Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 18 - Chapter 5.4

4

Ten more years had passed.

Zattsu Suun had fallen ill, Migi Suun had perished out in the forest, and Zuuro Suun became the next leading clan head, continuing the Suun clan’s fall to corruption.

However, it wasn’t as if Zattsu Suun’s tenacity had simply faded away to nothing. Though his hair had fallen out and he had become nothing but skin and bones, always chewing on the forbidden leaves, that resolute blaze still hadn’t disappeared from his eyes.

“Strength... If we can just keep building up strength...until the day this illness of mine is healed...”

The Suun settlement continued to be bound by the laws that Zattsu Suun had established. Ultimately, though the role of leading clan head ended up falling to Zuuro Suun, nothing else had changed. And in the meantime, the children of the main house had all grown up.

Yamiru Suun became a girl with the smile of a poisonous snake.

Diga Suun was now nothing but an embodiment of pure vanity.

Doddo Suun was a weakling who could do nothing without drinking wine.

Mida Suun only seemed to have an interest in eating.

And Tsuvai Suun had come to believe that a person’s worth was determined by the coins that they earned.

As for the new leading clan head Zuuro Suun, though he remained weak-willed, he began putting on an air of superiority...while Oura and the members of the branch houses all now had eyes like glass orbs.

No one living in the Suun settlement could escape Zattsu Suun’s control. But despite his wishes, the Suun clan’s strength wasn’t growing. Instead, many of their people seemed to grow infirm younger than expected, as if trying to escape their former clan head’s forceful will.

At first, there was a concern that the blessings of Morga might be poisonous to humans. Later on, it was suggested that the issue might have been the fact that they had to eat giba innards due to how few of them they were hunting. But eventually, everyone just stopped caring. If this was the penance demanded by the forest, they simply had to abide by that... It seemed like everyone had started thinking that way, even without having spoken about it with each other.

At any rate, the members of the main house had the same diet as the others, and aside from Zattsu Suun, they were all quite healthy, so the issue had to lie elsewhere. In Tei Suun’s view, this was simply the natural end for those who lost the will to live.

The men who had committed all those crimes alongside Tei Suun had also passed away one after another, and now he was the only one left. Raiding farms or merchant caravans was no longer possible, and the fortune they had amassed was getting used up bit by bit to purchase meat and wine.

The Suun clan kept on stumbling down the path of decline and corruption.

And at long last, the night of their destruction arrived.

◇

“From now on, you three will be living here,” the head of the Dom clan, Deek Dom, stated.

They were currently at the Dom settlement. Beside Tei Suun stood Diga and Doddo Suun. Though, actually, they had already had the Suun name stripped from them, so they were simply Tei, Diga, and Doddo. Their arms and legs were bound with leather straps, and they had been made to stand before the Dom clan head.

“Slay giba as hunters of the forest’s edge. Living proper lives is the only way that you can atone.”

Though he still wasn’t quite seventeen yet, Deek Dom already possessed the strength and appearance of a true clan head. As the man’s blazing black eyes glared at them, Diga and Doddo trembled.

The Suun clan had fallen.

Over half of the people from the branch houses were still living at the settlement, but their time as the leading clan had ended for good. The members of the main house had their clan name taken from them, the members of branch houses with outside blood relations joined those clans, and Zattsu and Zuuro Suun were set to be judged as criminals.

After notice was sent to Genos, the two of them would surely be scalped. Zattsu and Zuuro Suun would pay for the innumerable crimes of the clan with their lives. Everyone else was simply ordered to live in a correct and proper manner from now on.

“Starting tomorrow, we’ll be having you join us as hunters. If you are able to reclaim your pride as people of the forest’s edge through your work, then you have my word that you will be granted the Dom name.”

With their limbs still bound, the three of them were led to a Dom branch house where they would be sleeping, with all three of them packed into a single small room. Doubtless, there were men keeping watch in shifts stationed outside the door.

