Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 20 - Chapter 4.4

4

We headed back to the post town in the second half of the lower fourth hour.

The fact that each hour was roughly seventy minutes tended to confuse things for me, but if I had to convert that, it should have been something like 5:15 in the afternoon.

The sun set at the lower sixth hour, or about 7:00 in the evening. Since I didn’t want to get back too late, the plan was to open for business at the lower fifth hour, then close up shop around two hours later.

That would give us just 140 minutes or so of work time, which was an hour less than our usual business days, but I still felt we shouldn’t lower the amount of food we prepared. The simple reason for that was because folks ate around one and a half times as much for dinner as they did for a midday snack here in Genos. That meant customers who would normally be satisfied with two portions would very likely want three instead, causing our sales to go one and a half times as fast.

Naturally, how many customers we would get at night remained a complete unknown, but I was prepared to extend things by an hour if worse came to worst. Even if the people of the forest’s edge tended to turn in early, I was sure the extension wouldn’t be enough to ruin their sleep, so that was the plan we were going with.

At any rate, we had managed to somehow finish up our preparations and arrive at the post town on schedule, but the place remained just as packed as it had been around noon. This was our first time coming to town at such an hour, so we didn’t really have a normal baseline to compare things to, but regardless, it certainly was lively.

The tables and chairs in front of the inns had been cleaned up, as the time when meat and fruit wine were being handed out had long since passed, but folks still looked to be in wonderfully high spirits as they came and went along the street. Perhaps there were a lot of people who had been planning to arrive here in Genos at night, as even more of the crowd than usual seemed to have wagons and traveler’s cloaks.

At any rate, we went ahead and got things ready for business.

Just like always, we split into groups and headed off in different directions. Some of us would go to borrow the stalls while the others delivered supplies to the inns. The hunters guarding us divided themselves up as well.

We kept the number of chefs the same at fourteen, but since doing business at night was an unfamiliar situation, we went up to thirteen guards. With Sufira Zaza joining us as an observer on top of that, we ended up with a group of twenty-eight. We dealt with it by carrying six people in each of our four wagons, and Mim Cha and the Lea clan’s totos each had two riders. It was our biggest group yet.

Among the guards, I was most familiar with Ai Fa, Bartha, Ludo Ruu, Shin Ruu, Rau Lea, Dan Rutim, Jiza Ruu, and Gazraan Rutim. Then on top of that, we had Darmu Ruu, Ji Maam, and Giran Ririn. Rounding out the group were two hunters whose names I didn’t know from the Muufa and Min, which meant we had people from all seven of the clans under the Ruu.

Even more shocking was the fact that we had all three sons of the main Ruu house with us. The palm of Darmu Ruu’s right hand still hadn’t healed, but since his left shoulder was all better, he apparently had no issue acting as a guard.

Incidentally, in addition to Sheera and Rimee Ruu who were scheduled to be on duty, the Ruu clan had also added Lala Ruu to their group. Apparently, she had traded places with a Lea woman because she wanted to go see the Gamley Troupe too.

With our group all gathered back together, we set about getting ready for business. We had left the outdoor restaurant open, and though there was fruit juice and juices from the meat spilled across the tables, we found that fortunately none of the chairs had been stolen.

Those of us in charge got the metal trays and the food heating up, while those with their hands free set about cleaning the restaurant space. Since the newer chefs had already had time to grow somewhat accustomed to the job, there didn’t seem to be any real issues.

“Oh, so you’re opening your stalls up at night today?” someone from a group of sharp-sighted fellows from Jagar called out as they approached.

“Yes. For the holidays, we’ll be open at night as well. We’re not permitted to do business during the day.”

“Glad to hear it! The dining halls at the inns are sure to be packed, so we were just wondering where we’d eat!” They seemed really happy at the news.

“This is our first time opening for business at night. There seem to be a number of stalls selling goods, in addition to the ones selling food. Is that because it’s a holiday?”

“Yeah. Normally, nobody would go out of their way to buy a pot or jar at night. But a lot of folks get carried away during the holidays, so the merchants try to make up for the earnings they lost during the day.”

