2
And so, when we returned to the Sauti settlement after wrapping up business in the post town, we found the lord of the forest’s massive corpse already lying there.
Apparently, the hunters had encountered the beast not long after entering the forest, and they had settled things less than an hour later.
There were many wounded. Ai Fa and Donda Ruu in particular suffered especially serious injuries, so at first I was really worried rather than happy.
Ai Fa had some broken ribs, but by the time I returned to the settlement, she had already fallen asleep with bandages wrapped around her abdomen. As would be expected, she had used romu leaves to ease the pain.
“Still, she got off lightly compared to what happened to Deem Rutim when he took a giba’s charge. If you give it a month, she should have her strength as a hunter back,” Dan Rutim had said with a smile.
On the other hand, the lord’s tusk had apparently dug into Donda Ruu’s right shoulder. Fortunately, his muscles and bones weren’t seriously injured, so the expectation was that he would be healed up in about two months or so.
Hearing everything that happened on the hunt made our heads spin for a while, but afterward we were able to once again turn our attention to the lord of the forest.
It certainly was an unbelievably massive giba.
In fact, I figured it was even bigger than the karon I had seen in Dabagg.
I estimated that it was roughly around 1.7 meters tall and 2.5 meters long, and I wasn’t sure even a pair of adult men would be able to wrap their arms around its entire body. And speaking of arms, its horns and tusks were about as long and thick as mine. Its body was like a small hill lying in the middle of the plaza.
Examining it closer, the lord’s whole body was riddled with wounds. Even though it had apparently been washed, the thick stench of blood still lingered about it. It had lost both eyes, the right half of its face had been smashed in, and its front legs had both been severed at the knees. To top it all off, it had a truly spectacular number of injuries from swords and arrows.
Of particular note was the sword that pierced its throat. It was a hunter’s blade of around eighty centimeters in length, buried almost completely in the lord’s neck.
Though all the arrows and stakes stuck in its body had been removed, that blade alone remained, as it was embedded so deeply in the beast’s flesh that it couldn’t be pulled out. Shockingly, Ai Fa had been the one responsible for this, the fatal blow.
“The lord had one last burst of strength after, but then it collapsed all on its own before we could strike it,” Rau Lea grumbled, sounding obviously displeased.
Meanwhile, Dari Sauti was walking over to us. “Asuta, I’d like to ask all of you to do one last job for us. Could you use the lord’s meat in some way to make tonight’s dinner?”
“Huh? You want to use this meat? But the taste will definitely suffer after all the damage it took.”
“It doesn’t matter what it tastes like. I just want everyone under the Sauti to eat it. We need to regain the strength that we lost to it.” Dari Sauti had a look in his eyes that was calm, and yet terribly intense.
After once more inspecting the lord, I nodded back, “All right. Still, I’ll try my hardest to make it as tasty as possible. Could we ask for any women who aren’t busy to help out?”
“Of course. I’ll be summoning everyone under the clan here, so use as many as you like... I humbly request your assistance.” And with that, Dari Sauti shouted out to the surrounding hunters under him, “Skin the lord!”
It went without saying, but this was an incredibly big job.
After all, there were sixty-eight people in total under the Sauti and an additional nineteen guests, making for eighty-seven people in total. We had been preparing that much soup each day, but this time around we would need to put in even more effort.
On top of that, the prep work would also take time. As soon as he told me he didn’t care if it was tasty or not, I decided to put in all the effort I could.
To eat meat that hadn’t been properly bloodlet, you first had to carefully wash it in saltwater. We started by gathering up all the salt to be found in the settlement, then set about cleansing the cuts of meat. That still wasn’t enough to fully wipe away the stench, though, so I decided on dishes with an especially strong aroma. There definitely weren’t enough vegetables either, and there was no time to go buy more from the post town, so we had some brought from the Ruu clan’s stock. Fortunately, Sheera, Lala, and Rimee Ruu also came over along with them, as they had finished their work back home. Since Reina and Vina Ruu had been staying here already, it was like a gathering of the Ruu clan’s elites.
Now that we had their aid, we started giving the Sauti women their orders. Time passed in a flash, with things so lively that it was as if we were in the middle of a gambling den or something.
