Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 6.3

3

The time to settle things had come at last.

It was twilight, the time when day blended into night.

We were in the banquet hall, which was lit by candles placed here and there throughout.

Reina Ruu was accompanying the grand elder of the Ruu family, Jiba Ruu, who was staggering into the room. With that, everyone had gathered at last.

The room sprawled out over twice the area of Ai Fa’s, at around 30 square meters. There wasn’t much difference in the room itself, but the walls were imposingly decorated with the men’s swords, bows, fur cloaks, and short spear-looking weapons suspended from what seemed to be hooks made out of giba bones. And on the wall behind the head of the household was a monstrously huge giba’s pelt and ominous skull. Just how much must that beast have weighed when it was alive?

Given my occupation, I shouldn’t have had any real interest in pelts or animal skeletons, but even I couldn’t help but feel a little in awe at the size of the thing.

“Hmph. Looks like we’re all finally here,” Donda Ruu contemptuously muttered as he heartily chugged down fruit wine.

Jiba Ruu sat down quietly by his side. It was hard to tell if she was incredibly small, or if the man was just far too big, making her look that way.

She wore not only the normal single-piece attire of a married woman, but also a cloth jacket that looked like a shawl, and something that seemed like some sort of magical tool jangling around her neck. She was so small that she almost looked like some sort of shriveled up fruit.

It was hard to tell because her back was bent, but she was definitely at least shorter than Reina Ruu, and her silver-haired head didn’t look like it would come up much higher than Rimee Ruu’s.

That hair that was utterly lacking in color was done up in twin braids like her granddaughter standing by her side, and her face made me think of a wrinkly monkey. In fact, she was so wrinkled that I couldn’t even tell where her eyes were.

The fingers peeking out of her shawl were like withered branches, looking quite thin and weak. It was as if her very existence was a dying flame flickering out, and when Reina Ruu sat down beside her and let go of her hand, the old woman practically seemed to collapse from exhaustion.

Well... At least she still has the energy about her to get up and walk.

The idea of having an old woman like this primarily subsist off of meat was ridiculous to start with. Still, the die had already been cast. The only thing left was to watch how it played out.

There were two stoves installed at the sides of the dining hall, and on top of each was an iron pot making a cute little boiling sound. They weren’t for cooking, though. Rather, they were little stoves meant for keeping in the warmth.

They didn’t cook here in the dining hall, and the pantry was in a separate building entirely, so the smell of fat hadn’t seeped into the room that strongly. As a result, the only scent filling the air was that of our cooking.

There were fourteen of us seated in an elliptical shape, almost as if we were being sandwiched between the stoves. And at the peak of the ellipse were the head of the clan, Donda, and the clan elder, Jiba. Ai Fa and I were down one step lower, facing each other. Off to my right were the three brothers, Jiza, Darmu, and Ludo. A little further away were the sisters Lala and Rimee. On the left were the next oldest person, Granny Tito Min, the clan head’s wife Mia Lea, the oldest son’s wife Sati Lea, and the eldest daughter Vina. To the left of Vina Ruu was a bowl meant for Reina Ruu.

As the representative of those who manned the stove today, Reina Ruu was set to help Jiba Ruu eat, after which she would begin her own meal. Apparently that wasn’t something special for today, and was a role that someone needed to take up every day. After all, in her old age, Jiba Ruu now had difficulty eating on her own.

By the way, Sati Lea Ruu’s infant Kota Ruu was slumbering away in a cradle behind his mother.

“We give thanks for the blessings of the forest...” Donda Ruu declared in a tone far more solemn than I would have expected from that beast of a man. He held up a finger on his left hand — so thick it looked like he was wearing gloves — to his bearded mouth.

“We offer our gratitude to Tito Min, Reina, Rimee, Ai Fa, and Asuta, who manned the flame and gave us our life for this night...”

Everyone repeated those words and gently moved their fingertips across their lips. It was the exact same ritual Ai Fa performed each night before dinner. She had only ever muttered the words in her mouth, so I had never been able to pick up what she was saying. So it was a prayer like this, then? It was sort of a strange feeling, realizing that Ai Fa was quietly chanting my name every night.

And after that prayer was done, dinner kicked off very suddenly.

