CH 3.27

The Sea, Fishermen, and Sailors

Translated by Mlzkzr

Edited by Mlzkzr

When I went inside the door of the bar, the door made a creaky sound.

The hinges are badly rusted by the sea breeze.

I guess it can’t be helped, but for some reason, I feel sad when I see the rusted metals left untouched.

It’s just my selfish sentimentality.

Although some metals rust easily and others do not, most metals rust, which is a natural phenomenon.

Some works of art made of metal are created with rusting in mind, and it is probably because of rusting that they are completed.

Well, rather than that, I look around the store and look for an empty seat.

Unfortunately, the counter seats were full, so I pointed to one of the few empty tables and asked the young woman serving me if I could sit down there.

Then, in a slightly surprised way, she said,

“Haa~, I can’t believe a nice-looking elf-niisan would come to a restaurant like this. What a rare one, I guess. No, no, of course, you’re welcome to this place. Sit down, sit down.”

She uttered such words.

No, no, this kind of diner is outragous.

I’m already full of anticipation. Looking around lightly, I see that there are indeed some burly men, who are either sailors or fishermen, drinking and making noise, but with arms that thick, they aren’t far behind my blacksmith master, Asvald, that fucking Dwarf Shishou of mine.

More than that, the fish and shellfish dishes that they are eating raise my tension.

“For the fish, recommend me one dish for each, a grilled one and a raw one. For the shellfish, I like it large, about 6 pieces of them grilled. Also, please bring me a sake that matches those appropriately.”

Since I still don’t know the names of the fishes and shellfish in this world, I asked the waitress so and leave it to her.

There was already a mysterious sense of trust that I would not be disappointed with the dull stuff that would come out.

Or rather, to be honest, if fresh fish and shellfish would come out grilled, I won’t be disappointed anymore.

“Yes, yes, elf onii-san, you eat so much for such a thin body. You look surprisingly tough. So I guess it’s fine”

The waitress, who took my order, laughs and sways her hips heading towards the kitchen.

While cleverly dodging the hands of the customers who occasionally stretched towards her.

She called me surprisingly tough, but that’s more of the impression I had towards her.

I sipped a little of the sake that was served first, but it was a dry cider, so I waited quietly for the food to be served.

Even though it was a little bit, the alcohol that entered my mouth stimulated my taste buds, so my appetite started to rise more and more.

I don’t care if it’s grilled or sashimi, I want to eat squid for some reason.

However, when I look around, I don’t see anyone eating squid. …… as it is hard to believe that there are no squids in the sea, so I killed time wondering if squids and octopuses are being avoided because of their appearance.

“Sorry for making you wait. Here are your orders, a red fish salad with white oil and six grilled clams. The grilled fish is big, so wait a little longer for it to cook through.”

I inwardly squeal with delight as the waitress brings me the dishes.

The first thing that caught my eye was the grilled shellfish.

The shell came out with its mouth open, and its body was as big as a clenched fist.

It’s no wonder that she was surprised, saying that I eat so much.

The whole thing is too big to fit in my mouth, so I grab the shell, remove the meat with a fork, and cut it into three pieces with a knife before bringing it to my mouth.

Though the juices were overflowing when I cut it with a knife, the moment I bit into it, my mouth was filled with those hot, delicious juices.

What I did were chew, drink the juice, chew, drink the juice, then finally swallow the shellfish.

It’s so delicious that I don’t care how it’s seasoned.

However, if I eat the next meal as it is, it will remain a little persistently, so I put the cider in my mouth first to wash off the remaining taste.

Even though the cider is not very cold, it still gently cools my heat-stricken mouth.

In other words, yes, it’s a bliss.

The red fish salad with white oil, I wonder if it’s a carpaccio-like salad of salmon.

This is also tasty, but not as impactful as the grilled shellfish.

But it is by far the easiest to eat, so I’ll likely take in as many as I can.

While I was enjoying the shellfish and salad, I saw the waitress bring in a platter of grilled fish from the kitchen.

It’s really big.

As I smile, a little pleased, she smiles back when she sees it.

But it was then that an incident occurs.

“What was that, bastard! Say that again!!!”

When I looked over at the sudden curse, the fist of a large man caught the chin of a slightly smaller man, and his body flew into the air.

At that time, I wasn’t thinking about anything in particular, but my body was moving in quite a hurry.

I got up and ran, pulling the waitress, who was about to be hit by the man who had been struck so vigorously, as it was, in order to protect her.

…… As a result, the waitress escaped the collision, but my grilled fish was flipped off from the platter by the man who flew in and crushed it on the floor in a sticky mess.

Seeing the pitiful appearance of the grilled fish first filled my heart with sorrow, and after a moment, all the sorrow turned into anger.

I see, I see.

If this is the manner of these ruffians of the sea in the city of Saurote, then I’ll go along with it.

I stepped forward in front of the big triumphant man, and

“My fish is dead*. You bastard! Your sentence is execution! Die and apologize to my fish!!!” (TN: Your fish is already dead. It has been cooked, you know)

He looked at me with a dubious look on his face, and with a yell, I slammed my fist into his face as hard as I could.

It was from the tension that rose in me when I encountered the seafood I sought at the end of my journey and the momentum of the sake.

It was transformed into anger by the tragedy that happened and drove me to fight him.

Elves are a slender race, not much taller or slightly taller than humans.

The same is true for high elves, who, being slender, will probably be inferior to humans in terms of muscular strength.

However, my physical abilities are not comparable to those of an ordinary elf, as I have developed my strength from over a decade of blacksmithing and the sharpness of my movements from training in swordsmanship.

Even if my opponent is a big, muscular, and rough guy, if he eats my fist straight on, he wouldn’t be able to get away unscathed…… that was supposed to be.

“Guh, oh, you bastard! What the fuck are you doing!!!”

But to my surprise, the man managed to withstand my fist and immediately fired back.

I immediately pulled my chin back and received his counterattack fist on my forehead, but the impact that ran through my head caused a flash of light in my eyes.

It was a fist of terrible power.

But this is a battle.

If I take one step back, it will be my loss.

“I’m telling you to apologize to my fish!!!”

That’s why I continued to step further in and hit my opponent’s cheek with a hook.

The fist fight that followed suit, was spectacular.