Chapter 4: A Giba Meat Restaurant in the Post Town
1
The preparations to head forth into battle had been completed.
The cooking was packed into the metal pot, which was then covered by a large cloth with pseudo-rubber tree leaves sewn onto the back to keep out water, and finally held together with fibaha vines. All in all, it gave off an incredibly sturdy impression.
The baked poitan, tino, and aria were each wrapped up in their own clean cloths and placed inside a bag meant for vegetables.
A large wooden spatula meant for stirring, a small spatula for dividing things up, the chopsticks I made out of grigee wood, two plates, and my kitchen knife were all stored in the same bag.
The other bag, meanwhile, contained plenty of firewood, a small hatchet, and lana grass for starting a fire.
The red coins for making change and the white ones to pay Milano Mas were already in a cloth bag dangling from my hip.
Everything was perfect.
I had already completed my morning work of cleaning up after last night’s dinner and gathering herbs and firewood, and the time was right midway between daybreak and when the sun hit its peak.
Now, I just needed to wait for Vina Ruu to arrive.
“It’s finally time,” Ai Fa said.
“Yeah, it is,” I replied.
“First, you have to make it through these ten days.”
“Yeah. I’ll give it everything I’ve got, like my life depended on it.”
“You’ll be doing this for ten days.”
“If it ends after those ten days, then there won’t be much purpose in having done it.”
“So you’ll be spending half a day with the eldest daughter of the Ruu for all that time...”
“Hmm?”
“Well, give it your all.”
“Yeah, I will!”
“There’s also your agreement to have relations with her.”
“No! There’s nothing like that at all!” I said, turning around in astonishment and facing Ai Fa. “W-Why are you throwing something like that out there, all of a sudden? You didn’t so much as bat an eye when it got decided that Vina Ruu would be helping me out, did you?!”
Ai Fa’s expression remained composed as she slapped down her hand on my shoulder and said, “Don’t get so worked up. It was a joke.”
“Uggggh...”
“You just carry out your work, and I’ll carry out mine.”
Ai Fa’s expression remained just as calm and composed as always, but her eyes took on a very gentle light.
“...I’ll be awaiting your safe return.”
◇
Vina Ruu arrived right at the agreed upon time, and then together we used a grigee pole to carry the metal pot over that terrifying ravine and into the post town.
Our first stop was The Kimyuus’s Tail.
The place’s owner, Milano Mas, then led us around back and introduced us to the stall we’d be sharing both good times and bad with over the next 10 days.
It had wheels on it, so it could be moved around. It was two meters high, five meters wide, and 80 centimeters deep. Naturally, the frame was made out of wood, and it had some leather stretched out overhead to ward off the rain. There were wooden planks serving as walls on the front and to the sides, coming up to around my stomach, while on the back wall there was a section that could be pulled open like a door.
When I opened the door, I found that it was hollow inside, with clay densely packed along the reverse side of the walls.
And enshrined inside was a deep-bottomed basin that called to mind a charcoal brazier. I could definitely light a fire in there to heat up my pot.
There was a countertop with a round hole over the brazier that I set my pot into, which fit perfectly so as to not leave any gap.
Then there was an opening for ventilation by my right foot where the smoke could escape.
It was an incredibly simple setup, but well, simple wasn’t a problem.
“...Make sure that you don’t get it filthy or break it,” Milano Mas said with a surly look on his face, despite it being so early in the morning.
“Right,” I replied, trying to sound friendly.
Vina Ruu, meanwhile, feigned ignorance and looked away.
“Alright, then follow me.”
We went out on the street, with Milano Mas leading the way.
This was my first time visiting the post town before the sun hit its peak, and it seemed to be about 30% less bustling than it was in the early afternoon. Even so, Vina Ruu and I were still getting an incredible amount of stares as we pushed the cart along. And they were all full of discomfort, surprise, and distrust, questioning what people of the forest’s edge were doing with a stall.
Yellowish-brown skinned people.
Ivory-white skinned people.
Dark-skinned people.
Light-skinned people.
There really were all sorts of different folks staring our way.
I was a foreigner in the clothing of the forest’s edge, while Vina Ruu was a member the forest’s edge but also like sex appeal incarnate, so we made for quite a pair. Perhaps there wasn’t a person alive who could just ignore the two of us pushing along a cart.
“Oh, this is just awful... It seems like even more people are staring than usual, somehow...”
