3
The discussions continued for a while after that, until eventually the sun set outside.
The candlesticks around the dining hall were lit, and customers started pouring in, at which point the inn owners all bunched up as tightly as they could manage so as not to get in the way.
Apparently, a notification had been put out in advance that thirty of the seats in the dining hall were reserved, but things still felt rather cramped. Naudis’s wife and son were hurriedly running about waiting tables alongside the men and women they employed. I knew that thanks to the giba meat they served in their meals, The Great Southern Tree had been thriving, but this was the first time I was actually seeing it with my own two eyes.
A majority of the customers were southerners. However, there were also a lot of westerners and even some easterners in the mix too. The south and the east were enemy nations, but because so few dining halls offered giba meat, people were willing to go wherever they had to in order to get it.
“Look there, the folks at that table are guests at my inn. They usually prefer to keep their distance from southerners, but they wanted to have giba for dinner so badly that they decided to come here anyway,” Jizeh of The Ramuria Coil said with an amused smile.
We chefs from the forest’s edge were also moving back and forth through the hall. After all, it was time for us to have dinner too. I moved swiftly to carry out all the food alongside Reina and Rimee Ruu, with Naudis also lending us a hand. And the more food we brought out, the louder the inn owners’ chattering about it got.
“This is everything. Thank you for waiting, everyone,” I said.
“Hmm. So this is giba cooking? It all looks truly delicious,” Tapas remarked with his voice full of anticipation.
“Oh? Have you not ever tried giba cooking, Tapas?” Naudis asked as he returned to his seat.
“I haven’t. I invited the head chef of the house of Daleim to come work at my inn, so I haven’t felt much need to get food anywhere else,” Tapas replied, glancing around the dining hall. “Well then, shall we dig in? Thank you for granting us this gift, dear people of the forest’s edge.”
The members of our group all carried out their premeal traditions, and naturally, we people of the forest’s edge took the longest to finish ours. As soon as he finished whispering out his chant, though, Ludo Ruu excitedly grabbed a plate and exclaimed, “All right! Oh, this food all looks a lot more ordinary than I expected. Still seems like it’ll be pretty tasty, though!”
“Yeah. I figured we shouldn’t be too showy tonight.”
However, this was a presentation of sorts, with the hope of getting more inns to purchase giba meat from us. As such, we had put a lot of careful consideration into deciding what we would make tonight.
We were offering two main dishes: a simple meat and vegetable sauté, and meatballs with sauce. For soup dishes, we had made cream stew and giba soup with tau oil, and as a side, we had baked poitan that we had done a little something extra to. We had also prepared dessert, but that would be left until after the main course.
“Oh, it seems like you only used salt and pico leaves on this. Well, I think it looks delicious even so,” I heard Jizeh say from the neighboring table. She was holding up the meat and vegetable sauté. We had used rib meat in it, and the vegetables were aria, tino, nenon, and onda. And as she pointed out, we hadn’t used any seasonings aside from salt and pico leaves.
“For this one, we decided to use chest meat with plenty of fat so that the vegetables wouldn’t burn. We made sure to include a dish like this in our meal tonight to show that even just grilling giba meat is enough to make it taste incredibly good.”
“I see... But you used pico leaves, didn’t you?”
It seemed I needed to provide a little more of an explanation.
“At the forest’s edge, we can gather as many pico leaves as we please, so we use them instead of salt in order to preserve meat. For this dish, the only pico leaves that we used were the ones that were already sticking to the meat.”
“I’m jealous. It’s not as if they’re especially expensive, but you can’t get pico leaves here in town without paying for them.”
“Yeah. Pico leaves can do a lot to bring out the taste of a dish, so we tend to use them in most of our recipes.”
As she nodded in response, Jizeh picked up another plate, this one carrying meatballs covered in sauce. She took a bite of one, and her eyes opened wide in astonishment. “My... This dish seems quite elaborate in comparison. Does this sourness come from mamaria vinegar?”
