Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 25 - Chapter 2.2

2

And so, we arrived at the Sauti settlement. Rather than Mil Fei Sauti, though, it was an older woman from a branch home who greeted us in front of the main house.

“The Sauti clan welcomes you. I am in charge of the work here for today.”

She was one of the five I had offered lessons to yesterday. If I recalled correctly, she was the wife of the head of her branch house. I still didn’t see Mil Fei Sauti when we moved over to the kitchen, but in her place, there was one more woman there. She was a member of a Vela branch house, whom I had become acquainted with during the incident with the lord of the forest. As we took off our rain gear and got ourselves straightened out, the first woman finally started to explain what was going on.

“Mil Fei Sauti’s youngest child collapsed from illness yesterday, you see. Because she needs to look after the child for the time being, I took charge in her place.”

“Ah, so that’s it! Is it Amusehorn’s breath, then?”

“Oh, so you know about that, Asuta? Yes, Mil Fei Sauti’s youngest is only four, so they have a difficult trial ahead of them.”

I didn’t know what she meant by “trial” so I asked for more of an explanation and was informed that Amusehorn’s breath was a unique illness that only afflicted those under the age of five. Surviving it was seen as a trial that all children born on this continent needed to overcome at some point between the time they were weaned and their fifth birthday.

“If a child lacks the necessary strength, their soul will be returned to the gods then and there—an outcome which is all too common, I’m afraid, which may be what led to the custom of not counting children under the age of five as clan members.”

“That’s right! We hardly lose any kids in the Ruu clan, though,” Rimee Ruu added.

“Strong children soon regain their strength even if they end up with a fever. But apparently, many children of poor clans are lost to the illness.”

As we talked, I started to feel more than a little uneasy.

“Will Mil Fei Sauti’s child be all right? I’m sure nothing can be said for certain at this point, but still...”

“That’s right, though her two older children did manage to overcome the trial successfully. Dari Sauti and Mil Fei Sauti are both strong, and I’m sure their children inherited that strength,” the Sauti woman said with a gentle smile. “No matter how painful it may be, the trial will end within three days. The rest of us simply want to work as hard as we can to ensure that Mil Fei Sauti’s duties are taken care of as well.”

For the people of the forest’s edge—no, for all of the people of this continent, this rite of passage was an essential part of life. Bartha was born somewhere around Mount Masara, for example, but she didn’t seem especially surprised or like she was thinking about it too deeply as she listened.

So Kota Ruu and Aimu Fou will eventually need to face that challenge too? Actually, it’s possible they already did and are in the clear now, I thought.

The Sauti woman offered me another smile. “That is why the four of us were the ones to instruct the Mahyudra women this morning, without Mil Fei Sauti. As we are still rather lacking, we weren’t able to prepare the same sort of splendid feast as you... But even so, several of the Mahyudra women were moved to tears when they tried it.”

“Th-They cried?”

“Yes. They said they were incredibly grateful for how we were showing such kindness to people as lowly as them... I admit, I have some complicated feelings about that. We’re all human, so why must they think of themselves as lowly?”

I couldn’t understand it either. Even after having the harsh task of hunting giba thrust upon them, and then being shunned by the townsfolk they protected, the people of the forest’s edge never came to think of themselves as lowly. Even if the elites of Genos forced them to live like slaves, they were tough enough to never yield.

But the people of Mahyudra were actual legal slaves, and even if they came from a nation of tough people originally, that didn’t mean they would be able to endure just as well. Only they knew how painful it was to be bound with chains and forced to live under such harsh conditions.

“At any rate, the northerners were overjoyed with how delicious the food we made for them was. The men who were gathered in the plaza for their meal got so worked up that it caused some real trouble for the guards,” the woman said with a stifled chuckle. “We would like to continue to instruct the Mahyudra women more thoroughly. Could you lend us your aid to make that happen?”

“Of course. That’s exactly why I’m here.”

With that, we once again set about making cream stew and fuwano manju. Rimee Ruu, meanwhile, watched us intently while we worked. She was a big fan of stew, so she was observing with great curiosity to find out what tricks were involved in making it so good. I couldn’t help but think to myself that when we restarted the study sessions at the Ruu settlement, I should teach everyone the recipe to make a proper cream stew.

“By the way, has the castle town been told that we people of the forest’s edge want to cover the cost of making up for the shortage of fuwano for the people working on this project?” I asked.

