Cooking with Wild Game: Volume 23 E-Book

EDA

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Cooking with Wild Game
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 421

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The sun god’s revival festival has ended, and its aftereffects are finally fading away. It brought a great deal of excitement, new encounters, and even danger with it, but that has all come to a close. Normal everyday life has returned to Genos. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a lot happening!

With Ai Fa fully recovered from her injuries, the time for her showdown with Lem Dom has finally arrived. Will the forest’s edge soon have a second female hunter, or will that dream be crushed instead? How will Shin Ruu fare in the upcoming swordsmanship tournament against opponents like Leiriss and Melfried? And what sort of exciting events will occur when the smaller clans come together to hold their own festival of the hunt?

See all this and more in the exciting twenty-third volume of Cooking with Wild Game!

Leseprobe

Chapter 1: A Hunter’s Pride

1

The day after the friendship banquet was held at the Ruu settlement, the Gamley Troupe departed from Genos, and we returned to our everyday lives.

Half a month had passed since the sun god’s revival festival at this point, and though the post town had mostly quieted down long ago, there had been some lingering energy still hanging in the air for a while longer. The biggest reasons were probably the friendship banquet that we had been looking forward to so much, and the fact that the Gamley Troupe had been staying at the settlement at the forest’s edge.

The Gamley Troupe in particular was a real embodiment of the festival atmosphere, in my mind. It kind of felt like they had brought the lively atmosphere of the revival festival with them when they arrived in Genos.

“We enjoyed ourselves very much too. If at all possible, I’d like to stop by Genos again for the next revival festival.” Those were Pino’s last words before she departed from Genos with the rest of her company. Though I hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to the other troupe members, as I watched their seven wagons leave the settlement at the forest’s edge, I was struck by a strange sense of loneliness.

Even so, I couldn’t keep letting my emotions overwhelm me. We would be taking the day after the banquet off so we would be well rested and ready for whatever life threw at us when we returned to our normal work. After the opening of the outdoor restaurant, we had started selling eight hundred meals a day, and we were doing everything we could to make sure we stayed at or above that level.

Along the way, Ama Min Rutim had yielded her spot to her sister-in-law, Morun Rutim, after having helped out with the Ruu clan’s stalls all this time. She had finally announced her pregnancy to everyone, and was now taking a break from working in the post town.

Even when heavy with child, women of the forest’s edge helped out with work around the house as much as possible. But riding in a wagon that rocked as much and as roughly as ours did and then working around such a large crowd could easily lead to complications, so she stepped down at an early stage just as Li Sudra had done.

Ama Min Rutim and Li Sudra actually had a lot in common, being calm, gentle, and rather unshakable. Having both of them bow out of their work in the post town definitely hit hard, but everyone who remained was doing a good job, and I didn’t have any concerns about Morun Rutim or Yun Sudra, who had been swapped in. The rest of us simply had to offer our congratulations to the two departing women for being blessed with children, and keep on working harder than ever.

Dan Rutim had apparently shed some manly tears when this all came out. The second son of the main Rutim house already had a child, but Gazraan Rutim was his eldest and had gotten married rather late by the standards of the forest’s edge, which probably made Dan Rutim even happier to hear this news than he otherwise would have been. And really, just hearing about his reaction through the grapevine was enough to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

At any rate, the friendship banquet had passed, and it was now the seventeenth of the silver month.

After finishing up in the post town, I set to work on preparations for the next day with a number of women from near the Fa house. Actually, Toor Deen, Yun Sudra, and I were handling most of the tasks, while the other women were just producing curry base and dried pasta. Giba curry and carbonara remained part of the regular menu even after the revival festival, so their assistance was absolutely indispensable.

Once that was done, I was planning to use dinner at the Fa house to give several of our helpers a cooking lesson. The revival festival had been terribly hectic for the Gaaz, the Ratsu, and their subordinate clans, but things had finally settled down for them, so now they had the leeway to engage in this kind of activity again.

The study sessions at the Ruu settlement and doing business in the post town were both incredibly important duties, but the same went for teaching the small clans just how wonderful delicious food could be. Therefore, I had decided to alternate between study sessions at the Ruu settlement and cooking lessons at the Fa house every other day.

In addition to the five who had helped me out with business in the post town today, there were six women from clans like the Fou, Ran, and Liddo in attendance, all working on their own tasks. There were now four new stone stoves installed behind the Fa house, with a leather canopy three times the size of the previous one, creating an outdoor kitchen with a setup similar to our outdoor restaurant.

An unexpected cheer rose from the area of the outdoor kitchen, just as the prep work was about to wrap up. Ai Fa, who had resumed her work as a hunter only yesterday, had returned carrying a massive giba.

“Wow. That’s quite a catch, Ai Fa,” Saris Ran Fou called out, her beloved child clinging to her leg.

Ai Fa replied with a somewhat strained “Indeed.” It was no surprise that she was struggling a bit. The giba looked like it weighed around a hundred kilos. There were fibaha vines tied around the beast’s rear legs, and Ai Fa was coated in sweat all over as she carried it on her back.

