Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 19 - Chapter 3.3

3

Granny Jiba was standing in front of the brightly burning ritual flame, with Mia Lea and Vina Ruu attending to her. With fingers like withered branches, she was holding a celebratory grass crown purified by herbs and smoke. As over a hundred people watched on, she placed it atop Jiza Ruu’s head.

Jiza Ruu had defeated Mida, and Gazraan Rutim won against Ludo Ruu. Then, in this contest of strength where the finalists’ fathers had not been able to compete, the two sons clashed in their place, and Jiza Ruu emerged victorious.

“I grant this blessing to Jiza Ruu, eldest son of the Ruu clan, who overcame a great many hunters and showed the forest the might of his soul.”

As the crown was placed upon his head, a hundred cheers erupted, shaking the very heavens. Jiza Ruu’s expression remained as calm as always as he stood, having accepted the blessing. He climbed to the top of the stand constructed behind him, and Granny Jiba slowly withdrew.

Donda Ruu stepped forward to take their place in front of the ritual flame with his left arm in a sling. “Now, let the banquet begin! Relatives of the Ruu, give your thanks to the forest for the blessings it has granted us, and take them into yourselves to forge your flesh and blood!”

Once again, the crowd cheered.

The air in the plaza was filled with an incredible sense of vitality, in a scene illuminated by numerous bonfires. All throughout the crowd, people were holding up bottles of fruit wine while giving their thanks to the forest.

The banquet had begun.

“Okay, guess it’s time to get to cutting the meat.”

The whole roast giba that had just been over the flame had been transferred onto a board coated in suurub leaves.

Since there weren’t any tables, large cloths were spread out across the ground. I got down on my knees before the still steaming hunk of meat, then picked up a metal skewer and my carving knife.

Food was being prepared here and there throughout the plaza, and there were other cloths spread out for people to relax on. There was a mountain of wooden plates stacked beside the food so that everyone could just grab whatever they pleased. In other words, it was a buffet-style meal.

A ton of folks came rushing over my way right at the start of the banquet. There was no denying that the whole roast giba had a tremendous visual impact. It had been cooked to a deep brown and shrunk a fair bit, and was now sitting there atop the board on full display. A good number of young children in particular gathered around, curiosity shining bright in their eyes.

I had already made a number of cuts along the giba’s back in order to make certain it had been properly heated through, and now I inserted my knife vertically along those cuts and began slicing off bits of sirloin.

The surface of the skin had lost all moisture and become quite crispy, so it made a light crackling noise as I cut through it. The thick layer of fat in-between the skin and meat had also dried up and become a gelatinous substance. The meat that lay even further down, however, was moist and tender. It was remarkably less tough than ordinary grilled meat.

The hunters of the forest’s edge didn’t care for tender meat, but with how delicious the end result was, they would probably still be able to appreciate it. Once I had cut out a large square chunk of meat, I placed it onto a plate that Bartha was holding out toward me.

“Please bring this one to the leading clan head Donda Ruu, and this one to the victor of the contest of strength, Jiza Ruu.”

“Got it,” Bartha said with a casual nod, heading over toward the winner’s stand. After watching her for a moment out of the corner of my eye, I directed a smile at all the children around me.

“Thanks for waiting. I’ll go ahead and cut some off for you now.”

“Yay!” the kids shouted with joy. And from there, I just kept cutting meat.

I didn’t just cut from the back, but also the legs and rump too. Only the innards had been removed from the hunk of meat. The tough tendons had softened up, so I faced less resistance than expected. It was now easy to separate the meat from the bone. People kept on coming my way continuously, and the thirty kilos or so of meat steadily dwindled.

“If you’re enjoying the taste, then go ahead and give these sauces a try too,” I said, adding some to the meat I had just cut. One was a salty-sweet sauce made using tau oil, sugar, and fruit wine as a base, while the other was a substitute ponzu made using lemon-like sheel juice, mamaria vinegar, and tau oil. Once I poured those over the thigh and rib meat, I handed the plate to Bartha again. Jiza Ruu couldn’t move from the stand for the time being, while Donda Ruu showed no signs of leaving his seat either, so it was necessary to serve them like this.

