Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 10 - Chapter 2.3

3

“Man, today sure felt packed, somehow.”

By this point, the sun had set. And having finished eating cheese and giba hamburger steaks made with dried milk from Sym, Ai Fa and I were now sitting there talking in the dark like always.

“Seems like we saw a lot more people than usual, and all sorts of business-related stuff happened... Even though Jeeda and Cyclaeus didn’t make any moves, it sure was a hectic day.”

“I see,” Ai Fa replied with a look of feigned disinterest as she carefully observed one of the wine glasses. It seemed she really was quite taken by that gift from Shumiral. In fact, she had kept on playing with it last night too, never tiring of it.

However, her gaze felt a bit more clouded this time. She seemed somehow displeased, but also somehow not? I couldn’t read what she was feeling at all.

“Ah, right. Now that we have the wine glasses and some fine wine, how about we treat ourselves to an after-dinner drink sometime?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just talking about having a drink to unwind at the end of the day. You’re definitely a drinker, right? I mean, you already had fruit wine in the pantry to start with.”

In spite of that, though, I had hardly ever actually seen Ai Fa drink the stuff.

Since it was just before bedtime now, Ai Fa’s long blonde hair had been undone, and so she halfheartedly brushed it up.

“But you don’t drink, right? And it would feel awkward if I was the only one partaking. You can use it as an ingredient in your cooking though, can’t you?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I mean, Donda Ruu chugs down fruit wine all on his own, doesn’t he?”

“Are you trying to say that Donda Ruu behaves more fittingly for a clan head than I do...?”

“That’s not what I meant. I just want to enjoy the kindness those folks gave us to the fullest.”

While starting to fear that she really was displeased, I went and got two bottles from the pantry.

One was of the high-class fruit wine from Pops and his men, while the other was filled with the sheel juice I had squeezed this afternoon.

“I’ll have some of this, so drink as much as you please.”

“Isn’t that juice you intended to use in your cooking?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t end up with too much time to experiment today. It’d be a waste if it just went bad tomorrow, so I figured I’d indulge myself a little.”

To be honest, I had planned to use it as a squeezed lemon substitute with giba steak and the like. My thinking was that the refreshing aroma and acidity would suppress the quirkiness of the giba, allowing the delicious flavor of the meat to be enjoyed more directly.

And if I paired it with fruit wine and other seasonings, making a lemon sauce of sorts also sounded nice. At any rate, I was trying to think up new approaches for tackling giba meat.

However, such experimentation got deferred to tomorrow. And so, I poured the sheel juice into my own wine glass, then cut it with water in a two-to-one ratio, using less of the fruit juice.

I poked at it with my fingertip and gave it a lick, and from what I could tell that had restrained the acidity well enough. However, it was still pretty much just lemon water. If it was possible, it would have been nice to add some honey or ice at least.

“Hmm, I think I will take just a bit of fruit wine to add some flavor.”

Ever so carefully, I poured in so little that it wouldn’t even fill a teaspoon.

However, even that was enough to drastically improve the aroma. While I didn’t drink, I still definitely enjoyed the scent of wine and rum and the like.

“I mean, the fun of a wine glass is pouring something into it, right?”

The sheel juice was a faint yellow, and I had gone so light on the fruit wine that it hardly had any impact on the color. Still, just faintly swirling the glass was enough to scatter brilliant light from the candlestick about.

Perhaps that had finally been enough to catch her attention, as Ai Fa then poured the fruit wine into her own glass. And with the clear reddish brown of the liquid, the change really was striking. There were cuts made in the surface of the wine glass here and there, and they reflected a deep crimson light.

“So pretty...” Ai Fa let slip.

Feeling glad to see the first smile from her in a while, I went ahead and lightly clinked my glass into hers.

“Good work again today,” I said, and then I sipped my drink.

Well, the taste made sense for pretty much adding lemon juice to room temperature water and using a bit of wine to add to the aroma. It was hard to call it especially tasty, but it was still rather pleasant, I had to say.

After a single shrug of her shoulders, Ai Fa drank down the fruit wine, and in no time at all, the nearly 80% full wine glass was completely empty.

“Hey, I know I’m the one who suggested it, but don’t push yourself too hard, alright? This stuff’s supposed to have a higher alcohol content than normal fruit wine.”

“Alcohol content...?” Ai Fa questioned, tilting her head as she poured more fruit wine.

