Chapter 2: The Fifth Day—Roaring Business

1

It was my fifth day of business, and just as planned, we added a second stall.

However, despite the fact that Lala and Sheera Ruu were supposed to come to the post town directly from the Ruu settlement, there was no sign of them even when we started setting up for business in our usual spot.

“They’re late... Won’t it be a big commotion again if they don’t show up soon...?”

There were even more customers surrounding the stalls than yesterday, and as always the guards with their spears at the ready looked seriously on edge.

“It’ll be fine. But let’s start getting ready as slowly as possible.”

As I gazed over at the unmanned stall to the side, I started dicing up the tino for the giba burgers.

The plan was to borrow the pot for the myamuu giba from the Ruu clan, and I had asked Sheera Ruu to make the poitan for that stall, so it wouldn’t be possible to open till they arrived.

As long as we were borrowing a pot anyway, there was no need for Lala and Sheera Ruu to come by way of the Fa house. In that way, we cut out the two hours needed for the round trip between the Ruu settlement and the Fa house, so I asked them to handle the gathering of firewood and baking of poitan using that time.

Thanks to that, I was able to prepare 60 of each meal for today, making for 120 in total.

Regardless of how things had gone so far, it was going to be difficult to sell that much. But with this, I should finally be able to remain here in the post town for the amount of time I had allotted.

If we spent the scheduled time of a little over five hours, just how many meals could we sell? I couldn’t stop myself from trembling just thinking about it.

“...If all of those sell, it will be 240 red coins... Just how many giba’s worth of horns and tusks would that be...?”

“If we’re talking horns and tusks from grown giba, it’d be exactly 20, right? But if we remove the expenses it would be 150 red coins, or roughly 13 giba worth.”

I had already at least calculated out that much.

Thinking of it from another angle, if we didn’t even sell a single meal it would be seven giba worth of losses, which I needed to calculate in advance, too.

“13 giba in a single day... That’s a big enough number to just make you sort of go numb, isn’t it?”

“I mean, it’ll be tricky to sell all of them, though. You shouldn’t get your hopes up that high.”

“Really...? I have a harder time imagining having any left over, though...”

As we had that conversation, we slowly and steadily prepared. After a long while, I suddenly heard a voice energetically shout out, “Let us through!” from the other side of the crowd.

Our reinforcements had arrived.

“Sorry for the wait! We thought we were arriving just in time, but were we late?”

It was the third daughter of the main Ruu house, Lala Ruu. I shot a smile at the girl with her pure red hair in a ponytail and said, “You’re fine. We probably just arrived early. From tomorrow on, let’s meet up behind the inn.”

“I see. Got it. Ugh, this is heavy... Can we leave the pot here?”

“Yeah, that’s good. Thanks a ton. You too, Sheera Ruu.”

“It’s nothing. I’m perfectly fine with this much weight,” the girl from one of the branch families responded with a smile. Her blackish-brown hair was done up behind her head, and she had a bit of a fleeting feel about her for a woman of the forest’s edge.

The baked poitan were inside the pot, wrapped up in a cloth. And they were carrying the firewood Lala Ruu had gathered over the course of two hours on their backs, split between the two of them.

Sheera Ruu had some trouble in terms of strength and stamina, but if she could transport this much luggage, then she didn’t quite fit my image of a frail girl. She just wasn’t strong by the standards of the able-bodied women of the forest’s edge.

By the way, they were both clad for the post town with veils and shawls, and Sheera Ruu had a beautifully-colored skirt that went down to her ankles, wonderfully complementing her neat and tidy appearance.

“Alright. We’ll be doing things like we discussed yesterday, so first up Vina and Sheera Ruu will be handling the giba burgers, while Lala Ruu will be together with me on the myamuu giba.”

“Yup,” “Got it,” “Alright,” they all replied.

We were surrounded by such a big crowd, and this was Sheera and Lala Ruu’s first time doing the job, but they showed no signs of hesitating. It must have been down to how the people of the forest’s edge were used to the townsfolk staring at them.

While we waited for the pots to heat up, Sheera Ruu and I each started dicing vegetables in our respective stalls. I had visited the Ruu settlement yesterday to explain everything in advance, so the two newcomers were working perfectly smoothly.

“For now, I’ll be in charge of the cooking over here. Lala Ruu, you remember how to finish them up after they’re cooked, right?”

“Yeah. And if Vina Ruu can do it, it should be easy for me.”

That was a pretty difficult comment for me to reply to.

But for the sake of Vina Ruu’s honor, just let me note that she wasn’t especially clumsy or anything. She may have burned the meat before while manning the stove, but at least here in the post town, she hadn’t made any significant mistakes.

“Still, there sure are a ton of people. I can definitely see how you could make several hundred coins with things like this,” Lala Ruu said undaunted while looking out over the dozens of customers.

On the third day it was less than 20, yesterday on the fourth day it was just over 30, and today on the fifth day... It looked to be a bit over 40. The folks from Sym were just silently standing there, while the Jagar group was making a commotion. Any passersby who knew nothing of what was going on may just think that the antagonistic folks from Sym and Jagar were breaking the law and were about to start fighting.

“Alright, looks like that should be about good.”

I went ahead and tossed the sliced aria into the freshly heated pot.

It was about 15 people’s worth, or seven aria in total.

That alone was enough to get the Jagar group all worked up, and when I went ahead and added just under 30 kilos of giba meat, they were full on cheering.

“Whoa, that smells good... So this is that myamuu stuff?”

“That’s right. It’s not all that expensive of an ingredient, so I definitely think you could buy some for the Ruu house if you’d like,” I responded to Lala Ruu with a smile, stirring with a wooden spatula all the while so that the large quantity of meat and aria wouldn’t burn.

Lala Ruu’s eyes, blue like the color of the ocean, blinked in surprise.

“Asuta... How should I put it...? You look ridiculously happy right now, don’t you?”

“Huh? R-Really?”

“Yeah. You always look like you’re enjoying yourself when you’re cooking, but this may be the first time I’ve seen you that happy.”

As she said that, Lala Ruu also bared her teeth in a joyful smile.

I got the impression that Lala Ruu had some serious insight and sensitivity, so I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed hearing her say that.

So on the fifth day of business, I finally had enough leeway to enjoy myself, huh? It was true that yesterday I was just praying there wouldn’t be an incident, so I was more on edge than anything else.

As that thought ran through my head, I tossed in the marinade to finish things off, causing the aroma of myamuu and fruit wine to explode forth, stirring up the folks from Jagar even further.

“H-Hey, come on already! Is the food still not ready?” one of the guards asked, having run over looking all flustered.

“Yes, it just needs one more push. I think they can start lining up soon.”

I wasn’t especially feeling nervous or anything, so I answered him with a smile.

The folks from Jagar certainly were all worked up, but nobody seemed to be going overboard or trying to pick a fight with the group from Sym or anything. In fact, from looking at them, I even seemed to sense a sort of leadership at work.

The incident from two days ago was due to the food running out. On top of that, they saw the group from Sym beating them to the punch, so their frustrations came exploding forth.

The folks from Jagar seemed pretty frank about their feelings, but right now their faces were just plain sparkling with joy. A good number of them were definitely on the older side, yet they all wore innocent smiles.

Of course I’d feel happy with my customers showing me faces like that, I thought, then I turned to face the giba burger stall.

“Vina Ruu, are you good over there?”

“Yup, just perfect.”

“Alright, then we’re open for business! Please order in groups of five each!” I yelled out just loud enough that I wouldn’t get scolded by the guards.

The first group to come up to the stand were from Jagar.

“Lala Ruu, you can accept the coins and hand over the completed dishes, right?”

“I’m on it.”

Lala Ruu wrapped up the cooked meat and diced tino in baked poitan, then handed them over one after another.

The next five were from Sym, and then it was a group from Jagar again. And in no time at all, we had used up that 15 meals worth of meat.

“Sorry! Please hold on just a moment!”

The fire was still lit under the pot, so I chucked some fresh aria and meat on in.

As that heated up I looked over to see how the neighboring stall was doing, only to hear Vina Ruu happily proclaim, “Sorry, please hold on just a moment...”

So they had already sold 20 meals over there, huh?

Added to the meals we sold, that made for 35 in total... And yet, the crowd still didn’t feel like it had thinned all that much.