As they lay there illuminated by the moonlight streaming in, Diga and Doddo still looked befuddled. Tei couldn’t blame them. He could barely comprehend the circumstances he found himself in either.

The Suun clan had fallen.

He had believed the Suun would never collapse as long as Zattsu Suun’s deep-seated grudge kept smoldering under their feet, and yet all of a sudden it just happened in the course of a single night.

Of course, it wasn’t as if he had no suspicions that such a day might come. When Zattsu Suun fell ill and Migi Suun perished, the Suun clan’s fate was sealed.

So long as there was no true successor to Zattsu Suun’s will, there was no chance for the clan to live on. It had already been fourteen years since they had started pillaging the forest of Morga, and for all that time, the Suun clan had forbidden sending any members to marry into their subordinate clans in order to protect their secret. The way they were going, they were sure to eventually earn the distrust of the clans under them and either be abandoned or have their actions exposed.

However, the Suun had fallen long before such a thing had had a chance to occur. It was the Ruu and Fa clans who brought it about. Truthfully, it was just the Fa clan, with only two members to its name, that actually took them down. The Ruu just lent their support.

But...is that truly the case?

Certainly, the Fa clan had proven that they possessed the strength needed to destroy the Suun. However, the one to invite them to the Suun settlement was Yamiru Suun. Though now she was just Yamiru.

So was Yamiru perhaps the one who had actually brought about their end?

Had she used Zuuro Suun’s coveting of the Fa clan’s fortune against him and manipulated Diga and Doddo’s rotten desires in order to bring about the end of their clan?

Even if that is the case, there’s nothing strange about it.

Zattsu Suun had fixed his gaze on her at a young age, and she had been pressured to one day marry Migi Suun, meaning she had personally suffered from the obsessions of the Suun. As a result, Yamiru’s only options were to accept everything they had done and reign over the Suun clan or to see it utterly destroyed. Any other path she chose would simply be digging her own grave, and it was hard to imagine Yamiru of all people walking such a path.

The Fa clan is taking steps to make it so giba meat can be exchanged for coins in order to bring prosperity to the forest’s edge... Zattsu Suun trampled over countless taboos in his pursuit of power, but they are attempting to gain it while living properly as people of the forest’s edge.

Tei had no idea how many years such a roundabout method would take to produce results. However, in fourteen years, the Suun clan had accomplished absolutely nothing at all.

Just what had the Suun gained from devouring the blessings of Morga, casting aside their work as hunters and indulging in comfort? All it had done was produce a weak clan that had discarded its pride as people of the forest’s edge. And even when they were freed from the threat of giba, there were still so many who lost the will to live that the number of their blood relations hadn’t even risen significantly.

If the Fa clan’s idea succeeded, there would be fewer deaths from starvation, and the people of the forest’s edge could very well grow in strength from it, finding their pride as hunters bolstered along the way. The Fa truly were a clan perfectly suited to destroying the Suun.

But is such a thing truly possible? Tei faintly thought as he squatted down in the dark room.

Tei and the members of the main Suun house had also eaten the cooking from the Fa clan that had been served at yesterday’s clan head meeting.

The giba meat with its stench removed and poitan that was cooked flat rather than boiled were strange dishes. They were produced by the women of the Suun branch houses following the instructions given by Asuta of the Fa clan.

Those foods truly were surprising.

However, the members of the Suun clan knew the taste of the meats sold in the post town. Especially those of the main house, who foisted all giba meat with its terrible stench upon the branch houses, and generally just ate karon and kimyuus.

The cooking Asuta and the others had made was even more delicious, though... Could it possibly stir even the hearts of the townsfolk?

Tei couldn’t say.

The only thing he knew now with any certainty was that the Suun clan had fallen.

◇

The following day, they were sent out giba hunting just as Deek Dom had declared they would be.

