Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 27 - Chapter 4.6

6

After a little while longer, we set about serving up more of the cooking from the stone ovens, and unsurprisingly, the food started vanishing at much the same rate as before. It seemed the folks who hadn’t gotten to try the dishes before had heard how good they were and now those people were rushing over to give them a shot.

“They’re really swarming us. Asuta, will you teach us how to make these dishes sometime too?” Lala Ruu called out.

“Of course,” I replied.

After doing another short round of work, we resumed our tour around the various stoves, and somewhere along the way, we ran across a group of people that was in the midst of an argument. “Huh? What in the world’s going on here?” I had to ask.

The two arguing women were none other than Vina Ruu and Yumi. Standing between them was Shumiral, who turned my way with a look of relief.

“Asuta, you came at, the perfect time. I am, very troubled.”

“Yeah, I can see that. What’s this all about, Yumi?”

“Hmm? It’s nothing all that serious. Vina Ruu just got all annoyed with me and isn’t listening to what I’m trying to say.”

“I am NOT annoyed. The person responsible for causing this commotion is you.”

The two of them had known each other for some time, and I was pretty sure they had always gotten along well too, so it was a little disquieting to see them fighting like this.

“I was only chatting with Shumiral here. But Vina Ruu seemed to misunderstand, even after I explained to her that she had nothing to worry about.”

“As I said, I didn’t misunderstand anything, and I’m not worried either. Those are just assumptions you made.”

“I mean, it wasn’t hard to notice the stink eye you were giving me. But I wasn’t putting the moves on your guy.”

“I’ve already told you, we don’t have that sort of relationship.”

I felt bad for Vina Ruu, who was going red from the neck on up. Now that I more or less understood the situation, I gestured to Yumi to come closer to me.

“Hey Yumi, the way the people of the forest’s edge handle romance is really reserved, so talking about it too directly can upset them sometimes.”

“Really? Nothing I said was all that out there, though.”

“Yeah, but the two of them haven’t agreed to be wed or anything yet, so even just calling him her man is pretty embarrassing for her.”

“What the heck?! It’s not like she’s some naive little girl!” Yumi shouted, earning her a fresh glare from Vina Ruu. Shumiral shot me a pleading look.

“Look, you two should just drop it. What were you even talking to Shumiral about in the first place?”

“I was asking him about his determination, naturally. I mean, he wanted to marry into the forest’s edge badly enough to cast aside his god, so I wanted to talk to him about that. But I suppose I should take your advice, Asuta.” After saying that, Yumi turned to face Vina Ruu and Shumiral. “Sorry for bothering you like that! I really didn’t mean anything by it, so I hope you’ll forgive me! And I think you two really go well together!”

I wasn’t certain if Yumi really understood what I had meant or not, but at any rate, she briskly departed after giving her apology. Poor Vina Ruu was trembling and her face was red, while Shumiral was still staring at me. I didn’t think I should leave the two of them like this.

“Yumi comes from town, you know, so she’s still not all that familiar with the customs of the forest’s edge. Try not to pay too much mind to what she said, Vina Ruu.”

She didn’t say anything in response.

“Are you enjoying the banquet, Shumiral? This is probably the first big one you’ve participated in at the forest’s edge, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I was able, to attend, the wedding banquet, for the Min and Muufa, but this is, my first one, on this scale.”

Soon after the start of the red month, there had been a wedding between the Min and Muufa. It had been celebrated with a banquet at the Min settlement, and each of the clans related to them had been invited to send a few people to join in. The only times a big event in the Ruu plaza was held for that kind of occasion was when it was for someone with a standing like Gazraan Rutim’s.

“Everyone seems, so happy. I am a newcomer, but I am, happy too. I feel blessed, to have become, a member of a clan, under the Ruu.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Festivals of the hunt and weddings are the biggest celebrations we have here. And it’s the elder’s birthday too, so everyone’s extra happy today.”

