Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 25 - Chapter 5.2

2

There was a knock on the door to the hallway.

Roused from her thoughts, Chiffon Chel stood and opened the door, and found Sanjura standing there. He was the bodyguard tasked with protecting Lefreya. He had previously served Cyclaeus as something like a secret agent, and he was the only other member of the former count’s staff who had been permitted to remain with the house of Turan. That wasn’t because he was being shown any kind of mercy, though. The real reason he was being allowed to stay had to do with the fact that he was considered to be dangerously strong, and it seemed best to not let him roam free.

“Excuse me. What is, Lefreya doing?” Sanjura asked in a calm voice. He outwardly appeared to be nothing more than a terribly kind and gentle young man. He had mixed blood from the east and west, and had apparently chosen to live as a child of the western god, but his skin was dark and his skill with the western tongue was shakier than Chiffon Chel’s, so it was hard to see him as anything but a citizen of Sym. His pale hair and eyes were the only things that gave any indication that he was also partially a westerner.

“In the morning, Lady Lefreya made use of the bathhouse, and she has been relaxing here ever since. I do not know for certain what she has been occupying her time with, though,” Chiffon Chel replied.

“I see,” Sanjura answered with a smile. As he was a westerner, he found no shame in letting his expressions show. “I wish, to talk with her, so please, usher me in.”

“Very well.”

As long as she wasn’t in an especially bad mood, Lefreya never turned him away. And sure enough, she replied through the thick door by saying, “You may let him in. Ah, and could you prepare tea as well, Chiffon Chel?”

“Very well,” Chiffon Chel once again replied, stepping into Lefreya’s room alongside Sanjura.

Lefreya was relaxing on a leather couch in the single-room bedchamber of her official residence, located not far from the castle. It was spacious enough, but it wasn’t elegantly adorned in the way her previous manor had been.

She was dressed in a long white robe meant for being worn around the house, just as she had been when she returned from the bathhouse. She didn’t have on any accessories, and was letting her curly brown hair fall naturally.

“You look quite bored, Lefreya,” Sanjura called out, and the girl glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

“That’s true. It’s hard to imagine how there could be very many people in the entire world who are more bored than I am right now.”

“Why not go out, every now and then? People need sunlight, to live healthy lives.”

“Hmph. Soldiers need to be summoned to keep watch over me each and every time I go out, and neither I nor they have the time to waste on that. Besides, it’s not as if there’s anything interesting waiting for me out there if I do go on a walk.”

“I see. How about, riding totos? From what I’m told, the nobles of Genos will amuse themselves, when they are bored, by riding totos around, their gardens.”

“That’s true... In the past, I often rode totos to stave off boredom,” Lefreya replied, propping up her cheek by resting her arm on the couch’s armrest and staring off into the distance as her eyes narrowed. “How nostalgic. Not that there was anything fun about riding around our garden in endless circles.”

“Totos riding serves, to train the muscles in your body. That is another reason, nobles enjoy it.”

“Hmph. If totos could fly through the sky, perhaps then they would be worth riding,” Lefreya said before glancing over at Chiffon Chel. “Ah yes, I wanted some tea to drink. Could you prepare some chatchi tea?”

“Very well.”

Five months had passed since she had lost her life of luxury and her father. Though not much had changed about her in terms of appearances, she was no longer the Lefreya she had once been. Her previous haughtiness had softened quite a bit, and she often had a pensive look in her eyes.

Her father Cyclaeus had been imprisoned as a criminal, and she was being held in captivity as well. Though she was officially the head of her house, she was not permitted to act freely. During outings and meetings with other people, soldiers had to be summoned to keep an eye on her. The greatest of caution was being exercised to make certain that no one with wicked intentions approached her.

Everyone who had been involved in Cyclaeus’s crimes had been arrested. However, there were still lots of people with close ties to the man who had never done anything that was against the law. Duke Genos was hoping to prevent people like that from using Lefreya’s position as head of the house for their own benefit.

Westerners grew a year older with the arrival of a new year, so Lefreya was now twelve. She was going to have to keep living like this until she someday found a husband and granted him her rank. In a way, her noble title was now a chain that bound her and took away almost all of her freedom.

