Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 26 - Chapter 2.2

2

After finishing up work in the post town, we headed to the Ruu settlement for a study session. This would be our third one since we had started holding them again. Toor Deen and Yun Sudra, being such passionate learners, had both asked if they could keep participating, while the rest of our group would head back to the Fa house to prepare for the next day instead. That was the pattern we had established over the last few days.

As our wagon pulled into the Ruu clan plaza, Myme took off running to summon Mikel, while Reina Ruu guided the rest of us to the main house’s kitchen. After parking off to the side of the house and tying the totos up under a tree so the rain wouldn’t hit them, we knocked on the kitchen door. However, the person who opened it was someone we really didn’t expect.

“H-Huh? What are you doing here, Darmu Ruu?”

“Am I hearing a member of another clan complaining about me being in my own house?”

“Ah, no, I wasn’t complaining or anything. It’s just really unusual to see you here.”

The second son of the main Ruu house, Darmu Ruu, was shooting me an expressionless glare. His sharp eyes reminded me of a wolf’s, with no need to add “starving” to that description. Even though the rest of his face was perfectly neutral, his intense gaze was harsh enough on its own.

“The men are on break from hunting work today. But I thought he would be bored just loafing around the house, so I dragged him out here,” Mia Lea Ruu said in place of her intimidating son.

Sheera and Lala Ruu were also present. When Sheera Ruu’s eyes met mine, she quickly looked down at the ground, and her cheeks went slightly red. I had spoken to her once a while back about her feelings for Darmu Ruu, and she had gotten really flustered then too.

Toor Deen and Yun Sudra had come in after me, and they rather hurriedly bowed their heads, which was a perfectly natural reaction for them to have to his presence. Sure, they had been around Darmu Ruu many times while he was on guard duty, but I didn’t have a particularly friendly relationship with him either, even though he and I were both men and I had known him a lot longer than they had.

“There are a lot more of you around now, though, so I’ll be heading back to the house,” Darmu Ruu said, turning to depart.

Lala Ruu quickly spoke up. “Huh? You’re leaving? But even if you go back to your room, Ludo won’t be there. Won’t you be bored all on your own? Why not spend some time watching our work every now and again?”

“Even if Ludo’s not there, somebody else will be.”

“Jiza and Sati Lea are in the main hall with Kota. Papa Donda’s in the middle of his midday nap, and Granny Tito Min’s in Granny Jiba’s room.”

“Even so, if I watch you all cook, it’ll just make me hungry.”

“If you’re hungry, then you can do a taste test. We’re making all sorts of dishes, and we’ll all be trying them out and comparing them!”

It was then that Reina Ruu seemed to realize something, and she said, “Oh right. We’re not just studying things we can make for the stalls, but also for dinners at home. It would be really helpful to have a family member around to give it all a try.”

Facing a pincer attack from his younger sisters, even Darmu Ruu had no choice but to fold. It wasn’t clear if the deciding factor was his desire to get samples, not wanting to interfere with his older brother’s family having some time together, or something else. But at any rate, he did ultimately relent, at which point Lala Ruu gave Sheera Ruu a stealthy poke in the arm, causing the girl’s face to go even redder.

“There are a lot of you here today too,” Mikel muttered as he and Myme arrived. Rather than giving a proper greeting, he just glared at me. “A huge mountain of bricks showed up here around midday. It seems you’ve sent me another real pain in the ass of a job.”

“Ah, yeah. My order of bricks was finally ready, so I had the members of the Ruu clan transport them. Sorry for the bother, but I really do appreciate the help.”

Those bricks were meant for constructing a stone oven here at the forest’s edge, and I had asked Mikel for his help in doing so. After all, I was sure he was very familiar with the iron ovens he had used back in the castle town. He was also deeply knowledgeable about smoking food, as he had started selling charcoal to make a living after he had lost his ability to work as a chef, so he was especially well-informed when it came to handling fire.

I had already told him about what I was planning: to make an oven like the ones in the castle town, but out of bricks. I had asked him to give the idea some thought in advance when he had time, specifically about whether such a thing would be possible in the first place and if we would need any materials besides bricks and clay.

“It’ll be so convenient to be able to bake a whole load of poitan at once. If you need some folks to assemble those bricks and the like, we can handle that. We’re really looking forward to working with you, Mikel,” Mia Lea Ruu said with a smile.

“Yeah,” Mikel bluntly replied. Meanwhile, Myme was standing beside him with a huge smile on face over the fact that her father was getting another chance to show off.