“Sheera Ruu, are you alright?”

“Yes. At least for now...”

As she was the most skilled of the group, I left the preparations for the supplemental tarapa sauce to Sheera Ruu.

And from what I could see, she didn’t seem to be making any mistakes.

In the meantime the meat had finished cooking on our side, so I moved it over to a plate and called out, “Vina Ruu, switch with me.”

I then moved on over to the giba burger stall, entrusting the creation of the myamuu giba to Vina Ruu.

“Good work. Yeah, this looks good.”

The pure red tarapa sauce was giving off a pleasant simmering sound as it boiled.

When I tossed in crumbled rock salt and pico leaves, a customer called out, “Hey,” in a low tone.

It was a somewhat younger man from Jagar. In all likelihood, he was one of the members of the construction group who had been stopping by every day since three days ago.

“It’s still not ready? It’s just awful to be teasing me at this point, isn’t it?”

“My apologies! It’ll be just a little bit longer!” I replied while bowing my head, then I added the patties from the leather bag into the tarapa sauce. Now all that was left was to heat them, then they would be ready.

“This is amazing... I’d heard about it, but I still didn’t think it would be this bustling,” Sheera Ruu quietly whispered. “And I’m truly grateful to you for giving me this work, Asuta. Now I can earn coins and relieve Shin Ruu of some of his burden.”

“Ah, don’t thank me. Mia Lea and Donda Ruu were the ones to choose you. I just asked for a woman who was good at manning the stove.”

It wasn’t flattery or anything. No, I felt Sheera Ruu’s cooking skills really were foremost among the people of the Ruu settlement. The only ones who could compete with her were probably Reina and Mia Lea Ruu.

When she joined our forces, a secret ambition started taking shape in my mind. Sometime in the future, I’d like to see if I could entrust the management of one of the stalls entirely to the Ruu clan.

If that happened, then the Ruu clan could be earning just as many coins as the Fa clan. I mean, I just couldn’t help but feel bad about paying just six red coins when I was even leaving the poitan baking up to them.

Of course, I may need to keep an eye on things for several months before I can even consider that.

At any rate, the patties had heated up plenty, so I turned towards Vina Ruu again and said, “Alright, Vina Ruu, I’ll leave this up to you! Ah... We’re going to start selling again, so please hold on just a moment!”

With that I returned to the myamuu giba stall, only to find that almost all the meat I had added was already gone.

But looking around, the crowd of customers seemed like it was finally starting to thin out.

“Lala Ruu, can I leave it to you to finish up and sell the dishes?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I mean, I’m probably better at this than Vina.”

This younger sister sure didn’t show any mercy.

However, it was also hard to imagine anyone more reliable.

“Well then, I’ll leave that up to you while I make up another batch.”

From a quick glance, it looked like we had around ten customers left over here.

However, the customers who had already made their purchases were standing in the back happily smacking their lips, so it was no less lively.

Still, 30 customers first thing in the morning, huh...? Things are almost going a little too well, I’d say.

There was also the fact that it took time to cook up more giba burgers, so the customers who couldn’t wait any longer flowed over to the myamuu giba stand.

Still, thirty meals was exactly half of what we had prepared. And the giba burger stall had customers lining up for those 20 meals we just added, so they seemed to be selling pretty well, too.

At this rate, would we really last the remaining five hours?

As that question ran through my head, a tremble ran down my back.

“Two please, Asuta!” a voice called out, from a dark brown haired head in the middle of all the adults. It was my usual little regular, Tara.

“Hey there, thanks for your continued business. You just need two today?”

“Yeah! For the guys from the cloth and pot stores! I’m going to have a giba burger!”

“So is Dora having a giba burger too, then?” I asked while preparing the dishes for the customers from Sym and Jagar who got there first, but Tara’s eyebrows drooped a bit, making her look a little sad.

“Dad said he’s not having any today. He’s been all down since this morning.”

“Huh? Is he not feeling well?”

“I don’t know. He said he’d probably be alright again tomorrow, though...” she replied, her gaze cast downwards and looking sad. But then, Lala Ruu thrust out the myamuu giba towards her.

“Here. Two of them will be four red coins.”

“Thanks! Ah... Nice to meet you!”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. You too...”

Lala Ruu was clearly trying to figure the girl out, but Tara just shot her a bright smile back.

It would seem that Tara felt a lot less fear of the people of the forest’s edge nowadays. In the back of my mind, I seriously wished she hadn’t run into Mida Suun yesterday.

“Tara, I’ll stop by again to buy vegetables once we’re done here with the shop. So give my regards to Dora and let him know, alright?”

“Yeah! Okay, see you later!”

With that, Tara took off running.

The next person to show up was Aldas, from the construction group.

“Hey there. I ended up oversleeping a bit today... Ooh, so this is your new dish, huh?”

“Ah, welcome! Thanks for your continued business. Would you like to try a sample?”

Now that I thought about it, everybody had just gone ahead and ordered the myamuu giba, so I had completely forgotten to even put out the plate of samples.

“No need. But go ahead and prepare a few for these guys,” Aldas said, moving his large body aside and letting four grim-faced folks from Jagar step forward.

I got so many customers each day that I was having trouble remembering all their faces... but I definitely recognized the stout older man at the front.

He was the guy in charge of the construction group, who they called Pops.

This was the man who had completely rejected my giba burgers back on our second day of business.

“...Thank you so much for coming!”

“Hmph. Aldas wouldn’t stop begging me, so I didn’t have much of a choice. But no matter how you flavor it, giba meat’s still giba meat, right? Why’d I have to come all the way out here just to have such a lousy meal? Seriously, what a pain...”

Apparently his sharp tongue still fired off like a machine gun.

Then, with a stern look gleaming in his green eyes, he looked over the surroundings.

“Who’d have thought this world would be this full of idiots with no taste whatsoever? If they like giba so much, then they should all go chase them around the forest. Hey, I’m so hungry I could die. Let’s hurry up and get this farce over with so I can go get some karon to eat.”

“Right! Please hold on just a moment!”

I pulled the plate for samples on out of the bag, moved over just a bit of cooked meat that was still giving off steam, then placed down four toothpicks and held it out.

“Hmph,” Pops snorted, but he was the first one to reach out.

As I watched that out of the corner of my eye, I prepared Aldas’s myamuu giba. And knowing nothing of the circumstances, Lala Ruu was shooting Pops’s group a dubious look.

Without even a pause, Pops tossed the chunk of meat on into his mouth.

The other three followed in turn, their faces making it clear they were only doing it because they were pressured into it.

And while that was going on, Aldas happily shouted out, “Whoa, this is delicious! I already couldn’t get enough of the smell, but tasting it, this is a work of art! I thought you would never be able to come up with a tastier dish than that tarapa one, so I had really underestimated it. From tomorrow on, I’ll be buying this one.”

“Thank you!”

There were still customers from Sym behind them, so I couldn’t afford to take a break from my work.

I stole a peek over at Pops while secretly feeling all anxious inside, but his expression looked every bit as displeased as always as he chewed away.

“...It’s no good,” one of the youths from Jagar muttered.

I felt my heart skip a beat.

“Yeah, I agree,” an older man from Jagar agreed, shaking his head.

So... it was no good after all, huh?

It had been three days. I hadn’t seen any other folks from Jagar looking so openly displeased since then, but I suppose some things were just plain impossible.

But even so, it was thanks to their disapproval that I had set my sights on strong seasonings to begin with. And I thought this myamuu giba really was the perfect dish for customers from the west who were resistant to the idea of giba meat.

It was a shame that I wasn’t able to satisfy Pops and the rest, but it would probably be difficult to do so at this point even if I fixated on that. Feeling a bit more lonesome than frustrated, I went to say, “My apologies.”

However, Aldas beat me to it and said loudly, “What was no good? Isn’t it crazy delicious?” with a big grin on his face. He really looked euphoric as he bit into his myamuu giba.

The one older gentleman who hadn’t talked till now gave a strained smile and patted Pops on the shoulder.

“Pops, let’s give up already. It’s just no good at this point.”

Even so, Pops remained silent. Or more accurately, he just kept on chewing.

Was it some sort of appeal to the fact that the meat was too hard to chew through or something?

I’d be very grateful if he told me exactly what he was dissatisfied with... Thinking that, I started to lean forward, but then the youth who had muttered that it was no good suddenly approached the stall.

