Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2: The Clan Head Meeting

1

The sun finally started to set in the west, and at the same time, we finished all of our cooking.

There were a lot of little accidents along the way. But fortunately, we didn’t face any interference from the main house aside from Mida Suun barging in, so in a way I’d have to say things ultimately went pretty smooth.

However, it was important not to let our guards down. After all, even if they didn’t meddle with the cooking, it was still plenty possible they were plotting to spring something during or after the meal. At the very least, I wasn’t buying that they invited us out here just because Mida Suun was being noisy or out of a bit of curiosity.

Were they plotting to get ahold of me because they saw how much I was capable of earning? Or perhaps they found me a nuisance and wanted to get rid of me?

I had no idea what their intentions were. And yet, I was certain they were plotting something.

And so, I kept on guard even after we finished cooking and set about laying out the dinner.

◇

“Pardon us...”

As Vina Ruu and I entered the ritual hall carrying a pot of reheated giba soup, a number of piercing glares shot our way.

The sun would soon be setting and it was darker in the hall than outside, so a number of candles were already lit here and there. And the men illuminated by those orange flames were all fierce hunters of the forest’s edge, their eyes blazing like wild beasts’.

The clan head meeting should have come to a close for the time being. And yet, there was an almost palpable tension hanging in the air.

It was like we were pushing through that crackling air as Vina Ruu and I approached a stove alongside the wall.

Just as I had suspected from what I saw outside, the hall was constructed as a pit. The floor looked to be a whole meter lower than ground level. And thanks to that, the ceiling looked unusually high and wide.

The circular roof was supported by four pillars, rafters connecting them, and radially aligned rafters. And fortunately, the rot didn’t look as bad from in here as it did on the outside.

There were stoves installed alongside each of the four walls, so we placed the pot onto the one closest to the entrance. Even as we lit a flame in the stove, the men remained totally silent.

Present in this place were the leading Suun clan, the 36 clan heads, and the men accompanying each of them.

In total, there were over 70 people present, yet not even one of them had let out so much as a whisper. They all just sat there silently, watching as we worked away. Their blades must have been stored away elsewhere, but they all had on their hunting attire.

There were four entrances in total to the ritual hall, which the other women used to carry in pots, yet every single person present remained utterly mute, as if they had planned it in advance.

Figuring there was no need for the chefs to introduce themselves, though, I just got the stove lit and then hurried on out to take care of the next task.

But then, someone spoke up for the first time.

“Thank you for your hard work... Fa clan chef and women of the Ruu and Rutim.”

It was a strangely muffled voice, hard to make out.

I slowly turned to face the direction it had come from.

“Giba meat that the people of the post town will go so far as to pay coins to eat... And to think, we’ll have a chance to eat such a thing...”

There was a large man seated there, with men seated on his left and right.

The building was a circle, but that seat was undoubtedly at the head. There was a strangely-shaped altar of sorts behind him, and it was decorated with a massive giba skull at its peak.

So this is the head of the Suun clan, Zuuro Suun, huh...?

I was certain of it. The reason for that being that Diga and Doddo Suun were the ones seated on either side of him.

Diga Suun was shooting me a scornful grin. Doddo Suun, meanwhile, was looking at me with eyes like a starving dog. With his sons on either side of him, Zuuro Suun had a creepy smile on his face.

Hmm...

His face didn’t look quite as villainous as I had imagined. But still, there was a sort of bizarre aura about him.

He was a large man. In fact, I’d say he was a size bigger than even Diga Suun. However, he was rather plump, though admittedly not to the degree that Mida Suun was.

There wasn’t a single hair on his head, and his fatty cheeks and eyelids slovenly drooped down. Thanks to that, his mouth looked excessively wide, in total giving his face the impression of a bloated toad.

What he wore was the usual attire at the forest’s edge. However, he had jangling accessories like what women wore on his fatty limbs.

Plus, there was a necklace with a few more horns and tusks than usual dangling in front of his chest. For the people of the forest’s edge, such necklaces were supposed to be proof of a hunter’s pride. But at least when it came to this man in particular, it looked more like a symbol of his vanity to me.

I can’t imagine him being able to hunt with a physique like that...

Talking about physique alone, that monstrous Mida Suun at least looked like he was able to run, and his arms seemed like they must pack a serious punch. But as for Zuuro Suun, he was remarkably lacking in the sort of commanding presence you would expect of someone with such a large frame. His posture was terrible, and he was leaning a bit to the right as he sat cross-legged. There was a bit of a greasy shine to his little black eyes, but otherwise his expression seemed somehow listless. All in all, he didn’t seem even the tiniest bit fitting for his position as the leader of such honorable and hard-working hunters.