“So, where should we begin? I think we’ve more or less covered the rainy season vegetables, but what do you all say?” I asked the group.

“I suppose you’re right. I never expected you could use reggi and traip in fried dishes, but they were both pretty tasty,” Mia Lea Ruu said.

“Granny Jiba really enjoyed the fried traip dish too. As long as you remove the skin, she can eat it with no problem,” Reina Ruu added with a smile. During the study session two days ago, we had tackled fried dishes for the first time in a while.

“Speaking of which, there’s actually one fried dish I’d still like to try out. Why don’t we give it a shot, for a change of pace?” I was thinking of cream croquettes. There wouldn’t be any giba meat in them, so it was possible the men wouldn’t be too fond of the dish, but I suspected that they’d do really well if the inns sold them, and Granny Jiba would be able to eat them without a problem too.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have access to any ingredients we could use in place of crab, but the cream alone would probably be enough to surprise folks, and if we used the pumpkin-like traip, we could give them a bit more of a rainy-season flavor. We could also get a little playful with it if we wanted and try something with bacon or sausage too. Plus, the giba cutlets were really popular, so there was a good chance that the people of the forest’s edge would like that version more.

“Croquettes are that fried dish Ludo really likes, right? So what’s a cream croquette?”

“It’s one you make with karon milk. It probably wouldn’t work as a main dish, but it could be good as a side.”

And so, we started by making cream croquettes.

We sautéed some diced aria in milk fat, and once they were good and soft, we added fuwano flour and let the mixture cook for a bit. Once it was no longer all floury, we blended in some karon milk, adding it a little at a time and keeping it at a low boil until it became nice and gooey. Since there weren’t any refrigerators to be had, I figured it was best to prepare it on the thick side so it would be able to congeal at room temperature. Finally, we adjusted the flavor with salt and pico leaves, completing the filling.

“Hmm. This feels a bit plain. Let’s split it into three parts and add traip soup to one and minced giba meat to another.”

This was ultimately just a test, so I wanted to try whatever came to mind. We split the filling into three parts with everyone’s help, and soon the mellow aroma of boiled karon milk filled the kitchen.

“Once it’s been boiled for about this long, you simply have to let it cool off a bit. But with the weather being so chilly during the rainy season, that should go quicker than usual.”

In the meantime, we went ahead and prepared the bacon and sausages. For the bacon, we went with the usual thin slices, then prepared them with the same coating we used for cutlets. For the sausages, we boiled them a bit to soften them up first, then applied a tempura-like coating to them.

As we were working, a question popped into my mind, which I directed at Lala Ruu. “By the way, you said before that Ludo Ruu isn’t in his room. Did he leave to go somewhere in this rain?”

“Yeah, he went to the Sauti settlement with Rimee. She’s still providing lessons to the Sauti clan women.”

“I see. Rimee Ruu sure is an enthusiastic worker.”

I myself had only visited the Sauti settlement a few times after recovering from my illness, but since the new vegetables had gone on sale not long after, it seemed Rimee Ruu was continuing that operation. She only came to town once every three days, so it was easy for her to fit visits to the Sauti into her schedule.

“Well, it’s only because it’s the rainy season that we’re able to leave the house so empty this often. And I feel like it’s more fun to go somewhere rather than being trapped inside all day, even if it is raining.”

“Huh. I didn’t really get that feeling since I head to town practically every day, but I guess it’s different for the rest of you, huh? Is going into town once every three days not enough for you, then, Lala Ruu?”

“No. I’d say that’s about enough for me. I like spending time at home with my family too, after all.”

“Oh right, is Shin Ruu at his own house right now?”

“Why are you bringing him up?”

“No particular reason.”

“Shin Ruu left with Ludo and Rimee,” Lala Ruu said, leaning her head forward and frowning seriously. It was a pretty adorable expression. “Oh yeah, and Vina went to the Ririn house. She said something about giving them cooking lessons,” she added in a whisper.

Hearing that, I whispered back to her so nobody else would overhear, “By the way, Vina and Darmu Ruu got into an argument because of Shumiral, right? Is that all okay now?”

“That didn’t make it past the day it happened. I think if they had raised any more of a fuss about it, Papa Donda would have sent them flying.” Lala Ruu stole a quick glance at her older brother, who was having a quiet conversation with Sheera and Mia Lea Ruu as they prepared the lard. “Darmu will be turning twenty when the yellow month rolls around.”