Then, he held out two red coins.

“I didn’t like that mushy meat, but this was delicious. I’ll buy one, too.”

“Huh...? Ah, r-right!”

I hurriedly grabbed a baked poitan, and then another of the men from Jagar held out coins.

“Me too. Back then I said it wasn’t good, but honestly, I never liked tarapa to start with. But I didn’t think the giba meat itself was all that bad.”

“T-Thank you.”

As I prepared another myamuu giba, I stole another glance at Pops.

The man who had patted Pops on the shoulder still had an awkward grin on his face, and now he was scratching his head with his thick fingers.

“I didn’t like the smell of that meat from before, but that didn’t bother me at all with the stuff I ate just now. Hey, is that seriously giba meat, too?”

“Yes. It’s a different cut and it’s seasoned differently, but it’s giba meat.”

“I see. Well, it’s true that it’s definitely not karon, and it doesn’t seem like kimyuus either. Yeah, holding out is no good. I admit defeat... Hey, I’ll have one too.”

“Thank you,” I started to say.

But then, Pops angrily yelled out, “Give me a break!” and drowned me out.

Then, he stomped on up and slapped his palms down on my counter.

“Hey, just what in the world is going on here?!”

“W-What do you mean...?”

“The smell, taste, and even texture are totally different, aren’t they? As if I could believe something as crazy as this being giba meat, too.”

Pops’s voice soon returned to its usual volume, but he was looking seriously displeased.

“Um... The dish from before was made by chopping up meat and balling it back together, so that’s why the texture is different. And in regards to the taste and smell, I used a fruit wine and myamuu marinade to combat the strong quirkiness of giba meat,” I replied while making up the dishes for the three who had paid me.

“So this sweetness is from fruit wine, huh? I see. Now that you mention it, sugar is more valuable than salt here in Genos, isn’t it?” the other oldtimer besides Pops replied. “Most places in Genos use lots of salt as seasoning. So I’m sure lots of folks will appreciate this sweet and salty flavor... At the very least, I love it.”

“T-Thank you.”

The three other than Pops were all giving embarrassed-looking smiles. It was like they were thinking some kid had gone and got one over on them.

As for Pops... He was still standing right in front of the stall, looking like a bundle of umbrage.

“...Pops. I don’t know what you’re so dissatisfied about, but if you keep on standing planted there, you’ll interfere with business, won’t you?”

“Ah, it’s still alright for the moment. It looks like I’ve run out of other customers.”

It would be hard to increase my menu any further, but if I could improve the dish then I’d certainly like to do so. So if Pops had an opinion to give, I’d love to hear it.

In the meantime, Lala Ruu handed over the completed myamuu giba to the other three men from Jagar.

“Ah, this is seriously tasty!”

“Yeah, it’s so good.”

“Who would have thought giba meat was so delicious? I can’t imagine anyone believing us when we go back home and tell them about this.”

The three men all had truly joyful smiles on their faces, just like their comrades.

Then, hearing those words, Pops finally spoke up again.

“...Can you prove that this is giba meat?”

“Huh?”

I was taken aback.

“It’s not like you prepared a giba in front of us. So can you prove that this meat really came from one?”

“You’re going and saying something weird again. At the very least this isn’t kimyuus or karon meat, right?” Aldas said with a strained smile, but Pops wasn’t backing down.

“It’s not just giba on Mount Morga. There are giiz and mundt too, right? There’s no guarantee this is giba meat.”

With that, one of the men chewing on myamuu giba said, “Don’t say those names while I’m eating.”

“That’s right, Pops. You shouldn’t be bringing up names like that in a place like this. As if you could eat meat from those animals.”

“Then what about the giant madarama snakes and varb wolves?!”

“Um... Those creatures eat humans, so wouldn’t it be even stranger for their meat to taste good instead of a giba’s? What you’re saying is seriously crazy, Pops,” Aldas responded, sounding completely astounded.

With that, Pops muttered, “I see...” and seemed to have the energy completely drain out of him.

His big green eyes stared at me, looking completely dispirited.

“Then this really is giba meat...?”

“Yes. Both that meat from before and this meat all came from giba,” I said with a nod, completely unable to tell what Pops was thinking.

Pops gave a deep, heavy sigh.

“...I was wrong.”

“What?”

“I was wrong when I said that giba meat was awful. It was true that I thought so about the meat from last time, but the meat from today was delicious enough to die for. It’s because of your poor skill that I thought it tasted bad back then, not because of the giba meat.”

That may have been so, but I still had no clue at all why Pops had been so depressed.

“I only like the leg meat from karon when it’s sliced thinly.”

“Huh? A-Ah, right.”

“Boiled kimyuus is out of the question. It’s at its tastiest when it’s grilled.”

“Right...”

“Giba meat also has cooking methods where it tastes good, and others where it doesn’t. That’s all there is to it, huh?”

Then, Pops gave a sigh that made it sound like the world was ending.

“And yet, I went and said something stupid like giba wasn’t worth eating... I’m embarrassed by how much of an idiot I was.”

“P-Please don’t worry about that, sir!”

So this was how it went when the emotional folks from Jagar got all down in the dumps, huh?

I couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered, honestly.

“Um, I had thought such a unique dish would attract the attention of everyone from around the post town, but it also probably isn’t the right way to introduce people to giba meat. Because you came out and said that clearly, I was able to realize my own mistake.”

“But...”

“It’s the same in regards to the seasoning. The other clear complaints that you voiced acted as advice for me.”

I didn’t know if it was right or not for me to be exposing my feelings like this, but I felt like I had to say it.

“I felt very frustrated when you said it was bad. But thanks to that, I decided to think more deeply about it. And so, I’m very grateful to you.”

“...I see,” Pops quietly muttered. “But because of that, now I’m the one who has to feel frustrated.”

“Ah... That is, my apologies...”

“It’s nothing to apologize about. I mean, even I can admit I’m wrong, but I still don’t feel like bowing to you.”

As he said that, he gave the counter a light slap. And where his hand had come down, there were now two red coins.

“I’ll pay money for food this good. But I’ve got work after this, so hurry up and make it.”

With that, Pops finally regained his usual brazen expression, a big grin on his face.

2

The first half of this match was at an end.

Though with that said, we’d only just gotten through the morning rush and were no more than an hour into work. But in that short time, we had sold 34 giba burgers and 37 myamuu giba. Even compared to yesterday, we were running 1.5 times as fast.

Plus, normally there weren’t many passersby at this time of day, but it felt like there was a strangely large amount of people around. But rather than there being more people passing through, there just seemed to be people sprinkled here and there along the highway.

There was a group gathered off to the side, whispering away. Girls sneaking glances as they looked through the goods at the neighboring accessory shop. Even an oldtimer standing in the middle of the road and staring straight at us. And all of them were folks from the west with yellowish-brown or ivory-white skin.

Each day up until now, the onlookers had disappeared alongside the large initial crowd of customers dispersing, but something seemed different this time. Had my shop finally become a presence the people of the west couldn’t just turn a blind eye towards? They must have been incredibly curious as to why folks from the south and east were so obsessed with giba meat cooking.

“Oh hey, now we’ve got nothing to do. It’s not going to be like this the rest of the time, is it, Asuta?”

“No. The flow of passersby will pick up after the sun hits its peak. Normally, that’s the main time for a stall to make its earnings.”

However, the folks from the east and south had been gathering first thing in the morning out of fear of me selling out. But if I could start consistently staying open for business until the early afternoon, the customers would surely become more spread out. I’d need to actually stay open till then, though.

“Hmm, should I have prepared more myamuu giba? I never thought I would sell through nearly 40 of them in the morning alone...”

“I told you, right...? I’m sure we won’t have a single one left today, either...” Vina Ruu said with a smile from the neighboring stall.

“But it really is just folks from the south and east coming to buy from us, huh? The only one from the west was that little squirt, right?” Lala Ruu said as she looked around with a bit of frustration showing in her eyes. “If they don’t have any intention of buying anything, then why are they staring at us? It’s creepy.”

“That’s fine by me. It won’t be possible to get them to try a sample without drawing their attention first. Personally, I consider this some serious progress.”

“Hmph,” Lala Ruu snorted, making it clear that she just couldn’t accept that.

