Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 29 - Chapter 5.2

2

The dinner at The Silver Star was on the twenty-second of the yellow month.

From the morning until noon, Odifia studied characters, then in the afternoon she was given etiquette lessons, as per her usual daily routine. But after that, she and her mother left Genos Castle. Her father was busy, however, so he wouldn’t be attending the event.

“Remember, Polarth is in charge of managing everything for today. He went out of his way to make certain there was a seat for you, so you have to thank him, all right?”

“Yes, I understand.”

As the totos carriage swayed along, Odifia once again felt a bit of excitement rising in her chest. Until they actually arrived, she would have no way of knowing whether or not Toor Deen was coming. Because of that, she felt much the same as she did when she was waiting to see if her noontime snack would be a lucky one or not.

After a fair bit of time had passed, the totos carriage came to a stop. Eulifia stepped down first, followed by Odifia and then their maids. Now that she was six, Odifia was finally able to descend such tall steps on her own.

A line of soldiers in white armor was waiting for them on the ground. Passing by them, she and her mother stepped into the restaurant.

“We have been waiting for you. You are Ladies Eulifia and Odifia, correct? Your companions have already arrived,” an old woman with a kindly face said, greeting them with a smile. Odifia thought it was rather refreshing to not hear her mother referred to with the overly long title of “wife of the first son of the lord of Genos.”

The restaurant was in the castle town, but in an area where commoners lived. However, the price of a meal there was such that almost all of the clients were nobles. Though Odifia’s parents had taken her to many places in the past, today was probably her first time visiting a restaurant like this one.

“Ah, there you are, Eulifia. If you do not mind, could you please sit on this side?” Polarth called out as they entered the dining room. There were two large tables within, one to the left and one to the right, and a number of people were already seated at them. Among them, Odifia recognized Polarth’s wife Merrim, Torst of the house of Turan, and the fortune teller Arishuna.

“My, what an unusual seating arrangement. Is this something that you thought up?” Eulifia asked.

“I wouldn’t say that it is anything I spent all that much energy on. I simply felt that it would be nice to have people of different standings interact as much as possible.”

Both tables had a jumbled up mix of easterners and nobles from Genos sitting at them. The seats around the left side of the table that Polarth had pointed toward had two easterners and one noble sitting in them, with the five seats on the other side completely open.

“I see. This arrangement allows for five people of the forest’s edge to sit at each table. That’s just the sort of delightful thinking I have come to expect from you.”

With that, Eulifia smiled equally at both of the tables while heading toward her indicated seat, and Odifia followed after her.

As the two of them took their seats, Polarth said, “Allow me to introduce you to the members of the Black Flight Feathers. Here we have Lady Eulifia, the wife of the first son of Duke Genos, Lord Melfried, as well as their first daughter, Lady Odifia.”

The other guests were also introduced to them in turn. The three other easterners besides Arishuna belonged to a merchant group called the Black Flight Feathers, while the unfamiliar noble was in charge of foreign affairs.

Odifia sat down next to the two easterners, while the foreign affairs person was seated on their other side. Apparently, the easterners were the assistant head of the merchant group and the person who ranked just under him.

“Normally, we would have a second person from foreign affairs present, correct? We are deeply sorry for stealing away that seat,” Eulifia said with a glance in Odifia’s direction.

Understanding what her mother wanted, the young girl added, “My apologies,” and bowed her head.

The noble from foreign affairs, meanwhile, shook his hand in a fluster and said, “Think nothing of it. It would have been rather sad to only have a single noblewoman at this table. And the original occupant of that seat would have been Sir Melfried, so I cannot think of anyone better than you, his daughter, to take his place, Lady Odifia.”

“Thank you very much,” Odifia replied with another bow of her head. She didn’t want anyone thinking poorly of her mother because of her.

After she had also thanked Polarth for organizing things, Polarth’s wife Merrim, who was sitting next to him, smiled at her and said, “My, it hasn’t been long since I last saw you, Lady Odifia, but you seem to have grown a great deal more mature in that time. You already look like a fine noblewoman.”

Odifia wasn’t doing anything more than repeating the polite words she had memorized. And even then, she had to take a moment to mentally prepare herself before saying them. She was still a long way from truly being a fine noblewoman.

An older woman then poured some tea for everyone and they continued chatting for a while, until it was finally announced that the people of the forest’s edge had arrived. Though the beating of Odifia’s heart had slowed down after a while, that made it start pounding again. Under the table, she gripped the hem of her dress tightly as she waited for the people of the forest’s edge to enter the room.

