Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 2.6

Intermission: Morning for the Two of Them

When I awoke, I opened my eyes and saw Ai Fa’s peaceful, sleeping face right in front of me. In fact, we were so ridiculously close that “right in front of me” might not even cover it, causing my heart to skip a beat.

Her pale little lips were open, and I could hear her soundly breathing away in her sleep. Her golden eyelashes looked incredibly long, and her hair fell over her forehead and cheek, looking every bit as beautiful as jewelry.

What a truly serene sleeping face. It was enough to make her pained look from yesterday seem like a hallucination.

It was an innocent sleeping face that made her look far younger than she really was, like a defenseless baby... But she was way too close. Our noses were probably just a hand-width apart.

After all, Ai Fa was resting her head on my left shoulder as she slept away.

Though I felt a bit of a pleasant feeling I couldn’t quite put into words, I was also feeling seriously flustered and confused.

Ai Fa was sleeping on her side, with the right part of her body facing downwards. I had been sleeping faced upwards, and she was snuggled right up against me.

The second I realized that, I could feel the left side of my body where Ai Fa was touching awash in heat.

However, my left arm alone was numb. The blood flow must have been pretty obstructed, there.

...First off, I needed to calm myself.

My heart may have started pounding away like a jackhammer, but I needed to deal with this calmly and carefully.

I hurriedly racked my memories, trying to figure out just how we had fallen asleep last night.

Yesterday, Ai Fa had suffered a dislocated left elbow. And so, she had slept all the way till dinner.

Perhaps because the fever reducing herb was working, Ai Fa was out of it the whole time we were eating, looking like she would fall face first into her bowl if I just left her be.

But at any rate, since there weren’t any dinner tables around, it wasn’t possible to eat with just one arm. And so, I had spent around thirty minutes steadily helping her eat her soup, hamburger, and baked poitan.

Afterwards, Ai Fa just sat there in a daze slumped up against the wall. Her fever had lowered significantly and she no longer seemed to be in terrible pain, but she was definitely still out of it.

It was possible that romu leaf herb also had a sedative effect. After all, normally Ai Fa had such a tense look on her face, but now she appeared way more childish and dependent.

While feeling pained by seeing her so different than normal, I had set about preparing the food. I needed to chop up enough meat for 90 myamuu giba, while also cooking the tarapa sauce at the same time.

And all the while, Ai Fa kept on silently alternating between being awake and asleep.

Then, around when I finished with those preparations, Ai Fa started breaking out in a fever again.

I had her drink down the anti-fever herb once more, but she kept on suffering. And I wiped off her sweat and put a wet cloth on her head countless times, but all that did was give her temporary peace of mind.

“Never mind that... Just sit beside me for a bit...”

“Beside you?” I parroted, not getting what she meant, only for her to lean on my shoulder.

Her body was incredibly hot, with her forehead in particular feeling like it was on fire.

“This is fine... Once this fever passes, I’ll get my strength back...”

Ai Fa was trembling ever so slightly.

Her body and forehead were burning up, but the fingers that grabbed my chest were like ice.

When I held those freezing fingers tight, Ai Fa stared straight at me with feverish eyes.

“If you don’t find this unpleasant, just let me stay like this for a bit...”

“It’s not unpleasant, and even if it was, that wouldn’t matter now at all.”

Then, I had watched Ai Fa’s pained face until the animal fat candle burned out. And even after that, I kept on watching by the light of the moon.

Finally, the pain disappeared from her face, and I could hear her breathing peacefully in her sleep.

I could remember all the way up until I thought thank goodness and felt relieved.

I guess that meant I must have just fallen asleep after that.

Right now, there was a bit of sunlight faintly shining in through the window.

From the level of brightness, I would say I hadn’t seriously overslept or anything.

And I could see the wall of the house on the other side of Ai Fa. We must have slumped down to the floor after having fallen asleep leaning up against the wall. I just felt glad that my body had acted as a cushion, so her left arm probably didn’t suffer any damage.

That was what was most important, but still, this position was seriously problematic.

But with that said, if I moved too roughly I could probably agitate her injury, so I had no choice but to wake her up first.

“Ai Fa, it’s morning... Could you wake up for a second?”

In response, Ai Fa gave a disgruntled sounding “Ugh.”

It occurred to me that it was exceptionally rare for me to wake up before her. And if she were her normal self, she would have opened her eyes the second I said anything.

