“…Beautiful.”
At the counter of the always-packed Izakaya Nobu, a middle-aged man had been staring intently at the sashimi for quite some time.
And it wasn’t just a casual glance. He had his face practically pressed to the plate, peering at the sliced fish as if examining it under a microscope.
“…The cut is truly beautiful.”
The man, completely oblivious to Eva’s curious gaze from across the counter, was admiring the cut of the tuna sashimi.
This man, named Holger, whose powerfully built body seemed barely contained by his blacksmith’s attire, was said to be a master craftsman from the old capital’s blacksmith guild. He’d been like this since he entered the shop, praising everything he saw.
“You, the dish washer, can you appreciate the beauty of this cut as well?”
Eva, suddenly addressed, shook her head vigorously.
Before she could even consider whether the cut was beautiful or not, Eva had never seen the cut of raw fish before coming to this shop. There was no way she could compare it.
“I see, so you can’t understand this beauty…it is a truly magnificent thing.”
“Is it really that beautiful?”
“The word ‘beautiful’ doesn’t do it justice. Of course, the Taisho who cut it has skilled hands, but it’s really all about the knife. The knife is magnificent. I’ve been forging for a long time, and I’ve never seen a knife that can produce such a beautiful cut.”
Eva looked up at Taisho, who was preparing the grilled dishes nearby. Unlike his usual stern expression, his cheeks were slightly relaxed. He seemed to be quite pleased with the compliment on his tools. Even his cooking movements looked more cheerful than usual.
“Hey, Taisho, just one more time, would you please show me the knife? I beg you.”
Holger bowed deeply, and Taisho gave a small chuckle as if exasperated.
“Alright, just a quick look.”
He handed over the sashimi knife, handle first. Holger brought his face almost touching the blade, staring at it intently.
The other customers, with wry smiles, watched from afar at his intense focus.
“I knew it was forged, but this is not an ordinary hammering. I’ve never seen steel like this before…”
Holger muttered to himself, his eyes becoming increasingly intense in Eva’s view. Eva had a feeling he might just walk off with the knife.
Eva quickly left the counter, grabbed Holger’s sleeve, and quietly pleaded in his ear.
“If that disappears, the Taisho can’t make sashimi, so please don’t take it home.”
Perhaps noticing the desperate look on Eva’s face, Holger returned the knife to Taisho. He seemed a bit embarrassed, acknowledging that he had gone a bit too far.
“Thank you, young lady. Don’t worry, I won’t take it home. A knife like this is like a chef’s soul.”
He then ruffled Eva’s red hair. His hands were large and strong, but strangely, it didn’t feel unpleasant.
“No, Taisho. You’ve shown me something truly wonderful. Thank you.”
“I am honored if I could be of help.”
“You’ve done more than just help. I have a mountain of things I want to try tomorrow. Thank you.”
Holger nodded in satisfaction, picked up a piece of the tuna sashimi with his fingers, dipped it in wasabi soy sauce, and popped it in his mouth.
While customers who are not used to chopsticks often use forks to eat sashimi, some customers eat like this.
He chewed a couple of times, then swallowed, closing his eyes, and washing it down with beer.
“Delicious. This sashimi is incredibly delicious.”
“Thank you very much.”
Taisho bowed his head.
Holger was enjoying the supreme red tuna with sake served in a kiriko, a special glass. The glass was beautifully patterned, and it was something that Eva was not yet allowed to wash.
T/N: Kiriko is a type of traditional Japanese cut glass.
Recently, there have been restaurants in the old capital that are trying to imitate Nobu’s flavors. Eva believed that they wouldn’t be able to replicate it easily, but many were persistent.
While washing the dishes, she sometimes spotted staff from other restaurants who seemed to be spying on the place. Eva would quietly whisper to Taisho or Shinobu when she saw them, but both of them would just give a wry smile and ignore the situation.
Even in such circumstances, one dish that other restaurants could never imitate was the sashimi.
The old capital had many rivers and canals, but the fish that lived there were muddy, no matter how well you drained the water. You couldn’t eat the smelly fish raw, whether it was boiled or grilled, so customers who were captivated by the deliciousness of the sashimi had no choice but to keep coming back to Nobu.
“There’s a man called Gernot, a tax collector. He’s not a very likeable person, probably because he enjoys that kind of job, but he does have a good palate.”
Holger held a seat on the city council as the representative of the blacksmith guild.
He often had opportunities to talk to Gernot, another member of the city council, and in their conversations, this shop’s name came up, which piqued his interest.
“Since that discerning Gernot raved about it, I figured I should check it out. Taisho, do you remember him?”
“No, I don’t remember serving any dishes to anyone like that.”
As Eva quietly observed while washing dishes, Shinobu hid her face behind a tray and retreated to a corner of the shop. It made Eva wonder if something had happened.
“Anyway, I’ve become a big fan of your dishes. Taisho, Shinobu-chan who serves, and Eva-chan who washes the dishes, I’m a big fan of all of you. And I must add, I’m a big fan of the knife you use. I’ll definitely be back as a regular customer.”
Taisho was answering with a thank you, when a new customer came in through the shop’s noren.
T/N: Noren is a traditional Japanese fabric divider hung at the entrance of shops.
“Welcome!”
“…Welcome.”
The two greeted the customer as usual, and the man happily raised his hand in response. He was an even bigger man than Holger. He also wore craftsman-like clothes that seemed to be a bit too tight for him.
“Sorry, can I get a seat for one?”
“We have some space at the counter.”
The newly arrived, craftsman-like customer was in good spirits, being led by Shinobu to his seat.
“So you are the famous Shinobu-chan. Well, my son told me all about you. My son is a guard, and he is a regular at this shop…”
The moment he sat down next to Holger, Eva felt an ominous atmosphere suddenly fill the counter.
“…Isn’t that Lorenz, the <Clumsy Glass Craftsman>?”
“…What’s <Crybaby> Holger doing drinking here?”
The friendly atmosphere from just a moment ago had vanished without a trace, and the counter was now filled with an air of an imminent battle.
It wasn’t the kind of well-mannered jousting match you’d see between knights. It felt more like a clash of monsters from a story, a brutal brawl between trolls.
While moving the dishes that Shinobu had told her were “expensive” to a safer location, Eva prayed to the heavens for the day’s business to end peacefully.
