Chapter 84

Fis.h.i.+ng

There was a moment of silence . The air was filled with naught but stillness until the moment I loosed a victorious roar .

"Yes! I got a bite!"

"What!?"

I glanced to the side as I gave my fis.h.i.+ng rod a good tug and reeled in my catch, only to see Lefi making an expression of shock .

"Well, Lefi, that"s fish number two," I said with a snarky grin . "Iunno about you, but I think it"s pretty safe to say that I"ve already won this little match of ours . "

"Your pursuit of victory comes with excess haste, for the event has yet to conclude . Victory has not yet eluded me . " The dragon, who"d been grinding her teeth in frustration, humphed before continuing to speak in an indignant tone . "And I see no reason to perform such a menial task in the first place . It makes little sense not to simply dry the riverbed should you wish to consume a fish . "

"Lefi, please . Talk about no taste in leisure . " I rolled my eyes . "Look, this, this is way more fun . And before you even think about actually doing it, running the river dry is h.e.l.la wasteful and destructive, so please don"t . "

"Cause coming from you, that seems a bit real, y"know?

The banter Lefi and I were engaged in was only an aside to the activity that we were focused on: fis.h.i.+ng . The two of us were both camped out in front of the river running through the dungeon"s gra.s.slands, rods in hand and ready to extract our prey at a moment"s notice .

We weren"t the only two fis.h.i.+ng either . Lyuu was doing the same, though she didn"t quite seem all that focused . She kept glancing towards Illuna and s.h.i.+ . Bored of fis.h.i.+ng, the two had started playing around with Rir, hence why Lyuu was so distracted . As a warwolf, she couldn"t help but allow the Fenrir to draw her attention .

Like Illuna and friends, Leila was also situated nearby . She was seated on a large picnic blanket, and continued to watch over the rest of us with a big smile on her face . Or at least that was what she was doing most of the time . She would occasionally seem to make a eureka face, pull out a stack of paper and start scribbling away while chuckling with all the wickedness of a mad scientist . It was something I had seen many times now . She"d started doing it ever since she put an abrupt end to that magic lesson the other day, and had basically never stopped . She didn"t seem to be able to focus on anything all that much either . The sheep-horned demon girl would always be mumbling something or another under her breath, even while doing the ch.o.r.es .

That said, it wasn"t like I"d grown accustomed to her cackling . Honestly bro, that s.h.i.+t"s kinda freaky .

I wasn"t the only one that found her recent actions intimidating either . Lyuu had evidently felt the same way, as she"d come to me for a consultation . Frankly, Leila"s demonic cackling had terrified her .

Despite her newfound habits and lack of attention, however, Leila was still doing one h.e.l.l of a job . Yeah, you know what? I"mma just leave that be . She"ll get back to normal eventually . I hope .

I shook my head to stop myself from imagining the opposite case and once again returned to reflecting on the day . Today was, like the day we had the picnic, another outing for everyone to kick back and relax . And of course, the cause of it all was the discovery that the river contained fish .

I myself had not been responsible for placing the fish where they were . I hadn"t known that they were there at all . In fact, I was surprised to see that the river I"d used DP to create was filled with life . All sorts of fish were swimming around in it like it was n.o.body"s business . The only conclusion I could come to was that the fish just happened to come with the river, and that was just how it was . Thinking along those lines, that probably means that there"s stuff living in the mountains I decided to place as a backdrop and whatnot too . But oh well whatever . They"re way too far out for me to really give a s.h.i.+t . And the fish are way more important right now .

The fact that fish existed and were in a safe, accessible area meant that I straight up had no choice but to start fis.h.i.+ng . And that was why I"d arranged this little get together . A fis.h.i.+ng trip, per se . But despite it being the purpose of the outing, Lefi, Lyuu, and I were the only ones that were actually fis.h.i.+ng .

"…Woah! I think I just got one!" Lyuu shouted wide-eyed as she reeled her catch .

"Nrgghhh…" Again, Lefi groaned . "I see that you too have done as Yuki has, Lyuu . "

"I shall see to it that the two of you face retribution for your conceit," growled Lefi .

The supreme dragon"s discontent stemmed from the fact that us three fishermen were engaged in a high stakes game with tonight"s dinner on the line . Literally . We were planning to have fish tonight, and whoever caught the least would be stuck with the shoddiest meal, or maybe even no meal at all depending on the catch . Of course, while numbers were the primary method of determining the winners and losers, one could redeem themselves and perhaps even claim victory through quality as well . The requirement for such a victory was to catch something large enough to function as tonight"s main dish .

