I wonder if Lefreya will get a chance to speak with Yumi and the others... I feel like watching them talk would make me anxious, but, well, there’s really no telling how any of this will go, I thought as our wagons arrived at the settlement at the forest’s edge. As we turned our wagons off the narrow, harshly sloped trail onto the wide one that ran north to south, Ben and the other boys suddenly grew a bit quieter.
“We’ll arrive at the Ruu settlement soon. Are you all ready?”
“Y-Yeah. Just hurry up and get us there, okay?”
I nodded, then gave Gilulu a quick whip. Now that we’d made it to this point, the Ruu settlement wasn’t far. It wasn’t long before I was bringing the wagon to a stop right in front of it and the other wagons lined up alongside us. Then Yumi and the other guests exited them. Once I confirmed that they were all out, I shot a smile over at Fei Beim, who was in the driver’s seat of the wagon next to mine.
“Well then, we’ll be parting ways here. For tomorrow, could you show up at the study session at the usual time?” I said.
“Of course. Please enjoy the banquet.”
She then started driving her wagon off to the north, and the one with the Matua woman holding the reins followed after her. Then Leito pulled the wagon he was driving up alongside mine.
“So, we’ve made it. What should we do with the wagons?”
“We just need to park them off to the side of the road and bring the totos with us. I guess we should probably move a bit closer, though, so we don’t get in the way of the soldiers Lefreya will be bringing with her when she shows up later.”
We advanced until we were ten meters away from the entrance to the Ruu settlement before stopping our wagons and unyoking our totos. And as he stepped down to the ground, Ben finally started to look nervous as he glanced around the area.
“H-Hey, giba really don’t come near places where people live, right?”
“That’s right. We cut down all the trees that produce the fruits giba eat around our settlements, so there shouldn’t be any danger here. I’ve never seen a giba come anywhere near a house,” I replied, but Ben and the other boys still kept glancing around nervously. Giba lived out in the forest, so for townsfolk like them, coming to this place was like entering a strange, foreign land.
“Ah, I’ve finally made it to the settlement at the forest’s edge! I’m actually surprised at how excited I am!” Zasshuma exclaimed with joy as he checked out the forest all around him. This would be his first visit too.
“There are going to be a lot of people who you’ll be meeting for the first time, so why don’t we do some introductions here?” I suggested. “These two chefs were invited from other clans, and their names are Yun Sudra and Toor Deen.”
Yun Sudra politely bowed her head, and Toor Deen did so as well, though more timidly.
“Then we have these three chefs from the castle town, Bozl, Shilly Rou, and Roy. Shilly Rou and Roy were invited to the previous friendship banquet as well.”
Shilly Rou had removed her hood and scarf but was half-hiding herself behind Roy with a tense look on her face. I couldn’t help but think that it would’ve been better to try hiding behind Bozl, who was a lot bigger, but I managed to keep myself from saying so. Ben and the other boys stared at them with open curiosity.
“Next are the bodyguards Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma, as well as Kamyua’s apprentice Leito. They’re all regulars at the stalls and they also serve as go-betweens for us and the nobles of Genos, so we people of the forest’s edge owe them a lot.”
Yumi then joined the boys in observing Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma with great interest. She had become friends with Leito during the incident with the observers, but this must have been pretty much her first time ever meeting Kamyua Yoshu, though she had undoubtedly heard a lot about him from Tara and Telia Mas.
“We also have Telia Mas of the post town inn The Kimyuus’s Tail, Yumi of The Westerly Wind, and Tara, the daughter of a vegetable seller from the Daleim lands. Then...”
“Oh, our families are nothing worth mentioning. We’re Ben, Kalgo, and Lebi, and we get into trouble with Yumi. And we’re also residents of the post town.”
“Hey, don’t go around slandering people like that! You’re the only ones who actually cause any trouble!” Yumi shouted.
“Are you joking? You’ve been taken away by the guards more than any of us, haven’t you?”
Yumi gave Ben a kick in the rear, then she turned toward Shilly Rou and said, “Ah, look, you’ve made Shilly Rou all frightened! We were finally starting to get along, so don’t go and ruin that!”
“I-I’m not frightened!” Shilly Rou retorted, her face going red as she hid farther behind Roy.
As he glanced around at everyone in our group, Kamyua Yoshu broke out in an aloof grin. “This certainly is quite a crowd. Not counting you guys from the forest’s edge, we’ve got twelve people here. And Lady Lefreya and her attendant Sanjura will be joining in later too, right?”
“Yeah. And there should be a number of people from the other leading clans and the smaller clans too. I believe we’re expecting seventy people from the Ruu clans alone, so altogether, we should end up with about a hundred people attending.”
“A hundred?! That’s quite a number!”
“Sure is. Though, when everyone from the Ruu clans gathers, that already adds up to more than a hundred, so it’s still smaller than a large festival of the hunt.”
“Ah, I see,” Kamyua Yoshu remarked with a grin. “As I recall, that was around the number of people who showed up for Gazraan Rutim’s wedding banquet, wasn’t it? Though I was only able to spy on that particular party from the shadows.”
“You spied on their banquet? Why did you do something like that?” Yumi asked in surprise.
“Ah ha ha. At the time, I hadn’t formed a proper friendship with the people of the forest’s edge yet. In fact, one of them had even pointed his sword at me before that,” Kamyua Yoshu replied.
“That takes me back. Darmu Ruu’s the one who did that, so I hope that you two will be able to become a bit friendlier today,” I said, taking another glance over the crowd. These twelve guests were all people I had met at different times and in different ways, and they came from all sorts of different backgrounds as well. It made me seriously happy that we had been able to invite such a wide variety of people to the banquet.
Of course, the Ruu clan were the ones hosting the event, so I was kind of an invitee myself. Still, if I hadn’t come to live at the forest’s edge, I was sure that none of the townsfolk would ever have been invited to one of their banquets like this. I felt pride in my accomplishments and a sense of determination as I mentally shifted gears for the party.