Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 27 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4: Festival of the Hunt and Birthday Celebration

1

On the twenty-ninth of the vermilion month—Granny Jiba’s birthday—a festival of the hunt would also be held at the Ruu settlement.

The Ruu Clan held festivals of the hunt several times each year, with one of them being larger—where everyone who fell under their umbrella attended—and the rest being smaller—in which case only about seventy percent of them would be there. Normally, this would have been a smaller festival of the hunt, but since they were also celebrating Granny Jiba’s birthday, they had decided to have all of their people join in. On top of that, they would be taking the day off from running the stalls so they could start preparing for the banquet in the morning.

They were really putting a lot of effort into this celebration. However, I was still planning to open the Fa clan stalls that day, figuring that the Ruu clan not being available wouldn’t be any issue for me. I would also be preparing a modest amount of food for the banquet myself later, but I could get that ready after we closed. Also, coincidentally, the day after that happened to be our day off, which we took every six days and which was yet another reason I was looking forward to the party.

We rented a fourth stall for today alone and sold four different dishes. We also increased the number of servings we brought for each dish, preparing a total of seven hundred meals. All of the chefs we had on duty were highly experienced. In charge of the stalls were me, Toor Deen, Yun Sudra, and Fei Beim. Acting as assistants and handling the restaurant space were the Gaaz, Ratsu, Matua, Meem, and Dagora women, as well as Lili Ravitz, bringing our group to a total of ten people.

Preparations were a bit of an issue, so we kept giba manju off our menu. Instead, we were going to sell giba curry, carbonara pasta, keru giba, and giba soup with tau oil. I took care of the pasta as it required the most effort, Toor Deen handled the keru giba, and the easier giba curry and giba soup went to Yun Sudra and Fei Beim respectively. The Gaaz and Ratsu women had been working with us for two and a half months now, and I was going to have one of them work the restaurant space while the other assisted me. Lili Ravitz assisted with the curry and soup, while the other three worked in the restaurant space like always.

“Amazing... This kind of reminds me of the revival festival,” the Ratsu woman remarked with a smile while assisting me. Since we had fewer stalls, each of them were getting significantly more customers. Myme was taking a break today as well, so our usual six stalls had been reduced to four, each of them being about fifty percent busier than yesterday. “By the way, Asuta, would you say the Matua and Meem women are full-fledged workers now?”

“I would. Most of their training period was during the rainy season, but they seem to have fully mastered their duties at this point, so I raised their pay to the same amount as everyone else.”

“In that case, why not start rotating us all in and out each day from now on?”

“Yeah, I’d say that sounds like a fair way to handle things.”

For the past two and a half months, I had been going with a rotation in which I had three women from among the Beim, Dagora, Ravitz, Matua, and Meem working with me each day. Out of that group of clans, the Beim and Dagora were relatives, so I thought it would be a good idea to have them work the same amount as the other related pairs—the Gaaz and Matua, and the Ratsu and Meem.

“In that case, we would be contributing three workers out of seven, so, um...”

“Each of you would work a shift once every two or three days. Honestly, I don’t think it should make that big of a difference.”

“Indeed. In any event, I’m just happy to be able to work alongside all of you.”

I felt much the same way, naturally. Besides, it was reassuring to be able to have ten people work the stalls without any help from the Ruu clan. I was getting a bit ahead of myself, perhaps, but it seemed to me that with the way things were going, the next revival festival was thankfully going to be a lot less hectic for us.

But as for the present, our stock of meals steadily decreased as the sun started to descend in the west. With the number of customers we were getting, we would probably be able to sell out of everything by our regular time.

While I was calculating that in my head, Yumi stopped by the stalls.

“Sorry I’m so late! Do you still have anything left?”

“Yeah, although we’re almost out of giba curry... Um, you seem pretty excited for tonight, Yumi!”

“Huh, do I? I don’t think this is too different from what I wore during the revival festival.”

It was true that Yumi normally wore a lot of accessories, so her current getup might not have actually been that big of a change, but it did look a tiny bit extravagant. Her hair was done up on one side, instead of letting it fall naturally like she usually did, and she had a translucent shawl draped over her shoulders.

