It was great that I was able to shove Jian two meters with the spear, but thanks to that, I ended up sinking about a meter underwater, looking ridiculous.
After all, a super strong protagonist is not exactly meaningful when just trying to force things with strength.
Well, if I really wanted to, I could lift Jian with one hand and throw him far away. By the way, when I say “I,” I mean both my current life and my past one. For a human who can cut incoming shells with a sword, people’s body weight probably doesn’t mean much.
…Anyway.
Still, I guess because I acted aggressively, Jian didn’t have that warm smile he usually has when looking at me—like he was seeing a little sister many years younger than him. It’s not that he wasn’t smiling at all, but the atmosphere had definitely changed.
Anyway, well—
There was the incident where I slammed into Jian and sent him flying a couple of meters, but other than that, the morning ended without any major events or mishaps.
Honestly, it’s more surprising that anything happened at a deserted beach with just us. Besides, everyone here was a hero candidate.
“Clara, you really need to learn how to swim.”
After playing in the water all morning and returning to the villa to shower, Seo-A said this to me.
“Uh…”
Saying I didn’t think I needed it was a response I hesitated to present in front of Seo-A. Anyway, since she was a teacher. Of course, if you consider my age in my past life, Seo-A and I probably wouldn’t have much of an age difference, but still, I was a student and she was the teacher.
The weight of the words was different from what Jian had told me.
“Well, I don’t really plan on going into the water…”
“But if you learn, you might need it someday?”
Ah, just a while ago, how come she’s suddenly switched to teacher mode when she was having fun with kids younger than ten?
The raised eyebrow on her face was the same as the one she wore when kids couldn’t utilize their strengths and collapsed in an instant during practice classes. Of course, it wasn’t like I had challenged Jian, and what I initiated was mostly a joke—
…Thinking back, my relationship with Rina also started when I gave her a drop kick to the head.
Well, Seo-A was right.
From the perspective of my past life, heroes were people like a multi-purpose special force, and it would be funny if such a force didn’t know how to swim.
Not only were they charged with chasing down villains or being deployed to battlefields, but heroes also helped in dealing with natural disasters that average people couldn’t handle.
Even if humans had shrunk to a single country due to losing most of their original inhabited areas, the regions they occupied were still relatively wide for a country, with varied terrain and climate.
Naturally, there were rivers swelling from heavy rain, as well as swamps.
…And I was also a very good resource for quick deployment in the case of natural disasters. I could quickly heal anyone who got hurt. It was similar to how Erica, despite her somewhat lacking combat abilities, was appreciated as a valuable asset.
Of course, after I graduated from the academy and turned twenty, I fully planned to ignore becoming a hero or saint, open a clinic, and live well.
Anyway, that was how it was from the perspective of my homeroom teacher Seo-A.
“…Uh…”
And in front of that homeroom teacher, I certainly didn’t have the guts to shout, “I’m not doing hero stuff! I’m just going to live well with my abilities!” Seo-A was giving me sincere advice as a teacher.
Ugh, who would have thought the Confucian texts ingrained in my genes from my youth would become such an obstacle?
“Well, if you’re feeling that way, I can’t force you, but I really hope you think about it.”
“Uh… Okay. I’ll think about it.”
In the end, I couldn’t answer anything, and seeing my inner conflict, Seo-A took a step back, allowing me to finally escape the situation.
*
Lunch was curry.
As expected.
Since curry is commonly eaten in mangas or anime when you go outside, and it’s one of those foods you can make in large quantities quickly, it made sense. It’s not like we were going to make anything luxurious; it’s a dish requiring just a curry powder you can buy and some ingredients.
And it’s tasty.
More importantly, it could be eaten sloppy and cleaned up quickly.
In fact, there were all kinds of meats and sausages stuffed in the fridge, as well as tons of other grilling options, but who would have a barbecue for lunch? Especially since we were expected to go back into the water in the afternoon.
“Let’s go fishing!”
—My prediction went completely wrong.
There’s an unspoken agreement that cleaning the dishes right after eating is better than dealing with it later, but, well, following Aurora and Linea, who started moving first, we diligently cleaned up after lunch and came to the living room, where Seo-A exclaimed brightly.