By the time the sun set in the west, bonfires had been lit to illuminate the plaza where everyone was gathered. Around half an hour after that, our work was finally finished.
“This is not a celebratory banquet. It is a solemn dinner in which we shall regain the strength that we lost,” Dari Sauti stated, a bonfire burning bright behind him. “Thanks to the kindness of a number of clans, the Ruu foremost among them, we were able to escape our destruction. We must become stronger than ever before in order to repay that kindness from here on out. To this end, we shall now take the great strength of the lord of the forest into ourselves.”
Donda Ruu was seated there next to Dari Sauti’s feet. Though he was surely also using romu leaves to dull the pain, his eyes were blazing just as bright as always and he didn’t appear to be impaired in the least.
Meanwhile, Ai Fa was still sleeping in the Vela house, and as I listened to Dari Sauti’s words, I wanted to rush to her side as soon as possible.
“Before we eat, I would like to first give symbols of our gratitude to those clans who lent us their strength.”
When he said that, several women led by Mil Fei Sauti quietly moved to the front of the bonfire. With Ludo Ruu’s aid, Donda Ruu managed to force himself to his feet.
“Firstly to the Ruu clan, I give the lord of the forest’s right horn.”
With that, Mil Fei Sauti passed a horn the size of my arm to Dari Sauti, who then handed it to Donda Ruu.
“And to the Rutim, the right tusk.”
Gazraan Rutim politely accepted the gift in question. Though Gazraan Rutim had taken a heavy blow to the chest, there didn’t seem to be any damage to his bones, and so supposedly he would have his strength back after resting for a few days.
“To the Lea, the left tusk.”
Rau Lea looked rather displeased. It seemed his injuries weren’t as serious as what he had suffered on the first day. However, every last one of the hunters had bruises and scratches all over.
“To the Fa, the left horn.”
Since my clan head wasn’t present, I accepted that one in her place.
The massive old giba horn was chipped and scratched all over. Being so large, it naturally had quite a bit of heft to it too.
“And I would like to express my gratitude to the chefs as well. To the Deen clan, I give this right leg bone.”
Toor Deen timidly stepped forward and was handed a huge thigh bone. Just a few hours ago we had been removing the meat from it.
“To the Sudra, this bone from the left leg.”
Yun Sudra accepted the gift, looking even now like she was about to break out in tears of gratitude. As she stood there beside me, she hugged it tight to her chest.
“Along with these horns, tusks, and bones, I would also like you all to pass on tales of this endeavor to your children and grandchildren. Share with them how the Ruu, Rutim, Lea, Fa, Deen, and Sudra came together to save the Sauti from destruction and were given these gifts in return. And we shall do the same with the damaged skull that has had its horns and tusks removed. I shall never forget the debt of gratitude I feel my whole life long.” With that, Dari Sauti’s square-jawed face broke out in the same smile as always. “Well then, let’s get this dinner started. It may not be a banquet, but I hope it will let you all feel the overflowing joy of being alive... We give thanks for the blessings of the forest, and offer our gratitude to all the chefs who manned the flame and gave us our life for this night.”
It wasn’t a banquet, and so everyone present recited the premeal chant. No one held up any bottles of fruit wine, and the plates were silently passed around.
The bonfires lit all about were also being used to grill pieces of meat, one after another. With just three hours of prep time, we hadn’t been able to finish a grilled dish too. Chunks of giba meat from the lord of the forest had been marinated in tau oil, sugar, myamuu, and herbs to eliminate the stench, and were currently cooking directly over the flame on metal skewers.
In the meantime, we went ahead and set out our finished dishes. There were three different completed dishes: giba curry, hot pot stew with tarapa, and sautéed meat and pepe. All of them were powerfully flavored in order to cover up the stench, and used plenty of ingredients. If anyone’s tongue got worn out, they would just have to give it a chance to rest by having a few of the mountain of baked poitan we had prepared.
