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

Intermezzo: The Construction Group from the Southern Kingdom

That Asuta of the Fa clan really was an oddball, Balan absentmindedly thought while riding along in the swaying totos-drawn wagon.

His group was on their way back home to Nellwea, having finished up work in Genos. They had headed out first thing in the morning on this, the first day of the white month, and by now the sun was already nearing its peak. The stone highway was even, so the wagon wasn’t swaying all that heavily, and all of his men were already snoring away.

Balan’s construction group had stayed in Genos for a full month and a half while carrying out their work, from the middle of the green month all the way till the end of the blue month. Nearly all of the buildings in the post town were made in a Jagar style, and so his group visited once a year in order to do repairs.

It was during this trip, though, that they met the mysterious young man known as Asuta of the Fa clan. And boy was he a wild one.

In terms of appearance, he just looked like an ordinary westerner. Sure, his black hair and eyes were a little bit unusual, but his skin color, face, and build all seemed entirely ordinary. Apparently he wasn’t actually born on this continent, but there was nothing that showed that just from looking at him. In fact, if someone said he was a pureblooded westerner, nobody would think twice about it.

But it wasn’t his outward appearance that was strange. It was what was inside, instead.

Of all things, Asuta was living as a person of the forest’s edge and running stalls together with them.

The people of the forest’s edge were a tribe of traitors who once abandoned Jagar. But with that said, apparently they had lived since ancient times in the ominous black forest, rather than being normal citizens of the south. Since terrifying man-eating black apes also lived in that place, ordinary southerners would never so much as set foot there.

Eighty years in the past, though, the black forest disappeared. It was hard to tell what was true and what was false, but apparently it burned down in the midst of the war with Sym. However, since Balan was born in the peaceful town of Nellwea near the western edge of the nation, all he had ever heard were rumors.

At any rate, those folks from the black forest had lost their home, and so they moved to the Morga forest’s edge in the Western Kingdom of Selva. Rather than living like proper citizens of Jagar and tilling fields or fighting against Sym, they chose to flee to a whole other country entirely.

Thanks to that, they ended up changing gods, which was something to be avoided above all else here on this continent. And as a result, they earned the scorn of both the citizens of Jagar and Selva.

Naturally, Balan had shunned the people of the forest’s edge, too.

However, if he had to say, that was more due to the present state of things than anything that had happened in the past.

Put simply, he just plain disliked them.

He couldn’t help but think of folks from Sym when looking at their dark skin, and they tended to act pretty similarly, too. Folks from Jagar like him really hated people who acted all detached and above it all, so you couldn’t look at them and tell what they were really thinking.

On top of all that, the people of the forest’s edge seemed to keep their distance from others, even here in Genos. They frequently came to the post town to take care of tasks like selling giba horns and purchasing salt and vegetables, but they never opened up to anyone. Frankness was seen as a virtue for the people of Jagar. Being so closed off was what they couldn’t stand most of all.

And those were the sort of folks that Asuta kid was hanging out with.

Thanks to that, their initial meeting went just about the worst way possible. In fact, he really couldn’t stand the kid for a while there. He had some really curvy girls of the forest’s edge with him, and he was selling cooking that used giba meat, which had a terrible reputation about it. For Balan, having that kind of stupidity thrust in his face had seriously annoyed him. To top it all off, the first bit of giba meat Asuta fed him was all mushy and had this strong, unfamiliar taste about it, which made the kid’s actions seem all the more ridiculous.

Now I’m the one who looks ridiculous, ending up going out of my way to buy giba jerky after all that, he absentmindedly thought while staring at a big bag sitting in a corner of the wagon.

It was only those first few days that Balan took exception to the idea of giba meat. But before long, Asuta started selling a new dish using myamuu, and that was enough to smash all his stubbornness to smithereens.

That dish had been so tasty that it left Balan at a loss for words. It was so delicious that he had trouble believing it was the same giba meat he had tried previously.

And as he ate giba cooking more and more, that peculiar taste stopped bothering him so much, till he got to the point that he even went and stocked up on giba jerky.

What really settled it, though, was the cooking that got sold through the inn.