“Yes,” the Sauti woman replied with a nod. “Neither Donda Ruu nor Gulaf Zaza had any objections. Ah, has that matter been discussed with the Fa clan as well?”

“Yeah. The Fou and Beim also attend meetings with the three leading clan heads, and then they tell everyone else, so the Fa clan was informed of the decision this morning.”

We had also been told that Dari Sauti intended to head to the castle town personally before he had to go out on the hunt when the sun hit its peak. I had hoped we might see him while working in the post town, but apparently his path never crossed ours, so I had no clue how things had gone after that point.

“It was a sudden visit, but apparently he was able to get an audience with a noble by the name of Polarth. However, it seems this matter needs to be discussed with the other nobles, so we were told to wait a few days.”

“I see. I wonder how it will all play out,” I replied, figuring that the request from the people of the forest’s edge probably wouldn’t be accepted right off the bat. Looking at the situation through the lens of the values of the people of the forest’s edge, it felt like an incredibly natural request. Asuta of the Fa clan, one of their own, had caused poitan to sell out, and they wanted to take responsibility for that. They couldn’t simply overlook their actions bringing misfortune to others.

But from the viewpoint of the castle town, the argument would probably be seen as being based on nothing but emotion. Besides, Polarth had been the one to actually make the effort to show people how good poitan could be in order to strike a blow against the house of Turan as Kamyua Yoshu had advised him. From what I could recall, Polarth and someone from the house of Saturas had worked together in secret to spread the knowledge of the cooking method throughout the post town.

Therefore, the nobles were the ones who truly held responsibility. On top of that, they were the ones who had decreed that it didn’t matter how slaves were treated. And yet, the people of the forest’s edge were directly opposing that decision.

Of course, the people of the forest’s edge weren’t asking for the nobles to take responsibility. They were simply saying they wished to follow their own code of ethics and do something about this with their own money. The question was, how would the nobles view such a selfless act?

The root of the matter was that the way they thought about the northerners differed. The people of the forest’s edge saw them as human beings, while the nobles solely thought of them as tools to be used up. That difference of opinions was what had led us to the current state of affairs. What would Melfried, Polarth, and eventually Duke Marstein Genos think of this request? I was extremely anxious to find out.

“Hmm. I think the manju from yesterday might have been tastier,” Rimee Ruu remarked while sampling a fuwano manju a few hours later, her eyebrows seriously drooping.

“That’s true. The sourness of the arow and sheel really does clash with the other flavors.”

There were no seasonings available to help bring them into harmony. New scraps were arriving daily, but sugar, tau oil, and liquor didn’t really spoil, so they were virtually never disposed of. And herbs from Sym were dried to preserve them, so that was even more true for these. We had pepe and ro’hyoi, equivalent to garlic chives and arugula, which were treated as vegetables despite their strong aromas, and the salt used to preserve the meat, but I just couldn’t bring the flavor together with that alone.

“Things would be totally different if only I had access to tau oil and sugar. If it were allowed, I’d love to pay for them personally.”

But if we started supporting the northerners too much, that really would earn us the animosity of the nobles. This was a matter involving the very laws and customs of the kingdom, so we had to be very careful about how strongly we asserted our own feelings and opinions.

Wanting to take responsibility for poitan selling out, and wanting to feed them a delicious meal... Those two wishes are on completely different levels from one another.

At any rate, for now we simply had to wait for the reactions from the nobles. We would then be able to learn a bit more about how they regarded the northerners and how they intended to handle them.

Regardless, my lessons for the day concluded smoothly. The stew wasn’t a particularly simple recipe, so I figured reviewing it would help the Sauti and Vela women be more confident about their ability to prepare it.

“It’s gotten rather dark out, hasn’t it? Please take care on your way back.”

“Right. See you tomorrow. And please give Mil Fei Sauti my regards too.”

With our work at the Sauti settlement wrapped up, we headed out into the rain in our wagon once more.

The rain really didn’t let up much from morning till night. I couldn’t help worrying about the Lanto or Tanto Rivers flooding, but since this was a yearly occurrence, I was sure that proper countermeasures must have been in place, both at the forest’s edge and in Genos.

“Hey, Asuta, is Ai Fa doing okay?” Rimee Ruu asked on our way to the Ruu settlement, leaning forward out of the canopied back next to the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, she’s doing just fine. She’s been complaining about how the rain makes hunting giba harder for her, though.”

