Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3: Count Cyclaeus Turan

1

It was now the following day, the 30th of the blue month.

After half a month of waiting, it was finally time for the leading clan heads of the forest’s edge to have their second meeting with the noble known as Cyclaeus. However, they wouldn’t be settling anything today. No, this was just the beginning.

Donda Ruu and the rest were heading into town with the weight of the forest’s edge on their shoulders, in order to correct the distorted relationship between Genos and the forest’s edge, and to expose the true face of the man named Cyclaeus, who was still shrouded in mystery.

Had Cyclaeus really used the Suun clan for his own selfish reasons?

Did he really mean it when he said that every last member of the Suun clan should be handed over to the castle?

Just how would Kamyua Yoshu and Melfried make their move?

Would the people of the forest’s edge be able to keep living as hunters here in this land?

And would our Fa clan be permitted to continue doing business in the post town?

Even if today wasn’t going to bring things to a conclusion, it was still most certainly a turning point.

However, that didn’t change what we had to do in the least. We still needed to go to town and prepare food, just like always. We were assigned two hunters as guards just to be safe, but other than that, there was nothing different about today in the least.

And the people about the post town naturally had no idea such a meeting was even being held, so there were no changes whatsoever in my flow of customers. There were thirty of them lined up before opening, and then when that morning rush was over we took breaks in groups of two, after which we just had to deal with the customers who came by now and again. It was all going exactly the same as always.

“Well, I guess they must be leaving the forest’s edge around now,” Ludo Ruu casually called out from behind the stall. He had been chosen for the guard role once again for his youthful and nonthreatening appearance, so as to worry the townsfolk as little as possible.

The other guard was my clan head, and she stood between the stalls, her eyes nonchalantly observing the road. The Ruu were willing to lend us whoever we needed as they were taking time off at the moment, but Ai Fa had offered herself up for the role.

Anyway, today was likely to end without a need for these bodyguards to do anything. They would only have to act if the relationship with the castle turned out to be so unsalvageable that it was outright broken here and now.

But put another way, the fact that we felt the need to have them just to be safe went to show how little trust we had in the folks from the castle.

“Ah, it’s Ludo Ruu!” a voice enthusiastically exclaimed all of a sudden. It wasn’t long after that that Tara, the daughter of Dora the vegetable seller, came running on up to the stall.

When he saw her, Ludo Ruu walked over from his spot in the rear by the wagon and said, “Hey there. Long time no see, runt. You weren’t at your shop this morning, were you?”

“That’s right! I had to run a little errand for my dad at the inn!”

The little girl with her dark brown hair and eyes wore a bright smile as she talked. She had been a regular since right when we opened the stalls, so by now she didn’t seem scared in the least of any of the people of the forest’s edge who hung around us.

“Ludo Ruu, don’t leave your post. What if someone comes at us from behind?” Ai Fa quietly scolded.

However, the boy just tilted his head and went, “Huh? There’s no need to be on edge like that, is there? If we needed to be that on guard, then there would be three or four of us here, in the first place...”

“That may be so, but those of us here should still be doing our very best.”

“I’m telling you, it’s fine. That totos and the wagon make a sort of wall anyway, so we’ll know right away if anyone tries to approach from behind.”

“Don’t you dare try to use Gilulu as a shield! Whatever, I’ll take the rear instead...”

As one might guess from that conversation, Ai Fa had been a little high-strung since early in the morning, but Ludo Ruu didn’t exactly see things the same way.

It wasn’t like we were expecting an attack this time around, like we had been with Zattsu and Tei Suun. Plus, the meeting wasn’t scheduled to start till the sun hit its peak, so it wouldn’t make any sense at all for violence to break out now in the morning.

I couldn’t help but be concerned by how Ai Fa was acting, and so I left the stall up to Lala Ruu, who had joined Ludo Ruu and Tara’s chat, then walked over her way.

“What’s going on, Ai Fa? You’ve been acting strange ever since we arrived in town.”

My clan head shot me a glare out of the corner of her eye as she stroked Gilulu’s long neck.