“Yep, it does, but we used a lot of sugar in order to make it sweet. And the gooeyness comes from chatchi starch.”
“Chatchi starch? Ah, this meat is quite unusual too. It’s shockingly soft.”
“That’s because we chopped it up finely and then formed it into balls before we cooked it. The Kimyuus’s Tail actually offers a similar dish using kimyuus meat.”
With the meatballs, we had also used pula and chamcham in addition to the four types of vegetables in the sauté. Pula was akin to green pepper, while chamcham was like bamboo shoots, so we used the latter vegetable in a lot of our Chinese- and Japanese-style dishes.
Reina Ruu had taken the lead on the giba soup and cream stew, which had been prepared using the same recipes we used when making food for the inns and stalls. Though the giba soup was flavored with tau oil, she hadn’t done anything special with it otherwise. The foundation of the dish was ultimately the exquisite stock she had made using the giba meat and vegetables.
Basically, our theme for this meal was to show off a few simple dishes, presented alongside similar ones that took a bit more effort. Giba meat could taste delicious even in very basic dishes, and it could also have a strong impact on much more complex ones. Those were the two things we wanted to show everyone with this meal.
From the other tables, I could hear the inn owners moaning and voicing their pleasure. I didn’t know how many of them were trying giba cooking for the first time, but we seemed to have succeeded at impressing and surprising them.
“The poitan seem to have a variety of flavors. These ones have a different color too,” someone I didn’t recognize called out from another table.
“That’s right,” I said. “For the poitan, we have three varieties. One we made with milk fat and karon milk, the second with kimyuus eggs, and the last one with gigo. The yellowish pieces are the ones with egg in them.”
“Hmm. The flavor changes this much just from adding eggs?”
“It does. From what I hear, eggs don’t see much use in the post town, but you can use them in all kinds of different ways, and they’re not all that expensive.”
With so many new ingredients popping up lately and competing for attention, kimyuus eggs seemed to have remained a low-profile foodstuff. Most people seemed to be of the opinion that eggs were something that poor families ate instead of meat, so unfortunately, they tended to be avoided in the service industry.
“These dishes are all truly delicious. I think I’m even more eager to start purchasing giba meat now than I was before,” Jizeh remarked.
But then, a haughty woman’s voice chimed in. “As I thought, you prepared quite a spread of giba cooking, didn’t you?! What a flagrant ploy!” Unsurprisingly, that had come from Lema Geit of The Arow Bud.
Naudis had been slurping on cream stew with a smile, but when he heard that, he looked over at her with an uncharacteristically sullen expression. “Lema Geit, you don’t seem to have had so much as a single bite. Shall we bring you some karon or kimyuus dishes?”
“No, thank you. I think I might lose it if I were to accidentally eat a bit of giba.”
Milano Mas shot her an annoyed look. “Y’know, I’m getting real sick of your obstinacy. It’s not as if you lost family like I did, so what reason could you possibly have for hating the people of the forest’s edge so much?”
“Hmph! I just can’t stand people who don’t go about things properly. They caused so many problems here in town and have never so much as bowed their heads to us in apology, so I want nothing to do with either those barbarians from the forest’s edge or the nobles from the castle town.”
“What, you’re whining about that again? We already told you that all the criminals were punished. Most people have realized by now that even nobles are capable of passing fair and proper judgment every once in a while.”
“It’s not as if I saw that ‘judgment’ you keep talking about with my own two eyes. Ten years ago, the Red Beards were framed and beheaded in order to protect those criminals from the forest’s edge, but the nobles and the barbarians still get to live their nice, cushy lives. What part of that sounds fair?”
“You’re bringing up even more old stories now. Haven’t you heard that the remnants of the Red Beards forgave the people of the forest’s edge and the nobles?”
“That’s just more of the nobles covering things up. I wouldn’t be surprised if those remnants had all been executed in secret by now!”
