3
“Ooh, we’ve been waiting for you, Asuta and Shin Ruu!”
By the time we made it back to the Fa house, Rau and Yamiru Lea were already there waiting for us.
“I’m counting on you to give Yamiru Lea cooking lessons again! Meanwhile, I’ll be training with Shin Ruu!”
“Unfortunately, I’ve got a message for you from my old man, Rau Lea.”
Once Ludo Ruu explained the situation from atop Ruuruu, Rau Lea puffed up his cheeks with dissatisfaction.
“Why do I have to be an errand boy?! You’ve got a totos too, so you should go, Ludo Ruu!”
“If you’re gonna complain, then do it to my old man. But now that you mention it, Darmu did head to the Zaza settlement,” Ludo Ruu answered, looking a bit pensive. “It doesn’t seem like he’ll be coming home for a while, so maybe I should go see him... Just don’t get so wrapped up in your training that you neglect keeping watch, alright? I’m sure you already heard too, but some intruders approached the Zaza settlement just yesterday.”
“Understood! Thanks, Ludo Ruu!”
And so, it was decided that Rau Lea and Shin Ruu would stay here and keep watch.
As for me, I had to prepare dinner, do some cooking experiments... and also give Yamiru Lea lessons.
“So, what should we do today? Do you have any requests?”
“You really think I would have any...?”
Yamiru Lea had a captivating yet listless air about her again today.
Now that I thought about it, it may have actually been a bit rare for just the two of us to be working together. But the other neighboring women weren’t scheduled to visit the Fa house today, so there was no helping it.
“The Lea women received lessons from the Rutim clan, right? I guess the real issue is just how skilled they ended up.”
“I can’t say... For now, they still seem to be struggling with that dish you call hamburger steak. I suppose Ama Min and Morun Rutim are the only ones who can actually make it properly.”
“They’re struggling, huh? I see.”
The Rutim women had pretty much all learned from the Ruu in turn, too. That made them the disciples of my disciples, and the Lea women were another step removed from that. Reina and Mia Lea Ruu were incredibly skilled, but it was only natural that things would be lost as more and more folks were inserted in the chain.
“Hamburger steak becomes harder and harder to cook through the larger it is. Apparently the Fou and Ran are having a good bit of trouble with it, too... Well then, how about we tackle meatballs today for a change of pace?”
“Meat... balls?”
“To put it simply, it’s sort of like making little hamburger steaks. That makes it far less likely to over- or undercook them.”
The idea had come to me from the kimyuus meatballs I had tried out at The Kimyuus’s Tail.
In both the settlement at the forest’s edge and inns in the post town, it seemed dishes that took a while to prepare weren’t all that appreciated.
“We’ll start with the same preparations as the hamburger steak. After boiling down the poitan, we’ll switch over to dicing and sautéing the aria.”
Using the dinner for the Fa house as an example, I then had Yamiru Lea practice preparing a sample.
We boiled down the poitan and dried it to use as a thickener, and in the meantime diced the aria and sautéed it while also grinding the meat. I hadn’t employed diced aria in the kimyuus meatballs, but since the taste of giba meat was so strong, I always ended up using them in dishes like this.
However, this seemed like a good opportunity, so I went ahead and tried making some without any aria, too.
And what about adding gigo to the thickener? It took some time to boil down and dry out the poitan, so it was a good bit of added effort when it wasn’t done alongside the usual baked poitan.
I altered those two variables, whether or not there was any aria or gigo in the thickener, making for four varieties in total.
“All that’s left is adding salt and pico according to your tastes, and it might be good to grate in some myamuu at this stage too. And we also mix in fruit wine in the Fa house.”
“How complicated. The Lea clan doesn’t add that many different things in.”
“Is that so? Well, I figure kneading salt and pico leaves in should be plenty to start.”
Even with the giba burgers I sold in the post town, I didn’t knead anything but salt and pico into them. That was because I already used plenty of fruit wine and myamuu in the tarapa sauce.
