171 – A Night at Sea (1)
When the wind turned against him, Chester retracted his sails and began rowing the raft using only the oars.
At that time, a large wave approached and the raft roared loudly.
“Mmm.”
When the raft rocked loudly once, Monia, who had already been harassed by the raft that had been bobbing on the sea for over an hour, frowned as if she couldn’t stand it.
“It’s fine?”
“yes. Just hold on.”
It seemed that Monia could hold on, but Rex was not.
Rex, who was so happy while riding the raft for a short time, was lying on the bottom of the raft, and Monia was blowing the wind with leaves to soothe her motion sickness.
“Rather, why is Chester so resistant to motion sickness? Are you a land person?”
“Ah, that.”
Chester subtly bent one knee and straightened the other, pushing his stomach as the line of light moved. At the same time, the raft swayed and rose upward, but Chester’s bent knees and belly-pushed knees kept him properly balanced, and his body remained steady.
“well?”
“Cowardly.”
“I hate you, Dad.”
Monia and Rex simultaneously argue with Chester.
“Looking at the fishing rod.”
It’s embarrassing to waste time. While Chester was driving the raft, of course Monia and Rex had their jobs to do too. fishing right away.
You can throw a harpoon connected to a string with your wrist and catch it, or you can hang a fishing rod and wait for a fish to bite at any time. I brought some preservation food, but preservation food is preservation food. It was good to save it if possible.
“If it’s hard, would you like to sing a song?”
“Song… . What songs do sailors sing… … .”
“Can I call you something?”
Chester began humming along to the moderately flowing waves. A song that randomly mixes the names of fish Chester knows and memories of playing in the river as a child.
Monia, who listened to it for a while, also started humming random lyrics to the tune to overcome motion sickness.
how much time had passed A moderate wind blew in, and Chester spread the sails and settled down to rest. It was hard to keep standing on a rocking boat.
“Let’s eat.”
“yes. … … You will reach the island before sunset, right?”
“yes? I bet If you keep going like this, you will arrive.”
Chester caught the swinging rod before it fell into the sea and tried to catch the fish. However, as the fish resisted strongly, the fishing rod began to bend as if it were about to break.
“Uh uh!”
Monia was surprised to see the fishing rod bend, and Chester gestured that it was okay and released the rod properly, then pulled it back and repeated pushing and pulling with the fish.
“Five! this! It’s very heavy!”
A fish whose identity is unknown is very strong.
Chester, who had been pushing and pulling, felt that the fishing rod would break, so he grabbed the rod with one hand and pulled out a leather glove.
Right after putting the glove on one hand with Monia’s help, Chester reached over and grabbed the string of the fishing pole. Immediately afterwards, with a loud noise, the fishing rod broke, and Chester let go of the broken rod and coiled the string around his leather gloved hand.
“Kuk!”
The raft rocks as Chester is pulled into the water for an instant.
“Kyaa!”
While Monia was surprised, Chester, with the help of Rex, put on a glove on the other hand and grabbed the fishing rod string with both hands and started fishing with the string.
The rope tightened and squeezed Chester’s hand, and Chester stuck his feet in the gaps in the raft and pulled his whole body back to hold on.
The fish oscillates as it swims from side to side. Every time that happened, Chester’s body shook and the raft also shook.
However, Chester did not miss the moment when the power of the fish was released. The moment the fish stopped moving. That moment when he stopped wagging his tail with great effort. Immediately after the fish stopped, Chester, who confirmed that the light line was sending a signal, pulled the string and wrapped it around it.
Chester, who secured the string with both hands so that the fish would not come undone no matter what, gave strength to his whole body again, and the fish, surprised by the sudden pull, tried to resist.
However, it is a fish that worked hard until a while ago. There was a limit to resistance, and Chester began to pull the string wildly, aiming for the small gap where the resistance weakened.
Soon after, when the recovered fish tried to resist again, it was too late, and the fish’s shadow began to appear near the surface.
“Ohhhhh, big!”
The fish that came close to the surface boasted an enormous size, more than twice the size of the fish they commonly caught on the floating island.
“No, what!”
Of course, the closer the fish is and the shorter the string, the greater the power transmitted. The fishing line now raged with such a force that it would rip all the palm skin off Chester’s hands.
Seeing that, Monia quickly pulled out a wooden harpoon and threw it at the fish. However, the wooden spear sank to the bottom of the sea without properly hitting the oscillating fish.