“Wah ha ha! That’s the lord of the forest for you! This meat’s incredibly chewy!” a laughing voice shouted once we finished laying out the dishes. Though I wanted to hurry to Ai Fa, after a bit of hesitation I ended up heading over toward the laughter. Naturally, I found the members of the Rutim clan gathered there, illuminated by a bonfire.
“What do you think of the taste, Dan Rutim?”
“Oh, Asuta! It’s incredibly tough, but there’s no issue with the taste! The faint bit of giba stench it still has is honestly kinda interesting!”
“Right. The lord of the forest wasn’t just huge, it also had unusually tough meat, which made cutting it up quite a chore.”
Still, this much toughness was no issue for the people of the forest’s edge. Dan Rutim just kept grinning away as he bit into the rib meat. For my part, this was the first time I’d ever cooked such ridiculously huge spare ribs.
“And, well, I also wanted to thank you too, Dan Rutim...”
“Hmm? Ah, you mean about Ai Fa? I just happened to be standing where she was going to fall! I don’t see why I should be thanked over and over again for that!”
“No, when I think about what would have happened if we weren’t so lucky, it makes me shiver. The Fa clan owes you a lot.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Asuta! We all worked together in order to take down the lord of the forest! If any one of us weren’t there, someone might well have lost their life. But we all protected one another, so there’s no need for anyone to feel especially indebted to anyone else!” Dan Rutim said, shooting me a grin. “And that doesn’t just go for us hunters! The reason we were able to give our all is because our cooks prepared such delicious food for us! That’s why Dari Sauti gave the Deen and Sudra chefs those bones from the lord!”
“Right...” I said with a smile of my own. “I guess I’ll try to hold back on all the thanks, then. But still, you all worked hard.”
“Right! Looking back, these past few days have been pretty fun!”
If Ai Fa and Donda Ruu hadn’t been seriously injured, I probably would have said the same thing, and meant it from the bottom of my heart.
As that thought ran through my head, Gazraan Rutim sent me a gentle smile. “Asuta, you already finished your work as a chef, didn’t you? So now I believe you should do your duty as a member of the Fa clan.”
“Right... Thank you, Gazraan Rutim.”
After bowing to the members of the Rutim clan, I went ahead and secured some of each dish. I could just eat whatever was left over, but I wanted to have some ready so that Ai Fa would be able to eat whatever she pleased when she woke up.
I grabbed a wooden plank to use in place of a tray, and then went ahead and set the wooden plates on top of it. Around half of the plates we were using tonight were actually supposed to be for the outdoor restaurant.
After grabbing helpings of the three types of dishes, some baked poitan, and several pieces of grilled meat, I hurried over to the Vela house. Along the way, I saw the members of the Ruu clan gathered around a bonfire. Since Donda Ruu and Ludo Ruu were sitting together elsewhere, that meant only the five women and Darmu Ruu were here.
“I don’t need women to help me eat! I’m not a child!” Darmu Ruu angrily shouted. Aside from Ai Fa and Donda Ruu, he had been the most seriously injured. Apparently, the skin on his right palm had been abraded, and his left shoulder dislocated.
“So you say, but just who exactly went and spilled such precious food on the ground?” Vina Ruu countered.
“That’s right! We worked really hard making it, so you’d better not waste any!” Rimee Ruu said.
The two middle sisters giggled at the retorts coming from the eldest and youngest. Sheera Ruu was there too, standing right in front of Darmu Ruu with her knees bent, holding a wooden plate and spoon.
It might’ve been amusing to stay and watch them, but I pushed that pointless impulse back and instead hurried to the Vela house.
Along the way, I ran into Yun Sudra. She was still holding the massive thighbone as she smiled and called out, “Ah, Asuta.”
“Hey, what’s up? Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I kinda feel like I’ve got some sort of lump in my throat... I don’t think I could get anything down until my emotions settle a bit.”
“I see.” I nodded in understanding.
Her gaze fell to the makeshift tray I was holding, and she broke out in an even brighter smile. “Are you going to Ai Fa? Please, don’t let me keep you. I’m sure she’ll be sad if you’re not there when she wakes up.”
“Yeah...” Even so, I hesitated.
Yun Sudra gave a cute little tilt of her head. “What is it? You aren’t the sort of person to treat Ai Fa so crudely.”