But at the Fa house I had tried out things like a tau oil-based sauce, cheeseburgers, teriyaki burgers, and so on, and I attempted all sorts of flavorings in the patty itself while doing so. Ai Fa had once judged the hamburger steak I made as tastier than Reina Ruu’s, but I figured aside from how much we cooked it, that was where the difference would have to lie.
“So when kneading the meat, you want to ball them up to around this size. And there’s no need to worry about getting the air out.” The size I indicated was enough for a single big bite, about as big as a takoyaki ball. “It’s too early to start cooking meat for dinner, so let’s just grill up one to give a try. First off, we’ll add a bit of giba fat so that the meat doesn’t stick to the pot. Then we’ll keep the stove at a medium flame, cooking it and rolling it about until it turns a nice even brown. But if you move it around too much at this point it’ll crumble, so take care.”
Once the surface was a golden brown, we added the grated myamuu, salt, pico leaves, and fruit wine, then let it cook through in a covered pot. Those were all the steps needed to prepare the dish. And the diced aria and thickener were just my own personal touches, so it should certainly be possible to simplify it further.
It was a bit late to be having the thought, but since the people of the forest’s edge weren’t too fond of complicated tasks, meatballs might have been a more fitting dish for them than hamburger steak in the first place.
“Now, this one was the one with gigo but no aria in the filling, wasn’t it...? Anyway, go ahead and give it a try.”
“You aren’t going to eat it...?”
I was about to say that I had a full dinner ahead of me so I couldn’t, but instead I said, “Then I guess I’ll try half.”
So, this was the meatball Yamiru Lea made, huh? Even if I was the one to actually cook it, I figured she would feel a lot more confident if I approved of the taste.
“Ah, yup, this is plenty tasty,” I earnestly stated.
Using gigo had made the texture a bit fluffier.
And sure enough, not adding the aria brought out the giba meat’s strong flavor even further. In other words, this way could be more suited to the tastes of the people of the forest’s edge.
Also, they had a nicer, chewier texture in this shape than with the thin mini-burgers. And there were no issues with the meat juices, as there was plenty of that too. It was similar to yet different from hamburger steak in a way that I could definitely imagine the people of the forest’s edge enjoying.
What about Ai Fa, though...? Even if I could see everyone else feeling satisfied, I get the feeling she’d still pout, I thought to myself, only for Yamiru Lea to give a deep sigh.
“What’s the matter? Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s quite tasty. I just can’t help but wonder if it’s alright to be taking it so easy...”
I tilted my head, not getting what she meant, and she shot me a glare from beyond her long bangs.
“I heard about Zuuro Suun. The meeting from the other day didn’t settle things at all, so what in the world are the new leading clan heads planning on doing from here on out?”
“Ah, that’s what you meant? I’m not sure... But I know they won’t let you all be handed over to the castle.”
“They said to turn over the whole main Suun house, correct? In that case—”
“You know we aren’t going to hand over you and Zuuro Suun alone to take the fall, right, Yamiru Lea?” I said, beating her to the punch.
Yamiru Lea sighed and responded, “How perceptive of you. The Lea clan head kept on saying the same thing.”
“Oh, you talked to Rau Lea about that too? I’m sure that must’ve made him pretty angry.”
Rau Lea was currently grappling with Shin Ruu as Gilulu watched. That put him close enough that we could see each other, but he shouldn’t have been able to hear what we were saying.
Yamiru Lea turned away and gently stroked her left temple.
“He didn’t just get mad, he hit me. What a truly awful man.”
“Well, I do agree that Rau Lea shouldn’t have done that, but I can understand him getting at least a little upset to hear you talking like that.”
Yamiru Lea didn’t have anything to say in response.
“Even if you’re trying to save Mida and Tsuvai, please stop thinking it’s alright to go and sacrifice yourself. You should already know from the clan head meeting that that won’t work.”
“But Zattsu Suun had his eyes on me to be his successor. Those folks from the castle must be terribly eager to execute someone like me.”
“We don’t even know what they’re up to in the castle, so I can’t see any logic in blindly following all their demands. You’re one of our precious brethren, after all.”
