Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter 4.4

4

Roughly three hours later, we finished our work. It took about as long as on the day of the sun’s peak for us to run out of food. Even though we had added nearly three hundred meals, this was still the result we had achieved. The number of customers we were pulling in had grown just as fast as we were improving in our preparation and execution. On the day of the sun’s peak, I had sold deep-fried giba meat, but today I had swapped that out for giba curry, which undoubtedly helped to increase our efficiency further.

Thanks to that, our seating was always full, with customers constantly overflowing out onto the road, but fortunately we didn’t get chewed out by the guards on patrol this time. The laws of Genos forbade sitting in the road, but they didn’t say anything about standing around eating. Those folks who couldn’t wait around for seating to open up would order one item and eat it while standing before ordering another, which kept the guards from complaining.

The first to sell out were the dishes we had prepared the least of—the giba manju and poitan wraps—so after that, I entrusted Yamiru Lea to handle the giba curry sales while I swapped over to the carbonara, which took more effort to prepare. In the back half, we ended up working just two stalls with four people each, at which point the carbonara was selling about as fast as the rest did.

Myme sold out even earlier still, but she was remaining nearby with Mikel, who had come along as a customer. As Mikel would also be taking a day off from selling charcoal tomorrow, they would be heading to the Daleim lands with us too. While they were waiting for us to finish, they headed over to the Gamley Troupe’s tent with Bartha guarding them and really got their fill of the festival atmosphere here in the post town. Unlike Yumi, Myme and Mikel would be spending the holiday as a family, and even though Mikel was looking as sour as ever, the father and daughter pair really did seem happy.

Once we had sold around two thirds of what we had at the stalls, the Ruu clan put together a group to head back to the Ruu settlement so they could meet up with Granny Jiba and the others who were coming. The group of four—Jiza, Darmu, Vina, and Lala Ruu, all members of the main house—headed up the road with Ruuruu and Jidura pulling two wagons, and bringing Mim Cha and the Lea totos with them. The hunters in the group would also serve as Granny Jiba’s guards.

After work was done, we headed back to The Kimyuus’s Tail, where a different group of four was waiting for us. After Jiza Ruu and the others had delivered Granny Jiba to the Daleim lands, he had assigned these four to accompany us. Jeeda was one of them. I hadn’t talked to him in some time.

“Hey there. I haven’t seen you on guard duty in a while, Jeeda.”

“I didn’t really have a choice, since my mother got recruited first...”

At first I didn’t get what he meant, but it seemed he was trying to abide by the custom that the new year should be welcomed with family. Though Jeeda had been thoroughly assimilated into the Ruu clan, he had always been a citizen of Selva by nature.

“Bartha’s already on her way over to the Daleim lands, but we might overtake them at some point.”

“Yeah, since they’ll be walking slowly out there in the dark. But there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Any bandits who are out there will be busy drinking instead of trying to rob people on a day like today.”

Those who weren’t going to have a spot in the wagons had headed out on foot for the Daleim lands early rather than waiting around in the restaurant with the customers. Considering Granny Jiba’s group of ten had already arrived there too, we were going to have quite a few folks walking back tomorrow morning.

“Anyway, we’re gonna go return the stalls now, so just hold on for a bit.”

Ai Fa, Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, and I headed through the door into The Kimyuus’s Tail. For the whole duration of the revival festival, this place had been a real battlefield too. There were tons of customers crammed into the dining hall, and Telia Mas and the other workers were incredibly busy. The front desk was unmanned, so I peeked behind it into the kitchen, where I found Milano Mas slumped down in a chair by himself.

“Looks like you’ve been working hard today, Milano Mas.”

“Hmm? Yeah, you too. Guess you didn’t wrap up early this time, huh?”

“We didn’t, but we still managed to sell everything. Are you taking a short break?”

“Yeah, since they’re all just chugging down fruit wine at this point anyway. The giba meat’s long since run out.”

In order for people to enjoy themselves this much, there had to be other people like him working hard behind the scenes. I really wanted to take a moment to just stand there and be impressed with him. He looked so worn out.

“You’re going to the Daleim lands now, right? You sure have a lot of energy.”

“Right, and I wanted to invite your family along too, if it wouldn’t interfere with your work.”

“As if we’d have that sort of time to spare on a holiday... But sometime during the silver month, those folks from the Daleim lands will be heading to the settlement at the forest’s edge again, yeah?” Milano Mas bluntly asked, removing his hat and wiping the sweat from his brow. “If you could bring Telia along with you again, that’d be plenty. Once you decide on a date, let me know as soon as possible.”

