4
Business went smoothly the next day as well.
The number of customers we got was going up by the day, and for the first time we managed to completely sell out of every last one of our dishes.
Things were also going well for Myme, as she had increased her number of meals to sixty, yet still sold out in less than an hour. Since she was preparing everything all on her own, it wasn’t easy for her to keep raising her numbers, but she still returned to the Turan lands with an energetic smile on her face that said she was prepared to give her absolute all.
The Westerly Wind had finally opened their stall as well, and based on my recommendation, they had decided to sell okonomiyaki. Before this, I had given up on trying to serve it out of a stall, since it was difficult to eat if you had to hold it in your hands, but that was solved by adding something that would have to be prepared in advance—a separate piece of thin poitan bread. Both the poitan and the freshly-made poitan okonomiyaki with its hearty helping of fillings were circular in shape and around the same size. The dish would be presented with the poitan wrapped around the outside.
Okonomiyaki was a popular dish at The Westerly Wind at the moment, and that popularity didn’t fall off in the least for their stall. The use of white mamaria vinegar in mayonnaise had caused a stir at the dinner party at the forest’s edge the other day, and it seemed to have improved the reputation of okonomiyaki even further in general. For fillings, they went simple with just rib meat and tino, but the tau oil-based pseudo-Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise added plenty of flavor and must have tasted quite novel to the townsfolk.
They also set their prices on the low side, so their okonomiyaki cost one and a half red coins. Though they had to keep the amount of giba meat down at ninety grams as a result, they used plenty of poitan and tino in exchange, making for a dish that felt like it was worth two full red coins. As such, it was especially welcomed by folks who were shorter on cash.
“Yup. My old man won’t be able to complain about this! He’ll be shocked to hear they all sold out!” Yumi told us later on, having been placed in charge of the okonomiyaki stall.
She didn’t have any bodyguards, unlike our group or Myme, and the only person working the stall with her was one of her female friends. As she was born and raised in the less affluent parts of the post town, Yumi had no fear of outsiders or ruffians at all.
The Westerly Wind would be able to use any leftover okonomiyaki batter in the evening, so Yumi had felt free to start with a full fifty meals on the first day, only to end up selling them all and closing even quicker than we did.
Myme had sold all sixty of her meals, Yumi sold fifty, and we ran out of all of ours too, adding up to nine hundred and seventy giba meals sold in total. Even taking into account that most customers had ordered two different dishes, that was still nearly five hundred people. It was undeniably a spectacular feat.
Thirty of those meals had been ordered by the Gamley Troupe alone. Just as they had said they would yesterday, they had upped their order of giba cooking by enough for three more people, from twelve up to fifteen.
It was possible that Neeya had slipped away, as it was that bewitching woman who played the flute who was helping to pick up the food instead. She was truly beautiful, with her slightly darker skin tone. The fabric she wore had mysterious Sym-styled patterns embroidered into it, and even though she wasn’t actually showing that much skin, she was still exceedingly sensual. Apparently, her name was Nachara.
Around the time the sun hit its peak, the Gamley Troupe once again started putting on a performance in front of the tent to attract customers. For today’s show, the small guy, Zan, brought out some daggers, which he threw into a target Pino was holding out from a distance of several meters. As a result, Toor Deen ended up clinging to my arm once again.
One other interesting thing that happened was that the star reader who resided in the castle town, Arishuna, stopped by our stalls for the first time in a while. She had on a leather traveler’s cloak to avoid drawing attention, and when she arrived, she greeted me by saying, “It’s been some time, Asuta,” without removing her hood.
“Oh, Arishuna. It really has been a while.”
I hadn’t seen her since the noblewomen’s tea party. And now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen Polarth or Diel in a while either. Everyone really was busy with their own work.
“Your shop, is doing very well. I hardly, recognize it, since last time.”
“Yeah, that’s thanks to the revival festival. Did you come out of your way to stop by for a meal, Arishuna?”
“Yes. Polarth said, you were selling, your dish, with the herbs.”
Polarth hadn’t stopped by the stalls, but he must have been receiving detailed reports from Yang. Arishuna had once come to The Sledgehammer with Polarth, where she was able to have some giba curry, and she had seemed like she was quite taken with it.
However, today I had to apologize to her. “Oh, I’m so sorry, but giba curry is only sold every third day. Today, we’re selling a different dish instead.”
