Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 22 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2: Sleepover at the Ruu Settlement

1

It was now the seventh of the silver month, two days after our trip to the castle town.

At this point, the post town had settled back down a good bit. Though with that said, the reverberations from the revival festival still hadn’t fully petered out. A huge number of travelers were still leaving Genos along the highway, so with all the totos and wagons they were taking with them, traffic was still pretty heavy. That meant we were remaining pretty busy, with plenty of customers wanting to enjoy our giba cooking one last time.

On the day of the downfall we had sold 1,410 servings, whereas now we were hovering at around 1,000, and with the way things were going today, we weren’t going to have any trouble hitting that benchmark again.

We were sticking with having two people per stall, but had reduced the number manning the outdoor restaurant from five to three. The clans under the Ruu and the other smaller clans all wanted to continue working, so we had decided to rotate our lineup each day. We had a total of thirteen chefs and seven hunters acting as guards on duty. That was what it took to manage five stalls and eighty-four seats.

Once things fully calmed down in town, the guards would no longer be necessary. But we wouldn’t have much use for the tables and chairs if we brought them back to the settlement at the forest’s edge, so as long as the number of customers we were seeing didn’t seriously drop off, we were planning to keep our outdoor restaurant at its current size.

Of course, we were probably going to get rid of the section that was just a canopy with no tables when our next contract renewal rolled around. After all, eighty-four seats would be plenty when everything was running normally, and we already didn’t have that many people overflowing into the extra space.

Even so, we were still selling over a thousand meals, which was more than double the amount of business we did when we first opened the outdoor restaurant. However, we had already been selling 860 servings per day when we expanded our restaurant for the revival festival, so my prediction was that we were going to drop back down to somewhere in the range of five hundred to eight hundred per day after this.

“All right, we’re off. But we expect to be back here in Genos in half a year’s time.”

“Don’t go closing down while we’re gone, okay?”

A pair of customers whose names I didn’t even know were saying their farewells with smiles on their faces.

It was impossible to know what would happen in the future, but my reply was an honest one. “I hope to see you again when you return.”

One particularly interesting group came by shortly before the lower first hour. They were a party of easterners with their faces hidden by the hoods of their leather cloaks. The person standing at the head of the group was on the small side, and when she flicked back her hood, she revealed herself to be the star reader Arishuna, who was a guest of the castle.

“Hey, Arishuna. I haven’t seen you since the taste testing at the end of the year.”

“Yes, it has been a while, Asuta.”

It had been ten days since we had last met, and probably more than half a month since she had visited our stalls. She had been busy during the revival festival, so she hadn’t had many opportunities to leave the castle town.

“Have things finally settled down? I hear you’ve been working really hard.” I hadn’t really asked about the details, but she had to have been incredibly busy, taking tons of requests from the nobles visiting Genos to read the stars for them. I couldn’t see any signs of fatigue on her expressionless face, but I still sensed that it must have been pretty exhausting. “Also, today happens to be a giba curry day. I was going to give some to Yang later for delivery, but what do you want to do? Would you rather eat it here?”

“Yes. Since I am here, I would like, to do so.”

“Then, what about the tableware you left with us? If you don’t need the delivery later, should we just return it to you now?” I asked.

In response, Arishuna moved closer, remaining expressionless all the while. “I cannot leave, the castle town, each day. If possible, I would like to continue, to have your cooking, delivered... Would that be too much, of an imposition on you, Asuta?”

“No. As I said before, I just hand over the food to someone at Tanto’s Blessing, so it’s no trouble at all. It’s Yang and his people who are putting in the effort.”

“I give them, my thanks. And if necessary, I will repay them, appropriately. I hope that we, can continue, with this arrangement.”

“Yeah, got it,” I replied, and then I glanced over her slender shoulder. “So, who are they? Are they with you, Arishuna?”

“Yes. I was asked, to guide them here. They are, merchants from Sym.”

After she said that, an especially tall member of the group stepped forward.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am the leader of the Black Flight Feathers, Kukuluel Gi Adumuftan,” he stated, introducing himself as he pulled back his leather hood. The face that appeared from underneath was that of a middle-aged easterner.

