Fire Hunter 1: Fire in Spring - Part 1 Chapter 4 - The Black Forest by Translations by Ainikki / Anime Blog Tracker

Fire Hunter 1: Fire in Spring - Part 1 Chapter 4 - The Black Forest

Fire Hunter Series 1: Fire in Spring Hinata Rieko Part One : Bonfires in Spring Chapter 4: The Black Forest "The village we're going to is a weaving village. They make silk thread from insect cocoons. There are a lot of villages who specialize in that. Maybe we'll get our wedding dresses while we're there!" Hotaru said to no one in particular. It was breakfast time, and all the girls in the cart were eating together. "Really?" Benio asked. "In my village, we use our best clothes for both weddings and funerals. I've only heard of special wedding dresses being made in the capital." Benio popped brown wheat dumplings into her mouth, one after another. Touko bit into one of her dumplings and was overpowered by the salty flavor. An old woman had brought them their breakfast that morning. She'd been dressed as an ordinary passenger, not one of the workers. She hadn't talked much, seeming sullen, but she'd told the girls that they would be arriving at a village soon. Hotaru's journey would end here: this village was seeking a bride. "Benio, you come from one of the beekeeping villages, right? What are those like?" Hotaru asked animatedly. Benio looked disturbed by Hotaru's enthusiasm and gave her full attention to her morning tea. "I... actually don't like bees. At all. Just thinking about them and honey makes me itchy all over." Hotaru looked out the small window and sighed. "Honey is as sweet as you think it is. They collect so much nectar every day. You'd probably love it, Hotaru--you're such a glutton." Hotaru pulled a face. "There's no need to be rude." Touko and Kaho said nothing. Touko had bothered to bring her breakfast close to the others, but Kaho was all on her own in a corner. The dumplings were savory and delicious once Touko got used to the taste, but they stuck in her throat and were difficult to swallow. Hotaru was smiling, but her complexion was sickly pale. She'd be getting off the cart soon, going to a village that she didn't know full of people she'd never met. She'd never return to the village where she was born. The same thing would happen to all the girls here except for Touko. She and Kanata would be the last passengers aboard, and ride in the black cart all the way to the capital. "Hey, little girl. It's time to work." Shouzou's voice came from the other side of the door. Touko nodded to herself, then got up to leave. Hotaru and Benio waved to her. Kanata followed fast on her heels. "Do your best!" Hotaru said brightly. Touko followed Shouzou down the maze of paths inside the cart, just as she'd done the day before. "Are we stopping at a village soon? That's what Hotaru said..." Shouzou yawned and didn't turn around. "Who's Hotaru?" "One of the brides." Shouzou nodded dully. "Weaving village, yeah. If we keep going at this pace, we'll get there today, but I think we have to stop for fuel first. So probably tomorrow." Tomorrow... The thought pained Touko like an inflamed insect bite. She didn't want to say goodbye to Hotaru. She knew that she wasn't on this cart to make friends--that the only reason she was here was so that she could return the sickle and the dog to the capital. Enji had warned her that she might not ever be able to return to her home village, and she'd decided to go anyway. But she felt lonely, now. She didn't want to never see Hotaru again. Shouzou yawned again. There were dark circles under his eyes. "Uh, are you all right?" Touko asked. "Who, me? I'm fine. I was on the night shift last night. All of us take turns. I'll get you where you need to be, then take a nap." "How many crew members are there?" "Twelve," Shouzou answered without hesitation. "No, wait... there's eleven now. One quit." Eleven people. That seemed like a small amount of people to manage such a large and complicated cart. She'd thought that the crew would be at least twenty people, but it was closer to half that. Shouzou glanced at her sidelong. "Bigger crews might seem like a big idea, but we haul all of our own water and food. Having too many people aboard would make that impossible. We have a long journey ahead of us." Touko opened her mouth, then closed it. She wondered what had happened to the crew member who'd quit. Had they let him off somewhere? She didn't remember any stops... "You're working in the same place as yesterday," Shouzou said. "Still