“Now then, since the flow of customers seems to have slowed, how about trying a sample? Or are you still not hungry yet?”

“Huh...? I mean, of course I’m starving after smelling this delicious food. But if there’s extra, wouldn’t that be better to sell to the townsfolk?”

“It’s not extra. Just stuff that I solely prepared to serve as samples. I mean, I went and baked poitan just for that.”

As I said that, I pulled the poitan in question out of their wrapping.

“Whoa, what’s that? They’re really tiny!”

“Yeah. They’re just for employees.”

They were a size smaller than the poitan used for the giba burgers, with a diameter of around ten centimeters. And they were on the thin side, so I only needed to use about a third of a poitan for them.

“Handle the shop for just a bit, alright? They’ll be ready soon.”

I removed two little eight centimeter patties out of the leather bag. At only around two centimeters thick, they were quite the cute little things.

After warming them up in the pot, I went ahead and assembled two mini giba burgers.

“Here, thanks for waiting. Today the customers seem really fired up, so maybe you should eat them a bit away from the stall.”

“Thank you... They look really tasty, don’t they?” Sheera Ruu remarked with a smile.

When I returned to the myamuu giba stall and handed Lala Ruu hers, she gave a little “Hehehe,” that reminded me of Ludo Ruu.

And sure enough, when the two of them moved to the free space off to the right and started enjoying their samples, Vina Ruu shot me a sad look.

“There’s enough for you too, so just be patient for the moment. We can’t exactly have all three of you step away from the stalls at once, can we?”

“Huh...? I can eat some too...?”

“Of course. We’ve got more people helping now, but I’ll make sure to prepare enough for everyone each day,” I replied, only for Vina Ruu to stretch out her right hand as far as it could go, two meters away from me.

“I can’t reach...”

Of course you can’t.

And wait, was it a rule or something that she had to grab my clothes when she was feeling happy?

As I thought that, I moved the brazier from outside back into the myamuu giba stall, then heated the meat and aria left on the wooden plate back up to temperature.

Then, I prepared two itty bitty myamuu giba by splitting some baked poitan in half.

“Lala Ruu, since it’s your first day working here I’d like to have you try both. Do you think you can eat more, though?”

With that, Lala Ruu came running over, slapped me firmly on the back, and proudly declared, “Of course I can!”

From Lala Ruu’s point of view she was probably just showing some physical intimacy, but it sure did sting.

Vina Ruu and I also ate a little to fill our stomachs afterwards, and in the meantime only a single customer from Jagar placed an order.

However, I got the feeling that the number of onlookers from the west on the side of the road was growing. As I wondered whether or not there was some way to get them to come a bit closer, since I was forbidden from calling out loudly or leaving the stall to usher them over, I noticed a familiar group approaching from the north.

There were five of them, and they all wore leather cloaks. Four of them headed to the giba burger stall, while just one of them came over here.

When he took down his hood, I saw that it was indeed Shumiral of The Silver Vase.

“Asuta, we are late.”

“Welcome! Will you be making a purchase?”

“No. Today, is the day, to order that dish.”

Just when I was about to ask him why he came to this stall in that case, he said, “I wanted, to greet you, Asuta.”

After giving a small nod to Lala Ruu, who he was meeting for the first time, Shumiral’s black eyes turned towards my work station.

“That blade...”

“Yes?”

“I’ve never, seen one of that shape. Is it, from the west?”

“No, it came from the same place as me.”

“Where, do you come from?”

“...A country called Japan. Everyone always tells me they’ve never heard of it, though.”

“Japan. I do not, know it.”

As he talked to me, Shumiral’s eyes remained fixed on the kitchen knife.

“That blade, is beautiful. May I look, more closely?”

“Huh? Ah, no... I don’t think I can let a customer touch one of my cooking tools, unfortunately.”

“I don’t, need to touch. Can I, look closer?”

What was going on here?

It wasn’t as if I distrusted Shumiral or anything, but folks from Sym just didn’t let their emotions show, so I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

After hesitating for a few seconds, I grabbed hold of the scabbard, then pointed the blade straight down, held at around chest level.

He was quite tall, so Shumiral leaned down a bit and stared firmly at the blade.

“...It’s beautiful. The craftsmanship, is wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

“I can tell, that you treat it well. If you don’t do that, a lovely tool, will lose that loveliness.”

I wasn’t the one who had used it so carefully, though.

Of course, I was employing all of my knowledge and experience, and was quite careful when using the unfamiliar whetstones of this world... But my old man was the one who had treated it so well for 20 years.

I felt my emotions getting seriously tugged on there, so I went ahead and placed the knife back on the work station.

“Jagar is famous, for its iron. They have, lots of iron. Iron is rare, in Sym.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“In Sym, iron, is precious. And so, we treat it, carefully.”

As he said that, Shumiral pulled a single knife out from inside his cloak.

It was held in a black leather sheath, and looked to be a bit over 20 centimeters long. It was about the same length as my kitchen knife, but it was about twice as thick. The handle was made of black wood, with a swirling pattern lightly carved into it.

“Iron, is precious. In Sym, blade craftsmen, breath life, into their work.”

Wasn’t that just the sort of occupation swordsmithing was, even in places with plentiful metal?

But still, it was true that I was feeling somehow drawn to that blade.

“We are, selling blades, here in Genos.”

“Ah, so this is one of your goods, then?”

“Jagar, is famous, for iron blades. But, Sym blades, surpass them.”

Was that how people from Sym expressed competitiveness when they didn’t let their emotions show?

Shumiral blinked his eyes, looking ever so slightly troubled.

“Many chefs, in Genos, use Sym blades.”

“Chefs...?” I questioned, finally seeing what he was getting at.

I had heard that there were no people who actually made a living as chefs here in the post town. That such folks only existed inside the stone walls.

“So is this perhaps a cooking knife?”

“That’s right.”

Now that I thought about it, Shumiral’s group had just come from the north. And the member of The Silver Vase who had visited the shop on our first day of business had come from the same direction, right?

Were they all coming back from the Genos castle town to the north, then?

“...Do all the chefs in the Genos castle town use Sym blades?”

“Not all, of them. But, many.”

“Would you mind letting me see that knife for a bit?”

With that, Shumiral broke out in an ever so slight smile.

“I would be happy, to let you see it, Asuta.”

Then, he held it out to me handle first.

What sort of blades chefs in the castle town used didn’t really have anything to do with me. And since I was still just in training, I wasn’t all that familiar with what made a knife good or bad.

But Shumiral had praised my old man’s kitchen knife, then showed me this blade while speaking of the pride of his nation, so of course I was interested.

As I held my breath a bit, I pulled it free of its black leather sheath.

The blade itself was roughly rectangular in shape, and it had an edge sharpened from a single side.

It was around eight centimeters wide, and it was a bit thinner than your usual kitchen knife. It was also rounded upwards a bit at the tip, calling to mind the usuba vegetable knives from the Kansai region.

The silver length of the blade had a whirling design etched into it that was so subtle you wouldn’t notice it without looking closely. It was so finely done that I couldn’t even feel it when touching the blade. Thanks to that, it surely wouldn’t have any effect on the cross section of the ingredients it cut, either.

“...It’s a cooking knife meant for vegetables, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

It was single-edged and pretty thin, so of course it was.

But at any rate, it sure was a beautiful blade.

Plus, my fingers felt perfectly accustomed to the wooden grip, which closely resembled ebony.

“Please, try cutting, with it.”

“Huh? Is it alright to do that with something you’re selling?”

“If you do not, you will not know, how it cuts.”

Ironware was expensive anywhere in this world; that wasn’t just limited to Sym. Or at the very least, it seemed awful expensive compared to food. And so, I couldn’t exactly go buying a new cooking knife at the drop of a hat... But still, I did want to see how this beautiful blade cut.

“Okay, I’ll take you up on that just a bit...”

I went ahead and cut off some fresh tino leaves, stacked them, then diced them up nice and even.

Sure enough, I didn’t have any issues with how it cut, either.

I had at least tried out some of this world’s cooking knives a little in the Ruu family kitchen, but this was on a whole other level. To be honest, I’d say it was on the same level as my old man’s kitchen knife.

Of course, this was a dedicated knife for vegetables, so that certainly should be the case, but it hadn’t been at all for the Ruu house’s vegetable knife.

