Chapter 21: The Village Chief’s Nostalgic Tale and Salt-Grilled Master of the River
After finishing lunch, the children quickly ran back toward the water to resume playing.
Meanwhile, the village chief and I returned to fishing.
“Village Chief,” I asked while recasting my line into the lake, “what kind of fish can you catch here anyway?”
“Hm? Let’s see…” The old man stroked his beard thoughtfully. “There’s the Gatling Fish, which fires all the scales from its body to turn enemies into pincushions. And then there’s the Missile Fish, which launches itself out of the water and explodes after ramming targets on land.”
“That sounds insanely dangerous!!”
No, wait.
This was not the time for comedy reactions.
“Hold on, aren’t Luca and the others in danger!?”
“Nah, it’s fine,” the village chief replied casually. “Those lunatic fish only target things larger than themselves.”
“That somehow makes it even scarier!? …Wait, larger than ten-year-old kids!?”
“Indeed. Even their fry are bigger than human children. Full-grown adults easily exceed ten meters.”
“The fish we caught in the river before were normal though…”
This actually wasn’t the first time the village chief had suddenly invited me fishing.
The last time, we’d gone to a small river near the village and caught perfectly ordinary fish.
But fish from a fantasy-world lake?
Absolutely terrifying.
And why were their names “Gatling” and “Missile”? Those sounded weirdly modern and embarrassingly cheesy.
…Hm?
“Wait. Do weapons like that even exist in this world?”
“Weapons? Ah, Gatling and Missile are names of weapons, yes.”
“…How do you know that?”
“When I traveled with my old friend, we once stopped by this lake. He’s the one who named the Gatling Fish and Missile Fish.”
“Your old friend?”
That sounded familiar.
“…Could it be the person who was summoned from another world?”
“Indeed. The Hero.” The village chief’s eyes softened with nostalgia. “A handsome devil who could rival even my younger self. Noble ladies, the Saint of that era, even the princess herself—all of them aggressively pursued him.”
“Whoa. Dude had a full-on harem. That’s insanely enviable.”
“Objectively speaking,” the chief said dryly, “you aren’t much different.”
“…Huh?”
When he pointed it out, I paused to think.
Raphael, Grana, Hinoka, Eve…
Now that I considered it, there really were a lot of beautiful girls around me lately.
And there had definitely been moments when their expressions or gestures made my heart skip a beat.
“…Wait, you’re right! This really is a harem situation!!”
“My old friend was the same,” the chief chuckled. “Didn’t even realize how popular he was until I pointed it out. Though apparently he had a fiancée back in his original world, so he never fooled around with women.”
“He sounds like a genuinely devoted guy. What was his name?”
“Ah, his name was—”
At that exact moment—
The village chief’s fishing rod bent violently.
The line stretched taut with terrifying force.
This was definitely a big one.
“Village Chief!?”
“T-This pull… there’s no mistake!!” the old man shouted excitedly. “Eighty years ago, when my friend and I came to this forest to gather Golden Mushrooms for some idiotic king’s request, we fished here to pass the time! This is the ruler of the lake!!”
That sounded like a fascinating story!?
I definitely wanted to hear the details later.
“Huh? Ah, mine got something too!! And it’s ridiculously heavy!!”
“I can’t let go of mine right now!! Handle yours yourself!!”
“Got it!!”
I carefully reeled in the line, slowly drawing the hooked fish closer.
Almost there.
Just a little more—
“Hm?”
At the edge of my vision, I noticed Luca and the others splashing around happily in the water.
I didn’t really have the spare attention to focus on them right now.
That was what I thought.
But the instant I looked away—
Luca suddenly vanished beneath the surface without a sound.
…That just now—
“—Crap!!”
I immediately threw down my fishing rod, kicked off my shoes, tore off my jacket, and dove into the lake.
When children drown, they drown silently.
It was called the instinctive drowning response. They became so desperate trying to breathe that they couldn’t even scream for help.
And unfortunately, my instincts were correct.
Underwater, Luca was desperately struggling.
Looking closer, the lakebed suddenly dropped off into deep water.
“Gwah—!! Luca! Luca!! Are you okay!?”
“Geh—cough!! E-Eight-niichan… uuuugh, I was so scared!!”
“W-Whoa, okay, I get it, you were scared!! But don’t cling so tightly!! It’s hard to swim like this!! We’ll both drown!!”
