Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 29 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4: Birthday

1

The twenty-fourth of the yellow month—my eighteenth birthday—had arrived at last. Of course, I had picked that date myself because it was kinda convenient, but even so, this was a day that held even greater meaning to me than my original birthday.

In my old world, I had perished in a blazing inferno, but something supernatural had granted me a second life here in this other world. And as I had been wondering what in the world had happened, a giba had attacked me out in the forest of Morga, and then Ai Fa had rescued me. That had all occurred one year ago, on the twenty-fourth of the yellow month.

After having died once, that day had been the beginning of my second life, and so I felt it was only fitting for it to serve as my new birthday.

Now, that day had finally come back around. And yet, it started out very peacefully, just like any other.

“Hrngh... Morning already, huh...?”

The gentle morning sun streaming in through the window acted as my alarm clock. I turned over on top of my bedding in order to escape it, and when I did, I saw Ai Fa sitting cross-legged in the center of the room, doing up her hair.

“So, you’re finally awake. You should also get dressed.”

“Got it, clan head... Hup!”

“You make such foolish faces every single morning...” Ai Fa said with a faint smile as she skillfully did her hair. That expression was every bit as charming as always too.

I went ahead and moved over to the storage room in order to get dressed. I would always change into a different T-shirt and loincloth at this point, then do the washing after. Ai Fa always got up before me, so she had already gotten dressed before she started dealing with her hair.

After tossing the clothes I removed into a woven basket, I passed my arms through the sleeves of a fresh T-shirt. It was a new one I had asked to have made for me in the castle town shortly before the end of the rainy season. When I’d had my clothing for the rainy season made, I had learned about materials that would work well for producing additional T-shirts and towels to wrap around my head, so I had ordered a number of them through my connection with Yang.

As for my original T-shirt from before I had purchased those replacements, it was being stored in the room I was currently in, along with the rest of my old chef’s uniform. Having swiftly finished changing, I found myself staring at those clothes for no reason in particular.

Though I said they were in storage, they were really just hanging on the wall in the back of the room. The T-shirt was inside the chef’s uniform, so I wasn’t able to see it where it hung. On top of that, the underwear, socks, and worn-out towel I had used frequently in the past were stored in the pockets.

And finally, sitting on the floor below all of that were my old worn-out deck shoes. Aside from my old man’s knife, this was everything that had come along with me to this world.

The logo of the Tsurumi Restaurant decorated the chest of the chef’s uniform. No one here in this land could ever read what was written there, though, since it was a foreign form of writing that only I understood. As I ran my finger over the black embroidered letters, I couldn’t help but sigh.

It’s been a year since then, huh? Well, there was that extra month this year, so it’s actually been closer to four hundred days, I thought to myself, my gaze shifting ever so slightly. Next to my chef’s uniform were two hunter’s cloaks. The first was the one Ai Fa had worn when she was young, and the other was the one she had been using from three years ago until her birthday this year.

The smaller of the two had been made by Ai Fa’s mother. Once, after her father had been injured and rendered unable to hunt in the forest, my clan head had gone out and captured a young giba in a simple trap. That giba’s pelt had provided the materials for her first cloak.

Naturally, it wasn’t a true hunter’s cloak. The pelt had come from a young giba, so it was only thirty centimeters or so long at most, and there was no way a young girl like Ai Fa would have been given a proper hunter’s cloak in the first place. Even so, Ai Fa’s mother had worked on that little cloak with all her heart, for the sake of her daughter who had saved their family from the crisis it faced. When I imagined Ai Fa at the age of ten or so wearing that small cloak and proudly climbing trees or running around the house, I felt warmth welling up inside me.

As for the other cloak, it was a memento from Ai Fa’s father. She had lost her dad at the age of fifteen and had hunted all alone from then on. She had taken down countless giba, but she hadn’t even had another clan member to tan the hides and make them into cloaks. That was why she had kept on wearing her father’s until Saris Ran Fou and the others had given her a new one for her birthday this year.

My chef’s uniform was hanging alongside those mementos Ai Fa had kept. This was something I saw every single morning, but today, it was making me feel especially emotional.

Well, I guess there’s no helping that today. After all, it’s the one year anniversary of when I first met Ai Fa.

I forced myself to look away, then picked up the basket of laundry and opened the door. But as soon as I did, a fist came flying right at my nose only to suddenly stop. Its owner shifted it to the side, and beyond it I saw Ai Fa peering at me.

“Ah, you’re done getting prepared? You were taking so long that I was about to knock on the door.”

I had figured that was it, but it was still rough on my heart even so.

With a composed look on her face, my clan head lowered her fist and turned the other way. “Let’s get going. I’m unsure how much water we have in the jug, so we should replace that as well.”

“Gotcha.”

