan with a bit of gigo mixed in.”

One of the pages then cut a little baked poitan off of a much larger piece and brought it over to Dregg.

After taking one bite of it, Dregg snorted and said, “It seems that is one more way in which I was tricked by Sir Taluon... Did that man have some sort of grudge against me?”

“I imagine it was less that and more that he was solely thinking of what would benefit him the most. He wouldn’t have hesitated to stomp on either of our heads if he thought it would aid him in some way,” Luido said in a tone like he was lecturing a small child, and Dregg sighed once again.

After watching their exchange with a look of satisfaction, Marstein turned to face the leading clan heads with a relaxed smile. “You seem to be eating quite vigorously, dear guests from the forest’s edge. You said before that you have no interest in meat other than giba, but what do you think?”

“It’s not as if it’s bad or anything. I simply think that giba is better,” Donda Ruu said, and everyone else nodded along.

“I see,” Marstein replied. Then he looked over at me. “Well then, why don’t we move on to the next course? I am very much looking forward to seeing what sort of meat dish you have prepared, Asuta.”

“All right. In that case, hold on for just a moment,” I said with a bow.

At the same time, Ai Fa popped the rest of the baked poitan she was holding into her mouth and stood.

When I saw that, I couldn’t help but grin. “You don’t have to come with me. You’re not on guard duty today, Ai Fa.”

Naturally, Ai Fa paid my words no heed, and we exited the dining hall with Sheila guiding us. Ai Fa gave me a stealthy poke in the head as we were walking down the hallway, as I had kind of expected her to. After all, even if there was only a short distance between the dining hall and the kitchen, she would never leave me unprotected like that.

At any rate, it was time to finish the main course. Would it have the impact I was hoping for? All I could do now was brace myself and watch how things played out.

4

“Thank you for your patience. These are the vegetable and meat dishes,” I said, and the pages started by bringing out the vegetable dish, which was an incredibly simple vegetable salad. Before it was done being served, though, I had to explain something about it. “This vegetable dish was prepared to pair with the meat dish. I realize that doesn’t really match how things are done in the castle town, so I wanted to make that clear before everyone started eating.”

“There is no need to concern yourself. There are certainly chefs who use vegetables in such a way for more informal dining, and regardless, what matters most is the taste of the meal,” Marstein stated.

“That’s right,” Eulifia chimed in with a smile. “And for this dinner, we get the pleasure of comparing giba to other meat, correct? I cannot wait to see what you have made for us.”

“Thank you. I prepared a number of different varieties for the meat dish, so I felt it best to split it up based on your individual requests.”

There were a number of carts near the entrance to the room that were carrying lidded pots. The food was being kept warm inside them, and each one contained a different variant.

“For tonight’s meal, I prepared a dish that is called hamburger steak in my home country.”

“Hmm. What an unusual name. What kind of dish is it?” Luidross asked, looking very interested as the dish was served. Paud and Torst, meanwhile, were quietly waiting, while Lefreya remained expressionless.

“Hamburger steak is a dish where you mince meat finely and then ball it up and cook it. I grilled the surface of the meat and then let it sit on low heat so that it would be warm when it was served. In the Genos post town, the Ruu clan sells a dish at their stalls where they put a piece of this meat between two pieces of poitan.”

Since we had used tarapa sauce in the fuwano dish already, here we had employed the nenon sauce that Reina and Sheera Ruu had devised instead. Since nenon didn’t have quite as strong of a flavor as carrots, they could be used to create sauces with very mellow sweetness.

“Reina and Sheera Ruu prepared the sauce, which is their own original creation. I believe it goes with this dish every bit as well as the tarapa sauce I originally devised.”

“You made some using meat other than giba as well, didn’t you? Was it kimyuus? Or perhaps karon?” Polarth asked, looking like an impatient child. I felt bad about the long explanation, but I really did have to go over it before the dishes were served.

“This time, I used karon meat. And not just torso meat, but tongue as well.”

“Karon tongue?! It’s a bit tough, but I admit, I’m rather fond of it myself!”

“Yes. This was actually my first time working with karon tongue, but there was a similar animal back in my home country, so it wasn’t particularly difficult.” Karon meat was similar to beef, and their tongues seemed very much like cow tongues as well. I had, of course, checked with Mikel in advance to make sure that karon tongue was something people ate in the castle town, and when he confirmed it, I had put together the idea for this course in my mind. “I’ve prepared seven different varieties of hamburger steak. One that uses giba meat, one that uses giba tongue, and another that uses both. Then I did the same with karon, and the final one contains both giba and karon meat together.”

“Oh? So you finely minced both giba and karon and mixed them together?” Polarth asked.

“I did,” I replied with a nod. “Back in my home country, hamburger steak was seen as one of the main ways of combining different types of meat. I made each portion small in the hopes that you would all try several variants.”

With that, we finally set about serving up the food. The hamburger patties were on the small side, but I had prepared them nice and thick so that their texture wouldn’t be impacted. They had ended up as little round shapes, around a hundred grams each. But even at that size, they would be too large for someone to have all seven varieties, so I had given instructions for them to be cut into halves and even fourths.

Also, since the meat would get cold before everyone finished eating if we cut up too many pieces at once, we delivered the requested patties in groups of two or three instead. The diners’ orders varied wildly, with some asking for the same cuts of both karon and giba, while others were solely interested in the giba patties. Dregg was the only one who uneasily asked for karon meat alone.

Donda Ruu and the other leading clan heads all asked for a giba tongue patty. All three of them had eaten ordinary giba hamburger steak before, though it had been quite a while ago, when we’d had dinner together at the Ruu settlement in advance of our final showdown with Cyclaeus.

As the hamburger steak was placed in front of him, Donda Ruu looked down at it questioningly. He must have realized by now that I pointedly avoided making hamburger steak whenever I was put in charge of the Ruu kitchen, so he might have been wondering why I had gone with this dish today.

“Yes, this is delicious. Far more so than the last time I ate it, I would say,” Dari Sauti said, being the first to give his impressions. “But the sauce is so impressive that I can’t quite tell if this fantastic taste is due to the tongue meat or not. My apologies, but could I have a portion with ordinary giba meat as well?”

One of the pages replied, “Please hold on for just a moment,” and then set about carrying out Dari Sauti’s request. In the meantime, Donda Ruu bit into the giba tongue hamburger steak, but he didn’t voice his opinions at all.

“Ah, this is good. Both meats are incredibly delicious,” Marstein cheerfully chimed in. “The finely minced meat is simply delightful. And I enjoy the different flavors of the giba and the karon.”

“Yes, indeed. Even the karon meat tastes quite different compared to when it is simply grilled or boiled,” Eulifia said, and then she sliced off a small piece of her patty to give to Odifia. If they were planning on trying all seven varieties, that was probably the best way to go about it.

“It truly is wonderful. Is this the same dish you sell in the post town?” Luidross asked.

“Yes,” I replied with a nod. “This dish was the very first one I started selling, though at the time I used tarapa sauce instead.”

“In that case, it must have become quite popular. I have no doubt that it would earn a lot of praise even here in the castle town.”

“You’re right, but I had a number of customers from Jagar who weren’t fond of this texture,” I said. Then I decided to address one of my own personal doubts. “It was the same at the forest’s edge, but, well...what do you all think?”

“There are people who think this is bad? It tastes perfectly fine to me,” Baadu Fou commented.

“Yes. Fei sometimes makes this dish for my clan as well, having learned from you how to prepare it, and I’ve never heard anyone claim to dislike it,” the Beim clan head added.

At that, Donda Ruu looked at me out of the corner of his eye, which had a deep, piercing light within it. “Asuta, you seem to be laboring under a misconception.”

“A misconception?”

“It’s true that I called this dish poison on the very first day that I tried your cooking... Considering how strange and unfamiliar it was then, that is not so odd, is it?” Wrinkles were forming around the bridge of Donda Ruu’s nose. He looked like a displeased lion. “For over a year now, I have tried all kinds of food, so I see no need to single this dish out as poison now. Even though we hunters would surely lose our strength if we only ever ate such soft meat.”

“R-Right... So, you don’t hate hamburger steak anymore, Donda Ruu?”

“The women in our house make this every now and then too. After having it so many times, getting used to it was unavoidable.”

Somehow, I felt as if I had wound up for a big swing only to have him casually step right out of the way.

Donda Ruu snorted, continuing to glare at me. “Hmph. However...this one with the giba tongue mixed in seems to be the most to my tastes. Have Reina and the others already learned how to make it?”

“Ah, yes. It’s not all that difficult of a dish to prepare.”

“That’s good, then,” Donda Ruu said before popping the rest of his patty into his mouth.

Marstein looked over at him, smiling relaxedly. “Now that I think about it, you said before that Timalo’s meat dish was too soft for you, did you not, Donda Ruu? So you weren’t fond of Asuta’s cooking at the start either?”

“I believed that this dish was a poison that would eat away at a hunter’s spirit... I could hardly give my unqualified approval to a suspicious kid like Asuta right after meeting him, after all.”

