Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 28 - Chapter 4.7

2

“We’re off. Make sure not to push yourself too hard, Shumiral,” Giran Ririn told the injured man a few hours after Shumiral had awoken, when the sun was about to hit its peak and he was about to head out into the forest along with the branch family hunters and the clan’s dogs.

Shumiral had taught them plenty about how to use the dogs by that point, so they would have no difficulty working with their animal comrades while he was absent. And fortunately, none of the dogs had been injured during the incident the previous day.

And so, the only ones left in the house were Shumiral, Vina Ruu, and Giran Ririn’s wife Uru Lea Ririn. The latter woman’s children were in the care of the branch houses. Shumiral continued to rest in the main hall like before, while the two women worked on tanning hides.

The man had recovered somewhat, so all he needed to do was let his body heal. However, he still couldn’t sit up on his own, which meant that he always had to have someone by his side. As he lay there atop the bedding, Shumiral observed the two women as they worked.

“The Ririn clan doesn’t have many members, so it’s a big help having you around, Vina Ruu,” Uru Lea Ririn said. She was a beautiful woman with auburn hair and pale blue eyes, who was so young that it was hard to imagine she was a mother of two, and she was as slender as the women of the grasslands. And on top of being pretty, she also had a strange, almost spirit-like aura about her.

“It’s only natural for the Ruu to lend aid to their subordinate clans. And as I’ve said again and again, I share some responsibility in the first place.”

“Oh, not at all. But I’m still very happy to welcome you into our home,” Uru Lea Ririn replied with a smile while applying some sort of sap to the back of a pelt. The way she was being so openly expressive made it seem as if she was probing Vina Ruu.

“Shifting topics, how old are you, Uru Lea Ririn? I can’t imagine you’re that much older than me.”

“You’re right. In fact, I just turned twenty-four.”

“Twenty-four. Then you were only seventeen or eighteen when you married into the Ririn clan, correct?”

“Yes, it’s been around six years now. How nostalgic.”

Having originally been a member of the Lea, her marrying Giran Ririn was what had made the Ririn a subordinate of the Ruu. In contrast to his wife, Giran Ririn was forty-two years old.

“Perhaps it isn’t proper to say this, but isn’t Giran Ririn old enough to be your father? Why did you decide to marry him?”

“It’s hard for me to say. But, well, Giran is a fine hunter, so I was quite honored to have a man like him ask to marry me.”

“I see... Yes, it’s certainly true that Giran Ririn is a fine hunter, but still...”

Vina Ruu seemed to be finding the conversation difficult to maintain. Shumiral felt kind of bad for her.

“Vina Ruu, I believe, I will, fall asleep shortly, so please, hold on, just a bit longer.”

“What exactly am I supposed to hold on for?” Vina Ruu asked in confusion.

“If I am asleep, you will then, be able to, talk freely, will you not?”

Vina Ruu’s cheeks went a bit red again, then she raised an eyebrow and said, “You know that I came here to help nurse you back to health, don’t you? So could you please not say things like that for no reason?”

“Of course. My apologies.”

Shumiral had managed to eat a little after the sun had risen, and the romu leaves he had been given with his meal seemed to be working a bit. His head was getting a little fuzzy, and it felt like only a matter of time until he drifted off.

“Shumiral is a rather pleasant person, isn’t he? It’s only been half a month since he started living here, but the children and I all very much enjoy his presence,” Uru Lea Ririn casually remarked, causing Vina Ruu to turn her way with a rather troubled look.

“Shumiral has been living here at the main house the whole time, hasn’t he?”

“Yes. After all, it is our clan head Giran who must determine whether he will be granted the Ririn name.”

“Our clan head hasn’t been living with Mida, though.”

“Mida’s and Shumiral’s situations are rather different, wouldn’t you agree? And the main Ruu house has thirteen members, so I would imagine it would be difficult for them to add anyone new.”

Uru Lea Ririn always seemed to have a tactful reply ready, no matter how birdbrained the things Vina Ruu said were. There were many calm and composed women at the forest’s edge, but she was especially unshakable.

“You know, I have to say, I feel like you’re as impressive as your husband, Uru Lea Ririn. I hadn’t had many opportunities to speak with you in the past, so I never realized how remarkable you really are.”

“Is that so? I don’t consider myself to be particularly exceptional in any way.”

“If that’s true, then I’m utterly hopeless,” Vina Ruu replied with a listless sigh.

