*sigh* there goes a character I thought would be interesting beyond self-interest. Also this chapter reinforcing the fact that Ogata is 100% a central agent.
@Teruru I had no idea, but the same blogger has a post on that too (https://goldenkamuyhunting.tumblr.com/post/631905225678176256/how-old-is-asirpa). It should be around a year and a half, so Asirpa is around 13/14 at this point.
Also, apparently there are some small changes between the chapter versions and the volume versions. The person who writes the blog posts says things like Asirpa's age may be intentionally vague so the author can change it.
@Teruru I think she should be 14 or near 15 right now as we have seen winter came again. The story started in winter since there was a bear that didn't hibernate and we have winter again with drift ices in Russia so at least 1 year must have passed.
BTW, Sugimoto is estimated to be 23- 24 since Noda said he is in his early 20s when they were finding the voice actor for him.
Also... that interaction between Ogata and Kikuta was very interesting. I always thought that Ogata never really had a reason to chase the gold, but this changes that
As soon as Asirpa gains her strenght back she's getting away from Boutaro (or at least will try), I think she does want Sugimoto to stay with her, but not force him to stay.
Loved to see Ogata being suspicious again, what a man.
Thank you so much for updating!!