He looked to be over forty and had a long face, slender eyes, a high-bridged nose, and thin lips. He didn’t have either a beard or a mustache, unlike most men from Selva or Jagar, and he wore his long black hair tied off in a single bundle in the back. Though his face was expressionless, his eyes were sharp, and he had a strong aura of competence about him.

“Oh, so you’re the leader of the merchant group that made that crazy proposal?” Ludo Ruu remarked as he casually strode over from his post guarding a neighboring stall. Though we had a lot more hunters whose names I didn’t know on guard duty lately, either Ludo or Darmu Ruu were always among them to take charge. “I’m Ludo Ruu, the youngest son of the main house of one of the leading clans from the forest’s edge. So, what brings you here?”

“I came here to eat, as Arishuna has told me how wonderful some of the dishes sold in the post town are. And when I heard that the people of the forest’s edge were the ones selling them, I naturally had to stop by and introduce myself.”

“Huh. Not that it really matters one way or the other, but you sure are skilled with your words. This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone from Sym speak so smoothly in the western tongue.”

“That is because I’ve been traveling to the west since I was young, for over thirty years now.” Kukuluel bowed to us after he finished speaking. I thought he seemed kind of similar to Ryada Ruu, and I could easily imagine Shumiral becoming someone like this years from now. In short, I found him to be a fascinating person.

He continued, “Duke Genos sent us a messenger with your response to our proposal not long ago. I wish to thank you for taking it under active consideration.”

“It’s too early to be thanking us yet. I’m pretty sure the message should have only said that we weren’t going to turn you down without hearing you out first.”

“Correct. But I’m sure it must have been a difficult decision for you people of the forest’s edge to make, so I wished to express my gratitude. Nobody would be pleased to have a road carved through the land where they live, after all.” No matter how fluent of a speaker he might have been, it seemed you could still never sense any emotions from an easterner. However, there was a strong will behind his calm and relaxed voice, just like with the light shining in his eyes. “The ability to keep doing business as we have up until now would be very convenient for both us and the townsfolk. But it isn’t a particularly beneficial proposal for the hunters of the forest’s edge, and it was not easy for me to make such an unreasonable request either.”

“Well, we are technically citizens of Genos. We can’t exactly just ignore the lord of the land... Besides, if goods stop getting delivered from Sym, we won’t be able to make curry anymore, so it’s not like we can say this has nothing to do with us,” Ludo Ruu said with a casual shrug, and then he shot Kukuluel a grin. “Anyway, it’s kind of a relief to know that it was a guy like you who came up with that crazy idea. If it had been someone who seemed like a person we couldn’t have confidence in, my old man and the others probably would have had a lot of trouble trying to figure out what to do about this.”

“I’m honored,” Kukuluel said with a bow. Then his gaze turned toward the stall next to mine. The giba curry, which Ludo Ruu had been eating earlier, was being sold there under Toor Deen’s supervision. “I can tell from the scent alone that this is a wonderful dish. Would you sell some to us as well?”

“Of course. There’s seating over that way, so please take your time enjoying it.”

Kukuluel stepped away with the five members of his group, and one of them placed an order with Toor Deen.

Now that we had the members of this new merchant group from Sym buying food from us, I found myself thinking about Shumiral. There was still another month or so left until the Silver Vase would return to Genos.

“I know Sym’s a gigantic country, but how well do all the merchant groups who come from the east know each other?” I asked, trying to follow up on the reminder of my absent friend.

In response, Kukuluel calmly stared my way. “I would have at least heard of any merchant groups that have made a name for themselves. It’s important to be aware of such groups in order to make sure business proceeds smoothly.”

“I see. I happen to be good friends with a merchant group called the Silver Vase.”

“The Silver Vase... I’m aware of that name. If I recall correctly, they are a group of around ten led by a man belonging to the Zi.”

“The Zi?”

“Yes. The people of the Zi and the Gi live in the plains of Sym, which is where most of those who leave our country to conduct trade come from.”

Now that he mentioned it, I had heard that Sym was divided up into seven tribes ruling over their own domains.

“If I remember correctly, I’m pretty sure their leader did have a Zi in his name. Shumiral Zi...something. So does that mean you’re one of the Gi?” I asked.

“Yes. The Zi and Gi rule the plains together, so the bond between us is an especially strong one among the tribes of Sym. There are seven people from the Zi in my own group.”