“My apologies for the wait,” Chiffon Chel said, as she placed two cups of chatchi tea on the saucers that the polished black table between them was always set with.

When he looked down at them, Sanjura’s eyebrows drooped and he looked troubled. “You made some for me, as well? But I am not, a guest.”

“Oh quiet, you. You can drink it if you want to or not, but as long as you’re staying here, then sit. I feel on edge when tall folks like you just stand around like that,” Lefreya replied. Chiffon Chel had prepared tea for two, as she knew that the young lady had long wanted to say those words to him.

As he scratched his head, which was covered in long brown hair, Sanjura took a seat directly across from Lefreya. Finding herself satisfied with that outcome, Chiffon Chel then said to Lefreya, “If you have no further business with me, I shall return to the antechamber. Would that be acceptable?”

“Why don’t you stay here for a bit too? It would be a pain to have to summon you again each time I want more tea.”

“Very well.”

Depending on her mood, Lefreya would either firmly distance herself from people or bring them closer. And today, it seemed to be the latter. She had been that way before as well, but ever since losing her former status, that tendency had grown much stronger.

Chiffon Chel and Sanjura were the only people Lefreya still had by her side at this point. The newly hired pages and maids had been instructed to keep their distance from her as much as possible. That was the level of caution the daughter of a noble guilty of rebellion was treated with.

Loneliness changed people, and Lefreya had undoubtedly been changed by hers. Still, even Chiffon Chel, who spent so much time with the young lady, only had a vague sense of what those changes were.

“So, what were you up to all morning? If you go wandering around again, Torst and the others will get suspicious of you even if you aren’t doing anything.”

“I was summoned by Torst, and met with a messenger, from the castle. At the end of the month, a swordsmanship tournament, will be held.”

“A swordsmanship tournament? Ah right, they were planning to hold one during silver month, weren’t they? The revival festival only just ended, and they still haven’t had enough revelry?”

“Yes. It is the custom in Genos, to hold the tournament, before the rainy season. The hearts of the people sink, during the rainy season, so perhaps this custom, is meant to bolster their spirits, before that.”

Genos had a rainy season that lasted for two whole months. The fact that the calendar included a leap month every third year—which the current year was—made the exact start date difficult to determine, but it would undoubtedly begin sometime around the end of the next month, so it seemed they were planning to hold their tournament before that.

“You are being invited, as the head of the house of Turan, Lefreya. Torst and the messenger, worked out the arrangements.”

“Thanks for that. Not that I have any interest in such an event, mind you,” Lefreya said after taking a sip of chatchi tea, and then she glanced up. “By the way, are you going to be participating in the tournament?”

“Me? Why would I?”

“What do you mean, why? You’re a swordsman, are you not? And for swordsmen, winning that tournament is the greatest of honors.”

“I have no need for such honor... I will be satisfied, as long as I can, protect you.”

Sanjura’s eyes narrowed as he smiled, while Lefreya frowned in annoyance and turned away. Occasionally, Sanjura looked at Lefreya as a brother would his younger sister, and whenever he did, Lefreya reacted by becoming especially curt for a while.

A brother... Is Eleo eating his midday meal around now? Chiffon Chel thought with a sigh as she waited off in a corner of the room. Then, for some reason, Sanjura’s gaze turned toward her.

“By the way, did you hear about, what will happen, during the rainy season, Chiffon Chel?”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“During that time, the northerners will be tasked, with a different sort of work.”

“A different sort of work? You don’t mean mending the fence protecting the Turan lands, do you?” Chiffon Chel had participated in that particular task herself once, five years ago. Fuwano and mamaria didn’t grow properly during the rainy season, so they would have been left without work to do otherwise.

However, Sanjura shook his head. “No. A different task, than that. They will be ordered to, clear a path through, the forest of Morga.”

Chiffon Chel was so surprised, she couldn’t speak. The people of the forest’s edge, who had brought down the house of Turan, lived in the forest of Morga.

“Supposedly, they will be making a new path, to Sym. The people of the forest’s edge, also gave their permission.”

“But...the forest of Morga is an extremely dangerous place full of giba, is it not?”

“Yes. But the people of the forest’s edge, will be assisting, to mitigate that danger.”

