Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 6.1

Chapter 6: The Ruu Clan Festival of the Hunt

1

It was the 27th day of the blue month. In other words, the day that the festival banquet was set to be held at the Ruu settlement. And also, the end of my third contract to rent stalls in the post town.

After wrapping up business for the day, we returned the stalls to The Kimyuus’s Tail like always, then I called out to the place’s owner.

“Milano Mas, thank you once again for everything. Umm... Would it be alright to ask to keep borrowing stalls from you from tomorrow on?”

“Renting stalls is good business for me, too. I’ve got no reason to refuse,” Milano Mas replied with his usual sour expression as he checked over the stalls to make sure there wasn’t any damage. “But you’re going to keep on doing business with The Great Southern Tree, right? So wouldn’t renting from there cut down on all the running about you need to do?”

“Ah, that’s no trouble at all. So as long as it’s not a problem on your end, I’d like to keep counting on The Kimyuus’s Tail,” I replied, feeling a bit concerned. “But you don’t really earn much profit from renting out the stalls and space, do you? And so, I can’t help but worry that I’ve been doing nothing but trouble you... Are you really not getting put into a worse position by getting involved with us?”

“You sure do prattle on all the time, don’t you? Like I’ve told you, if you were a hassle I would’ve long since tossed you out.”

Having finished checking the stalls, Milano Mas turned my way with an even more annoyed look on his face than before.

It had been the same with Leito, but I really couldn’t spy any serious changes in the man, even after all that stuff with the Suun clan. Though I got the feeling that his gaze was a bit less harsh and he was talking to us just a little more. But it’d be rude to go and say out loud just how happy that slight change made me feel.

Still, it’s already been over ten days since all that commotion... I thought to myself, unable to keep from feeling surprised at the fact.

Since the meeting with the folks from the castle was postponed to the 30th of the blue month, these past ten days had been completely peaceful. Of course, the feelings the townsfolk had towards the people of the forest’s edge still remained, and so we got no shortage of questioning, suspicious gazes. But at least on the surface, everything was peaceful.

The sales at the stalls had stabilized at around 140 meals, and my cooking for the inns sold out every day. However, we had no choice but to wait for the results of the meeting three days from now to determine whether or not these peaceful days would continue.

“More importantly, are you going to be doing business from tomorrow on again, without any days off? Normally folks put in at least one day off at the end of a contract. And it’s not like you’re especially hurting for money, right?” Milano Mas asked, crossing his hefty arms in front of his chest.

Naturally, we had no problems in terms of cash whatsoever. For my first 30 days of business, I had earned a total of 5484 red coins of pure profit.

5484 red coins... Converted to giba horns and tusks, that would be 457 of the beasts’ worth.

On top of that, our Fa clan didn’t even use a hundred red coins in a month in terms of daily expenses, and since purchasing the knife and iron tray and the like, as well as the necklace for Ai Fa, I hadn’t bought any more expensive items. As for pricey ingredients like tau oil and cheese, they only cost around ten to twenty red coins at most, so they didn’t put so much as a dent in our savings.

Ah, and tomorrow we would finally be receiving the wagon we had ordered, which was the greatest expense so far at 1200 red coins, but even subtracting all that out, we still had 3700 red coins left. So rather than having money trouble, I was actually at a loss as to how to spend all those coins.

However, there was still a reason I didn’t want to take any days off.

“To be honest, I have regulars from the east and south who’re leaving Genos at the end of the blue month. And so, I’d like to stay open for business till then.”

“Folks from the east and south, huh...? Now that you mention it, you started making food for an inn that primarily serves easterners too, didn’t you?”

“Yes. It’s called The Sledgehammer, and the owner is a man named Nail.”

“Oh right, that oddball who acts like an easterner,” Milano Mas grumbled, but then he seemed to hold his tongue. A moment later, he put on a pretty serious expression.

I worried that there was some sort of strife between him and Nail, but it looked more like he was distracted by some sort of thought.

“Um, is something the matter...?” I called out, only for Milano Mas to snap back to his senses and shoot me a glare with a bit of anger behind it.

“It’s nothing! If you’re done here, then hurry up and leave. I’ve got my own work left to handle.”

“Sorry. Well, anyway, I look forward to keeping on working with you.”

I still couldn’t help but feel a bit concerned, somehow, but Milano Mas had disappeared into his storehouse, so I had no choice left but to withdraw.

