Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4: Cooking with a Rookie

1

At last, the day arrived. That night, the people of the Rutim clan were invited to a celebration before they held the wedding.

Apparently, it was the custom at the forest’s edge to meet for an inconspicuous party with just the relatives seven days before a wedding, like they were doing here. From what I heard, they would hold a series of banquets, first with the groom’s Rutim clan tomorrow night, the day after that with the bride’s Min clan, and then finally the Lea family, with whom they had deep ties. It sounded like a real pain of a custom to me, but the only part that mattered on my end was tonight: The first celebration in the chain, held at the house of the highest ranking person involved. In other words, the banquet that would be held at the main Ruu house.

I would be in charge of the stove for the event, which was a weighty responsibility. And on top of that, Ai Fa and I had an agreement with the head of the Ruu clan, Donda Ruu: If this banquet didn’t satisfy Donda Ruu and the head of the Rutim clan, then the Ruu clan and every family affiliated with them would cut off any and all ties with the Fa clan. And if that happened, the heir to the Suun clan, Diga Suun, may come after Ai Fa again. Plus, on top of that, if Donda Ruu tried to force such a cruel fate on Ai Fa, the elder of the Ruu clan, Jiba Ruu, had decided to renounce her clan and join the Fa house. Rimee Ruu also cared about Ai Fa just as Jiba Ruu did, so all that would surely cause her to suffer greatly.

I couldn’t help but sigh at what a complicated mess this had turned into.

But still, there was only one thing for me to do: Present Donda Ruu with a delicious meal that would satisfy him.

◇

“I’ll be counting on you all today,” I said with a deep bow in the Ruu family kitchen.

I had my white towel wrapped around my lengthening hair, a white t-shirt under a buttonless vest, my necklace with its eight sparkling blessings, a grigi berry bracelet, an ethnic-looking cloth around my waist, and white shoes, adding up to the sort of hybrid outfit I’d grown accustomed to wearing.

The knife that was my old man’s heart and soul was placed atop my work space.

I was totally prepared, physically and mentally.

Ai Fa stood by my side, and three women were in a row across from us.

The chief Donda Ruu’s wife, Mia Lea Ruu.

The oldest daughter of that pair, Vina Ruu.

And lastly, their second daughter, Reina Ruu.

“So Reina Ruu is the only one carrying over from last time, huh?”

“Yes! It would have been Lala normally, but she seemed reluctant for some reason, and I really wanted the chance to study more of your cooking techniques... So I traded with her.”

“You’re a real lifesaver. Our odds of success are way higher with at least one person who knows how to handle things.”

I was just talking logically rather than paying mere lip service, but for some reason, Reina Ruu’s face went red and Ai Fa shot me an icy glare.

However, I was determined not to let anything throw me today. Of course, that didn’t have anything to do with my screw up last time. But still, I intended to take on this challenge with a dauntless spirit.

After all, the fates of numerous others were riding on how I wielded my knife today.

“What, so you don’t think we’re reliable? How rude! I won’t lose out to Reina when it comes to manning the stove just yet,” Donda Ruu’s better half said with a hearty laugh. She was big-boned and sported plenty of meat on her body, had red hair with a bit of white mixed in, and bold brown eyes. She wore the single-piece outfit characteristic of married women, and seemed like a trustworthy lady.

Vina Ruu stood next to her, fidgeting with her long hair and looking bored. She was completely different from her mother in every way, from her hair to her eyes to her physique. Her eyes looked drowsy, and her lips were full. The contours of her body were positively stunning, and she exuded pheromones. It was as if she’d been born for the purpose of enchanting men.

She wasn’t blushing bright red all over at the sight of me anymore, but in exchange, she seemed to have replaced her usual friendliness with pure apathy.

Anyway, looking at the three of them sure did remind me of how I hadn’t informed them of the brutal agreement I had with the head of the clan.

“Well then, here’s the plan for today. There are going to be 12 folks from the Ruu clan, three from the Rutim, plus me and Ai Fa, adding up to 17 in total. I’m only looking to prepare a special menu for Jiba Ruu,” I started, keeping things extremely business-like. “As for everyone else, we’ll be making the same giba stew and baked poitan, and then grilling giba meat. I was thinking we’d make hamburgers for Jiba Ruu, but, um... have you been making her giba stew specially so it was easier to eat, normally?”

“We have. We dice up her aria smaller so they’re easier to chew, and then heat them up in a separate pot. And we put all the meat in our pot, since Granny Jiba gets plenty of hamburger to eat,” Mia Lea Ruu answered with a smile.

