Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 2.2

2

The first half of this match was at an end.

Though with that said, we’d only just gotten through the morning rush and were no more than an hour into work. But in that short time, we had sold 34 giba burgers and 37 myamuu giba. Even compared to yesterday, we were running 1.5 times as fast.

Plus, normally there weren’t many passersby at this time of day, but it felt like there was a strangely large amount of people around. But rather than there being more people passing through, there just seemed to be people sprinkled here and there along the highway.

There was a group gathered off to the side, whispering away. Girls sneaking glances as they looked through the goods at the neighboring accessory shop. Even an oldtimer standing in the middle of the road and staring straight at us. And all of them were folks from the west with yellowish-brown or ivory-white skin.

Each day up until now, the onlookers had disappeared alongside the large initial crowd of customers dispersing, but something seemed different this time. Had my shop finally become a presence the people of the west couldn’t just turn a blind eye towards? They must have been incredibly curious as to why folks from the south and east were so obsessed with giba meat cooking.

“Oh hey, now we’ve got nothing to do. It’s not going to be like this the rest of the time, is it, Asuta?”

“No. The flow of passersby will pick up after the sun hits its peak. Normally, that’s the main time for a stall to make its earnings.”

However, the folks from the east and south had been gathering first thing in the morning out of fear of me selling out. But if I could start consistently staying open for business until the early afternoon, the customers would surely become more spread out. I’d need to actually stay open till then, though.

“Hmm, should I have prepared more myamuu giba? I never thought I would sell through nearly 40 of them in the morning alone...”

“I told you, right...? I’m sure we won’t have a single one left today, either...” Vina Ruu said with a smile from the neighboring stall.

“But it really is just folks from the south and east coming to buy from us, huh? The only one from the west was that little squirt, right?” Lala Ruu said as she looked around with a bit of frustration showing in her eyes. “If they don’t have any intention of buying anything, then why are they staring at us? It’s creepy.”

“That’s fine by me. It won’t be possible to get them to try a sample without drawing their attention first. Personally, I consider this some serious progress.”

“Hmph,” Lala Ruu snorted, making it clear that she just couldn’t accept that.

“Now then, since the flow of customers seems to have slowed, how about trying a sample? Or are you still not hungry yet?”

“Huh...? I mean, of course I’m starving after smelling this delicious food. But if there’s extra, wouldn’t that be better to sell to the townsfolk?”

“It’s not extra. Just stuff that I solely prepared to serve as samples. I mean, I went and baked poitan just for that.”

As I said that, I pulled the poitan in question out of their wrapping.

“Whoa, what’s that? They’re really tiny!”

“Yeah. They’re just for employees.”

They were a size smaller than the poitan used for the giba burgers, with a diameter of around ten centimeters. And they were on the thin side, so I only needed to use about a third of a poitan for them.

“Handle the shop for just a bit, alright? They’ll be ready soon.”

I removed two little eight centimeter patties out of the leather bag. At only around two centimeters thick, they were quite the cute little things.

After warming them up in the pot, I went ahead and assembled two mini giba burgers.

“Here, thanks for waiting. Today the customers seem really fired up, so maybe you should eat them a bit away from the stall.”

“Thank you... They look really tasty, don’t they?” Sheera Ruu remarked with a smile.

When I returned to the myamuu giba stall and handed Lala Ruu hers, she gave a little “Hehehe,” that reminded me of Ludo Ruu.

And sure enough, when the two of them moved to the free space off to the right and started enjoying their samples, Vina Ruu shot me a sad look.

“There’s enough for you too, so just be patient for the moment. We can’t exactly have all three of you step away from the stalls at once, can we?”

“Huh...? I can eat some too...?”

“Of course. We’ve got more people helping now, but I’ll make sure to prepare enough for everyone each day,” I replied, only for Vina Ruu to stretch out her right hand as far as it could go, two meters away from me.

“I can’t reach...”

Of course you can’t.

And wait, was it a rule or something that she had to grab my clothes when she was feeling happy?

As I thought that, I moved the brazier from outside back into the myamuu giba stall, then heated the meat and aria left on the wooden plate back up to temperature.

Then, I prepared two itty bitty myamuu giba by splitting some baked poitan in half.

“Lala Ruu, since it’s your first day working here I’d like to have you try both. Do you think you can eat more, though?”