“What’s the matter, here...? I just applauded you for your good work, didn’t I...?” he said in that muffled voice, his large mouth breaking into a faint smile.

“Thanks,” I briefly replied. “However, this is a job that we accepted in exchange for payment, so there’s no need to worry about words of gratitude, right?” I answered in as calm of a tone as I could manage, only for Zuuro Suun’s smile to deepen.

“That’s certainly true. I went and said something foolish, there... You can keep working on your preparations for dinner.”

“Right. Well then, please excuse us.”

With that, we quietly got back to work.

The Suun clan women had all gone back to their houses, so that left just the Ruu and Rutim women to help prepare. Normally, they were all bright and cheerful, but now their expressions had all stiffened, like they had been hit by the oppressive feeling in the air.

“We have to eat in there too, don’t we...?” Vina Ruu muttered with a sigh as we were on our way back to the kitchen from the ritual hall.

“Yeah. That’s the custom here at the forest’s edge, after all.”

However, the Suun women still had to return home and prepare dinner for their own families. I figured that would mean that in order to fulfill the custom that those who make the food share in it in the same place, the branch families would all have to gather here too. But apparently it was alright to stretch the rules in cases like this.

Plus, Yamiru and Mida Suun didn’t seem like they’d be coming there either, so it sort of felt like a bit of an anticlimax.

“I still can’t exactly get excited about that... Our father and everyone will be there, so we shouldn’t be in any danger, but it still feels way too heavy being in there...”

Things were quite touchy between the Suun and the Ruu, as well as their affiliated clans, so it was unsurprising that it was like the air itself had frozen when they were all gathered together.

Still, just how had their battle of words gone during the clan head conference? Had Ai Fa carried out her task successfully in the midst of all that? And if so, just what sort of thoughts and feelings did the clan heads have in response?

The emotional burden we faced having to start dinner without knowing any of that was far from slight.

But even so, we had to carry out our duty.

After carrying in the soup, we brought in the myamuu giba accompanied with aria, thigh meat steak, and spare ribs, one dish after another. Then, we served up a bowl of soup to each person present, finishing the job.

“Asuta, over here,” Ai Fa beckoned once we were done, so Vina Ruu and I headed on over.

The Suun clan was seated at the head, but as I looked to the left I saw a ton of familiar faces gathered all together: Donda Ruu, Darmu Ruu, Dan Rutim, Rau Lea... All ten men of the Ruu and their subordinate clans who were present, and of course Ai Fa.

Mia Lea, Reina Ruu, and everyone else were already seated, and it seemed they had already laid out places for me and Vina Ruu, too.

“Right. I’m just glad we both made it through safely,” I whispered while sitting down next to Ai Fa.

She just had the same pout on her face as always, though.

“How did the clan head meeting go...?”

“I cannot say for certain. That Suun clan head just kept saying with a faint grin that it would all have to wait till after tonight’s dinner.”

So it ended up going that way because we were going to be presenting the food in question shortly, huh?

“What about everything else? There was a chance to complain about Doddo Suun running wild in the post town and that incident at the Rutim banquet, right?”

“That all went the same as always. The Suun clan head spoke evasively and bowed his head at the end, which more or less brought the matter to a close.”

Gazraan Rutim had told me in advance that that was their way of doing things. Apparently, whenever their wrongdoings came to light, the Suun clan head would use an apology as his trump card.

It was a method that completely threw all dignity aside.

Still... guys like that can be a real pain to deal with.

People who knew no shame were frightening. I had become painfully aware of that fact ever since I first ran afoul of Doddo Suun.

“Well then, shall we begin this meal...?” the chief of shamelessness himself stated in his muffled voice. “It was prepared by the Fa clan chef we discussed so greatly during the clan head meeting. I hope that you all pay it careful attention as you eat...”

Then, he broke into the familiar chant.

“We offer our gratitude to those of the Fa, Ruu, Suun, and related clans, who manned the flame and gave us our life for this night...”

The majority of the people present were men, so the overall chant had a deeper tone to it than usual.

With that, everyone started picking up their bowls.

Just what will they think about it...?

This was no mere dinner. In a way, it was like I was taking part in a cooking competition.