“It would be embarrassing if they thought I was trying too hard,” she explained. “Think I should remove some of the accessories from my hair?”

“No, it looks good on you. Besides, everyone from the forest’s edge will be dressed in banquet attire too.”

The women of the Ruu clan didn’t break out their banquet attire for most festivals of the hunt, but they would be celebrating their elder’s birthday today too, so from what I had been told, they’d be dressing the same as they would for a wedding.

“In that case, I’ll just keep it like this! Since I’ve got the opportunity, I want to show them my good side!” Yumi remarked with an earnest grin. I had already told her how difficult it would be to marry into the forest’s edge, so she knew that unless she was fully committed to her ambition, it would only lead to heartbreak. But even so, I could see nothing but excitement behind her smile. “Once I’m done eating, I’ll go wait over there! Ooh, I’ve really been looking forward to this!”

After ordering giba curry and keru giba, she headed over to the restaurant space.

The Ratsu woman sent me a confused look. “Asuta, was that the girl who was invited to the Ruu clan’s banquet?”

“Yep, that’s her. Her name is Yumi, and she ran an okonomiyaki stall during the revival festival.”

“Yes, I remember. I suppose it makes some kind of sense for that girl to say she wants to marry into the forest’s edge.”

She didn’t look particularly concerned or anything. The Ruu had already welcomed a foreigner like Shumiral as a clan member, after all, and she seemed to trust the leading clan heads to handle this correctly.

It’s all down to the forest’s guidance, huh?

Just how would this whole banquet play out? I felt a wriggling sense of anticipation and excitement run down my back as I boiled the last of the pasta.

And then, the lower second hour rolled around. We sold out right on schedule, and after cleaning up, we headed to The Kimyuus’s Tail.

Along the way, we stopped by Dora’s stall, where Tara shot up to her feet and called out to us, “Hey there, Asuta! I’m leaving now, dad!”

“Okay. Be careful not to cause any trouble for everyone at the forest’s edge. And Asuta, take care of Tara, all right?”

“I’ll be sure to keep an eye on her and bring her back safely tomorrow morning.”

Ai Fa and I were going to spend the night at the Ruu settlement too, and would be in charge of bringing all of our guests back to town the following morning. Tara had her usual orange dress on, and she looked really adorable with flowers and metal accessories in her dark-brown hair.

“Also, could you give this to everyone in the Ruu clan?” Dora asked.

“Huh? What is it?”

“Some vegetables from us, of course. I don’t like how we keep imposing on them without giving back,” Dora replied, pulling out a bag large enough that he needed both arms to hold it.

“I’d feel bad about accepting all that, though. I mean, we’ve visited your place plenty of times too.”

“But when you did, you always brought ingredients along with you. Just take them, okay?” he said with a big smile. “Besides, this is a gift for the Ruu clan. Donda Ruu is the one who gets to decide whether to accept them or not. I can’t imagine he’d be so unfriendly that he’d send it back.”

“Yeah, all right. I’ll try delivering this to the Ruu clan,” I said with a bow, accepting the bag and loading it into the wagon. “Hop on in, Tara. Yumi’s already riding along with us.”

“Okay!” Tara energetically replied, clambering up into the wagon with a hand from Yun Sudra.

Dora smiled with narrowed eyes as he watched his daughter go. “It’s a shame I can’t come along too. It sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

“Yeah, for sure.”

We had gone to Dora’s house last month, and today Tara was being invited to the Ruu’s festival of the hunt. It felt really great to know that we were still making time to visit one another after the revival festival had ended.

“Well then, take care. And I hope you all enjoy the festivities too, Asuta.”

“We will. See you tomorrow.”

With three wagons and four stalls in tow, we headed over to The Kimyuus’s Tail, where we met up with Telia Mas. In the same vein as Tara, she had removed her apron from her usual outfit and was wearing a flower in her hair.

“Aw, you’re dressed the same as always too, Telia Mas? You’ve got to get at least a little dressed up at times like this, don’t you?” Yumi said.

“Uh, well...I don’t own any fancy clothes.”

“Wait, seriously?! If you’d told me, I could’ve loaned you something!”