Compared to earlier in the day, about eighty percent as many stalls were currently open in the area. Rather than everyday goods, they seemed to be primarily selling beautiful fabrics and the like. However, some of the people working them seemed to be ignoring their businesses and just drinking away.

“Ooh, looks like it’s just about the lower fifth hour,” someone in the back of the group mumbled. When I turned to see what our customers were looking at, I spotted a number of guards leading a large roofless wagon pulled by totos toward the south.

The people crowding the street scattered, and the large wagon proceeded solemnly in our direction. Then, two of the guards stepped over and unloaded some luggage while holding long-handled spears.

“What are they doing?”

“Hmm? Ah, they’re getting ready for the fire. It’s a tradition unique to Genos.”

As we were talking, the guards had moved to a spot in front of our stalls and set down the things they were holding in the middle of the street: a really big armful of a bowl, a wooden frame around one and a half meters tall, and a leather cover stretched over the top. Once it got dark, they must have been planning to ignite some fuel in the bowl. The covering was probably there to prevent any issues from a sudden rain.

The guards left the braziers spaced out every seven to eight meters, right in the middle of the ten-meter-wide road. It wouldn’t prevent wagons from passing by, and there was no risk of fire spreading to any stalls or homes when they were placed there. However, this main stone-paved road stretched for several hundred meters just for the section that went through the post town. If they were leaving two guards at each interval all the way south, that would be an incredible number of personnel they needed.

“Since it’s a holiday, they’ve got more people than usual on duty. Normally, there aren’t many stalls out at night and everyone just gathers to the south, so they only set up fires there.”

“I see. And then once everyone’s asleep, they collect them?”

“That’s right. Of course, I’m always in bed by that time, so I’ve never seen it myself, but after those braziers are cleaned up, they apparently still have guards patrolling around with torches.”

Since outside of the castle town there weren’t any stone walls to protect against assailants, they just threw enough people at the area to prevent any problems. The Turan and Daleim lands were protected the same way, in addition to the post town. While I had some rather bitter memories about the militia, I still had to admire the work they did.

While I was thinking about that, a guard returning from the northern extremity of town with a totos approached our stall.

“Hey, you lot are opening for business as well tonight?” It was the second platoon commander of the fifth unit assigned to the Saturas territory, Marth.

With a smile, I replied, “That’s right. Thanks for your service.”

“What a hassle. I’m begging you, please don’t make any additional work for me,” Marth said with a sullen expression as he gave a pained glance into the pot on top of the stall. “Still, there’s no denying that my stomach is responding to that aroma. So this is a tarapa stew of some sort?”

“It is. If you haven’t eaten yet, would you like to give it a try?”

“Don’t be foolish. As if I could purchase and eat food while on duty. Food is prepared for us by those assigned to the task back at the station.” But even as he spoke, Marth was staring regretfully into the pot. I was in charge of the new dish, the tarapa stew. The tarapa sauce was pleasantly sputtering away, giving off a truly alluring aroma. “Well then, since your shop is right across from that lot, take particular care not to cause any sort of trouble.” With that, Marth resolutely stood up straight and left.

By “that lot,” he had naturally meant the Gamley Troupe. Their massive tent stood there silently under the sky that was steadily turning crimson. It seemed they still hadn’t opened for business for the evening yet.

“Hey, we’re starving here. Are you still not ready?” one of the customers from Jagar pestered.

I looked over at the stalls to my left and right. Ama Min Rutim waved me on as the representative for the Ruu clan, while Toor Deen and Yamiru Lea nodded back.

“Right, we’re now open for business.”

It wasn’t as if we had dozens of people waiting around like usual. But there were a great number of passersby, even way up north here, so we soon had folks crowding in at the usual rate. Furthermore, we had been able to communicate to the people on the street that we would be open for business today just by pulling our carts here, so we got a steady flow of folks approaching from the south, and before long we were even busier than usual.