Toor Deen’s stall was currently selling giba and nanaar carbonara. It was one of the dishes I was particularly proud of, prepared with a cream made using kimyuus egg and karon milk. I had wanted to add bacon to it as well, but that would have really brought up the price, so I had gone with giba rib meat instead. At first, I had considered going with the pasta and meat sauce I had fed to Yumi and our other guests in the forest’s edge, but the combination of the tarapa-based sauce and the minced meat might have been a little too similar to the giba burgers, so we went with this recipe instead.
Genos had a surprisingly large number of ingredients that were close to what would normally be used in Italian cooking, so it was no issue at all preparing carbonara. Reten oil that was like olive oil, myamuu that was like garlic, pico leaves that were like black pepper, gyama dried milk that was like camembert cheese, kimyuus eggs that were like chicken eggs, and karon milk that was similar to a cow’s milk... Yes, with all those different ingredients, it really was no problem at all. Oh, and I used the spinach-like nanaar because people tended to avoid dishes without any vegetables in them here in Genos.
Furthermore, in order to help it keep better, we were using dried pasta rather than fresh. It had a good bit of chewiness to it when made this way, and I didn’t feel that either was any better or worse in terms of taste.
Even so, it took a lot of planning to figure out how to make it at a stall. That was because boiling the pasta and then cooking it afterward required two different heat sources. We ended up solving the problem by having someone make a new work surface for us, designed to allow us to have two braziers in the stall heating two separate pots at the same time.
Toor Deen was to be the one actually preparing it rather than me, so I had ordered a cooking hourglass as part of the setup, just like the one Varkas had used in the kitchen back in the castle town. So long as she had that to help her measure the proper amount of time to cook the pasta, there wouldn’t be anything to worry about. After just a few days of training, she was able to prepare the carbonara without any issue.
It was earning a lot of praise at the moment. After all, townsfolk weren’t used to noodle dishes in general here in Genos. That meant Toor Deen was continuously busy boiling up pasta, as it was every bit as popular as the giba curry.
The dish was sold for one and a half red coins. It used ninety grams of meat and fifty to sixty grams of pasta for a half-sized serving. I went with a higher ratio of meat in order to match the tastes of folks from Genos, but it was primarily a carbohydrate dish, so a lot of customers ordered it with the giba hot pot stew or the twice-cooked giba from the rotating specials.
Speaking of the twice-cooked giba, I didn’t have any seasoning to use in place of doubanjiang, so instead I had prepared a sweet and spicy sauce made from tau oil, sugar, myamuu, and chitt seeds. We had boiled the giba rib meat back home in advance, and then sautéed it on site with some tino, pula, aria, and the pseudo-brown beech mushroom. It had ended up being as popular as the giba steak and roast giba.
“So, unfortunately we don’t have any giba curry to serve you, but this dish is very popular...” I started to say, only to hold my tongue. While her slender face remained expressionless, Arishuna had suddenly stumbled. “Wh-What’s the matter? Are you not feeling well?”
“No... I was just shocked, to hear you weren’t selling, that herb dish,” Arishuna replied in an emotionless voice, having managed to catch herself. Her eyes like a calm nighttime lake stared intently at my face. “It is forbidden, for a star reader, to read their own fate.”
“H-Huh? What?”
“I was unable, to predict, this ill omen. Yet that, is also fate.”
“Um, I don’t really understand what you’re trying to say...”
“I was terribly looking forward, to that herb dish.”
Was it just the pure shock from hearing we weren’t selling the giba curry?
“Um, if you’re looking for giba curry, they should be selling it right now at The Sledgehammer and the other inns...”
“I was looking forward, to the herb dish, you prepared, Asuta.”
At this point, all I did was sell the curry base, while each inn prepared the dish on their own. The Sledgehammer added chitt seeds for spiciness, while The Great Southern Tree used a lot of sugar and tau oil, so each place offered their own unique take.
“I-In that case, I believe the giba curry prepared at The Kimyuus’s Tail is closest to the dish I make...”
However, Arishuna shook her head. “I was looking forward, to the herb dish, you prepared, Asuta.”
It was true that the giba curry on offer at The Kimyuus’s Tail wasn’t completely identical to my version of the dish. I used ramam fruit and panam honey to aim for a flavor that was extravagant, yet also mellow.
Arishuna deeply hung her head and turned to leave.
“My apologies. My mind is set, so I will, leave for today.”
