Chapter 269: Chapter 267 - Fishing and Duinkler

Fishing and Duinkler

Hikaru and the girls, wearing shady masks and hoods, followed Deena out of the room. Some soldiers watched them with great interest, others with disdain, a few baffled.

As for Drake, he was wrapped around Lavia’s neck.

Hikaru checked the passages that were not off-limits and emergency exit routes. They weren’t allowed to see the soldiers’ private rooms, the power room, and the bridge. There was no point in checking the storage room. There were no stalls, and Deena only told them the bare minimum. As such, the tour ended in no time at all.

Hikaru’s party went out to the deck.

「Ah, please stay away from the railings!」Deena warned.「There are weapons there!」

Not paying any attention to her, Hikaru kept on walking. Waters as far as the eye could see. White clouds. Apart from the other ships sailing parallel to theirs, there was nothing else. Only a world of blue.

「Now that I think about it, this is my first time on a ship like this.」

Hikaru had been on planes and bullet trains, but never on a cruise ship.

「Might get bored quick.」

Lavia and Paula roamed about the deck. Lavia, in particular, tried to take a peek of the machines covered in cloth.

「No! Please don’t do that!」Deena yelled.

As Hikaru wandered the deck, he spotted three men in one corner with fishing lines in the water. One of them watched his line eagerly, one was staring blankly into space, resting his chin on his hand, while another lay sprawled on the floor.

Fishing rods with reels… That’s advanced technology right there.

Hikaru wasn’t an expert in fishing, but the anglers he’d seen before—most of them fished at rivers—used more primitive rods, just a pole with a line tied to it. He’d seen rods with reels only once or twice.

It’s deep out here in the open sea. Maybe they need longer lines to get a bite.

Hikaru casually used his Mana Detection at the direction of the water.

Holy cow… There’s a whole lot of them! A large school of fish was swimming about. He even wondered how the soldiers weren’t getting so much as a nibble.

「I see. The hook and bait are not deep enough. Hey, you there. I think you’re fishing in the wrong spot. Drop your line about thirty meters deep.」

The men were startled when Hikaru called to them, all the more so when they realized the voice came from the masked boy. Unfortunately, they could not understand a word he said. Hikaru searched for Deena, but couldn’t find her.

「Fine, whatever.」Hikaru muttered.「Let me try.」he said to one man as he held out his hand.

Although still baffled, the soldier knew what he wanted and handed his rod over. As Hikaru reeled in the line, he realized the line wasn’t too deep. After confirming that the bait was attached, he dropped the line about thirty meters deep in the water.

「Oh, I got a bite!」

『What?! Who is this guy?!』

『You can actually get fish here?』

『Zzzzzz…』

『You can’t! No one’s got a bite here before!』

『Yeah…』

『Zzzzzz…』

「Hey, help me out here… Wait, what?!」

Hikaru’s rod bent as it became heavy all of a sudden.

「What the?! It’s too heavy!」

『You idiot! Pull the rod up!』

『It’s gonna snap!』

『Zzzzzz…』

Yelling and shouting, they pulled on the rod, and a tuna weighing about five kilos appeared on the surface. One man rushed to get a harpoon and stabbed the fish with it. They successfully got it onboard.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

A different fish was in the tuna’s mouth. Apparently it was the one that Hikaru caught at first, but then it got eaten by the tuna.

「This is my first time fishing. It’s actually fun.」

『You’re amazing! Incredible!』

『I’m bushed from all that running…』

『Zzzzzz…』

『Oh… Getting friendly with the enemy during break time, eh? Perhaps more discipline is needed.』Duinkler appeared with five soldiers in tow.

『Oh, crap.』the men said as they ran away.

The sleeping guy, who seemed to be a habitual truant, jerked awake as he sensed danger and hightailed it out of there.

「I, Duinkler. Nice, meet you.」

It appeared he could speak Hikaru’s language, although broken.

「Likewise. I’m Silver Face. A pleasure, I guess.」

One of Duinkler’s men looked familiar. He was the guy who went after Deena back when Hikaru snuck onto their ship. The man didn’t know about him, of course.

「Want tea? No interpret.」

The plump man smiled broadly. This guy is shady as hell, Hikaru thought. There was no doubt that he had an antagonistic relationship with Grucel, as he even ordered his subordinate to go after Deena.

「You think, dangerous. I alone.」

He wanted to talk privately. After mulling it over, Hikaru accepted his invitation. They still had plenty of time left in their voyage.

「Okay. Let’s go.」

Compared to the others, there wasn’t anything noteworthy in Duinkler’s Soul Board. He excelled in fighting and had a high Soul rank. That was all. Yet he said he was the person in charge of this ship, and the crew seemed to be obedient to him.

When Hikaru told the girls he was going to talk to Duinkler, Deena turned pale.

「I’ll go with you.」she said.

「He said we’ll talk privately.」

「But I’m your interpreter!」

Deena insisted to go, but a word from Duinkler and she reluctantly backed down.

『It’s a private conversation, Deena. It does not concern you.』

Deena’s expression was a mix of frustration and helplessness. This confirmed Hikaru’s theory that Grucel and Duinkler were from opposing parties.

Duinkler led Hikaru to what was most likely his room. Smaller than the guest room, the cloak and hat hanging by the wall and desk all looked like luxury items.

As the plump man promised, there were only two of them here. As such Duinkler himself prepared tea.

「Oh…」

The tea he served was fragrant, similar to a roasted green tea.

「This is good tea.」

「Can tell?」

「It’s fragrant and flavorful. Even though we live in different continents, it seems our tastes are still the same.」

Duinkler nodded in satisfaction. Hikaru could tell after talking with the man for a bit. While he couldn’t speak well, he could understand fine.

「You invited me here for a reason, right?」

「You wary.」

「Why wouldn’t I be? We’re in enemy territory with only the three of us. Of course I’d be cautious.」

「You destroy ship alone.」

Surely with that much power, there’s nothing to be afraid of was what he was saying.

「What would happen to us if I destroyed this ship? I don’t even know if my weapon will work against the sea monsters.」

「Ah, yes. You can’t kill monsters here.」

「Can you?」

「No. The route we take, no monsters.」

Hikaru was shocked. Duinkler just revealed their secret like it was nothing.

The man smiled.「Important matter. Will be straightforward.」

I guess he’s saying he’ll be open about everything.

「So you found a route with no sea monsters? And you have to take a long detour that’s why the trip takes long.」

「Mostly right. The route still has monsters, but we drive away.」

「You can repel them? How? With magic items?」

「Yes.」

「Not with heavy artillery?」

「Artillery? Oh, the blast cannon?」

「A tube that shoots shells using gunpowder.」

「Yes, blast cannon. We not use them. Not work.」

They didn’t kill monsters, but instead drove them away. According to Duinkler, they managed to create a magic item that repelled a specific kind of monster. They then found a route inhabited only by these monsters.

「Let’s go back to my question. Why did you invite me for tea?」

「First, exchange information. Have many things I want know.」

「Same here.」

「Then we share same interest. Let’s talk.」

「Anything else? You said “first”.」

Duinkler was in a good mood all the while.

「After exchange information. If I find you trustworthy, I tell you. That be best.」