“Yes,” Shumiral replied with a nod. He was dressed casually, without his long leather cloak. Unlike the other men, he had a number of accessories dangling around his arms and in front of his chest, but he wasn’t wearing a necklace of tusks and horns. Those necklaces were apparently only given to hunters once they had taken down a giba with their own hands. Though Shumiral had greatly contributed to his clan’s hunts with his two hunting dogs, he still hadn’t killed a giba himself. Apparently, even the giba pelt cloak he wore when hunting was a spare one borrowed from another member of the Ririn. His long silver hair was almost sparkling in the light of the bonfire. Still staring directly at me, he continued, “I am also glad, that the day, has come, when Mida Ruu, Oura Rutim, and Tsuvai Rutim, have been given, their clan names. It makes me wish, to strive even harder, to receive my own.”

“I’m sure it won’t be long. After all, you’ve already helped out massively by bringing hunting dogs to the forest’s edge.”

I felt like I could keep talking with Shumiral forever, but if our chat dragged on too long, I would probably start to annoy Vina Ruu like Yumi had, so I turned to speak to her. “I saw that you were attending to the elder earlier, Vina Ruu. Have you had a chance to eat yet?”

“No. I only just got freed up.”

“Well, we’ve been walking around the plaza to see what’s being served at each of the stoves, so why don’t you come along with us? We’ve only gotten to about half of them so far. You can join us too if you’d like, Shumiral.”

“Thank you very much. I would, love to.”

And so, our group of four started circling around the plaza. As they were an unmarried man and woman, Shumiral and Vina Ruu maintained an appropriate distance from each other, but they were still walking side by side. Since Shumiral had blood from Sym—a land whose people were known for their height—there was about a twenty centimeter difference between them. Vina Ruu’s head, clad in an iridescent veil, only came up to around his shoulders.

Looking at them now, they really do make a great couple, I thought to myself.

Everyone agreed that Vina Ruu was blessed in terms of looks, and I thought that the slender Shumiral was super handsome as well. He had a high-bridged nose, thin lips, and firm cheeks, all of which were attractive traits for a man to have, as I understood it.

On top of that, Shumiral was calm and composed, and had a distinctive bearing that tended to calm the people around him. Perhaps because of his experience with leading a merchant caravan at a young age, he had a strong sense of presence about him. Even surrounded by all these hunters of the forest’s edge who were full of so much strength and vitality, there was something about him that made him impossible to overlook.

It took around eleven months for Mida and the others to get clan names. They were criminals, whereas Shumiral was born in a foreign land, so I wonder which one will take longer.

Well, the one to decide that would be the Ririn clan head Giran Ririn. Donda Ruu would also need to give his approval before he could marry Vina Ruu. Only three months and some change had passed since Shumiral had become a person of the forest’s edge, so there was no reason to feel impatient about his progress just yet.

“Oh, Asuta! You finally made it!” Myme called out as we approached the nearest stove. Mikel, Bartha, and Jeeda were sitting on a blanket nearby, and there were a whole bunch of other people as well, happily devouring Myme’s cooking. “I was able to have some of the food you made in the ovens earlier! It was so delicious that I was at a loss for words!”

“I’m honored to hear you say so, Myme. Which of the three dishes was your favorite?”

“Huh?! Oh, there’s no way I could pick just one! But if you forced me to choose, it would have to be that hat bake, I suppose.”

“Hat bake? Oh, right, the gratin. I suppose you do have something kinda similar here in Genos.”

“Yeah! But dried milk costs a lot, so I’ve never had it.”

I had tried a bit of hat bake before in the castle town, prepared by the chef Timalo. From what I could remember, Polarth was really fond of it.

“But you didn’t use herbs in your dish. When you make a hat bake in the castle town, you mix karon milk with herbs to give it a strong aroma, then add fuwano dumplings and cap it with a lid of dried milk,” Mikel commented from atop the blanket with a sullen look on his face.