After dumping out the small amount of water still inside, I set the jug on top of a pulling board meant to transport it, and as I did, Brave came energetically running over from his resting place beside Gilulu. Though there wasn’t any way for the pup to help us with this particular task, it had become customary for him to accompany us to the watering place each morning.

I took the water jug while Ai Fa handled the pots and utensils we had used for dinner last night, and we all headed off together. When we arrived a short while later, we found that the Fou and Ran had beaten us there and had already gotten to work. The Fou clan’s hunting dog was also with them, so Brave had a friend to play with for a bit.

“Today’s finally the day for the meat market, isn’t it? We’ll take care of everything; you should be able to just stand back and watch us, Asuta,” one of the Fou women said with a smile while washing a pot.

As I started doing some cleaning of my own, I nodded to her and replied, “I know. I’ll keep an eye on things, but I won’t butt in if I’m not needed, okay? Oh, but if you do have any trouble, feel free to let me know right away.”

“I’m sure it’ll be very reassuring to have you around today.”

Today would be the first time that the people of the forest’s edge were participating in the meat market, and since I happened to have the day off from work in the post town, I had made the decision to accompany them. Reina Ruu was originally supposed to serve as their guide, but I wanted to see the giba meat getting sold there personally.

“We’ll see you later, then. Um, it’s at a quarter past the third hour, right? We’ll be working on getting things ready until around then,” she said.

“Good. I hope it all goes smoothly.”

Since we were going to be working together, all of the clans near us had had sundials installed at their settlements. A quarter past the third hour would be equivalent to 8:15 or so, by my reckoning.

I turned to Ai Fa and asked, “What should we do until it’s time? Gather firewood like always?”

“Indeed. And I would not feel right heading to town without cleansing my body.”

It had still only been around half an hour since sunrise, so we had about two hours or so of free time. That would be plenty of time to both bathe and collect firewood.

“I’m a little surprised by how much this feels like just any other day...” I said once the two of us were alone.

“Hmm?” Ai Fa questioned with a tilt of her head.

“I mean, it’s the one year anniversary of when I first met you, isn’t it?”

“Indeed. But I did not find you out in the forest until the sun was setting. A year ago at this time of day, we still weren’t even aware of one another’s existence,” my clan head bluntly replied, her attention turning back toward the washing. “I can wait until dinnertime to celebrate. Until then, we should focus on our own work.”

“Right, got it.”

Though that had been a rather dry exchange, I was perfectly fine with it. Everything about Ai Fa was charming to me, that stoic nature of hers included.

Honestly, getting to spend an ordinary day together makes me happy enough, I thought as I focused on scrubbing off the soot that was stuck to a pan.

After that, Brave also accompanied us to the outskirts of the forest, where we bathed in the Lanto River and gathered firewood and herbs.

Over the past however many days, the amount of fruit we had in our area had been steadily declining. We saw damaged trees here and there as we walked—evidence of giba headbutting the trunks because they were unwilling to wait for the fruit to ripen and fall on its own. I could also see signs of gigo-like roots having been dug up out of the ground.

Before much longer, the blessings of this part of the forest would be all eaten up, meaning a break period for the area was fast approaching. The Ruu had just seen one of theirs end the other day, and it was common for the clans in our area to get one roughly a month after.

“It’s been over four months now since our last break period, has it not?” Ai Fa noted.

“Hnn. That one ended halfway through the gold month, didn’t it? Then we had the brown, red, vermilion, and yellow... Yeah, that was more than four months ago.”

“Looking at the state of the forest’s blessings, we should still have around half a month left until our break period. That means there will have been about five months between this one and the last.”

“Since they’re supposed to happen three times a year, five months is a bit long, isn’t it? Do you think there’s some specific reason for that?”

“In all likelihood, it is now taking longer for the fruits of our hunting grounds to be exhausted because we have been hunting more giba around here than ever before.”

It was true that not only the Fa clan, but also the Fou, Ran, and Sudra were hunting more giba than they previously had been. And the introduction of hunting dogs had made the difference even more noticeable.

“The Ruu should be seeing the same thing happening, then. If our break periods still come a month after theirs, they’ll also be having gaps of five months between one break and the next.”

“Indeed. The Ruu resumed hunting soon after the start of the silver month, and they held their previous festival of the hunt at the end of the vermilion month, so that would indicate gaps of around five months for them.”

Ai Fa’s memory really was exceptional. I certainly couldn’t recall when the Ruu’s break periods had been right off the top of my head like that. But then, the silver month kicked off the new year, and their last festival of the hunt had coincided with Granny Jiba’s birthday, so perhaps those dates were just easy to remember.

“If we’re managing to hunt as many giba as the Ruu clans, that is something to be proud of. However, the blessings of the forest are so abundant in their area that they’re probably still hunting quite a few more than us.”

