Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 17 - Chapter 3.2

2

“Sorry for the wait. Here is your grilled back and haunch steak.”

With that, two large platters giving off white steam were placed on each of the tables. Atop them sat freshly grilled karon meat, which was giving off a truly wonderful aroma. It really was quite the display, with each thirty-centimeter-diameter plate having a two-centimeter-thick slab of meat on it that was just about spilling out over the edges.

Which one was back meat and which was from the haunches? There didn’t seem to be any big differences visually. They must have been grilled on some sort of metal mesh rather than a tray, seeing how they had a lattice-like pattern on the surface.

As wooden plates and spoons were being distributed to everyone, Zasshuma said, “Now then...” as he picked up the provided knife. “You people of the forest’s edge are forbidden from eating food off the same plate as someone who isn’t a member of your house, yeah? So just hold on while I get some sliced off for all of you.”

“Ah, do you want me to take your place there?”

“Nah, it’s karon meat, so just leave it to me.”

Zasshuma seemed to really be enjoying himself, so I instead took on the role of passing out the meat that he sliced off.

As he held the huge steaks in place with wooden skewers, Zasshuma cut them up into pieces about two centimeters wide. Perhaps it went without saying, but he was quite skilled with the knife. His Dabagg heritage counted for more than just being born here.

I went around to each seat one after another, laying out the slices of meat in front of them. Just as I was finishing that up, the girl approached with another large plate.

“Here’s the fuwano you ordered. They’re still piping hot, so take care, all right?”

There was a heaping helping of baked fuwano on the plate. They looked like circular pizza crusts with nothing on them. The smell of the karon milk and milk fat that must have been kneaded into them before cooking stirred up my appetite even further.

“Well then, how about we dig in?”

With that signal from Zasshuma, we all picked up our wooden skewers. However, Dan Rutim looked rather disappointed.

“This meat was only half-cooked, wasn’t it?”

“Hmm? Ah, that’s proof that they used fresh meat. You tasted raw meat earlier in the day, right?”

“Hmm. You cannot eat giba meat unless it is thoroughly cooked. Still, wouldn’t this karon creature’s meat be tastier when fully grilled?” Even as he grumbled, Dan Rutim went ahead and popped the big chunk of meat into his mouth. When he started to chew, his thick eyebrows slowly unknitted themselves. “Hmm! This half-cooked meat does seem quite tasty, though.”

What Dan Rutim was calling half-cooked I would describe as medium rare. But at any rate, I went ahead and brought the meat up to my mouth with great anticipation.

Since the whole thing would be too big for my mouth, I bit off just around a third of it or so, and found that it was tender enough to chew through easily. The grilled surface had a nice and savory smell, and the meat was juicy on the inside. I had no complaints at all about the amount of meat juices, and the fat gave it a thick sweetness.

In terms of taste, it was a bit salty. But aside from that, I was getting a very direct meaty flavor. The taste overall reminded me of a rather high-quality sirloin steak.

“If you don’t think it’s got enough flavor to it, go ahead and spread this on it,” Zasshuma said, passing around a small jar. Packed inside was a bunch of raw minced myamuu.

I went ahead and added just a sprinkle atop the meat, and the flavor improved dramatically. If I were in a mood to be extravagant, I’d say I wanted to try it with the steak sauce I frequently made, but this alone was already plenty tasty.

When I bit into the other meat, I found this one didn’t have much fat, but in exchange it had a shockingly fine texture. Despite being nearly all red meat, it was every bit as tender as the prior cut. It was nice and refreshing, yet also bursting with flavor, and it reminded me of rump meat.

“Is this cut with less fat perhaps the haunch meat?”

“Yeah, it’s the haunches, or perhaps I should call it round steak. If you don’t smack them properly with a leather whip day in and day out, you can’t get meat this tender from their rears, right?”

Regardless of whether that statement was true or not, it sure was tasty. From the next table over, Myme loudly proclaimed, “It’s delicious! I’ve only ever had karon leg meat, so I had no idea the back and haunch meat was this tasty!”

“Yeah, you can’t get anything but leg meat in the Genos post town. But it’s good enough to make you want to eat it even if it costs twice as much, wouldn’t you say?” Zasshuma replied.

“That’s certainly true. I’m jealous of everyone living in the castle town!”

