Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 4.21

Chapter 3: The White King of Morga

1

“Hmm...looks like we’re in quite a pinch,” Dan Rutim grumbled as he slowly sat up.

It was nearing evening, and he was currently in the depths of the forest. There was sand mixed with stone at his feet, and to his right he could hear water flowing. It seemed he was on the bank of some river whose name he didn’t even know.

When he turned to look behind him, he found the dark green thicket towering high. And though it was hard to make out through the foliage, there was a cliff face hidden behind.

As they plunged forward through that vegetation, Dan Rutim and the hunter with him had fallen down to this riverbank. And when that happened the branches must have cut into him, since his face and arms were stinging all over. Still, he at least didn’t seem to have suffered any permanent injuries to his fingers or eyes.

“Hey, Deem Rutim, are you all right? Let me know if you’re still alive,” Dan Rutim called out to the boy in his arms after taking in his surroundings.

In response, the youth with long blackish-brown hair painfully groaned, “Uugh...”

“Looks like you’re still with me for now at least, eh? I’m going to lay you down now,” Dan Rutim stated, placing the boy on the ground.

Instantly, Deem Rutim’s pained groaning started up again.

“Don’t flail about. You may have broken a couple ribs. And if you move more than you have to, broken ribs could end up damaging something inside.”

“Clan head... Dan Rutim...” the boy called out, looking up at the older hunter with listless eyes. “I’m sorry... This is all because I was so foolish...”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s my job to lead you properly, after all. So this screwup is all my responsibility,” Dan Rutim replied, only for tears to well up in the youth’s eyes.

“I’m so, so sorry... If anything happens to you, I won’t be able to face everyone in the Rutim clan...”

“I’m telling you, that’s my line. So I’m begging you, don’t go dying before me, all right?”

Deem Rutim was a hunter in training who had only just turned thirteen. And so, Dan Rutim had been showing him the ropes.

Currently, the Rutim settlement had just entered into a break period. The giba had eaten up the bounty of the forest nearby and wouldn’t come near the area for some time, so the Rutim hunters had been setting out traps deep in the forest, around the limits of where they could return from before it got too dark. And today, they had split up to check whether or not any giba had fallen for any of the previous day’s traps.

Sure enough, they had found one such giba caught in a trap. It was an old giba, and it had been large yet also very skinny. Its pelt was worn out, and its two horns had even broken off. That aged giba was dangling from a high tree branch, its back left leg caught in a vine trap.

“That giba looks totally helpless. I bet I could finish it off on my own, don’t you think?” Deem Rutim had said as he stood up from the shadow of the thicket.

However, Dan Rutim grabbed the boy’s arm from the side. “No, that giba is dangerous. We didn’t bring along bows, so let’s join up with Gazraan’s group first and then come back.”

“But why? That giba’s so weak that we shouldn’t need any bows. We can take care of things just fine by just slicing its throat with a blade.”

“I’m telling you, hold on. Giba on the verge of death can sometimes show unbelievable strength. And that giba was caught in the trap while it was starving, so it looks to be on edge.”

“How do you figure? It’s not even moving, almost like it’s already dead.”

“It’s currently saving up its strength. I know because of the smell.”

“The smell...?”

“Yup. When giba are mad, they give off a faint bittersweet scent. If it sees a human now, the last of its strength could come bursting forth in a torrent of rage,” Dan Rutim explained.

However, Deem Rutim shook his head, “I’m not convinced. I may be a kid new to the forest, but there’s no need to be so overly cautious. I mean, I’ve trained as a hunter too.”

“What I’m telling you goes the same for any hunter, no matter how experienced. I’m not belittling your strength.”

“In that case...if I finish off that giba, could I have its tusks and pelt for my house? It may be missing its horns, and the pelt is all worn out, but, well, that seems about right for my first prey.”

There was a youthful, reckless look shining away in the boy’s eyes.

However, Dan Rutim just tilted his head and went, “Hmm?”

“In the Ruu settlement, you get to keep the tusks and pelts you earn, right? Strong hunters earn a great fortune while weak ones suffer in poverty. I figure that harsh lifestyle has proven a strength for the Ruu clan.”

“I’m not so sure about that. It’s normal at the forest’s edge to share wealth equally between relatives. I think it’s just the Ruu and the northern clans who do otherwise.”

“By the northern clans, you mean the Zaza, Jeen, and Dom, right? They’re just as tremendously strong as the Ruu, aren’t they? And our Rutim clan has just as many hunters as they do, so we should be able to become a whole lot stronger...”

“That may be so, but it also may not be. For now, I’ve got no intentions of changing the customs of the Rutim,” Dan Rutim said with a chuckle, patting the boy lightly on the head. “But, well, if that’s how you feel, then you should try talking to Gazraan about it sometime. It’s you young folks who are in charge of the Rutim’s future, after all. I look forward to seeing where you all lead us after I step down as clan head.”

