6
It was now the evening of the following day, our third day of business.
I was currently sprawled out on the floor in the Fa house’s main hall, when suddenly there were two knocks on the door.
“Asuta, it’s me,” I heard Ai Fa’s voice say.
I peeled my indescribably exhausted body from of the fur carpet, then headed towards the entrance to remove the bolt.
When I did so and opened the door, I saw my beloved benefactor for the first time in half a day, only to suddenly hear, “What’s with that drained look on your face? Did you not even sell one today? Even if that’s the case, don’t make such a pathetic expression in front of me. It’s unpleasant.”
“Ugh... What about you? The number of giba around has steadily been decreasing lately, right?”
“I took one down. However, it got overly damaged in the process, so I wasn’t able to bloodlet it well.”
“I see. Good work. The most important thing is that you weren’t hurt.”
“Like I said, what’s with that look? If you don’t tell me the gist of things, I really will get angry.”
“I’m just a bit tired, so don’t worry about it. I’ll get my energy back soon enough just from being with you, anyway...”
“Don’t say such foolish nonsense. It’s displeasing, so fix yourself right away.”
My clan head sure didn’t show mercy.
“What in the world happened? There must have been some sort of problem for you to look so incredibly drained, right?”
“It sure was something, yeah... Today, the guards ended up getting called.”
“What? What do you mean?” she asked, suddenly grabbing me by the collar. “What in the world did you do? You were supposed to just be working seriously, weren’t you?”
“I was doing that! And thanks to that, we sold out of all 40 burgers for today! But that was how the guards ended up getting summoned...”
“...I don’t understand. Explain it to me.”
She pushed me away, hung her cloak on the wall, and leaned her sword up against it too.
While watching her look every bit as gallant as always as she did so, I moved over towards the stove and sat down next to it.
“Folks from both the south and east gathered immediately when we opened the shop today, and we sold our first 20 burgers in no time at all.”
“Right.”
“And I brought more today, so I went ahead and prepared the other 20 in a big hurry. Once I finished them, people bought four more, including Tara and her dad.”
“Yes.”
“That left 16... But then, that Silver Vase group and the guys from Jagar showed up all at once. And both of those groups wanted ten each.”
“Hmm? But didn’t you say they showed up when the shop opened?”
“No, the folks who showed up first all heard tell of the shop from those groups, and they were all first time customers. Apparently, folks from the south and east each have their own preferred inns so they won’t run into each other much. And it seems that the giba burgers have become a big topic of discussion in those places.”
“...Right.”
“And so, since there were ten folks in both groups and only 16 burgers left, I told them I’d sell ten to the Silver Vase since they just barely got there first, and the remaining six to the folks from the south. But then, they yelled out, ‘At least make it fair and do eight each!’”
“I see.”
“The guys from the east had no intention of yielding either, though... And since the commotion showed no signs of dying down, some passersby called for the guards.”
“Oh? If that was the case, then only the ones causing the commotion would be punished, right?”
“Yeah, but that’s not how it turned out. They reached the conclusion that I was the initial cause of the problem, so I was entirely at fault, and I just barely avoided getting banned from the post town.”
“Is that the law in the city...?” Ai Fa questioned, anger flickering in her eyes.
“I-I don’t know anything about that. But at any rate, I managed to persuade them, so don’t worry about it. Plus, I really had screwed up by not preparing enough... That fact at least has been weighing heavily on me.”
“I see... That certainly sounds rough.”
Ai Fa lightly shook her head, clearing away the anger that had started to sprout in her.
“Good work today... And now, I’m hungry, Asuta.”
“...You really don’t know mercy, do you?”
“I said good work to you, didn’t I? Now I understand the reason behind your fatigue. I get it, so hurry up and do something about that depleted look on your face.”
I massaged the sides of my face, wondering if it really looked that bad.
Well, it was true that in the few hours since the guards released me, I had been running my mind and body full blast, so maybe I just didn’t have any energy left to spare.
It was times like this that taking in nutrition was important.