They were released from their leather bonds and given hunter’s cloaks and swords, at which point Diga and Doddo went deathly pale. The two of them had never properly hunted giba.

“Still, you’ve at least taken down giba caught in traps, haven’t you? So let’s have you start off with that.”

There were seven hunters in the Dom clan, which was less than Tei had expected. They all wore giba skulls and had fine physiques, but none of them seemed to be especially old. In all likelihood, there were a large number of giba here around the northern settlement, just as it had once been for the Suun, so the men surely all perished out in the forest before they could reach middle age. Even now, they were living the sort of lives filled with danger that the Suun had cast aside.

“All right, let’s get going.”

With that order from Deek Dom, they stepped into the forest.

Once they were inside, they soon split into two parties. Four of the hunters accompanied Tei’s group, while the other three separated from them.

Deek Dom was included in their group. If they showed any signs of trying to flee, the man was surely prepared to bring his blade to bear and purge them. His muscular form seemed to be brimming with every bit as much vitality as Migi Suun’s once had.

The Ruu clan head, the head of the Rutim, Deek Dom, Gulaf Zaza...and that female hunter from the Fa, and even the youngest Ruu son... To think that there were such strong hunters outside of the Suun settlement.

There was no way that the Suun could have fought back against them.

Had the Suun clan been fated to fall for the past ten years? Ever since Zattsu Suun fell ill and Migi Suun died?

If that’s the case, then our downfall was assisted not only by Yamiru, but by me as well...

As those thoughts ran through Tei’s head, they advanced down the trackless path, only for Deek Dom to eventually give the silent signal to halt. Diga and Doddo looked all around in sheer terror.

Not a moment later, a giba suddenly came leaping out of the forest. The beast looked to be starving. Its eyes blazed bright with anger, and it seemed to have lost its senses as it charged the group.

“Eeeeeek!” Diga shrieked as he cowered.

Tei leaped over the youth’s back and swung his sword. The steel blade dug deep into the beast’s neck. However, Tei lacked the strength needed to fell a giba with a single blow. He twisted his body to the left while holding tight so that the blade wouldn’t be pulled away from him.

The giba slipped past Tei’s side, spurting red blood as it went. Deek Dom was standing directly in its path. The Dom clan head countered the beast’s charge by dodging to the side and swinging his sword down as he went. The blade sliced into the giba’s neck on the opposite side of Tei’s strike.

The impact had surely broken its spine. Flipping head over hooves, the giba fell flat in the thicket. The remaining three hunters then leaped forward and immediately dealt the finishing blow.

“You handled yourself quite well,” Deek Dom called out while flicking the blood from his sword. “Tei, you haven’t carried out your duty as a hunter for years, same as the others, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And from what I hear, you’re already over fifty years old. When you take all that into consideration, the ability you showed just now was quite impressive.”

Tei could find no words to offer in response.

Zattsu Suun had ordered him to not neglect his training for the sake of the days to come. All he had done was follow that order with dedication, nothing else.

“You may well be able to walk the proper path as a hunter once more.”

It was difficult to tell from Deek Dom’s tone what he was feeling in that moment, or as he was shifting his gaze over to the other criminals. Diga was cradling his head as he cowered on the ground, while Doddo just sat there looking dumbfounded. It was almost as if they had returned to the times when Migi Suun would beat them as children.

“I hate this... I’ll never be able to hunt! Please, just leave me alone!”

“What are you talking about? Would you prefer to be scalped as a criminal instead, then?” Deek Dom asked, sounding perplexed.

“Eek!” Diga shrieked again as he balled up even further.

“Deek Dom, Diga and Doddo have followed the customs of the Suun clan from a young age. They have never had any chance to develop their pride as hunters,” Tei said, to which Deek Dom slowly turned his way.

“Even so, it’s not as if we can have them work around the house like women. They need to live proper lives as men of the forest’s edge.”

