After a blur passed before her eyes, the woman found herself in another place.
Behind her stood a stone monument carved with intricate patterns. The area around it was wide and open, and she and her children stood beneath it, utterly bewildered.
Outside the monument, a group of people had long been busy cooking huge pots of fragrant food.
"Are you the people from the Kaguya Clan?" A plain-looking, honest middle-aged man came over to them and asked with a guileless smile.
"This is Takigakure. The Village Head told us to prepare for your arrival. You must be hungry, right? Come have something to eat." He reached out his hand to the woman with a smile.
Still dazed, the woman let him pull her to her feet and followed him with her two children toward the fragrant food.
There was steaming miso soup, rice, and even grilled meat.
At the sight of the grilled meat sizzling on the iron griddle, the two children could not help swallowing.
They had been the quickest to reach Oguri Hayashi because they lived closest to the edge of the village. Naturally, living near other villages meant bearing the risk of attacks from outsiders, so they were mostly ordinary poor folk.
Only nobles and core members of clans lived in the central areas of the village.
Ordinary people like them, who lived on the outskirts, had not eaten meat in a very long time.
"Want some? Then go eat." The honest uncle laughed heartily, pride in his village filling his voice. "Because of your arrival, everything is free for now! Go on!"
The two children hesitantly looked at their mother. Their mother smiled and nodded at them, and they immediately cheered and gathered before the grilled meat stall, staring at the meat seller with hopeful