Chapter 1: An Unexpected Visitor

1

Three days had passed since the people of the forest's edge had undergone the rite of initiation. The observers and the two hundred soldiers from the capital had departed from Genos, and the post town had regained its usual peaceful atmosphere. Naturally, we had continued to run our stalls, and at least on the surface, it was like nothing had changed in our everyday lives.

However, for the people of the forest's edge, all of us undergoing the right of initiation to become children of the western god was a massive change. Having all five or six hundred of us up in town had been a big surprise to the citizens of Genos. But since that was mostly an internal matter for our people, once the ceremonies had been completed, any commotion it might have caused in the post town quickly died out. The majority of the people of Genos hadn't even been aware of how little the people of the forest's edge had cared about the western god in the first place, so it must have been difficult for them to comprehend just how meaningful this truly was.

"I'm glad that this is going to make us even closer than we were before and that we'll be able to keep working with each other," Dora said after hearing a summary of everything that had happened. Once he had understood how much resolve it had taken for us to follow through on our decision, the smile he had shown us had been brighter than any I had ever seen from him. "It was a surprise to hear how little regard your people had for the four great gods. But as long as you intend to live proper lives from here on out, it shouldn't be any issue. After all, we've thought of you as fellow westerners from the beginning!"

"Thank you. It makes me really happy that even though I'm from a foreign land, I finally have the same standing as everyone else," I said.

"Yeah. The fact that you were a foreigner always felt unreal to me. Still, it's definitely something to celebrate," Dora said with a big grin.

Next to him, his daughter Tara smiled brightly as well. "Hey, we can come play at the forest's edge now, right? I've really been wanting to go there again!"

"Yeah. We're planning to hold a banquet at the start of the blue month. The exact date should be decided on soon, so just hold on a little longer, okay?"

Today was already the twenty-fifth of the green month, and three days from now, we would be holding a festival of the hunt with the clans that lived close to us. The banquet that we would be inviting our friends from town to would have to be a few days after that. Because of everything that had happened with the observers, we had been forced to delay it quite a bit, so both the townsfolk we wanted to invite and the people of the forest's edge who would be attending had been eagerly waiting for the date to finally be set. And now that we had made the decision to truly become children of the western god, the banquet would be even more meaningful.

There was one more matter that had been pushed back because of the arrival of the observers: the plan to have the Sym merchant group Black Flight Feathers return to the eastern kingdom using the newly cut path through the forest's edge.

"We had originally planned to return to Sym soon after the start of the green month. But due to the doubts the observers from the capital raised regarding the relationship between Genos and Sym, we had no choice but to delay," the leader of the group, Kukuluel, had informed us. He had come all the way from the castle town to visit our stalls and let us know what was going on. "We shall depart from Genos early tomorrow morning. We owe you and your fellow people of the forest's edge a great deal, Asuta."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm already looking forward to your next visit."

"Thank you. We will bring a large amount of foodstuffs again when we return, which I hope you will be able to use to make all kinds of delicious food."

If they were heading home, that meant it would be several months before I would be able to see Kukuluel and his people again. However, both the Silver Vase that Shumiral had led and the construction group that worked under Pops Balan had eventually come back, so I knew that the Black Flight Feathers would return eventually.

There had also been one other noteworthy occurrence: Marstein had dispatched Melfried to the capital as an envoy. He had departed Genos with the observers, carrying a letter from Marstein to the king of Selva. Sending the heir to the house of Genos was apparently meant to show how important the duke considered this matter to be.

A round trip between the capital and Genos would take two months by totos. Of course, there was no way to know how long he'd be staying in the capital on top of that. In the meantime, though, his assistant Polarth would be stepping up to act as the chief liaison between the castle town and the people of the forest's edge.

"I need only continue to do my job as I always have. I would imagine that the vice leader of the ducal guard will have much more difficulty taking charge for however long this takes," Polarth had told Ai Fa and me during our visit to the grand temple, having approached us for a little chat after we had undergone the rite of initiation and been preparing to get back into our carriages. "Still, I am certain Lady Odifia will feel quite lonesome, having her beloved father leave on such a long trip. No doubt Lady Toor Deen will be invited to a tea party again in order to help cheer her back up, so I hope that we'll be able to count on her for that."

"Of course. I'm sure that would make Toor Deen really happy too."

When I had told Toor Deen about that after returning to the post town, she had looked pained at first, probably imagining how Odifia must have been feeling, but then she'd broken out in a bright smile. "It'll be hard for a girl as young as Odifia to be without her father for over two months. I'd be glad to do anything I can to make things easier for her."

Toor Deen's bond with Odifia seemed to be growing stronger day by day. Though they had only seen one another in person a handful of times, they really were getting incredibly close. And now that the people of the forest's edge had decided to live properly as citizens of the west, their connection would hopefully become a beacon for us all.

At any rate, our lives in Genos were proceeding peacefully, without much happening. After wrapping up business in the post town, we returned to the forest and held a study session in the Fa house's kitchen. Since our festival of the hunt was fast approaching, we were doing some rehearsals in preparation. After explaining the circumstances to the members of the Gaaz, Ratsu, and Beim clans, we took a break from the ordinary topics of our study sessions in order to focus on building up experience with food suitable for banquets. Everyone who was attending was from a clan participating in the festival of the hunt: the Fou, Ran, Sudra, Deen, and Liddo.

Now that the threat of the observers had passed and we were fast approaching our long-awaited festival of the hunt, everyone's expressions were bright and cheerful. This event had been delayed for more than half a month. With the observers gone, though, we were finally able to hold it, and everyone was super excited.

"The festival of the hunt was delayed so much because the giba took an unusually long time to move on from the Fa and Fou hunting grounds, right? If the men start using more dogs when they go hunting, is that going to make our break periods get further and further apart?" Yun Sudra asked. She was helping out by taking charge of one group of chefs, while I guided another.

"It probably will," I called out over my shoulder. "It's been more than five whole months since our last one ended halfway through the gold month. At this rate, we're going to end up with only two festivals of the hunt per year instead of three."

"That's true. Still, I'm grateful for the fact that the dogs make hunting so much safer."

Break periods happened when giba ate all the fruits in one area of the forest and moved elsewhere. However, the Fa, Fou, and Ran were now hunting more giba than they ever had before, resulting in the fruit supply lasting longer, and delaying the break period in turn.

The hunting grounds of the Sudra, Deen, and Liddo were already exhausted and giba were no longer coming there, so at present their hunters were heading to the Suun hunting grounds each day to carry out their work. That required a wagon for transit, so the Fa clan had decided that this was a good time to purchase three more of them.

The other clans had, of course, expressed their appreciation, but I just felt that it was a necessary expense for the sake of having our joint festival of the hunt. And besides, even adding this many more totos and wagons to our supply didn't feel excessive to me. It would let everyone go shopping in the post town or visit each other with less walking, which would help them live happier lives.

"The Fou clan head said he wanted to purchase hunting dogs of his own, didn't he? When will they arrive?" Yun Sudra asked.

"I haven't heard any specific date yet, but I figure they'll arrive at some point during the blue month. And when that time comes, the Fa clan is planning on buying another dog too," I replied.

"Huh? Ai Fa is going to use two hunting dogs?"