Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 25 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4: A Day Back at Work

1

The seventeenth of the brown month... That was the day I returned to my work at the stalls in the post town.

This was two days after my visit to the Sauti settlement, or twelve days after I had collapsed from illness. I could now spend as much time as I wanted outside the house without ever showing any indication of becoming seriously exhausted, so I had finally made the decision to properly get back into the swing of things.

Ai Fa would also be going back to hunting starting today. When I finished my morning prep and went to leave the Fa house that morning, I thought she looked even more gallant than usual as she saw me off. The only thing she said to me was “Let’s both get to work,” but that alone was enough to make me more excited to go do my job than ever.

“Well then, let’s get going.”

Yun Sudra was holding Gilulu’s reins in my place. Since the Fa were sending out two wagons today, Fafa’s was following along behind us. The other people riding in our wagon included Toor Deen, Lili Ravitz, and the young Matua girl.

“I’m so glad to see how well you’ve recovered, Asuta. If work starts to get too hard for you, be sure to speak up and don’t push yourself, okay? Though I guess it might be presumptuous of a newcomer like me to offer such advice,” the thirteen-year-old Matua girl said, smiling at me. As a trainee, she worked the stalls every day, and naturally ended up visiting me daily in turn.

“Right, thanks. I’m sorry I only ended up looking after you for those first two days, though.”

“No, think nothing of it. I can’t say I wouldn’t have wanted you to teach me personally... But even so, thanks to Toor Deen and Yun Sudra, I’ve become skilled enough to not feel embarrassed by my work. I’m really looking forward to seeing whether you judge me ready to stand on my own today.”

She and the Meem woman had started training at the start of the rainy season, and their pay would remain low until they were recognized as full-fledged employees. Of course, it wasn’t like they were all that worried about the money. Her earnest smile made that clear enough.

Next to her, Toor Deen was wiping her eyes stealthily. When I’d told her I would be working the stalls again as of today, happy tears had once again started flowing down her cheeks.

“I’m certainly glad it wasn’t any worse... I look forward to working with you again, Asuta,” Lili Ravitz quietly stated from her position, seated separately from everyone.

With a bow of my head, I replied, “I’m looking forward to working with you too.”

She looked like a calm Jizo statue, as always, and I still couldn’t tell what she was thinking. But from what Ai Fa had said, even though she only worked the stalls once every three days, she had inquired as to how I was doing each time she visited the Fa house.

After around twenty minutes or so, we arrived at the Ruu settlement. We stopped for a bit to see if anyone would want to ride along with us, at which point the Min and Muufa women approached our wagons.

“Um, I know this will change our usual distribution, but could we ride in this wagon?”

“Yes, of course. It’s rare for you two to ride with us.”

These women worked for the Ruu clan on a semialternating schedule, along with one other from the Lea clan, with two of them selected to work each day.

“Everyone else has already had a chance to talk to you, so they let us ask to go with your group instead. It really is good to see you looking well, Asuta.”

“If too many of us came to see you, we knew it would have inconvenienced you, so we didn’t visit the Fa house, but everyone from the Min clan is overjoyed that you’re feeling better.”

The nearby clans, the Ruu, the Rutim, and even people like them who I didn’t have close ties with had all had so many kind words for me. When I asked them about their request, they told me that Sheera Ruu had suggested they ride with us, as we didn’t have many chances to talk while working. I was grateful for how considerate she was, feeling more and more content as we headed toward the post town.

There was yet another commotion once we did arrive. When we arrived at our first stop, The Kimyuus’s Tail, Telia Mas was there, and she immediately started crying, while Milano Mas grabbed ahold of me with incredible speed.

“Hey?! Are you feeling all better now?!”

“Y-Yes. Sorry for worrying you.”

“I can’t believe you. You’re already almost fully grown, so how’d you go and catch Amusehorn’s breath of all things?!”

It was like I was being chastised for some sort of betrayal or something. Still, that just went to show how concerned Milano Mas had been for me. It was hard for me to keep from crying myself as he shook me back and forth by my shoulders.

Telia Mas broke out in a tearful smile as she watched the two of us. “I really am glad. I kept thinking about stopping by your house to see how you were doing. But even if I did, I couldn’t have done anything to help.”

“Those words alone are plenty. Thank you so much, Telia Mas, Milano Mas.”

“Hmph!” Milano Mas snorted, finally letting me go. Then, he shot me an angry glance as he looked me over. “So, you really are all back to normal?”

“Yes. It’ll still take a few more days to fully regain my original stamina, but I figure I’m at a point where I can work as long as I keep an eye on my condition.”