“Got it. Um... Thank you so much for everything you’ve done this year, Milano Mas,” I said with a bow, only for him to give me a questioning scowl.

“Why are you telling me that now?”

“Back in my home country, you’re supposed to say things like that at the end of the year. It seems that’s not really the custom here in Genos, though.”

“Yeah, everyone’s so busy making a huge commotion that they don’t have time for anything like giving thanks. Still, it really has turned out to be one heck of a year thanks to all of you,” Milano Mas said, bowing back. “I’d say we owe you all a whole lot more. So, well...I’m grateful.”

“And I’m deeply indebted to you, Milano Mas. I hope that we can keep on working together next year.”

After that, we pulled our stalls around to the back of the inn, then finally set out for the Daleim lands. We had five wagons, including the one from the Sauti clan, and two additional totos, to transport thirty-four people in total. That was already quite a few, but including the folks who had gone ahead of us, we actually had fifty in total. We were going to have seven from the small clans, two from the Sauti, two under the Zaza, including Toor Deen, and Bartha and Jeeda... The nearly forty other people who were coming all had ties to the Ruu clan. Half of them were men coming along as guards, while ten or so were chefs who were part of our business in the post town, and the rest were women who wished to join the party, Granny Jiba foremost among them.

Because of all those additional women, a single wagon wouldn’t have sufficed for getting Granny Jiba there and back. With such a large number interested in coming, and since they had to have an equal number of men to accompany them, they had ended up needing two wagons and totos.

There are a hundred people under the Ruu, and nearly forty of them are heading to the Daleim lands. That really is incredible, I thought to myself while swaying along in Gilulu’s wagon. We had decided that Ai Fa would be the one holding the reins when we needed to ride in the wagon at night. Even when there were torches around, I lacked the skill to run the wagon at full speed when it was this dark out.

Beside me, Toor Deen and Yun Sudra were both drifting off. Two or three hours had passed since sunset by this point, so they would ordinarily be going to bed around this time. In terms of my old world, it would be around nine in the evening, but that was still late at night for the people of the forest’s edge, and after seven months of living alongside them, it felt the same way to me too.

Still, my head remained clear, and the majority of the rest of the group seemed pretty lively. The hunters in particular seemed to be brimming with excess energy and vitality, as they had been taking time off from hunting giba. Remembering how they had stayed up late talking at the last clan head meeting, I figured they could easily manage a night without any sleep if necessary.

While I was thinking about that, our wagon arrived in the Daleim lands. Darkness had fallen over the fields, but beyond them I could see light coming from some fires that were dotted around here and there. Everyone in the area must have been staying up through the night in order to celebrate the sun god’s revival. There were also fires burning bright in front of Dora’s house, and a large crowd was gathered around making merry.

“Oh, you made it. We only just got here ourselves,” the large figure closest to the bonfire cheerfully called out. It was Bartha in bodyguard mode, clad in leather chest armor and bracers. Myme and Mikel were also there beside her.

“Good work today, Asuta! Is Yumi still working?” Myme asked.

“Yeah, but she said she’ll come running over as soon as she runs out of food.”

There were roughly thirty people outside cheerfully chatting away, including Myme. About half of them were people I didn’t know from the Daleim lands. I had heard that the short-term hires had headed out to the post town, so these must have been relatives who also looked after the fields, or folks who lived nearby. Looking around, I noticed lights coming from a couple torches steadily approaching along the paths between the fields.

“The head of the house and Jiba Ruu are inside with the others,” Bartha said, and so we went to greet Dora. However, the house was apparently nearing capacity, so we had to carefully pick and choose who would be going in. Inside, I found that seventy percent or so of the folks making merry there were people of the forest’s edge.

“Hey there, Asuta! You looked like you were working hard today! You’re pretty early, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. We somehow managed to finish up on time.”

Out of Dora’s family, I spied him, his uncle, and three women. However, his sons and Tara were nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, everyone else is over at the storehouse. Dan Rutim and some of the others were saying they wanted to see the mountains of vegetables.”

Now that Dora mentioned it, I didn’t see all that many familiar faces from the forest’s edge. I spotted Granny Jiba, Jiza Ruu, and Darmu Ruu, but the rest were all men and women whose names I didn’t know.

Dora’s uncle and mother were seated near Granny Jiba, and they seemed to be talking about something. Granny Jiba was wearing a smile on her wrinkly face.

“You must be tired too, Jiba Ruu. How are you holding up?”

