Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter 2.4

4

Things were really lively about the Gamley Troupe’s tent. There was a line of twenty or so people out front, and maybe ten lined up for the fortune teller’s booth off to the side. Their clientele unsurprisingly skewed young, but it wasn’t as if there weren’t any families or even old folks there at all. However, the majority of the people in line for the fortune teller were young women, with some men who looked to be merchants sprinkled in here and there.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Huey. I’d love to come again when it’s bright out,” Rimee Ruu said with a dazzling smile as she walked, holding hands with Tara. From what I could tell, the ones looking forward to the show most were that young pair, Dan Rutim, and Giran Ririn. But even though they were acting reserved, Ama Min Rutim and Yun Sudra must have been secretly looking forward to it too, as they had asked to come again.

While I was thinking about that, the line behind us was steadily growing longer and longer. Before I knew it, there were at least fifteen more customers waiting back there.

I was just starting to worry that the current pace of admission would result in us getting back pretty late, when the ten people in front of us suddenly shuffled into the tent.

“Oh, is there a limit to how many people can enter at once?” I pondered.

“Hmm?” Ai Fa hummed, turning my way. “If they were to allow multiple groups to come into the performance rooms at different times, many of the troupe’s guests would miss some of the surprises they have in store. They must manage things so that groups of ten or so enter, then they allow a bit of a break before they bring in the next group.”

“I don’t quite get it, but it seems like we won’t have to wait as long as I thought...”

Just as Ai Fa had said, less than two minutes later, we were stepping into the dark tent. There were around twenty people lined up in the passage, but ten of them vanished beyond the dividing curtain before long. Our turn had finally arrived.

“Ah, so you decided to come again tonight. Welcome, everyone from the forest’s edge.” The acrobat Pino was the one in charge of reception for the day. “You brought the paplua flowers, correct? In that case, no need to pay.”

“Thank you. Um, are you on your own today?”

“Yes, since that block-headed minstrel went and vanished all of a sudden. I really chewed him out earlier, so he must be off somewhere on the verge of tears. Thanks to that, I’ve been stuck here with no time to rest.”

After I put the mass of red flowers we had received in the woven basket and we killed a bit of time with idle chatter, Pino pulled up the curtain.

“Well then, go right ahead and enjoy this dream for a short while.”

By this point, I was fully familiar with the inside of the tent. Aside from Jiza and Reina Ruu, this was everyone else’s second time coming here, so we were able to continue forward without any fear of getting lost. Even so, it was still a mysterious place, like a nighttime thicket had been bottled up inside. Those of us who weren’t hunters had uncertain footing, and it felt as if my senses were being thrown out of whack. It really was like wandering half-awake through a dream.

When we reached the first break in the path, we got a good view of the silver lion and gaaje leopard. Rimee Ruu and Tara got terribly excited, while Reina Ruu was seeing them for the first time and remarked “My...” in surprise.

“We really aren’t in any danger?” Jiza Ruu questioned.

“We’re not,” Gazraan Rutim replied. “Look into the eyes of those beasts. Though they are on guard, I can’t see any malice in them at all. Wouldn’t you agree? If they were commanded to do so by their master, they could even capture bandits without injuring them.”

“I simply cannot imagine a giba being tamed as such...”

After Rimee Ruu and Tara got their fill of Huey’s and Sara’s beautiful, majestic figures, we turned down the path. Awaiting us next was the vase man, Dilo. Rimee Ruu had taken the lead, and when she stepped past the curtain I heard her remark, “Ooh!”

We once again found a vase sitting in the center of the room. However, there was something even stranger there next to it: a round black shape around the same size as the vase.

Once all twelve of us had stepped inside, the black object suddenly started moving as if it was dancing. It bounced around the vase for a while, then rolled here and there about the room. It was just wriggling about without any arms or legs, but still, it was seriously moving. It was easy to guess what it really was, that didn’t change how truly strange it felt.

After around thirty seconds or so, the black bundle suddenly stretched out vertically. Two arms slithered out from its sides, and then finally, a face flipped up into view. In the blink of an eye, the black ball had transformed into a tall, slender man clad in a long robe.

“The Gamley Troupe welcomes you... I am the nighttime guide, Dilo...”

