The lively voices of children could be heard from the street.
For the past few days, Aitheria had been busy preparing for the Grand Bazaar. It originated from a festival in the farming villages where they would make a large straw puppet and march in a parade to pray for their harvest to be bountiful next year.
According to Issac, when people had migrated to Aitheria, they had brought the festival along with them.
Today as well, Arnoux laid on the counter in Izakaya Nobu, swinging his legs all day long.
When he got bored of swinging his legs, he tried to convince himself that it was his body that was swinging. When he did that, it was funny because it now felt like his body was swinging around.
「No, this isn’t fun at all.」
Taisho was a bit surprised when Arnoux suddenly got up, but he soon looked back down at the pot.
Recently, Taisho busy experimenting in order to make a new dish.
Arnoux did not know what he was making, but judging from the reactions of both Shinobu and Eva, who tasted it, it was likely to become Nobu's new specialty.
「Is Arnoux-san prepared for the festival already?」
Taisho asked with a murmur. Shinobu was out on errands, so only Taisho and Arnoux were in the shop. The question was quiet enough that it could have been mistaken as cooking sounds from the pot.
It couldn't be helped. If he was being a hindrance, he would have been kicked out long ago. This bar had a mysterious atmosphere wrapped around it.
「Strictly speaking, I’m not from Aitheria. That’s why, I’ll only be joining the festival.」
「Ah, does it mean…」
Arnoux finally remembered the reason why Taisho was a little troubled and hesitated in his words.
「This shop is already a proper member of Aitheria, you know. From what I heard, it will soon be the shop's first anniversary, right?」
「Yeah, that’s actually…correct.」
When Arnoux saw Taisho's embarrassed smile, he felt like he somewhat understood the reason why this shop was well liked. Everyone was humble. If the employees' were humble, then the regulars would be too. He wondered whether they were probably drawn to each other.
「There is an old law, you know. If you lived in a city for a year, the city will recognise the person as a resident. That’s why, Izakaya Nobu is a part of Aitheria.」
「How about you, Arnoux-san?」
「I, well, have my own circumstances.」
Arnoux drank his roasted green tea while making a bitter smile. It was his favourite lately. It warmed him up from the bottom of his stomach and made his frustrations disappear to somewhere else.
Only the simmering sounds from the pot filled the shop.
「My younger brother…」
「Hmm?」
Taisho seemed to have heard the monologue that came out from his mouth.
He loosened up. Arnoux did not want to talk about himself too much, but he couldn't just brush it off now.
「I have a younger brother.」
「How much younger?」
「Three years, I guess.」
Although he was usually quiet about it, somehow he felt that the words came out on their own when he spoke to Taisho. He wasn't reluctant. In fact, he might have wanted to talk about it.
「My younger brother is a good fellow, unlike me, and always listens to what my father says. Even in succeeding the family business, many people say my younger brother is a better choice.」
「Ah, so that's why you want to become a minstrel?」
「I do want to become a poet, but well, I can't deny that that is a part of my motivation.」
Taisho did not say anything, which encouraged Arnoux to continue the story.
Arnoux's rational side whispered that he should not reveal too much. However, he was caught up in the shop's warm atmosphere. His face was flushed, and his mouth unconsciously loosened like he was drunk.
「Even though I was apprenticed to father for about two years, it wasn’t interesting at all. It was all repeating the basic of the basics. I felt like I could do even more. They said anything new was useless. My younger brother is more suited for that.」
Even though he didn't say it out loud, it seemed that he had ran away from home.
Taisho nodded without saying anything.
「When Teacher Crowvinkel instructed me to recite a poem, he said that I was running away from something. I realized that it was my family business. However, if I, who is unsuited for the job, were to succeed my father, everyone would be unhappy. It’s impossible for me to do the same thing, year after year, until I die.」
Now that he had put it into words, Arnoux understood his own feelings for the first time.
He abhorred monotony, so he had longed to become a traveling minstrel.
Now that he thought about it, he was indeed running away, as Crowvinkel had said. Was he so superficial that he could be seen through just from a few lines of his poetry? Or was it Crowvinkel's insight?
Either way, he couldn't even laugh at himself for it.
Taisho silently presented him with a small bowl, filled with a warm, cloudy soup.
「This is the dashi I will be using to cook this time. Try tasting it.」
Arnoux nodded and brought it to his mouth.
It had a gentle flavour. Despite that, it also had a strong umami flavour.
「It took me 14 years for me to perfect this dashi.」
「14 years…?」
Although Taisho looked young, he might be nearing 30 soon. 14 years would be about half of his life.
Had it taken all these years to develop this flavor?
Arnoux wanted to ask whether it was only the soup, but he kept his mouth shut. He could not invalidate something that had been improved over the past 14 years.
「Even though I respect you for trying it out for two years, I don’t think you've figured out whether or not you’re suited for it yet.」
「No, I do know, I think.」
「If you really want to become a minstrel, why aren’t you immersing yourself in poetry?」
From the back of his throat, a sigh that resembled a groan leaked out.
Arnoux had wanted to respond by saying that he would know whether or not he was suited to becoming a minstrel after two years. However, Taishou had splendidly dodged it.
Attachments.
That was what Taisho wanted to convey. Truthfully, Arnoux had wanted to succeed the family business, but he had made the excuse that he was not suitable to do so.
Wasn't this running away after all? He asked himself as he gently closed his eyes.
He understood that the basics were important. However, he wanted to be recognised for his talents and introduce new products, one after another. Though, his subordinates were the ones who had to clean up his mess.
