The rainy season has arrived at last, and with it, a great deal of change! Asuta has come down with and overcome a serious illness, but now there are new challenges for him and his comrades to deal with, from his business in the post town to the difficulties of hunting in the rain. In the meantime, a group of slaves from Mahyudra have been brought to the forest to clear a path that will eventually run all the way through it.

However, the rainy season isn't even half over yet, meaning there's still plenty left for the people of the forest's edge to face! Many familiar ingredients are no longer available to Asuta and the other chefs, forcing them to learn how to use new ones. An accident occurs at the worksite for the new path through the forest. Plus, the nobles are asking to throw another tea party. And most important of all, Ai Fa's birthday is coming up!

See all this and more in the exciting twenty-sixth volume of Cooking with Wild Game!