“U-Um, we’ll be selling the giba curry again two days from now!”
“I am becoming, very busy... Most likely, I will not be able, to leave the castle town, before the revival festival, is over.” Though she remained perfectly expressionless, there was still a clear aura of sadness hanging about Arishuna’s slender figure. It felt like if I let her head back to the castle town in that state, she would end up collapsing in the street before she made it to the gates.
“I-In that case, what if we have someone deliver it?”
Arishuna suddenly stopped in place, her impossible-to-read gaze darting toward me from under her hood.
“A man named Yang who works as the head chef for the house of Daleim currently comes to the post town each day for work. Wouldn’t it be possible to have the dish delivered to you through him?”
With that, Arishuna headed back to the stall without making a sound.
“The head Daleim chef, made that minmi sweet, for the tea party, correct? That man, is here, in the post town?”
“Yeah. We’ve been having him be our go-between with Polarth lately, so if we can hand him the dish...”
Arishuna brought her fingers together in a complex manner, and her mysterious eyes disappeared behind their lids. “I offer my gratitude, to Sym... When will that, be possible?”
“If you need it, we could get it to you tomorrow.”
With her eyes still closed, Arishuna gave a deep bow. “You have, my gratitude as well, Asuta. How can I possibly, repay this debt?”
“All you need to do is pay the normal price. If there’s anyone you should thank, it would be Yang,” I replied, smiling at Arishuna’s overblown reaction. “Still, I think the giba curry on offer at The Sledgehammer would be better suited to eastern tastes. My version has a milder spiciness.”
“Spiciness is not, the whole of the taste. I wish to eat, your cooking, Asuta.”
I just hoped that I could measure up to those unreasonable expectations.
Ultimately, Arishuna ended up buying just a giba manju and then headed back to the castle town.
And so, the eighteenth of the violet month passed by peacefully.
◇
The next day, the nineteenth of the violet month, had arrived.
Once again, business ended up going smoothly.
For today’s special menu, it was finally time for the giba cutlets. I ended up preparing a hundred of them, fried not in reten oil but in giba lard instead.
Fried foods were out of style in the castle town, but considering that you couldn’t even get ahold of reten oil until recently, they would have been unusual to see in any case. It ended up being even more popular than the other dishes that had been offered so far, and even though it took a while to prepare on the spot, it still sold out quicker than any other dish.
Our shop had once offered giba cutlet sandwiches, but the freshly fried cutlets themselves were almost dangerously tasty. We offered a 120-gram size with nenon, ma pula, and shredded tino for two red coins. For flavoring, I smeared around half of it with the pseudo-Worcestershire sauce, and for the other half I used the juice from a lemon-like sheel.
“Ah, this is incredibly tasty!”
Dora stopped by first thing in the morning once again, with his voice getting the chatter going around the outdoor restaurant. The cutlets were popular enough that I wanted to make them a part of the regular menu, but they took a while to prepare and it was pretty tough getting ahold of the necessary lard as well. As such, it would be nearly impossible to prepare a hundred of them every day. But I figured it was just fine selling them once every five days during the revival festival.
The other dishes, including the ones from Myme and The Westerly Wind, all sold out completely too. There were still three days left until the revival festival kicked off properly with the day of dawn, and it was seeming like it might be good to start increasing the number of servings of soup offered by the Ruu clan beginning tomorrow.
“All right, now we’re all done for today!” Rimee Ruu declared after cleaning up, having been in a good mood ever since morning. That was because today we would finally be entering the Gamley Troupe’s tent.
We had invited anyone who might have been interested, and among the chefs from the forest’s edge, Rimee Ruu, Ama Min Rutim, and myself would be attending. That was fewer than I had expected, but it was probably because using coins for entertainment like this wasn’t looked upon all too kindly at the forest’s edge. Still, depending on our impressions, I could definitely see Yun Sudra and Reina Ruu being interested later.
As for our guards, they included Ai Fa, Ludo Ruu, and Dan Rutim, and we were accompanied by Tara, Yumi, and Myme from the Genos side. In total, that made for a group of nine.
“All right, we’ll be heading home now. Take care of everyone, Ludo,” Reina Ruu stated before she returned to the forest’s edge along with three of the wagons.
There were six of us remaining here, and since Dan Rutim had come to town with the Rutim clan’s totos, Mim Cha, we wouldn’t have any difficulties making our way back. We entrusted Gilulu, Mim Cha, and a wagon to The Kimyuus’s Tail, then met up with Tara en route before heading into the Gamley Troupe’s tent.