“I’ve been occasionally sensing these strange gazes all morning... Ones full of animosity, like a poisoned needle.”

“Huh? Really? Well, I guess it’s no surprise that there are still people around who would shoot the people of the forest’s edge looks like that...”

“That’s not it. My instinct tells me that they’re all coming from the same person. However, I also haven’t been able to catch sight of them...”

In other words, someone was keeping an eye on us while in hiding, huh? I’d like to think that was just Ai Fa imagining things, but I couldn’t exactly be so optimistic about the situation after seeing the serious look in her eyes.

“Still, I can’t imagine the folks from the castle keeping a watch on us at this point, so—” I started to say, only to be interrupted by a shriek coming from the stall.

“What’s wrong, Lala Ruu?!” I called out while rushing back.

There was a tall figure in front of the stall. However, Tara was just standing in place next to him, and Ludo Ruu wasn’t moving either. Plus, Lala Ruu herself had her hands on her hips, but wasn’t glaring or anything, so it didn’t seem like there was an actual problem here.

“Aw, what a waste! Let me just say, you’re the one whose hands slipped, alright? So I won’t be able to give you back your coins.”

What exactly happened here?

With Ai Fa following along right behind me, I stepped even closer.

“Whoa, what’s all this?”

I could immediately tell the reason behind the shriek: There was a completed myamuu giba dumped out atop the iron tray.

The baked poitan had come loose, and the meat, aria, and diced tino were scattered all about. And Lala Ruu shot us an angry glance as she pushed all that over to the edge of the tray with a wooden spatula so that it wouldn’t burn.

“As you can see, this customer went and dropped his dish! Geez, it’s such a waste!”

With that, I looked over at the customer in question.

He was a skinny fellow over 180 centimeters tall, and he had on a hooded cloak. And from what I could spy of his face from under that hood, he was dark skinned. Yup, this customer was from the east, sure enough.

For a second I thought he was Shumiral, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. After all, soon enough he pulled back his hood and gave an apologetic bow, revealing that his long hair was chestnut-color rather than silver.

“My apologies. I accidentally dropped it. It’s true that you definitely aren’t at fault.”

He was even more fluent than Shumiral.

Overall, his appearance was pretty standard for someone from the east. He had an oval-shaped face, a high nose, and thin lips, plus he was tall and skinny. However, that light colored hair and those reddish-brown eyes seemed pretty uncommon for folks from Sym.

Still, dropping the food back on the tray wasn’t the sort of careless slip up that happened often.

At any rate, the man narrowed his eyes a bit sadly, then opened up his cloak so as to reveal his right side. Wrapped around his thin-yet-muscular upper right arm was a bandage, stained a bit with blood.

“My right arm is impaired, and so I tried to, reach out with my left. But I’m not as skilled with, that arm, so I dropped it. My apologies for dirtying your tray.”

He still stumbled a bit here and there, but he really was even better at speaking the language of the west than Shumiral. It was definitely a first for me, seeing an easterner that fluent. Plus, maybe it was because he also had long hair of an unusual color, but he seemed to have a similar feel about him to Shumiral. In other words, I had a real favorable first impression of the man.

“Please, don’t worry about that. Um, could you hold on for just a moment?”

It wasn’t like it had fallen to the ground or anything, so it really would be a shame to let this myamuu giba go to waste. But with that said, the all-important baked poitan had fallen onto the tray and gotten coated in fat and sauce, so I couldn’t exactly get it back into its original form. And the diced tino had gotten mushy, too.

Alright, then let’s go ahead and make it all mushy.

The first step was scraping as much of the ingredients as I could off of the poitan, then placing them atop the cutting board. Next I chopped them up finely, then arranged them onto the plate meant for samples.

As for the ingredients left atop the tray, I moved them to the center, added half a spoonful of the myamuu and fruit wine sauce, then carefully mixed it around. Once the cabbage-like tino grew a bit soft, that was plenty.

I served that up atop the plate too, then added some finely chopped poitan and gave it a rough stir.

