Isekai Izakaya Nobu 71: New Year’s Eve in the Ancient Capital

Berthold arrived a little before sunset, just as he had promised.

He was accompanied by his wife, Hermina. Berthold, carrying a large zudabukuro on his back, didn’t have his usual stern expression. His face was filled with tenderness as he carefully guided his pregnant wife through the sliding door of Izakaya Nobu.

“Welcome, Berthold-san.”

“We’re in your care today, Shinobu-chan.”

“Yes, Taisho is waiting inside.”

As she welcomed Berthold and his wife, Shinobu squinted at the winter sunset.

The street, Coachman’s Lodge Street, was completely white from the snow that had fallen from the previous night until noon. The reflection was dazzling. There were few people out and about on New Year’s Eve, and the fallen snow remained unmelted.

“Is it just you and Taisho?”

Berthold asked, pulling out a chair for Hermina.

“Yes. We’re not opening the shop today anyway. Eva-chan and Hans are at their parents’ homes, and Leontaine-san is attending a doukyoukai.”

The Old Capital, being a bustling center of commerce, has many people like Leontaine who live far from their hometowns. These people form doukyoukai, often centered around merchant guilds, to support each other in their daily lives.

Usually, their main activities involve lending money and arranging for rental housing, but on New Year’s Eve, it’s customary for them to gather and serve dishes from their hometowns. Leontaine was participating in a doukyoukai made up of people from the southern part of the Eastern Kingdom, and she was very excited about making a special dish today.

“I see, then maybe I brought a little too much.”

Berthold took a package wrapped in tree bark from the zudabukuro he had taken off his shoulder. A delicious aroma of cheese wafted from it.

“This is Käse cheese that arrived from my family home. It’s a tradition in my family to make fondue with this.”

Berthold’s hometown, where he serves as a company commander in the guard, is known as a rugged mountainous region within the Empire. Shinobu had heard that the main specialties were mercenaries and dairy products, and the cheese was something they were particularly proud of.

“I’ve never had cheese fondue before. How about you, Hermina-san?”

“Me neither. Even when cheese arrives from his family home, he says we have to eat it on New Year’s Eve.”

Hermina’s cheeks, as she chuckled, looked a little fuller than when she was working at Nobu. Her belly wasn’t showing yet, but perhaps the presence of a new life changes a woman’s aura.

“Berthold-san, here are the ingredients you asked for.”

Nobuyuki emerged from the back of the shop with a basket overflowing with food.

There were sausages and thick-cut ham, baguettes and warm vegetables, and even seafood like shrimp and shellfish that had been quickly blanched.

“Excellent, excellent. Just as I expected from Taisho. Well then, shall we begin the preparations?”

He placed the pot he had taken out of his zudabukuro on a portable gas stove that had been prepared in advance. As he put the chopped cheese into the pot, Berthold smiled enigmatically.

“Berthold-san, what do we do now?”

“If we leave it like this, the cheese will just burn, so we need to add alcohol to thin it out.”

“Wine?”

“For ordinary cheese fondue, yes. But my family’s fondue is a little different.”

With that, he took out an old-fashioned earthenware jar. The moment he opened the lid, a faint floral fragrance spread throughout Nobu.

“It’s a liquor called Sakurasuvassā. It’s made from the fruit of a flower that blooms in the spring, and it goes best with fondue.”

Hearing “a flower that blooms in the spring,” Shinobu remembered last spring.

The pale pink flowers that were planted all over the Old Capital had bloomed magnificently, just like cherry blossoms. She was sure that Eva had called those flowers sakura something.

“You can make alcohol from those flowers?”

“I haven’t heard of people making alcohol from them around the Old Capital or Sachsenburg. It’s probably a custom unique to the mountains.”

Shinobu nodded in understanding, realizing it was something like a local sake, and helped with the cheese fondue preparations.

Nobuyuki, always well-prepared for such things, had somehow produced long-handled spoons for cheese fondue from somewhere. He must have guessed the menu from the ingredients Berthold had requested.

As the cheese in the pot warmed up, an indescribable aroma began to fill the shop.

“We mostly eat preserved foods in the winter, so on New Year’s Eve, we splurge and make a feast, or so it’s said.”

“It’s said?”

“Essentially, it’s the wisdom of our ancestors to make stale bread and meat that’s been around for too long a little more palatable. It turned out to be surprisingly delicious, so it became a real feast.”

Although he spoke self-deprecatingly, Berthold’s expression was somewhat proud. He must love his hometown, even though he was far away.

“Speaking of which, Leontaine said they were going to fry ham and mushrooms at her doukyoukai gathering.”

Nobuyuki muttered to himself as he cut the thick-cut bacon into bite-sized pieces.

“Is that also a way to make preserved foods taste better, like cheese fondue?”

“Probably. It seems they coat it in batter and make it like a fritter, so that sounds delicious too.”

Different places have different kinds of wisdom.

Thinking about how osechi ryori, the traditional New Year’s food in Japan, was originally also preserved food, Shinobu watched the pot. The cheese was just right, bubbling gently. The sound stimulated her stomach through her ears.

“Is it ready?”

“Yes, it should be ready now.”

Shinobu had already stabbed a baguette with a cheese fondue fork before Berthold had even finished speaking, but the other three didn’t move.

She pulled the baguette, which she had been about to dip into the pot, back to its original position and looked around. Berthold and Hermina seemed to be reciting a small prayer under their breaths.

“…Thanks to the protection of the Sun God, the Moon God, and the Moon Goddess, we have been able to eat our fill for another year. May we continue to eat our fill next year as well.”

