Encounter With a Fool ①
After he was freed from petrification, Margine kept thinking about why he was turned into stone. He thought Misty had betrayed him at first, but the last expression he saw on Misty’s face was one of pain and sorrow.
“If she was going to make that kind of face, she shouldn't have done it...."
No matter how much Margine thought about it, he couldn't find an answer. Besides, it was an event that happened thousands of years ago. Even though Misty had a long lifespan, she was probably no longer alive to give him an explanation. Margin felt a sharp pang in his heart at the thought that Misty was no longer alive. He swallowed that feeling along with his breakfast, packed up his tent, and resumed his journey to the fishing port town.
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[Welcome to Lionel, the town of trade and fishing]
Lionel was a pretty big town, but there was only such a slogan on the gate and no gatekeepers, so people were free to enter or leave. Despite being called a fishing port town, Lionel was quite prosperous due to its thriving trade with other territories, with many merchants coming and going, and prices being cheap. Another characteristic of Lionel was the presence of beastmen who couldn't be seen in the royal capital.
Margine had encountered beastmen on numerous occasions during his time as a member of the Hero Party. However, they were wilder, lived in harmony with nature in the forest, and were much more animal-looking. The beastmen in Lionel weren't all that different from humans, except their animal ears and tails. He didn't know whether they had evolved over the past thousands of years or whether it was the result of interbreeding with humans. Margine then headed towards the beach where some fishermen were pulling dragnet.
“Oh, they’re at it, they're at it.”
They spread the net out to sea with a small boat, then a group of muscular beastmen pulled the net ashore from the sandy beach.
"Heave-ho! Heave-ho!"
Everyone shouted rhythmically as they pulled up the net.
"Hey, did you get a good catch?"
"Huh? Who the hell are you?"
Although a lot of fish were caught, most were poisonous fish similar to pufferfish from Earth. They couldn’t be sold, so the beastmen were in a bad mood.
“I’m Margine. I'm here to buy some fish. You’re throwing away those poisonous fish, right? If you don’t want them, I’ll take them.”
"What are you going to do with such troublesome fish? You're not planning to collect their poison for something bad, are you?"
"Collecting their poison? Of course, not. I'm going to eat the fish."
"What? Stop it, stop it. Don't you know that a lot of people have died from eating them?"
"It's okay, it's okay. Look, I'll even help you sort the fish."
"Stop! Don't interfere, you amateur. Get away before you get hurt."
Because this guy shouted loudly to intimidate Margine, other fishermen started gathering around the two.
"What's with all this commotion? Oh, it's you."
The old man who was their leader came to check the situation.
"Hey, Old Man. I've come to get some again this year."
"Boss, do you know him?"
"This is Margine. He's an oddball who eats poisonous fish. The fact that he's back this year means he's not dead. Margine, I'll give you all the poisonous fish, so help me sort them."
“Boss, he is just an amateur....”
"Newbie, just watch quietly. It'll be over soon."
"Huh?"
"Alright, leave it to me. The sorting method is the same as last year, right?"
"The sorting method doesn't change every year."
Margine sorted the fish by species and size. Of course, he did it with magic.
"W-What the hell is this...."
Those who saw this scene last year grinned at the newbie who was seeing it for the first time.
"Hey, newbie, isn’t it amazing? This guy's a magician!"
"So magicians can do things like this...."
The beastman who shouted loudly at Margine earlier asked with interest.
“If you’re interested, I can sell you the spellbook.”
“Spellbook?”
"I run a small spellbook shop in the royal capital. If you want to buy this fish sorting spell, it only costs 3,000,000 G. However, it uses a fair amount of magic power, so you can't use it if your total magic power is low."
"3,000,000 G?! I can't afford something that expensive!"
"Well, it doesn't take that much time doing it by hand, so it's certainly a waste.... Old Man, I'll take all the poisonous fish and this one."
Margine decided to take all the pufferfish and stingrays, which weren't suitable for sale.
"Margine, save some stingray fins for me. Let's have it while drinking at my house tonight."
"Okay."
Two years ago, Margine visited this fishing port town for the first time and had a little argument with the old man, the leader of the dragnet fishermen. just like now. Then, after demonstrating Sorting and Dismantling spell, he cooked some stingray fins for him, and the two became quite close.
~ The Old Man's House ~
“Old man, is the number of poisonous fish increasing? There weren't many fish that could be sold from what you caught today either."
The two were drinking while chatting about such topics, accompanied by roasted dried stingray fins, fried stingray fins, and simmered stingray liver as snacks.
"The poisonous fish are about the same every year, but the stingrays are increasing year by year."
"The shellfish must be decreasing too, then?"
"That's right. They're a real nuisance. They eat up what can be sold, but we can't sell them even if they are caught."
The old man glared at the stingray fins in his hand with a grim expression.
“Stingrays taste good when prepared like this, though.”
"We can probably make dried fish from it, but the stew needs your soy sauce, right? Do you really have no plan sell it?"
"No, I only make enough soy sauce for my own use. I will give you some for your own use later."
"Haa, what a headache...."
Despite not having many edible parts, preparing stingray required a lot of effort. It was especially troublesome because their meat would develop a strong ammonia smell if not processed quickly.