Yamiru Lea looked down just a bit, hiding her expression behind her long bangs.
“You’ve done enough. Don’t you realize that if you just hand me over, that might be enough to satisfy the folks from the castle? You really are stubborn fools...”
“That’s my line. Please, try to understand why Rau Lea and I are so upset.”
At that, Yamiru Lea suddenly started biting the nail of her thumb. It was a really childish action that was quite unlike her.
“You’re angry too, Asuta...?”
“I guess I’m more sad than angry. Doesn’t it depress you, saying things that ignore everything our brethren are trying to do here?”
“You’re a foreigner, not one of our people.”
“I consider myself one of you, even if I am a foreigner.”
Yamiru Lea went silent.
There was a somehow gloomy feel lingering in the air, and so I tried calling out in the brightest tone I could manage, “Also, I don’t think the folks from the castle would have any interest in Zattsu Suun’s successor or whatever. They’re still insisting the incident from ten years back was the work of bandits, so I can’t see them really pursuing the Suun clan for those crimes.”
“They won’t pursue those crimes...?” Yamiru Lea quietly repeated, her expression still hidden. “Hmm, so that’s it... Is that why Zuuro Suun is so afraid of being handed over to the castle, perhaps...?”
“Huh? You know what that’s about, Yamiru Lea?”
“I can’t say I do. But you can naturally imagine when you think about it, can you not?”
“I really, really can’t. That’s why we’re asking Zuuro Suun personally,” I said, then I drew close to Yamiru Lea without thinking. “Please tell me. Why do you think the people from the castle want to get a hold of Zuuro Suun?”
“If it’s not to investigate crimes, then there’s only one other possibility, isn’t there?” There was now some sort of mysterious light in Yamiru Lea’s eyes, behind her long bangs. “The revival of the Suun clan.”
“The revival of the Suun...”
There was a chill to those words that caused them to sink deep into my chest.
“Do Zuuro Suun and the rest of our former house hold any other value? The new leading clan heads have been proving troublesome for those people from the castle, haven’t they? And so wouldn’t it make sense for them to wish to place Zuuro Suun back in that position and once more have the people of the forest’s edge act according to their wishes?”
I... honestly couldn’t just write that off as some crazy idea.
All sorts of memories were clicking together in my head, building to a single conclusion.
At the start, Cyclaeus had insisted every last member of the Suun clan be handed over to the castle, the branch houses included. And when that wasn’t working out, he switched to just focusing on the former members of the main house.
But why?
Cyclaeus had said from the start that it was to judge the weight of their crimes, right?
But was he looking not to punish them for their crimes, but to wipe their slates clean...? In order to undermine the current leading clan heads with unjust slander and reinstate the Suun clan under his approval?
That would also explain why Cyclaeus doesn’t seem to be in any sort of rush. If he wanted them to protect some sort of secret then he’s taking things way too slowly, but if he was hatching a scheme like that instead, there’d be no issue with taking his time.
In that case, the reason he was asking not just for Zuuro Suun but his whole family... Was it to have hostages to get the former leading clan head to listen to him, or to use one of Zuuro Suun’s sons in his place if the man himself wasn’t working out?
And were the intruders the other day meant solely to confirm Zuuro Suun’s presence rather than to do him harm? Were Cyclaeus’s words that the people of the forest’s edge were too lax in their punishments just a feint or bluff to hide his true intentions?
Of course, no matter how much I thought about it, it wasn’t like there was any proof. Still, it made a lot more sense than him wanting to kill every last member of the Suun to keep them quiet.
“But then... why did that make Zuuro Suun so panicked? Even if it was caused by the presence of those intruders, if he had the same thought that you did then I can’t see any reason for him to get all upset.”
“Unfortunately, I cannot claim to understand how Zuuro Suun thinks. Though he is my father, we aren’t alike in the least,” Yamiru Lea replied in a monotone voice, gently hugging her own body. “However... Perhaps he realized he lacks the strength needed to refuse the folks from the castle. So if he was reinstated as the leading clan head, and had to face the hatred and resentment of all his brethren... I could see that thought causing him great distress,” she added, her shoulders lightly trembling.
