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“Alma here married my little sister and ended up being the one who will take over the ranch in my place, ever since I left home,” Zasshuma explained as we walked along the path toward the fields. “Becoming the ranch’s owner means having to deal with those folks from the firm, whose heads are filled with nothing but money calculations. If my stubborn old man would just step down already and leave everything to Alma, things would probably be nice and secure here at the ranch.”
“Don’t make me laugh. As if I’m even close to being the smooth talker you are.”
“Just some worldly wisdom I picked up after abandoning my hometown. Who knows what’d become of this place if I inherited it.”
From what I could see, there didn’t seem to be any discord between Zasshuma and Alma in the least. These two coarse men around forty were having a nice, friendly conversation. It was all so wholesome.
“This here is the entrance to the pasture. Go ahead and soak in the sight of our prized karon for as long as you want,” our guide Alma said to our group of thirteen.
Alma reached out for the gate in the log fence, only for Ai Fa to call out to him from beside me.
“Before you do that, there is just one more matter I wish to confirm. These karon animals really do not present any danger, even when getting close to them?”
“That’s right. Karon are docile creatures. Since they’re not in their breeding season, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about at all. Even if you slap them full force on the rear, they’ll just try to get away from you, and not even very fast,” Alma said with a friendly smile, and then he swung open the gate. “But if the karon are injured, that lowers the value of their pelts and meat, so it’s no trouble if you want to touch the karon, but please promise not to get rough with them.”
“Naturally. I swear that we will observe your rules with care.”
As Alma broke out in an even broader grin in response to Ai Fa’s overblown statement, he went ahead and invited us into the pasture. It was a really wide-open space. At our feet there was a type of grass I hadn’t seen in Genos, like the sort you would grow on a lawn, coming up to around my ankles. Inside the pasture were a number of karon wandering about and idly grazing.
“Our job is to water the grass and get the karon to walk about. As you can see, if you leave them be they’ll just spend the whole day eating. Without exercise, the quality of their meat worsens.”
As Alma said that, he gave a nearby karon a smack on the rear with a leather crop.
Perhaps so as not to damage the karon’s pelt, there was cloth wrapped around the end of the crop. When its behind was hit, the karon let out a displeased sound and sluggishly started walking.
Man, they sure were big. They looked to be between 170 to 200 centimeters long, and were anywhere from 130 to 150 centimeters tall. As for their weight...I didn’t have the easiest time eyeballing it, but I would guess they couldn’t be lighter than Holstein cattle, which weighed around six hundred to seven hundred kilos. They were just that huge, and had a real sluggish look about them. Their four legs in particular appeared to be unusually thick, with the front and back pairs being roughly even in girth. In fact, they looked so thick and heavy that they made me think more of elephants than tapirs.
Now that we had gotten this close, I could also confirm that those wide legs had toenails rather than hooves. Considering their meat was like beef and their milk was probably akin to that of a water buffalo, I really just couldn’t classify them. They truly did seem to be creatures unique to this world.
“When they’re sick, these guys won’t show that they’re suffering at all until they collapse, so we have to keep an eye on that too. To an outsider it may look like just casually strolling alongside the karon, but it’s actually a pretty stressful job.”
Alma kept on walking, giving the karon a few more smacks on the rear as he went. Rimee Ruu and Myme had become pure bundles of curiosity just by being near a karon, while the other women and Dan Rutim all watched intently as the beast moved. The only ones who looked no different than normal were Jeeda and Bartha.
“Have you two seen karon before somewhere else?”
“Hmm? Well, this is our first time setting foot in such an impressive ranch, but plenty of farm villages out there have houses that raise karon, so it’s not like we’re going to be surprised by how big they are or anything.”
Bartha had once wandered around the western kingdom as a member of the Red Beards, and even Jeeda had made a trip of several days from Masara to Genos. This apparently wasn’t an especially unusual sight for them.