"The inedible parts can be dried and ground into powder to make fertilizer."
"You mentioned that before. Does it really sell?"
"How about making a vegetable garden and try the fertilizer there? If you can grow vegetables tastier than others, you can sell them, right? If you don’t have farming experience, you could ask a farmer you know to try it out.”
"I see...."
“To be safe, have them test it in a separate plot in case something goes wrong.”
“That’s right. If we don’t start something new, we won’t be able to feed the young ones.”
“Is it easy to get magic stones or magic crystals here?”
"Magic stones are easy to obtain."
"Then I'll give you a magic millstone as a gift. You need to grind the dried fish into fine powder to use it as fertilizer, after all."
"Do you have a spare magic millstone?"
"No, I'm going to make one. I have the materials."
After that, Margine spent about three days helping with the fishing and making a magic millstone.
"This is the switch. I will dry the fish scraps with magic this time, but later, please dry them in the sun."
Margine taught the fishermen’s wives how to make fertilizer. He crushed the dried fish scraps into smaller pieces and put them into the magic millstone’s input. When the switch was turned on, the magic millstone started moving with a rumbling sound, and the dried fish scraps come out as fine powder.
"This powder is the fertilizer. It will take some time before we can see the effects, but try spreading it in your vegetable gardens."
"Hmm, it kind of smells like it could be eaten as is."
Are you a cat beastman or something? It doesn't smell particularly tasty to me.
"There's no poison in it, so it should be fine to eat, but there are plenty of perfectly edible fish, right?"
"That's true. Ehehehe...."
The fishermen’s wives laughed, slapping each other on the back. Margine received a lot of dried fish as a thank-you for the magic millstone. After that, he bought a lot of souvenirs and things for himself in town and decided to return to the royal capital.
"Be careful. It seems like the number of monsters has increased recently."
"I'll hunt any monsters that look tasty, so I'll be fine. Well then, Old Man, I'll come back around this time next year. Stay alive until then."
"Don't say such ominous things!"
Having said that, Margine left the fishing port town and the angry old man behind.
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On his way back to the royal capital, Margine took a slight detour. He veered off the highway and headed toward the river. He was planning to hunt some ducks that usually gathered in the calm waters of the cove and bring them home.
"Oh, there they are."
Margin quietly approached a flock of ducks and confirmed there was no one around.
"Alright, no one's here. Paralyze!"
Margine cast paralysis spell at the ducks, and when they became immobile, he used wind magic to pull them closer. He then finished them off by shooting their heads with magic so they wouldn't suffer, and butchered them with Dismantling spell.
Now that I've got the ingredients for fugu and duck hot pot, my objective is complete. Should I buy some vegetables from the village I stopped by on the way back?
Margine waited until nightfall before started running along the highway. Because of the detour, if he walked back, he’d end up camping along the roadside. Then, while running at a speed much faster than a horse-drawn carriage, he noticed a fool camping in a remote area and it bothered him.
Even though this is a relatively safe highway, there might be monsters, or worse, bandits....
Oh well, you are responsible for your own life.
Better not get involved into this.
Just as he thought that, Margine sensed something approaching.
"They are already being targeted, after all. The enemy is a pack of wolves.... or maybe Demon Dogs."
Margine had no obligation to help, but he decided to at least say something to them.
"You there!"
"Eek!?"
Seriously, a girl?
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just want to tell you that you are being targeted by a pack of wolves or maybe Demon Dogs. You should get ready to fight."
"Huh?"
“Don’t ‘huh’ me. If you’re camping in this kind of place, you should expect monsters to come. It’s just a small pack of about five, but you will be at a disadvantage if you try to run. Do your best to fight. Well then....”
"P-Please wait!"
A young girl poked her head out of the tent.
“What? I’m in a hurry, so if you have something to say, say it quickly.”
"I-I can't do that."
"What can't be done?"
“There’s no way I can win against five wolves or Demon Dogs!”
"Then why are you camping alone in this kind of place? You surely know how to defend yourself at least, right?"
"I-I can't fight!"
The girl shouted, poked half of his body out of the tent.
"I see... I guess there's no helping it."
"Are you going to help me?"
The girl's face brightened at Margine's words.
"It was such a short life. May you have a better luck in your next life. Well then...."
"W-What!? You are a man, right? How can you just abandon such a delicate girl like me?"
"Look, just because I'm a man, it doesn't mean I have to risk my life for a girl who is a complete stranger. Besides, I've already helped by warning you that monsters were approaching. If I knew this would happen, I should have just passed by without saying anything."
"Don't say that, please help me!"
"Take a good look at me."
The girl strained her eyes in the darkness, carefully observing Margine.
"Can you see that I'm unarmed? I don't have any weapons to fight with, and even if I did, I'm not good at it."
"What would you do if you were in my position?"
"I'd obviously run away. I'm confident in my speed. Well then, if we meet in the next life, I'll at least say hello."
"N-No way...."
The girl was about to cry after being treated coldly by Margine.
*grrrr*
Tch, they're already this close when I wasn't paying attention.
While the two were having this argument, the wolves surrounded them.