Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 28 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2: New Blood Ties

1

It was now the fifth day of the yellow month, the day of the Fou and Sudra wedding.

The groom was Cheem Sudra, and the bride was Ia Fou, a young woman I wasn’t very well acquainted with. This was the first marriage to result from the Fou’s and the Sudra’s efforts to form blood ties. Apparently, there would also be someone from the Ran marrying into the Sudra, and someone from the Sudra marrying into the Fou, but those were going to have to wait until the next break period.

At any rate, after this wedding, the Fou and Sudra would finally be united by blood. The Fou would become the parent clan, and the Sudra the subordinate. Even after consolidating all of their branches and relatives, the Sudra had only had nine members left before this. But now, they would no longer be in danger of losing their clan name, and would gain more relatives in the process. An event like this was an even more sacred and joyous occasion than an ordinary wedding.

“I’m super grateful that they invited me to such a happy event. I’m really looking forward to it,” I said while working at our stalls.

From the neighboring stall selling giba curry, Toor Deen smiled and replied, “Yeah.” The Fa and Deen had both been invited as guests, since we were close neighbors with them. The food for today’s banquet would be prepared by the Fou, Sudra, and Ran women alone, so the only one who had taken the day off from our work in town was Yun Sudra.

“The Fou and Ran women have all improved their cooking skills a lot. And Yun Sudra has too, obviously. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they’re making for the banquet.”

“Me too! The other members of the Deen clan have been looking forward to it as well.”

“By the way, who all will be there from the Deen clan?”

“The head of the main house, me, and the oldest son of the branch house’s head. Normally, if this was a celebration held by a clan we were related to, we’d send all of our unmarried men and women too, but tonight we’re only bringing a few people.”

The eleven-year-old Toor Deen was most likely being included because she was closest with the Sudra and Fou women. She looked seriously happy to be going.

The Fa, on the other hand, only had two members to begin with, so we didn’t have to worry about who to bring. Ai Fa was planning to finish up work early so that we could head to the Fou settlement together.

Of course, the Liddo had been invited too, and there were even going to be a few members of the Zaza coming, according to what I had been told. Though the Zaza lived a good distance away, their subordinates—the Deen and Liddo—were being invited, so they had asked to be able to send a few people to observe.

“I’ve participated in all sorts of celebratory banquets, but I’ve only ever been to one wedding banquet before,” I noted.

“Oh, really? Since I became part of the Deen clan, I’ve been to three weddings in the north. All of them were as a chef, though.”

“Yeah, it was the same for me. That was the first time I had ever had to prepare food for a hundred people, so I couldn’t really enjoy the event. The range of ingredients that were available to me back then was pretty limited, and we were still using suurub leaves in place of wooden plates at the time.”

It had been almost a year now since Gazraan and Ama Min Rutim’s wedding. I felt really emotional when I thought about that.

“My, what a splendid aroma,” a new customer remarked while approaching us.

When my eyes found the figure standing in front of the giba curry stall, I said, “Huh? Sorry to ask, but are you Jizeh?”

“Oh my, you remember me?” Jizeh asked, pulling back the hood that had been hiding her face. She was wearing the sort of hooded cloak that travelers from Sym often used.

“Toor Deen, this is Jizeh, the owner of an inn called The Ramuria Coil. She helped us out a lot at the recent meeting.”

“Oh, I didn’t do much. I simply said whatever I felt like saying.” The older woman with gray hair, brown eyes, and moderately dark skin that told of her Sym heritage gave us a gentle smile. Despite her apparent age, she was about as tall as I was, slender, and seemed to be in good shape, so she still looked fairly young in some ways. “That certainly is a wonderful scent. Is this that giba curry dish I’ve heard so much about?”

Even though it had to be unfamiliar to her, she had managed to pronounce the word “curry” perfectly. It had been easy for Shumiral too, so perhaps people with eastern blood were skilled when it came to pronouncing foreign words.

“Would you like to sample some? This dish is extremely popular with our eastern customers,” I asked.

“Yes, I’ve heard. An innkeeper I’m friends with has spoken to me rather passionately about both giba meat and giba curry on several occasions.”

“Ah, another inn owner said that?”

“Yes. A man by the name of Nail, who you’ve been selling giba meat and meals to.”

That was exactly the response I had expected. “Oh, so you and Nail are acquaintances? Do you know each other because you both serve a lot of customers from the east?”

“Yes, indeed. That man is a pure-blooded westerner, but he’s quite taken with Sym, so we naturally ended up forming a bond.”

