I fell to the ground and was finally able to breathe again. Whoever had saved me placed a gentle hand on my back.
“Are you all right, Asuta? Calm yourself and slowly get your breathing in order.”
As I gasped for breath, I somehow managed to turn to look at my savior and saw none other than Raielfam Sudra kneeling there beside me. “Thank you... Looks like you saved me again, Raielfam Sudra.”
“Why does this always happen to you in particular, Asuta? That really made my heart fall into my stomach, and now I feel numb.” Raielfam Sudra was giving me a surly look as he caught his own breath. I could see the relief in his small eyes, though. I smiled back at him as I held my throat, which was aching as if it had been burned.
Jirube then circled around Raielfam Sudra and licked my cheek with a very apologetic look in his eyes. It was possible that he had been unable to move until now because the intensity of the red savage had overwhelmed him.
“Don’t worry. I’m glad you didn’t do anything reckless, Jirube,” I said as I stroked his mane, and he brought his face closer to me so I could dote on him more. At this point, he fully recognized me as one of his masters, just like Ai Fa.
As Raielfam Sudra continued to gently rub my back, he glanced to the side and said, “Her strength is frightening. I can see why they’re said to be more powerful than giba.”
I looked in that direction too and found the red savage girl surrounded by hunters from the Fou and Ran, all with their swords drawn. The girl had collapsed to the ground and was hanging her head.
“I can’t believe it... So this is truly the world outside of the mountain?” Her voice matched her small frame a lot better now. It sounded so quiet and dejected that it was hard to believe how loudly she had been shouting before. Her voice was quavering a bit, but aside from that, she seemed to speak the western tongue much more fluently than most of the easterners or northerners I’d met.
“That’s what we’ve been telling you. We didn’t break the taboo. You were getting carried away by the river, so we rescued you and treated your wounds,” Baadu Fou stated in a harsh tone, the tip of his blade up against the girl’s chest.
She slowly looked up at the tall hunter. “I understand. I am the one who broke the taboo, so you may use your sword to take this criminal’s life. I, Tia, will not run or hide.”
“Tia? Is that your name?”
“I am Tia Hamura Namukal of the red people of Morga. I have committed a serious crime, so my soul should be offered up to the great god. I ask that you find it in yourselves to forgive me once I have paid for my sins,” the girl said, her shining red eyes now closed.
A faint line of tears was rolling down her cheek, which had that mysterious pattern drawn on it. Her youthful face now looked completely overcome with absolute sorrow.
“I see... So that’s what happened,” Ai Fa grumbled, her voice dripping with anger. It was now a bit later, right before sunset. We were in the main hall of the Fa house, and she had just finished listening to the story of what had occurred earlier in the afternoon. “No one could have predicted that a savage with a broken leg would be able to leap at you with such strength. Even having heard your account of events, I find myself struggling to believe that it actually happened, so I cannot accuse you and your fellow hunters of having poor judgment, Baadu Fou.”
“I am glad to hear you say that. At this point, I deeply regret not having everyone aside from our hunters stay away from her right from the start,” Baadu Fou replied, sitting before her looking very remorseful. He had come all the way to the Fa house personally in order to offer an explanation to Ai Fa.
“So, you’re going to wait until you hear back from the nobles of Genos before you decide what to do with the red savage?”
“Indeed. Donda Ruu should be in the castle town discussing the matter with the lord of Genos about now. In all likelihood, we will hear their response tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, if it does come that soon, I would not be surprised, considering how this supposed beast looks exactly like a human. The citizens of Genos place much more importance on the taboo of Morga than we do, after all,” Ai Fa said. There was an intense shine in her eyes. “But why, exactly, is that savage sitting here in the Fa house?”
“Yes, I knew you would be angry about that, but she absolutely insisted,” Baadu Fou said, turning his apologetic gaze toward the spot where the red savage girl was sitting and looking all dejected. She wasn’t bound in any way, and her splinted right leg was sitting on top of some of our bedding. “She said that since she injured Asuta despite him being completely innocent, she must remain at his side in order to pay for her crime. I don’t quite understand it, but supposedly, that’s their custom.”
Ai Fa just kept on silently glaring.
“We, of course, tried our best to talk her out of it, but when we did, she started crying and said that if we were going to refuse to allow her to do that, then we should take her life immediately. The realization that she violated two taboos one after another by leaving the mountain and then hurting an innocent person seems to have left her rather dispirited.”
“Even so, do you truly intend to ask us to allow the one who injured Asuta to live here with him?”
Ai Fa was furious because of the obvious blackish-blue bruises that had been left on my throat. I hadn’t been injured this badly since the night of the clan head meeting, when Doddo had kicked me in the stomach, and that had been quite a while ago now. I felt as if I could see a pale aura of pure fury rising from Ai Fa’s graceful figure.
“This girl will not harm Asuta again. Please believe that if nothing else. If you are unable to do so, then we will stay here and keep watch over her until tomorrow morning.” There were two young hunters beside Baadu Fou, and all three of them had been keeping a close eye on the girl since the beginning of our conversation. Of course, the girl had already demonstrated that she possessed physical strength eclipsing that of the hunters of the forest’s edge despite the serious head injury and the broken leg she had. The fact that he had only brought three guards in spite of that showed that Baadu Fou trusted her words. “If you do not mind, though, I would like you to speak to her as well. If you do, I think that will make it easier for you to accept what I’ve told you,” Baadu Fou stated.
In response, Ai Fa stood up with her sword in hand before getting down on one knee in front of the girl and staring straight at her small face. “Raise your head. My name is Ai Fa of the Fa clan, and Asuta, who you injured, is family to me.”
The girl slowly did as she was told. Her deep-red, garnet-like eyes stared straight at my clan head as she spoke. “Ai Fa of the Fa clan...I, Tia Hamura Namukal, apologize from the depths of my heart for injuring your family member, Asuta of the Fa clan.”
“I will accept your apology. And since I have done so, I wish for you to leave the Fa house.”
“I cannot do that. I broke two serious taboos. The great god will never forgive me if I leave things as they are,” Tia said with a very sincere look on her face. She had taken her scaled cloak off, which had left her looking even smaller now than she had before. It truly was unbelievable that her tiny frame hid such incredible power inside.
Now that a few hours had passed, her hair and clothing had completely dried and were no longer dripping wet. I could also smell the aroma of some kind of fruit or flower coming from her hair, which had been cut unevenly to around shoulder length.
The face I spied under her long bangs looked so young. Her eyes and mouth were large, while her nose was little, which gave her an appearance like some sort of small animal. According to what she had told us, she was twelve years old, but with her small frame, it felt like she was even younger than that.
“If you are angry, Ai Fa, then please behead me. My crimes were serious enough to warrant being punished that way, and I can pay for my sins by accepting your judgment.”
“I simply do not want someone who hurt a member of my family to stay here,” Ai Fa said. “Is it not possible for you to take my wishes into account?”
“As I said, you should take my head in that case. I cannot understand why you are not doing so.”
After staring at Tia for some time, Ai Fa gave a deep sigh and stood up, then tousled her own hair in a way that made it look like she was having a temper tantrum.
“What a truly difficult person to deal with. It seems she really is a child of the mountain.”
“Yes. She is unable to lie. That is why I decided to trust her,” Baadu Fou said, his voice filled with deep emotion, and I nodded in response without thinking. I’d had a chance to talk with her a bit at the Fou settlement too, and during our conversation, I had been truly impressed by how pure the look in her eyes was.