“In that case...please just stay there and watch,” Deem Rutim declared, and then he turned around and leapt out of the thicket.

Dan Rutim was taken completely off guard, allowing a gap to form between them before he could start to chase after Deem Rutim.

“You fool! Don’t go near that giba!”

Dan Rutim was the quickest in all of the Rutim settlement. And so, he was able to grab hold of Deem Rutim’s shoulder before the boy made it ten steps...but that was too late. The moment the giba saw the young hunter, it started wildly thrashing, and that movement caused the branch the vine hung from to snap.

“Aah!” Deem Rutim shouted, petrified. In the same instant, the giba charged, dragging the branch and vine behind it.

The beast’s massive head sank into the young hunter’s chest. If the giba still had horns, that single blow would have surely killed him. As it was, though, Dan Rutim stood prepared and caught Deem Rutim’s body from directly behind.

“Hmm, looks like my only choice is to run.”

And so, without the slightest hesitation, Dan Rutim turned his back to the giba while cradling the boy in his arms.

If he could flee into a tight space, the beast wouldn’t be able to follow. With that thought in mind, Dan Rutim plunged into the thicket...but he rarely ever set foot this deep into the forest. Soon he came to a place he didn’t recognize at all as he fled, still hearing the giba’s footsteps approaching from behind, only to fall from that concealed cliff.

“What a foolish mistake. I’ll never be able to apologize enough for needlessly exposing you to such danger,” Dan Rutim lamented as he placed his hand on the head of the boy lying in the sand. And before long, tears started streaming from Deem Rutim’s eyes.

“Why should you have to apologize, Dan Rutim...? It’s my thoughtless actions that got us into this mess, right...?”

“And like I told you, it’s my role to lead novices like you properly. My precursors were able to do that for me, but it looks like I turned into a real screwup...”

There was a large river flowing to their right. And beyond that, an even thicker forest than the thicket behind them: Mount Morga.

Yes, it was Mount Morga, where no one was permitted to set foot.

The Rutim settlement was located rather far south along the forest’s edge, but just from a half day’s walk, they had come this close to the mountain.

Still, even though the people of the forest’s edge had been permitted to live in this area, they were forbidden from setting foot on Mount Morga. If they were to disturb the mountain, a calamity could bring about Genos’s downfall. That was the legend that had been passed down in this land.

On top of that, beasts even more frightening than giba lived on Mount Morga. That sacred mountain was protected by three types of beasts: the giant madarama snakes, red savages, and varb wolves.

The tale went that the giba were driven away by those beasts, all the way to the foot of the mountain. And now Dan Rutim had found himself in the predicament of having been chased to the outskirts of that forest.

Hmm... This is quite the dangerous situation, he thought to himself, looking down at his own body.

He was seated with both legs stretched out over the sand. And currently, he had a great sense of unease about his right ankle.

More than hurting, it felt hot. Nothing seemed strange about it at a glance, but it was possible the bone was dislocated.

My father Raa said that if I didn’t handle stuff like this properly, it could lead to the bone breaking or the muscles tearing. And that I absolutely shouldn’t go putting weight on it until the bone is back in place.

On top of that, Deem Rutim seemed to have broken several ribs. And so, neither of them could properly walk.

Their surroundings were starting to descend into twilight, and the wind was beginning to feel chilly. If they couldn’t make themselves able to set out right away, it would be difficult to make it back to the settlement before sunset.

This may well be the day my soul returns to the forest, Dan Rutim quite casually thought to himself.

Perhaps when that giba attacked, he should have cast Deem Rutim’s body aside and drawn his sword. It was easy for a hunter to have their soul return to the forest over a single mistake in judgment like that.

Still, I really did wrong by Deem Rutim.

Dan Rutim had five children, and aside from his youngest daughter Morun Rutim, they had all been married. His oldest son Gazraan Rutim had grown into a splendid hunter, and he would surely be capable of guiding the Rutim as soon as it was needed.

But Deem Rutim still had his whole life ahead of him. It would be an unbearable shame for his life to end here and now. There was no way a thirteen-year-old still in training would be prepared to die out in the forest.

In that case, I’ve got to give whatever it takes to protect him. I guess I should prepare a fire to make it through the night? Dan Rutim thought as he tried to stand.

And it was at that very moment that a figure casually appeared.

Dan Rutim’s eyes opened wide as he froze in a half-risen position.

“Could you...possibly be the same one from back then?” the man called out, clearly shocked.

The figure that had drifted in like some sort of illusion just quietly stared at Dan Rutim, eyes sparkling with a look of intelligence.