“Oh, really? That’s the same month as Rimee Ruu, isn’t it?” And it was the month of my new birthday too.

“In the Ruu clan, if we’re not married by the time we turn twenty, we start getting told that we’re taking too long. That’s why everyone pesters Vina about it. She’s twenty-one now, after all.” The main Ruu house had a full five members whose birthdays were in the back half of the brown month, and among that group, Vina and Jiza Ruu had both grown a year older over the past four days. “Apparently, Shumiral of the Ririn clan gave Vina another accessory. Vina seemed a little troubled about that because it kind of goes against our customs, but she looked really happy too.”

“I see. Still, it’s probably going to be a while longer before Vina Ruu can get married, right?”

“Yeah, that’s true. But that has nothing to do with how long Darmu is taking. He could marry pretty much anyone he wants to right now.”

It wasn’t my place to tell any of them what they should do, so I refrained from commenting. Still, it wasn’t like I disagreed with her, exactly.

“For the sake of argument, if Darmu Ruu were to take a bride from a Ruu branch house, where exactly would they live? Normally, everyone but the eldest son is supposed to move out, right?”

“Yup. He’d have to build a new house or marry into his wife’s home... But Kota’s still so little.”

“Huh? What does Kota Ruu being small have to do with anything?”

“I don’t really even want to think about it, but if Papa Donda’s and Jiza’s souls were to return to the forest before Kota’s old enough to become a hunter, the main house wouldn’t have an heir. If Darmu had married into a branch house at that point, that would leave Ludo to become the clan head.”

That made sense, and it definitely sounded like a complicated issue. If Darmu Ruu married into Sheera Ruu’s house, he would become a member of a branch house rather than the second son of the main house. And in that case, Shin Ruu would be his clan head.

“But if Darmu built a new home as the second son of the main house, then he could still return to become clan head if needed. If Darmu and Ludo both married into other houses, though... Umm, Vina would have to take the role temporarily until her own child is grown, I suppose.”

“I see. So the Ruu clan’s size can actually cause it to have issues all its own, huh? And now you’re one of the leading clans of the forest’s edge to boot.”

It made sense that Lala Ruu had prefaced this little tangent by saying she didn’t even want to think about it. After all, it was based on the possibility that Donda and Jiza Ruu would both die in the next ten years or so.

“Still, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I’m sure Donda and Jiza Ruu are going to stay good and healthy until Kota Ruu is fully grown.”

“I think so too, though Papa Donda will be turning forty-three in a few days.”

“I bet Donda Ruu will be doing just fine even when he turns sixty or seventy.”

Lala Ruu shot me a dubious look, but then her eyes narrowed, looking calmer than I was used to seeing her.

“That’s pretty easygoing of you, but I guess it’s for the best that that’s how you are, Asuta. It makes me happy for some reason.”

“But isn’t it only natural to feel that way? Everyone wants the people who are important to them to live long lives.” It seemed like we had both gotten a bit serious thanks to the unexpected turns the conversation had taken.

At any rate, I returned my attention to the work in front of me, poking a wooden skewer through the cream croquet filling. Even after breaking the surface a bit, no steam came out.

“Looks like it’s about ready. This may be a little tricky to handle, so I’ll prepare a number of them to serve as an example.”

The filling had been cooled down to room temperature. I scooped some up with a large wooden spoon and shaped it a bit with my fingertips, then set about coating it.

The basic process here was the same as with cutlets and croquettes. First you coated it in fuwano flour, then dipped it in egg before coating it again in dried fuwano crumbs. The end result had a nice rounded shape.

“And that’s how you do it. Now let’s cook one with minced meat and the one with traip too.”

I had only added about as much of the minced meat as I would crab to a cream croquette, which meant I had kept it on the light side. As for the traip, I went with about twenty percent of the mass of the original filling. That was still enough to give it a distinctly orange color.

I had everyone practice with the plain and minced meat varieties, but surprisingly, the traip variety turned out to be stickier and harder to shape than the others, so I only had Reina Ruu, Sheera Ruu, Toor Deen, and Myme do those, since they were the most skilled.

“They certainly are hard to make. This one ended up being a bit misshapen,” Sheera Ruu complained.

“You’re so good at this, Toor Deen. But Rimee might be even better,” Reina Ruu noted.

“Ah, I can’t do it right! Sorry, mine’s turned into a sloppy mess.”