“Alright! I’ll get to work preparing dinner, then!”
“...I didn’t say you should force yourself to sound overly cheerful.”
Oh, I see.
I just meekly started adding fire to the stove in order to heat up the already prepared soup.
“Still, it’s rather remarkable that you managed to sell 40 meals on just your third day, isn’t it?” Ai Fa asked, sounding a bit perplexed as she sat beside the stove with one knee raised. “And yet, you still don’t look even the least bit happy.”
“Well, I mean, I’m glad to have sold better than expected, but I’m still not in a position where I can just be happy about it. To me, it feels like I’m still standing on the edge of a cliff.”
“The edge of a cliff...?”
“Our ultimate goal is to have the taste of giba meat spread throughout the post town, right? But so far, only four people born in Genos have even tasted the giba burgers. No matter how popular they may get among folks from the east and south, those people will all eventually leave town. So at this rate, I’m earning some change, but I’m not any closer to carrying out our goal, right?”
Thanks to today’s investigation by the guards, I learned all about the background of my customers.
Just as they had said, the group from Sym was part of the merchant group known as the Silver Vase. They were traveling around to towns in the west and north for a year with goods made of precious metals and the like from their home country, doing business as they went.
And apparently the folks from Jagar were part of a somewhat famous construction group that had built a great number of buildings around the post town.
That guy called “Pops” who utterly rejected giba meat was their leader, and supposedly they were in the area doing repairs on older buildings.
“And so, both the Silver Vase and that construction group will be leaving at the end of next month. And all those other folks are just here to work, not residents of Genos. Right now, 90% of the giba burgers are selling to them, so folks from around Genos have still hardly had a chance to taste it.”
“But... wasn’t your plan always to start by selling to folks from the south and east?”
“Well, that may be so, but it still wouldn’t do if I get hauled away by the guards before my cooking can build up a reputation, right? The next time something happens, I really may end up getting banned... So, I’m standing on the edge of a cliff.”
The cold glares from the guards and Milano Mas were still burned into my mind.
Their eyes pretty much said, “So the people of the forest’s edge really are just heathens who disturb the peace here in town...”
It was utterly unreasonable. I couldn’t help but think that if we were anybody but the people of the forest’s edge, we wouldn’t have been handled so harshly.
But even so, we had made up our minds to keep on selling despite that animosity as people living at the forest’s edge.
We couldn’t afford to get sloppy from here on out.
This really did drive it home again, the fact that I was up against the entire town in this fight.
“...Your face is finally back to normal,” Ai Fa said from up close.
I turned in surprise and found that she was now standing right next to me.
“Also, you’re a surprisingly greedy man, Asuta.”
“G-Greedy?”
“How many coins did you earn over these three days?”
“Huh? Well, putting all three days together I sold 70, which makes for 140 red coins. Subtracting out the initial fee, Vina Ruu’s daily wages, and the cost of the ingredients, that should make for 77 red coins of pure profit.”
“That means you made as much as hunting six giba’s worth would earn you in just three days, doesn’t it?”
“Those things can’t be compared. After all, no matter how much I earn, it doesn’t put even the slightest dent in the number of giba around. The work of a hunter is totally different.”
Now that I thought about it, my quota for these ten days was 60 meals.
I certainly hadn’t foreseen clearing that on just the third day.
As I kept on stirring the soup, Ai Fa stood by my side with a smile on her face.
“That’s the thinking of the people of the forest’s edge. But townsfolk work and sweat solely to earn coins, don’t they?”
“I told you though, that’s not our goal, right? Well, I would be really glad if this money could go towards buying new pots and blades, though.”
“...That’s why I said you’re greedy,” Ai Fa said with a smile, an incredibly peaceful light shining in her eyes.
I still didn’t understand, though.
“What, are you saying I’m greedy because I’m not happy with selling and earning more than expected? In that case, you must think I’m pretty awful.”
“That’s not it. It’s that you aren’t blinded by coins and keep on pushing to achieve your original goal. You have a greedy desire for victory.”