With a small sigh, I simply replied, “Right,” and got moving again.
However, there was yet another person awaiting me in front of the house in question: Mil Fei Sauti, who had been running around so busily not long ago. She was raising her hand up to the door, but stopped, instead quietly turning to look my way.
“What’s going on, Mil Fei Sauti?”
“Ah, I just wanted to come check in since everyone had left the house to help with work. You came to check on Ai Fa too, didn’t you?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
This wasn’t the branch house assigned to us, but rather the main Vela house where the wounded were gathered. Ai Fa was here, being looked after by the Vela women.
“The seriously injured men are past the worst of it. And now that the lord of the forest has been defeated, the Sauti clan can start to regain our strength bit by bit,” Mil Fei Sauti said as she glanced around the plaza.
The feast was similar in scale to the Ruu banquets in terms of the number of people present. Brawny hunters, graceful women, the children born to them, and just a few older folks... Everyone was gathered around the bonfires, eating the meat of the lord. There wasn’t the same wild energy in the air as you’d have at a banquet, but everyone was still appreciating the joy of life as was fitting for the people of the forest’s edge.
As I held my heavy tray, I smiled back and said, “Right. I’m sure that the Sauti will be just fine. Obviously, there’s gonna be plenty of difficulties ahead, but if you do your best, everything will work out in the end.”
“Indeed.” Mil Fei Sauti nodded in response, but she didn’t move from the spot. Instead, she started staring straight at me. “Asuta, I ask that you not speak a word of this to anyone...”
“Huh?”
As I stood there taken aback, Mil Fei Sauti suddenly kneeled down. She crossed both arms in front of her chest and bowed deeply to me.
“The Sauti clan was saved thanks to the effort all of you put in. If ever a time comes when your clan is in crisis, I promise to give everything I have to aid you.”
“Ah, you shouldn’t go so far, Mil Fei Sauti...”
“I know. As the leader of the women, I cannot let my clan members see me like this,” she said as she rose to her feet. The expression she wore looked just as strict as always, but there were some faint tears just barely showing in her eyes. “Still, that’s how I truly feel. And I’m certain our clan head Dari feels much the same. I shall never forget the kindness you have shown for as long as I live.”
“Thank you. It would make me very glad if the Fa have managed to become friends with the Sauti.”
“No, we’ll have to work very hard to be worthy of calling ourselves your friends after this,” Mil Fei Sauti said, her voice remaining perfectly solemn as she opened the door. “Now then, I welcome you into this house in place of the Vela women. Please, go ahead and enter.”
I gave a quick bow and stepped into the dimly lit room. After taking off my shoes, I first cut across the main hall and advanced down a hallway to the right. The men were off on the left, and so Ai Fa alone should have been sleeping down this way.
After giving a light knock first to be safe, I went ahead and peered inside.
Ai Fa was still sleeping away silently, just as she had been a few hours prior.
She was facing upward atop the bedding as she slept. Her hunter’s cloak was removed, and she had bandages wrapped around her abdomen. She must have been suffering quite a bit to lay like that, as she usually slept on her side.
With a “Hmm...?” there was a faint twitch of her eyelids.
“Did I wake you?” I asked as I kneeled down next to her pillow.
At that, Ai Fa’s eyelids opened halfway, and her blue eyes stared blankly. Then her lips opened, and she whispered, “Asuta...”
“Yeah, it’s me. Are your injuries doing okay?”
“Yes...this is nothing...”
Ai Fa’s right hand slowly reached out toward me, but just before the tips of her fingers brushed up against my cheek, she suddenly stopped.
“You don’t mind if I touch you, do you...?”
“I don’t. I’m mentally prepared.”
Ai Fa’s hand caressed my cheek. “I returned, just like I promised... Now it’s time for you to see your promise through...”
“Right. We ended up going with a bit of an odd lineup, but hopefully it’s to your tastes.”
I lent Ai Fa a hand and helped her to sit up. Then I placed a soft cloth behind her and had her lean against the wall.
Perhaps thanks to the romu leaves, Ai Fa wasn’t showing any signs of being in pain. However, her eyes didn’t seem to be quite fully focused.