Myme was having a surprising amount of trouble. Her first try ended up falling apart, while Reina and Sheera Ruu just barely got a passing mark on theirs. Toor Deen, on the other hand, was actually doing about as well as I was.

“So you have things you’re bad at too, Myme? Sorry if this is rude to say, but I feel a little relieved to find that out,” Reina Ruu said.

“It’s more like the rest of you are too good at this! How are you able to shape yours so well?”

“Probably because we’ve had more practice with making croquettes and the like. The first time we made them, they came out so badly I wanted to cry.”

In that case, since Toor Deen hadn’t ever prepared croquettes before, did that mean her proficiency came from the pure dexterity of her fingers? The young chef ducked her head as if trying to avoid everyone’s gazes.

“Oh right. Toor Deen, you’ve spent the most time making sweets, so you’re really good at kneading fuwano dough, aren’t you? I thought you were just that much of a natural, but I guess it’s actually your experience coming in handy.”

“R-Really? If I’ve gotten better thanks to all the work I’ve been doing, then that makes me glad.”

“I’m sure you have, with how much effort you put in.”

At that point, we had pretty much finished the cream croquettes. The bacon and sausages came next, and with those, everyone was able to prepare them with no issues.

“That sure looks like a lot of work. Do those giba cutlets take this much time to make too?” Darmu Ruu grumbled.

As the one closest to him, Sheera Ruu replied with a smile, “That’s right. But with those, you just have to cut up the meat, so they’re easy to prepare. It’s similar to bacon as well.”

“Well, they’re very good. The ones you make most of all, Sheera Ruu.”

“Huh?” Sheera Ruu said, her eyes opening wide as her face grew steadily redder. “Wh-When did you ever have a chance to eat my cutlets? It must have been a long time ago...”

“I don’t remember when it was, but I’d never forget how delicious they were.” Unlike Sheera Ruu, Darmu Ruu looked perfectly calm and composed. Actually, he probably didn’t even realize he had said anything noteworthy in the first place. Rather than looking at Sheera Ruu, his attention was fixed on the ingredients lined up on the table in front of him.

Still, in a way, that was fortunate. Sheera Ruu’s face was now bright red, and she wasn’t able to hide behind her hands since they were coated in fuwano, so all she could do was desperately squirm in place.

“At times like these, I don’t know if I should praise Darmu or chew him out,” Lala Ruu whispered with a sigh.

“I think you should just leave him be,” I replied wholeheartedly.

With all that done, it was finally time for the frying. For this part, I decided to focus my attention on Myme and Yun Sudra, as they were the least experienced. Toor Deen was able to really show her skills as well, since she helped me out with the fried giba at the stalls. When Mia Lea Ruu saw what she could do, she was obviously impressed.

“You’re so little, and yet it looks like you’re already as skilled as Reina and Sheera Ruu. How old are you again, Toor Deen?”

“I-I just turned eleven.”

“Eleven? That’s really something else. It’s going to be a while before you have to worry about marriage, but I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful wife someday, Toor Deen.”

Toor Deen seemed to be ending up as the center of attention a lot today. Still, that felt fitting, considering the amount of effort she was always putting in. Even Mikel, who had been silent all this time, seemed to be staring in her direction quite a bit.

Even as they were talking, we were all frying up one piece of food after another. That included the three varieties of cream croquettes, the bacon cutlets, and the sausage tempura. The crackling sound of heated lard and the strong aroma it gave off filled the air, which naturally served to whet our appetites quite a bit.

“See? It was worth it to stick around, wasn’t it?” Lala Ruu remarked with a smile.

“I won’t know that until I get to eat something,” Darmu Ruu coolly replied.

“Then give it a try! It’s sure to be delicious! Er, which ones did you make, Sheera Ruu?”

“Th-This is only a taste test, so shouldn’t they all be pretty much the same?” Sheera Ruu said.

“Never mind all that! Ah, there they are! There aren’t a lot of them, though, so you should split this one with me.” Lala Ruu skillfully used a wooden spoon to snatch up two of the completed meat rolls from the metal mesh where they had been sitting to drip off their excess oil. She then transferred them to a wooden plate, and I noted that they seemed to be minced meat cream croquettes.

“Ah, those are probably pretty gooey on the inside, so if you cut into them on the plate they could fall apart on you,” I warned as I saw Lala Ruu reaching for a knife.

“Oh, really? In that case, you can take the first bite, Darmu.”

