Chapter 3: The House of Daleim’s Dance Party
1
It was now the twenty-sixth of the gold month, five days after Shumiral had been accepted as a person of the forest’s edge, and it was also the day of the dance party the house of Daleim was putting on.
We carried out our work like always until the early afternoon, then after driving everyone back to the settlement, we got ready to head out once more. The only ones outside of the leading clans heading to the castle town were Ai Fa, Toor Deen, and myself.
Though it had been suggested that the Fou and Beim could attend as observers, they had decided to respectfully decline. Apparently, Baadu Fou and the Beim clan head were hesitant about the idea of being invited as honored guests and required to wear banquet attire in the style of the castle town.
“Sorry, but we’re gonna have you guys observe the event as the representatives for the small clans this time around,” Baadu Fou had told me on a prior day, looking truly apologetic.
At any rate, we had no time to take it easy. When I arrived at the Fa house by wagon, I found Ai Fa and Toor Deen waiting there for me with a large number of wooden boxes. Toor Deen had taken the day off from work in the post town today so she could prepare the dessert she would be serving in the castle town.
Normally, Toor Deen would only be tasked with making dessert, but based on my proposal, she had ended up preparing a small snack in addition. She had borrowed the help of the women from the neighboring clans for that, but they had already left.
“Good work. Looks like you finished the preparations okay.”
Toor Deen shot me a smile, her expression a jumble of both tension and a sense of accomplishment. After taking her and Ai Fa on board, we headed to the Ruu settlement, where Reina Ruu greeted me with a smile. “Welcome. We’re all done with the preparations, so let’s hurry to the castle town.”
Sheera Ruu and I would be attending as guests, so Reina Ruu was in charge of the chefs for today. However, she appeared to be dealing with the pressure being placed on her in a positive way. There was a great deal of pride and excitement showing on her face as she smiled brightly at me.
“Oh, Asuta, could you let Rimee ride with you too? She’s been wanting to talk with Ai Fa.”
“Of course. I don’t mind. There are only three of us over here, after all.”
Even without Rimee Ruu, there were still five passengers in Ruuruu’s wagon. They included the guests, Darmu and Sheera Ruu; the chef, Reina Ruu; and the guards, Ludo and Shin Ruu.
“We’ll be meeting up with the folks from the Zaza and Sauti in front of the castle gates, right? So let’s get going,” Ludo Ruu said.
After letting Ruuruu’s wagon, which he was driving, take the lead, we once again set off down the path. As Rimee Ruu was clinging to Ai Fa, I was left to handle the reins.
“I haven’t been to the castle town in a while! Let’s give it everything we’ve got, Toor Deen!” Rimee Ruu said.
“Uh, yeah. I look forward to working with you.”
“You made some sort of new sweet again, right? Hee hee, I’m looking forward to it!” Rimee Ruu’s adorable earnestness seemed to be on full display this afternoon.
When we arrived, Reina Ruu, Rimee Ruu, and Toor Deen would be manning the kitchen alongside Yang, Shilly Rou, Bozl, and Roy from the castle town. If it had been possible, I would have preferred to work with them too.
“Rimee Ruu, how is Mikel doing?” Ai Fa asked along the way.
“Oh, right!” Rimee Ruu energetically replied. “He can walk around on his own now with a cane! But Bartha’s had to chew him out a couple times, ’cause he gets a fever if he pushes himself too hard.”
“I see. That’s good to hear.”
“Yeah! Myme’s cheered up a lot too, now that Mikel’s doing better.”
I saw Myme on a daily basis, so I had already seen that for myself, but when she had heard that Polarth wanted to invite a number of chefs to this party, Myme had looked rather worried. Apparently, she had been concerned that Mikel would say he wanted her to take part.
If the nobles became aware of her skill, it would eventually give her a foothold that she could use to get work in the castle town. On top of that, Varkas’s apprentices had been invited to cook for the party as well. Varkas favored Mikel and Myme, so he would probably be the most direct about recommending her. However, Myme didn’t want to move to the castle town. Instead, she wanted to keep living with her father more than anything.
In the distant future, it was possible she might wish to become a chef working in the castle town, but there was no rush. If she wanted to try for that in five or even ten years, it wouldn’t be a problem for her. What she needed now was to have some time to live in peace with her father, the only family she had left. Perhaps sensing his daughter’s feelings, Mikel hadn’t said anything more on the subject, allowing Myme to finally smile from the depths of her heart again.
Well, I’m sure Mikel can’t stand the thought of staying at the Ruu settlement without paying lodging fees, but Reina Ruu and the others probably want them to stick around forever.
