Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 27 - Chapter 2.5

Interlude: Reminiscence of a Banquet

There was a wedding banquet being held at the Ruu settlement. On top of a stage that had been erected in the plaza were a groom clad in a gallant hunter’s cloak and a beautiful bride wearing a colorful outfit, both of them filled with joy as their relatives all congratulated them.

One of the people present, however, was a young man sitting in the dim light with a bored glare on his face. He looked to be around twenty and was slim and tall, with a fierce appearance like that of a wild wolf. He had a mane of disheveled blackish-brown hair, and his blue eyes shone vigorously. He had a handsome face, with a high-bridged nose and thin lips, but they were currently distorted by a look of serious displeasure. He was silently leaning against the trunk of a large tree, holding an earthenware container of fruit wine in his right hand.

“Hey, what are you doing in a place like this?” a young man with a jolly expression on his face called out, approaching with a mountain of grilled giba meat piled high on a plate. He looked to be roughly halfway through his teens and had long limbs that were likely still growing, though he was currently half a head shorter than the other youth. Even so, he had the well-trained body of a hunter, and a large number of tusks and horns dangled over his chest on the necklace he wore. His hair was long and dark brown, and his big round eyes were a lighter brown, with an impressive pair of eyebrows above them. He had an inviting smile, and combined with his somewhat childish appearance, it made him look almost cute.

“C’mon, have some meat. It’s a banquet. Just drinking fruit wine won’t make you any stronger, you know.”

“Be quiet. You eat a ridiculous amount every single day, even when it’s not a banquet, don’t you?” the first young man replied without the slightest hint of friendliness in his voice, and then he took a giant swig of fruit wine. As he watched his companion’s face from the side, the second young man tilted his head.

“Why are you looking so unhappy on such a joyous occasion? This is your precious little brother’s wedding!”

“I don’t look unhappy.”

“You definitely do. Well, you always look that way, though.” The other young man then paused to take a big bite of giba meat, not being shy about interrupting their conversation to do so. “Oh, are you frustrated that your little brother beat you to it? You should hurry up and find a bride too. It’s not good for the heir to the main house to still be single at eighteen, you know.”

The first young man offered no response.

“A man’s got more responsibilities than just hunting giba. We’ve got a duty as hunters to leave behind strong blood too. And the two of us are eventually going to lead our clans, so it’s even more important in our case,” the second young man said, smiling like he was as happy as the bride up on the platform. “You know, my son’s so adorable I can hardly believe it! He’s only just been born, so I couldn’t bring him along, but the thought of going a single night without seeing his face is enough to make me feel like I’m gonna die of agony!”

“Hurry up and perish, then. I’ll be sure to bury you deep enough in the ground that the mundt won’t try to dig you back up,” the other youth retorted with a wild look in his blazing blue eyes.

A slender figure then approached the two of them from the direction of the bonfire. “What are you doing in a gloomy place like this? If you stand too far away from the light, a giiz might come and bite your leg.”

She was a very pretty young woman with sleek reddish-brown hair that flowed down to her hips. She had an innocent and youthful face, but she had to be over fifteen years old. The iridescent fabric and stylish metal and wood accessories of her banquet attire suited her wonderfully.

When the second young man’s eyes fell on her, he called out, “Wow, you’re really beautiful! I didn’t know there was such a lovely unmarried woman among our relatives. Which clan do you belong to?”

It was frowned upon at the forest’s edge to excessively praise the appearance of a person of the opposite sex. However, the girl seemed unperturbed by the boy’s tactlessness, simply smiling charmingly at him in response.

“I’m the eldest daughter of a Lea branch house, Mia Lea. You’re the eldest son of the main Rutim house, Dan Rutim, aren’t you?”

“Oh, you know my name?!”

“Of course. Even at the Lea settlement, people talk about how you’re a better hunter than anyone, and at the age of only sixteen too.”

“Nah, I’m not that good! My father Raa is undoubtedly the greatest Rutim hunter! I’m only the second best!” the younger hunter, Dan Rutim, remarked with a hearty laugh. “Still, it’s surprising to see a girl as pretty as you around! You’ve gotta be the most beautiful woman in all of our clans who isn’t already married! But my wife is the prettiest otherwise!”

“My,” the girl, Mia Lea, replied with an amused smile.

“You really are pretty! Don’t you think so too? Oh, and this here is the oldest son of the main Ruu house.”

“Yes, I know who he is, naturally. It’s been some time, hasn’t it, Donda Ruu?” Mia Lea Ruu said with a smile. But the young wolf-like man, Donda Ruu, just kept on drinking his fruit wine and didn’t even look at her.