Milano Mas turned to look at us with a sour expression. Jeeda and Bartha had been keeping their identities secret around town in order to prevent any incidents from happening. Only those who were very close to our people like Milano Mas had any idea that they were Goram Redbeard’s wife and child.
“May I say something?” Reina Ruu interjected, causing Lema Geit to glare at her in annoyance.
“What do you want, pretty little girl from the forest’s edge? Despite appearances, I am a woman, so you won’t be winning me over with sex appeal.”
“Among our people, the former leading clan head Zuuro Suun was the man most responsible for committing those crimes, and he has been sentenced to hard labor, which I’m told is a fate worse than death. The two noble criminals who were involved have been given similarly heavy punishments. One received the same sentence as Zuuro Suun, and the other has been imprisoned for life. Are you saying those punishments weren’t fair and just?”
“The folks in the castle town claim that’s what happened, but nobody can prove that those punishments are actually being carried out. Those nobles could be living free behind those stone walls right now, enjoying all the delicious food they want.”
“You really have that much doubt in your heart?” Reina Ruu asked, biting her lip in frustration.
I had been keeping quiet, not wanting to stand out too much, but at that point, I worked up the resolve to speak up. “Lema Geit, let me say something too. The criminals from the house of Turan, Cyclaeus and Ciluel, ordered their men to aim their bows at Melfried, the son of Duke Marstein Genos himself. Cyclaeus was just a count. The house of Genos’s noble rank is way higher than theirs, so do you really think their crimes would have been brushed under the rug after they tried something like that?”
“What do you mean, they had their men draw bows on the duke’s son? That’s news to me.”
“That part doesn’t get mentioned much because everything else they did was so much worse. See, their crimes from years ago got exposed during a meeting with the leading clan heads of the forest’s edge, so they completely flew off the handle and tried to kill everyone there—including Melfried, who was present as an observer. I can’t imagine Duke Marstein Genos ever forgiving them for doing something so outrageous.”
“Hmph. You speak like you saw all that yourself.”
“I did, because I was there too. I was summoned to that meeting because part of the agenda was to discuss how a foreigner came to be living at the forest’s edge.”
Lema Geit suspiciously narrowed her eyes as she looked me over. “I see... You’ve been summoned to the castle town pretty frequently, haven’t you? You’re best buddies with the nobles, aren’t you?”
“You’re saying you can’t trust someone like me? I suppose that’s understandable, since this is the first time we’ve met,” I replied with as much sincerity as I could manage. “As you can clearly see, I wasn’t born at the forest’s edge. But I’ve lived there for nearly a year now, and over time, I’ve come to see just how earnest the people who make it their home really are. And I’ve been able to gain a similar amount of trust and friendship with numerous folks from the post town and castle town as well. That’s why I’m trying my hardest to strengthen the bonds between all three of those groups.”
“That’s certainly a grandiose statement. But, well, it’s your life, so go ahead and live it however you please,” Lema Geit replied with a shrug of her thick shoulders, not sounding moved in the least. However, I couldn’t help but smile as I kept watching her.
“I certainly will. And right now, I’d like to put in the effort to try to form a friendlier bond with you too.”
“Eh? Just leave me be. You’ve got plenty of other folks here obediently wagging their tails and begging for giba meat.”
“Maybe, but I can’t simply ignore you. If you’re going to insist on hating us, then you should at least get to know the people of the forest’s edge properly first. If we manage to get that far and you still can’t stand us, then at that point I’ll have to admit that there’s nothing I can do about it.”
But then, right after I finished talking, I heard someone shout “Gyah!” from near the entrance.
I turned to look in that direction, and what I saw there caused me to drop my spoon. And I was one of the least surprised people in the room.
“Sorry for interrupting your dinner. This is where the inn owner meeting is being held, correct?” said a deep, rumbling voice that carried across the entire dining hall with ease. No one could have predicted this turn of events. After all, the speaker was none other than Donda Ruu, leading clan head of the forest’s edge.