With that, Lala Ruu came running over, slapped me firmly on the back, and proudly declared, “Of course I can!”

From Lala Ruu’s point of view she was probably just showing some physical intimacy, but it sure did sting.

Vina Ruu and I also ate a little to fill our stomachs afterwards, and in the meantime only a single customer from Jagar placed an order.

However, I got the feeling that the number of onlookers from the west on the side of the road was growing. As I wondered whether or not there was some way to get them to come a bit closer, since I was forbidden from calling out loudly or leaving the stall to usher them over, I noticed a familiar group approaching from the north.

There were five of them, and they all wore leather cloaks. Four of them headed to the giba burger stall, while just one of them came over here.

When he took down his hood, I saw that it was indeed Shumiral of The Silver Vase.

“Asuta, we are late.”

“Welcome! Will you be making a purchase?”

“No. Today, is the day, to order that dish.”

Just when I was about to ask him why he came to this stall in that case, he said, “I wanted, to greet you, Asuta.”

After giving a small nod to Lala Ruu, who he was meeting for the first time, Shumiral’s black eyes turned towards my work station.

“That blade...”

“Yes?”

“I’ve never, seen one of that shape. Is it, from the west?”

“No, it came from the same place as me.”

“Where, do you come from?”

“...A country called Japan. Everyone always tells me they’ve never heard of it, though.”

“Japan. I do not, know it.”

As he talked to me, Shumiral’s eyes remained fixed on the kitchen knife.

“That blade, is beautiful. May I look, more closely?”

“Huh? Ah, no... I don’t think I can let a customer touch one of my cooking tools, unfortunately.”

“I don’t, need to touch. Can I, look closer?”

What was going on here?

It wasn’t as if I distrusted Shumiral or anything, but folks from Sym just didn’t let their emotions show, so I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

After hesitating for a few seconds, I grabbed hold of the scabbard, then pointed the blade straight down, held at around chest level.

He was quite tall, so Shumiral leaned down a bit and stared firmly at the blade.

“...It’s beautiful. The craftsmanship, is wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

“I can tell, that you treat it well. If you don’t do that, a lovely tool, will lose that loveliness.”

I wasn’t the one who had used it so carefully, though.

Of course, I was employing all of my knowledge and experience, and was quite careful when using the unfamiliar whetstones of this world... But my old man was the one who had treated it so well for 20 years.

I felt my emotions getting seriously tugged on there, so I went ahead and placed the knife back on the work station.

“Jagar is famous, for its iron. They have, lots of iron. Iron is rare, in Sym.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“In Sym, iron, is precious. And so, we treat it, carefully.”

As he said that, Shumiral pulled a single knife out from inside his cloak.

It was held in a black leather sheath, and looked to be a bit over 20 centimeters long. It was about the same length as my kitchen knife, but it was about twice as thick. The handle was made of black wood, with a swirling pattern lightly carved into it.

“Iron, is precious. In Sym, blade craftsmen, breath life, into their work.”

Wasn’t that just the sort of occupation swordsmithing was, even in places with plentiful metal?

But still, it was true that I was feeling somehow drawn to that blade.

“We are, selling blades, here in Genos.”

“Ah, so this is one of your goods, then?”

“Jagar, is famous, for iron blades. But, Sym blades, surpass them.”

Was that how people from Sym expressed competitiveness when they didn’t let their emotions show?

Shumiral blinked his eyes, looking ever so slightly troubled.

“Many chefs, in Genos, use Sym blades.”

“Chefs...?” I questioned, finally seeing what he was getting at.

I had heard that there were no people who actually made a living as chefs here in the post town. That such folks only existed inside the stone walls.

“So is this perhaps a cooking knife?”

“That’s right.”

Now that I thought about it, Shumiral’s group had just come from the north. And the member of The Silver Vase who had visited the shop on our first day of business had come from the same direction, right?

Were they all coming back from the Genos castle town to the north, then?

“...Do all the chefs in the Genos castle town use Sym blades?”

“Not all, of them. But, many.”

“Would you mind letting me see that knife for a bit?”

With that, Shumiral broke out in an ever so slight smile.

“I would be happy, to let you see it, Asuta.”

Then, he held it out to me handle first.

