Chapter 143 Aside From That
Maya-chan was totally stunned, but now she's back to her usual "I see, hmm" expression. When she was at Watterhill, she mentioned registering at the guild headquarters. I have no idea how active she was, though.
Plus, she had access to the head manager's office, so she probably knew some inside information, but it seems like she didn't know about Kumei-san. We're all part of the same guild, so I'd think we'd know each other's business, but even I didn't know much about her personal life.
"Jam-san"
"Yes, what is it? You'll answer anything you know, okay?"
Well, of course he will. We're in full-on honesty mode here. His expression is more relaxed since the top lady, Geno-san, isn't around.
"Did you know that there are no guild branches in Wareels?"
"Oh, really? That's interesting."
Yeah, after Ensgard and Wareels went their separate ways, Mother probably created the guild.
"I had a feeling that would happen."
"Yeah, Maya thought the same too, brother."
I mean, Wareels seems like an enemy country. So, it seems so.
"To be honest, it's not safe on the lake."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there might not be many, but there are Magic Beasts (Majuu) other than fish species in the area."
"Fish species?"
"Oh, right! I remember something called Great Trout."
"Why are you saying that? Maya-chan"
"When Mom (Danna) asked me to 'appraise' if any Oso (Dreadful Element) was left, it turned out that Great Trout was categorized as a Magic Beast."
"Really?"
""Yeah, really!""
Yo, it looks like Maya-chan and Jam-san are in sync, huh?
"Definitely, if we're talking about the northern lakes, it wouldn't be surprising to find wolves or bears――"
"Hahaha"
Suddenly, Jam-san burst into laughter. Why? Oh, right.
"Hey, brother, wolves really tickle Jam-san, don't they?"
"Yes. Although we don't have any Bearmen here, Wareels is a nation of Wolf-Human hybrids."
Ah, I see. Watterhill had bears, but they're not around here, huh?
"Hey, weren't we talking about Magic Beasts?"
"Yes? Wolves and bears are also considered Magic Beasts."
"Oh, I see. So, bears too."
"Yes. Let's get back to our conversation. When a Great Trout grows to a catchable size, it starts to carry a magical stone about the size of a grain of wheat."
That magical stone, about the size of a grain of rice, that they used with the flying bird. They don't say "rice" because it's not as common, right? Wheat is bigger than rice, so... oh, even if it's small, it's okay. About the size of a wheat grain.
"Huh? They're not always there? The stones?"
"No, the magical stones do exist. Some are so tiny, like grains of sand, that they're easy to miss."
"If they're that small, do they even have value?"
"Yes, they do. Because they're magical stones."
"I see. So, does that mean if a fish grows big, the magical stone also grows big?"
"No, not necessarily. Even fish that are less than a year old can have stones bigger than a grain of wheat, as reported."
"Wow. Isn't that 'dangerous (やばやまいん)'?"
Maya-chan using such a slang. There used to be a tea brand called "Nagayama-in," and it was like slang that was popular among middle and high schoolers back in the day, similar to "yabai." But, hey, Maya-chan wasn't even born back then!
"'Yabayamin,' you mean?"
"Oh, that's it. It means 'something serious is happening,' like a secret code that kids used to use."
"Oh, I see. Yeah, things are pretty serious."
"If you're catching the big ones, isn't that poaching? Isn't it already overfishing?"
Ah, Maya-chan was consciously saying slang. It's not like a catchphrase, it seems. Maybe this is her real self? Or maybe not. It doesn't matter right now.
"Yeah, definitely. Wareels do not have a culture of eating Great Trout."
"Are you serious?"
"Are you serious?
Don't wolves and dogs eat much fish?
"Hey, hey, Jam-san, Jam-san."
"What?"
"Wolf-Human doesn't eat fish?"
"Their eating habits are different from Tigerman (Kojinzoku) and Cat-people men. I heard that they didn't like to eat meat because they could get it through hunting. We love meat, but fish is our absolute favorite."
"Great Trout is delicious."
"Yeah."
The fragrant skin and fatty meat are definitely delicious. If there is a rice, I can have as many bowls as I want!
"There are pros and cons to eating only the salted skin over an open flame, but this is also delicious. Alcohol is also going on..."
"Maya loves it too, and it's definitely something that goes well with food. Ah, but there's no rice, huh?"
"Yeah, He's the kind of guy who won't stop if there's food."
I can't stop talking about food. But the problem is the method of poaching, right?
"Do you want to know what "Okome" is? I'll look into it if you'd like."
"Really?"
"Really?"
"As I've heard, you two are really similar siblings."
That's what everyone says. I do think there are some similarities, though.
"You know, you know..."
Maya-chan seems to be trying to show Jam-san a photo on her smartphone. It looks like something related to a Magic Tool, which is something Jam-san hasn't seen before, but as the manager, he can handle it.
"What is this, ... I see. So this is the 'Magic Tool' you're talking about."
"Yeah, yeah. I love cats that understand language."
"I'm a tiger, though."
Jam-san chuckled at that. Maya-chan seems to be searching for photos without minding the conversation.
"Oh, this, this. This is rice. When you cook it in a pot, it turns out like this."
"This is a rare grain. With such distinctive features, if found, there should be no mistake."
'If found,' huh.
"Regardless of whether it's found, we're part of that guild."
Jam-san seems to be holding something back, giving off a serious vibe. Between us, there's no need for fake expressions or dodging around. Something's definitely up.
"Oh, I completely forgot."
"Yeah?"
"Sorry, I got off track. About the poaching thing, you know, we weren't just sitting around doing nothing."
"Huh? Isn't it supposed to be past tense?"
"Yeah, it is."
Jam-san seems to have a serious expression. Between us, we don't really need to make faces and hide things. Seriously, something must have happened.
"If the Wareels (over there) over there are carrying out large-scale poaching at a national level, it's bound to cause some trouble."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"No one openly conducts fishing activities during the winter daytime."
"Definitely."
"Yep."
Of course, it makes sense. Taking a boat out during the winter fishing ban is practically asking for trouble, isn't it?
"We didn't need to hide and fish."
"Okay."
Ah, Maya-chan is listening to the conversation while petting Jam-san.
"We only knew about the lake during the day. But you see, we started investigating because there were suspicions and rumors of illegal fishing at night. That's how we learned about the ecology of the Great Trout that we didn't know about."
"Okay, and then?"
"It seems that Great Trout and such have a habit of gathering in shallow waters at night."
"Oh, towards the shallow waters at night?"
"By the way, brother."
"Yeah?"
"On the Ensgard side, aren't there only cliffs and deep places?"
"Oh, yeah, it did seem like that."
"Right, that's it. There are beaches on the Wareels side, but not on the Ensgard (our side)."
"Oh, does that mean..."
"Yes. It seems they gathered on that side at night."
"How did you figure that out?"
"Well, since the place where we unloaded the boat is relatively shallow, relatively small Great Trout gathered around there."
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