Balan’s group always stayed at The Great Southern Tree, and once the place started selling Asuta’s cubed giba meat stew, it had even more of an impact on him.

That dish used plenty of tau oil, and when he tasted it, it was so delicious his eyes almost popped right on out of his head. Even though tau oil was an ingredient from Jagar, he had never tasted anything so good even back home. And he certainly never had a chance to eat such first-rate cooking in the Genos post town before.

To be frank, he found the food back in his hometown of Nellwea far tastier than the stuff from the post town too, though. Genos was a prosperous region, and the fuwano and fruit wine and the like were all high quality, and it wasn’t like the fruit and veggie selection available was all that bad. The meats and seasonings, though, were pretty dire.

He could count the number of inns that used tau oil on one hand, and he hadn’t ever even seen any places use sugar or honey. Despite how close Genos was to Jagar, apparently that sort of ingredient only ever made it to the castle town. And Balan’s group was only allowed in the post town, where they hadn’t seen such things even once.

As for the meat, there was a lot of karon leg meat around, which you didn’t often get a chance to eat in Jagar, so it might not have been so bad in and of itself. But since they didn’t have any tau oil or sugar and just used salt and herbs for flavor, even though the fuwano and fruit wine were good stuff and they used plenty of vegetables it really made for some poor meals.

But then Asuta’s cooking appeared, tasting positively outstanding.

The stuff he made just using aria, tarapa, myamuu, and the like was already fantastic, but when he went and started using tau oil to add some of that flavor from back home, well... Balan certainly didn’t have any complaints, to say the least.

And it seemed that giba meat really was a first-rate ingredient, too. The reason he had found it unpleasant at first was because the kid had prepared it in that weird way of slicing it up all finely and balling it back up. But when it was prepared normally, it was far more satisfying than any kimyuus or karon meat.

Sure, maybe the flavor was a bit on the strong side. But he didn’t mind that at all when the kid used strong flavorings like myamuu and tau oil, and now that he’d gotten used to it, he’d even grown fond of the taste of the meat itself. On top of that, there was plenty of fat on it and it had just the right level of chewiness, so he really couldn’t see anything to complain about.

Man, that sure is aggravating, Balan thought to himself, feeling like he had lost somehow.

He had no intention of getting deeply involved with Asuta or the people of the forest’s edge to begin with. And yet, Asuta had specifically called for him and made him try that new dish.

Balan had been thoroughly annoyed and ready to never go anywhere near the kid’s stalls again, but Asuta went and begged him to give it a taste. When he did so and was taken completely off guard by that new myamuu giba dish, the boy’s eyes were positively sparkling as he wore a big old smile.

“I felt very frustrated when you said it was bad. But thanks to that, I decided to think more deeply about it. And so, I’m very grateful to you,” Asuta had said. It seemed like he was somehow struggling to express his feelings. Folks from Jagar always wore their thoughts openly on their faces, but for some reason other people found that hard to do.

From that day on, Balan started visiting Asuta’s stall each and every day. If he recalled correctly, that had been around when the green month changed over to the blue, meaning he had kept on eating Asuta’s cooking for a month straight.

And as all that was going on, Balan had steadily grown more and more familiar with those other folks from the forest’s edge, too. Not just the girls who helped with the stalls, either, as there were also those fierce-looking hunters who hung around.

Apparently, they were there because some criminals from the forest’s edge had threatened the post town. And halfway through the blue month, one of those criminals was cut down just a little ways off the main road.

Thanks to all that, Balan learned even more about the people of the forest’s edge.

For example, some of them were as direct as anyone from Sym, or even Jagar.

It still seemed like a lot of them were pretty darn stubborn, but hey, it was not like guys from down south had room to complain about that. And apparently the reason they didn’t make idle chatter was less that they were all demure or whatever, and more that they were a proud people who firmly believed that they were right in their actions.

Plus, though the girls at the stalls had seemed awfully unsociable at first, as time passed they started smiling more and more. And they were all pretty and hard workers from the get go, too. By the end, it had reached the point that he was thinking stupid stuff like how he’d love to have his son back home marry a girl like them.