Somehow, without causing a secondary accident, I managed to reach the shore safely with Luca in tow.
Nor and Rio immediately rushed over.
“Luca!! Eight-nii!!”
“Are you both okay!?”
“Y-Yeah… Eight-niichan saved me…”
“I told you not to go too deep…” I sighed heavily. “…No. Honestly, this is mine and the village chief’s fault for taking our eyes off you.”
Thank god I’d noticed before it was too late.
“Oooi, Eight,” the village chief called from behind us. “Why’d you suddenly jump into the lake? Something happen?”
“Ah, Village Chief. Actually—wait, that thing’s huge!?”
The old man was dragging behind him a monstrous fish at least thirty meters long.
It was gigantic.
At this size, even feeding the entire village would probably take a week.
“Hohoho! Quite the catch, wouldn’t you say?” The chief grinned proudly before noticing Luca glaring at him. “…L-Luca? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…Eight-niichan threw away his fishing rod to save me. But Grandpa ignored me drowning because the fish was more important?”
“!? Y-You were drowning!?”
“Um… actually…”
I quickly explained the situation.
The village chief’s face instantly turned pale.
He sprinted toward Luca and dropped to the ground in a full dogeza.
“L-Luca, are you alright!?”
“Eight-niichan saved me… unlike Grandpa.”
“Guh!”
For a brief moment, the village chief seemed to age another ten years.
Though considering he was already over a hundred years old, I wasn’t sure that was physically possible.
“This is your fault in the first place for not paying attention!!” Nor snapped.
“Ugh… w-well…”
“U-Um…” Rio nervously stepped between everyone. “How about… everyone was wrong a little bit, so we make up? I don’t want to see Eight-oniichan or Luca-chan or the Village Chief fighting…”
“““……”””
Seeing Rio’s watery eyes trembling with tears, the three of us immediately shook hands.
“““We made up!!”””
“Yay!!”
Rio’s face instantly brightened.
“…Rio,” Nor muttered suspiciously, “you’re surprisingly good at fake crying.”
“Ehehe. Mama taught me that if you want to win over men, you need to be good at crying strategically.”
“What exactly is your mother teaching you!?”
Nor and Rio started whispering to each other quietly so we couldn’t hear.
What were they talking about?
I was strangely curious.
“Hey, Eight-niichan.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Almost drowning made me hungry.”
“How does that work?” I laughed. “…Well, then let’s grill some of the Village Chief’s fish.”
Using the survival knife I’d brought along, I sliced chunks of meat from the giant lake ruler and skewered them on bamboo sticks I’d prepared beforehand.
Good thing I’d planned to cook whatever we caught on-site.
This time, I decided to keep the seasoning simple.
Just salt.
“Eight-nii! I gathered some branches!!”
“Oh, nice. Thanks.”
Nor carried over an armful of fallen branches from the forest.
We arranged them carefully around the fire starter I’d brought, and once the flames caught, I planted the skewers into the ground around the fire.
The key was making sure they didn’t burn.
Gradually, the rich aroma of roasting fish began drifting through the air, making even my own stomach growl.
“Lake Ruler Salt-Grill, complete!!”
““““Ooooh!!””””
Everyone immediately bit into the freshly grilled fish.
“Oh? This is actually really good.”
“The skin’s super crispy!!”
“The meat’s so soft and flaky!!”
“The salt is perfect too!!”
“Delicious!!”
For a while, we all enjoyed eating the grilled fish together around the fire.
As I cleaned up the remains of the campfire afterward, Luca quietly approached me.
“Y-You really are cool, Eight-niichan.”
“Hm? You think so?”
“Y-Yeah. You’re kind, your cooking’s amazing, and your face is… well, decent enough.”
“Just decent, huh?”
“Hehe!! As thanks for saving me, if nobody’s claimed you in ten years, I guess I could marry you myself!!”
Luca grinned proudly.
Then Rio, who had been listening nearby, spoke in an unusually serious tone.
“It’ll be fine, Luca-chan.”
“Huh?”
“Because someone is definitely going to claim oniichan.” She smiled softly. “Actually, I’m going to claim him.”
“A-Ah… okay.”
…What exactly were they talking about?
The thought lingered briefly in my mind, but before long we returned to the village and held a massive fish feast using the lake ruler the village chief had caught.
It was a genuinely wonderful day.