Chapter 466: Pufferfish Bomb
I packed my lunchbox. The eastern edge I can reach with Teleportation is currently around the area where Yukihyo lives.
But isn’t it a bit too far north? I think similar climates tend to have similar cultures.
Naruadeid has trade routes with the southern regions where dragons dwell, the western lands beyond the mist, and also through the south, but there should be trade with the eastern regions as well. I guess I’ll follow the shipping routes? If there are spirits in places where people live, communication should be easier.
I placed a small bottle of sake into Storage, and I was ready to go.
And so, here I am in Naruadeid. The first thing I need to buy is a maritime map. I had been ignoring it since I received a map from the Gods, but if I want to trace human footprints, I need a map made by humans.
It’s ridiculously expensive and not entirely accurate, though. The mapping around Es is different from my map.
What’s with this giant octopus drawn in the corner of the map? Does it really exist? A Demon Beast? Can it be eaten? I’ve heard that giant squid and such are rubbery and not tasty.
After doing some preliminary research, I Teleported to the coast east of the Es River. This is the same coast where I had to fight a turtle a while back. I remember I got tortoiseshell back then… I recall almost handing it over to Shiva without knowing it was a good luck charm for safe childbirth or blessings for children.
I plan to head south from here, and once I reach the edge of the land, I’ll move east while looking at the sea. There should be a town along the coast. The expensive map is quite vague about areas away from the coast, so I have no idea what’s out there.
Just like when I traveled upstream on the Es River, I’ll fight any unfamiliar Demon Beasts I encounter while naming the spirits and Teleporting.
This time, I won’t neglect to check with the spirits. Unlike the Demon Beasts in the Demon Forest, there’s a possibility that some of them might have instant death or poison attacks.
The blue and emerald green sea, the coral reefs. And then, the Dolphin Demon Beasts.
Wait, stop throwing pufferfish at me! Are you aiming for my snout? My mouth? Either way, they’re poking at me from underwater. You can’t reach me from there, so stop making that smug face! You’re surprisingly intelligent, aren’t you?
Exploding pufferfish with spikes. Even if they hit the ground, there’s sometimes a delay before they explode, so it must be time-based, right?
My countermeasure here is magic. It has to be magic, right?
“Like this!”
I swung my magical bat to hit the pufferfish back.
Wait, what? Something feels off.
The pufferfish exploded near the Dolphin Demon Beasts. Two of them floated helplessly, while their companions circled around them.
The floating dolphins turned to face me, looking eager. Pufferfish rained down. I hit them back. Is there a dolphin with poor aim? Pufferfish exploded a little away from me, but I kept hitting them back.
The bat looks like a bat, but it’s not made of wood or metal. It’s something made of fine light. I wonder if it doesn’t disappear while I’m releasing magic power? There are so many mysteries; I’ll have to ask Haulon later.
Still, dolphins! You guys don’t seem to have the intelligence to count the time before throwing the pufferfish! Hahaha! Well, it might be because you can’t hold them with your snouts. But now I have the leisure to aim for the dolphins while hitting the pufferfish back!
—Something feels off, but I can’t switch gears now…!
And so, I managed to take down quite a few Dolphin Demon Beasts. When I pulled them out of the sea, I noticed they had tough scales on their lower halves, so they weren’t the dolphins I knew.
Being Demon Beasts, they have horns, and their under-eyes are black with warts and wrinkles, so they don’t resemble dolphins at all. When they were just poking their faces out of the water, they looked a bit dolphin-like, though.
If these are the same dolphins I heard about in Naruadeid, it seems their oil is often used for leather tanning. For now, I’ll put them into Storage.
By the way, where did the pufferfish go? Did they all explode? Or was it the dolphins’ magic? Which is it?
I washed my hands in the seawater and took a moment to enjoy the view of the sea from behind a rock.
Inari sushi with sesame and pickled ginger, the slightly sweet fried tofu. The yellow thick omelet is made with dashi, and our chicken’s eggs are delicious.
Two small tempura of butterbur sprouts. I had put the whole lunchbox into Storage, so the freshly fried ones are still intact. I tossed one into my mouth, and a slightly bitter, unique flavor spread across my palate.
A bit of chilled sake. I still can’t quite grasp the taste of alcohol, but there’s definitely an atmosphere… Or is it just that it burns my throat? Is it too high in alcohol content?
Pickled lotus root dyed pink with red shiso in the middle, and a vinegar dish with orange shrimp. A piece of salt-grilled sea bream, fried raw wheat gluten, and green beans dressed with sesame. Roasted new potatoes.
I ended up expecting a Japanese-style landscape and made a Japanese lunch, but on the first day, I still haven’t left the cultural sphere of Es! It’s hot! The plants I see look like palm trees!
The emerald green sea, with coral reefs visible beneath, is beautiful, but I was too hasty.