Nail also had an extremely sincere and calm personality, so it made sense to me that he and Jizeh would get along well. I mentally noted that even though Jizeh had Sym blood, she didn’t conceal her feelings at all. Sanjura had a background that was similar to hers, and he had also chosen to follow western traditions.

“He’s been asking me if I’m ever going to start purchasing giba meat for some time now, but I can be rather stubborn, so I’ve been putting a lot of thought into dishes I could make using kimyuus and karon that would be able to compete with giba. After all, herbs from Sym have been much easier to come across lately.”

“I see. I’m a little surprised to hear you say that you consider yourself a stubborn person.”

“Oh, I definitely am, but I’ve rethought my position since then. I decided that making my customers happy is what’s most important, so I ultimately gave in.” With that, Jizeh pulled out a small bag stuffed with coins. “Well then, let me purchase some of that famed giba curry of yours. How much does it cost?”

“Ah, well, one ladleful costs one and a half red coins, but we do get some customers who purchase two scoops.”

“I’ll buy one scoop, then. I’m not that much of an eater now that I’ve gotten older.”

The Dagora woman who was assisting Toor Deen accepted her coins, and the young chef served up one scoop of giba curry.

“It really does smell amazing,” Jizeh remarked, her eyes narrowing. “I can feel the excitement racing across my tongue before I’ve even tried it. By the way, what did you eventually decide to do about selling giba meat?”

“For now, we’re planning to take a look at the meat market first, and once we’ve done that, I imagine we’ll probably start selling there fairly soon. We’ll also need to run this by the folks in the castle town too, though, so it may take a few days.”

“I see. Well then, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the day when I’ll finally be able to purchase giba meat.” Jizeh then carefully carried her plate of curry with a side of baked poitan over to the outdoor restaurant space.

As she watched the older woman go, Toor Deen whispered, “She seems really nice.”

“Yeah. She was the first one to express an interest in doing business with us people of the forest’s edge at the meeting, which I really appreciated.”

Since we had stayed for the drinking party, though, I’d had a chance to get to know quite a few other people too. As far as I had been able to tell, nobody else hated our people as much as Lema Geit of The Arow Bud did. In fact, there had even been people who apologized, saying stuff like, “I’m sorry for how I acted back then.”

When I had asked what they were apologizing for, they had informed me that they had disparaged the people of the forest’s edge back when Zattsu and Tei Suun had been causing trouble in the post town. Ever since we had started coming to town, things had apparently been quite tense, with people split into two factions: one side supporting the people of the forest’s edge, and the other side speaking ill of us. Apparently, several people had even visited Milano Mas to tell him directly to stop lending us stalls, and some of them had been innkeepers.

But now, even those people had let go of their animosity toward us. In addition to apologizing, some of them had expressed interest in buying giba meat and asked to hear more about confections. I couldn’t help but think that we really should have started participating in those inn meetings sooner.

“Oh, Jizeh, what did you think of the taste?” I asked when I saw the innkeeper return from the outdoor restaurant space. Her hood was back up, but I was able to see the satisfied smile on her face.

“It was delicious. You used so many herbs, and yet it all came together into a single flavor. You truly are incredibly skilled, Asuta.”

“Ah, no, I couldn’t have done it without all the help I had from everyone at the forest’s edge.”

“I feel as if my eyes have been opened to a whole new way of using herbs. I want to hurry back to my inn to start experimenting with them myself,” Jizeh said before departing.

I once again turned toward Toor Deen and said, “Jizeh’s inn apparently serves Sym-style food that’s as good as what you can get in the castle town. I’d love for us to stop by sometime if we get the chance.”

“Sounds good to me,” Toor Deen replied, her eyes sparkling. Reina Ruu was undoubtedly curious about Jizeh’s abilities as well, and it would be even more interesting to try her cooking once she started working with giba meat.

Time kept on passing by after that, and eventually we wrapped up work for the day. We had upped the number of meals we prepared each day back to eight hundred with the arrival of the yellow month, and we had managed to sell all of them. A month had passed since the end of the rainy season, and the post town now seemed to be as lively as it had ever been.

After cleaning everything up like always, we returned the stalls and then headed back to the settlement at the forest’s edge.

Once we arrived, there was prep work we had to handle. However, tomorrow was a day off, so all we needed to do was prepare curry base and dried pasta. We couldn’t leave that task up to the Fou and Sudra today, though, so instead we took care of it with the women who had been working the stalls with us.