“If you took down such a ridiculously massive giba, you should have called for our men to come get it. You’re always giving us those pelts, so feel free to ask for our help every now and again,” an older Ran woman chimed in.

Ai Fa breathed a sigh as she lowered the massive giba to the ground by the base of a tree, then turned to speak to the woman “But there’s no guarantee that giiz or mundt wouldn’t come creeping over while I was away trying to summon people. I wasn’t all that far from here when I killed it, so I decided to carry it myself.”

“That’s really something. To think that you can catch such a massive beast all on your own...”

The other women were also staring at Ai Fa with looks of admiration. She had been seriously injured taking down the lord of the forest, and yet she had managed to bring back a sizable kill right after returning to her hunting work. On top of that, Ai Fa was a woman, and she hunted all on her own, so it was impossible to not be impressed with her.

The only person who looked worried was Toor Deen, who stepped forward in front of Ai Fa and said, “Um... Does this mean that you have your full strength as a hunter back? So then...”

“Yes, it’s finally time to fulfill my promise to Lem Dom,” Ai Fa said calmly while wiping the sweat from her brow. As soon as Ai Fa was back to one hundred percent, she was to have a contest of strength with Lem Dom in order to determine the latter’s fate. It had been nearly a month now since that promise had been made. Would Lem Dom be permitted to live as a female hunter like Ai Fa? That question was finally about to be answered.

“I see...” Toor Deen said, staring at the ground with a worried look. But then her aunt, Jas Deen, stepped forward beside her.

“Well then, we’ll run a totos up to the northern settlement once we finish assisting Asuta. Would you be able to do the contest of strength with Lem Dom tomorrow?”

“Yes. Lem and Deek Dom have waited quite a while for this day to arrive, after all.”

Toor Deen and I were the only people in our group who looked concerned about what was to come. The other women, even the members of the Deen and the Liddo who had ties to the Dom clan, all seemed to think that whatever the outcome was, it would simply be the will of the forest. And that went even more so for those without blood ties, like the Fou and Ran.

“I’ll personally inform Sufira Zaza over at the Ruu settlement. But first, I need to take care of this giba...” Ai Fa said, hanging her hunter’s cloak on another tree branch and pulling out a knife that she was carrying on her waist. She didn’t usually go without her cloak like this—outside and with visitors around—but perhaps she was feeling particularly satisfied at having fulfilled her duty as a hunter for the first time in a while. At any rate, she silently skinned the beast, and then pulled out and stacked up the innards.

“Regardless of how it turns out, Lem Dom’s going to return to the northern settlement, isn’t she?” Toor Deen whispered while burying some slices of meat in pico leaves that were held in a wooden box.

Next to her, Yun Sudra replied, “That’s right. Lem Dom has helped the Sudra clan with our work many times, and the house where she’s been living is nearby, so I’ll be sad to see her go... I’m sure that’s even more true for a blood relative like you, Toor Deen.”

“Yes,” Toor Deen answered with a little sigh. They only tended to see each other during morning prep work, but the young girl got along with Lem Dom better than anyone. Maybe she just had a talent for charming obstinate and strong-willed women, as Yamiru Lea and Sufira Zaza had also taken a shine to her.

“Still, who do you think is going to win? It’s hard to imagine Ai Fa losing, but something’s been different about Lem Dom recently. And Lem Dom’s got an amazing body, which makes it even harder to judge,” Yun Sudra said, and I felt similarly.

In any event, everything would be decided tomorrow. No matter how much of a fuss we onlookers made, it wouldn’t do a thing to change Lem Dom’s fate. All we could do was pray for a result that wouldn’t make anyone sad or angry.

Ai Fa hurriedly finished carving up the giba, then washed her filthy body inside and took off on Gilulu toward the Ruu house. Sufira Zaza was staying at the Ruu settlement, and she was probably going to serve as a witness for tomorrow’s contest of strength. After discussing the matter thoroughly with Donda Ruu as well, Ai Fa returned once I had finished preparing dinner.

“So, it’s hamburger steak today?” she asked with a deadly serious look as she took a seat.

“Yeah, with dried milk for the first time in a while too. It’s a fitting meal to celebrate your first catch in a month and a half, right?”

Ai Fa absolutely adored hamburger steak to begin with, but when I added the camembert-like gyama dried milk to the center, her enjoyment of it went through the roof. I could tell that she was desperately trying to hold back a big goofy grin as she nodded and said, “Indeed.” Though we had promised not to hide our feelings from one another, she was still acting the same as she always did in these situations.

At any rate, we went ahead and ate dinner. Yun Sudra had taken Lem Dom’s dinner with her, so we weren’t expecting any visitors. But somehow, even though it was just a normal dinner like so many others we’d had before, there was a very different feeling in the air.

“By the way, about the contest of strength with Lem Dom... Like you said before, it’s not an absolute guarantee that you’ll win, right?” I asked while serving up a sauté of various vegetables and mushrooms.