I remembered that one of Shumiral’s companions from the Silver Vase, the star reader, gave me a prediction once, a long time ago.
“The people of the forest’s edge will gain great strength through their encounter with Mikel. With that, a new path shall open to them.” I think it was something like that...
It was true that Mikel had given the people of the forest’s edge great strength. It was thanks to Mikel that I was rescued from the Turan manor, and then later he taught me how to prepare jerky more efficiently, how to cook brains and eyeballs, and how to handle unfamiliar ingredients. He really had helped me in all kinds of ways. However, all of that might have been just a precursor. It was possible that Mikel would help us even more in the future.
Meeting Mikel’s daughter, Myme, had made Reina and Sheera Ruu start aiming for even greater heights as chefs. If Mikel and Myme stayed at the Ruu settlement, who could say what impact they might have. Even now, Reina and Sheera Ruu were getting more and more fired up each time they watched Myme prepare her cooking for business.
I’m not one to believe in such things, but it feels like some sort of fate that they’ve started living at the Ruu settlement.
Still, regardless of whether fate existed or not, it was up to people to grab ahold of it as they lived their lives. That was what I believed. Thinking that we were simply walking the paths that fate had laid out for us from the start seemed like a gloomy existence. We all had to work our hardest to pick out the best path forward.
I was still ruminating on those rather sentimental topics when our wagons arrived at the castle gates. It was the first time I had been here since the friendship banquet held by the house of Saturas roughly a month ago. The members of the other leading clans and the guards greeting them were already standing there in front of the gates and the lowered drawbridge. As our wagons approached, an especially large figure among them casually waved at us.
“We’ve been waiting for you. Everybody’s here now.”
“Sorry for being late. I’m glad to see you looking well, Dari Sauti.”
“Yeah. I’ll be able to get back to my hunting work before much longer,” Dari Sauti remarked with a calm smile. Bowing her head beside him was his wife, Mil Fei Sauti, who I was seeing for the first time in three months. That was how long it had been since Dari Sauti and Donda Ruu had needed to step back from hunting. Dari Sauti had fractured his right arm, but he no longer needed a sling or a splint, and looked perfectly healthy.
“So you’re finally here, eh? You sure made us wait a while,” a large figure stated, getting up from the roofless wagon beside Dari Sauti. It was Geol Zaza, a hunter from the north who wore a giba pelt cloak with the head still attached. His twin sister, Sufira Zaza, was seated there beside him with her knees together. That was everyone from the forest’s edge who would be attending the dance party.
“Well then, please leave your wagons in our care. We will deliver your luggage to your destination on your behalf,” the soldiers, guiding us as they had done so many times in the past, said as we were led over to a pair of fine carriages meant for transport, each drawn by two totos. Though I had been invited to the castle town countless times by now, I still had never walked in on foot.
At any rate, we were heading to the Daleim estate...with Geol Zaza glaring at Ai Fa and Shin Ruu the whole time. Two carriages had been provided for us, and for some reason he had decided to join us in this one when we split up.
“What a scary look. What, do you still see yourself as Shin Ruu’s rival or something?” Ludo Ruu asked Geol Zaza, taking a break from his chat with Rimee Ruu. “Glaring won’t make you stronger than him, you know. If you wanna get better, then you’ve just gotta train harder as a hunter, right?”
“I don’t need you to tell me that,” Geol Zaza muttered in a sulky tone, turning away in a huff. Now that I thought about it, Ludo Ruu had gone along as a guard to the banquet for the swordsmanship tournament, so he must have gotten to know Geol Zaza there. This was a novel experience for me, seeing him talk to the Zaza hunter in his usual casual tone.
“You’ve got amazing hunters like Gulaf Zaza and Deek Dom up at the northern settlement, so if you train with them, you’re sure to get stronger. Shin Ruu’s gotten so strong because he’s been training with me, Rau Lea, and Darmu.”
“Are you really stronger than Shin Ruu?”
“Yeah. Or at least, I’ve never lost to him in a contest of strength at a festival of the hunt,” Ludo Ruu said, turning and shooting Shin Ruu a grin. “But who knows how the next one will go. You’ve seriously gotten strong, Shin Ruu.”
“I still have a long way to go,” Shin Ruu quietly replied.
Watching them out of the corner of my eye, I whispered to Ai Fa, “Now that I think about it, the men who are coming along as guests are a pretty awe-inspiring bunch. I’m really glad Dari Sauti will be there.”