“So it really was you! You sure can do some bizarre things with your body!” Dan Rutim remarked.

“The path splits in two from here. The right door takes you to the knight’s room, and the left to the twins’... Which fate will you choose, dear guests?” the vase man, Dilo, continued in a gloomy tone, as if he hadn’t heard Dan Rutim at all.

“The show that knight put on last time was incredibly fun to watch! But today I’d like to enjoy the other performance instead. What do you all say?”

No one had any objections, so we headed through the left curtain and found ourselves on a new path that was much narrower than the one we had followed last time. I could hear Rolo the knight king’s strange cry coming from the other side of the divider.

Eventually, we reached yet another hanging curtain. When Dan Rutim pulled it open, an enchanting sound suddenly permeated the darkness. It was the flute player, Nachara, who we found waiting for us there.

She was a beautiful woman with somewhat dark skin and a bewitching appearance. Her dark-brown hair was tied up high atop her head, and she wore a long dress adorned in finely embroidered patterns. She was sitting and playing her instrument at the far end of the room with her legs stretched out to one side. It was a mysterious sound that seemed to penetrate deep inside my mind and made me think of the odd tone Pino talked in.

As if summoned by that melody, the twins then appeared from behind a pair of hanging curtains off to the left and right. Arun and Amin were a young boy and girl, as adorable as little angels. The pair were clad in beautiful, shining, iridescent, silklike attire. It must have been the same material that women of the forest’s edge wore for banquets. Their sleeves were wide, and the hems fluttered all the way down to their feet. Under the light of the lanterns, they were giving off a truly mystical shine in the dim chamber.

The twins kept on dancing. Their movements to the left and right were in perfect symmetry, so precise that it felt like there had to be a mirror in the room. Their young yet well-proportioned faces remained expressionless, making them look almost like dolls that someone had life breathed into. The mysterious melody from Nachara’s flute combined with their quiet beauty to leave me awash in a truly otherworldly feeling.

I couldn’t tell how much time passed after that, but eventually the tune from the flute quieted a good bit, and the twins moved right next to one another in the center of the room.

One of them pulled out a black cloth from somewhere around their chest and wrapped it around the eyes of the other. The blindfolded one crouched down with their back to us, while the other silently approached us.

“The Gamley Troupe welcomes you... Please, go ahead and touch me somewhere.”

“Hmm? What would the point be in touching you?”

“It’s part of our performance...”

I figured we were probably dealing with the male twin, Arun. Arun stood there emotionlessly in front of us, his arms spread out to either side, clad in iridescent material.

Dan Rutim was the closest, so he tilted his head and then lightly placed his hand on top of the boy’s hair. At that very moment, the blindfolded Amin whispered, “The head...” Dan Rutim knitted his brow, then poked Arun’s right hand. “The right hand...”

“My! What kind of trick is this?!”

Naturally, no one answered that question.

Her eyes sparkling with anticipation, Rimee Ruu pinched the hem of Arun’s clothing down by his feet. However, Amin didn’t say anything.

“My apologies... We can’t feel a touch that isn’t on our skin...”

With that, Rimee Ruu gave him a little poke on the left foot, and Amin stated, “The left foot...”

“Hmm. What a mysterious act,” Giran Ririn said as he stepped forward with Yun Sudra and gave Arun’s right ear a firm pinch.

“The right ear...”

After that, Tara touched his left hand and Ludo Ruu pinched his lower jaw, and Amin remained right on the mark.

Had everyone else sensed that Arun was a boy as well? After all, only the men and children were touching him. It was a custom at the forest’s edge that you weren’t to touch someone of the opposite sex unnecessarily once you passed the age of ten.

“Amin and I were originally a single person... As a result, we can sense one another’s bodies as if they were our own, even at a distance...”

“What a curious tale,” Jiza Ruu said as he and Reina Ruu stepped forward. Suddenly, his burly arm reached out and he grabbed ahold of Arun’s left shoulder, making Amin cry out, “Ow!” followed by a whisper of, “The left shoulder...”

“I see... How truly strange.”

Arun gave a deep bow, then walked backward toward Amin while still facing our way. His pale fingers removed the blindfold, and then Amin also turned to face us. With that, the twins once again bowed their heads, and the flute that had quietly been playing the whole time faded out.