“...Then at least phrase it as me hating to lose. ‘Greedy’ makes it sound way too negative,” I complained while stirring around the contents of the pot, which had heated up quite a bit by now.
“Very well,” Ai Fa replied, drawing even closer. She ruffled my hair (I had already removed my towel) while bringing her face up near mine.
“You hate to lose, Asuta.”
She smiled so wide that her white teeth were on clear display, calling to mind a mischievous child.
That type of smile was rare for Ai Fa, and was more the type of thing I expected from Ludo Ruu.
It was rare for her to openly smile in the first place, so I was seriously taken aback.
“...Anyway, I’m hungry, Asuta.”
“Ah, right. I guess this is plenty hot enough. I’m going to grill up the meat, so could you help me move this?”
“This” referred to the giba soup I had completed earlier. The pot was still warm, and there was only just enough in there for two people, so it would heat back up in no time.
Once we moved that to a board set in the back, I placed a new pot on the stove, then got a wooden plate I had prepared in advance. Ai Fa looked at it with confusion on her face.
“What is tonight’s dinner? There’s some sort of smell to it that I’m not familiar with.”
“That’s right. I purchased a new ingredient to try out tonight. Well, I say ingredient, but it’s really more of a spice.”
Atop the wooden plate, a giba rib and shoulder roast were submerged in a red liquid. It was fruit wine with finely diced aria and my new ingredient, myamuu, making for a marinade.
“Myamuu?”
“Right, myamuu. It’s a vegetable that was used in that kimyuus manju I ate.”
It was a spice like a cross between garlic and coriander, making for a complex aroma that seriously stirred the appetite.
It came in green stalks about as thick as a straw, and if you bit into it raw, it was incredibly spicy. I had diced it thinly enough to turn it into a paste just like with the aria, and added it to the marinade.
“I’d been interested in it for a while, but I didn’t even know its name or anything. I asked Dora about it today, and I finally managed to pin it down. I’m sure this would probably go well with the tarapa sauce, too.”
As I explained, I started by sauteing some aria I had cut into thin slices. When those were nice and soft, I added in the marinated meat while making sure it spread properly around. Instantly, the smell of fruit wine and myamuu filled the room.
“What do you think? Doesn’t that smell seriously get to you?”
“...For some reason, I suddenly feel extremely hungry.”
Well, that made sense. I was a novice when it came to coriander, but I thought it made for a wonderful aroma for stimulating an appetite when you paired together the smells of grilled meat and garlic.
Back in my old world there was no shortage of people who avoided it because it was too strong of a smell, but myamuu didn’t leave as strong of a lingering scent as garlic. Plus, I’d seen plenty of women and children eating those kimyuus manju, which firmed up my resolve to use that powerful aroma in my cooking.
By the way, this wasn’t sold by vegetable sellers, but rather shops that handled rock salt and dried goods, and was an ingredient I hadn’t seen in the Ruu pantry.
“Alright, now that the surface of the meat is nice and grilled, I’ll be adding this in too.”
With that, I poured the rest of the marinade from the plate into the pot. The procedure I used was the same as with ginger pork. In my head, I thought myamuu giba would work as a name.
“Asuta.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Ah, right, that’s the fourth time you’ve said that now, isn’t it? It’s pretty much finished, so just hold on a moment.”
Once the meat had been heated to temperature all the way through, I moved it to the plate with the aria.
I had sprinkled salt and pico leaves over the giba meat to begin with, so there was no need to season it any further.
Then once the remaining sauce in the pot had heated up enough, I poured it over the meat and aria, completing the dish.
“Ah, the baked poitan are in the pantry. Sorry, but could you dish out the soup?”
“Right.”
I hurried to the pantry and brought back the poitan I had baked in the morning, as well as some shredded tino I had prepared.
“This is the raw tino you added to your giba burgers, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I figured it would probably go well with this dish, too.”