But just when Balan’s group had finally started to truly understand the mysterious people of the forest’s edge, the blue month came to an end.

As he felt the wind blowing in through the window and tickling his hair and moustache, Balan gave a snort of “Hmph!” to no one in particular.

Then, perhaps awoken by that, one of his men lying atop a rug slowly sat up.

“What, you’ve been awake all this time, Pops? You’ve sure got a lot of energy considering how early we set out.” It was the vice-leader of the group, Aldas. He was from Nellwea too, and they’d been stuck with one another as business partners for over ten years now. “Ugh, my head’s still aching. I really did drink too much last night.”

“Hmph. You had me worried you were going to use up all the coins you earned in Genos in a single night.”

“You’re exaggerating, there. I mean, 10 or 20 bottles of fruit wine hardly cost anything at all,” Aldas replied with a hearty chuckle, leaning up against one of the walls.

Southerners were known for generally having small builds, but Aldas was a rather large man. However, he was also skilled enough with his hands to be called a master when it came to construction.

“We worked hard for a whole month and a half. So what’s wrong with really living it up on our last night in town...? Still, that Asuta’s cooking sure was tasty. We probably ate up all the giba meat in the inn ourselves yesterday, huh?”

“Hmph...”

“Ugh, I’m feeling hungry just thinking about it. Is the sun gonna be at its peak soon? We’re not in any particular rush today, so I’d like to light up a fire and have a nice relaxed meal.” Rather than waiting for Balan’s response, Aldas then turned towards the driver’s seat and shouted out, “Hey! Let’s eat lunch soon! If you see a good spot, I’d like to light a fire. What do you say?”

“Right. Well, I don’t think there should be any danger around here,” the youth tasked with handling the totos cheerfully responded.

Before long, the wagon came to a stop in the middle of the highway.

“Hey, everybody up! Anyone still snoozing away’s missing a meal!” Aldas shouted, and everyone else sluggishly started rousing themselves.

When they got down out of the wagon, they found a desolate desert off to the right of the highway, and a thicket to the left.

Past the thicket to the north stood the imposing Mount Morga. Somehow, it always gave off an oppressive, ominous feeling.

Off to the right, all the trees had been chopped down for lumber, leaving nothing but dead earth. The ground was parched and cracked, and it was hard to imagine any crops ever surviving there.

“What, we’re taking a break? Sure seems like you’re going on a pretty laid-back little trip here, huh?” a voice called out from above. It hadn’t come from the wagon, but rather from one of the bodyguards atop their own totos. The stretch of highway connecting Genos and Nellwea wasn’t known for being especially dangerous, but the group still hired the two guards to be safe.

“We should be able to make it to the next post town before the sun sets today. So it just makes sense to want to eat a nice, relaxed lunch on a day like this at least, right? We’re going to go gather up some dry branches, so just hold on for a bit, okay?”

“In that case, let one of us accompany you. After all, there’s no guarantee that those carrion-eating mundt won’t show up in a place like this.”

With that, one of the bodyguards got down from his totos and headed off into the thicket with Aldas’s group.

Meanwhile, the group moved the two wagons off of the highway over to the forested side, and let the totos eat up too. The big birds sure did look carefree and relaxed as they pecked away at the nearby leaves.

“Man, this area sure is peaceful. It’s a big change from the hustle and bustle of Genos,” stated a youth with a big stretch, now free of having to handle the totos.

Yeah, it certainly was nice and calm. Maybe all the other travelers on the highway were taking a break around now too, as no wagons seemed to be passing by. Wild birds danced about the clear blue sky, and there was even a pleasant, gentle breeze blowing past.

“Still, this time around sure was enjoyable. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt disappointed having to leave Genos.”

“Hmph. Guess you can’t go fooling around so easily with your parents around.”

“Well yeah, but more than that, it’s sad thinking how we won’t get to eat giba cooking anymore,” the youth replied with a pained sigh. “Even if it’s still giba meat, there’s not going to be all that much of a difference between it and karon when we’re talking jerky. Man, you think we’ll ever be able to eat giba meat in Jagar, too?”

