Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter 3.2

2

Roughly an hour and a half later, sunset arrived at the lower sixth hour. Somehow or another, we had managed to prepare all six dishes in time, which we took with us as we headed for the dining hall.

Yang and Timalo were going to be presenting on their own, but Varkas and I brought along all of our cooking assistants as well. Since this was a gathering of nobles, normally it would have been just me and a representative from the Ruu clan who would be attending, but I really wanted everyone to try the cooking prepared by Varkas and the others, so I had asked Polarth in advance for permission to have everyone join in.

Varkas, on the other hand, was able to take his four apprentices in with him like it was nothing, but he must have also made arrangements for that in advance. At any rate, we ended up in a line beside one another in a notably larger dining hall than last time around.

Naturally, Varkas’s group had removed their white masks. Varkas was tall and slender with pale skin like a southerner and green eyes, and it was difficult to tell how old he was. Tatumai, meanwhile, was a dark-skinned older gentleman with long black hair, half of which had gone white. Bozl was a large southerner with a disheveled mustache and hair, while Shilly Rou was a girl with a harsh gaze and long brown hair pulled up into a tight bun. Then lastly, you had Roy, a young man with noticeably freckled pale skin who had a medium build and looked displeased.

“Today has certainly been a great undertaking. I am quite glad you were all able to make time for this during the revival festival, when everyone is quite busy,” Duke Marstein Genos stated as representative for the nobles. They had quite a crowd on their side, with fifteen of them present. Since we were going to be eating while standing up today, they had all split up into their own groups.

From the house of Genos you had a total of four members: Marstein himself; his first son, Melfried; Melfried’s wife, Eulifia; and their daughter, Odifia. The group from Banarm included Welhide—a young black-haired nobleman who was the chief envoy—and two other members. The house of Turan had their nominal head, Lefreya, and her guardian, Torst, present. The house of Daleim had only sent their second son, Polarth, and likewise, only the first son, Leeheim, was present from the house of Saturas. Then you had Lady Besta from the house of Viscount Talfon, Lady Selanju from the house of Viscount Madel, and two guests of the castle—Diel, the daughter of a metalwork merchant, and Arishuna, the star reader—bringing the total up to fifteen. The group was largely dressed quite well. And there leading clan head Dari Sauti was, standing quietly beside Diel and Arishuna—the only ones who weren’t nobles.

The dining hall was grand and circular, with a carpet the color of wine under our feet, beautiful tapestries running along the walls, and even a beautiful glass chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. I couldn’t see any guards, but I was certain that there were some around, probably concealed behind the tapestries. There were also a number of waist-high circular tables here and there throughout the room, which also served as a sort of barrier between the nobles and the chefs.

We had been permitted to bring along three guards for ourselves, so we had Ai Fa, Jiza Ruu, and Gazraan Rutim lined up near the door, watching over us.

After glancing over everyone present once again, Marstein said, “Well then, before we enjoy the food that each of these noteworthy chefs have put such effort into, I would like to have Sir Welhide say a word as representative for the envoys. Would that be acceptable?”

“Of course,” Welhide replied as he took a step forward, clad in crimson formal attire. “I am truly grateful to Duke Genos for arranging this dinner tonight for our sake. And I am also greatly looking forward to seeing how the famed chefs of Genos used the fuwano and mamaria we are so proud of in their cooking. May the western god bring good fortune to the futures of Genos and Banarm.”

The nobles and guests in attendance all politely listened to Welhide’s words, though I did spot Diel, clad in her blue dress, winking at me from a good distance away in the middle of his speech.

Lefreya was standing over next to Torst, completely expressionless. She still wasn’t permitted to go out in public, but apparently she would sometimes be summoned to appear at events involving Banarm, such as this one. Even if it was under the pretext of atoning for the crimes of the previous head of the house of Turan, it still made me glad that she would be able to eat my cooking.

