Chapter 53 – We made a wharf!
"Ughpp…"
I held back the urge to vomit as I got off of the swing and onto the top of the tower.
It was certainly safe…
But being on top of the tower was one thing, and the state of being up in the air was quite another…
I had not been cured of my dislike of heights. If anything, you could say that it had only worsened.
"That was just horrible…uggaa…!?"
Out of nowhere, someone had slapped me lightly on the back, and I had to cover my mouth with my hand.
While it didn't hurt, I felt something rising from my stomach.
And it was all I could do to keep it from coming out.
When I was finally able to calmly turn around, I saw that Erevan was smiling at me.
"E-Erevan…"
"Chief. Did you enjoy the ride!?"
"We-well… I think the children will like it."
Not a single one of the monster children who were on it had reacted as I had.
And while it was hard to believe, even Ril and Mel enjoyed being on it.
Erevan sounded very proud as he continued.
"Yes! I knew it! Now, you must give it another go!"
"N-no, I really shouldn't. In fact, I'm actually in the middle of an inspection. You see, it's been a while since I really saw the surface."
"I see. Well, don't hesitate to come back whenever you want to play!"
"I-I'll keep that in mind…"
I felt bad, but there was no way I would ride it again if I had a choice… No, even if they asked…
In any case, I should head to the next location.
"…Alright. Where should I go next?"
I looked down at the reclaimed ground from up on the tower.
What place has undergone change… Oh?
There were several narrow strips of rock that jutted out towards the sea from the reclaimed ground.
Here, there were small fishing boats and even the Mithril sailing ship was docked there.
I saw that they were loading it with supplies and preparing to embark.
That…it was like a pier or a wharf.
Kamyu or Baris must have had it made.
"That's where I'll go next."
And so I descended the tower and headed towards the wharf.
As I got closer, I saw that it was quite large.
There were about five piers.
Were they curved like that to stop the waves? And it seemed like each was used for different kinds of boats.
Another thing that I noticed were the people who sat at the edge with their fishing rods.
Slimes, goblins, orcs, kobolds, cave spiders… They were all busy fishing together.
There were no boats out at sea today, perhaps because the waves were high. I suppose it was during such times that they caught fish on the wharf.
But more importantly, the slimes were fishing!?
Now that I thought of it, I could have sworn that I saw a slime with a pickaxe before…
It was not just Shiel, but the other slimes learned very quickly as well. I thought that it was quite possible that they would eventually learn how to talk.
And there was one human girl among the monsters…Fule, a former goblin.
"Ah, Fule. I see you're fishing today."
"Yes! This place was just finished, and so I wanted to come here. Though, I'll return to mining in the afternoon."
"I see. So, any luck so far?"
"Quite a lot. See."
Fule laughed as she opened the pot that was next to her.
There were several fairly large fish inside.
"They're all so big."
"Right? And as long as you have bait, they get hooked so easily."
"Huh. Is that so? Maybe I'll give it a try."
"There are fishing rods and bait over there by the end of the pier! That's where Baris is!"
"Baris? Well, I'll go and see him then."
I said goodbye to Fule and passed behind the others that were fishing.
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"Ah, I caught another one!"
"Hey, do you know what this huge fish is called?"
On both sides, I could hear shouts of people who had caught fish.
Not only were they catching a lot, but they were huge and rare fish that I had never seen before.
Ril and Mel walked beside me and looked at this with awe in their eyes.
They seemed to recognize fish as being delicious food now.
After a while, we reached the very end.
Here, Baris was quietly pointing his rod out towards the sea, and Taran was adeptly holding six rods at once.
"Baris. Seems like a good day to fish."
I said. But Baris, who now looked like a devil, did not turn around.
Perhaps he was very concentrated.
However, when Ril and Mel started hitting him on the back, he suddenly shook and then turned around in surprise.
"Ah, Lord Heal. I'm terribly sorry that you had to see me like this."
"No, no. I'm the one who feels bad for disturbing you. Still, I see that things are going well."
"Yes. We couldn't go out by boat today and had to fish here. And well, all the fishermen are quite shocked by the results."
"That much? Well, we won't have to worry about days like this anymore. I was thinking about trying it myself. Do you mind?"
"Of course, not. Please use the fishing rod and bait over there."
"Thank you. I will try it then."
If I just wanted to catch fish, I could use magic. In fact, it would be quicker and I could catch more.
It was the same with Fule and Baris.
However, there was a difference in catching fish and just gathering them. Fishing was seen as a kind of pleasurable form of recreation back in my country.
Still, it was apparently quite easy to catch fish here. And so I wanted to do it under the same circumstances as everyone else.
I attached the bait to the hook and cast it into the sea.
And then Taran looked at me with its red eyes as if saying something.
"What, Taran? …Don't tell me…"
Taran nodded.
"I see… So now you want to compete with fishing. Very well. It's a battle over who can catch the most and the biggest fish!"
I said as I cast the line into the sea.
"Alright, give me a big one! …What, already!?"
I immediately tried to pull my fishing rod back.
However, it would not budge.
Perhaps being able to dig so much in the caves had messed with my perceptions.
I was really just a human. And my arm strength wasn't anything impressive.
Of course, I was still stronger than most, but… Hmm!?
My body was suddenly pulled forward.
And just when I thought I was going to be yanked into the sea, Taran put a hand on my rod.
