Chapter 1: A Sweet Gathering of Noble Ladies
1
After the calamity surrounding the Sauti settlement brought about by the lord of the forest had come to a close, we all returned to our everyday lives.
The Ruu clan’s chefs had been alternating who lodged at the Sauti settlement every other day, but for everyone else it had been a four-day stay. However, considering that they’d taken down a target as terrifyingly powerful as the lord of the forest in such a short amount of time, it actually felt rather quick.
On the other hand, Ai Fa, Donda Ruu, and Darmu Ruu had suffered serious injuries, but all of them would be able to recover with rest, which was something of a relief. We had to give our thanks to the mother forest that the lord was defeated without anyone losing their life.
Looking beyond our sadness for our injured comrades, we gained a great many things from the experience. Primarily, there was the pride of having defeated the mighty lord of the forest, as well as the bonds that were starting to flourish between the various clans.
It had taken the unified strength of numerous clans in order to bring down the lord of the forest. Though the people of the forest’s edge tended to value blood ties above all else and didn’t have much to do with clans with which they lacked such bonds, they had lent their aid in order to save the Sauti from their dilemma.
To establish our business in the post town, the Fa clan had taken the initiative in deepening our bonds with a variety of clans. If the Sauti could also keep forming new connections as well, things would definitely go better for them.
With all that having played out, the third day of the violet month had arrived. The lord of the forest had been defeated on the final day of the indigo month, the thirty-first, so it was now three days later.
Since we had temporarily closed for business on the first of the violet month, this was our second day with the stalls open again. Everything was proceeding the same as always, but one member of our group seemed to be acting differently than usual.
“What’s the matter? Did something happen? You’ve seemed down all morning,” I asked Toor Deen, who was working the stall alongside me.
As she set a fresh steaming basket of giba manju on the pot, Toor Deen replied, “No,” with a shake of her head. “It’s nothing all that serious. Please, don’t waste your worry on someone like me.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. There’s no way I could just ignore you looking down in the dumps.” I stole a look down at her face, as she was about a head shorter than me. “Well, it’s possible someone like me won’t be able to do much to help, but maybe talking about it will make you feel better. As long as you’re okay with it, I’m willing to discuss anything you need.”
Toor Deen listlessly stared back at me. At least she wasn’t tearing up, but she still looked just about ready to cry. No, there was no way I could ignore her like she’d asked.
“You see...the clan head chewed me out yesterday.”
“The head of the Deen did? But why?”
“Well... I got scolded for making a poor dish and wasting valuable ingredients...”
“That’s ridiculous. You’re seriously saying you made something that bad?”
I knew better than anyone how skilled Toor Deen was, and besides, three days ago she had been giving her all to aid the Sauti along with the rest of us. She had finally returned home the day before yesterday, and she said her clan members had all shown appreciation for her efforts, which had made her incredibly happy.
Toor Deen had originally been a member of a Suun branch house. Considering her personality, she had undoubtedly felt quite overwhelmed when faced with the task of living a proper life in order for her crimes to be forgiven.
But she had trained her cooking skills through the Fa clan and finally reached the point where she was entrusted to man the stove for a wedding at the northern settlement, and she was currently earning a great deal of wealth for the Deen clan by assisting with work in the post town. On top of that, she had even returned with a thighbone from the lord of the forest for the help she’d provided the Sauti clan. By this point, she should’ve been living with pride and joy even when among the Deen clan rather than worrying about bringing them shame. Or at least I thought so.
I had met the Deen clan head before, at least in passing. Though the clan had once fallen under the Suun, they were located so far away that they weren’t deeply involved with the former leading clan or the clans of the north, and should have been more like the Fou and Ran in how they lived austere yet earnest lives, fitting for people of the forest’s edge. I just couldn’t imagine the Deen clan head scolding Toor Deen over some minor failure.
“Hmm, what’s that all about? Could it be some sort of misunderstanding?”
“It can’t be. All the men felt the same way as our clan head. They said that it was just awful... I feel terrible, after everything you taught me...”
“This is sounding more and more odd. I just can’t imagine you making such a poor dish. What exactly did you make for them?”
“I...I mixed poitan with sugar...” Toor Deen replied, tearing up a bit.
