1 – Helping those who help themselves (1)
A veteran of the Demon King’s War.
A war hero of Brechnut Kingdom.
An unprecedented battle god.
The youngest centurion to be promoted in the shortest amount of time.
The holder of the most medals such as the Special Military Merit Medal.
The first slave-turned-knight of the Royal Knights.
Some of Einer Capod’s many titles.
But now.
“Security guard, look at me.”
On the deck of an old cog ship with a fishy smell, you were looking down at the captain scratching his chin and ejaculating on his knees.
“It’s not a security guard, it’s a port security officer.”
“Look at me anyway.”
The filthy old captain spoke while groping Einor’s boots.
“I couldn’t help it because I had a lot of family members to feed. I was greedy because I was caught a lot today…”
Einer sighed and looked around at the pile of wooden crates on the deck.
In wooden crates stacked up to waist height, there were a lot of fish the size of a forearm.
Tropical Fish. Aka sunfish.
As its name suggests, it is a representative fish species of the southern ocean with scales that sparkle in brilliant colors when exposed to sunlight.
If you clean it, boil it in water mixed with vinegar and salt, and eat it with a sauce made by grinding ginger, green onion, and garlic, it’s amazing.
If that’s not the case, you can just fry it in oil and eat it….
No, now is not the time to think like that.
“Just looking at it, it’s overworked.”
“I will pay a fine for that, so please don’t confiscate the meat. I beg you.”
“If you’re overweight, you pay a fine and the excess is confiscated.”
The captain was taken aback by your words and changed his words.
“Then why don’t you do it this way? Give them the money for my fine yourself and take some meat. Tonight with my family waiting at home…”
“I’m single. And you just said you were paying a bribe?”
Eyy, as you turned to the four men standing behind you, they nodded as if you heard them clearly.
“Why do you add bribery*?”
When the captain heard that it was a crime of bribery, he suddenly changed his attitude and shouted.
“Is this really true? Aren’t they doing too much against a worm fisherman who has been catching fish all his life with only one cog boat over 30 years old?! This is one-sided tyranny!”
“hahahaha. What a tyranny. Get out of the way. Let’s look at the meat.”
As soon as you snapped his finger, the captain did not back down.
“Lawfully caught without a search warrant?”
“It’s legal and it’s a search warrant. Those aren’t the words that will come out of the mouth of a fisherman who’s been fishing all his life.”
Then, Eyner took out a crumpled document from his chest and showed it.
“If I don’t get out of the way right away, the rest of my life will probably be pretty tiring.”
After seeing the search warrant, the captain’s face turned white.
Meanwhile, other members of the crew passed the captain and started digging through the fish crates, some of which made their way into the captain’s quarters and below decks.
Ainor leaned against the deck railing and watched it leisurely.
This is Daham, the port city of the Principality of Jahelan.
It is called the pearl of the southern part of the continent and ships from all over the world pass through it.
You can enjoy the mild sunlight and lukewarm sea breeze all year round, and even a stable job even though the salary is low.
Yes. This life is not bad either.
Peaceful, secluded, nothing to worry about.
“Is that so, Captain?”
The captain was about to say something to that, but member Kira, who had knocked over piles of fish crates, tilted her head.
After taking out a sunfish from the box in the middle of the stacked boxes, Kira pulled out the dagger at her waist and slashed it open.
Instead of internal organs, white powder in a transparent bag flowed from the stomach of the split fish.
“Captain! Found it!”
Einer smiled silently and looked at the captain.
“Ugh!”
The captain, unable to bear the gaze, threw himself over the railing.
But Einer was faster.
I grabbed the captain’s ankle as he was leaving the railing and threw me back onto the deck. It was great strength.
The captain passed out as he fell across the deck into fish crates.
Einer opened his mouth while still sitting on the railing.
“Look for more. There are probably more below decks.”
At that moment, a loud noise erupted from the stairs leading down to the deck.
“Ouch! f*ck!”
“Get that bastard!”
Toby soared onto the deck and fell to the ground with a roar.
“Kek! Captain!”
After that, a man of enormous size stomped up onto the deck.
The muscular orc, with a skin color between green and gray, glared at the surroundings vigorously.
“Get out of here! There’s fish here! No drugs!”
After all, I’m admitting with my own mouth that this ship is a drug carrier.
Orcs, an intelligent species, are stupid enough to be close to monsters, but their physical strength is strong enough to be compared to humans.
That’s probably why I brought in one to prepare for the worst case scenario.
“Get down on the floor! I’ll arrest you as a red-handed criminal!”
The crew drew swords and surrounded the orcs in an attempt to arrest them.
However, intimidation against an excited orc is like pouring boiling oil on the fire.
Angry to the tip of his head, the orc screamed and beat Marco and Ryan at once.
When Kira and Toby hesitated at that tremendous strength, you bent over him and picked up a piece of sunfish.
And threw it at the orc with all his might.
As soon as the fish hit the middle of the forehead, the orc’s red eyes returned to Einer.
