Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 24 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2: A Great Upheaval

1

It was now the sixteenth of the gold month. We had finished our cooking lessons for the Ravitz clan and had a day off after, and now we were working in the post town again. This was the fourteenth day of our break period, and since months in this world also lasted around thirty days, as of tomorrow it would be half a month since it started. That would be the final day, and the end of the bloodletting and butchering lessons for the hunters.

Of course, the break period lasting half a month was really just an average, and it wasn’t as if the hunters needed to immediately go back to working full-time. It would take more than half a month for the supply of fruit in the forest to fully recover, so there still wouldn’t be all that much prey around. Even so, giba would still occasionally wander into the area, which made it necessary to set up traps and patrol the forest in order to ensure that those stray giba didn’t eat all the vegetation as it was regrowing. That period would last for another twenty to thirty days, giving the hunters some more time to take things a bit easier. My hope was that they would spend it together with their families and get some actual rest after all the extra work we’d had them doing.

As for us chefs, we would be giving lessons to the Suun clan starting today. The break period ending made little difference to us, so our plan was to spend the next five to seven days on this. Before that, though, we had our business in the post town. Starting today, we had a woman from the Ravitz clan assisting us as well. Despite Dei Ravitz’s disdain for the Fa clan, after consulting with the Naham and Vin clan heads, he had given his approval to sending us a woman to help out, which I was incredibly grateful for. And surprisingly, the one chosen for the task was none other than the head of the clan’s women, Lili Ravitz.

“Even though I’m sure I’ll come up short in all kinds of different ways, I look forward to working together,” Lili Ravitz had stated with a bow when she arrived at the Fa house at the agreed upon time.

This was the first time I’d had a woman of her age assisting us with business. We had women young and old assisting us with preparations at the Fa house, but when it came to working in the post town, the clans exclusively sent young women. Aside from Li Sudra and Ama Min Rutim, they had all been unmarried, and the oldest of them was likely the twenty-one-year-old Yamiru Lea, followed by the nineteen-year-old Fei Beim. That was how low the average age was.

Older women had an important role when it came to overseeing work around the house, and the younger folks were more flexible in their thinking, so they didn’t have as much of an aversion to interacting with townsfolk. Those were the two reasons why all of the other clans had so far chosen to send young women. But now we had Lili Ravitz.

“Actually, there don’t seem to be any real issues with her,” Fei Beim whispered to me while we were working.

Fei Beim was right. Lili Ravitz’s performance was proving to be satisfactory, and she was a hard worker. She was also polite and had a kindly demeanor, which made her well suited to dealing with customers. Since she was a little on the short side, we had needed to prepare something for her to stand on, but I thought that just added to her charm.

Of course, at present we were only having her accept payment and occasionally hand over giba manju, but she was showing some real aptitude. Perhaps spurred on by her gentle appearance, I noticed that a lot of our customers smiled at her, especially older women and young children.

Glancing at Lili Ravitz out of the corner of her eye, Fei Beim whispered again, “If I had to think of something to take issue with, it would be that she’s making me remember how clumsy and useless I used to be. I was a real mess, especially in the first few days.”

“You weren’t that bad. Lili Ravitz is pretty good at this, though.”

At this rate, she would be ready to move on to the next step after just a few days of training. We simply needed to take our time teaching her how to serve food and cook basic dishes. Everything was working out perfectly.

“If she can do the same work as the other women, does that mean you’ll be dismissing someone?” Yamiru Lea asked from the neighboring stall.

“I’m not sure,” I replied. At present, I was borrowing three women a day from among the Beim, Dagora, Gaaz, and Ratsu. If I added the Ravitz to the mix, we’d have to shift from four rotations to five.

“Why not go ahead and dismiss me? That would give the other women more work to do.”

“No, Rau Lea was insistent on having you help out... Besides, it’s really reassuring to have you around. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been having you take charge of the stalls a lot, especially since the revival festival.”

She offered no reply to that.

“Do you want to work with the Ruu clan’s stalls rather than mine, Yamiru Lea?”

“Not especially.” Ai Fa would have been frowning at this point, but Yamiru Lea remained cool and collected as she shrugged.

“Anyway, if we keep using seven chefs from the small clans each day, that’ll mean the Fa clan is going to have to send out two wagons daily. Considering how much luggage we have to bring with us, six people including the drivers seems like it’s probably the limit for us... Still, putting business concerns aside, I really would like to keep working with you, Yamiru Lea.”

“I understand. As long as the other women have no complaints, that’s fine.”

Yamiru Lea must have felt that she was somehow inferior to everyone else under the Ruu. But in my opinion, our current crew of four experienced permanent members supplemented by three rotating helpers was ideal.

Currently, Yun Sudra was the main person in charge of the restaurant space, and she could also sub in for Yamiru Lea. However, Toor Deen and Yamiru Lea weren’t very well suited to working on that side of our business. But on the other hand, they were skilled enough that I could easily leave running the stalls to them. Because I had such a solid group of four working for me, we were able to operate without any real issues, regardless of how much we had the other members on our team rotating in and out.