Reina Ruu had a serious look on her face and was hanging on my every word, while Vina Ruu looked like she was trying to catch her balance as she stifled a seductive yawn.

“I see. That’s what I’d like to do too, then. Now, about the cooking... Are any of you especially good at preparing the giba stew or the baked poitan?”

“Reina is the best at baking the poitan. We’re all about equal at preparing the giba stew, but Vina here is easily the worst at manning the stove.”

“Got it. Then Reina Ruu will be in charge of the poitan, while you’ll handle the giba stew, Mia Lea Ruu. I’ll leave most of that up to you. Vina Ruu will be in charge of the meat along with me, and will lend everyone else a hand, alright?”

“...I’ll just be a hindrance though, won’t I? Should I just have Granny Tito Min or Rimee take my place...?” Vina Ruu said, sounding a bit sulky for some reason.

In other words, she was feeling inferior to Reina and Mia Lea Ruu because of their cooking skills, huh?

While pondering on how intricate of a personality she had, I broke out in a smile and said, “No, that wouldn’t do. You’re a woman of the Ruu clan too, so let’s give this our all together. I have every intention of taking care of my task as well.”

Vina Ruu didn’t say anything.

“Alright, Reina Ruu, could you get started on the poitan? And please help her carry stuff, Vina Ruu.”

Vina Ruu really was sulking now, but she still obediently followed Reina Ruu out of the kitchen.

“So? What should I do, Asuta?”

“Right, there’s something I want to ask you, Mia Lea Ruu. I heard that you’ve been adding baked poitan to the nightly menu since I manned the stove, but have you also been adding the various vegetables from your pantry to the giba stew since then?”

“That’s right. Otherwise, it would be the exact same flavor every single night. And besides, when we make it, we just can’t get rid of that giba stench. So we need to add stuff like tarapa or lilo to cover up the smell.”

“Huh, so you add lilo, too? But isn’t that way too harsh?”

“It covers up most of the giba stench as a result, though. Hey... what’s with that meat you brought here, anyway? Those hamburgers were just the best, but that giba stew not having any smell about it was a real shock, too! Just what sort of magic did you use to make it that delicious?”

“It wasn’t magic at all. It’s just the result of draining the giba of its blood when it’s caught. That’s why it’s a job for the men, not the women.”

“I see... Then I guess there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s no way those stubborn bastards would listen to what you have to say.”

As I watched Mia Lea Ruu sadly slump her shoulders, I continued on with, “Well then, I heard that you pull out all the stops for this banquet thing, but what exactly does that entail here at the forest’s edge? Do you use all sorts of those vegetables in your pantry?”

“Yeah, that’s right. We go right ahead and toss plenty of those veggies, which are way pricier than aria or poitan, right on into the pot. Well, that said, if you just did it without any planning, you’d end up with something inedible.”

“I see. Then you throw them in after thinking it over carefully... Well then, I don’t mind if it’s just based on your personal preferences, but if we were to make a giba stew without the stench like I did last time, which of those vegetables do you think would be the tastiest?”

“Hmm? Well, tino goes well with anything. And if there’s no stench, there’s no need to add lilo or tarapa... Gigo wouldn’t be any good. It’d just end up all mushy like when you add poitan. And it might be a little on the bitter side, but I think pula would be pretty nice. Ludo and Lala may end up frowning about it, though.”

I was at the point where the names of people and foods were becoming a jumbled mess in my head. If I mixed up the pula with Lala and threw her in the pot, she’d probably get pretty angry.

“Then it’s tino and pula? Should we go with those two for today?”

“Huh?! No, don’t! If the taste were to become a mess thanks to me running my mouth, that’d be a real waste of you coming all the way out here. And we have guests from the Rutim clan here today, too!”

“It’s alright. You’ve got to be ready to take on the challenges that come your way. And besides, if you don’t get creative with it, your cooking will never improve.”

I glanced over at Ai Fa as I said that. Even though I was saying the complete opposite of what I had last time, she just silently watched over me with a look of strength in her eyes.

I explained today’s entire plan to Ai Fa in advance. She was pretty surprised at first, but at the end she said, “I leave it all up to your judgment.”

I wanted to respond to that trust.

“...By the way, how has the clan head seemed lately?” I threw out there.

Mia Lea Ruu had been deep in thought, but with that she gave a pleasant, “Oh?” Had she been simulating the giba stew in her head? Sorry about that.