“Well then, shall we start the taste testing? As a bit of added entertainment, I would like to have the chefs who made these dishes remain here and speak about the fuwano and mamaria from Banarm.”

On Marstein’s signal, the pages started rolling out some tea carts. It turned out to be one of my own dishes that was distributed to the various tables first.

“We shall begin with a dish from Asuta of the forest’s edge... Actually, it seems this is only his first dish, and we can expect more from him.”

“Yes, first we have the dish I made that uses black fuwano. Specifically, it’s a dish called soba, which contains black fuwano and poitan.”

This was the dipping soba I had tested out during that one study session at the Ruu house when Dora had visited. I had mixed together the black fuwano and poitan in a ratio of four to one, making a handmade gray-brown soba. For the soup base, I’d made a stock from dried fish and seaweed, then paired it with tau oil, sugar, and red mamaria wine. The basic recipe was something I had already perfected quite a while back.

However, it hadn’t been received quite as favorably as the pasta. That made sense, though, as they always ate meat, vegetables, and grains together in Genos, so they seemed to have trouble judging the soba on its own. Unlike the okonomiyaki, carbonara, or pasta with meat sauce, which all included both meat and vegetables, the soba had to be eaten on its own, which made it difficult for them to see it as a complete dish.

For that reason, I had also prepared a side dish for today—a variety of tempura, which took approximately as long to prepare as the handmade soba.

“Hmm. It seems your specialty truly is fried dishes, Sir Asuta,” Welhide happily remarked with a smile. “From what I am told, fried foods have fallen out of fashion in Genos, but that is not the case in Banarm. The meal you prepared before was truly delicious, and I am very much looking forward to trying this black fuwano dish.”

“Thank you. I hope that it is to your taste.”

I had prepared as many different varieties of tempura as I could think of. The vegetables I had fried included some yam-like gigo and zucchini-like chan sliced into rounds, daikon-like sheema cut into quarters, bamboo shoot-like chamcham cut into wedges, and finely chopped onion-like aria and carrot-like nenon. Then, since I had wanted to add a bit of green to the dish, I’d also prepared some green pepper-like pula and spinach-like nanaar.

I’d also chosen the shiitake and common mushroom substitutes from Jagar for the tempura, as well as the char-esque freshwater fish known as a rillione. On top of that, I’d rehydrated and used some dried maroll, which were like big sweet shrimp. Since they had been dried out, I hadn’t initially expected to get the same amount of flavor from them as shrimp tempura would normally have, but they hadn’t turned out half bad.

Of course, it would have been a big disappointment if I hadn’t found a way to use my main ingredient, giba meat, so I made two versions using it. I cut several pieces of rib meat into thin slices and wrapped them around some tarapa or gyama dried milk, creating an Italian-style tempura. Of course, for the tarapa, I used the strongly sweet ones kept in the pantry here.

I had used white fuwano flour for the coating, and I thought they came out looking just as good as the giba cutlets. First I had beaten some kimyuus egg together with water, then I added a small amount of white mamaria vinegar, before mixing in the flour to make a coarse blend. Stirring it up until it was too smooth would have made it stickier than desired, so I had stopped once it had been reduced to being just slightly lumpy. It was the opposite approach from the one needed for making pasta and udon, where I kneaded the dough as thoroughly as possible. The vinegar was meant to reduce the viscosity, by the way. To make the coating good and crunchy, that part was key.

The purpose of the egg was to fluff up the coating. Some places supposedly used baking powder, but at the Tsurumi Restaurant, we just used egg. And I used the whole egg rather than just the yolk as that created a firmer coating that retained its texture longer.

After having coated the ingredients, I fried them at a high temperature. I had used a large pot and a great deal of oil, just like how I did with the cutlets. That allowed them to take on a crunchy, pleasant texture.

Furthermore, I had also made garnishes for the soup by grating daikon-like sheema and yam-like gigo, roughly chopping up pickled plum-like dried kiki, and mincing fresh garlic chive-like pepe leaves, providing four different varieties. I couldn’t make a complete spread of them without any substitutes for green onions or wasabi, but I had at least wanted to do this much.

