TN: Though the one in the picture is canned sardines, the one in this chapter is homemade.
Oiled Sardine
One of the countless islands of Sea Country was an island where dwarves lived.
The island, with an active volcano at its center, had an iron mine instead of rice cultivation, so dwarves settled there and set up their forges, exchanging their products for food and charcoal ever since olden days.
And a dwarven grandmother name Meifan soaked in the island"s only hot spring, sighing as the heat of the hot spring soothed the joints of her body that had become painful recently.
[It"s soaking in…]
As she murmured, Meifan eyed the slowly setting sun, the sunset the colour of heated iron.
The light showed the mountain hut built near the vicinity of the hot spring.
Meifan watched the sunset from the hot spring as usual.
The hot spring had a strong ability to heal the pain of the body, but it was a bit far from the village for Meifan.
Therefore, it was mostly not popular except for an elderly who had taken time off from work or a sick person who had come to soak.
However, Meifan who already had great grandchildren frequently came to relieve her body pain.
Specifically, she came once in 7 days, soaked in the hot spring until evening and returned home next morning.
[Well, let"s go.]
She had heated her body plenty, so Meifan rose from the bath with empty stomach as she had only eaten a porridge she made in the mountain hut"s pot for lunch.
She wiped her wrinkled body carefully with a cloth, changed to her regular clothes… and headed to the most enjoyable place of this hot spring.
Yes, this hot spring had a secret.
In the forest, a little away from the spring.
A black door with a cat picture was located at a place where there was only animal path.
Once in 7 days, that"s the reason why she visited this place that was near the otherworld dining hall.
Standing on tiptoe with expectation, she grasped the door"s bra.s.s handle and opened the door.
"Chirinchirin", the door opened to an unexpectedly bright room.
[Ou, welcome.]
At the same time she entered, the owner that was as old as her greeted Meifan.
[For the time being, do you want beer?]
[Aa, please. My throat is parched.]
After nodding to the owner"s question, she jumped to sit on a chair that was a bit too tall for a dwarf.
[Fuu, it"s cool here.]
The cool wind blowing on her body after a hot bath was comfortable.
It was quiet in the restaurant; there were still a few people like the senior middle-aged samurai drinking sake and the old man eating fried pork with beer.
(Maa, it"s going to be terrible if I bring my men.)
Suddenly, her mind thought that there was no benefit in doing so.
All male dwarves were drunkards.
With their loud voices coming out from their small bodies, sweating a lot due to their blacksmith work, ate a lot of food and drank a lot of strong alcohol.
If they came across this restaurant"s unexpectedly good alcohol, they would continue to drink until the restaurant"s stock ran out.
Because of that, Meifan would keep the secret of this place and enjoy it for the time being.
[Thank you for waiting. Here"s your beer.]
While she thought such, her beer came.
The contrast between the white and golden colours seen through the transparent gla.s.s was beautiful.
[Aa, thanks.]
She said her thanks and drank at once.
The stimulating and refreshing bitterness of beer wetted her throat.
[Ou, you drink a lot as always.]
In a blink of eye, the gla.s.s was empty and the owner who was a non-drinker was impressed every time.
[Maa, that"s the case.]
Meifan replied in a good mood after returning the empty gla.s.s.
When she came to this restaurant, she had to moisten her throat before eating.
That was Meifan"s pleasure once in 7 days.
[Well, what"s today accompanying dish for alcohol?]
Soon, Meifan asked the owner.
[It"s…]
The owner thought for a while to that question.
[For that request, it"s oiled sardine… sardine fishes that"s pickled in oil, would you like to eat it?]
He was asked to make it from a new tenant of the restaurant"s building, though he was just stocking it for the time being.
Yesterday after tasting it himself, he served it to the tenant and received a good review.
In that case, it may be served for this old woman.
The owner thought so and recommended it.
[Sardine? Maa, I"m used to eating fish because fishery is good. There"s no deviation, huh. It"s fine. Sorry for that. Also, can I have umeshu for the time being? One bottle if there"s one.]
[Aa, just a moment.]
Meifan decided to eat the pickled fish that the owner recommended and at the same time ordered an alcohol that could only be drunk here.
The owner nodded and promptly returned to the kitchen to prepare her orders.
Fortunately, it"s a dish that could be served immediately as it"s already done.
Without waiting, the dish was served.
[Fu~n. So this dish… fish pickled in oil?]
Meifan inquired.
The fishes served did not have their heads and their guts had been cleaned.
From the lightly browned skin, they seemed to be lightly grilled and shredded Oranie was sprinkled from above.
And near the fishes were something yellowish white, something red and a small bowl with something black.
[Ou, it"s homemade. With Tongara… I mean Togaran and Galeo included.]
The owner lightly pointed at the sardines and then pointed at the seasonings next to it.
[And this are its seasonings. Mayonnaise, ketchup and shoyu. It fits both rice and bread, so call me if you want.]
Then, he placed a gla.s.s bottle filled with pale yellow liquor, a well-shaped gla.s.s cup and a small tub of ice.
[Finally, here"s your plum wine.]
[Aa, I appreciate it.]
Looking at the alcohol, Meifan narrowed her eyes.
Umeshu. Meifan"s favourite liquor in this restaurant was this sweet and sour alcohol made from pickling otherworld fruit.