And so, I firmly grabbed hold of those shoulders with both hands.
“It’s going to be alright. The leading clan heads won’t hand you over to the castle. I feel that even more strongly now after hearing what you had to say.”
“What if this is nothing but some delusion I’ve made up inside my own head...?”
“We won’t just abandon our fellow people of the forest’s edge, whatever their plan is.”
Despite how cold she always seemed, sure enough, there was blood and warmth flowing through even Yamiru Lea’s body. And that was a fact I was constantly aware of as I held her shoulders till her trembling steadily came to an end.
◇
And then, night fell.
We had finished eating our meatball dinner, and Ai Fa and I were currently talking.
“So, things have been growing more and more complicated. Just what will end up becoming of Zuuro Suun?”
“The leading clan heads can’t exactly go deciding on a path forward at this point. First, we must figure out the truth.”
It really was just as Ai Fa said.
The time to settle things was steadily creeping nearer, but we were still left with nothing but a bundle of mysteries, doubts, and speculation. There was no way we could decide how to proceed with things like this.
“For now we must simply protect ourselves and wait for Kamyua Yoshu’s return. That’s all we can do.”
“No, there’s one more thing, right? Convincing Jeeda and making him into an ally.”
“With him, we’ll just have to wait until he shows himself. Waiting for your prey to appear is one form of hunting.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely a hunter-like idea.”
Now that I thought about it, I had seen Donda Ruu act surprisingly passive quite often. Did that intimidating man usually operate by lying low and waiting for the perfect chance rather than moving around aimlessly?
Under the dim light from the candle, I stared at Ai Fa’s face from the side.
She was just a bit close. Currently, we were leaning up against the wall, quietly chatting with one another. And we were at a distance where our shoulders were almost touching, but not quite.
“If you’re not by my side when an arrow is shot through the window, I won’t be able to protect you, now will I?” Ai Fa had said, and so we had remained in this spot ever since dinner.
When we went to sleep we would cover the windows to guard against attacks. But the wind felt quite nice tonight, so we decided to leave them clear until we turned in for the night. It wasn’t like anyone had suggested the idea, though. We just sort of agreed without speaking.
And so, we had been quietly chatting while seated so close we could almost feel the warmth from each other’s bodies.
“It would be nice if our peaceful everyday lives could return soon... Or at least peaceful enough that we don’t need to worry about arrows shooting in through our windows.”
“Hmm? What brings this up? Is the situation starting to get you down after all?”
“No. I’ve got a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head, so much so that I could get all worked up if I’m not careful. But I just can’t help feeling like I’d be truly blessed if all I had to worry about was you making it home safely and how business was going.”
Still keeping her eyes on the window, Ai Fa broke out in a frown.
Most of the time when I started making statements like that, Ai Fa would just go silent like she was now.
She really was catlike, especially considering how she would just go ahead and nuzzle close without asking when she was feeling uneasy.
But, well, I can’t say that exactly upset me or anything.
“Still, getting back to the matter at hand, it certainly is tiring just waiting for the other side to make a move. I keep worrying that something else is going to happen to someone close to us.”
“Indeed. And we also still have no idea who is responsible for all that, either.”
“Yeah. Still, if it really is all Cyclaeus’s doing... It may be a plot to force things back to how they used to be.”
“Force things back...?” Ai Fa questioned, tilting her head. And as she did so, her long hair tickled the bottom of my neck.
“You don’t think so? Returning Zuuro Suun to his position as leading clan head, reinstilling doubt towards the people of the forest’s edge in the townsfolk, interfering so that we can’t keep on doing business... Every last one of those sounds to me like Cyclaeus attempting to force things back to how they were.”
“If your thinking is correct...” Ai Fa whispered, using a quiet yet firm tone, “that Cyclaeus man is undoubtedly an enemy of the forest’s edge.”
“Yeah. If he were that obvious of a villain, he’d definitely be worth taking down,” I replied, half serious and half joking.
Ai Fa smiled ever so slightly, but then her eyes suddenly became those of a hunter.