“Yes, and I’ve heard that you told Asuta you would take his right arm if his plans to do business in the post town were some sort of plot. It seems that the people of the forest’s edge placed him under some rather intense scrutiny before accepting him as one of their own,” Marstein replied. The last bit of his statement had been directed at Dregg. However, the noble from the capital just listlessly glanced away, having finished eating his helpings of all three varieties of karon hamburger steak. Marstein narrowed his eyes and smiled again, then turned back toward me. “Well then, I would like to try the mix of karon and giba meat next.”

The pages fulfilled his request in silence. Everyone aside from Dregg also requested additional patties. The people of the forest’s edge asked for karon patties too, so it seemed that almost everyone was willing to give all seven varieties a try.

As that was going on, Ai Fa beckoned me over. I leaned in, and she whispered to me in an incredibly quiet voice as if to prevent anyone else from overhearing, “It’s quite rare to have hamburger steak two days in a row. It feels rather extravagant, in fact.”

With a smile, I whispered back, “We haven’t had it in half a month, so there’s nothing wrong with indulging in it a little. This won’t be anywhere near enough to weaken your teeth or jaws either, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I see,” Ai Fa replied with a nod. Then she bit into a piece of one of the patties that had just been delivered to her. Despite the serious look on her face, I felt as if I could see little music notes floating over her head, playing out a merry tune.

Ai Fa and Odifia are sort of similar in that way, huh? I pondered.

Then I heard Marstein say, “Hmm... This is fantastic. In fact, I believe I find this version that contains both giba and karon meat to be the most delicious.”

Eulifia, who had been feeding her daughter a bit of a giba tongue patty, glanced at him with a smile. “Is that so? In that case, perhaps we should try it as well.”

“Indeed. The varieties that only used one type of meat were certainly delicious, but this goes beyond even that. If I were to compare them, the karon seemed lacking in terms of juiciness, while the giba meat felt too strong in its flavor... But when the two meats support one another, their flavor is so much deeper than it was when they were separate,” Marstein said, looking at me with a smile. “It is as if the dish itself is pointing to the path forward that we should take. Was that something you were thinking about when you decided to serve us this tonight, Asuta?”

“Uh, yes... I did have a thought like that in the back of my head. Of course, my main intention was just to demonstrate how karon and giba are both delicious, though.”

“Well, I would say that you have done an excellent job of it.” Then, Marstein’s eyes shifted over to Dregg. “What do you say, Sir Dregg? I realize you may be hesitant to eat such an exotic ingredient, but don’t you think that you should be diplomatic and accept this sentiment from Asuta, as an observer from the capital?”

“Are you going to keep pushing me to eat giba meat, no matter what?”

“I am not in any position to give you orders. I simply wish to have you carry out your duty as an observer.”

Dregg gave a dejected sigh at that, then listlessly looked up at Marstein and said, “Then...would I at least be permitted a single glass of fruit wine to accompany it?”

“I do not mind. Our discussions have concluded, so feel free to have whatever you please.”

Apparently, Dregg had been refraining from drinking because Marstein had asked him to, but now one of the pages brought out a bottle of fruit wine and a glass for him.

After downing half of his drink in a single go, Dregg looked over at me and said, “Well then...I will take some giba meat. Whatever you have to offer will do.”

“Understood. We can serve you a helping made with ordinary giba meat.”

It was the most orthodox version—a normal giba meat patty. A page cut a fourth of one of the patties off for Dregg and delivered it to him, who drank down the remainder of his fruit wine before picking up his utensils.

The leading clan heads had all stopped eating and were watching Dregg now. Looking like he was trying to ignore them as pointedly as possible, the noble popped the full cut of the patty into his mouth.

“It’s a difficult taste to describe... It is different from karon and kimyuus, of course, but also wild birds and gyama as well... I have never tasted meat like this before.”

“But you wouldn’t say it is bad, would you? At the very least, it tastes better than dried gyama meat,” Luido chimed in after having remained silent for a while. “And the taste seems to become more pleasant as you grow accustomed to it. I find that I am enjoying it even more now than I did the first time I tried it several days ago.”

“Hmph. Even though you claim to be an amateur when it comes to cuisine, you certainly are talkative today,” Dregg grumbled. His eyes had turned a bit red around the edges. Then, he glanced at Marstein and said, “Duke of Genos, am I permitted to drink more fruit wine?”

“Do as you please. If you happen to make any inappropriate comments during our discussion, I will simply ask you to clarify what your true beliefs are tomorrow”

“In that case, allow me to try the rest of the dishes. Bring me some of that giba tongue one, and the mix of karon and giba as well.” Dregg seemed to have regained at least a bit of his energy after drinking a bit of fruit wine. The pages then brought him pieces of all three varieties that he hadn’t tried yet, and he helped himself to one after another while taking sips of fruit wine in between. “It definitely isn’t bad. The sauce is excellent, enough to be worthy of praise all on its own. However...”

“However?”

“I believe that the karon dishes I had were better. That is my honest opinion,” Dregg said, shooting a daring look at the leading clan heads.

With a “Hmph,” Donda Ruu stroked his coarse beard. “The way we think is similar, then. It’s not that we find karon meat to be unpleasant. We simply like giba better. The same is true of the other dishes that used two types of meat. But it is no issue.”

“Then are you saying the Duke of Genos and Asuta of the Fa clan missed the mark?”

“It isn’t as if we could resolve everything over the course of a single dinner. Our intention is to keep walking the path we deem to be proper from here on out, no matter how long it takes,” Donda Ruu said as he stared at Dregg with an intense gaze. “Up until now, we have valued ties of blood above all else. That way of thinking remains unchanged, but over the past year, we have learned to place more value on the members of our people we are not related to as well. If in the future we come to think of the people of Genos, and eventually all westerners, as comrades, then I believe that would be the most proper path we could choose.”

“Hmm. Who knows how many years that may take, though.”

“I don’t know if it will take years, or even decades. But I’d certainly like to see it happen even so.”

With a “Heh,” Dregg smiled for what was probably the first time today. “Our meeting has concluded, so we can table the serious discussion now. The first thing that needs to be done is for you people of the forest’s edge to be initiated, and I will be watching the whole time.”

The leading clan heads silently nodded in response, then resumed eating.

Marstein, meanwhile, gave a satisfied smile and turned my way. “It seems the food has just about been finished off. Could I ask you to ready the desserts to conclude the meal, Asuta?”

“Of course. It should only take a moment.”

All that required was delivering a message to Toor Deen in the kitchen, so I left that up to Sheila. After a few minutes more, all of the patties had been eaten, and Toor Deen stepped into the room with the dessert she had prepared on a tray, accompanied by Cheem Sudra. Odifia’s head popped up the instant she noticed the young chef’s arrival, and Toor Deen offered her a gentle smile and a bow in return.

“I have your dessert here. They’ll be ready as soon as I cut them up.”

Toor Deen had prepared a chocolate cake, having perfected the recipe just the other day, as well as a cake decorated with a huge amount of fresh cream. The decorated cake had to be cut in a very particular way, so she needed to take care of that personally.

Since she had wanted to add more variety to the texture of her chocolate cake, Toor Deen added a dollop of fresh cream to each piece after she cut it. And to help differentiate the two, she hadn’t used any gigi leaf chocolate cream on the decorated cake. It had actually turned out quite simple in the end, decorated with just fresh white cream and sweet simmered arow berries.

The slices of cake were handed out one after another. It was easy to tell how eager Odifia was to receive hers, and I found myself imagining her with a wagging tail and a pair of big ears that were perking up in excitement.

“Hmph. It certainly is strange to see a pitch-black dessert,” Dregg complained before asking for some chatchi tea. He must have been planning to wash away the lingering sourness in his mouth from the fruit wine. After that, he took a bite of the chocolate cake and muttered, “Hmm... This is incredibly sweet. And the bitterness of the gigi leaves seems to actually emphasize that.”

“That is certainly true. But I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call this absolutely delicious,” Luido remarked while casually taking a bite of the chocolate cake as well. Next to him, Dregg furrowed his brow.

“This has been on my mind for a while now, but you’ve always seemed to be rather taken with desserts, Luido.”

“Yes. I must refrain from drinking wine, so I find joy in sweet foods instead.”

“Hmph. It’s as if you’re a noblewoman or a child.”

The Beim clan head had been passionately devouring his chocolate cake as well, and when he heard that, he turned my way and asked, “Asuta...does liking desserts truly make one seem like a woman or a child?”

“Not at all. It’s just a matter of ratios and preferences.”

At the very least, nobody among the attendees actively avoided sugary foods, as far as I knew. Even the northern clans had started serving them as of their last banquet, and Gulaf Zaza was silently eating some now.

Of course, my eyes were naturally drawn toward Odifia again. After each bite, she would freeze and carefully savor the taste before going for another. Her movements were as mechanical as Luido’s, but there was a clear look of excitement swirling in her gray eyes.

Naturally, Toor Deen had also been paying attention to Odifia right from the start, and she seemed to be picking up on the girl’s feelings just fine. Her lips were pursed tight as if she was trying to hold back the overflowing joy she was feeling.

“These are even more delicious than the treats we had at the last tea party,” Lefreya said, speaking up for the first time in a while. Toor Deen looked surprised as she turned to look at the young noble lady. “You seem to be around the same age as myself, yet you are a truly impressive chef. I cannot imagine even Varkas or Timalo preparing such fine desserts.”

“Ah, well, um...th-thank you.”

