Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 26 - Chapter 3.2

2

“Ai Fa’s a weird one, don’t you think?” Ludo Ruu said.

The atmosphere in the kitchen remained energetic the whole time we were cooking, which was unsurprising, considering that we had the chatty siblings Ludo and Rimee Ruu with us.

“She was the first woman to ever say she wanted to be a hunter, and on top of that, normally you’d never consider living alone like she used to without any family or any other clans related to you nearby.”

“Yeah. But now Lem Dom wants to be a hunter too,” Rimee Ruu noted.

“She still has lots of family members and blood relatives she can rely on, though. Besides, she’s actually bigger than me or Shin Ruu.”

“Ah ha ha, Ai Fa’s bigger than you too, Ludo!”

“Shut it, runt! She’s only a finger or two taller at most! And I’ve still got plenty of growing left to do!”

I was really enjoying listening to the two of them talk, and since their chatter was soothing my nerves, I decided to join in too.

“By the way, your birthday was a few days ago, right, Ludo Ruu? So you’re sixteen now?”

“Yeah. By the time I’m eighteen, I’ll be bigger than you and Ai Fa, Asuta!” Ludo Ruu declared in a huff. When he smiled, Ludo Ruu was as adorable as any girl, but as he continued to grow, I was sure that he’d eventually become just as handsome as Darmu Ruu, though for some reason, that thought made me feel a bit down.

“We had an amazing meal for Ludo’s birthday too! Those chatchi croquettes were delicious!”

“Yeah. We only eat croquettes once or twice a month. Hey, Asuta, do we really need to be that careful about eating too much giba fat?”

“Hmm... That’s something we’ll have to keep looking at over time, but it really isn’t good to eat too much fat, sugar, or salt.”

“Huh... I suppose it might make them taste better if you only get to have them every once in a while,” Ludo Ruu said from his position next to Granny Jiba, though he was fidgeting a bit in dissatisfaction. “Well, that’s enough about me! We’re here for Ai Fa! It’s better now that you’re here, Asuta, but before you came, she was expecting to live her life completely alone until her soul returned to the forest. That’s the part I really can’t believe! She didn’t just cut ties with the Ruu, but also all the clans that neighbor her, yeah?”

“That’s right, all because of her feud with the Suun clan. She didn’t want to cause trouble for anyone around her.”

“I can’t even imagine it, living like that for two whole years! It sounds so dull that I’d probably get sick of being alive if it were me!”

“Maybe, but Rimee Ruu did at least try to visit her every now and then.”

The young chef in question broke out in a bashful smile as she was boiling some traip in milk fat for the stew. Without a doubt, she was single-handedly responsible for keeping Ai Fa from being completely lonely during those two years. If not for her, my clan head would hardly ever have had a reason to speak to another human being at all during that period.

“So, you and Ai Fa still aren’t getting married?”

I was so surprised when I heard that, I almost flipped my pot over.

“Wh-What are you talking about?! You can’t just ask that out of nowhere, Ludo Ruu!”

“Hmm? I wasn’t trying to change the topic or anything. But if you and Ai Fa don’t get married and pop out a ton of kids, your clan’s gonna die off.”

There was nothing I could do to keep my face from turning completely red. I had never been hit with this topic so directly before.

“W-Well, nothing’s more important to Ai Fa than her work as a hunter.”

“She could just go back to being a hunter after having kids, like Bartha, though I guess she might not have time for that if she has a whole bunch of them.”

If nothing else, I wanted him to stop talking so directly about making babies. Perhaps sensing that, Granny Jiba chimed in after having been simply sitting and listening to us with a smile for a good long time.

“You shouldn’t be so nosy about the affairs of other houses. You hate being pressured to take a bride yourself, don’t you, Ludo?”

“I mean, if Darmu and Vina still haven’t gotten married, isn’t it weird for people to bug me and Reina about it?! Plus, I only just turned sixteen!”

“Mia Lea and the others have been worried about how your face doesn’t seem to be losing its childlike looks...but you’re still a fine hunter, so it wouldn’t be unusual for you to take a bride any day now.”

“That’s true. You’re the right age for it, so do you have a woman you like, Ludo Ruu?” I asked, trying to shift the topic and strike back at him. However, Ludo Ruu simply shrugged disinterestedly.

“I haven’t really thought about it. I’ve gotten several proposals, but none of them felt right.”

“Oh, my. That’s just like how things used to be with Vina, is it not?”

“Yup! Ludo’s popular with the girls. Even Tara said you’re really cool, didn’t she?” Rimee Ruu said.

“Huh? I never heard that runt say anything like that.”

“Of course she wouldn’t say it to you directly! You’re so clueless, Ludo!”

“Oh, am I?! I don’t think a runt like you should be talking like such a know-it-all!”

