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There were eight women from the Ruu and Rutim clans accompanying me. On the other hand, there were 15 women from the Suun clan.
Those numbers were plenty enough for manning the stove and making roughly 130 meals. The real issue wasn’t the quantity, but the quality.
“Umm, are any of you from the main Suun house?” I asked once we got all the poitan and cookware into the kitchen.
Naturally, there wasn’t enough space for 24 people at once, so we were gathered out front.
Ai Fa and Donda Ruu and them were all seated on the ground a bit removed, keeping an eye on us while chewing away on jerky.
“No, none of them are here,” the eldest woman replied in a monotonous tone.
“Really? That’s a problem. I wanted to teach the women of the main house my cooking techniques, so they could prepare these dishes for Mida Suun in the future.”
She stood there silently, staring at me.
“What is it?”
“...The women of the main house don’t man the stove.”
“Huh? Then who cooks for the main house?”
“We all are given that task...”
“Is that so? But there are three women in the main house, aren’t there?”
I heard from Gazraan Rutim that in addition to Yamiru Suun, there was also a younger daughter and the clan head’s wife.
The woman just repeated, “We all are given that task...”
“I see. Got it. Well then, let’s get to work... First off, please light all the stoves. And I only see four pots, so could you bring three more over from the branch houses?”
The Suun clan women started tottering along again, still not saying a word.
As we watched them listlessly move, Vina Ruu whispered, “I’m sort of worried about how this will go... Wouldn’t it be a lot easier if we just did all the work ourselves...?”
“Yeah. The fact that we can’t do that is what makes this so tricky.”
For a variety of reasons, our plan was to drive my cooking techniques into the women of the Suun clan.
One was to satisfy Mida Suun’s craving for delicious food.
Another was to let the head of the Suun clan, Zuuro Suun, know that my ability to make good cooking wasn’t anything that unique.
And lastly, we needed to let all of the clan heads know that tasty food can bring greater strength and prosperity to the forest’s edge.
But was it even possible to drive techniques into such listless people?
It really did seem like this would be a far trickier job than the Rutim wedding banquet.
“Please fill the pots up to around 60 percent with water. And go with a strong flame in the stoves... Once they come to a boil, add 40 poitan into each pot.”
There were five stoves in the kitchen. Those were assigned to ten members of the Suun clan, the three sisters from the main Ruu house, and Tari Ruu.
Then, there were two more stoves outside. The ones tasked with those were the other five Suun women and the two from the Rutim clan.
In addition to providing cooking guidance, they also had the important task of keeping an eye on the Suun women to make sure they didn’t try anything. Well, it was hard to imagine them mixing poison into food they would be eating, but it still was important to be extra cautious when dealing with the Suun clan.
“Once it’s boiling, make sure to stir it so the poitan doesn’t burn. Now then... Let’s go ahead and confirm the schedule.”
As I stood in the kitchen’s entrance, I called over Mia Lea and Sheera Ruu.
“As planned, let’s make the soup on the branch family stoves once we’re done boiling down the poitan. My group will have Vina and Lala Ruu, Mia Lea Ruu’s group will include Ama Min and Morun Rutim, and Sheera Ruu, you’ll have Reina and Tari Ruu. Does that work for everyone?”
“I don’t mind. But we’ll be leaving the boiled poitan here in the meantime? That’s what has me most worried.”
“I’d be lying if I said that didn’t concern me, too. But ultimately, it’d be difficult to prepare this much food all in one place. We’ll just have to be diligent about sampling everything to make sure it hasn’t been messed with.”
“That’s true... Still, why are all of the Suun clan women so...” Mia Lea Ruu started to say, only for a rough male voice to sound out.
Looking in the direction of the sound, it seemed there were now some unfamiliar men over where Donda Ruu’s group was hanging out.
“Ah... What’s that about?”
Even at this distance, I could clearly tell there was something suspicious about them.
The six men there were all facing Donda Ruu’s group and raising their voices about something.
Four of the group had giba fur cloaks that went over their heads, while the other two were wearing full-on giba skulls.