Eleo Chel and the others would be doing their work with the people of the forest’s edge—who were every bit as ferocious as northerners—very close by. Just thinking about it was enough to cause Chiffon Chel’s heart to start pounding, though she wasn’t quite sure why.

The first member of that tribe she had met was a peculiar boy named Asuta of the Fa clan. Asuta was a strange young man who had moved to the forest’s edge from some distant foreign country, but in terms of appearance, he looked exactly like a westerner. And he was no hunter, but rather a chef who had been abducted by the house of Turan. The kidnapping had been carried out by Sanjura, under Lefreya’s orders. Lefreya was temporarily imprisoned for that crime, while Sanjura had been whipped.

Asuta was incredibly odd. He was shorter than Chiffon Chel and seemed like a very sweet person, but he also possessed incredible courage and willpower. Had that inner strength been granted to him by his life at the forest’s edge, perhaps? He had never completely given in to the people who had kidnapped him, and on the first night he had even tried to flee through a second story window.

That strength of will had been dazzling for Chiffon Chel to behold at the time. Anger and resentment at having your freedom taken away. A rebellious spirit fighting against an unreasonable fate. To one such as Chiffon Chel whose home had been burned down thirteen years ago, and who had long ago been forced to accept her cruel destiny, it had been incredibly striking.

If Asuta had possessed the strength of a warrior, Chiffon Chel might not have been all that surprised. But he didn’t. He was just a powerless chef. In fact, he might have been even weaker than she had been at the age of ten. Yet in spite of that, he absolutely refused to submit.

In the end, his comrades from the forest’s edge had eventually rescued him, but if he hadn’t managed to stay strong despite everything that happened, it might have been difficult for him to return to his healthy, normal everyday life. But when she had seen Asuta later, he looked so happy it would have been easy to mistake him for another person entirely. His inner strength had conjured a befitting future for him out of thin air. Chiffon Chel couldn’t help but feel that was the case.

Of course, if Asuta had found himself in the same circumstances she had, perhaps his spirit would have broken somewhere along the way too, but Chiffon Chel didn’t want to even imagine the sight of Asuta submitting to his fate. There was a calm ferocity inside of him, different from the hunters of the forest’s edge or the people of Mahyudra.

“What are you looking so dazed for, Chiffon Chel?” Lefreya suddenly asked, bringing Chiffon Chel back to her senses. The girl was staring at her questioningly.

“Ah... I became a bit flustered when I heard my fellow northerners were being taken to such a dangerous place. My deepest apologies for the unsightly display.”

“Hmm?” Lefreya hummed, frowning once more.

Sanjura offered Chiffon Chel a smile. “You worked in the Turan lands before, did you not? Do you perhaps have, family there?”

“Yes,” Chiffon Chel replied simply, and Lefreya’s eyes opened wide.

“You have family, Chiffon Chel? And yet you’re working here in the castle town all on your own?”

“Yes” was the only response she could give.

Lefreya bit her lip, and her gaze fell to Chiffon Chel’s feet.

Since their mistress had fallen silent, Sanjura spoke up in a calming tone as if to soothe them. “I’m sure it will not, be dangerous. That is why the people of the forest’s edge, are assisting. They are worthy of trust.”

“Yes, that’s true...”

Then that was a knock on the door, and a man’s muffled voice came from the other side. “Is Lady Lefreya present? I’ve brought a guest.”

Chiffon Chel brought a hand to her chest, which was full of swirling emotions she was having trouble understanding, and then walked to the door to carry out her duty.

“I am the maid, Chiffon Chel. Who is this guest?”

“A southerner, Lady Diel—the metalworker’s daughter.”

Apparently, Lefreya had heard his voice as well, because she immediately commanded them to “Let her through” before Chiffon Chel could say a word.

With that, the maid promptly opened the door, revealing a familiar soldier who bowed to them, and she ushered their guest inside.

“It’s been a while, Lefreya. Are you stuck here in this room again today?” The girl with speckled dark-brown hair looked all around the room as she entered with a smile, holding some sort of large leather satchel in her hands. The sun was still high in the sky, so she was dressed in Jagar-style men’s clothing. When her bright green eyes caught sight of Sanjura, though, the smile vanished from her face.

“Ah, so you’re here too, huh? It’s Sanjura, right?”