“I see. I guess that makes sense. But the amount of meat and the number of meals we sell in the post town have gone down too, so doesn’t it all work out?”

“That’s true. It’s only the second day of the rainy season proper, though, so it’s hard to say how much the rate she hunts giba at is actually going to drop off in the long run.”

At the same time, now that the house of Daleim’s dance party was over, we were finally able to sell bacon and sausages. We were still sort of feeling things out, but a number of nobles and restaurants had already put in requests to purchase them. Polarth was in charge of those dealings on the nobles’ side, while the Ruu clan was handling them for us, so as to not burden the Fa clan further.

It had also been decided that the clans located near the Fa would provide the new products initially. Among them, the Deen and Liddo fell under the Zaza and weren’t allowed to participate, leaving the Fou, Ran, and Sudra in charge of that important task. Since they were meant to be sold, a certain level of quality needed to be maintained, and it was determined that those clans would be best able to do so because Mikel and I had taught them directly.

The Ruu also wanted to take lessons from Mikel on how to better make dried meats in the near future, according to Mia Lea Ruu, since they figured that eventually the small clans alone might not be enough to handle the demand. Mikel was probably feeling pretty bored at this point, so their request would do him good too.

Myme’s also been down since her sales at the stall have fallen to half of what they were. Ours have been reduced to less than half, though, so she’s still doing just fine, I’d say, I thought as we approached the Ruu settlement.

Then I spied a slender figure ahead of us, causing me to tilt my head and ask, “Huh? What are they doing out in this rain? From their stature, it looks like a Ruu woman.”

“Hmm? That’s Lala’s cloak!” Rimee Ruu declared, and sure enough, she was right. Lala Ruu was standing all alone at the entrance to the settlement, clad in a colorful hooded cloak.

“You’re finally back! Jeez, you guys are really late!” Lala Ruu shouted out as I stopped the wagon next to her.

“Hey, there. What’s up? Do you have some sort of urgent business with Rimee Ruu?”

“No, with you, Asuta! Just hurry up and come this way already!”

I had no clue what was going on, but I went ahead and moved the wagon as Lala Ruu directed. She eventually led us to Shin Ruu’s house rather than the main one.

“Seriously, what’s going on? What’s the big rush for?”

“Never mind, just come inside! Granny Jiba’s waiting for you!”

“Granny Jiba...? Er, Jiba Ruu?”

I felt even more confused. Why was Granny Jiba waiting for me, and at Shin Ruu’s house instead of the main one to boot? But it didn’t seem like I was going to get any explanation from Lala Ruu, so I simply went with the flow. With a “Good work today,” Bartha left to head over to the house where Myme and Mikel were waiting, leaving me with only Rimee Ruu.

After removing my rain gear and washing my feet at the entrance, I stepped into Shin Ruu’s house, to find Granny Jiba and Ryada Ruu waiting for me there. Shin Ruu was out in the forest, and Sheera and Tari Ruu must have been in the kitchen. Lala Ruu entered the room ahead of me and sat down beside Granny Jiba.

“It’s been some time, Asuta... Have you been doing well?”

“Yes, thanks for asking. I’m glad to see you looking well yourself, Jiba Ruu.”

“If anything, I’m doing too well, and I keep on causing trouble for my family because of it.”

“You’re no trouble at all! But you should at least hold off on the walks for the duration of the rainy season,” Lala Ruu said in a bit of a jab, but her eyes were narrowed in a happy way, and I could feel warmth welling up in my chest. Apparently, Granny Jiba had resumed her habit of taking walks once her legs had regained a bit of strength. Of course, she needed to have somebody to assist her, but I didn’t think anyone would be upset about having to do so.

“I’m sure Ai Fa will be thrilled to hear that. Still, please take care not to trip in the mud.”

“Yes. I was thinking about just walking around inside the house for the time being... But it felt sort of good to have rain falling down on me for the first time in years yesterday and today.” There was a clear light shining in Granny Jiba’s eyes beneath her drooping eyelids. “Now then, there’s something I’d like to give you, Asuta... Could you pass this to him, Lala?”

“Right,” Lala Ruu said, accepting a small cloth bundle with the top securely tied together with a vine, and then passing it over to me.

