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Solcoast was the No.2 city in Count Serdos’ territory that served as the trading point between the Baerentz Archipelago Nation — which mainly exported all sorts of weapons and armaments like Katanas made of Black Tiger Ore — and this kingdom.

The trip here was rather short compared to traveling from our territory to the Dragoon’s. Lying in the northwest direction of the Royal Capital Runerelia, it was first a one-and-a-half-day trip to Cosrael, the capital of Marquis Grauksh through the magic train, and then a 4-day carriage ride to the east from there.

It had truly been a while since I was blasted with the smell of the sea as I took my first step into the port city.

◆◆◆

The first thing I did after arriving at Solcoast was get a room at an inn affiliated with the association and specifically catered to explorers. Then I changed into a light getup and swiftly embarked on my sightseeing.

I was out on a whimsical solo trip that I had envisioned. Well, there were two reasons I elected to visit this place among the other options.

I really wanted to see if I could acquire a katana for cheap in this trade spot. The ones in the Royal Capital had so many zeros in their prices that it might as well cost me more than just a hand and a leg.

It wasn’t my main reason, however. It was on the line of ‘Since I’m here, might as well try my luck’ kind of vibe. I was still practicing with the sword, but I saw no need to change from my current bow and dagger battle style for now.

Yes, what I had been looking forward to, and why I marked this as my destination was the fish! Ah, I had been craving for some fresh fish dishes like sushi or sashimi.

For all its splendor and majesty, there was not a single place in the Royal Capital that my seafood palate took a fancy to. I visited so many shops after hearing about their seafood cuisine only for my hopes to be dashed away. Alas, the curse of modernity, truly.

Once, I did manage to find a place selling raw fish dishes— a sashimi-like cure with vinegar and… And there was no more. The dish they served was, mildly putting, ‘crude’.

I presumed the difference mainly came from their freshness. The sea was quite far away from the Royal Capital which was located at the heart of this kingdom.

There had been a breakthrough recently in magic machinery that apparently improved the transportation method of fish. However, the fad of raw and fresh fish was still unpopular to most. The lack of demand obviously translated to the chefs being mediocre at making them.

Humans are deplorable creatures. The more they face something distant, the more they would want to chase after it.

There had been rice in this world but the staple food was still bread in this kingdom. So, like, I wasn’t demanding sushi, but sashimi wouldn’t hurt, right?

Just as I had been passing my time in anguish, I suddenly realized something.

The kaeshi used by the soba shop that I visit almost daily definitely used a soy sauce base along with a blend of seafood stock which could be eaten with chopsticks.

In my pursuit of better meals and local cuisine, I had pretty much checked out the complete food culture of the Royal Capital, and that was when I realized how strange that shop was.

For one, I could discount the chopsticks since they were popular on par with forks and knives even back on earth, but the stock and soy sauce base suddenly clicked in me. Maybe a region somewhere out there shared a resemblance with Japanese culture.

My next steps had already been decided. I met with the owner of the soba shop who was an old man nearing his 60s with a medium build — he looked incredibly pale for some reason — and asked him about its origin. He explained both the soba and soy sauce were from his hometown, the Baerentz Archipelago Nation.

He surprisingly — and with a bit of fanaticism if you ask me — answered all of my questions, a cheapskate student of the Royal Academy frequenting for soba.

And my guess couldn’t have been any more correct. The culture of the Baerentz Archipelago Nation shared quite a similarity with Japan. They not only had sashimi but also island sushi— basically a dish with a marinated topping placed on rice and a touch of mustard sauce.

So far, so good. However, I was stumped with two roadblocks when I considered my potential trip to Baerentz.

First, it was just too far away. Second, the country would be doing a thorough inspection first before allowing entry. Baerentz typically had a neutral stance toward all the major powers, even to Yuglia Kingdom, and supported itself through trade. Plus, the looming unnerving air would probably make them deny any tourist entry, or so was the owner’s opinion.

In the end, since I couldn’t have the best of the other side, I decided to settle for the middle ground and that was where Solcoast town, the trade point with Baerentz Archipelago Nation, came into the picture.

Solcoast apparently sold salted sashimi while I would be bringing my own soy sauce since I could get it from the Royal Capital. I also got Riyad-senpai to help me a bit and got my hands on a wasabi-like spice with sharp taste via the intermediation of the Mt. Penglai company to bring with me.

My preparations were all done, and all that was needed was my sweet, sweet — I mean salted — sashimi to jump into my mouth.

◆◆◆

It was close to evening by the time I came out into the streets.

Perhaps it was due to their early bird nature as fishermen, the main street was already dyed in the vibe of rounding up all their stuff for today. I could hear the nonsensical babbling of drunken customers coming out from the rows of open shops.

The trip was proceeding just the way I wanted, and while I wouldn’t mind some misadventures, I wanted nothing more than to taste the long-awaited sashimi. It would be great if I could somehow get the best shop to sate my craving.

I concentrated the mana into my nose to parse through the drifting smells to search for my target and… that’s when I realized it was futile. The air in the port town was thick with a fishy smell — as you would expect from a sea-sided region — and garlic or butter-grilled dishes. I was no Sherlock of cookery to identify the smell of delicious sashimi out of this blend.