“Still, they sure are big! If there were giba this large out there, we’d have some serious trouble with it!” Dan Rutim exclaimed while leaning on his cane and letting out a hearty chuckle. His right ankle was apparently doing a lot better, as he was no longer holding his foot in the air, and his stride was now about as steady as it was before he got injured.
“Of course, no giba is anywhere near this big. But it would be an incredible threat if such a thing existed,” Deem Rutim solemnly chimed in, only for Dan Rutim to turn his way with a grin.
“Well, I figure a giba that big probably shows up once every few decades. Unfortunately, I’ve never had a chance to lay eyes on one myself, but that skull that was hanging in the Suun ritual hall sure was splendid. If you attached a body to it, it’d probably end up the same size as one of these karon.”
“You think so? In that case, I’ll have to train even harder.”
At that, Alma turned toward the hunters with a look of great interest from up at the head of our group. “I’ve been eating nothing but karon my whole life, so just what exactly does giba taste like? It’s earned quite a reputation in the Genos post town, right?”
“Giba is delicious! And thanks to Asuta, it’s only gotten all the more tasty!”
“Yeah, it’s really good. I gave you all some smoked meat earlier as thanks for letting us come observe the place, so you should give it a try tonight,” I said.
Of course, that was like having someone who had only ever eaten beef try out boar meat, so who knew if he would like it or not.
Whichever it would turn out to be, right now Alma was saying, “I’ll be looking forward to it,” with a friendly grin. “By the way, are you planning to offer your giba meat in Dabagg? I’d imagine that would make for a pretty hard sell.”
“True. I mean, you can eat such delicious karon meat in Dabagg. To be honest, I don’t expect that we’ll be able to set up any serious business here... But just being able to hear the people of Dabagg’s impressions would be valuable enough in and of itself.”
“Hmm? Then you spent half a day coming here to Dabagg without even the aim of earning coins in mind?”
“That’s right. If I had to say, the main goal is to expand our knowledge as chefs.”
The secondary point was to see what people in other towns thought of giba and the people of the forest’s edge.
It certainly would be quite difficult to sell giba meat in a karon-producing town like Dabagg of all places. But the folks here were sure to have discerning palates when it came to meat, so I would be plenty satisfied with just hearing how they would evaluate giba meat.
“Well, the heads of the firm are shrewd ones, and they take care to make sure they don’t suffer any losses. After all, their heads are filled with nothing but thoughts about their own profits.”
“Is Digola from down south still in charge of the firm?” Zasshuma asked.
“Yep, sure enough,” Alma said with a shrug of his shoulders. “And if old man Digola steps down, his son will take his place. They’ve been real close to the lord of Dabagg since the previous generation. Honestly, they’re pretty much nobles now.”
“So they leave running the ranches to others and just focus on calculating money, huh? Well, I guess that may be more efficient if you’re only thinking about earning coins.”
“That’s for sure. But, well, if they’ll keep taking care of the annoying details like negotiations and calculations, then I’ll gladly hold my tongue and just keep chasing karon around,” Alma said with a smile, not sounding especially displeased with the situation. He must have meant that working with karon out in the sun suited him much more than calculating money. “Ah, there’s Malotta, finally. You ready to face some verbal abuse, Zasshuma?”
“Hmph, as long as he doesn’t say anything rude to the guests, I don’t mind.”
There was an especially huge karon lying down in the direction we were heading, with a short and stout man kneeling next to it. From the way his hair had gone partially white, he seemed to be entering old age. Just like with Alma, his skin was well tanned, and he was currently staring intently at the karon’s leg.
“Malotta, I brought some guests. They came here from Genos to check out the ranch.”
After Alma said that, the man turned our way with a displeased look. His gaze passed right over Zasshuma as he scanned the rest of our group, all standing in a line.
“Guests from Genos...? Are they looking to purchase karon without going through the firm?”
“No, they supposedly just want to see the ranch. They brought us quite the fine gift, so I’ve been showing them around.”
“Hmph...” Malotta replied with a disinterested snort, then he turned his gaze back to the karon.
“How is it doing?” Alma asked, stooping down next to him.