Nobuyuki gently placed a dish in front of him.
The dish contained potatoes and meat, which were garnished with carrots and beans.
He had never seen this served in Nobu before. Was this the prototype dish Nobuyuki was developing?
「It’s nikujaga. Arnoux-san will be the first customer to eat it.」
(TL note: nikujaga = stewed meat and potatoes)
Nikujaga
When he said it like that, it did not feel bad.
Arnoux cut the potatoes with chopsticks, which he had gotten used to recently. He could clearly see how warm and fluffy the potatoes were. They had been well cooked, and they soaked up a lot of the juices in the dish just from being cut open with his chopsticks.
He was surprised when he placed some in his mouth.
The viscous texture was quite similar to the viscosity of the taro that was served in Nobu.
However, this was a potato from around here.
He had grown tired of eating potatoes his whole life.
This taste calmed him. Disregarding the steam, he brought the potato and meat to his mouth.
The strong flavours that had permeated through the food was superior to that of all the other stewed dishes in Nobu. The strong umami flavour from the soup he had tasted earlier had drawn out the every bit of the delicious flavor of the potatoes.
Before he noticed it, the plate was already empty.
「How is it?」
「The potatoes were good. This will be Nobu’s, no, Aitheria’s new signature dish.」
Taisho smiled, and Arnoux followed suit.
It was easy money.
He had intended to hand over the family business to his younger brother, but he was now thinking about this potato.
By making use of various connections and having them eat this nikujaga, he could build a market on the potatoes of this region. He had heard from Isaac that the potatoes cultivated in this area were slightly different from those of other areas.
If he promoted the sales well, the potatoes, which gave off strong impressions of being a poor quality crop, would become a new source of income.
If that happened, poor people would also profit.
「Arnoux-san, you look like you’re thinking of something good.」
「Is that so…?」
He felt a little embarrassed and looked away from Taisho.
In truth, Arnoux probably liked his family business.
He had a lot of things he wanted to do, but he probably felt like he couldn't accomplish much if he was unable to have his own way with it.
It was unfortunate. After eating just one stewed dish, all of his troubles from the past couple of months had melted away. He had been convinced that he himself was a very difficult person, but it had been a surprisingly simple resolution.
Taisho took over 14 years to develop the taste of the soup. Arnoux felt like he should work hard for 14 years too. If it was still no good after that, he would hand it over to his younger brother and train to be a minstrel for fourteen years.
It was a life plan that seemed fun.
「Arnoux-sama, are you here?」
「Ah, Isaac. I’ve come to a good place. Taisho, won’t you let Isaac eat that nikujaga?」
Isaac had turned up before anyone noticed and was startled for a moment when he saw that Arnoux was strangely cheerful. However, he seemed to have suppressed it with his strict self-control.
Isaac was Arnoux's subordinate, after all.. However, he would have a harder time now than before. Arnoux was forming a resolution.
「Nikujaga, huh? Is this another…」
Isaac ate the nikujaga, using the chopsticks more skillfully than Arnoux had.
It was interesting to watch his expression change as he ate the potatoes and the meat.
「Taisho, this is…a really great dish. It’s similar to a dish from the North, but that is served with sour cream. This nikujaga is perfect on its own, without relying on any superficial condiments.」
「It’s shuhari, you know.」
「Shuhari?」
Arnoux asked after hearing an unfamiliar word.
「My teacher taught me those words. When I began to study under him initially, I was an straightforward man. This is the incubation (shu). From there, you destroy what was taught to you the first time, the detachment (ha). Finally, make things with the new you, the separation (ri).」
「Shu, ha, ri…」
Arnoux always carried around a bundle of parchment on his waist to write down inspirations for his poems, and he wrote down the word, “shuhari“. From now on, he would definitely write down lots of things unrelated to poetry.
「It’s a good saying, right, Arnoux-sama?」
The reason Isaac's tone sounded slightly spiteful was probably because Arnoux had thrown away his father's way of living after two years.
He had been frustrated that he couldn't retort then, but it was different now.
「Isaac, I’ll succeed the house.」
「Eh…」
Isaac dropped his chopsticks in surprise at the sudden declaration.
That was expected. Arnoux had kept telling Isaac that he did not want to succeed the house until this morning. Something must have happened for him to change his mind. If Arnoux suddenly said it like this, it wouldn't be surprising for Isaac to think that it was a joke.
However, Isaac's reaction was bigger than expected.
「Con-congratulations!」
Isaac got up from his chair and bowed so low that one would think his back would break. Tears were streaming down his face when he raised his head.
It would have been difficult to imagine that he could show so much joy based on his usual serious demeanor.
「This Isaac, having served Arnoux-sama ever since we were milk brothers, has never been happier than this!」
(ED: Some members of the team had some confusion on milk brothers. Simply means two people nursed by the same woman.)
Shinobu, who had just come back, looked flustered as she tried to catch up with the situation.
「Arnoux-sama, it’s a celebration. We should celebrate today!」
「A-ah, I don’t really care for that…」
「You don’t have to worry about money! I have taken care of the money that your father gave us!」
When Arnoux looked at Taisho for help, he was answered with a smile.
Arnoux saw Taishou skillfully begin to prepare the food and knew that it was probably already set in stone.
There was a large party that evening, and Arnoux paid for everyone who came.
The next morning, it was declared that the Marquis of Sachnussenburg, Arnoux XV, would succeed the entire territory of the marquis that surrounded Aitheria.
(TLC: Arnoux XV doesn't mean Arnoux the 15th, but the 15th generation Marquis, Arnoux)