Chapter 3: The Sledgehammer

1

Turning back the clock a bit, we first visited The Sledgehammer on the 18th day of the blue month. That meant it was two days after the whole commotion with the Suun clan had come to a close.

Things remained unstable at that point, so I figured it would be premature to try to expand my business at the moment, but selling food to an inn didn’t seem like it would impact folks from the west much at all. Plus, Shumiral’s group had less than half a month left in Genos at this point, so I decided to go ahead with it.

“Welcome, Asuta of the people of the forest’s edge. I’m truly honored to have you visit this establishment.”

The owner Nail had gone so far as to exit the inn in order to greet us.

From the place’s name I had been expecting an old man with a black beard or something, but he was a young man who had to be less than 30. His hair was dark brown, his eyes reddish-brown, and his skin ivory-white. He had a flat face and a medium build that was typical for a westerner. The one thing that really made him stand out was the fact that he was expressionless and taciturn like an easterner.

“I certainly look forward to working with you, too... Ah, and I’m sorry for coming at such a busy time.”

It was just a bit past when the sun hit its peak at the moment. I couldn’t tell when I would be done with my work at The Great Southern Tree, so I had chosen to head out as soon as Li Sudra came to replace me at the stalls.

However, the reticent owner simply shook his head and said, “It isn’t especially busy. Now then, please come this way. I’ll show you to the kitchen.”

The Sledgehammer turned out to be a bit of a unique place. Rather than being along the lively stone highway, it was tucked away down a side street filled with private houses. It was a two-story building but it was rather small, and I never would have guessed it was an inn if not for the sign.

“Well then, we’ll be going. Thanks again, Shumiral,” I said, giving a bow to the man who had led us this far.

However, the silver-haired youth from the eastern kingdom just narrowed his eyes, causing him to look ever so slightly sad.

“Asuta, am I, a hindrance?”

“Huh? No, that’s not it at all. But you’re busy, aren’t you?”

“I would like, to watch...”

He was about half a head taller than me, and was already head of his merchant group at such a young age, but every once in a while he looked almost a bit childish. And this was certainly one of those times.

“I mean, I’d certainly find it reassuring to have you along, but...” I started to reply.

Shumiral’s eyes narrowed in a slightly different way, and he gave a nod.

“I will watch.”

In my head I interpreted that as a happy narrowing of his eyes, but I wasn’t sure what he was really feeling.

At any rate, we all went ahead and crowded into The Sledgehammer. There were four in our group: me, Shumiral, Vina Ruu, and Shin Ruu, who was acting as a bodyguard.

The commotion with the Suun clan had settled down, but things remained complicated with the folks from the castle, and there was that mob from two days back. And so, just Shin and Ludo Ruu remained on as bodyguards for the time being.

I tried asking if they were okay in terms of their hunting work, but apparently they were currently hitting an off season for giba showing up around the Ruu and Rutim settlements. No matter what part of the forest’s edge you lived in, such periods came around three times a year, leading to a half a month or so of rest.

It would be a bit longer till the Ruu clan truly entered into that rest period, and they would be holding a festival of the hunt on the first day of it. However, it would be a few more days before Donda Ruu would ask me to man the stove for that event.

Of course, I had no idea about any of that when I followed Nail into The Sledgehammer. And the instant I did, I was like “Whoa.”

Along the right-hand wall was a reception desk, and right behind it hung the head of some large animal over a door. It must have been stuffed and mounted. At any rate, it looked sort of like a deer or a goat, and it rose out from the wall from the neck up.

“That sure is impressive. What’s that animal called?”

“It is an animal that lives in the eastern kingdom, called a gyama,” the owner Nail calmly responded.

It had a long, protruding snout, and there were horns jutting out on either side of its head like a buffalo. The head was about as big as a human’s, and the curved horns were probably around 40 centimeters long. Its fur was a splendid jet black, and it had a long beard dangling from its neck.

“The people of the east eat gyama. However, it’s rare to get a chance to do so here in the western kingdom,” Nail added as he opened the door behind the reception desk.

It seemed pretty common for inns to connect directly to the kitchen from here. Perhaps it was because they also took orders for food at the desk.

By the way, at least from what I could spy from the reception desk, there didn’t seem to be any customers in the first floor dining room. I figured the folks staying here must have eaten from the stalls during the day, like with the other inns I had seen.

Beckoned inside by a call of, “Go ahead,” I stepped through the door and found a kitchen just as snug as the rest of the place. It looked to be around ten square meters large, with two stoves along the far wall with a pot atop each. Then, there were various cooking utensils dangling from the wooden wall, making for what was pretty much the default kitchen setup.