“I see. Your group is pretty big, isn’t it?”

“The Black Flight Feathers consists of thirty-two members in total.”

That made them more than three times the size of the Silver Vase. But I figured that they would probably have a lot of trouble transporting ten gyama all the way here if they hadn’t been that large.

“By the way, where were you born, Arishuna?” I asked the star reader, who had remained silent all this time, only for her to almost stagger in response.

“My name is Arishuna Zi Mafraluda... I believe, I told you that, when we first met.”

“S-Sorry. I’m bad at memorizing long names... So then, that means you come from the same place as my friend.”

However, Arishuna’s grandfather had angered the Zi sovereign and been exiled from his homeland. I couldn’t help but worry a little bit about whether that would cause some discord when Shumiral returned.

“Arishuna here is the descendant of a star reader who was exiled from the Zi domain... Her bloodline is still not permitted to set foot in Sym, but outside of the eastern kingdom, there is no reason for anyone to cause trouble over her presence,” Kukuluel interjected, as if he had heard what I was thinking. He was definitely not someone to be underestimated. “I believe the Silver Vase’s route goes from Genos to Aboof, before crossing over into Mahyudra, after which they turn around and head to the western capital of Algrad. We will be traveling directly to Algrad next, so it’s possible we will cross paths with them somewhere along the way.”

“Wow. You’re that familiar with the movements of the Silver Vase?”

“Yes, because we would end up interfering with one another’s business if we were to visit Genos or Algrad at the same time. It takes thirty to forty days to travel from Algrad to Genos by wagon, so they should be leaving the capital fairly soon.”

In that case, in thirty to forty days Shumiral and his trading company would be returning to Genos with the goods they had purchased in the capital, while Kukuluel’s group would be going to the capital to sell their wares from Sym and Genos. And it was all thanks to people like them constantly going back and forth that we were able to procure so many different things without going anywhere.

“You do not often hear about groups that travel all the way to the north after having arrived at Genos from the south side of Morga. The Silver Vase must have even lighter wings than we do, and be rather greedy besides,” Kukuluel stated, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. Shumiral did the exact same thing when he was happy. “I may not be personally connected with any of them, but it is a wonderful way of life we share. It suits the people of the plains, who love to travel.”

“Yeah. You know, you remind me of my friend Shumiral a little bit.”

“I’m honored to hear that. It would surely benefit them as well if we could carve a path through the forest of Morga,” Kukuluel said, his eyes gleaming brightly. “It will take us at least three months to return from Algrad, no matter how fast we try to be. If things proceed smoothly, the first stage of clearing the path should be wrapping up around then. But in any event, as I go about my travels, I will be sure to pray for all of you to be enriched by this endeavor as well.”

With that, Kukuluel and Arishuna’s group of seven headed over to the restaurant space carrying their plates of curry. Ludo Ruu watched them leave, then rubbed his nose and said, “Hmm. There seem to be a lot of folks like that from Sym. He didn’t look particularly strong, but something about him felt kind of similar to us people of the forest’s edge.”

“Yeah. I think so too.”

“That Sanjura guy was really skilled, but he was a total liar. Maybe that’s what happens when you mix blood from Sym with blood from the west.”

“I think you’re being a little too discriminatory there, Ludo Ruu. Sanjura ended up the way he did because of his complicated upbringing.”

“Whatever. Anyway, that Shumiral guy will probably fit in with us just fine.”

Fortunately, Vina Ruu was off duty today, so she was spared from the crimson blush her brother’s words would have given her.

Had Shumiral managed to gain any new knowledge or skills that would allow him to hunt giba? Would the people of the forest’s edge accept him? And even if they did, would his wish to marry Vina Ruu come true? A month from now, we were finally going to find out.

While I was thinking about that, Fei Beim called out, “Asuta.” It was only then that I noticed our stall had a single customer in a traveler’s cloak standing in front of it.

“Ah, welcome. Would you like to order a meal?”

I was dealing with a female traveler, which was pretty unusual. Like our eastern guests, she wore a hood that covered her head very effectively, and she was also wearing something like a shawl that blocked my view of her mouth, so I was completely unable to see her face, but she looked to be around Sheera Ruu’s height and was quite slender.

“Where is that girl’s stall?”

