Shinobu had purchased a whole bucketful of eels at the evening market.
Lorenz thought it unnecessary to buy so much for staff meals, but Shinobu only gave him a defiant smile when he mentioned it.
The fact that Taisho didn’t get angry suggested he must really love eels.
Even so, this was clearly overbuying. If they made it into jelly, it would take them until next week to finish it all.
“Lorenz-san, please order some if you get hungry, okay?”
“Hey, hey, give me a break. I’ve got my broiled bacon here. As long as I have this, I can drink any number of ales.”
He ordered his eighth ale and quenched his thirst.
Lorenz no longer had any intention of listening to the discussion at the table behind him.
There was a sense that this job had fallen to him precisely because it was unlikely to be resolved.
If the city council truly intended to resolve the issue, there were surely others more suitable than Lorenz, an outsider who was originally a traveling craftsman.
Even so, the fact that they pushed it onto Lorenz meant that they only wanted the achievement of having held a discussion. They could show that the city council had the intention of mediating this problem.
After that, someone would draw the short straw and lend money to Reinhold.
No matter where it came from, Godhart would get his money, and Eleonora would have technically put in the effort to mediate.
In other words, the discussion taking place here was completely pointless, but a necessary kind of pointless. Shouting loudly might relieve Godhart’s frustration at having his territory encroached upon. It had no more meaning than that.
Being forced to participate in a pointless exercise that he knew was pointless was a great annoyance to Lorenz.
“Well then, shall we begin?”
Taisho, more enthusiastic than usual, pulled an eel out of the bucket.
He secured the eel’s head with a thin, pointed awl-like tool and filleted it in the blink of an eye. So quick.
He wished he could show off his skills to Holger the blacksmith.
“I think eels are only delicious when prepared in the Edo-mae style.”
Translator’s Note
Edo-mae refers to a style of cooking that originated in Edo (formerly Tokyo).
Saying something incomprehensible, he finished filleting the first eel and immediately moved on to the next.
It was impressive to see the eels, which had been alive until then, become open fillets through Taisho’s artistic handling.
“Hey, Shinobu-chan. He’s filleting them like that… is that okay? I seem to recall that both jelly and stew were made with chopped pieces.”
“I don’t know about those ways of eating, but we fillet eels. Opening from the belly is the Kansai style, and opening from the back is the Edo-mae style.”
Translator’s Note
Kansai is a region in western Japan whose biggest city is Osaka, contrasting with Edo (Tokyo) in the east. These are two distinct regional styles.
“I don’t know about Kansai or Edomae, but there are various styles, huh. Do you eat eel often in your hometown, Shinobu-chan?”
“Yes, we eat so much that there are hardly any left.”
If they eat eels to the point of exhaustion, they’re even worse than the people of the Allied Kingdom. The rivers of that country are still teeming with eels.
After filleting all the contents of the bucket, Taisho skewered the opened eels on iron skewers and placed them one by one into a large, steaming pot.
“What? He was filleting them in a strange way, but he’s boiling them after all.”
“He’s not boiling them. He’s steaming them.”
Watching Shinobu preparing a bowl with an impatient look, Lorenz gradually became interested in the eels.
He had decided to drink only with broiled bacon tonight, but it’s strange how he feels like he could eat a bite of Nobu’s eel.
Taisho dipped the steamed eels in sauce and quickly put them over the fire.
There was a sizzling sound, and the sweet and savory unique aroma tickled Lorenz’s nose at the counter.
“He’s grilling the eels?”
“There are other cooking methods, but grilling is the most common.”
“Huh. They’re already cooked through from steaming earlier, though.”
“Steaming them once and then grilling them makes the meat fluffy and soft. I like this better than the Kansai style, where they grill it directly. The bones are also removed, so it’s very easy to eat.”
As Shinobu said, the eel stew he ate in the Allied Kingdom during his travels had many bones and was difficult to eat.
Taisho had removed the bones from Nobu’s eels, and maybe they might be easy to eat.
When Taisho began to fan the eels, the voices of the ongoing shouting match suddenly stopped.
The good smell must have reached the table in the back. He could almost hear the sound of the three of them swallowing their saliva from where Lorenz was.
“…What is it that you’re grilling?”
“Yes, it’s our staff meal. You all don’t seem to be consuming much food or alcohol.”
Shinobu answered Reinhold’s question with a prim look.
As Hans, the youngest son, had said, this waitress tends to become cold to customers who don’t eat at the restaurant.
“It’s outrageous for a restaurant to call it a staff meal because the customers aren’t ordering… but it’s also annoying to be left out after smelling such a good aroma. Even if it’s a staff meal, could you serve some to me?”
At Godhart’s words, Shinobu seemed to have an idea.