“Yes. It has been some time, Lady Diel.” Sanjura rose to his feet, and bowed like a knight would. Then he turned back toward Lefreya with a smile. “I’ll wait, in the antechamber. Please summon me, if you have any need.”

“I didn’t say you had to leave or anything,” Diel interrupted with a frown.

“Of course not,” Sanjura replied with a nod. “But I look like an easterner, so seeing me, puts you on edge, correct? And I believe your attendant, also wishes for me to leave.”

“Then why don’t you go play with Labis out front for awhile? It’s true that he’d feel more at ease that way.”

As southerners and easterners were hated enemies, Diel had difficulty dealing with Sanjura. But even if Sanjura had blood from Sym in his veins, he was still a westerner, so it seemed like she didn’t really know how she was supposed to interact with him.

The end result was that Sanjura left the room, and Chiffon Chel stepped away to start making some fresh tea.

“You’re always wearing the same clothes. Why not dress up like an actual noble from time to time?” Diel teased.

“What reason is there to dress up when I don’t have any business to attend to outside?”

“Is that how you see it? If I wore night-clothes like that all day, I feel like it’d make me super lazy.”

Chiffon Chel listened in on their conversation while the water was boiling. This girl was the only one who could visit Lefreya without any guards. Up until recently, Diel had been required to bring guards in order to meet with Lefreya too, but she dealt in metalwork, not food. All of the business dealings between her family and the house of Turan had been transferred over to the house of Genos, so she couldn’t plot anything with Lefreya even if she wanted to, and once that had been made clear, the restrictions on their ability to meet privately had been lifted.

That said, any other merchant who was in a similar position surely wouldn’t even think of trying to meet with Lefreya at this point. Basically, she was in all likelihood the only person in all of Genos who wanted to meet with Lefreya without any interest in making a profit off of her.

“I brought you a gift today! Just to be sure, you haven’t eaten your midday meal yet, have you?”

“The noon bell hasn’t sounded yet, so of course I haven’t eaten, though I’m also not feeling particularly hungry.”

“Oh really? Well, when you see what I’ve got here, I’m sure it’s gonna stir up your appetite.”

Chiffon Chel returned with the tea, just in time to see Diel grab the cover flap of the large, flat satchel sitting on the table and flick it open, revealing a number of lidded wooden boxes stacked on top of one another.

“What is that? You didn’t bring me food, did you?”

“I did! And this is a giba dish Asuta made, to boot!”

Chiffon Chel almost dropped the tea she was carrying. Lefreya’s eyes also opened wide in astonishment.

“I happened to be free from work, so I ran over to the post town to get something to eat. Naturally, I bought enough for you too, Lefreya.”

“I’m not allowed to spend coins without approval, you know.”

“Stop acting like such a miser! We’re only talking about a few red coins here. The folks in the post town are so lucky, getting to eat food this good for such a cheap price.”

She lined up the stacked boxes along the length of the table, and placed the big satchel on the floor. Then she removed the lids from the boxes, and a fragrant aroma filled the room. There was a meat and vegetable sauté, round pieces of meat covered in tarapa sauce, and a strange dish that looked like thin wriggling strings.

“Um, this one’s called twice-cooked giba, this is a hamburger, and that’s carbonara. The hamburger’s sold between two bits of baked poitan usually, but it’d get all mushy like that, so I brought them separately.” Diel had the baked poitan wrapped up in a cloth bundle. They looked pretty much like white pieces of fuwano bread.

“Ah sorry, I wanted to split it up, so could you bring us some plates?” Diel asked, and Chiffon Chel did so. She also provided spoons and three-pronged skewers, at which point Diel tilted her head and said, “Huh? I don’t think you brought enough of those.”

“Oh, my deepest apologies. You would rather not reuse your utensils on multiple dishes so the flavors don’t mix, correct?”

“No, that’s not it. Did you really think the two of us could eat all of this by ourselves?”

Chiffon Chel stood there confused, not understanding what she meant.

“There’s enough here for you too, you know. If you don’t have an actual problem with it, you should sit down and have some with us.”

“Huh...? But I am simply Lady Lefreya’s maid. A maid and her mistress cannot share the same table.”