“Oh, I’m full of pep... I got plenty of sleep earlier in the day...”

As she didn’t have many teeth left, Granny Jiba’s speech was a little imperfect, as always. But I could tell even in this dim lighting that her skin seemed to have a good color to it, and at any rate, she appeared to be really enjoying herself.

It was around then that the door we had come in through swung open from the outside.

“Hey, so you finally finished your work, eh, Asuta?! Jiba Ruu, that was such an amazing sight! There’s nothing dangerous about it, so you should go see for yourself!” Dan Rutim remarked, having returned from the vegetable storehouse.

“Is that so...?” Granny Jiba nodded back to him, then looked at her great-grandchild. Jiza Ruu stood with a small sigh, then reached down toward the elder’s back and legs. He lifted her small body up in his burly arms, right along with the giba pelt that had been spread over the chair she’d been sitting on.

“Well then, why don’t I go with you? And the rest of you should make yourselves at home, Asuta,” Dora offered.

“Ah, no, we have to get the food ready now while we have the chance.”

“Huh? But you only just got off work, so why not rest a bit while you can?”

“There’s no telling when exhaustion may start to set in, so I want to handle it while I still have energy to spare.”

With that, Dora, Jiza Ruu, and Granny Jiba exited the house, while we headed to the kitchen.

Today, we were only preparing a single dish: cold soba. I simply couldn’t resist the desire to serve it tonight, since it was basically New Year’s Eve.

“Sorry. I know you all had this dish in the castle town three days ago,” I apologized.

Reina Ruu had come along to assist me, and she replied with a smile, “No need to apologize. Making the same dish again in a short period of time is good practice, so I’m grateful for the opportunity. I can tell how much better we’ve gotten at making the dishes we serve at the stalls.”

“Yeah. It’s only natural you’d improve, making hundreds of servings of a dish each day.”

The group that had accompanied me to the kitchen consisted of Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, Toor Deen, and Yun Sudra. As they had all helped to prepare this same dish in the castle town, they were the ideal chefs to have on hand for this task.

We picked up our knives to slice up a bunch of dough that had been allowed to rise, cutting it into thin strips, and did the same for the vegetables that we were going to use to make the tempura. My Sym-made vegetable knife had a thin blade similar in shape to a straight sickle, making it well suited to cutting soba.

“It sure is quite a sight, isn’t it? Seeing people of the forest’s edge and folks from the Daleim lands all jumbled together,” I said.

“That’s for sure. Jiza looks like he’s refusing to let his guard down for a single moment,” Reina Ruu replied with a giggle. “Still, this party here in the Daleim lands is exactly what Granny Jiba was wishing for. Honestly, my mother really wanted to come along too.”

“Hmm? Can she not leave the house, as the one in charge of the women?”

“That’s part of it, but I’m sure she must be thinking about my dad’s feelings too. Since he made Jiza the acting clan head, he now needs to stay at the house.”

The only ones who had stayed behind at the Ruu house were Donda and Mia Lea Ruu, Granny Tito Min, Sati Lea Ruu, and Kota Ruu. It made me feel a little lonely to even imagine the usually lively place with so few people.

“Then, during the next break period, maybe we should prioritize the folks who didn’t make it to the Daleim lands this time around. It wouldn’t be the revival festival or a party, but at least it would be a chance to deepen our relationship.”

“That’s true. If my father decides it’s necessary for him as one of the leading clan heads, he might just agree to come as well,” Reina Ruu replied.

A moment later, a voice outside the window loudly shouted, “Never mind!” Reina Ruu and I looked at one another, and then we both hurried over to see what was going on.

It was dark outside the window, as this was the opposite side of the house from the bonfire. Rather than the girl I had expected to see, though, we found Shin Ruu standing out there all by himself.

“What happened, Shin Ruu? That was Lala Ruu’s voice just now, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, Asuta and Reina Ruu... Well, you see, I went and made Lala Ruu angry again.”

“How did you do that?”

“I’m not certain. But I’m sure it was because I’m so tactless.”

As he stood there under the moonlight, Shin Ruu seemed oddly dejected. It was almost painful to look at, to the point that it was hard to imagine this was the same youth who had appeared so gallant just three days prior.

“She just asked me what I would do if I was invited to the castle town again, and I replied that I would leave the decision up to the leading clan heads... I don’t think there was anything wrong with my answer, so why did Lala Ruu get so angry?”

“Hmm.” I hummed with a tilt of my head, only for Reina Ruu to tug on the sleeve of my T-shirt.