Yumi was wearing clothes similar to those the women of the forest’s edge wore, which showed off a fair amount of skin. In town, they’d typically call it a Sym-style outfit. Meanwhile, Telia Mas had on a short-sleeved top and a long skirt that came down below her knees—the perfect picture of a town girl. Her top had a circular collar, so one could say it was an outfit in the style of Jagar. Still, even if it wasn’t exactly banquet attire, if an innocent-looking girl such as Telia Mas dressed the same way they did, with wraps around their chest and waist, and not much else, what would that look like on her? I found it a little difficult to imagine.

“Why not borrow an outfit at the forest’s edge? If we ask around a bit, there should be someone there with a spare,” Yumi suggested.

“Th-That’s okay. Having that much exposed skin... I’d look pathetic.”

“That’s not true at all. This style would look great on you, I’m sure of it.”

Even if they had very different personalities, Yumi and Telia Mas were close in age and got along well. I finished returning the stalls as I was listening to them happily chatting away, then bowed my head to Milano Mas.

“I’ll be sure to keep an eye on your daughter and will have her back by the upper fourth hour tomorrow.”

“Hmph. Just don’t get too carried away.”

Milano Mas saw us off with the same sour look on his face as always. After heading east down the main road, we eventually reached the path to the forest’s edge, at which point I got up into the driver’s seat and we were off.

We had a large group of thirteen with us including the guests, and Gilulu’s wagon would be staying at the Ruu settlement tonight, so we had brought three wagons to town today. I had Toor Deen and the three guests from town in mine.

As we climbed the steep path to the forest’s edge, Yumi cheerfully called out to the driver’s seat, “It’s finally time! They should already be preparing for the festival at the Ruu settlement now, right, Asuta?”

“Yeah. Their women are probably cooking the food now, and it should be about time for the preliminary matches in the contest of strength.”

“A contest of strength, huh? That sounds amazing! You must’ve gone to these things several times already, haven’t you?”

“This will be my third Ruu clan festival of the hunt. They’re usually held once every four months.”

The first one had been at the end of the blue month. That was shortly after the clan head meeting with the Suun clan and the whole commotion with Zattsu Suun that followed. At that point, I had pretty much only been on casual speaking terms with the Ruu and Rutim clans, as well as Rau Lea. Donda Ruu had asked me to cook something for the winner of the contest of strength. And of course, it was none other than Donda Ruu himself who had emerged victorious. Ai Fa’s right elbow had just recovered from a serious injury at the time, and she had lost to Dan Rutim, while Dan Rutim had lost to Donda Ruu in the finals.

The Sauti had been taking lessons on bloodletting at the time, so I recalled Dari Sauti staying at the Ruu settlement and attending the festivities. I also remembered Rau Lea being frustrated with his loss to Ai Fa, and Lala Ruu cheering Shin Ruu up after he lost as well. Oh, and Darmu Ruu had questioned me about whether I was going to try to convince Ai Fa to quit hunting.

The next festival of the hunt had been held in the middle of the violet month. The sun god’s revival festival had been fast approaching, so that had been an extremely busy period. Shortly before that, Yumi and some of the other townsfolk had set foot in the settlement at the forest’s edge for the first time. Since Dora and his family had been about to become very busy with the harvest once the revival festival kicked off, we had chosen to throw an extra banquet for them. The Fa house had never hosted that many visitors before, nor had it done so again. We’d had six guests from town, and Rimee and Ludo Ruu had been there too, making things incredibly lively. The festival of the hunt had been a few days after that.

Since that had been not long after the Sauti’s battle against the lord of the forest, several of the hunters had been seriously injured at the time. That had meant that Ai Fa, Donda Ruu, Darmu Ruu, and Dan Rutim (due to a separate incident) had all been unable to participate in the contest of strength.

Jiza Ruu had been the winner that time. For the previous ten years or so, either Donda Ruu or Dan Rutim had always been the ones to come out on top, but with both of them removed from the running, the next leading clan head, Jiza Ruu, had claimed a stunning victory. Shin Ruu had also been getting a lot stronger around then, so he had managed to take down Rau Lea, Ji Maam, and the second Rutim son. The top eight had also included Jeeda—a guest at the settlement—and Giran Ririn, whose true talent had remained hidden up until that point. Honestly, that had been a really chaotic night.