There was a workstation set up in the center of the room, and on the left-hand wall was an open shelf stuffed with tableware. Meanwhile, to the right there were two water jugs. Yes, it was a truly simple kitchen, full of the aroma of herbs and meat.

However, it had a nice feel to it, somehow.

I felt you could really tell a lot about a person’s character from how they kept their kitchen. And so, though I wasn’t really acquainted with the young inn owner Nail at all, I could feel myself warming up to him a bit.

“Let’s start by going over the conditions,” Nail calmly stated. “I’ll want between 20 and 30 meals. As for the contents, it should be a dish using giba meat. The price when not using fuwano will be two red coins per meal. And we will begin the day after tomorrow... How many days should the contract be for, though?”

“Right... I currently have my deal with The Great Southern Tree going till the last day of the blue month, so could we match up with that? And then form a new contract again for next month.”

“Very well. The period of time will be for the 20th through the 31st. If any of those days end up proving inconvenient for you, then please let me know before the sun hits its peak. If you alert me after that time, there will be a penalty of one white coin. Does that sound fair?”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me.”

“Well then, that leaves the matter of what the dish will be. You said you wished to serve something different than what you sold at your stalls, correct?”

“That’s right. My cooking using Jagar-made tau oil has gotten quite a favorable reception at The Great Southern Tree, so if at all possible I would like to make a dish with an ingredient from Sym, to better suit the taste of your customers from the east.”

“I see. I suppose it wouldn’t be all that worthwhile to be selling the same dish both in the middle of the day and at night. And so, I would also feel grateful if you could do so,” the owner replied, as expressionless as always. We had been asked strongly to come, but I couldn’t sense any of the passion Shumiral had mentioned coming from the man. “Still, an ingredient from Sym, is it...? Perhaps because the nation is further than Jagar, they don’t show up about town as often.” Even so, Nail headed to the back of the room, then returned with two ingredients from the pantry. One was a small bundle wrapped in cloth, while the other was a bundle large enough to be a big armful. “This is dried milk.”

“Dried milk?”

“It is an ingredient made by drying gyama milk. It’s just as nourishing as the beast’s meat.”

That had been my introduction to the ingredient that would later serve such a key role in Lala Ruu’s birthday dinner.

“That smell! It’s cheese, isn’t it?!”

“Cheese?”

“Yeah. That’s what they called it back where I come from, at least. Man, to think I’d find cheese in this worl— Er, here in Genos.”

“Dried milk is almost never sold in the post town. Generally, gyama and karon dried milk can only be purchased in the castle town. However, I buy it specially from merchants of Sym that I’m acquainted with.”

“The Silver Vase, also sold him, dried milk,” Shumiral chimed in, and Nail gave a vacant nod. Of course, both of them remained calm and expressionless all the while.

On our side we also had Shin Ruu, who was quiet and not overly expressive either. And so, it hadn’t taken long for Vina Ruu to get bored and start fidgeting with the tips of her chestnut colored hair.

“Gyama dried milk is an everyday item in Sym, but it doesn’t show up in the western kingdom often, so it commands a rather high price. And since there’s only so much of it to be had in general, it doesn’t seem all that suited to dishes meant to be sold. Even I purchase it purely for my own use.”

“It’s expensive? How much does it cost?”

“20 red coins for one around this size.”

I see. It was about 15 centimeters in diameter and five thick, so that price certainly made it quite a luxury item. If I went and used it carelessly, it could easily send production costs skyrocketing.

“Still, it sure is tempting. Could I possibly buy some to use personally?”

“I could yield this one bundle to you. Would you like to try a taste?”

“Yes, please!” Unheated gyama cheese had a mild yet rich flavor, like salty Camembert cheese. “Man, this is tasty! Please let me buy it! Ah, do you two want to taste it too...?” I asked Shin and Vina Ruu, but they just shook their heads. I guess it just wasn’t in the nature of the people of the forest’s edge to show an interest in such luxury items. “Well then, what’s this one?”

“These are called chitt seeds.”

When he undid the bundle, I spied what looked like bright red soybeans packed tightly inside. That coloring made them look seriously spicy, and they gave off a pretty powerful smell, too. Yeah, this was definitely a spice. From the smell, I was guessing they were something like red peppers.

“They seem spicy. Do folks from Sym like spicy foods?”

“Yes. Chitt seeds, are very important,” Shumiral answered. “Gyama meat, has a strong, stench. Even more, than giba meat. And so, we eat it, with chitt seeds. Also... I am fond of, pickled chitt.”

“Pickled chitt? You do that with meat?”

“No, with vegetables.”