“Ah, this is all delicious. How is it that it tastes even better than ordinary grilled meat?” a woman whose face I recognized but whose name I didn’t know asked with a smile.

As I placed one cut of meat after another onto the plates Ai Fa was holding out to be served to the others, I smiled back, “It really is strange, isn’t it? The only difference is how long it’s heated through. But by slowly roasting it, you get this tenderness and flavor.”

Just the right amount of moisture and fat had been removed, giving the meat a different sort of texture compared to simply grilling it. And it had a delicious condensed umami flavor too. On top of that, you could enjoy cuts from all over the body. That was the real pleasure provided by a whole roast.

Though I had prepared the sauce and ponzu to go with it, it was perfectly tasty just on its own. Plus, the dynamic appearance was perfect for a banquet. It was a good fit for the people of the forest’s edge, who saw eating meat as bringing the giba’s strength into themselves. And that mental impression would surely only make it taste all the better.

After around ten minutes or so, the crowd finally started to thin out. Everyone must have at least gotten a bite, and now half the giba was nothing but bones.

“I doubt you’re satisfied with just getting a few little bites to eat off of this thing, right, Ai Fa? I’m fine here, so why not go try some of the other food?”

“You still can’t leave yet?”

“No, since this would be too difficult for other people to cut on their own. But I figure I’ll take my time enjoying everything else once I finish removing the rest of the meat.”

“Then I’ll wait too.”

Ai Fa remained seated ramrod straight on the cloth, bandages wrapped around her abdomen. With her hands placed on top of her knees, she really did strike a gallant figure.

“You really don’t need to worry about me. I mean, Granny Jiba is joining in too, right?”

“I was able to talk with her during the day. And besides, since I’m not currently hunting giba, I don’t get especially hungry.”

“Huh. Is that so? You seemed to have a pretty healthy appetite when we were eating back at the Fa house.”

“Food is essential for healing wounds. But now that I’ve been stuck in the house for half a month, I certainly don’t need all that much.”

That was rather sad to hear as a chef, but it wasn’t as if I couldn’t understand how she felt. Back when she had injured her left arm, she still trained everything else so she wouldn’t get rusty, but with a broken rib, there was a pretty hard limit on what she could do. And considering how active she had generally been up until recently, it was no surprise that she would need less food now.

“If I kept eating as I had been, I would end up putting on excess fat. Look, can’t you see it already?”

“Huh? You think so?”

I hadn’t noticed anything like that, so I quickly scanned her with my eyes. No matter how I looked at it, her graceful figure appeared the same as it had ever been. Her frame was long and slender, her waist was tight, and she had no excess fat on her whatsoever. She was both elegant and strong—the perfect image of a female hunter.

But just as I was thinking that, a palm suddenly smacked me in the face.

With a “Gah,” I righted my line of sight and found Ai Fa with a red face and a wildcat’s glare for some reason.

“Don’t stare at me like that. It’s rude.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I looked because you told me to!”

“Quiet, you,” Ai Fa retorted, turning away in a huff.

I felt like my pulse was going to start rising to match hers, so I went ahead and resumed my work.

Then Rimee Ruu came running over. “Huh? You’re still working on it? We’ve all started taking turns eating, though.”

“Yeah, but this is a task that I need more practice on, myself. I can’t leave it to anyone else.”

“I see. Then could I have some more?! Tari Ruu brought me a plate before, and it was super tasty!”

“Glad to hear it. In that case, why don’t I give you a cut that you don’t get to eat all that often?” I said, cutting the giba’s face free from its skull.

Since they usually removed the pelt, there was hardly ever anything left to eat around the face. In fact, even now I was more peeling it off than actually cutting it. However, there was a really springy layer of fat or something hidden there under the crispy cooked skin. Unfortunately, the ears were rather burnt, but the texture of the skin on its face seemed similar to the Okinawan pig ears dish I was familiar with.

I stacked those shaved flakes of facial meat on top of the plate that Rimee Ruu was holding out. The young girl tilted her head and took a bite, and joy blossomed over her little face. “It’s all crispy and chewy and tasty! I love giba skin!”