Was that why I could feel my heart beating so noisily? After all, Ai Fa’s childishly peevish sleeping face was so adorable that it just wasn’t fair.

“You can go back to sleep right away, but for now I just need you up for a second. I can’t move like this.”

“So noisy...” Ai Fa quietly muttered, grinding her head up against me.

Ugh, what the heck? I’d finally gotten nice and calmed down, but now I was getting all flustered again.

“M’m th’ clan head... Don’ get cheeky with me...”

She was totally still half asleep. But still, I found that just as rare of a sight as Darmu Ruu smiling.

However, I couldn’t just keep enjoying that sight forever.

“Honored clan head, it’s time for morning work. I must clean up after last night’s dinner, so could I request that you temporarily awaken?”

“Ugh...” she cutely muttered again, and then her eyelids sluggishly lifted.

Her blue eyes stared straight at me from up super close, not looking especially focused.

“Asuta, is it...?”

“Yes. It is your clan member, Asuta.”

“Ah, Asuta...” she repeated for some reason, then broke out in a smile.

Yes, Ai Fa was smiling wide.

And as she grinned innocently away, her eyelids started to droop shut again.

“It was Asuta...”

“Hey, no! It’s morning! It’s morning, clan head!”

With that, Ai Fa’s eyes suddenly shot open like always.

As I breathed a sigh of relief, Ai Fa’s now focused eyes stared at me, looking confused.

“...Why are you clinging to me, Asuta?”

“Hey, no matter how you look at it, you’re the one clinging to me... It seems that we carelessly fell asleep like this last night.”

“...Is that so? I don’t remember,” Ai Fa said, suddenly shutting her eyes.

“Well, thanks to that, your fever seems to have gone down...”

Then, I heard an adorable snore from Ai Fa.

“Hey, please don’t go back to sleep! There’s work! I’ve got to do my work!”

I may have felt relieved to see that she didn’t seem pained at all, but I still couldn’t help but yell.

Ai Fa’s eyes opened for the third time, and she shot me a disgruntled look.

“...It’s morning already?”

“Considering how bright it is, I’d say so.”

“I see. It seems taking the romu leaf really does have a strange effect on my body. I’d like to stay like this and rest for a bit longer,” Ai Fa responded, rubbing her head up against my chest again.

While I sat there at a loss, Ai Fa slowly sat up.

“We can’t do that though, can we? I’ve imposed greatly on you, Asuta.”

“No... I’m just glad to see you’re feeling better.”

As I grumbled in my head that these few minutes were the roughest part of all, I steadily sat up too.

And as Ai Fa sat cross legged on the floor, she stretched out just her right arm.

“My fever has come down, and the pain has dissipated a good bit. Well then, shall we start on morning work?”

“Huh? No, you just go ahead and rest. I’ll take care of washing everything.”

“What are you saying? Just what would you do if you encountered a member of the Suun clan?”

“No matter how despicable they may be, there’s no way they’d go on the attack first thing in the morning, right?! In a way, this is the time when the most eyes are out and about, after all... But more importantly than all that, you’re injured.”

“Hmm? You couldn’t possibly be thinking those fools would get the better of me just because I can’t use my left arm, are you?” Ai Fa said with a disappointed looking pout. “Even if all three sons of the main Suun house came at me at once, I’d have no trouble managing them with just my right arm... I’d have no choice but to run if we were talking about the eldest son of the Ruu house, though.”

Were the people of the forest’s edge really that skilled at reading how strong people were?

And wait... Was Ai Fa saying she was confident she could even beat Jiza Ruu if she wasn’t injured?

With that, the thing Ludo Ruu had said about only Donda Ruu being able to take down Kamyua Yoshu came to mind.

“...At any rate, you’re not going to be washing anything with your arm like that, right? If anything happens I’ll run away as fast as I can, so just go ahead and rest up.”

“Hmm... Well, I don’t want to walk openly around the settlement too much looking like this. I suppose I can leave just the washing to you,” Ai Fa proclaimed, still looking a bit peeved. “I’ll take care of the work around the house in the meantime. Just make sure you keep your guard up, alright?”

“Yeah. But you really should just be resting, right? It would be bad if you broke out in a fever again.”

“I’m telling you, I’m fine. I can’t feel any unusual pain from the bone, and my limbs are just fine. Considering all that, I’ll heal faster just by working like normal.”