When you think of ginger pork, you think shredded cabbage. And so, shredded tino was sure to go well with myamuu giba, too.
Well, at least if my sensibilities from having grown up in another world matched up, that was.
“Alright! Well then, shall we dig in?”
“...Hey, there’s not much meat on your plate, is there, Asuta?”
“Ah, yeah. When I was figuring out the ratio of marinade to aria and myamuu and how long it should be heated and the like, I ended up eating quite a bit of meat in my taste tests. And so, this much is plenty.”
Ai Fa shot me a bit of a dubious look.
“You seem to have put quite a bit of effort into this... Could you perhaps be planning on selling this dish in the post town, too?”
“Man, you’re sharp! That’s exactly it. It would take too much time to prepare more than 40 giba burgers, so I was thinking I’d start selling this too from tomorrow on. This is how you eat it.”
First up I loaded a heaping helping of shredded tino atop the poitan, which I had stretched out thinner than with the giba burgers. Then I added the meat and aria on top, and finally rolled up the bottom like a crepe, finishing it off.
“It’s dinner, so you have two, Ai Fa. And the remaining aria went into the soup, so make sure to finish it all.”
“...No person of the forest’s edge would leave dinner on their plate.”
“Right, I just wanted to try saying that. Now go ahead and chow down.”
Ai Fa gave a nod, completed her pre-meal ritual, and then picked up her dinner.
Then she knitted her brows a bit, having noticed my gaze.
“Don’t stare at people’s faces.”
“A-Ah, sorry about that. I was just interested in how you’d react.”
Ai Fa looked away with a, “Hmph,” and then bit into the myamuu giba.
Sure enough, she held the dish with both hands, which made her look incredibly adorable.
More important, though, was the flavor.
I didn’t think it had turned out half bad.
I didn’t have any ginger, cooking sake, or soy sauce, so I wasn’t exactly plotting to get close to the flavor of ginger pork. The fruit wine with its heavy sweetness and the strong garlic-like spice and aroma of the myamuu had soaked into the grilled meat to create a rich salty-sweet flavor, which paired perfectly with the shredded tino and baked poitan.
The meat was all less than five millimeters thick. However, it still had a solid bit of chewiness to it. If I messed up with the strength of the flame it could end up too tough for the townsfolk, so I took special care with that.
As I went ahead and prepared my own portion, I turned to Ai Fa and asked, “What do you think?”
“It’s good,” Ai Fa replied, the same as always.
Well, whether it was just plain delicious or still lacking something, Ai Fa wasn’t the sort to put that into words, so it would be hard to drag any more out of her...
“The aroma is nice. It suits this meat well. It’s as good as the steak... Would this aroma go well with steak, too?” she said, giving surprisingly substantial impressions for today. “However... Maybe this sweet of a taste wouldn’t be good with steak? And I wouldn’t want this aroma to go with regular hamburgers. With giba burgers and the tarapa... How would that be? I’m not so sure.”
“Th-That was amazing. That’s the first time you’ve given such in-depth impressions, isn’t it?”
And I found everything she said to be reasonable information.
At any rate, Ai Fa cast her eyes downwards again and looked like she was searching for what to say.
“Also... It definitely tastes good, but it made my throat feel parched. Perhaps... It would taste better to me if the taste wasn’t quite so strong.”
“Ah, I see. The people of the forest’s edge are only used to the rock salt used for dried meat in terms of spices, so I might have flavored it a bit too strong. I’ll try tweaking the portion used for dinner by letting it soak in a bit longer.”
Ai Fa gave a bit of an exhausted sigh, and then stared right at me.
“That’s all I have to say. Don’t ask any more of me. If I have to think anymore, my head will start hurting.”
“Got it. Thanks. That was a big help!”
“...Still, didn’t you say you intended to sell steak and normal grilled meat after the giba burgers? That with those recipes the tastiness of giba meat would be easier to see?”
“Yeah. That really was my plan.”
I adjusted my seating a bit.