It was quite a casual prayer, but hearing those words, Shinobu felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Because they interact so normally as staff and customers at Izakaya Nobu, it’s easy to forget that they have their own ways. It’s not something to be taken lightly.

It will soon be a year since they opened the shop here, but there was still much to learn.

“Now, let’s eat.”

Berthold and Hermina’s prayer ended, and at Nobuyuki’s signal, everyone picked up their forks at once.

Each person dipped their favorite ingredients into the cheese and brought it to their mouths.

“Delishioush!”

Shinobu didn’t know what kind of cheese Berthold had brought, but it seemed to be a slightly salty variety. The slightly strong flavor blended exquisitely with the ingredients.

In the case of this cheese, it seemed that not adding any seasoning was the right choice. The fact that it was melted with a slightly sweet liquor also added depth to the flavor, making it irresistible.

“See, it’s delicious, right?”

Berthold showed his teeth in a smile as he diligently portioned out ingredients for Hermina to make it easier for her to stab with her fork. It was certainly something to be proud of.

“It’s incredibly delicious.”

“You could add it to Nobu’s menu.”

Without being told, Shinobu was already thinking about how to make this cheese fondue a dish that would suit Izakaya Nobu. Judging by his expression, Nobuyuki was thinking the same thing.

They probably wouldn’t be able to get Berthold’s fruit liquor, so they would have to use something else. Should they substitute it with another fruit liquor? Or should they change the cheese itself to adjust the balance of flavors? If they were going to change the cheese, it might be interesting to melt it with Japanese sake.

While mentally going through a list of brands, her hands didn’t stop.

The orthodox flavor of the baguette was good, but the meat also had a strong flavor that didn’t lose out to the cheese, and it was delicious.

It’s already common knowledge that seafood goes well with cheese. As if they were reunited with their betrothed, they created a wonderful harmony in her mouth. She could eat this forever.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, Nobuyuki dashed into the kitchen. He disappeared and then reappeared with another portable gas stove, oil, and a supermarket plastic bag.

“What’s wrong, Taisho? Isn’t that the mochi Tohara-san gave us?”

It was yesterday that Tohara, who had been Nobuyuki’s mentor at the restaurant Yukitsuna, had delivered the mochi. Yukitsuna used round mochi, but the mochi Tohara brought was the Kanto-style cut mochi. They had been discussing how to eat it since they had received it.

“Shinobu-chan, you should be prepared for this.”

“Prepared?”

Nobuyuki, saying something incomprehensible, suddenly threw bite-sized pieces of mochi into the oil.

It was okaki.

And now that Nobuyuki was starting to fry okaki here, it meant…

“No, Taisho! That’s too dangerous!”

Using freshly fried okaki as an ingredient for cheese fondue.

That was sure to be a dangerously delicious encounter. Especially since this cheese had a stronger flavor than the ones available in Japan. There was no way it wouldn’t go well with okaki.

Nobuyuki respectfully handed the first piece of golden-brown fried okaki to Shinobu.

Naturally, her throat made a gulping sound.

Tonight, she couldn’t afford to worry about calories.

She pierced the freshly fried okaki with a fork and submerged it in the sea of cheese. The mochi and cheese intertwined.

With the other three watching with bated breath, Shinobu slowly put the fork in her mouth.

Her impression was beyond words.

As expected, it was delicious. She was incredibly happy about that.

Seeing Shinobu nod in silence, Nobuyuki started frying the next okaki.

“Taisho and Shinobu-chan are really close.”

Berthold murmured. Hermina nodded as she brought a piece of broccoli to her mouth.

“I-Is that so?”

“Yes, they’re very close. Hans is a lucky guy to be taken in by a shop like this.”

The conversation took an unexpected turn, but Berthold was Hans’s former superior. Although he didn’t seem to say anything directly to Hans, he was probably worried about him in various ways.

“Taisho, that guy, is Hans doing well?”

Nobuyuki scratched his chin with his index finger.

“It’s still too early to say. All he’s doing is plating and miscellaneous tasks. But…”

“…But?”

“He has a good look on his face. He has the potential to become a good chef.”

“I see… a good look on his face.”

Berthold’s words had a feeling of half relief and half loneliness.

“If he was told he wasn’t suited for it, I was always prepared to take him back to the guard.”

“Is that how it is?”

Nobuyuki looked a little surprised. He had been a chef since graduating from high school. He might have some thoughts about a chef who had started training returning to his original path.

“Of course, that’s only if he agrees.”

“Is the guard short-handed?”

Berthold laughed and shook his head at Shinobu’s question.

“We’re not so insensitive as to call back a fledgling who has left the nest just because we’re short-handed. It’s just that Hans could have become a respectable person as a guard, so I thought it was a shame.”

“I see.”

It was clear to Shinobu that he was loved. She understood that he had that kind of charm. He probably didn’t choose to become a chef on a whim.

“In any case, I’m relieved. Please continue to take care of Hans.”

Even without being asked by Berthold, the “Demon,” Nobuyuki and Shinobu already recognized Hans as a member of Izakaya Nobu. There was no reason to refuse.

“Yes, leave it to us. We’ll definitely raise him to be a fine chef.”

Shinobu thumped her chest, and Berthold and Hermina laughed.

“I hope next year will be a good year too.”

Berthold muttered as he scraped the cheese remaining at the bottom of the pot with a baguette.

“It will be, dear.”

Hermina said, putting her arm around Berthold’s shoulder, and Shinobu and Nobuyuki watched them quietly.

The bells announcing the change of year rang out from the center of the Old Capital.

It was the bell of the cathedral on the island in the middle of the river.

The snow that had started to fall again was covering the passing year.

The lights of Izakaya Nobu continued to burn until late into the night.