“That’s certainly true. But if you intend to train them as hunters, you must understand that it is no different from doing the same for a townsperson.”

“Making a townsperson into a hunter... It seems we have quite a trial ahead of us,” Deek Dom said with a deep sigh, but there was a strong look in his black eyes. “But that’s our punishment for having overlooked your crimes. Hey, Diga...” the Dom clan head bellowed as he grabbed Diga by the nape of his neck and easily lifted him to his feet. And as the youth tried to avert his gaze, Deek Dom brought his face in close. “Look me in the eyes and answer... Are you afraid of giba?”

“E-Eek!”

“Answer me. Are you afraid of giba?”

“I-I am...”

“When a boy turns thirteen, the first thing he must do is learn the terror of facing a giba directly. Which means you’ve finally taken the first step toward becoming a hunter,” Deek Dom stated, his black eyes blazing bright. Though their color was the same as Zattsu Suun’s and they were every bit as intense, they really didn’t seem alike at all. “When I first entered the forest and experienced that fear, I couldn’t stop myself from trembling, and it has only been three or four years since then. With enough time, you two should be able to gain the strength needed to become hunters as well.”

Diga didn’t say anything in response.

“Live resolutely and atone for your crimes. As long as you don’t disregard those two duties, we won’t give up on you.”

With that, Deek Dom shoved Diga away, and once again the former heir pitifully crumpled to the ground.

“We’ll hang the giba we finished off from a tree for now so that the mundt don’t gnaw on its pelt. Start by helping out with that.”

Diga offered no answer.

“Can you not hear what I’m saying?”

Diga and Doddo slowly rose to their feet, their faces pale. After watching them get up, Deek Dom turned back toward Tei.

“You help too, Tei. You know how to tie a rope, don’t you? Go ahead and teach them how it’s done.”

“Yes, understood.”

This fierce young clan head of the Dom might actually be capable of leading Diga and Doddo down the proper path, Tei thought to himself as he walked over to the felled giba alongside his former relatives.

◇

What exactly should I be doing?

Tei simply couldn’t get to sleep that night. Even he couldn’t help but feel worked up, between the excitement of hunting for the first time in quite a while and the anxiety brought on by the sudden upheaval in his living situation.

Diga and Doddo were sleeping like logs. They didn’t get attacked again after the first encounter, so they wrapped up their work by simply finishing off any giba they found in their traps. But even so, that ended up being a task that used up every last bit of energy the pair possessed.

They had been training as per Zattsu Suun’s orders as well, but they hadn’t properly headed out into the forest even once. All they had done was halfheartedly watch as Tei and Mida slaughtered whatever got caught in the traps they set up.

It wasn’t possible to develop a hunter’s spirit solely by training to climb trees or compete in contests of strength. But now they had learned to fear the forest for the first time. It was a fear that led men to learn respect for the forest and build up pride as hunters. It was crucial to know not just with your mind but your very body that you were nothing but another part of the forest as a whole.

Yes, Deek Dom might be able to guide those two down the proper path.

But...where did that leave Tei?

Starting life again as a proper person of the forest’s edge? Do I truly have the right to do so?

Tei’s hands had been stained with the blood of innocents. At this point, Zattsu Suun was the only other person left who was aware of that fact. And if he were executed...then Tei would be the last.

Even if my crimes are revealed, it surely wouldn’t cause trouble for Oura or Tsuvai at this point. Our ties have already been severed, and even if that were not the case, they never knew anything about what we did in the first place.

In that case, he should just go ahead and confess to the full extent of the crimes he and Zattsu Suun had committed over the years.

If Tei did so, then he would surely be purged as well.

Now that the Suun had fallen, the only option left was to leave the future of the forest’s edge to the new leading clans. The Ruu, Sauti, and Zaza would surely be able to resist the nobles of Genos in their own way. And if even their strength came up short and the people of the forest’s edge ultimately fell...then that would simply be the will of the forest. At any rate, it had nothing to do with Tei.