As she gulped down a mouthful of hamburger steak and dried milk, Ai Fa nodded and replied, “Indeed. If it were just a single match, I wouldn’t lose even if the whole world were turned on its head. However, with the rules of this contest saying that she only needs to win once over the course of a day, the final result will be up to the forest’s whims.”

“So if she exceeds you in stamina or energy, she could win right at the end... Hmm. I still can’t imagine you losing, though.”

“Right. I agree.”

“But if Lem Dom keeps fighting until her stamina is completely gone, maybe she’ll still feel satisfied.”

As Ai Fa reached for a thick slice of tongue grilled with salt, she repeated, “I agree.” She also seemed to be suppressing her emotions and trusting that the will of the forest would determine Lem Dom’s fate.

If Lem Dom qualified to become a hunter, she would be the second woman at the forest’s edge to do so, after Ai Fa. If that happened, my clan head would find it easier to live the life she had chosen with her head held high, but, well, for someone like her, that alone wasn’t going to affect her performance.

Of course, the neighboring clans and the Ruu have all acknowledged Ai Fa’s strength, but the clans who don’t interact with her very often probably still think of her as a heretic who has turned her back on the ways of the forest’s edge... But Lem Dom’s clan is directly subordinate to one of the leading clans, so if she’s recognized as a female hunter, the way people see Ai Fa might change quite a bit, I thought to myself. But those were just my own personal, selfish feelings. Hunting was a dangerous job where you never knew when you might die out in the forest, so I couldn’t wish for Lem Dom to be victorious just because it would have a positive effect on us. For Deek Dom, this is a crucial moment that will decide whether his one and only family member will live her life as a woman or as a hunter. It feels crass to even think about that kind of thing.

Ai Fa suspiciously narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. “Why do you look so dejected? You haven’t even eaten anything.”

“Oh, it’s nothing... How’s the hamburger steak with dried milk?”

“It’s hamburger steak made by you, with dried milk on top of that. As if it could ever taste bad.” Ai Fa looked irritated and turned away from me. She had broken her ribs a month and a half ago, but after half a month of rehabilitation, she seemed to finally be back to her old self.

While she had been taking a break from her work, I had sensed her subtly growing more feminine over time, with her going on about how she was putting on excess fat in particular. To be honest, I hadn’t really noticed her appearance actually changing in any significant way, but now that she had resumed hunting, I’d say she seemed about twenty percent more awe-inspiring. Her eyes were shining brighter, and her expression felt somehow firmer. It was difficult to explain, but it really reconfirmed to me that this was who she truly was.

At any rate, it doesn’t do anything to diminish how incredibly charming she is, I thought while taking care not to let it show. No matter how close two people are, it’s still good to keep some things private, after all. Not hiding your feelings and spewing out everything you thought were conceptually similar, but very different approaches.

While my thoughts were wandering off on that little tangent, we both finished our dinner. The utensils we had used all went into a pot, and then it was time for our pre-bedtime chat.

Ai Fa had her hair down and was sitting up against the wall as she said, “Asuta,” and beckoned me over to her under the candlelight. “Tonight’s dinner was even more satisfying than usual.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Thank you.”

It felt rather unlike her to just come out and say that, so I made sure to give her a natural smile in return. However, I could sense some conflicting emotions in my clan head’s expression.

“This is somewhat difficult for me to talk about... Are you willing to listen?”

“What is it? It’s not like you to preface things like that.”

“There’s no helping it. As I said, it’s difficult for me to talk about this,” Ai Fa said with a frown, leaning forward. We hadn’t been quite this close to each other in some time. “Well...I have finally regained my strength as a hunter. And this has been my longest time off since I welcomed you as a member of my house.”

“That’s true. I’m pretty sure you were back in action less than a month after you dislocated your left elbow.”

“Indeed. There’s a big difference between injuring your arm and your ribs. After a whole month of not exerting myself properly, it took me half a month to regain my strength.”

“Normally, you would need to train for around twice as long as your recovery time in order to get back to full strength, if I remember correctly. You hunters of the forest’s edge really are something else.”

“I have the invigorating food you’ve always provided me with to thank for that. And I’m especially happy that you prepared a meal I enjoy so much on a day like this.” But if that was true, why did she look so sulky? Since we were closer than usual, my heart rate was slightly elevated at the moment. “Personally, I’m incredibly glad that I’ve regained my strength as a hunter now.”

“Well, I can certainly understand that.”

She fell silent for a moment. “And I believe that my clan member should be just as happy about it.”

“Yeah, you’ve got that right. Wait... Do you think I’m not happy about it?”

“That’s not it. It’s just, you seem to be quite concerned about the matter with Lem Dom.”

She was right. Saris Ran Fou and the others had all been so impressed with Ai Fa earlier, but Toor Deen and I had immediately started thinking about the upcoming contest of strength instead.

“Er, are you saying I put you in a bad mood, then?”

“I am hardly so petty that I would let something like that ruin my mood. But it does leave me feeling somewhat unsatisfied.”

“Th-Then, what should I do?”

