3
“I’m home,” I called out as I opened the door, only to find Ai Fa seated leaning against the wall and looking back at me in confusion.
“Why? What happened? Was there some sort of incident in the post town?”
“No. I just came back because we safely sold everything we brought.”
“That... was rather fast. The sun hasn’t even hit its peak yet, has it?”
“It hasn’t. And we even took a number of detours along the way, too.”
We stocked up on supplies for tomorrow, stood and talked with Dora for a while, and visited The Kimyuus’s Tail to hear Kamyua and Leito’s impressions, then washed out the pot upon returning to the forest’s edge before finally coming back home.
As for the leftover tarapa sauce that hadn’t even gotten a chance to boil, Vina Ruu poured it into a leather bag that she had bought on the spot, then brought it home with a smile on her face.
We left the excess firewood with the cart when we returned it, so for tomorrow we’d just have to bring the ingredients and tools we needed, which would make everything lighter and easier to handle.
At any rate, I returned the pot to its place atop the stove and the tarapa and gigo and the like to the pantry, than sat down facing Ai Fa.
“We sold all ten of the meals I had prepared. Taking out the expenses, that means I roughly made five red coins in profit. Well, at least for the first day, I’d call this a huge success, but...”
But somehow, I didn’t feel satisfied.
And figuring I should share that sense of dissatisfaction with Ai Fa, I went ahead and told her about everything that had happened today.
“Hmm... It seems clear that your dishes sold out of acknowledgment of your skill, though. Why not simply be happy in that success?”
“That may be so, but I have no idea how long that group from the east will be staying in the post town, so it’s tricky trying to figure out what to do from tomorrow on.”
To be blunt, it felt like a big failure in terms of making a splash and building a reputation.
Just what had the townsfolk thought, seeing us open up a shop and then pull the stall on back less than an hour later? Had they assumed we caused some sort of problem and had to withdraw?
Maybe I was being overly paranoid, but still, it had hurt seeing those stares coming our way.
On top of that, that group could hardly speak the western language at all, so it was hard to imagine them spreading much in the way of word of mouth.
“...Running a business sounds truly puzzling,” Ai Fa said while ruffling her blonde hair and moving her face in closer. “But even so, you carried out your job. So be at least a little happy.”
“Yeah...”
“I said be happy,” Ai Fa repeated, then she suddenly reached out and gave my left cheek a firm twist.
“Ow, ow, ow! You’re going to rip my cheek off! What do you think you’re doing, out of nowhere?!”
“I told you to be happy, but you weren’t listening to me at all,” Ai Fa said, then an awkward smile crossed her face. “Even though I’m happy for you...”
“Ai Fa, you...”
“Hmm?”
“You’ve been smiling more lately, haven’t you? Ow, ow, ow!”
Then, with a “Hmph!” that precious smile vanished from Ai Fa’s face, and she stood up and took her cloak from the wall.
“Owww... Ah, is it already time for you to head out into the forest?”
“Indeed. What will you do now, Asuta?”
“Ah, right. It’s still too early to start preparing dinner. I guess I’ll think about what to do next while chopping some firewood.”
“I already chopped some firewood, but I suppose there’s no harm to you chopping even more,” she said, moving her face in closer to mine again as I remained seated cross-legged on the floor. “Well then, I’m off. Make sure you don’t let your guard down today either, alright?”
“Yeah. If any suspicious drunks approach, I’ll be sure to run away in a full on sprint.”
“Right,” Ai Fa replied with a nod, and an incredibly strong light shining in her eyes.
Ever since the day of the Rutim banquet, Ai Fa had that sort of look in her eyes whenever she left me to head out into the forest.
At any rate, Ai Fa left for the forest like that, leaving me behind in the house.
The sun just hit its peak, huh...?
If that was the case, then now was around when I was supposed to be handing out samples in the more crowded streets of the post town, but instead I was sitting here all alone in the house.
It seemed my disappointment really had won out over my sense of satisfaction.
“Well, guess there’s no point in fretting over it. The real fight starts tomorrow! Yeah, tomorrow!”
It was a little risky, but I’d go ahead and prepare 20 patties for tomorrow. And if that ended up being a big mistake, then I could just go back down to ten. But if those happened to sell out quickly too, then I could start adding a bit more day by day. If I didn’t want to go wasting ingredients, then I just had to keep on playing it by ear like that.
I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. Just as long as I don’t go seriously in the red, I can keep the shop going for 10 or 20 days. If I just build up my results bit by bit, I’ll be fine.
Ai Fa was earnestly happy for me, so that helped me to be at least a bit positive myself.
Things may have developed in a bit of an unexpected direction, but since I hadn’t really expected to sell anything at all on the first day, yet I had gone and sold out my stock, I could feel at least a little happy about that, I figured.
And they may have been acquaintances, but still, Tara, Dora, Kamyua Yoshu, and Leito all gave rave reviews of the giba burgers.
As such, I should be set to face tomorrow’s work with hope rather than unease.
“Alright! Guess I’ll chop some firewood.”
I pulled a hatchet and a bundle of firewood out of the storage, then went to leave the house.
Just when I was reaching to open the door, though, there was a sudden knocking from outside.
A visitor...?
I’d been living here for over a month now, and the only visitors we’d had in that time were Rimee Ruu and Gazraan and Ama Min Rutim.
Plus, it was just past when the sun hit its peak right now. It should be clear to everyone that Ai Fa would be out of the house at the moment, since she was a hunter.
While those thoughts were running through my head, there were another two knocks on the door.