"Ta-Taran… Thank you."
'Don't mention it,' Taran seemed to say as it shook its body to the side.
"…Still, something took the bait."
The fishing rod was so strained that it felt like it was going to break.
This was all very unusual. Baris stared at the surface of the water and said,
"It must be something very big. Perhaps it is tuna or a shark?"
"It might be… Taran, could you pull it up?"
Taran nodded.
"Alright, let's do it together…ready, go!"
I pulled with all of my strength.
Taran lent me two of its arms.
And what we pulled out of the water…
"A rock!?"
It had a rough surface…but there was something too black and ominous about it.
Baris looked at it and said,
"Ah, Lord Heal! That is no rock…it is a Satan Shellfish!"
But the thing that had appeared before us looked nothing like a shellfish.
And then in the next moment, it discharged its purple liquid.
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Chapter 54 – It was really big!
"What the hell!?"
I quickly created a shield in order to protect Taran and Baris.
A giant shellfish that looked like a boulder… The liquid that the Satan Shellfish discharged was purple in color and immediately evaporated upon hitting the shield.
"Lord Heal! Leave this to me!"
Baris said as he thrust out his right hand.
"Spark!"
A surge of electricity was unleashed from Bari's hand, and the Satan Shellfish started to convulse.
The purple liquid continued to splatter everywhere as it shook violently.
After a while, bubbles started to come out of its mouth, and its insides began to slither out of the shell.
The insides of a shellfish… They tended to be grotesque, but the Satan Shellfish looked more sinister than usual.
And it was so big…
The nausea I had felt on the swing began to return.
Taran was poking at it with its arms.
Apparently, the Satan Shellfish could not move anymore.
"…Thank you, Baris. It looks like your magic training is going well."
"It's all thanks to you, Lord Heal. But, it wasn't my intention to kill it…"
"Well, perhaps you have difficulty controlling your magic energy. Since you have the 'Magic King' crest, I think you have more energy than me."
'Magic King'… People who had this crest could handle more magical energy, and would eventually be able to use advanced magic with ease.
Before he evolved, Baris was just an ordinary goblin. And goblins couldn't use magic.
Which meant that he could not make use of the crest.
However, now that he looked like a devil, the effects of the crest were really showing.
And he truly looked like a 'Magic King.'
Baris looked at his hand and replied.
"Hmm… I will devote myself to improving. However, this is most surprising. I have never seen a Satan Shellfish of this size before."
Satan Shellfish… If I remember correctly, Baris had crushed a dried version of this substance before.
It was a very regal purple…and he said it was the kind of purple dye that royals would use.
Baris then opened his pouch and took out a shell that was no bigger than the palm of his hand.
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"I knew that there were Satan Shellfish near this island, but they were no larger than this one."
"In comparison, this one is ridiculously big…"
"Yes. But not only that. I feel like the fish are getting larger as well. In fact, the fish we can catch in this area are larger than the ones we catch when going out by boat…"
Indeed. Compared to the fish I caught when first coming to this island, these seemed larger.
So, the fish we caught were getting bigger little by little… But when had it started?
I turned around and looked at the World Tree that reached towards the sky.
The plants had started growing faster ever since that tree appeared. Could it have affected the fish as well…
"Since we eat the fish, having them bigger is a good thing… However, these Satan Shellfish are poisonous, aren't they?"
The last time that Baris had been handling it, Mappa had tried licking the liquid.
And then he had collapsed from the poison.
Thankfully, I was close by and was able to heal him…
Baris nodded.
"Yes, it is not a lot… But when it comes to something of this size, I cannot know what its effect will be."
"That's true. I'll check it then."
"In that case, please compare it to this smaller one."
Baris gave me a small bottle that was filled with the liquid.
And so I used magic called 'Research,' in order to compare the poison with the Satan Shellfish that had just been killed.
"Hmm… It is definitely more poisonous. It should be fine to just touch it, but it would be incredibly dangerous to drink."
"I see. In that case, we will have to be very careful when making dye."
"We don't want Mappa licking it again…"
"Yes. I will have to explain it to Mappa very clearly."
But then Baris smiled.
"That being said, this means we can get a lot of dye from it. So if we process it and give it to Kamyu to be traded in…"
"We can make a great profit…"
I muttered.
Of course, this island already had treasures such as silver and gold.
So increasing our wealth wasn't of particular interest to me.
Baris nodded.
"In any case, I will have a few Golems here to protect people while they are fishing."
"Yes. Perhaps an even bigger Satan Shellfish will appear next time…"
It was not really something that I wanted to imagine…
All I could think of now, was how much I wished that Taran would stop wrapping the insides of the Satan Shellfish with webs and wringing them like a dirty rag…
Perhaps Taran knew that the liquid was valuable, as it was collecting it.
Baris watched this and smiled.
"Ah, Taran. Once you are finished with that, let's cook the meat. Satan Shellfish are quite tasty. You just put it back in the shell and grill it. It goes especially well with wine…"
Taran nodded with its entire body and happily dangled the dried up meat in front of me.
But it was so grotesque and… Ahhhhgghh…
Baris looked quite worried as he saw me holding my throat.
"Lord Heal? Are you alright?"
"…No, I'm fine. Thank you, Taran. I'm still in the middle of my inspection. You can eat ahead of me."
I said. And then returned to the reclaimed ground.