Isekai Izakaya Nobu - Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Steamed Clams with Sake

Before anyone had noticed, the sleet had come to a stop .
The setting sun began to faintly shine through the thick clouds . The gentle, late autumn light illuminated the interior of the store through the glass door .

Rodrigo slowly sat down beside Ingrid . Although they were sitting by Izakaya Nobu’s tidy counter, he seemed to be reminiscing about a chaotic bar in the Holy Kingdom they had been to decades ago .

「In those days, you had no money and were always drinking watered down alcohol in a cheap bar . 」

「But Rodrigo just drank milk all the time . 」

Ingrid also seemed to recall those times .

「It worked, you know . I’ve grown taller . 」

The distilled liquor extracted from the lees that were leftover after making wine was a poor apprentice priest’s friend . Since the original liquor was quite strong, you could still get drunk after it was watered down . As it was not a liquor that was regularly circulated, it also had the advantage letting talking your way out of being accused of drinking . Those had been good times .
Rodrigo and Ingrid had been slightly more well known among the poor apprentice priests .

「After you left, Edwin-san paid off your tab at that bar . 」

「Heeh, that Edwin-san, huh . I only remembered him as the senior with hair as long as his sermons, but he has some good points too, doesn’t he?」

「That’s because he was a serious person . I wonder how is he doing now?」

「I saw someone who looked similar in Aitheria before . He couldn’t possibly be only a deacon, so I probably mistook that person for him . 」

「He couldn’t possibly be a deacon . He’s the right hand man of Cardinal Hürghigegot . 」

「That’s right . At any rate, he must be a good guy, since he treats people so selflessly . 」

「As compensation for that incident, he also helped me a lot with my studies . 」

After he said that, he covered his mouth . As the district Archbishop, Rodrigo, who was called His Eminence, wasn’t supposed to use the word ‘I’ .
However, Ingrid was not one to mind appearances . He noticed that she had opened her mouth, but it wasn’t to make fun of him .
The two people were basking in the nostalgic atmosphere that filled Izakaya Nobu . In this moment, Rodrigo and Ingrid were not a Cardinal and a Witch, they were just “Rodrigo and Ingrid . ”
He took a deep breath and felt refreshed from the fleeting feelings from those days . He didn’t deserve what he had now .
The mugs emptied before anyone had noticed, and they both got a second glass .
(TL note: Rodrigo used “boku” which is an informal way of saying “I”)

The more Rodrigo enjoyed the gentle atmosphere and nostalgic silence, the more guilty he felt .
‘I must apologise to Ingrid . ’
Not only as an Archbishop, but as Rodrigo too . For this time, and that time as well .

It was Rodrigo’s mistake to have used a small fry like Damien to look for a witch . He couldn’t use his usual subordinates to search for witches, since it wasn’t official business . Other than that, he had also gotten very impatient because he was about to make a debut at the Cardinal election .

「Ingrid…」

Rodrigo made up his mind, but Ingrid turned him down with a smile .

「Rodrigo, let’s talk more about bad booze . 」

Ingrid’s smile as she gulped down the lager was the same as in those days . Rather than growing old, it was more like she had grown more beautiful over the years . Rodrigo was moved by how time had treated her .

「What is it, senpai? Shall we change locations?」

「Switching places?」

「Yeah, the dining hall at the inn I’m staying at is a pretty good place for Aitheria . It has an Eastern Kingdom (Oiria) style menu . The fish is… well, it’s inland so… but the meat is delicious, you know . 」

「Oh?」

In those days, they used to argue about which good shops had better food .
After Ingrid left the Holy Kingdom (Rupsia), he had studied diligently and gotten into a proper position . His stipend was large enough to make people envious . However, he had not been satisfied, since he had been eating alone the whole time .
He had a feeling that his hunger would finally be satisfied for the first time by eating together with Ingrid .

「But this place is fine, Rodrigo . 」

「What do you mean, senpai?」

「The atmosphere here is similar to those days, isn’t it? And, this shop has delicious dishes . 」

Rodrigo unintentionally recoiled at Ingrid’s unexpected words .
Was there such a thing? This shop was on Inns and Stables street, which was an extension of Aitheria . Normally, it was not a place where you would expect to find good food .
He thought Ingrid might be kidding, but it didn’t seem like it .
She was just sipping the delicious lager .

