Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 6.1

Chapter 6: Blessed Night

1

The aura these four men of the Ruu family were giving off was seriously fierce.

The one standing in the lead must have been the head of the clan, Donda Ruu. I had little doubt about that, thanks to both his age and his personality. I’d guess his height at over 180 centimeters, and his weight at no less than 90 kilos.

He had on a giba fur cloak, a sleeveless vest, a cloth around his waist, a necklace made with a crazy number of fangs and tusks, footwear held on by leather straps, and a positively massive blade and knife. The other three were all dressed in the same manner. They didn’t hold a candle to the overpowering presence of Donda Ruu, though.

He was a mountain of muscles from his arms to his shoulders to his thighs to his calves, his chest was incredibly bulky, and his waist was thick like a massive old tree. And his face was overpowering too, with blackish-brown hair reminiscent of a giba’s stiff fur, a beard on the lower half, a big mouth, nose, and eyes, and deep wrinkles on his skin that reminded me of the cracks you would see on a rock face.

The man should have been decently along in years, but it was hard to remember that when looking at the piercing glare from his blue eyes, his massive boulder-like frame, or the almost physical pressure coming off of him. This was clearly a man full of vitality, whose mind also remained sharp.

To sum it all up, this brawny, huge man was like a giba given human form.

Compared to that, well...

The men standing behind him at least looked like actual human beings. The one on Donda Ruu’s right in particular looked rather gentle and good-natured. He may not have been as big as his father, but he was still awfully big. His arms looked to be about as thick as my lower legs, and they were currently easily carrying a young giba that must have weighed around 50 kilos. His face also had the same sort of deep, rocky wrinkles as his father, but his dark brown hair was cut short, and perhaps because of his thin eyes, he looked like he was grinning about something. On top of that, his mouth had a very calm expression about it, too. But though he seemed gentle and good-natured, he looked like his large frame held even more power than his father’s, making me clearly feel that he was someone I would never want to piss off.

He seemed to have a number of years under his belt too, but the other two were definitely still young. One looked to be a bit older than me and was both slender and tall, with a taut face that reminded me of a young wolf. He had a bit of a long face with a high nose, and a rigidly tight mouth. Honestly, he may have just been a pretty handsome man. He had black hair, which was rare for the village, and he grew it out long and tied it up behind his neck. However, his wide, slitted eyes beneath his thin eyebrows were just like his father’s, glaring like some sort of wild animal. In terms of the impression he gave off, he may have actually been a lot like his old man.

The last of the brothers was clearly younger than me. Back in my world, he probably would have been in middle school. He was a bit shorter than I was, which made him look strikingly small compared to the other men. Of course, despite that, there wasn’t even a hint of weakness about him, and together he and the previous man were carrying a giba that looked to weigh around 100 kilos on a grigee pole. His yellowish-brown hair was neither long nor short, his eyes were a bit of a pale color, and if it weren’t for the rebellious, bratty look on his face, he would actually probably be pretty cute. His face honestly reminded me a lot of that Lala girl who unhappily took Ai Fa’s cloak. By the way, on his opposite shoulder from the grigee pole he had the first bow and arrows I had seen in this world.

At any rate, those were the men of the Ruu family; the head of the clan, Donda Ruu, and his three sons.

“Ooh, this is a nice way to greet me, Rimee!” the girl’s father said, his rough fingers snatching the container of fruit wine from his daughter’s arms.

“Ah, you can’t! We need that for cooking!”

“Ha! ‘Cooking’... that’s a pretentious little word you used there.”

He pulled the lid off of the container with his tough white teeth that looked like a giba’s tusks, and then poured the red liquid inside down his thick throat. The fruit wine wouldn’t have as much alcohol as your average wine but it should still definitely have some, and yet he drank it dry in one go and then threw the empty container on the ground.