“That concludes the twins’ performance. If it was to your liking, we would appreciate it if you showed us some generosity,” Nachara’s elegant voice stated, and then she played another note on her flute. In response, a young gray beast toddled in from beyond the curtain.

“Ooh, it’s Druey! So this is where you were!”

Tara and Rimee Ruu took the initiative and tossed their half coins into the woven basket Druey held in his mouth before anyone else. Some of the women pleaded with Nachara, asking if they could hold Druey for a moment, but the enchanting woman just brought her hand to one ear and gave an apologetic smile.

“Ah, my apologies. The next customers seem to be approaching. Please continue onward.”

Either she had an exceedingly great sense of hearing, or she had gotten a signal from Zan or one of the others. But at any rate, we hurried up and left.

Awaiting us was another passageway between inner curtains, but this time it didn’t go straight, instead winding its way forward.

“All right, next up will finally be that one-armed fellow! I can’t wait to see what he’s gonna have to show us!” Dan Rutim said cheerfully as he and Ludo Ruu walked up front with the young girls.

But then, a woman’s voice let slip an accusatory, “My!” from behind me.

“What is it? It’s not often I hear you use a tone like that, Ama Min Rutim,” I said.

“Ah, my apologies, Asuta... But Gazraan is being such a spoilsport,” Ama Min Rutim replied, shooting her husband a glare and then bringing her face close to mine. This was all really unlike her. She lowered her voice so that only I could hear and whispered, “Gazraan said that the previous trick might have been done by having some sort of signals coming from the woman playing the flute in the back...”

“Oh. I could see that. But what’s so bad about him saying so?”

“I mean, hearing something like that undercuts all the surprise and wonder, doesn’t it? If I was going to realize that, I’d like to at least do it on my own,” she answered, sounding quite irritated. She must have lost her composure, as she didn’t seem to realize she was doing the same thing to me that Gazraan Rutim had done to her. I looked over at the young Rutim clan head, and he gave me a troubled smile.

“My apologies for being so careless. Please don’t be mad, Ama Min.”

“Don’t talk to me,” Ama Min Rutim retorted, her short hair bobbing as she turned away. Still, I knew they were a happily married couple, so I found even that to be pretty charming.

Besides, we don’t know for sure. I mean, what about when Amin shouted out in pain after Jiza Ruu grabbed Arun’s shoulder... That trick doesn’t seem like it would work unless both Nachara and Amin had reflexes on the level of hunters from the forest’s edge. And so, my enjoyment hadn’t really been undercut at all. Just like how Gamley manipulated flames, even if it was some sort of trick, that didn’t negate the wonder and awe that the performance could inspire.

Eventually, we reached another hanging curtain at the end of the winding path and opened it, at which point an eerie voice that most of us recognized from a few days ago greeted us from overhead.

“The Gamley Troupe...welcomes you... I am...Zetta...” That muffled, difficult-to-understand voice belonged to the beastman, Zetta. “I will guide you to...our leader, Gamley... Please, come this way...”

There was a rustling in the thicket as a black figure moved through the treetops overhead. I would occasionally spot glints of golden light reflecting off his eyes. There was definitely something animalistic about the way they flashed at us.

“I see. He certainly does have a beastly appearance, though I would say he feels somewhat more human than the savages of Morga,” Jiza Ruu whispered to no one in particular. I thought I remembered someone else saying something similar last time around.

At any rate, this time we managed to make our way down the path without being attacked by any outlaws. After walking around five or six meters, Zetta’s voice called down to us, “There is a hidden entrance there... Watch your step...”

We had only gone about halfway down the path. However, looking carefully, I spied a hanging curtain off to the left. We must have arrived at this point from the opposite direction last time. Gamley had probably come out from here when those bandits attacked us.

Dan Rutim pulled back the curtain without the slightest hesitation, revealing a natural open space. It was designed like the room where Rolo the knight king and Doga the strongman had clashed, with only the curtain in front of us being visible, while there was just darkness to the left and right. There were also fewer lanterns than on the path that led here or in the previous rooms, making for an even denser darkness.

Suddenly, a red figure emerged from the hanging curtain ahead of us.

“The Gamley Troupe welcomes you! This shall be the night’s final curtain!”