「Shinobu-chan, please give us something delicious . 」

「Yes, I understand!」

The waitress called Shinobu responded energetically to Ingrid’s order .
There was no helping it, since she had already ordered . The food might not suit Rodrigo’s tongue, which was used to gourmet food, but it was Ingrid’s recommendation . It would be amusing to return to those poor apprentice days by trying to pretend to enjoy eating cheap food .
Besides, he was confident that he would feel that it was delicious, no matter what he ate .
He had been able to meet the person he had been looking for all this time . There was nothing to be sad about .

It was the mushroom incident .
There had been no clue to be found, except for the fact that Ingrid had left the Holy Kingdom in order to cover up Rodrigo’s big mess and became a witch somewhere . At first, he thought she would be easy to find, but it took quite a long time . Still, he was glad that things had not changed .

It was a good sign .
Even though he had lost Bachschouf, his financial support, his spirit to fight to the bitter end in the Cardinal election began to rise .
His luck must have been changing, since he was able to reunite with Ingrid after searching for so many years . This was probably an advance notice of God’s arrangements of his fate .
This chance encounter was a signal for Rodrigo, who had spent his time in the shadows until now, to counterattack .
He would take the Cardinal’s seat and return to the Holy Kingdom . After that, he would settle the dispute between his fundamentalists faction and Hürghigegot’s reformist faction .

「Thank you for waiting!」

The dish that Shinobu carried was something he was familiar with .

「Vongole, huh?」
(TL note: vongole is Italian for clams)

He felt nostalgic saying its name . Clams were a staple food for poor apprentice priests .
In the Holy Kingdom, which had numerous coastlines, clams could be harvested bountifully . If you dredged the sandy beaches with a rake during gathering season, it wouldn’t take long to fill up a bucket .
Apprentice priests would go to the beach on the pretense of meditating, collect lots of clams in a bucket, and then take them to the bar and sell it at dirt cheap prices . They were paid in drinks, not gold . Turning a bucket of clams into several drinks became fuel for the apprentice priests to make great progress in their meditations and discussions . Their snacks were, of course, lots of clams as well .

It was nostalgic .
He had grown so tired of eating them that he hadn’t even wanted to look at them anymore back then, but now he felt a sense of nostalgia .
Unlike Ingrid, who was born in the Empire, Rodrigo came from the seaside, where the Emperor was from .
He had only eaten inland dishes when he was assigned to this place as an Archbishop, so his nostalgia awakened just from seeing the clams .

That being said, clams were not that delicious .
It was a conclusion that Rodrigo had arrived at after eating various kinds of clam dishes .
If it was fresh, there might be ways to eat it deliciously, but there was little hope of that in the inland Aitheria .
He could enjoy it if it was changed to pasta before his eyes, but he didn’t expect a bar in the northernmost part of the Empire to have the Holy Kingdom’s specialty, pasta, in reserve .

「This looks delicious . Can I get hot sake (atsukan), too?」

「Right, one hot sake coming right up . 」

「Can I have two sake cups please?」

Was the atsukan Ingrid ordered a brand of liquor? Since it was a shellfish dish, it could be white wine .
It was said that the Empire had more wineries than the Holy Kingdom (Rupsia) or Eastern Kingdom (Oiria), so it was possible that Ingrid knew of some good, cheap stocks .
It was nice to enjoy such drinks once in a while .
Rodrigo, who was tired of gourmet dishes, felt even more refreshed .

He wanted to eat cheap shellfish dishes seasoned with nostalgia and get severely drunk a large amount of cheap wine .
It was an unbecoming behaviour for a member of the clergy, but conversely, this could be the last time that he would be able to enjoy something like this .


Once he became the Cardinal of the Holy Kingdom, he would not be able to enjoy himself like a fool anymore .

「Well then, shall we toast again?」

However, what Ingrid held out was obviously not white wine .
The sake that had been poured into the small, bisque cup was colourless and transparent, and there was a scent of alcohol wafting from it .
When the fragrance tickled Rodrigo’s nose, something came to his mind . The clams .
He had thought the smell somehow seemed familiar, but it seemed that it was because of the sake in the clams .