need me to show you, or do you know the way now?" They were standing in front of the bathroom where Touko had gotten cleaned up after work the day before. She wasn't prepared for Shouzou's question, so she was slow to answer it. She understood that Shouzou wanted rest; he'd been up all night working. But Touko still didn't know her way around the cart, and she was worried that if she told him to go, she'd get lost and cause even more trouble. Shouzou watched for a few moments as Touko gaped at him, then yawned and took pity on her. "Hm. Bad memory, huh? Well, there are other crew members aboard. You can ask them. Your dog might remember where to go." Touko glanced over at Kanata, then nodded to Shouzou. "Y-yes. Okay. I'll ask someone." Shouzou gave Touko a casual wave before he left. As Touko got to work, Kanata sat down on the walkway outside her workroom, alert as if he were on watch. Her first task was to clean out the metal piping that carried waste materials to the windows and voided it outside. She took a rag, dipped it in rainwater, and scrubbed until everything was clean. She glanced at the barrette clipped on her bag from time to time, thinking of the Protector Stone and her home. When she was finished cleaning, Touko washed her hands and called over the dog. "All done. Where are we going next, Kanata?" Kanata responded with a thump of his tail, then got up and walked confidently down the hall. Unlike Touko, Kanata seemed to know his way around this place. He guided her to her next work location, then stood watch again. Touko distracted herself by thinking about what Kanata's Fire Hunter must have been like, roaming the black forest with his clever dog. Touko hadn't known him at all; she only knew that he'd saved her. Had he been hunting Fire Fiends for extra money, like Shouzou had said? But he'd saved a stranger. He hadn't been obligated to save her life. And if the Fire Hunter hadn't rescued her from the Fire Fiend, Kanata would still have a master. Touko took a break to use the restroom, then let Kanata lead her to her next work location. She was moving through tasks a lot faster today than she had the day before. Maybe she'd finish up early. Once, Touko met another crew member on the way to a restroom. He was a solidly built man of middle age, maybe fifty years old. He had a square jaw, stubble, and a bear-like face, shaggy. Touko had never seen him before. "Oh? And who are you?" the man asked, looking down at Touko. "Ah, I remember. You're smaller than I thought you'd be. They say that the dogs are like their owners." He laughed; the sound bounced off the metal floor and ceiling, amplifying and then fading. "Aren't you a good dog? You know, Lord Enzen will be hunting soon. How'd you like to help him out?" he asked the dog. Kanata stared silently at the man, sharp-eyed. The crew member left them without giving his name or asking for Touko's. The Fire Hunter Enzen... he's going hunting? Touko thought. Shouzou had told her that the cart needed fuel. Maybe that was how they were going to get it. Maybe I can meet the Fire Hunter! The thought made her excited. After finishing all her work tasks for the day, Touko and Kanata headed back to the small room where the other girls were. The door to the room came into view as Touko rounded a corner. Kanata stopped dead. His ears perked up, and his back trembled finely. He was on high alert and very nervous. Touko looked around, trying to find the source of Kanata's distress. She couldn't hear anything... but no. It wasn't that anything inside the cart had changed. She felt rather than heard deceleration--the cart was slowing down. The floor bucked under her as if the cart had rolled over something solid; she kept her feet as the cart came to a complete stop. There was a dog barking. Not Kanata: he was silent next to her, and still on high alert. Touko realized that Enzen the Fire Hunter's dog must be the one barking. "Touko?" The door to their shared room opened, revealing Hotaru. "Welcome back. We heard barking and thought something happened to you. Please, come inside." "Hotaru! You can't leave the room; you'll get in trouble," Benio said. She frowned severely. "Touko. Come in." Loud footsteps echoed from down the hall. Benio and Hotaru fled into the room in a panic. Touko turned around, gasping when she saw someone approaching. "That's a fine hunting dog that you have there." It was the Fire Hunter. He was tall, dressed in a hunting outfit and holding a golden sickle that arced