Jisrare-san and I walked through the forest at an easy pace on our way to the dungeon.
Since no serious monsters were likely to appear, we moved along while chatting.
……And naturally, the topic was Father from earlier.
「He was really happy」
「Yes……」
When I told him that I had successfully obtained the 『Sword』 skill, Father was overjoyed. He was unbelievably happy.
Or rather, he was so happy that――
「I never thought he would cry……」
「He was crying quite a lot」
After hearing about my 『Sword』 skill, Father rejoiced for a while, and then――
『I see…… That’s wonderful. You worked hard every day…… you really worked hard……』
He said something like that and then burst into tears.
I was a little surprised by that reaction, but when I thought about it, I really had worked hard.
For eight years, I trained with Father almost every morning. That is no small effort. And that effort finally paid off.
When I thought about that, somehow――
「You were crying too, Alec」
「…………」
As I soaked in that sense of achievement, and seeing Father cry like that, I ended up tearing up myself…….
Before we knew it, the two of us were hugging each other, quietly crying together…….
「Was it okay to leave like that?」
「……Yes. We shared more than enough joy already」
It was more than enough. I forgot that Jisrare-san was even there, and we shared far more joy than necessary.
So, leaving Father behind at home while he was still sniffling, Jisrare-san and I headed out.
By the way, Father was probably drinking alone by now.
『It’s a celebration, so maybe I will drink for the first time in a while. I feel like it today』
He said that as he opened a bottle of wine.
Father rarely drinks, and even when he does, he does not change much. He just becomes a little more cheerful.
How is he now, I wonder. Maybe he is a bit cheerful after all.
Or maybe the alcohol boosted his emotions and he is crying even harder.
「Alright, let’s go. You saw an embarrassing scene, but it’s training, training」
「I thought it was a nice scene」
「That may be true, but for me it’s still embarrassing…… Come on, training」
「Yes. Training」
Time to switch gears. Switch gears and focus on training.
◇
When Jisrare-san and I arrived at the 『World Tree-sama’s Dungeon』, we wandered around the 2-1 Forest Field as usual.
After spending some time enjoying the plants and animals of 2-1, we moved on to the 3-1 Plains Field.
In 3-1, we received some strawberries from an acquaintance who makes a living through farming, then headed next to the 4-1 Lake Field.
There, at one of the rivers flowing through 4-1, we started fishing at a relaxed pace.
It felt pretty good. So far, the training had been enjoyable.
However, the one disappointing thing was――
「I am not catching anything at all」
Not a single bite.
Jisrare-san beside me was catching fish now and then, so it was not that there were no fish. I just was not catching any.
……Maybe it is the lure.
Right now, I am using Woodworking Series No.14 『Fishing Rod』 and No.32 『Handmade Lure』, but I have a feeling the problem lies with this lure.
Blaming the tools for not catching anything feels a bit cheap, but when I attach ordinary insects, I do catch fish fairly often.
The lure looks well made, but maybe from a fish’s perspective, something about it feels off.
……Well, these are dungeon fish, so calling them natural fish might be questionable.
Still, even when fishing in the natural river that runs through the village, the same thing happens. When I use my handmade lure, I often fail to catch anything.
「Something must be different. The shape, the color, or how it moves……」
「Why not try that thing? The one you did to Miriam’s doll」
「Huh? Ah, the realistic 『Varnish Coating』」
Hmm, making the lure realistic…… I see. That might change something.
「Alright, let me try recoating it――hmm? Oh?」
「Did you get one?」
「No, this is…… it’s snagged」
It seems the hook or lure got caught on a rock or something on the riverbed.
「Can you get it loose?」
「Mm, mmm…… No, I do not think so. I will cut it」
Swimming is prohibited in this river, and it is a bit deep anyway. Going in to retrieve it would be difficult.
So I decided to cut the fishing line.
Normally, I should worry about the negative effects that leftover line, lures, and hooks might have on the natural environment…… but this is a dungeon. It will probably be absorbed soon enough.
……That is how many of my lures have already been absorbed by the dungeon.
「Is it just that I am bad at fishing……?」
If I were good at fishing, maybe I would not get snagged like this, and maybe I could catch fish easily even with a lure…….
Or maybe the way you move the fishing rod is different when using normal bait versus a lure?
The more I think about it, the more it feels like a lack of knowledge or technique might be the real reason I am not catching anything.
「Would it be different if I had a skill?」
「A skill?」
「Like a fishing skill. Is there not a skill like that?」
「Hmm. There is a 『Fishing Industry』 skill」
「Fishing industry……?」
The 『Fishing Industry』 skill……
That sounds like a pretty large-scale skill. Fishing and fishing industry feel quite different to me…….
「What kind of skill is it?」
「It apparently makes you better at fishing」
「……I see」
Well, I guess that makes sense…….
But what does that actually mean? When I hear fishing industry, I imagine going out to sea on a fishing boat…….
「I do not think many elves have that skill」
「Yeah, that makes sense……」
This is a forest, after all…….
The 『Fishing Industry』 skill, huh. Well, I probably do not need it.
After that, I tried again by making a new lure realistic.
I made this realistic lure a bit more flashy in appearance. Maybe it helped a little, because I successfully caught a fish.
Then that realistic lure also got snagged and was offered to the dungeon, and after that I switched to normal bait and kept fishing.
As expected, normal bait has a much higher hit rate.
I tried various things with insects and whatever else I could find, and then I noticed something interesting――
「I cannot believe you can catch fish even with glowing moss……」
Without thinking much about it, I put 『glowing moss』 on the hook and tossed it into the river, and surprisingly, a fish bit almost immediately.
It might even get more bites than normal bait…….
I never imagined 『glowing moss』 could be used like this…….
「That seems useful」
「Ah, thank you」
Well, I guess it is useful in its own way…….
And with that, today’s training with Jisrare-san came to an end.
It did not really feel like training, but I did discover a new way to use 『glowing moss』, so it was probably good training. It was fun, too.
next chapter: The Sword Saint and the Sage and the Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage 3
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