“Asuta, as Lala’s big sister, I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to get involved. Sorry, but could I leave the rest up to you?”

“Yeah, though I don’t know if I’ll be any help or not.”

With that, Reina Ruu returned to cooking, while Ai Fa approached from her post near the kitchen door. After giving her a nod, I called out to Shin Ruu through the window, “Well, I guess I’d have to say that you answered properly as a person of the forest’s edge, but don’t you think what she really wanted to hear was your personal feelings on the matter?”

“My personal feelings?”

“Yeah. Like, saying that you would be reluctant to go there, but would have to oblige if the leading clan heads ordered you to. That would be an acceptable response for a man of the forest’s edge and might also have prevented Lala Ruu from getting angry.”

“I don’t have any particular issue with heading to the castle town, though. It wasn’t especially enjoyable, but I felt proud to have my strength as a hunter acknowledged.”

That response gave me a bit of a hint.

“But this time, a major part of what caused all that to happen was those noblewomen requesting you, right? Don’t you think that’s what Lala Ruu was worried about?”

“Why would Lala Ruu be concerned about something like that?” Shin Ruu questioned, sounding confused. And so, I had no choice but to touch on a rather delicate topic.

“Because Lala Ruu would be pretty upset if other women started making eyes at you, of course. Or at least, that’s how I see it.”

Instantly, Shin Ruu’s face went so red I could make it out clearly even under the moonlight.

“But regardless of what those noblewomen might have been imagining, any talk of marriage would be out of the question, so I cannot see the need to feel unnerved,” he said.

This was a return to what I had discussed with Lala Ruu and Ai Fa in the past. You could say that the flow of the conversation here was allowing me to make use of the ideas I had hit upon then.

“So, what if your positions were reversed? Would you be able to send Lala Ruu off to the castle town without any worries?”

“Of course. As long as there were hunters to guard her, she wouldn’t be in any danger regardless of what those nobles might think of her.”

“I see. But if someone you didn’t even know were to start leering at Lala Ruu, would you really not have any issue with that?”

“I wouldn’t,” he responded in a rather manly way. Shin Ruu was definitely more mature than I was. However, right now that was what was stopping him from being able to intuit the source of Lala Ruu’s worries and anger.

“Even so, Lala Ruu probably didn’t like those noblewomen looking at you,” Ai Fa flatly interjected while I was searching for what to say. “Even if you do not feel that way, Lala Ruu does. If you understand that, then don’t you think you should retract your words, Shin Ruu?”

“Hmm?”

“At the very least, your words have shaken Lala Ruu’s heart. If you wish to form a proper bond with her, that is something you cannot ignore,” Ai Fa stated, her tone calm yet also forceful. Her gaze was fixed firmly on Shin Ruu as she continued, “You should be talking to Lala Ruu, not Asuta. I believe your greatest mistake is simply standing there after Lala Ruu walked off in anger. If you do not know what made her mad, then should you not talk to her until you understand?”

“Yes... You’re absolutely right,” Shin Ruu replied with a nod, turning away. “My apologies for interfering with your work. I’m going to go look for Lala Ruu.”

“Right. Give it your all, Shin Ruu,” I said.

With his cloak fluttering behind him as he went, the young hunter took off running into the darkness. After watching him go, I turned toward Ai Fa. “That was very well done. All I did was waste time.”

“Not at all. Men of the forest’s edge just don’t necessarily see things the same way you do,” Ai Fa replied with a shrug, and then she returned to the entrance.

I headed back over to my station, where Sheera Ruu greeted me with a smile as she worked.

“Sorry you had to trouble yourself with that, Asuta...but I’m sure that Shin and Lala Ruu will be just fine.”

“Yeah. It’s obvious how much they care about one another, so I’m honestly not all that worried.”

After that, we immersed ourselves fully in our work.

More than just work, though, this was a group task so that we could enjoy the party together. Selling food to customers and eating a delicious meal with one another each had their own unique feel. Currently, even Toor Deen and Yun Sudra, who had looked so sleepy back in the wagon, were enjoying themselves as they sliced up vegetables with great enthusiasm.

After the dough and vegetables were all cut up, we moved over to the stoves to complete the final steps. In order to give everyone a chance to polish their skills, I took on an advisory role and had them split into pairs who would switch back and forth with each other between boiling the noodles and frying the tempura.