A new customer approached at that point which got me a bit flustered, but Yamiru Lea seamlessly offered her support from the neighboring stall. She moved around us, grabbed a piping hot giba manju out of the steaming basket, and handed it over to the customer.
The glance Yamiru Lea shot me seemed to say, “Hurry up and do something about this.” Despite appearances, she was trying to look after Toor Deen, her former relative.
While feeling grateful for Yamiru Lea’s kindness, I led Toor Deen around to the rear of the stall.
As the young girl kept on sobbing, she continued, “The other women manning the stove with me were happy with it, so I decided to serve it for dinner...but it must not have been a dish that was suitable for hunters. I felt so pathetic as the one who was supposed to grant them their life for the day...”
“H-Hold on, Toor Deen. Come on, wipe away your tears.”
“I’m sorry...”
Toor Deen deeply hung her head as she wiped her tears with the hand towel I gave her. Though she was one of the leading chefs of the forest’s edge, she was still only ten years old. And she was especially sensitive for a member of her people, so it pained me to see those tears streaming down her face.
“Could you tell me about it in a bit more detail? Did you just add sugar into the poitan?”
“No... I used karon milk to dissolve the poitan. Then to improve the flavor and texture I mixed in milk fat and kimyuus egg... Oh, and I used a bit of dried ramam fruit too...”
Ramam was a sweet fruit that was a lot like an apple. I used it as a subtle flavoring in my giba curry, but my experience with the dried fruit only went as far as sampling it while I was out shopping.
“Hmm... From what you’re saying, it sounds delicious. But I’d imagine it would be better suited as a dessert.”
“A dessert?”
“Yeah, like a sweet. You’ve had some during study sessions and at the dinner party in the castle town, right? The thing that’s served last when you prepare six dishes.”
Milk, milk fat, and egg were the same ingredients I used in the hotcakes and donuts I had presented to Lefreya. The only difference was that she had used poitan rather than fuwano. I had previously presented chatchi mochi and steamed pudding for dinner parties, but western-style baked sweets had yet to be introduced at the forest’s edge. That chef from the castle town, Varkas, had prepared meringue cookies made using egg for his dessert, so it wasn’t as if the idea would have come from him either.
“So you came up with that dish all on your own, Toor Deen? To be honest, a lot of sweets from back in my home country used those ingredients.”
“Is that so? I just aimed to make a dish I found delicious, the same as always... But even though sugar and milk fat are expensive ingredients, it still ended up being no good...”
“No, the issue must have been with how it paired with the other dishes. I suspect it wouldn’t be well suited to being eaten alongside meat and soup dishes... And the people of the forest’s edge have no sugar or sweet fruit in their customary diet to begin with, so it could be that they just tend to be a little averse to sweet tastes in general.” Before Toor Deen could start crying again, I hastily continued, “But they accepted sweet sauces using fruit wine quickly enough, and nobody has complained about mixing tau oil and sugar, right? So I think the main issue must be the balance between it and the other dishes. If you bring the sweets out after the rest of the meal like they do for dinner parties in the castle town, I’m sure the men would find them tasty too.”
“You really think so?”
“I’m sure of it. Now that I think about it, Rimee Ruu loved the chatchi mochi and steamed pudding, and has apparently been making them when she’s on cooking duty.”
Unfortunately, it was Sheera and Lala Ruu who were working in the post town today. And the Ruu clan members were busy running their outdoor restaurant anyway, so they wouldn’t have the time to casually chat with us regardless.
“Okay, when we make it back to the Ruu settlement, could I taste the dish you made? We could summon Rimee Ruu and have her give it a try too. Then we can figure out for sure whether or not the issue is with the taste.”
“Right...” Toor Deen replied, lifting her tear-stained face.
The young chef had undoubtedly prepared that sweet poitan dish wishing to bring joy to the people living alongside her. How sad she must have been to be scolded for making something “awful.” I didn’t think the Deen clan head and the others were truly at fault, but I also couldn’t let things stand as they were.
Toor Deen finally made a place for herself after being taken away from the Suun clan. I can’t let something like this mess it up, I thought to myself.
Then I heard Yamiru Lea call out from the stall, “Asuta, are you done now? There’s a visitor here for you.”
“Huh? A visitor for me?”