“Hmm. Even setting the fried dish aside, this black fuwano dish certainly is mysterious. Even if it does look similar to that pasta dish we were served last time...” a mild-looking older member of the envoy group remarked.

“Right. Just like with the pasta, this is eaten using a three-pronged skewer. You wrap a bite around the tines, steep it in the soup, and then eat it.”

I was really grateful that the castle town had a type of utensil that was the equivalent of a fork. A few of the noblewomen had no experience with pasta, so Welhide took it upon himself to offer them a personal explanation.

“Hmm. This is every bit as good as the pasta!” a different member of the envoy group who was a little on the plump side remarked. “The broth has a somewhat strong flavor, but eating it together with this fried dish makes it all even tastier. And this rillione fish is superb as well!”

“It’s true that the soup’s flavor is on the stronger side, so feel free to make adjustments to match your tastes. Those who don’t enjoy powerful flavors as much should be fine just dipping the soba in lightly. And if you add some grated sheema, that should do a good job of mellowing it out.”

“With this meat and these vegetables, we’re only missing a separate soup dish for a fine dinner. It feels like such a shame to only be able to enjoy one bite,” Welhide stated, and the rest of the envoy group seemed to be largely satisfied as well. From my perspective, seeing nobles in such gorgeous attire standing around eating dipping soba was quite a sight.

And then, the sound of noodles being slurped up filled the air. It came from the chefs’ table rather than the nobles, though. Looking that way, I saw Varkas’s apprentice Tatumai enjoying some soba.

“My apologies. In Sym, there is a dish called shaska that is eaten in this manner.”

“Hmm. That’s quite a sound, but is there some reason for eating it that way?”

“Yes. With both shaska and this dish, by sucking in air along with the food itself, you can enjoy a more abundant flavor. If you just ball it up and put it in your mouth directly, the effort that went into making the noodles so thin will go to waste.”

After hearing that, the nobles began trying to slurp the soba as well. There was a bit of chaos when some of the broth went flying toward the dresses worn by the noblewomen, though.

“I see. So that’s why you kept making that sound when you ate it, Asuta?” Sheera Ruu asked with a deadly serious look on her face as she picked up her own bowl. Of course, she wasn’t able to master the technique instantly, so she ended up just making a cute and awkward slurping noise.

Polarth’s gaze was drawn over to her then, and he remarked, “Oh? Er, you there, you’re eating that dish with wooden skewers? You seem quite skilled at handling them.”

“Yes. I learned how to do so from Asuta.”

Sheera Ruu, Reina Ruu, and Toor Deen were all practicing with chopsticks. Naturally, they didn’t have any such things here in the castle town, so the other guests were watching them with great interest.

“As I explained with the pasta, this is a dish from my home country. Back there, pasta was primarily eaten with a pronged utensil without making a sound, but for soba we would typically slurp it up while holding it with these two wooden skewers called chopsticks.”

“Your home country... It is an island nation outside of this continent, correct? I thought this about the pasta as well, but it truly is such a strange dish,” Eulifia remarked with a smile while looking after little Odifia.

“Right. Back in my home country, we would traditionally eat this dish a lot at the end of the year too. The day of the downfall is still two days away, but it almost feels like fate that I’m introducing this dish now.”

“How amusing. You truly are a splendid chef,” Eulifia praised, still smiling away. It felt as if she was trying to encourage me, saying that even though I hadn’t done very well at the tea party, I had shown my true worth here.

However, from his position between her and Polarth, Leeheim snorted, “Hmph. I didn’t exactly request a lecture on how to eat the dish or what utensils to use. Still, I can certainly understand that it is even more difficult to eat than that pasta dish.”

Sure enough, that was the approach he was taking again today.

