3
It was now the following day, the seventh of the vermilion month, and the heads of the Deen and Liddo clans were visiting the Fa house. They arrived around sunset after they got back from hunting in the forest—while I was giving a cooking lesson to some of the women who lived near the Fa clan, using our dinner for that evening as an example—and the very first thing the two of them did was ask about Leiriss.
“Is that noble truly a warrior who surpasses Geol Zaza? Or did the Zaza boy simply let his guard down?”
“And what kind of person is he? Aren’t all nobles arrogant and haughty?”
“H-Hold on a moment. Why exactly are you two so interested in Leiriss?” I asked.
The Liddo clan head, Radd Liddo, crossed his arms and replied, “Of course we’re interested. The Zaza are a leading clan, and they are our parent clan on top of that, so do you really think we’d stay silent after learning that a member of the main house has fallen for a noble of all people? Unless this Leiriss is an exceptional man, there’s no way I could possibly accept it.”
“But even if you do find him exceptional, you still won’t accept Sufira Zaza marrying into his house, right?”
“Of course we won’t! Gulaf Zaza would never allow them to do something so ridiculous! Nonetheless, it doesn’t change the fact that a member of the Zaza has fallen for a noble, so we can’t simply ignore this.”
It seemed the two of them were as confused and shaken as everyone else was by the recent news. Perhaps that wasn’t too surprising when it came to an expressive guy like Radd Liddo, but the Deen clan head was in the same state, and he struck me as being a lot more serious and composed.
At any rate, all I could do was convey what I knew. It wasn’t like I was all that familiar with Leiriss in the first place. I mean, I had only met him twice, with only a handful of words exchanged between us.
“By the way, what does he look like? How old is he? Is he a big man?”
“He’s about my age and a bit taller than me, but he doesn’t have a particularly robust build or anything. I guess I’d say he looks how you’d expect a noble to.”
“We’ve never seen a noble, so we have no idea how we should expect one to look.”
“Still, if he beat Geol Zaza despite being smaller, that’s quite the accomplishment.”
It was sounding like they wanted Leiriss to be as worthy of their respect as possible. They probably found it unthinkable that a woman of the forest’s edge would fall for an outsider without him being extraordinarily appealing.
Radd Liddo was staring at me with a troubled look on his face. “Hey, Asuta, couldn’t this Leiriss fellow just marry into our people?”
“Huh? I really don’t think that would be possible. Nobles value their houses and bloodlines very strongly, in their own way.”
“Hmm. But that Shumiral man who’s now under the Ririn went so far as to cast aside his god so he could ask to marry into our people, did he not?”
“That’s because Shumiral’s madly in love with one of our people. This time, though, it’s a person of the forest’s edge that’s fallen for an outsider.”
“But couldn’t this Leiriss’s heart be moved if he learns how Sufira Zaza feels?” Radd Liddo insisted, causing me to tilt my head.
“Um, do you want Leiriss to marry into the Zaza clan, Radd Liddo?”
“Who would ever wish for such a hassle?! I just feel bad for Sufira Zaza, considering how distressed she is over all of this.”
I understood how he felt, but still, it was hard to imagine Leiriss casting aside his status as a noble. On top of that, as the nephew of Count Saturas, and considering that his father used to be the head of the knights of Saturas, he probably had a pretty high position in the hierarchy of nobles.
Seems like everyone’s really on edge because the leading clan heads still haven’t handed down their ultimate decision.
At any rate, the two clan heads stuck around for about half an hour before finally heading back to their respective homes. I figured that meant it was about time for me to get back to finishing dinner, but then the Fou and Ran women timidly called out to me.
“Um, Sufira Zaza participated in that dance party the nobles held, didn’t she?”
“They gave her banquet attire from the castle town to wear, right?”
“Toor Deen said it was a beautiful outfit, so isn’t it possible that this Leiriss person fell for Sufira Zaza too?”
I turned in surprise and found that all of the women who were still around were staring at me with eyes full of curiosity. Out of the entire group, only Toor Deen and Yun Sudra were acting normally.
“Wh-What’s going on? Nobody seemed this interested yesterday or the day before.”
“Well, we didn’t think it would be proper to talk about something so frivolous while we were working.”
“And besides, we were expecting the leading clan heads to have settled the matter by now.”
It seemed the news had really piqued their womanly curiosity. Apparently, even the earnest women of the forest’s edge were still interested in gossip about romance.
“That’s right. Honestly, we talk about stuff like that quite a bit when you’re not around, Asuta,” Yun Sudra informed me as she was about to leave. “You may be a chef, but you’re still a man, so everyone tends to hold back from discussing this kind of thing around you, but most women like to talk about romance.”