A number of women from the north, such as Sufira Zaza, who had been staying with the Ruu in order to hone their skills as chefs, had also participated in the festival of the hunt. Morun Rutim and several others had also gone to the northern settlement for a month to teach more of their women, but they had returned for that one night. That was probably when Morun Rutim’s feelings had started to blossom.

In the roughly four and a half months since then, all sorts of stuff had happened. We had gotten to know the mysterious members of the Gamley Troupe during the sun god’s revival festival. Then there had been the friendship banquet with Dora and his family. Lem Dom had been accepted as a hunter in training. Next, we had held a combined festival of the hunt with the clans near the Fa, and following that had been the Genos swordsmanship tournament and the Daleim dance party. And the time when I had become terribly ill... It was impossible to even list it all out. We really had done so much during those four and a half months, including dealing with both the revival festival and the rainy season.

“Hey Asuta, are you listening to me?” I suddenly heard Yumi call out.

“Ah, sorry. I spaced out a bit. What were you saying?”

“So you really weren’t listening! I was asking what sort of dishes you’re making today!”

“Today’s dishes? Well...you’ll just have to wait and see, okay?”

“Aw, what a tease! Should I try to guess, then?”

“You’ll never get it. It’s something I’ve never shown off in the post town or at the Ruu settlement before.”

“Really?!” Yumi excitedly asked. “I’m really looking forward to it, then! What sort of dish do you think it is, Toor Deen?”

“Ah, well...sorry. I helped out at the Fa house, so I already know.”

“Wait, really?! Oh yeah, you live near Asuta, don’t you?! You know, it’s a shame that you guys are going to be leaving. I would’ve loved to have a sleepover with you again!”

“R-Right. But festivals of the hunt are supposed to be held with blood relatives...so I wouldn’t be invited to another clan’s without a good reason.”

“Hmm... But this is the third time for Asuta and Ai Fa, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but that’s because this time the main event is the elder’s birthday.”

That said, Ai Fa had been invited to participate in the contest of strength. She hadn’t been able to join in last time due to her injuries, but a large number of hunters were asking for her to do so now.

Well, Ai Fa did make it to the semifinals the first time she participated. And hunters of the forest’s edge take pride in facing strong opponents, so it’s only natural she’d be invited.

Even so, I couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy. I mean, I had trouble even imagining Ai Fa facing off with Jiza Ruu or Gazraan Rutim. I felt a strange mix of concern about what would happen if she won, and dread over the frustration she’d feel if she lost. These sorts of competitions really weren’t my thing.

I feel like the kind of festival of the hunt we held with our neighbors, where there were lots of different events, made it easier to deal with winning and losing. Still, it’s the Ruu clan’s custom to prioritize combat, so there’s no helping it.

While I was thinking about that, our three wagons arrived at the settlement at the forest’s edge. Now we had to keep heading north up the path toward the Ruu settlement.

“Ooh, what a nostalgic sight! The air just feels different here at the forest’s edge!” Yumi said.

“Yeah. With all the foliage around, the temperature and humidity are pretty different,” I noted.

“I really do love this place! Maybe because I was born in those squalid slums? I feel like my heart can run free here, you know?!”

I might have felt similarly when I had first appeared here, but after nearly a year, this place felt like home to me. Nowadays, I had more trouble remembering things like the convenience of electricity and gas, or the smell of things like car exhaust or hot asphalt...

“Well then, we’ll be excusing ourselves here.”

We stopped our wagons in front of the Ruu settlement and said farewell to my coworkers. Toor Deen descended from Gilulu’s wagon and moved over to Fafa’s where Yun Sudra was holding the reins.

“Yun Sudra! Toor Deen! We should talk more! You can come by our place next time!” Yumi called out.

“Okay! I’ll be looking forward to it!” Yun Sudra replied with a bright smile before departing. That left me, Yumi, Tara, and Telia Mas. I could hear enthusiastic cheering from beyond the trees that surrounded the Ruu settlement. The men must have already begun their contest of strength.

“Well then, shall we head on in? Just try not to let the excitement of it all overwhelm you.”

With three eager, smiling guests in tow, I stepped into the Ruu clan’s plaza.