Cooking with Wild Game: Volume 3

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3404-5
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 333 Seiten

Reihe: Cooking with Wild Game

The climactic showdown with Donda Ruu may be over and done with, but that doesn't quite mean things have slowed down for our hero just yet! After all, the wedding of Guzraan Rutim and Ama Min is still looming large, and Asuta's being asked to cater! Will our hero accept this great responsibility, or is it simply too much for him to handle? And just what effect will it have on his relationship with the forest's edge if he does?
And that's not all, as this time around, Asuta's horizons expand out beyond the forest's edge! Just what sort of exciting new discoveries await him out in the wider world? And will he be able to handle the new trials and tribulations that accompany them? Plus, just who is this suspicious old-timer approaching him, anyway...?
Find out all this and more as Asuta faces these challenges both at home and away in the third volume of Cooking with Wild Game!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Eda

Weitere Mitwirkende

Kochimo

Warner, Matthew

Leseproben

All that didn’t matter at all right now, though.

“Damn, what the hell...? Ah, right, what about the old guy he was hassling?”

“That guy went and fled the moment that drunkard was sent flying, not even bothering to say thanks. It sure is a tough world, huh?”

I gritted my teeth, and then walked up towards the guards. At the same time, Doddo Suun’s dull eyes glanced my way. Then, a repulsive look of joy crossed his face.

“Guards of the city of stone... Apparently that kid there has been living at the forest’s edge, despite being a foreigner. He’s probably that fool’s comrade, so I bet he forced that girl there to say those ridiculous things about me, right?”

Now the tip of the spear that had been pointed at Doddo Suun was now facing my way.

“Hey, put that girl down.”

Instantly, the girl clung to my neck tight.

“No! My name is Tara, and this guy saved me! That man is the bad guy, so why won’t you believe me?!”

“That’s what we’re going to look into at the station. Now be a good girl and just head on home, alright?”

“I don’t want to!”

“Good grief. It’s thanks to all that red tape you throw up that you can’t earn respect from the people on the streets, right? I mean, I can’t exactly praise you all when you’re trying to avoid the hassle of chasing down the truth because it’s a pain dealing with the people of the forest’s edge.”

Naturally, that had come from the man in the long cloak butting in.

Thanks to everyone jumping in ahead of me, I actually hadn’t even had the chance to get a single word in, yet.

“And just who the heck are you? This has nothing to do with you, so you should butt out.”

“I may not have been involved, but I saw the whole thing from start to finish. And wouldn’t you say my testimony has more credibility and value precisely because I involved?” the man started in an arrogant tone, then continued on, “A man who was selling fruit here was together with a man who appeared to be another merchant and his friend. He pointed sneakily at that man from the forest’s edge, and they laughed for one reason or another. With that, this man’s face changed color and he grabbed that merchant-looking fellow, knocking down these boxes of fruit into the road as you can see. The fruit seller fled, and this man yelled out, ‘If you’ve got some sort of problem, then come out and say it! You’re all proud citizens of the city of stone, aren’t ya?!’”

A giggle slipped out of the girl in my arms. I mean, that just went to show how little seriousness there was behind the man’s voice.

“Huh? Was my impression of him bad? Well, whatever... So then, they started going back and forth. ‘I-I didn’t say anything!’ ‘You liar!’ ‘I mean it!’ ‘I heard you! The ears of the people of the forest’s edge aren’t like your rotten ones!’ ‘S-Somebody, save me!’ ‘Hey, why don’t you try saying that again? Who’s a “stinking giba eater,” huh? You said it was ruining the taste of your food, didn’t you? Why don’t you say that all again clearly so I can hear, you high and mighty stone city dweller?’ Anyway, I guess that’s about how it went.”

Amazingly, this lanky man seemed to have memorized that entire exchange.

The guards clearly looked to be at a loss, while Doddo Suun glared at the man with eyes like those of a wild dog. And Ai Fa... Ai Fa looked more puzzled than I had ever seen her.

“Then, this man tossed aside the container of wine he had been holding and drew the knife from his hip. Over there you can smell the sweet remains of that wine, and the knife fell over there, you see?”

Doddo Suun and the guards looked down by our feet, clearly taken aback. Sure enough, there was a knife without a guard lying there on the ground. And the empty leather sheath was still attached to Dodda Suun’s waist.

“That was when that woman got involved. She smacked him in the back of the head with her own container of fruit wine like Then, she calmly said, ‘If you like wine that much, then you can have mine too, you fool!’”

