Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 17 - Chapter 4.3

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“You’re more calculating than I thought, Zasshuma,” I said as we rode along in the swaying wagon.

“What are you talking about?” the bodyguard asked back, turning my way with a doubtful look.

“You were suspicious of Digola and Meilos right from the very start, weren’t you? And you goaded me on to see how they would react, right?”

“You make it sound bad, saying I goaded you on. But no matter how crafty they might have seemed, I couldn’t exactly go calling them criminals without any proof, you know. So I just held myself back from aggravating matters until I was totally confident about it.”

“Then why not tell us that right from the start? It was pretty underhanded of you,” I said. Then a thought suddenly came to mind. “Now that I think about it, that whole thing about pretending to be a merchant group in order to entrap the Suun clan was a plot concocted by you and Melfried, not Kamyua, right? I guess it should have been obvious to me from the very start that you were a tricky guy.”

“Boy, that’s some ancient history you’re dragging up. Did I really hurt your feelings that badly?” As he rubbed his stubbly cheek, Zasshuma leaned closer to me, looking concerned.

As I stared back at him, I replied with a strained smile, “No. I’m more relieved that you’re not the sort of person who’d put down your family’s ranch like that. Though I have been thinking that you aren’t very upfront about your feelings toward them.”

“Well, it’s not like I went after those criminals for their sake. It was just righteous indignation, that’s all.”

With a shrug of his bulky shoulders, Zasshuma turned his gaze outside of the wagon. We were still within Dabagg territory, heading down a tree-lined street that connected the town and the ranches.

Since the sun was now rather high in the sky, there was sunlight filtering through the trees, creating shadows on the ground. The plan was that we would first stop by the Malotta ranch again, and then head back to Genos.

“What will happen to Digola and Meilos now?”

“No clue. It’ll depend on just how much they’ve angered the lord of Dabagg, but I imagine they at least won’t get their heads lopped off. They’ll probably just need to give up living off their calculations and go back to chasing after karon rears instead.”

The news of their wrongdoings would spread throughout the ranches before long. If Digola earned the wrath of the ranch owners, the resulting outrage would probably reach Count Dabagg and make him hand down judgment before the envoy from Genos could even arrive.

“So even in a peaceful town like this, there are people trying to con their way into riches, huh?”

“That’s right. There’s always going to be crime anywhere that people gather.”

As we were talking, the Malotta ranch came into view. Miza just happened to be carrying a huge wooden barrel out of the barn, and she greeted us with a smile. “My, are you leaving? Did you at least get to eat some delicious karon in town?”

“Yes, we did. In fact, I might have overeaten a bit,” I said with a smile of my own as I hopped down from the wagon.

Zasshuma also got down and stood next to me. “Are Alma and the others still out in the pasture? We’d like to at least say a brief farewell to them too.”

“The sun’ll hit its peak soon, so they’re probably on their way back. But more importantly...!” Miza declared, ignoring her son and turning my way. “That giba meat sure was some fine stuff! It was every bit as tasty as our karon, and all it took was tossing it in the pot for dinner!”

“Ah, you tried it already? Well, I’m glad to hear that it was to your tastes.”

“The flavor was just a bit strong, but the more I ate it, the more I felt like that was the most important part. If they can get their hands on meat this good, I’d imagine the folks from Genos won’t be buying karon much longer.”

“I don’t think that’s necessarily how it’ll turn out. Giba and karon each have a delicious taste all their own. And besides, it wouldn’t be possible to provide enough giba meat for the whole population of Genos in the first place.”

“Oh really? Well, that’s a relief,” Miza said with a smile, still holding that heavy-looking barrel.

It was then that Myme spoke up, having appeared there beside me at some point. “Um, is that karon milk? If you don’t mind, could you sell me some? Just ten bottles would be plenty.”

“Ooh, you want to buy karon milk? We’ve only got barrels like this here, for selling to the dairyman.”

“Oh, I bought bottles in town, so I would love to purchase some if you don’t mind!”

“Sorry, but could we buy twenty bottles as well?” Reina Ruu called out from behind.

“I appreciate it,” Miza said with a grin. “Karon milk spoils so easily that it’s hard to find buyers. Ten bottles would be five red coins, and twenty would cost ten.”

“Huh? That’s really cheap. If we bought it in Genos, it would cost twice as much.”

“That’s to pay the transporters. After all, it takes a full day to go from Dabagg to Genos and back again.”

That being the case, I decided I would go ahead and buy ten bottles myself. Since we wouldn’t have time to prepare meals for tomorrow, we had planned to take the day off from our business in the post town, and would be using that time to learn a variety of dishes from Mikel.

“Then let’s go ahead and separate this out into bottles. I’ll collect more for the dairyman later after we’ve eaten.”

“Thank you, that’s a big help.”

We headed into the barn with our bottles, just as everyone started coming in from the pasture. Alma was walking at the head of the group, and he greeted us with a smile. “Hey, there. Are those guests of yours heading on back to Genos, Zasshuma?”

“Yeah, but we stopped by for a bit of a chat first.”

Zasshuma lowered his voice and started explaining what happened with Digola and Meilos. After hearing the story, Alma looked utterly astounded.

“What the heck? So Digola was just lying about the nobles of Genos lowering the price for karon?”

“Most likely, yes. A man named Meilos in charge of external affairs was in on it, and they must have been pocketing the coins that were supposed to be going to all of you.”