Honestly, I wish I could have given the Fou and Ran women a chance to experience working with us here during the break period. But I guess that’ll have to wait until next time.

Also, the Gaaz and Ratsu had apparently been saying they would like to have more work for their women too. Naturally, I wanted to have as many people as possible interact with the townsfolk, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea to shuffle my permanent workers around in order to fulfill their requests without careful consideration.

I continued to ruminate on the matter for a while as I worked, until I noticed a noble’s totos carriage approaching us for the first time in several days. I figured it probably had to be Polarth, but it was his maid who appeared instead.

“It has been some time, Sir Asuta.”

“Yeah, it has, Sheila. I guess you aren’t helping Yang out today. So, is Polarth not with you?”

“He is not. Lord Polarth has work he cannot postpone in the castle town, so he sent me on my own,” she said with a deep bow. “I am terribly sorry that my lacking explanation caused so much trouble the other day.”

“Huh? Oh, you mean about the dance party? That was just an unfortunate misunderstanding.”

“But did it not make Lady Ai Fa terribly angry when she found out?” Sheila asked, looking incredibly worried. For some reason, what Ai Fa thought seemed very important to her.

“She wasn’t angry with you or anything. In fact, she didn’t even seem all that reluctant when she decided to attend anyway.”

The matter had already been settled between Polarth and the leading clan heads. The event would be held on the twenty-sixth of the gold month, exactly ten days from today. After discussing things with the Ruu clan and the inn owners, I had made arrangements so that we would now take a break after five days of working instead of ten, which meant the party would take place right before our day off.

As for why I had shortened the interval between days off, it was because our daily sales had risen dramatically thanks to the revival festival, and the prep work we had to do had become pretty grueling, so I wanted to do something to take some pressure off us. Though they were able to handle it physically, working from morning till night like the women had been doing had been cutting into the amount of time they could spend with their families quite a bit. The risk of mental exhaustion was what had prompted me to make the change.

At any rate, the dance party was ten days away. After finishing up work in the post town, I would meet up with Ai Fa after seeing everyone back to the settlement at the forest’s edge, and then we would head to the castle town.

“So, what brings you here today? Has there been some sort of change in plans?”

“No. I have brought a tailor along today.”

“A tailor?” I repeated, thrown off by the unexpected word.

“Yes. Your measurements must be taken so that appropriate attire may be prepared for you to wear at the event.”

Well, this was unexpected.

“Er, I do remember someone saying something about the leading clan heads needing banquet attire. But what you’re talking about is making something custom for me from scratch, right?”

“Indeed. The hunters do not have many chances to come to town, but you at least could use a properly tailored outfit, Sir Asuta. My apologies, but it would make the lady of the house quite happy to gift you such an outfit.”

She was talking about Polarth’s mother, who was apparently a lot like Eulifia.

I chuckled dryly. “This is kind of awkward for me, but I’m guessing it would be pretty rude to refuse her request, wouldn’t it?”

Sheila smiled, but she was fidgeting a bit. Yeah, if I declined, Polarth’s mother was definitely going to reprimand her.

“Got it. Er, I’d like to be back here before the sun hits its peak. Is that possible?”

“Yes. Your shoulder width and leg length and the like can be measured in the carriage, so this should take less than a quarter of an hour.”

In this world, a quarter of an hour was around fifteen to twenty minutes.

Holding back a sigh, I stepped away from the stalls. “Sorry, can I ask you to handle things here for a bit?”

“Of course. With today’s menu, that should be no issue,” Fei Beim replied.

Today’s daily special was roast giba, so all she needed to do was sauté the vegetables that went with it, which would be no problem for her.

I noticed that Lili Ravitz was watching what I was doing with her Jizo-like stare. I was sure that she had heard about the dance party by now, but I would probably still have to explain it to her a bit more later.

Well, I guess this is just how the nobles do hospitality. I owe Polarth a lot, so the only thing I can do is gratefully accept, I thought as Sheila led me to the totos carriage. However, as I walked past the restaurant space, something suddenly occurred to me.

“Um, we have a woman here who will be attending the dance party as well, so what should we do about her?”

“Ah, is that so? In that case, please allow us to measure her as well. We already have fairly good estimates for the sizes of all those who will be participating, but knowing her measurements precisely will allow us to prepare something much more impressive for her.”

With that decided, I called out toward the restaurant, “Sorry Sheera Ruu, but could I have you come over here for a bit?”

“Yes? What is it?”

After handing the tableware she was holding to a Lea woman, Sheera Ruu approached us. In the end, the Ruu had decided that she could attend the party with Darmu Ruu as her partner. I couldn’t even begin to guess how that discussion had played out, but when she told me the outcome the next day, it had been with red cheeks and eyes full of determination.