However, only Myme and Bartha were wearing such satisfied looks over at that table. In other words, the women of the forest’s edge were all chewing on the meat while looking indifferent.

“Hmm, you all look somehow unsatisfied. Are you missing giba meat after all?” Zasshuma asked.

Reina Ruu was the one to ultimately speak up for the group. “No, it isn’t as if we’re dissatisfied, exactly... It’s more that it seems like a shame that they only used salt and myamuu. If they sprinkled pico leaves over it early on and added a simple sauce, I think it would make quite a difference.”

“Oh, right, you people of the forest’s edge pickle your meat in pico leaves rather than salt. It’s true that they go real well with karon meat too, yeah.”

“Right. So while it may be tasty, that one point keeps coming to mind... And of course, we are indeed accustomed to eating giba meat, so I believe it better suits our tastes.”

“You don’t need to look so apologetic. I’m sure I’d feel the same way if I were to eat giba meat without any salt,” Zasshuma said with a hearty grin before gulping down some fruit wine. “Still, you really don’t feel anything, even after eating such fine karon? I have to say, that makes me a little curious about giba meat.”

Yes, even though he had visited our stalls countless times as both a bodyguard and a point of contact, Zasshuma had yet to take even a single bite of giba cooking. At first I figured it was because he had a strong aversion to giba meat as a westerner, but perhaps he was just a little too fond of karon.

“It’s true that if you asked me whether this or a giba steak was tastier, I’d choose the giba without any hesitation. That’s only natural, since we people of the forest’s edge are meant to eat the blessings of the forest,” Dan Rutim said, drinking down a cup of fruit wine in a single go. “And the same’s true for this fruit wine. It’s strangely sweet, and it seems pretty weak too. Just what sort of taste even is this, exactly?”

“It’s made by cutting it with ramam fruit juice and karon milk serum. If it’s not to your liking, how about trying out a different flavor for the next one?”

“Ooh, if there are different flavors, then I’d definitely like to give them a try!”

“I’m astounded. Have you already emptied a bottle? It may be thinned down, but it’s still around seventy percent wine, you know,” Bartha called out with a grin as she filled her own cup. Having noticed Sheera Ruu’s cup was also dry, she lifted up the girl’s bottle only for her eyes to shoot open wide. “Huh? You finished off your bottle already too?”

“Yes. It has less alcohol in it than the fruit wine we drink at the forest’s edge. No wonder it was so easy to get down.”

So she said, but mamaria fruit wine likely had the same alcohol content as wine from back in my world. Even if it was cut with fruit juice, it was still shocking that Sheera Ruu had the same gentle smile on her face as always after emptying out an entire liter-sized container of the stuff.

“Then I guess we’ll be getting three more bottles. Hey, could we get three bottles of fruit wine cut with arow?!”

As Zasshuma went ahead and placed a new order, I helped myself to a fuwano. It was puffier than poitan bread, and since it was prepared using karon milk and milk fat rather than water, it had a real milky flavor. Honestly, it felt somewhat like a dessert, as if they had made pancakes without any sugar or eggs.

“Here are the bottles of fruit wine cut with arow you ordered. Plus the vegetables soaked in milk and the dried milk pot melt.”

With that, new bottles and a large plate were laid out, along with one small pot for each of us. Atop the plate were vegetables coated in some sort of viscous white substance. And the milk fat pot melt seemed to be pretty much just what the name suggested.

“Pot melt is made by tossing steamed vegetables into this little pot. As for the vegetables in milk, well...I figure it would be quicker to have you eat it rather than trying to explain.”

I was put in charge of distributing the vegetables soaked in milk for my table, while Rimee Ruu did the same for the women. The vegetables used were aria, tino, and nenon, and the white substance on top had a texture similar to yogurt.

When I gave it a sniff, I found it had a faintly sour smell. As it was an ingredient I hadn’t seen even in the Genos castle town, I went ahead and took a bite of the tino with great curiosity.

Sure enough, the sourness really did cause yogurt to come to mind. There was a saltiness too, but the sweetness and mellow flavor provided by the karon milk was stronger. On top of that, there was something refreshing about the taste that completely cleansed my palate of the fat from the grilled meat.

As for the all-important vegetables, they were pleasantly soft, and the sourness, sweetness, and saltiness of the yogurt-like stuff had soaked into them. This was undoubtedly a fermented food. Though the smell wasn’t all that strong, it had a pretty similar feel about it to vegetables pickled in fermented rice bran. Overall, though, the taste probably had the closest resemblance to something lightly pickled in yogurt.