“This one with all the gigi in it is particularly spectacular. What kind of flour did you use to make it? Fuwano or poitan?”

“That one uses poitan, as I felt it provided a better texture.”

“What? You used poitan to make this?!” Dregg interjected, sounding astonished, and Toor Deen turned his way with a rather frightened look.

“Y-Yes... I also used kimyuus eggs and karon milk...but it does in fact use poitan, not fuwano.”

“This is poitan...? How shocking,” Dregg said, crossing his arms and starting to groan.

Lefreya hunched her shoulders a bit. It was possible that she had meant for her question to provoke that kind of reaction from Dregg.

“I am just glad to hear that you enjoy it, Sir Dregg. It seems your lion dog will have no role to play today,” Marstein said in a teasing tone.

Dregg frowned and turned to face the duke. “Even I am not so lacking in discretion as to bring my lion dog along on such an occasion. Besides, the beast seems to have lost its nerve.”

Ai Fa instantly reacted to that statement. “Hold on. Was that because of me?”

“Hmm? Yes, that’s right. Ever since you stared it down, it has become completely timid. I worry it may no longer be able to carry out its duty as a guard dog.”

“How awful. Because of me, he...” Ai Fa muttered, grinding her teeth and then looking up to stare directly at Dregg. “Sir Observer, I wish to make peace with him. Could you allow me an opportunity to do that?”

“What? Who do you mean, ‘him’?”

“The lion dog you brought along, naturally. If I can get my feelings across to him, I’m sure he will be able to regain his strength.”

Dregg stared back at Ai Fa, looking utterly befuddled.

“Hold on. I can’t quite seem to understand what you’re saying. You...wish to make amends with the lion dog?”

“Indeed. If I have caused him to lose his strength, that is not something I can simply forget about. He faced off against me under your orders, so it is not as if he did anything wrong.”

Dregg kept on blinking in utter confusion. Ai Fa, meanwhile, looked deadly serious. Fortunately, we had Gazraan Rutim to bridge the gap between them.

“At the forest’s edge, we treat totos and hunting dogs like family. That is why Ai Fa wishes to show proper respect to your lion dog.”

“I still don’t understand, but I simply need to let her meet with my lion dog, correct? If that’s all that would be involved, I suppose that would be fine if time allows at some point.”

“I humbly request that you allow this,” Ai Fa said, closing her eyes and bowing.

Dregg just scratched his head while wearing a sour look. “During the interrogation, you acted incredibly insolent, yet now you bow your head? I truly do not understand you all.”

“That was the result of you acting unjustly toward their people,” Marstein stated. “Sincerity and malice both reflect back on you, as if in a mirror. When interacting with those who are as earnest as the people of the forest’s edge, it is remarkable how much of a difference the way you treat them makes, don’t you think?”

Then Eulifia chimed in and said, “Pardon, but Odifia wishes to express her gratitude to Toor Deen. As the plates have all been emptied, might she be permitted to rise from her seat?”

“Yes, I do not mind. Odifia is always in Toor Deen’s debt, after all.”

With that, Odifia and Eulifia both stood and slowly walked over to Toor Deen. At that point, the young chef was no longer able to hold herself back from smiling.

“It’s been so long since we last met, Odifia. Were you satisfied with today’s treats?” Toor Deen asked.

“Yes. They were very delicious.”

“Thank you. It makes me so happy that I was finally able to serve you a decorated cake too.”

As Odifia glanced up at Toor Deen’s face, she unsurprisingly remained expressionless. But before long, she leaped at the young chef, her frilly skirt fluttering behind her. Since Toor Deen was eleven while Odifia was only six, there was a striking height difference between them, so Toor Deen knelt down to allow the little noble girl to put her hands on her older friend’s shoulders.

“It was very good. They were both so tasty.”

“Thank you. I’ll have to deliver the chocolate cake to the castle town again.”

“Yeah,” Odifia said with a nod, then she wrapped her little arms around Toor Deen’s neck in a hug. With a joyful smile, Toor Deen embraced the young girl back.

“You may think that this is me being overly doting, but if the people of the forest’s edge truly were unreasonable barbarians, I could not imagine Odifia ever becoming so attached to one of them,” Marstein said with a chuckle. “I wish to form a strong relationship with the people of the forest’s edge, for the sake of my beloved granddaughter as well. I truly believe that doing so can only help Genos to become more prosperous, and that will benefit the kingdom as a whole as well.”

Dregg offered no response. However, there was a serious look there in his eyes as he stared at Toor Deen and Odifia.

And so, the long, long day finally came to a close.

Chapter 4: Initiation

1

On the twenty-second of the green month, we found ourselves heading to the castle town once again. Specifically, the grand temple where we would undergo the rite of initiation to bring us under the western god.

We ended up needing to schedule our initiations across three days, and today was the last. The last big meeting had been on the eighteenth of the green month, so there had only been one day between the meeting where everything had been worked out and the start of the rites.

The thirteen clans related to the Ruu and Sauti had been initiated on the first day, then on the second day, the eleven clans related to the Zaza, Ravitz, and Suun had gone, and then finally the remaining thirteen clans were going today. That included the clans related to the Fou, Beim, Gaaz, Ratsu, and Dai, as well as the Fa.

Of course, with that many clans, we still had around two hundred people, so we were split up once again into two groups, one that would go in the morning and one in the evening. The Fa were part of the morning group, and we were currently heading to the castle town with the Fou and Dai clans in ten two-totos carriages that had been provided for us. It had been quite a spectacle to see that many of them rolling through the forest’s edge.

“So, the time has finally come. I never even imagined that we would ever end up setting foot in the castle town,” Saris Ran Fou remarked in a trembling voice, riding along in the same carriage as us.

“There’s nothing to worry about. All we have to do is sit here in this carriage until we arrive at the grand temple. Though, despite having visited the castle town quite a few times, I have yet to actually walk on its streets,” Ai Fa replied.

“I suppose. My clan head said something similar...but I still can’t help but feel uneasy.”

“There is nothing to worry about,” Ai Fa repeated.

She was holding Aimu Fou in her arms. Since the toddler was still only two years old, he looked completely unconcerned as he played with Ai Fa’s hair with a big grin on his face.

“Everyone completed their rituals without any problems yesterday and the day before,” my clan head continued. “The nobles from the capital no longer have the power to cause trouble, so you need not be concerned.”

The members of the Ruu and Deen clans had already told us what the ritual entailed. It was a deeply solemn ceremony, but it apparently didn’t take very long for each person, so there really wasn’t anything to worry about.

“Besides, with this many of us going together, what possible reason could there be to feel anxious?” Ai Fa concluded.

“That’s true. It’s very reassuring to have you here with me, Ai Fa,” Saris Ran Fou said as she gently grabbed my clan head’s hand and smiled.

Our totos carriage had entered the post town while the two of them had been talking. It had been three days now since the meeting, and nothing seemed to be amiss among the townsfolk as far as I could tell.

The day after the meeting, an announcement had been made regarding our initiations. It had explained that the observers were going to watch the proceedings, and once all of us had completed the rite, the next day they would return to the capital along with their two hundred soldiers, which was finally enough to calm everyone down.

Additionally, in accordance with a request Dregg and Luido had made, the basic details of what had happened with Taluon had also been made public. It was now widely known that one of the observers was under suspicion of ignoring his royal orders and deliberately causing the discord that had been plaguing Genos. It was important to let people know that the king of Selva would not tolerate his representatives acting in such a tyrannical way. Additionally, it had been mentioned that the soldiers had only been following that observer’s orders, and that when they had almost violated the taboo of Morga, it had been an honest mistake on their part, with no malicious intent behind it.

I’m sure there were a lot of people in Genos who felt really relieved when they heard that.

When I looked out the window, I saw the same peaceful scenery as always. Even the fact that there was a line of ten totos-pulled carriages on the road wasn’t drawing much attention, since that had also happened yesterday and the day before.

Then we exited the post town and eventually arrived at the gates of the castle town, but unlike our other visits, this time we didn’t stop and the doors of our carriages did not open. We simply crossed over the drawbridge and headed deep into the castle town to where the grand temple was located, right beside Genos Castle.

There were apparently temples throughout the post town as well. However, one needed to enter the castle town and go to the grand temple, which was controlled by the nobles, in order to undergo the ritual to change gods. It was also necessary to send an official report to the capital after the ritual was complete.

We steadily advanced through the castle town without any interruptions, until we finally came to a stop. The door in the back slowly opened, and a soldier called out, “We have arrived. Please watch your step as you descend.”

After handing Aimu Fou back to his mother, Ai Fa stood up before anyone else did. We were the most accustomed to the castle town, so it made sense for us to take the lead.

Ai Fa and I stepped down from the carriage, and found ourselves surrounded by a bunch of stone structures of various shapes and sizes. In front of us was a massive building that I could immediately tell was the grand temple. We were standing in its stone-bordered front garden, and a large number of soldiers were stationed all over the place. Under their watchful eyes, our fellow people of the forest’s edge descended from the carriages one by one.

After waiting until Saris Ran Fou was safely standing on solid ground with her son, Ai Fa turned and walked toward one of the other carriages, just as Raielfam Sudra appeared from within, holding a baby. Then his wife, Li Sudra, followed after him, cradling another infant. In accordance with Marstein’s decree, even babies who had been alive for less than a month needed to undergo the rite.

