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.