Ludo Ruu and company were only coming to guard the chefs. That only left Dari Sauti, Darmu Ruu, Geol Zaza, and myself for the men in attendance. The average age among the group wasn’t that old, but they could still be awfully intimidating.
Still, Ai Fa didn’t seem to understand what I was thinking, as she tilted her head and replied, “Hmm? I don’t quite know what you mean by awe-inspiring, but if Dari Sauti were uninjured, he would easily be a match for the youngest Zaza son or Darmu Ruu as a hunter.”
“No, this isn’t about their strength as hunters, I’m talking about how fierce their appearances are.”
The question mark seemed to still be lingering over Ai Fa’s head, so I gave up on trying to explain. After all, nobody could intimidate my clan head, no matter what they looked like.
Ai Fa beat Darmu Ruu in a contest of strength and believes she couldn’t possibly lose to Geol Zaza, full stop, so of course they wouldn’t intimidate her, I thought as the totos-drawn carriages arrived at their destination. As the door swung open from the outside and we stepped down, a rotund figure hurriedly approached us.
“We have been awaiting you, dear guests from the forest’s edge! Allow me to extend my sincerest gratitude to you for accepting our invitation.” Naturally, it was Polarth. He was wearing a flowing robe, different from the banquet attire we had seen him in previously.
“I’m sorry we ended up bringing along such a large number of people. Thank you so much for your understanding,” Dari Sauti replied. As one of the leading clan heads, he was the one in charge of our group.
“Well then, I must greet our other guests, so our maids will guide you in my place.”
One of the maids in question was Sheila. After casually glancing in Ai Fa’s direction, she gave a polite bow. “Allow me to first show you to the bathhouse. This way, please.”
The Daleim manor was a brick structure, and was a fair amount smaller than the former Turan manor. The roof was blue rather than yellow, but the overall style seemed to be fairly similar. After we walked through a thick double door with guards watching over it, we passed over a rug meant to clean our feet, after which the brick floor was openly exposed. It wasn’t as large as the Turan manor or as decorated as the Saturas one, but it was fittingly grand for a noble estate, and everything had been carefully cleaned.
I didn’t know much about the hierarchy of nobles in Genos, but as far as I could tell, the houses of the counts were the immediate subordinates of the duke. Apparently, there were viscounts below them in turn, but I didn’t know anything about them. At any rate, even if it wasn’t as impressive as the Turans’ had been, this was the estate of one of only three counts in Genos. It was only natural that the manor of Count Daleim wouldn’t be shabby in any way.
“This is the bathhouse for the gentlemen. The ladies are to come this way.”
Sheila led Ai Fa and the other women farther down the hallway, leaving us with some page boys. The bathhouse was, unsurprisingly, similar to the one I was familiar with. Everyone first stepped into the antechamber, then one of the pages brought his hands together in front of him and bowed.
“We have been told that you will not need assistance with cleansing yourselves. Is this true?”
“Indeed. We’ll handle it ourselves, so you don’t need to bother with trying to help us. In this group, the only one of us who hasn’t used one of these bathhouses before should be you, Darmu Ruu, correct?”
“Yeah, but I’ve heard about them from my brothers, so it shouldn’t be any issue.”
Apparently, Dari Sauti and Geol Zaza had previously used a bathhouse before the last celebratory party. Actually, aside from Darmu Ruu and myself, everyone here had attended that event.
The hunters went ahead and tossed their clothing into a woven basket the pages had left here in the antechamber. Personally, I felt fortunate that Shin and Ludo Ruu were here, because Dari Sauti, Geol Zaza, and Darmu Ruu were each around 180 centimeters tall, and they were all absolutely shredded. Dari Sauti stood out especially strongly. His kind-looking face made it easy to forget that his build was on the same level as Donda Ruu’s. He was both the tallest and the heaviest out of our group, and it would be no exaggeration to call him a mountain of muscle.
“Aww, there’s no place to bathe in the water here,” Ludo Ruu quietly grumbled as he stepped into the steamy room. Sure enough, there didn’t seem to be any sort of sunken bathtub. There hadn’t been one at the Turan manor either, so it seemed they weren’t standard for such residences.
At any rate, we hurriedly cleaned ourselves and exited the bathhouse. Then the four of us who were going to attend the dance party were presented with brand new waistcloths and gown-like robes.
“Your banquet attire has been prepared in a separate room, so please put these on. We shall lead you there shortly.”
As they watched us out of the corner of their eyes, Ludo and Shin Ruu put their own clothes back on. Meanwhile, Darmu Ruu and Geol Zaza looked rather displeased as they dressed themselves in the unfamiliar clothing. Their fathers had undoubtedly told both of them to abide by the customs of the nobles.