“Yeah, but the Sudra have been heading to the Suun hunting grounds because they feel like there aren’t as many giba around here anymore, right? So the clans around here must be hunting more than they used to.”

“That is certainly true... And it is proof of how your delicious cooking has strengthened both the Ruu and the clans around us,” Ai Fa remarked, picking up a bit of firewood off the ground and then turning to face me. “I am proud of you, and I hope that you will continue to offer your strength to our comrades at the forest’s edge.”

“Of course I will. It makes me happier than anything to hear you say that.”

With a commanding expression befitting her role as clan head, Ai Fa nodded and said, “Indeed.” There was an incredibly gentle light in her eyes that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

After that, we wrapped up our morning work and headed back home, arriving right before we needed to head to town, so we immediately hooked Gilulu up to his wagon and headed over to the Fou settlement with our full household. Just to be on the safe side, Ai Fa had decided to accompany us this morning.

“Ah, Ai Fa and Asuta, we’ve been waiting for you,” one of the women from the Fou said. They looked to be all ready to go.

One of their men would be coming along as well to act as a guard. If all of the giba meat they had prepared for today sold out, they would earn at least 3,420 red coins. There was a real chance of outlaws taking notice when you brought in that kind of money, so the Fou and the Dai had both decided that sending a hunter was necessary.

Two women were going to be in charge of sales. One was the woman I had spoken to at the watering place—the wife of one of the Fou branch family heads—and the other was a young Ran woman. The young Fou man who would be their bodyguard rounded out their group.

“Well, folks around town won’t mess around with women of the forest’s edge lightly either. But we’ve never walked around with so much money before, so we figured it best to stay on the safe side,” the Fou woman explained.

“Yeah, I’d say that’s an important step to take. I could see outlaws from out of town going after the money because they don’t know much about the people of the forest’s edge.”

We had been attacked by such outlaws in Dabagg, since they hadn’t known how much they needed to fear hunters of the forest’s edge, so this definitely felt like the sort of situation where it was best to take precautions.

After that, we headed south to the Ruu settlement, with us in Gilulu’s wagon, while the Fou and Ran took Fafa’s wagon. Though neither of our wagons had all that many people in them, they were also bringing over two hundred kilos of giba meat, which made taking two wagons necessary.

Twenty minutes or so later, we arrived at the Ruu settlement, where four people were waiting for us by the entrance: Jiza, Ludo, Reina, and Rimee Ruu.

“Sorry for the wait. So, you got it down to just four people in the end?”

“Indeed. You will be there as a guide, Asuta, and I felt that I would suffice as an observer on my own,” Jiza Ruu commented.

“I’m here to guard these two,” Ludo Ruu said with a yawn, meaning his sisters.

“Even with Asuta coming along, I was originally supposed to serve as the guide, and I still wish to fulfill my role properly,” Reina Ruu said with a very serious look.

“Me too!” her little sister chimed in.

Well, it was no surprise that Reina and Rimee Ruu felt the same way I did. I wanted to personally see whether the giba meat would sell, and if the Fou and Dai would be able to complete their task with no problems.

The four members of the Ruu clan then boarded Gilulu’s wagon. Considering how crowded the market got, we felt it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring more wagons than necessary, so they would be riding with us.

After following the path farther south, we found the Dai clan’s wagon awaiting us near the T-shaped intersection that led to the post town. They had bought it and the totos pulling the vehicle during the last break period with money borrowed from the Fa clan. It looked like their entire group had gotten down from their wagon to wait for us there.

“We’ve been waiting for you. We look forward to working together today.”

There were two young unmarried women there, and a young man as well. The latter bowed deeply to Jiza Ruu, who was looking out from our wagon.

“It’s been some time, Jiza Ruu. You may not remember me, but I am Deel Dai, the head of a Dai branch house.”

“Deel Dai? Ah, yes... I don’t recall how long it’s been exactly, but it’s good to see you looking well.”

“Indeed. I shall do my best today, so as to not bring shame to the Dai name.”

He seemed to be quite a mild-mannered man, fairly tall and more on the slender side, with a rather soft face for a hunter. There was a look of what seemed to be reverence in his eyes as he stared at Jiza Ruu.

There sure are a lot of humble folks in the Dai clan. Is that because they’ve got big leading clans to both the north and south of them?

The Dai and their subordinate clan, the Ren, were the only ones located between the Ruu and Sauti, who had been the largest clan groups other than the Suun long before they had become leading clans, which might have made the Dai feel a little inferior. But as I was thinking about that, a familiar onion-like head peeked out of the wagon behind them.

“How long are you gonna keep on talking? If you dawdle too long, the meat market will start without us.” It was none other than Tsuvai Rutim, who had been given the important role of acting as the supervisor. The members of the Ruu clan and I were going as observers of sorts, but she was a full member of the team doing the work. Since the Rutim settlement was located farther south than the Ruu’s, it had been decided that she would meet up with the Dai along the way.

