ol li The Tradition of Yamaok Vige/li /ol

    * * *

    A very, very, very long time ago…

    Our revered ancestors once lived in and far, far away,pletely different from here.

    At that time, theirnd was struck by prolonged drought, withering all nt life, and our ancestors were driven to the brink of death.

    It was then that a dragon with pale pinkish scales descended from the sky.

    The dragon instructed our ancestors to call it “Okachan” and said, “If you obey me, I will take you to and free of starvation.”

    On the verge of death, our ancestors immediately nodded in eptance.

    Okachan then gathered our ancestors together with its long tail, lifted them, took flight, and brought them to the pass where Yamaok Vige now stands.

    Life in the mountains was different from before, and our ancestors did struggle, but they were surrounded by abundant water and mountain blessings.

    Whenever dangerous monsters appeared, Okachan would promptly y them, protecting our ancestors.

    That is why we, the people of Yamaok Vige, continue living our lives without forgetting the gratitude we owe Okachan, revering and serving that great being even now.

    Okachan’s words are absolute.

    You must never defy Okachan.

    “Do not stay upte.”

    “Do not be picky about food.”

    “Share your food.”

    “Return kindness with kindness.”

    Every single one is a precious teaching bestowed upon us by Okachan.

    You must not break them and trouble our mother.

    Whatever Okachan instructs, we must absolutely obey.

    By doing so, we repay the debt we owe Okachan who has protected this vige since ancient times.

    As proud people of Yamaok Vige, you must never forget this.

    Okachan’s words, whatever they may be, absolutely must be upheld.

    Properly. Live properly.

    (The tradition of Yamaok Vige, “The Beginning of Yamaok Vige and Okachan,” passed down from mother to child)

    * * *

    It was when Emi was eating her lonely meal alone on that stage.

    “What is the meaning of this, Vige Chief!!”

    Enraged, the hunter Gonpeter flung open the door to Vige Chief Megatonkohsuke’s residence!

    Baan! A loud noise echoed through the chief’s home.

    Startled, arge group of men turned toward Gonpeter.

    They were the ones tasked with delivering Emi’s clothes and meal.

    Incense was burning inside the room, and the men were all eatingrge quantities of meat.

    The Uguuso meat hunted by Emi.

    “Oh, you’re awake now, Gonpeter. We were just about to send for you.”

    Seated in the back, Vige Chief Megatonkohsuke’s voice rang out in the now silent room.

    “Now now, hurry and close that door, Gonpeter. We’re in the middle of a curse-breaking ritual for those who came in contact with that thing, so we can’t have the incense escaping the room. Hurry now, hurry.”

    “Vige Chief! Did I not tell you? She is the one who saved my life! I asked you to extend her proper hospitality! Yet, yet……!!”

    Gonpeter forcefully shut the door before marching up to Megatonkohsuke.

    After entering the vige with Emi, the first ce Gonpeter headed was Megatonkohsuke’s residence to make his report.

    He was attacked by a monster and his life endangered, but saved by the young girl Emi.

    So he had invited her to the vige.

    She was currently waiting outside this very home.

    Please, extend the finest hospitality befitting one who had saved his life.

    Megatonkohsuke listened to Gonpeter’s ount, considered it briefly, then said, “Leave everything to us.”

    He then instructed Gonpeter to rest.

    No matter how sturdy a hunter Gonpeter was, he had just faced a life-threatening crisis.

    His exhaustion must have been severe.

    Leave the hospitality to them while he recuperated first.

    Understanding those words, Gonpeter parted from Emi and returned home.

    And the severity of his exhaustion was true.

    Settling into a chair at home, Gonpeter immediately dozed off without realizing, only to wake up hourster at night.

    Feeling it would be unbing to miss extending hospitality to Emi, his benefactor, Gonpeter dashed out toward the vige za.

    There, he saw it.

    His savior, alone on the stage decorated with ck and white striped cloth and white flowers, eating a meal!

    Gonpeter was first dumbstruck, then turned pale realizing the implications of that scene, his face flushing red with rage over the affront defiling the vige’s spirit, immediately rushing to the vige chief’s residence.

    “What is the meaning of this! That ‘Sohgintokki Cloth’!!”

    Gonpeter thrust his face toward Megatonkohsuke, vehemently protesting.

    The “Sohgintokki Cloth” referred to the ck and white striped patterned cloth adorning Emi’s stage, resembling the curtains used for Japanese whaling rituals.

    More than leaving Emi alone without proper hospitality during her meal, what Gonpeter took particr issue with was using that cloth.

    In Yamaok Vige, that cloth’s use was limited.

    One asion was funerals.

    The other was……

    “……It’s fine.”

    Before Megatonkohsuke could respond to Gonpeter’s questioning, a quiet voice rang out in the chief’s residence.

