The Guard And Sake-Steamed Clams

A prison.

It is something built beneath a castle, or beneath a guardhouse.

Unlike a jail, here suspects before the verdict of a crime are captured and only wait for punishment.

Basically, one is detained and monitored in one room per person.

The inside of the room is dim, only to the extent that sunlight barely enters.

Once past daytime, one must live by candle flame alone, and even that soon goes out.

Then light ceases to enter, and ignorance’s darkness spreads.

There is neither hope nor future there.

It is simply a place where only those punished suffer in darkness.

Though I said such things, I am not suffering that much.

Hello, this is Shuri.

The pitiful man who got captured yesterday after knocking away the lord’s silver wine glass.

I am used to dark places. Rather, I can sleep well and it is enjoyable.

The coldness is a bit tough, though.

I wonder how everyone is doing.

Around now, it would be good if things have not turned terrible due to my responsibility.

However, if I had left that alone, it would have turned into a terrible thing, so…

“Be quiet, criminal. Stay silent inside the jail.”

“Yes, I am sorry!”

This jail was a special one beneath the castle.

Not to mention being stone-built, the iron bars were custom-made tough ones.

It was a harsh place where rush mats were merely laid on the stone floor.

This was a place for monitoring heavy criminals.

The one monitoring me was only a single brawny man.

“Geez, I cannot drink alcohol in peace…”

A height exceeding two meters. A buzz-cut head. A face rugged to a tremendous degree.

A person with the impression that there was never a time he was not drinking alcohol since coming here.

That was my guard.

“Um, is it okay for the guard to be drinking alcohol?”

“Ah?!”

“It is nothing, I am sorry!”

Scary. Scarier than Gungrave-san.

“…Whatever a skinny man like you does, you cannot defeat me.

Besides, those iron bars can absolutely not be broken. It is fine as long as a guard is here.“

Isn’t that somehow neglect of duty?

He was eating snacks together with it too…

“That thing you are taking out of the bag, what is it?”

“Ah? Clams, clams. Salted and dried, alcohol snacks. I am dipping them in this fish sauce and eating them. There is no portion for you.”

Clams?

“That alcohol you are drinking, is it wine?”

“Rice wine. Now stay quiet.”

Rice alcohol. Clams.

Ah, sake-steamed clams, isn’t it.

“I have a request.”

“Rejected.”

“Could you share that with me? I can make a delicious alcohol snack with alcohol and clams, though.”

I wanted to eat too.

Then the guard made a suspicious face looking at the alcohol and clams.

“With this?”

“Yes. If there is a pot and fish sauce afterwards, it will be perfect.”

Since I kept a stove hidden, I managed somehow.

When being taken away, it was not confiscated as mere paper.

“…Give it a try. It is just the right way to kill time.”

“Roger that.”

Receiving the pot and fish sauce, putting fire to the stove and commencing cooking.

Even so, sake-steaming was not something that could be done that easily, though.

Because there were not many ingredients.

So, stir-frying, putting in alcohol, and covering.

Once steamed up, I roughly added fish sauce and completed it.

“Here you go.”

“Oh, a good scent.”

With an excited feeling, the guard received it.

Taking a bite, he made a slightly relaxed face.

“It smells of alcohol, but lacks the strength of alcohol. Fish sauce is also a good feeling.”

Indeed. That is the good point of sake-steaming.

If eating something matching with alcohol, it is limited to this.

“You are an interesting fellow.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Normally, there is no criminal who makes dishes.”

“There is no guard who hands ingredients to that criminal and makes him cook either, is there?”

“No mistake about it.”

The guard laughed boisterously.

“Apparently, it seems I will not be bored.”

In this manner, the strange life of the guard and me came to begin.

Records remain that the “King of Food” Shuri Azuma was imprisoned for a time.

That charge was not clear, ranging widely across murder and theft, and the truth is not known.

According to the testimony of the Six Heroes, it is also said to be a tacked-on crime of lèse-majesté, but in modern times the truth is buried in darkness.

However, at this time Shuri Azuma made one fated encounter.

The guard, Garn Lover.

A man who despaired in his own life and led a lazy life.

He met Shuri Azuma, and that life came to change greatly.

Shuri Azuma’s top disciple.

The fate of being called the “Successor of Food” was….

A future not so far away.