“Hey, are the women out yet?” Ludo Ruu called out.
One of the pages politely replied, “No. The ladies must wait for the moisture to leave their hair, so I believe they will need a bit more time.”
“In that case, Shin Ruu and I will wait here for them. Our job is to guard the chefs, after all.”
With that, Ludo and Shin Ruu separated from us, and the four of us who were guests for today were led all the way to the second floor, and into a large, surprisingly jumbled room. This was undoubtedly the first time I had seen a room this messy at a noble’s manor. From what I could tell, it seemed to be a wardrobe room combined with a changing room. As the other guests would probably change into their attire at their own homes, there wasn’t anyone but us around.
“Please, come this way.”
The pages guided us farther in, where an older tailor and two youths who seemed to be his assistants were waiting. The youths looked tense, but the older tailor smiled graciously at us.
“We have been waiting for you. We have prepared banquet attire for the four of you, as the count’s wife has ordered. They must be properly fitted to your bodies, so we shall handle you one at a time.”
And so, we let the old man take care of us one at a time. The other three hadn’t been measured, so their hems needed to be adjusted a bit, and so on, but the man’s skills were so polished that it didn’t even take ten minutes to get one of us dressed.
“Well? Is it to your satisfaction?”
“Hmm... Well, I don’t know what makes for good or bad banquet attire...but at the very least, my movements don’t feel restricted,” Dari Sauti replied with a smile that almost didn’t seem to be strained at all.
I was just glad I didn’t look overly weird, but I did think that the banquet attire looked quite striking on my three comrades. That especially went for Darmu Ruu. He was the handsomest man among us, and was both slender and tall. Shin Ruu had looked a bit like a young prince when he had been put in military attire before, and Darmu Ruu seemed every bit as gallant now. Like, seriously stylish.
He had on a sleeveless vest, loose-fitting trousers that clinched at his ankles, and an ornamental cloak that hung from his shoulders to his waist. They were all made of what looked like high-quality silk, and there was embroidery with golden thread around the collar and hems. There was also a colorful sash tied around his waist, with the excess dangling off to around his knees. His exposed upper arms and wrists were adorned with golden accessories, and his vest had an unfamiliar dark green crest sewn into it.
And then there was his hair. The other two had short hair, so nothing had been done with it, but Darmu Ruu was a different story. He normally left his bangs to hang naturally, but they had been combed out, and his hair had been brought together loosely at the back of his head with a decorative string. If it weren’t for his piercing gaze and the scar on his right cheek, he could have easily passed as a young noble or even a prince.
Once the tailor looked good and satisfied with Darmu Ruu, he turned my way. He reached up with his sinewy fingers and very gently ran them over my hair.
“My apologies. Your hair is quite soft, but the ends cannot help but spring up. If you so desire, we can bring you oil.”
“Ah, no, I’m fine. I don’t rub oil into my hair.”
I had naturally fine hair. I was well aware of the fact that it was hard to handle, but if I did rub oil into it like Luidross and Leeheim, I would just look comical, like a ventriloquist dummy.
The rest of us had been dressed in more or less the same sort of outfit as Darmu Ruu. There were some slight differences in the colors of the fabric and the ornamentation, but nothing all that significant. However, each of our vests had the same emblem on them, with the same shape and color of thread used for the embroidery.
Perhaps noticing the same thing I had, Dari Sauti poked at his chest and said, “These are the sort of characters used in town, correct? What sort of meaning does it hold?”
“That is an emblem made by adding ornamentation to the characters. They originally meant ‘forest,’ and green thread was selected to match that.”
“I see... Forest. Did you pick these characters?”
“No. They were requested by the lady of the house.”
“Ah, I see,” Dari Sauti said with a smile. This one wasn’t strained, though. It was his usual gentle one. “You have my gratitude for offering an inurbane lot like us such fine clothing. We’ll tell them ourselves later, but I would like to offer my thanks to the nobles who provided them for us as well.”
“I am undeserving of such praise,” the old tailor said, offering us a gentle smile of his own. He didn’t seem prejudiced against the people of the forest’s edge in the least. That might have been the reason he had been put in charge of us.
“Well then, allow me to show you to the antechamber. This way, please,” the page who had been waiting off to the side all this time said, leading us out of the room.
Along the way, Geol Zaza started whispering to Dari Sauti, unable to hold himself back any longer. “This whole thing is such a hassle. Way more trouble than what we had to put up with for the banquet after that tournament.”