“Are your children doing all right, Raielfam Sudra?”

“Yes. The swaying of the carriage put them to sleep. I wonder if we’ll need to wake them up when their turn to go through the ritual arrives.”

The younger brother, Hodureil, was the one in Raielfam Sudra’s arms, looking like an angel as he slept. His little face grew chubbier every time I saw him.

“We have the bedding they provided to thank for that, and for allowing our elders to make the trip without having to worry about getting sore,” Li Sudra remarked with a gentle smile as she held Asura Sudra. The folks from the castle town had stocked the carriages with soft down bedding for infants, old people, or those with physical impairments. Gazraan Rutim had been the one to request that, since his wife, Ama Min Rutim, was pregnant. From what I had heard, their trip to the castle town two days ago had gone off without a hitch.

“We have been waiting for you, Sir Asuta. Please, come this way,” Polarth called out as he approached us from the direction of the temple. He had been attending all of our rituals for the last few days alongside Marstein and Melfried.

After we had all gathered together by clan, we headed into the great temple together. Since it was forbidden to bring weapons inside, everyone left their blades on a number of stands that had been placed by the entrance for that purpose. There were soldiers stationed around the entryway as well, observing us carefully as we entered.

My heart was pounding a bit as I stepped inside with Ai Fa and Saris Ran Fou. The interior really lived up to the name “grand temple.” The building was a massive structure made of white stone, and the ceiling was shockingly high. There were also countless windows along the walls, providing gentle illumination for the enormous space we found ourselves in. It looked to be about the same size as a school gym. On top of the stone floor, a deep crimson carpet stretched out in front of us, with a line of wooden benches on either side of it.

“Please seat yourselves starting from the front. After the master of ceremonies says a few words, your rites of initiation will begin immediately,” Polarth urged.

We followed his directions and walked forward down the carpeted aisle. Marstein had requested that the Fa clan undergo the ritual first today, so Ai Fa and I went all the way up to the front. Since my situation was so unusual among the people of the forest’s edge, the officials wanted to start with us in order to ensure that absolutely no mistakes were made.

Ai Fa and I sat down in the very first row. There was a one-meter-tall platform in front of us with a number of lecterns standing on it, on top of which were what looked like some kind of tools that were meant to be used in rituals. Several people who were probably priests were up on the platform as well.

At the far side of the platform, there was a deep red statue. It must have been of the western god, Selva. The statue’s hair was standing up like a raging blaze, and it had four burning wings coming from its back, spread out widely. In its hand, it held a massive spear, and it had a stern look on its face that reminded me of a fierce Buddhist deity.

Oh yeah, Selva is the god of fire. He looks a lot scarier than I was expecting, I thought to myself as the rest of our people who had come with us—nearly a hundred of them—were finding places to sit. Baadu Fou was next to me, with the members of his clan on his other side. Naturally, each clan was sitting together, with the head of their main houses at the lead.

“Well then, we shall now begin the rite of initiation so that you may all live as children of the western god Selva,” a figure standing in the center of the platform stated in a solemn tone. He was a small old man with kind eyes, wearing a milky-white robe and a crimson mantle. A silver necklace was dangling down in front of his chest. “Eighty years ago, the people of the forest’s edge changed gods from Jagar to Selva. However, the rite of initiation was not properly carried out, which is why we are here today. Though this is a situation without precedent, I, Delzen, shall perform the rite of initiation in my role as master of ceremonies, granted to me by the western god Selva.”

One of the priests handed Delzen a strange-looking tool that resembled a large fan fashioned out of crimson branches and leaves all bundled together. Its design made me think of flames again.

Then the people lined up behind him started using the other ritual tools to make quiet noises. Small bells, triangles, and other brass instruments filled the temple with a sound like rippling water.

“Would the first person please come up onto the platform?”

Next to me, Ai Fa stood and walked up there without the slightest hesitation. Then, the master of ceremonies turned and went up a few stone stairs to a higher platform with some kind of stone altar.

The man’s smile softened to become even more kindly. “First, state your name before Selva.”

“I am Ai Fa, a person of the forest’s edge and the head of the Fa clan.”

“Ai Fa, I grant you the blessings of Selva. Kneel down and bow your head.” Ai Fa silently did as was requested of her, and the master of ceremonies touched her right shoulder with the crimson fan. “Ai Fa, descendant of children of the southern god Jagar, do you wish to follow the will of those who came before you and become a child of the western god Selva?”

“I wish to follow their will and become a child of the western god Selva.”

“If you break this vow, your soul shall be shattered into four pieces and forever wander in empty darkness. The four great gods—Selva, Jagar, Sym, and Mahyudra—are always watching over your actions,” he said. Then he moved the crimson fan from her right shoulder to her left.

The other priests also moved. One took a pinch of what looked like brown dirt out of a golden vase and scattered it over Ai Fa’s right shoulder. The next one stroked Ai Fa’s left shin with something that looked like a black crow feather. And lastly, a priest dipped his hand into a pure white vase and let a droplet of water fall upon Ai Fa’s right foot. After watching all of that be done, the master of ceremonies raised his crimson fan.

“The fire god Selva, the earth god Jagar, the wind god Sym, and the ice god Mahyudra have granted you their blessings. Stand, and look upon the statue of Selva.”

My clan head did as she was told and stared at the fierce-looking statue. Since it was around three meters tall, she had to tilt her neck back a bit to gaze up at it.

“Now for your oath. Place your left hand over your heart, then extend your right arm straight out to the side.”

Ai Fa silently followed those instructions, posing in the same way I had seen Bartha and Kamyua Yoshu do before when they had given oaths.

“In the name of the western god Selva, do you swear to live as his child from this day forth, Ai Fa?”

“I swear to live as a child of the western god Selva.”

The master of ceremonies swung his holy instrument, as if drawing a line between Ai Fa and the statue’s gaze. “The western god Selva has accepted you as his own child, Ai Fa. For the sake of your soul, live a life of devotion as a child of Selva.”

Ai Fa nodded and her arm dropped to her side. Then, the master of ceremonies lowered his fan and smiled.

“I grant you my blessing, Ai Fa. You may step down from the platform now.”

Ai Fa bowed once more, then turned around. Once she had reached the bottom of the stone stairs, someone said, “The next person, please,” in a raised voice, which meant it was my turn.

Though the expression on her face was stoic, Ai Fa directed a soft gaze my way. After nodding back to her, I rose to my feet. As I was heading up onto the platform, I happened to notice Polarth and a few other nobles who were seated along one of the walls, separate from us. Marstein and Melfried were also there, as was a secretary with a thick notebook.

Marstein had decided to use this opportunity to carry out a census of the people of the forest’s edge. Since every single one of us would be coming to do the rite, they would be able to count exactly how many people belonged to each clan, which was another necessity as citizens of the kingdom.

I’m glad that I’ll be recorded as a person of the forest’s edge too, I thought to myself as I climbed the stone stairs. The master of ceremonies was waiting for me with his crimson fan, and now that I was looking at him up close, I realized the man was about a head shorter than me.

“Firstly, state your name before Selva.”

“I am Asuta of the Fa clan, a person of the forest’s edge.”

“Asuta, I grant you the blessings of Selva. Kneel down and bow your head.”

I quickly did as he asked without hesitating. I noticed that my heart had started beating faster at some point, but I wanted to walk the same path as Ai Fa and everyone else from the forest’s edge. I had no qualms about becoming the child of a god from another world if that was what I needed to do in order to continue to stand with them.

“Asuta, foreigner from beyond the Amusehorn continent, do you wish to become a child of the western god Selva?”

“I wish to become a child of the western god Selva.”

After that, the ritual went exactly as it had for Ai Fa, with a bit of dirt, a stroke of my leg, and a droplet of water. Those must have been the blessings of Jagar, Sym, and Mahyudra.

“The fire god Selva, the earth god Jagar, the wind god Sym, and the ice god Mahyudra have granted you their blessings. Stand, and look upon the statue of Selva.”

I rose, and looked into the eyes of the crimson statue. The moment I focused on its furious visage, though, a strange feeling washed over me, as if an electric current was running through my entire body.

This... This sensation...

My chest was hot, as if fingers made of flame had grabbed ahold of my heart. Then I shuddered. I felt like an indescribably intense pain was about to hit me.

It was that terrifying memory of being trapped in a building that was engulfed in flames, burning alive until I was finally crushed under rubble. However, that horrifying pain never quite arrived. Instead, my heart just pounded away in my chest, and my breathing became harsh and uneven. The voice of the master of ceremonies and the sound of the instruments felt distant beyond the intense ringing in my ears.

The western god Selva is the god of flame... Could... Could he be the one who summoned me to this world?

Two of the statue’s wings seemed to stretch out, as if to wrap around me from either side. My vision was dyed red. But maybe that was just because of the color of the statue. Or perhaps its gaze was turning my whole world crimson. Either way, looking at the statue was bringing back my memories of dying.

Wait... It was my choice to leap into those flames. It’s not like someone intentionally burned me to death, I thought to myself as I kept on staring at the statue of Selva.

