Chapter 32: When You Go to the River, You Have to Go Fishing!
There wasn’t any lecturing from the guild master, and after a small warning, I moved towards the warehouse to sell my monster materials. I decided to sell all the edible meat since holding on to them was too cumbersome. But I did keep some of the skins. On a side note, it seems ogre meat isn’t edible.
Thus, I took everything out. And everyone around me looked shocked. All of these were due to the grace of my goddess, Norn. Norn is seriously a goddess. I really love her. And I’m not taking any objections to that.
“To have this much……and there’s no signs of damage…….?”
Ah, so you noticed. But I turned away and feigned ignorance. After taking a cue from my behavior, nothing more was said afterwards.
The total from the sale was 20 gold coins. Yep, it was quite a great amount. The guild master was also very happy for some reason. I’m not sure why, but congratulations, I guess? Also, I decided not to sell the ogre’s magic stone. Since it seems there were various uses to it.
Anyways, since the sale of the monster materials was concluded, it was now time to go to work. Various things happened, but it was still early in the morning. The southern forest area was already placed off-limits. The guild master sure worked fast. As such, I had to go look for a different area.
But the bulletin board already had a crowd around it. And I didn’t have the energy to rush in. While I was thinking about just heading out since it was too troublesome, Salena approached me and whispered a secret to me. Apparently, there were rare herbs growing near the river flowing in the northeast. She said it was thanks for the udon. I should feed her more often. And if I increased her favorability more, eventually…….!
I thanked her before leaving the guild and then headed out of town. After exiting town, I glanced around for some people. I could just go directly to the river, but for now……
A few children approached me as I was glancing around. Shin, Yui, and their friends. I didn’t give a greeting or say anything. Since I’m not their friend. Let’s see, five boys, three girls, so eight in total? Alter confirming that everyone had gathered around, I gave a nod and headed off. The target would be the river.
“……Uh, are we not going to the forest?” “Where are we going?” “Shin, go ask her.”
It seems they were questioning where I was going, but if they didn’t like it, they’re free to go home. Today would be my first time going there.
As I continued on forward, Shin moved forth to talk to me.
“Um, where are you going for today?” “The river.” “The river? Are you not going to the forest?”” “The southern forest area is off-limits.” “Off-limits?” “It seems ogres have appeared there.” “Ogres!?”
The children began panicking. Even if you’re all scared, the place we’re going to isn’t the forest, it’s the river. I continued on ahead while ignoring the noises.
After walking for about an hour, I arrived at the river. I looked around and there were a few people about. Should I look for herbs near the riverside? There was an open field towards the downstream of the river and a forest towards the upstream. I see, a forest.
I walked for about another 30 minutes. I’m now in the front of the forest. Although I went towards the forest, I’m planning on gathering near the river. I walked straight inside the forest while following alongside the river.
Hmm, I thought there would be more to gather alongside the river, but the vegetation was essentially the same. I think around here should be far enough. And so I began collecting the herbs growing alongside the river. As I was doing so, I also looked closely at the bottom of the river. Yep, those are definitely rare herbs. But I’m not getting in since I would get wet. But this would be where Storage comes in. Alright, done.
After gathering for about an hour, I was starting to get bored. Let’s do something else! Hmm…. River, a river? Speaking of rivers, there should be fish, right? Yes, fish! Thus, I decided to go catch some fish.
I did a quick check using Detection and it looked like there were fish akin to chars in the river. The water looked quite clear around here. I wonder how it would look further upstream? I might even be able to catch a rainbow trout if I head further downstream. Downstream……so the sea? I want to eat some sea fish. Ah, this won’t do, let’s focus on the current target.
The chars. Now, how should I catch them? By fishing? But I didn’t have any fishing gear with me. I could always try physically catching the fish, or something else. The children also caught fish like that.
How about a fish trap? I think I could make that work. I wish I had some bamboo, but since I didn’t have any, I took out some wood from Storage and made them into a cage. Since I had the materials, the consumption was low.
