Let's Go Fishing...!
The moment you set foot in the Dungeon City, all authority from the outside world vanishes. Every being becomes equal beneath the Goddess. Naturally, not even the Emperor of the Empire is exempt. Yet ironically, even in this Dungeon City a ruling class still exists. Humans are social creatures, after all. They feel dependence and security when they rely on others and submit to the strong.
And right here, unfortunately, stands one high elf who has become part of that ironic ruling class.
“....”
Light green hair that seems to carry the fresh scent of grass. An expression that screams exhaustion and annoyance. Eyes half-closed so deeply one might suspect she is actually asleep. Despite her clan members’ earnest pleas to wear something befitting her station, she had waved them off, claiming such clothes were a luxury she could not afford, and thrown on a drab, dusty robe instead. She looked far more like a shut-in mage from the Magic Tower than the most powerful figure in the dungeon village.
Lonray Lonrayna caught the collective sigh from her clan members at the sight of her attire, offered a brief bitter smile, then composed her face into a serious expression and spoke clearly.
Her clear voice, reminiscent of birdsong at dawn, rippled outward through the grand library large enough to hold more than five hundred people. The murmurs and commotion died away. A silence appropriate for a library settled over the hall.
The vanguard knights standing at attention beside the platform in their polished shoulder armor stepped back with crisp, disciplined movements. The crossed spears that had blocked the path returned to their upright positions, opening a corridor.
Then came the footsteps. One by one they advanced along the red carpet leading to the platform—the Knight Road. These were the individuals who had rendered the greatest service in saving Grindel from the aberrations’ invasion. The crowd strained on tiptoe, eager to catch every detail of their faces.
Soon a figure emerged between the knights.
“““Waaaaaaaaah!!!”””
The roar was so thunderous the bookshelves and even Lonray’s pupils trembled.
The first to appear after passing through that forest of steel and blades wrapped in refined fervor was a red-haired pretty boy—most likely—wearing a battered longsword at his hip.
‘Whoa… what the hell is this?’
Startled by the sudden cheers, Hans blushed faintly, embarrassed by the attention, and hurried toward the platform with quick steps. Even from a distance his extraordinary beauty made many women—and quite a few men—feel their hearts burn.
“…Wow, he’s gorgeous.”
“So handsome…”
“…What? He’s obviously a guy. Don’t tell me you’re into men?”
“Ha! Nonsense. If that’s a man, then I—!”
That day, an adventurer was reportedly caught wandering Grindel’s streets naked and handed over to the guards.
Back in the present, Hans’s head was spinning from the scorching gazes pouring over him. His face burned so fiercely he could barely lift his eyes.
“Uwaaa… there are way too many people. Sword…!”
-Hans. Please, whatever you do, just don’t trip!
Whether from nerves or sheer tension, Hans’s limbs moved as if they belonged to separate bodies. Creaking like an under-oiled carriage wheel, he somehow reached the far end of the platform and stood at perfect attention—more rigidly than the knights themselves—waiting for the rest of his party.
As Hans grew paler under the weight of the stares boring into the back of his head, a figure with cat ears and a tail rolled dramatically across the red carpet as if coming to his rescue.
“Grindel’s guardian! Goddess of fishing! Sion has arrived, nyang! Everyone prostrate yourselves and praise this body, nyang!”
“Sherpa Sion!”
“The Strangler Sion!!!”
“Foul-mouthed Sion!”
“Who the hell just said that nyang!?”
The adventurers, thrilled to see a familiar face, shouted her various titles with fervent cheers. Sion stood with hands on her hips, nodding in satisfaction as she basked in the attention. Then she frowned slightly and raised her voice.
“Hey! Your voices are too weak nyang! Are the brave adventurers of Bastion really this pathetic nyang?!”
Her mouth twisted, sharp fangs peeking out in a classic Felis smirk. The adventurers’ explosive roar shook the grand library in response to her taunt.
“Aaaah, Goddess…”
Lonray plugged her ears with her fingers, giggling just like Sion, while simultaneously praying with a serene expression that the books would not be damaged. It was rather unfortunate for a book-loving high elf, but thanks to Sion—who was born to crave the spotlight—the heat of the ceremony only burned hotter.
After Sion had driven the library’s decibel level to dangerous heights by milking every reaction from the crowd, she was deposited beside Hans, who had frozen like an ice statue after being seized by a knight. Just as the fervor stirred up by the cat’s antics began to cool slightly—
“Hup.”
“Hup.”
A ripple of tension ran through the knights maintaining the Knight Road.