Already, there were fishing rods prepared in numbers according to the people present.
…When did they bring those? I’m pretty sure when we got off the plane, everyone only had the luggage we brought. No matter how compact fishing rods are, they can’t be that light and small to fit so many.
“Hohoho, I moved the items in advance as soon as we made the plan. I’m quite meticulous like that, you know.”
Calling that meticulous seems like a stretch, considering she just wrote up a plan and didn’t follow any of it. But I didn’t want to challenge that. Honestly, I didn’t want to have to stick to training lists made for the academy. Asking us to train in this scorching weather? Sounds like a death wish.
…Yes. It would be painful to do anything in this heat. Playing in the water is fine when just a bit warm; the water splashes around. But fishing, where you have to sit in the broiling sun, is a whole different story.
Besides, I had negative memories about fishing.
Back when I was thirteen during harvest time, I gathered at my uncle’s countryside house when he suggested we go fishing at a nearby reservoir—
Hmm, if I go into that story completely, it would divert into a whole different mountain, so let’s cut to the conclusion: I spent about ten hours sitting there without catching a single fish. I couldn’t tell if it was because there were no fish or because my uncle just wasn’t good at fishing.
With memories of getting gnawed at by all sorts of bugs beside the reservoir that day, I held a rather unfavorable image of fishing.
Moreover, that was the only fishing memory I had, so it was even worse.
Naturally, seeing all the fishing rods lined up in front of me made my expression extremely sour.
And I wasn’t the only one with that sour expression; most of the kids around me looked the same.
That is, ‘most’ of them.
As far as two kids who didn’t have sour expressions go—
First, Jian had a rather bright expression. I had no memory of adding such a setting, but it seemed Jian actually quite liked fishing.
“…You like fishing, huh?”
“Yeah, though it’s my first time sea fishing.”
Let me revise that. That guy was someone who liked fishing.
The future spouse he ends up with will probably have a hard time.
Seeing a complex expression flashing across Selena’s face, she was undoubtedly having the same thoughts I was. Of course, her expression was a bit more serious. It wasn’t my concern who Jian married, but Selena was someone who, for now, wanted to be that spouse.
“Fishing!”
…And, of course, the other one was Aurora.
It didn’t matter what it was; she liked everything as long as it was her first time. Even if I tried to advise her, it probably wouldn’t work. More than anything, my memories from my previous life would cause numerous problems here.
In this world, there was no past, so if I started telling stories from my past, everything would have to be made up. So whom would I say I went fishing with? The priest from the previous convent? The convent itself didn’t even exist.
More importantly, both Linea and Aurora knew I was a being sent by the goddess. Naturally, they thought that I was not born here but created by the goddess. If I were to bring up stories about family or something similar, they might just consider those beings to be equivalent to me.
Rather than elevating nonexistent beings in that way, I could only hope Aurora would naturally realize what fishing was.
…Please don’t end up catching loads of fish and getting hooked on it, okay?
Shaking my head while checking the expressions of the other kids, I noticed Satsuki and Ramihi, who also wore sour faces.
Are they elves and dislike such things?
Of course, elves from my story did have slight differences from traditional fantasy elves, but they should still be running around the forest as rangers—
Ah, they used to be vegetarians, right?
When they were younger, they consumed meat for nutritional balance, but as they grew older, their tastes became more refined, leading to a vegetarian diet.
Therefore, it’s understandable that they would feel some repulsion towards fishing while not even eating any.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. Fishing can be quite fun, you know? It’s better to experience it once than never trying at all, right? They say it’s better to do and regret than to not do and regret.”
Putting aside the whole ‘what’s worse, regretting not doing something’ argument, I was an experienced one, after all. Of course, it wasn’t something I could openly reveal.
…Besides, they really do seem to love fishing. Seeing them plead like that.
“I fished because my grandfather liked it when I was a kid, forced to tag along sometimes.”
That was said by Ramihi.
