Reina Ruu then spoke up again, joining our conversation. “Um, have the two of you had this dish yet? If not, please give it a try.”
“Hmm? I don’t remember trying this soup dish, so we’ll take you up on that.”
Reina Ruu gave a single nod in response, then served up two bowls of stew. Shilly Rou accepted it nonchalantly, but then she got a gleam in her eyes as she brought it close to her nose. “This soup is nenon-based, is it? It also seems to use a number of herbs from Sym and karon milk... Hmm, and you seem to have employed mamaria wine as well,” she noted.
With a competitive look in her eyes, Reina Ruu simply said, “That’s correct.”
After thoroughly taking in the dish’s appearance and scent, Roy and Shilly Rou finally scooped some up with their spoons and tried it. Roy’s eyes shot open wide almost instantly.
“This is really good. That other soup dish was good too, but this one... Did you make it?”
“Yes. Sheera Ruu and I were the ones who came up with this version.”
The look in Shilly Rou’s eyes intensified as well. Roy glanced up at Reina Ruu and said, “You used a kimyuus bone stock, didn’t you? Did Mikel teach you how to do this?”
“That’s right. We’ve been taking lessons from him on how to prepare stock for quite some time.”
Shilly Rou looked like she was brooding, and next to her, Roy sighed heavily.
“You people of the forest’s edge get to learn from both Asuta and Mikel, so I suppose it isn’t surprising that your skills would have improved this much over the course of just a few months.”
“Yes... It’s all thanks to Asuta and Mikel.”
“No. No matter how skilled a teacher is, a half-wit wouldn’t be able to learn anything from them,” Roy said. Then he ate the rest of his nenon stew. “Today really has been full of surprises. I’m really grateful that you invited us to this banquet.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Reina Ruu asked.
“Today has been very motivational for me. And I’d say it’s probably in a different way than when you lot are invited to the castle town,” Roy said. Then he smiled in a really amused way. It was kind of rare to see that sort of expression from him, considering how stubborn and cynical he tended to be.
Reina Ruu’s eyes widened in surprise. “I-I see. That’s somewhat unexpected.”
“Really? Well, now that I’m under Varkas, it isn’t very often that I get to interact with other chefs in the castle town in a way that spurs me forward. I mean, I’m never going to find anyone as skilled as him no matter where I look.”
“But I heard there was one other chef who was Varkas’s equal. Daiya, I think her name was?”
“Oh yeah, the head chef for Genos Castle. You can’t get invited to the castle if you aren’t a noble, so I’d never get a chance to try Daiya’s cooking,” Roy said. Then he set his empty bowl back down. “If another opportunity like this rolls around, reach out to me if you can, okay? Oh, and I’d like to have you try my cooking eventually too.”
“Of course... I’m looking forward to it,” Reina Ruu replied with a somewhat timid smile.
Then, after having been silent for a while, Shilly Rou tugged on Roy’s arm. “Let’s go to the next stove. That’s why we got up in the first place, isn’t it?”
“Hmm? Yeah, that’s true. Oh yeah, we were with Mikel up until a short while ago, but then he told us that we’re supposed to be here to build a connection with you people of the forest’s edge and drove us off. Bozl was the only one who managed to talk his way into staying.”
Mikel was definitely right to have said that, and the result was that Roy and Reina Ruu had managed to connect a bit more. As those two chefs from the castle town left, the second Ruu daughter gave a rather tired sigh.
“It kind of threw me off to hear that Roy man speak so earnestly... Oh, but you two should enjoy the banquet too, all right?”
“Yeah. We’ll see you later, then.”
I had ended up standing around for quite a while without realizing it when I had only just started my tour around the stoves with Ai Fa. We then returned to the cloth where the members of the Rutim were seated to say a quick farewell, and I found that Zasshuma had shown up there at some point.
“Hey there, Asuta. Looks like I’m finally getting to drink with these Rutim fellows,” he said.
Dan and Gazraan Rutim both had amused smiles on their faces. As I recalled, Zasshuma had indeed gotten to know both of them on separate occasions.
“Yeah. Well, I’ll see you all later,” I said, feeling really glad to see everyone smiling. Since I was completely done with work for the day, I would be able to take my time talking with them as much as I wanted once I was full.
“The more people you know, the less time you have to talk to each of them. It’s a really tricky problem. I’m sure Rau Lea and Giran Ririn are here somewhere, but I still haven’t said a single word to either,” I noted.
“It all comes down to the will of the forest,” Ai Fa replied.
I got the feeling that she was being even quieter than usual. Though I figured that her worries about Granny Jiba had to be the cause, I went ahead and asked her what was wrong, but she just shot back, “Don’t worry about it. First, we need to eat. Granny Jiba did not seem dispirited or anything, and there’s no reason we can’t simply ask her about it later.”
“Yeah, that’s true. I was just a bit worried about whether you’ve been enjoying the banquet, Ai Fa.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. I am enjoying myself more than enough,” Ai Fa said, breaking out in a gentle smile. “We have promised not to attend any more Ruu festivals of the hunt, but it makes me very happy that they will still invite us to banquets such as this one when the opportunity arises.”
“I see. Glad to hear it,” I replied with a sigh of relief before smiling back at her.
There was a pretty big crowd gathered in the direction we were heading toward. I tried to see what exactly that was all about, and noticed that there were a few large tables over there, but no stoves. Food fresh out of the oven was being handed out there.
“Oh, they made that too? We should go have some.”
They were serving piping hot gratin that was sitting on top of a heat-resistant plate meant for being used in an oven. Within the big crowd of people that were gathered around the tables was Telia Mas, who turned around and spotted us, then said, “Hey there, Asuta. Are you planning to try this stuff too?”
“Yup. Did you and Yumi split up, Telia Mas?”
“Yeah. Yumi’s over there talking with Ben and the others.”
During the last banquet, Telia Mas had started to feel comfortable enough with us to move around without Yumi by her side. It was still surprising to see her seemingly alone, though, so I glanced around and saw a familiar man and woman standing diagonally in front of her.
“Oh, you’re done with work too, Asuta? Those shaska dishes were unbelievably good. Right, Darmu?” said Sheera Ruu, the woman I had spotted.
“Yeah, I guess,” Darmu Ruu replied concisely. Since she was part of the group that had been going to The Kimyuus’s Tail for quite some time now, Sheera Ruu had gotten pretty close with Telia Mas. It made sense that they’d get along well, as they both were reserved by nature. But seeing Darmu Ruu hanging out with the two of them was new to me.
We idly chatted with them until it was our turn to be served. The small portions of gratin we were handed were giving off white steam and the rich aroma of gyama dried milk.