“Hey there, little Fa hunter girl. We haven’t met since your father passed away, so I guess that means it’s been about two years now, huh? This is our first time seeing each other in a good while, but I don’t believe I heard a greeting out of you...”

His fiercely shining eyes were fixed clearly on Ai Fa. My benefactor, meanwhile, practically pushed me aside and stood face to face with the large man.

“It has indeed been a while, Donda Ruu, leader of the Ruu clan. I am visiting here today as per a request from Rimee Ruu, accompanying the member of my house known as Asuta as he mans your stove.”

“Hmph. I see you’re just as much an uncute brat as always. Even though if it weren’t for that sharp glare of yours, you’d be every bit the looker your mom was.”

His massive face that was like a mix between a giba and a lion got so close to Ai Fa’s that it was almost touching her nose.

“I see you’re still pretending to be a man, hanging giba horns around your neck. So you still don’t understand that no matter how much you may polish your skills, you’re still just a weak little woman, Ai Fa of the Fa clan?”

“I protect my house, as the head of the Fa clan. And I’ve achieved that for two years, now.”

Surprisingly, Ai Fa didn’t back down even an inch despite being faced with such a terrifying man.

I couldn’t see her expression from where I was standing, but the fire burning in her eyes surely wasn’t losing out to Donda Ruu in the least.

It was almost as if a wildcat were facing off with a herd of giba.

“Ha! What do you think of that, Darmu? Maybe we should have you marry into the Fa clan instead, huh? Then their clan wouldn’t have to die out. You’d have to handle the stove and raising the kids, though!”

The large man’s thunder-like laughter boomed through the air.

The second young son, the one with the same eyes as his father, responded. Those violent-looking eyes were glaring at Ai Fa with clear scorn.

“Sorry, but I’ve got no interest in a woman with eyes like a beast. You know, rather than a man or a woman, she’s really just a good-for-nothing.”

Instinctually, I started to step forward. However, Ai Fa, who was standing diagonally in front of me, soon took control of the situation.

“We have to prepare dinner. We’ll see you again once we’re done.”

“That’s right! We still have a lot of cooking to do! Papa, you and my brothers better not get in the way!”

I suppose even this massive beast of a man was still just her father to his daughter. When Rimee Ruu picked up the empty container and started complaining, she didn’t show even the slightest hint of being intimidated.

On the other hand, Reina Ruu, who was holding a flat basket filled with aria, looked a little troubled by the face-off between Ai Fa and the men.

Donda Ruu looked at his daughters, gave another “Ha!” and then turned around. “How ridiculous. It’s still this bright out, but you’re putting off other work in order to prepare dinner? There’s no point to wasting time and effort when it comes to devouring the life of a giba!”

“I told you, it’s for Granny Jiba! The food Asuta makes is really soft and yummy!”

As his angry youngest daughter yelled that at his back, Donda Ruu changed his tone just a bit.

“When people of the forest’s edge become unable to eat giba meat, they simply die. Even if that’s a member of the Ruu family, and our great elder at that, we simply can’t go against the natural laws of the forest.”

With that, he started walking heavily off. And then, something unbelievable happened: Rimee Ruu landed a flying jump kick squarely in the middle of his back.

“Papa Donda, you dummy! Why do you say such awful things about Granny Jiba?! Don’t you care about her?!”

“That’s right! Granny Jiba is the oldest person not just in the Ruu family, but in our whole settlement, right?! Should the head of the Ruu clan really be looking down on her like that?!” Reina Ruu loudly added, her eyes tearing up a bit.

Donda Ruu simply let out a disinterested “Hmph,” and disappeared into the shadow of the building.

“Well then, shall we finish putting away the giba?” a deep voice asked as if nothing had happened. The mood had been incredibly tense, but that actually helped to calm things down a bit.

“Right. Now that I think of it, we actually haven’t given our names yet, have we? I’m the oldest son of the Ruu family, Jiza Ruu. Ai Fa and Asuta of the Fa house, you have my deepest gratitude for coming to help the elder of our clan, Jiba Ruu.”