“What do you say? It may not look especially pretty, but the taste shouldn’t be all that different.”

In terms of appearance, well, it looked like the sort of stir-fry you’d see in Chinese cooking. Personally I figured it would be acceptable, but I wasn’t sure what the customer was thinking.

Before long, though, the man broke out in an excited smile. I could feel my heart skip a beat at that, knowing that folks from Sym considered it shameful to openly show emotions.

“Thank you. Now I didn’t waste my coins. You have my sincere, gratitude.”

The customer from the east supported the plate awkwardly with his injured right hand, then took the spoon I handed him and started digging into my improvised myamuu giba bowl.

With that, he only smiled all the wider.

“That was very good. Giba meat is delicious, isn’t it?”

“Th-Thank you.”

Now that I thought about it, this was probably the first time I talked this much with someone from Sym other than Shumiral, since easterners generally weren’t skilled at speaking the language of the west.

“I’ve injured my right arm. And so, I can’t work for, the time being. That makes my money, all the more precious. You really, truly have my gratitude,” the customer stated after swiftly gulping down the dish.

“I’m Sanjura. Could I have your name?”

“Right. I’m Asuta of the Fa clan.”

“Asuta of the Fa clan... I’ll be staying here in Genos until, my injuries are healed. And I plan on stopping by this stall each day, for a snack.”

“Thank you. It makes me very happy to hear that.”

“I’m glad to have learned of, such delicious food, too.”

While Sanjura stood there gently smiling, both Ludo Ruu and Ai Fa kept a steady eye on him.

“Hey, you seem pretty darn skilled, so how did you get an injury like that?” Ludo Ruu asked, seemingly unable to hold back his curiosity.

Sanjura then turned his way, looking a bit confused.

“I’ve been traveling, while riding on a totos. That totos ended up tripping on a rock. We fell together, and my arm struck another rock, that was jutting out.”

“Ah, I see. So that’s how someone as skillful as you could get a wound like that.”

Sanjura looked all the more confused upon hearing that.

“I’m just a wanderer, not a swordsman.”

“Hmm? But you’re still pretty strong, aren’t you?”

“Traveling brings with it danger... Both beasts and bandits, can be quite menacing. So I have polished up my skills at least a little, to protect myself,” Sanjura replied with a bit of an awkward, bashful grin. Then, he handed me back the now empty plate. “Thank you so much for everything today. I give my gratitude to our father, the western god Selva, for granting me the chance to meet you, Asuta of the Fa clan.”

“Huh? Sanjura, you’re not an easterner?”

“That’s right. My mother was, but my father grew up here in the western kingdom. And I myself am, a westerner.”

So Sanjura had mixed blood from the east and west, huh?

I couldn’t help but wonder why he was a bit stilted talking in the western tongue in that case, but I thought it would be rude to just ask him about it. At any rate, just being of mixed blood seemed to imply a rather complicated background here in this world.

“Well then, I’ll see you again, tomorrow.”

With that, Sanjura pulled his hood back up, then departed to the south.

Somehow, that had felt like a seriously heartwarming interaction, and left me feeling fully satisfied. However, there was a pair who clearly didn’t think the same, as they were having quite the violent conversation right next to me.

“Hmm, didn’t expect we’d run into someone that skilled here in town... Hey, Ai Fa, do you think that you could beat him?”

“With all things equal, I wouldn’t lose. However, I wouldn’t be able to let my guard down in the slightest.”

Naturally, that was Ludo Ruu and Ai Fa talking.

Upon hearing my clan head’s blunt reply, the boy gave a, “Tch. You say you could still win even against a guy like that? I don’t know, myself... I sort of get the feeling that he’s someone I just couldn’t beat...”

“I don’t know about that. He seems about equal to your skill level, I’d say.”

“What, so you’re saying that you’re stronger than me, Ai Fa?!”

“Did you actually think that wasn’t the case?”