Gamley casually strode out into the center of the space. I wasn’t sure if he had noticed who we were or not.

This was now my third time seeing him. He had a red cloth wrapped around his head and wore a long jaunty red coat, making him look kind of like a pirate, all the more so because he only had one arm and one eye.

“You aren’t in any danger at all, so please, enjoy the show... Allow me to begin by making some flaming flowers bloom in the air.”

That was a really good summation of the fiery show Gamley was about to put on for us.

There really were red, blue, and green flowers blooming in the dark. Flames raced across the ground, then when they reached their destination they burst forth into brilliant fireworks with a pop. The same techniques that had taken down those bandits were now being used in an actual performance before our very eyes.

Gamley thrust his arm up over his head and flames in three different colors took the shapes of butterflies fluttering up toward the ceiling. When he ran his fingertips through the air, they left an afterimage of burning trails behind them, forming what looked like strange shapes and letters. Was he really using gunpowder or oil to perform these feats? Honestly, I hadn’t even seen gunpowder yet in this world to begin with. Even if it did exist, it surely hadn’t spread all that far and wide. I couldn’t help but find it absolutely ludicrous that someone would create such a compound just for a show and then be able to practice with it enough to become as skilled as Gamley was.

I suppose that’s what makes it such a spectacle.

While the acts that the twins and Dilo the jar man had put on all felt like they could be pulled off with a bit of trickery, I didn’t really know how they were actually done. Arun and Amin could genuinely be children who were split apart from one another using magic. Or maybe Dilo wasn’t dislocating his joints, but using magic to shrink instead. Zetta could be some otherworldly beast, and Pino could be an immortal who never aged... They were living in that space between dreams and reality.

Though I felt a little bad for Gazraan Rutim, it really did seem rude of him to expose their secrets like that. It was fine to just take in the experience of watching their mysterious acts with nothing more than a sense of pure wonder. Back in my home world, science and the laws of physics had become so all-encompassing that there wasn’t much room left for appreciating mysteries like these, which made the world a duller place to live in.

“Well then, this shall be my final trick.” Gamley tore off his eye patch, revealing the crimson stone sparkling like an inferno in his left eye socket. “Vairus, god of fire, grant just a single droplet of your blessing upon your faithful child.”

After reciting the same chant he had used before wiping out those bandits, Gamley made a sweeping motion with the hem of his red coat, sending red, blue, and green flames whirling through the air at incredible speeds. With the flames racing about and scorching the air, dyeing the world in beautiful color, it was as if three dragons of different colors had grown entangled with each other.

Then, finally, with a violent exploding sound, the flaming dragons burst apart and dispersed. The sparks fluttered to the ground like snow, and once the last of them had vanished, we broke out in a huge round of applause.

Jiza Ruu and Ai Fa had brought their hands up to their mouths and knitted their brows, but all of the other hunters applauded, with Dan Rutim and Giran Ririn cheering loudly. That was proof of just how amazing Gamley’s performance truly was.

“I am deeply grateful to you all for coming all the way here to our tent tonight. The path back to the waking world lies that way,” Gamley said, getting down on one knee and affectedly pointing at the darkness off to the right. Despite putting on such an incredible show, he didn’t seem to be interested in receiving any coins.

With the afterimages from the flames still in our eyes, the trail through the thicket felt even darker as we walked along it. The path was lined with straw ropes, and took one right turn before bringing us to a leather tent wall. Rather than an inner curtain, though, it was the exit back to the outside world.

As soon as we took a single step outside, the heat and commotion from the bustling traffic immediately assailed my senses. Despite having no more than a single leather curtain separating them, they really did feel like different worlds entirely.

“Now, that was an interesting show! I can’t help but wonder if I should have paid them more!” Dan Rutim remarked with a hearty laugh.

However, Jiza Ruu was cocking his head to one side. “Oh? But that black ape never showed itself. Elder Jiba instructed me to observe it closely...”

“Ah, you’re right! How unfortunate! The ape must have been performing on the path that we didn’t take!” Dan Rutim said.

Rimee Ruu started tugging on Jiza Ruu’s hand. “You should go with us during the day next time, then! The black ape will be there for sure, and Huey and Sara do tricks too!”

