Chapter 3: The Sixth and Seventh Days—A Corrupt Messenger
1
At any rate, work went smoothly.
As always, the sixth day of business started with plenty of customers from the east and south crowding around before opening, then buying a whole lot of food. Just how much of the 150 meals we prepared would we actually manage to sell, though? My expectations on that front were quite high, right from the start of the morning.
“Hmm... It feels less busy today than yesterday, doesn’t it?” Lala Ruu questioned as soon as the morning rush died off.
“That’s true. We showed them yesterday we can stay open till the early afternoon, so there were probably less who felt the need to force themselves to line up first thing in the morning. Well... I’m still just guessing though, and we won’t really be able to say for certain until everything is over.”
“Hmm? Then what’ll we do if there’s food left over?”
“In that case, I intend to negotiate with the Ruu settlement to see if I can exchange it for uncooked poitan and meat. I mean, I can’t just let all this go to waste.”
As we were talking, though, there were customers from the south and east periodically stopping by.
Even the number of people from the west peeking our way didn’t seem any less than yesterday. On my first day of business I had thought pretty much nobody was around at this hour, but it was dramatically more lively now.
“Alright, for now it looks like the flow of customers has calmed down, so let’s take snack breaks again in groups of two. After that, can I put you in charge of the giba burgers, Lala Ruu?”
“Right, got it... Which dish do we get to eat today?”
“Today, I was thinking we’d try myamuu giba meat along with tarapa sauce. It’ll be a special dish just for the employees.”
“Huh?” Lala Ruu questioned, her blue eyes opening wide.
Frankly, I was a little shocked to see just how surprised she was.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you think tarapa sauce would pair well with the taste of the meat soaked in marinade? And both ways should use pretty much the same amount of ingredients.”
“N-No, I was thinking earlier that it would probably be good like that, so I was just surprised.”
“Ah, I see. Well, I figured you would like it, Lala Ruu.”
When I said that, Lala Ruu question, “Why?” as her eyes went wide again.
“Why, you ask...? You didn’t much care for the softness of the hamburgers, but you said you loved the tarapa sauce, so that seems like the perfect combination, right?”
“Why do you remember every little thing like that...? It’s been over 10 days since we talked about that!”
“Huh? Well, it’s hard to get specific reactions from the people of the forest’s edge, so your words really left an impression,” I replied, only for Lala Ruu to mutter out a barely audible little, “Thanks...”
With a smile, I said back, “You’re welcome. Now then, who should get the first break? Do you think you’re about ready to eat, Lala Ruu?”
“Yeah. I’m good to go whenever... Hey, what about Ai Fa?”
Ai Fa had accompanied us to the post town just like she had said, and ever since she finished helping carry everything, she had been resting in the shade of the grove of trees behind the stalls.
Her cloak hid her left arm, while she leaned back against the trunk of a tree with her one knee up in the air and her blade in her right hand. She was a bit far from the stall, though, so I couldn’t quite tell if she was asleep or awake.
“I made enough for her too, but I guess we have to check if she’s up or not first.”
“Ah, in that case, I’ll go ask,” Lala Ruu said, already hurrying towards Ai Fa before she even finished speaking.
Apparently Ai Fa was awake, as they exchanged a few words before Lala Ruu promptly returned.
“She said she’s ready to eat. So first up should be me, you, and Ai Fa.”
“Right, but I don’t mind either way.”
Thinking about it, I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the first time I’d noticed Lala Ruu seemed to want to get along with Ai Fa.
I know she said we shouldn’t rely on the Ruu clan, but I still don’t think we should act all hardhearted when any of them are personally trying to be friendly.
At any rate, I left the giba burger stall to Sheera Ruu and the myamuu giba stall to Vina Ruu, then we went over to Ai Fa holding our snacks.
“Sorry for the wait. It’s giba meat with tarapa sauce, wrapped in baked poitan.”
“Right,” Ai Fa replied with a casual nod.
Ai Fa had been working more than she probably should have all morning, but she didn’t seem to be having any problems with her injury hurting or her fever flaring back up. In fact, she just had her usual serious look on her face.
Lala Ruu and I went ahead and sat down, sandwiching Ai Fa between us.
“You seem like you’re feeling alright. And today’s luggage was a pretty big load, so you were a serious help there.”
“Until I have recovered enough to go back into the forest, I can lend you my aid every morning. However, you’ll have to figure out how to manage after that on your own.”
