Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 6.2

2

“Oh, my... Are the preparations for tonight’s dinner already complete...?”

By the time this new person arrived, we really were just about to hit the climax of our preparations. The aria and giba soup was complete, and we had already baked up a good number of the watery poitan, so all that was left was cooking the hamburger patties and aria.

“Oh, how strange, Vina. It’s rare for you to come here to the kitchen when you’re not on duty,” Granny Tito Min said, turning to the girl.

The one standing in the doorway looking us all over was Vina Ruu, the oldest daughter of the house. She was listlessly playing with her long, chestnut-colored hair and giving a seductive smile.

“I wasn’t busy, so I figured I’d come take a look... but by all appearances there isn’t anything left for me to help with, though.”

Just as she had guessed, we had already finished the preparations for dinner, even though there was still a good bit of time till sunset. What led us to this result was the fact that Rimee Ruu, Reina Ruu, and Tito Min were all far more skilled than I had expected.

But, well, that was a happy miscalculation, I suppose.

“All that’s left is to cook the giba meat, so it’s fine! Big sis Vina, if you help out all the cooking will end up as a charred lump, so could you leave us be?”

“Cut it out, Rimee. Not in front of the guests...” Vina Ruu said, her overly elegant limbs wriggling in embarrassment.

That girl seriously was like a bundle of sex appeal.

“Still, I’m just a bit worried... I mean, Papa Donda certainly seems like he’s been in a bad mood since yesterday, right?”

“Oh, just don’t pay him any mind! Asuta and Ai Fa came here and took on this big job all for Granny Jiba’s sake,” yelled out Rimee Ruu from her place at Ai Fa’s side, and then she puffed up her cheeks.

Just an aside, the person standing next to me right then was Reina Ruu. Vina Ruu’s pale eyes gently moved back and forth between me and her little sister.

“You may say that, but if Papa Donda or Jiza get angry, it’ll be a real problem, right? What do you think, Reina?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Asuta really is amazing at cooking, after all! I’m sure Granny Jiba will happily eat this meal!” Reina Ruu said, with such overwhelming trust in me shining in her eyes that I couldn’t help but feel a little grateful.

After looking into her sister’s eyes, Vina Ruu gave a “Hmm...” and broke out in a smile that told me she was enjoying herself. “Your specialty is manning the stove, Reina, so if you’re willing to say all that, then I feel a bit relieved myself... By the way, what is all that stuff piled up there?”

“Ah, this is poitan. When you heat up poitan, dry it out, rehydrate it, and then bake it, it ends up like this,” I replied, only for Vina Ruu’s slightly droopy eyes to shoot open wide in surprise.

“This is poitan...? And that meat is in a sort of strange shape, too...”

“Ah, with that we chopped giba meat down into fine bits and then reformed it. Doing so makes the sort of tough giba meat a whole lot softer,” I replied, causing Vina Ruu to give another “Hmm...” as she thought the matter over.

“I’ve never seen such strange cooking even in the Genos post town. You really did come from a far off country, didn’t you?”

“That’s right. This stuff isn’t considered strange in the least back where I come from, though,” I replied, then I looked back toward Reina Ruu at my side. “Still, it’s probably pretty hard to memorize this cooking method after only seeing it once, right? It may be good for you to try putting meat chopped up like this in broth from tomorrow on...”

“Put it in broth, you say?”

“Yeah. If it’s chopped up this finely, you can pretty much drink it down without any real chewing. And don’t you think that if you put it over a little heat after chopping it, it’ll strengthen the flavor and make it taste even better?”

“Chop up the meat, heat it a bit, and then add it to the soup, right? In that case, should I use a low heat and cook it slowly like we’re doing today?”

“That’s right. You’d probably be fine adding the sliced meat and aria together at the end, but I really do think it’s best to add the finely chopped meat at the start and then cook it over a low flame. It’ll act as more of a stock that way, and make the whole soup more delicious.”

“I understand. Thank you so much... You really do know all sorts of surprising things, don’t you, Asuta?”

“No, well, it’s just that my family made a living by cooking, so I guess I’ve picked up a few tricks.”

When faced with such a look of earnest respect, it was frankly a bit painfully embarrassing. I mean, I was still just a half-baked chef in training, after all.

But even so, Jiba Ruu was someone precious to Ai Fa and she had grown so weak, so I wanted to do anything I could to help her reclaim the joy of eating.

