Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 19 - Chapter 2.3

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Once the study session was over, we walked around the Ruu branch houses for a bit to take in everyone’s daily lives, then headed to the Fa house.

Rimee Ruu also took the Ruu clan’s wagon, and we once again split into two groups in order to ride down the path through the forest’s edge. Since Toor Deen and Yun Sudra ended up deciding to come along to watch me cooking dinner today, we were able to head straight there.

Having heard about our guests, some folks from the Fou, Deen, and Liddo clans had gathered at the Fa house. After greeting them, I went ahead and invited the townsfolk inside for an audience with my clan head.

Incidentally, since Saris Ran and Aimu Fou were visiting again today, Tara and Yumi got really excited.

“Ah, a baby! So cute!” the younger of the two squealed.

“Ohhh, even though he’s so little, you can still tell that he’s a person of the forest’s edge.”

Aimu Fou stared blankly up at them, but when they reached out for him he toddled away and clung to Ai Fa’s leg. But seeing him act so adorably just made them squirm with happiness ever more.

“I can’t get enough of him! Ah, I should have greeted you first... Thank you for inviting us here today!” Yumi said, not waiting to be introduced since she was already acquainted with Ai Fa.

With a serious look on her face as Aimu Fou still clung to her, Ai Fa replied, “Indeed. As you can see, this is a small house, but I welcome all of you as the clan head of the Fa. Though that’s more Asuta’s job...”

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to some delicious food!” Tara said. She and Dora were of course even better acquainted with Ai Fa than Yumi was, and Mikel and Myme went without saying. Telia Mas then introduced herself, as she barely knew my clan head, which quickly brought all that to a close.

On the way to the cooking hut where the women from the forest’s edge were waiting, Dora spoke up. “On top of the members of the Ruu, right now even your clan head is injured. It’s really hitting me just how much they’re risking their lives when they go out hunting.”

“Yeah. Ai Fa and Donda Ruu are both first-rate hunters... But you saw those huge giba horns on the wall in our house and back at the Ruu settlement, right? They came from the animal that caused those injuries.”

“Huh? Those were real giba horns?! I thought for sure that they were decorations made from stone or something...”

“No, they’re real. They came from a nightmarishly massive giba.”

As we walked along, Dora laughed listlessly “Ah ha ha. Just imagining it is enough to make my knees shake. The hunters from the forest’s edge really are unbelievably strong.”

“That’s true. I’m proud to be able to call them my comrades.”

It was around then that I heard another wagon approaching from behind us.

I had thought it was some folks from the Ruu clan coming to deliver something we had forgotten, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. It was the totos and wagon purchased for the nearby clans to do their shopping with, coming toward us along the path.

We stopped and waited beside the house for it to arrive. The one holding the reins of the totos named Fafa was an older woman who was married to the head of the Ran clan.

“Ah, it seems we made it in time. Asuta, these folks would like to watch you work as well.”

Four women and two men got down from the wagon. Of the six, I only recognized one of the men, who approached with a sour look on his face.

“The head of the Beim clan. What brings you here?”

“It’s nothing all that important. I just heard that a good number of townsfolk were visiting today, so I came to have a look. This man here belongs to the Dagora clan, under the Beim.”

The Beim clan head and the Fou head, Baadu Fou, were the two who insisted on joining the meetings between the three leading clan heads and the nobles of Genos as observers. He was a man in the prime of his life with a flat and stern face that reminded me of a samurai crab.

This was my first time hearing of the Dagora, but the Beim were opposed to our doing business in the post town, and their subordinates probably shared that opinion. Though I didn’t sense any animosity, he was wearing just as sour of a look as the Beim clan head.

“We have no intention of interfering since the leading clan heads gave their permission, but we want to observe carefully whether or not these townsfolk truly mean no harm.”

“I see. I’ve got no objections, of course, but could I ask that you discuss it with Ai Fa first?”

“Of course, we will do so. And on an unrelated topic...” the Beim clan head started, his flat face distorting in a rather unusual manner. “The Zaza and Dom women are learning how to make delicious food from the Ruu and Rutim clans now, correct? In that case, I believe we should do the same in order to determine the validity of the Fa clan’s actions... Would you approve of us going ahead with that?”

“Of course. So, those women are from the Beim clan?”

“One each from the Beim and Dagora, and the other two belong to the Gaaz and Ratsu clans.”

Once he said that, the four women all gave deep bows. The Gaaz and Ratsu approved of our business in the post town, and even lent us their aid when we didn’t have enough giba meat to run our business. However, since they weren’t located all that close to the Fa house, we hadn’t had a chance to grow closer on a personal level.