What was more, there was someone with an even bigger figure standing behind him, making a few people shriek in various places throughout the dining hall. Mida Ruu had come along as well. The young hunter, whose body was about three times as massive as the average person’s, casually stepped into the room. Under the dim light of the candles, the presence his enormous form was giving off was incredibly attention-grabbing.
“Wh-What in the world is this all about?! I didn’t hear anything about more people of the forest’s edge attending this meeting,” Tapas called out, his voice trembling.
Donda Ruu walked over to us, stopping when he was close to our table, with a bright gleam in his glaring blue eyes.
“I apologize for interrupting your meeting. However, we have an important reason for coming here.”
With that, two more people stepped out from behind Mida Ruu: Shin Ruu and Tsuvai Rutim.
Ludo Ruu had been biting into some poitan, but when he saw them, his eyes opened wide. “What are you lot up to?”
“Tsuvai Rutim was insistent that we had to bring Mida Ruu here. I couldn’t think of any other way to calm her down, so I retrieved the wagon from behind the inn and quickly returned to the Ruu settlement,” Shin Ruu explained.
“Hmph. So why’d you come along, old man?”
“As a leading clan head, when I heard what was being discussed here, I decided I couldn’t simply ignore it. And besides, Mida Ruu and Tsuvai Rutim both fall under the Ruu clan,” Donda Ruu said, looking around the room, his eyes shining like those of a wild beast. “I’m one of the three leading clan heads of the forest’s edge, Donda Ruu of the Ruu clan. I heard that somebody who is participating in this meeting holds a great deal of anger about Mida Ruu’s past actions, and that is what has brought us here tonight.”
“What’s this all about...? Are you going to strangle me to death in full view of this giant crowd of people?” Lema Geit asked, her voice cracking. Despite how pale her face had gone, her expression was full of something akin to fury. It looked to me like she was suppressing her fear of Donda and Mida Ruu with everything she had.
Slowly, steadily, Donda Ruu turned toward her.
“You’re the one whose stall Mida Ruu destroyed some time ago?”
“Yeah! What of it?!”
Donda Ruu stepped back until he was right next to the wall, giving Mida Ruu enough room to kneel in. When the young hunter did so, though, it was enough to make the floor beneath us shake a bit, eliciting a few more screams from the crowd.
“I’m sorry... Back then, I was a really bad person...” Mida Ruu said, his little piglet eyes fixated on Lema Geit.
The inn owner frowned deeply as she glared back at the massive hunter.
“I didn’t know the difference between good and bad... I just wanted to eat tasty food... When I did, that was the only time I didn’t feel sad... So when I bought something that was supposed to be tasty but it wasn’t, that made me really, really sad... And so, I wanted to break everything...”
“I don’t get what you’re saying at all. Are you trying to tell me that it’s normal to destroy a stall that serves bad food?” Lema Geit managed to force out. Honestly, it must have taken some serious guts for the woman to still act so brave under the circumstances. However, Mida’s cheeks trembled sadly in response.
“No, I was the one who was bad... I was really sad that I didn’t get along with everyone in the Suun clan, and I didn’t know what to do about feeling so bad... So, um... Mia Lea Ruu said maybe I took that pain out on the people around me.”
“Like I said, I’ve got no clue what you’re going on about!” Lema Geit shouted out, only for Donda Ruu to chime in, looking like he felt he had no other choice.
“Mida Ruu wasn’t ever taught the laws of either the forest’s edge or Genos, and was raised in a way that kept him from being able to tell good from evil. Because of that, he committed wrongful deeds in town on many occasions. But now, he understands how serious those crimes truly were.”
“Yeah... I won’t do anything bad again, no matter what,” Mida Ruu added, big tears now flowing from his tiny eyes. “I was given the Ruu name, so I’m Mida Ruu now... So I won’t do anything bad anymore... But if you can’t forgive me, you can hit me as much as you want... So will you let me keep living as a person of the forest’s edge?”
“Hey, Mida Ruu! I’m begging you, don’t start crying in a place like this, okay?” Ludo Ruu said, covering his ears and leaning back in his chair. I remembered all too well how Mida Ruu was capable of crying so loudly it felt like it could burst your eardrums.
