Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3: The Castle Town and the Revival Festival

1

Two days after the day of the sun’s peak, on the twenty-ninth of the violet month, we were to head to the castle town in accordance with Duke Marstein Genos’s request.

As it was the seventh day of the ten-day-long revival festival, the end of this huge event was finally in sight. It was a significant burden to take on another job in the middle of everything else that was going on, but the people of the forest’s edge were a sturdy lot. No one complained about it among either the chefs or our guards.

As for our business, it went unbelievably smoothly. Both yesterday and today, all the food we had prepared sold out, and there hadn’t really been any noteworthy incidents after that bandit attack in the Gamley Troupe’s tent on the first night. The townsfolk were clearly enjoying the festival immensely, and that enthusiasm seemed to have spread to the people of the forest’s edge as well. Since we’d even had Granny Jiba visiting the post town and the Daleim lands, it felt like this had been hugely important for letting the peoples of Genos and the forest’s edge interact.

I hoped that our upcoming trip would help to strengthen that bond as well. Sufira Zaza and Dari Sauti would be joining us, having been added to our group at the last minute, though I had no real idea about whether they felt the same way I did. Of course, the reason the two of them were coming along was not to work as chefs or guards, but just to observe as members of the other two leading clans.

“Things are finally settling down again at the Sauti settlement. Though it is belated, I would like to take the opportunity to observe the actions of the Fa and Ruu now,” Dari Sauti said when we reunited for the first time in a while. His left arm was still in a sling from a fracture, but his other injuries all seemed to have healed up, and his expression looked just as stalwart and composed as it used to.

“There is also a need for the Zaza clan to get a proper grasp of what sort of bonds you’re forging with the nobles of the castle town. I shall act as the leading clan head Gulaf’s eyes, and carefully watch over the proceedings,” Sufira Zaza said. She, in contrast to Dari Sauti, had a really strict expression on her face, as she usually did, showing her strong dedication to her duty.

At any rate, we welcomed both of them with open arms and easily received the approval of the castle as well. In fact, they asked to seat Dari Sauti similarly to how they would a noble visitor, as he was one of the leading clan heads of the forest’s edge.

As for the nobles who would be attending, there were going to be a full fifteen of them in total, with the guest list including certain key individuals from the welcome party we had cooked for a while ago, as well as some from the tea party. From what I had been told, I had thought that this was supposed to be a very private event, but, well, maybe for the folks in the castle town, a gathering of this size was what passed as small-scale in their minds.

The people of the forest’s edge who were going to be there included six chefs, two observers, and eight bodyguards for a total of sixteen. The chefs were Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, Lala Ruu, Toor Deen, Yun Sudra, and me. As mentioned before, the observers were Dari Sauti and Sufira Zaza. And lastly, the hunters were another distinguished group including Ai Fa, Jiza Ruu, Darmu Ruu, Ludo Ruu, Gazraan Rutim, Dan Rutim, Giran Ririn, and a Sauti man.

Shin Ruu would also be accompanying us to take part in the contest of swordsmanship that Leeheim had proposed.

Despite having been invited to such an event, Shin Ruu looked just as calm and self-possessed as always. He didn’t seem concerned at all, even though there were a pair of noble ladies who had requested his presence. I had to wonder if Lala Ruu had spoken to him about that. When I stealthily asked how he was feeling, he quietly replied, “I simply need to show them my skills and not bring shame upon myself as a hunter of the forest’s edge.”

For the food sampling part of the event, three chefs from the castle town would also be participating: Varkas, Timalo, and Yang. We would all be unveiling the recipes we had come up with to use the black fuwano flour, white mamaria vinegar, and white mamaria wine from Banarm. The majority of us chefs from the forest’s edge were really looking forward to seeing what Varkas had created in particular.

“Personally, just the thought of going to the castle town is kind of overwhelming for me,” Yun Sudra said excitedly as the totos carriage we were riding in passed through the castle gates and brought the townscape into view through the window. “It’s not just the road. Even the buildings are made from stone. It’s almost unbelievable that such a sight could be real.”

“That’s true. No matter how many times I come here, I just can’t seem to get used to it.”

After we finished our preparations for tomorrow, we headed out from the settlement at the forest’s edge at the lower fourth hour. Sunset hadn’t quite rolled around just yet, so it was one of those in-between times of day, but there still seemed to be a large number of people enjoying the revival festival throughout the castle town.

