CH 52.2

「Okay, you’ve done well. Let’s pull it up together.」

「Thank you very much」

「Let’s pull it in the count of three」

「Understood!」

One….two….three, pull! The gehageha jumped high in the sky while making a splashing sound.

…..where was my struggle until a while ago?

Is Laura-san too powerful? Or am I too weak?

No, the fish is just too strong.

I caught the gehageha, that’s as big as a puppy, with both hands as it splashes on the ground.

After that, Laura-san also tried to cast a line and again, the fish bit immediately and in no time, her rod snapped.

I knew it. The fish was too strong.

The hook is a precious item so I asked the fishkin girl earlier to dive down and retrieve it along with the gehageha.

I felt bad for her because it was already cool.

In the end, the gehageha fishing has become a bit of a strange sport so I changed the rod to a thick green bamboo. You can now wrestle with the gehageha as much as you want.

-0-

「Guuhhhh……ahhhhh」

After me and Laura-san try it out, I let everyone I brought today to try it in turn to see if it was a game that can be played by normal slaves.

The one who’s trying to fish now is the fishkin with long bangs.

She’s desperately reeling in a thick bamboo pole and with great effort, she finally pulls the fish.

The gehageha are rampaging all over the pool so it’s normal for the angler to move dynamically to the left and right.

It looks like a tug of war with the fish.

It’s a lot of exercise.

「Daaaaahhhh! Haa haa…..I won! I wonnnnnnn!」

Next to the gehageha is the fishkin girl who is happily cheering.

If I only had a camera, I could take a picture of her to commemorate the moment.

「What do you think of this fishing?」

「I wouldn’t really call it fishing.」

「Ahh, that, very, t-tiring」

The girl said with a troubled expression.

I want to say it would be faster for her to dive and catch it but I did not say it.

I wonder if I should have brought other people who are not fishkins.

Well, for now, let’s keep an eye on it.

-0-

When we started grilling the fish we caught, the sun had begun to set and the red sunset was reflected on the water, making the atmosphere good.

The girls who came with me were eating the fish at a distance from us.

We have caught most of what we put in the pool today so they’ll have to bring in some more fish from the fish farm.

It would be more productive to open the pool to the slaves even as a weird fishing pond than to let this become a watering hole for bugs and birds.

As for me, I don’t want to go fishing again.

That’s what I thought from the bottom of my heart as I bit into the half-sliced, grilled gehageha.

「How do you like it? I mean the fish we caught.」

「Well, it’s delicious desu yo」

It’s not too tasty in a special way or rather, it only has a simple taste.

「I know right. The fish you caught yourself is the best. Even if it’s like this, this fish pond might become popular.」

「Yeah」

Laura-san stared at the darking surface of the water with an expression as if she thought of something nostalgic.

「What’s wrong, Laura-san?」

「It wasn’t like fishing in my hometown but it was pretty fun.」

「You live in a port city, right?」

「Yeah, it’s a very cold harbor that it’s almost freezing during winter.」

She took a bite of the grilled gehageha and looked up at the golden moon.

I’m sure the moon still looks the same in the port city far to the north.

Though it’s a little different from the one in my hometown.

The moon on this planet has one big horizontal line.

They call it “eyelid of the moon” or “keyhole of truth” but it’s most likely the work of a drunken, ancient mage who shot magic to the moon.

However, thanks to that single line, I was not able to miss my moon when I was a child.

Unlike me, Laura-san can go back to her hometown anytime she wants so it must be even more painful for her.

「If you can, do you want to return someday?」

「What are you talking about?」

「Your hometown desu yo」

Laura-san put the fish skewer back near the fire and smiled.

「It’s already too late for that. I haven’t been home since I joined the army when I was 15. And aside from my father and elder brother, who I met in the army, I can no longer recognize the face of my mother and the rest of our family.」

「Even so, it’s still your hometown.」

「Well, if I’ll ever go back one day, I’ll take you with me to show you around.」

「Of course. Show me everything I can see there.」

「However….since you’re saying that, does it mean that you want to go back to your hometown?」

I was at a bit of a loss for an answer to that question.

It’s not that I don’t want to go back to Japan either.

Of course, I don’t want to be a corporate slave but looking back, it’s not like my life was all about work.

There were many good things in my life.

There were things I wanted to do, things I planned to do, and people I wanted to meet.

Still, even if I could have gone home, I had a clear reason in my heart not to.

「I won’t….because you’re not there.」

「Really? What if I follow you?」

「Still no. There’s probably no magic particle there. Your magic organ will atrophy and you will die from multiple organ failure.」

「I guess it will be a dream that will never come true.」

「It is.」

「Well, if I have you, I don’t even mind living on the farthest island….」

「Is that so?」

Laura-san looked at the sky and said,

「But if you’re not there….even the hometown I miss is as good as a desert.」

「That’s….the same for me.」

-0-

The cold wind blew between them, shaking the flame of the bonfire.

They heard the crackling of wood and felt a chill.

Under the moonlight, the shadow of the two of them came a little closer to each other….

They clung to each other not wanting to separate.

AN: and the fish was charred