Carrying the pots and ingredients, the four women (Vina, Sheera, and Lala Ruu, plus Li Sudra) and I headed back around to the front of the shop. However, before we hit the main road, we ran into Kamyua Yoshu.

“Hey there, good work today. And thanks for the delicious snack as always, Asuta.”

“No, thank you for the purchase. And it’s been a bit since we last saw each other, hasn’t it?”

The last time I had seen Kamyua Yoshu had been three days or so back, when we settled the matter with the totos. However, Leito had been stopping by each day to purchase a snack for the two of them.

As Kamyua Yoshu casually stood there, he shot us the same relaxed grin as always.

“If I could help it, I’d have loved to have your cooking while it was nice and hot. But I’ve been busy making all sorts of arrangements for that upcoming meeting. Melfried isn’t exactly in a position to just go leaving the castle as he pleases, so I’ve ended up having to run all over.”

Arrangements for the meeting...

The request to postpone hadn’t come from Cyclaeus but rather from Melfried, so he was surely making moves in secret again.

“I’m sure that must be quite an undertaking. And I can only hope those ‘arrangements’ aren’t part of some sort of plot to take down the people of the forest’s edge,” I threw out there, only for Kamyua Yoshu to spread both arms wide and look upset.

“Why would you think we’d do anything to hurt the people of the forest’s edge?! Our goal is to expose Cyclaeus’s old crimes.”

“Sorry, it was just a joke. Lately when I’m talking to you, my teasing side always ends up showing itself. So sorry about that.”

“Ah, well, if that’s your true nature, then that may just be a welcome change from my point of view,” Kamyua Yoshu replied, scratching his blond hair. “Well, whatever. More importantly, Asuta, I’ve got something I want to ask you... Is it the grilled dish or the soup on the menu at The Sledgehammer tonight?”

“Huh? It’s the soup, but...”

Why in the world was he asking that?

“Ah, I see. Thanks a ton. In that case, I’ll go with The Sledgehammer for today. If both of them always offered the same dishes I’d just alternate between it and The Great Southern Tree each day, but as things are it can get kinda tricky.”

“What? You’ve been eating dinner at The Sledgehammer and The Great Southern Tree? But you’re staying at The Kimyuus’s Tail, aren’t you?”

“Yup. But I can eat western cooking anywhere, not just Genos. So I can’t help but want to eat as much of your giba meat dishes as I can while I’m staying here,” Kamyua Yoshu answered, grinning once again. “I’d actually say there are more folks out there like me than you may think. The Sledgehammer and The Great Southern Tree are always packed at dinnertime. And there are always a good number of folks from the west, so many that I can’t imagine everybody’s staying there. Heck, yesterday I even saw a few easterners in The Great Southern Tree.”

“I’m certainly grateful to hear that, but... I mean, you stay regularly at The Kimyuus’s Tail, don’t you? That’s not offending Milano Mas, is it?”

“Customers are free to eat dinner wherever they please. Milano Mas isn’t a petty enough man to get upset over something that slight. And besides... If you ask me, the quality of the food at The Kimyuus’s Tail isn’t all that great. I mean, Milano Mas lost his wife at a young age, after all. And so, his daughter didn’t really get much of a chance to learn how to cook. So even without your giba cooking and the like, I’d still end up heading to another inn anyway.”

“I really can’t beat you when it comes to badmouthing people, Kamyua Yoshu...” I didn’t quite know what to think of the fact that he could poke fun at Milano Mas’s family circumstances so lightly. Even more so because the Suun clan’s wrongdoings were one of the reasons behind the man’s wife passing so young. “So, what? Are you trying to suggest I should sell my cooking to The Kimyuus’s Tail too, or maybe even teach Milano Mas’s daughter how to cook?”

“I’m not particularly trying to suggest anything. However, I have thought before that if I could eat giba cooking at The Kimyuus’s Tail, it’d spare me the trouble of having to go to some other inn.”

“As long as what sort of relationship I’ve got with the folks from the castle remains unclear, I have no intention of going and thoughtlessly getting Milano Mas involved.”

“Oh? But you don’t mind involving the owners of The Sledgehammer and The Great Southern Tree?”