Ai Fa hung her head with her eyes glaring up at me. She was still frowning, but her expression was so adorable it felt almost unfair.

“I believe my father Gil would have given me an affectionate pat on my head...”

“Y-Your head?”

“Indeed. Unfortunately, while you are a member of my house, you are not older than I am, and besides...I realize we do not have the kind of relationship where we should be touching one another so freely. That is why I wanted to have a debate with you about what should be done.”

This was a debate, huh?

My clan head’s adorable sulking face was throwing me seriously out of sorts.

“There’s no need to make this seem more complicated than it is. I just need to show you how happy I am more openly, right?” I asked.

“Are you able to do that...?”

“Yaaay!” I replied, throwing both my arms up into the air. I was trying to channel Rimee Ruu, and be as earnest as I possibly could. However, Ai Fa’s eyes were still boring into me with the sharp glare of a hunter.

“This might be the angriest I’ve ever been since before I welcomed you into my clan...”

“Well, I appreciate that you didn’t slug me.”

“I’m restraining myself from doing so with everything I have, as I fear I might forget to hold back.”

I was getting more and more flustered, and I was even starting to break out in a cold sweat. “Th-Then why don’t you think of a way to solve this? I’ll go along with whatever my clan head decides.”

“This is a problem for the entire Fa clan, and yet you intend to foist it all off on me?”

“I don’t have enough experience with these things to come up with a solution. Could you please suggest what your poor, pathetic clan member should do, dear clan head?”

What kind of face would someone make if they had been eavesdropping and heard my reply? And yet, Ai Fa and I were deadly serious.

Ai Fa remained silent, her gaze falling to the rug at her feet for a while, and then she said, “Try patting my head...”

“Okay.”

With that, I placed my hand atop Ai Fa’s head, feeling a pleasant warmth gradually flowing into me. And then, I gave her blonde hair a thorough patting.

“How was that, clan head?”

“I found myself wondering if you were going along with it reluctantly, which lessened the pleasure I got from it.”

“I wasn’t exactly reluctant. Just a bit flustered.”

“Ah, I see. You can stop patting now.”

I swiftly pulled my hand back, and Ai Fa sidled up beside me with that intense look still on her face.

“We can’t truly understand one another’s feelings when we act so formally with each other.”

“That’s true. I’m in agreement there.”

“Of course... But I should be spending this precious moment in celebration of what I accomplished earlier. It would be sad to fall asleep in a gloomy mood on such a joyous day.”

“If you’re sad, it makes me sad too.”

“Then, would it be all right for me to follow my emotions just for tonight?”

“I guess that works...” I timidly replied, and Ai Fa grabbed hold of me with the swiftness of a wildcat. If my heart had been just a bit more delicate, the shock that gave me would probably have brought it to a halt. Ai Fa was hugging me around my chest, and as if that wasn’t enough, she was also rubbing her head up against my cheek.

“This is how happy I am, Asuta.”

“R-Right, that’s only natural, considering what you’ve had to put up with for the past month and a half.”

“Are you really just as happy as I am?”

“Yeah, your joy is my joy.”

A break period was coming up soon, so the number of giba around the Fa house was on the decline. Because of that, Ai Fa was using giba summoning fruit in her traps, and their sweet aroma was still clinging to her hair and clothing. It was really tickling my nose. My emotions were making me shake like I was being buffeted by a turbulent wind, and I was starting to get a little dizzy.

“I know that I shouldn’t touch you for no good reason. But this is a special night.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’m the one who gave you the okay to do what you want.”

I put my left hand on Ai Fa’s back, and cradled her head in my right. Then I patted her soft hair affectionately, and Ai Fa hugged me all the tighter as I felt her warm breath on my chest.

“I’m sure it would be absolutely hellish for me if I couldn’t cook for a month and a half, so I should have been more mindful of just how happy you must be to finally be released from your suffering.”

Ai Fa silently rubbed her cheek against my own.

At this point, my heart felt like it was on the verge of bursting. But even so, I was happy. Of course I was, seeing Ai Fa like this.

And so, we shared in each other’s warmth and joy, until we finally drifted off to sleep.

2

The next day, the eighteenth of the silver month, had arrived.

I rose at the break of dawn, and after washing the dishes and gathering firewood, I returned home, where I discovered that we had a visitor—Lem Dom, looking the same as always.

“I’ve been waiting, Ai Fa. But should we save our showdown till after our morning work is done?”

“Indeed. Asuta will be leaving the house at the fifth hour. That shouldn’t be too late of a starting time.”

“Yeah. If we start before the sun hits its peak and go till sunset, it should give us a full half day.”

It had become part of Lem Dom’s daily routine to help with prep work for our business in the morning. But that was work she did to earn her dinner, and since she was set to return to the northern settlement after the contest of strength today, I had no right to ask for her help.

Still, as she herself said, there would still be plenty of time left afterward. Even if they took breaks, there was no way they’d be able to keep fighting almost continuously from morning until evening, so even going from the upper fifth hour till sunset would surely be more than enough for them to settle the matter.

