The boar was still alive, but its legs were injured, so it couldn’t move.
“Yumoto-san! Help!”
I had no idea what to do in this situation, so my first instinct was to call old Yumoto. He quickly picked up the call. Good thing he was home.
“What? You caught a boar? Hang on, I’m coming!”
Yumoto-san, always quick to act, got here in no time.
“Whoa, pretty big... How did you manage to catch it?” he asked with a puzzled look.
I just scratched my head. I didn’t expect him to believe me, but claiming I caught it myself would have been even more unbelievable. I simply told him the truth.
“The chickens caught it?! How in the world?”
“Actually, I...don’t know. I was out on patrol and came back to this... How did they do it?”
Upon hearing that, the three began swinging their reptilelike tails, mercilessly slamming them against the boar’s legs. The boar gave an anguished cry. What the actual hell is with these chickens?
Yumoto-san nodded. “Uh... Yeah, that’s quite something. So what are you gonna do with the boar?”
“I was hoping we could all eat it together. But I don’t know how to butcher it or anything like that.”
Yumoto-san seemed like he’d already expected that of me. “Well, you don’t have the stuff you need to prepare it. With these leg injuries, it won’t be moving for a while, so I’ll ask someone who knows how to dress game animals. I’ll also need some time to chill the meat. Drop by tomorrow night.”
“Sorry for the trouble. Um...can I also ask you to invite the other villagers?”
“Sure—after all, this thing is pretty huge. I’ll let them know. Hey, chickens.”
The three of them looked at him. They really are quite smart.
“This is your quarry. You’ve earned the right to eat it. I’ll be taking it home with me today, but I’ll dress it and have it ready tomorrow, so you three come to my place with Shohei, got it?”
Pochi cackled in response. I’m not sure how much they actually understand, but he’s probably saying, “Okay.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, right. A boar this big means there must be a fair number of them on this mountain. They’re probably afraid of humans. You probably won’t run into them out on patrol, but if you accidentally corner them, they could ram into you and kill you, so try to be careful.”
“O-Okay...”
Wild animals are scary.
“I’m impressed you chickens can catch boars! Just leave the piglets alone.”
The chickens tilted their heads. They even did it in sync.
I couldn’t hold in my laughter. This is adorable. I want a picture.
“Boarlets look like small boars with stripes. Boars have this thing where if their children die, they just start breeding again, so you have to go after the adult boars only.”
Pochi responded again. Can they really understand us? I wondered. Scary.
“I see,” I replied to Yumoto-san.
“Yup, they can birth about four at a time. Mating season is twice a year. They stop breeding when they have boarlets to raise, but otherwise, they keep at it. They multiply faster than you can get rid of them.”
“I guess they must do a number on crops.”
“Sure do. We take measures against them, like building fences, but that takes money. There’re also machines that make noise to scare them away, but boars aren’t terribly dumb, so after a few years, they grow used to the sound. That’s why we’re always in need of people who can hunt them. Or chickens, in this case.”
This was probably his real motive for trying to talk with the chickens. Normally, the mere prospect of chatting with one would be too ridiculous to take seriously, but the Yumotos approached them earnestly. I was grateful for that.
“Well then, I’ll be taking it with me,” Yumoto-san said, and the two of us loaded the boar onto his truck. It was pretty heavy. How many kilograms is it, I wonder. I was already incredibly tired just from loading it.
Suddenly, Yuma ran over to the other side of the house, as if she’d found something. My chickens had great eyesight and hearing. She came back shortly with a viper in her beak.
Again, just how many snakes are there on this mountain? I’m starting to fear for my life.
Yumoto-san welcomed her back excitedly. “Whoa there! Eh? I can have it?”
Pochi clucked.
Hey, you weren’t the one who caught it.
“I’ll go get a bottle,” I said.
Yumoto-san put the viper inside the bottle—a lot more skillfully than I could’ve, I should note—and went merrily on his way home.
“I’ll pay you for this tomorrow night,” he said on his way out.
“Oh, no, please don’t worry about it.” You’re already preparing the boar, after all.
“This is a different matter—don’t mix things up.”
“All right. Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
It turned out people in the countryside were not as complacent as I’d thought. When someone gave you something, you were expected to return the favor, and failure to do so could result in being ostracized. Or at least, that’s what I’ve heard. Guess it’s only natural. Well, in any case, I wanted to avoid receiving unwanted presents if possible.
“Thanks, Yuma.”
I petted her wings, and she cuddled up to me. My chickens are so cute.
“Wild boar, huh? I guess tomorrow’s a boar hot pot night.”
“Hot pot!”
“Hot pot!”
“Hot pot!”
“Eh? What’s got you all riled up?”
They only spoke when I said “boar hot pot,” and weirdly enough, only after Yumoto-san had gone home. These are definitely not just regular chickens...
In any case, I was looking forward to tomorrow night.
“I wonder if my neighbors will show up too.”
I hoped this might be a chance to get to know my next-mountain neighbors.
The next morning, I was awakened by a rattling sound coming from my bedroom’s sliding door. I sat up in my futon, and in the dim morning light, I could confirm that the door was indeed rattling.
Could this be a poltergeist...? Cold sweat dripped down my back.