I had almost forgotten the basic thing through which I used to search for better shops back on Earth… There was no way I could hope for a sure-fire method like user-verified gourmet sites available readily on a smartphone.

There were various points to consider when scrutinizing various information, but it was like beating a dead horse at the moment.

If I didn’t use the internet, then I would often ask the taxi drivers — you know right, the inside tracks that locals had — but the magic car was still a pricey mode of transportation and prevalent only in the Royal Capital.

There was no way taxis would be available or popular in such a remote town when there was a cheat called body-strengthening magic just to travel some streets.

Haa… You really are your own best friend indeed. I guess I would try to gauge the stores from their billboards or vibe and my intuition.

This shop sells grilled shellfish… Yeah, let’s check it out later.

This shop sells buttered octopus… This, too, is for later.

This is dried fish… Yeah, later.

Ugh, this one reeks of a dense fishy smell… Nope, cross out.

Crap, I guess I relied on my smartphone so much that my intuition wasn’t working at all. I thought about gauging the vibe of a shop from the outside and taking a leap of faith… but I couldn’t bring myself to do it in the end.

Hesitation truly was a killjoy, wasn’t it? Once its bud had sprouted, it truly made even a bustling store or delicious-looking dishes appear doubtful.

The impatience was growing in me when I found no suitable place even after going through all the main street shops. I was at my wit’s end when I suddenly took notice of a certain store in a small alley. It exuded a simple, calm vibe, reminding me of the sushi stores from my previous world.

I paused for a while to take a look but found no customer entering or exiting from there. I know it looked strange but I was somehow attracted to it.

I decided to trust my intuition for this one and stepped into that alleyway.

◆◆◆

The first thing that jumped into my view when I entered the store was a short-haired, stern-faced general-like man. He was tall and sported a lean build.

Just as I had thought, there truly was no other customer besides me. Heck, I couldn’t even find any sign of an employee.

Yup. There was no way I could label this place as ‘A store to relish your favorite dishes in silence’.

The store was missing the typical buzzing of mana particles— that was what you would generally hear when trying to eavesdrop on a place equipped with an anti-detection magical tool. That said, I had already imagined this scenario to some extent when I couldn’t hear any sound at all coming from inside.

But I was already at my limit, and my wallet was ready to tank the expense. A simple, expensive dish wouldn’t be able to deter me today!

I closed the door after entering inside. Of course, boss of this shop didn’t fail to notice me.

“A stranger, and a brat to boot…? Heed my advice if you don’t want your wallet to end up dry here. It costs more than just a bit to eat here. Check somewhere else.”

Now that’s something new. If earlier I had the impression that maybe this shop would end up as a ‘cheap but awful’ place or ‘rip-off rendezvous’, then everything was cast away by that his warning.

At a glance, it was clear he just sucked at handling business. I wonder how much his dishes cost… but I needed to ask something else. First of all—

“I want to eat a raw, freshly sliced fish dish. Do you serve it here?”

Yes, I had to confirm if they even sold the stuff that I was so desperately looking for. I asked bluntly, pleasantries were not needed here after all. Well, I believe some would have surely been affected by his stern expression and words.

I just had an inkling that anything less than an upfront and direct attitude wouldn’t work here.

“Tsk. It’s truly a tall task to ask for some sense from a brat. We do serve ‘sashimi’. But its price isn’t something a brat like you can foot. And neither am I a scum to take that much money from a brat, even if you do carry enough. Go back to the greenhouse you came from, munchkin. Right, go back!”

...Wow, truly establishing a hard-headed image, wasn’t he?

I bet this place would have long become unpopular over the internet with that attitude. Not that this was a society that half ran on the internet bubble. And neither was I a mimosa from a nursery.

I mean, this shop did serve Sashimi — he didn’t pronounce sashimi like you would in Japanese — at least, and who knew if his skill turned out to be the real deal? Like hell I would quietly nod ‘Sir is right’ like some twiddler and leave.

I ignored his warning and took a seat on the counter.

“I have enough to foot my bill. So don’t tell me that crap. Oh, and yes, I’m just a third son of a destitute noble house. Greenhouse and I don’t exactly match well. My money is what I had earned with my explorer work. By the way, my rank is B. What? Wanna see my license?”

The brows of the obstinate geezer shot up on hearing my words, but otherwise, he just shook his head.

“Truly an untactful brat, huh? This is why the youth of today\'s generation are so rash. If you wanna bluff, at least say something believable, for goodness sake.

Whatever. Head out of this alleyway and take a left to the main street. You will reach the Yuuki Pavilion after walking for 200m. You’ll get your sashimi there. The price is on the steep side though, but they aren’t that bad.”

‘Shoo,’ the obstinate geezer gestured with his hand.

Not that bad you say? I haven’t taken this long journey just to try some so-so stuff, alright?

Hah, the gall this man had to say ‘Be satisfied with the milder stuff’. Kukuku, fine, I would break this geezer’s stubbornness today and have my dinner here for sure.

T/N - So Baerentz is basically set after old japan, when it was closed for outsiders,