Then, her gaze became very gentle as she looked my way.

“And also, I can feel that last night’s food has done its job and properly become part of my flesh and blood. Plus, my fever has come down much quicker than when I was similarly injured a year ago. That’s all thanks to you, Asuta.”

“...It makes me very happy to hear that,” I said, smiling at last.

I could see Ai Fa’s eyes smiling, too.

“Well then, let’s get to work, Asuta.”

◇

Naturally, I didn’t suffer any attacks by the Suun clan on my way to the washing place.

As long as they hadn’t lost their reason to alcohol, the Suun clan shouldn’t be able to carry out their wrongdoing in the open, so honestly there was no need to be this on-guard so early in the morning.

However, I had already seen Mida and Tei Suun in person.

It was very possible that they weren’t the types to get drunk and run wild. But on the other hand, they were just plain creepy and I had no idea what they may do.

It was a mystery just how much Mida Suun understood the orders of his clan head, and what Tei Suun was thinking was even harder to say.

Thanks to that, I felt the need to stay on guard at all hours of the day.

“Huh? Why are you wearing that?”

When I returned from my washing, I found Ai Fa waiting for me there in her hunter’s attire.

It went without saying that meant she had on her cloak, and even her blades dangling from her waist to complete the outfit.

“What do you mean? I’ve finished the work around the house, so next up is gathering firewood and pico leaves, right?”

“No, but you should be resting at least for today, right? I’d be worried about you entering the forest like that.”

As I replied, I set the washed pot on the stove, scooped in two ladles full of water, and threw in some firewood. After all, I needed to bake the poitan before I headed for the outskirts of the forest.

Then, I hung the clothing that was also freshly washed from the wall. By this point, my single T-shirt and white towel had seen quite a bit of use.

Ai Fa stood imposingly in the center of the room, her eyes following me as I moved all around. Then, she said in a disgruntled tone, “Such concern is unnecessary. Shirking work for even one day just means the next day’s work will be all the harder. Furthermore, don’t the pico leaves seem like they’re going bad quicker since you started working in the post town?”

I had noticed that, of course.

Pico leaves were a spice that helped preserve meat by sucking up moisture. By placing the cuts of meat and patties for sale in the pico leaves the day before, they seemed to suck up even more moisture, perhaps because more surface area was exposed that way as opposed to just storing it in chunks.

“There may be a need to replace the pico leaves before even a month has passed. In that case, it’s important to gather them with time to spare, isn’t it?”

“Hmm, that may be so, but still...”

“And also, I sweated far too much yesterday. I’ll continue to feel disgusting until I’m able to bathe,” Ai Fa said, a wrinkle forming at the top of her nose. “By wearing my hunter’s attire like this, I can hide the fact that I am injured. There’s nothing to worry about.”

When the worry on my face still didn’t disappear, though, the expression on Ai Fa’s face shifted.

“Asuta, I know full well that you’re worrying about me. But that really is unnecessary. I’m simply earnestly following what my own body is telling me... Trust in my judgment.”

“...Got it.”

There was more than enough strength and calm in Ai Fa’s eyes to be worthy of my trust.

And I had to believe that with her strong pride as a hunter, she wouldn’t do something reckless that would delay her recovery.

At any rate, after I finished up baking the poitan for the shop and for dinner, I grabbed the bags for the firewood and pico leaves and we headed out into the outskirts of the woods.

It was a perfectly normal morning sight. And yet, Ai Fa shifted her cloak ever so slightly so the left half of her body was completely hidden, and her long golden hair ran down the side of her neck. Normally it was done up in a complex manner and hung above her neck, but today her hairstyle sort of reminded me of Vina Ruu.

“Ai Fa, that hairstyle feels pretty fresh. Was it too hard to do up your hair like normal with just one hand?”

“Yes, that was the one thing that proved difficult.”

“Well, it’s fine every now and again, right? And it suits you pretty well.”

Natural beauties sure have it nice, I added in my head.

As we walked down the yellow trodden path, Ai Fa let out a dissatisfied, “Hmph. Honestly, I would prefer to cut my hair short so it doesn’t get in the way. I wish that custom in particular would die out already.”

The custom she was referring to stated that women must not cut their hair until they’re married.

Was it really possible this beautiful hair would be lopped right off in the future?

