Big Catch? (1)
Big catch? (1) Despite living on an island village, Patrick had never done anything but dig in the fields and forests or pluck weeds. To him, fish were something he only glimpsed when helping out at the communal workshop or when his disciples’ parents brought some by. It was only natural he’d never considered fishing in a place surrounded by sea—after all, he had no tools for it.
He’d once checked the communal storehouse on the off chance they might lend him something, but all he found were massive nets and ropes meant for boats. Nothing he could use.
“You’re really giving this to me? For real?”
“Yes. Father even replaced all the hooks. Here are some spares.”
“Whoa!”
Patrick opened the pouch of hooks, dropped straight to his knees, and performed a victory ceremony toward the sky.
“……Teacher, what are you doing?”
“Shh. He’s happy.”
“Yeah, don’t interrupt. You’ll just get scolded.”
The children already knew Patrick far too well.
“This calls for a celebration! Class today will be at the sea!”
“Huh? All of a sudden?”
“You just want to try out the fishing rod, don’t you?”
“These brats don’t understand their teacher’s grand vision. Listen here—book learning by itself is useless! You have to put it to use, right?”
Ben, who had learned to read long ago, and the other children could now handle simple words, even if it took them some time and effort.
“You’re all graduating from word cards. Time to make that learning count!”
“How?”
“What does that have to do with going to the sea?”
“Starting today, we’re going to the sea every single day. We’ll record what kinds of fish live in our waters and what other seafood is out there. How about it?”
“What’s the point of that?”
“Right. The adults already know all that stuff.”
“What I know doesn’t matter, you naïve little brats. What matters is whether other people know it.”
The children tilted their heads, puzzled.
“Think about it. If we organize all the specialties from our island—complete with their characteristics—and show them to the merchants your parents trade with, what do you think will happen?”
“……What would happen?”
“They’d want to buy them!”
“Correct! Who said that? Oh, Tommy. I’ll give you an extra whole potato later.”
“Wow!”
Having grown tired of boiled potatoes, Patrick had recently started making rest-stop-style baked potatoes with the butter and honey that had come in. The children loved them almost as much as sweet potato mat-tang.
“So everyone, get ready to head to the sea.”
“Wooow!”
“Let’s go!”
“Teacher, Teacher! I’m going to draw pictures too!”
“Sure, pictures would be great.”
“But kids.”
“Yes?”
“What’s good for fishing bait?”
At Patrick’s question, Ben muttered under his breath.
“Told you. He’s just going fishing.”
When they reached the sea, the children scattered in an instant, competing to see who knew the most sea creatures. Among those who headed for the tidal flats, Tommy—who had just earned himself another potato—ran over to Patrick, who was fiddling with the fishing rod.
“Teacher, here!”
“What’s that?”
“Lugworms! For bait. Hehe!”
“……”
Tommy held out four or five lugworms, each easily the length of a handspan. They writhed together in a clump, and Patrick’s soul promptly left his body.
“T-Teacher?”
“Oh no! Teacher fainted standing up!”
“Agh, seriously! Why is the adult like this?”
The children who had been gathering clams and crabs threw down their wooden boards and came running.
“Are you okay, Teacher?”
“How are you supposed to fish if you can’t even look at it?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just throw out a trap?”
“Yeah.”
Patrick hadn’t actually fainted—just frozen in shock—so the children patted their chests in relief and began scolding him one after another.
“I-I’m sorry, Teacher…… I thought you’d like them……”
“It’s fine, Tommy. Your teacher’s just a country bumpkin from the capital.”
“Right. Lugworms are excellent bait for fishing!”
Ben and the older children comforted Tommy, and only then did Patrick come back to his senses.
“Sorry, Tommy. I’ve never seen lugworms before. ……Could you, uh, put those a little farther away? Eek!”
“Geez. Wait here. I’ll bait the hook for you.”
Ben stepped in, and Patrick’s pale face finally regained some color.
“Now I’ll land a monster catch!”
“Aren’t you embarrassed saying that now?”
“Quiet.”
“Eek!”
“Hiiik!”
Because of the long bamboo rod, the lugworm landed far out. Only then did Patrick strike a proper pose—though Ben promptly emptied the rest of his bait supply as well.
“Do you even know how to fish?”
“Nope?”
“……”
“Hey, are you going to keep talking like that?”
Patrick had never fished himself, but he had plenty of indirect experience. He felt confident. He had once been an avid viewer of fishing variety shows, and back when he dreamed of becoming a nature survivalist, the algorithm had regularly recommended fishing videos.