“So you’ve come strolling into town when you’re still not fully recovered?!”

“Ah, no, I’m only talking about my stamina... There’s really no need to worry.”

After somehow managing to calm an overly excited Milano Mas, we were finally able to pick up our stalls.

The Ruu clan was taking care of delivering food to the other inns today, so I figured I would check in with the rest of the inn owners after work. That meant our next destination was Dora’s shop...and when he saw me, he grabbed my hands and started shedding manly tears.

“Asuta! You’ve finally made it back to town! Everyone told me there was no need to worry, but still...I’m just so glad!”

Though he usually looked fairly stern, his face was now a mess of tears and snot. His adorable daughter, Tara, then slipped past him to hug me, wearing her rain gear.

“It’s been so long, Asuta! You look like you’re doing way better!”

“Yeah, thanks. Are you doing okay, Tara?”

“Yup!”

Unlike her father, she had greeted me with a bright smile, and though we were both wearing rain gear, she rubbed her little head up against my chest. Sandwiched between the emotional father-daughter pair, I was starting to tear up too.

“I’m so glad... I felt like my heart would give out on me those first few days! I ended up going to the temple of Selva that’s not far from here every single day, even though I normally never go anywhere near the place!”

“Yeah, we prayed at the temple every day! We asked Selva not to take your soul away! Since Amusehorn’s sleeping, we had to pray to his child, Selva.”

“Thanks. I’m feeling all better now.”

Just as I was thinking I might need to pull my hood down over my eyes to hide my tears, Dora finally let go of my hands.

“It’s going to be like this everywhere you go today, Asuta, so you’d best prepare yourself! Now then, which vegetables would you like to buy today?” After nonchalantly wiping my eyes, I went ahead and ordered the veggies we needed. “By the way, this is finally the last of my tino and tarapa! We’ll be able to harvest our first crop of rainy season vegetables in the next few days, so I hope you’ll order some then!”

“Right. I’ll definitely do that. But I’ll have to bring some back home first so I can figure out how to use them to make something good.”

Now that I thought about it, nearly half a month had passed since the beginning of the rainy season. Since Dora’s tarapa, tino, and pula were all sold out as of today, that meant I would finally need to drastically change up the menu at the stalls.

“See you later! Tara and I will stop by your place when the sun nears its peak!”

“Okay. We’ll be waiting for you.”

With that, we headed to the far north with our wagons and stalls in tow.

As we walked, Yun Sudra shot me a smile. “He was right about how this sort of thing is going to keep happening today. We’re stopping by the other inns on our way back, right?”

“Yeah, of course. I need to go see all of the people who have helped me out.”

With that, my first work shift in around twelve days kicked off.

Of course, I was the only one who had taken time off, and things at the stalls were unchanged. The customer traffic was still on the low side because of the rainy season, so you could definitely say we had a peaceful day at work.

I kept on getting familiar customers nonchalantly calling out to me, “Hey, so you’re finally back, eh?” All they had been told was that I had fallen ill and would be gone for a few days, but even so, I still felt incredibly grateful whenever I spoke to one of them.

The next big commotion came after we made it past our modest morning rush. Yumi arrived in rain gear that was every bit as colorful as what the women of the forest’s edge wore, and when she peered into my stall, she got all excited.

“Asuta! You’re okay now?! Really?! I heard you might not be back for a while!”

“Ah, yeah. I figured if I gave a date and didn’t return by then, it would make people worry for no reason, so we just didn’t. Sorry to have worried you, Yumi.”

“You sure did! Jeez. I was actually kind of scared there for a bit, not knowing what was going on with you!” Underneath the hood of her rain gear, I could see a radiant smile on Yumi’s face. “Telia Mas and I talked about coming to see you so many times! But I heard you were still all skinny even after your fever came down, so I decided not to! I’d totally break down crying if I saw you like that!”

“Ah ha ha, I see.”

“It’s not funny! I was seriously worried about you!” Despite her words, Yumi was laughing too. Though the ways they expressed it differed, everyone really had been concerned about me. Having been hit with one wave of happiness after another all day, my chest was starting to feel tight from the sheer joy of it all.

“Still, I sure am glad! Is Diel gonna show up today, do you think? She was super worried too!”

“Oh, so Diel heard about my sickness too? I guess since I was away for over ten days, she must have stopped by the stalls once or twice.”

“Yeah, but she seemed to know about your sickness right from the start. There were probably rumors about it in the castle town.”

Rather than rumors, she had probably heard about it directly from Polarth. He would have been a part of the discussions with the leading clan heads regarding the northerners, which had been starting up around then, so my situation had probably been mentioned to him right away.