I was trying to bring about a revolution in terms of giba meat, through the processes of bloodletting and dissection. I wanted to steadily make it to a point where such meat could be exchanged for money... And to prepare for that, the Fa clan was currently running stalls in the post town with the assistance of the Ruu and Rutim. That was the information we were presenting alongside this meal.

It was going to be a battle, where the Suun, Ruu, and other smaller clans’ heads would fumble to voice their thoughts and feelings.

“Hey, Morun, why’d I only get one serving of ribs...? There’s no way that’ll be enough to fill me,” Dan Rutim grumbled in a lowered voice.

“We made 130 people’s worth of food today, you know. Just preparing one for each person was already a big undertaking, so don’t go complaining.”

“No, but...!”

“Ugh, alright already. I’ll give you mine, so stop throwing a fit... But I’ll be taking your myamuu meat in exchange, alright?”

What a harmonious back and forth. It really was heartening, seeing how boldly open they were being despite the situation.

Just when I was thinking of offering Dan Rutim my ribs too and turned to do so, though, a voice rang out.

“Man, I was wondering what it’d be like after you all went on and on about it, but this giba meat’s nothing special,” Diga Suun stated. Then, in his same sluggish tone as always, the Suun heir continued, “Did you really earn over a hundred white coins with this? I just can’t believe it.”

Hmm, I thought to myself.

I had figured the Suun clan were going to choose to either slander my cooking or give it high praise, but that was how they were starting their attack, huh?

“Eldest son of the Suun, Diga Suun, is that a question pointed at the Fa clan? Or were you simply talking to yourself? If it was a question, then I’m prepared to answer it.”

With that, his stagnant gaze locked firmly onto me.

My first time seeing Diga Suun was the very day Ai Fa picked me up deep in the forest, as he had been waiting near the Fa house. That made him the second person of the forest’s edge I had met. Less than a month later, we met again. This was during the Rutim banquet at the Ruu settlement, when he came charging in alongside his brothers. That made this our third meeting... But still, I didn’t feel any fear at seeing him. I just felt once again that he was an arrogant and devious man.

“Right... The Fa clan head only said that you had earned over 100 white coins over the course of ten days... I’d like to hear a bit more about that in detail...” his father replied.

“Alright,” I answered, putting down my wooden plate. “First off, in regards to the question of if that’s true or not, I can confirm that it is. Over ten days I managed to sell over 1000 meals for more than 200 white coins. After subtracting our expenses, I earned 123 white coins, or roughly 100 giba’s worth of horns and tusks.”

The clan heads had been eating in silence, but now there was just a bit of murmuring among them.

And so, I kept on giving my report, taking care to not sound like I was bragging.

“However, I didn’t prepare enough meals on the first several days, so I wasn’t able to sell as many as I could have. Lately, I’ve been selling around 150 meals a day on average, earning between 17 and 18 white coins in the process... On top of that, starting two days from now, I’m scheduled to start selling my cooking to an inn. Adding those profits, I expect to make over 20 white coins a day.”

“20 white coins in one day... Numbers like that certainly are hard to believe,” Zuuro Suun said with a chuckle. “However, that was because you’re a foreigner running this shop, isn’t it...? But would the people of Genos, with their hatred and fear of the people of the forest’s edge, really buy such giba meat from us...?”

“Naturally, it will take a long time to forge that sort of relationship. But still, I’ve been having the Ruu women help me man the stalls in the post town. I believe that by growing accustomed to the proper form of the people of the forest’s edge through them, any unfounded discrimination and fears will eventually be washed away,” I said, putting as much strength into my gaze as I could manage.

My intention was to solely mention what was unfounded in order to give the unspoken implication that the existence of people of the forest’s edge truly acting improperly would hurt their ability to gain a greater fortune.

However, Zuuro Suun’s faint smile didn’t shift in the least.

Well, if it were that easy to get them to reform their ways, then we wouldn’t have any problem at all. And so, I gave a stealthy sigh.

“Of course, I understand that some of you may not approve of the people of the forest’s edge becoming involved with the Genos townsfolk in such a manner. But at the very least, I hope you all can understand that the Fa clan isn’t doing such things solely to amass a fortune for ourselves.”

“Hmm... The matter of trying to bring greater prosperity to the forest’s edge, is it...?”

What was going on? I couldn’t read what this Zuuro Suun guy was thinking in the least.

That faint smile remained plastered on his toad-like face, and his voice sounded somehow ridiculing, but I couldn’t sense much ill will or even interest in general from him.