“...I agree. It really is a wonderful knife.”

Shumiral gave a nod, then held a small cloth in one hand while holding out his other towards me.

I placed the knife on an unused wooden plate, and held it for Shumiral so that the handle was facing him. Then, in a truly elegant motion, he started cleaning the blade.

“I still need to save up a whole lot more before I can consider buying a new cooking knife, but... How much is it?”

“20 white.”

That was roughly the same as the pot I had previously purchased.

I believe the price for a vegetable knife at the town blade shop was four white coins and five red... In other words, there was a fitting price attached to it for how high quality it was. And I thought that was only right.

“...If you, were to buy it, it would be, 18 coins.”

“Huh?”

“We will be, in Genos, for the blue month. If you wish, to buy it, let me know.”

“...Got it. Thank you,” I said with a smile and a nod.

Once again Shumiral came to the verge of smiling back... but he smoothly shifted back to his usual expression again.

“I’m hungry. And so, I will eat, a giba burger.”

“Right. Thanks for your business as always!”

Shumiral nodded, and moved to the other stall.

As she watched him leave with a look of suspicion in her eyes, Lala Ruu whispered to me, “What’s that about? Isn’t 18 white coins way too much for such a puny knife?”

“Yeah, but I’d been thinking I’d like a knife like that.”

“...Then why not buy it? You’ve made hundreds of coins by now, right?”

“That may be so, but around half of that goes to expenses.”

“I don’t see the issue. You’re earning like crazy every day, so if you don’t spend any, the weight of the coins will end up causing your floor to collapse.”

That was definitely an exaggeration, but if I kept on earning at this rate... I really may end up with enough to justify buying that knife.

Ah, no, it was still too early to start getting greedy. Each and every day was still like walking a tightrope, so I needed to make sure I kept a firm footing.

But I couldn’t help thinking about it...

Still, when it comes to things that I want in this world, all I can think of is cooking tools.

What did Ai Fa want? After all, I had a hard time picturing her buying anything but everyday necessities. And I couldn’t imagine her being any more frivolous with our surplus of money than me.

If I secretly bought her a hairpin or something, she probably really would beat me to a pulp.

The morning rush had passed and we hadn’t been raided by the Suun clan, so I was able to spend the time before the sun hit its peak peacefully daydreaming away.

3

When Shumiral’s group from The Silver Vase left, Sheera Ruu called out, “Asuta, there’s just one giba burger left. Should I start heating up fresh tarapa?”

“Ah, yeah, please do. Set aside that one and put the samples out on a wooden plate, if you don’t mind.”

“Right.”

“Lala Ruu, could I ask you to man the shop for a bit again?”

“Yeah.”

With that I moved over to the giba burger stall, using this chance to get a first-hand look at Sheera and Vina Ruu’s skills.

Apparently, they had already chopped up the tarapa by the time that The Silver Vase showed up. And now, Vina Ruu added firewood to the brazier in a practiced motion, while Sheera Ruu added the tarapa to the pot.

“...Asuta, there’s still a good bit of tarapa left, so I think adding two may be too much.”

“Ah, that’s true. In that case, would just one be plenty?”

“That’s what I thought, so I only chopped up the one,” Sheera Ruu replied with a smile.

“That being the case, we should halvef the aria and fruit wine, right?”

“Yeah, please go ahead and do that.”

The tarapa sauce started simmering away.

And we were adding just a bit more myamuu than yesterday, so the aroma was a little stronger, too.

The thought was that maybe I could use that smell alone to draw in the people from the west who had been hanging about, and as if in response, a group was indeed approaching.

“Hey. I decided to come again today. And I even brought along friends, too.”

It was Yumi, the one girl out of that group of troublemakers from yesterday.

“Ah, thank you for tha—” I started to say, but was suddenly at a loss for words.

There were four people there behind Yumi, and all of them were young girls around her age. They all had ivory-white skin, and wore colorful tops and winding skirts that went down to their ankles, just like her. Was that just the standard style for girls about town in the west?

“Huh? This is tarapa, isn’t it? I smelled myamuu, but is this a different dish than yesterday?”

“Yes. The dish from yesterday is being sold at the neighboring stall. Currently we’re getting more ready for this stall, but once it’s ready, would you like to give it a sample?”

“Yeah! Let’s do that.”

She seemed pretty boorish yesterday, but now that she was all smiles, she was giving off a totally different impression. I thought she seemed like she was trying a little too hard to draw attention, but her expression itself looked totally innocent.

“Asuta, the tarapa seems to have heated,” Sheera Ruu quietly called out to me.

“Got it. Well then, all that leaves is the seasoning...” I said while reaching out, but then I stopped and thought. “...Actually, could you handle the final seasoning?”

“Huh?” Sheera Ruu questioned, her eyes going wide in surprise.

I got just close enough that I wasn’t being rude, then whispered, “Try feeling out the amount of rock salt and pico leaves to use by yourself. If I don’t think it’s enough then I’ll step in and add some more, and if it’s too much then we’ll adjust it by adding more tarapa.”

“...Right. Understood.”

She must have decided this was part of her work too, as there wasn’t a bit of hesitation in her eyes.

I gave Sheera Ruu a nod, then turned back towards our customers.

“Well then, would you like to start by sampling the dish from yesterday?”

“Ah, right. I already know how it tastes, but could you let the rest of them try it?”

With that, one of the girls who had been watching our exchange with a rather frightened look on her face interjected, “H-Hey, Yumi...”

“I’m telling you, it’s fine! I already explained enough, didn’t I? It’s totally delicious, so give it a try, even if you think I’m trying to trick you!”

“But...” “I mean...” the girls grumbled, wriggling their bodies.

It was just like when Dora had brought the oldtimers from the cloth and pot shops. But what was it that felt different about this?

Mulling it over, it hit me that the folks from the south and east were pretty much all older men far from home, so Tara and Yumi had been my only young female customers up till now. Maybe that was why I found it so hard to know how to handle this group of teenage girls standing in front of me.

I didn’t used to think that way, but maybe I had been influenced by my month and some change of simple living at the forest’s edge. Even if I didn’t feel like I was living a plain life, the people of the forest’s edge definitely were, and the women were no exception. And after all that time being surrounded by such women in the kitchen, it felt awkward facing these girls from about town, with their supple movements and high-pitched voices.

But even still, they were customers. And so, I simply said, “If you would like to give it a try, then please head over that way,” motioning to the myamuu giba stall.

Then, I swiftly drew close to Sheera Ruu again.

“How’s it looking?”

“Alright... I think it’s ready for you to give a taste,” Sheera Ruu replied with a nervous look on her face.

I nodded back and scooped up some sauce with a wooden spoon.

There were no problems here.

She had to be naturally talented, to have recreated the flavor like this after just a few tastes. I had to imagine she was a real rarity among the people of the forest’s edge, who didn’t value cooking at all up until now.

“This is good. All right, please go ahead and heat up the patties.”

“...Right,” Sheera Ruu replied with a sigh of relief.

She was worrying way more than the other members of our group, so I’d have to make sure I rewarded her somehow eventually.

“Now then...” I said, facing back towards the customers.

Sure enough, the girls kept on wriggling, going, “But...” “I don’t wanna...”

I really did still have a ways to go, as I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, No buts.

Yumi, meanwhile, brushed at her long, dark brown hair while looking annoyed.

“Geez, you all have got no guts at all. Um... W-What was your name again?”

“Me? My name is Asuta.”

“Asuta, huh? That’s an interesting name. Hey, Asuta, go ahead and let me sample it one more time too. Maybe that will be enough to help them work up the nerve.”

“Right. Thank you for your consideration,” I said with a smile, but Yumi frowned a bit in response.

“...Asuta, how old are you?”

“Huh? I’m 17 years old.”

“In that case, you’re one year older than me. Which means you don’t need to talk to me so stiffly.”

“Ah, no! I can’t be impolite to my customers! Now then... This way, please.”

Yumi clicked her tongue with a “Tch,” and sulked, but then she moved over to the myamuu giba stall.

The four girls followed along, but they all made sure to keep their distance.

“Huh? You put on a fire, Lala Ruu?”

“Hmm? I thought I should heat the meat back up. Should I not have?”

“No, that was a wonderful decision. Well then, please hold on just a moment.”