“It’s fine. I mean, it’s perfect advertising for us, isn’t it?”
With this, the rumor that people of the forest’s edge are opening some sort of shop should at least spread to every nook and cranny of the post town. It was fine if half the folks who heard about it just ridiculed the idea, or even if they were afraid of it. I just had to pray that this got us at least a few more people to gather around the shop.
We left the area with the inns and moved into the part of town where the stalls were laid out. Most of the shops had already started opening up for business.
The folks running the shops started looking our way alongside the passersby.
In fact, the only ones we passed by who kept calm looks on their faces were the totos birds.
“Hey there. So you’re really doing it, huh?” someone suddenly called out along the way. It was the vegetable seller, Dora.
“Yeah. I’ll be working nearby for the next ten days at least, so I look forward to being your neighbor.”
Milano Mas hadn’t stopped walking, so I had to bow my head as I kept on pushing the cart.
I saw that the old-timer’s smile had grown a lot less stiff as I glanced over his way while continuing on further north.
We really had been led all the way to the farthest reaches of the stalls. It was the absolute upper tip of where the forest had been cleared away to the side of the highway to open up space.
Facing north, we were on the right hand side of the road.
If just two or three more shops opened up, the stalls would end up running into the grove of trees. Well, if that happened they would probably keep on clearing away more space, but at any rate, we really were right at the very end.
There weren’t exactly a lot of people passing through. In fact, the space out in front of us was completely empty.
The old-timer next to us had some sort of questionable accessories laid out atop a cloth, and when he saw us, he gave a childish open-mouthed stare.
“The rules are just like I described to you yesterday. You need to pay special attention to the ones that say that you can’t yell out to try to draw in customers, and that you can’t light a fire outside of that basin. And if you see anyone else doing either of those, make sure you tell me.”
“Got it. Thanks so much for everything.”
“Hmph... Then there’s just the matter of the sign. Hey, what should I write on it?”
“Huh? The sign?”
Sure enough, there was a sign on the stall, but aside from the symbols or whatever that apparently said “The Kimyuus’s Tail” on the lower right, it was completely blank.
“If you don’t write anything on the sign, then nobody will even know what you’re selling, right? So what should I write?”
As he said that, Milano Mas took a small cloth bag from his waist and started loosening the strings with his teeth. Inside was a green gooey liquid, as well as a small stick that looked sort of like a brush. It had a bit of a sharp smell, but also a touch on the grassy side. Maybe it was some sort of plant-based paint?
“Then... I guess it’s got to be ‘Giba,’ right?”
“That’s all you’ve got, huh...?” Milano Mas said with a sigh, then he dipped the brush in the paint and started drawing out large symbols. With the ellipses and curves to it, with four lines stretching upwards, the symbol sort of looked like a giba’s horns and tusks.
“Ooh, it’s nice and giba-like, isn’t it?”
“...Make sure you bring the stall back to the shop each day. I’ve got to check if there are any scratches on it, after all.”
“Right. We plan on bringing it back before evening.”
Milano Mas gave one more, “Hmph,” then went ahead and left.
The old-timer next to us, meanwhile, was still staring vacantly.
“Now then, shall we go ahead and get ready?”
With Vina Ruu’s help, I started off by freeing the pot from the vines sealing it shut. Then when I removed the cloth and psuedo-rubber tree leaf covering from on top, Vina Ruu went, “Ooh! I think I smell tarapa. Is this for a stew...?”
“Ah, no. We can’t spare that much time and ingredients, so this tarapa is just for the sauce.”
Despite having said that, I used two whole tarapa, so roughly sixty percent of the large pot was full of pure red sauce.
I had heated up the tomato-like tarapa together with diced aria and fruit wine, then adjusted the taste with salt and pico leaves, making this deluxe tarapa sauce.
“Well then, time to light the flame. Vina Ruu, could you open that bag?”
“Right!” Vina Ruu replied, then I lit a fire in the basin using lana grass while glancing her way out of the corner of my eye.
The pot was completely cold, so I started off by getting the fire nice and roaring.
Considering the size of the basin and the distance between the opening and the pot, the net heat transferred would probably be even less than those simple stoves from the banquet, so for now I decided I just had to go with a strong flame until the whole of the pot was good and heated.
I threw in as much firewood as I could carry at once, but at this rate, what we had probably wouldn’t last us through the day. So in that case, I’d need to gather firewood from the grove behind us. That’s why I brought along the hatchet.