Fortunately, it seemed we had successfully deflected the course of the conversation.

On a related note, since I happened to be thinking about marriage, the talks between the Fou and Sudra about forming blood ties between them had apparently been progressing smoothly. This kind of thing—marrying and having children—was a huge deal for the people of the forest’s edge.

“By the way, have you been to the Rutim settlement lately, Asuta?” Rimee Ruu asked.

“Yeah, but only once so I could thank them for visiting me when I was sick. Ama Min Rutim’s stomach sure has grown, hasn’t it?”

“Yup! It’s still gonna be months before the baby is born, but I’m really looking forward to it!”

Among our neighbors, Li Sudra was also pregnant, and had been for longer than Ama Min Rutim. Her stomach hadn’t been noticeably different back during the revival festival, but it had become quite a bit bigger in the past two months.

Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, huh? To the people of the forest’s edge, that’s unquestionably the right path to take.

I felt a bit guilty when that thought crossed my mind. If I couldn’t get together with Ai Fa, I wouldn’t mind spending my whole life single... That was the conclusion I had perhaps hastily come to.

As for Ai Fa, she had said that on the off chance she became unable to continue as a hunter and had to live as a woman, she would never want to marry anyone but me. I knew it wasn’t appropriate for me as a person of the forest’s edge to feel as satisfied about that as I did.

That said, I definitely didn’t want to see a future in which Ai Fa became seriously injured. I figured we would just keep getting closer, with the emotional bond between us becoming ever stronger as we continued to live in the same place.

However, right as I was thinking that, there was a knock on the door, almost making me jump in surprise, and a commanding voice came from outside. “I’m back.”

“Ooh, it’s Ai Fa! You sure are late!” Rimee Ruu said.

It was then that I noticed it was now pitch black outside the window. We were nearly finished with the cooking at this point.

Ai Fa opened the door, and Ludo Ruu let loose a wild, “Gyah! That’s a big one! You carried it back all on your own?!”

“Ah, Ludo Ruu. My apologies for troubling you with such a selfish request today.”

Ai Fa was breathing heavily as she offered that rather stiff response, and who could blame her? There was a massive giba lying on the ground by her feet that must’ve weighed at least a hundred kilos.

“Giba summoning fruit is less effective in the rain, isn’t it? It’s amazing that you still managed to catch that thing on your own!” Ludo Ruu noted.

“It isn’t as if there are fewer giba around during the rainy season... In fact, the number of giba seems to have risen slightly since the Sudra started going to the Suun settlement to hunt.”

“Oh yeah, those Sudra guys have been hunting with the Suun and Jeen, haven’t they? That’s pretty amazing too!”

“Of course, they’re only going once every five to ten days, and the Suun settlement was in the middle of a break period until recently. It’s possible that there being more giba around is just my impression, and I’m reading too much into this.”

Ai Fa’s breathing had already returned to normal as they were speaking. The hunters of the forest’s edge recovered really quickly.

“Still, look at what a mess you are! You’re covered in mud from head to toe! And these guys’ve almost got dinner ready too.”

“My apologies. I will deal with this giba after cleansing my body. Please hold on for a little while longer.”

“Well, how about you let me take care of cleaning the giba for you. There’s nothing wrong with me paying you back for the dinner, right?”

“Ah, no, but...”

“Come on, please! I’ve been smelling all this delicious food the whole time I’ve been here, you know. And that runt Rimee hasn’t let me do any taste testing at all! My stomach can’t take much more!”

With that additional bit of pressure from Ludo Ruu, Ai Fa finally accepted. “Very well, I will leave that to you. I apologize again for the trouble. I will be cleansing my body on the other side of this hut, so please be careful not to come too close if you go over there.”

“Yeah, I’ve got no interest in having my eyes plucked out! Whoa, this is heavy!”

Ludo Ruu had slipped his rain gear back on and was now dragging the giba away as Ai Fa glanced around the kitchen.

“Well then, I will see you all later.”

My muddied clan head swiftly departed. Was she still feeling nervous about Rimee and Jiba Ruu being here or something?

“It really is amazing that Ai Fa hunts all on her own! During the rainy season, our clan catches fewer giba for sure!” Rimee Ruu said.

“Yeah. I feel like she’s been catching as many as she did before the rainy season ever since I recovered from my illness. I think she’s pushing herself really hard to make up for all the time she had to take off from work because of me,” I responded.

“Oh yeah? I’m sure I don’t need to worry since we’re talking about Ai Fa, but still...I hope we’ll be able to buy hunting dogs soon!”

We were coming up on the two month mark since Shumiral had first brought hunting dogs to the Ruu settlement. It was pretty much already decided that the people of the forest’s edge would be purchasing more after all the good the dogs had done in that time. Once the rainy season ended, the plan was to have the Ruu foot the cost for buying several more of the animals, which would be distributed to clans throughout the forest’s edge so that more hunters would have a chance to try working with them.