She seemed to put herself down quite often, probably because she was something of an oddball for a person of the forest’s edge. Or at least, that was how Shumiral saw it. In the past, she had longed to see the outside world, which was highly unusual for one of her people. The people of the forest’s edge lived with great pride, rooted in their strength and honesty. It was almost unthinkable for one of them to yearn for something outside the forest. Such feelings had likely led to Vina Ruu developing a strong sense of guilt, and that was why she was always saying those kinds of things.

Even so, you chose to live as a child of the forest, so there’s no longer any need to feel ashamed, Shumiral thought to himself, but he wasn’t able to voice the sentiment. Thanks to the romu leaves, he was drifting off to sleep and into the world of dreams as he stared at Vina Ruu’s disheartened profile.

Shumiral next awoke around sunset. In fact, it looked like the sun was right on the verge of setting. It was raining outside, so a number of candles were lit there in the main hall, and the cute face of a young child was staring down at him from above.

“Ah, Shumiral’s awake!” the child energetically called out. He was Giran and Uru Lea Ririn’s first child, a four-year-old boy with a bright gaze that resembled his father’s. “Hey! Don’t touch Shumiral! He’s hurt!” The boy rose in a fluster, then he leaped right over the bedridden hunter. His little sister had been trying to lay down on Shumiral from the other side. She was a precious, adorable girl who would soon be turning two.

When her brother grabbed her, the girl started squealing happily until their father approached them from behind.

“You two woke Shumiral up with all your noise, didn’t you? I swear, what am I going to do with you?”

“No, we were quiet until he was awake!”

“Yes, he speaks, the truth,” Shumiral added, causing Giran Ririn to break out in a wide grin.

“Well, dinner will be ready soon anyway, so it’s fine. How’s the pain in your chest?”

“I believe, it has settled down, a fair bit.”

“Then you should eat as much as you can manage. Food and rest are the best things for healing wounds.”

“Yes. I can feel, the hunger, in my stomach.” He had fallen asleep without eating anything last night, and this morning, he’d only had a bit of soup with finely diced meat and vegetables. Down below the throbbing pain in his chest, his stomach was noisily demanding a more proper meal.

“Uru Lea and Vina Ruu are working hard to prepare dinner now. Or, actually, it sounds like they just finished.”

There was a knock on the door, and the two women entered, returning from the kitchen. Instantly, an exquisite aroma filled Shumiral’s nostrils, and the young boy excitedly shouted, “Yay! That’s giba curry, right?! Mama Uru Lea, you can make giba curry now?!”

“No. Vina Ruu prepared this using ingredients Asuta of the Fa clan delivered.”

The two of them were carrying a pot, which they placed on the stove at the far end of the main hall. Despite the wooden board that had been placed on top of the pot as a lid, it was still giving off an intense aroma, as was normal for the giba curry Asuta had invented.

“We’ve got some other food to bring in as well, so hold on for just a little longer.”

Beside the gently smiling Uru Lea Ririn, Vina Ruu was staring down at the ground for some reason, but she left so quickly that Shumiral was unable to ask why. With Giran Ririn’s assistance, he was able to raise himself into a sitting position with his body leaning up against the wall.

Grinning widely, the boy cleared away the now-empty bedding, and with tottering steps, his younger sister started to follow after him, only for her father to scoop her up.

“Did Asuta, visit the Ririn clan, again today?”

“Yeah, he dropped by on his way to the Sauti settlement. It seems he’s trying to come up with new dishes for the northerners to eat.”

That was news to Shumiral. During this rainy season, a group of slaves from the north had been dispatched to carve a path through the forest’s edge. Their meals were supposed to be prepared at the Sauti settlement, which was why Asuta was heading there.

“The leading clan head Dari Sauti was the one who asked Asuta to help out. I don’t know much about the situation, but I’m sure he has a proper reason for making that request.”

Dari Sauti was one of the three leading clan heads of the forest’s edge. Shumiral had only seen him a couple times, but he seemed to be a fine man worthy of his role.

Incidentally, Shumiral had only learned about the full sequence of events that had led to the current leading clan heads taking up their roles in place of the Suun clan after his arrival at the Ririn settlement. Of course, he had already known that the Suun clan had been deposed because they had committed a number of serious crimes—he had been staying in the post town when all of that had gone down, after all. Only after coming to live in the forest had he been told the full story. When he had learned that Asuta had been the one who revealed their crimes during the clan head meeting, he’d been incredibly shocked.