“Huh? What?”

“I’m asked where that Myme girl is.”

Her reddish-brown eyes glared at me forcefully from under her hood. That was when I realized I was dealing with Shilly Rou, Varkas’s apprentice who I had seen just two days prior.

“I’m surprised... What are you doing in a place like this?”

“As I said, I’m looking for that Myme girl. How many times are you going to make me repeat myself?”

Ai Fa silently stepped forward from her post in the back. As a hunter from the forest’s edge, she was more sensitive to hostility than anyone.

“So you’re after Myme’s cooking? That’s too bad. She decided to only keep her stall open until the violet month, which means she’s already closed down.”

At that, Shilly Rou’s eyes shot open so wide they looked like they were about to tear at the sides.

“But why?! Didn’t you say she was running a stall in the post town?!”

“Yes, but she mentioned she didn’t have time to study because of that, right? So until she comes up with a new dish, she’ll be taking time off and putting all her effort into her studies.”

Yumi and Naudis had also shut down their stalls as of the third of the silver month. They had only ever planned to stay open until the end of the revival festival, when they could earn the highest profits. A lot of other people had thought the same way too, so the number of stalls around had fallen back to the level it had been at before the revival festival. As a result, our stalls and outdoor restaurant had all shifted south, leaving an empty expanse to the north.

At any rate, Shilly Rou placed her hands on her knees and hung her head in disappointment. “This can’t be... Coming all the way out here was nothing but a waste of my precious time...”

“That’s unfortunate. Would you like to try our cooking instead?”

“I’m already well aware of your skills. I just wanted to confirm my assessment of her abilities one more time,” Shilly Rou shot back, turning away in a huff while still hanging her head. Her spirit was as impressive as always. She never failed to snap back at me even when she was so despondent.

“You seem pretty fixated on Myme. Is that because she’s younger than you?”

“Mikel is one of the only chefs Varkas has ever acknowledged... Of course I would be curious about that girl’s future.”

“I see. But you’ve got no interest in the strange techniques of someone from overseas like me?”

Shilly Ruu lifted her head and shot me another glare.

I continued, “Well, I was just thinking that it’s a bit frustrating to hear that you’re willing to come all the way to the post town, but only for Myme. And it’s kind of bothering me that our relationship has been less than great so far, even though you’re one of Varkas’s apprentices.”

“If I was able to frustrate you a little, then maybe coming out here was worth my time after all...” Shilly Rou teased, slowly straightening up. “I’m leaving. If you see that girl, give her my regards.”

“Oh, Myme should be here in less than an hour. She’s planning to visit the settlement at the forest’s edge later today.”

“The settlement at the forest’s edge? But why?”

“I don’t really know how to answer that. I guess you could call it a sort of social gathering?”

Yes, today we were planning on having a meetup at the Ruu settlement, with six people from town coming to visit us—the same group as last time: Dora, Tara, Yumi, Telia Mas, Mikel, and Myme.

“Would you like to participate too, Shilly Rou?”

Once again, the apprentice chef’s eyes shot open wide in shock.

“Why should I ever take part in something like that? Just dragging myself out to a dusty place like this is already distressing enough!”

“Well, I’ve been thinking for a while that it would be nice to have folks from the castle town visit us too. And it won’t just be Myme at today’s gathering. Mikel will be there too.”

Shilly Rou looked torn, fiddling with the hem of her cloak and bringing a hand up to her temple. Then she finally managed to force herself to say, “I cannot participate in such a suspect gathering... Besides, I need to head back soon and take care of some prep work. I slipped out during my midday break, but I don’t have that much time to spare.”

“I see... That’s a shame. In that case, how about three days from now? That’s when the main event is going to happen anyway.”

We couldn’t afford to spend too much time entertaining guests when we had to work the stalls tomorrow. As such, we were planning to hold a banquet on the tenth of the silver month instead, since we were going to take the next day off.

“Why are you being so persistent about inviting me? Our relationship is far from cordial.”

“That’s because you decided to just start hating me on your own. But personally, I’d like to be as friendly with you and all of Varkas’s apprentices as I can.”

Shilly Rou once again fell silent for a while, but then she turned around with a “Hmph! Don’t expect to win me over like that. You have ensorcelled Varkas, and that makes you my enemy,” she muttered, and then she briskly jogged off down the road. “I will never soften my stance toward you!”