I encouraged Toor Deen to follow me back to the stall, where I found a familiar young woman deeply bowing her head.
“My most sincere apologies for intruding during such a busy time. I am Sheila, a maid for the house of Daleim.”
“Sheila...? Ah right, you’ve been helping Yang at Tanto’s Blessing and his stall, right? It’s been a while.”
“I am truly honored that you remembered someone of my station.”
Though she was dressed plainly so as not to attract attention from the ruffians around the post town, her movements and manner of speaking were highly refined. Her dark brown hair was long, and she looked to be around my age. Apparently, she had met Ai Fa back when I had been kidnapped by Lefreya, and she had helped out a lot back then.
“I have come here today in order to deliver a message from Lord Polarth. Do you mind if I convey it here and now?”
“Yeah, go right ahead.”
“Thank you. An invitation to the castle town has been extended to you, Sir Asuta.”
I figured some sort of new ingredients must have been delivered from somewhere, but instead it turned out to be a request for my cooking skills. And it didn’t come from Polarth, but rather Lady Eulifia, the wife of Duke Genos’s first son, Melfried. I had only met her once before, when I manned the kitchen alongside the skilled chef Varkas for a banquet welcoming the envoys from Banarm. In his roles as the head of the ducal guard and the arbitrator for the people of the forest’s edge, Melfried was a cool-headed and quiet man, but his wife, while graceful, gave off a rather wild impression.
“It will be a light meal for a gathering of noble ladies at The White Bird in the castle town, held on the seventh of the violet month.”
“A gathering of noble ladies? And a light meal rather than a dinner? So is it something like a tea party?”
“Yes, that is precisely the case. They will be expecting sweets rather than meat or vegetable dishes.”
I was left a little dumbfounded by the topic of sweets coming up again so soon. It felt like some sort of cruel prank by the goddess of fate.
“Hmm, but sweets fall outside of my field of expertise. I’m a little concerned about whether I’ll be able to live up to the expectations of those noble ladies... And the seventh of the violet month is a normal business day for us. Since tomorrow is a day off, we’ll be working from the fifth through the tenth of the violet month.”
“I was simply tasked with delivering this message, so I can offer you no response... But the leading clan heads of the forest’s edge should also be receiving an official request around now.”
That made sense. After all, if folks from the castle wanted to hire people of the forest’s edge, they needed to first go through the leading clan heads.
“Hmm...” This request could be an even higher hurdle for me to clear than being asked to man the kitchen for a dinner party, though.
Sheila glanced around the area and then whispered into my ear, “There is an additional message provided personally by Lord Polarth... It seems a great many noble personages in the castle town desire your cooking at present. Duke Genos is restricting their requests, as he feels it improper to interfere with the lives of you people of the forest’s edge unnecessarily... However, Lady Eulifia is the one and only person whom the duke is unable to hold back.”
As I recalled Eulifia’s cheerful smile, I nodded. “I see.” It was true that I could recall Duke Marstein Genos looking rather troubled by her speech and conduct back at the welcome banquet.
“She wished to have you handle a larger dinner party originally, but she was somehow talked down to a tea party instead. Lord Polarth said that he apologizes, but he would like you to make some time to fulfill Lady Eulifia’s curiosity.”
“Polarth and Duke Genos are both trying to do right by us people of the forest’s edge, aren’t they? I certainly understand that much... I really do. I’ll discuss the matter with the leading clan heads and give it some serious consideration.”
“We are in your debt.”
Looking somewhat relieved, Sheila stepped back.
Then, suddenly, her cheeks went red and she started fiddling with her apron.
“Also, well...if you happen to accept this job, Sir Asuta, would Lady Ai Fa be accompanying you?”
“Ai Fa? Yeah, I’d imagine she probably would.” It had been three days now since the lord of the forest had been taken down. Even with her broken ribs, Ai Fa had been moving around fairly freely yesterday and was complaining about being bored, so if I were to tell her about this, she would undoubtedly volunteer herself for guard duty.
I was somewhat worried about that, but for whatever reason, Sheila’s eyes sparkled as she replied, “I see. Sir Yang has been invited as well, so I was planning on accompanying him. Please, give my regards to Lady Ai Fa as well.”
“Right, got it.”
As I saw Sheila off with a smile, I thought with a sigh, What was that about?
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