We wrapped all that up around halfway through the lower fourth hour, and were getting ready to go our separate ways, when Ai Fa returned carrying a giba, alongside our hunting dog Brave.

“Welcome back, Ai Fa. Looks like you got another big giba today, huh?”

“Indeed. And you seem to be finished with your work as well.”

“Yeah. Everyone was just about to leave,” I replied.

But then the Matua girl—the second youngest of our workers after Toor Deen, at just thirteen—stepped forward and said, “Um... You bought banquet attire in town, didn’t you, Ai Fa? Would you like help changing?”

“I don’t believe I need anyone to help me,” Ai Fa said with a frown, staring back at the young girl. I had convinced my clan head to buy some banquet clothes, but she still strongly disliked dressing up.

“But you have such long hair. That by itself will take you a good amount of time to get ready, won’t it?”

“I plan to simply wear it down.”

“You can’t! It would be rude to the Fou and Sudra not to look your best for the banquet!”

Ai Fa sighed heavily, still carrying the massive giba she had brought back. “It doesn’t really matter, I suppose, but why are your eyes sparkling like that?”

“Huh? Well, I was hoping to see you in your banquet attire before I left, since I won’t be able to when you’re at the banquet,” the Matua girl replied with an earnest smile.

However, Ai Fa responded to her with a frown. “Before I get dressed, I need to take care of this giba first. And you must have work waiting for you back home, correct?”

“I normally stick around to learn from Asuta as he makes dinner before heading home, so I have time to spare today. I can wait until you’re finished with the giba.”

“But...”

“Oh, but is that all right with the rest of you?” the girl asked the other women who were with us. “I don’t want to delay all of you from getting home solely for my sake.”

Because Yun Sudra was absent today, we had four women from among those who rotated in and out day by day, coming from the Matua, the Gaaz, the Dagora, and the Ratsu. In all four cases, walking home would take a substantial amount of time for them, so they always used Fafa’s wagon instead. That was why the Matua girl had needed to ask them if they were okay with staying. And as it turned out, nobody objected to her suggestion. In fact, their eyes seemed to be sparkling as much as hers were.

“I want to see Ai Fa’s banquet attire too! I’m sure she’s going to look absolutely stunning!”

“There was a bit of a mess with the Ratsu and the Gaaz both asking her to marry into their clans, wasn’t there? Now that I’ve been to the Fa house as many times as I have, I can finally understand what had the men so worked up.”

“We’d love to help you out too, Ai Fa!”

Ai Fa seemed to have lost the will to resist, so she dejectedly headed off toward the carving room.

Though I felt a bit bad for her, I was glad that Ai Fa had someone to help her get changed. It would be a big issue if she came across as rude because she looked a bit unkempt. And besides, if she was going to get all done up in her new banquet attire, I wanted her charms to shine through to their fullest.

“I have to go get ready too, so I’ll be leaving now,” Toor Deen said, turning to head home.

However, I called out, “Hold on a moment. I’ll take you home with Gilulu. I’ve got nothing else to do until Ai Fa is ready, after all.”

“Uh, but the Deen house isn’t far enough away for walking to be an issue.”

“You don’t have to decline to be polite. In fact, I’d appreciate having something to do to stave off boredom for a while.”

And so, I gave Ai Fa a brief heads-up before once more getting into the driver’s seat of Gilulu’s wagon and taking up his reins. The Deen clan was located close enough that it would only take a few minutes for me to go there and then return.

“The women from the other clans all seemed really worked up. Think it’s contagious?” I asked.

“It may well be. The Gaaz, Ratsu, and Matua women all think it’s really unfortunate that the Fa house is located so far away from them. I’m sure they’d like to be able to take part in both festivals of the hunt and wedding banquets together with you and the others.”

The Gaaz were only related to the Matua clan, while the Ratsu only had the Auro and Meem. Their banquets had to be pretty modest affairs, given their small numbers. Aside from the leading clans, though, it was quite rare for any clan to have more than two subordinates.

“In that case, the Gaaz and Ratsu should hold festivals of the hunt together as a single group of five clans. And if they include the Beim and Dagora as well, their banquets would probably be as big as the Ruu’s.”

“That’s true. But they may not be close enough to each other to all have break periods at the same time. And besides, the clans around here only got so close because of the Fa.”

“Oh yeah? I feel like at this point we aren’t really that necessary for that kind of thing to happen anymore.”

