Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 5.2

2

“Wow... So this is the Ruu clan’s headquarters, huh?” I said in admiration without even thinking about it.

Judging from the position of the sun, I estimated that the main Ruu home was about an hour south of the Fa house. There wasn’t any big imposing building there, though. In exchange, there were a greater number of buildings clustered together here than anything I had seen yet in this world. Naturally, there was still plenty of space between them, but the difference between this and how other dwellings were spaced out was pretty easy to notice.

In the center of the buildings was a yellow, trodden down space that looked like a sort of plaza. The total area was about half the size of a school’s grounds, and surrounding it were seven wooden houses. And each of those homes were at least twice the size of Ai Fa’s.

Even if the family has 13 people in it, they still shouldn’t need this many houses, I thought, tilting my head.

“The one to succeed the family becomes the new head of the clan, while their brothers take wives and live in a new residence nearby. Most of these belong to such brothers, I’d say,” Ai Fa explained while holding a bundle of five kilos of giba thigh meat carefully wrapped up in a pseudo-rubber tree leaf.

I gave a nod and said, “I see,” holding a similarly wrapped 5 kilo bundle of shoulder roast. “So what about this plaza in the center? It seems big enough that you could probably hold an athletic meet here.”

“An ‘athletic meet’? This space is meant for wedding or funeral services. If you gathered everyone related to the Ruu family, without a doubt you would end up with more than 100 people.”

So of the 500 people of the forest’s edge, one fifth of them were related to the Ruu family? Well, if you think of it as just being a settlement of 500 people, I suppose it’d be full of relatives in no time at all without fresh blood coming in.

“Anyway, that’s enough idle chatter. Let’s get going,” Ai Fa said and got moving into the plaza, with me following along after her. When we reached the center of the plaza, a small figure came darting our way from out of the shadow of the middle of those seven buildings.

“Ai Fa! Asuta! Welcome to the Ruu home! You really did come early, huh?”

Naturally, this was Rimee Ruu.

By the way, the sun was currently midway between its zenith and when it started to set. By my estimate, it was probably a bit past 3 PM.

“Is it still too early? I was just thinking I’d like to have some leeway for getting things done.”

“You’re fine! Oh, and let me hold onto your steel!”

Ai Fa silently handed over her blade and knife. I hadn’t considered this, so I was left feeling a bit flustered.

“Hey, Rimee Ruu... I wanted to cook using my own knife, but is that not going to work out?”

“Hmm? We have plenty of knives for cutting meat, though.”

“No, you see, mine’s made a bit differently,” I said, pulling out my knife from its sheath at my hip like I was in a yakuza movie or something.

By the way, back in Japan wearing a colorful vest over a t-shirt, with my waist to my shoes covered all in white, and a white towel wrapped around my head would be considered a rather unique sort of hybrid fashion. I really would have liked to undertake this challenge in the pure white outfit chefs prided themselves on, but I ultimately ended up deciding it was best not to play up how I was a foreigner too much, resulting in this ensemble.

Anyway, Rimee Ruu looked over my knife with great curiosity, and then let out a, “Hmm...” and tilted her head. “Then just let me hold it until we get to the stove! I can’t show you around the house while you have a weapon, after all!”

I gave a sigh of relief, and then handed the young girl the kitchen knife.

While reverently holding a large blade, two small knives, and my kitchen knife in her little hands, Rimee Ruu said, “Well then, follow me!” and turned around.

There was no telling what may happen, but at any rate I stood at the entrance to the Ruu household. The people we ran into between the entrance and the back of the building, though... were all soft, supple women.

Right, I suppose the men must all be out in the forest at this time of day.

I still compared pretty darn pathetically to them, while Ai Fa looked perfectly normal, but at any rate, we both soon found ourselves with six women standing in a row in front of us.

“I brought some visitors! This is Ai Fa and Asuta of the Fa clan!”

None of them so much as hesitated to shoot curiosity-filled gazes my way. I’d been politely ignored by everyone for the last five days, so this frankly came as unexpected. Rather than being treated as if I wasn’t there, I was actually the center of attention.

