Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 4.5

5

“...What sort of farce is this?” Donda Ruu asked in a low voice.

“It’s no farce. I’ve repeated what I said to you three days ago, but now I truly mean it.” While still down on bended knees, I raised my head and looked straight at Donda Ruu. “My cooking may well have been poison for a hunter’s soul. It was the eldest son of the Ruu house, Jiza Ruu, who taught me that.”

Jiza Ruu turned my way with a look of surprise. It really must have shook him to cause that expression to show on his face.

“I’m sure it’s just as Jiza Ruu had said. The food I made on that night is ‘poison’ for hunters... Well, that may be an overstatement, so I should say it can become poison.”

“Hold on, Asuta. What are you saying? What did I say to you?”

“Didn’t you say that if someone ate nothing but such soft meat, their teeth would grow weak and fall out? That’s probably the truth.”

“Huh?! Then my teeth will all fall out like Granny Jiba’s?” Rimee Ruu asked, frozen while holding a wooden plate in both hands.

I gently smiled back at her and said, “No. If you just eat it once or twice, nothing will happen at all. That may be true even for a hundred or two hundred times. In fact, you could be alright even eating it a thousand or two thousand times.”

“Oh, then it’s totally fine! Thank goodness...”

Being rather earnest herself, Rimee Ruu gave a big sigh.

Sure enough, the man in his prime and the girl of seven or eight each had their own fitting reactions.

By the way, the bald old guy who seemed to be regressing and acting a bit childish himself was nodding along to what I was saying enthusiastically while tearing into his meat. He didn’t know anything about the giburgers, though, so it didn’t really have anything to do with him at this point.

Anyway, for now, my focus was on Rimee Ruu.

“Right, you don’t have anything to worry about. But what was it that you said to me three days ago, Rimee Ruu? Was it that you could eat hamburgers day and night, and didn’t have any need for your old meals?”

“Yeah! I mean, hamburgers are so tasty!”

With that, I glanced over at Donda Ruu, only to find the head of the Ruu clan silently glaring back at me with flames in his eyes.

...It was honestly kind of troublesome, the way the old guy to his side was just nodding along.

“That’s no good, Rimee Ruu. If you eat nothing but hamburgers day and night, each and every day of the week, then your teeth really may end up growing weak. And even if you’re fine, your children’s teeth may end up weak. And if those children eat nothing but hamburger too, then their kids could end up with even weaker teeth... The people of my country ended up with weaker and weaker teeth like that.” I was basing this on stuff I only vaguely remembered, with a bit of trickery mixed in. But regardless, I kept on sincerely spinning my tale. “I have to confess that today’s meal was a failure, at least to me... After all, I can’t really eat it properly.”

Everyone’s eyes went wide, aside from the men of the Ruu clan (Ludo Ruu excluded).

“This meat is too tough and hard to eat. I’m satisfied with the ribs, and the fatty shoulder meat is edible enough, but the leg meat really is tiresome to eat. I think about half this thickness would be just right.”

“No way! The leg meat is really chewy, but it’s not tough at all! I love this meat too!” Rimee Ruu exclaimed.

“Then could you eat my share for me? My mouth just can’t handle it... It simply isn’t possible for me.”

I looked back over at Donda Ruu, but he was still sitting there, silent and expressionless.

This was the first part where I needed to hold firm.

“That’s the sort of people I come from. I could never become a hunter. For example, there were people in my country whose work taxes their bodies... Um, let’s call it a mock battle. They make a living by comparing their strength and skills with a bat and ball rather than swords and shields, and striving to achieve victory.”

Hopefully at least the basic gist got across. Anyway, I was trying to explain pro baseball players.

“Those men wring out all of their strength while using that bat and ball. They clench their teeth while doing so, and apparently some of them have ruined their teeth in the process. And so they put a sort of padding in their mouth with the appropriate toughness, to bite down on instead of their teeth.”

That was a mouthpiece.

To be honest, I didn’t really know what I was talking about. I was just reciting something I’d once heard my old man say. He mentioned that teeth were really important, and that wasn’t just limited to baseball players; it included boxers too.

And so, I expanded the scope of the discussion in the same direction.

“...There were also more direct contests, which involved hitting each other with fists. They also use the same padding to protect their teeth, but it’s a much greater matter for them. I heard that apparently, the destructive power of punches was completely different depending on if they were using one or not. By being able to bite down without restraint, they were able to display even more power than usual.”

Everyone was slowly eating along as they listened to my story, puzzled looks on their faces.

Donda Ruu remained unshakably expressionless, though.

“There’s a strong relation between biting and wringing out the depths of your strength. I believe the hardness of teeth is affected by the nutrition of what you eat, so it may not quite be accurate to say that they grow weaker. But even so, if you only ever eat soft foods, I’m sure the gums that support your teeth, your biting power, and your jaw strength would weaken. That’s why I’ve changed my way of thinking about what you said, Jiza and Donda Ruu. That this was poison to a hunter’s soul, that would cause your teeth to weaken and fall out.”