Darmu Ruu expressionlessly accepted the plate. Even men and women who were fully grown were allowed to do such things if they were family.

“Take care not to burn yourself. It should be fine if you only bite off a little at a time, though,” I warned, earning me an annoyed glare from Darmu Ruu. Even so, he was careful as he bit into the cream croquette.

The real question, though, was how it had turned out. I was a little worried about having Darmu Ruu be the first to try it...but fortunately, my concerns were groundless. After chewing in silence for a moment, he suddenly tossed the rest of the cream croquette into his mouth all at once.

“Hey! I said we were going to split them!” Lala Ruu complained.

“There are still plenty left, so there’s no need to get worked up over it. How did it taste, Darmu?” Reina Ruu asked.

“Maybe it’s because I’m hungry, but it tasted incredibly good.” Darmu Ruu replied, and then he turned toward Sheera Ruu. “But it was also pretty mushy, and it hardly had any giba meat in it, so I don’t think it would be a good meal for a hunter. Do you really think I would enjoy something like this more than I like giba cutlets?”

“F-Fried foods are incredibly delicious when eaten fresh. That’s probably why it tasted so good to you.”

“Is that right? I see,” Darmu Ruu said, crossing his arms. He appeared to be thinking about something.

In the meantime, the rest of us started trying the food as well.

First up were the plain cream croquettes, which were excellent in my opinion. As Sheera Ruu had said, fried foods were especially tasty when they were fresh. The coating was nice and crispy from being fried in the lard, and the wonderful filling was piping hot and gooey when I bit into it. The karon milk had an amazingly rich flavor and gave the dish a fantastic mellow sweetness.

“It’s almost like a sweet. If I look at it from that point of view, I think I really like it!” Yun Sudra declared with a smile.

Mia Lea Ruu agreed, “You’re right. It is like a sweet, and...you said you thought it could work as a side dish, right? Well, at any rate, it tastes quite good, considering it doesn’t have any giba meat in it.”

Next to Mia Lea Ruu, Reina Ruu tilted her head. “I feel the same way. I think it might actually taste more complete without giba meat than with it. But it’s possible that I only feel that way because I’m a person of the forest’s edge.”

“Yes, townsfolk would likely accept either of them without any issue,” Sheera Ruu added, then timidly held a pair of plates out to Darmu Ruu, offering them to him. “I-If you’d like, you can try these too, Darmu Ruu. These are normal cream croquettes, and these ones use traip.”

“Got it.”

As I watched that exchange out of the corner of my eye, I tried out the remaining two varieties.

The one with the minced meat really seemed to be lacking something. Was that because I could sense the difference between proper crab cream croquettes and these ones? It wasn’t like the meat didn’t harmonize with the cream filling, but I was getting the feeling that a minced meat and chatchi croquette might have been a better choice.

The Ruu clan hadn’t purchased any, but I knew that in the castle town you could buy a kind of dried crustacean similar to sweet shrimp. It was possible I could use those to achieve a flavor closer to that of crab cream croquettes, but they were pretty expensive, since they were delivered to Genos from the distant capital. Considering their price, using something like that in a side dish would probably be unthinkable for the people of the forest’s edge. Besides, these cream croquettes were already pretty good. There was no need to fixate on the idea that they had to taste like seafood.

As for the cream croquettes with traip, they were just as good as the plain ones. It was seeming more and more like traip was highly compatible with karon milk. They were complementary, with each drawing out the sweetness in the other. This variety had come out good enough to serve as a side dish already.

And as I was thinking about that, I heard Darmu Ruu grumble, “These are both incredibly delicious.”

“So those are more to your liking than the ones with minced meat?”

“Yeah. When you use giba meat poorly like that, it doesn’t sit right with me. But this is delicious in a different way than giba cooking.”

“You’re pretty fond of sweet chatchi mochi too, aren’t you, Darmu? By the way, that one you just ate was made by Sheera Ruu,” Lala Ruu said.

“I see. You really are one heck of a chef.”

Sheera Ruu blushed intensely, but she looked incredibly happy to hear that.

Mia Lea Ruu watched the two of them with a look of satisfaction, then turned toward Mikel. “Did the two of you have some as well? I would love to hear what townsfolk such as yourselves think of this.”

“It was good. I’m sure they would enjoy this dish’s trick a lot in the castle town too.”

“Trick? Ah, you mean how it was all gooey on the inside? Yes, that certainly was a surprise.”

