There was definitely a problem .

Gernot, who regularly visited Izakaya n.o.bu at early noon, had not ordered his customary Napolitan today .

“Red wine… . I don’t need any snacks with it . ”

That was all he said .

He sank into silence, propping his elbows on the counter as he cupped his forehead with his hands . Though they had thought that he wanted to get drunk, he only glanced at the gla.s.s of red wine that Leontaine put in front of him, not even taking a single sip .

“Is something wrong?”

“Well, this is a rather rare sight . ”

Leontaine simply shrugged at s.h.i.+n.o.bu’s question .

Gernot’s calm thinking had somehow settled the sa.s.sarica rice incident from the other day . The Marquis of Sachnussenberg could buy and stockpile grains at low prices, while the Eisen Schmidt Company could empty their warehouse and obtain some funds for spring at the same time .

From that harvest, s.h.i.+n.o.bu had noticed that the rice from this world was quite delicious .

j.a.panese rice was naturally delicious due to selective breeding, and the same could be said of the rice here . Since it had a similar stickiness, s.h.i.+n.o.bu wanted to try making okowa or chimaki .

(TL note: okowa = j.a.panese sticky rice, chimaki = glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves)

While she was absorbed in pondering which delicious dishes could be made, the

whistles of traveling performers in the streets reverberated in the store . Royalty or n.o.bles from another country had suddenly planned to visit Aitheria, so the town was filled with an out-of-season liveliness .

Although there were rumours of them visiting during winter despite the cold, they had not been confirmed . As such, it was doubtful that they would even come in the first place .

Rather than worrying about that, Gernot had other, more pressing matters to attend to .

His love of Napolitan was quite well known . It was to the point where he never ordered anything else in n.o.bu, outside of extreme circ.u.mstances . s.h.i.+n.o.bu was secretly worried that he would get tired of it, but couldn’t feel any such signs from him . This situation seemed to be a one-time thing .

“I’m a bit worried,” muttered Hans .

“You are too, Hans?”

“You see it too, don’t you, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san? He’s not the type to make mistakes during work, so maybe he met someone he didn’t want to see?”

“Someone he didn’t want to see huh… . ”

s.h.i.+n.o.bu shook her head, seemingly imagining the face of someone she didn’t want to see .

“The person who I don’t want to see right now…would be my father . ”

s.h.i.+n.o.bu responded to Hans’ quip with a strained smile .

She did not want to see the person that came to mind, even if they were blood relatives .

“That being said, Lorentz-san

Lorentz-san hasn’t come by recently . Did something happen?”

“We had a fight…around the end of last year . ”

“Since then?”

This was news to her . Hans had started out as a customer here, and didn’t seem to have had a bad relations.h.i.+p with his father back then .

“My father didn’t approve of me being a cook, so…”

“You should properly discuss it with him at least once . ”

Surprisingly, it was Gernot, not n.o.buyuki, who spoke up . He slowly raised his head off the counter, picked up the gla.s.s of wine, and drained it in a single gulp . It was a rather startling sight to see him drinking like this, as it was quite different from the behaviour of usual Gernot .

“I’m sorry, did we disturb you, Gernot-san?”

“Don’t worry about it, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san . I just have better hearing than most . ”

Leontaine refilled Gernot’s gla.s.s, which he brought to his mouth with a weak smile . It wasn’t wine from this world, but Chilean wine bought in j.a.pan . It was cheap, but tasted good .

It was impossible to keep hiding it from Leontaine and Hans, who were employees . After s.h.i.+n.o.bu discussed it with n.o.buyuki, the two had been informed about the secret of Izakaya n.o.bu’s backdoor . Their reactions had been the same .

They had vaguely known that it was connected to another world . In fact, it was hard for them to see

to see it as a special case . They didn’t see it as any different from a fairy tale about going to a fairy country .

Despite s.h.i.+n.o.bu’s desperate attempts to convince them that it wasn’t the same thing-

“Basically, you want me, Hans, and Eva to keep it a secret, right? I’m fine with it as long as I can eat delicious food and get paid on time . ”

Was how it was neatly wrapped up .

“So Gernot-san, I was about to ask, but can you tell us why you are so depressed?”

Leontaine Ignored the difficulty of asking and plunged straight in .

Gernot hesitated and fiddled with his monocle, but made up his mind upon emptying his gla.s.s .

“Apparently, my younger brother is coming to this town . ”

He spoke as though he were revealing the secret of a major blunder . His serious tone was at odds with the content, though .

“You…have a younger brother?”

n.o.buyuki asked in surprise .

He had a fondness for detective dramas and had a hobby of guessing the family trees of customers that came into the shop . He quite enjoyed checking his answers while chatting with them . It seemed that he had been quite off the mark this time .

“I have a younger brother, and my parents are alive and well . Apparently, there are some who believe I was born from the loins of a tree or delivered in a cave,

in a cave, but I came to this world in the same way everyone else does . ”

As soon as Leontaine filled the gla.s.s for the third time, Gernot drank it again . The Gernot today was very different from usual . s.h.i.+n.o.bu had seen people chug beer, but it was her first time seeing wine being emptied at a similar pace . This wasn’t healthy .

“So, why are you like this when your younger brother is coming to town?”

Leontaine asked while Gernot grasped his empty gla.s.s, trying to stop himself from asking for a fourth serving of wine . He answered as if he had given up .

“My brother…does not know that I am a tax collector, and I am not planning on telling him . That is why we cannot meet . Otherwise, I’d be working and not drinking alcohol in the middle of the day . ”

s.h.i.+n.o.bu knew only one tax collector, Gernot; but from what she had gleaned from the chit chat of the regulars, it seemed to be a rather disliked profession . Gernot was supposed to be proud of his work, but there seemed to be some complicated details surrounding it that could not be revealed to his blood-related, younger brother .

“By the way sir, how did you know that your younger brother is in Aitheria?”

Almost at the exact same moment that Leontaine asked her question, a polite knock was heard from Izakaya n.o.bu’s gla.s.s door .