It was now the day after the six-clan festival of the hunt, the twenty-ninth of the green month, and today we were going to be participating in a study session in the castle town that would be focusing on some new ingredients that had arrived. Having to go do that right after a big festival was making things pretty hectic, but once the blue month began, we were going to need to give the friendship banquet and the clan head meeting our full attention, so we had decided it would be best to get this out of the way as soon as possible.
I also needed to run the Fa clan’s stalls, which hadn’t been open yesterday because of the festival. Due to a lack of prep time, our offerings were limited to dishes we were able to throw together in the morning. Of course, the Ruu had stepped up to compensate for our absence. Just like when we had been going through the rite of initiation, we had decided that if one of our groups wasn’t able to open for business, the other would do what they could to make sure things stayed as close to normal as possible.
Despite how busy we were, our chefs weren’t showing even the slightest hint of exhaustion, though. Women of the forest’s edge all possessed exceptional stamina, and they were undoubtedly all excited at the prospect of getting to see some new, unfamiliar ingredients, so if anything, they seemed more energetic than usual.
After we wrapped up our business at the stalls, around half of our group and all of the hunters who were working as guards today got together and headed to the castle town. Our lineup was the same as it had been for the black fuwano study session: me, Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, Rimee Ruu, Toor Deen, Yun Sudra, and Myme. Seven of us in total. We also had four guards from the six clans now in their break period: Ai Fa, Cheem Sudra, the oldest son of the main Deen house, and the oldest son of the main Liddo house.
The Deen and Liddo hunters had been selected because of a request from the head of their parent clan, Gulaf Zaza. Toor Deen was related to them and was participating, and he also wanted the members of the Deen and Liddo clans to expand their views by accompanying us. It seemed that Gulaf Zaza had a lot of things on his mind related to us all undergoing the rite of initiation to become children of the western god. In any case, the two young hunters acting as representatives for their clans looked very proud to be with us.
“I’m surprised that we were invited to come to the castle town again just ten days after we did that rite of initiation. I never would’ve thought that I’d be given an opportunity like this,” the Deen man remarked.
“That’s for sure,” the Liddo man added with a grin. The Deen hunter was a slender young man with a cheery face, while the Liddo hunter had inherited his father’s robust figure. Though I wasn’t close with either of them, I at least recognized them after our last two festivals of the hunt.
“But anyway, our job here is to protect you chefs. From what I understand, we have no reason to suspect that the nobles of Genos will try to cause trouble for us anymore, but we won’t let our guards down no matter what, so you can relax and focus on your own work,” the Deen man said to Toor Deen.
“Thank you,” she replied, smiling gently. Since Toor Deen was a member of the main house, the two of them lived together. She was the daughter of the current clan head’s younger sister, so the two of them were cousins. The two of them apparently hadn’t had many chances to interact before Toor Deen had been removed from the Suun clan. They seemed to be pretty close now, though.
The totos carriages used in the castle town were quite large, so all eleven of us were able to ride together in one of them. As he looked out the window at the townscape, the Liddo man glanced at Ai Fa with a look like a thought had suddenly come to him. “By the way, Ai Fa, we’d like you to act as our leader for today. Would that be all right?”
“Hmm? I don’t especially mind, but normally wouldn’t one of you be in charge, as members of clans subordinate to a leading clan?”
“We hardly know anything about the customs of the castle town. You’ve come here many times before, so you’re a much better fit to take charge,” the Liddo hunter said with a wide grin on his face.
“I see. Well, being in charge is not that big of a deal, so I don’t mind taking on the responsibility,” Ai Fa calmly replied.
“Good. You may be younger than us, Ai Fa, but you’re strong enough to have been crowned champion twice in the combat contests of strength, so we have no concerns about relying on you.”
The members of the Liddo and Deen clans weren’t the kind of people who would throw around their status as subordinates of a leading clan, and the two joint festivals of the hunt we had participated in together had made them rather friendly toward us. Plus, Ai Fa and Cheem Sudra had both been crowned champions twice now, and it was easy to see how much respect they had earned from doing so.
Rimee Ruu was watching them talk with a really happy expression on her face. She must have been glad to see how strong Ai Fa’s bonds with the clans that lived near us had become.
When my clan head noticed that, she asked, “What are you smiling about?”
“Oh, nothing!” Rimee Ruu replied with a laugh as she hugged Ai Fa’s arm.
Before long, the totos carriage came to a stop at our destination. Just like always, the study session was being held at the former Turan manor. Though it was the place where I had been confined after Lefreya had kidnapped me, those bad memories had long since faded to become a lot less important than my other experiences here over the course of the last year.