And that was when I realized a certain fact: No matter how frightening the statue looked, its gaze remained clear, gentle, and full of affection. It had wings of flame and held a massive spear, but this fantastical god would never recklessly burn the world to ash at random. That was what I truly believed.

My death was my own responsibility. I’m not gonna try to pin it on anyone else.

I clenched my fists and somehow managed to calm my breathing as the statue continued to silently stare down at me.

If you were the one who guided my soul here to this world after death, western god Selva, then I’ll gladly become your child.

Eventually, the low voice of the master of ceremonies steadily became audible to me again.

“What is the matter? I ask that you give your oath.”

After taking a deep breath, I placed my left hand over the left side of my chest and stretched out my right arm to the side.

In the corner of my vision, the master of ceremonies nodded. “In the name of the western god Selva, do you swear to live as his child from this day forth, Asuta?”

“I swear to live as a child of the western god Selva.”

The master of ceremonies swung his fan. “The western god Selva has accepted you as his own child, Asuta. For the sake of your soul, live a life of devotion as a child of Selva.”

“I will,” I replied as I lowered my arm. Then I looked into the statue’s eyes one more time and bowed.

“I grant you my blessing, Asuta. You may step down from the platform now.”

I willed my strength into my shaky legs and descended to where all the benches were. As soon as I was back in my seat, Ai Fa leaned in close with a scary look on her face.

“What happened, Asuta? I was about to run over to you.”

“Sorry. I’ll tell you everything later,” I said, pulling myself together enough to shoot her a quick smile.

Ai Fa frowned at me, looking displeased. I found the sight so adorable that my strength came right back.

I had made up my mind to live alongside Ai Fa. No matter how I came to be here in this world, it did nothing to change that decision, so there was no need to worry about anything now.

Still frowning, Ai Fa pulled a hand towel out of the pocket inside her cloak and wiped my forehead. And in the meantime, Baadu Fou stepped up onto the platform. The members of the Fou watched over their clan head’s rite of initiation with bated breath.

Some time later, right when the Fou clan had all finished the ritual and the head of the Ran clan was getting up to take his turn, we got an unexpected visitor: It was Sheila again, the maid from the house of Daleim. “My apologies for interrupting the ceremony, Lady Ai Fa, but the observer is waiting for you outside of the grand temple.”

Ai Fa looked at her questioningly and asked, “What does he want at a time like this? Isn’t he supposed to be in here now, watching our rites of initiation?”

“I am uncertain, but he said he wishes to fulfill the promise he made with you.”

It had to be the thing about the lion dog. He was going to be leaving Genos tomorrow, so today would be our last chance to take care of that. Ai Fa frowned, and turned to look past me at Baadu Fou.

“You already completed the ritual, so it shouldn’t be any issue,” he said. “Otherwise, I’m sure Polarth and the other nobles would’ve already intervened and said no.”

“Yes, I agree,” Ai Fa stated. “I will be stepping outside for a little while, then. Come along, Asuta.”

And so, I went along with Ai Fa like it was only natural, sneaking over to the exit and taking care not to interrupt the ceremony. As we came up to the doors, Ai Fa retrieved her sword, and once we were outside, two soldiers approached us.

“The observer is in that carriage. We shall escort you.”

After we said farewell to Sheila, we were led to a strikingly extravagant carriage parked beside the ones we had ridden in. It was decorated with the emblem of the silver lion, so it must have been the one that the observers had ridden in when they had come here from the capital. Luido was standing in front of the carriage, accompanied by two soldiers.

“Our apologies for pulling you away from the ceremony, but we wished to use this opportunity to fulfill our promise to you. Please leave your blade with a soldier from Genos.”

The soldiers who had escorted us were from Genos, so Ai Fa casually handed them her sword. Nobody saw any issue with me going along with her, so after that, the door to the carriage was swiftly pulled open, revealing an impressively spacious interior, and Dregg sitting in an elegant seat with his lion dog close by. After we entered and waited for the door to be closed once more, Dregg grinned at us.

“It took a while, but I’m here to resolve that promise we made, Ai Fa of the Fa clan.”

“I appreciate that, but are you not supposed to be watching the ceremony right now?”

“I was in the grand temple from morning until sunset both yesterday and the day before, and I’m going to have to go back to that once we’re done here as well. I doubt they’ll complain about me taking a little break,” Dregg said. Then he pointed down at the lion dog by his feet. The pitch-black creature was incredibly large and had a mane like a lion. He looked incredibly ferocious all around. However, his huge frame was lying heavily on the floor, and he seemed to be trying to avoid looking at Ai Fa. “Here is the lion dog, as you requested. How exactly do you plan to make peace with the creature?”

Ai Fa silently stepped into the center of the carriage. Then, she knelt down and spoke calmly to the massive bundle of fur that was curled up at his master’s feet. “My apologies for the other day. I no longer hold any animosity toward your master, so I would like to reconcile with you as well.”

The lion dog looked timidly up at Ai Fa. He had a face like a chow chow, so when he acted like that, he looked just like any regular obedient dog, aside from how incredibly big he was.

“Unsurprisingly, it seems that words will not work on such a beast. But if needed, I can tell it to move closer to you.”

“Please do so.”

Dregg casually gave the dog two pats on the back, and he very reluctantly rose and timidly padded over to Ai Fa.

Still down on her knees, Ai Fa met the lion dog’s gaze at the same level. “I’ve heard that you were trained to protect your master. If that is your duty, you need to get your strength back in order to carry it out. I am no longer your master’s enemy,” Ai Fa whispered, slowly stretching out her hands and reaching her fingers into the lion dog’s mane on either side. Brave always loved getting scratched behind his ears, so she might have been trying to do the same thing for the lion dog.

Naturally, that meant that Ai Fa and the lion dog were super close at the moment. If Dregg were to give a hostile order now, things could get real ugly. However, the noble just kept on grinning and watching the two of them.

I circled around to the side of the cabin so I could see what was happening better. Ai Fa was staring into the lion dog’s black eyes with an incredibly gentle gaze. Her hands were buried in fluff pretty much all the way up to her wrists, so I couldn’t tell what she was doing with them. However, the lion dog’s fluffy mane was moving all around like it was a separate living creature.

Then the wiggling area shifted back. Ai Fa’s fingers had gone from behind the dog’s ears to his shoulders. Brave was quite fond of being scratched on his neck and shoulders too.

“Your face looks so innocent. You have a different build from our dog, Brave, but I can tell that you and he have many similarities. The light I see in your eyes looks very much like the light in Brave’s.”

In order to place her arms even farther around the lion dog’s neck and shoulder, Ai Fa moved closer to him, to the point that their noses were almost touching. And then, a purple tongue stretched out from the dog’s large mouth and licked my clan head on the cheek.

“Do you forgive me for frightening you?” Ai Fa asked, a gentle smile showing in her eyes as she started petting the lion dog’s neck with larger motions. Seemingly encouraged by that, the dog licked Ai Fa’s cheek again and again. She seemed to find his tongue tickly, but more than anything else, she looked happy.

Eventually, the lion dog moved closer to Ai Fa of his own volition. He probably weighed more than she did, and he was pressing against her from above now. Being leaned on like that would have made most people fall on their backsides, but Ai Fa met his huge figure as it advanced on her and buried herself in the black fluff coating his body.

“Such amazing strength! No ordinary person could ever defeat you. Stay proud of yourself from now on, and do your job well,” Ai Fa said, rubbing her cheek against the lion dog’s face and petting his back.

As he continued to watch them, Dregg remarked, “My, I certainly never expected you to actually tame a lion dog. That should be just as impossible as frightening one.”

“I’m sure that’s because he’s so clever. He trusts that I do not hold any animosity toward him.”

“Hmph, I’ve heard that the people of Sym are highly skilled at communicating with animals. You people of the forest’s edge may truly have Sym blood after all,” Dregg said, bringing his hands together and interlacing his fingers over his stomach. “Ai Fa of the Fa clan, have you grown fond of that lion dog?”

“Hm? It is only natural to feel fond of such an adorable creature, is it not?”

“I see. Then if you wish, I suppose I could gift the beast to you.”

Ai Fa looked up in amazement. “What are you saying, observer? He is your precious guard dog, is he not?”

“But I treated it as a mere tool for my protection, not with affection as you do. In fact, I even thought of doing away with it if it was no longer capable of serving as a guard dog.”

An intense gleam appeared in Ai Fa’s eyes. That instantly caused the lion dog to look afraid, though, so she stroked his head to calm him back down.

“What do you mean by ‘doing away’? Surely you weren’t planning on killing him.”

“Unfortunately, that is precisely the case. Even someone like you would have no choice but to throw out a broken blade, correct? To me, a guard dog is no different.”

Ai Fa refrained from responding to that.

“Obviously, if the beast were to regain its ability to serve as a guard dog, I would continue to value it highly. They are more expensive than hunting dogs, so it is only natural to use one for as long as you can... However, I believe it would be happier if it were treated as family rather than as a tool.”

Ai Fa hugged the lion dog around his neck and glared at Dregg over his head. “What exactly are your intentions in making this offer? If you see him as a tool, what reason would you have to be concerned with his happiness?”