    The speaker was a man standing silently beside Megatonkohsuke.

    Gonpeter’s close friend, Sabrown.

    “Are you dissatisfied? Gonpeter……That child……Emi being offered to Okachan?”

    “Sabrown……!”

    Sabrown’s voice was icy cold.

    “Are you dissatisfied? That she is taking Oyukipa’s ce?”

    “Sabrown, wait! Serving Okachan is something the vigers should offer out of gratitude to that great being! She is an outsider, a benefactor unfit to be involved with the vige’s……”

    “Then are you saying Oyukipa should die instead?!!”

    “…!!”

    Gonpeter could not retort to Sabrown’s sudden shriek.

    He inadvertently held his breath, falling silent.

    “……Calm yourselves, Gonpeter, Sabrown.”

    Vige Chief Megatonkohsuke cleared his throat before speaking in an authoritative voice, interjecting into their conversation.

    “Gonpeter, this has already been decided. I have decided it. I am the vige chief. You will obey me, Gonpeter.”

    “But, but……this treatment, it’s far too……”

    “Improper? Defiling the soul? Incorrect?”

    Megatonkohsuke stared straight at Gonpeter with eyes partially obscured by his long, drooping eyebrows.

    “……!”

    Those eyes held power.

    An imposing aura uncharacteristic of the normally easygoing elderly Megatonkohsuke.

    “Perhaps so. But I have decided. The girl to be offered to Okachan this time will not be Oyukipa, but that Emi child. I have decided it. Therefore, neither Gonpeter nor Sabrown’s souls will be defiled. I alone shall bear that defilement……as the vige chief.”

    “B-But……!”

    “I beg you……I beg you! Please, be silent, Gonpeter!”

    Though cowed by Megatonkohsuke’s imposing presence, Gonpeter tried to protest with his dry mouth, only for Sabrown to cut him off.

    Tears streaming down his haggard, exhausted cheeks, Sabrown’s trembling voice spilled out:

    “My wife is…dead……My parents, long gone! I have…only Oyukipa left……Don’t take Oyukipa from me, please……”

    Faced with that tearful plea, Gonpeter could say nothing more.

    Sabrown was Gonpeter’s close friend.

    His feelings were painfully, acutely understood by Gonpeter.

    More than anything, the father being told to offer up his beloved daughter as a sacrificial victim was something even the unmarried Gonpeter could easily imagine.

    Yes, a sacrificial victim.

    Yamaok Vige was currently being demanded to offer up such a sacrifice to the dragon Okachan who protects the vige.

    The condition for the sacrificial victim specified by the dragon was “a girl around 10 years old.” Originally, the only one in Yamaok Vige meeting that condition was Sabrown’s daughter Oyukipa.

    However, circumstances had changed.

    The hunter Gonpeter had brought another girl around that age to the vige.

    Between the girl they had all doted on raising like their own daughter, and the dubious cursed child arriving in the vige out of nowhere, which should they offer as the sacrificial victim?

    Without need for discussion, the vige elders unanimously decided on the cursed child.

    The vige chief approved that decision.

    Therefore, the cursed child was now being feasted.

    That feast was by no means hospitality for a benefactor.

    It was a meal sent off for one departing on a journey of no return.

    The decorations using the Sohgintokki Cloth and white flowers were the same.

    Those were the decorations used in the parting ritual for sacrificial victims.

    “…………”

    Gonpeter, who had been angrily shouting just before, fellpletely silent.

    No one else in the room spoke a word.

    Even the men who had gathered for the curse-breaking ritual remained wordless.

    In the deathly still room, only Sabrown’s sobs echoed.

    “……You have nothing more to say, Gonpeter? You must still be exhausted as well. Bathe in the incense for the curse-breaking ritual, then return home for today.”

    Patting the shoulders of the dejected Gonpeter, Vige Chief Megatonkohsuke gently whispered.

    “…………At the very least.”

    After a period of silence, Gonpeter muttered.

    “At the very least, then allow me to be the ‘Bearer’…….”

    The “Bearer” was the role of carrying the litter transporting the sacrificial victim to Okachan.

    “…………”

    “Any more involvement than that……is not permitted for me……”

    “……Very well. But you will fulfill your duties?”

    “…………Yes, of course……”

    “Then tomorrow at sunrise, we shall head to Okachan’s Rock. Originally, we had nned to wait around 20 more days, but under these circumstances, sooner is likely better. Do not bete.”

    “…………Understood……”

    After that exchange with Megatonkohsuke, Gonpeter began staggering off.

    He fanned the incense smoke from therge burner three times with his palm over his forehead before listlessly opening the door and exiting.

    * * *

    Beneath the twinkling starry sky, Gonpeter walked through the vige of ramshackle wooden houses.

    His head felt hazy, footsteps unsteady.