“I mean, I can think about it as hard as I like, but in the end I’m just going to have to put all my strength and stamina into getting it done.”
Even that short conversation had been almost enough to finish the miniature sized snacks.
I went ahead and stopped talking for a second, and then Lala Ruu spoke up, as if she had been waiting for that moment.
“Um, Ai Fa... I wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me...?”
“Yeah. I heard about the sacrificial hunting thing from Shin Ruu. Thank you for talking to him properly about it. He ended up not doing anything dangerous. So, thanks,” she said, giving a little bow with her veiled, red head.
Ai Fa, meanwhile, just tilted her head and looked bewildered.
“I simply said what I thought. That it was foolish to go and use the giba summoning fruit when he was surrounded by so many people depending on him. Sacrificial hunting runs the risk of endangering those around you, too.”
“Right. And Shin Ruu felt really bad about that, too. He said that he had only been thinking of his own pride.”
“...There’s not especially any shame in resolving yourself to rely on your clan.”
Ai Fa’s voice and expression were incredibly blunt, but Lala Ruu gave a satisfied sounding, “Right. I feel the same way,” and a nod.
“Well then, should we head on back? I’m sure Vina’s probably getting all anxious.”
“Right,” I replied, and Lala Ruu and I got up.
Then, Ai Fa called out, “Asuta. Your work is only just getting started... But I can easily see that you’re carrying it out properly,” with an ever so slight smile. “That’s all I wanted to say. Return to your tasks.”
“Right, got it.”
With that, I headed back towards the stall, my spirits greatly bolstered.
And as we walked that short path, Lala Ruu whispered to me, “That seriously surprised me. I didn’t think Ai Fa could smile like that.”
“Huh? Ah, yeah.”
That was actually a pretty reserved smile for Ai Fa as she had been recently, but it was still enough to shock Lala Ruu. I guess that was down to how Ai Fa always had her poker face on in front of others.
After that, Vina and Sheera Ruu had their break, and then I had the two newcomers swap their positions. That meant Sheera Ruu was with me manning the myamuu giba, while the sisters from the main Ruu house were in charge of the giba burgers. I hadn’t originally planned to speed up their training like this, but they turned out to be much quicker learners than I had expected.
“I can see you really made the most of your experience from working the Rutim banquet. I’m seriously impressed with your skills.”
“I’m truly honored to hear you say that, Asuta,” Sheera Ruu replied with a gentle smile.
As I wondered to myself if she was always the sort to smile this often, Sheera Ruu stared straight at the sample plate.
“Asuta, this dish has a very strong flavor to it, but would it be possible to make it weaker?”
“Yeah, of course. You could do that by lowering the amount of time you let the meat soak in the marinade. It seems like this flavoring is a bit strong for the people of the forest’s edge, so I actually intend to weaken it when I make it back at the house, too. And it seems like it would be good to go a bit lighter on the myamuu, too.”
With that, a hesitant, anxious look filled Sheera Ruu’s eyes as she stared at me.
“Um... I was thinking I’d like to have my family try this dish too, but... I don’t know how to adjust the time, or make the marinade, so could you please teach me sometime...?”
“I can teach you that much right now, if you want. You have six people in your house, right?” I asked as I started hashing out rough calculations in my head. “Um... I think you’d be good with a bit under a fourth of a container of fruit wine, a fourth of an aria diced up, and a finger’s length of myamuu. And right now I let the meat steep for exactly as long as it takes boiled-down poitan to dry out, so use that as a basis and try cutting down from there. It may be good to try slicing the meat thicker, too. There’s no need to make it so thin for people of the forest’s edge, and that would naturally help to weaken the flavor of the marinade.”
“Right. Thank you,” Sheera Ruu added with a broad, joyful smile.
“However, that flavoring ultimately just comes down to my own tastes, so there’s no need to firmly stick to that when cooking for your family. If you want a sweeter taste then you can reduce the amount of myamuu, and if you want a mellower flavor you can try adding more aria... And you could even dice up other ingredients and add them if you’d like. Please, try looking for a flavoring that’s more to your tastes by doing stuff like that,” I added.
Sheera Ruu looked a bit surprised, but then she broke out in another gentle smile that was like a blossoming flower.
“Thank you. Somehow, it feels like ever since I met you, I’ve had so much happiness in my life. It brings me such joy, knowing that I can feed my family delicious meals.”