We piled up the finished food on several large plates and then brought them out to the main hall. Since there were fifty people in attendance just counting those from the forest’s edge, the plan was to make enough for a hundred. That way, no matter how many neighbors gathered, it would surely be enough for everyone to get a bite. But if it somehow wasn’t enough, then there would still be the food prepared by the wives of the household.

We were working up a sweat as we kept on cooking away, and by the time the last thirty servings had been delivered, the party seemed to be in full swing out in the main hall. Since the food would have been difficult to carry and eat outside, apparently they had solved the crowding problem in the main hall by having everyone take turns heading in to eat and drink for a while. By the time we made it back there, the younger crowd of Rimee Ruu, Tara, and Ludo Ruu were just starting to dig in, along with Myme and Mikel.

“This is really delicious! I still can’t compete with you at all when it comes to fried dishes, Asuta!” Myme enthusiastically exclaimed. Meanwhile, Mikel was wearing an even more sour expression than usual, which was no surprise, as he wasn’t fond of crowds. It really felt like this was going to be a rare occurrence, having him show up at a party like this even so.

Still, things certainly were chaotic. There were a ton of unfamiliar faces from both the Daleim lands and the forest’s edge all jumbled together. The sight of Dan Rutim and Dora acting friendly and chatting with anyone and everyone had become an everyday occurrence of late, but even though the unfamiliar people from both Daleim and the forest’s edge were being just a bit reserved, they were still talking, eating the same food, and drinking together. So though it was indeed chaotic, I couldn’t help but find it all to be really wonderful.

“Well then, let’s dig in too.”

Those who had been working with me, like Reina Ruu, and the ones who had been watching over us, like Ai Fa, all started slurping down our freshly prepared soba. At this point, I really had no way of knowing what time it was, so we just had to keep on enjoying the party until the sky grew bright once more.

In the meantime, Yumi and Luia had arrived at Dora’s house with five friends in tow, two guys and three girls. I didn’t know their names, but I recognized all of their faces. The guys had been there with Yumi back when she had first visited my stall, while she had brought the girls along the next time.

“You made it just in time. This is the last of the food we prepared.”

“Whoa, talk about a close one! Thanks to you all dawdling so much, we almost missed out on the meal!”

“Aw, shut it,” one of her friends grumbled before raising a hand and greeting me with a “Hey.” Though he had griped at me a whole lot back at our first meeting, that incident was now in the distant past. I remembered how startled he had been when Mida had suddenly appeared...but Vina Ruu would have been the only one who might have recognized him if I mentioned that, as no one else had been there with me. The other one was the guy who had told me later about all the trouble Mida had caused around the post town.

After we’d all had our fill of New Year’s soba, we exited the house together. There were bonfires blazing bright here and there, and people were gathered around them enjoying themselves. There was a cloth spread out on the ground for Granny Jiba, and she was currently resting on top of it. Vina Ruu was there beside her too, while Jiza and Darmu Ruu were standing by not far off.

Nobody seemed to have brought any instruments, but I could hear folks singing and clapping to the beat, and I saw girls dancing and twirling around as well. A short while later, the kimyuus meat and vegetable soup prepared by the wives was brought outside, and a great cheer arose. For tonight, at least, it seemed like everyone’s stomachs were truly bottomless.

Time steadily passed on by, and the women from the forest’s edge began to dance as well. They had supposedly refused at first because dances were strongly associated with courtship for young women, but they got up too when Granny Jiba said, “There’s no such custom here in this land, so you needn’t worry about that sort of thing if you want to dance...”

It wasn’t the sort of passionate dancing I had seen at the forest’s edge, but they all looked quite elegant. Perhaps they were trying to imitate how the women from the Daleim lands were dancing. If so, then there was some serious ad-libbing on display. The way that they danced around the bonfires with their translucent veils and shawls trailing behind them was absolutely beautiful and a wonder to behold.

After we had enjoyed watching their dancing for a bit, Ai Fa and I stepped away for a moment and quickly encountered a group taking a break off to the side of the house: Yamiru Lea, Rau Lea, and Tsuvai. The three of them were stretched out on top of a cloth, with the latter two fast asleep.

“Oh yeah, you weren’t dancing with the others, were you, Yamiru Lea?” I called out, earning a glare from her.

“I’m no good at dancing. In fact, I’m more unskilled than most at moving in general.”

“But you are pushing yourself to stay up, right? Those two seem to be out cold.”

“Hmph. Tsuvai is one thing, but I wonder if our clan head even realizes he’s supposed to be on guard duty. He was gulping down a substantial amount of fruit wine earlier, and before long he ended up like this.”