“Yeah, that sounds like the hat bake I was able to try once. But the dish I made today was one from my home country called gratin.”

“Hmph, I figured it was something like that. I’m sure it would be very popular in the castle town.”

If the chance ever came up, I really wanted to have Polarth give it a try. But for now, I was focused on Myme’s dish.

“Myme, could we get some of that?”

“Of course! I’d love to hear your impressions, Asuta!”

Myme portioned out a ladleful of the soup in her pot for each of us. She had been simmering it since the early afternoon. It was a transparent golden color, and there was a thin layer of oil on the surface. It had a very fragrant aroma, calling to mind oxtail soup.

I could see a variety of vegetables below the surface of the soup, along with giba meat. Myme tended to not use expensive ingredients, so they were instead very familiar ones like chatchi, nenon, and pula.

“Delicious,” Shumiral quietly said after taking a sip of the dish.

Vina Ruu picked up a spoonful of the fillings, and after trying them she remarked in admiration, “It really is.”

I took a breath and gave it a try myself, and instantly a full-bodied taste filled my mouth. She must have used karon leg bones to make the stock. The soup had a rich aroma and flavor, and yet it also had a refreshing aftertaste. I thought it was extremely high-quality.

She seemed to have kept the seasonings to a minimum. She might have utilized salt, sugar, and tau oil, but only enough to balance out the taste. I could pick up on the faint aroma of myamuu, though.

The ingredients had been boiled thoroughly and were incredibly tender. I didn’t notice at first, but she had also used yam-like gigo and daikon-like sheema. As I took a hearty sip of the full-bodied soup, I found the sheema in particular to be incredibly delicious.

As for the meat, she had used giba ribs. Giba meat tended to grow more and more tender over time as you cooked it, so I was able to chew through it just as easily as the vegetables. In fact, the fat had taken on a jiggly texture almost akin to gelatin.

Myme really was exceptionally skilled when it came to bringing out the flavors of her ingredients. The seasonings, the meat, the vegetables, and the karon bone stock all struck an amazing balance, elevating one another to ever greater heights.

“Mmm, this really is good. It has a whole different sort of flavor to it than the giba soups prepared by the people of the forest’s edge.”

“Yeah. I did a lot of trial and error to balance out the flavors of the karon bone stock and giba meat,” Myme replied with a smile, but then she turned and looked over at Jeeda, seeming a little worried for some reason. “Um, what do you think of the taste?”

“It’s good... I’ve had it plenty of times at home already, though.”

“But the boiling time and flavoring has changed a bit since then.”

“I can’t pick up on such small changes. This soup has always been incredibly delicious to me.”

“I see,” Myme said, beaming. When I noticed her cheeks had gone slightly red, I tilted my head a bit.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t really had many chances to see Myme and Jeeda interacting, but they’ve been living in the same house for quite a while now.

Jeeda was fifteen, while Myme was eleven. She definitely wasn’t old enough to get married yet, but this was probably the first time I had seen her acting like that around someone of the opposite sex.

Well, Myme’s really mature mentally. She’s still pretty innocent in some ways, but I feel like she’s actually more grown up than Lala Ruu.

At any rate, if the two young guests of the forest’s edge were getting closer, I was definitely happy about that.

As Jeeda kept silently eating, Bartha was chatting with Mikel with a bright grin, while the man was still wearing his signature sour look. There was definitely a bit of an age gap between them, but they had both lost their spouses.

Bartha was a hunter and a member of a bandit group, while Mikel was a famed chef in the castle town. Normally, these two would never encounter one another. And yet, chance had led to them being brought together here at the forest’s edge. That was definitely a strange twist of fate.

“Ah, Shumiral, so this is where you were. I was looking for you,” I heard a cheerful man’s voice call out. When I turned to look, I saw the head of the Ririn clan and his wife standing there. “That stuff you’re eating sure does look good. Could we have some too?”

“Yes, of course! It’s hot, so please take care,” Myme said.