“It makes me really happy to hear that, too.”
As we had that exchange, a rather unusual pairing showed up at our stall: Kamyua Yoshu’s apprentice Leito and Tara.
“Asuta, two please!”
“I will also take two.”
“Got it. Thanks for your continued business... What’s your master doing today?”
“Kamyua worked till morning again, so he’s sleeping at the inn. However, he didn’t want to miss buying your cooking two days in a row, so he asked me to go in his stead.”
Leito was smiling, and so was Tara. And yet, looking between the two of them, the difference was clear. Tara was smiling out of joy felt from the depths of her heart, while Leito just looked like he was being overly mature.
Perhaps it was due to the preconceived notions I had due to him being that sketchy guy’s apprentice, but I still felt a sort of air about him I couldn’t ever imagine coming from an innocent child.
“Here, thanks for waiting.”
“Thank you. Um... That’s the head of the Fa clan, isn’t it? She came with you to town today?”
While thinking to myself that he sure was sharp eyed, I went and shot him my sales smile.
“Yes. Today, she helped with carrying luggage. Apparently giba hunting has become quite an ordeal lately, so she’s taking several days off from going into the forest.”
“I see. I suppose things like that do happen,” Leito replied, his smile utterly unchanged.
Just how was Kamyua Yoshu spending his days now that he had thoroughly disappeared into the shadows? It certainly didn’t feel like I could probe this boy to find that out.
At any rate, after those young customers disappeared, the stalls really started getting busy.
The sun was finally closing in on its peak, and the number of passersby had clearly started to increase.
We may have had a more lax start than yesterday, but we had still managed to sell 63 meals in total. That was already fantastic business compared to the other shops around, and it wasn’t all that big of a difference compared to two days ago, when we sold all 70 meals by the time the sun hit its peak.
Yes, things were going super smoothly.
It seemed like I wouldn’t end up regretting having prepared 150 meals.
“Sorry, Lala Ruu, but could I have you go do some shopping? We need two tarapa and tino, and 20 aria.”
“Got it,” Lala Ruu said, then took off running with the coins in her hand.
That was when I suddenly sensed someone from behind.
“Hmm? What is it, Ai Fa?”
At some point, Ai Fa had apparently come up and started standing behind us.
Even Sheera Ruu turned to face Ai Fa with a clear look of surprise in her eyes.
Ai Fa, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes ever so slightly and fixed her gaze north.
“...There are people of the forest’s edge.”
I instantly felt my nerves flare up and looked in the same direction as Ai Fa.
If they were coming from the north along the highway, there was a chance they belonged to the Suun clan.
And in the end... One of them was Tei Suun, with his grey hair clearly visible.
The person walking alongside him wasn’t that fleshy blimp, Mida Suun, though. It was a thin woman, wearing a veil and shawl.
There was a strange, ominous feel about the pair, and they cut right through our customers to stand in front of the stall.
“Hmph... I found it a little hard to believe, but it looks like there really are people of the forest’s edge running stalls in the post town.”
The voice that assaulted my ears had a shrill, metallic tone. And... seriously, what was with this woman? Just standing face to face with her was enough to send a chill down my spine.
She was a beautiful woman. Her facial features were all well sculpted, and her proportions may have even been a match for Vina Ruu. Numerous strands of her long, finely done-up dark brown hair were spilling out over her veil. And there was a light shining in her slightly blackish eyes. However, it was a cold, cruel light, reminding me of a venomous snake. The smile on her face was dripping with poison, too.
“My, I had heard tell there was a strange foreigner living at the Fa house, but I never imagined even the clan head was coming along to town. You are the one female hunter of the forest’s edge, the Fa clan head Ai Fa, aren’t you?”
That was it.
The chill running down my spine didn’t come from her appearance, or her voice that stung my ears. It was from my sense of smell warning me in advance.
The fragrant aroma of fruit wine and myamuu was floating all around the stall. But a truly ominous smell was wafting in from beyond that. Like rusty metal and a bit of decay... It was clearly the stench of putrefied blood.
“Who are you...?” Ai Fa questioned in a low voice.
The corners of her mouth raised up as the woman giving off that horrible smell grinned.
“I’m the eldest daughter of the main Suun house, Yamiru Suun. I hear I owe you for looking after my little brothers, Diga and Doddo, female hunter of the Fa clan.”
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