“Even if you have a great trick, it’s useless if the flavor’s no good, but this tastes fantastic too. Fried dishes may be seen as out of fashion in the castle town, but I’m sure this one would become very popular there.”

Mikel’s perspective was a new one for me. To him, a hard coating around a semiliquid filling was considered a trick. It was a perfectly ordinary dish to me, but to those who were unfamiliar, it would probably seem quite strange indeed.

Furthermore, all of my dishes had seemed strange to the people of the forest’s edge in the beginning, so now they didn’t get particularly shocked anymore when I introduced them to something new like cream croquettes. They just found them interesting.

“These are really good! It really makes me want to try tackling more fried dishes! But my dad won’t allow me to,” Myme said, staring at her father with upturned eyes.

However, Mikel quickly shot her down, saying, “Hmph! If you think you can simply try things out willy-nilly and not run into any trouble, be my guest. I’m sure Asuta will teach you everything you want to know.”

“Jeez! If it’s not okay, then you should just say so! You’re so mean sometimes!” Myme said with a sulky look as she tugged on her father’s clothing. It was adorable to see her acting her age for once. She never did that kind of thing when Mikel wasn’t with her.

After that, we tried out the bacon cutlets and sausage tempura too. Honestly, they felt like they needed a bit more experimentation. The bacon cutlets were probably only a step or two away from being something outstanding. They just needed a little something more, like adding some sort of seasoning to the bacon, or a condiment.

As for the sausage tempura, it was neither good nor bad. It wasn’t like the flavor of the sausages was negatively impacted. However, there were plenty of other equally tasty ways to prepare them. But, well, if we served it together with several other kinds of tempura, I doubted anyone would complain about it.

Personally, I considered the plain and traip cream croquettes to be big successes, the bacon cutlets to be not quite finished yet, and the minced meat cream croquettes and sausage tempura to be ones that I should put on hold for the moment. After gathering everyone else’s opinions, we all seemed to be more or less on the same page, though opinions were split on whether the plain or traip variety was better.

“Well, I guess that concludes the first half. As for the back half, we still have the rainy season vegetables to look at, so—” I started to say, only to be cut off by a violent knocking on the kitchen door.

Darmu Ruu reacted quicker than anyone else, immediately calling out to Reina Ruu, who was over by the entrance, “Don’t move. I’ll answer it. You all stay back.” Reina Ruu nodded and walked over to stand next to me, while Darmu Ruu slipped by her to stand in front of the door. “Who’s there?” he demanded.

“Shin Ruu. I have a message for Mia Lea and Darmu Ruu.”

The tension in the air instantly calmed. However, Lala Ruu still looked worried as she ran over to her brother. Darmu Ruu opened the door, revealing Shin Ruu standing there in rain gear.

“What’s the matter, Shin Ruu? Did something happen at the Sauti settlement?”

“Rimee and Ludo Ruu are safe, but the western guards and northerners have been attacked by a starving giba.” The room filled with tension again as soon as he said that. Shin Ruu was maintaining his usual calm expression, but he sounded a little out of breath. “The injured have been gathered in the Sauti settlement. The uninjured guards are heading to town to seek help, but the Sauti don’t have enough personnel or medicine to handle this situation. Donda Ruu has decided that the Ruu will send both to assist them. Please, lend us your aid, Darmu Ruu.”

“Understood. But what happened to the starving giba?”

“Apparently, they were able to deal with it somehow. There were over a hundred people present, after all.”

Darmu Ruu gave a single nod, then turned toward his mother.

Before he could say a word, though, Mia Lei Ruu nodded and said, “Medicine, right? If we collect it from the branch houses too, we should be able to provide quite a bit. Sorry Asuta, but could we end things here?”

“H-Hold on! Could you take me to the Sauti settlement too?”

Darmu Ruu shot me a dubious look. “What would you even do if you went? They don’t need a chef.”

“I-Is it not enough that I just want to see how bad it is? And if there is anything I can do to help, I want to do it!”

“I’m not the one who needs to make that decision. My father is.”

And with that, the study session at the Ruu settlement came to an unexpected close.

My heart was pounding. I couldn’t help but think about Eleo Chel, Chiffon Chel’s older brother.

Is Eleo Chel okay...? Damn it! They were supposed to have been prepared to deal with giba, so how did this happen? I thought as I hurriedly grabbed my rain gear from the wall and threw it on, before running out into the drizzling rain.