Incidentally, the match between his uncle and Shin Ruu would be held after the taste testing wrapped up.

“It wouldn’t do to fill our stomachs entirely with just the first dish, so could we have the next one brought out?” Marstein signaled the pages, not addressing Leeheim’s comment at all. With that, a couple dishes that were completely different from the first one were brought out into the space between the tables.

“Ooh, I’m glad to see some hot food!”

“Here we have a giba meat stew containing white mamaria wine, fried freshwater fish made with white mamaria vinegar, and three plates of raw vegetables, chatchi, and giba meat respectively. The stew with the white mamaria wine was made by Reina and Sheera Ruu.”

The two Ruu chefs had prepared a familiar stew, which was their specialty. They didn’t seem to want to serve this one at the stalls, but they made great use of the white mamaria wine’s sweetness and flavor, and it really had turned out quite well. The stew included aria, chatchi, and nenon, with tau oil, sugar, and white mamaria vinegar serving to flavor the dish.

As for the plates of food cuts I had presented, they were meant to show off the condiments I had created using white mamaria vinegar. That meant tartar sauce for the fried rillione fish, while the salad made with tino, aria, nenon, paprika-like ma pula, and sweet tarapa had mayonnaise and a dressing. I had also thrown together, not a potato salad, but rather a chatchi salad.

Finally, for the giba dish, I had ankake prepared in a Chinese style. After first boiling some sirloin, aria, pula, and tino, and sautéing a bunch of the pseudo-cloud ear mushroom over high heat, I had made a sweet sauce to pour over them, using white mamaria vinegar as the base. Out of all the dishes that used mamaria vinegar directly, this was the one I was most proud of at present.

“Ah, this is delicious,” Yang remarked as he ate some of the sweet vinegar ankake over at the neighboring table. “The sauce more than amply demonstrates the flavor of the white mamaria vinegar, while still keeping its sourness in perfect harmony with its sweetness, making the dish quite easy to eat.”

“It really is good. I’m not usually that fond of mamaria vinegar, but I could eat a ton of this,” Diel agreed from over in the nobles’ seating. She had seemed rather let down at the tea party, so I felt quite relieved to see her bright smile now.

As for Arishuna, she was quietly dining alongside the noblewomen. Her expressions were especially hard to read, even for an easterner, but she seemed to be eating just as much as the men.

“Ah, these vegetables are quite tasty as well. Just sprinkling mamaria vinegar over them wouldn’t be enough to produce such a result.”

“And this chatchi dish has a very subtle flavor to it. Does this one use mamaria vinegar as well?”

“Mmm. This fish is fantastic!”

The guests of honor from Banarm seemed to be especially enjoying themselves.

Meanwhile, Marstein questioned, “Hmm... So you say this dish was prepared by the daughters of the Ruu clan, Asuta?”

“Ah, yes. It was made by Reina and Sheera Ruu here.”

“Reina and Sheera Ruu...” Marstein quietly repeated, looking the two of them over. “Reina Ruu is the leading clan head Donda Ruu’s daughter, correct? And Sheera Ruu...”

“I belong to a branch house. My father is Ryada Ruu, who is Donda Ruu’s younger brother... I am also Shin Ruu’s older sister.”

“Ah, so you are Shin Ruu’s elder sister? How interesting,” Marstein remarked with a gentle smile, while Sheera Ruu gave a polite bow of her head. He had managed to learn Baadu Fou’s name before I had, so he had surely now committed Sheera Ruu’s name to memory as well. “I hear tell that the girls named Toor Deen and Rimee Ruu also displayed skills that rivaled your own at the tea party the other day, Asuta. You people of the forest’s edge truly are full of surprises.”

“Thank you for saying so...”

“And after this, we will get to observe the fabled strength of a hunter of the forest’s edge. This certainly is proving to be a day full of valuable experiences,” Marstein politely stated.