like a crescent moon in one hand. The dog at his heels was slightly larger than Kanata, with rounded ears and a thick coat of shaggy fur so long that it almost covered the dog's eyes. The dog's claws clicked across the floor as it walked. Enzen. Touko thought that Enzen had been riding in the other cart. Why was he here, and how had he gotten here so fast? Hadn't the cart just stopped? Shouzou had said that the Fire Hunter was in the other cart... Enzen's black eyebrows arched over his large eyes. His hair was tied back; a patch of beard clung to his chin. Touko felt his gaze fall on her and could not move. She realized that Enzen's eyes were not especially big, but that they seemed that way because of the sharp and piercing way that they moved. "I'm going hunting now," Enzen said. "Come with me." His sharp eyes took in Touko, mouth twisting in disdain. "Not you, little girl. I'm only interested in the dog. Come with me and Izumo, dog." Kanata gave Touko a hesitant look. He'd lost his master; he was no longer a Fire Hunter's dog. It would be his first time hunting since losing his master. But Kanata isn't my dog, exactly... Touko thought. She nodded to Kanata. She wanted to give him permission to go, but she felt like she hadn't earned that. She took a step back from Kanata, looking up at Enzen and Izumo. "Kanata is the name that his master gave him," Touko said. "Mr. Fire Hunter... do you know this dog? Or his owner?" "I don't," Enzen said without a scrap of hesitation. Touko gulped down a breath, then took a moment to calm herself. She bowed her head. "Kanata was wounded recently. He seems healed now, but he hasn't hunted for a long while, and I'm worried that he might get hurt again." She paused. "So... please be careful. When you hunt." "We will," Enzen said shortly. He turned to leave. Izumo walked after him, the dog's paws click-clacking over the floor. Kanata bounded after them both. Touko swallowed a cry so that she wouldn't call him back. Sakuroku came out of a door at the other end of the hallway and hailed Enzen. "There doesn't seem to be anything dangerous nearby, but please be careful." Enzen walked closer to him. Sakuroku was so bent with age that he was only about half the height of the Fire Hunter, who dwarfed him. "Don't be stupid," Enzen said. "We only hunt dangerous things, remember?" He walked off with the dogs. Sakuroku followed Enzen and was lost from view. He'd probably escorted Enzen out of the cart. "Hmph. What's up with that guy, acting all high-and-mighty?" Benio asked. She'd been eavesdropping at the door. Touko seized up from nerves. For the first time since she'd known Kanata, he was no longer by her side. She felt like she was shrinking into her own body. "Ah! Oh, no..." Hotaru's cry made Touko and Benio turn sharply toward her. They rushed into the room together. Hotaru was standing there, pale-faced, near the back of the room close to the window. Touko gaped at Hotaru in shock. Kaho was nowhere to be seen. Touko looked under Kaho's bed and saw a square hole in the floor of the cart. The hole had once been blocked off by a wire mesh vent cover; that cover was off to the side now. A much-abused hairpin lay nearby, stained with blood--maybe Kaho had cut her hands when removing the vent cover. The blood was still wet. "Ah! What did she do?!" Benio knelt down and looked through the hole in the floor. Kaho must have snuck out of it while she and Hotaru were distracted by Touko's return from work. She'd made her escape the moment the cart had stopped. She was probably outside now, in the woods. "We need to let the conductor know!" Touko said. She ran from the room and down the hall, toward where Sakuroku had gone. She saw him at the very end of the hall. "Shit!" Benio called out behind Touko. Touko's legs were heavy as lead; she felt like she was about to trip over her own feet. The hallway was only wide enough for one person here, and she lost sight of Sakuroku as he turned down a narrow side-corridor. Where had he gone now? The engine room? Back to his post, wherever that was? He could be anywhere. The engine room was always manned. Even if Sakuroku wasn't there, Touko could tell the people there what had happened to Kaho. Someone there should know what to do. Touko did her best to remember where the engine room was from here and ran down the hallway again, the metal of the floor thunking against her feet. As she ran, Touko heard Enzen's voice and Izumo barking. They were close. If Kaho was outside, then the best