Everyone was silent.

“Of course, I’m sure you weren’t thinking so deeply on the matter when you said that, and Lala Ruu didn’t like that soft meat despite being a woman, so maybe it simply comes down to tastes. But I had a different thought, too: Just what would have happened if you had fallen as deeply in love with my cooking as Rimee Ruu did, Donda Ruu?”

What came next wasn’t based on vague recollections or trickery. No, it was how I truly felt. My true, undiluted thoughts.

I should have thought everything through this thoroughly before I presented my food to the people of the Ruu clan half a month ago.

“I used techniques that didn’t exist at the forest’s edge in my cooking. As a result, the majority of your family called that food amazing. But if you all had reacted that way and unconditionally accepted my cooking, then you really could have ended up eating nothing but hamburgers day after day. That thought causes me to tremble.”

The bud of that thought was planted in me some time ago, since I saw Ai Fa become so insistent on eating hamburgers. Of course that made me very happy, but at the same time, I also felt uncomfortable about it.

Naturally, she also ate tough dried meat alongside the hamburgers every day, so there wasn’t any chance of her losing her jaw strength. But still, it wasn’t good to be so insistent on eating hamburgers.

On the off chance that change in diet happened to harm Ai Fa, I’d want to strangle myself to death. And that thinking applied to the Ruu clan, too.

I strongly felt the need to tell these folks, who had become involved with a person like me from another world in such a strange manner.

And then, three days ago, I saw that sight.

Those manly, fierce warriors heading off into the forest to hunt giba... When I saw their wild energy, I grew even more certain in how I was feeling.

My cooking could become poison to the people of this world.

“This isn’t about my country, but I heard a terrifying story that if you give alcohol to a tribe that had never heard of it before, the majority of them would become unable to live without it. I don’t believe my cooking holds that much power, but even so, it frightened me... The idea that my cooking could have a negative effect on people.”

Was it getting through to everyone?

At any rate, we finally hit the climax of this long-winded speech, which had already gone well beyond the limits of my skill as a speaker.

“That’s why I wanted to convey the knowledge I possessed. That if you ate nothing but soft meat there was a danger of your teeth and jaw growing weaker, and that giba torso could be a delicious dish rather than mundt feed if you just put in a little extra time. And I wanted to provide you with the joy of a tasty meal rooted in those ideas.”

When I glanced her way, I found that Ai Fa had finished her meal and had started staring at me rather than Donda Ruu at some point. It seemed like there was an incredibly gentle light in those eyes, somehow.

“Now then, I guess it’s about time to reveal my trick: The only dish I made today with my own two hands is the hamburger Jiba Ruu is eating.”

“What?!” Dan Rutim yelled out.

With few exceptions, the rest of the group was also astir, too.

“Reina Ruu made the poitan and Mia Lea Ruu handled the soup, while Vina Ruu prepared the meat dishes. I just provided her guidance on how to do it. There was a bit of burning along the way, but we had excess meat, so it wasn’t a problem. And I don’t think there’s any issue with the results, either.”

Everyone’s gazes seriously darted around, but most of them ultimately settled on Vina Ruu. They were all full of admiration, and yet despite Vina Ruu hiding her expression behind her long bangs for some reason, I somehow got the feeling that she was seriously glaring at me.

“This is a simple dish made solely by grilling meat. Figuring out the ideal flame strength and thickness of meat to use took a good bit of time, but now that I know the answer, that information can be easily shared. It doesn’t require as much labor as hamburgers. Wouldn’t you agree that it would be plenty possible to have such dishes each day without needing to sacrifice other work?”

I got the feeling a gentle gaze was pointing my way from somewhere. But well, gazes didn’t actually have a physical presence to start with, so I was probably just imagining things.

Anyway, I also felt like Granny Jiba was fixated on me from Donda Ruu’s side, too.

And so, I wrapped up my speech to her, Donda Ruu, and everyone else present.

“My intention was to come up with a menu that suited you people of the forest’s edge, who are hunters by nature. And I wanted it to be something that you all could make by cooperating as a family, even if I wasn’t around. Hopefully, with this the bonds between the Ruu family can grow deeper, and an unknown outsider like me coming to the forest’s edge can turn out to be a medicine rather than a poison... That’s what I was thinking about as I carefully studied how to grill delicious meat for ten days.” With my knees still even, I gave another bow. “As food presented by a chef, it probably wouldn’t be wrong to call this a ridiculous failure I couldn’t even taste test, but I’d like to think that it was a great success as home cooking meant to be eaten as a family. If it serves as medicine for you all, then I’d be glad... My apologies for speaking so long in the middle of your important banquet. Please, continue with your meal.”