“Just watch. I’ll make you respect me today.”
“Just don’t snap the line.”
“Huuup! Go do homework with the kids. Go, go!”
“I’m going!”
Patrick waved Ben off and settled onto a rock he’d spotted earlier, letting the line droop into the water.
“This is the life. Mm. Looking at it like this, who needs a resort?”
A warm spring day, a calm blue sea, and a pleasant breeze.
“What if I catch a sea bream? I don’t know how to make sashimi. Well, we don’t have soy sauce or wasabi anyway, so it doesn’t matter. It’ll have to be a spicy soup! Mm. Sea bream soup? That’s way too luxurious, isn’t it?”
He was clearly a complete beginner, muttering to himself and counting his chickens before they hatched.
Tap. Tap!
Still, beginner’s luck existed for a reason. It hadn’t even been long before he got a bite.
“Uh, what do I do? What do I do?”
“What do you mean? Reel it in!”
“Huh? Oh, right! Hup!”
At Ben’s exasperated shout from afar, Patrick yanked the rod with all his strength. It bent into a beautiful arc.
“I-I got one!”
It was a sea bass the size of his forearm.
“Jackpot, it’s a jackpot! Wahahaha! See that, you brats!”
“W-Wait! Don’t shake it! Stop shaking it!”
“Nooo!”
Splash!
“……”
Patrick had caught the sea bass only to immediately drop it back into the sea. He stood there, bleached white once more, staring blankly at the water.
“You’re supposed to pull it straight out! Why were you waving it around?”
Even as Ben scolded him, Patrick sniffled.
“You saw that, right? I caught it! It was huge!”
“……You can catch another one.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Want me to bait the hook again?”
“……Yeah.”
No one could tell who the adult was in that exchange. But if every attempt ended in a big catch, it wouldn’t be luck—it would be skill. Unfortunately, no second massive sea bass came Patrick’s way. His first fishing attempt ended with two horse mackerel and one herring.
The children showered the dejected Patrick with praise—“That’s amazing for your first time!”—but none of it reached him. He had already tasted the thrill of a monster catch.
“We’ll be doing outdoor classes for a while!”
“Huh? Again?”
“Have you finished organizing all the fish?”
“Not yet, but……”
“We’ll keep going until you do! What did I say? Just knowing how to read and write isn’t enough. What matters is how and where you use it. This is all for your own benefit! Mm-hm!”
“……Are you sure?”
Bonk!
“Ow!”
No one dared talk back to their teacher.
Once Patrick and the children began frequenting the beach, the villagers working at the communal workshop started making simple snacks to share. To the adults, it was heartwarming to see their children—who had already learned to read—observing fish, asking about marine life, and recording everything.
“The children seem different ever since the teacher arrived, don’t they?”
“You’re right, Tommy’s mom! My kid’s been scribbling on wooden boards the moment he gets home lately.”
“They’re better than us, that’s for sure. At this rate, won’t our children become merchants or apprentices to master craftsmen on the mainland?”
“If that happens, I’d have no more wishes left.”
“Oh my, our teacher. I wonder if he has any vegetables left at home? I should bring some over.”
“Take this too, Tommy’s mom. My child said he makes soup often, so he’ll probably need some salted seafood.”
The mothers’ fondness for Patrick grew with each passing day.
While they were gutting fish and chatting animatedly, a merchant arrived from the mainland for the first time in a while.
“Good work, everyone!”
“Oh my! Welcome!”
“Someone go fetch the village chief.”
The women brightened at the sight of the merchant who regularly visited the island to trade, even when there wasn’t much profit in it.
“As expected, plenty of flounder! That’s good. Flounder’s been popular lately.”
“Really? Hohoho!”
The merchant smiled in satisfaction while looking at the flounder the women were working on.
“I’ll buy all the flounder. Do you have any other seafood?”
“We have some herring prepared. Rockfish too. Would you like to see the clams?”
The merchant nodded repeatedly at the women’s words, then his eyes landed on something.
“What’s this?”
“This? Ah, it’s something our children have been studying lately.”
“Studying?”
“Yes. The wizard teacher has been teaching the children how to read and write.”
“Ah! The one who was exiled?”
He had heard from a fellow merchant who came with the soldiers during the human trafficking scam incident that the wizard had sold some goods.
“He must be doing good work. Would it be all right if I took a look?”
“Of course.”
It was also a chance to brag about their children, so the mothers quickly handed over the wooden boards their kids had scribbled on.
“……Oh?”
The merchant’s expression grew peculiar as he examined the boards.