“Those are the clans who rule over the north of the forest’s edge. The ones with the pelts are the Zaza and Jeen clans, while the ones wearing the skulls are the Dom. All of them serve under the Suun...”
“So those are the clans under the Suun, huh...?”
“Yeah. Apparently, they’re even more of a problem than the Suun clan in some ways. At any rate, from what I hear, they’re quick tempered and even more hardheaded than our clan head.”
“Huh? Even more than Donda Ruu?” I said, immediately regretting letting that slip.
As the wife to that stubborn clan head, though, Mia Lea Ruu just gave an amused chuckle.
“It seems that having heads as hard as rocks has led to them swearing absolute loyalty to the leading clan. The Dom and Zaza settlements are off at the northernmost limits of the forest’s edge, much farther than the Suun, so they still don’t seem to have any idea just how far those fools have fallen.”
“I see... That certainly does sound troublesome.”
“Yeah, it’s a pain. Perhaps they think that by going against the Suun, the Ruu and Fa are trying to threaten the peace of the forest’s edge.”
Yup, that was certainly an issue.
Perhaps somewhere deep down I had grown conceited enough to think that if it came down to violence, Donda Ruu and Ai Fa and them could handle it just fine. After all, the men of the main Suun house were just so pathetic.
But the men facing off with Donda Ruu and Dan Rutim now looked every bit as daring as their opponents, and particularly vicious on top of that.
Both the men with the pelts and those with the skulls had robust physiques that wouldn’t lose out to the Ruu and Rutim clan heads in the least. And with those imposing outfits, they looked like massive giba standing on two legs.
There were only six of them in total, and yet they didn’t look afraid of Donda Ruu’s group of 15 in the least. I couldn’t tell what they were so mad about, but they really did look so angry that they could draw their blades at any moment.
“Agh, I told you, you have to take care so you don’t burn it!” I suddenly heard Lala Ruu yell out flustered. “All you had to do was stir it, right?! Ugh, whatever, just get out of my way!”
“Right...” another voice weakly replied.
As I peered into the kitchen, I saw Lala Ruu snatching a wooden spatula from a rather young girl from the Suun clan, then start violently stirring the contents of a pot.
“Sorry, Asuta! It may have gotten pretty burnt! Should I take it off the stove right away?”
“Yeah. If some of it’s burnt, then it’s best to do that even if it’s a bit watery, so—” I started to say, only for a shriek to cut me off.
Then, there was the dull sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
That worrying commotion had come from the outdoor stoves.
Mia Lea Ruu and I went running out to check, where we found Morun Rutim seated on the ground, Ama Min Rutim with a perplexed look on her face, and a pot with half of its poitan spilled out on the ground. Then I spied some Suun women standing there looking dumbfounded, holding a grigee pole meant for transport.
“Ama Min Rutim, what happened?!”
“Ah, Asuta... I’m so sorry. The poitan were all boiled down, so I was thinking it was time to take the pot off the heat, but it ended up like this.”
While her sister-in-law cradled her head like she had a headache, Morun Rutim angrily yelled out, “We almost got seriously burned there!” by her feet. Normally she was gentle-natured, but now her face was beet red with rage. “Why were you so weak-kneed? If you can’t even carry a pot properly, then you’re not fit to man the stove!”
She really did look more and more like her father as she raged away.
However, the women from the Suun clan just said, “Right,” and nodded, their expressions as vacant as always.
“These really are some grim prospects for how things are going to go,” Mia Lea Ruu said with a deep sigh. “The clan heads seem like they have it rough too, but we don’t have the time to spare for worrying about them. The poitan is the simplest dish, yet it ended up like this. I mean, there’s no way we can leave the soup and steak up to them, right?”
“Yeah. We’ll have to change gears a bit.”
I had thought we would use this initial task to scope out the Suun women’s skills, but apparently we couldn’t take things so casually.
And so, after giving one last glance towards Ai Fa’s group squaring off with the clans under the Suun, I made a u-turn back into the kitchen.
“Lala Ruu! Bring the burnt pot over here! And a ladle for a water jug, too! Sheera Ruu, please take Lala Ruu’s place and support Reina Ruu’s group.”