“All right, let’s get started. Asuta, this is the last time I’ll be working with you, but I’m still looking forward to it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

With her usual bold grin firmly in place, it didn’t seem like Lem Dom was feeling overly anxious this morning. She was probably around 180 centimeters in height, taller than Ai Fa, and even me. Though she had a surprisingly womanly profile, her arms and shoulders were quite muscular, and her abs were clearly visible. She had a robust build that was bulkier than not just Ai Fa’s, but also some of the smaller male hunters like Ludo and Shin Ruu as well.

Over the course of these past few months, she had honed her physique more and more. Nobody from town would have doubted it if they were told that she was a female hunter. She had big, sharp eyes, a high-bridged nose, and plump lips. Her black hair was tied up high on her head, and her slightly dark skin was amazingly smooth. She had more than enough womanly beauty about her, and yet the expression on her pretty face was tense and severe. She looked so fierce that it was hard to believe she was only fifteen years old.

During her training, Lem Dom had gradually developed a calm and composed demeanor. The change had probably started around the time she began helping Jeeda and Bartha hunt wild birds. They hunted early in the morning, so there was no danger of them running into dangerous giba. However, catching birds out in the woods still required a lot of concentration and the ability to hide your presence. Frankly, in my eyes, she was already a perfectly fine female hunter.

Of course, she was still unpolished compared to Ai Fa, but when I compared her to a thirteen-year-old hunter in training like Deem Rutim, I couldn’t imagine her coming up short. Not that the opinion of a nonhunter like me was worth much, but that was how I felt about her growth.

At any rate, it just goes to show how serious Lem Dom has been about her training, I thought as I set about handling the prep work.

The other women had already started gathering. Around this time of day, Toor Deen, Yun Sudra, and the other three women who would be working alongside me in the post town all came over to help out. Today, Fei Beim and the Dagora and Gaaz women were on duty.

Lem Dom went ahead and got to work alongside Fei Beim, cooking a large number of poitan. She was actually the one who had taught the Beim woman the process for preparing them in the first place. She hadn’t branched out all that much, but Lem Dom was now skilled enough at making baked poitan to act as an instructor.

I guess we’re gonna be saying goodbye to her today.

Though we only saw one another during this part of the day, we had been acquainted for quite some time now. She had first come to the Ruu settlement in the last third of the black month, so it had been around three months by this point.

She had come to stay at the Fa house shortly after that, and when Deek Dom had abandoned her, she had moved into a nearby vacant house. Following Donda Ruu’s advice, she had then temporarily returned to the Dom house to discuss things with her brother before returning here. It really had been a turbulent three months.

At first, Lem Dom had seemed like an out-of-control ruffian, but I soon started to recognize her charm. There was the way she got along with Toor Deen, and her complex relationship with Sufira Zaza, which I thought was really heartwarming. Also, no matter how much the people around her tried to talk her down, Lem Dom never wavered when it came to her dream of becoming a hunter. I couldn’t help but see something of Ai Fa in her.

Lem Dom wants to live the way she desires, even if it means casting aside all norms... Well, I guess it’s all down to the whims of the forest, huh? I thought while taking care not to sigh, and completing one bit of prep work after another. The women assisting me had grown quite skilled as well, so it felt like things were going nice and easy now compared to the revival festival. We were able to finish up after around two hours, and loaded the prepared ingredients into the wagon, just in time for Sufira Zaza to show up.

“Oh, you came all this way to observe, Sufira Zaza?” Lem Dom asked.

“Of course. That’s why I was staying in the Ruu settlement to begin with.”

Sufira Zaza shot a worried glare at Lem Dom, who was grinning fearlessly. They had grown up in the northern settlement together, so she was deeply concerned about Lem Dom’s fate. I could still clearly remember the way that she had sobbed like a child when they had finally reunited at the Ruu settlement.

While I was reminiscing about that, Sufira Zaza’s tough gaze turned my way too. “Asuta, thank you for all your help so far. I will be sure to fully inform the leading clan heads about how you and Ai Fa have conducted yourselves.”

“I appreciate that. The assistance we’ve been getting has been a big help with our work in the post town and with the restaurant.”

We would be saying farewell to Sufira Zaza today as well. She had maintained her harsh attitude toward us all the way to the end, but I had seen the surprising ups and downs of her emotions, as well as the fact that she had a major sweet tooth. In the end, I had come to like her as another one of our important comrades here at the forest’s edge.

“Well then, we’ll be heading out for the post town...” I started to declare, but then I spotted someone else coming our way. Sufira Zaza had arrived on foot, but this time we were seeing a totos-drawn cart. The vehicle had no roof, and it had appeared from the north.

The totos had blackish plumage, and its reins were held by a hunter from the northern settlement wearing a pelt with the skin of the animal’s head still attached. The driver was a younger hunter, not the leading clan head Gulaf Zaza, and riding in the cart was Deek Dom, who wore a giba skull on his head.

