Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2: Woven Bonds

1

It was now the following morning.

I had finished the preparations for work without incident, and headed out to the Ruu settlement right on schedule.

And when Toor Deen and I arrived, we found Mia Lea Ruu there in front of the main house greeting us with a smile.

“We’ve been waiting for you, Asuta. Our clan head is here inside the house, so could we have just a bit of your time?”

“Huh? Donda Ruu got up this early and has been waiting for me?”

“Our clan head can wake up as early as needed when necessary. Well, not that I would call this especially early.”

Still, normally Donda Ruu would sleep in till around when the sun hit its peak. I had just expected him to leave me a message in regards to Myme, so I felt quite obliged as I stepped through the door.

“So you’re finally here, eh? Have a seat,” Donda Ruu called out, sitting cross-legged at the head of the table as always.

And I only felt more obliged as I noticed his three sons seated to his left and right, as well as Jeeda off to the side.

I really wasn’t expecting all this. Did I anger Donda Ruu or something?

He hadn’t fought back at all when I invited Shumiral as a guest, which was why I hadn’t been especially concerned about bringing up this matter regarding Myme.

Jiza, Darmu, and Ludo Ruu were all staring at me with the same sort of looks as usual. Jiza Ruu smiled with narrowed eyes, Darmu Ruu looked annoyed, and Ludo Ruu shot me a relaxed grin as I took a seat.

“I already heard everything from Mia Lea and Reina. You want to invite townsfolk here to the settlement at the forest’s edge again, right?”

“Y-Yes. Mikel, who you already know of, and his daughter Myme. Myme has said she wishes to observe my cooking skills...and I want to see her cook too.”

“Hmph...” Donda Ruu snorted.

Though he didn’t seem especially annoyed, the man was just as grave and intimidating as always. His blue eyes blazed bright, and as he rustled his mane of blackish-brown hair, he seemed like a lion staring at prey it didn’t particularly feel like eating.

“Jeeda, I’ve been told you met with that Mikel man. What sort of person would you say he is?” Donda Ruu asked.

“Hmm,” Jeeda murmured as he thought about it. The young yet formidable hunter of Masara had blazing red hair and unusual yellow eyes. “I only met him the once, so I can’t really be certain...but I’d say that he seemed resolute. After all, he wasn’t intimidated in the least when he saw me.”

Back then, Jeeda had been madly obsessed with revenge. And it was in the midst of a big uproar in which I had seemingly been kidnapped by the noble of Genos who was the target for his vengeance, so the boy definitely would have been even more unstable at the time.

“He must have suffered deeply, having that noble Cyclaeus twist the course of his life. If not, he probably never would have answered a question from someone as suspicious as me, even if I held a blade to him. But because he sensed I was also burning with rage toward Cyclaeus, he decided to lend me his aid.”

“Hmm? Then you didn’t tell him about yourself or anything, Jeeda?” Ludo Ruu asked, clearly curious.

“Of course not,” Jeeda shot back. “Why would I tell someone about that when I’d only just met them? All I asked was where I could find Cyclaeus.”

“I see. But how did you know that Mikel guy could tell you that in the first place? You never met him before, right?”

“He was furious when he went to the stall run by the Ruu women and heard Asuta was abducted. ‘That was why I told him not to get involved with that noble! Why didn’t he listen to my warnings?!’ and so on. Listening to him, I could tell he had ties with Cyclaeus, so I called out to him once he was alone.”

He certainly did have ties to Cyclaeus, but not in a good way. That vicious noble had wanted to hire Mikel as a chef, but when he was refused, he cruelly had the muscles in the chef’s arm severed.

When he heard Jeeda’s explanation, Jiza Ruu chimed in, “I see. Mikel was someone who knew of Cyclaeus’s crimes already, and he also has ties to Asuta, as well as the one who informed Asuta of him, Shumiral.”

“Right. When he heard that the people of the forest’s edge were fighting with Cyclaeus, Shumiral went out of his way to search for Mikel. And since Mikel currently lives in the Turan lands, his search must have stretched all the way over there,” I recalled.

Shumiral had met Mikel, Mikel had met Jeeda, and then all that had led to Jeeda setting the stage for me to be rescued from Lefreya. Thinking about all that, I really needed to be grateful for all of those different encounters.

“Shumiral sure was a friendly guy. Normally it’s hard to tell what easterners are thinking, but I was actually pretty fond of him,” Ludo Ruu said with a grin.

In response, Donda Ruu grumbled with a sour look, “Quiet, you.”

Shumiral had left Genos in order to carry out his work with his merchant group, but before that he had confessed his love for Vina Ruu. When he departed, Shumiral told us that if he made it back to Genos safely in half a year’s time, he would officially request to marry into her house. That certainly had to be a troubling matter for Donda Ruu as her father.