“Oh, so you two were already acquainted?”

“Yes, we got to know each other a bit at the main Lea house’s wedding a little while ago.”

“Ah, that was the night Gazraan was born, so I wasn’t able to go celebrate with you! I feel bad for doing that to the Lea clan.”

“Oh, no, please, don’t worry about it. There’s no event more important than the birth of your child,” Mia Lea replied with a smile. Then Donda Ruu moved away from the tree he was leaning on and started walking toward the plaza where the banquet festivities were being held.

“Hmm? Where are you going, Donda Ruu?” Dan Rutim asked.

“I’m out of fruit wine. Don’t bother following me, you lot. Being surrounded by noise ruins the taste of the wine.” With that, Donda Ruu swiftly departed.

“What a grouch. This is why he still doesn’t have a wife at the age of eighteen.”

“No. I suppose I was being impolite to him. Donda Ruu is the heir to the main house of our parent clan. I should have treated him with more decorum.”

“Hmm? Nah, he’s the impolite one,” Dan Rutim started to say, but then his eyes opened wide. Mia Lea’s smile had vanished, and now she was hanging her head like a dejected child.

“What’s the matter? If you’re hungry, you can have this meat.”

“Ah, no, I’m fine. Sorry. I’m sure you two were enjoying your talk, but then I had to go and ruin it.”

“You didn’t ruin anything. That’s just the sort of guy Donda Ruu has always been. Still, it seems like he’s in an especially bad mood today.”

“I’m sure that’s because of me. He seems to hate me,” Mia Lea replied, gently wiping under her eyes with her fingertip. “Sorry. I still have work to do manning the stove, so please excuse me.”

“H-Hey, hold on.”

But Mia Lea didn’t stop and soon disappeared into the crowd.

Dan Rutim watched as her lovely figure vanished from sight. Then he muttered to no one in particular, “Is that really how it is?”

“The way I see it, the issue is that Donda Ruu still has a surprisingly childish side to him. He’s plenty strong as a hunter, and I think he’s capable enough to eventually lead the Ruu, but he can be oddly stubborn in all kinds of ways, you know?” Dan Rutim ranted.

“I suppose.”

“Yeah, stubborn and childish. Anytime he’s around women, he goes silent and acts all distant. I don’t mind because we’ve known each other for so long, but he’s going to keep scaring women away like that. And even if he doesn’t scare them, they’re still going to assume he doesn’t like them.”

“You think so?”

“The way he closes himself off around beautiful women keeps preventing things from working out with them! At this rate, he’ll end up never getting married, even if he does fall for someone! We’ve got a really serious problem here!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Also, if I’m not mistaken, Mia Lea seems to have feelings for Donda Ruu! Being so harsh with such a lovely girl who cares about him... That’s just disgraceful behavior for a hunter! A Lea woman would make a fitting bride for the main Ruu house, so why hesitate?! In fact...”

“Um, Dan Rutim, could I interrupt?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

After finally managing to interrupt Dan Rutim’s impassioned tirade, the listener—a younger boy—adjusted his posture apologetically.

“I get what you’re saying, of course. But why are you talking to me about this?”

“I mean, you’re Donda Ruu’s younger brother, aren’t you, Ryada Ruu? As a member of the main Ruu house, what do you think about this whole mess surrounding your brother?”

“I have no idea what you want me to say. I’m only eleven years old.” The boy had dark-brown hair like his older brother, though his eyes weren’t quite as wide. He had a deeply troubled expression on his face, complete with drooping eyebrows.

And then, a young girl of less than ten ran over to them. “What are you two talking about, Ryada Ruu?”

“Oh, Tari Ruu. It’s nothing.”

“See, look! The second son just turned fifteen and has already taken a wife, and you, the youngest son, have already won over your future bride. That’s the kind of proactive attitude we expect from the main Ruu house that leads our clans!” Dan Rutim declared.

“Could you please stop, Dan Rutim?”

The boy’s calm face—which didn’t resemble his older brother’s all that much—had gone red with embarrassment. The girl in her children’s banquet attire, meanwhile, didn’t seem to get what was going on and simply kept smiling.

“You sure are noisy. What are you making such a fuss about?” a middle-aged woman asked as she approached. She had a robust build, looked to be around forty, and had dark-brown hair.

“Hey, Tito Min Ruu, perfect timing. I was just talking about that ill-mannered son of yours.”