Because of the anticipated crowd, we went ahead and put a halt to samples starting today, so I was able to focus on just dishing out one plate after another of tarapa stew. Ai Fa took on the job of accepting coins, as she was participating for the last time today. No matter how many customers crowded us, she calmly and precisely carried out her job, flawlessly playing the part of a cashier.

Then, just ten minutes after opening, Lala Ruu came running over to me.

“Asuta, we don’t have nearly enough seats! A bunch of people have started laying out mats in the vacant spaces over there. That’s against the rules, isn’t it?”

“Huh? Hmm, yeah. And if they’re eating from our plates, that makes it our responsibility.”

“Then I’ll go pay the inn to borrow those spaces! Sheera Ruu said that’s what we should do, but do you agree?”

“Yeah. The Fa and Ruu clans can each pay half.”

“Got it! Come with me, Shin Ruu!”

With that, Lala Ruu disappeared beyond the crowd.

It seemed we had had a bit of a slipup right from the start, with our eight stalls worth of space and eighty-four seats coming up completely short.

I don’t even know what to say. I might have really underestimated how intense the first day would be.

I had heard that the number of customers we could expect to see would double on the day of dawn, but between when we had first opened the outdoor restaurant and yesterday, we had already seen a near doubling on that front, so we hadn’t expected our crowd to increase this much even after that.

Of course, it was all because this was a holiday and the first day of the festival, but we needed to deal with it rather than just ignoring the fact that we were breaking the laws of Genos. Since spaces could only be rented in ten-day increments, we had no choice but to make them officially ours for the duration, even if that would lead to us having excess space while running our business during the day.

Will we have enough plates? We stocked up on them in proportion to the number of seats we had, so the extras we purchased could end up running out quickly.

My personal job was serving the stew on deep-sided plates, so my work was much easier than yesterday’s had been. However, the fact that things were moving along so smoothly might have been contributing to the shortage of seating. Giba steak and giba cutlets slowed down the flow of customers because they took time to prepare, and that had surely made things less strained in terms of our ability to accommodate our customers.

“What’s the matter, Asuta?” Ai Fa asked.

“Ah, I’m just regretting my own carelessness.”

“I see. While I don’t know what you’re referring to, if that is how you feel then it would undoubtedly be right for you to reflect upon it properly.”

“Yeah, that’s just what I’ll do.”

If nothing else, we’d at least have to order more tableware tomorrow. We had two more days of business at night ahead of us, so it certainly wouldn’t be a wasteful expense.

“We’re back! We went ahead and took care of the Fa clan’s portion, so you can just repay us later!” Lala Ruu said as she returned to the stalls, before hurrying back over to the restaurant space. We had just run out of plates on our end, so I politely apologized to the customers in line, entrusted the stall to Ai Fa, and then headed over that way myself.

“Whoa, this is really something else.”

Of course, the restaurant itself was full, but the people sitting on the ground beyond that were taking up almost the same amount of space all over again. Obviously, since they were eating with their food spread out in front of them, the space wasn’t being used as efficiently as in the restaurant. Compared to the eighty-four seats we had, there looked to be roughly fifty people crowded around there.

“Hey, cram in a little tighter over there! We didn’t borrow the space past here, so if you go beyond that, you’ll get dragged away by the guards!” Lala Ruu shouted as Shin Ruu helped her set up a rope. It did indeed seem to be the same size as the restaurant at eight spaces. They were jamming the grigee poles we used to carry pots into the ground in order to quickly construct the boundary.

“It’s really fortunate Lala Ruu is here today. The other women and I could never have acted so swiftly,” Sheera Ruu said from behind me while holding some empty wooden plates.

“But you’re the one who instructed her on what to do, aren’t you? That was a good call on your part.”

“I wouldn’t say it was my doing. Because this means we’re now wasting eight red coins a day, I needed to confirm with you whether or not it was really the right decision, Asuta.”

“It absolutely was, I’d say. I’m just sorry I underestimated things so badly.”

“Please don’t go making a face like that. This is a job shared between the Fa and Ruu clans, isn’t it? We share both the same responsibility and the same honor from the task.”

