“That’s only because you always dress so unfashionably. Nobody will think you’re a little girl when you’re dressed this sexily.”
Telia Mas’s body wasn’t as fully developed as Yumi’s, but today she looked charming in her own way. Was that because of the difference between how she was dressed now and her usual modest attire? I was kind of having trouble figuring out where to look.
“The way that she gets all embarrassed just makes her cuter. She’s totally different from Yumi,” one of the young guys teased.
“Oh, shut it!” Yumi retorted, glaring at them with wide eyes. “I’m warning you now, if you make a pass at Telia Mas, I’ll make sure that you pay for it.”
“See, this is what makes you so un-cute.”
“Hmph. You guys thinking I’m cute would send a shiver down my spine,” Yumi said sharply. Then she turned toward me and pointed at the three, apparently finished with insulting them. “You’ve met them before, Asuta, but I’ll remind you of their names just to be sure. Starting from the right, these are Ben, Lebi, and Kalgo.”
They were all young men from the post town who were under the age of twenty, and anyone could tell just by looking at them that they were rather boisterous people. The three of them were close friends with Yumi and were regulars at our stalls. They had also joined us for the party in the Daleim lands during the revival festival. Though this was the first time I had actually heard their names, I was certainly familiar with them.
“Yo. Been looking forward to today, Asuta,” the oldest and biggest of the boys, Ben, remarked with a grin. Way back when I had first opened a stall in the post town, he was the one who had told me to go back to the forest’s edge. But more than a year had passed since then, and Yumi had been right there next to him complaining about us too. They had all become regulars eventually, and any antagonism they felt toward us was gone now.
It was actually the Ruu clan that had suggested inviting them too. Since we had only been able to invite Tara from Dora’s household this time around, they thought it would be a good idea to have a few more guests, which was why the three boys were here, plus Yumi, of course. Apparently, they’d been jealous of Yumi for a while now, as she had been invited to the forest’s edge several times. Though they were all kind of rough around the edges, like Yumi, they weren’t outlaws or anything, and they had gotten pretty friendly with the chefs who ran the stalls by this point. That had made them a pretty fitting choice for the friendship banquet.
“Could you guys divide yourselves into groups of three? We’ll take half of you in my wagon and the other half in Fei Beim’s.”
“Ah, then the guys should go with you, Asuta. I’m sure they’d be a bit more comfortable with that, right?” Yumi proposed, and Tara and Telia Mas didn’t seem to have any objections. It hadn’t even been two months since they had attended the celebration for Granny Jiba’s birthday, so they didn’t look worried at all about the trip they were about to take.
“Okay then. Ben, Lebi, Kalgo, you three hop into my wagon here. And let’s have Yun Sudra and Toor Deen join us, since they’ll also be taking part in the banquet.”
And just like that, we had all of our seating arrangements worked out. Toor Deen was extremely anxious around strangers, but Yun Sudra was very friendly and sociable. Plus, she was a wonderfully charming young woman, so the boys all looked like they were in a really good mood.
“Let me remind you, just to be safe: Don’t try to make any moves on the women of the forest’s edge, okay?” Yumi told the boys as she was boarding the other wagon.
Ben stuck his tongue out and said, “Yeah, yeah. We shouldn’t lay a hand on anyone unless we’re prepared to marry into the forest’s edge, right? We all know how scary the hunters of the forest’s edge are. None of us are gonna cause any trouble.”
“Yeah. Right. Just don’t forget that after you start drinking.”
We then departed for the forest’s edge with four vehicles in total. Inside Gilulu’s wagon, which I was driving, the conversation was pretty lively. Ben, Kalgo, and Yun Sudra were having an amusing chat, and then Lebi called up toward the driver’s seat, “Hey, Asuta, that noble girl won’t be showing up until it gets dark, right?”
“Yep. She should arrive shortly before sunset.”
In the past, I had usually spoken politely to Lebi, but today I had learned that he was actually younger than me, so I was trying to be a bit more casual. I remembered Lebi and Ben making the biggest commotion on the night of the revival festival back in the Daleim lands. And from what I could recall, Ben was the one whose knees had given out the first time Mida Ruu had shown up, while Lebi had been the one who had informed us of Mida Ruu’s past misdeeds.
“I’m really glad that everyone was willing to accept a noble participating. From what I’ve seen, nobles aren’t very well-liked in the post town.”
“Yeah, but ever since that huge mess was finally settled, folks have started looking at the nobles a little differently, I guess. I haven’t really heard any nasty rumors about them since then.”
The mess he was talking about was of course our conflict with the house of Turan. Once the lord of Genos, Marstein, had officially passed judgment on Cyclaeus, who had been the figure with the second greatest amount of political power in the domain, the animosity that the townsfolk felt toward the nobles seemed to have softened quite a bit.
That was something Marstein had really been aiming for too. Cyclaeus had covered for the Suun and foisted false charges upon the Red Beard Bandits, and in the process had seriously damaged people’s perception of the nobles of Genos. And by bringing those crimes to light, Marstein had sought to win the hearts of his people. The lord of Genos had also used that opportunity to stress the value of transparency in governance. Then, during our dispute with the observers from the capital, he had also chosen to publicly announce the truth of what had been happening in order to keep the support of the citizens.
“So, that noble girl from the house of Turan who kidnapped you is the one that’ll be coming today, right, Asuta? I heard about you guys burying the hatchet during that last big crisis, but are you really okay with her being there?”
“Yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem at all. I’ve seen Lefreya a number of times in the last year, and she really seems to have turned over a new leaf ever since her father was brought to justice.”
“Heh heh. You really are amazing, Asuta, meeting with a noble lady from the house of Turan multiple times,” Lebi said half-jokingly. While he might have felt less animosity toward nobles now, I was sure he still didn’t want to go anywhere near them. But even so, none of them had objected to Lefreya joining us, and the same was true of Yumi, Telia Mas, Tara, and their parents—Sams, Milano Mas, and Dora. After we had gotten all of their opinions, Donda Ruu had conveyed his approval to Polarth.