“Pickled chitt refers to tino and the like pickled in chitt and salt,” Nail added.

“Ooh, that sounds delicious.”

Nail gave a single nod, then disappeared into the pantry again. When he showed back up, he was holding a small wooden plate in his hands. Two bites worth of tino soaked in a bright red sauce sat atop it.

Tino was a vegetable that closely resembled cabbage. It was so light of a green that it was nearly white, and was chopped up to just the right size, drizzled in red chitt sauce, then sprinkled with little dark green vegetables that reminded me of garlic chives, which were diced up even smaller.

Thanks to its appearance and that sour yet spicy smell, it seemed just like kimchi to me.

“It certainly smells good. There’s chitt and myamuu... and is that some sort of fish sauce?”

“Fish sauce...? Pickled chitt uses salted maru.”

“Maru?”

“Yes. Maru is a type of small shelled animal gathered from rivers. Westerners like eating salted maru alongside alcohol. And at my place, I use it as an ingredient in pickled chitt,” Nail stated matter-of-factly. “Ingredients from Sym are rather difficult to get ahold of here in Genos. And so, I tried to recreate the taste of pickled chitt using western ingredients... I pickle the tino in salt overnight, then make the sauce from chitt, salted maru, myamuu, diced pepe leaves, and grated ramam.”

It was a serious onslaught of unfamiliar names there. I had probably seen the things at shops around town, but there were so many ingredients I didn’t know the name of, much less the taste. I still had an awful lot I needed to learn.

At any rate, the pickled chitt was right there in front of me, here and now. And when I gave it a bite, it turned out to be just as spicy and sour as I had expected.

It had a complex and stimulating, yet also rich aroma and flavor to it. The strong scent of myamuu and delicious animal protein taste seriously spurred on my appetite. And the heavily pickled tino was soft and supple, with a texture every bit as exquisite as napa cabbage.

As for the heat, well, it was certainly spicy. I’d probably end up hurting my tongue if I ate too much of it. However, the aftertaste was actually rather refreshing. Yes, it certainly didn’t fall short of the kimchi I was familiar with. Plus, it had seriously been some time since I had tasted any sourness, too.

“How was it? There are westerners who are quite fond of such spiciness, too.”

“It was delicious. I seriously loved it. But still... it probably costs quite a bit too, doesn’t it?”

“No, pickled chitt is ultimately just a side dish. Customers generally don’t wish to eat a lot of it, so I fill up small plates like this and charge half a red coin.”

“I see... So you don’t add pickled chitt to meat dishes or stews, then?”

“Not just chitt, but pickled chitt? I don’t believe even easterners eat it like that.”

“Is that so? So they wouldn’t be too open to that sort of dish?” I asked Shumiral.

The youth silently shook his head.

“That sounds, unusual. But I, would be interested.”

“I see.”

With that, my brain started racing with recipes like pork kimchi and kimchi hot pot.

Perhaps those would be too simple, but I had placed a restriction on myself for this job: keeping the cooking time to a minimum.

I had never expected I would end up getting work from another inn so quickly, which is why I went ahead with cubed giba meat stew for The Great Southern Tree. I didn’t exactly regret that choice, but it took quite a bit of time to prepare the dish. Currently it took two and a half hours, but even as I grew accustomed to the process, I couldn’t see myself getting it below two hours.

So, including preparations and cleanup, my work time in the post town came out to around six and a half hours. If I spent much more of my time preparing food for inns, I may well no longer be able to work the stalls at all.

It was ultimately down to my personal preferences, but I found the thought of leaving the work of directly interacting with customers in the stalls solely to the women rather sad. And so, my secret goal was to come up with a dish for The Sledgehammer that wouldn’t take too long to prepare.

“Well then, if I come up with a dish that uses pickled chitt, would it be possible to purchase what I need from The Sledgehammer?”

“Ah, so you’re talking about purchasing the pickled chitt I make to use in your cooking? That’s a rather interesting proposal.”

“If that doesn’t work, though, I can always come up with a dish using fresh chitt.”

“No, I would be overjoyed to have more customers enjoy my pickled chitt. And I’m truly intrigued by what sort of dish it will be, too.”

Even as he said that, the face of The Sledgehammer’s owner remained completely expressionless.

2

“And so, I’ve come up with new dishes!”

That night, I wasted no time in having Ai Fa try out my new creations.

Rather than pork kimchi, I made giba chitt, and in place of kimchi stew, I prepared chitt stew. Faced with the bright red meat dish and soup, Ai Fa wore a complex expression on her face.

“Asuta, let me say just one thing.”

“What is it, Ai Fa?”

“I’m well aware of your skills at manning the stove, but... This food appears to have gone rotten.”