“But I told you yesterday how several of my customers said the samples were no good, right? And it seemed like those folks didn’t just dislike the softness of the hamburgers, but the taste of the giba meat itself. So I wanted to try out a stronger seasoning than I’d ever used before. I wondered if there was a method that would preserve the deliciousness of the giba meat, but also cut down on its fairly strong quirkiness.”
“Right.”
“Roughly the same number of people from the south and east are buying my food, but that’s probably because the big dispute over whether it’s good or not has driven up everyone’s curiosity. So even though nobody complained to my face today, I’m sure there were still folks who weren’t satisfied. If things went badly, half of them may have even felt that way.”
Plus, the folks from the east were all so untalkative and expressionless that I had no idea whatsoever how to estimate how many of them were happy with my food.
My number of customers may have been growing day by day, but I didn’t even know how many repeats I was getting. Especially the folks from the south, what with the way their faces were shadowed by those hoods most of the time. I had a hard time making out their features, so recognizing one from another was difficult.
“Well at any rate, there were still folks who said they didn’t like the taste of the giba burgers even though I used the fairly flavorful tarapa sauce, so rather than pushing the meat’s flavor to the forefront with steaks, I figured it would be better to try a dish that suppresses the quirkiness of the meat. And that salted meat or whatever from The Kimyuus’s Tail was pretty darn salty, so I figured the townsfolk didn’t have any real problem with strong spices.”
“...You certainly seem to have given this a lot of thought.”
Ai Fa had quickly gobbled down her second myamuu giba, and was now staring at me.
“What was with that depleted look on your face before?”
“Huh? I was just plain exhausted. There was that whole commotion during the day, and then afterwards I had to hurriedly complete this new dish. Plus, I had a whole ton of other things to think about.”
I leaned forward a bit as I put together another myamuu giba for Ai Fa.
“Hey, Ai Fa. I never guessed I’d do this much business with just people from the south and east. I intend to make things work somehow tomorrow with the giba burgers and this new dish, but I don’t think that will settle the heart of the matter.”
“Hmm...?”
“With just one stall, all I can do is sell the myamuu giba after I sell out of the giba burgers. That means I’m not seeing the proper effectiveness of having two dishes on my menu... So it’s way sooner than I had expected, but I think it’s time to start seriously considering expanding to a second stall.”
As she accepted the myamuu giba I was holding out, Ai Fa went “Hmm...” and gave a dignified nod. “If that’s what you think, then you can go ahead and do it. I’ll trust in your decision.”
“No, but I mean, this is pretty important, right? Expanding the number of stalls and personnel will also increase the expenses...”
“But you feel that is a proper path to take to find success, right?”
Ai Fa gently stared back at me.
“I trust in your decision. Don’t make me keep saying that over and over.”
“...Got it. Thank you.”
I gave a big nod, and Ai Fa shot me back a gentle smile.
“...You really are a greedy man.”
“Hey, I told you, don’t say greedy...”
“You really do hate to lose.”
Well, I had no objection to that.
It was all down to my naive thinking that I hadn’t managed the kind of results I’d wanted in these three days.
If I made a mistake in my judgment, it could lead to this whole plan crashing down. I really felt that with the commotion today.
In the first place, it was strange that I found myself lamenting that folks from the east and south were buying everything up before it reached anybody from the west.
My initial goal was supposed to be having the shop prove successful over the first ten days so that I could roll out a new dish. But now, I couldn’t take things at such a leisurely pace. I had gone over capacity on the third day since opening, so I needed to deal with things quickly.
Vina Ruu had already brought the matter up.
As long as Donda Ruu gave his permission, we could have another person helping out as soon as the day after tomorrow.
If I could just make it through tomorrow somehow, then the day after that I could launch my counterattack.
“Alright! Now it’s time for round two!”
“What’s a ‘round’?”
When I turned and looked her way, I found Ai Fa staring at me with one knee up and her chin resting on her hand.
“H-Huh? You already finished eating, Ai Fa?”