“It’s fine. This isn’t some stuffy formal banquet. And besides, I eat midday snacks with Labis all the time.”

Chiffon Chel remained frozen in place, utterly perplexed, until Lefreya finally said, “I do not mind. You take a seat as well, Chiffon Chel. Your job is to fulfill our visitor’s requests, is it not?”

“Yes...”

The old Lefreya would never have allowed a maid to sit beside her. Chiffon Chel went and got a third set of utensils for herself, and then she sat down at the table to have a meal next to her mistress for the first time in her life.

“I’ve actually got something to tell you too. Asuta asked me to deliver a message,” Diel added while dividing up the food. “He wanted me to make sure you knew about your brother. You were apparently supposed to be told about him a while ago. Did the news ever get to you?”

“Yes... A servant from the house of Daleim conveyed the message. But why did Sir Asuta feel he needed to go to the trouble of confirming that?”

“Hmm? Well, from what I’ve heard, things were pretty hectic for Asuta during the revival festival. He said he hasn’t had a chance to talk to anyone from the house of Daleim for some time, so he was worried about you and wanted to make sure you knew and weren’t too upset.”

After moving to this new residence, the link between Chiffon Chel and Asuta had been severed. And even if that wasn’t the case, Chiffon Chel was a maid and a slave. She had no right to speak as an equal with someone like Asuta, who was a frequent guest of the nobility.

“He asked about you while I was bragging to him about how I was planning to come here to hang out with Lefreya. I had no idea you were an acquaintance of Asuta’s even though I see you every time I come here.”

“Yes...”

“So it’s no issue, right? You weren’t upset to learn your family’s alive, right?”

“Of course not,” Chiffon Chel replied. An unfamiliar feeling had welled up inside her when she learned her brother was safe, but it most certainly hadn’t been anything negative. And it was incredibly moving that Asuta had thought to send multiple messengers just to make absolutely sure that someone as lowly as her got the news.

“I am deeply, deeply grateful to Sir Asuta. If I could be permitted to ask something of you, I would like to let him know that.”

“Sure thing. It’s not like I head to the post town all that often myself, though. But the next time I go, I’ll make sure to tell him,” Diel said with a brilliant smile as she skewered some giba meat. A southerner like her had no reason to look down on northerners. “Well then, let’s eat! I hurried over here as quickly as possible so it wouldn’t get cold!”

Lefreya had been listening silently as the other two talked, but now she raised her spoon as well.

Still feeling somewhat bewildered, Chiffon Chel brought a bite of one of the giba dishes to her mouth. This was the first time in several months that she had tasted Asuta’s cooking. It was so delicious that she couldn’t help but sigh.

In her role as a poison tester, Chiffon Chel had tasted the work of more famous chefs than she could count, and Asuta’s skills were a match for any of theirs, in each and every aspect. And what was more, he actually seemed to have improved even further over the past few months.

This was the sort of food he truly wanted to make...dishes that featured giba meat from the forest’s edge. Asuta’s cooking was absolutely incredible, as was the giba meat itself. The dish had such an impact on her that her spoon almost fell from her hand.

The dish Diel had called hamburger was made by finely chopping up meat and then balling it back together and cooking it. When you bit into it, it immediately came apart in your mouth, and the fat and meat juices hidden inside blended together with the boiled tarapa, creating an indescribably delicious flavor.

Furthermore, even though the meat had been finely chopped up, it was still reasonably firm. More and more flavor seemed to keep bursting out of it as you chewed, and it felt every bit as invigorating as gyama or giant muffur bear.

The twice-cooked giba seemed to use a wide variety of seasonings. Chiffon Chel did not know what all of them were, but even so, it was undoubtedly delicious. It was sweet, spicy, sour, and salty, in addition to having a wonderful aroma. The chefs of the castle town valued complex seasoning, and this dish was both complex and perfectly balanced. The sweetness, spiciness, and sourness all felt essential for the dish.

The meat had been cut into bite-size chunks, and had an even nicer chewiness to it than the hamburger, while also feeling like it could start to melt on your tongue at any moment. The bits of fat stuck to it here and there made it even tastier, and the aria, pula, and nenon used in the dish also seemed to work with the seasoning exceptionally well.