“Ah, yeah, I can certainly see that. But it’s alright! Decay and fermentation are totally different. It’s like how fruit wine is sour, and it’s definitely not bad for you!”

“If you say so, then I’m sure it’s true,” Ai Fa replied, but she didn’t really seem to be reaching for her bowl.

There shouldn’t have been any issues in terms of appearance. After all, tarapa is already plenty red, so I felt I just had to worry about the strong sour scent.

And I personally felt that it had come out pretty darn good. I had used sirloin for the giba chitt, and tau oil on top of the pickled chitt as my secret ingredient, then added just a touch more myamuu. As for the vegetables I heated up alongside it, I went with thinly sliced aria and pula cut into strips. Since pula resembled bell peppers, and the garlic chive-esque pepe leaves were already part of the pickled chitt, they added a nice vibrant green to the dish.

As for the chitt stew, I slowly cooked up some cubed shoulder meat and thinly sliced thigh meat, then added enough tau oil to be a main flavor in the dish rather than just a secret ingredient, making for a rich, full flavor. For vegetables, I went with aria and tino. It was a shame that I hadn’t yet found any substitutes for napa cabbage, tofu, or konnyaku noodles, but the stock from the giba meat went so well with the spiciness of the chitt that I honestly couldn’t stop myself from drooling.

“Still, I’m well aware that the people of the forest’s edge tend not to like overly strong flavors, so you probably won’t have built up a tolerance for spiciness and sourness. So I went ahead and prepared normal grilled meat and soup, and this is just for a taste test. But won’t you please give it at least a bite?”

Ai Fa didn’t respond.

“Ah, if you don’t want to that badly, you don’t have to force yourself to eat it...”

“Who said I wouldn’t eat it?” That got her going. She decisively reached for the plate with the chitt stew. But just sniffing it up close was enough to cause her gallant-looking eyebrows to droop listlessly.

“H-Hey, you really don’t need to push yourself. I only made a single person’s worth of each dish to start with, so if it’s too much for you I can finish it all off myself.”

“I told you, it’s fine!”

Ai Fa’s eyebrows raised back up, and she grabbed ahold of her spoon. Then, she scooped up a bit of bright red soup and giba meat and bit down, only for all emotion to vanish from her face, as if she were from Sym.

“What do you think...?”

Ai Fa silently sat down at the plate. Remaining completely expressionless, she chewed away at the contents of her mouth.

I anxiously watched over her while wondering if it was alright, and before long Ai Fa beckoned me over with a single finger. It seemed like a rather rude gesture for her, but I went ahead and scooted over her way, only for a sharp swing to smack me in the back of the head.

“Ow! What are you hitting me—?” I started to complain, only to hold my tongue.

Something was clearly different. Ai Fa was covering her mouth with both hands, her eyes were tearing up, her face had gone bright red, and her legs were fidgeting where she sat.

“Ow! That’s hot! It’s like there’s a fire in my mouth! What in the world did you make me eat?!”

“Ah, er, sorry...”

“Sorry’s not good enough!”

Ai Fa stood up and almost flew over to the water jug next to the stove.

“Ah, Ai Fa, drinking water probably won’t get rid of the spiciness.”

I had heard that to neutralize the spiciness of chili peppers, it was best to go with something full of lactic acid, like a lassi. And from my personal experience, a hot tea was also effective. The habanero fried rice I had once made half as a joke ended up super hot, and so I ended up gulping down warm tea that my childhood friend Reina suggested, and was amazed to find how well it put out the fire in my mouth.

Meanwhile, cold water would not only fail to deal with the spiciness, it could even amplify it. It would bring relief while drinking it, but once that coolness wore off, even more heat would spread throughout your mouth. I didn’t exactly understand the logic behind it, but apparently the spice from peppers wouldn’t dissolve in water, and so it just spread more spiciness throughout your mouth when you tried to rinse it out.

But regardless of all that, my beloved clan head ladled out several scoops of water and gulped them down, collapsed to the floor with relief... and then in no time at all was holding her mouth and twitching her legs again.

“A-Ai Fa, try eating some of this ordinary soup! It’s a little hot, but the giba fat may help wash away the spiciness!”

With that, she came rushing back over my way with incredible speed. However, she didn’t even look at the soup I was pointing to. Instead, with tears in her eyes, she rained down blows upon my head. She may well have been holding back plenty, but she still possessed the strength of a hunter. And so, it honestly felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my head.

Around a minute or so later, my clan head was slumped on the floor breathing heavily, while I leaned against the wall with a mild concussion.

“That’s the first time I thought I was going to die from eating something...”