“Now then, what do you want to start with? Sorry, they’re all really strongly flavored dishes.”
“I’m fine with anything. I feel so hungry that I could die. I need your cooking in order to heal...”
“You don’t have to force yourself to speak. Can you hold a plate yourself?”
“I can’t,” Ai Fa replied in a childish tone. “I couldn’t bear spilling the food you worked so hard to make... So you can hold the plate.”
“Yeah, yeah, as you wish.”
I figured it might be good to start with a soup, so I held out the hot pot stew prepared with tarapa for her. However, Ai Fa just stared at me, not moving to pick up the spoon.
“Er, is it difficult to lift your arm?”
Ai Fa didn’t reply, instead simply opening her mouth a bit with an “Aah.” It was a repeat of when she dislocated her left elbow.
Feeling terribly shaken up inside, I brought the spoon up to Ai Fa’s mouth. As she bit into the chewy giba innards, she muttered, “It’s spicy.”
“Yeah, since I used a fair bit of chitt seeds. But the stench is hardly noticeable, right? The offal is from the lord of the forest.”
“Right. It’s delicious,” Ai Fa said with a nod. “I want to eat ordinary meat.”
“Then I guess you should try this sautéed meat and pepe next. It’s strongly flavored too, but I wouldn’t call it spicy.”
Ai Fa kept on slowly eating, staring at my face all the while. But when the plate was about half empty, she seemed to become tired, as her head started tilting a bit.
“Are you sleepy? If you are, you should rest a bit more.”
“I’m not...” she grumbled back as she slumped down. Out of fear that she might aggravate her injuries if she fell over, I hurriedly reached out and supported her.
My hands were now up against her exposed shoulders. Her body seemed to be just a bit warmer than usual.
“Okay, how about we lay you down? I’ll heat the food back up for you later.”
“I’m not sleepy... Besides, I believe it’s easier for me to sit than to lie down...”
“I see. Then go ahead and get some rest like this.”
I sat down, leaning my back against the wall myself, still supporting my clan head’s body. Her head, meanwhile, lolled onto my shoulder.
“Ah... It’s you, Asuta...”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
I could feel her body heat up against my shoulder and ear. She really was warmer than usual, with the top of her head in particular feeling like it was on fire, but when I compared that to how she used to be as cold as ice when we first met, I could sense how much vitality she possessed now.
Since my concerns for Ai Fa’s wellbeing took priority, I didn’t feel bashful in the slightest. All I felt was how truly precious she was to me.
“Asuta... I made it back...”
“Yeah. You might have been injured, but if you can put up with it for a month or so, you should be back to normal.”
“Are you happy about that?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Don’t you want me...to lose my strength as a hunter?”
With a slight tilt of my head, I tried to glance down at Ai Fa’s expression, but since we were so close right now, that proved difficult. Her long bangs blocked my vision, so I could only see her mouth.
“Of course not. All I want is for you to keep doing your best as a hunter. Without getting injured, as much as possible.”
“But why?” Ai Fa whispered back.
I gently leaned my cheek up against her blonde head of hair.
“You live for your work as a hunter, don’t you? There’s no way I would ever wish for you to lose that.”
Ai Fa didn’t say anything in response.
“If our positions were reversed and you said you wanted me to lose the ability to cook, I would be completely crushed. There’s no way I’d ever wish such a thing for you.”
Ai Fa just kept silently pressing her head up against my cheek.
Then, her hand oh-so-timidly reached out for my own.
“Can I really...keep staying by your side?”
“Of course. In fact, it’d be a big problem for me if you disappeared.”
“But, if it weren’t for me, then you...”
“The thought of not having you around is so awful I don’t even want to consider it.” I strongly returned Ai Fa’s grip, which felt so unusually weak. “It can’t be anyone but you. Please, stay by my side for the rest of my life, as the proud head of the Fa clan. That’s all I want...”
Ai Fa bit her lip, then put all her weight on me.
As I kept gripping her hand, I supported her weight as she needed me to.
With that, our time at the Sauti settlement came to a close alongside the end of the indigo month.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login