As he sniffled and sobbed, Mida Ruu weakly replied, “Okay...”
“Mida Ruu has learned the difference between right and wrong, which is why I accepted him as one of our clan and granted him the Ruu name. For 330 days, I lived alongside him and hunted giba with him before coming to that conclusion. And as the Ruu clan head, I’m prepared to be punished alongside him if he commits any crimes from here on out,” Donda Ruu stated in a heavy voice. “However, from what I’m told, the nobles unjustly dismissed or covered up many of the past crimes of the Suun clan. If you say your grudge from back then still remains, I will listen to your story as the leader of all the clans under me.”
“U-Uh, no, there’s no need to dredge up such old matters now,” Tapas interjected, his voice trembling. Meanwhile, Lema Geit continued to stare at Mida and Donda Ruu, her lips remaining pursed.
“In that case, could I chime in as well?” a voice called out from a different direction. It was none other than Sams, the owner of The Westerly Wind. “Putting aside that huge incident the people of the forest’s edge caused ten years ago, some of your people have been making trouble in the last few years as well. I’ve heard rumors about that big guy there, as well as a few other young ruffians.”
Donda Ruu turned toward Sams and nodded. “Yes, you are correct. There’s one more among our people who used to cause trouble around town. He was Mida Ruu’s former older brother, a man by the name of Doddo. He’s about as tall as Shin Ruu there, but with a bit more muscle, and almost always carried fruit wine around with him.”
“Those two were the only ones who were causing trouble?”
“Yeah. There might have been others, but those villains have all died off in the past ten years. If you’re talking about crimes committed in town, the only culprits were Mida Ruu and Doddo.”
As Sams rubbed the scar on his neck, he snorted, “Hmph. By the way, was this Doddo fellow punished similarly?”
“Of course. Doddo also had his blood ties with the Suun clan severed and was taken in by the Dom.”
“So if he still doesn’t have a clan name, does that mean he hasn’t shown that he has the proper spirit for that yet?” Jizeh interjected. She looked calm and didn’t seem scared of Donda or Mida Ruu in the least.
The leading clan head shot her a questioning look. “From what I’m told, what Doddo lacks isn’t a proper spirit, it’s strength. He doesn’t have the will to get up to any wrongdoing without drinking, but his weakness in body and spirit is unbefitting of our people, so he still hasn’t been granted a clan name.”
“I see... I thought that hunters of the forest’s edge were all tough-looking men like you.”
“The Suun clan’s hunters weren’t carrying out their work, so they never developed the strength they should have. While hunting alongside the Dom, Doddo’s leg was stabbed by a giba’s task, and his soul nearly returned to the forest.”
“My, how unfortunate... So, what is he doing now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is that Doddo man hunting again after suffering an injury that almost cost him his life?”
Donda Ruu furrowed his brow, looking even more confused. “There’s no other path forward for us. If he’s not strong enough and his soul returns to where it came from, then that is simply the judgment of the forest.”
“Ah... To me, that sounds like a punishment more terrifying than death. To be thrown out into the forest where giba are lurking despite not having the strength to be a hunter... Just thinking about it sends a chill down my spine,” Jizeh said, and then she directed a smile at Mida Ruu, who was still kneeling. “So then, your leader recognized you as a fellow clan member because you have both a just spirit and sufficient strength, Mida Ruu?”
“Yeah... I’ve got to live properly as a member of the Ruu...” Mida Ruu replied, his teary eyes now staring blankly at Jizeh.
Looking satisfied with that response, Jizeh then turned toward Lema Geit.
“What do you say, Lema Geit? You were angry about having your stall smashed without so much as an apology, right? This boy is bowing his head to you now, so don’t you think it’s time to let bygones be bygones?”
Lema Geit offered no response.