“I’m seriously sorry, from the depths of my heart...”

After another minute’s worth of rest, we got back to eating dinner.

“I’m going to put a strict ban on the people of the forest’s edge regarding chitt. Thanks to your efforts, a great number of your brethren may have been saved, Ai Fa... Well, I guess I’m the only one who would bring such a thing here anyway, though.”

“Hmph!”

“Ah, I really am sorry. And look! I’ve got meat and soup ready for you, too!”

It was the standard thick slice of sirloin steak coated in fruit wine sauce. As for the soup, it had a mild flavor and was made with tau oil.

As for me, I had the bright red giba chitt and chitt stew sitting in front of me.

I hadn’t imagined I really would end up needing to eat all of it...

My myamuu giba and cubed giba meat stew had received criticism for their overwhelming flavor, but this was the first time I had seen her completely give up on a dish. I was a bit down over having to eat the whole chitt-filled dinner myself, but more than that, I was just plain bummed to have Ai Fa reject my cooking.

Well, I’ve just got to take this as a good learning experience. From here on out, I should make my test dishes in smaller portions, I thought to myself as I sipped on the chitt stew.

It was certainly spicy. But it was tasty, too.

Apparently, incorporating the tau oil had proved a big success. My mouth was of course filled with a spicy heat, but it wasn’t overly sharp, so it didn’t drown out the delicious flavor of the dish.

The tino from the pickled chitt was all mushy and soft, while the fresh tino I added later remained crisp and crunchy. They were the same ingredient but had a completely different feel, and seemed to go rather well together.

I had added a heaping helping of aria, too, but around half of it seemed to have dissolved. However, that helped to provide further depth to the soup, too. Aria really was a wonderful ingredient, and not just for its high nutritional value.

As for the all-important giba meat, I boiled it for around 80% as long as usual, just enough so that the shoulder and thigh meat, which were on the tougher side, still became soft enough by the end. I couldn’t shave down the boiling time any further though, so the dish’s prep time may have been a bit over the time limit needed for serving at The Sledgehammer.

Hmm, which one would be more to the owner’s taste, I wonder... I’m finding it hard to judge which dish is better, honestly.

After giving my mouth a bit of a break by eating some baked poitan, I went ahead and grabbed the plate of giba chitt.

This was also a simple dish designed to make the ingredients in it really shine. I had adjusted the taste a bit with myamuu and tau oil, but I had essentially just sautéed up giba meat and pickled chitt.

I used up a large amount of rib meat when making cubed giba meat stew and myamuu giba, so for the giba chitt, I went with loin meat. That was the softest of the cuts, and I had taken care cutting around the hips where there were the most tendons, so it should have been perfectly suited to such a dish.

At any rate, I went ahead and tossed a bit of giba meat with a heaping helping of aria and chitt into my mouth.

It had a suitable texture, and was plenty tasty, too.

The giba meat had a wonderful presence to it that in no way lost out to the powerful spiciness of the pickled chitt. And the bitterness from the bell pepper-esque pula mixed in here and there provided a real lovely accent.

In terms of seasonings, all we had in the Fa house was rock salt, pico leaves, myamuu, and fruit wine, but a few days ago I got ahold of tau oil, and today I got these chitt seeds. Suddenly, the number of taste variations I could achieve had expanded dramatically, which sort of left my tongue and stomach feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel truly happy.

“Hmm? What is it, Ai Fa?” I asked, as she was tugging on my vest.

Her face was looking a bit frightening again for some reason.

“Give me that.”

“By ‘that,’ do you mean this giba chitt? But it’s just as spicy as that chitt stew.”

“But I still haven’t eaten that dish.”

“Ah, but you really don’t have to go pushing yourself.”

“Just hand it over already.”

The way her brow and nose wrinkled reminded me of a growling wildcat.

And so, having no choice, I held out the plate.

“I’m begging you, just don’t hit me because it’s spicy, alright?”

“So annoying...” Ai Fa muttered, and then glared at the giba chitt as if it was some hated enemy who murdered her parents. After a few more seconds of hesitation, she bit down on the spoonful of meat dyed bright red.

It didn’t take long at all for her to tear up again as she chewed. However, rather than running wild like last time, she instead simply sipped the giba soup.

Then, as she bit into a baked poitan, Ai Fa suddenly muttered with teary eyes, “Hand over that one, too.”

“Huh? The chitt stew? There’s no need for you to punish yourself that much.”

“Stop blathering and just do it.”

Without even being given a chance to argue, the chitt stew was also snatched away from me.

After a few more seconds of hesitation, Ai Fa took a bite of that, too. And sure enough, her eyes were left awfully wet.