“A fair question. You looked rather elated as you were playing with the beast, so I simply had the thought that I would be glad if I could pay for my sins even a little by offering it to you,” Dregg said with another grin. “Just as Luido said, I acted exactly as Sir Taluon pleased. If things had gone poorly, I could have been charged with the crime of ignoring royal orders, and then who can say what would have become of me. I am grateful to the people of the forest’s edge for bringing the truth to light.”

“So that’s why you’re offering me this lion dog?”

“Yes. I realize it would be improper to pay you back with silver coins, but that beast is every bit as valuable. And I believe for you people of the forest’s edge, it would make you far happier to gain a new family member rather than coins regardless... Was my thinking correct?”

Ai Fa narrowed her eyes, looking like she was trying to figure out whether Dregg had an ulterior motive. The noble, meanwhile, gave a strained chuckle and scratched his head.

“I simply feel like doing at least one thing that will make the people of the forest’s edge happy before I go. If I was wrong, though, you are free to not take the beast. I am sure it is perfectly capable of serving as a guard dog again now, so I would be fine with keeping it as well.”

Ai Fa stayed silent.

“Besides, this beast is a big eater. I would say it eats around twice what your average hunting dog does. If that sounds like more of a hassle than you want to deal with—”

“I swear that he will never go hungry after he becomes a member of my house,” Ai Fa said, hugging the lion dog tighter as she continued to glare at Dregg. “Does he have a name?”

“Yes, its name is Jirube. Though it will not be of use as a hunting dog, it should do an excellent job of protecting your home.”

“Then we will take Jirube into our care... Asuta, do you have any objections?”

“No. I’m fine with whatever you decide, clan head.”

“I see,” Dregg said with a satisfied smile. “There are people in Genos who can teach you how to handle a guard dog. If you retrain it properly, it shouldn’t be dangerous to others.”

Ai Fa silently glared up at him.

“You seem upset that I would treat a guard dog as a mere tool, but most nobles of the capital would have similar mindsets,” Dregg said, leaning back deeply into his seat. His expression made it look like he wanted to tease her, but also that he was seriously contemplating something. “It’s quite incredible that you are all now becoming people of the west. In all likelihood, I will never set foot in Genos again as an observer... Still, I hope that you will work just as hard to reach an understanding with whoever comes here next.”

2

After that, we watched as the rest of our comrades underwent the rite of initiation, then left the grand temple. Even if each ritual only took a few minutes, doing it around a hundred times still took quite a while, so the sun was already quite high in the sky when we finally left the castle town. The ten totos wagons headed back to the forest’s edge so that everyone could return to the normal work they did every day now that they had finished with the major endeavor that had consumed most of our morning. However, Ai Fa, Yun Sudra, the Sudra hunters, and I split off to remain in the post town. I was staying so I could work at our stalls, while the hunters were coming along to act as guards. Ai Fa was treating today as an irregular half-day. Her plan was to go out into the forest and hunt for a while after we wrapped up our work in town and returned home.

“Hey there. That sure took a while. But it seems like we’ll make it back before the sun hits its peak,” Ludo Ruu called out with a smile as we stepped out of our totos carriage in front of the restaurant space, as he had been serving as a temporary guard while we’d been in the castle town. He and a few others were now going to return to the settlement in our carriage, since we wouldn’t need it.

Rimee Ruu was working in the restaurant space too, and when she saw us, she excitedly exclaimed, “Hey! That’s the lion dog from before, isn’t it?! What’s he doing here?! Why’s he with you?!”

“Circumstances have led to us accepting him into the Fa clan. His name is Jirube,” Ai Fa explained.

“Ooh, that’s amazing! He’s so big and cute! He seems like he’d be really scary if he got angry, though!” Rimee Ruu joyfully replied.

The customers in the restaurant space were all staring now. In Genos, only people who lived in the castle town owned guard dogs, and dogs in general were a rare sight in the post town.

“At least for now, you should refrain from touching Jirube. We will have to wait until we return to the settlement to teach him that the people of the forest’s edge are not his enemies.”

“Got it! But after that, he’ll be friendly, right?!”

An instructor would be coming to the post town to teach us how to handle a guard dog. Ai Fa was keeping Jirube by her side, and for the moment, he seemed to be perfectly docile. Just like the hunting dogs, this lion dog seemed to be even more clever than the dogs back in my old world.

“We’ll be off, then. Make sure not to let your guards down until this is all over, okay?” Ludo Ruu said, then he boarded the totos carriage with the other young folks from the Ruu clan. After watching it steadily slip out of view down the road, I approached the stalls to see how things were going.

“I’m glad everything went all right, Asuta. Things have been going smoothly here as well,” Toor Deen said with a smile. She had manned the daily special stall in my place. It seemed like the morning rush had just ended, as there were only a few customers lined up there.

Yun Sudra and I were the only ones who had been absent earlier in the morning, so the stalls had been able to operate pretty much like normal. To make up for being a little shorthanded, we’d had two of our workers who usually would have had the day off join us today. However, everyone who worked for us on a rotating schedule, aside from Lili Ravitz, came from the Gaaz, Ratsu, and Beim clans, and they were going to be doing the rite of initiation in the afternoon. That meant we would only have five staff members left, Yamiru Lea included, leaving us with two fewer than normal. However, I had prepared today’s selection of dishes with that in mind, so it likely wouldn’t be any issue.

“Thanks for all your hard work, Toor Deen. I imagine the morning preparations were a lot more trouble than actually running the stalls, right?”

“Ah, no. Today’s dishes were easy to prepare, so it was no real issue. We were able to get everything ready without any serious problems.”

As a subordinate clan of the Zaza, the Deen had completed their rites of initiation yesterday, which was fortunate, because otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to work the stalls for the first part of the business day. We had even put her in charge of the morning preparations, which she had managed all by herself, without any help from me or Yun Sudra.

“Well then, how about Yun Sudra and I help out in the restaurant space until the totos carriages return? Fei Beim, Yamiru Lea, is that okay with you?”

I got a reply of “That’s fine” from the stalls on either side of Toor Deen’s, so Yun Sudra and I headed back over to the seating area. The Sudra hunters had already taken up their usual positions, so only Ai Fa and Jirube came with us.

“Um, are you going to keep Jirube with you out here the whole time? You could always put him in a wagon to rest instead.”

“I know, but I’m concerned that it might be dangerous to take my eyes off of him. As long as I am here, he will not bare his fangs at anyone.”

When we entered the restaurant space, a bunch of the people dining there started calling out to us, their voices full of curiosity.

“Hey, is that one of those lion things? It looks sorta small, though.”

“He is what is known as a lion dog, a dog that resembles a lion,” Ai Fa stated.

“Ooh, so this is a dog? Its face is pretty funny-looking, huh?”

Apparently, that customer had seen a lion before, perhaps in the Gamley Troupe’s tent.

Back in my old world, the idea of someone never having seen a dog but knowing what a lion was would have been totally ludicrous. But apparently, dogs originally only existed in Jagar here, so I guess it’s not that odd, I thought as I got to work. However, the number of customers in the restaurant space at present was a pretty normal amount for this time of day, which meant that there wasn’t all that much to do. In fact, I quickly started to think that Yun Sudra and I should go back over to the stalls so the people who would be doing the rite of initiation in the evening could take care of these less strenuous tasks.

“Yeah. They’ve been working all morning, so it would be better to let them do something easy for a while instead,” Yun Sudra agreed, and I got ready to make the switch.

But before that could happen, a familiar group approached the stalls. They were soldiers from the capital, clad in some kind of quilted outfits, and I quickly spotted Doug’s tall figure among them. I turned to Yun Sudra with a troubled look on my face and said, “Sorry, but would you mind swapping with Fei Beim while I stay here a little longer?”

“That’s fine with me,” Yun Sudra replied, though she was tilting her head a bit in confusion. But she did walk over to the stalls a moment later.

Ai Fa sent me an even more questioning look and asked, “What’s this about? Do you have some sort of business with them?”

“Yeah, there’s something I want to make sure of... I talked to you about it last night, remember?”

“Ah, that... I don’t see what the point in bringing it up now is, though.”

“Well, true. Still, I just can’t help but be a little curious.”

As we’d been talking, Doug had entered the restaurant space with ten other soldiers, Iphius included.

“Hey there. Long time no see, Asuta of the Fa clan. Didn’t you go through the rite of initiation today?” Doug said, calling out to me with a bold smile. The bandage on his head was gone now, and it seemed he had gotten his old daringness back.

Iphius was making his usual eerie breathing sound as he stared at me and Ai Fa with an unreadable look in his eyes.

Then Doug noticed what Ai Fa had with her. “Oh? That’s the observer’s lion dog, isn’t it? I heard it lost its nerves after you overwhelmed it with your glare, hunter woman, but it looks like it’s fine now.”

“For various reasons, we have brought him into our family. His name is Jirube.”

“Hmm. I don’t really know much about this kind of thing, but was this dog some sort of peace offering? It’s good that everything wrapped up peacefully,” Doug said as he took a seat. From how he was speaking, you would almost think that everything that had happened was someone else’s problem. The others sat down and started eating as well, with Iphius also putting his apron on gracefully.

“I’m glad to see you looking well too,” I said, “We haven’t spoken since that night at the inn, have we?”