Jiza Ruu gave a small sigh, then patted Rimee Ruu on the head. Though I had known them both for quite some time, I had only seen the pair interact on a handful of occasions, but I could tell how much he cared for his younger sister when he made gestures like that.

“Well then, let’s head on back to the forest’s edge! Tonight has been so much fun!” Dan Rutim said energetically as we headed back to the outdoor restaurant, where the rest of our group was waiting. I still felt dizzy from my return to reality, and I knew I was going to have to get some rest back at home or else I might keel over. But at the same time, I kinda wanted to have even more fun, go a little wild, maybe have a bit of fruit wine.

“Hmm. What are you doing here?” Dan Rutim suddenly asked from the head of the group. Ai Fa flinched at the same time next to me.

There was a young man down on one knee in the middle of the stone highway, blocking our path.

“Hold on just a moment, dear friends from the forest’s edge! Would you allow me to finish off this night with a song?” It was the minstrel, Neeya.

Dan Rutim looked like he was about to say something, but then Jiza Ruu stepped up beside him.

“I’m not certain what your intent is, but we’re on our way back to the forest’s edge. I ask that you don’t get in our way.”

“I swear that I will not take much of your time. Please, allow me to make up for the discourtesy I showed earlier in the day,” Neeya replied, lifting his head and revealing a deeply pained expression. “I have angered the troupe leader. If I do not receive your forgiveness, I will not be allowed to call myself a member of the Gamley Troupe any longer, so I beg of you...”

“It’s not a matter of if we forgive you or not. The biggest issue here is you blocking our path right now.”

“No, but...”

Passersby were starting to murmur around us. After all, we had a man from town on bended knee before people of the forest’s edge, begging for our forgiveness, right in the middle of traffic. It was the type of situation that people could easily take the wrong way without knowing the circumstances.

“There’s no need to make such a big issue out of it... If you understand that you acted rudely, then simply be more careful in the future. As long as you can do that, we will be satisfied.”

“But I angered that beautiful woman there, did I not?” Neeya questioned, looking Ai Fa’s way with eyes like a puppy stuck out in the rain. Ai Fa glared back at him, looking hellishly displeased.

“If I say that I forgive you, will you leave?”

“First, I would like to perform a song for all of you. That is all that I have to offer, so...”

“Regardless, we’re getting in the way of the townsfolk here. Allow us to return to our other comrades over there first,” Jiza Ruu stated, cutting Neeya off and walking away. We followed after him, and Neeya trudged along behind us in turn.

“Welcome back, Asuta. Did something happen?” Toor Deen asked.

“Yeah, kinda...”

Since she and the others had been waiting for us in the outdoor restaurant space, we had needed to meet up with them before going home. Tsuvai was slumped over a table, snoring away, while Vina Ruu was dozing next to her. Yamiru Lea, Sufira Zaza, Fei Beim, and the other women were all gathered there too. The hunters guarding them were standing around a short distance away. After quietly saying something to Darmu Ruu from the group of restaurant guards, Jiza Ruu turned back toward Neeya.

“So, what is it that you wish to do?”

“Please listen to just one song. I can earn dozens of coins for my songs, so I hope to atone for my offenses by offering one to you.”

“We wish to return to the forest’s edge as soon as possible... Could this not wait until tomorrow?”

“In that case, I would have nowhere to go for the night...”

I was hesitant to say it out loud, but Neeya’s words and actions felt overly affected to me. He really did seem troubled, and it certainly could be true that he wouldn’t be allowed back in the tent without offering us a song, but his desire to apologize to the people of the forest’s edge likely wasn’t heartfelt. Jiza Ruu and Ai Fa were probably acting so cold because they could see through him too.

“What a pain. If singing for us will make him happy, then why not just go ahead and let him?” Ludo Ruu chimed in, at which point Jiza Ruu seemed to relent and gave a nod.

“Allow me to reemphasize, we wish to return to the forest’s edge as soon as possible. I ask that you keep that fact in mind.”

“Thank you! I shall begin right away!”

Neeya cheerfully pulled his instrument off his back. It was a seven-stringed one, looking like a guitar or mandolin. I had never seen another instrument like it here in Genos. After strumming it a couple times and adjusting the tuning, Neeya sat down in one of the restaurant seats.

