CH 5

On his way following the traces left by the men, Kurosu felt a bit hungry and decided to have a meal.

He set down his load, gathered some firewood, and took out his tools from the fire-starting pouch hanging from his waist. Mugwort was often used for moxibustion, but it was also an excellent plant for starting a fire.

Striking the flint with the fire steel, he showered sparks onto the mugwort and quickly created a small flame. He threw it into a pile of gathered sticks and fanned the flame by blowing on it.

“Now, I wonder how this will taste.”

In Kurosu’s hand was a skewered piece of the large serpent’s meat. He no longer considered it a divine messenger, but it was hard to think of it as an ordinary snake either. If it turned out to be the flesh of a supernatural creature and he gained some divine powers from eating it, that would be quite interesting.

While contemplating such trivial thoughts, he grilled the meat over the fire. He didn’t have any salt with him, so there was no seasoning at all.

He couldn’t eat a large amount since there might be poison in it, but he was looking forward to tasting it.

Once the meat was nicely cooked, he removed it from the fire and sniffed it. There was no particularly strong smell, and instead, it had a fragrant and appetizing aroma. Most natural poisons, such as pufferfish, mandrake flowers, aconite, and dogwood, usually cause a sharp pain in the back of the nose, which allows them to be identified by smell. This meat seemed to be fine.

He cautiously took a small bite from the edge.

This is…

“Delicious…!”

The meat had a pleasant texture, similar to a tender, boneless white fish. It was salty, but as he chewed, he could clearly taste the sweetness of the fat. All the snake meat he had eaten before was lean and dry, but this was entirely different.

It tasted like succulent pork with the gamey smell removed—a top-quality delicacy. It would be perfect if he could lightly flavor it with soy sauce or grill it with miso.

He devoured the meat in no time, completely absorbed in its taste.

“…………”

With his hunger satisfied, Kurosu continued to follow the trail left by the men, hoping to find the village and explain the situation to its residents.

With more meat still remaining, Kurosu was tempted to grill another piece.

No, he couldn’t. If there was a delayed-acting poison, he could end up collapsing in this unfamiliar forest.

Though his heart was still longing for the taste of the meat, Kurosu stomped out the fire, picked up his belongings, and resumed his search. He decided that if he encountered the large serpent again, he would definitely hunt it down, while occasionally glancing at the trees above.

・・・・・・・・

After a brief respite, it wasn’t long before Kurosu discovered the settlement nestled amidst the wilderness.

He pushed through the rustling tall grass, and emerged upon a clearing, a patch of land with fewer trees than its surroundings. It wasn’t the work of human hands, but rather, it seemed as if the villagers had built their homes upon a naturally occurring open space.

Kurosu pondered this, for the settlement before him was poorer and more wretched than any he had ever laid eyes on.

Not a single proper structure was to be found; only makeshift hovels, cobbled together from branches and animal hides, with layers of dead leaves strewn across their surfaces. They hardly qualified as shelters; were it not for the small openings that served as entrances, they might easily be mistaken for simple mounds of decaying foliage. With no disrespect intended, these dwellings seemed more akin to the nests of wild beasts than human homes.

The people who sparsely wandered through the settlement bore a striking resemblance to those Kurosu had encountered earlier – or rather, they were so identical, it was nearly impossible to tell them apart. They all shared a similarly unkempt and barbaric appearance, with nary a proper garment to be seen.

However, considering their striking similarity, there could be no doubt that this was their home.

“…Alright, I mustn’t startle them again,” Kurosu muttered to himself.

Heeding the lessons of his earlier encounter, Kurosu left the deer carcass and his belongings at a distance and hid his precious sword, a gift from his father on the day of his departure. As a wandering samurai, he hadn’t shaved his head in the traditional manner, so at a glance, he would not be recognized as a warrior.

Just in case, he concealed a short knife and an iron rod within his sleeves, but to an observer, he appeared completely unarmed. Though his kimono was somewhat soiled from his long travels, it was by no means tattered enough for him to be mistaken for a bandit or vagrant. Compared to the villagers he had glimpsed from afar, he was even rather well-dressed.

A crude wooden fence encircled the settlement, but Kurosu couldn’t discern any proper entrance. So, he decided to call out from beyond the barrier.

“Hello! I am but a traveler passing through! I have urgent matters to discuss with the village elder! If the elder is present, I humbly request an audience!”