“I understand. It would be rude to serve you the staff meal, so we will offer this dish for free.”
“For free? What are you planning?”
“Eleonora-san, don’t worry. I’m not planning anything. However, if you can guess the ingredients of this dish, it’s free. Each person is limited to one guess.”
The word “free” seemed to have piqued the interest of all three.
Since it was such a good-smelling food, they would do anything to try it for free.
Eleonora was the first to take the lead.
“This aroma is… lamb, isn’t it? Isn’t it a tender lamb fillet grilled with sauce?”
“Unfortunately, that’s wrong.”
Next, Godhart confidently raised his hand.
“Eleonora doesn’t understand. This isn’t lamb, it’s fish. They used the canal to bring it from the northern port. Salmon would clash with the sauce, so it must be bland cod.”
“Godhart-san, you’re also wrong.”
Reinhold, the last one remaining, didn’t answer carelessly and spent a while looking at the ceiling and twisting his neck.
However, he couldn’t come up with an answer and seemed to have decided to guess.
“If the two gourmets can’t guess it, there’s no way I can. I have no idea, but I’d be happy if it were eel.”
The two mocked Reinhold’s answer.
“There’s no way eel would become such a delicious-smelling dish.”
“Reinhold, you’re right, Eleonora. If this dish really is eel, and it’s delicious… I’ll settle for the fishing rights charter as an apology.”
“Oh, Godhart, are you serious? Is it okay to make such a promise?”
“No matter what other ingredients it might be, it’s absolutely not eel, so it’s fine.”
To the two who were sneering at Reinhold, Shinobu announced the correct answer with a full smile.
“The correct answer is eel!”
“What?”
“No way!”
“Yes!”
Enjoying the three different reactions, Shinobu placed the grilled kabayaki on a plate and carried it to the table. Of course, there was also a portion for Lorenz.
“…So this is eel, huh.”
Putting aside the mixed emotions at the table, Lorenz looked at the steaming hot plate in front of him. Since he couldn’t use chopsticks yet, a wooden knife and fork were provided.
“The aroma is good… but how about the taste?”
He put a piece in his mouth and his eyes widened at the tenderness.
The rich but not unpleasant sweet and savory taste of the sauce and the fluffy texture that seemed to crumble just by pressing it with his tongue.
It felt completely different from that muddy, bony eel.
But Lorenz had watched the eel being cooked step by step since it was in the bucket. No matter what anyone said, this was eel.
At the back table, there were also inarticulate cries.
No matter how much of a gourmet they were, they probably hadn’t eaten anything like this before. He had to bring Gernot here sometime.
Looking over at Shinobu, she was happily stuffing her face with eel on a bowl full of rice with Eva. It’s charming that she has grains of rice with sauce stuck to her cheek.
“Taisho, I’m sorry, but another plate of this eel…”
“Please order for this table too!”
“That’s not fair, Godhart! Please order for me too!”
“One plate for me too, please!”
“Yes, yes,” Taisho laughed and started grilling the next batch of eels.
The sound of the fan and that aroma drifted through the restaurant, and his stomach, which should have been full from the ale, rumbled. If he was going to have this eel as a snack, sake would be better than ale.
“See, Lorenz-san. It was the right decision to buy a whole bucketful, wasn’t it?”
Lorenz could only give a wry smile in return to Shinobu, who wore a triumphant smile.
After the discussion ended and the three members of the Water Transport Guild left, Lorenz remained alone, enjoying sake.
His snack was eel grilled without sauce (shirayaki). A little wasabi made it exceptionally delicious.
He was going to have it with ale, but he switched to sake because of the taste.
“But in the end, I wonder who profited?”
He muttered to himself as he organized his thoughts.
Godhart, who obtained the fishing rights for eels, could certainly be said to have profited. If the cooking method for eels spreads, the water rights, which had no value until now, would become valuable.
But would the cooking method spread so easily? It would likely be difficult to explain to his subordinates. The real hard work might be just beginning.
Eleonora gained prestige by mediating between the two.
She had been treated as inferior despite having money. In that sense, she could be said to have gained a considerable profit.
It was difficult to judge Reinhold’s situation.
It was a profit in the sense that he concluded the transaction with Godhart with only the water rights as originally planned.
However, if he had kept the water rights, he might have been able to make a killing with eels in the future. He might have missed out on a new source of income.
He managed to get through today, but it’s not like he has any prospects for the future.
However, there was one person who definitely profited.
Taisho, who was sharpening his knife in front of Lorenz, should be able to make a fortune with eel kabayaki from now on.
He has a face that says his only joy is to feed people delicious food, but perhaps this kind of person is actually the happiest.
Thinking about this, Lorenz drained the sake in his cut glass.