There were always a lot of people walking along the stone streets to begin with, but now the crowds were even bigger than usual. There were people singing, dancing, carrying flutes and drums, drinking fruit wine in the middle of the day... It was all pretty similar to how things were in the post town in terms of liveliness.

“Unsurprisingly, I don’t see any outlaws about,” Jiza Ruu, who was also visiting the castle town for the first time, remarked. As you needed a pass to set foot in the castle town in the first place, it was only natural that there weren’t any ruffians or criminals to be found. Dabagg was a lot more peaceful than the Genos post town too, but the fence they had around their town was nothing compared to the castle town walls, so naturally this place was even safer.

Even so, aside from that, everything else was basically the same here as it was in the post town. Just among the folks I knew, the bodyguards Kamyua Yoshu and Zasshuma, the merchants Shumiral and Diel, and the minstrel Neeya were all able to freely come and go. Along the path we were on now, which led from the gates to a nearby city plaza, I happened to notice quite a few people dressed in a familiar way for travel, as well as lots of totos pulling wagons.

The totos carriage we were riding in kept swaying for a long while after that until eventually arriving at the familiar Turan manor...though, as it was currently being used as a venue for entertaining noble visitors, perhaps it was best referred to as the former Turan manor instead.

“We have been waiting for you, guests from the forest’s edge. Please, come this way.”

As we passed through the entrance to the building, which was flanked by guards, we were greeted by pages in yellow uniforms. Since this was no longer the Turan manor, Chiffon Chel wasn’t present to act as our guide. From what I’d heard, she had been moved to a residence near the castle with Torst and her mistress, Lefreya. I had asked Yang to send her a message through Polarth regarding her older brother Eleo Chel, but I had no way of knowing at present if it had been properly conveyed.

“Allow us to first show you to the bathhouse.”

With that, we started walking down the carpeted hallways under the guidance of the pages. They really must have been well trained, as they didn’t look shaken in the least, despite having been met with so many hunters. Once we had arrived at our destination and handed over all of the luggage we had brought along to some assistant pages, we were shown into the brick-built bathhouse for the first time in roughly fifty days.

“Chefs, Sir Shin Ruu, and all who will be entering the kitchen or the same space as our noble visitors, please cleanse yourselves here,” one of the pages explained.

“Hmm,” Jiza Ruu hummed. “You say that we need to cleanse ourselves not only if we are heading to the kitchen, but also if we are entering the dining hall?”

“Yes, those are the duke’s instructions.”

“Hmm... We weren’t told that before, though. Wonder if some noble complained or something,” Ludo Ruu muttered, to which the page deeply bowed his head.

“This building only just recently became a venue for entertaining noble visitors, so a number of customs have been revised. We ask that you please understand.”

“We have no intention of ignoring your customs, but we haven’t been told yet how many of us will be permitted to enter the dining hall as bodyguards. I suppose to avoid a hassle later, it would be best for all of us to cleanse ourselves,” Jiza Ruu said.

And so, every last one of the men present ended up bathing. Of course, not counting myself, all eight of them were hunters. It was quite a sight, like that time when I had encountered Jiza and Darmu Ruu while bathing a good while back.

“Ooh, how strange! I feel as if I’m giba meat being cooked over a flame!” a naked Dan Rutim chuckled in the bathhouse, which was filled with thick steam. No matter where I looked, I was surrounded by dark-skinned musculature, which I didn’t know how to feel about.

Among this group, only Jiza Ruu and Giran Ririn were visiting the castle town for the first time. Of course, neither of them were the type to allow themselves to look shaken or uneasy, no matter the situation, but Giran Ririn had appeared to be enjoying himself right from the very start.

After that, the women cleansed themselves too, and then some of our members split off. Specifically, Shin Ruu, who had been challenged to a contest, and Dari Sauti, who had been invited to sit alongside the nobles, as well as the man assigned to guard him.

Lala Ruu had been restraining her emotions all this time, but now she finally blurted out, “Shin Ruu! Um...good luck?”

“Right,” he nodded back, and after a long look at Lala Ruu’s face, he walked off with the page who was acting as his guide.

Lala Ruu had said she was sure Shin Ruu would win the contest against the noble and that she wasn’t concerned in the least, but she must have been feeling uneasy now that the time was fast approaching. I could see the helplessness in her eyes as she watched his slender figure walk away.