The girl couldn’t stifle her giggles any longer. Well, I could totally understand that, from the way he was mimicking everyone’s voices.

Though Ai Fa had just looked puzzled before, she was now wearing a clear scowl.

“And then she continued on, ‘There’s a strong taboo against causing a disturbance in the city of stone, you know. You bring shame to the forest’s edge.’ Well, that should be enough, right? Does that help out with your investigation?”

The guards turned back towards Doddo Suun again, looking annoyed.

“Son of the Suun clan, that’s what this man has to say, but—”

“It’s all nonsense! This is clearly slander!” Dodda Suun yelled out in a shrill shriek, his blue eyes going red.

He was obviously out of his depth.

“Then you’ll need to offer an explanation more consistent with the facts, right? I’m sure nobody here but you would deny what I said. If you’re calling me a liar, then could you explain what the circumstances were behind this wooden box being broken, this fruit wine container shattering, and your knife lying there on the road?”

His words were biting, but his expression and tone were just as easy-going as always.

It wasn’t like with Jiza Ruu, where I couldn’t read how he was feeling. This man was simply staying calm and composed. He just said what he was thinking, not getting particularly worked up in the least.

“...Very well. We’ll look into this more thoroughly at the station. You all will need to come with us.”

“Huh? Well, that’s going to be a problem. I mean, I’ve got an appointment with Duke Genos after this,” the man said, nonchalantly throwing out an unbelievable statement. The guards’ eyes opened so wide that it looked like they were about to pop out of their heads.

“I’m already past the arranged time, so being any later would be simply inexcusable. If you need me there, could it wait until after I’ve explained the gist of the situation to Duke Genos?”

“Just who are you...? Uh, sir?”

“There’s no need to be so tense. I’m just an upstanding member of the common townsfolk. A bodyguard who protects travelers, Kamyua Yoshu.”

With that, he presented the necklace he had on from inside his long cloak. It was a stone with a complex coloration like agate dangling from a silver chain. It really did look quite chic.

“We just happened to have a bit of a relationship, so when Duke Genos needs a bodyguard for a trip to the capital, that favor falls my way. It’s not like I have nobility, much less the crown, so there’s no reason to be so afraid around me... Ah, this is a pass into the Genos castle town that Duke Marstein Genos awarded me.”

Then, he pulled out a long silver plate-looking thing that shone far more radiantly than the coins from before. It was about the size of a credit card, and had an elegant design I didn’t recognize finely carved into it, as if to prove its honored and proper lineage.

When the guards saw that plate, their faces turned ghostly pale and they froze in place.

As all sorts of different gazes fell upon his lanky body, the man named Kamyua Yoshu gave a relaxed, pleasant smile.

6

“Man, I’m just glad things got settled peacefully, right?”

For some reason, that oddball Kamyua Yoshu guy was still hanging out talking to us, even after the guards left with Doddo Suun. We were currently where we had decided to sit before, in the empty space between the stalls. Ai Fa was as deadpan as usual while I’m sure I looked seriously troubled, but of course Kamyua Yoshu was shooting us a relaxed smile.

“...Allow me to offer my thanks for saving me from that predicament,” Ai Fa reluctantly forced out, then she gave a similarly strained bow.

“Don’t be so formal,” the man responded with a chuckle. “And it’s not exactly like I saved you, there. I just reported what I happened to see. That’s the obvious course of action as a citizen serving the Western God Selva, right?”

We avoided getting dragged off to the guards’ station or whatever. Doddo Suun was the only one who got taken along, but it wasn’t exactly like he was going to be punished for his actions.

“Well, it’s all good, right? I mean, a man of the forest’s edge was acting outrageously, and a woman from the same place got him under control. It’s definitely bad that he drew a blade, but there’s no reason to make this a bigger deal than it has to be, right?”

With Kamyua Yoshu’s words, the curtain had been closed on the whole incident.

In fact, Doddo Suun was only taken away under the pretext of temporarily keeping an eye on him until he sobered up.

The guards’ eyes seemed to be firmly telling us, “At any rate, you should hurry up and go back to the forest’s edge.”

And yet we didn’t do that, and were instead still here talking to this suspicious character.

“Um... Didn’t you have some important business to take care of too?” I asked, only for Kamyua Yoshu to shake his head.

“Don’t think so,” he responded. “Oh wait, do you mean the thing about Duke Genos? That was a...