“Yumi, have you seen the inside before?”
“Yeah, at last year’s revival festival. I think the last time before that was around five years ago? It was a really interesting show, so I don’t think I’d get bored of it even if I saw it every single year,” Yumi said, but then she brought her face in closer to mine. “But there’s one thing I find kinda mysterious.”
“Hmm? What’s that?”
“You know that little acrobat girl? I’m pretty sure last year and five years ago too, she was already there just like she is now.”
“Hmm? She must have been really young five years ago.”
“No, that’s not it. I’m saying that girl looked exactly like she does now even back that far.”
For some reason, I felt a chill run down my spine. “B-But no matter how you look at her, she’s around twelve or thirteen, right? Her appearance would have to change at least a little over the course of five years, wouldn’t it?”
“That’s why I said it was mysterious. Maybe she’s a younger sister with an identical face or something.”
In that case, wouldn’t there be an elder sister who looked a lot like her among the rest of the troupe? At least for now, I couldn’t recall having seen anyone like that.
While we were having that conversation, we had arrived at the northern extreme of the stall area, where that huge tent that looked like a dinosaur’s remains stood. There was a small kiosk with a curtain by the entrance.
“Is that where we pay?”
Nobody knew the answer, so Ai Fa accompanied me as I peered inside.
“Thank you for coming... You can sit there,” a low, hoarse voice called out from the dimly lit interior.
Awaiting us there was an old man with an unusual appearance. This was a different person from the one who had been guiding the large lizards on the first day, though. He had on a dark-gray hooded cloak that looked like something a wizard would wear, and had a vacant gaze.
“Hmm... What a dazzling light... You possess a truly strong star... This is the mountain constellation, and the cat’s eye star...”
“Ah, no, we’re here for the tent there.”
It seemed that the old man was blind. His eyes were white and cloudy, and didn’t seem to have any point of focus. Furthermore, there were strange swirling patterns drawn on his thin face. Their design might have been called tribal back in my old world.
“This is the star reader’s booth. Guests for the tent should continue on inside,” the old man said, but then his pattern-coated face turned my way. “Oh...? I can sense two people there... Who are you, exactly?”
“Ah, we’re people of the forest’s edge,” I replied.
“People of the forest’s edge...” the man repeated, and then he held his tongue.
Not understanding what had just happened at all, we went ahead and exited back out through the curtain. When we did, we found both our group and the black-haired Pino standing there waiting.
“You came just as you promised. Welcome, everyone from the forest’s edge.”
It had already been four days since we had first met, so I had grown rather accustomed to her unusual appearance. However, there really was something about her that just made you feel on guard, and then there was what Yumi had said too. Speaking of Yumi, she wasn’t even trying to hide her curiosity as she looked Pino over intently.
“That’s Old Man Rai’s fortune telling booth. Did you have him read some sort of fortune for you?”
“Ah, no, we wandered inside because we thought it was where we were supposed to pay.”
“My apologies for the confusion. Allow me to show you the way.”
With her furisode-like outfit fluttering along as she went, Pino walked over to the tent’s entrance, which was like the pitch-black mouth of a monster gaping wide.
Stepping inside, we found that, sure enough, it was as dark as night all around. Once my eyes had finally grown accustomed to the darkness, though, I could vaguely make out a figure ahead of us.
“Good work, Dilo. I’ve brought along a group.”
The man Pino had addressed must have been over 180 centimeters tall, and though it was hard to tell with the baggy robe he had on, he looked to be quite slim. On top of that, he had an expressionless face like a noh mask, so if it wasn’t for his skin color, I would have figured he was an easterner.
He wore something like a turban wrapped around his head, with long blackish-brown hair spilling out from underneath. It really was impossible to tell the ages of the people in the troupe. I got the sense that he wasn’t particularly young, but I couldn’t even begin to hazard a guess as to how old he was.
“Young children can pay half price—so, a half coin—while for everyone else it will be a red coin...”
“Oh, I’ll be turning ten, so how much should I pay?” Myme asked, to which the tall man, Dilo, gave a deep bow.
“If you are exactly ten, I must ask for a full red coin...”
We quickly paid the required amount, with Tara and I presenting paplua flowers to him for free entry. Strangely enough, even after four days, the flowers still hadn’t wilted and looked quite lively even now. Perhaps they were actually artificial.
