Chapter 2 (1/2)

This is the 2nd chapter of the fantasy novel “The Rainlands” (雨の国) by Haruka Asahi (朝陽遥) which I translating from japanese with the author’s permission It is about a man’s journey to a enous people

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You can see a synopsis and table of contents with other chapters (as they are posted) referencedYou can find the original japanese text for this chapter

“The Rainlands”by Haruka Asahi:Chapter 2

Strangely, a gentle as always bloithin the cave

Co from somewhere down deep in the tunnels, this wind continually flowed up and out through the entrance Its sound reverberated against the cave walls and-couishable to the rew accusto attention to it, but there were still ti surrounded by a roup of people

I'd once heard that careless usage of fire in an enclosed area could lead to a harmful buildup of smoke But thanks to the constant breeze, it see here could freely use fire without such concerns As a result, the air inside was generally warm and dry

The cave's structure was surprisingly coes theh they extended deep into thein various places, and there were alcoves attached here and there These tunnels seeine they were instead the work of several people digging into the rock over time, little by little

No one used lights within the alcoves, only relying on the faint illues Probably because of this, these people didn't seem to have any concept of doors

Walking through the passages, I cans of use

At first I thought they had simply become vacated for soot the i used as s formal like an altar; they just appeared to be kept ienerally stayed out of them I soon realized that the cave’s inhabitants alore sole by these alcoves

It was quite a strange spectacle to see people behave this way towards an eion had their own unique set of beliefs I began to follow the exa htly each time I passed one by

I was told that as their guest, I could freely coo to o deeper than a certain point They claierous to do so, but when I pressed the

The people of The Rainlands almost never raised their voices, perhaps because of how sounds echoed through the caverns But soft voices were easily be drowned out by the incessant rain outside,co in conversations from an extremely close distance-such that I nearlywomen-was because of that

Everyone here was exceptionally friendly, andfroathered that visitors from the outside world were quite rare

When I began to speak in one of the cave's roo intently to my stories,outside I told thes I'd heard and experienced throughout the world

For example, I told the tale of how in the far, far south there was a place where the sea boils, eend of the northern people where the sun never sets in a land of eternal twilight on the top of the world Another day I talked about massive rhinoceroses the size of small mountains that inhabit the central plains, and the tribe there whothem on an appointed day, once every three months

In exchange for ladly shared their food with me

I heard that on the rare occasions where the rain let up the men would venture outside, scale down steep cliffs, and hunt for fish and other prey The majority of meat available was froredients like athered from somewhere inside the cave When I was offeredif I said I didn't hesitate But it was clear I wasn't in a position to be picky about what I ate, and as a visitor, I thought twice about being selfish

Furtherot used to it, the taste actually wasn't half bad But the downside of the food here was it wasn't filling at all