“Yeah, I noticed... You didn’t seem all that interested in talking about it, though.”
“I don’t really...have the energy to get worked up over other people’s romantic problems,” Yun Sudra replied with a faint, pained smile before departing.
She hadn’t said anything about how the marriage meetings between the Fou and Ran had gone, but since her clan and theirs had been holding banquets again and again to deepen their relationship, talks of marriage were sure to start coming together soon.
I guess romantic matters aren’t always something to be happy about.
Anyway, other than that, things had remained more or less peaceful at the Fa house. Ai Fa made it home safely again today, having caught a small young giba. Since the end of the rainy season, she had been performing better than ever as a hunter.
On my end, I had worked hard to prepare a fine dinner for my clan head. Today’s menu centered on myamuu giba, revised to use ginger-like keru root, and I had used a large amount of the rainy season vegetables that would soon vanish from the market.
“What do you think of onda, Ai Fa?” I asked my clan head as she ate.
“What do you mean?” she questioned with a tilt of her head.
“Well, reggi and traip are difficult to grow outside of the rainy season, but onda apparently just need some specialized techniques. It’s an unusual kind of vegetable that can be grown in a shed.”
“Hmm. But I don’t recall ever seeing them outside of the rainy season.”
“That’s just because it’s customary to sell them only during that part of the year. But Dora said he would keep growing more if he gets a certain number of orders for them.” Onda was a kind of vegetable similar to bean sprouts. They were great in stir-fries and soups, so I wanted to be able to buy them regardless of the season. “If we continue to use them in the food we serve at the stalls, that would create a steady demand. I was thinking I’d consult with everyone in the Ruu clan and the inn owners, and would start placing regular orders as long as no one has any objections.”
“If that’s what you think is best, then that sounds fine to me. What do you need my opinion for?”
“Well, I’m curious to know whether onda is a vegetable you enjoy eating.”
“My favorite food is your cooking, Asuta,” Ai Fa said, breaking into a smile. I hadn’t been expecting her to do that, so it really got my attention. “Everything you made tonight is delicious. Even when tino and tarapa become available again, it’s not like having onda would stop you from using them. Although, I might be a bit surprised if you were to add onda to hamburger steak.”
“I’ve never even thought about using it like that.”
“There are no issues, then,” Ai Fa said with a look of satisfaction as she slurped some giba soup with lots of tau oil and onda in it.
It was a truly tranquil evening. The kind of carefree moment in time that was always so precious to us. But then, an untimely sound interrupted our peace. We had just finished dinner and were cleaning up when suddenly there was a wild knocking on the door.
Gilulu, who had been curled up by the entrance, looked up in surprise, while Ai Fa furrowed her brow suspiciously. She grabbed her sword as a precaution, then padded over to the door.
“What are you doing here so late at night? State your name.”
“It’s me, Geol Zaza from the Zaza clan.”
Ai Fa silently opened the door, revealing the hunter’s huge frame in the darkness of the night.
“Sorry for the abrupt visit, but I came here to discuss something with you two. I’d appreciate it if you’d let me in.”
That was a pretty normal introduction, and he wasn’t raging wildly like he had been two days ago, so after looking him up and down, Ai Fa went ahead and stepped aside.
Geol Zaza stepped inside onto the dirt floor along with the totos he had ridden in on. It was the one that had recently been purchased by the Zaza clan, which Lem Dom had ridden when she had come over yesterday. After spotting Gilulu, the totos promptly sat down beside him.
“Ah, you just finished dinner? That’s fortunate.”
After handing the sword on his hip to Ai Fa, Geol Zaza plopped down on the ground in our main hall. Ai Fa sat cross-legged directly across from him, while I was off to the side.
“Before you state your business, I would like to ask a question. Did the leading clan heads not have a meeting at the Ruu settlement tonight?” Ai Fa asked.
“Yeah, it should still be going on now.”
“And yet, you came to visit the Fa house? Is the heir not supposed to protect the home when the clan head is away?”
“This is more important than a custom like that,” Geol Zaza replied, remaining calm despite the blazing fire in his black eyes underneath his pelt hood. “And I intend to head to the Ruu settlement myself later. I’d like to arrive before the leading clan heads finish their meeting, so I’ll keep this discussion as short as possible.”
“Yes, we would appreciate that as well.”
“Ai Fa of the Fa clan...what is your assessment of Leiriss’s strength?”
Ai Fa’s eyebrows raised suspiciously. “You faced him personally, so you should know better than anyone, shouldn’t you?”