“He’s here...” she whispered, grabbing hold of her blade’s grip.
In a fluster I followed her gaze, and found a pair of yellow eyes staring our way through the window.
I gulped. It felt as if I had run into some hungry beast in the dark of the night.
“You’re that boy who called himself Jeeda, aren’t you? So, do you finally feel like exchanging words?”
“Step outside... Both of you.”
With that, those blazing yellow eyes suddenly vanished.
Ai Fa rose to her feet, still holding her blade.
When I also stood, she shot me an intense look.
“Asuta, make certain not to leave my side. If he suddenly attacks I’ll push you towards the house, so be prepared.”
“Got it.”
And so, we carefully stepped outside.
Jeeda was just five meters from the door, standing there like some sort of ghost.
As always, he had on that leopard-patterned cloak that marked him as a hunter from elsewhere.
And the pale moonlight was giving him a seriously eerie feel.
“If you hold no malice, then I welcome you. I am the head of the Fa clan, Ai Fa, and this is my clan member Asuta.”
Jeeda didn’t respond.
“As we mentioned the other day, we have no hostility towards you. But before you throw all the hatred you hold for our people on us, we’d like to first try talking.”
Since his hood was hanging a good bit down, I couldn’t really see Jeeda’s expression. However, I could definitely see his yellow eyes like those of a wounded beast smoldering away.
And yet, perhaps because of the moonlight, his body looked somehow smaller than I remembered.
He was shorter than even Ludo Ruu to begin with, and slender too. And today, I wasn’t sensing any of that overwhelming fury bursting forth from his small frame.
“Before that though, just let me ask... How did you know where our house was? Asuta arrived by carriage, so I can’t imagine you managed to chase after him.”
“I followed the wagon’s tracks... It was far easier than tracing an animal’s footprints,” Jeeda replied, his face still hidden by his hood’s shadow.
That voice had once been crackling with thunderous rage... But now that he was talking calmly, it sounded like the slightly husky voice of a boy going through puberty.
“The criminals... Are they really all dead?” Jeeda quietly asked after a few moments of silence. “They’re saying in the post town that two of them were executed. But there’s no way two criminals from the forest’s edge could have slaughtered that entire merchant caravan on their own... What happened to the rest of them?”
“From what I’ve heard, they all died out over these past ten years. For whatever reason, many members of the Suun tend to die young, and all of the criminals belonged to that clan,” Ai Fa calmly responded.
“You’re lying,” Jeeda shot back with a glare. “As if something so convenient could possibly be true. You’re trying to protect those criminals, aren’t you...?”
“No, we’re not. To begin with, apparently very few people were involved with that incident from ten years back. They pulled off their plan by setting giba upon the merchant caravan. Using a trick like that, even a single person could take down 30 others.”
“Then who was it who attacked that plantation two nights ago, exactly? Every last one of you really are criminals, aren’t you?”
“Most certainly not. That was a scheme to lay false blame on the people of the forest’s edge. I firmly believe that there are no longer any hunters left among us who would dare to sully their pride,” Ai Fa firmly yet calmly stated.
As I stood there by her side, I had my breath taken away by how tough yet full of integrity her voice was. Usually she didn’t let her inner feelings show around others, but Ai Fa was really baring her soul now, which caused a strange sensation to well up inside of me.
Jeeda didn’t say a word as he glared back at Ai Fa.
But after another long silence, he opened his mouth... and a pleasant breeze blew through our hair while also swooshing down Jeeda’s hood.
“I... I trained so hard in order to have my revenge against the people of the forest’s edge...” the boy uttered, his unkempt fiery red hair silently swaying in the dark. “If all the criminals are already dead... Then who should I even be swinging my blade at...?”
Jeeda’s face suddenly came fully into view. It had once been twisted with rage, but now it was filled with sadness.
What a truly sorrowful expression...
Was this really the same boy who had angrily pointed his blades our way? That terrifying assailant?