That conversation was just growing more and more fierce. It honestly felt like they’d start shooting one another challenging glares any second now, and so I interjected with, “Hey, hold on. That guy was just an ordinary customer, so could you stop saying stuff like that about him? He may well have been skilled, but he seemed like a gentle, kind person to me.”

“Hmph. You really think you can determine if someone’s an enemy or an ally from such a short conversation? You are far too trusting of strangers.”

“Yeah, Ai Fa’s right. If there really were guys like him scattered all throughout town, then just the two of us as bodyguards would never be enough,” Ludo Ruu stated, ruffling his blond hair. “But, well, I can tell there aren’t many guys on his level from just a bit of walking around. But between him, that Kamyua Yoshu guy, and that grey-eyed noble jerk, it looks like I really can’t go treating townsfolk lightly.”

Now that it came up, both Ai Fa and Ludo Ruu had been skilled enough to make it into the top eight in that contest of strength held by the Ruu clan. I couldn’t say how that would be reflected in a real fight, but still, if the two of them were evaluating him that highly, then Sanjura must have been pretty exceptionally skilled after all.

Still, he didn’t really look like the sort of guy to get mixed up in bad stuff...

As that thought ran through my head, after having been excluded from the conversation for some time, Tara suddenly shouted out, “I’ve got to get back soon, too! Um, one of the myamuu giba, and three giba burgers please!”

“You’re gonna eat four of them? That’s amazing.”

“No! I’ve got to get them for the guys from the cloth and pot stores, too!” Tara angrily snapped back, and Ludo Ruu snickered in response.

With that, the bright, cheery feel in the air finally returned as Ai Fa gave a shrug of her shoulders and started heading back towards her position to our rear, only for another customer to arrive. It was Diel with her speckled dark brown hair, and her companion Labis.

When my clan head saw them, she stopped in her tracks.

“W-Welcome! So do you want the dish from this stall for today?”

“Yeah! I decided to alternate each day, so I want this one today!” Diel proclaimed with a smile. And right now, I could seriously sense Ai Fa watching from over my shoulder.

Last night after Shumiral left the Fa house, I actually opened up to my clan head about this girl. I figured it was important she know the fact that Diel was part of a merchant group invited to stay at Cyclaeus’s manor, and besides, since Ai Fa was coming to town as a bodyguard, it certainly made sense to think they may meet like this. And so, I decided to just come clean about everything, before there were any more awkward misunderstandings or anything.

Right now, I was seriously worrying about whether or not that had been a wise decision.

“Hmm... There are a lot of you around today, huh?” Diel questioned, glancing around. Then, her pretty green eyes caught sight of Ai Fa and a hostile blaze started burning bright in them. “That really doesn’t matter, but why, exactly, are you glaring at me? Did I do something to you?”

“Not to me personally, but I hear you laid a hand upon a member of my house, woman of the south,” Ai Fa retorted in a low voice, then she stepped out in front of me.

By this point, I was breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Or do you claim that you weren’t the one who hit Asuta? I judged that you were, because young girls from the south are so rare here in the post town.”

“What, you mean how I slugged Asuta? How’s that any of your business?”

“It is, because he is a member of my house.”

From what I could tell by glancing out of the corner of my eye, Ai Fa wasn’t particularly letting her anger show. However, she did look incredibly annoyed, and the light shining in her eyes didn’t seem especially calm.

“Naturally, I must admit that Asuta was also at fault. However, I don’t think striking him hard enough to leave marks on him in response was justified. I hope that you’ll be more careful of your actions in the future.”

“A member of your house...? What does that mean?! Are you saying you two are married?!”

“N-No, that’s not it. We’re family who live in the same house. Even though we’re not related by blood, she’s still very important to me.”

My reply only caused Diel to look all the more irritated.

“What do you mean, you’re not married but you’re family? Is this woman keeping you like a pet, Asuta? It’s forbidden to keep anyone but northerners as slaves in the western kingdom, isn’t it?”

“I-I’m not a slave or a pet or anything like that! Um, how should I explain it...?”