“These are the customs of the nobles, so we have no choice but to abide by them. If you cannot do so, then you should simply refuse the next such request.”
“Hmph. I think I will.”
Geol Zaza seemed quite displeased, but the banquet attire also suited him quite well. Actually, without the giba pelt over his head covering part of his face, he looked a lot more his age. He had a scar above his right eye and a really square face that looked pretty rugged, but there was still a sort of boyishness about him. It was pretty fitting when you considered the fact that he was only sixteen, three years younger than Darmu Ruu.
I was a little worried for a moment there, but he probably won’t stand out too badly at the event. Actually, I hope that’s true for me too...
Next, we were led into a small empty room. It was the complete opposite of the last one, with very little inside, except for a leather couch and some small tables. It looked to have around ten square meters of floor space, and felt like it was just barely short of being too barren.
“Please wait here. I believe your companions will be ready soon.” Having said that, the page moved to wait off to the side of the door.
“Hmph!” Geol Zaza snorted as he flopped down onto the couch.
The women showed up around fifteen minutes later. Sheila announced their arrival, and the door opened for them. When I saw Ai Fa, I forgot to breathe for a moment.
“Ooh, what a striking difference,” Dari Sauti remarked in amusement as Ai Fa, Sheera Ruu, Mil Fei Sauti, and Sufira Zaza entered. The unadorned room turned dazzling in an instant as they stepped inside.
They were all wearing dresses in the style of the castle town. To me, they had a foreign feel about them, perhaps Middle Eastern or Persian. At any rate, it was clear that they were party dresses meant for noblewomen.
The upper parts of their dresses smoothly traced the contours of their bodies, while the skirt portions bloomed outward. They had deep, wide necklines lined with frills that thankfully weren’t overly showy, making it look like countless little flower petals had been sewn into them.
The dresses were sleeveless, so the women’s arms were fully exposed, and they had stylish gleaming jewelry on their fingers, wrists, and upper arms. On top of that, their hair had been let down and similarly adorned with various accessories. Aside from Mil Fei Sauti—as she was the only married woman present—they all had long hair that came down to around their hips, which made them look even more radiant.
Though the dresses had boldly revealing necklines, the women of the forest’s edge normally dressed so lightly that they actually had noticeably less exposed skin than usual right now. The dresses were long enough to come all the way down to their ankles, after all. But even so, there was no denying that they looked especially glamorous and charming tonight. Regardless, I still only had eyes for Ai Fa. She was just that special to me.
My clan head’s dress was light blue, which contrasted wonderfully with her dark skin and blonde hair. It didn’t have any kind of sash, but had clearly been fitted to her body. It was tight around her hips, doing nothing to conceal her beautiful contours. As she slowly approached, I felt as if my heart were about to explode.
“A-Ai Fa... How are you walking so gracefully like that?”
“Hnn. When I visited the Turan manor to rescue you, I was taught how they walk in the castle town. I believe it best to walk like this when wearing such attire.” As soon as she opened her mouth, it was clear that she was still the same Ai Fa as always. She also had her usual calm expression on her face, but she still looked like a different person entirely. She leaned in close to my face and whispered, “Well...?”
“W-Well what? You look super pretty, obviously.”
“Never mind the banquet attire. I was asking about this,” Ai Fa said with a stealthy pout, pointing at her throat, where a shining blue stone was hanging over her lovely collarbone. It was the necklace I had gifted her, which she always kept on her person. However, the leather cord had a silver chain and some decorative strings wrapped around it, making it look a bit more extravagant than usual.
“Right, that’s the necklace I gave you. It looks kinda showy now, doesn’t it?”
“Indeed. When I last wore the attire of the castle town, I had to remove this necklace because I was told it was unfitting. But this time, that Sheila woman had a solution ready so it could be worn as part of this banquet attire.”
“I see. Sheila sure is considerate, huh?”
“She is. She remembered how displeased I was about not being able to wear it,” Ai Fa replied, and then she broke out in a smile. “I hid it under my waistcloth anyway, but I believe having it hanging from my neck is best, so I am sincerely grateful to her.”
I had positioned myself in the corner of the room earlier, so I was the only one who could see Ai Fa’s expression as she faced me. That must have been why she was okay with letting her guard down and being this open with her emotions. Faced with her unbelievably radiant smile, I was so enraptured that I almost felt dizzy. Honestly, I had to congratulate myself for not hugging her automatically.
If I’m being affected this badly before the dance party even starts, how am I ever going to make it all the way to the end?
Despite my concerns, the moment when the Daleim dance party would begin was fast approaching.
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