“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to return to your family once you’ve healed up.”
“But before I do, I need to repay you, Asuta. And at the rate I’m going, I don’t see how I’ll be able to finish before a hundred days are up.”
“Well, we can put some more thought into that later,” I replied, and then I heard a woman’s energetic voice call out from some distance away, “Sorry for the wait! Our oven-cooked dishes are ready now!”
Today, we had tried making some dishes that required an oven to prepare. One was the gratin that had been so popular at the recent Ruu banquet, as well as the tarapa and dried milk dish I had unveiled in the castle town, which had lots of gnocchi-style pasta in it.
The women who were appearing from behind the main house were working in pairs to carry out a series of large heat-resistant plates on wooden boards. The people who were enjoying the banquet throughout the plaza gradually started streaming over that way.
“They’ve got quite a crowd over there. Asuta, around half of the pasta seems to be gone now, so how about taking a break for a bit?” the Ran woman working alongside me suggested.
“All right,” I answered with a nod. The giba bone soup with pasta was really popular. Half of it had vanished in no time at all, so we stepped away from the stove, planning to return later to let people keep enjoying it in the back half of the banquet.
“I was thinking about going to talk to Ai Fa for a bit before having dinner, but what do you say?” I asked Tia.
“That would be fine. I will follow you wherever you want to go, Asuta,” she replied.
I was worried that making her way through the crowd with a crutch might be difficult, but Tia didn’t have any trouble keeping up with me. Since Tia’s skills were on par with those of the hunters of the forest’s edge, or were even greater, it seemed like I didn’t really have much need to worry about her.
As we approached the platform where the winners were, we found that things were pretty lively there too. Of course, that was pretty much guaranteed to be the case wherever Radd Liddo was, plus there were a bunch of people crowding around to offer their congratulations.
Naturally, there were tons of people visiting Ai Fa too, despite how unsociable she was. Working my way through them all to get close enough for her to hear me was quite a challenge on its own. I ended up off to the side of the platform the champions were sitting crosslegged on, which was about a meter tall.
“You were amazing, Ai Fa. Congratulations again.”
Ai Fa turned my way with a warm gaze and said, “Thank you.”
“Have you been able to eat? If you want anything, I’ll bring it to you.”
“No. So much food is being delivered that I cannot eat it fast enough. You’re the one who should be eating,” Ai Fa said, and then she furrowed her brow a bit. “But first, have Brave and Jirube been properly fed?”
“I think they should be fine, but I’ll go check on them to be safe.”
Still looking rather serious, Ai Fa said “Please do.” Then the intensity of her gaze softened. For the time being, that was enough to satisfy my desire to speak with her. We’d be able to take our time chatting when it was just the two of us later, so I felt that it would be best to give other people a chance to talk to her now.
Though, I guess lately, Tia’s always been around too, I thought as I headed over to one of the branch houses. As I stepped in front of the entrance, I heard Jirube bark once. Rather than being a warning, though, that was him greeting me as a member of his family. I could feel his affection as I knocked on the door.
“It’s Asuta of the Fa clan. Is it all right if I come in?”
“Go ahead,” a familiar voice replied. As I opened the door, Jirube, Brave, and the Fou hunting dog all came rushing over to me. “What is it, Asuta? Do you have some sort of message to deliver?” Saris Ran Fou asked me from where she was seated inside the main hall.
Raielfam Sudra’s wife, Li Sudra, was there beside her too, and the children surrounding them who were younger than five and couldn’t attend a banquet yet looked like they were having a great time. The dogs and kids were all being looked after in the same house.
“No, I came to see how Brave and Jirube were doing. I didn’t know you were here too, Li Sudra.”
“Yes. I have children who are still drinking milk, so I’ve been staying in here as much as possible.”