    His thoughts were incoherent.

    The only thing he realized was how foolish he had been.

    Gonpetercked imagination.

    His judgement was shallow.

    He should have considered the consequences before bringing that girl to the vige.

    Returning the favor of having his life saved.

    That was the proper thing to do.

    The proper way to live.

    But as a result of that righteous act, what had urred?

    His benefactor was chosen as a sacrificial victim.

    Something improper happened.

    Then if that was improper, would offering up Oyukipa as originally nned have been the proper thing?

    Would tormenting Sabrown and his daughter be proper?

    Of course not.

    As a hunter, Gonpeter had been putting even more effort into his hunts than usual, at least wanting to provide Oyukipa delicacies before the end.

    He thought that was a hunter’s duty in the vige.

    But looking back, that had just been actions driven by guilt over being unable to help his friend’s daughter.

    Was that really a proper act?

    Just an attempted atonement.

    Was such atonement really a proper act?

    Was it not simply an excuse to forgive himself for being unable to help Oyukipa?

    Was that truly the proper way to live?

    What was the proper way to live?

    How could one live properly?

    Was offering up Oyukipa as a sacrifice the proper thing?

    Was offering up Emi as a sacrifice the proper thing?

    Neither was likely correct.

    But he had to choose one.

    It was agonizing.

    Nauseating.

    He felt as if his very soul was emitting the stench of utter rot.

    “……!?”

    It was then that Gonpeter, staggering as he walked, had arrived at the vige za.

    Looking at the stage set up there, no one was present.

    For some reason, the decorative flowers were alsopletely gone, but it didn’t matter – Emi was nowhere to be seen.

    The bonfires lit on either side of the stage cast their futile light over the area.

    (Had she fled!?)

    tion and despair crashed over Gonpeter’s wavering heart like massive waves.

    Driven by an indescribable, unprecedented emotion he couldn’t even identify, Gonpeter dashed toward the stage.

    Even after approaching and looking around, there was still no sign of anyone.

    (Just where did she go……)

    After some contemtion, he had an idea.

    (……The vige chief and everyone else found Emi suspicious. They even did a curse-breaking ritual. So then……)

    They likely kept her as far from the vige proper as possible.

    There should be an unused hut next to Old Lady Yoshikopa’s house, if he recalled.

    Perhaps they had assigned her that hut as sleeping quarters.

    After finishing her meal, Emi had likely already returned there.

    That was Gonpeter’s spection.

    And indeed, his spection proved correct.

    When Gonpeter quietly opened the hut’s door, there was Emi lying on the bare hard dirt, breathing the rhythms of sleep.

    “……Already asleep, huh?”

    Muttering that, Gonpeter gazed at the sleeping girl’s moonlit face.

    At first nce, she was an ominous ck-haired, ck-eyed child.

    But the more he looked, the more beautiful she appeared.

    Just seeing her sleeping face, no one could discern that this girl was strong enough to tear apart an Assault Chiwanwan with her bare hands.

    ……Yes, this girl was tremendously powerful.

    Extraordinarily so.

    (……Perhaps)

    A sudden imagination shed in Gonpeter’s mind, but he immediately dismissed it.

    No matter how strong Emi was, Okachan was a dragon.

    The guardian dragon that had been with the vige since its beginnings, living for so immensely long.

    Not an adversary a human could ovee.

    “……I’m sorry……so sorry…………”

    He draped his outer garment over Emi as she slept on the dirt without any bedding, whispering an apology with a trembling voice.

    He was sorry for getting her involved in this.

    Truly sorry for not even providing proper hospitality.

    To his benefactor.

    For having her sleep on this bare dirt without even a mat.

    He was sorry.

    Sorry.

    Resolved to do this much at least, Gonpeter returned home to retrieve a nket, which he ced over Emi.

    After that, he fled from the hut where Emi slept.

    On his way back home, he looked around.

    There were no guards watching over Emi.

    The vigers avoided approaching Emi more than necessary out of fear of her cursed child’s curse transferring to them.

    Moreover, the vigers did not expect her to try fleeing in the first ce.

    Because “Beyond the vige lies a half-dark realm,” no one thought a person would calmly venture outside the vige.

    Therefore, no guards were posted.

    Therefore, it could be done.

    He could let her escape.

    If Gonpeter resolved to let her flee, that is.

    However.

    “I can’t……”

    Gonpeter stopped, head bowed.

    The smiling faces of his close friend Sabrown and his daughter Oyukipa came to mind.

    “I can’t……”

    Tears welled up.

    Plopping to the ground in small circles as they fell.

    “I can’t……”

    Not even ncing at the starry sky, Gonpeter simply remained rooted, gazing unblinkingly at the unremarkable ground.

    The night in Yamaok Vige quietly deepened.