There were thirteen people in the family, and it wasn’t strange at all for half of them to be women. Still, this was kind of overwhelming, somehow.

There were three married women wearing a single long cloth outfit each. The other three were all unmarried, with long hair and only their chests and waists covered.

One of the married women was an old lady. However, she didn’t seem to be the Granny Jiba I had heard so much about. After all, she was pleasantly plump and still seemed to have plenty of energy about her. Plus, the smell of animal fat was positively wafting off of her.

Another of the married women was middle-aged. She must have been about my old man’s age. She looked to have a seriously healthy and robust physique, and on top of that she was also pretty tall. Honestly, she was giving off the impression of a dyed-in-wool mother.

The rest of the group, meanwhile, were still young. Two of them seemed to be older than me, both looking to be somewhere around 20. Of those two, one of them was wearing a long outfit and was cradling a very small baby.

Then there was one who looked to be around my age, and one who looked to be younger.

That added up to six of them in total. Adding in Rimee Ruu and the baby brought the total up to eight.

“That’s Granny Tito Min, and next to her is my mama, Mia Lea. And then there’s my brother Jiza’s wife Sati Lea, and her baby Kota. And lastly there’s my big sisters, Vina, Reina, and Lala!”

“Hey, don’t just throw them all out there at—” I started, only for my heart to skip a beat. “Hey, did you just say Reina?”

“Yes?”

The girl who seemed to be about my age tilted her head, looking confused. Her hair was black, a somewhat unusual color for the people of the forest’s edge, and she had it done up into two braids. The way she was short and compact with a totally innocent expression on her face reminded me of Rimee Ruu... And sure enough, she had dark skin and blue eyes.

Well, that’s no surprise. Seriously, what was I thinking?

This girl just happened to have the same name as my childhood friend is all. And she was completely different from the Reina I knew, anyway. My old friend had a more childish face, and she wore her hair short. Plus she just plain wasn’t this much of a beauty. The only real similarity was that they both only came up to about my shoulders.

“Sorry, it’s nothing. I just happen to know someone with the same name, so I reacted without thinking.”

“Oh, my. You’re acquainted with someone who shares my name?”

The way she broke out in a positively cherubic smile was just like Rimee Ruu, too.

Ah, my Reina could probably pull off a smile like that, as well. Actually, the way that she was more innocent and childish than her age would imply was also a lot like this girl and Rimee Ruu.

“I am the head of the Fa clan, Ai Fa, and I have come here together with this man, Asuta. At Rimee Ruu’s request, we have been invited to man your home’s stove,” Ai Fa declared, using a somewhat stiffer tone than usual.

The old woman who smelled of animal fat responded, “Welcome, Ai Fa and Asuta of the Fa clan,” her voice deep yet gentle in a way that perfectly suited her appearance. “The Ruu family welcomes you. Lala, take her hunter’s cloak.”

“Huh? Me?!” said the girl who looked to be the youngest, sounding clearly displeased. She must have been around 13 or 14. She had a stubborn look on her boyish face, and her limbs and torso were slender, but she was actually a bit taller than that Reina girl. Her hair was a more brilliant shade of red than Rimee Ruu’s and was done up into a ponytail, and her eyes were a vivid blue that was like the color of the sea.

Although she was reluctant, the girl named Lala approached Ai Fa and took her cloak. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Tito Min granny giving a wide grin.

“You said you wanted to start working the stove as soon as possible, so we hurried up and dealt with the fat already. We’ll leave the rest up to you, though. Um, who was supposed to be in charge of the stove today, again...?”

“Me, Granny Tito Min, and big sis Reina!”

“Ah, that’s right. Me, Rimee, and Reina will help you out.”

“Got it. Thank you!”

This honestly felt like something of an anticlimax. I’d worked myself up to be plunging into enemy territory, but these people... I mean, they all seemed totally gentle and downright friendly.