I estimated we’d be working for just a bit over five hours.
It was between dawn and when the sun hit its peak when we left the house, so it would be midway between the sun hitting its peak and sunset when we got back. Then I needed to deduct the two hours for transit, and I could start calculating.
According to my internal clock, dawn was at 6 AM, the sun hit its peak at noon, and sunset was at 7 PM, so the shop would be open from around 10 AM to 3:30 PM.
“Hmm, I know it’s odd to say it now, but it really is a strange feeling... I never imagined even in my wildest dreams that I’d ever be selling anything here in the post town...”
“I agree, but well, the amount of time we’ve spent at the forest’s edge is completely different, so I guess you feel it even stronger.”
Did Donda Ruu perhaps know of Vina Ruu’s adoration of the world outside the forest’s edge and choose her to help me out as a result?
No wait, I guess if he knew how she felt, he wouldn’t want to let her go out like this, right?
Well at any rate, Vina Ruu’s expression today was bright and sunny, and she seemed even more innocently excited than the last time she accompanied me to the post town.
“But will we really sell anything...? There aren’t really many people around, are there...?”
“Well, we are on the very tip of the post town, after all.”
People coming to the post town from the north, or folks leaving that way. Those were the only folks we saw periodically passing through, and hardly any of them looked interested in shopping.
“Well, it’s just the first day, so let’s give it our all, but not get overeager. After all, today and tomorrow are ultimately just our debut.”
There was no way there wouldn’t be rumors spreading about people of the forest’s edge selling giba meat cooking. Just how many people who heard that would have their curiosity get the better of them and come check out the shop, though? That was going to be the first crucial point for us.
As the tarapa sauce had started making a cute sputtering sound, I took a wooden spatula from Vina Ruu and started stirring it around.
“Vina Ruu. I’d like you to take over the stirring later, but I’ll be sinking a lot of hamburgers down in the pot, so you’ll have to take care not to crush them.”
“Got it. Still, it sure is a wonderful smell... I feel like I’m even starting to get hungry, in spite of the time...”
“Ah, if you think you want something to eat, then go ahead and have one as a taste test.”
With that, Vina Ruu’s eyes started to sparkle.
“Is it really alright? But aren’t these meant for selling...?”
“Well I mean, it’d be bad if you didn’t at least know the taste of what you’re selling. And so, I made sure to make extra just for that.”
Without a moment’s delay, Vina Ruu started fishing through the bag lying off to the side in the stall, then she stood up and slinked on over next to me. I had a very bad premonition, but she just grabbed onto the excess fabric by my waist.
“I’m so happy... Thank you, Asuta...”
“I-It’s nothing. It’s just part of the job, after all.”
It was the same back when we were preparing for the banquet, but it seemed that Vina Ruu also wouldn’t go and do anything outrageous while we were working. I suppose that went for the people of the forest’s edge in general, too.
In that case, maybe she’d end up doing pretty well as my work partner after all.
“Alright, looks like it’s almost nice and hot. Well then, I’ll be counting on you to stir.”
I laid out a black grigee cutting board on the work stand set up next to the basin, alongside the aria, tino, a wooden plate, and my kitchen knife.
The tino was like lettuce but shaped like a rose, with gently overlapping layers. However, its texture was closer to that of cabbage, so I tore off one of the leaves and started dicing it.
As for the pseudo-onions, the aria, I carefully cut them into thin slices.
Once I had finished cutting both of them up, I moved them over to a plate and loosely mixed them together.
Finally, I also laid out the baked poitan I had taken out of the bag out on the work stand, finishing off my preparations.
“There’s nothing all that tricky to it, but you should memorize how to make them too, Vina Ruu.”
“Oh, my... Those certainly are rather small poitan...”
“Yeah. I only used about half of a poitan for each of them.”
They were normally using two poitan each at the Ruu house, which should have made for a diameter of around 30 centimeters. And I was using a fourth of that, so that meant that these came out at 14-15 centimeters at most. I also mixed in gigo so it came out fluffier than usual, with a thickness of around 1.5 centimeters. All in all, they came out looking like adorable cream-colored english muffins.
“First, you heap plenty of tino and aria on top of one of these little poitan. For a rough estimate, you want it to be just a bit thinner than the poitan itself, I suppose. Then you add the hamburger on top.”
As I said that, I scooped a hamburger out of the pot with the spatula, and Vina Ruu went, “Oh, my...” in surprise. That was probably because the hamburger was a perfect circle rather than its usual elliptical shape.