A number of darker-skinned young people who looked sort of familiar but sort of not streamed into the dining room. Ten guests had been invited from the forest’s edge. Among them, only two had pale skin: the chef named Asuta, and an unfamiliar girl who seemed to be around ten years old.

And then there was Toor Deen, almost hiding in the shadows of her two lighter-skinned companions. When she saw her, Odifia’s legs started kicking under the table without her even being aware of it.

However, Toor Deen didn’t seem to have noticed Odifia. When there were a lot of people around, the young chef tended to just stare down at the ground. And when she started walking over to the opposite table with Asuta, Odifia let slip a little “Ah...”

“My, are you going to sit over there as well, Toor Deen? But Odifia wished to speak with you,” Eulifia called out, causing Toor Deen’s eyes to anxiously shift around the room.

But then, the girl beside Toor Deen with the pale skin smiled and joined arms with her. “How about the two of us eat at that table? I’d like to stick with you, Toor Deen.”

The girl was very cute, and had her hair tied off on either side of her head just like Toor Deen. She looked to be about the same age and height as the young chef from the forest’s edge. Unlike Toor Deen, though, she was smiling brightly. Apparently, she was someone who lived outside of the castle town, but was not a person of the forest’s edge.

Whoever the girl was, though, what mattered was that Toor Deen sat down at the left table with Odifia. There ended up being a bit of distance between their seats, however. A chef from the forest’s edge named Sheera Ruu took the seat across from Odifia, and then Toor Deen was seated on her left.

“My, you are Sheera Ruu, are you not? I didn’t recognize you at first. Your hair is shorter than it was before, and you are wearing a different style of outfit as well,” Eulifia remarked.

“Yes,” Sheera Ruu replied with a graceful smile. “When women of the forest’s edge are wed, they cut their hair and start wearing a different style of outfit.”

“My, so you have married someone recently? Was it that Darmu Ruu man there?”

Sheera Ruu smiled again as she answered, “Yes.” Though she looked a bit embarrassed, she also seemed incredibly happy.

“I knew it. When I saw the two of you at the house of Daleim’s dance party, I was sure that you would eventually be joined together. You suit one another well, and make a lovely couple.”

“Thank you for saying so, Eulifia,” Sheera Ruu said with a calm smile.

Next to her, Darmu Ruu respectfully lowered his gaze for a moment. Odifia remembered seeing him at the dance party too. He had been wearing banquet attire from the castle town at the time, and his hair had been combed so that it was neat and tidy, but today he looked wild and intense, like a different person entirely.

That was probably normal for hunters of the forest’s edge. Odifia had seen a number of other hunters before, and they generally all had the same sort of mysterious intensity about them that soldiers did.

But right now, Toor Deen was more important. After giving a slight bow when she sat down, she had only spoken to the girl next to her so far.

Actually, it was more like Toor Deen had been timidly gazing downward while that girl had been trying to cheer her up. The young chef wasn’t even looking at Odifia, which was making her feel more and more sad.

“You are the daughter of that chef named Mikel, are you not? I’ve heard so much about you,” Eulifia called out to the girl who was sitting a few seats away from her.

The young girl smiled and replied, “Yes. I am Myme, the daughter of Mikel of Turan. I will take care to show proper respect to your noble personages, so please allow me to dine alongside you.”

“Today is not an official event, so there is no need to be so stiff and formal. You and your father are staying at the settlement at the forest’s edge now, correct?”

“That’s right. My father has recovered a fair bit from his injury, but we have been permitted to continue to stay until the law and order situation in the Turan lands improves.”

“Ah, the tightening of discipline in the militia, correct? My husband is involved in that as well, so I hope things get better in the Turan lands as soon as possible,” Eulifia said before glancing over at her daughter. “Odifia, did you not wish to thank Toor Deen?”

“Yes,” Odifia replied with a nod, but she couldn’t quite get the words to come out.

While Odifia was struggling with that, Toor Deen glanced over at her. “I-It’s been a long time, Odifia. Have my treats been arriving without any problems?”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Toor Deen said with a sigh of relief. Odifia was just about to say something in return, but that was when the chef Varkas entered the room.

“My apologies for the wait. It is now the lower fifth hour, and so we shall bring out the dishes.”

Toor Deen’s eyes instantly turned toward him. Odifia felt terribly disappointed, but she couldn’t interrupt the start of the meal.

After that, the dishes came in one after another. Varkas was known as either the best or second best chef in all of Genos, but honestly, Odifia wasn’t all that fond of the food he made. The man was known for being more skilled at using herbs than anyone in the region. His unusual dishes had certainly surprised Odifia plenty of times, but she often felt his cooking was too spicy or bitter.