The only one who didn’t look to be having a good time was that red-haired Lala girl, as everyone else was wearing wide grins. The difference between them and the people I met at the river where I did the washing or along the way there was positively striking.

They seriously were calm and composed despite being faced with Ai Fa, who had once turned down a request from the head of their clan to marry into the family, and some stranger from a foreign country (actually another world entirely).

“Um... There’s something I’d like to confirm before all that...” a strangely coquettish voice called out. It had come from the younger girl who was still older than me, but didn’t have a baby. Her long chestnut-colored hair ran down in a straight line over her right shoulder. And her body, with only her chest and waist covered, had some insanely sexy curves about it.

“Asuta of the Fa clan... You were born in a foreign nation, weren’t you? Is there some reason that you didn’t raise the matter of where you were born?”

“No. It’s not like I’m trying to hide it, exactly.”

I had discussed that matter with Ai Fa pretty early on. What sort of stance I should take in this world when I couldn’t prove who I was, I mean. I didn’t exactly have many options, though, so it made for a pretty easy decision.

“Apparently the country I was born in is completely unheard of in this land... I come from a place called Japan.”

This was the path Ai Fa and I had chosen: Telling the truth.

“Six days ago, I awoke at the forest’s edge at the base of Mount Morga, but I frankly haven’t the foggiest as to how I got here. The people here know nothing of a country called Japan, and I’ve never heard of the Amusehorn continent before, either. And yet we’re still able to converse with one another. I still have absolutely no clue as to what happened.”

If you keep on building up your lies, eventually it will all come tumbling down. And on the off chance there was someone else in this world who had the same thing happen to them, trying to do so may lose me the chance to find them.

And so, I decided to leave what I didn’t know as a big question mark and openly expose my background. I did leave out the particularly crazy point about how I was supposed to be dead only to come back to life in a whole other world, though.

“Hmm... A foreigner who hasn’t ever heard of Amusehorn? And for such a person to be right smack in the middle of the continent...”

Her strangely drawn out way of talking and the sidelong glances her eyes made, along with everything else about her made this girl seriously sensual. But the way that she had her doubts about that matter showed that she was surprisingly the most cautious member of this group, and that she may have been a pretty quick thinker. I made sure to make a mental note of all that.

“I really don’t have any clue about what happened. Anyway, Ai Fa is the one who found me out there in the forest, and she’s been helping me out a lot ever since. Well, apparently she’s also been worried about letting me wander around when I don’t even know the laws of the forest’s edge, too.”

“Hmm... I didn’t know that you were such a good-natured girl, Ai Fa of the Fa clan... I thought the only thing you had any interest in was hunting giba like a man...”

There wasn’t exactly any ill-will behind those words, but it was a combative enough statement to make Ai Fa break out in a frown. The older girl, meanwhile, just shot the naturally silent Ai Fa a sidelong glance and gave a little “Hehehe...” Then she continued on, “Well, at any rate, I’ll be looking forward to all this. And I mean, you came here for the sake of our precious Granny Jiba, didn’t you? Apparently Papa Donda wasn’t too happy about it, but we’re all welcoming you with gratitude, right?”

“Right. Much obliged,” I responded, looking like an idiot. This time around she brought her fingertip up to her plump lips and gave a little giggle. Was she the sort that had to imbue her each and every action with sex appeal...?

“I’m Vina Ruu, the oldest girl of the Ruu family. The next youngest is the black-haired Reina, followed by the red-haired Lala, and lastly Rimee. You’ll meet my brothers when they get back from the forest, alright?”

Next up, her smooth arm with just the perfect amount of oil on it moved to point out the older women.

“This is Tito Min, the wife of the previous head of the clan. She’s our grandmother, and she’ll be helping you out. Next to her is our mother, the current clan head Donda’s wife, Mia Lea. And then there’s my eldest brother Jiza’s spouse Sati Lea, and her son Kota. Our poor great-grandmother who you’re trying to take pity on is sleeping inside the house. We’re counting on you, Ai Fa and Asuta of the Fa clan.”