“Ah, so the contest of strength hasn’t started yet? Looks like driving the totos hard to make sure we arrived quickly was worth it,” the man whose name I didn’t know remarked with a hearty laugh as he stepped down to the ground.

Deek Dom also silently descended. Even though this was his first encounter with his sister in a very long time, neither of them was doing anything except silently staring at one another. But while they were having that poignant reunion, Sufira Zaza was glaring at the other man.

“Geol... Why are you here?”

“Why? Well, this is incredibly important for us too. After all, the marriage of the next leading clan head is at stake!”

For a hunter of the northern settlement, he came across as being strangely brash. Thanks to the headed giba pelt he wore, around half of his face was hidden from view, but his black eyes had a blazing light in them, and he was grinning viciously. He still looked rather young, though, due to a lack of any facial hair. He also had a large scar above his right eye. He seemed to be a bit smaller than Deek Dom overall, but he still had to be around 180 centimeters in height and was really muscular all over. I guessed that he was about as burly as Jiza Ruu and Gazraan Rutim.

“What are you talking about? I don’t remember ever pledging myself to you, Geol Zaza,” Lem Dom said, her gaze shifting away from her elder brother. Then she turned toward me and Ai fa with a derisive grin. “This little clod is Geol Zaza, the youngest son of the main Zaza house. He looks pretty imposing, doesn’t he? But he’s actually Sufira Zaza’s younger brother.”

“Hmph! There’s no older or younger when it comes to those born on the same day! And even if I am the youngest son, I’m still set to be the next leading clan head!”

Shockingly, it seemed he was Sufira Zaza’s twin brother. That meant he must have also been sixteen, and yet he had just as much presence about him as Deek Dom. Apparently, he was the heir because his eldest and second brothers’ souls had already returned to the forest, leaving him the oldest surviving son of the main house.

“As if any man besides me could ever handle a violent woman like you. Just hurry up and bring this farce to an end, then prepare yourself to be my bride!”

“I don’t need you to tell us to begin. But this match might not be settled until sunset... Asuta, you don’t need to pay this any mind. Just go handle your own work.”

Geol Zaza’s black eyes shot me a doubtful look. “I see. So you’re the outsider living at the Fa house, eh? You’re just as pale as the rumors said.”

Since he was officially the next clan head, he must have had to remain at the northern settlement whenever Gulaf Zaza was away from home on business. That was why Ai Fa and I were only meeting him for the very first time now.

“And you’re the female clan head of the Fa, aren’t you? Hmm... Seems you really aren’t just a hunter in name alone. It’s such a shame, though, seeing how beautiful you are.”

With her eyes half closed, Ai Fa glared back at Geol Zaza. My clan head was especially averse to rude folks who made pointless comments about her appearance.

“Ah, and you’re the Deen clan’s chef. The food you prepared for that banquet before was amazing! I’m looking forward to having you put those skills to use when I get married too!”

Toor Deen bowed, looking a bit uneasy. Recently, she had taken a single day off work in the post town to handle some sort of celebratory banquet in the northern settlement.

“All right, we’ll be leaving now. It really is time for us to be heading to the Ruu settlement.” I decided to speak to Geol Zaza politely, since that’s what I did with Sufira Zaza and I had a hard time seeing him as younger than me.

However, Geol Zaza then shouted out, “Ah, hold on! I’ve got a message for the Ruu clan head. Let him know we’ve decided that I’m going to take part in that tournament or whatever that’s being held by the castle town.”

“Huh? Wasn’t Shin Ruu supposed to do that?”

“The nobles said something about having one more of us join in, and it ended up being me! After all, it could bring shame on us hunters if we only sent a single man from a Ruu branch house!”

This guy seemed to be a lot less dignified than Deek Dom. But it occurred to me just then that if he was sixteen years old, that meant he was the same age as Shin Ruu. I couldn’t help but secretly wonder which of the two was stronger.

“I’ll pass the message along. And I’ll see you all later,” I replied. Then I glanced over at Ai Fa and Lem Dom, who both had sour looks on their faces. “We’re leaving now. You take care too, Lem Dom.”

“My, that’s a quick farewell,” Lem Dom said. “You’ll be back before the sun sets, won’t you? I’ll be waiting here for you when you return, whether we’ve managed to settle this before then or not.”

“Really? In that case, I’ll come straight back here instead of stopping by the Ruu settlement.”

“Of course I’ll wait. I’ve been in your debt for so long, I’d like to at least say a proper goodbye at the end,” she remarked, showing me the whites of her teeth. “That goes for you too, Toor Deen and Yun Sudra. I hope you’re looking forward to seeing just how much strength I can bring to bear against Ai Fa.”

And so, we set about our work in the post town for the day.

Things were completely back to normal in town, but there was still an awful lot of traffic passing by. Even bringing eight hundred servings, we were able to sell the whole lot of them without issue, so it seemed we had no need to bring those numbers down yet.

“I see... So Lem Dom will finally be returning to the northern settlement as well,” Yamiru Lea whispered while setting a fresh steaming basket in place, having been put in charge of giba manju and myamuu giba. “Well, she’s been doing as she pleases for three months now, so I’m sure she won’t have any regrets. She’ll simply have to go back to doing her proper work in her own house tomorrow.”