Despite the sour expression on her face, Yamiru Lea looked quite happy, nestled there between her past and present family.

“I would have liked to invite Mida too if it were possible. Even if that would have made the food preparations even tougher,” I said.

“Mida’s actions made him especially infamous, even compared to the other members of the Suun clan, so that simply wouldn’t do. Donda Ruu has also said it’s too soon for him to head back into town.”

Mida had smashed a number of stalls that had displeased him around the post town. If the time when he could freely head into town again ever came, that would definitely be a sign that the rift between us and Genos had lessened.

“Well, even Ji Maam has found some acceptance, so there may no longer be any need to worry about his appearance frightening anyone.”

Ji Maam was currently drinking alongside Dan Rutim. It seemed around half of the more than twenty men who had come here were drinking fruit wine.

“It’s quite an incredible sight, isn’t it? Perhaps the people of the forest’s edge have finally freed themselves from Zattsu Suun’s curse,” Yamiru Lea whispered. “There’s still no shortage of people of the forest’s edge who do not trust the citizens of Genos, such as the Zaza and Beim. But at least there don’t seem to be any left who are filled with anger or hatred.”

“Yeah. This is just a fraction of the people of the forest’s edge, but I hope that’s true for all of us.”

Separate from Dan Rutim’s gathering, Dora and Dari Sauti were chatting about something. Sufira Zaza and Fei Beim were hanging around with Ama Min Rutim and several others. Rimee Ruu and Tara were having fun with a bunch of other children, while Toor Deen and Reina Ruu were talking with some women from the Daleim lands.

I heard a voice say, “Hmm,” and when I turned to look I found Ai Fa staring off into the distance. Following her gaze, I saw a young boy and girl huddling together at the edge of the plaza, their shoulders touching. Shin and Lala Ruu. At this distance, I couldn’t possibly make out their expressions, but things didn’t seem uneasy between them at all.

After that, we continued to talk to all sorts of people. Dora had boasted that they would have no issues providing bedding, but virtually no one seemed to be taking him up on the offer. Those who did fall asleep were either tossed into the house or woken up on the spot. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the party as much as they possibly could. I nodded off a little myself partway through, but after that I got my energy back just fine.

Time gradually moved along, and eventually the starry sky shifted to a bluish gray, at which point those few who had gone to bed were dragged back outside. Ai Fa and I went to go check on Granny Jiba and make sure she wasn’t pushing herself too hard, and then we headed outside too.

Around then, the bonfires were put out, and everyone started staring off to the east, toward the dark-green outline of Mount Morga. Soon a border of white light formed along the crest of the mountain, and the grand sight of the reborn sun god began to emerge. When the sunlight finally reached the ground, the folks from the Daleim lands all cheered in unison.

The people of the forest’s edge, meanwhile, stood there silently. It was as if they didn’t want to interfere with the joy felt by the folks from the Daleim lands. We just stared at the shining visage of the sun god, trying to take in at least a little of the happiness they felt.

The women from the forest’s edge, who all got up early, were able to see the sun rise every day, and of course, the same was true for the folks from the Daleim lands, but today it still felt special somehow... It was a sacred moment.

This also meant the westerners were all a year older now, with Tara turning nine, Jeeda fifteen, and Bartha thirty-five. As of today, the old year had ended and a new one had begun. My head was a bit fuzzy from lack of sleep, but the moment still felt solemn to me too.

I had only been here for seven months out of the past year.

So then, what was the next year going to be like?

I didn’t even know how I had been reborn here in this world, and as a result, I had no way of knowing when I might vanish... But with Ai Fa by my side, I had a powerful feeling that I needed to live my life to the fullest while burying those unnerving thoughts deep inside.

“I’ve lived for eighty-five years, but I cannot think of many that were as special as this one...” Granny Jiba said, standing with the help of Rimee and Jiza Ruu on Ai Fa’s other side. “Of course, I’m sure it was a special year for nearly all of our people, not just one who has lived as long as I have...”

“That’s true. But this year may turn out to be even more special still,” I replied as I stared at the sight of the sun god slowly emerging. “Jiba Ruu, I hope you’ll be able to keep watching everything we’re going to accomplish. This year, and the next, and the one after that too.”

“I would certainly love to do so...and I am truly glad that I feel that way now...”

I felt so much joy I could hardly stand it.

This year and the next one and the one after that, I wished to keep on doing my best at everything I did. The fact that I could think that way meant that I was living a truly happy life.

With that, the sun god had revived, and our new year had begun.