“You’re part of an old bloodline, so you should understand the importance of something like a clan name better than anyone. Try to imagine having the Geit name stripped from you and being forced to live with another house, and you should be able to understand how heavy of a punishment that really is.”
“Hmph! You sure are talking big for someone who doesn’t have anything to do with this! Honestly, I can’t even tell if I’m being apologized to or intimidated here!”
Donda Ruu stroked the coarse beard on his chin.
“We weren’t trying to intimidate you. But if the sight of me and Mida Ruu made you feel that way, then allow me to apologize for that too.”
“That’s because you two are especially huge, even for people of the forest’s edge. To folks from town, seeing you probably feels like being face-to-face with a giba,” Ludo Ruu remarked in a discordantly cheerful manner. He was the only person in the room who had gone back to eating since Donda Ruu’s arrival.
“Quiet, you,” Donda Ruu grumbled.
Jizeh smiled happily once more. “My mother was from Sym, and I get a lot of easterners at my inn, so I have some confidence in my ability to judge what people are feeling, and it’s painfully clear to me how sincere you’re being in your attempts to apologize to Lema Geit.”
“Yeah! Papa Donda and Mida Ruu are really nice, so there’s no need to be scared of them!” Rimee Ruu energetically added.
Jizeh’s gentle gaze then turned her way. “I noticed that you had the same clan name. Is this man your father, Rimee Ruu?”
“Yeah! Me, Reina, and Ludo are all Papa Donda’s kids! Shin Ruu is the head of a branch house, and Mida Ruu will be joining them soon!”
I could sense the tension in the air gradually fading away. Now that it had been made clear to everyone that Donda and Mida Ruu didn’t mean any harm, and Rimee and Ludo Ruu had energetically chimed in to support them, things seemed to finally be moving in the right direction.
“So, what does Mida Ruu need to do to earn your forgiveness?” Donda Ruu asked again.
“All right already!” Lema Geit cried out. “For now, we’ll consider the matter of my smashed stall settled! I still don’t want to have anything to do with you, though!”
Then, a middle-aged guy seated some distance away timidly chimed in, “A-Actually, he destroyed one of my stalls too...but the folks from the castle paid me plenty of money to settle the matter, so it’s no real issue.”
“M-Me too!” another voice added, causing Donda Ruu to glare at Mida Ruu with a furrowed brow.
“Just how many stalls did you break? No wonder people have been holding grudges against you.”
“Sorry...”
“You’re not going to get anywhere apologizing to me. But this is a good opportunity, so go say sorry to all these folks you troubled.”
“Okay,” Mida Ruu replied with a nod, slowly rising to his feet and then heading around to the various tables where the inn owners were seated. Since most folks who ran stalls were connected to inns, this was basically a big gathering of the people he needed to apologize to. It was a pretty unexpected set of circumstances that had brought us here, but this felt like an important opportunity for him.
Tsuvai Rutim had remained silent this whole time, simply staring at Mida Ruu’s massive form. She was frowning, but I had no doubt that this was precisely the result she had been aiming for. She must have thought that the only way to satisfy Lema Geit was to have her speak with Mida Ruu directly.
“No matter how much of a fuss Tsuvai Rutim was making, you still could’ve put your foot down and said no, Shin Ruu,” Ludo Ruu whispered to the other hunter. “Did you go along with her because you wanted to bring Mida Ruu here too?”
“Yeah. Mida Ruu is an important relative to me as well, so I couldn’t simply let things stand as they were,” Shin Ruu replied with a composed expression.
Mida Ruu’s house was located right next to Shin Ruu’s, and recently, they had been having dinner together most nights. On top of that, it had been decided that Sheera and Darmu Ruu were going to live together in a new house, while Mida Ruu would be joining Shin Ruu’s household when Sheera Ruu moved out.
At any rate, maybe now Mida Ruu would be able to visit the post town freely without having to worry about people holding grudges against him.
Personally, I couldn’t help but feel incredibly glad that a little more of the bad blood between us and the townsfolk that the Suun clan had caused had now been put to rest.
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