Since enough fish were caught, I start floating towards land. This is going to take a while, since I’ll be saying farewell to Nina, I might seriously just try crossing the ocean.
I would like to see how Nina will fare after leaving her in the port city if possible, preferably before I leave the desert. But I wonder if I’ll even have the opportunity. There will be quite the commotion if I were to go near the city. Then the city will become a ghost town instead.
I was able to send off the eight soldiers before without harming them too much, seeing as I could be regarded as a considerable threat to humans, I say I did rather well. I didn’t think they were particularly weak, after all, I’m sure they will be missed if I were to kill them. Maybe if I keep one-sidedly beating them they’ll leave me alone.
After arriving at the beach, I let Nina and the ball rabbit get off. Nina and the ball rabbit then layout some of the camel’s fur and place the fish on there.
In the meantime I dig a hole in the beach and scoop out some seawater by cupping it in my hands and carry it to the hole. Then I make the water evaporate by heating it up with my breath until only salt was left. Salt will be useful in the future. Now to wrap the salt up in some fur to make it easier to carry. Collecting salt is difficult if I stray too far from the sea.
The quality of food varies depending on the presence or absence of salt. Actually, I also like Piperis. I guess it’s not something that could be found in the desert. It would be nice to have something similar…I wonder if it could only be found in that forest. Well it can’t be helped if I think about it.
I grill the fish with [[Scorching Breath]] and coat them with the salt I made earlier. It’s my first time grilling fish in this life when I think about it. I feel like I can eat it raw, but this time I decided to heat it up.
As there may be strange parasites, I’ll make sure it’s safe. Myself and the ball rabbit will be fine, but Nina still has a human stomach. It will be rude to eat something prepared differently.
I lift the fish by the tail and finish it in one bite. Mmm, it’s delicious. It’s nostalgic as the taste has not changed much from the fish in my previous life.
Let’s give the grotesque fish and whatever’s left of the intestines and bait to the ball rabbit. Only that guy will dare to eat such things around here. That weird fish was named Eagle Bass. I used to shy away from eating the dark worm before, but now, I’m proud to say that I still find it gross.
There’s a chance that even the ball rabbit won’t like it. Since the eyeballs looked like they were about to jump out, yeah, you will be cursed if you eat the eyes.
Oh, yeah when I checked its status before with [[Status Check]], it had said that it was used as a material for magic tools or something. I could burn it now and be done with it, or keep it as there may be a time when I will need it for something.
“This fish, although it doesn’t look very appealing, it is pretty tasty.”
When I looked over to Nina, she was eating the Eagle Bass. I looked over to Nina and the fish three times on reflex. Are your senses strange? Maybe since you caught it yourself are you trying to take responsibility? You don’t have to force yourself.
“Since there is only one of these…Mr. Dragon do you want half? I’ve finished my half of my contribution! This is your half!”
….Don’t force yourself. It seems that some memory corrections were taking place to change the taste. By the way, excluding this fish, the rest of what Nina managed to catch happens to be nothing but bottles…. You can’t chew on a bottle so I can’t blame her for her eagerness on such a gross fish.
I thought of refusing and using the excuse that she went through the trouble just to catch it, especially since the head was the half presented to me. I closely look at the white eyeballs of the eagle bass.
“guoo….”
Can’t I just take the eyes? I feel that there will be aftereffects if I were to eat the rest. Do you hate me?
“pefu”
((Bring it to your mouth, or I will stuff it in there))
Wait wait! Hey you! I feel like the ball rabbit has been treating me bad today. What did I do to spoil your mood? Actually wait, I don’t want to know what you’re thinking, I’m scared just thinking about it.
“Now please eat nya! Come on, please have at it!”
Nina brings the eagle bass closer to my face. Hey, hey! Just keep it, even the eyeballs! Our eyes met! It’s staring at me! Even though it shouldn’t be able to, it’s staring at me! Ball rabbit please tell her! Have her stop!
“Is it unpleasant….? I-I’m sorry nya….”
Nina hunches over and looks down, while looking at me with an upward glance. Her ears lie flat without strength.
“….guu”
I gave up and decided to open my mouth. Nina’s face shines and with a “pa” she sticks the fish head into my mouth.
I closed my mouth and eyes trying not to think about it. As I was chewing a gentle sweetness spread throughout my mouth. Although it’s hard to imagine based on its appearance, the taste closely resembles that of a crab. It has a gelatin like texture and it’s soft and chewy.
It’s actually not bad. Luckily its taste does not match its gross appearance. While continuing to chew, two spheres flew into my mouth. Right, aren’t those the eyeballs? So they finally showed up.
I was strongly thinking of vomiting, but I decided to just ignore the thought instead. With all my spirit, I decided to finally swallow.
“How was it Mr. Dragon?”
“guuu…”
Honestly, it was delicious. It was delicious, but I feel uneasy about it…no, let’s not think about it too much.