Giran Ririn was grinning, and Uru Lea Ririn had a reserved smile on her face next to him. As always, I found her to be a woman with a strange feel about her, like some sort of fairy. She had auburn hair—a rarity at the forest’s edge—and was incredibly thin and beautiful. Since she was married, though, her accessories were kept to a minimum.

“We were thinking of taking you around to meet our relatives, Shumiral. There are over a hundred people under the Ruu, so you’ve got to use opportunities like this to deepen your bonds.”

“Very well. Thank you for, the consideration,” Shumiral replied, and then he looked at me.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I shouldn’t monopolize your time.”

“All right. I am sorry, Asuta.” Then Shumiral glanced in Vina Ruu’s direction. She was hiding the bottom half of her face behind her now empty plate.

“You don’t need to worry about me either,” she said. “It’s more important for you to deepen your bonds with everyone for now.”

“My,” Uru Lea Ririn chimed in. “Why don’t you join us as well, Vina Ruu? You’re already here, after all.”

“Huh? But Ririn clan matters don’t have anything to do with me.”

“Your clan has nothing to do with it. I, personally, would love for you to come with us.” Uru Lea Ririn moved away from her husband and gently wrapped her arm around Vina Ruu’s. A mysterious light was shining in her pale blue eyes as she looked at the younger girl. “You don’t mind, do you? I want to deepen my bond with you too, Vina Ruu.”

It was possible that she was only acting that way because she didn’t want to see Vina Ruu and Shumiral separated; I couldn’t tell for certain. But even Vina Ruu wasn’t capable of denying her request outright.

“Well then, I suppose I will tour the stoves with you all. Ai Fa and Asuta, I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, see you then.”

And so, we ended up separating from the two of them not long after we had run into them. After returning my now empty dish to the stand, I turned toward Ai Fa.

“Well then, why don’t we keep going?”

“Indeed.”

Everyone seemed to be hurriedly walking back and forth throughout the plaza today. Considering that it was not only the festival of the hunt, but also the elder’s birthday and the day in which new clan names had been granted, though, it made sense for folks to be more fired up than usual.

As we went, I saw Mida...er, Mida Ruu and the others surrounded by a large crowd. Ji Maam and some hunters whose names I didn’t know were holding up bottles of fruit wine, while the women and children were happily chatting and laughing away. I wondered how Tsuvai and Oura Rutim were feeling about their status. I couldn’t tell with all the people around them.

Yamiru Lea was nearby, talking with a young woman some distance away from the crowd. It was rare to see her away from Rau Lea like that. She very rarely ever smiled, but even at this distance, I could tell how truly relaxed she was.

It must have been a huge relief to her for the others to receive their clan names. I hope Diga and Doddo will earn the Dom name soon. It occurred to me then that if they were officially recognized as members of the Dom clan and Gazraan Rutim’s proposal was accepted at the clan head meeting, they would end up becoming relatives with Tsuvai and Oura Rutim again. If things worked out that way, that would be another strange twist of fate.

Not that long ago, it would have been unthinkable for blood ties to be formed between the northern clans and a clan under the Ruu.

After that, we passed by Jiza and Ludo Ruu. Jiza Ruu’s wife Sati Lea Ruu was at his side, while Ludo Ruu was being accompanied by Rimee Ruu and Tara. Sati Lea Ruu and Tara were smiling and chatting away, which was really nice to see.

Shin and Lala Ruu were sitting shoulder to shoulder off in a quiet spot eating some sort of food. I often saw them together like that at banquets. There was still a year and three months left until Lala Ruu would be permitted to marry. The main Ruu house was known for getting married late, but I was sure that she would defy that trend.

There were over a hundred people around, all looking happy and deepening their bonds with one another. Sometimes I found myself in the middle of their groups, and sometimes I just watched from a distance. I was able to share in their joy either way.