As the duke was speaking, Leeheim looked away with a grin. At the same time, I spotted Lala Ruu glaring at him from the shadow of her older sister. As retaliation for how Reina Ruu had treated him, Leeheim had summoned Shin Ruu here today. It was no surprise that Lala Ruu would truly hate that noble who had gone after both her sister and the man she cared about.

“These truly are all splendid dishes. I am quite impressed, myself. Both the dishes made with giba meat and the ones without are delicious. I am certain it is thanks to your outstanding skill, Sir Asuta, that a good number of ingredients have managed to become quite popular in the post town as well,” Torst now chimed in. He was an older noble with a face like a pug. Though his facial expression made him look just as exhausted as always, there was also a stronger shine in his eyes than I had ever seen. “I had planned on thanking you separately, but let me just say that we were able to sell off all the ingredients filling the pantry before they spoiled thanks to the efforts of Sir Yang and yourself. With the herbs, tau oil, and sugar in particular, we will need to order more than before so as not to run short. Thanks to you, though the house of Turan was on the verge of financial collapse, we have finally gotten back on our feet.”

“Ah, I’m glad to hear it.”

“The fuwano and mamaria of Banarm will surely manage to find a market as well. At least, that is how I feel, but what do you all say?”

Those words were directed toward the chefs of the castle town. The intended customer base for the black fuwano and white mamaria was mainly the residents of the castle town, not the post town, after all. I wouldn’t be opening a shop there, so if they didn’t make use of these dishes from here on out, it wouldn’t have the desired impact on sales.

It was Yang who solemnly nodded back in response to Torst’s question.

“I also find Sir Asuta’s dishes simply fantastic. Especially this tartar sauce, mayonnaise, and dressing, which feel like they could be used on other dishes as well for the enjoyment of the residents of the castle town. And you say they could be prepared even by those who are not chefs, correct?”

“Right. In fact, I actually just taught some residents of the Daleim lands I’m acquainted with how to make them the other day.”

“Ah yes, I’ve heard that your people were spending the night in the Daleim lands before the holidays. I would have liked to see that as well, were it possible,” Polarth said, nodding with a smile before Yang continued on.

“And this soba dish using black fuwano is not only delicious but also quite novel, so I would imagine a great many people will eventually come to enjoy it. But if the black fuwano is to be sold in the castle town, that means the chefs who work there will need to learn how to make it...”

“Right. But anyone who calls themselves a chef shouldn’t have difficulty preparing it. Pasta takes more effort than soba, and some of the others from the forest’s edge, like Toor Deen, can make it on their own.”

Everyone’s gazes shifted over to my side while they murmured in admiration. Naturally, Toor Deen turned bright red and hid behind me.

“Still, are you truly willing to reveal the method to make it to us? The recipe for a delicious dish is like treasure for a chef...” Yang stated, looking a bit troubled.

“Yes,” I nodded back. “If I hadn’t intended on doing so, then there wouldn’t have been any point in showcasing the dish here. It’s not like doing so will hurt me, and besides, it would make me really happy to see a dish from my home country be accepted here in Genos.”

“I have indeed heard that you have been teaching your methods to the owners of other stalls in the post town, Sir Asuta... I am truly in awe of your generosity.”

That just went to show how our values differed. Personally, teaching the women of the forest’s edge how to make delicious food was my starting point, so I had no resistance to the idea of spreading around my recipes.

It feels like far less of a hassle than opening a shop of my own in the castle town. And if soba becomes a commonly eaten dish, that will require even more poitan, which would help out Dora and all of his people.

On top of that, Welhide had lost his father at the hands of Zattsu Suun and his ilk, so if it would help fulfill his wish, I really had no hesitation at all about spreading around the recipes for handmade soba and mayonnaise and the like.

“What do you think, Timalo and Varkas?” Marstein asked, turning toward the other chefs with a faint smile.

Unable to keep his emotions in check, Timalo was very much letting his frustration show on his face. “Well, I certainly could see this soba dish earning quite a reputation in the castle town. And furthermore...though they have fallen out of style, I could see such dishes drawing attention back toward fried foods.”