Naturally, that had come from the large man with the good-natured look and narrow eyes.

“With that said, the Ruu family letting someone else man their stove is something that likely hasn’t occurred since we devoted our blades to the western god Selva. Please understand that our clan’s head, Donda Ruu, is not in a position where he can openly welcome that.”

“Heh! Pops has always been soft on little Rimee!” the yellowish-brown haired boy chimed in. With that, Rimee Ruu turned to face him.

“Oh, you want to go at it, little Ludo?!”

“Hey, a squirt like you has no right to call someone else little!”

The two were glaring at each other, reminding me of little puppies. Compared to what had just happened, it was a downright adorable sight.

“That little fellow is our youngest brother, Ludo Ruu. And this is the second son, Darmu Ruu. It pains us all to think of Jiba Ruu’s future. If you’re able to save her soul, then you’ll earn the true gratitude of all of us, as well as our deep respect.”

His mouth was making a relaxed smile, but perhaps because his eyes were so narrow, I couldn’t read how he was really feeling.

“...However, if you injure the members of our family while manning the Ruu family stove, we’ll have no choice but to take up our blades. Please make sure to keep that in mind. Well then, let’s get going, Darmu, Ludo.”

The three brothers disappeared into the dissection room, carrying the two giba along with them. Once they were fully out of sight, I gave a deep sigh.

“Man... They sure were something. This was actually my first time seeing any of the men of the forest’s edge up close and personal. Are they all like that?”

“The Ruu clan holds an especially great amount of power amongst the people of the forest’s edge. It’s only natural that the men who support that family would also be strong,” Ai Fa said, looking me in the face for the first time in a while. “Even if you’re getting cold feet now, there’s no turning back at this point, Asuta.”

“Nah, maybe it’s because I’m used to living with such a scary benefactor, but I’m not losing my nerve at all... Ow!” That was me being kicked in the leg. “But still, it’s certainly the case for the father too, but that oldest brother is seriously scary. This is honestly getting me all fired up!”

With that, the two close sisters suddenly turned toward me in perfect sync.

“Asuta, you’re amazing!”

“Huh?”

“The one who’s scariest when you get him mad is big bro Jiza. I still weep like a little kid whenever he scolds me.”

“H-huh...”

“And... he was actually the one who was most opposed to inviting you two here, not papa. He places rules above everything else, so apparently he really couldn’t accept the idea of letting someone else man our stove.”

“That’s important information, so thanks. Now I’m getting even more fired up!”

I wanted to scratch my head, but both my hands were occupied by aria, so I couldn’t.

“Anyway... Rimee Ruu, is there any fruit wine left in the pantry? To be honest, we’ll be in trouble if we don’t have any to work with.”

“It’s fine! We’ve got lots, because papa will sometimes drink three or four in a day! And it’s a bit of a trip to the post town to be doing that very often.”

Phew, that’s good. Looks like we’re still hanging in there, somehow.

At any rate, what I had to do still hadn’t changed. I just had to use everything available to me to make the best dish that I could.

I’m not just up against Granny Jiba. There’s also that father who’s like a giant giba, and the older brother who looks like he might be in charge behind the scenes. My life might really be in danger if I don’t satisfy all of them...

With such an intense clan head and heir, the future of the Ruu clan was certainly secure.

Ah, now that I think of it...

This actually wasn’t my first time being face to face with one of the men of the forest’s edge. The night after I was dropped into this other world, I met a perfectly fine example of a man. One who planned to use Ai Fa’s despair over losing her father as part of a wicked plot, had the tables turned on him, and was tossed into the river. Yes, a splendid person indeed.

That guy’s the heir to the Suun clan, right...?

Didn’t that go to show that if there was a war between the Suun and the Ruu, it was already clear who would come out on top?

As such silly thoughts floated through my head, I returned to the kitchen alongside my benefactor and the rest of the women.