“H-Hey, Ai Fa, are you alright?”

“It’s nothing...” she muttered, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She seriously looked like a small child at the moment. “Alright. I’ll eat half, and so will you.”

“Huuuuuuh?! That’s totally nuts! I’m telling you, you really don’t need to push yourself!”

“I’m doing nothing of the sort. I simply want to eat it.” As she said that, she was biting into a baked poitan to cleanse her palate, which left the statement feeling rather unpersuasive. I mean, I felt sad to have Ai Fa reject my cooking, but I certainly didn’t want her to force herself like this. “What’s with that face...? Are you not going to let me eat it even when I tell you I want to?”

“No, but...”

“I really do want to eat it. When I do, it hurts the inside of my mouth and causes me to tear up, yet I still want more for some reason. It’s like I’ve been hit by some sort of wicked curse,” Ai Fa said, taking another bite of the giba chitt.

Wait, was she not worrying about my feelings, but instead caught up in the addictive nature of spicy foods?

“Ow... Asuta, my lips aren’t swelling, are they?” Ai Fa asked, suddenly bringing her face real close to mine. Her lovely pink lips shone, looking just a bit moist.

“Your lips are just as wonderful as always.”

That earned me a smack to the temple.

“To start with, you just looked to be enjoying it so much that I couldn’t help but want to eat it, too! What troublesome dishes you’ve gone and made!”

“Still, if you really do think it’s tasty, then I’m glad.”

“I honestly can’t tell if it is or not. But I can’t help wanting to eat more.” Then, as she sipped more chitt stew, her eyes teared up and she muttered, “It really does hurt, though...”

3

After the sun hit its peak the following day, I had arrived at The Sledgehammer with the same group as before.

“Sorry for the wait, but these are the dishes I made with the pickled chitt.”

With that, I placed two plates each in front of Nail and Shumiral, who were standing there expressionlessly.

For the chitt stew, I reheated what I had made at home, whereas the giba chitt was prepared fresh here in this kitchen.

When it was heated up, the aroma of the pickled chitt was seriously amplified. And though Vina and Shin Ruu maintained polite, neutral expressions, they casually evacuated over towards the window.

“I see. These certainly are different from dishes made with raw chitt. I look forward to trying them,” Nail stated, grabbing his plate of giba chitt. “Still, doesn’t purchasing the pickled chitt from me add quite a bit to the cost of ingredients? Will you be able to turn a profit like this?”

“Yes. The cost of making these dishes is around double that of my other ones, but it would take a good bit longer to prepare something using raw chitt, so I figured it would be good to go with this.”

Using raw chitt seeds would certainly bring my costs down quite a bit. However, I figured it would require quite a bit of experimentation to come up with dishes that could match these ones that used Nail’s homemade pickled chitt.

Of course, I did intend to try my hand at coming up with such dishes from here on out. After all, I didn’t want to just rest on my laurels because I could get giba meat for so cheap right now, and go around treating costs as some sort of secondary concern.

And besides, Shumiral would be leaving Genos in less than half a month. And so, I wanted to present him with the best possible dish, here and now. That was another reason I was going forward with the giba chitt and chitt stew.

“Well then, thank you for this food.”

Nail and Shumiral both picked up their spoons, and the two of them started with the giba chitt.

And after eating that one bite, Shumiral’s narrow eyes opened wider than I had ever seen before. However, rather than offering any impressions, he instead grabbed the chitt stew and sipped some, then silently closed his eyes.

“What do you think?” I hesitantly questioned.

That was instantly drowned out by the loud shout of, “Delicious!” though.

Naturally, that had come from Nail rather than Shumiral. The inn owner was standing there trembling as he held the plate of giba chitt.

“What a striking flavor! It really is the taste of my pickled chitt, but that’s not all, is it? Myamuu? Is that what you added?”

Mere seconds ago the man had been just as expressionless as Shumiral, but now he was facing me with a look of clear astonishment.

“Ah, y-yes, that’s right. And I also used a bit of tau oil.”

“Tau oil, is it?! Hmm, this is delicious! Still, the real clincher is clearly the giba meat! It just goes perfectly with the pickled chitt!” With that, Nail grabbed hold of the chitt stew and audibly slurped some down. “This is great, too! The flavor has such depth to it! It’s completely and utterly different from a stew made by just adding crushed chitt seeds! I never imagined pickled chitt could be used like this... Ah, it’s so good! I feel like I could eat plate after plate of it!”

“I-I’m honored.”

As I stood there utterly dumbfounded, Nail finished gulping down the chitt stew in no time flat. I didn’t know if it was from his excitement or the spiciness of the chitt seeds, but his pale skin had gone bright red and he was sweating heavily.