“That’s right. We were ordered to go out as little as possible after that. Still, I’m sure you must’ve spotted my men around town here and there.” Ever since their close brush with violating the taboo of Morga, most of the soldiers had just stayed in their inns. However, a number of them would pop up at the stalls in order to purchase a large number of meals from us. Doug and Iphius had never come with them, though. “We’re set to leave Genos tomorrow morning and the townsfolk seem to have calmed down a good bit, so I figured that before we leave, we should have a meal out here in the sun and eat whatever we like. I’m sure there’ll be more of us showing up after this too.”

“Thank you. I’m just glad we managed to make peace somehow.”

“Well, you all put a ton of thought into how to make that happen, yeah? If you wanna boast about your victory, go right ahead.”

“No, that’s not what I was trying to do...” There were some strong pent-up feelings swirling about inside my chest. I wanted to clear them away, so I spoke up again. “Um, apologies for interrupting while you’re eating, but could I have a bit of your time?”

“Huh?” Doug said. “What, are you talking to me? I can’t think of anything we still need to discuss at this point.”

“I only have one question I want to ask. It won’t take long.”

Doug’s eyebrow rose uncertainly, but then he stood. “Well, I guess this’ll be my last chance to talk with you, so, sure, I’ll hear you out.”

“Thank you. Follow me, please,” I said, and then Doug and I stepped away from the restaurant space, with Ai Fa and Jirube naturally following behind us. After walking far enough that we wouldn’t be overheard from the seating, while still staying close to the side of the road, I turned back toward Doug and asked, “Um, did you hear from Luido about what happened between Taluon and Dregg?”

“Yeah, of course. A guy like me who only became a hundred lion commander after starting as a common mercenary doesn’t get many chances to speak to nobles, so yeah, it was our leader who told me what Taluon was up to.”

“I see. So then...back when you were dispatched to the forest of Morga, Luido must’ve already had a vague idea of what Taluon was plotting, right?”

Doug’s eyes narrowed, like he was starting to feel more and more dubious about this line of questioning, and I could see a piercing gleam in them. “I don’t really get what you’re saying. Are you trying to find some sort of fault with our boss?”

“No, not at all... It’s just that Taluon got put in a really bad position after your men almost stepped onto Mount Morga.”

Doug suddenly leaned in close to me until his blazing eyes were only about fifteen centimeters or so away from mine.

At the same time, Ai Fa growled, “Hey. Don’t get so close to Asuta when you’re giving off such a threatening aura. We hold no animosity toward your people.”

“And we feel the same. But if he’s trying to make some kind of inane accusation against our leader, I’m not gonna stay silent about it.”

“Then let’s be totally clear,” I said. “Did Luido have you get close to the border of Mount Morga intentionally in order to expose Taluon’s crimes?” That was the suspicion that had been bothering me.

I was certain that Taluon wouldn’t have wanted them to break the taboo of Morga. It seemed likely that his only goal had been to prove that giba could be hunted successfully without needing to rely on the strength of the people of the forest’s edge, which was something he needed to demonstrate before he could seriously push the idea that we should be removed from the forest.

But because Doug and his men had gotten so close to the border, Taluon’s plans had completely fallen apart. Furthermore, he hadn’t been able to make any more moves after that because of how angry the citizens of Genos had become over the incident.

Even if Taluon’s aim had been to enrage the citizens of Genos and the people of the forest’s edge to the point that we took up arms, such blatant disregard for the rule of law would never be tolerated. After all, justice would clearly not be on the side of the capital in such a case. If an uprising occurred in Genos because of the tyrannical actions of the representatives of the capital, it would be very difficult for them to justify using force to suppress it after that.

In which case, it seemed like if one wanted to put a stop to Taluon’s plan, the best way to do it would be to have someone from the capital break the law in a serious way. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was part of Luido’s strategy.

“I can answer that much, at least... Our leader is serious to a fault. No matter how much he may dislike someone, he’d never resort to such trickery,” Doug said while bringing his face even closer to my nose.

“I see,” Ai Fa muttered with her hand on her blade. Jirube started growling too. Her anger might have been agitating him. “In that case, we shall stand down, so I ask that you step away from Asuta as well.”

“Hmph... You sure are good at thinking up some crafty ideas, aren’t you?” Doug said as he stepped back and vigorously tousled his blackish-brown hair. “Everything worked out nice and peacefully, so don’t go looking to dredge up trouble now. If our leader had given an order like that, it would’ve put him in an awfully precarious position during the investigation that would follow, right? Though, I suppose everybody in the capital does know how ridiculously earnest our boss is, so I doubt anyone would ever suspect that he’d do such a thing in the first place.”

“I see. I’m very sorry for doubting him like that with no evidence. It was just really sticking in my head...” I knew the reason for that: I couldn’t understand how an outstanding soldier like Doug could be careless enough to get that close to Morga. That was why I had been suspicious that it might have been an order from his superior, but it seemed that I had simply read the situation poorly.

“You’re free to think whatever you please, but our leader is as honest as they come. There’s no way someone like that would give such a dishonorable order to the subordinates he values so much, right? And you do know how much shame that caused us, don’t you?”

“S-Sorry. I haven’t gotten to speak with Luido all that much...but I know that he’s a fair and just person who you respect.”

“Of course. That man would never order us to do such a dirty job,” Doug said. But then he broke out in a grin. “Although, I suppose it’s possible that some of the idiots he’s got working for him, like someone who was promoted from the ranks of the common mercenaries, might have done something ridiculous all on their own.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“That maybe we could’ve acted like a bunch of fools who screwed up our orders so that an especially shameless noble would be caught off guard. And maybe that would help repay our debt to a certain someone from the forest’s edge who saved us from losing our toes. It wouldn’t be that surprising for around fifty soldiers to go and do something that stupid, now would it?”

I gulped in astonishment.

Ai Fa, meanwhile, was giving Doug a look of disbelief. “Hey, are you saying you...”

“We’re just foolish enough to have lost our bearings in those woods. And if I say any more than that, it’ll only make this more of a hassle down the line,” Doug said, turning the other way. Then he glanced back over his shoulder with a smile and added, “I’m sure our unit will never be deployed to Genos again, which means this’ll be the last we see of each other, so how about we just say we’re even now, okay?”

And with that, Doug walked away back toward the restaurant space.

Ai Fa gave a deep sigh and patted Jirube on the head as the lion dog looked up at her in concern. “This is why it’s so troublesome to deal with townsfolk...and from now on, we’re going to have to try to see people like that as our comrades.”

“Yeah. But there’s no need for the people of the forest’s edge to stop being themselves.”

“Of course not. In fact, it would have been impossible for us to ever do otherwise,” Ai Fa said as she looked out at the street.

The sun was nearing its peak, and there were now more passersby. All sorts of people were coming and going, though naturally westerners made up most of the crowd. Some were finely dressed and looked like merchants, while others were in filthy rags. Scoundrels with wicked laughs drinking in the middle of the day. Little kids, young women, old folks walking along unsteadily... There were all kinds of people here in the post town.

“There are so many people even just here in the Genos post town... It will not be easy to start seeing ourselves as being in the same tribe as all citizens of the western kingdom.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“But until I met you, Asuta, I was all on my own. Even among my fellow people of the forest’s edge, I only knew a few of their names and faces, and after losing my parents, I tried to sever ties with Rimee Ruu and Granny Jiba as well... I really was completely alone,” Ai Fa said. Then she turned toward me, a very gentle light shining within her blue eyes. “But now I’ve formed bonds with people from many different clans. At times, I’ve found that troublesome...but I am undoubtedly happier now than I was back then. And perhaps if I can come to think of all who live in Genos as my comrades, that will bring even more happiness to my life.”

“Yeah. I really hope that’s the case,” I said, smiling at Ai Fa with a warm feeling welling up inside me.

Then, for some reason, my clan head’s body shook a bit and she got down on her knees to hug Jirube around his thick neck.

“What’s the matter, Ai Fa?” I asked.

“Silence, you. That unguarded smile of yours is messing with my emotions again,” Ai Fa replied, her cheeks going red as she hugged Jirube tightly.

The lion dog blinked with a look of confusion, but he seemed happy too.

“Whatever happens, we simply need to keep moving forward one step at a time. I’m sure there will be a banquet soon where we’ll be able to invite our friends among the townsfolk to celebrate with us,” she said.

“Yeah, we’ll finally be able to do another one of those. But I guess we’ll be having our festival of the hunt before that.”

“Indeed. Once we enter our break period, the Ruu will be able to request that we help prepare that banquet. I hope that we’ll be allowed to invite as many people from town and the forest’s edge as possible.”

Tomorrow, everyone from the capital would be leaving Genos, and we’d be returning to our normal everyday lives. However, it wasn’t as if everything would be exactly the same as it had been before. After all, the events of the last few days marked a new beginning for those of us who had undergone the rite of initiation under the western god.

Eventually, new observers or diplomats would arrive, and there were probably all sorts of other troubles ahead that we would have to deal with. That was inevitable, when a group as unique as the people of the forest’s edge were about to start trying to see the townsfolk they used to disdain as comrades.

But instead of being worried, we held great hope in our hearts as we prepared to set out on our new path. As long as we could trust that we were going in the right direction, we had nothing to fear. That was what we had learned over the past year.

“Well then, it’s about time for me to get back to work,” I declared.