“Ah, so you also think it’ll be difficult for Lem Dom to win, Yamiru Lea?”

“Not just difficult. Impossible. No matter what the challenge may be, there’s no chance of her beating someone who made it into the top eight in a Ruu clan contest of strength like Ai Fa.”

I kind of felt the same way, but it sounded a lot more convincing coming from Yamiru Lea’s mouth.

“It sounded like that Geol Zaza man has asked Lem Dom to marry him too. What sort of person is he?”

“I can’t say. Heirs don’t attend clan head meetings, and the Suun clan avoided inviting their subordinates over as much as possible, so for the most part, I only know their names.”

“I see. Apparently, he and Sufira Zaza are twins.”

Yamiru Lea’s eyebrows shifted a bit when I said that. “Ah, Geol Zaza is that rude boy? I see. He’s been a ruffian since he was young. I believe Diga and Doddo tried to avoid him as much as possible at banquets.”

I could certainly see how Diga and Doddo would have been completely unable to stand up to someone that intense. And he didn’t seem like the sort to respect members of his parent clan either.

“By the way, Diga and Doddo are staying at the Dom settlement now, aren’t they? I know they’re having a tough time, but I’m glad that they’re working hard as hunters in training.”

Yamiru Lea offered no reply aside from a shrug. Occasionally, I heard reports from Toor Deen after her visits to the northern settlement about how Diga, Doddo, and the folks at the Suun settlement were doing. Though Gulaf Zaza’s original position had been that there was no need for anyone to think about people with whom their blood ties had been severed, Toor Deen had persisted in her efforts to stay connected to her old clanmates and had been permitted to share how things were going for each of them. Was knowing how their former relatives were doing important for their own efforts to live a proper life? I couldn’t help but feel that it was, especially when I saw Yamiru Lea and Tsuvai interacting with each other, and it seemed Gulaf Zaza had eventually accepted that.

Toor Deen really is amazing, especially for someone so little.

I turned to my other side where the young girl in question was boiling pasta, sweat forming on her brow.

“Why don’t we switch once that’s done, Toor Deen?”

“Okay, understood.”

Toor Deen had already mastered making carbonara, so I sometimes had her rotate in on the daily specials. And when the special was a simpler dish, I would instead teach Yamiru Lea how to prepare it while having Fei Beim or one of the other women handle the giba manju stall. We had more time to spare now that the revival festival was over, so I wanted to focus on improving everyone’s skills when it came to our business in the post town.

And so, several minutes later Toor Deen and I swapped positions. Also, just as we were doing that, a familiar face happened to show up. It was Sheila, a maid employed by the house of Daleim who was serving as Yang’s assistant.

“It’s been some time, Sir Asuta. I have a message for you from Sir Polarth. May I convey it?”

“Of course, but I can’t step away from my cooking right now, so you’ll have to tell it to me while I work. If you don’t mind, could you come over to this side of the stall?”

“My apologies for interrupting while you are busy,” Sheila said with a polite bow, and then she did as I had suggested. “It’s actually in regard to the tournament to be held seven days from now. Are you already familiar with that matter, Sir Asuta?”

“Yeah, I am. I’ve heard that a bunch of people will be running stalls around the tournament grounds, but I haven’t been told where they are yet.”

“The tournament grounds are located to the north, up the highway. They are beyond the Turan lands and take roughly half an hour to reach by totos-drawn wagon.” If they were farther north than the Turan lands, that meant they were in unfamiliar territory for us. And if it would take thirty to forty minutes to reach them, that was quite a distance. “It’s a facility that is also frequently used as a parade ground. The location can accommodate two thousand people, so it will be possible to earn more than usual by doing business there.”

“Right, and the post town will be left emptier as a result. We’ve been discussing whether or not we should set up shop there.”

“Polarth has said he would very much like to have you participate. However, there will be a great many people from outside of Genos present, and no shortage of thugs who pride themselves on their strength, so you might need a number of guards.”

“Hmm. That’s something to keep in mind as well. Asking men to go on guard duty means asking them to take time off from their work as hunters.”

The Ruu clan’s break period had already ended, and it would still be some time before the Fa and the neighboring clans entered our own. The timing would have been perfect if the tournament’s date had been set just ten days to half a month later.

“Well, the militia will be patrolling the grounds, and it isn’t as if the other stalls will be hiring bodyguards. The tournament will be finished before sunset, so I can’t imagine there would be any actual danger,” Sheila said.

“Is Polarth being especially insistent about wanting us to participate this time?” I asked, turning to face Sheila directly after adding fresh pasta to the pot and flipping over the hourglass. Unsurprisingly, her eyes seemed to be pleading with me despite her smile.

“Yes. He said it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce the delicious flavor of giba cooking to the world, and that a number of distinguished guests have requested your cooking as well...”

“By ‘distinguished guests,’ do you mean nobles? Folks like that would eat a snack from a stall?”