“This is absolutely certain to make my customers happy! Ahh, to think my pickled chitt could be used to make such dishes! You’re just as skilled a chef as I had heard, Asuta! I must give my thanks to both the western god Selva and the eastern god Sym for having been given the chance to meet you! This cooking is just so—!” Nail exclaimed, only to suddenly snap back to his senses and turn in a panic towards Shumiral.

The youth from Sym looked back at the inn owner with just as expressionless of a face as always.

“I-I’m so sorry! I went and so openly exposed my emotions in front of you, a customer from the east...”

“It is, no issue. You are, a precious friend, Nail,” Shumiral calmly responded. Even so, Nail remained red-faced and hanging his head.

“What did you think, Shumiral?” I threw out there, feeling a little awkward thanks to the long silence.

The man from Sym turned my way, his eyes narrowed even more than Jiza Ruu’s.

“It was, very delicious... More so, than any other dish, I have tasted.”

With that, for the first time ever, I saw the corners of his thin lips lift up ever so slightly, forming a clear yet subtle and gentle smile.

“I am also, embarrassed to show, such emotion... But it is, very tasty.”

“Th-Thank you very much.”

I could feel a bit of a lump forming in my throat.

Meanwhile, Nail had pulled out a hand towel to wipe away his sweat, then stated, “Ah, that really was a surprise,” sounding like he had mostly regained his composure. “They’re both delicious. I honestly don’t feel like I could choose between them. Would it be possible to offer both, changing each day?”

“I don’t mind, but this soup dish requires time to boil. If it’s alright, I would prefer if you could keep heating it with a light flame until the meat gets soft after I finish up and leave...”

“That’s no issue. I’ll turn a profit just from you buying thirty orders of pickled chitt each day, so I’ll gladly accept that task.”

Apparently, the number had been set at 30 meals at some point.

And with that, my work with The Sledgehammer was fully set in place.

“You’re an unusual man, Asuta. What’s a chef like you doing in the post town? Do you perhaps come from a castle town somewhere?”

“Ah, no, I wasn’t born anywhere that grand. It’s just that back where I come from, it wasn’t rare at all for someone to make a living as a chef.”

“My apologies if this is too personal of a question, but where were you born? It must have been somewhere in the western kingdom, right?”

It was my first time in a while getting that question.

“I don’t come from this continent. I was actually born in an island nation known as Japan. And I don’t know how, but one day I suddenly woke up in the forest of Morga.”

“Japan... I haven’t heard of it. The Northern Kingdom of Mahyudra is the only one with ties to anyone from overseas though, right?”

“Is that so? I honestly don’t have even the slightest idea how I ended up here on this continent.”

Nail tilted his head and looked puzzled, while Shumiral narrowed his eyes and seemed to be thinking. Somehow, that made me feel real nervous.

“Well, it certainly makes sense to me that you weren’t born here in the western nation. I suppose that’s how you’re able to live at the forest’s edge without any problems, and get along so well with the people there,” Nail stated, maintaining a polite neutral expression, but now seeming quite a bit more talkative than when I first met him. “I think that’s simply wonderful. When I was young I visited Sym and was entranced by the wondrous culture I saw, but I wasn’t able to bring myself to abandon the western god and move there. But still, I can’t help but think... Why aren’t the people of the four great kingdoms more able to compromise with one another?”

“Ah, but the western kingdom is friendly with both Sym and Jagar, isn’t it?”

“That’s certainly true. But that doesn’t mean that their citizens can become family. If a child is born between them, then they have to choose a god and be raised without either their father or their mother.”

That was my first time hearing that.

With that, Nail broke out in a thin, awkward grin.

“And so, even though I had decided if I were to take a wife she would be an easterner, I couldn’t work up the resolve to either give up the western god or force her to give up her god. That’s how I ended up still unmarried at this age.”

In that case, the owner of The Great Southern Tree, Naudis, had to have a rather complex background, having both southern and western heritage. I had thought such hardships were limited to people born of enemy nations, like how Kamyua Yoshu was a child of both the west and north.

“Thanks to that, I’ve had a strong interest in you for a while now, seeing how you overcame such barriers and live as a person of the forest’s edge. To be frank, I was jealous of how freely you acted, but... You were never a child of the four gods to begin with, were you?” Then, Nail brought his face in rather close. “Abandoning a god isn’t something just anyone can bring themselves to do. That’s surely why the people of the forest’s edge have lived with such misfortune, having abandoned Jagar to become children of Selva. And that fact always pained me greatly. But Asuta, you have no god, and I’m sure you coming to them will prove a great turning point. Please, continue guiding them towards a better fate.”