Polarth and the other nobles had already been told about all this. There were a few merchants from Jagar who visited even at this time of year, so we were going to have them get in contact with other merchants who handled hunting dogs when they returned home.

“Hunting dogs are so amazing! Our hunters haven’t been bringing back as many giba as they were before with the rainy season, but we were catching a whole ton of them before that!” Rimee Ruu said.

“I see. And I bet you’re also looking forward to getting more of them because they’re so adorable, right?”

“Yeah! When we get the new ones, I’m gonna name them!”

After we had that cute little exchange, there was another knock on the door.

“Asuta, it’s Saris Ran Fou. I came to deliver what I mentioned before.”

“Ah, please come on in.”

Our new visitors were Saris Ran Fou, her child Aimu Fou, and one more woman, the Ran clan head’s wife; they all entered the kitchen clad in rain gear.

“Thank you for coming. Ai Fa is currently cleaning herself off out back.”

“I see. Then may we wait here?”

The two women walked over to a corner of the room, staying out of the way so they didn’t get anything on the food. Aimu Fou was clinging to his mother’s leg with his eyes wide open as he stared at Granny Jiba, who was seated along the opposite wall. When the Ruu elder noticed that, her eyes narrowed and she smiled.

“What a healthy-looking child. Is he yours?”

“Yes, this is Aimu Fou. You’re the Ruu clan elder Jiba Ruu, correct?” Saris Ran Fou responded, pulling back the hood of her rain gear and bowing her head. As I carried out my preparations to plate the finished dishes, I went ahead and explained.

“Jiba Ruu, this is Saris Ran Fou, Ai Fa’s childhood friend. She’s the closest person to her among the nearby clans.”

“Ah, I see. Saris Ran Fou... Saris Ran... That name does indeed seem familiar to me.”

“Huh?” Saris Ran Fou looked surprised.

Granny Jiba smiled at her again with even more kindness. “Ai Fa has wanted to become a hunter since she was young, so I know that many of those around her saw her as an odd child and avoided her. But I remember she often spoke to me about the one close friend she did have.”

“She did? But I was always telling her that she should forget her wish and that it was foolish.”

“You said those things out of concern for Ai Fa’s future, did you not? She knew what the emotions behind your words were.”

Saris Ran Fou frowned and hung her head. “But...when the Suun clan started its feud with Ai Fa, I...”

“Ahhh, that doesn’t matter! Why does everyone get all sad when you’re talking about the past? You’ve made up with Ai Fa now, haven’t you?” Rimee Ruu asked with a smile. “Today’s a day for celebrating! You shouldn’t be looking sad! You should be smiling! Right?!”

“Yes, that’s true,” Saris Ran Fou replied with a sad-looking smile, right before the door opened.

On the other side was Ai Fa, now clean, dripping wet, and wearing her cloak. Her eyes immediately fell on Saris Ran Fou, who she was clearly surprised to see. “Saris Ran Fou, what are you doing here at this time of day?”

“Ai Fa. I came to give you something.” With that, Saris Ran Fou showed us what she had been hiding inside of her rain gear, and the Ran woman did the same. Ai Fa’s childhood friend was holding a giba pelt hunter’s cloak, while the Ran woman had a rain cloak with fur on the inside. The outside was dyed a beautiful red.

“As friends of the Fa, the Fou and Ran clans wish to present these gifts to you. They were both made using pelts you gave us, Ai Fa.”

“A hunter’s cloak and rain gear?”

“Yes. The one you use now is a memento from your father Gil Fa, isn’t it? Normally, when one becomes a full-fledged hunter, the clan’s women gift them a hunter’s cloak made from a giba they caught, but the Fa clan doesn’t have any women to tan pelts.”

“You also gather firewood and herbs, don’t you, Ai Fa? You should use this when you do. Rain gear for women always has a hood.”

Ai Fa was left at a loss for words.

Saris Ran Fou smiled while holding up the hunter’s cloak. “Accepting a hunter’s cloak from another clan may not exactly line up with our customs. But we have all shared a festival of the hunt together, so it shouldn’t be an issue, right?”

“Besides, you were the one who caught these giba, so there’s no shame in accepting them back. Please, use our gifts well.”

Ai Fa closed her eyes, looking like she was desperately trying to contain some kind of emotion, before finally breaking out in a smile.

“I am deeply grateful to the Fou and Ran clans, and I shall gladly make use of these,” Ai Fa said, accepting the two gifts.

All the while, Rimee Ruu and Granny Jiba were watching the exchange with smiles on their faces, and as Ai Fa held her gifts tight, Saris Ran Fou and the Ran woman looked at one another and smiled as well. It seemed that their surprise had made Ai Fa even happier than I had expected it would.