“Nellwea’s the closest town to here, and even then, it takes half a month by wagon. If you don’t want jerky, you’d have to transport live giba all that way.”

“Hehe, think I’d have to pass on that one.”

As they were having that conversation, Aldas’s group had returned. There were six of them, excluding the bodyguard, and their arms were full of dead branches.

“This should be plenty, right? Hey, someone get me the pot!”

“Ah, right!”

The youth went hurrying back into the wagon, and handed what had been asked for to his comrades.

“This bag is the giba jerky, right? But what’s this small one?”

“Ah, that’s some jerky that Asuta prepared special. He said we had to eat it within seven days, so I guess we should hurry up and dig in.”

First they piled up the dried branches on the ground, and then surrounded them with stones. Next they placed a pot atop those stones and scooped some water out of a barrel. In no time at all, there was steam rising from the pot.

At that point they tossed in dried aria and poitan, only for Aldas to open up the small package and pause, tilting his head.

“Hmm? Now that I think about it, we were told this jerky was soft enough that you could just bite into it as is. Kinda feels like a waste to go throwing it into poitan soup.”

“Yeah, that mushy poitan soup will ruin the taste of the meat. But still, I don’t exactly want to go eating the stuff without any jerky in it at all...”

“Then how about we add half the normal amount of regular jerky into the pot, then we each get a half serving of the special stuff to chew on?” Aldas proposed.

Another of their comrades nodded, and started shaving off chunks of the normal jerky with a knife. As he tossed those into the boiling pot, yet another of the group added ground myamuu. Poitan soup was dull like muddy water, so if you didn’t add in herbs with a strong flavor or tau oil or something, it wasn’t all that edible.

“Hey, you’ve been saying ‘giba, giba’ for a while now. That’s not giba jerky, is it?” one of the bodyguards asked in a suspicious tone.

The men were both skilled swordsmen introduced to them through The Great Southern Tree. They were westerners who had come drifting in from some other town, and both had dark brown hair. Apparently they had originally been mercenaries, but their leather chest plates and sheathes all seemed quite high quality, clearly setting them apart from the sorts of ruffians you saw all throughout the post town.

“Ah, since you guys spent some time in Genos too, you must’ve heard tell about giba cooking, right? We ate at the stalls that sold the stuff each and every day.”

“We heard some rumors of course, but we never had any interest in actually eating the stuff. We’ll just use the jerky we brought along instead.”

“Hmm? You weren’t born in Genos, but you’ve still got an issue with giba?”

“Well, it’s not like you ever hear anything good about giba or the people of the forest’s edge, y’know?”

With that, Balan started getting annoyed.

“Then let me just ask, have any giba or folks from the forest’s edge ever caused you all trouble? If not, then you’re balking at the idea of giba meat over nothing but gossip, aren’t ya?”

“That’s not quite it, but I just can’t see any reason to go and eat something like giba meat of my own free will. I mean, if I eat it and it turns out it’s inedible and wrecks my stomach, then I won’t be able to carry out my job.”

“Hmph! You work as a bodyguard with a stomach that weak? Sure makes you sound awfully unreliable.”

Now it was the bodyguards knitting their brows.

Seeing that, Aldas interjected, “Come on, now. Nobody’s forcing you to eat giba meat. And we’ll add the cost of the jerky you eat to your payment. And Pops, there’s no reason to get so worked up, right...?”

“Hmph! What’s wrong with calling them unreliable when it’s true? If they’re afraid of dead giba, then what makes you think they can handle mundt or bandits?”

“Hey, that’s a little much.”

“Then just shut it and try some giba meat, already! And don’t go blaming me if it’s so tasty that your legs give out on you,” Balan retorted, snatching the bundle Aldas was holding and grabbing some of the specially prepared jerky. The slimy feel of it took him off guard, however. It had so much fat clinging to it that it was almost as if he was holding raw meat.

Looking at it closer, the inside of the package was coated with glossy suurub leaves. That must have been necessary thanks to just how fatty the jerky was.

“That’s jerky? That stuff’s clearly only been half dried.”