“I’m not sure which son you’re talking about, but tonight’s celebration is for my second son, you know,” Tito Min Ruu remarked with a smile on her plump face as she stared over at the center of the plaza. While Dan Rutim had been giving his impassioned speech to a child, the festivities had started to head toward their conclusion.

The bride and groom had gotten down from the stage and were standing in front of a stove that was giving off thick steam. The elder Jiba Ruu awaited them there, and she politely removed the grass crowns the two wore. Then she cleansed the accessories in smoke that came from burning herbs and exchanged the bride’s crown for the groom’s and vice versa. Finally, the pair took a bite of the meat that had been prepared for the celebration, and dozens of their relatives erupted into cheers all at once.

“May my son and his wife find happiness,” Tito Min Ruu said, bringing her fingers together and praying to the forest.

“Yeah, this is very much something to celebrate. It really is. But don’t you think that clod of an oldest son of yours should hurry up and find his happiness too, Tito Min Ruu?” Dan Rutim began again after cheering for the married couple a bit.

Narrowing her eyes happily, Tito Min Ruu nodded to him. “I’m grateful that you’re so concerned for Donda’s future, Dan Rutim. Finding a bride is a matter of fate, though. I myself got married when I was twenty and only gave birth to Donda two years later.”

“Yes, but—”

“Fate isn’t something you can force. It all comes down to the forest’s guidance. Now look, the celebratory dance is starting.”

The wedding banquet was finally reaching its climax, and for the last part of the celebration, the unmarried women were going to dance.

The men and older women picked up giba leg bones and began beating them together. Those without any stomped their feet on the ground, and then a grass flute melody joined in. The music they made had a powerful and yet somehow sad tone to it. The women in their banquet attire gathered in the center of the plaza and began dancing, each in their own way.

One stretched out her arms elegantly, while another wildly bent backward and leaped through the air with a look of joy on her face. Colorful outfits, silver bracelets, and dark brown limbs were all illuminated by the light of the bonfire. And Dan Rutim’s gaze was fixed on one particular girl who was dancing more energetically than any other.

“Wow. That’s really something.”

It was Mia Lea.

Her graceful arms were stretching into the air, and she was kicking her legs out with great force as her long reddish-brown hair whipped this way and that along with her shimmering clothes. She was dancing so passionately that it was as if the flames themselves had taken on the form of a beautiful girl.

“Oh right, Donda Ruu!” Dan Rutim shouted as he came back to his senses, dragging his eyes away from Mia Lea. Donda Ruu was once again standing in the darkness well away from the crowd, absentmindedly staring at the dancing women. “That idiot! Who does he think Mia Lea is dancing for?” After giving his brown hair a rough tussle, Dan Rutim hurried through the crowd toward Donda Ruu. “Hey, you rude jerk! This is a big moment for the women, you know! If you’re going to watch, then watch properly!”

Donda Ruu offered no response, which made Dan Rutim even angrier. He was about to start shouting again, but then he noticed the red blaze reflected in Donda Ruu’s blue eyes and held his tongue. Even from this far away, one could see the dancers quite clearly, and Mia Lea still looked lively, vivid, and beautiful.

“Well, whatever,” Dan Rutim said with a sigh as he resumed watching the women dance. With one last shrill sound from the grass whistle, the music came to a stop, and in its place, cheers filled the night air. The dance was over, concluding the ceremonies. The only thing left to do now was to drink enough wine that you could bathe in it and then go to sleep.

“It was a wonderful ceremony,” Dan Rutim remarked, snatching the fruit wine container from Donda Ruu’s hands as the young man remained as still as a statue.

And then, Mia Lea approached once more from the plaza.

“Donda Ruu...” Mia Lea came running straight toward Donda Ruu, not paying Dan Rutim any heed. Her face was still flushed red, her skin was shining with sweat, and her eyes were watery with tears of passion. “Donda Ruu...that dance was for you.”

The young man offered no response.

“I danced for you and you alone.”

Mia Lea brought her fingers together in front of her chest and stared up at the face of the young man, who was a full head taller than her. Her tears started flowing down her cheeks as she did so.

“Hey, I know you’re a rude jerk, but at least give her an answer,” Dan Rutim scolded him, kicking the motionless Donda Ruu in the leg.

Donda Ruu didn’t even seem to notice his old friend. But before long, in the same annoyed tone as always, he quietly said, “I was only watching you too.”

◇

“And, well, that’s how it went. The next morning that rude jerk told the Lea clan he wanted to marry her, and the year after that, they had their first child,” Dan Rutim recounted with a hearty laugh.

Ai Fa had been forced to listen to him reminisce along with me, and I could tell that she was holding back a lot of annoyance as she replied, “I see.”