“They’re in different positions than Milano Mas. Unlike him, they don’t have anything to do with that incident from ten years ago,” I said while trying to cool my head from the boil I had been about to reach. “I’d like to repay my debt to Milano Mas, but the meeting in three days has to come first. Um... I can’t imagine this is the case, but you wouldn’t go putting him in danger in order to corner Cyclaeus, right?”

“Do I really look that cruel and heartless? I set my sights on Cyclaeus and the Suun clan in the first place because I knew about Milano Mas and Leito’s pasts, so I wouldn’t go and put the cart before the totos like that. Listen, this is just between us, but... I’ve got three bodyguards staying here at The Kimyuus’s Tail. Despite appearances, I’ve seriously been burning myself out to make sure no wicked plots from Cyclaeus come to fruition on the off chance that he’s up to something.”

“In that case, please say important stuff like that before you go cracking jokes. So... Milano Mas really is in at least some danger, then? Would it be better if I really did move my contract for the stalls over to The Great Southern Tree?”

“Ah, no, there’s no way Cyclaeus has his eyes on Milano Mas now. It’s true that he’s tied to that incident from ten years back, but even the hunter’s necklace his wife’s brother was gripping was handed over to the guards as evidence back then. And heck, if his word as a witness held weight, then Melfried would’ve cast judgment on the Suun clan and Cyclaeus’s crimes then and there.”

“Then why are you asking bodyguards to keep an eye on him? If there’s no danger, then that shouldn’t be necessary, right?”

“That was just making absolutely certain. I wouldn’t exactly be able to smile like this on the off chance something happened to Milano Mas, after all.” His grin had an aloof feel to it, but his purple eyes looked hazy and hid away what he was feeling. “So you don’t need to worry about anything, and can just go ahead and do what feels right to you. But I’d be real happy if I could eat giba meat here at The Kimyuus’s Tail, y’know?”

“You’re just saying that because it would be convenient for you. Plus, I can’t imagine Milano Mas would let me give cooking lessons to begin with, anyway.”

“I’m not so sure about that. But well, it’s true that Milano Mas wouldn’t exactly be the sort to go throwing the idea out there on his own.”

Now that he said that, Milano Mas’s sudden silence from earlier only bugged me more. I mean, he looked like he was holding back his feelings for some reason, didn’t he?

I gave a small sigh, then stared straight back in Kamyua Yoshu’s murky eyes.

“At any rate, everything will have to wait for the meeting three days from now. And I can’t exactly go taking on more work till the blue month is over, regardless.”

“Yup, got it. I’ll expend all my meager skills to hopefully guide things in a positive direction. Ah... but would you mind keeping that thing about the bodyguards a secret? If Milano Mas heard that, he’d say I was worrying too much or something, and may even go and kick them out,” Kamyua Yoshu said, and I was still unable to firmly make out what he was feeling as he smiled away.

◇

“Ugh, geez! You kept on blathering away so long that we’re totally running late!” Lala Ruu said in a huff as we walked down the path to the forest’s edge.

As I watched her red ponytail sway back and forth, I replied, “It’s not that different a time than usual, is it?”

“If there was nothing going on today, I wouldn’t care! But today’s the festival banquet! The men’ll probably all be gathered up and starting the contest of strength soon!”

“Oh, so they start the banquet when it’s still this bright out?”

“The banquet’ll be after the sun sets! If they didn’t finish the contest of strength before that, then we’d never start eating, right?! Geez, you don’t know anything!”

It was certainly true that I knew nothing of what was going on. Apparently festival banquets were only held by clans of a certain size, so I hadn’t been able to get any information out of Ai Fa.

Well, all I was asked to handle was making dinner for the winner of the contest of strength, so I hadn’t been too concerned. But why was Lala Ruu in such a rush to get back?

“The contest of strength at a festival of the hunt is a time for the men to shine. And that means it’s an important event for unmarried women too, to choose their husband...” Vina Ruu whispered into my ear as she carried a mountain of ingredients.

Still, that wasn’t enough to clear up my questions.

“But Lala Ruu is still only 13, so she can’t get married, right? So shouldn’t it have nothing to do with her?”

“I don’t know about all that... Maybe she has her eyes on someone in particular...?”

I guess if she liked someone, she’d want to see his big moment.

With that, everything clicked into place. I really could be dense, sometimes.

“Um, just let me confirm... A chef like me isn’t going to get dragged into all that, right?”

