CH 87

Today is the end of the 7th month.

The four months since going to the Tronstad Kingdom and returning to the island passed in a blink of an eye.

Luke: “Okay, good. Mothra Kaiko, thank you.”

[Zumomomomo]

Luke: “With this, we’ve finished making the fourth corf. How are the dodorians doing?”

[Bumomo, ZuーZumomomo]

Gina is helping translate the Mothra Kaiko’s words today.

Gina: [Peh～ Peh-peh-peh～]

Sia: “A grandpa called Roku～ looked at the soil, and they say it got better～”

Luke: "I see. Roku is a genius when it comes to growing fruits, so it doesn’t surprise me.”

Now that I think about it, what kind of [Gift] did Roku inherit?

I’m sure it must be related to fruits somehow.

As I walked, I used my Alchemy BOX to remake the thread the Mothra Kaiko gave me and remake it into a net.

If I take this portion back to town and connect it with the rest of the net, it will be complete.

Luke: “Okay, let’s go to the beach.”

Gina: [Peh～peh-peh～]

We had the wagon ready to carry the nets.

We placed the nets inside, and the two Knights, Beltier and Brookhart, pulled the cargo.

These two regularly have been my guards. And they also help me out a lot.

Luke: “Okay, I’m counting on you two.”

“As you command. By the way, what kind of fish do you plan to keep this time?” Luke: “Ummー, I’m just leaving that to the sailors.”

Sia: “Big one would be good～”

Eri: “If it is too big, you cannot keep as many inside the net though.”

Keep….? Well, I’m not trying to make an aquarium…..

Sia, Aries, and I were inside the wagon making sure the net did not fall out until we got to the shores.

Once we arrived, we placed the net inside a small boat, and with a glass helmet on top of our heads, Sia and I waded into the ocean.

The small boat carried our air hose as well, so the sailor did a good job navigating with it.

Since this was the fourth time for Sia and I, the work took less than an hour to complete.

Eri: “Sir Luke～, Sia～, it’s time for lunch～”

As we got out of the ocean, we hear a voice calling out to us.

Sia: “Lunch?! Uーk, hurry, hurry!”

Luke: “I know, I know. I heard her too.”

I took off the glass helmet, and Sia took my hand and pulled me forward.

As we splashed through the ocean waves, we headed to Princess Aires’ tent.

This tent was also my idea.

It was the same kind of white tent you see in school field days.

In this world, they have tents that are more for outdoor camping, but not an open tent to just shade you from the sun.

But why not?!

And this tent was especially popular with the people who had to wait for us on shore.

And the sailors loved it too.

We placed a simple table surrounded by chairs underneath and enjoyed our lunch there.

Eri: “With these ‘Cooling Plates,’ it’s nice to be able to carry around lunches without the food going bad so quickly.”

Luke: “Yes, with this, we don’t have to prepare additional plates, and since we can place as much as we want in the Dimensional Bag, we can make as much as we like.”

“Baron, do you plan to market this as an island product as well?” Luke: “Hmmm……..well, I was planning to make a larger version of this, so with enough time, that would be possible.”

The bigger version is a refrigerator.

But the only drawback is that it cannot be made of wood.

Iron would be best, but iron is too rare of a metal, so that’s out of the question.

Then, the next best candidate is stone.

But whether it’s iron or stone, it’s incredibly heavy. And we plan to place ice over it, so it will only get heavier.

If we make it here and try to carry it across the sea in ships…….I’m not sure how that will turn out.

But I could just make the parts enchanted with {Ice} magic and have the craftsmen put it all together on the other side ー that might be best.

Luke: “Well, even if I wanted to make it into a marketable product, I don’t even know where to start…”

Eri: “And I don’t have any acquaintances that are merchants…..oh, but if we ask my fatherーー”

Luke: “Oh, Princess, there’s no need to go that far. It’s not like I absolutely have to make this into a product.”

Eri: “Are you…..sure? Oh, Sia! I was planning on eating that!”

Sia: “Gau-gau-gau. Gau-gau-gauuuuu”

A product……..huh….

But the Adventurers’ Guild has begun to function, and by the 8th month, I’m sure that we’ll start seeing more income from the island.

The Guild will purchase raw materials from the Adventurers, and we’ll sell those materials on the mainland. Even better, we could remake those raw materials here into armor and weapons and sell it too.

And the taxes applied to those products will become income for the island.

Since I don’t know much about finances, I’m leaving that to the Princess but…….now that I think about it, should I really let a Royal Princess do my accounting?

I will probably have to hire a specialist of that area at some point.

<<<<>>>>

As we finished our lunch, we rested for a bit and then began our work again.

We first prepared 3 large wooden buckets. These buckets were left over from when we made the first corf, and we had it stowed away in the shed next to the sailors’ apartment.

And now, we going to pour the ocean water inside with a <splash>.

Next, we prepare the fish. It must be a male and female that are ready to breed.

Whoa, they got some big ones this time. They look like salmon to me.

“Okayー here we goー”

Luke: “Okay, I’m counting on you.”

“Yessirー”

One of the sailors who caught the fish took the female, held her stomach, and sprayed the eggs inside the bucket.

Next, he grabbed the male fish and holding it down, sprayed its sperm into the bucket.

I place the bucket into the Alchemy BOX.

I close the lid and accelerate time to let the eggs grow.

Now, inside the bucket are small fry fish.

I take the bucket out of the BOX and move a portion into a different bucket. I place that second bucket into the BOX.

I also place the solid clump of plankton I get when I use the Alchemy BOX with ocean water, and place a few of those inside with the fish.

Now, the fry fish have matured into juveniles.

I divide the fish into the 3rd bucket, andーーinserting more clumps of planktonーーI throw in small pieces of bread too!

I repeat this process until they are about 50 cm (～20 in.) and then release it into the corf.

Luke: “I wonder what these guys will eat though…..”

“Probably smaller fish or shrimp, maybe? Unfortunately, I’m not a fishermen, so I wouldn’t know.”

Luke: “........would they…….eat their own kind…?” “......IーI’m not sure….?”

The sailor and I look into the water, and next to us, Sia took the remaining fish in the buckets andーーthrew them inside.

Luke: “SーSia?!”

Sia: “Meal timeーー”

HーHey now. Even if you say it’s meal time, if they don’t eat it, then we just let a lot of fish go.

And even if they do eat it, that’s……

Sia: “Oh, look, look～ they’re eating itー”

Luke: “What?!”

The fish were splashing all over, and the salmon-like fish were eating the smaller fishーーtheir brothers and sisters……

Enthusiasticallyーー

Happilyーー

Luke: “......cannibals……”

“......their own family……”

Eri: “Oh, so the fish will eat other fish. Then we don’t even have to prepare other kinds of feed for them. Isn’t that right, Sir Luke?” Princess Aires looked delighted at the larger fish feeding on the smaller ones.

So……I guess I could just raise smaller fish from their eggs and…..use it to feed them…..yes?

A chill went down my back.

<<<<>>>>

CHONKY TL LiT (Lost in Translation)

Corf - a basket, cage, or boxlike structure with perforations for keeping lobsters or fish alive in water.

Japanese School Field Day (Un-dou-kai) (運動会) Tents

Cooling Plates (Ho-Rei-Zai) (保冷剤) - A plate with a cold pack to help refrigerate and preserve any food placed on top of it.

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