If he displayed a clear fixation on money like Tsuvai Suun, for example, he would be a whole lot easier to deal with. But since I didn’t know what he was plotting, I found it hard to know what I should strongly assert.

Seriously, just what did he summon me all the way to the Suun settlement for...?

Zuuro Suun just kept on faintly smiling away as he ate.

Diga Suun chuckled foolishly as he chewed into his meat.

And as for Doddo Suun... I actually hadn’t been keeping a close eye on him, but he seemed to be eating properly. Now he was just chugging down fruit wine, though.

“But still... Is fortune really something we need...?” Zuuro Suun eventually asked, his voice sounding like he had something stuck in his throat. “Fortune leads to corruption... As the leader of our people I occasionally have dealings with the residents of the city of stone, so I understand the truth of those words more clearly than anyone here... Too much fortune is like bad wine, and will lead a person to fall prey to depravity...”

I was astounded at the audacity of him saying such things. Still, I doubted I would get anywhere by getting angry at the Suun clan here and now. And so, I held my tongue, but there was one person who couldn’t stand staying silent: the Rutim clan head, Dan Rutim.

“If you understand all that then why do you keep the reward money from Genos all to yourselves, O leader of our people, Zuuro Suun? If too much fortune’s like rotten booze, then why not throw it back in their faces?”

He actually hadn’t raised his voice all that much, but it was readily apparent from his tone just how displeased he was. And then, he took a big bite into the ribs he was holding.

Apparently, Ama Min Rutim had given him a third serving.

“That’s a foolish question, Dan Rutim,” a young voice responded. However, it hadn’t come from a member of the Suun clan. No, it came from someone diagonally behind me: the Lea clan head, Rau Lea. “Can’t you understand our leader’s compassion? Since it’s bad wine, they’re drinking it all down themselves so it can’t hurt us. You should at least be able to figure out that much.”

“Oh, so that’s it,” Dan Rutim replied with a hearty laugh.

Instantly, a dark, overwhelming bloodlust filled the air, coming from the left of the Suun clan.

“Clan heads of the Lea and Rutim! You intend to slander our leading clan yet again, without any proof? How many times must it be explained to you that that money is being used to protect the Genos fields?!”

That had come from the large men wearing giba heads.

The brawniest looking of the group continued on in a voice so thick it’d be a match for Donda Ruu’s, “As you yourselves just said, we of the forest’s edge have no need for such a fortune, which is why our leaders have used it to hire townsfolk to gather wood and construct a wall to protect the Genos fields. There’s no logic to you slandering them for that!”

“Isn’t that claim the one that’s utterly unfounded, clan head of the Zaza? You ramble off that same excuse year after year, and I’ve gotten sick of hearing it,” Dan Rutim calmly replied while continuing to bite into his ribs. With that, that Zaza clan head only grew more enraged.

“I saw the wall being constructed with my own eyes! But such a wall requires dozens of men from Genos to build, and a massive amount of time and money!”

A wall to protect the fields...? Was such a thing seriously being built? In that case... then why was Dora the vegetable seller suffering so much?

“They’re talking about the fields to the north of the castle... Granny Jiba told me once that there are firm wooden walls there to protect the fields of those who live in the castle walls,” Ai Fa whispered to me.

Ah, so that was it. The townsfolk’s fields were to the south of the castle, but such walls weren’t built that far down, so the starving giba gathered there.

“So they insist the Suun clan is investing the reward money to build such walls... There’s no chance that’s true, is there?” I whispered back to her, as quietly as I could so no one around us would hear.

“There isn’t,” Ai Fa replied with a shake of her head. “The walls around the nobles’ fields have been completed for decades now according to Granny Jiba. Of course, when a starving giba manages to damage one, they still need to repair it, though.”

“Right...”

“Besides, Granny Jiba laughed at the idea, saying there was no way such splendid walls could be constructed with such meager reward money from the town.”

So in the end, the Zaza clan head had been fooled by the Suun clan, huh? I couldn’t help but sigh at the audacity of trying to trick someone as frightening as him.

Seriously, everyone here has faces every bit as scary as Donda Ruu’s...

Still, they really were representative of the people of the forest’s edge.

Their presence and vitality were like those of wild animals. An upright and hardworking clan of hunters... the Zaza, Dom, and Jeen may all fall under the Suun, but they seemed more than bold and daring enough to be worthy of being called hunters of the forest’s edge.