After saying farewell to Dari Sauti’s group too, we were left with fourteen members in our party. We quietly headed to the kitchens and were shown into the large one adjacent to the massive pantry. As soon as we opened the door, all sorts of aromas hit us. It seemed the chefs from the castle town had already begun their preparations.

As it was their first time here, Lala Ruu, Yun Sudra, and Sufira Zaza were glancing around with looks of astonishment and admiration. When I tried to eyeball the size of the kitchen, I figured it was around fifteen meters squared—roughly twice the dimensions of a classroom, or half as large as a gymnasium—so that was a pretty natural reaction.

The number of workstations arranged in lines around the room had to be in the double digits, with three groups currently working at several of them. The ceiling was high and a number of windows here and there provided ventilation and natural light, but it was still rather hot.

“Hmm. It certainly is a wide space. Very well, we will have Darmu and Giran Ririn keep watch outside the door.”

On Jiza Ruu’s orders, the two specified individuals remained outside while everyone else stepped into the room. Yang was working hard at the nearest station, and he greeted us first.

“It’s been some time, Sir Asuta, and all of the rest of you from the forest’s edge... Ah, and you too, Lady Toor Deen.”

“Ah, um, yes. I-It’s been a while...”

Having been suddenly called out, Toor Deen gave a flustered bow of her head. At the tea party, she was the one who had been singled out for making the most excellent sweet. Yang must have made a point of remembering her name after that.

“Thank you for coming here today. I am greatly looking forward to the taste testing. Have you already heard how it is to take place?”

“Yes. From what I was told, we’re to sample the dishes in the same room as the noble visitors,” I said.

“That is correct. Then we chefs will share our opinions and discuss how best to make use of the ingredients from Banarm,” Yang stated, his gaze turning toward Toor Deen. “However, I was unable to prepare anything but a sweet. Will you be making a sweet today as well, Lady Toor Deen?”

“N-No, I’m just here to help Asuta today... I-I didn’t have enough time to learn how to handle black fuwano...”

“That is certainly a shame. I’ve been wondering what sort of sweet you might make with it while I’ve been working on this job.”

“I-I’m also looking forward to trying your sweet today,” Toor Deen replied, her face now bright red.

Yang smiled somewhat bashfully back at her. “I’m honored. I ask that when the time for taste testing comes, you give your earnest opinion.”

“Y-Yes, of course!”

At that point, a new person approached. He was a thin chef dressed in white, with a belly that jutted out. He had a smooth, healthy-looking face, and at a guess I would’ve said he was in his forties. It was Timalo, the head chef of Selva’s Spear, and this was the first time I’d seen him in around four months.

“It has been some time, Sir Asuta. I am glad to find you looking well.”

“Yeah, it’s really been a while, Timalo. Have you been doing well too?”

“Yes, of course,” Timalo replied with a kind smile. At least on the surface, he appeared quite pleasant and gentlemanly. Though he had been badly shaken by the way Marstein had raked him over the coals the last time we met, he wasn’t letting that show at all. “I ask that you go easy on me today... You have certainly brought quite a large crowd with you this time.”

“Yeah, that’s because we have a lot of different dishes to make. We’re gonna have to hurry if we want to get them all ready in time.”

“Oh? May I ask how many dishes you plan to serve?”

“Huh? Let’s see... I guess overall I’d say roughly six.”

“Six dishes?! That’s quite a number!” Timalo remarked with his arms flung open wide in a shocked pose.

It certainly must have seemed like quite a few, but really, the main dishes were the dipping soba I was making and the giba meat and white mamaria wine stew from the Ruu clan. Then, in order to show off the mayonnaise and dressing I’d come up with using white mamaria vinegar, I was planning to make a salad, which would work out to six dishes in total.

“Even I was only able to make three dishes, so this is most definitely a surprise.”

“Right, but the important thing is the quality of the dishes, not the quantity.”

“Quite right. In fact, I have heard that the foremost chef in Genos, Sir Varkas, only created a single dish.” As he said that, Timalo glanced behind me with a tenacious look in his eyes, at the workstation where four chefs clad in white from head to toe were busily working away—Varkas and his three apprentices. “It has reached my ears that you have manned the kitchen alongside Sir Varkas before, Sir Asuta...”

