Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 27 - Chapter 1.2

2

“Apparently, Sufira Zaza has been interested in Leiriss ever since first meeting him at the celebration following the swordsmanship tournament. Then they deepened their relationship at the house of Daleim’s dance party, and she realized her feelings were romantic in nature.”

As we arrived at the post town and started getting our stalls ready, I ended up having to explain the earlier incident to everyone. Naturally, they all wanted to know why Geol Zaza had been rushing over to the Ruu settlement and what had made him so upset.

“She spent a long time agonizing over what to do—more than two months, I guess, since the dance party was held around the end of the gold month—but eventually she decided to open up to her family about her feelings.”

I knew that a festival of the hunt had been held at the northern settlement around then too. When women danced and hunters participated in contests of strength during those festivals, it often led to discussions of marriage. I could easily imagine such an event prompting Sufira Zaza to take a very close look at her feelings.

“But why did Sufira Zaza fall for a noble of all people? She only met him twice, at that tournament and the dance party, right?” Lala Ruu asked. Sheera Ruu, Morun Rutim, Tsuvai, and Yamiru Lea were also listening in as they did their work.

“Well, it seems that she started to fall for him when she saw him beat Geol Zaza in the swordsmanship tournament. Apparently, Geol Zaza is strong enough to make it into the final eight at the northern settlement.”

“Oh? That certainly is impressive, but is it really enough to make a woman of the forest’s edge fall for a noble?”

“Well, he’s very strong, but he’s also quite calm and polite, usually. Maybe that’s the kind of man Sufira Zaza likes. By the way, didn’t you meet him at that celebratory banquet too, Lala Ruu?”

“Yeah, I remember that noble guy. He spent a long time talking to Shin Ruu, after all,” Lala Ruu replied. Then she paused for a moment to search her memories. “Hmm. Well, I guess he didn’t seem like a bad person. At the very least, he wasn’t as bad as I had expected.”

“Ah, now that you mention it, Shin Ruu got pulled into that swordsmanship tournament because of Leiriss, didn’t he?”

“That’s right! His father tried to beat Shin Ruu with a craven trick, and Shin Ruu ended up having to go to all that trouble because of it! I was really angry about that back then.”

Leiriss’s father Geimalos had participated in a swordsmanship match against Shin Ruu, where he had replaced Shin Ruu’s light armor with heavy cavalry armor in a cowardly attempt to cheat. That had resulted in him losing his position as head of the Knights of Saturas, which had settled things as far as the people of the forest’s edge were concerned...but then his son Leiriss had gotten all broody over it. He had wanted to know if the hunters of the forest’s edge were truly such incredible swordsmen that his father felt like he had to commit such a crime, and that had seriously ignited his fighting spirit.

However, after crossing blades with Shin Ruu in the contest of swordsmanship, he had been able to lay his doubts to rest. When I had met him again at the Daleim dance party, he had been all smiles and seemed so high-spirited that it had been as if he’d freed himself from some kind of evil spirit that had been possessing him.

“Now that you mention it, I did see him speaking with Sufira Zaza a number of times back during the dance party. But I didn’t think much of it, since there didn’t seem to be anything bad going on,” Sheera Ruu called out. She had also attended that event. Neither she nor I had paid too much attention to what the two of them had been doing. I had just been glad to see the nobles and people of the forest’s edge getting closer.

“Still, it’s no small matter for a woman of the forest’s edge to fall for a noble! Is she saying she wants to marry into his house, then?”

“No, she knows that won’t be permitted, and she can’t bring herself to abandon the settlement at the forest’s edge either. But she can’t simply shake off her feelings toward Leiriss, so she actually wants to be rebuked for straying from the proper path as a person of the forest’s edge. That’s the request she’s making to her father, Gulaf Zaza. She wants him to show her the proper path forward, as a leading clan head.”

“Wow! That sounds like a really big problem for Gulaf Zaza! I feel sorry for him!” Lala Ruu said.

I found her reaction to be kind of unexpected.

“You feel bad for Gulaf Zaza? Well, I definitely get that he’s been put in a difficult position, at least.”

“I feel just as bad for him as I do for Sufira Zaza! This is even more ridiculous than that whole thing with Vina that was such a headache for Papa Donda!”

Ah, so she was sympathetic to Gulaf Zaza because he was dealing with the same troubles as her own father? It was true that this situation was even more wild than the matter with Vina Ruu and Shumiral.

“Gulaf Zaza must be at a complete loss as to how to deal with this situation if he’s consulting with Papa Donda and Dari Sauti about it. I wonder what’s going to end up happening.”