“No, you are. For sure, the clans under the Zaza like the Deen and Liddo were only able to build such strong bonds with the Fou and Sudra thanks to the Fa clan,” Toor Deen calmly stated from within the wagon. “I’m so proud and happy to be invited whenever a wedding is held in the northern settlement. But a banquet together with the clans that live around us is even more wonderful, I think.”

“I agree. But I suppose it all comes down to the mother forest’s guidance.”

“Yeah,” Toor Deen replied, and then she sniffled ever so slightly. She was a very emotional person, so she was probably crying again.

Not long after that, we arrived at the Deen settlement and I said farewell to Toor Deen. I had suggested that we could stop by the Fou settlement along the way, but she had declined since she didn’t know when the men would return.

After that, I headed back to the Fa house all on my own. The sun hadn’t quite set yet, but the sky was starting to get a bit darker, and there was a pleasant wind blowing on my face. The weather was perfect for a wedding.

When I arrived back at the Fa house, I found Brave sleeping in front of the entrance. After I got down from the wagon and knocked on the door, I heard the Matua girl call back, “Is that you, Asuta? You’ll have to wait for a bit. We’re just getting started.”

“Okay. There’s still plenty of time, so no rush.”

I sat down beside Brave and let my mind wander idly. It was a rather wasteful use of time that I would normally never indulge in. My musing was interrupted less than fifteen minutes later, though.

“Thanks for waiting. You can come in now,” the Matua girl said, and I heard the bolt being removed. The door swung open right as I rose to my feet, and the young girl’s face peeked out from inside.

“Ai Fa’s banquet clothes are so lovely! And they suit her really well!”

“Yeah. Ai Fa and I don’t know how to pick good clothes or accessories, so we had the folks from the Ruu clan choose for us.”

As we were speaking, the other women appeared from inside the house, with Ai Fa coming out last.

Her blonde hair was hanging down, and she was wearing banquet attire for the first time since the Rutim wedding. Back then, her outfit had been one that Granny Jiba had loaned her. The outfit she had on now wasn’t all that different. The chest wrap and skirt were more colorful than usual, and she had accessories in her hair, around her neck, and on her arms and legs, as well as a translucent and flowing veil and shawl. Naturally, the blue stone pendant she always wore was around her neck, and the rainbow-colored flower-shaped hair accessory was in her hair. They were both presents that I had picked out for her.

“Well? It looks good on her, right?” the Matua girl asked with a smile.

I was so enthralled by the sight of her that it took me a moment to force out a hurried nod and a response of, “Yeah... It’s been a while, so I was a little taken off guard. People of the forest’s edge never look better than when you’re all dressed up for banquets. Right, Ai Fa?”

“Well, it certainly isn’t as uncomfortable as the banquet attire from the castle town, but it’s still difficult to move around in,” she said, sounding like the same Ai Fa as always when she spoke up. Her sword was also hanging from her hip as usual, despite how it clashed with the rest of her outfit. “If we’re attacked by giba or mundt on the way there or back, it could be rather difficult to deal with them unarmed.”

“But as long as you bring a torch with you, there shouldn’t be any danger. And you’ll be traveling by wagon, won’t you?” the Matua girl chimed in with a laugh. “Anyway, we’re satisfied now, so we’ll be heading back to our homes. Asuta, Ai Fa, please enjoy the banquet.”

“Yeah, thanks. And we appreciate all the help!”

After saying farewell, the women departed in Fafa’s wagon. Now that it was just me and Ai Fa again, I smiled at her and said, “It really does look good on you. I’m sure everyone waiting at the Fou settlement will be surprised to see you.”

“I don’t see any need to be surprising to people, though,” Ai Fa replied, turning away in a huff before glaring at me out of the corner of her eye. “It really doesn’t look ridiculous?”

“What, you’re still worried about that? Lying is a crime here at the forest’s edge. I absolutely do think it looks good on you, and so does everyone else.”

Ai Fa raised her hand as if to scratch her head, but she wasn’t able to do so because her sparkling veil got in the way.

“And the hair accessory suits you too. It looks even better with your hair down.”

“Enough already. Stop grinning so brazenly and prattling on and on like that.”

“But in the Fa clan our custom is to never hide how we feel, isn’t it?”

I braced myself for a kick in the leg.

But today, she flicked my nose instead.

“That’s enough. Let’s be off already. I feel like this outfit’s going to get all tangled up on me, so you take the reins.”

“Got it, clan head.”

Ai Fa whistled at Brave, prompting him to rise to his feet, and then she signaled for him to get into the wagon. And as I watched her from the side, I couldn’t help but notice that there was just a hint of a blush on her cheeks.