“I don’t have that ‘gaze of the weak’ thing, so I’m bad at judging the strength of others. That’s why I’m asking you.” Then, with his eyes a blazing inferno, he leaned forward. “There’s no need to mince words. How do you see it? Which one of us is stronger...me, or that noble?”
Ai Fa placed an arm atop her raised knee and stared straight back into Geol Zaza’s black eyes. However, her mouth remained firmly shut, and soon Geol Zaza’s shoulders started to tremble with impatience.
“Why won’t you reply? I told you, there’s no need to hold back.”
“I’m not. I am simply looking for the proper words to say...and it’s proving to be quite difficult.”
“But why? You possess the gaze of the weak, don’t you?”
“That is a tool to judge the difference in strength between myself and my opponent. It is not meant for comparing two others.”
“But weren’t you able to measure my strength with ease back on the night of the festival of the hunt?”
“The one who judged you was Cheem Sudra, not me. But regardless, I find it difficult to compare Leiriss’s strength to yours.”
“Why, though? Tell me why!”
“Because we have already seen a different result than what I sense.”
Though Geol Zaza was working himself up into a fierce rage, Ai Fa remained perfectly calm.
“I sense that you are stronger,” she said. “However, Leiriss was the one who emerged victorious, which is why I say that I cannot accurately compare the strengths of others like that.”
“If I’m stronger, then why did I lose to him?!”
“I cannot answer that question no matter how many times you ask. All I can say is that my senses tell me you are stronger.”
Geol Zaza looked like he was about to shout again, but then he bit his lip and restrained himself. Instead, he stared at Ai Fa with a piercing gaze, searching for her true intentions.
“Ai Fa of the Fa clan, you said you were confident that you could beat me, did you not?”
“Correct.”
“And yet, you believe me to be stronger than that noble?”
“Indeed.”
“Which means...you could easily defeat that Leiriss noble?”
“Yes. However, the rules of the competition would be crucial,” Ai Fa replied as she brushed aside her golden bangs. “If it were a contest of strength in the style of the forest’s edge, you could bind one of my arms and I still wouldn’t lose. A competition with swords may well be the same. But I could lose if the competition was held in the style of the matches you participated in for that tournament.”
“How?”
“That should be obvious. With such heavy and restrictive armor on, I could not utilize my full strength. Even you and Shin Ruu were greatly hindered in your movements.”
Geol Zaza placed his fists on the floor and leaned further forward.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I wanted to ask about. So even you would have trouble fighting with something like that on?”
“I would.”
“Even though you insist that you’re stronger than me?”
“I am a woman, and my body is far from large. If I were to wear such armor, it would sap my strength even more than it did yours and Shin Ruu’s. Leiriss, on the other hand, is accustomed to wearing such things, so it would work doubly in his favor.”
Geol Zaza ground his teeth. “So then, it would always be difficult for me to beat that guy under those circumstances?”
“I cannot say. However, you have an excellent physique, so you should lose less strength than Shin Ruu or myself.”
“Hmph! Yet Shin Ruu beat Leiriss and Melfried when I couldn’t,” Geol Zaza muttered in frustration, his shoulders trembling. “I don’t know much about the strength of others, but I have to acknowledge the fact that Shin Ruu is more skilled than me.”
“There is no need to lament that. After all, I believe Shin Ruu is older than you are.”
“And you’re confident that you’re stronger than Shin Ruu. You possess similar strength to the Rutim clan head, though, so that’s no surprise,” Geol Zaza said, striking his own knee with his fist, seemingly unable to hold himself back. “I’m painfully aware of how inexperienced I am. But I don’t want to cause my precious comrades and family any more trouble.”
“Youngest son of the Zaza, what are you—”
“I want to challenge that noble to another match. Then I’ll bring Sufira back to her senses,” Geol Zaza declared, cutting Ai Fa off.
Ai Fa stirred slightly, her eyes narrowing. “Oh? Let me just ask, you aren’t planning on simply marching into the castle town with no regard for the laws of the kingdom and the forest’s edge, correct?”
“I’m expected to become a leading clan head one day, so there’s obviously no way I could ever do something like that. No, I intend to talk to my old man and the others about putting in an official request.”
“I see. Then I have no objection,” Ai Fa said, the light in her eyes softening. “I might have told you this before, but Shin Ruu has grown as strong as he is through countless trials and tribulations. If you face your own trial head-on, the forest will surely grant you greater strength than you’ve ever had before.”
“Hmph! Don’t go talking like some wise elder, you annoying hunter woman!” Geol Zaza gruffly replied, rising to his feet. When he did, though, the expression on his rugged face looked ever so slightly relieved.
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