“It’s nothing fancy, but this is also technically a specialty of Dabagg. I know plenty of folks out there aren’t too fond of it, but it goes well with karon meat, doesn’t it?”

“It’s good. Or at least, I like it well enough. Just what did you do to prepare karon milk like this, though?”

The answer to that question didn’t come from Zasshuma, but rather Mikel.

“They squeeze the karon milk into a sausage casing. Sausaged milk picks up sourness and stickiness, and becomes less likely to spoil. Once that’s done, they take salted vegetables and soak them in the stuff.”

“Ooh, you can use karon milk to do that?” Myme questioned with a greatly interested smile, only to hold her tongue with a look that seemed to say “Whoops.” But after staring at her father’s displeased face for a bit, she timidly continued on, “They’re all tasty, aren’t they...?”

“That’s true,” Mikel quietly replied, at which Myme broke out in a relieved smile. It looked like they might have been reaching a ceasefire in their father/daughter fight, even without me awkwardly interjecting.

“Make sure to eat the pot melt before it gets cold, okay? If you lollygag, the dried milk will turn solid again,” Zasshuma loudly called out, as if to mediate.

I was just as interested in the dried milk pot melt as I had been with the vegetables soaked in milk. The pot it came in was just big enough to fit a whole fist inside, and was filled to the brim with gooey dried milk. Though it wasn’t as expensive as gyama, karon dried milk was still supposed to be a high-class ingredient, so the food served here would have to be considered top quality too. But in the end, it turned out the dish really was just melted dried milk with steamed vegetables tossed into it. It used aria, nenon, and tino, the same three vegetables that had been served in the yogurt dish, and at least at a glance the pot melt seemed similar to a cheese fondue with the stuff you’d dip in it already added.

There were no issues when it came to the taste. Since it was still in a nice gooey melted state after all this time, I had to figure they used at least a bit of something else in addition to dried milk. But when I asked, Zasshuma tilted his head while taking a bite and said, “I’m not sure. I believe they normally use fuwano flour and milk serum, but I don’t really know all that much about it. It’s not like they ever make something this extravagant on the ranch.”

“What is this milk serum you’re mentioning? I believe you mentioned before that it was mixed in with the fruit wine too.”

“Milk serum’s the liquid left over when you make dried milk. Apparently, noble ladies rub the stuff onto their skin, along with milk fat.”

It sounded like whey. I wasn’t all that familiar with cheese production, but if I wasn’t mistaken, it was the same sort of liquid that was separated from yogurt.

“Karon milk seems to have a lot of different uses. It’s interesting stuff,” Reina Ruu chimed in.

Sheera Ruu and Toor Deen also seemed very intrigued, while Rimee Ruu pecked away at the two dishes while looking real cheerful. It seemed the chefs from the forest’s edge were much more interested in these dishes than the simple karon steaks.

As the meal continued, the boiled leg meat was delivered. The karon meat had been cut into bite-sized cubes, and boiled in white milk. Though it was a boiled dish, it wasn’t really a soup, though it didn’t seem all that different from the leg meat milk soup I had proposed for The Kimyuus’s Tail.

When I went ahead and gave it a try, I found that it was good too. The leg meat was sinewy and didn’t have much fat, but it had gotten nice and soft after being thoroughly boiled. It was as tender as what was in the leg meat soup dish I made, so they most likely had let the meat marinate in the milk for a while as part of the preparations, just like I did.

Plenty of juices from the leg meat seeped out into the dish, and blended well with the sweetness and mellowness of the milk. Aside from that, I could also detect salt, and also a faint umami taste from the vegetables.

“Seems they used aria and nenon in this,” Mikel mumbled from across the table. “There isn’t anything solid left of them, so they must have been finely minced and boiled until they dissolved. It’s a good dish that didn’t cut any corners.”

“I agree. If I had to say, though, I think it could be perfected with a few more flavors layered in the dish,” I chimed in, at which point Mikel looked straight at me with a firm look in his eyes.

“Asuta, what would you add to this dish, then?”

“Me? I would go with pico leaves to start with.”

“Pico leaves, huh?” Mikel repeated, stroking his angular jaw as he thought. “You use pico leaves in a lot of your dishes. That seems to be how you do things, rather than just being because you have them close at hand.”