“Yeah, giba skin’s good, isn’t it? And you usually don’t get to eat it. All right, let’s go ahead and handle the whole head now...”

After cutting the head free from the body and peeling off all the meat and skin, I went ahead and removed the lower jaw. The tongue inside had also been properly heated through and had turned all white. It was definitely a part worth eating. I cut it up into chunks big enough that each one still had a good amount of volume to it, and then laid them out atop suurub leaves so that anyone could grab them.

Next I carved out the eyeballs and removed the brain from the skull. They were uncommon parts, so I ended up presenting them to Donda and Jiza Ruu alongside several slices of tongue with some ponzu sauce, though I didn’t know if the organs would suit their tastes.

In the meantime, folks were still coming by occasionally, so I also sliced off more of the more ordinary cuts of meat like ribs and leg. In less than thirty minutes, that thirty-kilo giba was reduced to nothing but bones.

“Okay, that’s the last thing I needed to do for work today!”

“Huh? Who’s that plate for? If it’s for Papa Donda, want me to take it to him for you?” Rimee Ruu asked.

“No, this is Lem Dom’s portion. She’s hiding out so the folks from the Zaza clan don’t see her. Ai Fa, I want to deliver this first. Is that okay?”

“I don’t mind.”

And so, I ended up bringing Ai Fa and Rimee Ruu along with me to the agreed-upon location.

The banquet was still in full swing with no signs of slowing down. After weaving through the crowd, we circled around to the rear of the house where Bartha and Jeeda were staying.

“Oh, you came too, Ai Fa?” a voice called out as a tall figure appeared from the shadows. “Things sure seem lively over at the banquet. Meanwhile, I’m so hungry it feels like my stomach’s about to shrivel up into nothing.”

“Sorry about that. I had work I had to handle. For now, hopefully this’ll help you stave off starvation.”

“What, this is all you have for me?”

“Donda Ruu set a condition for giving you the food his clan prepared. I didn’t think there would be an issue, but I wanted to be sure before I brought it over.” As I handed over the plate, I repeated what Donda Ruu had to say, “You should speak with the Dom clan head before the end of the violet month. If you promise to do so, you can have as much food as you please.”

“Hmm, so he wants me to reconcile with Deek before the month is through?”

“Yeah. Or at least, he thinks if nothing else, you should have a real discussion and share your feelings honestly. Even though Donda Ruu has no intention of interfering with the internal affairs of the Dom clan, he can’t give his approval to you living separately from your family either.”

That was only natural, considering how greatly the people of the forest’s edge valued blood ties.

“Got it,” Lem Dom replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’ve been away from the Dom clan for nearly two months now. And considering the strength I’ve gained since then, it’s probably about time.”

“Do you think Deek Dom will listen to your request?”

“Couldn’t say. But, well, if it’s just not possible, then I guess I’ll finally have to cast aside the Dom name.”

When she heard that, Ai Fa’s brow furrowed deeply. “Lem Dom, if you’re going to cast aside your family, then what exactly is your reason for becoming a hunter? A hunter should work for their family above all else.”

“Oh? But you kept working as a hunter even after you lost your family, didn’t you? Even without family, it should still be possible to live with a hunter’s pride,” Lem Dom firmly stated, and then she smiled. “Of course, I do love Deek, and all of my relatives are precious to me. But even so, I want to live without stifling my own feelings. And if that isn’t allowable, then the forest shall surely take my soul.”

“I see,” Ai Fa said with a shake of her head. “If your resolve is that solid, then I won’t try to stop you. Live in the way that you believe in.”

“Right, thanks. I think that might be the first time you’ve ever truly accepted my feelings, Ai Fa,” Lem Dom remarked with a joyful smile. It wasn’t her usual cynical grin, but something a lot more innocent, like a child’s.

However, that smile suddenly froze, and Ai Fa turned around with a questioning look.

“So this is where you were hiding, Lem Dom...” a woman said as her slender figure appeared from the shadow of the house. Her long hair was worn in a single braid down over her right shoulder, and she had a piercing gaze. It was Sufira Zaza. “I knew you would try to watch the contest of strength between the hunters. And now we finally meet again, Lem Dom...”