Well, he is a starless one, after all. Such people do not possess a star of their own, but greatly influence the stars of the people around them.

And now, Asuta was trying to help the northerners. Thinking about the kind of changes that might result from that was enough to cause Shumiral’s heart to start beating a bit faster.

My fate shifted greatly after I met Asuta too. If he had not opened his stall in the post town and had Vina Ruu help him run it, I’m sure I never would’ve changed gods.

Even so, Shumiral’s destiny remained his own. Even if meeting Asuta had changed its course, he was still the one who had to determine the right way to walk the path ahead of him.

“Sorry for the wait. Now, let’s begin dinner.”

A plate of giba curry was placed in front of Shumiral, rousing him from his deep thoughts with its intense aroma.

Giran Ririn gave the premeal chant, and his three family members and Vina Ruu repeated it.

As soon as that was done, his son excitedly exclaimed, “Yay! I love giba curry! When will you be able to make it, Mama Uru Lea?”

“Only Asuta of the Fa clan and members of the Ruu know how to make giba curry starting from the initial herbs. It’s a dish that requires a great deal of effort.”

As he listened to the mother and child conversing with each other, Shumiral picked up his plate. It was a dish from Asuta’s homeland, but it used six kinds of herbs from Sym. Just smelling it was enough to make his mouth water, and he felt like his stomach might let out a loud grumble at any moment.

“You must’ve had this before too, right, Shumiral?” Giran Ririn asked with a smile as he tore off a bit of poitan and dipped it in the giba curry.

Shumiral felt a little emotional as he replied, “Yes, but only once. The night that, I was accepted, as a person, of the forest’s edge.”

“Oh, right, the Ruu clan held a banquet then, didn’t they? Serving giba curry that night was really thoughtful of the Ruu women,” Giran Ririn said, but then he tilted his head confusedly. “But you were staying in the post town before that, right? You didn’t have an opportunity to try giba curry before that even once?”

“What do, you mean?”

“I mean, Asuta sells that dish to some inns, and I heard you were staying at one of them. Or am I remembering that wrong?”

Shumiral was more than a little surprised to hear him say that. “You know, of my activities, in town?”

“Well, in order to decide whether you should be given our clan name, I need to know everything I can about you, so I’ve been asking the Ruu and Rutim whatever questions I can think of whenever I visit them.”

Shumiral didn’t know how to respond to that. Giran Ririn’s words had thrown him off so much that his gaze ended up wandering until it met Vina Ruu’s. When it did, she went red and glared back at him as she asked, “What is it?”

Giba curry was sold both at the stalls in town and at The Sledgehammer where Shumiral had been staying, but Asuta had told Shumiral not to eat it. It had taken an incredible amount of willpower to sit beside his fellow members of the Silver Vase as they had enjoyed the dish. Shumiral had struggled against the temptation to try it for five whole days, wondering why Asuta had asked such a thing of him. Honestly, it had almost felt like torture.

The answer had come on the day that Shumiral had been permitted to become a person of the forest’s edge. Donda Ruu had arranged a banquet, and giba curry had been served there. And when he had heard Ludo Ruu say “Vina is the one who made it,” then he had finally understood. Asuta had wanted the first giba curry he tasted to be Vina Ruu’s. Though the chef had not said so himself, that was the only thing that made sense.

Anyone born in the east would undoubtedly find giba curry to be more delicious than any other dish prepared using that kind of meat. In fact, giba curry was better than anything Shumiral had ever tasted back in his former homeland. And when he had heard that Vina Ruu had been the one who’d made it, an incredible sense of joy had washed over him. He was convinced that those five days of perseverance were a trial, and the happiness he had felt that day was his reward.

“So, you never got to have it at that inn?” Giran Ririn remarked with a smile before taking a swig of fruit wine. “Well, whatever. Just go ahead and eat up. If you let your giba curry go cold, that would be a real waste.”

“Right,” Shumiral replied, taking a bite of his meal. It was the first time in half a month that he was able to savor that wonderful flavor. The various flavors and aromas of the herbs came together in perfect harmony. Though Shumiral was well acquainted with all those tastes and smells as an easterner, eating them together as curry was like encountering them for the first time all over again. It was a rather strange experience.

The dish used finely minced giba rib meat, along with aria, chatchi, and nenon. At the Ruu settlement, all sorts of other vegetables had been added to it as well, but this giba curry seemed in no way inferior to the version he had tasted back on that night.