“Right. Back in my home country, we had a spice similar to pico leaves that was just as important as salt when it came to crafting flavors.” Pico leaves were an ingredient that was similar to black pepper, so it went without saying that it was a cornerstone of many of my dishes.

“Hmm. I’d certainly agree that it would help firm up the taste of this dish just by adding pico leaves. Submerging a single fresh leaf in it alone may be plenty.”

“So if it were you, Mikel, then what would you add?” I asked back, only for Mikel to hold his tongue with his usual sour look as he turned his gaze toward his daughter, who was having a friendly chat over at the other table. Getting the gist of what he was thinking, I went ahead and threw that same question Myme’s way.

“One more flavor to add to this dish? Let’s see... If it were me, I think I would boil it with kimyuus bones.”

“Kimyuus bones? I see. I really need to make more use of bones myself, rather than relying entirely on expensive dried fish and seaweed.”

“Asuta, I’ve actually had a thought about that,” Sheera Ruu called out from quite a few seats away. “We’ve been following Mikel’s teachings and spending a long time making jerky at the Ruu settlement too. What about using that time to also try boiling giba bones?”

“I see. So you’re thinking if you have to stay there and watch the flames anyway, you can take care of both at the same time, huh? That’s a good idea.”

In that case, it was possible I could tackle the giba bone soup I had wanted to experiment with for a while now. When you didn’t have a pressure cooker to work with, making a genuine bone soup required that you keep boiling for a long, long time. I was never able to make the time for it, but if the Sudra and Fou clans who had taken up smoking meat could handle the task, then there was still hope.

“Yeah, that’s great. I’ll try bringing it up to the folks from the nearby clans too.”

“Right,” Sheera Ruu replied with a gentle smile. No matter how much alcohol she drank, her wisdom didn’t seem clouded in the least.

“That’s a gathering of chefs for you. And man, I’m getting more and more interested in the cooking you all make,” Zasshuma jovially chimed in, his face rather red. “Now then, we’ve more or less cleaned our plates, but our bellies are still far from full, right? So what sort of dish do you want to try out next?”

“Zasshuma, if it’s possible to get karon ribs, then I’d like to try those!” Dan Rutim responded.

“And I would like to try whatever dish uses the greatest number of ingredients,” Reina Ruu added.

“Hmm...” Zasshuma pondered in response to their requests. “Then how about I request flame-broiled rib meat and a soup or something? It sure is great, being able to order without needing to worry about how many coins you’re spending.”

The rib meat that was brought out had been cooked together with myamuu that still had their stems attached and milk fat, and the karon milk soup was made using offal.

The ribs were just plain tasty, while the soup was fairly intricate. The vegetables, of course, were still just aria, tino, and nenon, and the base was the karon milk we were now familiar with, but it had kimyuus egg and maru pickled in salt and the like added in, creating quite the extraordinary taste.

As far as seasonings went, they only used salt, and they hadn’t employed any herbs aside from myamuu. Perhaps it was the karon stock that helped to bring it all together even so, or maybe they used whey here too. At any rate, even though the people of the forest’s edge had plenty of complaints during the taste testing in the castle town, they were having no such trouble with tonight’s dinner.

Though none of them were all that complex, everyone seemed fairly satisfied with all the various karon dishes we didn’t have in Genos. Even Ai Fa and Deem Rutim, who had been silent and expressionless the whole time they were eating, seemed perfectly willing to clear their plates.

“Well, are you all feeling satisfied?” Zasshuma asked.

“Yes,” Reina Ruu calmly replied with a nod. “There are more people who can make delicious meals even in the Genos post town lately, but I believe that’s due to all the various ingredients they can now use. I’m sure it’s no small feat to be able to make dishes this good without using tau oil or herbs.”

“Right, I had heard that they were using all sorts of ingredients in the Genos post town lately like they do in the castle town... Still, I’m not fond of how folks from Genos use way too many herbs and seasonings. It ruins the karon meat.”

“Yes, I feel the same way... Aside from the dishes made by that Varkas chef, that is.”

In other words, this cooking from Dabagg suited Reina Ruu’s tastes better than the stuff Yang and Timalo made. On top of that, she was saying that Naudis and Nail were able to unveil such tasty dishes lately because of ingredients from Jagar and Sym... I had no major objections to her conclusion.