“Not good. Seems like it hurt its leg even more after just a bit of walking. At this rate, it won’t put on anything but fat.”
“Then don’t you figure it’s about time? I’d say raising it up till this point is good enough.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. In just two more months, it’ll become an even better specimen.”
Thinking nothing of the conversation between its owners, the karon just kept on lying there on its side and munching grass. It looked about as long as Dan Rutim was tall, so sitting there, its huge body was like a little mountain.
“Let’s try mixing nenon leaves in with its morning feed. Next time you head into town, have the vegetable seller give you some.”
“Nenon leaves, huh? But I just went there two days ago, so it’ll be a while till next time,” Alma replied, at which point Zasshuma took a single step forward.
“We’re planning to stay in town at an inn tonight. If you like, we could buy some and drop them off on our way back tomorrow?”
Malotta turned and shot Zasshuma a harsh look.
“We can’t ask guests to run errands like that for us... It would be absolutely preposterous.”
“Aw, we don’t mind. It’s the least we can do to repay you for letting us see the ranch. And we wouldn’t be asking for anything in return, so you can set your mind at ease about this.”
“I’ve never felt at ease around you. Ever...” Malotta retorted, turning away from his son.
Shrugging his shoulders, Zasshuma stepped back. “Well then, how about we continue with the tour? You’ve been a big help, Alma.”
“Right. When you’re ready to leave the ranch, just call out to me,” Alma replied with a strained smile, raising his hand a bit.
After giving the man a nod, Zasshuma turned our way. “Well, let’s get back to it. We’ll check out the karon shed over there next.”
He was quite familiar with the place. After all, this was where he was born. Alma returned to his work, and we headed back down the path we had come from.
“My old man is always like that. Well, the fact that he talked to me at all means today went pretty well.”
“He seems like a difficult person to get along with. Too obstinate, too passionate about his work.”
“He’s nothing all that grandiose. He’s just a narrow-minded old man who’s better at dealing with karon than people.”
At that, Dan Rutim interjected from behind. “Still, what a surprise, to hear that man was your father. Didn’t you say that you last returned here two years ago?”
“Yeah, what of it?”
“All that time, and yet your conversation barely lasted a moment? Such a thing would be unthinkable at the forest’s edge.”
“Well, I mean, I did cast aside my home town,” Zasshuma replied, scratching his head as he looked up at Dan Rutim. “As an example, how would you feel if that heir of yours cast aside his work as a hunter and left the settlement at the forest’s edge? Even if he did a fine job at some other job elsewhere, would you really be able to celebrate that?”
“Gazraan, leave the settlement...? Ah, it’s almost unthinkable. Just imagining it is enough to make me sad!”
“Right? So in the end, it’s only natural I wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms,” Zasshuma replied with a dauntless grin.
Dan Rutim fell into deep thought and then replied, “Hmm... But if Gazraan were to make that decision... It might leave me sad and frustrated, but in the end I’d have to accept it. For Gazraan to go so far as to cast aside the law of forest’s edge, he would need to have a great deal of resolve and determination, after all...”
“You don’t have to think that hard about it. I can’t imagine any hunters of the forest’s edge would cast aside their homeland for any reason as half-assed as mine.”
“Did you really cast your homeland aside so lightly?!”
“It was important to me, but it probably didn’t seem that way to my family,” Zasshuma said with a grin as his eyes narrowed and he stared off into the distance. “I just wanted to see the world outside.”
After that, Miza showed us around, taking us to see various buildings on the ranch.
The first place we were led to was a stable for young karon attached to the place where Miza had been milking before.
“Until they’re ready to eat grass, young karon only spend half their day out in the pasture. After the sun hits its peak, they stay here for the rest of the day, drinking milk.”
Each mother karon had four or five young, all gathered around to suckle. Even though karon were such large creatures, it seemed they birthed multiple children at once.
The young karon were a good bit slimmer than the adults, but even so, they were undeniably adorable. It even made me a little emotional, watching the little karon trying their hardest to stretch out their snouts for milk.