There was still plenty enough meat for samples sitting on the wooden plate.

When I went and added that back into the pot along with just a bit of marinade, the smell of myamuu and fruit wine filled the air.

“Well? Doesn’t it smell good?” Yumi questioned, turning towards the girls with a triumphant look on her face.

As for the girls, they were all gathered together, wiggling and squirming. They were definitely worried, but I didn’t sense that their fear was all that ingrained. At the very least, it wasn’t as bad as the cloth and pot sellers the first time that they came.

Whether it was how long they had lived in Genos, their gender, or their age... There was some primary factor at work here.

“Thank you for waiting. Now then, please go ahead.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Yumi replied, chucking the chunk of meat into her mouth without a hint of hesitation. “Ah, it’s so good! Hey, which one’s tastier? This one, or that tarapa dish?”

“I believe that will vary from person to person, but I think the tarapa one will be more to the taste of most women.”

“In that case, I definitely have to try a sample! What about you all...? Are you not going to try it after all? You don’t think your skin will get all dark if you eat giba meat or anything, do you?”

Even so, the girls just kept on wriggling.

But then, another group suddenly approached the stall from behind them.

“Hey... Do we not have to pay coins for that?”

They were two young men with ivory-white skin. However, they were talking to Yumi rather than me.

“Huh? Yeah, that’s right. He said you can try this, then if you like it you can pay some coins to buy one.”

“Is that so...?” he replied, then timidly looked at me.

Naturally, I smiled back.

“Please, go ahead. And the dish at that stall is completely different, so if you’d like, feel free to try both and compare.”

“What should we do?” “What do you think?” they asked each other, now joining in the wriggling.

Just then, Sheera Ruu chimed in by saying, “Asuta, this meat is all heated up too.” In response, Yumi cheered “Hooray!” and ran over that way.

“Giba meat is delicious, you see. And I’m proud of both of these... Gah!”

“Wah!”

“Ack!”

Three male voices cried out at once, me included.

Suddenly, there was a giant totos bird’s long neck poking through between the two troubled youths.

“My apologies,” a voice devoid of emotion called out from up above.

The stall’s roof was blocking my view, but it would seem that had come from a rider from Sym seated atop the massive bird, wearing traveling attire.

“Hey! It’s forbidden to ride totos in town!” Yumi loudly screeched, only for the man to respond again with, “My apologies,” and get down to the ground.

His leather cloak and dark face had a bit of sand on them. He must have been a traveler who had come from the north.

At any rate, that traveler from Sym looked back and forth slowly between the sign on the stall and the samples.

“...Giba?”

“Yes, this is a meal made with giba meat. If you’d like, you can try one of these samples,” I replied without hesitation, holding out the wooden plate.

Apparently, the language of the west got through to him just fine, as he gave a single nod and grabbed a toothpick.

“That stall also serves giba. It uses tarapa, and is a bit of a unique dish.”

The traveler nodded again, then left the stall along with his totos.

A moment later, a deep, masculine voice sounded out from his destination.

“Whoa! Don’t go around the stalls with your totos! You need to hurry up and check it into a totos stable, you Sym jerk!”

Apparently, a customer from Jagar had been ordering a giba burger from that stall without me even noticing him.

The man from Sym responded, “My apologies,” again, but he still reached out towards the samples.

“Geez, all you damn folks from Sym are like this...” the customer from Jagar muttered in annoyance, coming my way while avoiding the totos. “Huh? What’s this? This couldn’t be another stall for giba dishes, could it?”

“Ah, it is. From today on, we’ll be running two stalls.”

“I thought I smelled some delicious myamuu in the air, and it was coming from here, huh?! What, so this is a different dish, then?”

“That’s correct. If you’d like, you can try a sample.”

The man rudely barged forward, shoving the wriggling youths out of the way with his shoulders, and grabbed a toothpick.

One bite, and immediately he went, “Ooh!” and his eyes grew wide. “This is really darn tasty, too... Man, I didn’t even realize it and bought one from over there...”

“My apologies. If you’d like, I could exchange it for one of these dishes.”

“But I wanted to eat this too...” he said, his eyes cast downward and looking regretful, then his gaze suddenly shot up and fixed on me. “Alright, already! I’ll do it! One of these, too! You’re going to close up shop by the time the sun goes down anyway, right? In that case I’ll just spoil my dinner and eat more delicious food now! How many coins is it?”

“Ah, two red coins.”

“How cheap! That means I can get two for four coins, which is practically nothing,” he said with a satisfied smile, then slapped his coins down on the counter.

“Thank you! Please hold on just a moment!”

But then, a crude voice questioned, “What’s this, giba meat cooking?”

A group of three men with yellowish-brown skin were standing in front of the other stall. They had knives and hatchets hanging from their waists, and looked like real scoundrels.

“You really think you can sell that crap in Genos? If you want coins, then how about using that sexy face and body you’ve got there?”

In addition to their bladed weapons, they also had fruit wine containers dangling from their hands.

I started stepping forward without even thinking, but Lala Ruu grabbed me by the arm.

“Leave it be. What good would come of you going over? Just leave it to Vina.”

“No, but...”

“Women walking alone around town always have to deal with that sort of stuff. Honestly, even Sheera Ruu or I could drive off guys like that.”

“...They’re some real dumbasses. I doubt they’ve got what it takes to go and make an enemy of the people of the forest’s edge,” the customer from Jagar said while calmly chewing away at his giba burger. “Never mind them and just hurry up and get it made. Once I’m done eating, I’ve got to hurry back to work.”

“R-Right...” I replied, forcing myself to focus on adding the aria to the pot.

I couldn’t hear their conversation, but occasionally I would hear one of the men crudely proclaiming, “What’d you say?” or “Don’t mess with me!” or something.

By the time the meat was nice and cooked and I finished up the myamuu giba, those men were each holding a giba burger and walking away.

“See? Vina draws attention easily, so she’s used to stuff like that.”

As I breathed a sigh of admiration, the two youths who had been wriggling the whole time weakly chimed in, “Um... Can we try a sample...?”

“Yes! Of course!”

When I snuck a glance, I saw the girls were sampling the giba burgers. And Yumi was a step ahead of them and had already ordered, so she was happily chewing away at her food while chatting with Vina Ruu.

Soon, the youths went, “Whoa... This is good, isn’t it?” “It’s a little hard, but it doesn’t smell at all,” letting their impressions slip out in quiet voices.

They sure were shy ones.

“If you’d like, please go ahead and try out that stall, too.”

As I said that, a new customer from Sym arrived and silently slapped down his coins.

“T-Thank you! Please hold on just a moment!”

Things seemed strangely busy right now, for some reason.

As I thought that while gazing up at the sky, I saw that the sun had long since hit its peak.

Apparently two hours had passed by without me noticing, and we were now in the back half of our fight.

Now that we were at this point, the finish line didn’t seem all that far in the distance.

Once the young men and girls chose between the giba burgers and myamuu giba and made their purchases, that left both stalls with a bit over 20 left each.

“Ah, so this is that giba cooking they were talking about in the inn,” a person from Jagar said, approaching with a group. At the same time, a similar number of customers from Sym silently drew nearer. It wasn’t as intense as first thing in the morning, but in exchange, there pretty much wasn’t a moment that there wasn’t someone in front of the stalls.

And as if they had been awaiting this influx of customers, we started to steadily get some ivory-white skinned folks approaching too.

Naturally, not all of these people bought something. About half of them turned back without even trying a sample, and it wasn’t at all uncommon for someone to pretty much flee after tasting one.

However, a great number of people also timidly placed an order.

“Hey, this is giba?” a member of a group of children called out.

They looked to be around five or six, even younger than Tara.

“That’s right. Would you like to try a sample?” I asked, holding out the wooden plate, only for them to let out childishly light-hearted squeals as they scattered.

But eventually, they gathered again and nervously approached the stall.

“Samples are completely free. Would you like to try one?”

“But... if you eat giba, you grow horns, right?”

“And your skin gets all dark, doesn’t it?”

“Hmm? I’ve been eating it for over a month now, but I still haven’t grown any horns myself.”

Then, I pointed towards Lala Ruu.

“And look, this girl here doesn’t have any either, right? So I’m sure it’s fine.”

With that, I got them to try the samples, to which they loudly proclaimed “Yummy!” and took off running down the street.

