29 Chapter 29 Fishing
After the battle, Pressure Platoon II walked to the river with a sword.
There were quite a lot of people with torn black clothes, and charcoal-colored strings tied to their shoulders. They bend their back and put their hand inside the water, looking for fish. One man snapped forward and caught a big fish. He made it look so easy.
Bartrem and the rest didn’t wear their armor. They didn’t even wear any shirts, so their muscles were completely exposed. This made the fisherman look at them in awe. Aldred smiled and started flexing his muscles. This was the result of his hard work with Mary.
Mary laughed from behind. “You’re muscles are not developed enough to show off, boy.”
He smiled like he got caught stealing candy and scratched his head. Aldred took a look at her figure. Accompanying her busty breasts were the defined muscles on her arms. The toned biceps strengthened her forearms from all the sword-swinging, and powerful yet smooth legs made her look like an angelic warrior. Beautiful yet fierce. Rough yet graceful. That was Mary.
“Does any of you know how to fish?” Bartrem asked.
The soldiers shook their heads. Most of them were the son of a farmer. The soldiers in the other platoon were the sons of former knights, but the Pressure Platoon II was treated as a dumpster for outcasts. A soldier without knight heritage was usually frowned upon because they think it will weaken the army. This was after all an era of apprenticeship where children learned from their parents how to do things.
“We can ask them,” Aldred pointed out.
The fisherman scurried away, seemingly scared. They hopped off like they did not hear what he said, and looked for fish when they were far enough.
“Why are they running?”
“Soldier bullied the slaves and the peasants a lot,” Jeffery said, his eyes distant like he recalled the past. “That is why they are scared of us.”
“It’s fine. We are soldiers,” Bartrem said. “We can adapt to anything. Catching a fish is easier than killing a man.”
They walked, feet through the grass before it entered the water. It sparkled under the light of the morning sun. Aldred on the other hand test the water first by dipping his toes. Like the chilling air, the water was cold. He shook just by feeling it. The hair on his body tensed.
Mary slowly entered the water. As she descended, the water rises to her knee. “Come, Aldred. It’s not that cold.”
Aldred took a deep breath and blew it out. He dipped his feet all the way and stepped forward. The water went above his waist. He was shaking in cold.
Mary laughed. “Come here. I will make you warm.”
She grabbed him in and hugged him. Her slender body mold against him. She smelled nice; of flower and honeydew. It was delightful.
Mary smiled happily and caressed his hair. She looked at the boy as he sunk in her breast. For some reason, she started to recall that night when Aldred sucked in her blood. She wanted that feeling again. It was weird that she even wanted it in the first place, but that was the truth.
She lifted her shirt.
Mary was a beautiful and charming woman with a wonderful-sized breast. Her curvy waist of an hourglass complemented by her round butt would make her a fantastic housewife.
So when she lifted her shirt. The fisherman that avoided looking at them was now locking their eyes in her direction. Aldred looked at the pair of smooth divine rounded breasts and instinctively grabbed one with his hand. Mary pulled his head and let him suck on her right nipple.
As the warm and sweet liquid entered his throat, his right hand sunk in her left breast. It was a little firmer than usual, but when he squeezed, milk squirted out.
This went on only for a short moment because they had to get some fish.
Aldred coughed. “Thanks for the meal.”
The fisherman looked away again, though the image earlier was carved inside their mind and will never forget until the end of time.
Joseph raised his sword and stabbed the water. The fish below twisted and dodged the sword.
The soldiers all tried to stab the fish, but they never got one.
Aldred summoned his undead. The undead ogres, wolves, and humans hunted for the fish. But their lack of intellect was much to be desired. Same as the soldiers, they could not get a single fish.
“Let me try my magic. Fire bullet.”
The water splashed. Aldred approached and looked closer, but there was no fish. To the side, he saw one again. He took a deep breath and aimed with his index finger. “Pew pew”
Two fire bullets went deep into the water, but the fish was long gone.
“Gahhh,” Aldred was frustrated. “This is harder than I thought.”
Bartrem swept the water off his forehead. “Soon we’ll master it. Keep going.”
The soldiers started to attack more viciously. They ran at the fish and slammed the water, trying to knock them out.
Aldred with his unlimited mana power spammed his skills at the fish. “Pew pew pew pew pew pew pew.”
Water splashed around them. The fisherman got scared and ran farther. It was like a battlefield. They wondered if these men come here to fish or fight.
After a few hours, the soldiers stopped, yet not a single fish got caught. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Aldred lay on the river. His body floated as the sun shone on his eyes. A silhouette came. It was a boy. Maybe the same age as him.
Meekly, he said: “I can help,”
Aldred stood up. Unlike him, the boy was skinny, although his forearms seemed toned as it held the small spear. A particular detail that he noticed was the left hand. The boy did not have one.
“Do you perhaps know a farmer named Bernard?”
The boy nodded. “He is my father.”
“What’s your name?”
“I am Juhel.”
Aldred smiled. “My name is Aldred. Your father told me about you. So you like spearfishing right?”
Juhel nodded. “He also told me about you.”
That was the reason he dared to approach the soldier. His father told him that a young soldier helped in curing his father’s disease. It had been years since he was in pain. Especially before bed. His father would sweat and hardly get any sleep. But last night, his father slept like a pig. If not for him dragging his father to the farm, the soldiers would punish him.
Juhel looked at his left hand that wasn’t there anymore.
He shook his head, removing the terrible memory.
“Aldred, ask him how he can help us,” Mary said.
“Right,” Juhel started. “I see that I can be of help to you.” He picked his words carefully. If he said that they looked like they needed his help, then that might be an insult to the soldiers. He might be kicked, or hit in the face for that.
Aldred noticed that the boy was very tense. “Yep, we really need your help. We’ve been hunting the fish like a madman, but we still got none.”
“Uhh… Let me show you how I do it.” The boy moved slowly to a nearby fish, only creating a slight ripple in the water. “When you are near, don’t move so quickly as that will scare the fish. Instead, slowly dip your weapon into the water. Put it close enough to the fish, then.”
Swoosh!
Juhel pulled the spear out of the water, revealing a fish flapping its tail as it tried to escape.
The soldiers immediately tried it. They dipped their sword and sunk it near the fish. Then they stabbed.
All of them missed.
“When you stab, don’t tense your arm. Be relaxed as possible.”
They tried it again.
“Don’t get too close to the fish.”
Aldred wanted to try. He dipped his finger near the fish. And then with a low whisper; “Pew.”
The fire bullet pierced through the fish before it could run away. Aldred was excited. He grabbed the fish and raised it up high. “I got the fish!”
The other soldiers got motivated and moved more carefully. They took a low but deep breath, before stabbing into the fish.
“I got it!”
“I caught the fish! Hahaha!”
The soldiers were excited when they got the fish. Juhel was surprised by their reaction. It was just catching fish, but seeing them all got excited made him happy.
Aldred turned around and looked at Juhel. “Thank you.”
The soldiers smiled at him and said their thanks.
Juhel widened his eyes. He couldn’t believe there will come a day when a soldier would thank him. He always saw them as scary monsters. But their genuine smile was right in front of his eyes.
His eyes got wet, then tears trickled down. He sobbed and hid his face. “I should be thanking you. You cured my father. It’s been years since he has a good sleep. You make his life much easier now. Thank you.”
Bartrem and the soldiers had always wondered what Aldred was doing when he got left behind during the jogging. So it was helping the farmer. And that farmer was this boy’s father.
Aldred smiled and held his shoulder. “Hey, Juhel. Let’s be friends.”
The boy looked at him still in tears. He nodded immediately.