“We mix aria into the feed of the milk-producing karon. Even if they’ve gone a little bad, the karon will still happily chow down on them.”
Now that I thought about it, I could remember Dora saying something way back about how he sold leftover aria to Dabagg as karon feed. Of course, thanks to us starting up our business, he no longer had any extra aria left over. But there shouldn’t have been that great of a change in the overall aria consumption around Genos, so other fields must have still been selling their leftover aria to Dabagg.
“The next shed over is for sick karon who are resting. They need to take it easy, so do you mind if we skip that one?”
“Of course not.”
“Well then, next up is the skinning shed.”
The building was far removed from both the barn and the pasture. It gave us some serious emotional whiplash, going from the heartwarming sight of a mother and child to a shed where karon were skinned and butchered.
“We finish the skinning in the morning, so nobody is in there now. Do you still want to take a look?”
“Yes, please.”
The inside of the shed was still filled with the vivid stench of blood and innards. There were large work stations situated here and there throughout the room, and a number of ropes connected to pulleys dangled from the sturdy-looking beams. Along the wall there were knives in various sizes, as well as a small stove and a metal pot.
“Hmm, those look like some fine tools, but otherwise it doesn’t seem all that different from what we’ve got at the forest’s edge,” Dan Rutim mumbled as he stared into the room with great curiosity.
“The next room is the meat storehouse. We preserve the meat in salt as soon as it’s prepared, then it’s carried to relay stations and nearby towns. What’s left behind here are the excess innards and leg meat.”
“So because of sales dropping in Genos, you have more leg meat than you can sell?”
“That’s right. But most folks have always been happier with meat from karon torsos than legs. And we can turn the excess leg meat into jerky, so it’s not really a significant loss.”
Currently, around 130 kilos of giba meat were being distributed throughout the Genos post town each day. The kimyuus and karon leg meat sales must have fallen by a similar amount, but apparently it wasn’t at a stage where the ranches were really feeling the hit just yet.
“If you want, how about giving some a taste?”
“Huh? A taste?”
As I stood there taken aback, Miza pulled out a block of meat coated in salt from one of several jars sitting in a line. Then she pulled a knife out of her pocket and cut off some chunks.
“This leg meat was prepared just this morning, so there shouldn’t be any problem with it. You don’t get many opportunities to eat raw karon outside of Dabagg, do you?”
“That’s true. Thank you.”
After I took the first, Mikel, Myme, and the chefs from the forest’s edge all accepted cuts of meat. After a little urging, Bartha and Jeeda did the same, but Dan Rutim was the only hunter of the forest’s edge to reach out.
“That raw fish had a real odd flavor, but I have to know what this raw karon will taste like,” Dan Rutim said before popping the chunk of meat into his mouth without the slightest hesitation.
As I watched him out of the corner of my eye, I gave it a try myself, and found it didn’t taste as bloody as I expected. Plus, since it had rock salt sprinkled over it, it wasn’t at all hard to eat. But since it was leg meat, it was unsurprisingly sinewy, and I figured it would be a whole lot tastier if the surface were grilled.
“This is...quite the unusual taste,” Reina Ruu muttered with a serious look on her face. “It has an entirely different flavor and texture than cooked meat. I can’t help but think it would go down easier if paired with a strong-smelling ingredient like myamuu...”
“Yeah. If we had minced myamuu and tau oil to go with it, it would feel like a proper dish.”
Still, with beef, even when you sliced it thinly, you still needed to sear the surface to kill off the bacteria, so this was quite a valuable experience for me. After all, the only meat besides fish that I could ever recall eating raw was just liver and horse-meat sashimi.
Incidentally, while Reina and Sheera Ruu were calmly and composedly evaluating the taste, Rimee Ruu and Toor Deen were standing next to them tearing up a little.
“Asuta... No matter how much I chew this, I can’t get it down...”
“Ah ha ha, is the taste a bit too tough for you little ladies to handle?” Miza chimed in with an amused chuckle.
Then Mikel finally spoke up after hardly saying a word all morning.