“Well then, please listen to this tale of Misha the White Sage, who brought prosperity to the Eastern Kingdom of Sym.”

With that, he started playing an arpeggio that resounded through the nighttime air of the post town. His instrument definitely sounded like an acoustic guitar, but I got the feeling that the musical theory that underpinned his song was different somehow from what I was familiar with back in my home country. With my shallow knowledge on the subject, the best way I could have described it would’ve been to say that it sounded somewhat Arabian, but whatever you called it, it definitely sounded foreign to me.

Neeya’s voice gently overlapped with the strumming. He sang in a carefree, springy tone that differed completely from how he usually spoke. It was delicate and beautiful, sounding almost androgynous. He wasn’t raising his voice to be all that loud, and yet it still seemed to leisurely drift through the air without being overcome by the commotion of the town.

There were even passersby stopping and gathering around the restaurant. His singing was just that good.

I can see how he makes a living with just his voice. It’s hard to believe that this is the same rude guy from before.

He actually did have a fairly well-proportioned face, now that I was taking a moment to look at it. When he closed his eyes and strummed on those seven strings while singing in that strange voice, he looked like something out of a picture scroll. The idea of him leaving noblewomen in the castle town spellbound made a lot more sense to me now.

The contents of his song were whimsically beautiful as well. It was a tale of how Misha the White Sage brought unprecedented prosperity to the Kingdom of Sym.

There were seven tribes in Sym, and the story was set in the territory of one of them—the Rao. Several hundred years back, the Rao had been on the verge of dying out. They had been at war with both the people of the mountains and the people of the sea, who were known throughout Sym for their especially violent natures, and had been driven from the fertile plains as a result. Having been pushed to the far reaches of the eastern territory, where there was nothing but mud, swamps, and barren land, the Rao had seemed to have no choice but to surrender to another tribe or be destroyed. But in the midst of that hopeless situation, a sorcerer who would eventually come to be known as Misha the White Sage had appeared before the chief of the Rao and rescued them from their predicament, and then they had gone on to conquer all of Sym. That was the topic of Neeya’s epic ballad.

The sorcerer Misha had white skin and golden hair despite being a citizen of Sym, and used countless magics to assist the Rao in ways such as making sturdy bricks from mud and then using them to build walls and castles that stopped the Rao’s enemies in their tracks whenever they tried to attack. The sage also devised powerful weapons made of stone and wood to defeat the tribe’s foes. Battle after battle raged for a hundred days, and in the end, the Rao achieved a lasting peace and tremendous prosperity, all thanks to Misha.

They then went on to conquer all of Sym, and with the seven warring factions of the east united into a single country, the chief of the Rao was able to name himself king.

The newly enthroned king then made Misha his chancellor. Using this new power, Misha continued to enrich the kingdom more and more. However, as Misha’s glory grew ever greater, a rift started to form between the sage and the king, which was only exacerbated when Misha fell in love with the king’s daughter.

Naturally, the king was strongly opposed to giving his precious daughter over to a sorcerer of unknown origin. He forced the two lovers apart, and Misha was eventually exiled from Sym.

Even so, Misha didn’t hold a grudge against the people of Sym as he left the nation’s lands and disappeared. In her grief, the daughter became a nun and sequestered herself in a stone tower Misha had built, leaving the king to lament his own shortsightedness. Misha never returned, and the king’s daughter never left the tower again for as long as she lived.

That was the end of the tale.

The part about bringing prosperity with magic was bright and cheerful, repelling the invaders felt stirring and heroic, the bit about the king’s daughter was sweet and romantic, and the farewell scene was sad and beautiful... By changing the tone of his voice and music, the song never started to feel stale despite going on for over five minutes. When Neeya closed his mouth and his smooth fingers strummed the last note, a generous explosion of applause burst forth from the crowd gathered around.

“That was an amazing song!”

“Play another one, mister!”

The men were calling out stuff like that, while some of the women were gently wiping away their tears. Even as someone with little knowledge of music, I had no doubt that Neeya was an excellent singer.

“That was the tale of Misha the White Sage... Did that serve to at least somewhat soothe your anger?” Neeya asked us, paying no heed to the cheers or half coins being tossed his way. It seemed that even as the singer, he had gotten rather absorbed in the act. His gaze was a bit unfocused, and his expression seemed somehow dimmed.