“You’re just slow. You’ve got work to do after this, right? If you don’t hurry up and eat, you’ll end up cutting into the time you have for sleep.”
“It’s alright. I already made the giba burger patties in my spare time. I just have to cut the meat for the myamuu giba and prepare the tarapa sauce, which’ll be easy. The most difficult part will honestly just be baking the poitan tomorrow morning.”
Ai Fa was giving me a distant look.
“Hmm? What is it?”
“...No one but me benefits from you staying here at the Fa house. So I was just thinking that you really should be with the Rutim.”
“W-What are you talking about? Are you trying to tell me to leave the Fa clan again?”
“Did you really think I would say that at this point?”
Ai Fa’s gaze was very gentle.
As I sipped the soup (which had chilled a bit by now), I scratched my head.
“If that’s the case, then why are you bringing that up? Please don’t make me all uneasy like that.”
“I’m happy. Because you chose to stay here, I mean. And because you found a way to do work where you thrive while staying part of the Fa clan.”
As she said that, Ai Fa scooched over my way using her hands and knees. Then, she ruffled my hair again. When I stroked her hair I got a body blow for it, yet this was some awfully intimate physical contact.
“U-Um, I kind of feel like I’m a small child or something when you do that.”
“Is that so? My father Gil used to do this often when praising me,” she said, giving the first pout I’d seen from her in a while.
“Ah, but it doesn’t feel bad or anything. I was just a bit embarrassed.”
“...I see,” Ai Fa said, looking downwards.
I felt a twinge of regret, figuring I’d said something I shouldn’t have.
And then...
Ai Fa suddenly got on one knee and hugged her arms around my neck. In an instant, my body and mind were awash in her warmth, fragrance, and strength.
“I’m glad I didn’t lose you back on that night... I’m glad that you chose the Fa rather than the Rutim.”
“A... A-A-Ai Fa?” I questioned, my voice unintentionally cracking.
Her unrelenting strength held my body tight, and her soft hair brushed up against my cheek. I felt like my heart was about to stop. There was an iridescent light flickering in the depths of her eyes. As I vaguely thought that if this sensation continued on for a few more seconds, my nerves would all burn up, that warmth, strength, and fragrance grew distant. Ai Fa sat back on the floor and started childishly scratching her nose.
“...That just now was how I feel.”
“P-Please don’t go shocking me like that...”
I had to firmly plant my hands on the floor to support myself, as I felt like I was about to up and collapse.
“Y-Your dad was a pretty passionate person, huh?”
“Hmm? What’s this about my father Gil?”
“Huh?”
“He has nothing to do with this. I just did what I wanted to just now.”
I sat there, shocked into silence.
“If you found it unpleasant, then I’ll refrain in the future. But just now, I simply couldn’t hold back how I felt... My apologies for interrupting your dinner. Now, go ahead and get back to eating. I’ve gotten a bit sleepy,” Ai Fa said with a composed expression, pointing to my remaining food.
She’s... She’s a million times as bad as Vina Ruu!
Not noticing my mental scream, Ai Fa set about letting down her hair.
“I believe you’re proving plenty successful, but if you think otherwise, then strive even harder... And just as I said before, those coins are your own to use as you please. If you come up short, just tell me.”
“...Is it really alright to be putting such complete trust in me? What if I use the money I earn to buy hair accessories and stuff like that for you?”
“I’d beat you to a pulp.”
“Ah, I see... Got it! In that case, depending on how tomorrow’s sales go, I really will move to expand my business! You won’t go complaining later, right?”
“What are you getting so worked up about?” Ai Fa questioned as she moved her face in closer again, now with her hair down. “Did I make you feel uneasy after all?”
Her face looked a bit displeased and worried.
Still having gotten no further with my dinner, I gave a heavy sigh.
“Of course not. Sorry about that...”
“...You truly are a strange man.”
I didn’t think that was the case at all. And yet, when I saw Ai Fa’s relieved smile, I just couldn’t bring myself to argue.
At any rate, our fight was still only just getting started.
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