They didn’t seem to especially be waiting for Ai Fa or me to pick up our spoons or anything. In other words, if we had poisoned the food, we could have wiped them all out while being just fine ourselves. I guess trusting the other person wouldn’t do such a thing was what it meant to let them man your stove.

That’s precisely why we weren’t allowed to fail. Or perhaps I should say why I wasn’t allowed to fail.

It may have been true that all five of us made the meal together, but I was the one giving the instructions. If something were to go wrong tonight, it would all be my responsibility. Anyone who said otherwise would simply be trying to take the load off my shoulders.

I wouldn’t let them lay even so much as a finger on Rimee Ruu, Reina Ruu, Tito Min Ruu, or Ai Fa, naturally.

So I’m counting on you, Reina Ruu. Please do a good job of supporting Granny Jiba, I yelled out in my mind as I finally picked up my bowl, but my attention was on Reina Ruu drawing close to Granny Jiba just a few meters away.

As per Rimee Ruu’s request, tonight’s menu was the same as last night’s: Hamburgers made with giba meat topped with fruit wine sauce and roasted aria. For tonight, though, that was accompanied not just by baked poitan, but also by giba soup.

The soup wasn’t the main dish, though. It was ultimately just a side, using a moderate amount of meat and aria. That was what was being heated up in the pots at the moment.

After the prayer had finished, Granny Tito Min stood up, and then started pouring soup into the bowls of the folks silently eating away. All the while, Reina Ruu didn’t move an inch after drawing close to Granny Jiba.

Everything was going according to plan.

As that was going on, I checked how tonight’s dinner had turned out while also looking around at everyone else. And honestly, they were all just silently shoveling food into their mouths.

When we brought out the dishes before dinner, they were all saying stuff like, “What’s that?” “Is this really giba meat?” and “What’s this weird flat thing?” like Rimee Ruu had done last night. But once I offered a simple explanation and told them how to eat it, they were so silent that you would almost think you were at a wake. They all still reacted differently though, with some looking clearly displeased, some with eyes sparkling with curiosity, and some who sat there quietly with a blank expression on their face from start to finish. At any rate, they all kept their mouths shut and waited intently for Jiba Ruu to get seated.

And now, there was a sort of impatient, bated-breath feeling in the air as everyone single-mindedly moved their spoons.

Hamburgers made with giba meat. Giba and aria soup. Baked poitan. These three items combined to a single set meal.

Women ate less than men so I used around 300 grams for their hamburgers, while the men got about 700 grams, and Ai Fa and I got our usual 500 grams. I went especially light on Granny Jiba’s, though, using only around 200 grams.

Oh, and as a special point of note, I was able to make full sized burgers rather than mini ones this time around. The Ruu household was equipped with several stoves, so I could just use the standard method of cooking the surface over a high flame and then following up by steadily cooking it through over a low flame. The women got one patty while the 700 grams for the men were split in two, but at any rate everyone got nice, thick, bulky patties.

And naturally, to pack in plenty of flavor, I baked them with fruit wine at the end. But at any rate, I figured the change in size alone would have a great effect on the final product. I mean, with this, I had cleared away my one point of dissatisfaction, that the mini-burgers had felt a little lacking.

It really had turned out to be the right answer, as when I bit emphatically into my three-centimeter thick hamburger, even more juices flowed forth than last night, filling my mouth with a tremendous intensity of flavor. The chewy texture that had already been there was only enhanced, and on top of that the inside hadn’t been cooked on a high flame this time around, making it even juicier and softer.

At least to me, this was a first-rate dish that I was highly satisfied with.

As for the Ruu family’s reactions... Well, they were still silent.

Some were making the same bitter faces as they did before eating, some looked to be relaxed and enjoying themselves, and some didn’t have an expression on their faces whatsoever. I couldn’t really especially read their impressions. Maybe it really was a custom to stay silent during the meal, the same way that Ai Fa did.

By the way, a representative of those showing dissatisfaction was the chief, Donda Ruu, one of the pleased ones was the seductive older daughter, Vina Ruu, and Darmu Ruu was part of the expressionless group. They all seemed to fall somewhere in those patterns, though.

Rimee Ruu was naturally chewing away with a big smile on her face, but her big blue eyes occasionally looked over at Granny Jiba with clear concern.