Once the food was mostly gone and I was thinking of finding a place to sit down for a while, a voice called out to me. “Hey!” A figure was waving its hands from a small group of seated people in the dimly lit area near the entrance to the plaza, on the opposite side from the stage. The voice and silhouette told me it was Yumi.

“Hey there. Looks like you picked a pretty quiet spot to sit in, huh?” I called out as Ai Fa and I headed over to the group. However, I got a bit of a shock when we came close enough for me to see everyone sitting there, because the person next to Yumi was Darmu Ruu, not Telia Mas. “D-Darmu Ruu...what are you doing here?”

“You should be asking that girl, not me.”

When I turned my gaze back to Yumi, she raised a bottle of fruit wine that she was holding in her hand. “This guy was on his own looking bored, so I decided to talk to him. I figured I could get him to crack a smile at least once, but it’s turning out to be pretty hard.”

“O-Oh. I see.”

Darmu Ruu looked seriously annoyed as he snorted, “Hmph. I was trying to find a quiet place to rest, and this is what I got. It’s just as noisy here as it is in the center of the plaza.”

“Sorry about that! But, well, it’s a banquet, so you should enjoy yourself!” Yumi said.

I was feeling more than a little concerned, so I had a seat next to her. “Hey Yumi, like I said before...” I started to whisper, but then she shot me a smile and brought her face close to mine.

“I know, I know. Darmu Ruu’s already claimed by somebody, yeah? I’ve got no intention of fighting with any women from the forest’s edge, so nothing to worry about there.”

Having a conversation one-on-one separate from everyone else could definitely lead to some unnecessary misunderstandings, though, so I felt like I couldn’t leave them alone, at least for the moment. Perhaps sensing the situation, Ai Fa also sat down beside me. Darmu Ruu, Yumi, myself, and Ai Fa were all sitting side by side in that order. Honestly, it wasn’t the sort of quartet I ever expected to end up in.

“Are you drinking too, Ai Fa? You want some?”

“No. I do not drink at Ruu clan banquets, to avoid any chance of acting improperly.”

“Oh, really? And here I thought all you hunters of the forest’s edge drank like fish! Donda Ruu and Dan Rutim were both drinking like crazy!”

Her bringing that up made me glance at Darmu Ruu, and I saw that he didn’t have a bottle with him. Of course, he pretty much immediately noticed where I was looking, and glared at me with his wolflike eyes.

“Whether or not I’m drinking has nothing to do with you,” he said to me.

“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t planning on asking about that or anything.”

Perhaps Darmu Ruu was concerned about how he couldn’t remember the previous celebratory banquet because of how much he had drunk. I could still vividly recall how annoyed he had been when he had denied his lack of memory back at the Daleim dance party.

That would’ve been the welcome banquet when Yumi and a bunch of other townsfolk got invited to the forest’s edge, I’m pretty sure. Sheera Ruu was with him that time, but I guess not today.

I wondered who Sheera Ruu was talking to, and where. I glanced toward the plaza to see if I could find her, just in time for a grass flute melody to sound out. Then, a bit of percussion joined in alongside it. The people around the ritual flame pulled out wooden sticks and giba bones and started banging them in a rhythmic manner.

Drawn by that music, the women started heading toward the center of the plaza. They were all unwed and clad in dazzling banquet attire. Sure enough, it seemed they would be dancing again tonight.

“Ooh, nice! Is this that thing where women dance and people look for spouses?”

“Yeah. You like to dance too, don’t you, Yumi?”

“I guess,” Yumi replied, but she didn’t move to stand up.

Darmu Ruu shot her a suspicious look. “You’re the one called Yumi? Aren’t you the woman who wants to marry into the forest’s edge?”

“Yeah, but this is an event for your relatives, isn’t it? I feel like trying to butt in too much tonight would be wrong of me,” Yumi remarked with a gentle smile as she stared over at the women starting to dance in the center of the plaza. “Even more so because this dance is meant for women of the forest’s edge to get men to fall for them.”