「Cheers . 」

「Cheers . 」

He drank the cup in one go and reflexively froze up . He could taste this sake through his nose and throat . He understood exactly why it was served in a small cup .
Although this was the first time he had drunk this, its fragrance and taste were good .
If someone were deceived by its mellowness and went too far, he would get drunk immediately . This was the kind of drink that was best enjoyed through sipping .
He unconsciously smiled, since he himself had reached a point where he could talk about sake before he had realized it . When he had been sitting next to Ingrid in the past, he had only drunk milk .

While thinking that, he started on the clams that had been steamed in sake .
He did not care about his manners . Right now, he was not the Archbishop, but Rodrigo . He picked up the shell of a rather large clam and brought it to his mouth while enjoying the aroma from the steam .
It was hot, but it was also delicious .
The taste had been preserved because it was steamed, but he couldn’t smell the normal odor of the clam .
Before he could savour the taste, his hands were already reaching for the next clam of their own volition .
Slurp .
Slurp .
He somehow snapped the stubborn adductor muscle with his teeth and threw the clams into his mouth, one after another .

Steamed clams in sake

This atsukan was good too .
It might have been delicious to eat this with white wine, but there was atsukan for this occasion now .
Beside him, Ingrid was also piling up shells, one after another, on an empty plate .
As he continued eating, he could feel heat rising up from the bottom of his stomach, thanks to the sake .

It was an experience he had never felt from his lifeless gourmet food . He was grateful to Ingrid for recommending this .
After Rodrigo ate the last clam, he felt as if he was ten or twenty years younger .
It was unusual for Rodrigo, who strongly believed that leaving leftovers was a sign of wealth, to clean his plate .

「How is it? The clams are pretty good, aren’t they?」

「I didn’t think I could eat such delicious clams in Aitheria . 」

As Rodrigo wiped off his gushing sweat, he grinned broadly .
Izakaya Nobu . It really was a good store . Thanks to this shop, he was able to meet with Ingrid again .
He had suffered from abdominal pain and anemia for a while, but now, he felt as if all that had disappeared, including his depression .
He took his usual cup out of his pocket from habit, but was stopped by Ingrid when he tried to order mulled wine .

「This cup… looks a little unusual, doesn’t it?」

「Yeah, you know it too, senpai? This is a cup given to me by that man, Damien . The antique style decoration fits my taste, and when I drink cheap wines with this, they become sweeter . 」

「I see . 」

He handed the cup over to Ingrid for her to take a good look, but she sighed and handed it over to Shinobu to be thrown away .

「Shinobu, please throw this cup away, and make sure nobody picks it up . 」

「Ingrid-senpai?」

「And you, Rodrigo, you’re not fit for politics . Don’t think about it too much, you should step out while you still can . 」

Rodrigo was stunned by all this when Shinobu, who was looking at the cup, raised her voice .

「There’s… lead spread on the inside . It definitely shouldn’t be used . 」

「What do you mean?」

Ingrid answered instead .

「If you continue to drink wine with this… the lead in the cup will dissolve and react with the wine . The more you drink, the faster your body gets ruined . 」

Now that she mentioned it, he realized that ever since he started drinking wine from this cup, there had been a sudden increase in his abdominal pains and anemia . In fact, he felt like his depression had also come around the same time .

「Worst case scenario, you might even die . 」

Assassination .
The word ran through his mind .
Was it Damien, who had presented the gift, or was there someone pulling the strings from the shadows? Either way, if he had continued using the cup as usual…
A chill ran down his spine .

「Different people are cut out for different things . Rodrigo, you might be somewhat better off if you retire and live out your life at a monastery somewhere, instead of aiming to become cardinal . 」

Ingrid’s eyes shone with wisdom, even after all these years . They had not changed from the time when he had been called “Shorty”, when he had fallen in love with her .
While looking at Ingrid, who was asking for a refill of the atsukan, Rodrigo continued to silently ponder why he had not left the Holy Capital back then .