Isekai Izakaya Nobu Chapter 26The Dishonoured Kabayaki (Part 2)

Shinobu went to the evening market and bought a bucket of eels.

Lorentz thought that they were going overboard for procuring on this much eel, but Shinobu fearlessly laughed at his words.

Even Taisho didn’t seem to get angry. In fact, he loved eel.

However, there really was too much of it now. It would probably be made into jelly by next week, since there were more eels than people who could eat them.

「If Lorentz-san also feels like eating, please feel free to order, okay?」

「Hey, hey. Cut it out. I’m fine with grilled bacon. As long as I have this, I can drink as much ale as I want to.」

He was already on his eighth glass.

Lorentz was no longer listening to the discussion happening at the back table.

There was no indication of it being settled anyway.

If the Water Transportation Guilds had intended to settle it at all, they could have called upon many other well-qualified mediators instead of Lorentz, who was just a travelling craftsmen.

Since they insisted on having Lorentz as the mediator, it could only be seen as them just wanting to argue without getting any results. If they wanted to, the City Council themselves could have mediated and made a decision for them.

Though, someone would have drawn the short end of the stick, and Reinhold would have had to borrow some money later.

On the other hand, Godhardt could have obtained the money anywhere, and Eleonora would have had to serve as the mediator.

Even though it could be said that this discussion was completely pointless, it was still necessary. After all the yelling, Godhardt, whose territory had been invaded, would be able to cheer up a little. This was the main reason for their meeting.

Lorentz understood the meaning behind this useless discussion and didn’t mind the fact that he didn’t have anything to do.

「Now, let’s get started.」

Taisho fired himself up and took an eel out of the bucket.

Taisho fixed the eel onto a slender, pointed drill and prepped it in the blink of an eye.

His hands moved very quickly.

It was something you would want to show to Holger the blacksmith.

「I think ‘Edo-mae style’ would be delicious with this eel.」

(TL: Edo-mae: old Tokyo style)

While he was saying something incomprehensible, he finished preparing one of the eels. Taisho immediately went on to the next step.

Since the eel had still been alive earlier, the best part of the entire process was seeing how Taisho skillfully turned a live eel into fillets.

「Hey, Shinobu-chan. Is it safe…slicing it open like that? I can only remember them being chopped into chunks and being boiled or made into jellies.」

「I don’t know about those methods, but eels are sliced open and eaten like that. Slicing the belly is the Kansai-style, while slicing the back is the ‘Edo-mae‘ style.」

「Even though I don’t understand what an ‘Edo-mae style’ is, there must be many different styles. Did Shinobu eat eel in your hometown often?」

「Yup. I ate so much that they nearly went extinct, probably.」

Taisho had emptied the contents of the bucket, and was now skewering the eels, which was then placed into a pot with lots of steam rising from it.

She probably was not a person that came from the Empire if she had eaten so much eel, since the country’s river still held an abundance of eel.

Taisho had emptied the contents of the bucket and was now skewering the eels, which were then placed into a pot that had clouds of steam rising from it.

「The heck? I thought it was a strange way of preparing it, but it ended up being boiled after all.」

「This isn’t boiling, you know. It’s steaming.」

As he watched Shinobu set up bowls and waited impatiently, Lorentz gradually became interested in the eel dish.

Even though it was decided that he would only have the bacon and the ale, he now wanted to try the eel at Nobu’s, if possible. It was such a mysterious feeling.

Taisho slathered some sauce on the steamed eel and momentarily placed it over the fire.

It made a crackling sound, and a unique, salty-sweet fragrance tickled Lorentz’s nose, over by the counter.

「Do you grill the eel too, Shinobu-chan?」

(TL: name not mentioned, but I put it to not confuse)

「There are other cooking methods, but generally, you grill it.」

「Ahh. Since it was steamed earlier, the fire can penetrate it, I think.」

「When you steam and then grill it, the meat will become extremely tender. I like it better than the Kansai style, where it’s just grilled. It’s also very easy to eat, since the bones are removed.」

As Shinobu had said, the eels that Lorentz had eaten when he travelled around the Empire had many bones inside of them and were difficult to eat.

At Nobu, Taisho had removed the bones from the eel, so it was probably easier to eat.

As Taisho fanned the flames below the eel, the quarreling that had been going on in the back suddenly stopped.

The nice smell had probably reached the back table by now. Lorentz could even hear the sounds of the trio swallowing their saliva.

「What is he grilling that for…?」

「Sorry, that is for our meals, since all of you don’t seem to be eating or drinking much.」

Shinobu coldly answered Reinhold’s question.

It was something that his youngest son, Hans, had told him, but it seemed that the waitress of this store had a tendency to treat customers coldly if they didn’t eat anything.

「’If the customer does not order, that’s because the dishes of this store are terrible,’ huh…now, if the customer is made to sit while smelling this fragrant smell without getting anything, won’t they get irritated? It doesn’t matter if it’s your meals, just bring it out for me.」

At Godhardt’s words, Shinobu seemed to have had an idea.