person to tell would be a Fire Hunter. He could protect her and bring her back. Touko looked around for an exit to the outside and found a large door down the hall in front of her. It didn't have a lever like the other doors she'd seen; there was a wheel-like metal spinning part in the very center of it. She tried spinning the wheel and felt it loosen. It was heavy, but it moved. The door creaked open just a sliver. Touko squeezed through the gap, and then she was outside in the forbidden forest. Touko had almost died in this forest, attacked by a Fire Fiend. This was the home ground of the Fire Fiends; she'd crossed beyond the safe boundary of the human world and entered the world of monsters. The trees, soil and undergrowth were a sickly ashen color, as if the land itself were sick. Touko froze in terror, trying to remember the Fire Hunter's name so that she could cry out for him. The scent of rotten leaves made her gag. It had rained recently, lending the rotted smell a sharp earthiness that made her want to cough. She pressed her back against the black cart, searching for Kaho all around. Where could she have gone? A glimpse of white caught Touko's attention. It was the ribbon that Kaho had worn in her hair, designating her as a bride. The fallen ribbon was knotted and twisted like a snake's tail. Touko ran toward it, her legs moving almost without her permission. She picked up the ribbon from the ground and only then regained the presence of mind to take in her surroundings. Kanata and Enzen had run right past the ribbon without seeing it. Had Kaho already gotten so far away? Touko took Kaho's white ribbon and stored it with the Fire Hunter's Protector Stone and her red barrette. The gray-black soil of the forest stuck to Touko's straw sandals. Touko saw no sign of any living creature in the woods. This place was far from home, but it felt familiar to her. After all, she'd sneaked into the Black Forest before to gather medicinal herbs. She'd believed that she was all alone and that there wasn't anything or anyone nearby. And the moment she'd relaxed, she'd been attacked by a monstrous four-legged Fire Fiend. Touko strained her eyes and ears, searching for signs of Kaho or anything amiss. On the wind, she heard a strange sound. Voices? The voice of a girl? Bending silently, Touko lifted a stick coated in soil and wet leaves from the ground. The stick felt slimy in her hand and it was too thin to be a proper weapon, but Touko clung to it anyway. She gathered her courage and ran in the direction of the voice she'd heard. The air was so thick that it seemed to stick in Touko's throat and lungs; she was out of breath before she took ten steps. Her gasps echoed in the silent woods... and the Black Forest focused in on her, as if it had just become aware of her existence. "Kaho! Kaho!" Touko shouted, but whispering or shouting wouldn't matter. The forest would amplify her voice just the same. Someone screamed. Touko felt eyes on her coming from behind the twisted trees and turned around. An enormous Fire Fiend shaped like an ape stood over her. Its fur was the same gray-black as the forest; only the Fire Fiend's eyes burned with red firelight. The Fire Fiend gripped a small person in its huge, hairy hands. It was Kaho. Her hair completely covered her face, and she didn't struggle. She was limp--unconscious or dead. The great dark ape bared its fangs to intimidate Touko. Its sharp claws bit into Kaho's chest and neck as it prepared to devour her. "Hey! Let go of her! Let go of Kaho!" Touko brandished her meager stick and ran towards the dark ape. The giant monkey slowly turned toward her, still holding the limp and motionless Kaho in one hand. There was no way that Touko could win; she wasn't a Fire Hunter. And she didn't even have Kanata with her--Kanata, who would have stood a decent chance of protecting her. Touko ran at the Fire Fiend, screaming. The scent of blood commingled with the sickly-sweet rotting smell of the forest air. It was Kaho's blood, and that realization made Touko angrier than ever. The ape waved its massive arms. Touko could be crushed and die from a single hit, but she didn't care. She would bite the Fire Fiend--stab it in the eye with the branch--rip off its ears. Something. She could never forgive it for killing Kaho. Blood boiled in Touko's head; she felt like she was going to explode. She heard the roar of another beast behind her and faltered briefly in her charge. It was Kanata. The dog expressed a ferocity on