“You’re more reasonable than I thought you’d be.”

“Of course. I want to get along with everyone from the forest’s edge, so I’m not gonna make a move until the time is right!”

Darmu Ruu gave a small shrug, then turned back toward the plaza.

The ritual flame was crackling away like a campfire, and there were a bunch of women already surrounding it. Accompanied by that nostalgic melody of giba bones knocking together and grass flutes whistling, they slowly danced their hearts out.

Their iridescent veils and metallic accessories reflected the orange light of the fire, creating a truly magical shine. The hunters weren’t the only ones who were overflowing with vitality. The blessings of the forest had gifted the women with dazzling strength as well. The tempo of the percussion steadily picked up bit by bit, and the dancing accelerated until it resembled a boisterous raging flame.

There weren’t too many faces there that I recognized. Only unwed women who had reached the age of fifteen could participate, and there were plenty who didn’t take part even if they met those criteria. As far as I could tell, Reina Ruu and Yamiru Lea weren’t dancing, and I didn’t see Morun Rutim either. They must have all had their own reasons for not participating.

However, I did see one familiar face dancing: Sheera Ruu. Her movements were smoother than anyone else’s, and her arms were drawing larger arcs through the air. She was putting strength into her motions all the way down to the tips of her fingers. Normally, she was like a flower blooming silently in the moonlight, and yet she could also dance like this? I couldn’t help but feel seriously moved.

That said, she looked as if she could run out of strength at any moment and collapse. But even so, Sheera Ruu kept on dancing with all her might. It was like she was begging with all her body to be seen, and to be loved.

“Amazing...” Yumi said, spellbound. Was her gaze fixed on Sheera Ruu too? What about Darmu Ruu and Ai Fa? I was particularly curious about the former, but I just wasn’t able to take my eyes off of Sheera Ruu.

Eventually, though, the percussion’s tempo slowed, the grass flute melody took on a more sorrowful sound, and the dancing shifted to become more calm and graceful. The last note of the music was a trailing tweet from the grass flutes, and all the women fell to one knee on the ground.

Silence fell over the plaza, but only for a moment before it was shattered by cheering from all around.

The women all stood and gave a bow toward the ritual flame. Then they slowly stepped back, and the giba bones began banging with a more lively rhythm. At that point, young children, older women, and even men both young and old began dancing however they wished.

“Oh, anybody can dance now?”

“Yeah, so it seems. I’m pretty sure it used to be only the unwed women that danced. Maybe they decided to do this because they enjoyed the welcome banquet so much.”

“In that case, I’ll head over there too! And I’ll have to drag Telia Mas along with me!”

Yumi took off running, and in her place, a slender figure silently approached us. It was, of course, Sheera Ruu. Her small shoulders were heaving up and down as she stood in front of us. Or more specifically, in front of Darmu Ruu.

She had sweat rolling down her face and neck as she held her hands together in front of her chest and knelt down before him. There was an incredibly soft light shining in her eyes as she stared straight at Darmu Ruu, and despite the tender smile on her face, she looked like she was desperately trying to keep herself from crying.

“Darmu Ruu, I...” she started to say in a voice so quiet it was almost a whisper.

Darmu Ruu silently stared back at her.

After closing her eyes for a moment, Sheera Ruu opened them once more, and said just a bit louder, “Darmu Ruu, I was dancing for you and you alone.”

Darmu Ruu’s shoulders trembled, as if her words had truly caught him off guard. Looking at her with incredible intensity in his eyes, he finally spoke. “Sheera Ruu...you knew the story about our clan head Donda and Mia Lea?”

“Huh?” Sheera Ruu tilted her head, looking rather confused.

Darmu Ruu brought a hand to his brow and tightly pursed his lips.

At some point, the scar on his right cheek had very noticeably turned the color of blood. After a few seconds of silence...Darmu Ruu replied in a slightly shaky voice, “I was only watching you too.”