“Hmm, I’m not sure myself. There would definitely be all sorts of problems that would come up if a person of the forest’s edge and a noble were to try to get married.”

“Hmph! Yeah, it’s not like a noble would ever marry into our people. And, well, Sufira Zaza’s the one who developed feelings for someone she shouldn’t,” Tsuvai remarked with an astonished shrug.

Yamiru Lea, meanwhile, gave a listless sigh. “Quite so. Still, I never expected Sufira Zaza of all people to fall for a noble. You can truly never predict the whims of fate.”

The two of them had once belonged to the Suun clan, so they had been close with Sufira Zaza, though ever since the Suun’s crimes had been exposed, Sufira Zaza had been very strict with them.

“She must have gone crazy to fall for a noble. I feel bad for poor Deek Dom,” Tsuvai stated.

“Huh?” Morun Rutim exclaimed. “Ts-Tsuvai, what are you bringing up Deek Dom for? This is a Zaza clan issue, isn’t it?”

“Hmm? Didn’t you know? Sufira Zaza and Deek Dom were supposed to get married. At least, that’s what everyone around them thought.”

Morun Rutim stumbled and caught herself against the stall.

Lala Ruu worriedly reached out and grabbed her shoulder. “What’s the matter? You’ve gone pale, Morun Rutim!”

“O-Oh, it’s nothing. Th-The pot will probably be hot enough soon, right?” Morun Rutim said as she hurriedly returned to her own stall.

I was rather concerned, so I turned to look at Yamiru Lea. “Um, is it true that Sufira Zaza and Deek Dom were going to get married? This is the first time I’ve heard anything about that.”

“No, people just assumed that they would. It was the best possible pairing for deepening the bond between the Zaza and the Dom, and Sufira Zaza is quite close to Deek Dom’s younger sister Lem Dom as well.”

Now that she mentioned it, I had heard similar things regarding Lem Dom and Geol Zaza. Lem Dom had denied it, but at the very least, Geol Zaza did want to marry her.

The four of them are all around the same age, so it really wouldn’t be strange for the topic to be raised between them. Since they all belong to the Zaza and Dom main houses, the pairings would work out quite well. But that also meant that this new development could be a real problem for the relationship between the Zaza and the Dom. Lem Dom had no intention whatsoever of marrying Geol Zaza, since she wanted to live as a hunter, and Sufira Zaza had fallen for a noble. Having those two potential pairings ruined was sure to cause some anxiety for them.

Still, the chances of Sufira Zaza and Leiriss getting together are near zero...so maybe there’s nothing to worry about? All I could do was pray to the mother forest that everything would work out okay.

However, in the end it took several days and a whole lot of effort for everything to be resolved.

The next morning—the sixth of the vermilion month—brought with it Lem Dom’s first visit to the Fa house in a while.

“Long time no see, Asuta. Glad to see you looking well.”

“Hey there, Lem Dom. You’re looking as healthy as always too.”

Just like Geol Zaza had done yesterday, Lem Dom had come to the Fa house riding atop a totos. She had arrived a bit earlier than him, though, so I was still in the process of loading the wagon after finishing my prep work for the stalls.

“Sorry, but could I have a bit of your time? I want to hear your opinion about what’s going on.”

“You mean about the thing with Sufira Zaza, right? Sorry, Toor Deen, but could you take charge of getting everything loaded?”

Lem Dom turned and called out to the young chef as well. “My apologies, Toor Deen. I’m glad to see you looking well too.”

“Thanks!” Toor Deen replied with a nod and a happy smile. The Zaza was the parent clan to both of them and they had worked together often, so the two of them got along surprisingly well.

At any rate, I left the packing to her and headed off to the side of the house with Lem Dom.

“You really do look much better now. The last time I saw you, you were all skinny, so I was pretty concerned.”

“Yeah. Sorry for worrying you. And thank you for coming to see me when I was ill.”

“Of course I did. I’m endlessly grateful to both you and Ai Fa,” Lem Dom said with a calm smile.

Every time I had seen her recently, she had looked more and more like the dauntless hunter she aspired to be. I also found it interesting that her rough and wild nature seemed like it was gradually getting reined in at the same time.

Naturally, she had grown even burlier than she had been in the past. She was taller than me, the muscles on her arms and legs stood out visibly, and she had a six-pack. Honestly, her appearance was more in line with what I expected of a female hunter than Ai Fa’s. However, the look in her eyes was now much calmer, and the expression she wore was more mature than it had been in the past.

“Okay, let’s just get right into it. You’ve interacted with that Leiriss fellow before, right, Asuta?”