“There’s no need for any explanation. At any rate, you should take care to make sure your actions are in line with the law, so that no one goes around talking about you behind your back, southerner.”

“Quiet, you. I don’t need you grumbling to me about Asuta! I mean, I already apologized to him, and he forgave me! So why exactly are you butting in out of nowhere and complaining?”

“I’m saying that I won’t press the matter of your crimes if you better restrain yourself in the future. You really are a dense girl.”

Somehow, it felt like they were about to break out in a brawl.

And honestly, this was probably the first time I had ever seen Ai Fa argue with anyone around town. Would I have to throw myself into the line of fire in order to settle things, ultimately?

“Hey, let’s all just calm down, first! Diel, if I went and acted rudely towards you, you could still see your family wanting to say something about it even if we had settled things, right? That’s where Ai Fa’s coming from right now, so can’t you try to understand that?”

“Huh? But...”

“And Ai Fa, I’m grateful that you’re worrying about me, but I told you we already made up, didn’t I? Since we’ve both forgiven each other and apologized, everything should be fine now.”

“But...”

They were both now holding their tongues while looking seriously displeased.

However, that silence didn’t even last five whole seconds.

“It’s true that I shouldn’t have hit you, but you started it by being so rude! So why are you trying to lecture me now?!”

“Yes, you’re the one who kicked off all that commotion, aren’t you? You need to reflect on your actions more than anyone.” Then, Ai Fa came in close to my ear and whispered, “Besides, how did you ever see this girl as a man...? Her clothing may be masculine, but aside from that she’s quite clearly a frail young woman.” With that, I received several kicks to the leg. “I figured she must have quite a boorish face for you to mistake her for a man... Really, what in the world is wrong with your eyes, Asuta?”

“Hey, that’s a bit much, isn’t it?” I retorted in a whisper, only for Ai Fa to turn away with a “Hmph!” As for Lala Ruu, she was watching things unfold with a grin on her face that reminded me of Kamyua Yoshu.

“S-So, you were ordering one, right? I’ll prepare it right away, so hold on just a moment!” I asked, getting myself back on track as I set about getting the myamuu giba ready.

In the meantime, Ludo Ruu just kept on carefully observing Labis as the man stood there behind Diel. And Labis seemed to be staring back at the boy, too.

Perhaps Labis was on guard against Ludo Ruu and Ai Fa since they had blades as part of their hunting attire. Rather than looking nervous, though, the youngest Ruu son just kept on shooting a threatening gaze the man’s way.

“Ooh, you’re still here, Asuta?!” I heard as a certain familiar construction group approached.

Aldas was standing at the head of the crowd, wearing the same cheerful smile as always.

“Welcome! You’ve been rather busy lately, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, since we’ll finally be wrapping things up tomorrow. If we have to stretch it out by even a day, it’ll really end up hurting us, so we can’t afford to relax just yet!” Aldas said, his thick eyebrows drooping but his smile remaining fixed on his face. “Well, I wouldn’t mind staying in Genos forever if it meant being able to eat your cooking, Asuta! But I guess we can’t exactly do that with the costs of the inn and totos stables... Ugh, it really is a shame! Unless an urgent job pops up, we only get to come to Genos once a year!”

“You’re always grumbling about the same old stuff. But you’ve got a wife and kids waiting for you back home, don’t ya?” Pops chimed in with a sullen look on his face, giving Aldas a jab in the stomach. Then, he turned my way. “Asuta, how much jerky do you have left...?”

“Huh? Jerky? Um, this is all I’ve got for today.”

I only prepared around two kilos of jerky for each day.

When I showed Pops the inside of the bag, he muttered, “That won’t be enough... It won’t be enough at all. I’d want ten times this amount by tomorrow.”

“T-Ten times? What are you planning on doing with all that jerky?”

“Eat it on our way back home, of course. There are eight of us, and the journey’ll take half a month, so that’s how much we’re gonna need.” With that, Pops looked me right in the eye. “Can you prepare it in time? If not, we’ll have to buy karon jerky instead.”