“I’m sure that here in Dabagg, they’ve focused solely on figuring out how to use karon. When you have access to so much high-class meat, it may just make sense not to seek out complicated flavors.”

“Right. They just use karon meat and milk, and not many vegetables at all, much less seasonings. Trying to use limited ingredients to make the most delicious dish you can... That’s what you do, isn’t it, Mikel and Myme?” Reina Ruu said, turning her gaze toward the grumpy former chef as he silently chewed his karon meat.

Instead, Myme energetically replied from right across from her. “You can only buy torso meat in the castle town in Genos, but it’s easy to get ahold of as much karon milk as you please, so when I get back home, I’d love to try using it!”

“Right. It may be about time for the Ruu clan to start buying karon milk too.”

It was rare to see Reina Ruu and Myme talking directly to one another like that. But naturally, I didn’t sense any competitive spirit between them. Instead, it was Toor Deen who was staring intently at the face of her similarly aged rival seated beside her.

Rimee Ruu wore her usual carefree smile as she sat there next to Ai Fa, and Sheera Ruu had quite the serious look on her face as she slurped the soup. It seemed that all the other chefs were also fully absorbing the cuisine of Dabagg.

It really was worth it to come all the way out here to Dabagg. I’ll have to make sure to thank Donda Ruu again when we get back to the forest’s edge, I thought to myself.

Just then, Dan Rutim loudly proclaimed with a grin from next to me, “You sure do like to talk about all sorts of tricky little matters, don’t you?! Personally, just having tasty food and wine is plenty! Speaking of which, Zasshuma, it looks like the wine’ll be gone before much longer...”

“Well then, how about trying out a kiki juice wine next?” With a smile, Zasshuma called out to the girl working the dining hall. But when he did, a new group came walking on over. They were five men who had just come in and were now seated at a table next to ours.

“Oooh, check out all the beauties at the next table over. Looks like we got some good seats,” one of the men loudly announced, sounding like he had already had some drinks.

They had swords hanging from their hips and seemed like a pretty disgusting lot. It wasn’t rare to see folks like them in the Genos post town, but groups of ruffians like this didn’t seem common in Dabagg.

The girl working the floor seemed rather intimidated, as she darted off as soon as she took Zasshuma’s order. After watching her go out of the corner of his eye, one of the men approached the table of women.

“What, is it just you girls drinking and having some fun? We just happen to be a group of all men, so we’re really lacking that nice sensual feel over there. What do you say to sharing a drink with us?”

“Sorry, but these ladies are with us,” Zasshuma cheerfully called out, exercising some restraint.

One of the men, an especially nasty-looking specimen, went “Eh?” and furrowed his brow. “What are you, a group of hunters? As if you could sell any meat other than karon here in Dabagg.”

“They are here not as hunters, but as bodyguards for the trip, so if you make too much of a fuss, you’re not going to like how things turn out.” Since Zasshuma was taking such a relaxed tone, perhaps he was trying to de-escalate the situation. However, that unfortunately did nothing to quell the disquieting aura lingering about the men.

“I don’t know where out in the sticks you crawled out of, but hunters should stick to their mountains where they can wallow in the dirt. Dried milk pot melt is way too nice of a meal for guys like you.”

“Oh? I was born here in Dabagg, but this place is about as remote as you can get, wouldn’t you say? Why don’t you fellows just settle down and enjoy some of this town’s famed karon cooking?”

“Wait a second, they’re people of the forest’s edge, aren’t they...?” a small man with a scar on the cheek of his rodent-like face chimed in, his voice dripping with ill will. “Look, those are giba pelts they’ve got on, and their skin is weirdly dark. So they’ve finally started showing their faces even outside of Genos?”

“Oooh, so they’re giba eaters? I’d heard the people of the forest’s edge were half-beast savages, but these women sure are sexy.”

Finally, that disquieting feel in the air reached a peak, but the only ones out of our group who were visibly shaken were me and Myme. Rimee Ruu was staring blankly, but the rest of the women just calmly kept on eating. That was no surprise, as the women of the forest’s edge were accustomed to dealing with ruffians.

However, that only served to stoke the men’s aggression. The little man with the scar on his cheek in particular rose from his seat and started moving over toward the women.

“Hey, weren’t you all caught acting like bandits not that long ago? I’m amazed criminals like you are allowed to travel to other towns.”