Einer waved his finger at the orc, as if telling him to attack.
The orc, who lost his temper in anger, fell for the mere provocation and rushed at Einer with a battle cry.
“Captain! Avoid!”
Despite the refusal from the crew, Einer stood still on the railing and did not budge.
Just before the orc’s gigantic fist shattered Einer’s head.
Hey, you turned around and stepped aside from him.
The orc, who was charging fiercely, was unable to overcome his strength and shattered the railing and was thrown overboard.
The orc who fell into the sea between the ship and the pier screamed for help as he struggled.
“Go to the headquarters of the Security Forces and ask for support. We need to pull up that orc, so bring the wizard. Bind the captain and retrieve all the items.”
“Yes, captain!”
As per Einer’s command, the crew moved in perfect order.
As you watched, you picked up several large sunfish that had fallen at his feet and threaded them through his rope.
I’ll take this as a cost of labor.
How delicious it is when you grill it golden brown and eat it with a salad.
Einer thought as he tied the rope around his waist.
This kind of life really isn’t bad.
Rather than being a war hero, going around freely as a security guard in a port city suits me better.
* * * * *
After work, Ainer stopped by the market.
To buy vegetables and other necessary ingredients to accompany the sunfish caught today.
This is Daham, the port city of the Principality of Jahelan.
It is called the pearl of the southern part of the continent and ships from all over the world pass through it.
For this reason, you can get all the ingredients in the world at Daham’s market.
There’s even a joke that if there’s an ingredient that isn’t here, it’s something that people can’t eat.
After buying all the necessary ingredients, Einer returned home with a pleasant hum.
An envelope full of food ingredients in the chest, and a meaty sunfish on the waist.
The noise of the bustling market and the golden coast and clouds at sunset.
Just thinking about how it couldn’t get any better than this.
“Ugh!”
A woman running towards her, not seeing her, collided with Ei-you, and the envelope she was holding in her hand fell to the floor.
“Ouch!”
The woman bounced off Einer’s hard body and fell to the ground.
She was a shabby-looking woman with long, messy black hair.
The port homeless people you often see on patrol look just like that.
“Sorry! Sorry!”
The woman hurriedly knelt down and handed over the ingredients scattered on the floor, and the woman didn’t know what to do and apologized.
“You have to look ahead.”
“Yes yes, sorry…”
After putting all the ingredients in the bag, the woman bowed and apologized.
You waved her hand because you were uncomfortable looking at her anymore.
“Okay. I’m not hurt, so that’s fine.”
“Sorry…”
Once more the woman bowed her back and turned and disappeared through the market crowd.
What a crazy woman.
Einer was about to move on when he suddenly realized that the strap on his waist had become a bit lighter.
Looking down, there were only two sunfish that were apparently four.
A pickpocket?
I looked behind her, but it was impossible to find her again.
Well, it wasn’t bought with money anyway, and sunfish itself isn’t that valuable, so let’s stop.
It’s a long-awaited day to cook, but you shouldn’t be offended by something like this.
* * * * *
After returning home, Einer immediately lit the fire and prepared the food.
When I arrived in Daham after running away from Brechnut Kingdom, the most important thing was the kitchen facilities.
It was rare to find a house that was fully furnished with a stove so that he could cook the dishes he wanted, but he did not give up and was able to acquire the house he has now.
It is a well-located house located on the seashore. The previous owner renovated it and used it as a restaurant, but it went bankrupt and abandoned it and ran away at night.
It’s much more expensive than his average market price, so he gave away almost all the money he took with him when he ran away, but hey, you absolutely have no regrets.
Thanks to that, we can now grill the sunfish.
At first, I thought about opening a restaurant, but there were so many competitors.
It’s not too late to think about it if you save money for now and then quit your job at the security force later.
Ay you sang his hum and trimmed his sunfish.
After peeling the scales with a kitchen knife and applying the bones, large chunks of lean meat come out.
The yield is very good.
Bake it as if frying it in an oiled pan.
I’m just bored, so sprinkle enough pepper and salt on it.
How lucky I am to be able to get black pepper that would cost gold anywhere else at a low price here.
This is why a guy like me has to live in a port city.
While the meat is cooking, grind ginger and garlic to make sauce, and cut herbs and green onions into bite-sized pieces.
The sauce will be sprinkled on the meat and eaten with herbs and green onion salad.
Cut the lemon in half to add acidity to it.
Around the time the sides were finished, the meat was cooked just right, so Einer hurriedly took out a plate and put them all in a nice way.
From noble mtl dot com
He made a dish that he made, but it smelled so bad that his mouth was watering.
Then let’s eat.
An exclamation flowed from Einer’s mouth as he put a large portion of soft lean meat into his mouth.
I could forget about the crackdown on drug carriers in broad daylight and the pickpocketing in the market just now.
And even the damn memories in Brechnert Castle.
A hero was successfully stolen by a pickpocket? How funny and absurd…