“...There’s no way kids that little would have coins to spend, you know.”

“It’s fine. Hearing that they liked it is more than enough to satisfy me.”

After that, our business gradually began to slow down again.

In the end, the myamuu giba wound up running out first. That happened roughly an hour after the sun hit its peak. When I had just two meals left, a group of three from Sym arrived.

“My deepest apologies! We only have two left. There are still a number of that tarapa dish left, though...”

The customers turned and expressionlessly whispered among themselves.

Then, one of them moved over to the giba burger stand, while the remaining two held out their coins.

“Thank you. Please hold on just a moment.”

We were finally at the finish line.

Now all that was left was to see if we could wrap things up smoothly.

When I handed the last myamuu giba to the customer, I left it to Lala Ruu to put out the fire and ran on over to the other stall.

“How many are left, Sheera Ruu?”

Just as Sheera Ruu was about to respond, a teen from the west who had tried a sample proclaimed, “A-Alright, I’ll have one!”

Sheera Ruu then smoothly put together the giba burger, while Vina Ruu accepted the customer’s money and handed over the finished dish.

At last, they had a break in their stream of customers, and the two smiled brightly at the same time.

“That was the last one.”

“We’re done...”

It had been a bit over three hours since the morning. There were about two hours left until we were set to close up shop, but even so, we had sold 120 meals and brought our fifth day of business to an end.

4

Once we put out the flames in the stalls, we swiftly started cleaning everything up.

As I was sweeping all the leftover vegetables from the cutting board and wooden plates into a bag, Vina Ruu shot me a brilliant smile.

“We really sold out after all, didn’t we?”

“That’s true. To be honest, it still doesn’t feel real to me.”

It might not have felt real, but we really did have a mountain of coins. Pretty much none of our customers used white coins, so the cloth bag we were using for coins sure was becoming hard to handle.

We had sold through all 120 meals we had prepared, meaning we had received 240 red coins.

It truly was an awe-inspiring number.

“At any rate, let’s go ahead and return the stalls. Ah... but it feels like it would probably be a good idea to visit the currency exchange first to deal with all these coins.”

Since I had over 200 coins, that made for about 1.5 kilos of weight. And so, it was best to exchange them for white coins as soon as possible.

I had heard that nobody would try to prey upon the people of the forest’s edge, but even so, I didn’t let my guard down as I walked down the stone highway.

Naturally, we drew attention since we were pushing carts along around when things generally got their busiest, but since it was the fifth day, I had gotten used to it.

“Hey, you’ve closed up shop? That’s the longest you’ve gone yet.”

“I’ll be stopping by again tomorrow, alright?”

Those warm calls that came our way were all from folks from Jagar.

However, there were also occasionally people from Sym who gave us a slight bow.

“Ah, Dora, are you feeling alright? Once we return this, we’ll be coming back this way.”

“Oh, good work today. I’m fine... I’m not feeling ill or anything like that.”

Dora was seated atop his usual cloth with his lined-up vegetables, but his face really did look a bit pale, and his smile was a touch weaker than usual.

I was worried about him, but for now, we needed to exchange these coins and return the carts.

The currency exchange was located right between the areas for the stalls and the inns. It was a sturdy building, and was protected by guards. And I called it a currency exchange, but apparently it primarily served as a loan office.

They didn’t earn a commission from just exchanging money, but it also wasn’t like they were in the loan business merely as a hobby or out of good will. No, apparently they were entrusted with that job by the lord of Genos, to assure that money could flow smoothly in the post town.

I couldn’t help but wonder if they had any strong feelings about how my business was increasing day after day. But at any rate, the middle-aged guy there showed no expression on his face as he went about exchanging my 200 red coins for 20 white ones.

We returned the carts to The Kimyuus’s Tail, temporarily had them hold onto our belongings, got glared at by Milano Mas, and then finally U-turned back towards the stalls.

“You know, I just noticed... That Kamyua Yoshu man didn’t show up today, did he...?”

“Ah, now that you mention it... It was so busy that I didn’t even notice.”

Neither Kamyua Yoshu nor the Suun clan had shown their faces. There weren’t any crazy incidents or anything, either. And we had gone and sold through all 120 meals we had prepared. It really was an ideal, peaceful day.

As we walked through the bustling streets of the post town, Vina Ruu seductively shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, not seeing him is all well and good on the face of it... But when you don’t see him, you can’t help but wonder if he’s plotting something somewhere out of sight...”

“Oh, do you hate Kamyua then, Vina Ruu?”

“I don’t like people whose feelings I can’t read... That’s why I love you so much, Asuta...”

Was I really that easy to read?

But at any rate, we had to focus on heading to Dora’s shop for now.

“Hey there. Today sure is bustling, huh?” Dora greeted me and the three girls, somehow looking a little weak. And I didn’t see Tara around anywhere, either.

“You don’t look like you’re feeling too well. It... really isn’t some sort of illness?”

“Yeah, as if I’d go and catch a cold,” he said with a firm shake of his head. “The truth is... This morning, a giba got caught in one of our pitfalls.”

“Huh?”

“We have all sorts of traps around our fields so that the giba won’t get at our vegetables. But this morning, they still got us pretty bad... But one of them was dumb enough to fall into our pitfall.”

“...I see.”

“Yeah. And since we set it up, we had to finish it off. And so we all stabbed at it with grigee spears from the top of the hole, but... On days like this, I just don’t feel like eating meat. Those horrifying sounds it was making are burned into my ears... And just remembering causes me to tremble.”

With that, his rotund body really did start quaking.

“The hunters of the forest’s edge really are amazing. The idea of running into a giba in the forest is like a nightmare. I’m sure my knees would give out just from seeing one... There’s no way I could fight a monster like that.”

“I couldn’t either. The hunters seriously have my respect.”

Would Ai Fa return home safely again today? I really wanted to hurry on back and see her doing just fine.

“Still, haven’t there been a lot of giba for the last month and a bit? My place is still fine, but I’ve heard the folks closer to the forest’s edge have suffered so much damage they feel like they’re hanging on by a thread. Apparently they’ve even torn up and eaten aria about to be harvested all the way down to the roots.”

As he said that, he shook his head and looked dejected.

“Somehow, it feels like the losses are getting worse year by year. Is it going to be like my grandfather’s time again, when they’d come flowing from the forest day in and day out...?”

“It’ll be alright, I think. But they really do seem to be on the rise, don’t they?”

Or perhaps it was the number of hunters of the forest’s edge not doing their duty that was growing. But the truth remained a mystery.

“Apparently back before the people of the forest’s edge came around, we farmers used to get together and play at hunting giba. And from what I heard, the giba killed a whole lot of people in the process... My grandfather himself got stabbed in one of his legs and had to use a cane for the rest of his life. I hate it... I could never do something like hunting giba.”

“Dora...”

“Ah, sorry. The people of the forest’s edge put their lives on the line to hunt giba, so this isn’t the kind of thing I should be grumbling to you about. From tomorrow on, I’ll start coming again to have some of your delicious cooking.”

“Right. And I’m glad to have you as a customer.”

Had Tara not opened up to us because this was what her father had been worried about?

Even if he had acted bright and friendly when talking about it, it wasn’t something the people of the forest’s edge could just turn a blind eye towards.

Just how many giba are those guys from the Suun clan even hunting, anyway? I can’t imagine they’re not hunting any at all... But the folks from the main house are coming to the post town in the middle of the day just to drink and eat snacks.

The Suun clan was supposed to be on the same scale as the Ruu, so naturally it would have a huge effect if they weren’t carrying out their duty as hunters.

“...Don’t look so serious there, Asuta. Now then, how much will you be buying today?” Dora asked. He was trying to be overly considerate, so I went ahead and tried to shift gears too.

After all, all I could do for now was try my hardest to run a successful business.

“Sorry. Well then, I’ll take two tarapa and 30 aria... And could I get 150 poitan, too?”

“So you’ve finally hit 150 poitan, have you?! Well then, does that mean you’ll be preparing that many meals for tomorrow?”

“That’s right. I figure that’s probably going to be the limit for what we can make with four people.”

The prep work for the giba burgers took time, so the plan was to instead increase the number of myamuu giba up to 90. Then we would use the next five days to see if we could keep preparing that many each day without putting too much strain on ourselves.