“Those are dabira herbs... It’s a special sort of medicine, which can’t be gathered in the forest and has to be bought in town instead.”

“Dabira herbs? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“Of course... The Fa clan has had no need for them until now, after all.” Granny Jiba stared straight at me, with Lala Ruu supporting her. “They are used as medicine for children afflicted with Amusehorn’s breath... Do you know of that illness?”

“Yes. It apparently only impacts children under the age of five, right? Ai Fa just told me about it this morning, and I’ve heard that the child of the Sauti clan head has caught it.”

“I see... Our Kota has actually caught it as well.”

“Huh?! Is Kota Ruu all right?!”

“That is something for the gods of the continent to determine, not us... For this, we must pray to them rather than the forest... One cannot live here on this continent if one does not overcome this hardship,” Granny Jiba replied, her shoulders trembling slightly. “It is no coincidence that Ai Fa discussed the matter with you this morning... Here in Genos and at the forest’s edge, many children tend to suffer from Amusehorn’s breath during the rainy season... I do not know the reason for that, but perhaps it has something to do with the rainwater or the cold.”

“I see. We had an illness that tended to spread when it was cold back in my home country as well. But apparently you were more at risk of catching it when the weather was dry.”

“Ah, I see... This illness is also unique in that once one child catches it, the ones in neighboring houses will too, one after another... Of course, after it afflicts you once, it will not do so again... But regardless, the children at the Ruu settlement who have not yet been judged in that trial are sure to face it soon.”

“Judged...? The Sauti clan used the word ‘trial’ too, now that I think of it.”

“Yes... Amusehorn’s breath is also known as the flames of judgment... You break out in a fever so intense it’s like a blazing inferno, and those children who do not pass the trial have their souls returned to the gods. As such, it is apparently a form of judgment from the gods, to determine who is fit to live on.”

All I could say was “I see.” When I thought about the meaning of the cloth bag I had been handed, my heart started pounding faster. “So if you’re giving me medicine to treat it, does that mean...”

“Yes, that’s right... I worry that you may be afflicted as well, Asuta.”

I gulped.

Granny Jiba’s clear gaze remained fixed on me. “I heard a rumor in town long, long ago... It was said that those who come from overseas have difficulty living on Amusehorn, as they have not faced this judgment... It is a terrifying and painful ordeal to be afflicted by Amusehorn’s breath as an adult... They should be much stronger than children, yet they have great difficulty overcoming it.”

“Right.”

“It was only a rumor, though, so I do not know the truth of the matter... Of course, in these parts, we never hear anything about the sea or what lies beyond it except in rumors and tales, and it is not as if visitors from overseas are commonplace... It could simply be a baseless story someone invented to amuse themselves... But you came from overseas, didn’t you, Asuta...? At the very least, you were not born here in this land.”

“That’s true. I was definitely born outside of this continent.”

“Hmm... Still, even if that rumor is true, you are a strong person... I believe that you can overcome this trial.”

As I tightly gripped the bag she’d handed me, I once again nodded and replied, “Okay.”

“Well then, my apologies for taking your time... I’m the only one left at this point who has heard that old rumor, so I wanted to tell you.”

“Thank you. I really am grateful, Jiba Ruu. We don’t have anything to combat this illness at the Fa house.”

“Of course... Without any young children, this wouldn’t normally be a concern for you. Well then, Ryada Ruu, can I leave the rest to you?”

“Indeed,” Ryada Ruu said while rising to his feet and grabbing his hunter’s cloak from the wall. “Rimee Ruu, you are skilled at handling a wagon, are you not?”

“Yeah! I think I’m ever better at it than Reina!”

“Then I’ll follow in Ruuruu’s wagon, so could you handle Asuta’s? If Amusehorn’s breath afflicts you while you’re holding the reins, it could prove deadly. Then once we get you back to the Fa house, Asuta, we’ll await Ai Fa’s return.”

“H-Hold on. Does Amusehorn’s breath really hit you that suddenly? I feel totally fine right now.”

“Children can be perfectly fine, playing around one moment, and then suddenly collapse in pain with a fever. That’s the sort of illness Amusehorn’s breath is.”

So then, I had been driving everyone around in a wagon without a care in the world, despite being at risk of catching it. That really caused a chill to run up my spine.

“I myself had completely forgotten that rumor about Amusehorn’s breath until Kota broke out in a fever,” Jiba Ruu said.