She didn’t need to add anything else to it, but I could clearly feel the emotions she had that day from the tone of her voice. Yes. It was without a doubt an emotion I had experienced too.
“I… went with my dad…”
Following that was Satsuki speaking up.
Do elves have a tendency to like fishing too? Well, it wouldn’t be strange for elves living for hundreds of years in undeveloped mountains to still carry some hunting instincts within. Their combat style suited the ranger role to a tee, and most importantly, they would have ample opportunity to hunt as kids since they had to consume animal proteins.
“…”
As two experienced veterans emerged, even Seo-A seemed at a loss for words.
Looking at the two of them, wide-eyed and deeply skeptical, Seo-A quickly snapped back to reality.
“Uh, uh, that was fresh water fishing, right? Sea fishing is completely different! The types of fish are different! Besides, Ramihi, you mentioned before that there were plenty of fish over there. It will definitely not just end up boring!”
“That’s… true, but…”
Ramihi fell deep into thought.
As the conversation flew back and forth between the two, Aurora’s gaze wandered back and forth, as if she were watching ping pong. No matter what was said between them, Aurora did seem to want to try fishing.
“…”
Sigh.
Well, I guess there’s no helping it.
She was a child who had lived in a convent all her life. I can’t always let her do what she wants, but if the chance arises, I wanted her to be able to try. I didn’t know what thoughts Aurora had about the church or if she’d live as a nun even after becoming an adult, but even if she chose that path, I hoped she could still enjoy herself.
Then, it would be—
“Well, why not at least give it a try?”
Before Seo-A could speak, I said that, and instantly, all eyes were on me.
“…They can give it a go, and if they find it fun, they can keep doing it. If not, each of them can go off to what they like, no reason to strictly stick to any schedule, right?”
Of course, here the only adult was Seo-A, and she was the one in charge, but it didn’t mean the kids present would get into serious trouble even if they did something together.
“…Hmm.”
Hearing my words, Seo-A momentarily contemplated before shaking her head. Then she firmly stated, “No, I can’t let you guys do this alone. Anything could happen. I came as your teacher, and I can’t just leave you to risk getting hurt or facing some harm.”
But she definitely had a strong sense of responsibility as a teacher.
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the kids, excluding Jian and Aurora, seemed to brighten.
“So, let’s do what Clara suggests! We all go together, try it out, and if it really doesn’t suit us, we can just come back! Doesn’t that sound good?”
…
Hmm, all eyes were on me, and they were glaring.
Especially, Ramihi and Satsuki were glaring hard.
That’s right. Anyone who has followed a fisherman will know.
For a fisherman, the statement “I don’t think this will work” usually comes after they have tried for hours on end, moving around, casting their lines all over, and still catching no fish until the sun sets.
…Somehow feels like I stepped on a landmine.
*
Having a cliff means there are also quite large rocks underneath it.
Naturally, if we try fishing from the cliff’s edge, the line wouldn’t even reach down, so we chose to head toward some of those big rocks below the cliff.
…It was probably from the last fishing trip that Seo-A confidently hummed while leading the way, skillfully finding her way through the gaps in the rocks.
“…Have you been here before?”
“…Yeah, well…”
As we followed her, I casually asked Erica beside me, and she replied with a bittersweet expression.
…Well, somehow, it did not feel good.
She didn’t seem like she wanted to be there at all.
No, more than that, the fact that she still followed meant she ultimately couldn’t completely ignore Seo-A’s instructions despite how much she disliked it, right?
“So, when you said you didn’t want to go, your expression was totally deflated, huh…”
Seeing her ramble on without me even asking, it seemed like she already anticipated they would have to follow through.
…So then, everything I said had been meaningless, huh?
“At least it’s just for a day, and besides, it’s a long vacation.”
When I looked far off after Erica said that, she smiled bitterly to comfort me.
Wait, but that means we’re stuck fishing all day today.
“Here we are!”
Following Seo-A, we arrived at a scooped-out spot beneath the cliff. As expected, the rock was quite wide and flat, and the top of the cliff cast a nice shadow.
…Though it was still blazing hot.
