Chapter 1: Meetup in the Post Town

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Things were nice and peaceful for the next few days after the friendship banquet. Three days before that, there had been a festival of the hunt for the Fa and the five clans that neighbored us, all of which were still in their break periods, so there wasn't even any hunting going on. During their last break periods, the men and women of those clans had been quite busy providing bloodletting and cooking lessons for the clans that lived farther away from us, but this time they could focus solely on deepening their bonds with family instead.

The Sudra clan in particular had the twins who had been born about a month ago, and from what Yun Sudra had told me, it sounded like they were all still completely overjoyed because of it. On top of that, Cheem and Ia Fou Sudra had just gotten married, and the Fou man and Ran woman who were expected to marry members of the clan had been making frequent visits, so things had been livelier at their place than they'd ever been before.

As for the Fa clan, Tia of the red people had completely adjusted to life alongside us at this point. With me and Ai Fa, our hunting dog Brave and guard dog Jirube, Gilulu the totos, and Tia, there were six of us now, which was making our household much livelier too. Coming home from doing business in the post town and having them all greet me together was its own unique kind of happiness.

Ai Fa was spending her days at the house for the time being, so there wasn't any need to have the Ruu clan look after Tia. Instead, our young guest was keeping up with her training, playing with Brave and Jirube, and just having fun in general. At times, Tia would climb trees with her arms and left leg alone so that she wouldn't get rusty, though apparently that was more like some light rehabilitation than the sort of hunting training Ai Fa engaged in. Still, rest really would have been the best medicine for her until that bone healed back up.

"The red people seem to possess tremendous power. The townsfolk would likely have trouble believing you were a fellow human," Ai Fa stated. I wouldn't have been surprised if that were true, given that Tia was able to leap higher than her own head with only one working leg.

On top of that, Tia was also exceptionally skilled with a bow. With Ai Fa's permission, she had crafted a bow for herself which she used to shoot practice targets whenever she had a chance. And apparently, her archery was just as good as Ai Fa's, if not better.

"Today, I hit more targets than Ai Fa did. I was so proud that I beat someone as skilled with a bow as her," Tia had told me afterward, which had seriously activated my clan head's competitive side.

Still, the young girl was providing some good motivation for Ai Fa too. Though they had plenty of arguments, I found their interactions incredibly engaging.

As for the discussion we'd had with Granny Jiba back on the night of the banquet, she had informed Donda Ruu of her suspicions as well on the following day. It really was a surprising thought, that the tribe of the white queen that the people of the forest's edge were descended from could have been relatives of the red people. However, the leading clan head had not found her theory to be worth worrying about, and had waved it all off as pure guesswork.

Apparently, his response had been, "There's no proof of any of that, and even if there were, it wouldn't have anything to do with those of us who are living at the forest's edge now."

Naturally, Ai Fa and I felt much the same way. Even if the people of the forest's edge and the red people shared the same roots, that had been hundreds of years ago, and their paths had diverged from the moment the tribe of the white queen had accepted the Gaaze from Sym and cast aside their faith in their nameless god. The people of the forest's edge were now proper citizens of the western kingdom who saw the forest as their mother and the western god Selva as their father.

I had told Tia about Granny Jiba's thoughts as well, but nothing that she'd had to say had changed anything for us either. Unsurprisingly, as a red person, she couldn't accept us as her comrades when we had taken the western god as our father rather than the great god.

"Still, Jiba Ruu's thinking may be right. I mean, I thought that the people of the forest's edge were similar to the red people right from the start," Tia had stated. "But in the end, you're still people of the outside world. Your worship isn't given to the great god, and you use tools made of metal. Even if we were comrades in the past, the leaders of the red people would never see you that way now."

In a way, it actually felt reassuring to hear Tia say that. Ai Fa, Donda Ruu, Granny Jiba, and I all believed our current path forward was the right one, but there was no guarantee that all of the clans would see it that way. The weaker their connections with the townsfolk were, the more it would make sense for them to be charmed by the lifestyle of the red people.

If Ai Fa, Donda Ruu, and Granny Jiba had met Tia a year ago, would they have been jealous of how the red people lived?

If our current situation had happened earlier and they had then been rejected by the red people, it would have been an absolute disaster. Zattsu Suun had once ranted about how our people had been forced to treat foolish nobles as our betters and townsfolk who had seen us as barbarians as if they were comrades. It was easy to imagine the endless anguish he would have felt if he had been the one rejected. And at the time, Cyclaeus had been acting as the intermediary between us and the lord of the land and the relationship between the people of the forest's edge and the townsfolk had been at its absolute worst, so perhaps it would have only been natural to react that way back then.

But now, the people of the forest's edge had resolved our conflict with Cyclaeus, and we were in the process of forging proper bonds with both the nobles and the townsfolk. So far, only a portion of the clans had experienced the full breadth of those changes firsthand, but I believed that everyone living at the forest's edge would fully come around to our point of view, given time.

At any rate, the days passed by smoothly, and eventually the fourth of the blue month rolled around. Three days had passed since the friendship banquet, and there was yet another event happening. This time, though, it was some young folks from the forest's edge getting invited to the post town instead.

That said, it wasn't anything all that big. There were only six people of the forest's edge participating, so they were able to fit in a single wagon. And apparently, the start of it all had been a conversation between Jou Ran and Yumi back at the friendship banquet.

"It's probably about time for Jou Ran and the others to arrive, isn't it?" Yun Sudra said quietly from the stall next time mine with a sigh. She was making giba meat and nanaar carbonara. "This isn't going to be trouble, is it? I can't help but feel a bit worried."

"Well, I imagine it should be okay. The people of the forest's edge and the townsfolk got along just fine during the revival festival, after all."

"But you and the members of the Ruu clan were around to act as go-betweens back then, weren't you? Jou Ran and the others haven't interacted with townsfolk much, so are you sure they'll still be all right? I really am concerned."

"Don't worry. I'm sure Yumi and her friends will be able to handle any issues that crop up, no problem," I replied, causing Yun Sudra's eyebrows to droop as she made a face I didn't know how to describe.

"I like Yumi too, and I trust her. But, well...she sometimes breaks the laws of Genos, doesn't she? Ben and the others mentioned that during the banquet."

"Oh, that thing about Yumi getting taken in by the guards all the time? That was all stuff like her turning things around on thugs when they start trouble. They get a lot of that kind of people at The Westerly Wind where she works." At the very least, I couldn't imagine Yumi ever committing a crime for purely selfish reasons. "Plus, with hunters of the forest's edge around, outlaws won't go anywhere near their group, I'm sure. And even if they did, I'm sure Jou Ran and the others would be able to subdue a couple random thugs without even hurting them in the process."

Of course, it wasn't like I was totally at ease, but my joy over the fact that this was happening at all eclipsed any possible concerns. After all, this was the people of the forest's edge and the townsfolk holding an event to get closer to one another without me being involved in any way. It felt like another big step forward for sure.

"Hey Asuta, are Jou Ran and the others not here yet?" Yumi called out, popping up right after we had been talking about her.

Yun Sudra quieted down, looking flustered, while I smiled at Yumi and said, "Hey. Is it just about the time you agreed on? I'm pretty sure they were planning to leave the forest's edge with plenty of time to spare."

"Okay! In that case, we'll wait here!"

The rest of the young folks who would be participating in the event were lined up there behind Yumi, including the three guys who had joined us at the banquet-Ben, Lebi, and Kalgo. I also spied the girl who had helped Yumi run her stall during the revival...