Chapter 373:
Mr. Zinal?
“HELLO, THERE.”
While I was cooking dinner, I heard a voice behind me. I turned around to see Zinal, walking toward me with a basket in hand.
“Hello, sir. I guess my father was right.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Zinal asked.
The village had been bustling ever since lunchtime that day because the survey team had returned from their investigation in the forest.
“The survey team came back,” I said.
“Oh, right. Sounds like it’s been the talk of the town.”
“It has. So my dad said you would probably come by today with some information, and he thought we should cook an extra portion for you…or have you eaten already?”
“Dinner? No, not yet. I just got back from the guild.”
That’s good to hear. Well, I decided to cook the kinds of dishes where it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t want any, but I’m happy to serve him.
“Would you like to join us, sir?”
“Could I?”
“Sure, I made extra.”
I’d thrown together a soup of meat and vegetables and also marinated some meat. We had an extra salad, too, so everything was all set.
“Well, thanks, I’ll take you up on that offer. Sooo…there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you. That okay?”
“Um, sir?” I looked at Zinal, who seemed quite nervous for some reason.
“Er, it’s just that you and Mr. Druid don’t look much alike, so… Sorry.”
“Oh, well, that’s because we’re not blood-related.”
“You’re not?”
Huh? Why is he confused?
“Yes. Oh, but we became a family a little while ago.”
“You did?”
“Uh-huh. We filed the paperwork in Hatahi Village.”
The memory made me grin ear to ear. Stop it, face. Don’t smile. I squished my cheeks back in place. Zinal wasn’t saying anything, so I gave him a curious look. “Hm?”
He was deep in solemn thought—but what about? Did it have something to do with me and Druid becoming family?
“Your witness… Never mind. Good for you.”
“Thanks.”
I think he was about to say something, but it was too quiet to hear. I wonder what it was.
My father came over to us, carrying some meat wrapped in bana leaves. “Ivy, is this enough meat?”
I checked it over. “Yup. Thanks.”
Hmm, I only see Zinal here. I wonder if his two friends are with my father?
“Where are Mr. Garitt and Mr. Fische?”
“In front of our tent. I set up the table there.”
I checked the amount of meat my father had brought to show me. It was enough for about six people, not two, so I assumed they were all staying for dinner.
“For the marinade, you used that papashi fruit we bought here, right?” he asked me.
“Yup, and I can’t wait to see what it tastes like!”
I was a little nervous to be cooking with the fruit for the first time, but it had tasted very good when I ate it on its own. The other variable was how tender the meat had gotten. Some fruits tenderized meat while others didn’t, so it was always a gamble the first time you used them. I’d never encountered a fruit that toughened meat, but it was bound to happen eventually. When I’d tested the papashi fruit on a small batch of meat earlier, it had made the meat more tender, so I was looking forward to seeing how it would work when it was properly marinated.
“Mr. Zinal, go ahead and sit with your friends. The meat will be done shortly.”
“Okay, thanks. Oh, and this is for you.” Zinal offered me the basket he was carrying. When I took it from him, a sweet smell filled my nose.
“Is it a dessert?”
“It’s a popular type of sweet from the capital called feena. We found some for sale at a booth here.”
Feena? I lifted the white cloth in the basket to take a peek and saw baked pastries, shaped beautifully and lined up neatly.
“Thanks, they look delicious.”
“No problem… Oh, can I carry anything for you?”
“Um, sure. Could you please carry the plates and cups?”
“Sure thing. I’m excited for dinner.”
“Me, too.”
After I sent Zinal over to his companions, I turned my attention back to finishing the cooking. The meat wasn’t sliced very thickly, so it cooked up quickly. The soup was ready except for some final seasoning, and I had the salad already arranged on a big plate. All I had to do was take it out of the magic bag.
“I’ll carry that,” my dad said.
“Thanks.”
“Ivy, did Zinal ask you something?”
“Huh? Oh, not really. He just said we don’t look that much alike, so I told him we became a family a little while ago. Was that okay?”
“Uh, yeah, it’s fine… Huh. We don’t look alike.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing. I’ll carry this for you.”
My father took the salad plate back to our tent. What did he just mutter under his breath? My dad and Zinal have both been acting strange. I wonder what’s going on.
“I’m here to help,” Garitt said, coming up beside me.
“Oh, it’s okay, I’ve got everything covered. Well…how about you carry the pot of soup for me?”
I was going to pour the soup into individual bowls and carry it over that way, but now that Garitt was there, I decided to have him take the whole pot. That way, everyone could get as much as they liked.
“Okay, I’ve got it.”
I was a little impressed by the way Garitt hoisted the pot of soup and carried it. I mean, it was hot and heavy!
“Are you okay, sir? I hope it’s not too hot.”
“I’m fine. I’ll just carry it at a bit of a distance.”
But that’s hard to do.
“Thank you very much.”
“No problem. It sure smells good.”
I finished up by putting the grilled meat on a plate, which I then carried over to the tent.
“Dinner is served!”
I set the plate of grilled meat onto the table. My father had already gotten out the bread, and we had enough plates. We also had the right number of spoons and forks for everyone, and my father had served the soup, so… Okay, everything’s all set!
“Let’s eat.”
“Yes, you can give us your news later on.”
“Good, this smell is making me impatient,” Fische said, grabbing a spoon.
His two companions nodded in agreement.
“Bless this food,” my father and I said.
“Hm? Oh! Um, bless this food,” Fische copied us, spoon in hand.
“Bless this food,” Zinal and Garitt said solemnly.
These three were so funny to watch.
“This is great. Whoa! Wow, it really is delicious,” Fische marveled with his spoon in his mouth.
I stole a discreet glance at his two companions, and they both looked pleased as well. As I cheered silently to myself, my father whispered “Good job” to me. I smiled and nodded.
“This meat is so tender. What is it?”
“Baaba, the cheapest meat they had.”
“Baaba?! That tough meat?”
Baaba was the most common type of livestock kept in Hataka Village. These animals were covered head to toe in a white, fluffy pelt. They were comparatively easier to raise than other livestock, so they were the main animal bred to be eaten there, but their meat was a little tough. The flavor was particularly savory and delicious, though.
“Yes, it’s baaba.”
“No, no, it couldn’t be…that meat’s so tough!”
“I know, it is tough.” Unless there was some other baaba I didn’t know about… “Um, it’s the baaba they raise as livestock, sir,” I clarified, a bit nervously.
Garitt got a bit flustered. “No, baaba meat is very tough. When it’s this tender, it just seems like a completely different animal.”
Now everything made sense. In fact, even I’d had no idea that the meat would turn out like it did. The baaba meat in the soup was spoon-tender, and the grilled portion was soft and juicy. When I did my initial taste test of the baaba meat by grilling a little bit of it on its own, it was quite tough, to be honest.
“I don’t think anyone would believe this was baaba meat if you told them,” Garitt said.
His two companions nodded in agreement.
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