Next, I need to block the flow of the river, or narrow it down, so……let’s use earth magic to do that. Then I placed the finished cage into the narrowed end. Good, the water is flowing through. Now all I need to do is drive the fish towards it.
The children were confused due to not knowing what I was doing. But I continued working without paying any heed to them.
Hmm, in order to drive the fish……..as expected, I need to take off my clothes. I suppose it can’t be helped. I removed my cloak and took off my high-laced boots. Fortunately, I was wearing culottes today. But since I was also wearing garters and stockings, I also had to remove those too. Thus, I took them all off.
And now I was barefooted. The water felt really cold. When I entered the river and started splashing about, the children became even more confused. Also the boys immediately turned red and looked away.
Yui called out to me at that point.
“Um! What are you doing?” “Don’t worry about it, I’m just gathering.”
Having said that, everyone still had their attention on me. But no one joined me. After a while, I went to confirm the trap. There’s about 16? A bit disappointing. But this should be enough for today. I removed the net and dispelled the barrier I made using earth magic.
After getting out of the river, I used “Dry” to dry my feet and slightly wet clothes, and then put on my stockings, boots, and cloak.
Then I took out the tent, and prepared the stove that I made last night and several other cooking utensils. I would remodel the stove when I have time. To make the firepower stronger. Speaking of which, I ended up learning a skill called “Create Magic Tool” after making this stove. I honestly have too many skills. There were various skills I wanted to level, but I didn’t have enough time to level them all.
But that aside.
Hmm, cooking chars, I wonder what I should do? Grilling them with salt sounds nice. Foil-roasting them with butter also sounds nice. Frying them would also work. Ah, maybe I could I also smoke them. Alright, let ’s do all of them.
I already bought salt a few days ago. I removed the slime and started dealing with the gills and internal organs. Then I started making everything in order;
Grilling with salt. I made sure to properly cover them in salt. Foil-roasting with butter. I managed to obtain a small amount of butter the other day. I made the foil myself. I had to use some MP, but it was necessary. Frying. I used vegetable oil to do that. As for smoking, I made smoked fish which could be used as sides or for salads.
I placed all the finished products into Storage. Thus, I completed all four methods.
And by the time I realized, it was already noon. Good, I could eat them now while everything was still freshly-made……but the stares from the children was painful. I didn’t have enough to share with everyone, and as expected, I place myself first.
After a quick meal with bread and orc meat that I had placed in storage beforehand, I decided to head back for today. The children who followed me this time didn’t raise any complaints since Shin had made sure they wouldn’t. Good, my peace of mind was kept.
Ah, and Norn was still a goddess. Several orcs and goblins have been added to my collection.
I returned back to town and finished my transactions with the guild. The herbs in the riverbed were rare and sold at high prices. The profit I earned from them alone was a total of 5 small gold coins. And I sold some from my stockpile and earned another 10 small gold coins on top of that.
When I returned to the inn, I saw Lily and we talked for a bit. She was surprised upon hearing that I went to the river and caught fish for today. Since I already cooked them, I invited her to eat them with me later, which made her really happy. The cook who was listening to us also turned red with fury.
I came back really early today, so I still had a lot of time left before dinner. That’s right, I still have to make clothes from the cloth I bought. As such, I worked hard to make clothes for a while. I’m a girl with the mind of a man, yep.
I also made a new cloak while I was at it. Until now, I was just wearing a cloak that placed emphasis on practically! So I made a new water-resistant cloak and decorated it with embroideries on the hem and other areas. Besides, the tanned hide cloak I was using was also quite heavy…….I also added the effect of Stealth to draw less attention to myself. I was able to add skills that I learned using “Skill Grant”. However, since the level was dependent on the granted skill, the effect that could be applied was only up to LV2.
Afterwards, I took a bath and had dinner. Although, I had numerous kinds, I chose to bring out the foil-roasted chars. The scent of butter was explosive. The other customers also started yelling into the kitchen, but that’s not my problem. Several of them also tried talking to me, but I completely ignored them.
Ah, Lily had a wonderful beet-red face on her today too. How cute.