“It means it’s stronger, and will get you drunk easier. That’s how it is with flammable wines.”

I had once used this high-class fruit wine to flambé at the Rutim banquet. Most of the stuff was only about as strong as the wine from my world, but from what I could tell, this particular fruit wine seemed to be closer to brandy or whisky in terms of alcohol content.

“Even without such concern from you, I would never be so foolish as to drink myself into a dead stupor. After all, there’s no guarantee that we won’t be attacked under the cover of night,” she said, drinking half a glass this time.

Despite her words, that really was some hearty drinking.

“By the way, Asuta, did that Mikel of Turan person not show himself?”

“Yeah, not today at least.”

The mysterious man who knew of Cyclaeus’s crimes, Mikel of Turan...

I had been told by Shumiral that he would show up at The Sledgehammer at some point, but apparently that wasn’t today.

“Then what about Sanjura?”

“Ah, he stopped by to purchase a meal from the stalls. He seemed really worried about the fact that we hadn’t notified the guards about Jeeda.”

“I see...”

“You seem really cautious of Sanjura, Ai Fa. Is there some sort of reason for that?”

“Not especially. It would just be quite troublesome to make an enemy of him, so I cannot let my guard down,” she replied, downing the other half of the glass in a single gulp.

Apparently, Ai Fa was just as heavy of a drinker as Donda Ruu. It made for quite a sight, as she sat there cross-legged, pouring herself another glass.

“I’ve never seen any townsfolk that strong before. And altogether, the only outsiders I can think of who could compete with the people of the forest’s edge are Kamyua Yoshu and that gray-eyed noble...”

“You mean Melfried? Ah, but what about Jeeda...?”

“Ah, I suppose he’s on the same level of some hunters of the forest’s edge as well... But not to the degree of Ludo Ruu or myself, at least.”

“Then just how strong would you say Kamyua and Melfried are, exactly?” I asked, getting caught up in the conversation.

Ai Fa took another drink of her fruit wine, looking annoyed.

“If my judgment isn’t mistaken, Kamyua Yoshu is at least as strong as Donda Ruu, while that gray-eyed noble is about equal to Jiza Ruu.”

“So if we were to make a ranking, it’d be Donda Ruu, Dan Rutim, and Kamyua at the top, huh? Well, Kamyua’s the only surprising one there.”

“To be honest, I find that man’s strength difficult to judge. However, I can’t help but get the impression that Donda Ruu or Dan Rutim wouldn’t find it easy to defeat him.”

“I see. But you were able to have an even fight with Dan Rutim too, Ai Fa.”

In that case, maybe it was a top four rather than a top three.

Was Ai Fa really that unbelievably strong?

“I’m not confident that I could defeat them,” Ai Fa said while staring into her sparkling wine glass. “However... I don’t feel that I would certainly lose, either. I believe if things went well I could win, and at worst, I could at least defend my life. Even if I couldn’t win, as long as I could escape then things would work out.”

“Got it. So, Sanjura’s around Ludo Ruu’s level, then? Wait, how does Ludo Ruu compare to Jiza and Darmu Ruu, anyway?”

“Why are you concerned about such matters? All I can grasp is how their strength seems to me,” Ai Fa said, licking a bit of fruit wine while looking a bit annoyed. Had she realized she was going too fast there? At any rate, seeing her act so catlike was just adorable. “If the time were to come where they actually faced one another, the outcome could be completely reversed from what is expected, like with Shin Ruu and Rau Lea before. And so, even if I say Ludo Ruu and Sanjura are around the same level, and the same is true of Jiza Ruu and that Melfried man, it is difficult to predict how things would play out in an actual fight between them.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I just wanted to ask about two more, then. About how strong are Zasshuma and Labis?”

“Hmm? Who are they?”

“Zasshuma is Kamyua’s buddy who pretended to be the leader of their merchant group. As for Labis... He’s that southerner who’s always accompanying Diel.”

As soon as she heard that girl’s name, Ai Fa’s brow furrowed and she started chugging down the fruit wine again.

“Who cares about men like that? They couldn’t get the better of even the youngest hunter here at the forest’s edge.”

Was that so?

But Zasshuma earned a living by fighting as a bodyguard, while Labis was supposedly a skilled enough swordsman to take on multiple bandits at once.

In that case, I couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that the hunters of the forest’s edge possessed abnormally great strength, and Ai Fa still stood out as one of the best even among them.

