Chapter 385: Phonia’s Friends
The deadline is two days from now at noon. With that in mind, I decided to take my time over the next two days to catch some fish.
“What kind of fish do you think we’ll catch at night?”
“There might be some that are attracted to light.”
I tried to recall the scenes of night fishing I had seen on television long ago, but all that came to mind was a brightly lit boat floating on the sea. It seems that memories can be quite unreliable. I couldn’t even remember what kind of fish were caught during those times.
While the sun was still high, I dove into the sea as usual, catching fish and overharvesting the clams and crustaceans on the ocean floor. There were so many that I doubted I could catch too many. Probably.
“Oh, look! There’s something that looks like a spiny lobster!”
As I searched the darkened seabed at night, I discovered a creature with impressive antennae.
“It’s still as big as ever.”
This was indeed a region teeming with giant creatures. The crustaceans found here were large, but this pseudo-spiny lobster was enormous as well. Its antennae stretched over two hundred meters from tip to tip. Considering that, its body felt small in comparison, but it was still several dozen meters long.
“I could fit it into the Dimensional Box as it is… but I might have to break off its antennae.”
I dodged the writhing antennae and closed in on the body of the pseudo-spiny lobster. The antennae were quite thick, so I figured there might be some meat packed inside, so I wouldn’t just discard them.
“Let’s take a break soon.”
After hunting for a while, I decided to call it a day and began to surface.
“Hm? Is there something over there?”
As I unconsciously extended my Presence Detection towards the surface, I sensed numerous human presences just outside the boundary of the giant fish’s territory.
“Oh, is that the large ship I spotted before?”
Rio recalled the suspicious large ship we had seen during our last fishing trip, and I thought she was probably right. Although I couldn’t see them directly, when I used magic to extend my vision, I spotted a dozen or so large ships in the distance.
“Yeah, there are a lot of large ships, but were there that many at the harbor?”
“Who knows?”
Even recalling the harbor where we had distributed the giant fish, I didn’t remember seeing such large vessels. However, I hadn’t been keeping a constant watch. Perhaps these were brave souls venturing into uncharted territories beyond the habitat of the giant fish.
“Well, it’s fine.”
“If they’re not a threat, then it’s okay, right?”
“Yeah.”
With that thought in mind, I returned home to rest for the day.
“Good morning!”
Two days later, on the day I was to deliver the fish to Mr. Miles, I was awakened by an unusually cheerful Phonia.
“Big brother, it’s morning!”
As I turned toward the sound, I opened my eyes slightly to see Phonia’s smiling face beaming at me.
“Hehe.”
After confirming I was awake, Phonia dashed to the other side of the bed, calling out to Rio, “Big sister, wake up!”
Turning my head to the other side, I saw Rio’s face as she stirred awake.
“Good morning.”
“Ah, good morning.”
This was our home base, in the room I shared with Rio. Since we had been fishing late into the night yesterday, I had returned and gone straight to bed without locking the door.
“Good morning, Phonia!”
“Phonia-chan, good morning!”
After exchanging light kisses, the two of us got up together, and Phonia hopped onto the bed, hugging Rio tightly.
“Did something good happen?”
Having been out fishing at night for the past two days, I hadn’t seen Phonia for a while. I wondered if she had felt lonely, but her tail was wagging excitedly, so I asked her.
“Yeah! Today, I’m going to play at the orphanage!”
“Oh, really? Do you have friends there?”
“I made lots of them!”
“Wow, that’s wonderful!”
Come to think of it, Hinomaru was also supporting the orphanage. It was right next to the Isolage base, and we passed by it on our way to the city, so perhaps that was how Phonia had made some connections. She was still a child, and making friends was certainly a good thing. I reflected on how I had been so focused on our travels that I hadn’t thought about such things.
“So…”
As I watched her with a smile, Phonia fidgeted, her ears drooping as she looked down. I waited for her to continue, and slowly, she lifted her face to peek at us.
“So, can big brother and big sister come with me?”
Her voice dropped, and her timid upward glance was incredibly effective.
“Alright, let’s go.”
I made my decision immediately, and Rio affectionately patted Phonia’s head.
“Big sister and I have work in the afternoon, so we can only go in the morning. Is that okay?”
I had intentionally set aside thoughts of Mr. Miles, but it seemed Rio was unaffected by Phonia’s pleading gaze.
“Yeah! That’s fine! Yay!”
Hearing Rio’s words, Phonia’s excitement skyrocketed. Her ears perked up, and her tail wagged vigorously.
“Then let’s eat breakfast and head out.”
“Got it!”
“I’ll change, so you go ahead.”
“Okay!”
I gently patted Phonia’s head, and she nodded energetically before jumping off the bed and leaving the room.
“Ahh, Phonia-chan was even cuter than usual today.”
Rio sighed as she stared at the door through which Phonia had exited. It seemed that Phonia’s pleading gaze had indeed worked its magic.
“I don’t think I can compete with that.”
“Of course, we have to take our work seriously.”
I replied with a serious expression, but I ended up getting scolded. Half of it was a joke, so I hoped she wouldn’t worry too much.
“Well, enough of this nonsense. Let’s get ready.”
With that, I finished changing in the room, and together with Rio, we headed to the dining hall.