“Would it be possible to sell this soba dish in Selva’s Spear?”

“If my employer desires it, I would comply...”

Though Timalo was now the head chef of Selva’s Spear, it seemed he still had an employer to answer to. My guess was it had to be some noble investing in him.

“Well then, what about you, Varkas?”

In response, Varkas nodded. “Yes, they are all splendid dishes. Just as Sir Yang stated, the condiments made to be added later seem incredibly versatile. Though Sir Asuta only prepared three dishes to unveil them with, I could see them being a good fit for a hundred, easily.” While it was hard to read any emotion from his tone, he certainly was talkative. As it had been quite a while since I’d last heard him appraise a dish, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. “Furthermore, the soba dish was extremely delicious as well. And the idea of using the same broth when eating the fried dishes was simply superb. It would surely earn highly positive reviews from the residents of the castle town.”

“Then do you plan to offer those dishes at your restaurant as well?”

“No,” Varkas replied. “I am planning on adding the dish known as shaska from Sym to my menu soon. As my apprentice Tatumai mentioned, this soba dish is quite similar, so if I am selling shaska, I will not be able to properly promote such a similar dish,” Varkas stated, turning toward me. “By the way, I am told it is possible to eat shaska both cold and warm, so can this soba dish be eaten warm as well?”

“Ah, yes. When you eat soba hot, it’s steeped in the broth to begin with. But when you do that, the noodles suck up the broth as time passes, and it’s harder to slurp them like we did before, so I didn’t think that would be appropriate for the occasion.”

“So warm soba exists as well? I could easily envision the taste, so I was certain that must be the case. Does steeping the fuwano in the broth to begin with soften the flavor?”

“It does. Just like with ordinary soup dishes, you can adjust the amount of flavor you get by also slurping the broth.”

“How splendid. I would very much like to try such warm soba as well.” Though he remained just as expressionless as always, he probably would have grasped my hands again if we weren’t in such a formal setting at the moment.

Watching Varkas closely, Marstein gave a little smile and remarked, “You seem to have become quite infatuated with Asuta’s cooking as well. In that case, why not simply sell it alongside that shaska dish?”

Turning back to face the duke, Varkas once again replied, “No. I find Sir Asuta’s cooking simply wonderful. However, I have no need for his techniques.”

“You have no need...?”

“I have studied the cooking of Selva, Sym, and Jagar for many years. I perfected my own cooking by combining a wide variety of techniques from those three nations. If I carelessly add the techniques that Sir Asuta brings as a visitor from overseas, it would undoubtedly ruin the flavor. That is why it isn’t possible for me to adopt his methods for myself,” Varkas stated, still remaining expressionless all the while. “If I had encountered Sir Asuta when I was ten or twenty years younger, I surely would have admired him greatly and sought to blend his style into my own. But at this age, I cannot simply cast aside what I have fostered over so many years. So even if I am truly impressed by Sir Asuta’s cooking, I shall never be able to make use of it.”

“Hmm. So you will not be able to offer Asuta’s cooking in your own shop?”

“That is correct. The Silver Star is my own restaurant, and so I wish to only serve my own cooking.”

It seemed that Varkas was actually the owner of his business. He must have been paid quite handsomely by Cyclaeus, if it allowed him to open up his own restaurant.

“But as I stated before, my plan is to serve shaska. If it comes to be accepted by the people of Genos, it should help provide a foundation for the acceptance of Sir Asuta’s soba as well. Hopefully, this will serve to spread awareness of black fuwano from Banarm at least a little.”

“Hmm. I suppose that works as a reasonable compromise,” Marstein said, smiling again. He really was rather difficult to read too. “Then what of the dish prepared by the daughters of the Ruu clan? Is it also a dish based on the customs of your home nation, Asuta?”