As I was lost in thought, Illuna, who"d been playing around, pitter-pattered over and gave Lefi"s back a big hug .

"Hey Lefi! Have you caught anything really big yet?" she asked .

"I-I have not," stuttered the dragon girl . "But it shan"t be long . I a.s.sure you that I will soon procure a catch of an impressive size . "

“Wow! I’m really excited to see what you’ll fish up, so do your best!” Illuna left as quickly as she came, and returned to playing with everyone else after voicing a few words of encouragement .

I began to grin . I really couldn"t help it given what I"d just seen .

"And why precisely have you that look on your face?" Lefi scowled .

"Naw, it"s nothing . I was just thinking that you two sure are close . "

"Fmph . " Lefi snorted as her cheeks turned red and her lips curled upwards in an expression of discontent . "I"ve little reason to consider Illuna anything less than a sister . It is only fair that I regard her with kindness . "

"I see, I see . A sister, huh?"

"Nah, don"t sweat it . It"s nothing . "

I"m just happy you think of her that way . That"s all .

"…Regardless, the expression you bear is one that stirs my rage . I shall see to it that you change it, even if I must do it mys—" Lefi was cut off mid-sentence as she suddenly felt something pull at her rod . "—A catch! It is time for me to lessen the gap between our scores!"

"That rod"s mad bending . You hook the riverbed again or something?"

"Say what you will, for soon, you shall weep! The creature I have caught is undoubtedly one of impressive size!"

Lefi enthusiastically roared as she pulled on her rod . And as she did, her prey surfaced . Wait . The f.u.c.k is that thing!?

The bizarre creature had a body that resembled a tree trunk, a beard made of writhing tentacles, and a mouth lined with dozens of tiny fangs . I had absolutely no idea what it was, but it creeped me out either way .

"Hey uh… Lefi… You mind doing me a favour and fis.h.i.+ng up something that"s a little less… bizarre? Like, seriously . I can"t even tell if that thing"s supposed to be a fish or something else altogether . "

“T-That is completely irrelevant . All that matters is that I too have now landed a catch!”

"I mean, yeah sure . But if you"re going to count that, then you better make sure you eat it when dinner comes around, alright?"

“…I shall leave that duty to Rir . ”

Please don"t feed my pet weird s.h.i.+t . Kthxbye .

"Ahem!" Lefi cleared her throat . "As I was saying, I believe that this brings Lyuu and I to one catch apiece . While you are still yet ahead of us, the end is yet to be in sight . This contest of ours is not yet over!"

The dragon smirked before turning to the beastkin beside her .

"Listen well, Lyuu . We must burn away the very essence that composes us and steal away all that there is to capture . For tonight, we leave Yuki with only the smallest morsel!"

“Huh? Uh… sure! Master’s been kinda mean lately, so this is just the right thing I gotta do to teach ‘im a lesson!”

“Hah!" I scoffed . "All I hear from you guys are the cries of the incapable . I’ll show you noobs just how overwhelming a real fisherman can be!"

And so, with our spirits lit aflame, the three of us continued to fish .

***

Editor"s note (Joker): Hey, guys! Joker here . Been a while, hasn"t it? A lot of stuff has happened since the last chapter . I had my debut in Super Smash Bros . Ultimate and created a new tier list in the process . Boss Young"un is applying to a bunch of companies, so wish him luck with that . Sebas finally banged Tuareninya (it"s about time if I do say so myself) [Note, this is from Overlord], and Speedphoenix went through about 3 reincarnations . Stubborn ol" flamin" bird just won"t stay dead . Uh, I mean… I cherish our friends.h.i.+p . Hehe… heh… . And as for our favorite dungeon crew, seems like Yuki raised a flag with his "Oh, stuff might live in the mountains too, but they"re too far away to worry about . " Ol" boy"s gonna wake up to a Yeti in his face . Naturally, with Lefi there, ain"t much gonna be done by it, but it"d still be a real colon cleanser, wouldn"t it? All right, I see we got four letters in Joker"s Big Sack O" Letters (trademark pending), so big thanks to kx, d.i.c.ky satria, Zehd Cashew, and zekkendo for your wonderful questions . All right, I gotta head out now . Ganondorf"s getting real uppity, so a.r.s.ene and I need to knock him down a peg or two on the tier list . See y"all in the next chapter!

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