I placed the hatchet and bundle of wood by my feet, brought my hands to my chest, and got my breathing under control.
“...Who is it?”
Silence.
I was starting to reach for the bolt on the door.
Should I try to hole up, or should I run? It was good to keep my options open, right?
But the second my fingers touched the door, a voice called out from the other side of the door.
“I’m... Saris Ran Fou, of the Fou clan.”
I had never heard that name before. However, that voice had come from a woman, and there didn’t seem to be much strength behind it.
After a few seconds of hesitation, I slowly opened the door.
Standing on the other side was a young woman, a bit on the skinny side. She had on a one piece outfit stretching from her chest to her knees, and she was holding an infant that looked even smaller than Kota Ruu.
Seeing all that, my guard finally dropped.
“I’m Asuta of the Fa clan. Do you have some sort of business with my clan head, Ai Fa?”
“Yes... Ah, no... A-Ai Fa already left for the forest, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, she just left. If you have some sort of message, I can pass it along to her for you.”
“Ah... Um, I wanted to give this to the Fa clan...”
With that, the woman picked up a bag like the ones we used for vegetables from by her feet.
The bag was rather big but it was also flat, so it looked pretty light.
“What is it, exactly?”
“Ah, yes, um... It’s pico leaves...”
This woman somehow seemed even more on guard than I was.
Well, I guess that should come as no surprise though, as I’m sure the folks around here all thought I was pretty sketchy.
“Pico leaves, huh? But why are you giving them to us?”
“Ah, well you see... Ai Fa has already given us numerous pelts...”
“Pelts?”
I didn’t understand what she was saying.
“By pelts, you mean from giba?”
“Yes... Since around a month ago, she’s left so many... M-My clan, the Fou, has few men, and they aren’t able to hunt many giba. But thanks to those pelts from Ai Fa, we’ve somehow managed to get by without this child starving...”
“I see... This is the first time I’m hearing of any of this. So my clan head has acquaintances like you nearby, huh?”
When I said that, Saris Ran Fou made a face like she was thinking about something hard, then held her child tight.
“No... We’re not acquaintances. By decree from my clan head, I’m forbidden from getting involved with the Fa clan...”
“Huh?”
“The Fa clan has bad blood with the clan that leads our people. And so if we involved ourselves with the Fa, that bad blood could extend to the Fou as well, he said... And so for two years now, I’ve been forbidden from having anything to do with Ai Fa or her house...”
“I see. I think I can understand his point, but still...”
After all, Ai Fa had intentionally cut off her ties with other clans on purpose. But what was this about pelts?
“Ai Fa has always left the pelts in front of our house without saying anything...” Saris Ran Fou said, her eyes staring straight at me. Those light blue eyes were starting to tear up just a bit. “At first, I had no idea who was doing such a thing, so I found it a bit eerie, but well... Sometimes you just have to grasp the opportunities that present themselves, or you’ll never get ahead. And so, we tanned those pelts and exchanged them for coins, which we then traded for aria and poitan... And in turn, that made it so I could somehow manage to provide milk for this child...”
“Right...”
“But a few days ago, some of the men returning from the forest saw Ai Fa leaving peeled pelts in front of the Fou house. That was when we finally learned who was saving us. The clan head said we shouldn’t do anything that would tie us to the Fa clan, but... all of us women, we begged him. At the very least, we wanted to repay her for the pelts in some way...”
As Saris Ran Fou said that, she averted her eyes.
“But with that said, the Fou clan can’t earn any real coins in the first place, so we could never offer much in exchange. Still, we figured that you can never have too many pico leaves, so we gathered these up.”
“I see...”
“I know that this won’t even come close to making up the debt we owe her, but I at least wanted to offer Ai Fa my thanks. We all feel ashamed, having her do all this for us even after the Fou clan cut ties out of fear of the Suun clan...”
“Ah, no. We don’t have the people around to tan hides at our house anyway, so please don’t worry about it. And knowing my clan head, I’m sure she’d be more upset that you found out she was the one doing it than anything.”
“But...”
“Alright, I’ll gratefully accept your feelings here. And also, if you have the chance, please try talking to Ai Fa directly. I don’t know anything of the circumstances, so I don’t think I can speak for her about what she’s feeling.”
“...Right. Thank you.”
With that, Saris Ran Fou handed the flattened bag to me and left.
I peered inside, and found about as much pico leaves as Ai Fa and I would gather in a day layered in the bottom. Considering they had to gather enough for their house on top of that, it must have taken a fair bit of effort.
...Well, I guess by offering pelts rather than meat, that won’t lead to any more people falling prey to corruption.
Actually, if anyone were to find fault with that, I’d give everything I had to defend that action.
A month ago... That was just around when I got picked up by Ai Fa.
The pelt from that first giba I prepared must have ended up getting delivered to the Fou clan. After all, it had been Ai Fa’s work the whole time from then up until now to deal with cleaning up the pelt and the innards once I was done.
More abundant living, huh...?
An ordinary guy like me could never fully understand Gazraan Rutim’s strong will, I figured. And I didn’t even know what was behind Kamyua Yoshu’s actions in the first place.
But at the very least, I didn’t think it was right for people to be living such poor lives that they were starving and couldn’t even provide milk for their baby.
And that was even more true when a single clan was monopolizing the reward money that was meant to be distributed amongst all the people of the forest’s edge, all so they could live comfy lives.
Even so, there’s a limit to what I can do.
With that, I stored the pico leaves in the pantry, then set about chopping the firewood that would fuel the stove for tomorrow.
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