At any rate, though, we soon arrived at the Lanto River, which gently flowed at the edge of the forest. The riverside was rocky at this point, but just a little bit further up it was lush with green, making it the perfect place for picking pico leaves.

However, the custom of the Fa clan was to cleanse our bodies in the river before doing so.

“Are you really going to be alright? Don’t get washed away by the river, alright?”

“So fussy,” Ai Fa muttered, as she handed me her necklace and cloak.

Then, she grabbed a cloth to wipe herself down with and a change of clothes from within the cloak she had tossed onto me.

“Ah, right. You didn’t come along to wash stuff.”

Normally she would change first thing in the morning, washing her dirty clothing along with everything else.

“Can you wash yourself with just one arm...? Well, with that said, I guess it’s not like I can help wash you or anything either.”

“If you understand that much, then don’t go bringing it up,” Ai Fa said, her eyes narrowing and glaring at me a bit, then she disappeared into the shadow of a large rock. It was the same as always.

Soon enough, it would be 40 days since I started living with Ai Fa. It was on that very first morning that we were attacked by a giant madarama snake and a giba.

We may not have faced such extreme misfortune since then, but I still prayed that no trouble would choose this morning to visit, when Ai Fa was hindered like this.

At any rate, I leaned my back up against the rock and kept an eye on the forest, only to hear, “Asuta.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“...It’s been more than a month since you came to live in the Fa house.”

I found it a bit amusing somehow that Ai Fa just happened to be thinking the same sort of thing.

“That’s true. It’ll be 40 days real soon... I think. But it also feels crazy that it’s only been that long.”

“Hmm... Today’s the second day of the blue month, isn’t it?”

It was rare to hear such things coming from Ai Fa. I knew she was aware of the calendar for the sake of keeping track of giba movement cycles, but it didn’t come up much in day to day life, so I still hadn’t grasped it all that well.

“Ah, in that case, it’ll be 13 more days till Kamyua sets out for the eastern kingdom, huh? So, what’s this about the blue month?”

“No, it’s nothing all that important...”

“Your birthday isn’t approaching or something, is it?”

“I was born in the red month.”

Just when would that be?

Actually, that question made me realize I had lost my own birthday.

By counting backwards I figured out how many days from now it was, but the Gregorian calendar wouldn’t apply to this world anyway. In this world they had a thirteenth month every three years, so there wouldn’t be any point in even trying to pin down my birthday.

But at any rate, back in my old world I was a second year in high school who had just turned 17. About a half a month after my birthday, that bizarre incident had occurred.

In that case... maybe it would be nice to make the day I appeared in this world into my second birthday.

Will I still be here in this world a year or two down the line, though?

Or would I suddenly be yanked back into my old world and forced to face my true fate?

Or maybe I’d be thrown into a different world entirely? No, that at least was one fate I was firmly opposed to.

Losing my entire life I had built up... I didn’t think I was tough enough to face something like that twice.

As that thought ran through my mind, I heard “Asuta” again. “Come over this way a bit.”

“Huh? Are you done bathing?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re definitely properly dressed, right?”

“...What in the world are you thinking?” Ai Fa questioned, her voice full of anger, so I swiftly did as she said and circled around the rock.

Ai Fa was seated cross legged beside the river, shooting me a bit of a scary glare.

Naturally, she was fully dressed, and she had even perfectly dealt with her left arm. However, her head was tilted to the right, her long, sopping-wet hair dangling down towards the ground and dripping.

“It’s quite difficult to dry my hair with just one hand,” Ai Fa said, thrusting the cloth at me with an angry look on her face.

“I see,” I replied, then got down on one knee on the rocks and followed along with my beloved benefactor’s demand. Even when it was just something like this, I felt glad to be of use to Ai Fa.

“...Long hair really is nothing but an annoyance,” Ai Fa muttered with a firm frown.

“Come on, don’t say that. I mean, you’ve got such beautiful hair.”

“Hmph. Hair that reflects too much light is just a nuisance when hunting. If only I had black hair like my father Gil—” Ai Fa started, then just unnaturally stopped.

“What is it?” I asked.

She just replied, “It’s nothing,” and averted her eyes. “I just recalled having a conversation like this with Granny Jiba and Rimee Ruu a long time ago.”

“Oh, really?”

Now that she mentioned them, it felt like we hadn’t been keeping very close contact with Granny Jiba and Rimee Ruu lately. Maybe this was just how things normally were, but it made me nostalgic for back when we were staying at the Ruu settlement.