“The tongues of children are so sensitive that it is easy for flavors to seem overly strong to them. Varkas cooks for adults, so his dishes may be a little too intense for you, Odifia,” Eulifia had said at some point. Odifia knew that the chefs at the castle all changed how they prepared food a bit depending on if they were cooking for her or for the adults, and those adjusted dishes always tasted better to her.

But then there was the food prepared by that chef Asuta from the forest’s edge. He didn’t use as many herbs as Varkas, and Odifia usually found his cooking to be very delicious.

And of course, there was also Toor Deen. Odifia thought that the desserts Asuta and that Rimee Ruu girl made were tasty too, but there was no question in her mind that Toor Deen’s were the best of all. Eulifia had said that the treats made by the chefs in the castle were just as good, but Odifia totally disagreed.

Whenever Odifia took a bite of Toor Deen’s treats, she felt happiness fill her up from the very bottom of her heart. In her view, all of the desserts prepared by the chefs from the forest’s edge were better than those made by the chefs at the castle, but even among their people, Toor Deen was special.

“Odifia, make sure to eat it properly,” Eulifia whispered. As Odifia slurped up some of the strange food that was apparently called shaska, she nodded back.

The shaska already seemed pretty spicy, but the easterners seated next to her had added all of the extra seasoning that had been provided to theirs. If she had made hers that spicy, Odifia didn’t think she would be able to swallow a single bite of it.

Somehow, though, she had managed to eat all of the food that had been served to her so far. Odifia’s portions were half the size of what was given to the adults, and the appetizer and soup dishes hadn’t been all that strong. And since she had pushed in front of other people so that she could attend, if she failed to eat all the food she was served, she felt that she wouldn’t be carrying out her duty.

Each time a new dish was brought out, Toor Deen’s eyes started sparkling as she discussed them with Myme. The dishes must have all been incredibly delicious to her. The only times when she looked truly enthusiastic and excited were when good food was placed in front of her, which made sense. She was a chef, after all.

Odifia was just thinking about how she wanted to eat all the food as fast as possible so she could take her time speaking with Toor Deen when the fourth dish, the vegetable one, was brought out.

“My, this is an especially mysterious dish, isn’t it?” Eulifia remarked. Odifia was of a similar opinion, but in a negative way instead. It was a heavily sour dish, which she had as much trouble with as bitterness and spiciness.

Odifia also wasn’t fond of mamaria vinegar. If it had lots of sugar added to it to make it nice and sweet, she could at least manage to get it down, but this dish used not only mamaria vinegar, but also some other unfamiliar source of sourness.

There was some sweetness there too, sure, but the sourness got in the way. The sweetness blended together with the sourness, and the end result was thoroughly unpleasant. Though she knew she was being rude to Varkas by thinking so, she just couldn’t see this one as delicious at all, no matter how hard she tried.

“This is amazing! How do you even go about making such a mysterious flavor?!” Odifia heard Toor Deen ask, catching her off guard. Everyone seated at their table turned to look at the young chef at once, causing her to say, “M-My apologies,” and hang her head. After that point, Toor Deen only spoke with Myme, as if she was trying to escape from everyone else’s gazes.

Seeing her like that, Odifia steadily grew more and more sad. She was still young, so she didn’t feel like she was able to interject herself into their conversation. She couldn’t share in the excitement and joy Toor Deen felt. To Toor Deen and Myme, even this dish that was so difficult for her to eat tasted good.

On top of that, Odifia was a noble from the castle town while Toor Deen was a chef from the forest’s edge, which meant their attitudes toward food were totally different. That was only natural, though, since Odifia’s only involvement with food was to eat it, while Toor Deen prepared food as well.

Even so, Odifia wasn’t able to stop herself from feeling sad. She had come to know Toor Deen by way of her delicious sweets. That was what tied the two of them together, and that was why not being able to share in the same feelings when it came to food felt so incredibly unfortunate to her.

“I suppose this one definitely won’t be to your tastes. You do not need to force yourself to eat your whole helping, all right?” Eulifia whispered once again.

However, Odifia shook her head and shoved more of the strange-tasting food into her mouth. If she left any of it uneaten, she felt like the wall between her and Toor Deen would only grow higher. She hardly chewed each bite at all, though, before washing it down with tea. It was so awful it made her tear up, but she somehow managed to clear her plate.

When Odifia looked up again, she noticed Darmu Ruu drinking wine with a sour look on his face. All of the men at the table had chosen to drink wine rather than tea. Sheera Ruu was chatting away restlessly with a girl named Reina Ruu, while Toor Deen was talking with Myme. And between them, Darmu Ruu was sitting as silently as Odifia was.

