Dual Cultivation

When the sun began to set, I went back home. The girls had already started making supper by the time I got back.

I talked to the four adults that accompanied them, and there weren’t any major problems aside from their battles with the higher variation of zombies, the ghouls.

“It wasn’t bad enough that we had to step in, but it took a while for them to subjugate the ghouls.” [Shiva]

“They were just caught off guard since ghouls are much faster than zombies. They’ll be fine as long as we throw ‘em a ghoul or two to practice.” [Remiri]

“I’ll have the grave slime catch some then. Anyway, what do you think about that suggestion?” [Ryouma]

After hearing Shiva-san’s and Remiri-san’s thoughts, I talked to them about my idea to have the grils go back to town by themselves.

“Hmm… Even if we overestimate the time it would take them to go back and even with the time they’d spend resting added, I don’t think it’d be a problem..” [Shiva]

“They made it here in 2 days with our help, so the five of them together should only take about 3 or 4 days at most.” [Rheinbach]

Shiva-san and Rheinbach-sama seemed to like my proposition.

“How about you? How’s it going on your side?” [Remiri]

“Nothing special. I’ve been digging magic jewels here and there. The grave slimes took care of all the undead, so there weren’t any particular… Ah-” [Ryouma]

As I started to talk, I remembered that feeling I got in the afternoon.

“Did you guys experience something similar?” [Ryouma]

“Nope… And we would have realized it if someone were watching since we had our guards up just like you did.” [Remiri]

“Right… I called the undead, but I didn’t find anything unusual. Nothing came up either even after casting a search spell. Maybe it really was my imagination after all.” [Ryouma]

You get it from time to time. You know that feeling where while you’re washing your head you suddenly go, “Ah! Someone’s watching me!” But then, considering the situation, I don’t really think that’s it.

Suddenly…

“Kyaa!!!”

A high-pitched scream resounded outside. We immediately ran out of the house, and when we looked around, we saw Elia, Kanan, and Riera on their bottoms with their swords out.

I thought someone fell into the river, but their swords are out so I don’t think that’s the case. Around this time, Michelle and Miyabi also came running here. So, at the very least, if someone fell, it wasn’t someone we knew. Anyway, their swords are out, so it could be a magical beast or an undead, but… I don’t see any.

“What happened!” [Ryouma]

“We were trying to draw water from the river, but when we pulled the bucket up, something was inside.” [Elia]

Elia pointed to the fallen bucket to which a long rope was affixed. Something black was definitely there.

“Is that a fish? Or maybe a magical beast? It doesn’t look hostile though.” [Shiva]

“Could go either way, but… That’s really creepy.” [Remiri]

“Sebasu, do you know something?” [Rheinbach]

“No, unfortunately.” [Sebasu}

The adults discussed among themselves the identity of the unidentified mysterious animal. I have some idea myself what it is, but the bigger question is why it’s here…

“It could be a goosefish… or maybe a flounder. No, maybe it’s a stingray? Hmm… it could also be a catfish…” [Ryouma]

“Ryouma-kun, do you know what it is?” [Riera]

“No, but parts of it resemble some of the fishes I’ve heard of.” [Ryouma]

The fish had a flat body, and at its center was a bulge that resembled a dome. It had a pair of big eyes and a mouth like a goosefish, whiskers like those of a catfish, five on each side, and a tail behing it just like that of a stingray. The thin part of its body and its whiskers fluttered about as it squirmed on the ground.

It’s all jumbled up, I have no idea what it is anymore. Besides, aren’t catfishes supposed to live in the ocean? What is this thing doing in a river?

“…In any case, you girls were just scared by this thing, and you weren’t in any danger, right?” [Ryouma]

The girls nodded, apologizing for the trouble they’ve caused. I let them off, saying it’s good they’re not hurt.

“So, what to do with this?” [Michelle}

Michelle pointed to the fish crawling on the ground.

“…Eat it?” [Ryouma]

“You can eat that thing!?” [Elia]

“We did get a request from the guild to investigate… And there’s not a lot of other reports we could give right now, so we might as well see if we can actually eat it. Identify says it’s neither poisonous nor being fed on by parasites, so there shouldn’t be any problems.” [Ryouma]

It looks like the fish in my previous life too, so it’s probably edible. Chances to eat fresh fish are rare in this country. In fact, I’ve never actually been able to eat fresh ocean fish since coming to this world, so I really want to eat it.

I took the fish and spread it over a workbench outside made with earth magic. The girls were using the kitchen inside, and everyone seems to find the fish disgusting, so I’m working here. I don’t really see what’s so disgusting though. I mean it is a bit grotesque, but it’s not that bad.

Anyway, I used Identify on the mysterious fish.

The first thing I cut was the tail since I thought it might have poison, but apparently, it didn’t have any. There’re no parasites in its body either, but there’s a lot of trash in its stomach and intestine. The stomach should be safe to eat as long as I run it through the cleaner slime first, but I think I’ll have the scavenger slime take care of the trash inside the intestine.

After dissecting the fish, I found out its teeth had three layers. They were really sharp, and when broken, they could cut even better than knives. They could probably be used to make arrowheads.

I turned the fish around. The thin part of the fish’s body resembled engawa. Looking good. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

After inspecting the fish, I preserved most of its edible parts with ice magic. The girls had already made supper, so we won’t be able to eat most of this, but I’d at least like to have some of the engawa.

I heated the engawa for a bit until it was crunchy, then I took a bite… Delicious! It was like butter as it melted in my mouth, filling every corner with its flavor. My body came undone.

“Ryouma-san, supper’s almost ready.” [Elia]

“Eh? A-Ahh! Right!” [Ryouma]

When I looked to the direction of her voice, I noticed she was calling me from a sizable distance. Does she hate this thing that much?

After heating the engawa, I served it to everyone as part of the day’s supper, and they all seemed to like it. But, for some reason, everyone except the two formers soldiers, Rheinbach-sama and Shiva-san, mentioned that they didn’t want to eat it frequently despite being delicious.

This fish tastes good but it looks weird. Their disgust for it must be on a psichological level.

I’m happy the fish is delicious, but it’s too bad they don’t like it that much. Like this the night passed.