“Well then, please come this way.”
With that, Pino pulled open a curtain hanging behind Dilo. This time, there was a small amount of light shining through.
“Ooh, so that’s how it was constructed?” I remarked in admiration without thinking.
On the other side of the curtain, you could see a thicket of trees spreading out under the roof.
The stall areas had been created by clearing all the trees in an expanse around five meters wide along the side of the road. Since this tent was big enough to take up the space of ten stalls...I estimated that at the very least it had to cover a diameter of twenty meters. That meant that past those first five meters, it was stretching out over the thicket. One of the reasons the tent appeared so misshapen from the outside might have been the tree branches pushing up against it.
Our present location put us at the leftmost edge of that huge tent. Along the wall to our left, there were a number of windows letting in a bit of the early afternoon sunlight. Meanwhile, on our right side, there was an inner curtain standing around two meters high, creating a sort of passage around three meters wide. That said, however, it was a path through a thicket. A number of trees stood before us, irregularly spaced out, blocking our vision. Even if there was only one way to go, it still gave off the impression of a mysterious labyrinth.
“Whoa, what a strange feeling! It’s like we’re out in the forest when it’s turning dark,” Rimee Ruu excitedly said while holding hands with Tara.
We started walking forward, only to be seriously surprised by the sound of wings flapping overhead.
“Ooh, what’s that bird?! How strange!” Dan Rutim called out, sounding every bit as excited as Rimee Ruu. There was indeed a wondrous bird perched atop the nearest tree. It was around the size of a chicken and had seven-colored wings with red as the primary base, giving it a truly gorgeous appearance.
It had a small head and a long neck. Its plumage called to mind a crown. With eyes as piercing as a hawk’s, it looked down at us suspiciously.
“That’s a raioh bird. They normally live at the southern end of Jagar. They’re also known as the seven-colored flame.”
“It’s truly beautiful! Yes, just lovely. But it doesn’t look all that tasty!” Dan Rutim declared.
“How perceptive. The seven-colored plumage itself can be sold for a silver coin, but the meat is supposed to be inedible and have a terrible stench,” Pino laughed back. “Ah, allow me to warn you in advance. Take care not to touch any of the animals in here. They’re all good, well-behaved creatures, but you could end up having a nasty experience if you touch them carelessly.”
“Yes, those are the eyes of a meat eater. It seems like it would be quite difficult to hunt without a bow wielded by someone like Ludo Ruu!”
“When you’re ready, please continue forward. If I lead you the whole way, it won’t be as fun, so I’ll keep to the back of the line and explain things as we go.”
And so, we timidly advanced onward. Just to be safe, Ludo Ruu took the lead, followed by Rimee Ruu and Tara, then Ai Fa and I were right in the middle, and the remaining members of our group followed behind us with Dan Rutim taking up the rear. We passed under the raioh bird, which just sat and stared as we continued down the passage. Due to the poor visibility, we needed to be careful as we walked along.
“Whoa, what’s that?” Ludo Ruu asked.
“Ooh, how cute! What kind of animal is this?!” Rimee Ruu chimed in. However, since the animal they had spotted was apparently on the ground, I couldn’t see it from my position.
As our group moved along, there were further exclamations of “ooh” and “ah!” Once they had advanced a little more, Ludo and Rimee Ruu turned and looked back at us with curiosity-filled eyes.
Finally, Ai Fa and I caught sight of that new animal. From what I could tell, it seemed to be some sort of turtle.
“Ah, the giant Sym turtle. Easterners refer to it by the odd name of gyuroreekeh muuwa.”
It had about a one-meter-long shell, which was an inconspicuous shade of brown and had pointy spikes like those of an alligator snapping turtle. Its neck and limbs were sturdy, to the point that the beast gave off the impression of a heavy tank. To anyone who wasn’t familiar with turtles, it must have looked like some sort of frightening monster.
“That guy could easily bite off a finger if you make him mad, so be sure to take care.” As Pino spoke, the turtle slowly moved back into hiding in the greenery. “Now, this is where the show really begins.”
A moment later, Rimee Ruu cheered, “Wow!”
Instantly, Ai Fa reached for the handle of her blade, her blue eyes blazing in the dim light.
“Whoa, that’s...” Ludo Ruu said, at a loss for words.