“Ha ha... That sure is crafty of them. Still, it was a mistake on our part too for leaving all the money calculations up to them.”

“That’s for sure. You’re the one heading to firm meetings instead of my old man now, right? No matter who ends up as Digola’s successor, you should keep a careful eye out to make sure they aren’t causing any harm.”

“Got it. What about everyone from the other ranches?”

“They don’t know yet. I figured I could have you act as a messenger. After all, we’ve got to get back to Genos.”

“All right then. We’ll all go spread the word about Digola tonight.”

With the look on his face remaining bright and cheerful all the while, Alma called over a nearby herdboy.

“Oh, could you also tell everyone that an investigative team will be coming from Genos Castle soon to determine the truth of the matter? Otherwise, those two might keep on trying to insist it was Genos forcing down prices.”

“What? Will they really send people over here?”

“No clue. But it’s important to make sure Digola thinks so.”

“Ha ha, you’ve gotten pretty sneaky, Zasshuma,” Alma said while hitting the bodyguard’s shoulder with the back of his hand. With an identical expression, Zasshuma did the same thing back. “Well, see you around. Just don’t make it another two years before you show your face around here again, okay?”

“We’ll see. I can’t make any promises, but, well, I’ll keep it in mind.”

With that, Alma departed alongside the herdboy. They were probably going to go around to the other ranches on a totos or something to spread the news.

After watching the man leave, Zasshuma lightly knitted his brow when he spotted the last person to return from the pasture. That was because the rather short and stout man was none other than Malotta.

I had only seen him bent over yesterday, so I hadn’t been able to tell, but he was even shorter than I had imagined. At most, he was around 160 centimeters tall. With a sour look on his face, he went to pass right by us without even looking, but then Zasshuma called out, “Hold on.” Malotta turned around with a suspicious look, only for Zasshuma to thrust a large cloth bag he had pulled out of the wagon at the man. “They’re nenon leaves. Take them as our thanks for that meal yesterday.”

“That meal was to show our thanks for that giba meat or whatever it was...”

“Then let’s say it’s for Alma and ma showing us around the ranch. We don’t have any use for the stuff, so just take it.” Malotta was glaring up at his son who was over half a head taller than him while looking clearly displeased. Returning that look, Zasshuma continued on, “Also, it may be none of my business, but let me just say one thing. Right now, this ranch’s customers in Genos are reconsidering all of the ingredients they purchase. Also, Digola’s likely to get dragged down from his position as head of the firm soon, maybe even tonight. So don’t you think you should take the opportunity to reevaluate your own business?”

“Reevaluate our business?”

“Yeah. Right now, the karon you raise at this ranch and the ones that are raised with no real care at all from Digola’s ranch are all sold together, aren’t they? Wouldn’t it make sense to negotiate with Genos, so that first-rate karon is sold for a suitable price, and lower-quality karon is sold for less?”

“I can’t see why I should listen to impertinent remarks from someone like you...”

“That’s true. So hurry up and hand the ranch over to Alma already. He should be capable of at least calculating the potential profits and losses there. A feeble old man’s gotta step back at some point in order to train a successor, y’know?” Zasshuma said with a brazen grin. “You can just keep on raising fine karon like you always have. You’ve got a reliable heir, so let him take care of the rest of the troublesome stuff. He’d handle it a whole lot better than someone like me.”

“Hmph...” Malotta snorted, snatching the bag from Zasshuma. Then he silently turned around and walked toward the house.

As his father departed, the bodyguard called out to the old man’s short yet burly back, “See you around! Don’t go kicking the bucket before we meet again, okay, old man?”

“Worry about yourself before you worry about anyone else...you idiot son of mine.”

With that, Malotta vanished behind the building.

Once he was gone from sight, Dan Rutim happily proclaimed from behind us, “Yes, that’s the way! A father and child should always be able to understand one another like that!”

“Don’t start shouting that kind of nonsense out of nowhere, Dan Rutim.”

“It’s not nonsense! Even if you were speaking rudely, your feelings toward your father came across as clear as day, Zasshuma!”

“Oh, shut it,” Zasshuma retorted with a strained chuckle.

“Ah ha ha,” I laughed, but then I suddenly felt a firm tug on my arm. It was Ai Fa, knitting her brow and bringing her face in real close.

“Hmm? What’s the matter, Ai Fa?”

“That’s my line. Why are you tearing up like that, Asuta?” Ai Fa whispered, taking care that no one else noticed.

“I’m not,” I replied, quickly wiping under my eyes. “It’s just, seeing those two, father and son, talking like that really struck a chord in me. It’s not something you see often at the forest’s edge.”

My clan head just kept silently staring at me.

“It’s nothing serious, so you don’t have to look at me like that.”

In order to hide my embarrassment, I flicked Ai Fa on the nose. Instantly, she went beet red and ground her head up against my cheek.

“Owww. Sorry, I was just messing around, but I shouldn’t have done that.”

“What are you two doing? Look, the rest of the group is already back.”

Just like Dan Rutim had said, the women had returned from the barn, holding a number of bottles.

By this point, the sun was already nearing its peak.

It was then that Dan Rutim looked down at me and Ai Fa and loudly proclaimed, “Now then, how about we head on back to the forest’s edge?! I’m sure the women must be preparing a delicious dinner and waiting for our return!”