Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 3.2

2

“Oh my, are you done already?”

As we exited the Ruu banquet hall, two women carrying flat baskets just happened to be passing by: the wives of the clan head and the eldest son, Mia Lea Ruu and Sati Lea Ruu. They were each carrying a mountain of fresh pico leaves in their baskets, which they must have been planning to dry out.

By the way, the tusk and fang necklaces they wore had apparently recovered to the usual set of three at some point.

“You’re making some rather frightening faces, there. Did our clan head go and run his mouth again?”

Mia Lea Ruu was a woman with some weight on her, and looked to be about my old man’s age. But with that said, no matter how wealthy the Ruu clan may have been, they still worked hard each and every day, so she certainly hadn’t grown fat from lazing around. No, she was just big boned. She had firm muscles packed on, and then simply had an appropriate amount of fat on top. I mean, her arms and shoulders were thin and she was shorter than me, but I certainly didn’t feel I could win out in terms of strength.

I’d just seen her, so I instead turned to Sati Lea Ruu and said, “Long time no see,” with a smile.

“Welcome to the Ruu house, Ai Fa and Asuta of the Fa clan. What brings you here today?” the young woman asked. Her hair was a bright brown and she had black eyes. She looked to be around 20 years old. She was so slender that it was hard to imagine that she already had a one year old child, and she had an overall neat and tidy appearance.

“Well, how should I put it...? There’s that celebration for the Rutim wedding in three days, right? Well, looks like I was put in charge of manning the stove for it,” I replied, only for the two women to ask “Really?!” as their eyes positively sparkled.

“I’m amazed you managed to get our bullheaded clan head to agree to that! Well, no matter what he said, I know Donda was dumbfounded by those baked poitan. I’m sure he must want to really lord it over the folks from the Rutim clan.”

“It sure is exciting, isn’t it, Mia Lea?! Reina and Rimee have been trying their hardest, but their cooking still just can’t measure up to Asuta’s at all. And that soft giba meat... Will you be making that again?”

“You’ll have to look forward to the day of to find out. But I at least promise you that it won’t come up short of what I made last time.”

They both let out excited squeals of the sort you would expect from young maidens.

There was no need to bring up that disgusting agreement with such pure, innocent women. After all, I had no intention of sowing discord amongst the Ruu house.

With that said, though, I had complex feelings about how the two men we just finished meeting with had such cheerful, kind wives. And since women received giba tusks and horns from their parents and husbands in the hope they would live a healthy life, it was rather obvious where the replacement adornments on their necklaces had come from.

The gap between that duel-like atmosphere from before and this bright, idyllic sight in front of me now was enough to make me feel a little dizzy.

“What are you making such a moody face for?” Ai Fa whispered in my ear while jabbing me in the side. And she was also staring right at me from seriously up close and personal. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. You just need to satisfy that stubborn man with your cooking.”

The passionate flames were already gone from her eyes, and in fact she actually looked calmer than usual. I felt like sighing, seeing how she apparently felt this was all fine and dandy.

Still, it meant that Ai Fa believed in me, and trusted that I wouldn’t lose to Donda Ruu. And even if I did, she was totally prepared to drag herself through the mud alongside me. There wasn’t even a hint of doubt or hesitation in her expression.

Damn it! Why do you have to be so strong, Ai Fa?! I thought to myself, while feeling something bubbling up like giba stew in my guts.

It wasn’t a bad feeling, though. It was like a soup of pure concentrated fighting spirit, screaming out, “There’s no way I’ll lose!”

My real enemy wasn’t Donda Ruu, though. No, it was my past self. My thinking had come up short and I got conceited and failed to bring things to a satisfactory conclusion, so I had to overcome that me and reclaim my pride with my own two hands.