What sort of blades chefs in the castle town used didn’t really have anything to do with me. And since I was still just in training, I wasn’t all that familiar with what made a knife good or bad.

But Shumiral had praised my old man’s kitchen knife, then showed me this blade while speaking of the pride of his nation, so of course I was interested.

As I held my breath a bit, I pulled it free of its black leather sheath.

The blade itself was roughly rectangular in shape, and it had an edge sharpened from a single side.

It was around eight centimeters wide, and it was a bit thinner than your usual kitchen knife. It was also rounded upwards a bit at the tip, calling to mind the usuba vegetable knives from the Kansai region.

The silver length of the blade had a whirling design etched into it that was so subtle you wouldn’t notice it without looking closely. It was so finely done that I couldn’t even feel it when touching the blade. Thanks to that, it surely wouldn’t have any effect on the cross section of the ingredients it cut, either.

“...It’s a cooking knife meant for vegetables, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

It was single-edged and pretty thin, so of course it was.

But at any rate, it sure was a beautiful blade.

Plus, my fingers felt perfectly accustomed to the wooden grip, which closely resembled ebony.

“Please, try cutting, with it.”

“Huh? Is it alright to do that with something you’re selling?”

“If you do not, you will not know, how it cuts.”

Ironware was expensive anywhere in this world; that wasn’t just limited to Sym. Or at the very least, it seemed awful expensive compared to food. And so, I couldn’t exactly go buying a new cooking knife at the drop of a hat... But still, I did want to see how this beautiful blade cut.

“Okay, I’ll take you up on that just a bit...”

I went ahead and cut off some fresh tino leaves, stacked them, then diced them up nice and even.

Sure enough, I didn’t have any issues with how it cut, either.

I had at least tried out some of this world’s cooking knives a little in the Ruu family kitchen, but this was on a whole other level. To be honest, I’d say it was on the same level as my old man’s kitchen knife.

Of course, this was a dedicated knife for vegetables, so that certainly should be the case, but it hadn’t been at all for the Ruu house’s vegetable knife.

“...I agree. It really is a wonderful knife.”

Shumiral gave a nod, then held a small cloth in one hand while holding out his other towards me.

I placed the knife on an unused wooden plate, and held it for Shumiral so that the handle was facing him. Then, in a truly elegant motion, he started cleaning the blade.

“I still need to save up a whole lot more before I can consider buying a new cooking knife, but... How much is it?”

“20 white.”

That was roughly the same as the pot I had previously purchased.

I believe the price for a vegetable knife at the town blade shop was four white coins and five red... In other words, there was a fitting price attached to it for how high quality it was. And I thought that was only right.

“...If you, were to buy it, it would be, 18 coins.”

“Huh?”

“We will be, in Genos, for the blue month. If you wish, to buy it, let me know.”

“...Got it. Thank you,” I said with a smile and a nod.

Once again Shumiral came to the verge of smiling back... but he smoothly shifted back to his usual expression again.

“I’m hungry. And so, I will eat, a giba burger.”

“Right. Thanks for your business as always!”

Shumiral nodded, and moved to the other stall.

As she watched him leave with a look of suspicion in her eyes, Lala Ruu whispered to me, “What’s that about? Isn’t 18 white coins way too much for such a puny knife?”

“Yeah, but I’d been thinking I’d like a knife like that.”

“...Then why not buy it? You’ve made hundreds of coins by now, right?”

“That may be so, but around half of that goes to expenses.”

“I don’t see the issue. You’re earning like crazy every day, so if you don’t spend any, the weight of the coins will end up causing your floor to collapse.”

That was definitely an exaggeration, but if I kept on earning at this rate... I really may end up with enough to justify buying that knife.

Ah, no, it was still too early to start getting greedy. Each and every day was still like walking a tightrope, so I needed to make sure I kept a firm footing.

But I couldn’t help thinking about it...

Still, when it comes to things that I want in this world, all I can think of is cooking tools.

What did Ai Fa want? After all, I had a hard time picturing her buying anything but everyday necessities. And I couldn’t imagine her being any more frivolous with our surplus of money than me.

If I secretly bought her a hairpin or something, she probably really would beat me to a pulp.

The morning rush had passed and we hadn’t been raided by the Suun clan, so I was able to spend the time before the sun hit its peak peacefully daydreaming away.