"All right, that's a big catch."
Rei smiled happily as the spear he had thrown pierced through the body of a large fish. As it floated to the surface, he stored it directly into his Misty Ring.
It was not the type of tuna that Rei had been hoping for, but since it was still a large fish, it should be satisfying to eat.
Since it was a fish Rei did not recognize at all, what exactly it would taste like — or whether it could even be safely eaten — was something he would need to research, perhaps by asking a fisherman.
"If it turns out this fish is actually poisonous, like fugu... that would be no laughing matter. Still, I have a feeling it's fine somehow."
That was not based on any real certainty; it was truly little more than a hunch.
But even so, for some reason, he felt confident that it would be alright.
"Gruuru!"
Set let out a cry, eager to eat some fish right away.
Rei stroked Set's neck, patting him as if to say, "Calm down."
"For now, let's focus on catching fish instead of eating them. In exchange, I'll make sure you get plenty of fish tonight. ...Though at this rate, I'd really want a net, but that's easier said than done."
What came to mind as he spoke to Set was the image of fishing boats dragging nets through the water.
With just the two of them — Rei and Set — if they had a massive net, they could certainly pull off the same kind of fishing.
The problem was how to get one.
If they visited a fishing village or port town, nets might be available.
But there was also the possibility that no such thing existed in the area at all.
Rei had no way of knowing whether the people around here even used nets for fishing.
(In Emosion, it seemed like they did use nets for fishing, so it's not like that kind of fishing is completely undeveloped... but the question is whether anyone does it around here.)
Rei's assumption was that net fishing would naturally require a vessel of a certain size.
And since there were no fishing villages or port towns that large in this area, whether anyone could even fish with such a ship here was questionable, in Rei's judgment.
...Of course, Rei had chosen this area as a fishing spot precisely because it was a place with few people, so that was only to be expected.
"Gruuru!"
As Rei was lost in thought, Set's cry reached his ears.
Wondering what was wrong, Rei looked toward Set and noticed that he was staring at a single spot on the sea's surface.
What was Set looking at? Driven by that thought, Rei followed his gaze and spotted what appeared to be numerous fish shadows beneath the surface.
They were about seventy percent of the size of the fish Rei had just caught — slightly larger than half — and unlike that previous fish, which had been swimming alone, these were moving in a school.
Seeing that, Rei found himself wanting a net all the more. But deciding that catching fish took priority for now, he did not reach for a spear from his Misty Ring. Instead, he activated the Eye of Nebula at his waist.
He judged that using the Eye of Nebula would be quicker than taking out and throwing a spear each time.
Of course, what the Eye of Nebula produced were arrowheads, and their attack power was by no means high.
Whether a single arrowhead could take down a fish in one hit... honestly, he would not know until he tried.
However, the arrowheads created by the Eye of Nebula could be produced endlessly for as long as Rei's magic power held out.
While a single shot was less powerful than a thrown spear, in terms of rate of fire, the Eye of Nebula was overwhelmingly superior.
"Guess I just have to try it out. ...It's probably better for the environment this way, too!"
With that shout, Rei hurled arrowheads created by the Eye of Nebula from atop Set's back as they approached the school of fish.
Normally, he would flick the arrowheads with his fingers, but this time, to increase the power even slightly, he used a wrist-snap throwing motion.
The arrowheads shot forward as if slicing through the air, pierced the seawater, and struck the bodies of the fish below.
Unlike a spear, the power decreased from passing through the seawater alone, so the arrowheads could not punch completely through the fishes' bodies.
But even without piercing through, the force was more than enough to kill them.
...When throwing a discarded spear, one with a damaged shaft was one thing, but if a spear with a chipped tip pierced a fish, fragments of the tip could remain inside the body.
From that perspective, since the arrowheads created by magic would vanish immediately, there was no need to worry about blade fragments.
In that sense, it was actually safer than throwing spears.
Fish pierced by several arrowheads floated to the surface.
But rather than retrieving them right away, Rei — thinking that he should make the most of the school while he could — created and hurled arrowhead after arrowhead.
Fish that form schools generally rely on a survival strategy where, when attacked, some individuals are sacrificed so the rest of the group can escape.
In practice, if a predatory fish or monster attacked a school, only the unlucky fish hit in the first few strikes would die, and the school itself would get away.
But this time, the fish could only be said to have picked the wrong opponent.
The survival instinct etched into their very nature proved completely useless.
The biggest reason was undoubtedly that Rei and Set, who were currently attacking the school, did not eat their kills on the spot. Instead, they left the dead fish floating and kept cutting down one after another.
Naturally, the floating fish would eventually sink as time passed, so they could not keep attacking forever. But from what Rei could see, they showed no sign of sinking right away, which was a major reason he kept up his barrage.
Moreover, Rei was not the only one attacking. Set, carrying him on his back, was also firing Ice Arrow repeatedly, slamming ice arrows into the sea one after another.
The relentless assault on the school naturally whittled down its numbers at an accelerating rate.
This continued for several minutes. When the number of fish floating in the sea reached nearly a hundred, the onslaught — for that was the only word for what Rei and Set had done — finally came to an end.