“Was it not to your tastes either, Darmu Ruu?” Eulifia asked. The moment one of the guests fell silent, she would always try to draw them back into the conversation.

With the sour look still on his face, Darmu Ruu turned toward her. “If they had at least served some meat alongside it, I wouldn’t have had nearly as much difficulty. But this dish was pretty tricky to get down.”

“You people of the forest’s edge have a custom of not leaving any food uneaten, correct? Could you not have shared it with your wife?”

“Dealing with a dish you dislike by foisting it on someone else is childish,” Darmu Ruu grumbled, earning an amused smile from Eulifia.

Next, Odifia’s mother turned toward the easterners and the noble from foreign affairs. The women from the forest’s edge were all fixated on the food, so the men had become rather quiet. Once Eulifia started speaking to them, though, that silence was driven away, creating a fun and exciting atmosphere. She was always thinking of others first and foremost like that.

The people who gossiped and called her selfish really didn’t know anything about her. Odifia truly believed that no one was more kind and thoughtful than her mother, and she was always wondering if she would be able to think about other people in the same way when she was an adult too.

“My, yet another wonderful dish,” Eulifia cheerfully commented.

The main meat dish had finally been served. This one was also a bit too spicy, but Odifia was able to eat it without much trouble.

The dish contained karon, kimyuus, and fish meat, the last of which was something she hadn’t eaten too often. Still, she could see how the adults would find it delicious. The kimyuus chest meat was the most to Odifia’s taste.

All of the chefs were giving the dish a lot of praise. Toor Deen and the other girls were all looking both joyful and surprised as they bit into the three types of meat. Though they had likely been holding themselves back before so as to not be rude, it was very clear just how excited they truly were now.

Even Darmu Ruu looked satisfied as he ate this dish, and though it wasn’t possible to read the emotions of the easterners, when they did occasionally state their impressions, they were always quite positive. For the adults, the dish had to be incredibly delicious. Toor Deen’s eyes were also positively sparkling as she talked with Myme.

Out of the entire group, Odifia must have been the only one feeling terribly depressed. It was hard to believe she had been so excited about coming here. Maybe she never should have come in the first place. But she kind of hated herself for thinking that way.

Even when dessert was delivered at the end, Odifia’s feelings remained unchanged. The dish was certainly delicious, but it didn’t have the sort of taste that she was seeking. Her belly was full but her heart felt empty, as if a chilly wind was blowing through it.

“Now that all of the dishes have been served, I would like to introduce you to my apprentices.”

With that statement from Varkas, his apprentices were summoned into the room. A conversation followed between the guests and Varkas’s team for a while, but Odifia didn’t hear any of it. At the very end, though, she just barely managed to catch Polarth loudly proclaiming, “Now then, why don’t we also get to know one another better while enjoying some post-dinner wine? We’ve already made arrangements with the guards at the gate, so could we ask you to enjoy another hour with us here, dear guests from the forest’s edge?”

The tableware was all taken away, and fresh tea was laid out in front of her. However, Odifia didn’t feel like reaching out for it.

If she just sat in her chair silently like a stone for another hour, would this meal that made her feel so empty finally come to an end? As she was thinking that, though, Eulifia shook her shoulder.

“Is something the matter, Odifia? Toor Deen has been calling out to you for a while now.”

“Huh?” Odifia grunted vacantly.

When she looked up, she found Toor Deen looking at her with a very worried expression.

“A-Are you all right? You’ve looked really down for a while now,” Toor Deen asked.

“I’m fine.”

With dinner over, everyone had started talking more loudly. In order to hear Toor Deen’s words, she needed to lean forward over the table.

“So, about that discussion from before...”

“From before?”

“Yes, you know...”

Laughter from the other table drowned out Toor Deen’s voice. Now that they were drunk, Polarth and Torst had started chatting more freely. Since they were at opposite ends of their table, they were speaking loudly enough that their voices reached all the way over to the other side of the room.

Wanting to hear what Toor Deen was saying properly, Odifia leaned forward even farther. As she did, the easterner seated beside her suddenly stood up.

“Would it, be rude, to move to, different seats?”

“Hmm? Why do you ask?” Eulifia questioned.

The easterner nodded and replied, “It has, grown loud, so it is now, difficult for, these girls, to converse. Could we, exchange seats?”

“That is a very gracious offer. What do you say to that, Toor Deen?” Eulifia inquired.

The young chef’s chair clattered as she stood, and then she shot Myme an apologetic look.

“U-Um, Myme, I’m terribly sorry, but...”