「I understand. Since it’ll be impolite to serve our meals as dishes, we will serve this free of charge.」

「Free of charge? What are you planning?」

「Don’t worry, Eleonora-san. I am not planning anything. However, it will only be free of charge if you can name the ingredient that was being cooked. Each person is limited to one answer.」

All three of them seemed to have taken interest in the words ‘free of charge’.

Just the smell itself was already amazing. They would probably do anything now just to eat it.

Eleonora took the lead.

「This smell…is it lamb? Did you pour sauce over a fillet of young lamb and grill it?」

「Regrettably, that was far from correct.」

The next one was Godhardt, who raised his hands confidently.

「Eleonora must not have realized that it isn’t lamb. Instead, it’s probably a type of fish. It must’ve been obtained from the Northern Port, through a canal. Since the flavours of a salmon would clash with the sauce, maybe it’s the common cod fish?」

「Godhardt-san is also wrong.」

The remaining Reinhold did not answer recklessly. He looked at the ceiling for a while, and racked his brain.

However, since he couldn’t find an answer, his reply was also merely a guess.

「I’m not like these two gourmands, so I won’t be embarrassed by my guess. It is somewhat refreshing to not be bothered by it, but I would be happy if it’s eel.」

The two people laughed at Reinhold’s answer.

「It’s impossible for an eel to be made into a dish that smells this good.」

「It’s as Eleonora said, Reinhold. If this dish is really made out of eel and it actually tastes delicious, then I will apologise and even accept the imperial charter politely, okay.」

「Are you serious Godhardt? To make a promise like that?」

「Even if it turns out to be a different ingredient, it absolutely won’t be eel, so it’s perfectly fine.」

While the two people were ridiculing Reinhold, Shinobu replied with a big smile on her face.

「That’s correct! It’s eel!」

「What?!」

「Lies!」

「I did it!」

While enjoying the three people’s different reactions, Shinobu placed the grilled kabayaki on a plate and served it to the table. Of course, there was one for Lorentz too.

「This is…eel?」

Lorentz ignored the joy and bitterness coming from the table and paid closer attention to the hot, steaming plate in front of him. Since Lorentz was still unable to use chopsticks, a wooden knife and a wooden fork were prepared for him.

「It smells good but…how about its taste?」

When he tossed a slice of the tender meat into his mouth, Lorentz’s eyes widened.

The sweet and salty sauce was thick, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The meat’s soft, fluffy texture seemed to melt away on his tongue.

It was completely different from the muddy, bony eel that he had previously had.

However, Lorentz had seen the whole cooking process from the very beginning, when it was still in the bucket. No matter what anyone else said, it was still an eel.

Even the noisy bunch at the back table went silent.

No matter how much they declared themselves to be gourmands, it was definitely not something that they had eaten before. Someone should have brought Gernot here for this.

As for Shinobu, she was stuffing her mouth with eel and a bowl of rice together with Eva. It was amusing to see that a grain of rice had become stuck to her cheek.

「Excuse me, Taisho, but this eel here…」

「One for this table here!」

「That’s not fair, Godhardt! I want a portion too!」

「I’ll have one plate as well!」

‘Yes, yes.’ Taisho smiled and started to grill the next set of eels.

The smell drifted through the store, together with the crackling noises, and Lorentz’s ale-filled stomach rumbled. If this eel was eaten as a side dish, would ale or sake be better?

「So, Lorentz-san, was buying a full bucket of eels the right choice?」

Lorentz was only able to return a bitter smile to Shinobu, who was smiling triumphantly.

Once the discussion was finished, the three Guild Masters of the Water Transportation Guilds left. Only Lorentz remained in the store, enjoying his sake.

He was having shirayaki as his snack, together with his sake. When he applied a little bit of wasabi on it, it became even more delicious.

Even though he wanted to order more ale, if it was this kind of taste, sake was a better choice.

(TL: shirayaki: plain grilled eel without sauce)

「In the end, who will gain the profits?」

Lorentz muttered to himself and organised his thoughts.

Godhardt, who had obtained the fishing rights to eels, would certainly profit. If the cooking method for eel were to spread, the water rights, which had no value up till now, would become important.

However, would such a cooking method spread so easily? Explaining it to their subordinates would be difficult too. There would only be hardships ahead.

Eleonora, who had mediated for those two, had gained prestige.

Even though she was wealthy, she was treated poorly because she was a woman. In that sense, it could be said that she had gained a considerable amount of ‘profit’.

Concerning Reinhold, it was difficult to say.

In a way, it was profitable, since the original intention was to hand over the water rights to Godhardt, and he succeeded in sealing the deal.

However, if he had held onto the water rights to the eel, he would have eventually made a killing with it. It could only be said that a new source of income had been taken from under his feet.

Even though he succeeded in holding it in today, there was no way to predict the future.

However, there was one person who had definitely profited.

Taisho, who was performing maintenance on his kitchen knife in front of Lorentz, would be able to profit by selling kabayaki from now on.

It was said that people looked happiest when they were eating delicious food, but in reality, this guy was probably the happiest of them all.

While having such thoughts, Lorentz drained his cup of sake.