Popcorn Wants Epic Praise Too, Pii
I really want to get some amazing praise too, pii.
I still wasn’t very good at handling leather.
I could skin the animals just fine, but I hadn’t properly learned the steps that came after.
If leather wasn’t treated correctly, it would start to smell or rot and become unusable.
For now, one of the men in the village had taken over all the leather work.
He was the best at it.
He was probably processing hides at the community hall right about now.
Lately the villagers had been throwing themselves into hunting, so there was a huge pile of smaller pelts.
Thanks to that, he spent nearly every day working on leather right in front of the community hall.
I headed straight there.
On the way, I ran into a man who had been working in the fields.
When he saw what I was carrying, his eyes widened.
“Wait, Chief, isn’t that a silver fox?”
“This is a silver fox?”
I had thought a silver fox was supposed to be a fox with silver fur. The one I caught did have a silvery sheen, but only at the very tips. The undercoat was pitch black.
I knew almost nothing about foxes, so it had never occurred to me that this might be one.
The man hurried over in excitement and peered at the fox.
“You can tell right away from the white tip on the tail. That’s the giveaway for a silver fox.”
“I see.”
I had noticed the tail was a little unusual. The very end was pure white, like someone had dipped it in a bucket of white paint.
“This is incredible. The color, the quality… it’s perfect. If you sell it, you’ll get an amazing price. Silver foxes are really hard to catch. They’re rare. I’ve heard they hardly ever appear on the market. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one.”
As the man marveled at the fox, Pudding on my shoulder began to tremble and shake.
“Kkur… kkur…”
The sound was louder than usual. It felt like he was trying to get my attention.
Maybe he was saying he deserved credit for catching it.
The man noticed and smiled warmly.
“Did Pudding catch it, Chief?”
“....”
To be precise, it hadn’t exactly caught it. It had almost gotten eaten.
Pudding wiggled proudly, letting out happy kkur kkur sounds.
When I laughed, the man laughed too.
Out of nowhere, Little Captain and Ji-geu came running toward us with bamboo baskets balanced on their heads.
“Teacher!”
“I made this one!”
Ah, the brides had been teaching the children how to weave bamboo lately. It looked like they had finally made something decent.
They must be so proud they’re carrying them around on their heads.
I was smiling when the boys suddenly thrust their baskets toward me.
“Mine is the biggest.”
As soon as Ji-geu bragged, Little Captain shot back as if to cover him.
“Mine won’t break even if you hit it with a rock. It’s the sturdiest. A man should be strong above all else.”
“Big is best.”
“Sturdy is best! My dad said even if you’re big, if you’re weak it’s useless.”
“No way! The bride said big is better!”
A bigger basket might be more useful, but there was absolutely no connection between sturdy baskets and being a man.
I thought they had gotten along much better lately, but they were still bickering.
Still, the fact that they were always together meant they had definitely become buddies.
Well, kids grow up fighting. In a way, they seemed like brothers.
Since the whole village was raising them together, in a broad sense they really were brothers.
While the two were arguing, they suddenly noticed the fox in my arms.
“Teacher, you caught a fox?”
“It looks so cool.”
“I’ll carry it for you. My basket is really sturdy, so one fox is no problem.”
“Mine is bigger, so it’ll be much safer. Fox fur is important, right? We can’t damage the fur, so I’ll carry it, Teacher.”
The boys were competing when Pudding suddenly leaped and hopped into one of the baskets.
He landed in Ji-geu’s first, then immediately jumped to Little Captain’s.
Apparently it was fun, because Pudding kept hopping back and forth between the baskets. The boys immediately started fighting again, each trying to lure him into their own.
“Mine is way cooler. Come here, Pudding.”
“Mine is super sturdy. If you come to my basket you can jump a hundred times.”
They fought over the silliest things.
Leaving the arguing children behind, I started walking toward the community hall again.
But everyone who saw the fox had something to say, and then I ran into more kids who wanted to show off their baskets, so the short distance to the hall took much longer than usual.
When I finally arrived, the man was scraping fat off a hide.
“Chief, isn’t that a silver fox?”
His eyes went wide.
I had heard the exact same thing several times on the way here, and now again.
Maybe everyone really did say almost the exact same thing.
It even started with “Chief” and ended with “isn’t it?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. The man seemed to realize what was going on and scratched his head sheepishly.
He took the silver fox and examined the fur, letting out several admiring sounds.
“This is really excellent. The texture is superb. You’d be hard-pressed to find fur this good on the market. You could even sell it to nobles… no, to royalty. It’s truly magnificent.”
His father had been a leather artisan, he told me.
So he had watched his father work from a young age.
But his father had been framed and expelled from the leatherworkers’ guild, which ruined the family. That was what I had heard.
Whether it had truly been a false accusation or if his father had actually done something wrong, I didn’t know.
It seemed the man himself didn’t know either.
He had simply heard it that way and believed it.
Without belonging to a guild, it was nearly impossible to get proper work. And if you took jobs outside the guild, you were frequently cheated out of payment.
In the end, his father had fallen into despair, drowned himself in drink, and died in anger.
The son, who had been learning the trade from his father, couldn’t join any other workshop or master.
To become an artisan, the usual path was to apprentice under someone, learn the craft, and then join the guild.
In this world, the power of the guilds was immense. No workshop or master was willing to take in the son of a man who had been driven out.
So instead of becoming a leather artisan, he had become a farmer.
That was why he had been so happy when I first asked if he would take over the village’s leather work.
The villagers gave him their hides to process and helped with his farming in return.
One hide for a few days of farm work.
They bartered that way, or sometimes people would chop firewood for him instead.
Our village was poor, after all.
We had no money.
After carefully inspecting the fox, the man smiled brightly.
