Chapter 372: Port Town Aisoleige
“The sea!”
Phonia exclaimed joyfully as she dashed forward, her eyes sparkling at the vast ocean that stretched before her. She reached the edge of the pier and leaned over to peer into the water below.
This was Port Town Aisoleige, located at the eastern end of the Kingdom of Faerdehelde, a bustling town known for its fishing industry and promising seafood.
“This is exciting,” she said, her enthusiasm palpable.
“Yeah,” Ivan replied. “We’ve mostly just consumed the fish we acquired in the Empire, so it’ll be nice to try something new.”
While the fish here could grow up to ten meters long, they hadn’t run out just yet. The thought of indulging in a variety of fresh seafood after such a long time filled him with anticipation. Numerous fishing boats were docked around them, but it seemed that the fishing had wrapped up for the day, as there weren’t many people around. Naturally, there were no shops selling seafood either.
“Shall we head back to do some shopping?” Ivan suggested, pointing back the way they came.
Having traversed through the lively streets to reach the sea, they would have to return to find ingredients. It was likely that, like the Empire’s ports, this harbor also used monster-repelling potions to prevent damage to the ships. From what they could see, there didn’t seem to be any large creatures lurking nearby.
“Yeah, let’s go back,” he agreed.
As they strolled through the bustling market stalls, they began gathering ingredients while also engaging in some information gathering. They hadn’t spotted any of the ten-meter fish they had seen in the Empire, so they had wasted a trip to the harbor.
“Oh, look! Oysters!” Ivan exclaimed.
“Isn’t that sea urchin?” Phonia pointed out.
The size of the oysters and sea urchins was about five times larger than what he had seen in Japan, but they were certainly something resembling them.
“If you’re buying that much, I’ll throw in a little extra,” the jovial vendor said.
“Thank you! By the way,” Phonia began, paying for their purchases, “I’ve noticed there aren’t many large fish around here. Is it because they don’t get caught?”
“Haha, that’s not the case! We do have fish that exceed five meters, but you won’t find them sold whole at the stalls,” the vendor explained.
“Oh, I see,” Phonia nodded.
Indeed, it was rare for an average person to buy a whole large fish. Even if they did, there would be no way to preserve it. Still, he mused, “Five meters isn’t that big, is it?”
“Right? In the Empire, they had fish around ten meters long,” Ivan added.
“Well, I don’t know about other countries, but the fish caught in Soleige Bay tend to be on the smaller side,” the vendor replied, a hint of defensiveness in his tone.
Phonia couldn’t help but chuckle at the vendor’s somewhat bitter words.
“They say there are fish over a hundred meters long outside the bay,” he continued.
“A hundred meters!?” Phonia gasped, taken aback by the unexpected size, while the vendor nodded with satisfaction.
“That sounds like it would be quite a meal,” she remarked.
“Huh?” The vendor’s satisfied smile faltered at her words.
“Hahaha! Oh no, young lady, what are you talking about? Eating that… That area is notorious for being impassable! I’ve never heard of anyone catching a giant fish from there!” he laughed heartily.
His laughter echoed, seemingly dismissing her comment as a joke, but she was entirely serious. The thought of a hundred-meter fish thrilled her. She wondered if the clams and seaweed were also that large. It was clear she would need to dive into the depths of the ocean to find out.
They continued to gather information from other vendors, but the responses were generally the same. Some spoke of adventures seeking the New Continent to the east, but it seemed no one had returned from such journeys.
“Well, it’s getting late. Maybe we should save the fishing for tomorrow,” Ivan suggested.
“That’s fine, but where will we stay?” Phonia asked, realizing they hadn’t secured accommodations since arriving in town. They had set up their camping house on the way here, but now it slipped her mind.
“Didn’t you have something in mind?” Ivan pressed.
“I completely forgot!” she admitted, feeling a bit flustered. She usually made it a point to book a place to stay first upon arriving in a town, but she had gotten too caught up in the excitement of the fish.
“In that case, let’s head to the Hinomaru base in this town. We can teleport between bases, and with Lord Shu and the others, we can go anywhere,” El suggested.
“Seriously?” Ivan replied, surprised.
“That’s a great idea!” Phonia exclaimed.
It was the first time she realized just how versatile the Hinomaru network was. She had mostly left everything to Mesaria, so she had no idea how much influence Hinomaru had in various towns. The ability to teleport between bases meant she must have visited a dungeon entrance before. However, since she had used her smartphone to teleport directly to the coordinates, she had no clue where the base was or what it looked like.
“This is… the Grandmaster!” El announced as they arrived at a two-story building in a rundown area of the town, close to what appeared to be an orphanage.
“Uh, who was it again?” Phonia asked, feeling a vague sense of familiarity.
She recalled meeting someone during the time Mesaria had forcibly recruited her to create the teleportation system between bases.
“I am Lilac, in charge of the Aisoleige branch!” the man introduced himself with a formal bow.
“Oh, right, Lilac,” she replied, though she still didn’t quite remember him.
He was an average-looking man with gray hair cut neatly, of medium build, and he seemed like someone you could find anywhere.
“I expect to see you around for a while,” he said with a salute.
“Of course,” Phonia nodded, and with that, they headed toward their lodgings for the night.