“Well then, why don’t we get going?” the Fou woman said, and our three wagons were soon moving down the path to the west. It was all downhill from there to town, so the shaking in the wagon was a bit stronger than usual.

As I sat my back up straight against the wall so I wouldn’t fall over, I found myself with a question for the eldest Ruu son. “Jiza Ruu, you and that Deel Dai guy are acquaintances?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. We’ve only met a single time before. But I am told my father Donda and Darmu Ruu have met him at the clan head meeting numerous times.”

Since the hunter had introduced himself as the head of a branch house, he was probably the second son of their main house. If that was correct, it would make sense for him to accompany his clan head to the meeting, like Darmu Ruu did for his father.

“I believe it was at the celebratory banquet we held for the Ririn when they became a Ruu subordinate. That Deel Dai man was watching the celebration from a distance.”

“Even though he’s a member of the Dai? Why’d he do that?”

“Pure curiosity, apparently. Though, he did have some interaction with Vina.”

Jiza Ruu fell silent then, so Reina Ruu whispered into my ear, “I don’t really know the details myself, but apparently, that man fell for Vina at the banquet and asked her to marry him the next day without permission from his clan head.”

“Huh? That’s pretty bold. But wait, didn’t the Ririn become a subordinate clan to the Ruu quite a while ago?”

“Yes. Vina had only just turned fifteen, so it must have been around six years now. But she was very mature even back then, so in those days there were a lot of men who requested to marry her.” That was certainly quite the story. But then, Reina Ruu whispered something even more surprising into my ear. “Before Vina, he apparently fell for Yamiru Lea too. Back when she was part of the Suun clan, I mean. That’s really something, isn’t it?”

I let a goofy “Whoa” slip out without meaning to.

Reina Ruu giggled, and Ai Fa—who was sitting up in the driver’s seat, keeping her back turned to us—said, “Don’t go making strange sounds.”

“Th-That really is something else. Even Rau Lea hasn’t taken aim at both Yamiru Lea and Vina Ruu. Deel Dai didn’t look like the sort of guy who would do something that crazy.”

“Yeah. That was my first time seeing him too. I didn’t expect him to be so slender. You really can’t judge someone just by looking at them,” Reina Ruu replied with an amused laugh, her expression a mix of both mature and childish. “Still, I heard it caused a bit of a commotion back then. It was really shocking for someone to fall for the eldest daughters of both the Ruu and the Suun. When the Dai clan head apologized to Papa Donda and Zuuro Suun at the next clan meeting, he apparently bowed so low that his forehead touched the ground.”

Considering the relationship between the Suun and the Ruu at the time, what he had done had basically been like a bomb thrown into a crowd. If either Vina Ruu or Yamiru Lea had felt like it, they could easily have caused the other side to seriously lose face in the eyes of the other clans, which likely would have resulted in the volatile relationship between the two becoming actively hostile.

“Oh yeah... Now that you mention it, I heard something about Vina Ruu and Yamiru Lea feuding a while back. I think it was shortly before the clan head meeting?” I said.

“Ah, yes, I heard about that from Vina and Lala myself. Yamiru Lea visited your stall, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, that’s right. There was a real feeling of rivalry between the two of them. That grudge went back six whole years, huh? It’s kinda surprising to be putting that all together here and now.”

“I can imagine. But apparently, Deel Dai took a wife from a branch house soon after, so it didn’t end up being a serious issue.”

“Huh? After falling for two women, he went and married a different one right away?”

“Yep. Yamiru Lea insisted he do so in order to make up for causing such a major disturbance between the Suun and Ruu.”

I could easily remember Yamiru Lea’s snakelike glare and the smell of blood that lingered about her back when she had been part of the Suun clan. I had found her truly frightening. Deel Dai must have had some serious nerve.

Actually, maybe it’s more that his senses were out of whack somehow. Like, he might not have noticed just how ludicrous his actions really were. I can’t help but think of Jou Ran, to be honest.

Still, that had all been wrapped up six years in the past. If he had gotten married back then, it was possible that he even had an adorable kid or two at this point. If at all possible, I wanted every person of the forest’s edge to live a happy life.

“Oh! We’re almost there!” Ludo Ruu excitedly said, looking up from where he was playing with Rimee Ruu and Brave.

I peered out of the wagon beside the driver’s seat, and I found that I could see buildings on the other side of the trees ahead of us. It was a rather amusing coincidence that we had done our preliminary inspection on Rimee Ruu’s birthday, and now we were taking part for the first time on mine. Quickly growing excited, and wondering what the outcome of the day would be, I got myself ready to watch the show.