“Chief, a hide this fine is something even an experienced artisan might only handle a handful of times in his entire life. It was my lifelong wish to touch even one pelt like this…”
There was a faint sheen of tears in his eyes.
“My father said the same thing until the day he died. That he wanted to touch a top-grade hide just once. It feels like both his dream and mine have come true at the same time. Thank you.”
“If you feel that way, then I’m the one who should be grateful.”
The man suddenly grabbed my hand.
“I will make it properly. I’ll treat it even better than when the animal was alive. I promise.”
His enthusiasm was incredible.
“Thank you. Then I’ll leave it to you. In return, even if it’s slow, I’ll help with the fields…”
As I spoke, he squeezed my hand even tighter.
“What are you saying? If anything, I want to give you even more.”
It hurt.
Leatherworking might not look like it requires much strength at first glance, but watching him up close, I realized it actually demanded quite a lot of grip power.
Just scraping the entrails off the hide looked like it could rip off fingernails.
That must be why.
This man’s grip was no joke.
“No, this is fair compensation for the work. For a top-grade hide, I should do even more than usual.”
But the man shook his head vigorously.
“Not at all. My lifelong wish has been fulfilled.”
While he was speaking, a loud ppi ppi cry rang out from the sky.
When I looked up, I saw Orange.
Orange was circling noisily right above me.
Orange was still bad at flying, so before landing he would spin around like this and then crash straight into the ground.
It seemed landing was still difficult.
“Oh! It’s the spirit!”
The man spotted Popcorn first and quickly let go of my hand.
He hurriedly lifted the fox pelt with both hands and held it high.
Popcorn, who had been riding on Orange, tilted his head.
I had no idea what this man was doing either.
Still, if there was something to jump onto, children would always jump. Even young Popcorn was no exception. Like a kid who had found a trampoline, he leaped down without hesitation.
Boing boing boing.Popcorn bounced on the fox fur.
“Pii! Pii pii! Pii!”
It must have been fun, because Popcorn rolled and tumbled all over the fox pelt, bouncing around with delight.
“Thank you, Spirit.”
The man bowed politely toward the fox pelt and smiled.
“Since it has received a spirit’s blessing, this pelt will surely become the finest leather. Please look forward to it.”
So that was what he had been aiming for. He had wanted Popcorn’s blessing.
It had just turned into a playground, though.
“Piiiiiiii!”
Orange came down with a loud cry, so the artisan quickly moved the fox pelt out of the way.
“Ppi!”
Orange let out a short shriek and slammed face-first into the ground.
But he wasn’t hurt.
After planting his face in the dirt, Orange popped right back up, spread his wings, and waddled around.
He hit pretty hard, but he’s completely fine.
No matter how many times I saw it, it was still amazing.
Whatever species Orange was, he had to be an incredibly tough bird.
“Ppi! Ppi! Ppi!”
Orange strutted around, screeching loudly as if showing off.
He still seemed to think that counted as a proper landing.
What a thick-skinned little guy.
Popcorn tilted his head, then followed after Orange, crying pii pii.
When Orange waddled ahead, Popcorn trailed behind, chirping happily.
They really looked like close brothers.
I wished he would get along with Pudding that well too.
I crouched down.
“You found Orange and brought him back properly. Good job. I’m glad you’re safe too, Orange. I was a little worried.”
“Ppi! Ppi!”
“Pii pii!”
Orange and Popcorn cried out at the same time.
It sounded exactly like they were saying, Of course. We’re not idiots. I chuckled softly.
“Chief, you really get along well with the spirits.”
I turned at the sudden voice. The village’s only leather artisan was watching us with a look of awe.
Well, it wasn’t so much that we got along. These kids were born from me.
“Kkur… kkur…”
Pudding must have followed us. He crawled toward the fox pelt the artisan was holding and stretched his body out long.
Using an arm stretched like a tentacle, he grabbed the pelt and shook his body from side to side.
The man’s eyes widened, then he nodded in understanding.
“Did Pudding catch this fox?”
He tilted his head as if something felt off, then spoke again.
“That seems a bit strange… Did Pudding help you catch it?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
It had almost been eaten, but thanks to him we had caught it.
As if he understood my words, Pudding shook his body proudly with loud kkur kkur sounds.
“Pii?”
Popcorn tilted his head, then suddenly flew straight at me like he was charging.
“Pii! Pii!”
He clung to my nose, desperately trying to tell me something.
It seemed like he was saying he had done something just as amazing as Pudding.
“That’s right. You found Orange and brought him back, so you did well too. That’s way more impressive than getting eaten by a fox.”
The leather artisan laughed at my words.
When his name was mentioned, Orange suddenly spread his wings and began strutting around energetically.
These kids were always so busy.
“I thought so. It did seem strange for Pudding to catch a fox.”
“Kkur… kkur kkur…”
When we laughed, Pudding seemed to think we were praising him and shook even more proudly.
“Pii pii… pii…”
Popcorn must have thought only Pudding was getting praised, because he started desperately appealing again.
“You’re always doing great too.”
When I said that to Popcorn, he flopped over on my nose in a pose of utter despair.
He cried sadly.
It seemed this level of praise wasn’t enough.
“Pii pii pii…”
But I couldn’t exactly dance around while praising him.
Still clinging to the fox pelt, Pudding let out a loud kkur kkur as if teasing him.
Dad, Popcorn is doing something really amazing, you know.
I found a bride with really pretty eyes and I’m bringing her to you.
Your bride will be here very soon.
Popcorn even gave you sweat drops as a present.
So I’m way more amazing than Pudding or anyone…
Popcorn watched Pudding shake his body in that annoying way and fell into despair.
I really want to get some amazing praise too, pii.