Clack.
Footsteps rang out in perfect time with heartbeats, bringing a suffocating silence to the grand library.
Clack.
The one who emerged between the faintly trembling knights was a small child wearing a black robe.
“....”
Red-and-black mysterious eyes. Androgynous beauty that made gender impossible to guess. Graceful steps. An expressionless face that revealed nothing of her thoughts. For a moment the crowd stared, mesmerized by the mysterious aura surrounding the child.
But when a long, dark figure followed behind like a shadow—
“Hic.”
“Hup…!”
Gazes that had been lowered shot upward. Gasps erupted from every direction.
Mechanical red eyes trailing crimson afterimages. A twisted crow’s head that housed them. A long, emaciated body wrapped in a black trench coat like a second skin. The mere sight of that nightmarish silhouette was enough to make people slowly lower their eyes to the floor. No one here possessed the courage to raise their head and meet his gaze.
“It’s okay. He’s an ally. It’s okay…”
“…Why does my whole body suddenly feel hot?”
Adventurers who had personally witnessed or experienced his power during battle broke out in cold sweat, breathing hard. Fear, terror, awe, and every emotion even slightly connected to horror flowed along the bookshelves. Raven savored them all and thought:
…I just want to go fishing.
After formally receiving praise from the important figures for subjugating the Road and, as a bonus, a modest amount of dallants, our party was finally granted freedom.
Which meant we could finally enjoy the long-awaited fishing…!
“Crowy. Fishing today is impossible nyang.”
I had thought we could, but our leader declared it impossible. Unlike me, who recovers fully with sufficient mana, the ordinary human party members still hadn’t shaken off their battle fatigue. It might indeed be too much for them to go fishing right away.
Then again, we could just rest well today and try tomorrow.
“Nyanyang, tomorrow is also impossible nyang.”
Why? What’s the problem this time?
“…Why?”
I asked Sion, my voice carrying a hint of grievance. She looked at me as if I had no right to ask.
“Because you went and did that insane shit, Crow! You really think the fish will bite like normal nyang?!”
“Ah.”
“…With an explosion of that magnitude, the fish must have been terrified and fled to the deepest parts of the lake.”
“I was really looking forward to fishing…”
-Hans, are you actually showing consideration to fear right now?
“It’s not like that! Stop saying things that sound weird!”
“Urk, sorry. Magic swordsman.”
“No! You don’t have to apologize, Mr. Raven. It really isn’t like that…”
“…Sir Hans. I’m sorry. I should have stopped Mr. Raven…”
“Even you, Miss Yuri!?”
Hans floundered, completely lost thanks to his contractor’s antics. But my apology was one hundred percent sincere. The memory of those bipedal frogs exploding and burning replayed before my eyes like a panorama.
It was pretty bad.
Still, at the time there had been no choice. When a giant flying bullfrog flicked its tongue and tried to snatch my precious contractor, how could I possibly hold back? To me, anyone who threatens my contractor is committing an offense on the same level as threatening to send me back to Terraforming, that godforsaken game.
It’s the kind of threat a speed-shooter demon like me—who pulls the trigger faster than he talks—can never tolerate.
That was why my eyes had rolled back, why I had seized the Road with Invisible Hand and detonated it, instilling the terror of a thirty-thousand-mana explosion into the surviving frogs. Apparently the aftershock had reached even the innocent fish swimming beneath the lake.
Sorry for the inter-floor noise, little fish. I didn’t mean to drop a mushroom cloud on you.
But sorry is sorry, and—
…It’s still pretty damn annoying.
Because the explosion had shattered every last maseok from both the Road and the frog aberrations, Sion had nagged me until my head felt like it was on fire. And now I couldn’t even go fishing immediately? I was starting to understand what it felt like to be crushed by the disaster you yourself created.
If I hadn’t received fifty million dallants and a high-grade fishing set as a reward from the village chief for subjugating the Road, I might not have been able to restrain my anger and would have gone after the fleeing frogs to finish them off.
With a gloomy expression I handed the premium fishing set to Kkachi for storage, then asked Sion weakly.
“Then when can we go fishing, you thief?”
“In this body’s esteemed opinion, we’ll need to wait at least a week nyang!”
“A… week?”
And so that utterly miserable week crawled by.
Then the day finally arrived.
Bang bang bang!
“Thief. Wake up right now. It’s time to go fishing.”
“Crowy… do you want to die nyang? It’s one in the morning nyang…”
No, it looks like I’ll have to wait another seven hours. Damn it. Why is time moving so slowly?