Chapter 139: The Fishermen’s Struggle
The defeated monster was a bipedal creature resembling a humanoid. With fins adorning its limbs and back, its entire body was covered in scales, making it a true half-fish man. Its face was fish-like, complete with gills, but it was unclear whether it could even fight properly after coming ashore.
“Do these guys have any sellable parts?”
Since no other monsters were approaching, we had temporarily relaxed our battle stance. If it were just the two of us, I would have unceremoniously tossed it into the Dimensional Box and asked the Guild about it later.
“This Sahuagin only has Magic Stones that could fetch some money.”
“I see.”
“Then I’ll just extract the Magic Stones.”
“Ah, no, no! We can’t have a girl doing that. We’ll take care of it.”
Rio had eagerly stepped forward to start the disassembly, but Kant interrupted her. With that said, I had no choice but to join in the disassembly. By the way, since the rest would likely become fish bait, I decided to dispose of everything except the Magic Stones.
—Even after we repelled the monsters, the fishermen’s struggle continued.
The intervals of the ship rocking had grown longer. This likely meant that the Giant Fish that had bitten the bait was running out of energy. However, it seemed like it would still take some time to reel it in. While we slowly cranked the crane’s reel, we had to pause during the fish’s thrashing, which meant it sometimes got further away. According to Presence Detection, we still needed to reel in another 500 meters.
“Alright, now! Pull!!!”
The moment the prey calmed down, the fishermen sprang into action, reeling in their lines all at once. I never expected that the crane reel would be manually operated. A dozen fishermen were turning a large handle to wind it in.
“Hmm…”
“What’s wrong?”
As I watched the fishermen with a furrowed brow, Christoph spoke up.
“Well… even though it’s a Giant Fish, seeing them take so long to reel it in makes me want to help and finish the job quickly.”
“That might end up stealing the fishermen’s work, so I think it’s better to refrain from that.”
I shared my honest thoughts, and Christoph returned a wry smile. Of course, I understood that, but still…
“By the way, how would we even help?”
“Considering it’s underwater…”
“If we tried to tug against a Giant Fish, the crane would break.”
Questions arose one after another from Kant and the others. For creatures that operate on land, the underwater environment is quite restrictive. Even if we cast magic into the water, its power would diminish significantly… if not outright fail to penetrate the water.
“Well, I think there are various ways to approach it…”
As Rio pointed her hand toward the opposite direction of the Giant Fish, she concentrated her Magic Power and cast a spell into the sea below. Almost silently, what she launched into the water was an Ice Needle.
“Hmm? …What did you just do?”
Only Alina reacted, likely because she was the only magic user among us. The others turned their gazes toward Rio, but she had already moved to the edge of the ship, staring intently at the surface of the water.
“Oh, it hit properly.”
It seemed that the fish she targeted had floated to the surface.
“I see. If we don’t think about fishing in the traditional sense, that’s one way to catch fish.”
As I murmured in admiration, Rio used magic to levitate her catch and bring it closer. It was a conveniently sized fish, about a meter long. I leaned over the edge of the ship to observe the surface of the water. While the others behind me were clamoring about “how she caught it,” I decided to leave that to Rio.
Just to be safe, I scanned the surroundings, but aside from a distant shadow resembling an islet, there was nothing else. The sea appeared to be clear. I activated Presence Detection with precision, linking it to the Map. There were indeed some fish, but they weren’t schooling, so they were scattered.
…Could it be that if I spread some bait, I could gather a large catch? If the bait isn’t too big, the right-sized fish should gather around. Just to be cautious, I should do this a little further away.
About 500 meters off, I opened the Dimensional Box and scattered some finely chopped meat into the sea. Small fish quickly gathered, and after a while, fish of a suitable size began to appear as well.
Hmm, it seems that without larger bait, the Giant Fish won’t come close.
Just like Rio, I activated Ice Needle from a distance, aligning my aim with the Map. My control over Magic Power might not be as good as Rio’s, but by coordinating it with my other Skills, I could manage various tasks adeptly.
“Alright, fire!”
About twenty Ice Needles were launched toward the gathered fish. Since they were well-congregated at the surface, I couldn’t miss. Some fish sank, but I managed to lift them all and collect them into the Dimensional Box.
After finishing my task, I turned around to find Alina staring wide-eyed at the spot where I had just fished. Her gaze slowly shifted toward me.
“Was that your doing, Shu-san…?”
“Oh, did you catch me?”
As expected of a magic user. I thought I was being discreet, but perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to do this while on guard duty.
“Well, it’s fine.”
As long as I did my job properly, I was grateful that I wouldn’t be scolded. Before I knew it, the fishermen’s efforts bore fruit, as a Giant Fish about eight meters long dangled from the crane.
“We got it!!!”
Cheers erupted from the fishermen.