“It’s good, firm-textured meat. The karon meat you can buy in Genos is hit-and-miss, but the stuff from this ranch seems to fall in the ‘hit’ category.”
“Thanks for saying so. But the meat brought to Genos is handled by a transporter that the firm employs, so we don’t know anything about how it’s sold.”
“Hmm, the meat from the first-class and shabby ranches is all sold together. So meat both good and poor has to be purchased for the same price. I find that hard to swallow.”
“That’s for sure! But outside of small personal dealings, everything’s gotta be passed through the firm.”
Even so, Malotta’s ranch wasn’t cutting any corners when it came to raising karon. Since Mikel had bothered to speak up despite being in a bad mood, I was certain of that. I also noticed Zasshuma turning away when he bit into the meat, his eyes narrowed with joy.
“Well then, let’s wrap up with the kitchen... Though I guess you technically already saw it.”
Under Miza’s guidance, we were led around to the rear of the meat storehouse, where we found quite the spectacle awaiting us. There were a vast number of karon rawhides drying out in the shade of the wide roof.
“We handle these all at once every couple of days, and then the leatherworkers come purchase them. The cloaks and bags they make out of them are sold in Genos too, right?”
“That’s true. I get a lot of use out of those leather bags for carrying my ingredients.”
Apparently, kimyuus skins were used more often to make leather goods than as an ingredient, but the bigger, sturdier stuff was of course made with karon leather instead. The traveler’s cloaks Zasshuma and Bartha had on were surely made out of the stuff too.
“Now that I think about it, you were milking a karon when we first saw you, Miza. You didn’t seem to have a shed for storing the stuff, so do you not process it into milk fat and dried milk here?”
“That’s right. We sell it to a dairyman, and we only milk as much as is ordered from us. But, well, since milk goes bad so quickly, we never sell a lot of it at once.”
“I see. But the Genos post town has been using milk fat for a while now. Have sales still not picked up enough to be noticeable yet?”
“Hmm? This is the first I’ve heard of anything like that. Well, if the other ranches aren’t able to keep up with demand, then a bit of extra earnings may end up coming our way.”
As I pondered the matter by myself, I felt a light tug on my arm from behind. When I turned to look, I found Zasshuma giving me a strained grin.
“The folks with power in the firm end up taking all the sweet deals like that for themselves. Any milk sold in Genos’s post town probably comes solely from Digola’s ranch.”
“Oh really...? Then what about putting in a good word with Polarth to purchase milk from this ranch too?” I whispered to him, but Zasshuma just shrugged his shoulders with the same look still on his face.
“That would be mixing my private and professional affairs. And if I tried to turn a profit using my ties with the nobility, that’d be the exact same thing old man Digola has been doing, right?”
“Ah, so that’s how you see it?”
“Yeah, it is. And besides...if my stubborn old man found out about it, he’d definitely yell at me for sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.”
It seemed like that last bit might have been Zasshuma’s primary reason for not doing so. As I was considering that, Miza energetically called out, “Now then! It’s about time we head to the kitchen for real. If you’re prepared to work up a serious sweat, come on and follow me.”
That statement turned out to be no exaggeration. The building was every bit as big as the others, and there were numerous stoves inside boiling a huge amount of karon fat and bones.
“The fat is used both as food and as an ingredient for making candles. As I said before, the bones are part of the prep work for the food that we eat.”
The women there were coated all over in sweat as they stirred the pots frequently with huge poles. The pots were massive as well, and the interior of the room was filled with dense white smoke that made me feel like my whole body would get coated in fat just from standing there.
On top of that, there was a shed constructed next to the kitchen for smoking meat. Apparently, this was where the leg meat they couldn’t find a buyer for was eventually turned into jerky. We did a little taste test of their smoked karon, and its incredible saltiness reminded me of beef jerky. It tasted no different than the stuff that was sold in the post town too.
“Well, that’s more or less everything. Was it enough to satisfy your curiosity, dears?” Miza asked with a cheerful grin, bringing the first half of our field trip to Dabagg to a close.
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