“The criminals from the forest’s edge have all been judged. I believe the Genos castle should have sent out an official notification saying as much,” Reina Ruu calmly replied without even glancing his way. Instantly, the small man’s face went red for a reason entirely unrelated to alcohol.

“You’ve got quite the tongue, don’t you, little lady? If you’re looking to earn some coins, then how about we show you a real nice way to do it?”

“U-Um, is something the matter out here?” the inn’s owner asked, clearly flustered. It seemed the waitress had gone and fetched him, sensing trouble in the air.

The large man reclining in his chair behind the small fellow angrily retorted, “Aw, shut it. Just bring us some booze already. I mean, just how long are you gonna keep your customers waiting, exactly?”

“O-Of course, but you seem to be causing trouble for the other customers, so...”

“What trouble?! Just shut your mouth and go get our booze!” the large man shouted as he kicked over an empty chair, causing the innkeeper to yelp and shrink backward. It seemed he wasn’t any more skilled at handling ruffians than I was. And now, the customers who had been enjoying their meals at the other tables were all murmuring and staring our way.

“To our people, dinner is a sacred act in which we gain the vital energy needed to live another day. What else would we call disrupting such an act, besides trouble?” A voice as cold and sharp as steel cut through the danger lingering in the air. It had come from Ai Fa, who was sitting diagonally across from Reina Ruu. With a nasty look in his eyes, the little man swiftly turned her way.

“What’s this, a woman playing at being a hunter? And you’re a real looker too.”

Ai Fa did not dignify his statement with a response.

“How about you keep me company, then? If you just take off that dirty pelt, I—” the little man started saying as he reached out toward Ai Fa.

The second the tip of his finger brushed against Ai Fa’s shoulder, though, he suddenly disappeared from my field of view. Ai Fa had grabbed hold of his wrist, then pulled him swiftly down to the floor.

“You bitch!” the big man shouted, shooting up from his chair. When my clan head saw him reach for the blade at his hip, she swiftly kicked up high with her right leg while remaining seated. Having taken the blow right on his solar plexus, the large fellow also collapsed to the floor.

At the same time, the sound of something shattering rang through the air. It came from a fruit wine bottle Bartha had thrown, which hit another man right smack in the middle of his forehead. As the man fell beside the table, I spied that his hand was gripping a drawn dagger.

“What a class act you guys are, drawing a weapon in the middle of a dining hall. And isn’t it against the law to pull a blade here in Dabagg?” Bartha challenged. The remaining two men’s faces went from red to pale as a sheet as they started trembling. “Now then, you wanna continue till every last one of you hits the floor? Personally, we just want to keep eating our dinner in peace.”

“Good grief. Cloddish lump heads like you guys don’t belong in Dabagg at all,” Zasshuma chimed in with a daring grin. “You entered town after a proper examination, right? Otherwise, it’ll be serious trouble for you guys if you don’t get out of here before the guards come...”

As the small man staggered to his feet, he shot Zasshuma and Ai Fa blazing glares. But then, without any further words, he pushed past the other customers and fled the dining room. The other men lent their shoulders to their injured allies and followed after him.

“They must have been outlaws who hopped over the fence. Should we have beaten them to a pulp and handed them over to the guards after all?” Zasshuma asked, turning toward the innkeeper.

“Oh, most certainly not!” the man shrieked back. “If they were actually guilty of something, then I’m sure they’ll just flee Dabagg entirely. I’m just glad there wasn’t any bloodshed.”

“You don’t mind if we stay here at the inn as planned, do you?”

“Of course not! I will go ahead and alert the guards about those men to be safe, so please take it easy and relax.”

The innkeeper darted off in a hurry after saying that, and the tension lingering throughout the dining hall finally dispersed.

“Good grief, that was quite the hassle... Still, you hunters of the forest’s edge really are as stoic as the rumors say. I was surprised that you didn’t budge in the least through all that,” Zasshuma said.

“Hmm? You mean us?” Dan Rutim asked back as he scooped out the contents of his pot with a spoon, sounding confused. “Our seats were so far away, though! It would have been over before we could stand up anyway, so it didn’t seem worth the effort.”

“You’re really something. All of you. If that’s how it is, then I won’t have to lift a finger except as a guide for the rest of the trip,” Zasshuma said, cheerfully drinking his wine cup dry.