CH 497

C497: The Best Part of the Festival

The total amount of the prizes Nagisa destroyed came to 120,000 gold. I ended up having to pay for it on behalf of Nagisa, who didn’t have any money on hand, which made my wallet very lonely.

“You’d better pay me back later.”

“I’m sure you forgot about the loan I gave you in junior high school when you asked me for 10,000 to buy a video game console you really wanted, but you still haven’t returned it. I think we’re even now.”

“Ah! Oh, that reminds me, didn’t I pay you back……?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“No, no, I borrowed 10,000 in the first place. I’m not sure if 120,000 is a fair deal!”

“I lent it to you when we were in junior high school. It’s obvious that’s interest.”

Damn……I can’t say anything back if she puts it that way.

“I’m not sure if that’s a goldfish scooping game…”

“I don’t think that’s……supposed to be goldfish scooping, is it?”

“Well, if it was, wouldn’t it be fun?”

“No, it’s not funny.”

The reason I am not sure if it is goldfish scooping or not is because the goldfish I am scooping is abnormally huge. It looks like the goldfish I know, but it’s a little bigger than a great koi carp, and I can’t think of how it would be scooped.

“How is this something to play with?”

“Yes, it’s a game where you use this net to catch the big fish. You can take home the fish you catch.”

“That’s it?”

Well, this one looks like it’s free too, so I don’t have to think too much about it.”

When I decided so and told the store keeper that I would play, the gallery, which had gathered before I knew it, cheered loudly for some reason.

Then, out of the corner of their mouths, they began to say things like, “As expected of an Iron Knights rider, you are very brave.” It bothered me a little, so I decided not to worry about it.

I received a net that was short but large enough to hold a giant goldfish, and immediately set my sights on a goldfish that swam nearby. As soon as I put the net in to scoop the goldfish, Nagisa, who was standing behind me, shouted, “Yuta!”

“Yuta! Look out!”

Hearing her voice, I quickly put down the net and moved away from the pool. The moment I left the pool, a goldfish bit into the net I had put down.

The goldfish, which had seemed so docile until then, changed completely and turned into a fang-baring, terrifying creature. The net was shattered and turned into a mess. I shudder to think what would have happened if it had bitten my arm.

“Be careful! They are ferocious predators, and if you approach them from the front, they will bite your arms off!”

“Say it first!”

My heart is still racing. I had never experienced such fear even in magicraft combat.

In any case, we could not allow such a dangerous business. Using the authority of the Iron Knights, the organizer of the event, I closed the stand.