Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 18 - Chapter 3.2

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For dinner that night the main dishes were simply steaks and hamburger steaks, then for the soup dish we had a giba soup prepared with tarapa, and the side dishes consisted of a stir-fry using four varieties of vegetables and mushrooms, plus a salad made with the daikon-like sheema.

The main and soup dishes were chosen to further improve the skills of the Sauti women who had already learned cooking techniques from the Rutim, while the vegetable dish was picked to emphasize novelty and nourishment.

For the vegetable stir-fry, in addition to the aria, I used ingredients purchased from the castle town, specifically the zucchini-like chan, arugula-like ro’hyoi, and paprika-like ma pula. I also went extravagant with the mushrooms, using the ones that were equivalent to shiitake and cloud ear mushrooms. For flavoring I used tau oil, sugar, chatchi starch, and a number of herbs to give the dish a distinctive taste.

The sheema salad was accompanied with a dressing made from dried kiki, which was akin to a sour plum, making for a refreshing dish.

And finally, we had enough giba soup to serve everyone, with some being delivered to the four clans aside from the Sauti and Vela. It was a simple dish with a tarapa and myamuu base, but I also employed a little of each of the familiar aria, chatchi, and nenon, as well as the three more unusual vegetables from the stir-fry. I figured hopefully that would be enough to lend everyone at least a little strength.

“It’s all delicious. Even more so than your dishes I tasted in the castle town, I’d say,” Dari Sauti said. His fever had finally come all the way back down, so he was once again able to eat normally.

As for the rest of the injured, the two who suffered especially severe injuries could still only slurp soup with minced meat, but the other four had recovered enough to at least eat half a serving of normal food.

“Your cooking has brought the Sauti and Vela a great deal of comfort, Asuta of the Fa clan,” Mil Fei Sauti whispered to me after dinner, during the break after cleaning up. “And I’m certain the members of the Fei, Don, and all the others feel the same. I was somewhat doubtful about how much use it would be to summon not just hunters but also chefs, but it seems that was an embarrassing misjudgment on my part.”

The look on her face remained just as taut and strict as always, but Mil Fei Sauti’s words seriously helped me feel at ease.

Since there was no new discussion for the day during dinner, everyone ended up hurrying back to their own houses...but just as I was about to step into the Vela branch house where I was staying alongside Ai Fa, Bartha, and Jeeda, a voice called out to me from behind.

“Asuta, could I have just a bit of your time?”

It was Yun Sudra.

Without thinking, I turned toward Ai Fa, at a loss as to how I should reply. My clan head just shot back, “Don’t be out too late,” with her eyes half-closed, before swiftly disappearing beyond the door.

“What is it? Is it something business related?” I asked, hoping that it was, as I faced Yun Sudra standing there under the moonlight.

“No, that isn’t it. I just wanted to express my gratitude to you.”

“Your gratitude?”

“That’s right. By working alongside you, I’ve been able to see all sorts of things. And I was able to learn how even someone like me could lend my strength to my comrades. If I had just remained in the Sudra house all this time, I surely never would have started thinking like I do now,” Yun Sudra said with her hands joined together as she gave me a passionate stare. “Those members of the Sauti who lost their strength have been joyously eating our cooking and steadily getting better. I can’t imagine what would make me feel more proud than that.”

“Yeah, I’m really glad to see it too.”

“Thank you so much. You’re everything I aspire to be. And I want to keep serving under you for as long as I live.”

“Ah, Yun Sudra...” I started to reply.

However, she cut me off by saying, “No, that’s not what I meant. I simply meant as a chef. Someone like me wouldn’t make a suitable wife for you, Asuta.”

Yun Sudra had finally gone and said the word “wife.”

As I felt sweat run down my back, I stared at her smiling face.

“But I only just turned fifteen. People won’t start pestering me to get married until I turn sixteen or seventeen. I wish to keep polishing myself until then, so that I can become someone worthy of marrying you.”

“Yun Sudra...” I called out.

However, once again she cut me off, saying, “No, I understand. There is no place for me in your heart as things stand. But even so, I intend to keep clinging to that faint hope until you take another woman as your bride.”

“Yun Sudra... Did you talk to Raielfam Sudra?”

“No. I haven’t discussed this matter with my clan head at all. But I can tell how you feel even without hearing it said. After all, no one out there is trying to win your heart as hard as I am...aside from one person, that is,” Yun Sudra replied, then broke out in a smile. “I have no chance of winning against such a wonderful woman. However, that doesn’t mean I can just stop thinking about you, Asuta.”

“Yun Sudra...” I repeated, sounding like an idiot.

“However, I definitely won’t lose to any women aside from her. I’ll become strong enough for that, at least. So please, allow me to continue to stay by your side from here on out... I love you, Asuta.” Still smiling, Yun Sudra moved away from me. “If the time comes when you are united with someone you care for, then I’ll wish you the greatest happiness imaginable, from the bottom of my heart. I’m sure I’ll sob myself to sleep that night, but then I’ll start searching for a husband for the sake of my clan. And the Fa and Sudra will continue to be friends forevermore even afterward.”

With that, Yun Sudra disappeared into the darkness.

As I looked up at the pale moon I forced down the whirling emotions in my chest and knocked on the door to the Vela house.

Just like yesterday, a Vela woman holding a candlestick guided me to the same room as before, where I found Ai Fa already atop the bedding, lying down with her back to me.

This time around, my clan head was up against the wall. Silently, I laid myself down beside her. As she had performed sacrificial hunting for the first time in a while, there was an almost alluringly sweet scent clinging to her body.

“So you’re back, Asuta?”

It seemed she wasn’t asleep after all.

As I looked up at the beams along the ceiling, I replied, “Yeah.”

“Do you have anything to tell me?”

“Yeah, I think there’s just one thing I need to inform you of.”

“Very well. Go ahead and say it.”

“Yun Sudra knows everything. And she said that she wanted to respect my feelings.”

“I see...” Ai Fa murmured, still facing the wall. “That girl really is something...”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“Whoever marries her is sure to be unbelievably happy.”

“Yup, I think so too.” As I sensed Ai Fa’s scent and warmth right next to me, I gently closed my eyes. “When Yun Sudra gets married, I’d like to wish her the best too.”

Unsurprisingly, Ai Fa only said “I see” in response.

And so, our second night at the Sauti settlement gently passed on by.