[Well then, please enjoy.]
Meifan started to eat quickly while watching the owner lightly bowing his head and returning to the kitchen.
[Well, let"s start from the food first.]
She picked up chopsticks and reached for the fish.
(First of all is the taste of the fish itself.)
While thinking so, she picked up the lightly seared body of the fish and the white shredded Oranie.
Its body softly collapsed and a bit remained on the chopsticks.
(Hou, such a nice scent. It seems that he used fine oil.)
Just a fragrant faintly sweet scent drifted from the oiled fish, there"s no oil smell.
Despite the oil overflowing in its body, the fact that there"s no smell showed that the owner used fine oil.
(Un. I guess that"s the way it is.)
With her rising expectation, Meifan brought it to her mouth… she laughed to that taste.
(Hou. This is… soft and delicious.)
The fish was very soft as its finishing touches.
Originally, dwarves ate fishes with their bones, but there"s no need to remove the bones as they were no longer there.
Despite that it was a small fish with many bones, she did not feel any discomfort of eating fish bones.
(The bones have been removed… no, that"s not it. It"s cooked in a way to soften its bones!)
When she rolled it inside her mouth, she noticed that.
There"s no bone. The fish was simmered long enough to make the bones so soft they could be eaten.
(I give up… just this alone is enough for a feast.)
Meifan"s face loosened to the taste of oiled fish.
Seasonings were salt and Togaran, and also Galeo.
As it"s only spicy and salty, she could properly taste this fish"s fat.
Every time she chewed, the fat containing fish"s umami and the oil used for pickling overflowed in her mouth.
And the Oranie on top… it daringly gave a little crispy texture while being slightly soft as it was cooked very briefly.
At first glance, it was a small fish dish that she could get accustomed normally, but it"s not an exaggeration to say that this was a side dish for alcohol.
(I wonder if I can make it myself. This one… it"s impossible huh.)
While eating the fishes, she reached for the seasoning while thinking such.
The strong saltiness of shoyu, the sour taste of ketchup and the soft acidity of mayonnaise, it"s marvelous.
Meifan knew well of these three seasonings.
She efficiently used them for the oiled sardines.
The salty shoyu complimented the oiled sardines, and indeed it would fit well with rice.
The sourness of ketchup matched the greasy oiled sardines, stimulating her appet.i.te.
And then the mayonnaise. This soft sour taste and oiled sardines were compatible.
The oiled sardines and its seasonings all had strong flavours, but they did not quarrel with each other and fit well.
(Fuu. Well, once I taste this…)
After her belly was filled with oiled sardines, she reached for her umeshu.
She put the large ice blocks in the gla.s.s cup and poured the alcohol.
The pale yellow liquor with fruity scent poured from the bottle to the cup, its fragrance drifting faintly around.
While sniffing the smell, Meifan gently drank…
[Hey! This is different!]
She was surprised and called the owner loudly.
Meifan inquired the owner who came running.
[This alcohol, isn"t it somehow better than the ones I ordered before?]
Yes, that umeshu was more delicious than the ones she drank before.
The fragrance was more vivid, while it"s firmly sweetened, the acidity could be tasted sharply.
This alcoholic beverage became softer and had an overall refreshing taste.
[O, you noticed? I"m surprised. So you noticed that.]
The owner who was not familiar with alcohol was surprised though he was convinced.
(Even though that bar was experiencing recession… that guy.)
He thought of the new shop that just opened recently.
After renting the second floor of Nekoya"s building, he started the bar with his retirement money after hearing that the owner made accompanying dishes for alcohol and made an agreement for the delivery system.
He said that he broke his liver after he drank alcohol when he was travelling for his business until he couldn"t drink anymore.
He self-stated that he was familiar with alcohol after the 20 years since he entered the company.
After the doctor told him to stop drinking, he opened the bar with the motive of wanting to see people happy after drinking delicious liquors just like the bar he saw in a manga since he still wanted to engage with alcohols even if he couldn"t drink anymore.
Apparently, those self-styed details seemed to be genuine.
[Aa, I heard that from someone. I tried changing the supplier. The price doesn"t change very much, but I could say that it"s delicious.]
[Is that so? I was surprised when the taste improved suddenly.]
After the brief explanation, Meifan was convinced.
(How surprising. Even though the previous one was already delicious enough.)
There"s always something above the top, she was reminded.
About five years ago, she was impressed with the deliciousness of the umeshu she drank at this restaurant, so she tried to make it herself.
She washed unripe fruits that were found at the island and pickled them in dwarven alcohol with lots of brown sugar from other island; she then let it sleep for about half a year.
To the men, it was too sweet and its evaluation was not good due to the weak alcohol. But it"s popular among women, young people and human merchants that came to buy dwarven merchandise.
Daughters and wives came to Meifan asking her to teach them how to make it. Although she was able to sell it for high price to the human merchants, it still couldn"t reach the umeshu sold at this restaurant.
(I"m defeated. It"s unlikely that it would be more delicious unless I try harder.)
And that day, Meifan secretly decided that while she drank the more delicious umeshu.
Let"s make more delicious umeshu while she"s still alive.
While repeatedly making such decision.
[Hey! Another bottle of umeshu!]
Meifan drank more to remember the taste even a bit better.