“All I’m capable of doing is cooking food, though...”

“Isn’t that plenty?” Nail replied, this time unable to hold back his smile. There was enough warmth behind it that I couldn’t help but wonder if he would be better off not forcing himself to be so expressionless.

◇

After that, we wrapped up at The Sledgehammer without any further incidents of note, and then left the place with time to spare.

As we walked down the small path, there were occasional passersby, though not as much as on the main road.

But at any rate, Shumiral quietly called out as we went, “So Asuta, you are not, from this continent?”

“Huh? Yeah, that’s right. I guess I hadn’t really had a chance to bring that up...” I believe I had mentioned I came from a country called Japan, but I must not have gone so far as to explain that it wasn’t on this continent. In my mind, folks wouldn’t care one way or another about stuff like that, but Shumiral looked listless for some reason when he heard. “Sorry. Should I have brought it up sooner? I wasn’t really trying to hide it or anything...”

“No. Where you were born, doesn’t matter. I think of you, as a foreign friend. But now, I understand a bit, why you seem, so mysterious... Asuta, your star, can’t be seen.”

“Star?”

“My comrade, reads the stars. He saw, the fell star, disappear. But he could not, find your star.” I could spy his beautifully shining black eyes behind his narrowed eyelids, staring thoughtfully my way. “I was worried, about your future. So I tried, to have that comrade, read your star. However, he couldn’t do so... He said, you do not exist.”

“That’s...” I started to argue, but then I stopped.

It felt like a concern I kept buried deep inside was suddenly bubbling up. But before I could firmly grasp it, Shumiral suddenly grabbed hold of my hand.

“But you, do exist, Asuta. You are, my precious friend... As long as, you will, accept me, as such.”

“I think of you as a precious friend, too, Shumiral.” My face was stiffening up, but I forced myself to smile. “Perhaps this isn’t the sort of thing I should be saying to a customer, but I’ve felt that way for some time now. It makes me very sad to think that we’ll have to say farewell in just ten more days or so.”

“Even apart, we will still, be friends. And the Silver Vase, will return, to Genos. Even after, returning to Sym, we will come back, to Genos, many times. I will, look forward, to seeing you again.”

At the end of the blue month, the merchant group that Shumiral led would leave Genos to continue doing business throughout the western kingdom. They would finish up by heading to the capital and then returning to Genos in half a year’s time. Then, they were set to return to their home country of Sym.

As long as we both kept on living, we would have countless opportunities to see one another.

Yes, as long as we lived...

And, as long as I wasn’t flung into some other world again.

Still, even if that did happen...

I would surely never forget the people I met here.

Even if I was sent to another new world, or even returned to my old one and met my end in that blazing inferno, until the moment my consciousness burned up, I would never forget this life I lived and the people I met. With that determination burning anew in my chest, I smiled back at Shumiral.

“Thank you. No matter how far apart we may be, I’ll always keep on praying for your safety.”

“This feels sort of like watching a man and woman exchange vows, somehow...” Vina Ruu chimed in from the side, sulking quite a bit. “Besides, you all are staying in town for over ten more days, aren’t you...?”

“Yes. We will be here, till the end, of the blue month.” Shumiral’s eyes narrowed and he looked a bit troubled as he let go of my hand. “We have, 12 more days. I would be glad, to get to eat, your cooking throughout, Asuta.”

“Right. I’ll strive my hardest to make something good and tasty for you each and every day.”

Perhaps it was none of my business, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he had given up on Vina Ruu.

And then, I thought that over again. Shumiral and Vina Ruu were born serving different gods. At least officially, the people of the forest’s edge were citizens of the Western Kingdom of Selva, after all.

If the two of them got together, then one of them would have to change gods. And I had just heard from Nail how difficult of a matter that really was.

And besides, Shumiral was the leader of a merchant group with ties to Genos castle and even the western capital, while Vina Ruu was the eldest daughter of one of the clan heads now leading the forest’s edge. Abandoning a god also meant casting aside that position and status... as well as a great many comrades. It certainly wasn’t something that could be done lightly.

Wait, I don’t even know for certain if Shumiral has feelings for Vina Ruu to begin with, so what point is there to me worrying about it?

But on the off chance that my hunch was true, all I could do was pray that things turned out in a way that wouldn’t leave anyone feeling devastated.

Even if they had different gods, they still were born in the same world, weren’t they? So if they couldn’t find happiness, then my future sure looked awful bleak.

And so, even though it wasn’t quite in my nature, I prayed deep down in my heart that my precious friends had a bright path stretching out ahead of them.