It was, without a doubt, an incident.
Gernot, the tax collector, a regular at Izakaya Nobu, visited during the usual afternoon hours. However, he didn’t order the Neapolitan pasta that he would normally request without fail.
“…Red wine. No snacks.”
That was all he said, almost whispering.
He leaned on the counter, resting his prominent forehead on his palms, and fell silent. She thought he might be in the mood to get drunk, but even when Leontaine brought him a glass of red wine, he merely glanced at it and accepted it without taking a sip.
“I wonder if something happened?”
“Who knows? It’s certainly unusual.”
Even when Shinobu asked, Leontaine only shrugged.
The recent Sasarica rice riots were somehow quelled thanks to Gernot’s quick thinking. The Marquis of Sachsenburg was able to buy grain for storage at a low price, and the Eisenschmidt Trading Company obtained working capital for the spring and was able to open their warehouses.
It was also a boon to discover that the rice grown in this world was quite delicious.
Shinobu had naturally assumed that the improved Japanese rice would be better, but the rice here had its own merits. It had a slightly sticky texture, similar to glutinous rice, making her want to try making okowa and chimaki.
Translator’s Note
Okowa is a Japanese steamed rice dish made with glutinous rice and various ingredients. Chimaki are dumplings made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves.
As she was thinking about what dishes would best utilize this rice, the sound of a traveling performer’s flute drifted into the shop from the street. It seemed that a royal or noble from some country was making a sudden visit to the old capital, causing an unseasonal bustle to envelop the city.
There were rumors about why they were coming during the cold winter months, but the truth seemed to be that nobody really knew. It was even doubtful whether they were actually coming at all.
More importantly, Shinobu was worried about Gernot.
Gernot’s love for Napolitan pasta was well-established, and he rarely ordered anything else at Nobu unless something extraordinary happened. Shinobu had secretly worried that he might get tired of it eventually, but she had never sensed any sign of that. Until today.
“I’m a little worried,” Hans muttered.
“Do you think so too, Hans?”
“Aren’t you concerned, Shinobu-san? He’s not the type to fail at work, so I wonder if he met someone he didn’t want to see.”
“Someone he didn’t want to see, huh?”
Shinobu was about to imagine the faces of people she didn’t want to see, but she shook her head slightly.
“The person I don’t want to see right now is my dad.”
Hans laughed, his tone joking, and Shinobu forced a smile in return.
Even if they’re family, there are times when you don’t want to see someone.
“Speaking of which, Lorenz-san hasn’t been to the shop lately. Did something happen?”
“We’re in a fight, since the end of last year.”
“Since then?”
This was the first Shinobu had heard of it. When Hans was a customer, she hadn’t thought their relationship was that bad.
“My dad doesn’t like that I’m aiming to be a chef. So…”
“You should talk to him about it properly, once and for all.”
The one who interrupted was not Nobuyuki, but Gernot. He slowly raised his head, picked up the glass beside him, and drained it in one gulp. It was a way of drinking that was hard to imagine from the usual Gernot.
“I’m sorry, did you overhear us, Gernot-san?”
“Don’t worry about it, Shinobu-san. I just happen to have slightly better hearing than most.”
Gernot raised his glass with a thin smile on his lips, and Leontaine poured him another. It wasn’t wine from this world, but Chilean wine bought in Japan. It was cheap, but it tasted good.
It was impossible to keep the secret from Hans and Leontaine, who were hired as staff, so after discussing it with Nobuyuki, they had already revealed the secret of Izakaya Nobu’s back door. The two of them had a lukewarm reaction.
They somehow understood that it was connected to another world. Rather, they didn’t quite grasp that it was something special. They seemed to think it wasn’t much different from stories about going to the fairy realm in fairy tales.
Shinobu desperately tried to tell them that it wasn’t like that, but,
“In short, you’re saying that Hans, Eva, and I just need to keep it a secret, right? As far as I’m concerned, as long as I can eat delicious snacks and delicious food here, and my salary is paid on time, I’m fine.” Leontaine brushed her concerns away.
“So, Gernot-san, since you overheard us, would you mind telling us why you’re so down?”
Leontaine was direct, even when it came to sensitive matters.
Gernot fiddled with his monocle for a moment as if hesitating, but then he emptied his glass as if making up his mind.
“It seems my brother is in this city.”
His tone was grave, as if he were confessing a serious crime, but the content was quite ordinary.
“You had a brother?”
It was Nobuyuki who raised his voice in surprise.
His hobby was watching detective dramas, and he enjoyed imagining the family structures of the customers who came to the shop. It seems he enjoyed comparing his guesses with the casual conversations he had. This time, it seemed he was wrong.
“I have a brother, and my parents are alive and well. It seems some people want to make me out to be someone born from a tree hollow or a cave, but I’m quite an ordinary human.”
He had Leontaine pour him a third glass and immediately drank it down. Gernot was definitely different today. Shinobu had seen him drink a lot of beer before, but she had never seen him empty wine at this pace. It was not a good way to drink.
“So, why is it a problem that your brother is in this city?”
Leontaine gently stopped his hand as he raised his glass for a fourth, and Gernot reluctantly answered, as if resigned.
“My brother doesn’t know that I’m a tax collector. I have no intention of telling him. Therefore, I can’t meet him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be drinking during the day without working.”
“I see…”
Gernot was the only tax collector Shinobu knew, but she could tell from the regular customers’ comments that it was a very unpopular profession in this world. There must be some delicate nuance in the fact that Gernot, who should be proud of his work, couldn’t tell his own brother.
“Come to think of it, how did you know your brother was in the old capital, Gernot?”
Almost at the same time Leontaine asked this, there was a discreet knock on the glass door of Izakaya Nobu.