“You still look a bit skinny there, Asuta.”

“Ah, you can tell? I think I’m mostly back to normal from the neck on up.”

“Your neck looks skinnier too! You were already skinny to begin with, so you’ve got to eat properly and get some meat back on your bones, okay?”

“Sure thing. I’m eating well every day, so I’ll probably be back to normal soon enough.”

There were no more customers arriving, so Yumi decided to hang around in front of my stall for a while. As we were chatting, she suddenly leaned in close to me and whispered, “By the way, I heard an easterner asked Vina Ruu to marry him and moved into the settlement at the forest’s edge. Is that true?”

“Yeah, it is. Apparently, he received permission from the lord of the land to do so.”

“Huh?! You need permission from the duke to live at the forest’s edge?!”

“That’s right. There’re a lot of things that are special about it, after all. We don’t need to pay taxes, for example, so it’d cause a whole lot of trouble if anyone from town were allowed to move there. That’s why Myme and Mikel are still officially citizens of the Turan lands, and are only staying at the forest’s edge as guests.”

“Hmm, I see. Sounds complicated... By the way, what did that easterner need to do to be accepted as a person of the forest’s edge?”

“He had to meet the baseline qualifications for living as one of our people... Oh, and he showed his resolve by changing gods from Sym to Selva.”

“Oh, so he’s a westerner now, not an easterner... Well in that case, what should someone who’s a westerner to begin with do to show their resolve?”

At this point, I finally started having questions.

“What exactly are you talking about, Yumi? Do you know someone who wants to live at the forest’s edge?”

“Huh? Yeah, me. You didn’t hear that from Ai Fa?”

“N-No, I haven’t! What’s that all about?”

“Eh? It was a big monumental decision for me to open up about that! Did you not tell him either, Toor Deen?”

The girl in question was selling giba curry at the neighboring stall. She looked rather bewildered by the attention suddenly being directed at her. “N-No. I thought since it was so important to you, it would be bad to spread it around carelessly. I’m sure Ai Fa and Yun Sudra felt the same way.”

“Oh, I see! I’m just glad you didn’t think it was some random nonsense,” Yumi remarked with an amused chuckle, prompting Toor Deen to give a troubled laugh in return.

“I’m shocked. When did you talk about that, anyway? Actually, I can only recall seeing you and Ai Fa talking to each other a handful of times.”

“It was at that one party, the welcome banquet put on by the Ruu clan! The men and women split up to sleep, right? We all talked about it then!”

That had been over two months ago. It was a shock to hear that such an important conversation had happened that far back.

“It’s not like I have any specific plans or anything, though! It’s just that the forest’s edge seems fun, and there are lots of handsome men there, so it felt like it might be a nice place to live! What do you think, Asuta?”

“What do I think...? I’m shocked you’d make a decision like that just because it sounds a bit nice.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not like I’ve made up my mind yet or anything! I don’t even know if any of the guys there would take a girl like me for a wife to begin with!” Yumi seemed so utterly carefree.

I thought about my next words carefully as I stared at her earnest smile. “I see... Well, I certainly don’t think it would be easy. Still, putting all the difficulties that would be involved aside, it makes me glad to hear you think that way.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“Yeah. I’m really happy to hear you think it’d be fun to live at the forest’s edge. Especially since you’re a native child of Genos.”

“Yup. If my folks heard about this, they’d probably topple over,” Yumi remarked, laughing for a bit and then shrugging. “Well, whatever. I can worry about it once I find a guy I like. Anyway, for today, I think I’ll go with curry! Does the dish you’re selling pair with curry, Asuta?”

“Yeah, I think they should go together okay.”

I was selling today’s special, a meat and vegetable stir-fry in the style of twice-cooked pork. Since we weren’t getting many customers, I figured it would be good to serve dishes that could be left to sit for a while.

During my absence, Yun Sudra had handled the giba curry, while Toor Deen had done her best to think up daily specials. Reina and Sheera Ruu had also helped out, and they’d somehow managed to make it through those twelve days.

“I’m shocked to hear someone from town would ask to marry into the forest’s edge! Not that long ago, everyone looked down at us and called us ‘giba eaters,’” the Matua girl commented after Yumi disappeared into the outdoor restaurant space. She sounded impressed.

It certainly was surprising to hear. Shumiral had fallen for Vina Ruu first, but he hadn’t decided to ask her to marry him until some time later. However, in Yumi’s case, her interest in living at the forest’s edge had come first, which was even more shocking in a way.