“...I’m telling you, you need to calm down a bit. If you go around that angry, will you really last three more days?” Ai Fa said with another jab in the side. She was close enough for us to be having this secret conversation, so her blonde hair had been tickling my cheek for a while now. With that realization, I finally figured maybe she was a little too close. And as I had that thought and looked back their way, I found the two wives watching over us with innocent smiles.

A sudden wave of embarrassment washed over me, and I moved an appropriate distance from Ai Fa.

“O-Oh right, where’s Rimee Ruu? I haven’t seen her at all today.”

“Rimee, is it? Hmm? She was just with us, and I know I told her you two were here. Hey, Rimee?” Mia Lea Ruu called out loudly, sounding clearly puzzled.

I tried looking around the area too, but when I realized Ai Fa’s gaze was fixated in a particular direction, I turned and looked that way as well. The bit of reddish-brown hair peeking out from around the corner of the house quickly disappeared from view.

“Ah, so that’s where you were, huh? Thanks for helping out, but we’re fine now, you can go play with Ai Fa and Asuta for a while.”

With that, we said our farewells to the two women and they circled around to the other side of the house.

We were told that Granny Jiba was in the middle of a nap but should be waking soon, so we were allowed to stay till then. And since it took an hour to walk here, this was a fortunate opportunity for Ai Fa to rekindle her old friendship with Rimee Ruu. However, Rimee Ruu’s fluffy reddish hair only ever peeked out of the shadows of the wall, and she made no signs of coming closer.

“What’s Rimee Ruu doing? Is this some sort of game at the forest’s edge?” I asked, but Ai Fa just shot me a slightly chilly gaze for some reason and then called out “Rimee Ruu,” to the shadows. However, Rimee Ruu still didn’t move.

“...Asuta, what’s that?” Ai Fa asked, pointing behind me.

I looked that way with a “Huh?” only to hear the pitter patter of footsteps. When I turned back around, Rimee Ruu was hugging Ai Fa. Her little arms were wrapped around Ai Fa’s slender waist, fur cloak and all, and her tiny head was buried in the older girl’s chest.

“That hurts. Cut it out, Rimee Ruu,” Ai Fa said, her face turning just a bit red. I thought of pointing out how that didn’t look like it hurt at all, but I didn’t want to get kicked so I just let it drop.

“Long time no see, Rimee Ruu. I was wondering if you could let me see your face at least once. Have you been doing alright?” I asked, greeting the girl with a smile. Rimee Ruu’s back suddenly quivered, and she stopped moving.

“What’s wrong? You haven’t forgotten me, have you?”

Rimee Ruu slowly turned to face me, still clinging to Ai Fa. Then, she nervously glanced up at me and... For some reason, she looked absolutely terrified. She was so frightened that she was even redder than Ai Fa. Her round little eyes were tearing up, and her tiny lips were quaking. She was just as animated as always, but for some reason she looked like she was about to start bawling.

“Asuta...”

“Hmm?”

“Asuta, did you see me naked?”

I was so shocked that it was like God had thrown a thunderbolt in judgment and landed a direct hit to the top of my head.

“W-W-W-What are you saying, Rimee Ruu? N-N-Naked?”

“...Asuta, you peeked when the women were bathing, didn’t you? Did you see me naked then?”

She means that incident from that morning ten days ago, right?! Since I’d been focusing on experimenting with cooking day in and day out since then, I’d long since stowed it away in my memories, but that wasn’t the case for this girl, huh? And wait, no matter how I looked at it, Rimee Ruu couldn’t be more than 7 or 8! It’d be preferable to get this treatment from the other girls, because seeing such a young girl on the verge of tears seriously made me feel like a criminal!

I ended up screaming out with all my heart and soul, “The only one I saw naked was Ai Fa!” again. Today, she chose to kick me in the rear rather than the leg. Yeah, that was a middle kick with the weight of her body behind it, so it felt like my pelvis shattered there.

After just a few more minutes, we ended up moving to the stoves in the back of the house. The men would be back from the forest soon, and I didn’t want to run into that jerk Darmu Ruu.