“Ah, yes. At the welcome party for the envoys from Banarm.”

“And I was told your cooking was commended by roughly half of those present. When I heard that, I was so frustrated that I couldn’t stop myself from grinding my teeth.”

“Oh, that wasn’t a taste competition or anything, so...”

“Sir Varkas is indeed the foremost chef here in Genos. No one knows that fact better than I do,” Timalo interrupted. “I am certain he is once again preparing a dish that will fully live up to his reputation. It makes me eager to put my skills to good use as well.”

In the past, Varkas had served as the head chef for the Turan manor, while Timalo was the assistant head chef. I was a bit worried that the man might have held some ill will toward the people of the forest’s edge and me, but rather than that, it seemed he was completely fixated on Varkas.

“The kitchen of Selva’s Spear has been placed in my charge. Though Sir Varkas’s Silver Star has earned quite a reputation as well, I cannot allow him to get the better of me... At any rate, I still have work to take care of, so please excuse me.”

“Ah, right. See you later.”

After saying what he had wanted to and nothing more, Timalo returned to his workstation. As she watched him walk away, Reina Ruu said to me, “Asuta... That man’s personality seems to be the same as always, but he isn’t hiding his mouth with a white cloth, is he?”

“A white cloth?”

I thought back to when I’d first met Timalo. He’d had a white cloth covering his nose and mouth, and Roy had informed me that he’d been wearing it because he didn’t want to breathe the same air as people of low birth. Perhaps his views on the people of the forest’s edge had evolved, or maybe he was just too fixated on Varkas at the moment. But regardless, it wasn’t a bad change for us.

“Oh, it just occurred to me that Roy isn’t here. I guess he wasn’t called on to assist Timalo today,” I remarked.

“Oh, yeah?” Reina Ruu replied with a look of feigned indifference. Seeing her expression, I had to wonder if she had been concerned about possibly running into him here. Personally, my feelings on the matter were somewhat complicated. I was both disappointed and relieved at the same time.

“Well then, why don’t we get to work too? Yang, I’ll see you later.”

“Of course. Excuse me as well.”

Yang would only be making a single sweet, and he was being accompanied by Nicola and one other cooking assistant. Timalo was making three dishes, meanwhile, and had three assistants. In comparison, we had six chefs from the forest’s edge. The giba meat and white mamaria wine stew just needed to be heated back up, so we would just be working on the other five dishes together.

We had roughly an hour and a half to cook. Though we had done as much prep work as we could in advance, we were going to be rather tight on time even so. The luggage we had handed off at the entrance had been delivered to a workstation in the corner, so our next step was to head to the pantry to secure the rest of the ingredients we needed.

As we walked over that way, one of the chefs clad in white working at a station farther from the entrance than ours turned toward us with mechanical precision. Sparkling green eyes shined through the holes in his mask. He was slender and tall, but wasn’t as big as Bozl. It was undoubtedly Varkas himself.

“Hello there, Sir Asuta. It has been far too long.”

“It really has, Varkas. I look forward to working alongside you today.”

“As do I. Hold on for just a moment...” Varkas said, before stepping away to wash his hands in a water jug. Then he thoroughly wiped them off with a white hand cloth and walked over to me again before firmly grasping my hands. “Sir Asuta, I was truly impressed by your dish from the other day.”

“Ah, you mean the giba curry that Bozl brought back from the post town, right? I’m honored to hear that you ate it, Varkas.”

With his hands still gripping mine, Varkas brought his piercing green eyes closer. “It seems that I have been underestimating your skills more than I had previously thought. To think that you could handle herbs so splendidly at such a young age... Will you be making that fantastic dish again today?”

“Ah, no, since it doesn’t use any ingredients from Banarm...”

“That is a shame... Truly, a shame. All this time, I have been hoping to experience that dish prepared with the greatest of ingredients available here in this pantry.”

Varkas was always expressionless and difficult to pin down, but sometimes he would freely let this oddly intense passion shine through. Since he was wearing his mask at the moment, it felt all the more bizarre. Still, feeling grateful for his enthusiastic reaction, I stepped back with a chuckle.

Then, just as she had done in the past, Ai Fa stepped forward and said, “Hey. As I have said before, even amongst men, I cannot approve of more touching than is necessary. If his answer has satisfied your curiosity, then I ask that you hurry up and step away from my clan member.”