Did I just set one of those flags people sometimes talk about?

At any rate, Shilly Rou soon vanished into the crowd.

“That girl seems rather vexed about Varkas being so fixated on you. But frankly, I find his obsession to be abnormal as well,” Ai Fa chimed in, sounding rather displeased. “Also, you should refrain from inviting additional guests without permission from the Ruu clan, Asuta. They are the ones who will actually be hosting our visitors from town, are they not?”

“Ah, you’re right. Sorry, that was careless of me.”

“Also, you seem to once again be putting a great deal of effort into befriending a young girl.”

“Huh? No, I’m just trying to fix my relationship with someone who seriously hates me, so... Hey, listen to what I’m saying here!” But whenever this sort of thing came up, Ai Fa always refused to hear me out. My excuses fell on deaf ears, and Fei Beim started glaring at me from the side too.

“Asuta, is it true that you’re constantly trying to get to know young women?”

“No, it’s not! Only some of the time!”

“I’m just kidding. But you’ll never be able to get your point across if you let yourself become so flustered.”

Fei Beim had always been really sullen, so if she had reached a point where she felt comfortable cracking jokes, it was ultimately a good thing. That was how I truly felt then, working in the post town early in the afternoon.

Time steadily passed on by, and eventually the lower second hour arrived. We sold all one thousand of the servings we had prepared without any issues and set about cleaning up. Just as I was thinking that Myme and the others would be showing up soon, though, someone completely different suddenly popped up: Pino from the Gamley Troupe.

“Good work, everyone. And by the way, we’re going to be counting on all of you from the forest’s edge from now on.”

This morning, the Gamley Troupe had been informed that the people of the forest’s edge had agreed to assist them with their giba hunt, and now a number of their performers were going to visit the Ruu settlement in order to work out the details.

Their meeting was going to overlap with the gathering we had planned with the townsfolk, but if we waited too long to take care of this, the number of giba in the area would increase too much, and it would become difficult to keep bringing the troupe to the forest’s edge safely. It was eventually decided that we would just briefly introduce everyone to each other. Since most of our guests were familiar with the Gamley Troupe already, we were hopeful that there wouldn’t be any major issues with this.

“We’ll follow you in our own wagon. But you’d better not get too far ahead of us, all right? That would be bullying,” Pino said with a giggle, hiding her mouth behind the sleeve of her furisode-like outfit. I felt like she had started being a lot more genuine with us since the day of the downfall.

“Are you just bringing the one wagon? Who all will be coming along?”

“Hmm? We’re only bringing four of us today: me, the troupe leader, Shantu, and Rolo. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you see, we actually have some other guests today too, so I want to make sure that everyone will get along okay.”

With the expression on her face not changing one bit, Pino gave a little tilt of her head that reminded me of a small animal. “Ah. If that’s all you’re worried about, it shouldn’t be an issue. The only members of our group who might be frightening for the townsfolk to meet are Zan, Doga, and Zetta. And as you know, the troupe leader behaves himself when the sun is out.”

“Sorry. I know that was a rude thing to bring up. It’s not like I’m concerned about you doing anything wrong...”

It was just that Telia Mas was kind of scared of the Gamley Troupe, so I wanted to make sure everything would be all right to be on the safe side. If she even so much as laid eyes on Zan—the little guy with the mask—or the gargantuan Doga, that alone would probably be enough to scare her out of her wits.

“It’s only natural for townsfolk to dislike us. As soon as the last of the festival atmosphere is gone, we’ll be entirely out of place here.”

Their tent was still up, but they had already stopped doing business. The revival festival had fully concluded after the third of the silver month, and everyone’s purse strings had tightened up at the same time.

“Well, not that it would be different in any other town we might visit at this time of year. If we do succeed in capturing a giba, we intend to take our time traveling down south next.”

“I see. It makes me feel a little lonely to think that we’ll be saying goodbye soon.”

“And it would be best for us to leave while you still feel that way. We wouldn’t want to stick around for so long that you get sick of seeing us and start finding our presence irritating instead,” Pino remarked with a grin.

And so, shortly after that, we returned to the forest’s edge, accompanied by an unusually large number of guests.