“Here, it’s dinner time, Granny Jiba. It was specially made to be extra tasty today. Our visitors put in the effort to make something especially delicious for you,” Reina Ruu told her grandmother, bringing the wooden spoon up to the old woman’s mouth. On top of the utensil was giba soup and torn up bits of baked poitan. Looked like my plan was moving along smoothly.

“Granny Jiba should be able to eat meat this soft, too!” Rimee Ruu had happily declared. But as someone from a different world, I couldn’t wipe away the impression that a hamburger was too heavy a dish for a woman over the age of eighty.

And so, I felt it was best to do things in order.

First up was baked poitan soaked in soup. Next up was aria from the soup. And if she made it through all that, then we would go with the giburger. However, the burger would be soaked in soup too at first. That way, even someone without teeth could have the ground meat practically melt in their mouth.

If she was able to eat all that and seemed to be up for eating the burger as is, then she could go ahead and give it a try.

I didn’t even know how many teeth Granny Jiba had left to start with, after all. And I figured that even if she didn’t make it all the way to the burger, it should still be fine. That was why I had prepared the giba soup. Essentially, I had made it just for Granny Jiba’s sake. It was just that it turned out well enough that I’d have no problem adding it to the regular menu, so I figured it was good to let the others have their fill, too.

But even so, this menu was ultimately meant for Granny Jiba. And so, I cut down the aria thinner than was my personal preference, then cooked them so thoroughly that they hardly had any crunch left to them. Plus, I had already used plenty of giba meat in the burgers, so I didn’t think of the amount used for the soup as anything but a means of providing the stock.

That was the core of what made this a menu especially prepared for Granny Jiba.

“Ah...” Rimee Ruu let out in a quiet whisper. Naturally, I had noticed the change, too.

Even when Reina Ruu had called out to her, Granny Jiba had just slowly shook her head, but now she looked like she had given up on everything, and was finally slurping down the contents of her spoon.

“See, isn’t it good? And we’ve got a whole lot left,” Reina Ruu happily declared, then dropped some more torn up poitan into the bowl.

However, Granny Jiba didn’t move. It wasn’t proper to think this way, but it was almost like she had passed away after that single bite. She wasn’t even trembling at the moment.

“What’s wrong? It’s delicious, right? Rimee, Granny Tito Min, and I helped to make it, too.”

Reina Ruu thrust the wooden spoon towards her mouth, seeming to be rushing things a bit. There was no need to get impatient, though. It was fine to let her eat at her own rate. As I thought that, however, Granny Jiba’s mouth opened slightly. With a look of clear relief, Reina Ruu slipped the spoon in through that crack.

“Well then, shall we try some aria next? It should be nice and soft and yummy, too.”

When we were cooking, I had Reina Ruu give everything a taste test. After all, I figured if she was going to be suggesting food to Granny Jiba, who had been avoiding meals, it was best that she was also familiar with how everything tasted.

“You’re putting so much thought into this for Granny Jiba, who you’ve never even met...” Reina Ruu had said with teary eyes, but it was only natural to think all that through, considering my position. After all, it was also for Ai Fa and Rimee Ruu’s sake, as they cared deeply about Granny Jiba. Plus, I was a chef. Just how delicious would she find my cooking? Any chef who didn’t consider such a thing was hardly qualified to be a chef at all.

“It’s good, isn’t it? Well then, do you want to try a little meat? The meat is also really soft.”

Reina Ruu spooned up some giburger at last, about half of a mouthful, which she then dipped in the soup.

How would this go?

I had chopped up the diced aria mixed in with the burgers even more finely than usual, but still, I made them in the usual manner, more or less.

I instructed Reina Ruu that at first, she should avoid the harder surface as much as possible and stick to the softer inside. If all of her molars were missing, then it was possible the ground meat and aria could get stuck in her throat, so I made sure Reina Ruu was thoroughly warned of that risk.

At any rate, the chunk of meat and soup slid into Granny Jiba’s mouth. Her wrinkled mouth started to chew away. And then...

Clear tears started to flow forth from where I figured her eyes must be.

“What delicious meat... Is this really, truly giba meat...?”

That withered voice clearly resounded throughout the silent banquet hall.