“Yeah, though we’ve only met twice. Once at the banquet put on by the house of Saturas, and the other time at the Daleim dance party.”

“Oh, right, you didn’t take part in that celebratory banquet after the tournament, huh?”

“Nope. Everyone who attended belonged to the leading clans. I just ran a stall outside of the arena and did a bit of spectating afterward.”

“Then you saw Leiriss’s fight with Geol Zaza?” Lem Dom questioned, leaning forward ever so slightly. “How exactly did the fight go? Geol Zaza won’t really talk about it, and I would feel bad if I pressured him to tell me, so I still have no clue how it played out.”

“It’d be hard for me to describe it in detail...but they were both thoroughly exhausted, and Leiriss just barely managed to win. They’d both had tough battles in the previous round, after all.”

Leiriss had been beaten by Shin Ruu, and Geol Zaza had been beaten by Melfried after some seriously intense fights. The two defeated competitors had then fought each other for third place.

“I got the impression that Geol Zaza and Shin Ruu both found it extremely restrictive to have to fight while wearing armor. I’m a total amateur when it comes to combat, but I’m sure if it hadn’t been for that, Geol Zaza would never have lost to any noble.”

“I see. Well, there’s no point in complaining about the rules of a competition. Still, it’s unusual for a hunter of the forest’s edge to lose, regardless of the conditions in place.”

“I feel the same way. Leiriss and Melfried are both incredible swordsmen. Oh, right, and a while back, Ai Fa said that Melfried was about as strong as Jiza Ruu.”

When she heard that, Lem Dom’s eyes seemed to light up. “Speaking of which, wasn’t Melfried the one who defeated that criminal from the Suun?”

“Oh, you mean Tei Suun? Yeah, that was him.”

“I see. In that case, I suppose I can see how he might have been able to get the better of a hunter from the forest’s edge in that competition. I think I can understand Sufira Zaza’s feelings a little better now.”

“Really?” I asked, tilting my head.

“Only a little, though,” Lem Dom replied with a shrug. “At the northern settlement, might makes right. We were raised to be drawn to strong people, more so than the women of other clans, so I could definitely see her being attracted to the noble who took down Geol Zaza.”

“Yeah, I guess that may be true...but Deek Dom must be stronger than Leiriss, don’t you think?”

“Deek? Why are you bringing him up all of a sudden?”

“Oh, well, I heard a rumor that he was supposed to marry Sufira Zaza.”

“Ah... That’s just something people say because it seems like those two are the best possible match for each other in the northern settlement. Even more so because none of the elder Zaza sisters married into the Dom clan.” Lem Dom ran her fingers through her long back hair and sighed. “Well, since I’m in no position to marry, it would probably ease a lot of people’s concerns if Deek married Sufira Zaza, but it doesn’t seem like that’ll happen anytime soon. Despite appearances, Sufira Zaza is deeply emotional, so I don’t think she’ll be open to marrying another man in the near future.”

“I suppose not. She did spend two whole months trying to forget her feelings before she spoke to anyone about them.”

“Of course. After all, it simply isn’t possible for a noble and a person of the forest’s edge to marry.”

From what I had heard, though, the emergency meeting between the leading clan heads yesterday hadn’t yielded any results.

If Leiriss was told about this and firmly rejected her, would that save Sufira Zaza? But after that big kerfuffle between us and the house of Saturas over Leeheim’s behavior toward Reina Ruu, the nobles would probably think we were pretty brazen if we brought up the topic of romantic feelings again, except this time coming from our direction, wouldn’t they? Apparently, the people who had participated in the discussions about this issue had wildly varying opinions about it.

“How is Sufira Zaza doing now?”

“She looks like she’s the same as always on the surface, but I’m sure she must feel like a criminal waiting for her sentence to be handed down. She’s full of regret for having troubled her father and leading clan head, Gulaf Zaza.”

I really did feel sorry for her. Hearing that she wanted to be scolded for falling in love with the wrong person and being unable to suppress her feelings made me feel awful.

“What a mess. I feel like I need to apologize to her, considering I was the one who insisted that we should strengthen our bonds with outsiders.”

“Oh? You took Geol Zaza’s words to heart? It’s not like you to act so pathetic, Asuta.”

“Yeah. It’s not like I think everything I’ve been doing was wrong now, but it’s still hard to accept the fact that I’ve caused so much heartache for Sufira Zaza.”

“You think too much about how other people feel. Although, I suppose that also happens to be the reason you decided to help me out so much.” Lem Dom said, and then she brought her face close to mine. “Besides, do you really think you’ve got the leeway to be worrying about other people’s love troubles? What’s been going on between you and Ai Fa recently?”