And yet, the Zaza clan head was currently glaring at Dan Rutim and Rau Lea with deep, burning anger in his eyes.

“Excess fortune leads to corruption! And so, we shouldn’t bring such unneeded wealth here to the forest’s edge, and instead use it up to protect the Genos fields! What sort of objection could you possibly have to our leader’s decision?!”

“I would have none at all, assuming those words were true. But I’ve been stretching out my neck like one of those totos birds from the post town all this time, wondering just how many years it will take for that supposed wall to be completed, clan head of the Zaza.”

Even when responding as such, Dan Rutim still didn’t look like he was getting all worked up. In fact, he looked like he might even yawn with boredom as he waited for a response.

There had surely been such exchanges repeated over and over throughout the clan head meeting. The Ruu affiliated clans would point out the leading clan’s faults, and the clans under the Suun would defend them. I couldn’t help but feel that the Suun clan’s control was quite tenuous, considering this delicate power balance.

Donda Ruu didn’t add to the unproductive back and forth, but there was a fierce blaze burning in his eyes as he chugged down fruit wine.

It really seems like a dangerous way of doing things...

If the Ruu and Suun were to fight, it could apparently turn into a war that split the forest’s edge down the middle. However, that was ultimately just down to the clans under them. If the Suun didn’t have the capable Zaza and Jeen and the like under them, I couldn’t imagine them ever possibly being a match for the Ruu.

But if the Suun clan was using lies to earn the trust of their subordinate clans, then weren’t they just building a house of cards?

The Suun’s method is full of holes. Couldn’t someone like me or Kamyua easily use just a bit of cunning to cause it all to come tumbling down? I couldn’t help but think.

Of course, it was a bad idea to get overly conceited. But still, the Suun clan was being way too sloppy in how they were doing things.

As that thought ran through my head, though, a sudden rebuke came my way.

“And so, I cannot see the Fa clan’s actions of trying to bring excess fortune to the forest’s edge as anything but an attempt to invite the downfall of our people!” I instantly looked up, and saw the Zaza clan head glaring at me and Ai Fa. “It’s one thing to invite a foreigner into your clan, and use his skills to earn coins. There are no laws on record against such things here at the forest’s edge... But if you intend to use that fortune to ruin us all, then I will take up my blade and strike you down myself!”

All of a sudden, the ball was in our court.

No, wait... That wasn’t it. They must have felt this way all this time, as they surely heard what Ai Fa had to say during the clan head meeting.

Excess fortune could lead the people of the forest’s edge down the path of corruption... That was exactly the fear I had before opening the shop in town.

The ones to smash that worry to smithereens were Gazraan Rutim and Ai Fa.

As for Ai Fa, she sat up straight and shot a commanding glare right back at the Zaza clan head.

“Excess fortune will corrupt the people of the forest’s edge... Is that what you think, clan head of the Zaza?”

“That’s right. If you want to earn coins with giba meat, then do that as much as you please. Just don’t spread that fortune throughout the forest’s edge! Well... If the Ruu and Rutim are going to come wagging their tails at you, though, it may be necessary to throw a few coins their way. I suppose we can overlook that much.”

“Oh...?” Dan Rutim questioned, his massive frame quaking. He had a big grin on his face, but the boiling rage was clearly building up in his goggle-eyes. “You certainly say some interesting things, clan head of the Zaza. Are you implying we solely formed a bond with the Fa out of a desire for money?”

“Are you saying I’m wrong? But what other reason could the Rutim have for doing so, when they have no blood ties to the Fa?”

“Because the Fa and Rutim are friends!” he loudly proclaimed in his rough voice, pounding his right fist into the floor. It was a dirt floor covered with a rug, yet the blow still clearly sunk into it. “Blood bonds hold more weight than anything else, but they aren’t everything! But I suppose since you just follow along under the Suun as good little underlings, you wouldn’t understand!”

“You bastard?! You dare insult our leading clan again?!”

The air in the room had ignited in an instant. The one to put it out wasn’t Donda Ruu or Zuuro Suun, though... It was Ai Fa.

“Clan heads of the Rutim and Zaza, I ask you to calm yourselves a bit. The key point is the idea of excess fortune, is it not?”

There was an intense light shining in Ai Fa’s eyes. And yet, her voice and expression remained perfectly calm.

Ai Fa gave a nod to silence the raging Dan Rutim, and turned to face the Zaza clan head. Then, she started speaking in a quiet tone.