And yet... Tei thought to himself, staring at his palm in the dark.

It was an old hand, dry and cracked.

Yet it still felt the sensation of cutting into a giba.

He had swung his blade not to finish off a giba that was already hanging, but rather one brandishing its horns and tusks. Just how many years had it been since he did so?

Even the giba were simply another part of the forest. The people of the forest’s edge bore no hatred toward the beasts. They simply clashed against one another, and the victor obtained the vitality needed to survive another day. If one’s strength came up short, then their soul returned to the forest. That was simply how it was, and both the people of the forest’s edge and the giba were equally children of the mother forest.

Tei had been thoroughly reminded of the excitement, the rush he used to feel from that clash. If he were allowed to keep on carrying out his duty as a hunter until his strength gave out, just how blessed would he be? To live that way alongside Diga and Doddo, even while thinking of his former family he had been separated from...

But I cannot be permitted such comfort.

Even when struck by such a profound sense of want that it shook his very soul, Tei still forced down those thoughts.

If Zattsu Suun was judged, then Tei would also confess on that very day. He had no right to be forgiven.

But just as he thought that, a strange sensation crept up Tei’s spine.

Before he could even wonder what it was, he heard a woman shrieking.

“It’s a fire! The Dom settlement is burning!”

Tei sluggishly rose.

At the same time, the door was violently wrenched open from the outside.

“What are you doing, sleeping at a time like this?! You’re men of the forest’s edge, aren’t you?!”

It was the eldest daughter of the main Dom house, Lem Dom. She was tall, with a robust build, and she held a knife in one hand as she stepped inside. Seemingly, her arrival had caused Diga and Doddo to stir.

“Wh-What the?! A-Are we going to be executed after all?!”

“Don’t be stupid... Come on, just hold out your arms already! Or I guess just do as you please if you want to burn to death!” Lem Dom shouted as she approached Tei. With her knife, she first cut the leather strap binding him to a pillar in the room, and then the ones around his limbs. “All five houses are ablaze! We’re already summoning the Zaza and Jeen, but you need to help out too!”

Tei, Diga, and Doddo exited the room, not understanding any of what was happening. Instantly, they were hit with the overwhelming smell of everything burning.

“Whoa, what’s going on?”

As they exited the house, they found the settlement ablaze, just as they had been told. The whole world around them was dyed red. The darkness of night and the smoke seemed to be competing against one another in a swirl of black.

“Are you okay?! There’s no time for drawing water, so we’ve got to destroy the houses before the flames reach the forest!” Deek Dom shouted from beyond the black smoke. As Diga stood there in a daze even so, Lem Dom gave him a hearty kick in the rear.

“Leave that area to the clan head’s group and come help out over here! Use some logs or something to break down the house!”

“R-Right...”

Diga started staggering forward. But he only made it three steps before he suddenly stopped.

“What are you doing?! If you keep dawdling, the forest will catch fire too, so...!” Lem Dom shouted, only for her to stop mid sentence as well.

A figure was standing on the other side of the smoke, even darker than the night itself.

“I’ve been looking for you, Tei Suun... And you too, Diga and Doddo...”

It was a man whose body had atrophied to the point that it was unsettling. As if a human’s bones had put on a pitch-black hide and started moving... It was just that bizarre. Diga, Doddo, and even Lem Dom were all clearly thrown by the strange sight.

But Tei alone accepted it.

Yes... Sure enough, this is my fate...

Only half conscious of his actions, he started walking toward that pitch-black figure that had wasted away to just skin and bones. Eyes darker than any he had ever seen stared straight at him with joy.

“Now then, join me in returning order to the forest’s edge... And we shall repay the nobles of Genos and the Ruu clan fittingly...” Zattsu Suun’s eyes were blazing as he spoke. He held a blade with an arm like a withered branch, and his skull-face was coated in the blood of his comrades.