The group walked back to the tribe, everyone chatting and laughing about what they found. One of the main talking points was the large patch of sweet potatoes that Rin and his friends found.
Enzo clicked his tongue. As expected, the protagonist always found what the tribe needed. He wondered if he could take a few for himself.
"Time to check, Rin, will you do the honours?" It was the same sub-beast; Enzo still didn’t know his name. It was clear whoever this was was the leader of the gathering team.
"Jarik, thanks so much," Rin said. "I know everyone probably wants to go home. Show me what you’ve found and we can see if it’s edible."
Enzo listened and raised an eyebrow. He whispered to Zeli, "Does everyone trust him this much? What if he’s wrong?"
Zeli shook his head. "He’s never been wrong. Jarik is willing to let him do this because of his knowledge. No one will say it out loud, but everyone thinks the beast god is helping him. "
"Beast god?"
"Hmm," Zeli nodded. "Rin wasn’t always like this. Just like you, he almost died. When he woke up, he was like a different person. He didn’t forget everything, but he started talking about all kinds of strange things. He helped the tribe a lot. The central house for storing goods and keeping the elders huddled together and warm was his idea.
The new way to build living spaces was his idea. He found the food and told people how to cook. Before, we used to add salt and roast it or boil it with water and salt. Now, we have different ways to cook. He talked about farming and keeping animals. You’ve seen the baskets; that was just the latest thing. He talked about shirts and shoes. The words are strange, but he knows herbs and helped Gato before.
He said the Beast God was the one who gave him the knowledge, and the more he reveals, the more people believe. Out of respect for the beast god, no one has mentioned it. But life is getting better because of him.
He doesn’t pose a threat to the chief because he plans to make Rider one of his partners. The chief is so happy to have the beast god’s messenger as his son’s partner that he walked around with his tail in the air for seven suns."
"Not everyone is as useless as you," Nova commented.
"Can’t you shut up?" Enzo quipped.
Enzo understood what Zeli meant. Anything Rin had done so far benefited the tribe. As the next chief’s partner, they would most likely groom him to take over.
As he thought, he realized that in the book, the mention of Rin being a best god messenger never came up. According to Zeli, it was implied, but never spoken about.
He came to his senses when Nova pushed him. Enzo turned to glare at him.
"Enzo, do you have anything you want me to look at?"
Only then did he realize others were looking at him. Nova must have pushed him because he wanted him to make a fool of himself.
The ginger was still in his hand. He made his way to Rin, then handed him the ginger in his hand. There was more ginger if he wanted it.
Rin saw the ginger in his hand, and his smile faltered slightly. Enzo noticed, but said nothing.
"Where did you find this?"
"Past the red berry bush. We were looking for sweet potatoes. I pulled it up. I thought that since sweet potatoes come from the ground, maybe I could find something else from the ground."
The explanation was clear; there was no reason to doubt it. But of course, Rin, being Rin, still had a flash of doubt, and Enzo saw it.
Smiling inwardly, Enzo thought to himself, even if you doubt it, you have to accept it.
Seeing Rin hadn’t spoken, a sub-beast in the group asked, "Can we eat it?"
"Not directly," Rin answered. "But it can get rid of the gamey taste from meat, and it can help prevent colds. It’s called ginger." He looked at Enzo. "Thank you for finding this. I’ll take it to the healer and tell him about it. You can lead us to where you found it tomorrow."
"Sure." Enzo stepped back, about to walk back to Zeli when Nova spoke up.
"What about the other thing? Why didn’t you show him?"
At this moment, Enzo wanted to slap Nova on the mouth. Couldn’t he keep his mouth shut? His hand and eye twitched before he turned to Rin.
He smiled, shyly, rubbing the back of his head. "I forgot."
From his bundle, he took the mushroom. He still had a few berries and apples inside that he planned to take home to eat.
Rin saw them and his mouth opened. "Wood mushrooms."
Nova’s mouth opened in disbelief. "Is this food too?"
Rin glanced at him and nodded.
Nova pursed his lips, looking stifled. Enzo saw it and chuckled lightly. He knew Nova was looking forward to his supposed humiliation. Too bad, that’s not what happened.
Enzo shrugged his shoulders and gave Nova a provocative look. Though inside he was grumbling. He wanted to use the mushrooms to make soup. Now everyone knew about it. His mission to be self-sufficient had once again fallen on hard times.
Rin spoke to the team. "Both of them are good things for the winter. If we can find more of these mushrooms, we can dry them and eat them during the winter. For the ginger, Gato can keep some in case anyone gets sick. Or everyone can keep a piece at home. Mash it and boil it with water, and you will drive away the chills.
Everyone cheered hearing that another winter food had been found.
They circled Rin and Enzo. Everyone asked Enzo where he had found them and looked as though they wanted to throw away the rest of the day to go back into the forest to search.
"Everyone, stop," the command came. It was Jarik. The surrounding quieted. "We still need to make the baskets today. Tomorrow, he will bring us to the place he found them so everyone can look."
Jarik didn’t say Enzo’s name. Even the look he gave him wasn’t friendly. Enzo was baffled. He couldn’t fathom what he had done to this person for them to look at him like this.
Whatever the reason, he didn’t take it to heart.
The group separated, ready to do their own thing.
The only people still standing there were Rin and his friends and Enzo and his friends.
"Would you like to learn how to weave baskets with us? The adults are doing it on their own. I thought since you don’t remember anyone, you might want to come with us."
The invitation was kind, and Enzo had no reason to refuse. He would be living here for the foreseeable future. The unpleasant first experience didn’t mean they needed to be enemies. He agreed.