#430 A Relaxing Izakaya

My name is Sabbath, and I am proud to be the heaviest drinker in all of Demon Kingdom.

I’ve drunk every kind of alcohol in the world and know what they taste like.

That’s all I can be proud of.

That is why I cannot sit idly when I hear word about a new brew.

No matter where it is sold, I have to get to that place ASAP and have a drink.

It was the same back then.

For the first time in several years, an expo was held in the capital, and there was a lot of publicity for it.

The flyers said that it has an Alcohol Pavilion among its many exhibits.

It made my alcohol-loving heart race.

The event may be small, but if it has anything to do with sake, I will check it out to see what I can drink.

That is the duty of an alcohol hunter!

And so, on the first day of the expo, I rode to the venue on a horse carriage.

I visited the so-called Alcohol Pavilion straight away.

The first thing that surprised me was that the person in charge of the pavilion wasn’t a mortal.

It was Bacchus, the god of alcohol.

Isn’t he the god we drinkers worship?

It’s amazing the god himself is the host.

The brews served here were of a different class, as they were made by Lord Bacchus.

First of all, the wine was so tasty I could tell it wasn’t like what I normally drink.

It had a rich and deep taste.

Compared to this, the wine at the Liquor Guild is too insipid.

What delicious wine!

I was impressed that this was brewed by the god of alcohol himself, but amidst my lingering excitement, more surprises came one after another.

Beer.

Whiskey.

Rice wine.

Brews I’ve never had before were presented to me all at once. 

Each was as good as the wine, and each had its own unique characteristics.

The beer felt frothy and foamy in the mouth.

The whiskey had a strong, throat-burning sensation and fragrance of smoke.

The rice wine was so translucent you’d think it was water, but it had a strong alcohol flavor. In addition to that, it tasted good as it went down my throat.

They were unlike anything I had ever had before, even for me, the heaviest drinker in the Demon Kingdom.

I drank ‘em all one after the other.

To my surprise, all the alcohol was given away for free at the expo.

This must be my lucky day!

I must make the most out of this miraculous opportunity and drink some more!

I drank at a tempestuous pace. Beer, grape wine, whiskey, rice wine, and then beer again.

But that must have been a bad idea.

Because I threw up in the end.

By the time I realized it, I was dead drunk.

How could I, Demon Kingdom’s heaviest drinker, have misjudged my drinking pace?

It seems I drank too many kinds of alcohol at once.

Many others made the same mistake I did, and some were even carried away unconscious.

Anyway, it was a terrible sight.

Sure enough, the Alcohol Pavilion was closed the next day. 

I, who dragged my hungover self to the expo, was stupefied.

I pleaded repeatedly for the pavilion’s reopening, but in the end, the expo ended without heeding my request.

Oh, what a fool I was.

How could I have made the same mistake as a newbie, getting drunk and collapsing without knowing my limits?

Calling myself the heaviest drinker in the nation is nothing but presumptuous now.

It’s all the alcohol’s fault!

I spent the rest of my days drinking in despair.

And on one such night...

***

“...Hm?”

Was there always a bar here?

In a lonely corner on the outskirts of the entertainment district, I found an unfamiliar signboard. 

It reads “Oden Bakkasu.”

Oden?

What’s that?

It sounds strange, but it was bold of the owner to use a name similar to the god of alcohol.

Either way, a heavy drinker would want to check out a bar he has never been to before.

And so, I went.

“...Welcome.”

The interior is very small.

The table is sandwiched between the kitchen and seating area, stretching long and wide.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a table, but I can see how the owner can directly serve his dishes to the customers.

“What would you like to have?” the owner asks.

“Alcohol,” I answer.

First and foremost, I drink alcohol.

I judge the quality of a restaurant by the kind of alcohol it serves.

“I’m afraid I can’t give you that, sir,” says the owner. “It’s not good for your health to drink on an empty stomach. Alcohol only comes with a proper meal. I suggest you order food first.”

Huh?

Who do you think you are to tell your customers what to do? But not long after, it hit me.

At the expo, I had not eaten anything and just drowned myself in alcohol and passed out from it.

Touché.

His words sounded like an appropriate reflection of my mistake.

“You make a valid point. But hm... what does this place offer?”

I know the sign said oden, but it just sounds so strange to me. 

“As an apology for my impolite behavior, here’s a free sample. Please give it a try,” he says, serving me a bowl.

Inside it is filled with large garnishes in a translucent broth.

“Is this some kind of soup? Why are the ingredients so large?”

“Oden is a dish in which the garnishes are ordered separately. The ones I just served to you are radish, egg, and tofu fritter.”

Huh?

I’m not sure, but I’ll try this translucent-like root vegetable.

Is this a relative of turnip?

They look pretty similar.

As I sink my teeth into it, I can tell it has soaked up a lot of the broth. 

It has a mellow flavor, mixed with the taste of the vegetable itself.

Even the egg soaked up the broth in its own way.

But what kind of egg is this? I feel like eating it fills me with incredible strength.

“Yoschamo eggs are rich in energy and remain potent even when boiled. Since you seem pleased with their taste, procuring them was worth all the effort.”

?

Well, anyway... this last one is the most mysterious of them all.

What is this... tofu fritter thingy?

“This fritter is made by kneading various chopped vegetables into mashed tofu and deep frying it in oil.”

Hm?

I couldn’t understand parts of his explanation.

Oh well. I give it a taste, and it turns out to be delicious.

The broth soaked into this fritter even more than the radish.

“Ah...!”

I see...I get it now.

The key to this “oden” is the broth.

Its flavor soaks into the various ingredients, giving it a much mellow taste. 

In a large square pot beyond the table, radish, egg, fritter and various other ingredients are soaked in broth.

...Ah.

This is what I failed to experience at the expo—the tenderness of oden that could soothe my tempestuous stomach.

If there had been oden at that time, I wouldn’t have been so drunk, and I wouldn’t have had to think about how much burden I was putting on my body...

“Well, how about we serve you some alcohol now?”

“Oh, no, uh...”

I’m not in the mood to drink any more alcohol today.

I was about to say so, but he placed a cup in front of me.

The cup is filled with a liquid so clear it could be mistaken for water, but it has a mellow aroma.

“Rice wine?!”

The same drink I had at the expo’s Alcohol Pavilion?!

I thought I would never be able to drink it again after the pavilion closed!

“...”

The misery of a heavy drinker who still drinks even though he has just decided he’s had enough for the day.

...

Mm! This flavor!

It tastes better than when I drank it at the expo!

My belly, soothed by oden, has regained the vitality to take in the rice wine!

The simple taste of oden and the refreshing taste of alcohol complement each other.

...Ah.

This is how alcohol was meant to be enjoyed.

“Have you perhaps tasted rice wine before?”

“Ah, yes!”

This owner is something!

He has done his research to create a menu that maximizes alcohol’s taste.

Who could he possibly be to achieve such a marvelous feat? ...Ah!

I didn’t recognize him at first because he was dressed differently, but there was no way I could forget his face after I saw him at the expo.

He’s...

Bacchus, the god of alcohol!