Chapter 1: Gilulu the Totos

1

Those two women visited the Fa house on the 20th day of the blue month, four days after Tei Suun's death brought that whole chain of incidents to a close.

"Are Asuta or Ai Fa in? It's us, Ama Min Rutim and Rimee Ruu."

I had just returned from work in the post town, and had been going to get my vegetable knife to prepare for tomorrow. Today Li Sudra headed straight home and the women from around the neighborhood hadn't showed up for cooking lessons, so I was all alone in the house.

"Ah, yes, hold on just a moment."

I placed my knife and the aria back atop the cutting board, then stood to my feet in a hurry.

Ama Min Rutim and Rimee Ruu made for a bit of an unusual pairing, but I couldn't see any reason to feel concerned in the least. And so I nonchalantly opened the door... and shouted, "Gyah!" before falling back on my butt.

"Are you okay, Asuta?" Ama Min Rutim asked, sounding concerned.

"Ahaha! So lame!" Rimee Ruu laughed away.

Between the two of them stood a massive figure: A giant totos bird, of the sort I was used to seeing around the post town.

"W-W-W-What's going on? What is a totos doing here at the forest's edge?"

"Yes, well, it would take a while to explain everything, but the Sauti men captured it out in the forest," Ama Min Rutim replied with an apologetic bow down at me. "We should have mentioned it right away. I didn't expect you to be so surprised, though... My deepest apologies."

"N-No, I'm sorry for being such a wimp there."

That's what I said, but I'd imagine anyone would be thrown for a loop to suddenly find something like that waiting outside their doorway.

Totos were massive birds that stood at around three meters tall, making them a few sizes bigger than even an ostrich. They were shaped just like ostriches, too, but their whole bodies were covered in dark brown plumage. And they had elliptical bodies, long necks like Nessie, two beefy legs, and talons that dug firmly into the earth.

This beast was significantly larger than an ostrich, making it a seriously imposing presence. It had to have weighed over 200 kilos, at least.

I was used to seeing totos around the post town on a daily basis, but it was still stunning to see one up close like this. If it kicked a person with one of those burly legs, it could easily take them down with a single blow.

And yet, Ama Min Rutim was just standing there perfectly calm next to the huge bird. There was a leather bridle around the totos's beak and neck, and the woman's graceful fingers held onto the end of it.

"Isn't this amazing?! It's a totos! A totos! This is my first time getting to touch one!" Rimee Ruu excitedly stated as she hugged the bird tightly around its right thigh. Then, she rubbed her cheek up against its dark brown plumage, only for me to yell in a panic, "Ah, that's dangerous, Rimee Ruu!"

"It's alright. Apparently totos are rather docile animals, so they won't run wild as long as you don't try to do them harm," Ama Min Rutim chimed in with her usual relaxed smile.

It had been around ten days now since I had last seen her, but she remained just as gentle, trim, and pretty as always. She wore her dark brown hair in a bold short style that was rare to see at the forest's edge, and her slender body was clad in a single-piece outfit, proof that she was wed. She was the young wife of my precious friend Gazraan Rutim, after all.

Then there was Rimee Ruu, who was every bit as full of energy as always. She wore an utterly carefree smile on her face, and her reddish hair looked even fluffier than the totos's feathers. And she wore a single shoulder dress made for children, which covered her tiny little body that looked like it had less total mass than a single one of the large bird's legs.

"So, what's going on here, anyway...? I mean, you two came here to the Fa house along with a totos discovered by the Sauti clan. I don't have much of an imagination, so I really can't even begin to guess at what brought things to this point."

"Yes, well, we're assuming that this totos is a survivor of the ones those townsfolk let loose in the forest's edge five days ago. The Sauti men captured it while hunting, but they had no idea what to do with it, so they brought it to the Rutim settlement."

I see. That fake merchant caravan of Kamyua Yoshu's had brought along around ten totos, but they only brought two back out with them. That would explain why this totos found wandering about the forest had come with a bridle already attached.