“Also, the Fa house’s stockpile of meat is reaching its limits,” I said to Vina Ruu as I counted poitan. “I’d like to start getting some meat from the Ruu house from tomorrow on, so could I ask you to convey that to Donda and Mia Lea Ruu?”

“Yeah, got it...”

We had already discussed that matter, but I was still racking my brains over what to do about the price.

The Ruu clan had an excess of meat, so Mia Lea Ruu had simply told me, “We don’t need any payment. Take as much as you want.” But we still didn’t know how long I’d be running this business for, so I couldn’t go and essentially just take their meat for free forever. So ultimately, I suggested that I should at least pay for the work of bloodletting and dissecting, which they accepted.

It was an amusing negotiation in which the buyer was trying to raise the price while the sellers were attempting to lower it, but when we finally settled things, we decided on an equivalent amount to that giba’s horns and tusks. That meant 12 red coins for a large giba, and eight for a small.

I still felt that was way too cheap, so someday I’d have to raise it to a fairer price.

“Well then, I’ll be counting on you from the day after tomorrow onwards. Sorry that it’s going to be so much to carry.”

The plan was to have Vina Ruu carry the meat supply for the next day to the Fa house in the morning. Even so, she shot me back a bright smile as I finished counting the poitan.

“If I’m just taking it from one house to another it’ll be no problem at all, since I can use a pulling board. And besides, Lala and Sheera Ruu will be handling much tougher work while I’m just strolling along...”

“Yeah, that’s right. You should have to strain yourself a bit too, Vina.”

They may not talk much during work, but Vina and Lala Ruu really did seem to get along well. And Sheera Ruu was standing there right beside them, a casual smile on her face.

Yes, everyone was wearing satisfied grins. It was clear that those smiles came from the sense of fulfillment from having put in a hard day’s work.

Or at the very least, that was how I was feeling.

5

“Well then, see you again tomorrow,” I said to Vina Ruu as she set down the pot in front of the Fa house.

The cleanup and shopping had taken some time, but even so, there were still four hours left till sunset. And in that case, I could afford to take some time with my preparations.

But since we’re going and preparing 150 meals, I’m sure we’ll be in the post town for the full time from tomorrow on. That means I’ve got to set things up so I can efficiently handle everything with that in mind.

As that thought ran through my mind, I went to open the door.

To my surprise, though, it was bolted.

“Huh? Ai Fa, are you back already?” I called out as I knocked on the door.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, I finally heard Ai Fa respond, “Hold on a moment.”

And yet, the door still wasn’t opening. In the end, Ai Fa’s “moment” ended up being roughly 30 seconds.

But eventually, I heard the scraping sound of the bolt coming loose, and then the door creaking open.

And in that instant, my breath caught in my throat.

“What happened, Ai Fa?!”

I had no idea what could have occurred. But Ai Fa was clearly frowning deeper than I had ever seen her do before, her slender face was dripping with anguished, cold sweat, and her eyes had the look of a wounded animal about them.

“Not so loud... Hurry up and get inside,” Ai Fa said, quietly disappearing in the shadow of the door.

At any rate, I went ahead and grabbed the pot packed with luggage and stepped into the house.

Ai Fa was crouched behind the door, still wearing her fur cloak and cradling her own left arm.

“...Bolt the door.”

I hurriedly did as I was told, then leaned over Ai Fa.

“What’s wrong? Does your arm hurt? You weren’t attacked by the Suun clan, were you?”

From what I could see, she didn’t seem to have any external injuries. However, I hadn’t seen her make such a clearly pained face since back when she was attacked by the giant madarama snake.

“As if those fools would get the better of me... My arm bone just shifted while hunting,” Ai Fa wrung out.

Her bone... shifted?

Did she mean it was dislocated?

“W-Where in your arm? It’s your left arm, right? Is it your shoulder? Or your elbow?”

“I told you to quiet down... But it’s my left elbow. I already popped the bone back into place, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Y-You say that, but aren’t you supposed to fix it in place after you dislocate a bone? Umm, is there anything we can use as a splint...?”

With that, Ai Fa smacked her head into my chest.

I suppose that was the only way she could object, since both her arms were busy.

“Nothing will be solved by you making a fuss... I know how to handle this, so you just need to lend me your aid.”

“G-Got it. What do you want me to do?”

“...First, remove my footwear.”

I swiftly did as she asked.

Just how much did a dislocated elbow hurt? And on top of that, she had popped it back in herself... Even if I knew how to do that, I could never manage it.

“I-I took them off.”

“Alright... Now we move...”

Ai Fa slowly rose to her feet, biting her lip all the while.

She suddenly wobbled, and so I supported her shoulders as gently as I could with both hands.

Man... I never imagined Ai Fa actually getting injured...

Even through her thick cloak, I could still feel the high temperature Ai Fa was giving off.

“...Take off my hunting attire.”

“Right.”

I untied the leather straps holding the cloak in place, laid it down on the floor, and helped Ai Fa squat down by the wall.

“...There should still be one strip of cloth I haven’t used. Bring that here.”

Naturally, I obediently followed her orders to the letter.

For the next step, I placed a wooden splint against her forearm, tore off thin strip of cloth and wrapped it all around that, and then hung it from her neck to fix her left arm in place. It was pretty much the same treatment method from back in my old world.

“That’s fine... Now then, there are romu leaves inside my cloak, so take those out.”

There were plenty of hidden pockets sewn into the inside of her cloak. And inside of one of them were several of what looked like nearly pitch-black maple leaves.

“It’s a medicinal herb, for reducing fever... Use a wooden spoon to pulverize that alongside just a bit of water... One leaf will be plenty...”

As she leaned up against the wall, Ai Fa’s voice steadily grew weaker. It honestly felt more like her temperature was on the rise than her having trouble dealing with the sharp pain.

“I mashed it. Do you drink this, then?” I asked, approaching Ai Fa and bringing the spoon up to her mouth.

She gulped down the now paste-like black leaf, grimacing like it was seriously gross.

“Alright... Now I’ll rest for a while. Wake me up for dinner.”

“What sort of food do you want to eat? We have gigo, so should I go and make the poitan into a soup too?”

“You should bake the poitan...” Ai Fa replied, pouting ever so slightly.

When I stared at her pained face, it felt like my heart was being crushed.

“Then how about the same menu as Granny Jiba? And if it’s too hard to eat, you can just add the hamburger and poitan to the soup.”

“...Yesterday was hamburgers, so is it really alright?”

“You don’t need to hold back at times like this, you dummy.”

As I said that, I soaked the leftover scrap of cloth in the water jug then firmly wrung it out so I could use it to wipe the sweat from Ai Fa’s face.

“Ah, that feels good,” she muttered, gently closing her eyes. “Having you here is such a help, Asuta... I suffered a similar injury around a year back, and it was a great struggle just to wrap my bandages...”

“...I’m just glad you didn’t get injured any worse.”

“Ah, that’s true. Injuries like this will heal in just a few days... So in that time, I’ll be relying on you a bit.”

“You can count on me as much as you need.”

I washed off the cloth using water I had ladled up, then placed it on her forehead. The water was naturally room temperature, but I still figured it was better than doing nothing.

“Well then, I’m sleeping... You carry out your own work.”

“Got it. If you need anything, then call for me right away, alright?” I replied, despite knowing that I wouldn’t let Ai Fa out of my sight.

A dislocation was no joking matter, but I really was glad she hadn’t suffered something she couldn’t recover from.

Just what would happen to me if I lost Ai Fa now? I couldn’t ever endure that reality, much less figure out how my day to day life would go.

Just how much resolve did the women of the forest’s edge need to see their men off to the forest each and every day?

“Don’t worry... I’ll be able to move without any issues from tomorrow on... There’s no need to fear the Suun clan...” Ai Fa muttered out of nowhere.

I had been heading towards the entrance to clean up my luggage, but with that I made a U-turn and leaned in over Ai Fa.

“I know. So you just take it easy and get your rest. Try to get better, even just a bit sooner, since I’m making you delicious food.”

With her eyes still closed, Ai Fa broke out in a slight smile.

“I want to eat hamburgers soon, Asuta...”

I gave a nod, wrapped both my arms around Ai Fa’s burning cheeks, then stood up to start preparing for dinner and the next day.