“Yes, coming right up!”
Shinobu recomposed her expression to avoid arousing suspicion and went to take the blonde woman’s order. Up close, she was quite beautiful. You might believe she was an actress from an old Hollywood movie.
Pointing at the menu on the wall, the woman asked,
“This… cucumber pickle… is it like cucumber sauerkraut?”
“No, it’s not pickled in vinegar like sauerkraut. It’s our restaurant’s specialty, pickled using a different method.”
“Hmm, I see,” the woman said, placing a long index finger on her well-shaped chin, appearing to hesitate over something.
Her slightly raspy, husky voice and these little gestures were alluring and seductive, even from another woman’s perspective.
“Then, I’ll have that.”
“Certainly. Would you like something to drink?”
“No, thank you.”
Shinobu bowed to the smiling blonde woman and relayed the order to Nobuyuki at the counter. Even the cucumber pickle order was suspicious to her.
Returning to the counter, she found Nikolaus with a grimace on his face.
“She’s definitely suspicious. This order only strengthens my suspicion that she’s a Saufhändler.”
Translator’s Note
Saufhändler is German for sutler as explained in the last chapter.
“Oh, really?”
Clearing his throat slightly, Nikolaus continued, his expression somewhat smug, as if he enjoyed explaining things.
“Sauerkraut keeps well, you see. It’s a valuable food source for armies marching long distances.”
“Oh, I thought it was just delicious.”
“Soldiers will complain if they only have hard-baked bread and thin soup. But it’s impossible to procure enough fresh vegetables for so many people. No market would have thousands of extra portions of vegetables available.”
“So that’s where sauerkraut comes in.”
“But,” Nikolaus said, moistening his lips with ale,
“Long-term preservation sauerkraut isn’t very tasty, to be honest. It’s already sour, and making it last longer makes the flavor even worse.”
“So, it’s not strange that she’d be interested in a new type of pickle?”
If they only had sauerkraut, they would get bored. If you could prepare different flavored pickles, you could change things up even a little bit. Shinobu didn’t know much about armies, but she was sure soldiers would prefer it if the food was delicious.
If she were a sutler, it wouldn’t be strange for her to be interested.
“Exactly! You get it, Shinobu-chan. You’re much smarter than Hans!”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”
While the two fought over Nikolaus’s order of beef tendon doteyaki, Shinobu thought hard.
This strengthened the suspicion that the woman was connected to sutlers.
But what could she, a simple izakaya owner, even do?
“Hey, what do you think, Taisho?”
Overcome with worry, she called out to Taisho, who was frying tempura.
Because he was getting a lot of orders for fried and grilled dishes, which he prepared after receiving the order, Taisho’s face was even more determined than usual today.
“I think she’s probably not.”
“Eh? What do you mean, ‘not’?”
“I mean, I don’t think that woman is a sutler. That’s just my guess, though.”
Saying that, Taisho glared at Nikolaus.
“Shinobu-chan is easily influenced, so don’t go filling her head with strange ideas, Nikolaus-san.”
“But, Taisho, I think my reasoning is sound.”
“If you think it’s so sound, shouldn’t you go back to the barracks instead of drinking here? Captain Bertholdt isn’t here either, and it’s better to come up with a plan sooner rather than later, don’t you think?”
“Well, ah, no, not really.”
Admonished by Nobuyuki, Nikolaus shrank back.
“T-Taisho’s a little scary today.”
Hans sought help from Eva, but the girl, busy with washing dishes, was cold today.
“It’s because you’re dragging Shinobu-san into weird stories when we’re so busy. Of course, Hans-san is equally to blame.”
“Y-yes.”
While the two shrank away, Shinobu tried to slip away from the counter, but
“Shinobu-san, it looks like the plates on table two are empty, so please take them away. It’ll be harder later if they pile up.”
She was politely warned. Seeing Nobuyuki shrug, it seemed he agreed with Eva.
Afraid of what would happen if she didn’t work seriously, Shinobu focused on her work.
But she didn’t forget to keep a discreet eye on the woman.
“So, how do you explain the woman’s suspicious behavior, Taisho?”
At the counter, Nikolaus was persistently repeating his Saufhändler theory to Nobuyuki. Hans, on the other hand, seemed to have lost interest and was busy drinking ale with wild vegetable tempura.
“I think it’s just a meeting.”
“A meeting?”
“Yes, probably. With a man, at this restaurant.”
Taisho answered, transferring the fried wild vegetables from the oil to the tempura rack.
Nobu changed the oil every day, but today they had used more than usual, so the oil was a good color.
“First, she didn’t drink any alcohol. That can be explained by the fact that she was waiting for someone. When you’re dressed up for a date, it’s unlikely you’d drink alcohol before meeting them.”
“That’s true.”
“The fact that she’s eating dry snacks probably means she doesn’t want to fill up on a proper meal. If she’s going to eat at another restaurant with him later, it’s not a good idea to fill up too much.”
“I see. That makes sense.”
Though he was trying to appear calm, Nikolaus seemed flustered by Taisho’s logical reasoning.
He had no idea that Taisho was a fan of detective dramas and even recorded the reruns.
“What about the pickles?”
“That’s meaningless. She probably just wanted to change the flavor in her mouth, since she was only eating dry snacks. It’s a common mistake for beginners. When you think something is suspicious, you start to see everything as suspicious.”
Shinobu didn’t dare point out that Nobuyuki might not be a beginner, but Nikolaus slowly raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
In that moment, Hans gracefully snatched a quail egg from Nikolaus’s plate.
“By the way, what do you think, Eva-chan?”
As if he really wanted to continue the conversation, Nikolaus turned to Eva.
But the girl’s answer was unexpected.
“…That customer is a man.”
“Eh?”
Nobuyuki, Nikolaus, Hans, and Shinobu were all stunned when the sliding door of Izakaya Nobu opened.
“Welcome!”
“…elcome.”
A man who looked like a merchant entered. He was probably around twenty-two or twenty-three years old.
Ignoring Shinobu’s greeting, the man approached the blonde woman.
“Well, did anyone figure out it was a disguise?”
“Don’t be stupid. No one suspected a thing. The five silver coins are mine.”
The blonde woman’s voice in response was deep. Clearly, it was a man’s voice. So the voice from the order earlier was fake.
Now that she looked closely, he was a little tall for a woman.
“I’ve been holding off drinking because I didn’t want to go to the bathroom. Let’s change quickly and go to another restaurant.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll pay for this place. Two silver coins should be enough. Here’s the bill, I’ll leave it here.”
Saying that, the merchant-like man placed two silver coins on the table. But this was too much for the dried snacks and cucumber pickles.
“Ah, sir, this is too much!”
“Keep the rest as compensation for the trouble. Take it.”
While watching the two leave for the nightlife, showing off their generosity, Eva muttered,
“…A sutler, huh?”
Hearing that, Nikolaus slumped, quietly offering his empty mug for more ale.