“Please don’t worry about me. You’ve been looking worried about Lady Odifia for a long time now,” Myme replied with a big grin, then she looked over at the easterner. “If you don’t mind, I would love to hear about Sym. I’ve really been wanting to learn more about things like shaska, gyama, and herbs.”

“Yes, certainly.”

With that, the easterner circled around to the other side of the table, moving at a calm pace. After giving a quick bow to him, Toor Deen moved to sit next to Odifia in turn. The old woman waiting the table then casually swapped their tea and wine.

“Pardon me. Now we can finally have some time to chat, right?” Toor Deen said immediately after taking her seat. “Um, are you really feeling okay? I noticed that partway through dinner you started looking really down.”

“Partway through dinner?”

“Yes. Around when the vegetable dish was brought out, I believe. You even looked like you were crying at one point.”

Toor Deen was shooting Odifia a terribly worried look. It was a gaze filled with kindness that Odifia knew well. And when she saw it, her heart started beating faster in a slightly different way than before.

“I wanted to call out to you many times, but I’m not good at speaking loudly... I wish that our seats had been closer.”

“I do as well.”

“When we were talking before, you got cut off by the start of dinner, which has been bothering me this whole time. I’m sorry that I didn’t greet you properly,” Toor Deen said, and then she finally broke out in a smile. “It really has been a while. The last time we met was around the end of the rainy season, so it’s been over two months now, hasn’t it? Have you been doing okay, Odifia?”

As Odifia felt a lump forming in her throat, all she could say in response was “Yes.”

“That’s good,” Toor Deen replied, her smile growing brighter. “Um, thank you so much for all the gifts you’ve sent. I wore the hair accessory you gave me at our last banquet... A lot of people praised it.”

“My gifts didn’t cause trouble for you?”

“Trouble...? No, I was surprised and I felt awkward about accepting them, but they made me very happy.” Toor Deen was still only around eleven or so years old, and yet her smile looked so mature somehow. She was very timid and had difficulty looking people in the eyes, but occasionally she seemed remarkably mature. “But as I said before, I don’t need anything besides the payment. Just having you buy my treats is enough to make me very happy.”

“It makes you happy? It isn’t trouble?”

“That’s right. I mean, it’s obvious how excited you get about the things I make.”

Odifia’s chest, which had been feeling so empty, started filling up with warmth. Toor Deen’s smile and words had caused her sadness to melt away, almost like magic.

Toor Deen had been concerned about her too. Her feelings had gotten across to the young chef just like they did with her family, even though her expressions didn’t change. When she realized that, the blood flowing through her veins seemed to carry the joy she felt all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes.

“Well then, about what we were discussing before...”

“Yes. I couldn’t hear what you said then, Toor Deen.”

“I understand. It was really noisy then, after all,” Toor Deen said with a smile. “It was about tea parties. Until the people from that capital place leave Genos, we won’t be able to come here to work as chefs. It’s really unfortunate, isn’t it?”

“Unfortunate?”

“Yeah. You know, Asuta just taught me how to make a new kind of dessert recently. But when you’re making it, one of the steps is to pour something called cream all over the top, so it would be difficult to prepare it at the forest’s edge and then send it to town.”

“Right.”

“It’s a kind of decorated cake, and I’d like to have you try it as soon as possible, so I’m really looking forward to the day when I can come cook for a tea party again.”

That was when Odifia hit her limit. She leaped from her chair with all the force she could muster, reaching out as far as she could to hug Toor Deen around the neck.

“I-Is something the matter, Odifia?” Toor Deen asked in a fluster with her mouth right next to Odifia’s ear. However, the young noblewoman didn’t respond, except by rubbing against Toor Deen’s warm cheek with her own.

“Oh my, there you go acting like a little child again,” she could hear Eulifia say with a laugh behind her. But no matter what her mother or anyone else said, Odifia had no intention of pulling back from the older girl’s warmth.

“A-Are you all right? Is something wrong?” Toor Deen asked worriedly.

Odifia could feel a warm touch now on her head and back, which had to be from Toor Deen hugging her. She was so happy, it was possible that it was even showing on her face for once. She didn’t know if she was smiling or crying, but she felt incredibly emotional either way. It was the most intense feeling that she had ever experienced in her entire life. However, Odifia’s face was buried in Toor Deen’s shoulder, so no one would be able to tell whether she was expressing her joy or not. But she didn’t mind that. Odifia was simply happy to have her arms wrapped around Toor Deen. At the moment, she didn’t care about anything else.

“I love you, Toor Deen,” Odifia said, causing the young chef to giggle.

“Thank you. I love you too, Odifia.”

Toor Deen’s warm hand gently patted Odifia on the back, and the pleasant sensation made the little girl hug the young chef even tighter.