“H-Huh? Nothing in particular, really.”

“Seriously? But when Ai Fa was all cuddled up with you when you were sick, you looked like you were practically husband and wife already.” An impudent expression then crept onto Lem Dom’s face. This was how she always used to look. “Hey, Asuta...I’m grateful to you, and I think you’re both charming and pleasant to be around...but Ai Fa’s an unbelievably strong female hunter, and she’s incredibly precious to me.”

“Y-Yeah, I get all that, of course.”

“If Ai Fa gets married like an ordinary woman, I’ll be the only female hunter left at the forest’s edge.”

“Is that something you’re worried about? Ai Fa and I don’t have any plans to marry,” I replied.

Lem Dom raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “You said that awfully quick. You love Ai Fa as a woman, don’t you?”

“Wh-Why are you putting so much pressure on me this early in the morning? I do, but I want to respect Ai Fa’s feelings.”

Lem Dom stared intently at me. “Ah, right. You had to work up quite a bit of resolve to make that decision, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“In that case, I guess it’s my turn to feel bad for you, Asuta.” Lem Dom licked her lips, and a different kind of light then appeared in her eyes. Her gaze was weighty and alluring, and seemed to be trying to envelop me. “In that case, why don’t I ease your suffering a bit?”

“I-I’m not really comfortable with you looking at me that way. The last time you had that look in your eyes, I remember you making a really dicey proposition.”

“That’s a fine thing to say, calling it a dicey proposition. All I did was offer to teach you how to indulge in some pleasure without having a child,” Lem Dom replied, whispering that devilish temptation into my ears once more. “Still, it would certainly ruin the fun if you did it with a woman you weren’t interested in. In that case, why don’t I share my knowledge with Ai Fa instead? That would let you have as much fun as you could possibly want with your beloved Ai Fa.”

“D-Don’t be ridiculous!” I shouted, nearly leaping into the air as I pulled away from Lem Dom. “S-Seriously, cut it out! I know I’m a weakling, but if I have to use force to stop you from doing that, I will!”

“My, you’re getting so serious about this. And here I thought you’d be happy to have the option. What exactly are you so upset about?”

“O-Of course I’m upset! That goes against the customs of the forest’s edge, doesn’t it?”

“And how much does that actually bother you? I mean, you’ve overturned our customs more than a few times already. And I know you’d feel such bliss that you’d stop caring about any of that in no time at all.”

“O-On the off chance things ever go in that direction between me and Ai Fa...I probably wouldn’t be able to hold myself back! And that’d spell trouble for you too, wouldn’t it?”

Lem Dom’s eyes opened wide in bemusement. Then a moment later she started laughing, unable to hold herself back. “I have no idea if your will is incredibly strong or pathetically weak. Still, that really does sound just like you, Asuta.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I guess I’m glad I amused you, at least.”

“Come on, don’t be angry. I was trying to make you happy. Oh, I wasn’t trying to pick a fight or anything, so you’ve got nothing to worry about, Ai Fa.”

When I heard her say that, I felt myself get goose bumps. Fearfully, I turned my head to follow her gaze...and sure enough, I found my clan head emerging from the shadow of the house.

“Then what was all that wailing about? Asuta is clearly upset.”

“A-A-Ai Fa, how long have you been listening?”

“I wasn’t able to make out what you two were saying from over here. Would it be inconvenient for you somehow if I overheard?” Ai Fa asked, clearly looking miffed. If Lem Dom hadn’t been present as well, she probably would have been openly frowning about now.

As I struggled to find a response, I shot Lem Dom a resentful glare. All that did was make her smile in amusement, though.

“I’m relieved to see that the two of you are the same as always. For my sake, I hope you stay that way forever,” she said.

“I don’t understand you at all. We don’t need you to tell us to be ourselves,” Ai Fa grumbled.

I didn’t know whether to feel relieved to hear that, but at any rate, I went ahead and let out a sigh. But then Ai Fa suddenly brought her face close to mine.

“I can’t see any reason for you to be sighing. You aren’t trying to hide some kind of wicked plot from me, are you?”

“No, definitely not!”

It was just that I had been thrown for one heck of a loop, considering that it was still early in the morning. Honestly, at that point I wasn’t sure who was worse off, Sufira Zaza or me.

At any rate, even with everyone anxiously worrying about what was going to happen next, the situation surrounding Sufira Zaza and Leiriss wasn’t showing any signs of heading toward a conclusion in the near future.