“Like we said, it was prepared special! It only lasts seven days, but in exchange, it preserves the natural tastiness of the meat!” Balan snapped back, biting into the chunk of jerky.

It certainly was soft enough to chew through even without boiling. It probably had around the same level of toughness as meat that had been thoroughly grilled.

As for the taste... it had left Balan at a loss for words.

It was incredibly salty. And it had a strong herb smell about it, too. It must have been made by drawing out the moisture with a heaping amount of salt, and then smoking it with herbs.

But it wasn’t lacking at all in that delicious giba meat flavor.

In fact, it felt more like the flavor had been condensed. When he bit into it, the fat came gushing out, filling him with an incomparable pleasure.

Despite being so salty, the taste of the meat itself most definitely remained. Apparently the flavor of giba was strong enough that even being heavily salted and doused in herbs couldn’t cover it up. At the very least, he certainly couldn’t imagine karon or kimyuus meat coming out the same even if you used a similar process on them.

“What is it, Pops? Asuta made that jerky special, so it couldn’t possibly have turned out bad, right?”

“O-Of course it didn’t! Hey, make way!” Balan suddenly declared, pushing aside the youth who was minding the flame and leaning in. He pulled out a knife and cut off a chunk of the meat he had bit into, then stabbed through the slice and held it out over the fire.

Fat started oozing out of it and dripping down. And as a satisfying sizzling sound came from the fire, a powerful aroma began to fill the air.

“Hey, that seriously smells just as delicious as normal grilled meat, doesn’t it?” one of the group stated, while having to swallow as his mouth was watering so much.

Balan pulled back his knife, blew on the freshly heated jerky, then tossed it into his mouth.

Just as he had expected, it tasted even better than just eating it cold.

It was just jerky made with salt and herbs, yet it was tasty enough to be a match for a full-fledged meal. After giving a hearty sigh, Balan just stood there unable to speak for a moment.

“Hey, Pops, don’t hoard it! Let us eat some too!”

“Hey, somebody go get the metal skewers!”

The members of the construction group looked about ready to brawl as they started splitting up the specially-prepared jerky.

The pot was moved to the side, so that numerous skewers could be held out above the flame. And the bodyguards looked downright astounded as they stared at the sight.

“Man, this is good!”

“It’s tasty enough that I’d pay coins to buy it from a stall. I sure do want to drink some fruit wine, though.”

“Hey, you’re eating too much there, aren’t you? Are you planning on eating all of it on the very first day?” Aldas chided while wearing a big grin on his face.

As Balan came back to his senses, he snatched back the bundle of jerky, shot his comrades who were behaving like children a sidelong glare, and then walked over towards the bodyguards.

“I was rude earlier, so sorry. I hope you’ll just brush it off as our way of doing things in Jagar and forgive me for that.”

“A-Ah, it’s no big deal...”

“But let me ask again... Would you two like to give this a try, too? As you can see, it’ll probably be gone by tomorrow, so it’s pretty much now or never. And I think there’s value in at least trying it.”

With that, the men shared a troubled look.

And as he looked at them, Balan smiled with the typical southern frankness.

“The people of the forest’s edge are westerners. That makes you countrymen, doesn’t it? And when your countrymen went and made something this delicious, it seems pretty darn stupid to go hating on it without even giving it a try. If you find it gross, then feel free to complain as much as you like. And if you think we’re trying to trick you, then just eat it and see.”

The men didn’t respond.

“Honestly, I’m jealous of you guys. After you deliver us to Nellwea, you’re returning to Genos, aren’t you? Go ahead and eat some of this so you can see just how blessed you really are,” Balan said, shoving the bundle at the men and then turning back to his group. “Hey, if you all are satisfied, then put the pot back over the flame! There’s still giba meat in there, after all! And so we want to make sure to eat every last drop of it, right?”

“Yeah!” his men cheerfully responded, throwing up their arms.

Balan and his men surely wouldn’t forget the deliciousness of giba meat before they visited Asuta again next year. And as they sipped away at the giba soup, they couldn’t help but wonder just how skilled the boy would grow by then.