“It seems that meat is often boiled in wine in both Sym and Mahyudra. That method is also used to some extent in Jagar. Giant muffur bears and mountain-raised gyama have a very strong stench to them, so their meat is commonly boiled in wine in Sym and Mahyudra in order to counteract that,” Varkas chimed in before I had a chance to reply. “But I find the dish unworthy of consideration beyond that.”

“Hmm? Whatever do you...”

“Just boiling meat in wine is enough to draw out quite a bit of flavor. However, this dish seems to do nothing more than just that. And the variety of seasonings added after that step feels inadequate.”

I could sense Reina Ruu gasping.

However, Varkas continued on, “My apprentice, Shilly Rou, participated in that tea party and told me the young chefs from the forest’s edge displayed tremendous skill, so I was anticipating a much bigger surprise tonight, which has left me quite disappointed.”

“Ah, Varkas, that’s...” I started to say without thinking, only for Reina Ruu to grab my arm.

“It’s fine, Asuta. It’s undoubtedly a fact that we lack experience as chefs.”

“No, but...”

“It’s fine.”

Reina Ruu’s hand was firmly gripping my wrist. It wasn’t permitted to touch members of the opposite sex outside of your family at the forest’s edge. However, Reina Ruu had been so badly shaken that she wasn’t even considering that. I could even see frustrated tears welling up in her pretty blue eyes.

“How harsh. Personally, I felt it was every bit as good as Asuta’s cooking.”

“That is quite rude toward Sir Asuta. Still, I suppose if you put it alongside the least of the dishes he has shown us, perhaps it would not seem inferior. At any rate, if you find this dish delicious, that is thanks not to the skill of the chefs who prepared it, but rather to the giba meat itself.”

Though there still wasn’t any emotion in his voice, Varkas’s words had grown even crueler. Sheera Ruu quietly closed her eyes, while Toor Deen and Yun Sudra were glancing all around in a fluster. Lala Ruu was clearly just plain mad.

“I see you have just as sharp of a tongue as always, Varkas,” Lefreya chimed in for the first time, her tone prim and proper. “I suppose I have no right to find fault with you for your harsh words, but should you not restrain yourself at least somewhat in a place such as this?”

“Is that so? I was told we were to share our honest opinions here at this taste testing and simply abided by that.”

“Well, I suppose that is simply your nature...”

Lefreya went silent, seemingly fretting over something, only for another voice to chime in from the neighboring table.

“Still, it’s no small task to learn how to use a new ingredient in just a month or so. Not everyone is as skilled as you or Asuta,” Roy said.

Shilly Rou was standing there next to him, shooting him a really harsh glare. “Nobody asked to hear your opinion. If anyone here needs to be careful of what they say, it’s you.”

“My apologies. But it’s an apprentice’s duty to intervene when his master makes a slip of the tongue, isn’t it?”

“Varkas did no such...”

“Saying that dish was poorly made might not be much of a verbal gaffe. But I believe saying he is disappointed with the chefs of the forest’s edge is,” Roy stated, cutting Shilly Rou off. Though his words were polite, the look on his face remained just as sour as always. “The dish they made that I had in the post town was far more delicious than this stew here. It was good enough to make me throw away my pride and reputation to beg Varkas to accept me as an apprentice, to say the least. If you declare that the chefs of the forest’s edge are a disappointment based solely on this dish, it could come back to hurt your reputation down the line, Varkas.”

Shilly Rou’s eyes were now blazing infernos as she glared at Roy’s face.

However, Varkas just replied in the same exact tone, “Is that so? While I earnestly feel my expectations for this night were betrayed, I am not disappointed with the chefs of the forest’s edge themselves. But if I caused any sort of misunderstanding, then allow me to apologize.”

“Uh, no. Not at all...” Reina Ruu mumbled, hanging her head.

“Now then, is it not about time to sample our dishes as well? If too much time passes, their flavor will be impacted,” Varkas said, finally bringing us into the back half of the taste testing.