That really is something. I’d say Ai Fa’s a whole lot more astounding than folks like Kamyua or Sanjura, I thought to myself, just as my clan head suddenly brought her face in close.

“What are you thinking about, Asuta? It certainly couldn’t be that girl, could it?”

“‘Th-That girl?’ Do you mean Diel?”

“Don’t play dumb. Or could it be that westerner girl? You seem to be quite friendly when talking with her.”

“You mean Yumi? I had no choice but to talk to her like that. You were there when she went off on me about it, weren’t you?”

“Hmph!” Ai Fa glared while taking another sip from her wine glass. “I’m not fond of noisy women. And suspicious women like Yamiru Lea are out of the question, too.”

“I told you, I wasn’t...”

“If you’re going to take a bride, then someone like Sheera Ruu would be best. I prefer graceful women.”

I had heard such things before. However, that all had nothing to do with me.

And yet, Ai Fa’s face steadily crept closer.

“Li Sudra might be good, too. And Ama Min Rutim’s a fine woman. However, it feels like you’ve tried to keep such graceful women at a distance, Asuta.”

“That wasn’t my intention in the least! And besides, those two are married to begin with, aren’t they?”

“So, you’re looser with unmarried women?”

“I’m not loose with anyone!”

“It couldn’t be that you have improper feelings towards that young Din girl, could—”

“Stop right there! Something’s wrong with you. Are you a bit drunk after all?”

“I’m not drunk,” Ai Fa replied while downing the rest of the contents of her glass, only to limply fall to my chest.

“You really are drunk, aren’t you?!”

“So persistent... This much wine couldn’t possibly do anything to me,” Ai Fa insisted, her warm breath soaking into my chest.

Actually, every bit of her that was touching me felt incredibly warm.

“If you’re to take a bride, then a woman like Sheera Ruu would be fitting...”

“I’m telling you, I’m not marrying anybody.”

“As your clan head, I have to give you my blessing...”

“I told you that won’t be necessary, didn’t I?”

“A clan head must wish for her clan member’s happiness...” Ai Fa murmured, clinging tight to my body.

Perhaps because of the wine, though, she wasn’t properly holding back her strength. Around when I heard my ribs cracking, I shouted out, “Gyah! That hurts! You’re seriously gonna break something! Snap out of it, Ai Fa!”

“Are you rejecting me, Asuta...?”

“That’s not it! It’s just that my pathetic, measly bones are screaming!” I yelled, desperately tapping Ai Fa’s shoulder. With that, she finally loosened her grasp. However, her arms didn’t fully let go of me, and her face remained pressed up against my chest.

I gave a deep sigh as I felt her soft hair tickle my nose.

“My greatest happiness comes from being by your side, Ai Fa...” I somehow managed to get out in a calm tone, though I’m certain she could feel my heart pounding away right now. After all, I could feel her heartbeat, too. “And so, I won’t marry anyone. Doing that has to mean wanting to spend your whole life with someone... And as long as I have you, I don’t need anyone else.”

I got no response.

Was the punchline here that she had already fallen asleep?

With yet another sigh, I gently wrapped my arms around Ai Fa’s head and back. As I felt her warmth all over my body, my heartbeat only grew quicker.

It’s because you’re here, Ai Fa...

In these past two months and some change, I had met many people who were now precious to me. There were lots of folks at both the forest’s edge and in the post town that I couldn’t stand the thought of losing. I was supported by so many people that I couldn’t even count them all.

Even so, Ai Fa remained firmly fixed in the very center of my heart. Those feelings hadn’t changed, even now. Actually, they seemed to only be growing stronger day by day.

And Ai Fa thought of me as someone precious, too. That I could have confidence in that fact made my current lifestyle feel so utterly blessed that it caused my heart to ache.

Until I was cast out of this joyful life altogether, there was no way I would ever marry any other woman. It really did feel strange to me that this fact hadn’t gotten across to Ai Fa.

When exactly will you finally realize just how charming and wonderful of a person you are, Ai Fa? Or will you never be able to realize that yourself?

As that thought ran through my head, I hugged her body ever so slightly tighter.

And then, after a cat-like stirring, she whispered words that filled my heart.

“If you really mean that, then I am also blessed...”

I closed my eyes and pressed my cheek up against Ai Fa’s soft hair.

With that, the long, long first day of the white month finally came to a close.