“Hmm. It certainly was a splendid song. Every bit as fine as the acts your comrades put on over in the tent,” Dan Rutim remarked as he stroked his mustache. “Now, Misha was a man, right? Based on his name, I thought he was a woman, so I was a little confused when he fell in love with the princess of Sym.”

“Names differ in other nations,” Neeya murmured back with a faint smile. “Furthermore, Misha was only his common name. Since his true name was long and complicated, he chose to shorten it.”

“Hmm? But doesn’t everyone from Sym have a long name?” Dan Rutim asked, turning toward Vina Ruu. However, the eldest Ruu daughter just sulked rather than replying. As he glanced over the two of them, Neeya gave another faint smile.

“Misha was not from Sym. Folklore says he might have wandered there from Mahyudra, but nothing is certain.” With a strange light in his pale eyes, Neeya suddenly started staring at me. “According to another legend, Misha was said to be a starless one.” I felt a heavy lump in my chest when I heard those words. “His true name was Mikhail Volkonsky... No one from the four great kingdoms possesses such a strange name. Apparently, he was not a child of the four great gods at all, instead coming from a far-off land.”

I was left dumbstruck.

“I hear tell that you are a starless one as well, Asuta of the Fa clan. Old man Rai, the fortuneteller, said so... He cannot see with his own eyes, but in exchange he can see the stars of others. And yet, he simply couldn’t sense your presence at all.” At that point, Ai Fa pushed me aside and stepped in front of Neeya. He just offered her a vacant smile. “I chose that song for your precious clan member, oh beautiful one... Will you forgive my crime now?”

“Disappear,” was all Ai Fa shot back with.

Neeya gave a bow with his smile still in place, then slung his instrument over his right shoulder. A young girl who had gathered up the half coins that had fallen to the ground handed them to him. He grinned at her and said, “Thank you. Well then, allow me to excuse myself... If you wish to hear my singing again, please come over to our tent. I will offer one more song to the sun god before it is time for sleep.”

With that, Neeya disappeared with a large crowd trailing after him, leaving behind an oppressive silence.

Ai Fa brought her face close to mine and said, “Asuta, are you...”

“I’m fine. No need to worry,” I replied with a nod, then forced a smile. “It was just a bit... No, it was a huge surprise. I let myself get all shaken up over someone from hundreds of years ago. I don’t even know if that Misha guy really was a starless one...or what that even means for us in the first place.”

Ai Fa silently moved even closer. She stared into my eyes, probably trying to confirm whether or not I was lying.

“I mean, what does it really matter? It’s not like the people of the forest’s edge would ever exile me, right?”

“Of course not,” Ai Fa angrily replied, poking me in the chest. Then she heaved a sigh and stepped away from me. “I never cared in the first place. As long as you aren’t upset, then it’s fine.”

“I can’t say that I’m not a little unsettled, but I don’t really have time for that. Right now, I’m mostly thinking about how we need to hurry home to prepare for tomorrow.”

At the forest’s edge, it was considered a crime to lie, so I was very earnest about how I felt.

Having quietly observed our exchange, Jiza Ruu said, “Very well. Are you done talking? In that case, we will return to the forest’s edge. Make sure not to let your guard down until we get there.”

“Right!” Dan Rutim replied, and the women headed toward the wagons and stalls.

As for me, I sent Ai Fa another smile. She had a rather sour look on her face and just poked me in the chest again.

I wasn’t going to let something like this throw me for a loop. After all, we were in the middle of an important job right now. If Misha the White Sage brought prosperity to Sym, then I wanted to do the same for the forest’s edge. If I had one takeaway from Neeya’s ballad, that was it.

As I walked along, I looked upward and saw a sky full of shining stars. Even if my destiny wasn’t written there, my feet were firmly planted here on the ground, alongside my cherished comrades.

I had no choice but to live the life that was in front of me, but I was deeply grateful for the fact that this second chance I had been granted was such a happy existence. That was what I truly felt deep inside, and I would never be ashamed of that.

With that, the day of the sun’s peak finally came to a close, and the sun god’s revival festival finally passed its halfway point.