Dipping baked poitan into it before eating made both taste even better, which made Shumiral wonder if curry would also taste good mixed with the shaska that was a common staple food in Sym. Shaska tended to be much better when it was part of a dish, rather than when it was eaten on its own.

Shumiral sighed in satisfaction, and then he turned toward Vina Ruu. “It was, very delicious. The flavor, was wonderful.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I guess you should be grateful to Asuta for delivering the curry base. That isn’t something I can make on my own.” Vina Ruu had been looking at Shumiral out of the corner of her eye the whole time, but now she turned away in a huff. The faint redness on the side of her face was terribly charming.

“Can only a small number of people among the Ruu make curry base?” Uru Lea Ririn asked in a reserved tone.

“That’s right,” Vina Ruu replied, brushing up her bangs. “It’s very difficult to remember how much of each herb you need, so only people who are incredibly passionate about cooking can learn it. Morun Rutim and Yamiru Lea often stop by the Ruu settlement after they finish their work, though, so I believe they know how to prepare it.”

“I see. So there are chefs among the subordinate clans who can make it on their own?”

“Yes. Oh, and most of the women living near the Fa house have probably learned how to do it too. They make the curry base used for business almost on a daily basis.”

“Must be nice! I hope everyone from the Ririn can learn to make it too!” the boy remarked with a big smile, giba curry all around his mouth.

As she wiped his mouth clean, Uru Lea Ririn smiled as well and said, “Indeed. I wonder if we should visit the Ruu settlement more frequently for lessons.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to pick it up right away. But I just can’t manage it myself,” Vina Ruu replied, lightly biting down on her lip regretfully.

Uru Lea Ririn turned toward her with a small, ephemeral smile. “But you were able to use it to make this splendid giba curry, weren’t you, Vina Ruu? I believe that shows truly wonderful skill.”

“Not really. Anyone can make delicious giba curry as long as they have the base.”

“Is that so? But you taste tested it again and again to arrive at this flavor, didn’t you? You tried things like using karon milk or adding grated ramam... And through that process, you were able to create something wonderful.”

Vina Ruu hung her head, hiding her facial expression. However, she looked even redder around her mouth than before. That adorable sight caused Shumiral to feel a tightness in his chest. He was sitting beside Vina Ruu, eating the giba curry that she had prepared, and his heart was overflowing with joy because of it.

“Vina Ruu, Shumiral, if the two of you were to get married, who exactly would marry into the other’s clan?” Giran Ririn suddenly asked, causing Vina Ruu to look up with incredible speed.

“Wh-Wh-What are you saying? He still isn’t even able to get married yet.”

“That may not be an issue forever, so why not talk this over now?” Giran Ririn asked with a grin, not showing even the slightest hesitation about bringing the topic up. It was a very warm smile that made it feel as if he were wrapping everyone up in a hug. “Personally, I’d like to welcome Vina Ruu into the Ririn clan. It might be a bit arrogant to ask the oldest daughter of the main house of our parent clan to do so, but they have three fine men in that house already, so Vina Ruu’s child would be really unlikely to end up as clan head, which is why I’d like to do things the other way around.”

“L-Like I said...”

“Then Shumiral can become the head of a Ririn branch house, but we’ll be able to eat dinner together like we’re doing tonight for a while.”

Vina Ruu leaned her back against the wall, looking exhausted.

Seeing that, Uru Lea Ririn spoke up, saying, “Clan head, I believe your words just now were a bit lacking in consideration. The two of them are still determining how they feel about one another, after all.”

“Oh yeah? They look like a really good pairing to me, though.”

“No matter how things look from the outside, what’s important is their own feelings, isn’t it?” With that, Uru Lea Ririn once again offered Vina Ruu an otherworldly smile. “Vina Ruu, you can take your time figuring out how you feel. There will surely be some time yet until Shumiral is granted the Ririn name.”

Vina Ruu continued to lean against the wall, offering no response, with the young children staring at her curiously. And then, the young woman directed a reproachful look at Shumiral.

“I’m amazed you can make a face like that, like it’s someone else’s problem.”

“My apologies. My skin, is dark enough, that it doesn’t, change all that much, in color.” Shumiral placed his plate of giba curry down and bowed his head. “But my cheeks, feel quite hot. I am surely, just as embarrassed, as you are.”

Vina Ruu raised her hand and said “Ugh.” Her face was now bright red, but rather than hitting Shumiral, she instead clung to the wall once more.

Shumiral found that sight to be adorable as well. The evening was turning out to be a very enjoyable one for him.