We hurried forward through the thicket. Ludo and Rimee Ruu had already reached the end of the passage. The space extended to the right here, which allowed the rest of the group that was trailing behind to come up and see the animal side by side.
“You aren’t in any danger, so please remain calm and refrain from drawing your blade.”
There were ropes hanging in a mesh pattern around the space, forming a large uneven net that looked like a human head could just barely fit through the gaps, which meant we were able to take in the frightening sight of the creature without any issues.
A gigantic beast was hiding up in a roughly three-meter-tall tree. It had jet-black fur that looked quite stiff, and was even bigger than Dan Rutim.
Its head was large and seemed distorted somehow. Its arms were long and even thicker than a human leg, while its short legs were only around half as large, and its torso was thick like a barrel. It was a large monkey of some sort, but it wasn’t a gorilla or an orangutan.
The tough-looking fur coating its body covered everything except its face, chest, and fingers, where its bluish-black skin was exposed. It had jutting eyebrows, a smooshed nose, a huge mouth, and sagging cheeks. Its eyes glowed red in the dim light as it looked disinterestedly down at us.
“Young miss, is that perhaps a black ape from Jagar?” Dan Rutim asked, sounding a bit more serious than usual.
“Once again, very perceptive of you,” Pino replied, clapping her hands. “This is a black vamda ape, which lives along the border between Jagar and Sym.”
“I knew it. Our forefathers hunted these apes in the black forest of Jagar.”
That bit of history had immediately come to mind for me too. Before I realized it, I had a cold sweat running down my back.
“I had assumed that they had died out along with the black forest itself... Still, aren’t they supposed to be vicious man-eating beasts?” Dan Rutim continued.
“Yes, which means it takes a beast tamer of exceptional skill to make one behave itself,” Pino said with a little laugh. “But this black ape in particular has been a member of our troupe since it was even smaller than I am. I’ve heard that a beast that has tasted the flesh of humans will never grow attached to people, but I’m pretty sure this one has never done any such thing.”
“I see. He does have a gentle-looking face,” Dan Rutim remarked, sounding deeply impressed as he stroked his chin.
Pino broke out in a grin as she looked up at him. “Dear guest, are you fond of frightening displays?”
“Hmm? We hunters of the forest’s edge fear nothing, young miss.”
“That may be true for the hunters among you. In that case, how about a bit of a performance for the frail young ladies? Go ahead and try reaching your hand through the net just a bit.”
Before anyone could stop him, Dan Rutim asked, “Like this?” and put his left fist through to the other side of the net.
Instantly, the black ape bared its fangs and gave a roar.
“Eek!” Tara shrieked, clinging to Rimee Ruu.
“Aah!” Yumi did as well, clinging to me instead.
“Hmm. Did I startle him?” Dan Rutim casually questioned as he pulled his hand back. The black ape closed its mouth as soon as he did.
“This net was made to protect the creature himself. If any of our guests start messing around, he’ll yell like that to call for help from his master.”
“His master? Does this black ape have a parent as well?”
“No, I meant the beast tamer, Old Man Shantu. This guy won’t do anything violent without an order from his tamer. Even if our guests throw rocks at him, he’ll just curl up and take it.”
Looking at it from another perspective, did that mean he would commit any violent act the beast tamer ordered? That was frightening in its own way.
“Hmm. So you’ve been able to communicate with beasts that well? Sometimes I feel like I’ve been able to get my thoughts across to my totos, Mim Cha, at least a little bit, but I’m certain I could never manage something like that!”
“That’s because this is our craft. I’m in the middle of learning how to tame beasts myself so that we can keep putting on animal performances even after Old Man Shantu passes.”
I could easily picture her manipulating the vicious black ape however she pleased. But while I was thinking about that, Ai Fa heaved a sigh.
“How would Granny Jiba feel if she were to lay eyes on this black ape? I fear it would sadden her to be reminded of her comrades who were eaten by such beasts.” She then shot a chilly look in my direction. “By the way, Yumi, at the forest’s edge, men and women who are not family shouldn’t touch one another needlessly.”
“O-Oh, you remembered my name, Ai Fa. I’m glad,” Yumi replied, still clinging to my neck. “But do you think you could let this slide for just a little longer? If I let go, I’ll probably collapse straight to the ground.”
The look in Ai Fa’s eyes grew even colder, but for some reason she was glaring at me rather than Yumi.
At any rate, the beast tamer’s real performance was still to come.
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