“Everyone has their history, I guess. But why exactly did you want to tell us that story anyway?” I asked.

It was still very early in the morning, not even an hour after sunrise, on the day after they had gone to talk with Gulaf Zaza and his people at the northern settlement and entrusted Morun Rutim to their care. Dan Rutim had just shown up here at the Fa house first thing in the morning and started telling us that long story out of the blue.

We had finished doing our washing and had been preparing to head out to gather firewood and herbs, so his unexpected arrival had left the two of us a little irritated, but Dan Rutim didn’t notice that at all as he energetically nodded and replied, “Well, maybe that old story came back to me because my youngest daughter has finally fallen in love, and I really wanted to tell it to someone, but I couldn’t tell my relatives, so I came here to visit my friends in the Fa clan!”

“Huh? Why couldn’t you tell your relatives?”

“Well, the only other time I’ve told anyone that tale was back when Jiza Ruu was getting married. I shared it with Jiza Ruu and his brothers...but when Donda Ruu heard, he got so furious it was hard to believe! You know when people say that someone was so angry, their hair was standing on end? It was like that, but for real.”

“Th-Then you probably shouldn’t be telling us either, right?”

“But it’s human nature to want to tell someone once you remember something, isn’t it? And it’s not like it’s something that needs to be kept hidden!” Dan Rutim replied with another hearty laugh. “So now, only we and Donda Ruu’s three sons know the tale! But if you don’t want to make him angry, you shouldn’t tell anyone else!”

“That’s what I’m trying to say—it feels like a burden when someone tells you that kind of secret.”

“No need to worry! No matter how mad he gets, Donda Ruu won’t lay a hand on you since you’re not a hunter, Asuta!” Dan Rutim replied with a hearty laugh once again, then he started slapping me on the back with a hand that was as big as a catcher’s mitt. He was hitting me hard enough that it was difficult for me to breathe, and it seemed like Ai Fa was about to warn him to stop, but he pulled his hand back before that could happen.

“At any rate, if not for all my hard work that night, the Ruu clan of today wouldn’t exist! Donda and Mia Lea Ruu would never have gotten together and had their seven children. You really can’t predict where the bonds between people will take them!”

“It sounded to me like all you did was run around making a fuss, though,” I noted quietly.

“Hmm? Did you say something, Asuta?”

“No! I was just impressed, Dan Rutim! You did a really good job as a member of a clan under the Ruu!”

“You’ve got that right! But you know, it’s kinda amazing how similar family members always seem to be. Out of their seven kids, five of them are over the age of fifteen, and yet the oldest son is the only one who’s married! That’s one way that it would really be better if they didn’t mimic their ill-mannered father,” Dan Rutim grumbled, though despite that, he still had a triumphant look on his face.

However, then Ai Fa finally interjected, “Does that really matter? Now, Asuta needs to prepare for work, and we have to go and gather firewood and herbs soon so he can get started. If your story is finished, could I ask you to excuse yourself?”

“How cold of you, after I came all the way out here to the Fa house! But oh well. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again at the festival of the hunt!”

Shortly after that, Dan Rutim took off atop his totos, Mim Cha.

After letting out the sigh I had been holding in for a while, I turned toward Ai Fa. “Dan Rutim seemed to have even more energy than usual, didn’t he? I didn’t figure him for the sort of guy who would get up this early, no matter the reason. He must be pretty worked up over the whole thing with Morun Rutim.”

“Well, it’s only natural that he would feel something about his youngest daughter entering into marriage talks,” Ai Fa said with a surprisingly calm look on her face. She didn’t seem all that concerned about the fact that Dan Rutim had interrupted our morning work.

“Still, that story he told us was...really something. It was kinda awkward, like hearing how your parents fell in love,” I muttered, and Ai Fa tilted her head in confusion.

“It was awkward? What do you mean?”

“Huh? I mean, he was talking about Donda and Mia Lea Ruu. I don’t know how to look at the two of them after hearing that.”

“I see,” Ai Fa replied, her gaze drifting downward a touch. “I thought it was a wonderful story.” As I kept staring at her, though, her face soon went red and she kicked me in the leg. “What’s that look for?! If you have some sort of issue, then just say what it is!”

“Ah, no, I don’t have any issue with what you said. I just thought your reaction was a fresh and new one for you.”

“Quiet, you! Hurry up and get to work!”

As Ai Fa launched a follow-up assault on my leg, I went ahead and picked up the woven basket we used for gathering herbs.

And so, a joyful morning at the Fa house kicked off with an unexpected commotion.