Chapter 83

Isekai Izakaya Nobu Chapter 83

Hans folded his arms as he stared at the chopping board.

He had been thinking in this posture for a while now. Inside his head, he had been thinking about the crisp yet slightly bitter taste of ‘Toriaezu Nama’.

Taisho had assigned a task to Hans who had happily reconciled with his father, Lorentz, the other day.

Hans was tasked with thinking of a new dish to add to the menu.

He was still not in a position to make something that could be served at the shop, but being tasked with thinking up something new for the menu was significant progress. Taisho had at least this level of expectation for him.

The topic was 'something to pair with Toriaezu Nama.”

Although there was no time limit, he wanted to complete his task as soon as possible.

That was why he had recently been staying after Izakaya Nobu’s business hours everyday and thinking with his arms folded.

「Did you come up with any good ideas?」

Leontaine stroked the ice floating in her Taketsuru pure malt with her finger, and a pleasant clinking sound could be heard from the glass. Recently, she had started entertaining herself with the other liquors in Nobu. Leontaine seemed to enjoy them very much, to the point of exclusively having Taketsuru or Tantakatan as drinking companions every night.

<small>(TL note: Taketsuru and Tantakatan are liquor names.)</small>

「None.」

「You can’t possibly have nothing. You’ve been standing there for days.」

「I want to make something that is completely new.」

「There you go again, aiming high as usual.」

It went without saying that making a whole new dish required a lot of thought.

Every dish in Izakaya Nobu was delicious and refined. In order for a dish to be added to the menu, it had to be something new.

Hans wouldn’t be making full use of this hard-earned opportunity that had been given to him if he just imitated Taisho’s dish and added his own spin to it. Above all, Hans himself wouldn’t agree to it.

「How about you at least decide on the ingredients first? How many of them do you think will go well with ‘Toriaezu Nama’?」

「I’d like to try using pork.」

Pork was a widely popular ingredient in Aitheria, but it was surprisingly uncommon in Izakaya Nobu. It was used for tonkatsu, kushikatsu, and braised pork, but it wasn’t used as much as chicken was.

The pigs that had been released to graze in Branton’s forest had fed on a twin diet of acorns and fruits from the medicinal dwarf chestnut tree, and they were currently lined up in the markets. He wanted to make something with one of those pigs.

「Pork, huh. It would go well with ‘Toriaezu Nama’ even if it’s stewed, grilled, or deep-fried. I think that’s a good choice.」

「The question is how to cook it.」

Leontaine was able to quickly assess that it would pair well with ‘Toriaezu Nama’, whether it was stewed, grilled, or deep-fried – which meant that those kinds of dishes already existed.

There was no meaning in Hans coming up with a dish that wasn’t available in Izakaya Nobu, if it was already being served in other shops in Aitheria.

Now then, how to proceed?

He took the pork out of the refrigerator and put it in front of him. Since pork absolutely couldn’t be eaten raw, it was necessary to cook it.

Was there anything he could do besides stewing, grilling, or deep-frying? He thought about it while staring at the pork from various angles when, suddenly, there was a rapping sound on Nobu’s glass doors.

He spontaneously exchanged looks with Leontaine.

The sign curtain had been put away a long time ago, and Taisho was watching his detective dramas upstairs. If Shinobu had forgotten something behind, she would come through the back door, and Eva wouldn’t come at this hour.

Was it a thief?

Leontaine already had a broom in hand. She took a stance while facing the door. It was a graceful stance that one wouldn’t think could come from a veteran mercenary.

Hans nodded to Leontaine and lowered his own posture before placing his hand on the glass sliding door.

He adjusted his breathing and pulled it open in one go.

「Who’s there?!」

「Uhyaa!」

The visitor yelped in response to Leontaine’s question and fell on their bottom.

Hans recognised that face. Rather, he saw that face every day.

「Big brother…?」

Hans’ elder brother, Hugo, was sitting on his bottom on the miserable, snowy ground of Inns &amp; Stable street.