Ai Fa finally stood back up and nodded, replying, “Right.” Her face was still a little red, and her eyes looked to be smiling and full of affection.

And so, Ai Fa and I started walking slowly side by side. What sort of future awaited us down this path? As I thought about that question, I found myself filled with boundless optimism.

Intermezzo: Under Our Father God

Ten totos carriages were steadily moving along the main road through the post town. Ten people of the forest’s edge were riding inside each of them, heading to undergo the rite of initiation that would make them children of the western god. And when she thought about that, Yumi couldn’t help but feel deeply moved. She was watching the procession from a seat in the restaurant space beside the stalls that the people of the forest’s edge ran, with Dora the vegetable seller and his daughter Tara also sitting at the same table. She had Asuta of the Fa clan to thank for her friendship with the two of them.

“Ha ha, that certainly is quite a sight, no matter how many times I see it. And I believe Asuta is in one of them today?” Dora asked.

“Yeah,” Yumi replied with a nod. “That’s why Asuta’s not at the stalls. After this, he and Ai Fa are going to be officially recognized as westerners.”

“Hmph. I’ve seen Asuta as an important friend for a long time, even without them going to all this trouble!” Dora energetically exclaimed, but it was clear from the expression on his face that he was feeling quite moved. He and Tara had been close with the Fa clan even longer than Yumi.

Tara slurped down some of her soup, and then she smiled brilliantly. “I’m happy about this, though! Now Asuta and Rimee Ruu and everyone will probably get along with us even better!”

“Huh? Haven’t you always been friends with them, though?”

“Yeah! But now it’ll be like everyone from the forest’s edge is family too!”

“Family, huh? Well, I suppose we’re all children of the great western god,” Dora said with an amused smile, patting his young daughter on the head.

After watching that adorable sight, Yumi looked out at the road once again. Honestly, she felt the same way Tara did.

Everyone living in Genos was a child of the western god. That was such a simple and obvious truth that she really didn’t think about it much. Anyone born in the western land was taken to a temple while still an infant to undergo the rite of initiation.

Of course, as a key spot for trade, there were always tons of people in Genos who weren’t westerners. Expressionless and introverted easterners, boisterous southerners, and even northerners working as slaves in the Turan lands. That had been the case before Yumi had even been born, so she didn’t really pay much attention to it.

Even if someone was the child of a different god, there wasn’t any need to feel hostility toward them because of that. Northerners were only seen as enemies because the two nations kept stealing land from each other in some far away place. That had nothing to do with Yumi, and it wasn’t like she ever saw the slaves in the Turan lands anyway, so it really didn’t impact her daily life at all.

But she did see easterners and southerners on a regular basis. In particular, her family’s inn saw customers from the east all the time. Since they knew how to use poison to protect themselves, they were able to stay at inns that were in the less safe parts of town without any fear of outlaws. A lot of westerners tended to be cautious around easterners, but Yumi was totally accustomed to interacting with them. She didn’t have any issues with people from other countries. Even if they were children of a different god, good people were still good and bad people were still bad, regardless of where they came from.

But I suppose I used to think of the people of the forest’s edge as foreigners too...

After all, they were just so different from other westerners, both in appearance and in how they thought. In fact, it was said that they had moved to Genos from Jagar eighty years ago...but they looked more like easterners than southerners. And up until a year ago, they had avoided interacting with townsfolk as much as possible, so to Yumi, it felt like they were farther away than the people who lived in other countries did.

Because of that, Yumi had come to look down on them. After all, back then there had been all sorts of rumors about them committing crimes that the nobles would cover up. On top of that, some of them would show up in town, get drunk, and run wild, or even smash stalls. Yumi was used to dealing with outlaws, though, so more than anything, she had found their behavior to be annoying and the way they conspired with nobles to be cowardly.

But in actuality, the people of the forest’s edge were pure and honest at their core. Only a small handful of them had actually been causing trouble in town, and now that those individuals had been punished and she had gotten to know Asuta and the others, Yumi no longer had any reason to shun them. In fact, now she even dreamed of living at the forest’s edge alongside them.

Despite that, it was possible that a part of Yumi still saw them as being foreign and exotic. Rather than avoiding them, she admired them for being so different and wished to join them.

But they’re also citizens of Genos, living here in the same land we do.

That realization was making her feel emotional again as she watched the carriages that were heading up the road to the castle town.

This was the third day, so by evening, all of the people of the forest’s edge would have undergone the rite of initiation. Asuta, who she had become friends with first; Ai Fa, who she had met through him; and all sorts of other people she liked—along with a few others she didn’t—would be fellow children of the western god... Yumi’s comrades. And that fact made her heart start beating faster.

The people of the forest’s edge will be our comrades... That makes me more than just proud. I’m in awe.

That thought was proof that she still saw them as being very much separate from townsfolk like her. But she didn’t usually think about stuff like that. It was just something that had occurred to her after having watched the carriages going to the castle town for three days in a row. Tomorrow...no, today when Asuta and the rest of them returned from the grand temple, she planned to let her worries go and enjoy hanging out with them for a while.

“Hey, Yumi,” Tara said, tugging on her arm. Yumi turned to look at the young girl, who had a smile as bright as the sun on her face. “Once this is over, everyone from the capital is leaving, right? So that means we’ll be able to play with the people of the forest’s edge again!”

Shaking off the solemn feeling hanging over her, Yumi smiled back and said, “That’s right! We’re going to have to have lots of fun with them to make up for all the time when we couldn’t! And instead of just going to the forest, let’s invite some of their young people to come to town and hang out with us here!”

“Yeah!” Tara replied with a joyful nod.

As they had been speaking, the final carriage had passed the restaurant space. As she watched it vanish into the distance, Yumi felt the joy of having been born in the same place as the people of the forest’s edge once again.

Afterword

Thank you so much for picking up this book, the thirty-first volume of Cooking with Wild Game.

In this volume, we cover the second half of the story involving the observers from the capital. In terms of plot, last volume ended up being a sudden shift, and then this was the conclusion, so I hope you’ll enjoy the two books together.

The story of the observers from the capital comes to a close here for the time being. Eventually, a lot more will happen in regard to the relationship between Genos and the capital, but for now, I hope you’ll enjoy the very different kind of story that will be starting in the next volume.

I’m sure you’ve gotten a bit of a glimpse of what’s coming next in the preview at the end of the book by now. I’ll refrain from saying more, as that would be spoilers, but it should be enjoyable in a different way than seeing the people of the forest’s edge struggle with these troublesome nobles.

I really have to say how pleased I am to have been able to write so many volumes of this story. I’m so happy I can hardly stand it, now that the new character that’s going to be introduced in the next volume is finally getting illustrated. One of my greatest joys in having this novel version produced is getting to see my personal favorites come to life in art, with Iphius being a recent example. And it’s all thanks to you and everyone else who has bought my books. I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart that you’re still reading such a long series. And I’m glad that I get to share the joy of seeing kochimo-sama’s wonderful illustrations with all of you!

I have some room to spare in the afterword for this volume, so I suppose I’ll prattle on a bit longer. The story beginning in the next volume is one I had planned out before I even started writing. However, the story has expanded so much by now that the upcoming part of the plot has changed quite a bit from my initial conception of it. I first planned it out in 2013, and now I’ve produced thirty-one entire volumes, so I suppose that’s only natural. It would be a spoiler to explain exactly how it changed, so I won’t say anything more about that, but I would like to believe that the way the story has developed will make the next part of it much more dynamic.

To be perfectly honest, I never expected the series to continue this long. I’d imagine most people wouldn’t expect to reach the thirty-plus volume mark when they start out, but it’s definitely a fact that I’ve long since exceeded my wildest expectations. I’ve just kept on writing whatever I wanted to, and this is the result.

And thanks to my expectations being exceeded to such an incredible degree, I’ve been able to cover a bunch of different stories. My initial plans had included the clan head meeting and the confrontation with Suun, as well as starting a business in the post town and the showdown with the house of Turan, but stories such as the trip to Dabagg, the fight with the lord of the forest, and the sun god’s revival festival all came to me as I was writing.

That goes for the characters too, since at first I only put real thought into the Ruu, the Suun, and the nobles who would eventually become antagonists. I originally introduced Toor Deen to illustrate the sorrow of the Suun branch houses and never expected her to become so important, and I didn’t even expect I would ever give Raielfam Sudra, Gulaf Zaza, or Deek Dom names. But I kept building out the story, and eventually that led to me introducing characters like Yun Sudra and Lem Dom too.

I figured I would take this opportunity to look back at my production notes, and I originally had the vegetable seller and his daughter written down as Dora Mu and Tara Mu. Before I began writing, I had planned on giving all of the characters family names. I’m pretty sure I gave up on that idea in order to create more of a distinction between the people of the forest’s edge and the townsfolk. However, Milano Mas had already been introduced with a last name at that point, which gave me the new idea of making him a descendant of independent settlers.

At this point, I’ve ended up with a mix of ideas I came up with before starting the series and ones that developed as I worked on it, and I would say the story that begins in the next volume serves as a prime example of that. It may seem trivial to you readers, but I hope that you’ll enjoy it as well.

Finally, I want to thank everyone involved with the production of this book, and of course, all of you who purchased it.

See you again in the next volume!

August 2023,

EDA