“What is it about the clan head? You two met with him three days ago, didn’t you?”

“Right. I wouldn’t think there’d be any changes after that, but have there been?”

“Changes, huh...? Now that you mention it, I feel like ever since that night, he’s been randomly pouting. And I think I’ve spied him going into Granny Jiba’s room pretty often, too. Is he getting lectures or something?”

No, that wasn’t it. Granny Jiba was well aware of Donda Ruu’s nature, so she wouldn’t be trying to lecture him at this point. The wise elder had long since chosen her path, and I couldn’t imagine she had any further use for Donda Ruu at this point.

Then... Was Donda Ruu heading to Jiba Ruu in the hopes that she would talk him out of this foolish contest?

I seriously hoped that was the case.

Donda Ruu was related to Rimee and Jiba Ruu, so there was no way he seriously sought Ai Fa’s destruction... That was my heartfelt wish.

But regardless of the truth of the matter, the die had already been cast, and what I needed to do wouldn’t change.

I reigned in my feelings, then set about my work.

“Now then... I should start preparing the meat. There should be plenty of time to finish the soup after the poitan start coming together, so shall we go over how to cook the hamburger for Jiba Ruu?” I asked, opening up the bundle of giba meat I had brought with me.

Last time we stuck with just leg meat and shoulder roast, but this time I prepared three different types of meat.

To be honest, after all my experimenting, it was proving difficult to secure enough of each type for everyone, so I was actually starting to think there wouldn’t be enough for me and Ai Fa right at the end there. But just two days beforehand, Ai Fa came back with another young giba in the 50 kilo range, clearing that up nicely. And so, rather than not having enough, we actually ended up with a bit extra.

I carefully laid the meat out on my cooking station bit by bit, only for Mia Lea Ruu to worriedly ask, “That’s a giba’s torso, isn’t it? You showed me that it’s ever tastier than leg meat, but still... The Rutim clan head is coming today. Wouldn’t it be better to just stick to using leg meat?”

“Huh? So the Rutim clan head won’t eat torso meat either?”

“I don’t know. But since our clan head looked so annoyed over it, I’d imagine the Rutim clan head could definitely react the same way. Plus he’s even more short tempered than our leader, so wouldn’t it be better to err on the side of caution?”

Someone even more short tempered than Donda Ruu... He sure sounded dangerous.

But there wouldn’t be enough for everyone to just eat leg meat, and besides, that would make for a completely dull menu for the meal.

“You and the other women didn’t seem to be especially opposed to eating the torso meat, though. Why was Donda Ruu so against it?”

“I’m not sure. But Jiza and Darmu didn’t seem to have any objection to his words, so maybe the men have some sort of suitable reason...”

A suitable reason for the men, huh...?

I’m pretty sure I remember Donda Ruu yelling something like, “Only scavengers like the mundt eat the giba’s torso!” And then he added some sort of thing about, “How dare you feed something like that to a proud hunter of the forest’s edge?!”

But Ai Fa also lived as a hunter, yet she never showed any hesitance to eat giba torso. I turned around to Ai Fa to ask just what the deal was, only to find my clan head with an even more puzzled look on her face.

“Mia Lea Ruu, I have something I wish to ask you. Is it true that the Rutim are second only to the Ruu clan in terms of power?”

How rare, for Ai Fa to address a member of the Ruu clan.

Mia Lea Ruu looked a bit happy as she responded, “Yeah, that’s right,” with a nod. “The Rutim certainly wouldn’t fall short of the Ruu in terms of strength, and the clan head Dan Rutim is also an excellent hunter. That much is certain.”

“I see. So that’s why he would think of giba torso as nothing but mundt food...?” Ai Fa said to herself, and then turned to me with an undaunted expression on her face. “Asuta, there’s nothing to worry about. Just carry out your own task as planned. If the head of the Rutim reacts the same way to the idea of eating giba torso as Donda Ruu did, I’ll convince him.”

“Huh? You understood the reason behind all that, Ai Fa?”

“Yes, most likely... At any rate, you can’t complete your cooking without using the torso meat, correct? In that case, you should just do what you need to rather than worrying about it.”

There was no hesitation in Ai Fa’s eyes. So I had to stop hesitating, too.

This wasn’t my fight alone. The fate and name of the Fa clan were also on the line.

Ai Fa and I needed to use every power at our disposal to prevent this from becoming a tragedy for the folks around us, too.