However, there was still more that I didn't understand. To start with, just why did the Sauti go to the Rutim for help?

"The Rutim already had an agreement to teach the Sauti how to bloodlet and dissect giba. That had been put off due to all the commotion after the clan head meeting, but Dari Sauti had already personally come to visit our settlement today."

"Ah, so he's already recovered, then?"

"Yes. He needed to talk to Donda Ruu about the upcoming discussion with the nobles of Genos, and so he asked if he could stay at the Rutim settlement for the time being to fulfill that promise as well."

The Sauti clan had been carefully maintaining a neutral stance when it came to the matter of doing business in the post town, but they seemed quite interested in the idea of delicious food. And so, they must have requested to start by learning bloodletting and dissection as soon as possible. I wasn't quite sure if they had chosen the Rutim instead of the Ruu because they didn't want to impose on another of the leading clans, or because Dari Sauti and Gazraan Rutim had hit it off, though.

At any rate, both of those clans lived far away from the Sauti settlement. Since they were at the southernmost extreme of the forest's edge, it would take them around two hours walking. That was why Gazraan Rutim had made the suggestion for clans that were so far apart to trade their men temporarily. Then there wouldn't be any change in the number of hunters on hand for each clan, and they could efficiently learn bloodletting and dissection techniques.

"And it was decided it would be best to hear Donda Ruu's opinion on what to do with this totos, too, so I headed to the Ruu settlement in place of the men, who still had hunting work to take care of, but-"

"Papa Donda got all mad and said 'What do I care?' Isn't that just awful? It's not like Ama Min Rutim did anything wrong."

Donda Ruu must have been on edge around now, too. After all, he would be meeting with influential folks from the Genos castle in just a few days.

Originally, the discussion was set to be held on the 23rd day of the blue month. However, yesterday that was revised to the 30th. And it wouldn't be just the three leading clan heads and Cyclaeus any more, as the ducal guard captain Melfried and the bodyguard Kamyua Yoshu would also be joining in. I had made that proposal to that aloof acquaintance of mine, and sure enough he ended up seeing it through.

Cyclaeus had overlooked the misdeeds of the Suun clan, and was suspected to have lent a hand to their wrongdoings. Kamyua Yoshu had told us that in order to prove that, Melfried had deceived the people of the forest's edge and set a trap for Zattsu Suun.

However, if that was true, then there was no reason for hostility between the people of the forest's edge and Melfried. It would make far more sense for them to join together from here on out in order to deal with the treacherous Cyclaeus. Or at least, that was what I had proposed to Melfried's accomplice, Kamyua Yoshu.

In turn, that led to Kamyua Yoshu talking to the three leading clan heads. Of course, I had already conveyed what he had told me the other day to them. And so, they were aware that it wasn't the lord of Genos who was their enemy, but his proxy, Cyclaeus.

With that, the leading clan heads' anger towards Melfried and Kamyua Yoshu for deceiving them subsided, at least for the time being. However, the situation wasn't going to improve until Cyclaeus was taken down. After all, he still hadn't retracted his statement that all members of the Suun clan should be handed over to the castle.

The criminals Zattsu and Tei Suun had already passed away. So why was Cyclaeus so insistent about getting ahold of the members of the Suun in spite of that? I honestly didn't know, but there was no way we could ever go along with it. The former clan head Zuuro Suun was awaiting judgment at the forest's edge, and Diga and Doddo were being treated more or less like prisoners after their escape, but the rest of the former members of the clan were all striving their hardest to live proper lives, day after day.

First off is seeing if Melfried's side's excuses are valid, and if they are, we'll have to give our all to expose Cyclaeus's old crimes. As long as that doesn't happen, though, Genos and the forest's edge will never truly see eye to eye.

In other words, Donda Ruu and the others were facing the upcoming meeting with Cyclaeus, with the weight of the forest's edge's future on their shoulders. And so, it was no surprise that any of them might be feeling on edge. After all, they didn't exactly have the time to figure out what to do with a lost totos right now,...