「Hans, aren’t you finished with work at this time?」

「That’s true. Hasn’t the sign curtain already been put away?」

「It was still bright inside, and I was hungry, so I thought of…」

For now, Hans let Hugo into the shop and lit the stove in response to his brother saying that with upturned eyes. He brought the soup in the “yukiharanabe” to a boil and tossed cold rice into it.

Since Hugo had come after business hours, he was not a customer. It wouldn’t be a problem if Has was the one who served him something.

The injury on his finger had already healed.

<small>(TL note: yukihira nabe is an aluminium hammered pot, commonly used in Japan.)</small>

「You should come earlier next time.」

「Sure. I will do so if possible. But I’ve been busy lately.」

It seemed the work that had been contracted by Thomas from the church was surprisingly difficult. Hugo and Han’s father, Lorentz, were the foremost glass smithing specialists in Aitheria, but it seemed that polishing it to the thickness specified by the customer was not an easy task. Apparently Hugo and two other people had been assigned to concentrate solely on this task now.

Leontaine grinned widely when she saw that they were able to chat with each other normally.

「You two are close, aren’t you? It’s the first time I’ve seen Hans open up so much.」

「Is that so?」

They had not realized it themselves, but perhaps they had been building a wall between them somehow.

From an early age, they had lived as travellers.

Even though they could make friends in places where they didn’t understand the language, in the end, it was his brother Hugo who became his best friend. Therefore, Hans still had a close relationship with his elder brother, even at this age.

Hans cracked an egg into the pot, resulting in an egg porridge. He figured something light would be better for his elder brother, who had digestion problems.

「Here, enjoy.」

「Thanks.」

Hans looked at his elder brother’s face as he slurped up the porridge deliciously, and he was reminded of the times when they had travelled to the west. Hans’s mother had already been gone by then, so it was a trip with only the two brothers and Lorentz.

If he remembered correctly, it had been a trip to meet their uncle.

They had ridden on horseback for days, through a meadow that was as vast as the eye could see. They had been with a trade company, travelling with caravans that were on their way to buy pepper, but Hans and his brother had been the only children around.

Even now, he still remembered the delicioud mutton they had eaten under the starry sky, in the middle of a plain that stretched to the horizon in all directions.

After finishing the porridge had filled Hugo up, his facial expression relaxed. After introducing himself to Leontaine, whom he was meeting for the first time, he spontaneously started chatting with Hans.

「Hans, you have been coming back home late recently. Is something the matter?」

「Yeah, I can’t think of a new item for the menu.」

As Hans mentioned that he was going to use pork, Hugo picked up his wooden spoon with a thoughtful expression. He didn’t stir at all.

This was an old habit of Hugo’s to become like this when he started to think.

「Looks like it’s going to take a while before we can return home…」

「What do you mean?」

「Ah, this will take a long time once it starts.」

Hans was proud of his elder brother, who could do anything skillfully, but this was the only downside. When Hugo focused on something, he would ignore his surroundings. He wouldn’t respond even if someone yelled at him.

Hans gave up on him returning home, so he went to try some things out. What if he tried slicing the pork in a different way? When he sliced the smoked squid that Berthold brought, it changed the texture completely. Maybe doing the same to the pork would be interesting.

And then, a voice rang through Reader Mode Rick’s head:

「We’re no strangers to great food. You know the rules and so do I. A new dish is what I’m thinking of. You would have to get this from another way to slice. I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling, bro. I gotta make you a great dish」

Leontaine had also planned to stay for a while long, so she poured another glass of Taketsuru on the rocks.

Time slowly and quietly passed.

Since snow had not fallen today, a dog’s howl could be heard in the distance.

「How about…ground meat?」

Hugo returned to himself sooner than they had expected. Hans had been prepared to stay up until morning, so he was a little thankful for that.

「Ground meat? To make sausage?」

「No, no. Do you remember, Hans? The wrapped, boiled lamb.」

「Ah, pelmeni!」