The other chefs promptly began forming a line in front of the scribe. After briefly glancing in that direction, Varkas approached me instead, with his apprentices following behind him. “That was a splendid display of skill, Sir Asuta. Despite Tatumai’s doubts, I believe I feel the same way Bozl does,” he said.
“Thank you. I’m really just trying to figure out how to make something close to a dish from my home country, so I don’t know if the people of Genos will appreciate it or not... But even if they don’t, I still want to try to find a way to cook it that I can be satisfied with.”
“What sort of dish are you referring to, exactly? Do you intend to pour broth over it in order to flavor it?”
“Huh? Yeah, that’s one of the ways of eating it. In my home country, we would add curry on top of it.”
Varkas had a tendency to get all worked up any time the topic of curry was raised, and judging from how his upper body was swaying, this time was no exception.
“Adding curry to shaska prepared in that way? I am terribly interested to see how that would turn out.” It seemed that curry was a really special dish for Varkas because there were so many different herbs used in it.
I was also able to spot a gleam in Tatumai’s eyes, which didn’t surprise me, since he had blood from Sym flowing through his veins.
“You previously added curry to your soba noodles, correct?” Varkas continued. “That made me think that curry could be added to shaska noodles as well, but it seems my assumptions were off the mark.”
“Oh, shaska noodles would probably go really well with curry too. But what I’m aiming for is something you would eat in a totally different way.”
While easterners might dislike my way of preparing shaska and consider it improper, I was very curious to see how they’d react to curry and shaska prepared in the style of curry with rice.
“It seems that everyone I need to speak to is here now, so would it be all right to complete the discussion I wished to have before you submit your requests for ingredients?” Polarth asked us from where he was standing a short distance away.
“Of course,” I replied. Then I turned to Varkas. “He wants to talk to us about the friendship banquet, apparently, so I guess this is goodbye, Varkas?”
“Yes. That has nothing to do with Tatumai or myself, so we will go wait in the carriage. If it were possible, I would have liked to attend the banquet as well.”
“I know. I hope you’ll get a chance to taste our cooking again, Varkas.”
Varkas gave a single nod, then looked around at the other chefs from the forest’s edge who had come with me. “The rest of you seem to have been quite diligent in your studies as well. As have you, Lady Myme,” Varkas said. Then he tilted his head uncertainly as he stared at Sheera Ruu. “My apologies if I am mistaken, but are you perhaps Lady Sheera Ruu?”
“Yes. I’m honored that you remember my name,” she replied with a gentle smile.
“Ah, good,” Varkas said with a small nod. “I have difficulty recalling faces, so I thought I might have been mistaken. Is this how your face has always looked?”
“M-My face? Yes, though I did have my hair cut recently.”
“Your hair? Yes, I understand now,” Varkas said with another nod, his face somewhat unreadable. “Lady Sheera Ruu, Lady Reina Ruu, and Ladies Toor Deen and Rimee Ruu who have prepared such wonderful treats for the noble ladies’ tea parties... With all of these fine chefs gathered, in addition to Sir Asuta himself, I have no doubt that the food at your banquet will be truly exquisite. I am quite jealous of my apprentices who will be able to enjoy it.”
“Indeed. I’m looking forward to the day when you’ll be able to eat our cooking again too, Varkas,” Reina Ruu replied, her voice steady yet full of passion. She must have been excited that Varkas had finally remembered her name. And honestly, that made me feel really proud too.
“Well then, I shall excuse myself here. I hope to see you all again eventually,” Varkas said, then he and Tatumai walked away toward the door. Polarth was waiting there for us, so we started moving that way too, only for Timalo to jog over to our group.
“Sir Asuta, are you in some sort of hurry?”
“Huh? Ah, yeah. Polarth has something he needs to talk to us about.”
“I see. In that case, there is something I would like to ask you now,” Timalo said, the look on his face oddly serious as he leaned in close to me. “I’ve heard that you served food to the observers again after the day when we did so together, Sir Asuta. How did that go?”
“Yes, I did. I’d say they seemed reasonably satisfied, but why do you ask?”
“I was concerned that they might have perhaps done something ill-mannered once again.”
Timalo was referring to the time when he and I had cooked a meal for them together and the observer Dregg had fed all the giba dishes I had prepared to his dog Jirube. After we had left the dining room, Timalo had been so indignant you would have thought it had been his own cooking that had been disrespected so blatantly.
“Yes, we managed to get that observer to have some giba meat that time. Karon was still more to his tastes, but he didn’t do anything rude.”
“I see,” Timalo said, stepping back. “That is good to hear. My apologies for taking up your time.”
“Ah, no, it makes me happy that you were worried for me like that,” I said with a smile from the bottom of my heart. Once again, Timalo looked like he was having trouble figuring out what kind of expression to make, but he settled on an awkward smile before hurrying off.