Currently, the infants she had mentioned, Hodureil and Asura Sudra,were sleeping beside her in a woven basket. Despite all of the noise around them, they both looked to be fast asleep. And then, Saris Ran Fou’s son, Aimu Fou, toddled over to me. I said “Good evening” to him, and he broke out in a bashful smile. “Have the dogs finished eating?” I asked. “If they haven’t yet, I can help feed them.”
“Oh, we gave them some meat and bones a little while ago. Is it really all right to give Jirube nothing but meat, though?”
“Yeah. Once every couple of days, we give him some vegetables and fuwano too, but for today, just meat is fine.”
That was something we had made sure to confirm with his former owner, Dregg. Lion dogs were the result of selective breeding using dogs from Jagar that only ate meat, so giving him fuwano and vegetables once every couple of days was enough to maintain his health.
“You should enjoy the banquet too, Asuta. I managed to find time to go congratulate the champions a little while ago,” Li Sudra said with a graceful smile. She was still a bit rounder than she had before her pregnancy, which gave her an even softer and kinder appearance.
“Thank you. Before I go, though, could I see the babies for a moment?”
“Yes, of course.”
I released the strap on my leather sandals and stepped into the main hall. Tia was barefoot, but she avoided the hassle of having to wash her feet by following on her hands and her left knee. When they noticed that the red savage had arrived, the kids’ eyes all shot wide open.
The twin infants were both sleeping peacefully. They were really tiny—it had still been less than a month since they’d been born. They seemed to have put on quite a bit of fat, sure, but they were still so little. Just being able to look at their adorable sleeping faces was enough to fill my heart with joy.
“Your babies are so small. Do such tiny infants really grow into people who’re that big?” Tia asked as she stared intently at the babies. Looking at her face from the side, I could easily see the affection she already had for them. “They’re cute too. Are babies treasures to the people of the forest’s edge too?”
“Yes, of course,” Li Sudra calmly replied, earning a satisfied smile from Tia.
“So you’re their mother? I hope that you birth many more children and bring blessings to your people.”
“That’s what I wish for too.”
“Good,” Tia said with a nod. Then she shot me a smile too. “You too, Asuta. Ai Fa is a fine hunter, so I’m sure she’ll give birth to strong children.”
“S-Stop that. If Ai Fa heard that, she’d hit you again.”
“I see. Before that can happen, the two of you have to get married first. You should hurry up and do that and start making babies. That will bring more strength to your people.”
The troubles that Ai Fa usually had to deal with were falling on me instead today. It wouldn’t have been that big of a problem if it had just been the two of us at least, but she had said that right in front of Saris Ran Fou and Li Sudra, so my face went bright red.
“I value Ai Fa’s feelings above everything else. Still, it would make me very happy to be able to meet her children,” Saris Ran Fou chimed in with a bright smile. Li Sudra, meanwhile, just kept on smiling silently. My face and neck were getting incredibly hot. I decided to beat a swift retreat.
“W-Well, we’ll be heading back to the plaza now. Sorry for bothering you.”
“Oh, it’s quite all right. Please, enjoy the banquet.”
After patting the three dogs on the head, I exited the house and closed the door behind me. As I was trying to calm my breathing, Tia called out to me again. “Asuta, if you and Ai Fa decide you want to do the child-making ritual before my hundred days are up, I can sleep on top of the house when you do.”
“Agh, I get why Ai Fa wanted to slap you!”
“You want to slap me? If that would make you feel better, I could count it as a form of repayment, so I won’t stop you from doing so,” Tia said, closing her eyes and leaning forward so her face would be easier for me to reach.
I sighed again, then rustled her hair and said, “I’m not going to hit you! Let’s go back to the plaza and eat!”
“Okay. I’m very hungry,” Tia said, opening her eyes and smiling brightly.
An indescribable feeling of exhaustion washed over me as the two of us walked back to the plaza where my precious comrades were celebrating. The sense of excitement in the air was as strong as ever, and it almost felt like the atmosphere itself was reaching out to wildly embrace us.