“Hmm...? Well, you were invited to the banquet, so you could probably participate if you wanted to...”

“I don’t want to. I definitely, definitely don’t.”

I couldn’t see so much as a single nanogram of a chance of me winning against a man of the forest’s edge. No matter what the competition was, I could probably only put up a decent fight against Reina or Lala Ruu at most. Honestly, I didn’t think I could even manage to do much in a test of strength against Vina Ruu.

“More importantly, Asuta... Did you always get along that badly with that man...?”

“Hmm? By ‘that man,’ do you mean Kamyua? I wouldn’t say we get along especially poorly.”

“Really...? But you looked pretty angry back there...”

I had been trying to wear my poker face, but I was completely transparent, huh?

“Well, I’ll admit that I did get pretty annoyed. But I had decided that at times like that, rather than trying to hide my thoughts and feelings, I’d let Kamyua hear them head on. After all, it’d be pretty tricky to drag out what was really going on in that aloof guy’s head, otherwise.”

“Hmm... That sounds pretty troublesome, somehow...” Vina Ruu said with a shrug of her seductive shoulders, not looking especially interested.

After 40-50 more minutes of walking down the heavily sloping path, we made it back to the forest’s edge. The trail widened a bit as we headed north, and soon enough the Ruu settlement came into view. Before heading inside we said farewell to Li Sudra and took the ingredients she was carrying off of her, then we stepped foot into the unusually crowded plaza.

And as we did so, I felt completely overwhelmed.

There were far more people than I had expected packed into the settlement. There must have been more than half of the hundred folks who fell under them gathered here.

The majority of them looked to be young. The ratio of men to women seemed pretty even too, but I wasn’t seeing many older folks or children. At any rate, they formed a crowd in the plaza and were cheering... and in the center, there was an impossibly large man having a fierce battle with Ai Fa.

“W-What are you doing there, Ai Fa?!” I yelled, but it was drowned out by the crowd. Those young folks under the Ruu were all shouting away, excited by the fight.

Both Ai Fa and her opponent were barehanded. Neither had any blades at their hips, nor were they wearing fur cloaks. However, that just made it all the more clear to me how desperate of a pinch Ai Fa found herself in.

The man she was facing was an absolute giant, every bit as tall as Mida. He had to be nearly two meters tall, and I couldn’t imagine he weighed less than a hundred kilos. Plus he was long-limbed, barrel-chested, and plenty muscular. And right now, those long arms of that frighteningly huge man were reaching out to grab Ai Fa.

Of course, thanks to Ai Fa’s excellent physical abilities, he wasn’t finding it too easy to get ahold of her. However, she was just dodging left and right, and it didn’t seem like there was any chance for her to launch a counterattack. Even for Ai Fa, taking on such a massive foe barehanded just felt utterly reckless.

“What’s going on here?! Why isn’t anyone trying to stop this craziness?!”

“Huh...? It would be bad to interrupt a contest of strength between hunters, though...” Vina Ruu replied, shooting me a confused look.

“Contest of strength? That’s what this is? It’s just a plain old fight, isn’t it?! And why should Ai Fa have to participate in something like that, anyway?!”

“I have no way of knowing that... But at any rate, there’s a strong taboo against wounding your opponent, so there’s no need to worry...”

Wounding your opponent was a taboo?

Even so, that grizzly of a man was frantically chasing Ai Fa around while swinging his arms about. And those thick limbs looked like they could easily snap bones if they hit.

“I can’t watch this! Please, someone put a stop to it!”

“Ah, you mustn’t...” Vina Ruu protested, only for a louder cheer to resound throughout the forest.

I looked that way in a panic, and almost dropped the tray I was holding from shock. Ai Fa had leapt backwards, but her foot must have hit a divot in the ground or something, as she seriously staggered.

Naturally, the mountain of a man took that opportunity to press forwards and close in on my clan head.

It was clearly over.

As I screamed out in despair, I could practically see Ai Fa’s slender body being sent flying as if she had been hit by a dump truck.

However... As Ai Fa’s posture collapsed, rather than trying to force herself up, she half let herself fall while swinging her right leg high in the air. The tips of her toes hit the man’s shoulder as he rushed forwards, then Ai Fa leapt even further back, borrowing the charging man’s momentum as she did so. On top of that, she bent backwards in the air and let her right hand hit the ground for just an instant, resulting in her landing a splendid backward handspring.