his face that Touko had never seen before. Kanata dashed ahead of Touko and bit into the dark ape's arm, goring the monster with his teeth. Kanata... Kanata managed to dodge the Fire Fiend's fangs and claws as he pushed it down to the ground under the weight of its own wounded arm. The monster's shoulder bone cracked and broke as it fell. Somehow, the Fire Fiend maintained its grip on Kaho. Touko still had hold of her stick, but she was frozen to the spot. The Fire Fiend lifted its heavy arm to crush Kanata, but Izumo darted out of the forest and bit it at the elbow joint before the blow could connect. Izumo hadn't seemed that much larger than Kanata, but now the dog dwarfed Touko's vision as Izumo and Kanata tore the Fire Fiend apart. "Kanata and Izumo... they're amazing," Touko breathed. The Fire Fiend realized that it was outnumbered and tried to escape. There was the sound of straw sandals in the underbrush--Enzen was nearby. There was no way for the monster to flee. Enzen darted from the trees, sickle drawn, and swept his weapon into the Fire Fiend's neck in a graceful arc. The Fire Fiend kept struggling, even with its neck broken and head hanging dismembered from its torso. Then it stopped moving, dead. Golden light flooded the wound that Enzen had made with his sickle. Touko had a sense memory of workers cutting down grass in her village as the Fire Fiend collapsed to the earth. But no, it wasn't like mowing grass--it was more like chopping down a paper mulberry tree. The villagers chose a stand of trees to cut down based on how much paper they needed to make, and how much wood was needed for crafting and tools. The sickle that Enzen held was like the axes that harvested the wood: it was a reaper of Fire Fiends, and their bounty was fire fuel. Enzen had set his sickle aside in favor of a collection bag, which he coaxed the golden light coming from the Fire Fiend's corpse into. Kanata licked Touko's face with such force that Touko lost her balance and fell over. Kaho lay on the ground, unmoving, not very far away. Touko crept closer to her and whispered, "Kaho..." She touched Kaho's body gingerly, brushing away the hair covering her face. Her eyes were closed; her face, bloodless. Fresh blood seeped from the cuts on her face, neck, and chest. Kaho was still breathing. Touko trembled and cradled Kaho's body, clinging to her. Touko felt exhausted and worn-out, but Kaho's warm weight was vaguely comforting. She wasn't dead. "You fool!" Enzen's voice snapped Touko back into a general awareness of her surroundings. He slapped her cheek, which stung; Touko fell backwards on the ground. "If the other girl wasn't so badly hurt, I'd slap her, too. What the hell were you thinking?!" Kanata growled threateningly at the Fire Hunter, baring his teeth. Touko felt herself being lifted up. The world turned upside-down as Enzen slid her over his shoulder. "What?" Enzen asked Kanata. "You think this little thing is your master? You're wrong. She's escorting you to the capital. She's just a companion, and that's all she'll ever be." Enzen was speaking past Touko. She noticed that he was carrying Kaho in his other arm and sighed in relief. She tasted blood in her mouth, but her anger and adrenaline had faded. Kanata walked after her and Enzen, looking up at her with a worried expression. Touko wanted to pet Kanata to reassure him, but her hands felt numb. When she tried to move them, they stayed still. Touko didn't remember the rest of the return journey to the black carts. Kaho was taken to the infirmary right away. They'd be able to save her. They had to save her. Touko held on to Kaho's white hair ribbon, tightening and untightening the knots in it. Sakuroku came to yell at Touko, mouth wide open, loud. She'd forgotten to close the door behind her when she'd stepped outside the black cart. Small Fire Fiends existed--small enough to sneak onto the cart. If one had gotten in, it could have killed all the passengers and crew. Sakuroku's scolding made Touko feel like she was being suffocated. "Little girl, I'm sorry, but you can't stay aboard any longer." Sakuroku's words seemed to come from far away; Touko wasn't sure she was hearing them properly. "You're getting off at the next village. You can get married there. The people of the village won't treat you badly. The dog, the sickle, and the Protector Stone will be returned to the capital in the cart." Kanata was barking, but Touko barely heard him.

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