“Naturally, we’ll be preparing special meals, but some have asked for giba cooking instead. They likely include the star reader, Lady Arishuna, and the metalworker’s daughter, Lady Diel.”

“Oh, so Arishuna and Diel were invited too?”

Neither of them seemed like they would have much interest in the tournament, but they must have gotten dragged into it because of some castle town custom or another.

“I see. Well, I can’t make any promises, but I’ll be sure to take that into consideration. We’ll need permission from the leading clan heads, though.”

“Thank you. I shall inform Sir Polarth of your answer.” And with that, Sheila left.

Then Toor Deen, who was now working on the deep-fried giba, called out, “Um... If you’re looking for guards, the Deen and Liddo may accept. The number of giba in our area has dropped off quite a bit lately.”

“Yeah, that’s true for the Fa hunting grounds too. That’s why we’ve been planning to have a joint festival of the hunt, after all.”

“Right,” Toor Deen replied with a bashful smile. However, a pensive look soon reappeared on her tiny face. “But that Leiriss noble will be fighting in the tournament, won’t he? I’m a little worried that there might end up being a quarrel between him and that hunter from the Ruu.”

“Honestly, I’m more concerned about Geol Zaza participating.”

“Geol Zaza...? I’ve only met him a couple times. He’s much wilder than the Ruu hunters,” Toor Deen remarked with a pained sigh. A kindhearted girl like her probably wouldn’t have much taste for the kind of tournament we were discussing. And that was only natural, considering what had happened during and after the brutal battle between Shin Ruu and Geimalos.

“Well, I’m pretty sure that at its core, it’ll basically be similar to the contests of strength held at the forest’s edge. I mean, they’re ultimately just testing their skill with a sword against one another.”

Geimalos had only ended up so seriously injured because he had forced Shin Ruu into a situation where the hunter had been unable to hold back. Even if Geol Zaza did forget to restrain himself and injured his opponent, I was sure that no one on our side would be in any danger.

“Right,” Toor Deen replied as she picked up some fried giba meat with a metallic mesh scoop. The sand in the hourglass had just run out, so I took the pasta off the heat and mixed it with the other ingredients in a different pot.

“I’m pretty timid, so I don’t like watching contests of strength between hunters either,” I admitted. “I wonder how Lem Dom and Ai Fa are doing.”

“Yeah... I imagine it’s still too soon for them to have settled things.”

The sun was just about to hit its peak. Roughly two hours had passed since we had departed from the Fa house. Normally, it wouldn’t be possible for people to grapple with each other at full strength for that long, but I couldn’t imagine Lem Dom giving up on her dream of becoming a hunter so quickly.

What kind of result would we find when we returned to the Fa house? That was the question on both our minds as we carried on with the day’s work.

3

After that, we returned to the Ruu settlement right on time, at half past the lower second hour.

Normally, our schedule would have had us doing a study session at the Ruu house at this point, but I had already informed them this morning of my intention to shift that to tomorrow. And so, after dropping off Yamiru Lea, we immediately headed over to the path that would take us back to the Fa house, only for Bartha to call out to us as she was walking over from across the plaza.

“Hey there, Asuta. I’m planning on following after you in the Ruu clan’s wagon.”

“Oh, are you planning on saying farewell to Lem Dom too?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve been going out into the forest with that girl for quite a while now. Jeeda still isn’t back yet, so I’ll be saying bye on my own,” Bartha replied.

Still seated in the driver’s seat of Ruuruu’s wagon, Rimee Ruu loudly called out, “Sounds good! I wanna say bye to Lem Dom too! I’ll go ask Papa Donda, so just wait for a bit, okay?”

“I don’t mind,” I said, “but did you have much of a relationship with Lem Dom, Rimee Ruu?”

“No, not really. But she’s cool and nice, and I really like her.”

Since Rimee Ruu had been close to Ai Fa for a long time, it was no surprise to hear that she had no problem with what Lem Dom was doing. Also, the fact that she said Lem Dom was nice despite hardly having interacted with her really went to show how innocent and yet oddly perceptive she was.

“Okay, I’ll be right back! Oh, wait. What are you gonna do, Reina?”

“Well...Asuta, you’re going to give the women from the area around your house a cooking lesson today, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, that was the plan.”

“In that case, I’d like to observe. I’d appreciate the chance to see how you go about teaching women who lack experience with cooking.”

With that, Reina and Rimee Ruu took off toward the main house, and as she watched them go, Morun Rutim said, “Um... I was planning on attending lessons at the Ruu settlement today, so I don’t have any work. If you don’t mind, could I come along to the Fa house as well?”

“Of course. I have no issues with that.”

“Thank you,” Morun Rutim replied with a bow of her head, though judging from the look on her face, she was feeling more upset than any of us. Now that I thought about it, she had been rather concerned about the future of the Dom clan at the friendship banquet the other day. It was only natural that she wouldn’t want to head straight back home.

“In that case, I’d like to accompany you as well. What about you, Tsuvai?” Yamiru Lea chimed in.