The waves washed over us with a whoosh, and while it dampened us slightly, it didn’t feel pleasant since we weren’t in the water.
“Alright, then, everybody who wants to fish, grab a rod and make sure to put on your life jackets! …Okay, let’s start!”
Despite the atmosphere, Seo-A’s cheerful voice rang out, and we found ourselves heaving deep sighs as we had no choice but to take up the fishing rods.
*
…And the situation flowed in a direction we never expected.
Initially, things went as expected.
After we all sat down for about thirty minutes with our lines cast, none of us had caught even a single fish. Of course, I didn’t expect much, but it still felt off to sit there silently for that long.
Seo-A had an incredibly serious look on her face. Just like she was in a staring contest with a huge beast, her eyes were fixed on the bobber. It wouldn’t be surprising if she were a pro fisherman.
…Thinking about it, heroes really are different from ordinary folks. Someone as capable as Seo-A could probably just see the fish from above the water and catch them with a weapon instead of needing to use a fishing rod.
Well, then it wouldn’t be fishing anymore.
Though, it could possibly be prohibited in the name of protecting the fish population. You know, like how catching fish with car batteries is banned.
After about thirty minutes and still not one of us had caught anything,
“Ah.”
The first to react was Ramihi.
“Er, do you see something?”
“Ah, yeah, over there…”
Ramihi pointed toward the surface, but I, without the ability to see below the water’s surface, couldn’t tell what she was seeing.
“Ah.”
Then it was Satsuki’s turn to respond. She looked at where Ramihi was pointing and asked, “Hmm?”
“That’s a bit of a—”
Just as she was reacting, the bobber in front of me dove straight down!
Before anyone could say anything, I instinctively snatched the rod.
“Wah!”
I reflexively shouted that out; the fish that took the bait had some real strength.
“Alright, reel it in!”
Even though it wasn’t even her bobber, Seo-A sprang up and shouted encouragement.
At this point, I was pulling the rod with all my might.
“Eeek!”
Forebodingly, the fish wasn’t coming up easily, and I sensed that this one was quite big.
Having only seen fish already prepared or filleted, I couldn’t say for sure, but honestly, I was enjoying the moment rather a lot.
“Ah…!”
With all my strength, I lifted the fishing rod straight up.
By some miracle, it didn’t snap, and the fish I had hooked—
Came flying straight toward me?
That’s right. As if it had intentionally dived just to jump at me.
If I were there alone, I might have been caught by the fish.
Before I could react, something crashed down beside me, and the fish, looking like it could eat a person, was flung to the ground.
Before the wet fish could slide back into the ocean, the bright-eyed Seo-A, who had quickly come beside me after I saw my bobber go down, expertly secured that unnamed fish.
“…Huh?”
She tilted her head.
Inside the green net, there was a fish thrashing as if trying to break free.
I couldn’t see its exact shape, but at least from my angle, it looked like a “really large piranha.”
It seemed to be a dark color, all scaly and covered, as if it had grown up in some toxic environment, with something bulging on its back.
…But isn’t a piranha a freshwater fish?
We’re in the sea.
…Are the fish in this world originally this grotesque?
Thinking ahead, I relaxed, assuming fish dishes were going to be hard to eat from now on—when I noticed something strange.
The fish was thrashing and gradually moving toward me.
“I’ve never seen one like this before. No, even more, it doesn’t look like a creature born naturally.”
Out of everyone here, the most experienced in fishing and well-acquainted with various fish types was Seo-A, and she muttered that.
“…”
And then, there was one person who grimaced while watching the fish closely.
It was Rina.
“E, eh…?”
And one person who looked terribly flustered.
That was Aurora.
…And that fish was still vibrating on the ground, seemingly charging toward me as it thrashed against the rocks.
It had movements similar to a cartoon character I had seen on TV once, but much more threatening, snapping its jaws open and shut in a menacing manner.
“…”
In that moment, I realized something.
Stretching out my hand toward the thrashing fish, I projected my holy power.
The fish in the net was enveloped in bright light and melted away without a trace.
“…”
Seeing that scene, everyone was engulfed in silence, which goes without saying.
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