“I-I think I can. I’ll have to check after getting back to the forest edge before making any promises, though.”

Still, I had just told the various nearby clans that I didn’t know when the next big job would be coming in, but I’d be counting on them then. And on top of that, the Rutim and Lea should have a surplus of both fresh meat and jerky at the moment, anyway. Plus, with the added mobility Gilulu brought us, it shouldn’t be hard to run all about the settlement and gather up 20 kilos worth of jerky.

“Still, do you really love the taste of giba meat that much, Pops? With jerky it’s true that the salt and herbs are pretty strong, but there’s still a good bit of taste left from the meat itself, too...”

“I’m plenty aware of all that. What, are you trying to nitpick all this business I’m bringing you, here?” Pops grumbled, then gave his hair a ruffle. “I’ve been eating this stuff each and every day, so I’ve gotten used to the taste of giba... So if the price is going to be the same as karon jerky, then I just figured why not order it from you instead.”

“Yeah, if we can’t eat Asuta’s cooking, then at least we can console ourselves by chewing on some giba jerky.”

“You’re the only one around here getting that weepy!” Pops angrily retorted at Aldas, then he ruffled his hair again. “Anyway, just get together whatever you can, alright? We’ll make up for whatever’s lacking with karon... And we may not make it to the shop tomorrow till after the sun’s already hit its peak, so make sure you tell the girls you’ve got working here, too.”

“Ah, you won’t be arriving till later on tomorrow?” In that case, that meant this may be farewell for us. And so, I took my towel off and bowed my head. “Then, um, thank you so much for your continued—”

“Cut it out! It’s not like we’ll never see each other again!” Pops shouted, cutting me off. And then he slammed two red coins down on the stall’s counter. “We come here to Genos at least once a year! Are you planning on going through all that stuffy crap each and every time? And besides, who knows how many dozens or even hundreds of us folks from the south come and go in Genos each and every day, anyway?”

“Yes, but well... Having you all stop by so frequently has been incredibly encouraging for me. You seriously have my sincerest thanks for that.”

Pops looked like he was about to say something, but he soon faced away and held his tongue.

With that, his comrades behind him burst out in hearty laughter.

“Even after the blue month is over, we’ll keep on coming to your stalls! And we’ll eat enough to make up for Pops, don’t you worry!”

“Quiet, you! Or do you want me to send your head flying?!”

“If you do that, then you won’t be able to finish up the job tomorrow. So just let us eat our lunch, already.”

Apparently, a portion of the group had been hired from among the locals. But now that I thought about it, that made sense, seeing how Pops said eight of them would be heading home despite there being over a dozen in total.

In that case, do they have mixed blood or something to be living here in Genos? Or are they just southerners who moved here to make a living?

I had no way of knowing all that. But at any rate, it didn’t change the fact that every last one of them were my precious customers.

“Hmm, so you’re heading back to Nellwea soon?” Diel asked, her face brimming with curiosity as she butted in.

Pops had been silently smoldering with anger up till then, but with that he furrowed his brow and turned her way.

“Oh, the Jeland girl, eh? You’re eating giba meat too now, I see.”

“Yup! I gave it a try, and that’s when I realized it was super tasty! It’s embarrassing, thinking about how I called it tough and smelly and all that...”

“Hmph. I embarrassed myself even worse, you know,” Pops said, turning and shooting me a glare. However, despite his displeased expression, there was a rather gentle look about his green eyes. “Asuta, we’ll be back again next year. I know you’re facing all sorts of troubles, but if you end up closing shop before then, you better expect me to come stomping over to the forest’s edge to complain, alright?”

“Right. I’ll be glad to have you come back and eat my cooking again next year.”

Suddenly, I felt like I was about to start tearing up.

A year from now... Would I really be able to see them again?

There was no way of knowing, but as a lowly human being, I just had to give it my all to make sure it happened.

As we had that conversation, the sun had risen high in the sky, marking that elsewhere in Genos, the meeting between the folks from the castle and the leading clan heads of the forest’s edge would soon begin.