Monia, who took out a wooden harpoon with a string tied to her wrist, aimed at the fish again, and Monia as well as Rex got up and started aiming at the fish.
“Throw it!”
The moment Chester flicks the string in the opposite direction to the fish’s movement to stop it, Monia and Rex’s harpoons fly away.
As a result of the two throwing several times, Rex’s harpoon was finally hit by the fish. Immediately after, the harpoon thrown by Monia also pierced the side of the fish.
Even after being hit by both harpoons, the fish flopped for a long time, but except for the flop, its strength was weakened, so Chester could easily pull it up.
“Whoa.”
It was a really big fish. In terms of length alone, it would be taller than Rex. When such a fish climbed onto the raft, it showed off its majesty by occupying a large corner of the raft.
“Wow, this is real.”
“You are crazy. Are all fish in the sea like this?”
Chester and Monia admired the fish and started grooming it.
It is split open, the entrails are thrown into the sea, the scales are removed, and the fish is grilled over a fire.
I had deliberately covered it with leaves and earth to provide a spot for a campfire on part of the raft, so I built a campfire on it and grilled the fish.
No matter how big it was, it was difficult to grill it all at once, so I had to cut the fish into pieces and grill them like a steak.
Grill four large pieces of fish steak over direct fire. It is so thick that it takes quite a while to cook through to the inside.
After some time, the family of four started their meal with a grilled fish steak and a grilled potato in front of them.
“… … .”
“… … .”
– … … .
And two and one were silent.
“Well. I’m fine. Is this the taste of saltwater fish?”
While Chester was chewing on the flesh of the fish he had ripped off with a knife, Monia mumbled a grim expression on the flesh of the fish.
“Maddub… … .”
“yes?”
Chester again eats a big mouthful of fish. He said, looking at the red marks left by the string compressing his hand.
“I think I’m fine. If you catch one, a lot of meat comes out.”
“It doesn’t smell like freshwater fish, but… … The taste is too light, but too much oil. The taste of the oil terribly covers the already pale taste.”
Of course, it wasn’t that serious. It’s just that Monia’s taste is overly sensitive, so she’s picky about accepting it.
In fact, Rex and Ant were only disappointed in the fact that it was tasteless unlike the delicious fish on the floating island, but they ate fish well after that. However, Rex didn’t eat as hard as usual, it felt like he was eating because he had to.
“Things that are tricky to taste.”
Even while Chester tutted his tongue at the behavior of his family, the boat rode on the rolling waves.
* * *
Jordi took out the dagger he had always kept in his bosom and cut off the life of the assassin who attacked him.
“… … Whoa.”
After the kingdom collapsed in the war, Jordi quickly gathered the necessary items and fled the kingdom.
However, Jordi is the king of the most powerful country on this continent, even though it has fallen. There is a huge bounty hanging on his head.
Above all, in order to effectively occupy the kingdom’s territory and at the same time assert their ‘rights’ from all the forces rampaging in this territory, they must take ‘Jordi’s head’ and appeal that they killed the king.
Even if he had nothing to do with King Jordi and the fall of the kingdom, Jordi’s death has a fearsome value just because he is the king of a fallen country.
In addition, because of all the crazy things Jordi did during the war, the people are full of antipathy. If you kill Jordi and end the kingdom, and declare that you will end war and bring peace in the future, so many people in the kingdom will support that force.
Yes, so, Jordi must die please. I have to die.
However, Jordi had no intention of dying at all.
After searching the body of the assassin who pursued him for a bounty, Jordi quickly left the place on horseback.
Jordi himself doesn’t know where to go next.
But far, far away, far, far away, where the fires of this war have not reached.
So, for now, I just run forward.
forward and forward again.
As he climbs on top of his horse and runs forward, a strong headwind hits and blows Jordi’s hair.
Through the fluttering hair, skin distorted hideously from burns was revealed.
Pressing down on his hair to hide the burns, Jordi gnashed his teeth and urged his words.
He lost his country, his power, his subordinates, his money, and even his shiny appearance.
Just like the tiara, everything Jordi had is disappearing one by one.
‘Why did this happen?’
Jordi couldn’t understand.
He couldn’t understand why his life had to be like this.
A fire of hatred built up inside Jordi, who he didn’t know where to turn from.
The fire of hatred, which had no way to express itself, built up inside Jordi again and again, eating away at Jordi.
Where will those who do not know their faults and have nothing left but to hate something will go? no one knows that