From eyeballing it, I’d guess it weighed around 800 grams, and had a diameter of 12 centimeters and thickness of three centimeters.
I took that patty coated in tarapa sauce and placed it atop the diced tino, then added another poitan on top.
With that, I had a complete giba burger of the sort we’d be selling at the shop.
“It’s simple, right? Well, dig in.”
I took the stirring spatula from Vina Ruu and handed her the giba burger in exchange.
“Somehow...”
“Yes?”
“Somehow, it looks incredibly tasty...”
“It is. I’m a big fan, personally.”
“Since it’s not dinner, can I go without saying the prayer...?”
“It’s probably fine, right? I’m not exactly an expert, though.”
Vina Ruu stood staring at it for a moment at a loss, looking like she thought it would be a waste to just eat it or something. She seemed to make up her mind before too long, though, as her sensual lips opened wide and she bit into the giba burger.
“Please take care not to drop any, alright? It’s probably best to hold it sideways.”
Vina Ruu gave a nod and just kept on chewing away.
This had already been established when Ai Fa taste tested it, but the women of the forest’s edge holding onto a hamburger with both hands and happily stuffing their cheeks really did make for a charming sight.
Ai Fa was usually so cool and composed, so her adorableness was off the charts when she was like that, but Vina Ruu, who was like a bundle of mature appeal, certainly didn’t lose out in that regard.
Soon enough, Vina Ruu finished her taste test, then tightly grabbed hold of the cloth at my waist while still looking down a bit.
“It was tasty...”
“R-Really? Glad to hear it!”
Was Vina Ruu somehow even more charming when she was acting a bit childish rather than shooting flirtatious glances and wriggling her body? Well, I suppose even if I analyzed that, nobody would stand to gain anything from me doing so.
“What do you think? Will they sell?”
“I don’t know, but... I think if they don’t find this tasty, then these townsfolk aren’t worthy of eating giba meat.”
She had the same impression as Ai Fa.
Well, I didn’t quite think that myself, though.
I chose this giba burger as my first tool to try to overcome the bad image giba meat had of being smelly and tough, but well, it was what they call a curveball. As long as there aren’t any other shops serving hamburger here in the post town, it would probably surprise people, but if I wanted people to really know the true deliciousness of giba meat, I really would need a simple dish like steak or something.
Also, the hamburger patties took time to make, and I could only bring 12 at most in the pot. If I transported the cooked patties in a different container and prepared more sauce on location, I calculated I could probably manage upwards of 40, but still, this was ultimately just my first step towards overcoming the post town.
Coming up with hamburgers when thinking of light snacks may have been an incredibly simplistic idea, but it seemed like it was common for snacks in the post town like those kimyuus manju to use meat, vegetables, and some sort of carbohydrate batter in combination, so I thought it best to follow along with something similar.
Also, judging from those manju and that salted meat, it seemed there was no real worry of the townsfolk avoiding soft meat like Donda Ruu, and the way you could eat them by hand was a plus for snacks.
Then there was the fact that tarapa gave off a pretty strong smell. Since it wasn’t permitted to call out to people to try to drum up business, that made smell an even more important tool than usual. When combined with the aria and fruit wine, the aroma of the tarapa sauce was sure to powerfully arouse the appetites of folks passing by.
If these giba burgers attracted enough attention, I’d step up my menu... Which is to say, I’d switch to a simpler menu and try to get the deliciousness of giba meet across in steps.
Just how much progress would I make in these first ten days, though?
Personally, I was thinking if I was selling between 20-30 by the final day, I could justify introducing a new dish for the next ten days and would consider that a big success.
For today, I kept things on the safe side and just brought enough ingredients for ten, but if I could sell out all of those on our first day, I’d already consider that a huge success.
“Alright, then I guess it’s about time to get this battle started!”
The moment I declared that, I heard something hit the leather roof to the stall. Then suddenly, it started raining so hard it was like the sky was coming crashing down.
Even as she let out a shriek that sounded totally lacking in urgency, Vina Ruu hurriedly got the bag in under the roof.
It was the sort of sudden squall I was already accustomed to from living at the forest’s edge. Well, it was only around an hour’s walk to get here, so I suppose it made sense for the same sort of weather to occur in the post town.
However...
When the squall stopped just as suddenly as it had started, even the occasional passersby we had been seeing had completely disappeared without a trace.
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