His eyes were so big, and were almond shaped and at a slightly upward angle. His nose and mouth were both small, and his chin was slender too. Honestly, from his face alone, he looked younger than his age of 13 or 14. I just couldn’t imagine it shifting into that expression that called to mind a wounded leopard baring its fangs.
However, those yellow eyes of his alone still burned away like flames, even though they were filled with great sadness.
“Why exactly are you trying to get revenge, Jeeda...?” Ai Fa calmly asked.
With that, the fires burning in the boy’s eyes grew even more intense.
“Don’t go asking such stupid questions. To restore my father Goram’s honor, after he had those crimes thrust on him and was executed, of course.”
“I see. We people of the forest’s edge are also in the process of restoring our honor that was sullied by our former leading clan.”
Jeeda was silent.
“Asuta already said as much yesterday, but even if the Suun clan was the one to actually carry out those crimes, there might still have been someone behind them pulling the strings. Right now, we’re fighting to determine the truth of that matter.”
Still the boy didn’t say a word.
“To you, we may be nothing but enemies you wish to take revenge upon. But won’t you join together with us to bring the truth to light? That is the path forward that we wish for.”
Without offering any reply, Jeeda pulled his hood back up. And when he did, I spied his left hand just a bit from under his cloak, as well as the fact that it had a grey cloth wrapped around it.
“I’ll get my revenge in my own way...” Jeeda uttered in a voice that made it hard to tell what he was feeling. “If you don’t like that, then take me down here and now. That should be easy enough with the strength you possess, especially since I’m injured.”
“I have no reason to cut you down. In fact, I feel glad that I did not do so three days back.”
Silently, Jeeda turned away.
Hurriedly, I called out at his back, “Please wait. Didn’t you hear anything from your mother? The truth is, some of our allies are actually searching for her now. With her testimony, they may be able to expose our enemy’s crimes, so—”
“My mother doesn’t accept the idea of me living for revenge. It’s been a year now since I cut ties with her... That woman was defanged when my father died.”
“A year... So you’ve been apart for that long?”
“I’ve been living on Mount Masara. I come down to town to sell the barobaro birds I catch... And that’s how I learned about you, Asuta,” Jeeda stated in a monotone voice, his back still to us. “That the people of the forest’s edge were doing business in the Genos post town... and that their crimes had been forgiven while the other criminals had been judged... The merchants were all saying stuff like that. I got so mad I couldn’t even think straight and ended up coming here to Genos...”
“I see. But I don’t think the people of the forest’s edge have truly been forgiven just yet. That’s why we’ve been giving our all trying to form proper bonds with the townsfolk.”
Jeeda didn’t say anything in response.
And before long, his small back started to vanish into the darkness.
I stepped forward without thinking, only for a voice to quietly say, “Don’t follow.”
With that, Jeeda disappeared.
“Hey, Ai Fa... Is it really alright to just let him leave without a fight?”
“There was no helping it. That boy is searching for a path forward he can believe in. And that’s not a task anyone else can interfere in,” Ai Fa replied, her gaze firmly fixed on the direction where Jeeda had vanished. “Besides, he possesses the same spirit that we do. I believe that he won’t be standing in our way as an enemy again in the future. So with that in mind, we just have to keep waiting for our paths to someday naturally overlap...”
“I see. You may be right, there.”
At the very least, I could definitely sense that it would be incredibly foolish to try to forcefully restrain the young hunter.
And besides, if Ai Fa trusted in Jeeda, then I would too.
At last, our enemy was starting to vaguely come into view. And no matter what sort of plot Cyclaeus might try to throw our way, we would never yield.
If he really was planning to forcefully rewind the history of the forest’s edge, and if those actions were acknowledged and accepted... It would be like trying to deny my entire existence since coming to this world.
Unfortunately, I had no way of proving that my actions were the correct ones. And that was precisely why I had to lay everything on the line and stand against Cyclaeus.
Starting with Ai Fa, a great many people had accepted me by this point... and I didn’t want to let that all be in vain.
“It’s getting late. Let’s go to sleep, Asuta.”
“Right.”
With that, we bid farewell to the windy night air of the forest’s edge, and once more tried to rest up for tomorrow.
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