“Children of the Ruu and Sauti have caught the illness, so you are most likely to break out in a fever today or tomorrow, since you have been visiting those locations. But if you do not break out in a fever before the end of tomorrow, there should be no fear of Amusehorn’s breath afflicting you,” Ryada Ruu explained, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Hopefully, it will turn out that we’re all worrying for nothing. It may be frustrating, but you should take tomorrow off from work in the post town and spend the day with Ai Fa. If you don’t have the hands to spare, the Ruu clan will lend them to you.”

“Thank you. I really, truly appreciate all of the help.”

I bowed to Granny Jiba once more, then exited Shin Ruu’s house. Rimee Ruu and I then got in our wagon, and we waited for Ryada Ruu to come around with Ruuruu.

“It sure is a surprise that you might catch Amusehorn’s breath, Asuta! Everyone says adults never get it!”

“It may be less that adults can’t catch it, and more that you can’t catch it a second time. If everyone born on the continent catches it as a kid, there’s no chance of suffering from it again after that.”

There were plenty of contagious diseases like that back in my old world too. That was why vaccines existed. And if you caught something like the mumps as an adult, the symptoms were supposed to be pretty serious compared to if you had caught it as a child. So even though they don’t have common colds, they still have a potentially deadly illness like this, huh? It’s pretty unusual to have something with an infection rate of a hundred percent like that. But maybe that was simply because of the vaccines we had back home, which ensured that I never had to worry about that kind of danger. Considering they only had boiled herbs for medicine in this world, it made sense that such an illness would be so dangerous.

“Hey Asuta, do you know the legend of Amusehorn?”

“Hmm? Amusehorn is the name of this continent, isn’t it?”

“Yeah! But it was a god’s name to start with. The god who created this world was named Amusehorn, but he went to sleep, so his children, the four great gods, are the one who watch over us.” Rimee Ruu turned around to smile at me from where she was sitting in the driver’s seat. “And Amusehorn’s breath is supposed to be that god breathing in his sleep! His snores are what determines who lives and who dies. It’s kind of a funny story, isn’t it?!” Then Rimee Ruu’s little hand reached out and gently wrapped around my fingers. “I’m sure you won’t lose to those snores, Asuta! So even if you do get a fever, just try your hardest, okay?”

She was shooting me a big smile, but I saw a bit of concern flickering in Rimee Ruu’s pale blue eyes. As I gripped her small hand back, I nodded and said, “Right. By the way, how old were you when you caught it, Rimee Ruu?”

“Apparently, it was at the end of my first year. I was still all energetic even with the fever, so nobody noticed at first.”

“I see. You and Ai Fa and everyone else already overcame this trial, so I guess I’ll have to do it too. I’m sure Kota Ruu and Mil Fei Sauti’s child will be fine.”

“Yeah!” Rimee Ruu replied with an energetic nod, just in time for Ryada Ruu to approach in Ruuruu’s wagon.

“Sorry for the wait. Shall we head out?”

With that, we headed back to the Fa house with Rimee Ruu driving the wagon.

I couldn’t detect any changes in my health at this point. I had been feeling chilly regardless of any fever, and even when I placed my hand against my forehead, nothing seemed out of sorts.

So if I’m going to show symptoms, it’ll happen either today or tomorrow, huh? To be on the safe side, I guess I should take time off until the day after tomorrow. If the symptoms hit me while I’m working, it would cause a whole lot of trouble for everyone.

Since they said it caused a fever severe enough to make you collapse, it had to be a pretty serious illness. I had caught influenza in elementary school and run a fever of thirty-eight degrees Celsius, and I couldn’t imagine having a fever higher than that.

Those grandiose words like “trial” and “judgment” were making me even more worried about my situation. To someone born in another world like me, that tale about needing to be judged by the gods and pass a trial in order to live felt incredibly ominous.

Do I have what it takes to live here in this world? I thought with a tremble.

Still, I did have a bit of hope to cling to: the legend of Misha the White Sage, which I had heard the minstrel Neeya perform during the revival festival. Hearing that myth about the gods from Rimee Ruu had prompted me to remember it.

Misha could very well have been someone who had found himself in the same circumstances as me. I had heard from both Arishuna and the traveling star reader Railanos that I was a starless one just like him, and on top of that, Misha’s true name was Mikhail Volkonsky, which sounded very Russian.