“Right.”
Lala Ruu and a Suun clan woman brought over the pot, then we lined it up alongside the one from the Rutim group.
“Ladle the poitan that didn’t get burnt over to this pot. Then, get one more fresh pot... No, better make it two. Then, add enough to one of them to make up for the amount that spilled and burnt to boil down.”
Now that it came to this, we were actually lucky in a way to have that cancellation of eight meals. Naturally, we had brought along extra ingredients to make up for mistakes when cooking, but I hadn’t expected anything this bad.
It couldn’t be that they screwed up on purpose to drag us down, right?
It would be one thing if they were screwing up in a way where we could be blamed, but they would be the ones getting reprimanded if those mistakes just now made it so there wasn’t enough food.
No, it had to be that they were just so completely and utterly lacking in drive.
“Alright. Looks like we’ll use up all the remaining poitan. Lala Ruu, could you prepare the rest in a way that it serves as an example for them to work off of?”
“Yeah. I mean, I couldn’t stand it if they wasted any more poitan... Seriously, I see you just standing there with those dull looks on your faces, but just what do you think our precious food is? These poitan were earned with the giba tusks and horns the men risk their lives to obtain, you know.”
Lala Ruu was clearly mad, but the Suun women just emotionlessly responded, “Our deepest apologies.”
With that I returned to the kitchen alongside them, and found that fortunately all the other stoves had finished the task without incident.
However, Vina and Reina Ruu looked more than a little fed up.
“Those poitan are all boiled down, right? Then take the pots outside to a place where they’ll get good sunlight! And take care so that there aren’t any spills!”
After a few seconds of lag, the Suun clan women grabbed hold of grigee poles.
With that, all the pots were carried outside, and once Lala Ruu’s additional portion was ready, I lined it up out front alongside the others with the help of another member of the group.
“After boiling the poitan down and then exposing them to sunlight like this, you need to wait until the moisture is completely gone. We’re going to use that time to make giba and aria broth, but before that, I’d like to go back over a number of things about today’s work... Everyone from the Suun clan, could you please step back into the kitchen?”
As I watched the women silently shuffle along out of the corner of my eye, I grabbed one of the bags of giba meat off to the side of the door.
“Vina Ruu, could I have you come with me, too? And everyone else, just go ahead and watch over us from the entrance.”
The 15 women from the Suun clan, me, and Vina Ruu... It was as large of a kitchen as the one from the Ruu house, but I still didn’t think any more people could fit inside.
The rest of the group who didn’t get in stared into the kitchen, clearly wondering what was about to happen.
I placed the bag atop the work station set next to one of the stoves, then looked over the women standing there.
“This is giba meat brought here by the Ruu and Rutim clans. Today, we’ll be using this to prepare dinner.”
The Suun women stared at me with dead fish eyes, making it hard to tell if I even had their attention.
“This meat was prepared with a special technique, so it doesn’t have the stench you would expect. Are you all aware of the fact that using such meat, I’ve opened a shop selling food in the post town?” I asked the closest of the women.
“No...” she replied.
“I see. Then is it safe to assume you all are unaware why a group like us with no ties to the Suun are in charge of manning the stove?”
“Yes... We are unaware.”
“Right. Well then, ten days ago, the youngest son of the main Suun house, Mida Suun, came by my shop and purchased my cooking. And it seemed he enjoyed it a great deal, so for this one night, your clan head Zuuro Suun asked me to man the stove.”
The women showed no change whatsoever.
Were they not especially afraid of the main house, then?
“As a result, I need to make cooking that will satisfy Mida Suun, but if it’s just limited to tonight, then there’s not much point to it, is there? And so, I would like all of you to learn how to make delicious cooking too, as you man the Suun clan stoves on a daily basis... Do you find that disagreeable?” I asked, now facing another of the women at the front of the group.
That slightly older-looking woman emotionlessly replied, “...We have no reason to feel that way.”
“I see... Well then, do you have any personal interest in eating delicious food?”
“I don’t understand very well what you mean by ‘delicious food’...”
“Hmm... And what about you?” I questioned, turning to a younger girl next to her.