Ai Fa had said that eating was a means of continuing to live. Even if they were a people who didn’t pay any heed to the matter of taste, as long as they still placed such importance on eating, then I should be able to draw forth that joy.

Both Ai Fa and Rimee Ruu had called my cooking delicious.

I’ve sought out meaning, and value, and happiness in delicious food. In that case, I should still be able to be of use, even in this completely different environment with its own sense of values.

I have no idea what sort of prank threw me into this world, but I’d still live my life in a way that was true to myself. My one and only redeeming feature was my cooking skill, but if I could use that to help even a little to heal the hearts of the people Ai Fa cared about, then what more could I wish for?

It was then that a third “Hmm...” escaped from Vina Ruu’s sensual lips. “You’re a mysterious man, Asuta. I had heard that people who made a living as chefs only existed within the stone walls of the city...”

“I wasn’t born in any place as impressive as the capital. I guess we can just chalk it up to having different cultures, though.”

Just what was Vina Ruu’s attention fixated on? She didn’t have the open animosity about her that Donda Ruu and the other men had shown, and she didn’t seem all that wary of me, either. However, I also couldn’t wipe away the impression that I was being calmly, carefully inspected.

“Well, I’m not all that well versed in cooking anyway. But if you can cause Granny Jiba to find at least a little happiness in life, then I would really appreciate it. So give the rest your all, I guess.”

With that comment, Vina Ruu exited the kitchen.

Once that supply of excess pheremones was gone, I silently breathed a sigh of relief.

“That Vina Ruu certainly is unusual.”

“That’s certainly true. Vina may just be the most different one out of all seven siblings,” Granny Tito Min replied in a rather informal tone, looking rather pleased. “She’s certainly not a bad person, but there are times where I just plain have no idea what she’s thinking. I mean, she’s already 20, but she hasn’t seriously considered any talks of marriage.”

“Huh... That’s certainly unusual, considering how lovely of a woman she is.”

The instant I said that, stares suddenly shot my way from all directions. Well, maybe that wasn’t the right way to put it, since there were only five people here in the kitchen, myself included.

“So you like women like big sis Vina, Asuta?” Reina Ruu asked, staring intently at my face with a strangely pained look.

“Hmm? No, I meant more in a general sense rather than my own point of view, you know?”

“...Right. Even I think of her that way, despite being family.”

So then why were you looking at me like that?

“But big sis Vina is 20. You’re 17 just like Ai Fa, right, Asuta?” Rimee Ruu asked. She had a bit of a puzzled look on her face.

“W-what does my age have to do with this? And wait, why is everyone paying so much attention to what I said in the first place?”

“...When you so openly praise a woman, it’s only natural to think that you may wish to take her as a wife,” Ai Fa chimed in, despite having been silent for quite a while now. Her chilly tone and gaze had me at a loss for words, but I soon pulled myself back together.

“Oh, is that so? I suppose I acted pretty ill-mannered there. I’m still pretty inexperienced with the customs of the forest’s edge, so I beg your forgiveness. But I most certainly didn’t mean it in that way.”

“You don’t need to be so formal about it. There isn’t anybody around who would feel bad about having a family member praised, after all,” Granny Tito Min said, but Reina Ruu still looked depressed, Rimee Ruu kept looking at me with a puzzled expression, and Ai Fa... Well, with the way she was turning her face away, I certainly couldn’t say that she was in a good mood.

I really didn’t mean it that way, though...

I mean, I wasn’t exactly in any position to go falling head over heels for anyone right now, anyway. But this was a whole other world. Their views on love and marriage were probably totally different then they were back in my world, so I’d have to be more careful about how I treated such matters in the future.

But still, at any rate...

At least for now, Ai Fa had a monopoly on my heart.

What exactly was this feeling, anyway? Was it gratitude and a desire to repay my savior? The natural affinity felt for someone I was living together with? A feeling of respect for her and her character? Even I didn’t really get it.

But I definitely thought that it was only because I had someone like Ai Fa around that I was able to live confidently in this other world. That much was for certain.

“Well then, should we get started on finishing up?”

When I said that, everyone’s varied expressions gained a bright, lively hopefulness once again.

We may have been from different houses and walks of life, but right now we were all able to strive for the same goal: To bring peace of heart to Jiba Ruu, the oldest of the people of the forest’s edge.