As the White Sage, the starless Misha had helped a tribe called the Rao conquer all of Sym. After that, he had been assigned the post of chancellor, and had essentially laid the foundation for the entire country.

Of course, that was all nothing more than a legend. It was a tale from hundreds of years in the past, so it would be foolish to assume that it was completely, unquestionably true. But if it was true...then Misha had lived for many years in Sym. And if nobody who lived on this continent could avoid the threat of Amusehorn’s breath, he must have overcome it and still had a long life afterward.

If Misha could do it, then there was hope for me too. At the very least, it was certain that it wouldn’t take the lives of absolutely every starless one. That was how I decided to look at it, trying to think positively.

“So if I do catch Amusehorn’s breath, I should drink this dabira herb stuff and take it easy?”

“Yeah! Your fever should settle down in about three days! You might not be able to eat any food in the meantime, but you need to drink water and medicine every day, okay?”

“If I don’t eat for three days, I’m sure to lose some weight,” I said, trying to sound as cheerful as I could.

“Ah ha ha,” Rimee Ruu laughed in response.

The people of this world were prepared to face this illness from the moment of their birth. That was why Rimee Ruu’s expression hadn’t even shifted when she’d heard that Kota Ruu had caught it. The Sauti clan members didn’t seem especially worried for Mil Fei Sauti either.

It’s all down to the guidance of the mother forest and the gods, huh? Then I guess I should look at it the same way everyone else does.

I was more curious about how Ai Fa would react when she heard about this. If our positions were reversed, I would surely be an absolute mess worrying about her.

It’s not normal to catch this illness here at the forest’s edge outside of childhood, plus the symptoms could be more severe, so I could see her worrying too.

As I breathed a light sigh, the wagon slowed down and entered a side path. We had arrived at the Fa house. I peeked out next to Rimee Ruu and saw that the house hadn’t been lit up yet.

“It looks like Ai Fa isn’t back yet, even with how dark it already is outside,” Rimee Ruu said while parking the wagon next to the house. I did spy a light coming from the kitchen, though. The others should have left to go home and make dinner by now, but it looked like someone was still here.

“Before we head into the house, let’s take a look in the kitchen. We need to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, got it. But are you feeling okay, Asuta?”

“Nothing seems out of sorts, at least for now.”

I put my rain gear back on and stepped down onto the soaked ground. Then I walked over to the kitchen door and opened it to find Toor Deen and Yun Sudra inside by themselves.

“Hey there. What are you two doing here so late?”

“Welcome back, Asuta. We didn’t have any work to do at home today, so we decided to stay a bit longer.”

Apparently, the two of them were practicing making sweets. When Rimee Ruu came in next to me and saw what they were doing, she immediately said, “Ooh, that smells delicious! Are you making roll cakes?”

“That’s right. Yun Sudra said she wanted to learn how to make them. Ah, but of course, we brought all the ingredients and firewood we needed from home, though!”

“I would never suspect you two of doing anything wrong. I’m just sorry for relying on you for prep work two days in a row.”

And at this rate, I’d have to leave not just the prep work but the business at the stalls tomorrow up to them. And I’d have to ask them to tell the Sauti and Ririn that I wouldn’t be showing up there for a bit.

“Actually, there’s something I need to discuss with you...” I started to say, only for Rimee Ruu to make a surprised sound and tug on my cloak. When I turned to look, I found Ai Fa standing there alongside Ryada Ruu, totally soaked.

Apparently, it was best to have one’s face uncovered when hunting, so hunting cloaks lacked hoods. But one still needed to have something to ward off the rain for the rest of the day, so Ai Fa and Ryada Ruu both had some additional headgear. Also, my clan head was carrying a small young giba. Despite the rain, she had managed to make a catch today.

“What is it, Asuta? It seems you have something urgent to tell me.”

“Yeah, you see, I actually heard something kind of crazy, so...” I started to say as I stepped toward Ai Fa.

But then, I felt a strange impact on my right shoulder and arm, as if someone had suddenly shoved me. I let out a confused “Huh?” Ai Fa and the others were now sideways. No, wait. I was sideways now. My right side had slammed into the wet floor.

“Asuta!” Ai Fa shouted.

She seemed to be turning bright red in my vision as my consciousness faded away. Just as Granny Jiba had predicted, I had caught Amusehorn’s breath.