After saying that, Sheera Ruu started washing tableware in a barrel filled with water. Since I needed that done before I could get back to work, I naturally helped out.

Rimee Ruu, Yun Sudra, and the Ratsu woman were walking all about the now-doubled space used by the restaurant as they collected empty plates. Ama Min Rutim had hurried over to join us too, leaving her stall to the Min woman, so she must have run out of plates just like I had.

“We’re planning on staying for an hour or two after sunset, aren’t we? But don’t you think we’ll end up finishing our work much earlier than that at this rate?” Sheera Ruu asked as her hands kept on moving.

“It must be around half past the lower fifth hour. Depending on how things go, I could definitely see us selling out within an hour of sunset at the sixth.”

“This is really wonderful, though. After all, it means we’ll be able to sell even more during the next holiday,” Sheera Ruu said, handing me the wooden plates and spoons she had washed. “That honor is shared between the Fa and Ruu clans. And I’m sure Jiza Ruu and Sufira Zaza must be even more surprised than we are.”

After taking in her reassuring smile, I headed back to my stall, where more than ten customers were lined up. I called out to them, saying, “Sorry for the wait!” and picked up my ladle.

The world was already awash in twilight. The ambient light was growing weaker, as the sky shifted from crimson to purple.

Around fifteen minutes or so after that, the guards standing interspersed along the road began lighting the braziers with lana leaves. Starting from the north, orange flames sprang into being one after another. The folks in our seating area and along the road cheered, “To the sun god!” in unison, as if they had been waiting for that.

I also noticed a series of flames off to the northwest. Those must have been fires that had been lit along the castle town wall in order to help them to keep watch. I had seen them before, when we were on our way back from Dabagg, and before even that, when I was liberated from the Turan manor. It was the light of a nightless city, illuminated without the aid of any electricity. If not for those flames, I surely would have been able to look up and spy constellations I didn’t recognize up in the sky.

Somehow, I felt as if something had grabbed hold of my heart. The smiles and cheering of the crowd, as well as the general excitement of the festival, kindled that feeling even further. It was a familiar sensation for me, which called to mind an occasion roughly three years back, in December of my second year in middle school.

I had participated in a local hunting club’s farming camp, where I prepared a wild boar for the first time in my life. It was a three-day event where I stayed overnight, which meant I spent the first night surrounded by all sorts of unfamiliar faces. I ended up finding it hard to sleep in the bedroom assigned to me, so I stared out the window up at the starry sky as I breathed out white clouds, and that was when I was captivated by the same sort of feeling I felt now. It was like being all alone in an unfamiliar land... A strangely refreshing, but complicated sensation that included both homesickness and a sense of release.

How are my old man and Reina doing these days?

I suddenly felt the strength draining from my legs, but just then, someone poked me in the shoulder. “Hey. Why are you looking so stupefied while you’re supposed to be working? Didn’t you say you needed to keep stirring that pot?” Ai Fa asked, her blue eyes staring my way.

In a fluster, I re-gripped the ladle and resumed my stirring. There was a customer from Sym standing in front of me, but I had run out of plates again and couldn’t serve him.

“Sorry, but I’m going to head back over to the restaurant again. Could you keep on stirring the pot?”

“Hold on,” Ai Fa called out, grabbing my arm.

A poke was one thing, but it was rare for her to touch me so firmly as of late. She pulled my body toward her, then stared into my eyes from up close.

“Asuta, are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yup, totally.”

“I see.” Ai Fa said, releasing my arm. “Very well. Go ahead and do what you need to.”

“Sure. Okay, I’m counting on you to stir that pot.”

I really was fine. At least as long as Ai Fa was by my side. With that thought holding me up, I started walking.

While it was dark down around my legs, as long as a hole to the depths of hell didn’t open up beneath me, I would still be able to feel the sensation of solid dirt under my feet.

It’s perfectly normal to get overwhelmed by sentimentality in the middle of a fun festival.

I could still feel Ai Fa’s warmth on the spot where she had grabbed my arm. That warmth granted me strength more than anything.