“My apologies...” After one last reluctant squeeze, Varkas finally released my hands. Then he looked around at everyone present. “By the way, I heard from Bozl that Sir Mikel’s daughter possesses skill far beyond her very young age. Did she not accompany you today?”

“No. This was a job accepted by us people of the forest’s edge, so she didn’t come with us. If the idea had been to show off recipes using giba meat, though, I definitely would have reached out to her.”

“I see. That’s such a shame. Sir Mikel truly was an outstanding chef, so I am greatly interested in his daughter,” Varkas said, drawing in close again. “Still, I do not often have the opportunity to set foot outside of the castle town. What do you say to the idea that once this revival festival comes to a close, I extend an invitation to the young lady and yourself?”

“Huh? An invitation?”

“A great many peddlers have been visiting Genos for the revival festival. As a result, even though this pantry has been running short of late, it will soon be receiving a large influx of ingredients. I am certain you will be asked to examine them once again, Sir Asuta. Could I ask you to bring that young woman along when that day arrives?”

It was certainly a unique request. But now that he mentioned it, I had first met Varkas when I had been summoned to the castle town in order to examine ingredients.

“Well, personally, I really appreciate the offer. As long as Myme’s father, Mikel, and the authorities from the castle give their permission, I would definitely like to see it become a reality.”

“The nobles will surely offer no objection. And as for me, my sole wish is to ensure that only chefs with an appropriate level of skill will be allowed to lay their hands on the ingredients delivered here.”

Even though it had been a while since I had last seen Varkas, he really was just the same as always. For some reason, that thought made me happy.

“All right, let me talk to her and Mikel about it. Can I leave Polarth and Duke Genos to you, Varkas?”

“Of course. I shall raise the matter before the end of the day,” Varkas replied with a polite nod, then suddenly turned around, carefully cleansed his hands in the water jug again, and faced his workstation once more. “Well then, I still have work to do, but I shall be eagerly anticipating the taste testing,” he said, his gaze fixed on his ingredients as he spoke.

As I thought to myself about how that was just like him, I nodded back, “Right. Oh, and I’d like to say hi to Bozl too, if you wouldn’t mind. I need to thank him for delivering my cooking to you.”

“Bozl is in the smoking room,” Varkas bluntly stated.

“Huh?” I made a questioning sound with a tilt of my head. When I looked around, I found that sure enough, Bozl’s huge frame was nowhere to be found. Even with all of Varkas’s apprentices hiding their faces under white masks, there wouldn’t be any mistaking him. Varkas was only supposed to have three apprentices, but there were already four people present, including the man himself... Someone else had been added to his group, and I just hadn’t noticed.

The one who was even taller than Varkas and quite thin must have been the older guy with Sym blood, Tatumai. And the little one around Reina Ruu’s height was undoubtedly Shilly Rou. The two of them were paying us no heed, being too busy chopping up vegetables, tending to boiling pots, and so on.

The fourth and final member of their group, who I wasn’t familiar with, didn’t seem to stand out in any particular way, appearing to be just a man with a medium build. He was standing there next to Shilly Rou, staring intently into a boiling pot with a serious bearing.

Hmm. So Varkas had another apprentice?

Well, there was surely going to be a chance for us to get acquainted after we finished our work. Having come to that conclusion, I turned around, only for Reina Ruu to slip by me and walk over to the man in question.

“What exactly are you doing here, assisting Varkas with his work?” she coldly asked, seriously catching me off guard. The masked man with the medium build glanced back at her.

“Don’t interrupt. I can’t chat while I have a job to do.”

When I heard his voice, I was taken aback. After all, it belonged to none other than Roy.

“It was Mikel’s cooking that affected you so strongly, wasn’t it? So why did you ask to study under Varkas instead?”

“I told you not to interrupt. It has nothing to do with you.”

Reina Ruu seemed prepared to argue further. However, a moment later, Jiza Ruu approached her from behind without making a sound and grabbed ahold of her slender shoulders.

“Reina, I do not know what this conversation may be about, but you are the one forgetting your manners.”

Reina Ruu bit her lip while glaring at Roy’s masked face, but eventually she turned her back on him.

With that little reunion between us chefs over and done with, we finally got to work on the night’s cooking.