“...You promised not to mention that incident to Donda Ruu or the other members of the house, did you not? And yet you went and yelled about it in such a ridiculously loud voice right out in the open,” Ai Fa said angrily, with Rimee Ruu still clinging to her left arm. Perhaps because she’d been forced to recall that unwanted memory, her face was still a little red.

“Hey, I just said I saw you naked, so it should be fine, right? Ah... Sorry, please forgive me for that. If you kick me again, I really won’t be able to walk.”

I looked up at Ai Fa and saw her give a “Hmph!” with flushed cheeks, while Rimee Ruu’s face was even redder as she sadly whispered, “Hey, did you really just see Ai Fa naked, Asuta? Then does that mean you’re going to marry her for real?”

Her voice was quiet, but I could hear her clearly.

“I have no intention of taking a husband, especially one outrageous enough to go around breaking taboos!”

Ugh, just cut it out with that. I’ve already paid my dues by being made to feel like a criminal all day.

Anyway, we finally reached the rear of the house.

After passing by and saying hello to Granny Tito Min chopping wood, we kept walking along till we reached the building with the separate kitchen, where we found two girls working away at some strange task. They were the second and third daughters, Reina and Lala Ruu.

There were large doors laid at their feet with giba pelts spread out atop them, and they were stomping away on them. They were barefoot and walking around in a clockwise circle, as if they were chasing one another. It must have been a step in the tanning process.

Before long, Reina Ruu noticed us, and her blue eyes opened wide. Her lovely face went a clear pink. I was surprised to see her dark brown skin go such a rose color. Well, at any rate, she was definitely beet red.

Reina Ruu kept stepping along while facing down a bit, and she was followed by the third daughter of the house, Lala Ruu. She was still only just at the age where she’d be hitting middle school (well, that didn’t exist in this world, though), and she was just as impudent of a kid as always, so just maybe... I vaguely hoped in vain.

That still youthful little face of hers practically exploded in brilliant red. She frowned even deeper, ground her white teeth, placed her hand on the grip of the small blade at her side, then approached me despite still being completely barefoot.

“Hey you! How shameless can you be, just showing up here like this?! You’re out of luck now, you bastard!”

“S-Stop, Lala! Look, Granny Tito Min is right over there! If you make a fuss, well... S-She’ll find out what happened that morning, right...?” Reina Ruu pleaded, desperately grabbing her sister’s arm as her face grew even more red and she shrank down further.

Reina Ruu had her long black hair done up in two braids, and though she was petite she was positively bursting with style and charm.

Lala Ruu had her red hair in what looked like a ponytail, and despite how young she was, she was actually taller than her big sister, and had a face brimming with willpower that reminded me of a boy. She was a rather cute girl too, though.

Seeing the two sisters with their faces so beet red, my heart plummeted into the depths of shame.

Figuring I’d have to hope I could get off with just a kick, I gave a big sigh, only to shockingly get beaten to the punch by Rimee Ruu.

“U-Um! Asuta said he only saw Ai Fa naked! S-So he doesn’t have to marry us!”

The sisters froze in their tracks. They both turned and stared at me, their faces still bright red as their emotions showed clearly in their eyes.

“Right! I only saw Ai Fa’s—” I stopped midway through, on account of the palm strike to my forehead. Ah, that was a new one. I think it gave me a bit of a concussion, and left me clinging to the wall of the kitchen going “Ugggggh...”

“...Give that a rest already, Asuta.”

As I just barely made out Ai Fa’s expression through my blurry vision, I couldn’t help but regret my actions.

In order to provide some assurance to the other girls, I had gone and sacrificed Ai Fa’s pure, shy heart. I mean, who was it that was most important to me? Ai Fa, of course. I was a big dummy, relying on Ai Fa’s strong nature for the sake of self-preservation.

I was getting ready to seriously apologize, but the world was still spinning at the moment, so that wasn’t quite possible.