“We won’t get anywhere by chatting about people who aren’t even around these days. More important is that Mikel man. He can no longer man the stove himself, right?”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “Cyclaeus had the muscles in his right arm severed. But I’ve been told Mikel was a renowned chef in the castle town, and he seems to have passed on his techniques to his daughter Myme.”

“Hmph... Is she really that skilled of a chef?”

“She is. I sampled the dish she made with kimyuus, and I have to say that I believe she’s exceptionally talented.”

When I said that, Ludo Ruu leaned forward.

“You think she’s even more amazing at manning the stove than you are, right? That’s what Reina said last night.”

“Ah, yes. That was how it felt to me. But at any rate, I can say for sure, that dish was shockingly good.”

“I find that hard to believe. I mean, she’s still just ten or so, isn’t she? A little kid like that could never be better than you.”

It wasn’t just Ludo Ruu, as Jiza and Darmu Ruu were also suspiciously furrowing their brows.

And in the midst of all that, Donda Ruu solemnly asked, “So, those words are no joke, then? Reina also seemed upset, saying that such a thing simply wasn’t possible.”

“That’s because I’m the only one who tried her cooking. I can certainly see how it would be rather hard to believe through words alone. And that’s exactly why I wanted to have everyone else taste her cooking too...”

At that, the Ruu clan head and his sons exchanged some serious looks. Still not really sure what was passing between them, I just held my tongue, but then Jeeda chimed in from next to me.

“What’s going on? You all seem awful suspicious of Asuta’s words. Is it really that hard to believe what he has to say?”

“I mean, we’re talking about Asuta here. It just doesn’t seem possible for such a little kid to make food even more delicious than he does.”

“Hrm... Even so, I don’t really get what you guys are acting so serious for,” Jeeda commented with a tilt of his head. Though the young hunter still wore a piercing gaze and stern expression, the gesture was as cute as you’d expect from someone his age. “In fact, you look even more serious than when we were discussing Mikel. Was the real reason you summoned Asuta here because you wanted to ask about this Myme girl instead?”

“Hmm? I mean, anyone would be curious after hearing something like that, right? And we know how skilled Asuta is better than anyone!”

“But wouldn’t it be normal to be more concerned with finding out about Mikel and Myme first? I mean, they’re going to be coming here to the settlement in the middle of the day, while the men are all out hunting giba.”

“There’s no way an older man whose right arm doesn’t work and a little brat of around ten or so could do anything to women of the forest’s edge. If they tried, Vina could just kick them in the butts and send them running,” Ludo retorted.

I was well aware of just how surprisingly powerful Vina Ruu was despite looking like sex appeal incarnate. Actually, the women of the forest’s edge were generally quite strong.

“Then why not take them at their word and invite them here to the settlement at the forest’s edge? Unless you do, and actually try her cooking for yourselves, you’ll never know just how skilled that Myme girl really is,” Jeeda stated, sounding rather exasperated.

“Hmm...” Donda Ruu grumbled as he fiddled with his beard. “Asuta, you’re planning to invite them to not just the Fa house, but here to the Ruu settlement too, right?”

“Ah, yes. I know Reina Ruu and the others are interested in Myme’s cooking, so I was thinking we could give it a try together...”

“Then I leave the rest up to the women. This has nothing to do with us.”

As I blinked in surprise, I called out, “Um...then does that mean I have your permission to invite Mikel and Myme to the forest’s edge?”

“Did you ever hear anyone say you couldn’t...?”

“No, not at all! I’m just glad to have your okay.”

Slowly, Donda Ruu rose to his feet.

“Then go ahead and get back to your work already. I’m going to go sleep a bit more, myself.”

“Right. Thank you very much.”

For some reason, I couldn’t help but feel a bit let down somehow as I exited the Ruu house.

When I left through the front door, Toor Deen came running over from next to the wagon, where she had been waiting.

“I-Is everything all right, Asuta? You were in there for quite some time, so I was concerned.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I got permission to invite Mikel and Myme here.”

“Ah, I’m glad to hear it. I couldn’t help but worry that you had earned the leading clan head’s rage or something.”

“Yeah, I thought so too at first.”

But instead, it turned out everyone had just been interested in hearing about how I said Myme was a more skilled chef than I was.

Just a few months back, they used to say there was no good or bad taste when it came to food... Well, that’s certainly a happy change from my point of view, though, I thought to myself, then I went ahead and gave Toor Deen a smile.

“Looks like our departure got delayed a good bit there. Is Yamiru Lea already in the wagon? If so, then let’s hurry on over to the post town.”

With a bashful smile, Toor Deen nodded back, “Right.”