Of course, it would be far from easy, and Yumi didn’t seem all that serious about it at the moment. Still, her nonchalance actually made me even happier. It felt reassuring, somehow. Yumi was a native of Genos who had really looked down on the people of the forest’s edge at first, so her attitude had changed a lot since then. All sorts of changes have been happening. Even ones I haven’t noticed. 

I could hear Yumi happily chatting away in the restaurant space. Since my return, Yun Sudra had gone back to working on that side of the business, and I could hear her laughing too.

After that, Dora and Tara arrived as promised, and time slowly passed on by. It was just starting to look like we were somehow going to sell all of the food we had prepared when the merchants of the Silver Vase showed up at our stalls.

“Asuta, I see that, you have returned, to work. Congratulations, on your recovery,” Radajid said with an expressionless bow of his head.

“Thank you,” I replied with a bow of my own. “I heard that you all came out to the Fa house, which I really appreciate too. I was still delirious with fever at the time, though.”

“Yes. We could hear, your pained voice, from outside, of the house. It filled me with anguish, to hear it.”

“I’m pretty embarrassed about that.”

“It is nothing, to be embarrassed about. We offer our thanks, to each of our gods, that you are, all right,” Radajid said, a gentle light shining on his eyes as he continued, “We actually intended, to visit, the Fa house today. Tomorrow morning, we are departing, from Genos.”

“Oh, that’s right! You’re finally returning to Sym, huh? You were only planning to be in Genos for a month, and we hardly got to talk at all during the back half of your stay. That’s a real shame.”

“Yes. But we shall, visit Genos, many times. I look forward, to the day, we meet again.”

Still, taking travel time into account, it would be ten months before the Silver Vase returned to Genos. Looking at it one way, it meant that Shumiral had a lot of time before he would be returning to his merchant work, but that didn’t change the sad fact that he would be separating from Radajid and the others until then.

“Um, you’re of course going to go see Shumiral too, right?”

“Yes. We intend, to visit, the Ririn clan, in the evening. We also, need to visit, the Ruu house.”

“In that case, would you mind stopping by the Fa house as well? I don’t have all that much, but I’d like to give you some giba jerky.”

“But you sell that, in the castle town, do you not? It is, very expensive, I am told. It would be difficult, for us to buy,” Radajid stated, sounding deeply reserved.

I shook my head in response and said, “No, I’m talking about a special kind of jerky, not the ordinary stuff. It’s a farewell gift, not a product for sale.”

“A farewell gift... We appreciate that, very much so, but we cannot accept. Giba meat, costs far more now, than it used to.”

“Even so, I’d really like you to accept it. I want all of you to try it, of course, but it’s also for the people waiting for you back home in Sym.”

“The people, back home?” Radajid repeated with a tilt of his head.

“Yes,” I replied with a nod. “Shumiral said he didn’t have any close relatives back home, but he still had friends and acquaintances, right? I’d like those people to have a chance to try giba meat. It might make it a little easier for them to picture what it’s like for Shumiral to live here, so far away to the west, if they eat the same sort of food as him.”

“I see.” Radajid brought his fingers together in a strange manner and bowed his head once more. “I appreciate, your thoughtfulness. We will make certain, to stop by, the Fa house. And we will, say our farewells, when we do.”

“Right. See you then.”

Radajid and company bought all of the remaining curry, then headed over to the restaurant space. As I watched their tall, slender figures leave, I sighed deeply. The past month seemed to have gone by in a flash. Perhaps it was only natural that I would feel that way, considering how I had been bedridden due to sickness for ten days, but even so, I was once again reminded how cruel the passage of time could be.

But as long as we’re all still alive, we’ll be able to meet again. For now, I just had to cling to that thought. After I had been forced to relive my death again and again in my nightmares, it had really strengthened my appreciation for the joy of being alive.

I want to keep living with everyone. With Ai Fa, of course, and everyone from the forest’s edge, and Genos, and foreigners like Radajid and company. All of us together. As I was thinking that, I stepped back a bit and stared up at the dark gray clouds. Would the gods of this world allow me to continue to live in this land? Who exactly had brought me here to begin with? I had no way of knowing any of that...but I found myself expressly praying to the gods for the first time since I had appeared in the forest.

Please, allow me to keep living here in this little corner of the world. I swear I won’t do anything bad.

Naturally, I got no response.

The Matua girl working alongside me worriedly called out, “Um, Asuta, if you’re going to step out from under the roof, please put on your rain gear. It’s not good to let yourself get all chilly.”

“Right. Thanks.”

After directing one more firm look up at the gray sky, I returned to the shelter my stall provided. It would be closing time before very much longer now.