“Measurements...? Very well. I can’t say that I fully understand, but if that is the custom in the castle town, then I shall accept.”

And so, Sheila guided us to the fine wooden totos-drawn carriage parked by the road out of town. Awaiting us inside were a number of elegant girls dressed in uniforms similar to Sheila’s. Sheera Ruu was led over to the other side of the cabin and a cloth curtain was pulled between us, meaning we could no longer see one another.

“Well then, please excuse me.”

With that, one of the women began measuring my sizes using something similar to a tape measure. Fortunately, I wasn’t asked to remove my clothing. She measured the width of my shoulders, the length of my arms, the distance from my neck to my hips and my hips to my ankles, as well as the circumference of my neck, torso, and thighs, and jotted it all down in a notebook.

“Um, this doesn’t mean I’m going to be the only one dressed in an elaborate outfit, right?”

“Of course not. That would be terribly rude to everyone else.”

I didn’t make a habit of getting all dressed up. Even before becoming a resident of the forest’s edge, I had spent nearly all my time in a school uniform, a chef’s uniform, or loungewear, and had hardly any clothes for going out at all. The thought of receiving custom-made party attire was making me feel incredibly bashful.

I suppose that means I really have no room to disagree with Ai Fa when she starts complaining about having to wear banquet attire... Still, she looks good in anything.

Shin Ruu had also looked great in the white military uniform he’d worn to the tea party. If you put something like that on me, I’d probably look downright ridiculous. Though we were around the same height, hunters of the forest’s edge tended to have long limbs and slim waists, and were all just incredibly good-looking. On top of that, Shin Ruu had refined facial features like those of an easterner, and with the way he was maturing, he seemed to look more gallant by the day.

Well, I’m not exactly trying to compete with anyone in terms of appearance, I thought to myself as I was made to wear a coat for measurements. It was a rather large undyed piece of clothing, with the girls adding temporary stitches to match it to the thickness of my arms and waist. It took quite a while to tailor even a single piece of clothing. Did nobles put in this much effort for each and every event?

“Thank you for your patience. We are now finished.”

“Good, thank you.”

I stepped outside to wait with Sheila, and Sheera Ruu appeared two or three minutes later.

“My apologies for interrupting you during such a busy time. The tailor will strive to make the best banquet attire possible for all of you, so I hope that you will be looking forward to it.”

“Yeah, I appreciate it.”

Sheila gave one more bow before boarding the carriage, and they soon departed, along with the cavalry escorting them.

I gave a little sigh and turned toward Sheera Ruu. “This is the first time we chefs have been invited to the castle town purely as guests. I’m not even a member of the leading clans, so I can’t help but feel awkward about it.”

“But without you, we never would have formed proper bonds with the nobles in the first place. I think it’s only natural for you to be invited.”

“It’s mostly the food that I’m looking forward to. And not just the food their head chef, Yang, will be making. They’re inviting outside chefs too, which makes me even more excited.”

“Yes, I totally agree,” Sheera Ruu said with a bashful smile. It seemed she’d been having to work hard to maintain her composure today, knowing that she would be attending the event alongside Darmu Ruu. I just smiled at her, figuring it would be better to not say anything about that.

“Well then, shall we get back to work?”

“Yes. It looks like the sun will be hitting its peak soon.”

We headed south down the road, to where the number of passersby started to rise, and were about to slip past the restaurant space when a wild voice called out, “Ah, you’re finally back! Hey, Asuta, over here!”

Rimee Ruu was jumping in the air and waving her hands. She had been on duty today along with Sheera Ruu.

“What’s up? Is there some sort of issue?”

“No, nothing like that! Come on, hurry!”

Rimee Ruu was always full of energy, but she seemed to be more flustered than usual. Feeling a little worried, I jogged over to the covered area with Sheera Ruu, where a group of men—tall figures, clad in long leather cloaks—were rising from their seats and moving to surround us.

I stepped back a bit, shielding Sheera Ruu as I said, “Wh-What’s going on?”

One of the figures stepped forward. They were really tall, each being at least 180 centimeters, and they were all easterners too.

“It has been, some time, Asuta,” a nostalgic voice calmly stated. With that, everything finally clicked.

“Yeah, it really has. You finally made it back.” My voice trembled. But really, no one there could blame me for that. And even if they did, I wouldn’t care. There was no way I could help how worked up I was feeling. It didn’t matter what anyone said.

“I am sorry, we are later, than scheduled.” The figure pulled back his hood, revealing long silver hair that shone brightly in the sunlight. “I am glad, to see you, once again, Asuta,” he said with a gentle smile that seemed to envelop me. It was the same smile he had shown me when we said farewell. There was a gentle light shining in his black eyes too.

The high bridge of his nose, his thin lips, his long and slender face, his tall and thin figure, and his worn leather cloak... They were all exactly as I remembered them.

After six months, I had at last reunited with my foreign friend, the leader of the merchant group known as the Silver Vase: Shumiral.