“S-Sufira Zaza...” Lem Dom stuttered in an unsteady voice, stepping backward. This was the first time I’d ever seen her so out of sorts.

“I can’t believe you!” Sufira Zaza exclaimed, rushing over like a bullet, pushing right past the three of us and springing at Lem Dom. “You’ve been away from the Dom clan for two months now! Don’t you care about how other people feel?!”

“Gah, hold on...! D-Don’t just stand there watching! Somebody help me!” Lem Dom wailed, but I didn’t sense any animosity from Sufira Zaza. Rather, she was clinging to Lem Dom’s chest and had started to sob.

“Don’t you know how much we worried...? You cast aside your life as a woman to live as a hunter... I could never bear such a fate...”

“Wh-What are you crying for?! Let go of me, Sufira Zaza!”

Sufira Zaza just shook her head in protest, hugging Lem Dom’s body tighter. Even though it should have been easy for Lem Dom to escape with just her sheer strength, she instead stared upward with a deeply troubled expression and heaved a heavy sigh.

After watching the spectacle those two were putting on for a bit, Rimee Ruu tugged at the hem of Ai Fa’s clothing. “Hey, I’m getting hungry again.”

“Right, we should return to the banquet.”

“You’re abandoning me, Ai Fa?!” Lem Dom called out.

“I’m doing no such thing. That is yet another challenge to overcome on the path to living as you wish, Lem Dom.”

“You’re heartless!” Lem Dom wailed as we left her and Sufira Zaza alone and returned to the plaza.

Though I felt bad for her, of course, this wasn’t something we should’ve been sticking our noses into, as members of other clans. As Ai Fa said, if Lem Dom couldn’t convince her relatives, she wouldn’t be able to continue down the path she believed in.

“She’s fortunate to have a relative who thinks of her that much,” Ai Fa noted.

“That’s true. Sufira Zaza sure is an emotional person!” I said.

And so, Ai Fa and I finally got to enjoy the food the Ruu clan had prepared. I hadn’t lent them any assistance this time around. They had cooked it entirely on their own.

When we approached the nearest gathering of people, we found that they were members of the Rutim clan having a friendly chat around a hastily prepared stove where a pot was being heated.

“Ah, if it isn’t Asuta and Ai Fa! It’s been a while! That meat from earlier was incredibly tasty!” Dan Rutim exclaimed as Ama Min Rutim handed him some rib meat intentionally left on the bone.

In addition to Gazraan and Ama Min Rutim, Morun Rutim (whom I hadn’t seen in a while) and the elder Raa Rutim were both there, which made this a gathering of the whole main Rutim house.

It was my first time seeing Morun Rutim in a month or so, and she looked just as lively as always. She was a fifteen-year-old girl with a bit of plumpness to her. Just like her father Dan Rutim, her big round eyes suited her really well. And her bright, cheerful smile hadn’t changed at all.

“Long time no see, Asuta. Would you like to have some of this soup dish?”

“Thanks, Morun Rutim. I’d love some.”

This was the special stew that Reina and Sheera Ruu had developed on their own. After preparing giba sirloin in a teriyaki style, they then boiled it in a tarapa soup. Though they used something I had come up with as a basis for that soup, it now had a completely different flavor to it.

The ingredients they used included tarapa, aria, myamuu, sugar, fruit wine, pico leaves, chitt seeds, and a variety of herbs, creating a flavor that felt like something between Italian and Asian cuisine.

They had struck a sublime balance between sourness, sweetness, and spiciness, and then added poitan to give the dish some creaminess. And teriyaki alone wouldn’t produce a sufficient giba meat stock, so they had added some finely chopped bits of various cuts.

As for the key giba teriyaki itself, they had made a sauce by combining tau oil and panam honey and steeped the meat in that, adding further depth to the dish. If they had made a single misstep it could have ended up with a really convoluted flavor like the cooking from the castle town, but it seemed like they had managed to come right up to that line without crossing it. Undoubtedly, their encounter with Varkas had had an impact on them.