I tilted my head a bit and wondered what all the commotion was about. The Ran woman gave me the answer with an apologetic smile as she tied the reins of the totos to a nearby tree. “The Gaaz and Ratsu women haven’t been able to receive cooking lessons from you since their clans aren’t located very close, right? But they reached out to us because they figured they could commute here with the use of a wagon. We’re sorry for deciding on our own to use the wagon for this when you’re the one who bought it for us...”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Actually, I should have thought of this myself and reached out,” I said, bowing back to the women. “It’s thanks to the assistance of the Gaaz and Ratsu that the Fa clan has always been able to continue with our business instead of needing to take time off, and I’m truly grateful for that. Please, let me do what I can to help you in return.”

“Oh, think nothing of it. After all, the Gaaz and the Ratsu gained a great deal of wealth from selling meat to the Fa clan.”

Two of the four women stepped forward, politely bowing.

“The men learned bloodletting and we now know how to bake poitan and the like, but we still haven’t reached the point of making truly delicious meals. We would be so happy to have the opportunity to learn from you.”

“And we would also like to ask that you teach the subordinate clans of the Gaaz and Ratsu as well. Whenever the wagon is available, would it be possible to invite women from those clans as well?”

I could see no reason whatsoever to refuse.

During the previous break period, we had spread bloodletting and butchering techniques to a variety of clans, following a proposal by Raielfam Sudra. The meat prepared by those clans allowed us to keep on doing business until the break period ended, so I was majorly indebted to them as well.

“Well then, could I ask that you all introduce yourselves to my clan head as well? We’ll be getting ready at the stove to the rear.”

“Understood,” the women replied and headed back toward the house.

After watching them leave, Yumi suddenly slapped me on the back.

“You sure are amazing, Asuta! It really is something, how you have so many people relying on you!”

“Ow... Well, that’s because there was no custom of enjoying meals at the forest’s edge. So even someone like me was able to be of use.”

“What do you mean, ‘even’? Your skills were good enough to get you summoned by the nobles. There isn’t anybody else like that in all of the post town.”

“Actually, I recently heard the second son of the house of Daleim heap a ton of praise on the owner of The Sledgehammer, so I’d imagine the number of people in the post town who are that skilled is going to keep growing as they learn how to handle finer ingredients.”

“Wait, really?! That’s not good. We can’t keep taking it easy over at our place...” Yumi said, and then she turned toward Telia Mas. “By the way, will The Kimyuus’s Tail be running a stall for the revival festival? Most of the big inns are going to be selling their cooking, yeah?”

“No, since my father and I aren’t that skilled... And we can’t see a reason to hire people just to run a stall.”

“You’ve got no ambition. Still, at our place we only ever manage to sell meals with giba. And we’d never beat Asuta and the others, so it’d just be a waste to open a stall.”

“That’s not true at all. The okonomiyaki you serve at The Westerly Wind is a dish people bought from stalls all the time back in my home country. If you can just revise it to not be so difficult to hold and eat, you should be able to get plenty of customers,” I chimed in, and then I turned toward Telia Mas. “And weren’t you talking about how you’re trying out karon torso meat over at The Kimyuus’s Tail? I’d imagine you could use that to make something that would attract attention.”

Polarth was taking steps to spread the use of karon torso meat alongside milk fat and the other new ingredients. With Tanto’s Blessing first among them, there would surely be a number of inns selling it at their stalls.

However, Telia Mas shook her head and replied, “No. We may be able to use karon torso meat in our dining hall, but I don’t think my father is even considering running a stall. He wouldn’t want to interfere with your business selling giba cooking.”

“That shouldn’t matter to you. Like I told The Sledgehammer’s owner, I...”

“No.” Telia Mas cut me off. However, she was wearing a warm smile across her face. “If we were to open a stall, it would be with giba meat rather than karon. I’m sure that’s what my father would do.”

She was probably right.

“I understand,” I replied with a smile of my own. “If you do happen to open a stall, then let’s discuss the menu together. I’d be thrilled to see all sorts of stalls out there selling things made with giba meat.”

“But that would cause your profits to drop... Or at least, that’s how I used to see it,” Yumi interjected with a grin. “You’ve been selling tons of raw meat, and thanks to that, all those people we just met have been profiting too, right? I think I finally understand what it is you’re trying to do.”

I was incredibly grateful to hear that. I had been able to show everyone so much in just this one day. With a feeling of great satisfaction, I set about preparing dinner.