"Well, if I thin out the fish too much here, it might have a negative impact on these waters... though a single school probably wouldn't cause that much damage. Anyway, Set. Let's start collecting the fish."
"Gruuru!"
Set cried happily at Rei's words.
He figured that snacking on a few fish during the recovery would be forgiven.
Rei understood exactly what Set was thinking, but since he had worked quite hard this time, he had no intention of complaining about a few fish being eaten along the way.
Descending to just above the surface, Rei had Set tilt its body and began storing the floating fish into the Misty Ring one after another.
Holding on to Set's torso using only leg strength would normally be quite demanding.
But with Rei's physical abilities, it was effortless.
As he stored the fish, Set would plunge his head into the water for any that were starting to sink, catching them in his beak and swallowing them whole.
(There are quite a few more fish sinking than I expected.)
Rei felt a twinge of disappointment at that, but the fish he could not store in the Misty Ring would end up in the stomachs of crabs and other sea creatures, so it was not a total waste.
In the end, they successfully recovered about eighty to ninety percent of the fish, and Set managed to snack on a fair number of the ones that had been slipping beneath the surface.
"Alright, Set. Let's go after even bigger fish next."
"Gruu!"
Set let out a happy cry at Rei's words.
For Set, a seaside outing — or more accurately, a fishing trip — meant being able to spend the entire day with Rei and, on top of that, eat delicious fish to his heart's content. There was no way he could be in a bad mood.
And so, Set once again soared over the sea in search of delicious fish.
Along the way, they spotted what appeared to be monsters in the water several times. But whether they sensed Set's presence or simply found prey and headed after it, once they dove deep into the sea, even Rei and Set could not go after them.
Well, they might have been able to attack, but it would be more accurate to say they could not finish the job.
"Hmm... there are plenty of small fish, but I can't find any tuna."
The silhouettes of fish visible from above the sea were by no means few.
But most of them were small — primarily fish like horse mackerel and sardines.
"Ah, but I would love some fried horse mackerel. Then again, since they're small, they'd be hard to catch. ...Well, I'm not even sure they actually are horse mackerel, though."
For something like fried horse mackerel, Rei roughly remembered how to make it.
Coating the fish in flour, dipping it in beaten egg, coating it in breadcrumbs, and frying it — it was not that difficult.
...However, Rei had never filleted a horse mackerel before, nor had he ever scaled a fish in his life.
Even if he managed to catch some, there was virtually no chance he could prepare them properly.
But given that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach — and with Bistol, who was an excellent cook, around — there was no need to worry about the cooking.
"I really do need a net or something. ...Tomorrow, let's look for a fishing village or port town nearby. They might be using nets for fishing."
"Gruu!"
As Set purred, seemingly suggesting they might be able to buy fish too, Rei nodded in agreement.
If it were tuna or a fish of comparable size, Rei could easily catch it himself using a spear or the Eye of Nebula.
But for small fish — like the horse mackerel he was craving — buying them from a professional fisherman would be far and away the easier option.
Though if it came to fishing as a vacation activity on a summer sea, that would be a different story altogether.
And in truth, while Rei and his group had come to the sea partly to catch as much fish as possible, they also wanted to enjoy a vacation. They had been working far too hard lately.
From the Treant Forest matter to Gilm's Expansion Construction, eliminating interference from rival nobles, retaliating against a foreign criminal organization that had tried to cause trouble, defeating the massive Giants that organization had prepared, escorting the women who had been captured, brainwashed, and forced into prostitution — together with the Resistance — on their journey to Gilm, returning midway to help with the Expansion Construction, and wiping out the large numbers of Bandits infesting the area around Sablusta... they had been doing all of that and more.
And those were only the major events. If the smaller incidents were included, the list would be far longer.
Having been that busy, it was only natural to want a vacation and a change of pace.
(Well, in this world, while people do swim in rivers, it seems they basically don't swim for fun in the sea.)
This was simply because the sea was home to far more ferocious monsters than rivers and lakes.
That was not to say there were no monsters in rivers, lakes, swamps, or ponds... but when it came to sheer numbers and variety, the sea inevitably won out.
"Well, either way... let's at least catch enough for tonight's dinner."
In this case, what was needed was not a precise strike to bring down a single large fish, but a method that could hit a wide area all at once.
With that in mind, Rei drew the Death Scythe — his signature weapon — from his Misty Ring.
"Flying Slash!"
The blade of energy released from the Death Scythe flew straight toward the surface where the school of fish was swimming.
The moment the slashing blade struck the water, it unleashed its full force in all directions.
It carved through the sea itself, the blade of energy traveling a certain distance beneath the surface.
The severed seawater naturally returned to its original state in an instant.
But the shock generated the moment Flying Slash made contact with the water stunned nearly ten fish swimming near the surface, sending them floating up.
(Would Power Slash have produced a bigger shock? No, but then I would have ended up falling into the sea myself. In that case, Flying Slash was definitely the right call.)
Watching the school frantically scattering away from them, Rei thought to himself.