The other ingredients they used, in addition to tino, nenon, and the staple aria, were the arugula-like ro’hyoi, the paprika-like ma pula, and the zucchini-like chan. Reina and Sheera Ruu were planning to alternate between selling this and their giba hot pot stew starting the day after tomorrow. It was their answer to the proposal that we should try to find ways to spread the usage of ingredients from the castle town.

They had used so many different things in the stew, but the flavors didn’t clash at all. From what I could remember, the two of them had started experimenting on this dish after meeting Myme, so that meant they had been working on perfecting the flavor for two months now. They must have also been strongly influenced by Myme and Mikel’s belief that the flavor of each ingredient ought to be used to its fullest. The impression I got was that the shock Varkas had inflicted on them and the impact of meeting Myme had been blended together right there in that pot.

Rather than someone who worked off of a preestablished foundation like myself, it seemed like the women of the forest’s edge with their underdeveloped culinary practices were like sponges absorbing new knowledge. Though they were still messing around with trial and error, Reina and Sheera Ruu’s strong wills and desire to challenge themselves had brought them to this accomplishment after a great deal of effort.

“This is a wonderful dish. Even though it uses a great many unfamiliar ingredients, I can sense how much strength it will grant us,” Ama Min Rutim stated.

Even if they had been influenced by Varkas, their thoughts had been focused on their own people when making it. That was precisely why it didn’t end up with an offbeat flavor despite all the ingredients, instead seeming somehow gentle yet also filled with a great vitality.

It could prove difficult for any of the other women to reproduce such a carefully calculated dish, so I didn’t know if it was right to call it a recipe of the forest’s edge, but it was undoubtedly a recipe belonging to Reina and Sheera Ruu.

“Reina and Sheera Ruu certainly have grown quite a bit more skilled while I was away. I’m truly surprised,” Morun Rutim said with an amused smile. She looked very happy to be reunited with her family for the first time in a month.

And of course, the same was true for her family welcoming her back. Dan Rutim went without saying, but even the usually strict-looking Raa Rutim seemed so much gentler tonight.

“Gazraan Rutim, I was surprised to see how much you’ve grown,” Ai Fa unexpectedly chimed in after I had chatted a bit with the folks from the Rutim clan. “You’ve gained so much strength in just the last few months that you seem like a completely different man compared to how you were at the last festival of the hunt.”

“And yet, I still couldn’t overcome Jiza Ruu,” Gazraan Rutim replied with a gentle smile. “I do believe that I’m stronger than I have ever been, and yet Jiza Ruu has reached even greater heights still. This is perhaps the worst disappointment I have ever felt when losing in a contest of strength.”

“Aw, that’s just how it had to go! After all, Jiza Ruu was in a position where he couldn’t afford to lose this time around!” Dan Rutim chimed in while holding a bottle of fruit wine in one hand and sounding like he was really enjoying himself. “After all, Donda Ruu couldn’t participate in this festival of the hunt! As his heir, I’m sure Jiza Ruu wanted to make sure he didn’t lose to anyone from the subordinate clans. Even more so, considering the fact that the Ruu are not only our parent clan, but one of the leading clans now!”

“Then just like Jiza Ruu, I was able to show more strength than ever because my powerful father was not participating?”

“Of course! And even though you had a lot of resolve, Gazraan, Jiza Ruu had just a little bit more. Because the Ruu couldn’t afford to show weakness to their subordinate clan, the Rutim! The match was decided by that tiny difference alone!” Dan Rutim said with a guffaw, patting his beloved son on the back. “Still, that match really got my old heart pounding! I’m just as proud to have a son like you as I am to have a strong parent clan like the Ruu! And the fact that you fought that well against Jiza Ruu should take care of the frustration you’re feeling after a while!”

Eventually, Donda Ruu and Dan Rutim would retire from hunting completely, leaving Jiza Ruu and Gazraan Rutim to lead their people. Regardless of whether that day was five or even ten years in the future, it would still eventually come. I found it difficult to imagine, but now that Dan Rutim had yielded the seat of clan head to Gazraan Rutim, that future seemed a bit more real to me.

I couldn’t help but wonder what Donda and Jiza Ruu were feeling right now.

After saying farewell to the folks from the Rutim clan, we went on a search for more food to eat and people to talk to.