Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter 4.5

Intermezzo: The Young Girl and the Hunter

“Hm. Seems the party is in full swing around here,” Jiza Ruu heard someone say as his people’s stalls were handing out whole-roast giba in the post town.

Even without needing to look, he knew who had said it. When he turned around, he found just the person he had expected standing there: that girl Pino, the Gamley Troupe’s acrobat.

“It is the final day of the oh-so-merry revival festival, after all. It would be a shame for people to not have any fun. Are you enjoying yourself too, Jiza Ruu?”

“It’s not as if I came here to entertain myself... I am keeping a watchful eye out in order to protect my brethren from the forest’s edge.”

“Indeed. How admirable of you,” Pino remarked, her red lips twisting into a captivating smile.

She truly was a mysterious girl. The Gamley Troupe was full of strange people, but she was on a whole other level, even compared to them. Jiza Ruu had never laid eyes on someone so inexplicable.

“So, do you have some sort of business with me? You were just talking with Dan Rutim, weren’t you?”

“Dan Rutim is that especially large hunter, right? Yes, he’s quite the pleasant fellow. I always find myself enjoying his big, honest smile.”

“Then you should enjoy it to the fullest. It would be a shame not to have fun. Isn’t that what you said?”

“Heh heh. People shouldn’t obsess over maximizing what they get out of every single moment,” Pino replied with a laugh as she looked around. Jiza Ruu followed her gaze.

There was a continuous flow of townsfolk crowding around the stalls run by Asuta and the others as their hunter guards watched over them. Dan Rutim and Giran Ririn, meanwhile, had carried a fruit wine barrel over to the space beside the stalls, where they were excitedly partaking of it, along with several townsfolk.

Just as Pino had said before, today was the final day of the sun god’s revival festival. From what Jiza Ruu had been told, it technically continued into the beginning of the silver month, but that was more a time for rest than making merry.

People were eating giba and kimyuus meat, and drinking fruit wine while the sun was still high in the sky. And it wasn’t just the townsfolk. Jiza Ruu’s brethren from the forest’s edge were joining in too. It was a strange sight to see.

Jiza Ruu valued norms above all else. They were important to follow in order for people to live healthy lives. For the people of the forest’s edge, keeping to their laws and customs was an absolute imperative.

As they were currently on a break period, it wasn’t against the laws of the forest’s edge for those under the Ruu to be drinking wine in the middle of the day. Dan Rutim and Giran Ririan might have been on guard duty, but there was no problem with them having a few drinks. In fact, those two could have drunk a whole barrel of fruit wine and still have been able to fight perfectly well.

But as to whether all of this went against the customs of the forest’s edge? That wasn’t so clear. For the past eighty years, Jiza Ruu’s people had lived without forming any ties with the outside world. Even if this broke no laws, it was hard to call it fitting behavior for the people of the forest’s edge.

On the other hand, it had been officially decreed that the people of the forest’s edge should learn more about the outside world. The leading clan heads had stated that it was important to study outside laws and customs, and form healthy relationships with the townsfolk, so as to not repeat the mistakes of the Suun clan.

And so, Jiza Ruu tried to watch over this crowd with a terribly impartial disposition. It was his duty as an heir to the seat of leading clan head to determine whether or not such activities were proper for people of the forest’s edge.

“You look like you’re thinking pretty hard there.” Pino said with a giggle, coming in close to his ear. When he glanced in her direction, he found her eyes narrowed as she smiled in amusement. “Your eyebrows are all wrinkled. Is something worrying you?”

“No, not at all. I’m simply trying to carry out my duty.”

“Hmm... It seems you must have quite a plethora of worries as the next leading clan head, huh?” Pino stated, as if she had been peering into Jiza Ruu’s inner thoughts. However, he surprisingly didn’t find her piercing insight to be irritating. Instead, it felt helpful, as if she had sped up the conversation. It made him feel as if he were talking to Gazraan Rutim, who was more intelligent than anyone else at the forest’s edge. Of course, Pino and Gazraan Rutim weren’t really alike at all. However, their level of intelligence at least felt similar. It seemed that was something Jiza Ruu liked in his conversation partners.

“I apologized to the Fa clan a little while ago, by the way... But thanks to you, it seems everything’s worked out just fine.”

“You apologized...? You mean for that strange song the minstrel played for Asuta?”

“Yes, that was the reason. I’ve been really worried that they’d end up hating all of us thanks to that blockhead.”

“Hmm... I can’t see how that has anything to do with me, since I don’t recall ever discussing the incident with them.”

“Even so, it’s still thanks to you. As the next clan head, seems you’ve earned some real trust from your allies.”

“Trust...” Jiza Ruu repeated. “I suspect there are not many good words that could be said about the relationship between Asuta’s group and myself. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that the Fa clan are our brethren from the forest’s edge, so...”

“Clinging to each other and getting all buddy-buddy isn’t the only way to show trust. You can still trust someone even if you’ve never shared so much as a single word.”

In the past, Jiza Ruu had had plenty of criticism for Asuta. He had questioned the members of the Fa clan about whether someone born in the outside world had any right to interfere with the affairs of the forest’s edge, and whether the Ruu and Fa should forge a bond in the first place. He couldn’t recall any point after that when he had opened his heart to them either. The Ruu and Fa’s bond had grown deeper and deeper, and Jiza Ruu had simply remained an observer.

Trust... Trust, she says?

All Jiza Ruu had done was keep a watchful eye over their actions. It had been decided that at next year’s clan head meeting, the question of whether these activities were a medicine or a poison for their people would be officially answered. He had been watching them closely so that he could form a just and fair opinion on the matter.

“They really seem to be enjoying themselves, huh?” Pino said, her voice creeping into his ear.

Jiza Ruu had been staring straight at Asuta’s back, but now he spared a glance for the next stalls over, where his younger sisters were similarly working hard.

Rimee and Lala Ruu were happily smiling away, while Reina Ruu was slicing off giba meat with a serious expression. Vina Ruu was doing her best too, even though she wasn’t particularly skilled at cooking, with the young Deen girl providing guidance.

This was something else Jiza Ruu needed to pay attention to. The expressions on his younger sisters’ faces and the way they were comporting themselves at work were all good evidence of the kind of impact Asuta was having on the forest’s edge.

“Well, I guess I gotta go play a flute or something,” Pino remarked, and Jiza Ruu turned her way. She was giving him a big grin as she stared up at him.

“So, why exactly did you approach me, then?”

“No reason in particular. I simply wanted to talk to you, so I carved out a little time for it.”

“I can’t imagine what you expected to gain from doing so.”

“Well, like I told you before, there’s more to life than always thinking about gaining something. And our creed says we should always act however we please,” Pino remarked with a giggle as the sleeves of her brilliantly colored attire fluttered about. “But I suppose you don’t have much to talk about with the likes of me, right? I’m sorry for interrupting you while you’re doing something so important.”

“Not at all... Actually, now that I think about it, there is something I wish to ask you.”

“Oh my. I’m glad to hear it. What do you want to know?”

“How old are you, exactly?”

Pino opened her eyes wide in surprise, and then she gave a cheerful laugh. “Ah ha ha, it’s rather uncouth to just ask someone that. I’ll have to watch myself around you... At any rate, thanks for your time.”

Pino vanished into the crowd, looking like she was dancing as she went. As he watched her small figure depart, Jiza Ruu found himself starting to smile a little.