With that, the cheering grew even more intense.

In turn, the monster of a man let out an angry roar and charged at Ai Fa again, head first.

The six or seven meters Ai Fa had earned seemed like they were about to be closed in an instant. And this time, the man would surely manage to grab her.

And yet, just before his fingers grabbed hold of her arm, Ai Fa suddenly disappeared.

She had dropped down. And as she did, she stretched her right leg straight out, then swiped it backwards. It was a low sweep, performed like she was in a kung fu action movie.

Ai Fa’s right heel caught the man’s right ankle from diagonally behind him, and he went tumbling.

With that, my clan head swiftly rose to her feet, while the man sat up in a fluster.

At the same time, a piercing cry of, “Stop!” cut through the excitement in the air. “The winner is Ai Fa of the Fa clan. Ji Maam of the Maam clan must withdraw,” the solemn voice stated, and applause and cheers filled the air.

As for the large man, he gave a frustrated yell and pounded his fists into the ground.

“That’s amazing! She beat Ji Maam! He’s strong enough that he can even put up a good fight against Darmu!” Lala Ruu excitedly exclaimed.

I almost collapsed to the ground while clinging to my iron tray, but I somehow managed to brace myself.

And then, Ai Fa came over our way, being showered with thunderous applause as she went.

“So you’re finally back, huh? You’re late, Asuta.”

“I-I am not! And what in the world have you been up to, anyway?!”

“What are you making such a fuss about? I was just taking part in the contest of strength, as a hunter.” Despite that intense battle she had just participated in, I couldn’t spy so much as a single bead of sweat on Ai Fa. “I hadn’t ever heard of festival banquets before, but I’ve enjoyed the contests of strength held between hunters since I was young. And that man was nothing compared to my father Gil.”

“But still...! That’s no reason to go and do something that dangerous just because, right? We’re just guests here!”

“I didn’t do it ‘just because.’ It’s because I was challenged,” Ai Fa replied in a displeased tone and started shifting into a pout. But then she noticed everyone else watching, and instead maintained a serious expression.

“Still, it was a real shock seeing you take down Ji Maam. You really are a strong hunter, Ai Fa,” chimed in Sheera Ruu, as if trying to smooth things over. “Asuta, it may be called a contest of strength between hunters, but they are absolutely forbidden from harming their opponents. Instead, they employ their barehanded techniques, and whoever makes the other side’s torso touch the ground first wins. I also have trouble watching the men act so fierce, but you have to understand, it most certainly isn’t dangerous.”

Sheera Ruu’s relaxed voice seemed like it had a sort of calming effect. And so, I scratched my head, feeling a bit bad about letting myself get carried away and critique Ai Fa.

“Er, sorry for suddenly shouting like that... Still, you’re supposed to help me out soon, aren’t you? Or do you want to keep on participating in the competition?”

“I already explained that I wasn’t competing because I wanted to, didn’t I? That Ji Maam man said that a woman couldn’t serve as a hunter, and then he challenged me. I couldn’t back down from such a slight, and so I simply displayed my strength,” Ai Fa replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’ll help you with manning the stove today, just as I promised. I hung the giba I brought from the house over there.”

“Huh? You caught another giba today? That’s two days in a row, isn’t it?”

“Whenever the chance presents itself, I’ll catch a giba. It’s not as if I’m using sacrificial hunting, you know,” Ai Fa stated, beating me to the punch.

It seemed she had completely recovered from her wounds, and was in perfect form in terms of mind and body. She just looked so darn dependable that I couldn’t help but give a sigh.

“Got it, thanks. In that case, let’s hurry up and start preparing.”

“Right,” Ai Fa nodded with a serious look, and then she drew her face close to mine. She made the move look casual, but I noticed that only I could see her expression now. “You truly are a worrier, Asuta. It would take a more skilled man than that to get the better of me.”

“That may be so, but still...”

“Stop right there. I have no intention of scolding you for worrying about me. It’s just that it was my first contest of strength in some time, so I couldn’t help but feel interested. Thanks to that, I felt even less like refusing. My apologies...” Ai Fa stated, then she shot me a grin from so close I could feel her breath.

Seeing that smile, I lost the will to put up a fight, and simply gave another sigh instead.