“Well? It’s really tasty, huh? The women of the forest’s edge made the hamburger instead of Asuta, but it’s just as good as it would have been if he’d been the one to make it, don’t you think?!”

“Yes... Giba meat truly is delicious.”

“Give this carbonara a try too! It’s easier to eat if you wrap it around a three-pronged skewer, like this!”

“Diel, isn’t this that pasta dish?” Lefreya asked.

“Oh, all dishes that have this wriggly stuff are pasta, but the name changes based on how it’s flavored. So, that would make this ‘carbonara pasta,’ I guess.”

“Hmm... That name sounds like one of those spells from Sym you hate so much.” Lefreya was pouting, but it was clear that she was enjoying Asuta’s cooking and the conversation with Diel. Lately, she had been eating noticeably less than she used to, but now her food was vanishing into her mouth as quickly as Diel’s was. She really was a gourmand, just like her father.

I don’t know why this Diel girl has gotten close to Lady Lefreya...but they almost seem like sisters of different ages, somehow. Their appearances, temperaments, and even the countries where they were born differed, but Chiffon Chel still felt that way. And when she thought about it a bit more, she remembered that Sanjura had eastern blood in his veins, and of course, she herself was a northerner. It had to be pretty rare for people from all four kingdoms to gather like this outside of Genos.

“By the way, that easterner Arishuna has Asuta’s cooking delivered to her in the castle town all the time! Isn’t that unfair?”

“I wouldn’t say so. And if you feel it’s unfair, why not simply make the same arrangement for yourself?”

“Huh? But I’m always getting invited to noble banquets. Even if I did have it delivered to me, I still wouldn’t have many chances to eat it! Why do nobles keep inviting guests over all the time like that anyway?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps they’re competing to show off how much wealth they possess?”

“Hmm. Well, I’ll tell you what, I’d go running over to ask them for an invite anytime if they could ever manage to get Asuta to cook for one of their events,” Diel remarked while wrapping some poitan around a few pieces of giba meat and taking a bite. Then her eyes started sparkling, and she suddenly shouted, “That’s it! Why not invite Asuta here sometime?! Then we could all eat giba cooking together again!”

“It’s forbidden to invite people of the forest’s edge to the castle town without approval, and I lack the standing to make such a request of Duke Genos.”

“The standing? But aren’t you technically the head of the house of Turan?”

“In name only. My guardian, Torst, also hates to waste money, so I could never summon an outside chef to begin with.”

“Tch! And here I thought it was such a great idea.”

“First of all, Asuta would never want to cook for me anyway. I’m the daughter of an enemy of the people of the forest’s edge, after all.”

Diel looked back at Lefreya. She seemed to be hesitating for some reason. “Do you have a grudge against Asuta and the rest of them, Lefreya?”

“My father committed numerous crimes, so it would be misplaced resentment to feel that way.”

“I see. Then there shouldn’t be any issue, right? The people of the forest’s edge, Asuta included, believe that once a punishment is handed down, that’s the end of the matter. I’d be surprised if any of them are still holding a grudge against you or your father now.”

Rather than replying, Lefreya slurped some carbonara off of a skewer.

Seeing her friend’s childish behavior, Diel’s eyebrows drooped and she said, “Sorry. That was intrusive of me. I didn’t mean to bring all of that up again.”

“I never expect thoughtfulness from a southerner such as you.”

“What’s that mean? If you’re annoyed, then you should just let loose and get angry with me. Otherwise, how am I supposed to show you that I regret what I said?”

“I am a westerner, so I don’t simply give voice to every single thought that comes into my mind.”

“Jeez!” Diel grumbled, rustling her short hair. Despite their arguing, though, Lefreya didn’t seem to be as down as Diel had feared. The southerner had come on a day when Lefreya was craving companionship, so the happiness she felt from being able to see her friend was managing to overcome her annoyance. After all, Diel was someone incredibly precious to Lefreya.

Misplaced resentment, huh?

If everyone felt that way, would the histories of Selva and Mahyudra still be stained by centuries of hatred? As she idly contemplated that question, Chiffon Chel wrapped some wriggly carbonara around her skewer.

Eventually, the noon bell rang outside the window as they ate. It seemed that time was still steadily marching onward, even here in this room isolated from the outside world.