“I believe that taste has nothing to do with it, and we should be grateful for all food.”
It was a model response for a person of the forest’s edge.
Ai Fa and the members of the Ruu and Rutim had all felt the same exact way at the start.
“That’s certainly true. But as you can see, I’m a foreigner, and I worked as a chef back where I came from. And so, it was my job to make tasty food. The head of the Suun clan has already arranged to pay me, and so I intend to see my work through, no matter what.”
I looked at yet another woman.
“Will you help me with that work?”
“We have been ordered by Yamiru Suun to do as such...”
“Thank you... However, this whole matter has grown to the point such that this dinner won’t just be for Mida Suun and the main house, but also everyone attending the clan head meeting and the Suun branch families. So we need to do a proper job of preparing food for you all and your families, too.”
With that, I finally pulled a bundle of meat out of the bag.
I unraveled the pseudo-rubber leaf, then placed the meat chunk coated in pico leaves atop the work station. This particular chunk was from the back right leg.
“Vina Ruu, could you heat up a pot with a strong flame?”
“Yeah, got it...”
In the meantime, I cut up the meat using my kitchen knife. Even though I had procured the cooking knife from Sym, this guy was still my go-to when it came to handling meat.
“You all may not have any interest in tasty cooking, but my job is to feed it to people. And since we’re working together like this, there’s a bond of sorts between us, so I look forward to cooking with you.”
“...Are you perhaps angry at us for burning and dropping those pots?” the eldest of the women, her hair partially turned white, asked in a flat tone. “If that’s so, then we offer our apologies. We hope to take care from here on out not to mess up again.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I just want us all to keep thinking positively as we do our work,” I replied as I stared at the woman’s exhausted-looking face. “Why are you all making such listless expressions? Do you hate manning the stove? Or do you find it distasteful to help out a foreigner like me?”
“No one feels dissatisfied with this work...”
It felt like I was trying to talk to an old dog who didn’t understand human language.
They all really were just like Tei Suun, utterly lacking in energy, completely apathetic, and unemotional.
And also... Both these women and Tei Suun are all from the branch families.
As far as I knew, none of the members of the main Suun house had such eyes. There had to be some sort of massive difference between those two groups.
I didn’t know what that may be, but with things like this, I definitely couldn’t let this work end in a massive failure.
“Asuta, the pot’s all heated up...”
“Thanks,” I replied, setting aside my knife.
Then, I held up the five millimeter-thick slices of thigh meat for the Suun clan women to see.
“I’m going to cook this meat now. The only flavoring I’ll be using is pico leaves. It has some nice fat clinging to it though, so I’ll just be grilling it as is.”
Just as I said I would, I added the thigh meat to the pot, 15 slices in total.
White smoke rose up and the smell of grilling meat filled the kitchen.
“Vina Ruu, please get me a plate and spoon for each of them.”
“Got it.”
The cuts were thin, so they were ready in no time at all. With that, I transferred them all to the plates, then handed them to the Suun women.
“Please, each of you try a piece. This is what giba meat is like when it’s been bloodlet.”
One of the women picked up her spoon and dug in. Her face remained completely expressionless, but her eyebrows wriggled just a bit.
The next woman had no reaction at all. The one after that gently closed her eyelids. The following one opened her eyes ever so slightly wider. Yet another woman didn’t react.
Their reactions all differed from person to person.
The one with the greatest change in expression in the group was the youngest girl, who looked to be around ten. She knitted her brows a bit for some reason, then looked left and right at the members of her clan. Not a one of them responded, though.
“I don’t know if it was to your liking or not, but it had a different taste, right? The members of the Ruu and Rutim have judged it as being delicious. I’ve heard countless times since coming to the forest’s edge that when it comes to food, there is no good or bad taste. But I think that if you’re going to be eating anyway, then why not make it something that tastes good?”
That was as far as I could go by trying to reach them with words. From here on out, I’d just have to have them experience it firsthand.
“What we’ll be making from here on out will be far more delicious than what you just tasted. Please, help me make it, for the sake of Mida Suun, too... Now then, I’d like us to split into three groups and get to cooking.”
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