“...Now here’s an idea. Hey, Ai Fa, there’s no way you could hunt with your body like that, right?”

“Of course. I’ll need to rest for between 10 days and half a month.”

“In that case, how about we ask to stay at the Ruu settlement during the day for now?”

Ai Fa shot me a dubious look as I kept on wiping her hair.

“Why? There’s no reason to do such a thing.”

“I mean, you’re just going to be sitting around home resting anyway, right? Plus there’s the matter of the Suun clan...”

“They have no idea that I’m injured.”

“There’s a chance they could try something even if they don’t know, right?”

“If that time comes, then I’ll just turn things around on them. Since I can’t afford to hold back right now, it’ll actually be more dangerous for those fools from the Suun clan.”

“No, but...”

“Asuta, it’s wrong for us to rely on the Ruu clan when we’re not even under them,” Ai Fa stated, an intense glare shooting my way from between her damp bangs. “We’re just borrowing the help of the Ruu women for an appropriate payment. That’s all there is to it, but it’s not like we have some sort of special relationship.”

“But Rimee Ruu and Granny Jiba are important to you, aren’t they? I was just thinking this would be a good chance for you to really take your time and talk with them.”

With that, the look in Ai Fa’s eyes softened a bit.

Then, her good hand gave me a light jab in the chest.

“Thanks to you, I was able to reforge my bonds with Rimee Ruu and Granny Jiba. There isn’t anything more I wish for... Even if we’re not able to talk, my heart is with the two of them.”

“Right.”

“But that’s unrelated to why I believe I shouldn’t rely on the Ruu clan. I refused their offer to marry into their clan, and you also turned down a request to change clans.”

I was at a loss as to what to say, as I understood what she was getting at.

Even so, I thought that we should be trying to have the best relationship we can with the Ruu clan... but Reina Ruu insisted it was dangerous for me to stay with the Fa clan. Perhaps because of that, it would be a significant blow to Ai Fa’s pride to rely on them while she was injured.

“Got it, I take back what I said. My thinking there was too short-sighted.”

“You’re short-sighted quite often.”

“Hey...”

“In fact, I would say the times when you’ve been otherwise have been few indeed.”

“Hey! The truth can hurt sometimes, you know?”

“It was a joke. Don’t get so angry,” Ai Fa said with a calm and composed expression.

Then, she gave me one more jab in the chest.

“You’re always saying things I don’t quite understand, but it’s not as if that’s always unpleasant. I’ll just give you a beating when it is, so feel free to say anything that comes to mind from here on out.”

“I think I might become untalkative because I don’t want any beatings...” I joked.

But Ai Fa firmly replied, “No. Always speak your mind. Don’t hide your thoughts and feelings from me.”

“Then you’ll do the same...?” I shot back.

Ai Fa pouted just a bit, then answered, “...I intend to do my best.”

I went ahead and gave Ai Fa a pat on the head, a strange feeling swirling in my chest all the while.

“Alright, I think your hair should be just about good.”

“Right,” she replied, then began skillfully tying her long hair up again using just her right hand and mouth to manipulate the leather strap. “The biggest trouble currently from the Suun clan isn’t the eldest or middle brother, but the youngest one, right? In that case, aren’t you in a far more dangerous position than me, Asuta?”

“Yeah. And that’s why I intend to stay on guard each and every day.”

“Hmm... How about if I accompany you to town from today on?”

“Huh?”

“As long as I need to rest my body, there’s no great difference between being at home or in town. And wouldn’t it put both of us better at ease to be able to keep an eye on the other?”

As she said that, Ai Fa stared straight at my face.

“I won’t interfere with your work, and I can even help at least a bit with carrying things. If I get sleepy, then I’ll just take a rest... Or are you saying me coming to town would be inconvenient for you?”

“Not at all. I’d feel more relieved like that, too.”

I earnestly meant that, from the depths of my heart.

The post town definitely wasn’t a safe place, but it put me a lot more at ease for her to be there than alone in the house.

However... that day didn’t end as per usual.

The work itself went perfectly smoothly, but in the end, we decided we needed to rely on the aid of the Ruu clan after all.

Ai Fa’s wounds didn’t have much to do with it, though. No, what threw a wrench in our plans was a certain someone intruding during work hours.

It was a new member of the Suun clan, finally reaching their evil graspers out towards Ai Fa and me in earnest.