"What are you standing around for? Hurry up and pick up the fish!"
Nalant looked at his dumbfounded subordinates and immediately urged them on.
"Yes, my lord!" Vivian was closest to Nalant, so she rushed forward and picked up the fish. "You're amazing, my lord! This sea fish must be worth at least thirty copper coins!"
"Hm? It's that expensive?"
"It's true, my lord. That's the going price in the Barony of Quinte. I've seen them at the market." Vivian nodded firmly.
Doesn't that mean I can make a fortune? Nalant was delighted. If sea fish really sold for that much, he could solve the food shortage and even increase the territory's income in the future.
Without wasting any time, Nalant cast his line into the water again.
He needed to confirm one thing: that catching a sea fish hadn't been a fluke.
Just like before, once the silver spoon hit the water, it attracted a school of fish. Nalant began rhythmically dancing his fishing rod again.
"He's doing it again! The lord's dancing again!" Everyone's eyes lit up, especially the serfs'. They watched the lord's movements without blinking.
They wanted to learn his "secret fishing dance" so they could sneak back another day and catch a few fish themselves.
"You lot, stop watching!" A few serfs had already started imitating Nalant's posture as they watched, unable to contain themselves.
Quick noticed at once. He hurried to stand in front of the serfs and sternly ordered them to look away.
In Quick's eyes, this dance was a money-making secret technique. It belonged exclusively to his lord, and the serfs had no right to lay claim to it—not without the lord's permission, at the very least.
The serfs saw Quick glaring at them and immediately shrank their necks and lowered their heads.
Buzz!
Just then, another buzzing sound came from ahead. The lord had hooked another fish.
Sure enough, Nalant's rod bent into a deep arc again as the sea fish pulled him along, swimming this way and that.
"Damn, this one's huge!" Nalant felt several times the pulling force of the fish he'd caught earlier and couldn't help exclaiming in excitement.
The fish was so big that Nalant didn't dare haul it straight out as he had the first one. Instead, he followed it as it swam.
Gradually, the sea fish dragged Nalant right to the edge of the beach. Any farther, and he'd be in merman territory.
"No way. You're coming up!" Nalant could no longer afford to hold back. He raised his hand and yanked the rod up, taking a risk.
With Nalant's full strength behind the pull, the sea fish, already exhausted, was finally hauled out of the water.
"Wow! What a huge sea fish!" The fish flew out of the sea, and everyone's eyes widened. It weighed at least seven or eight pounds.
Smack!
Just as the sea fish was about to reach shore, the fishing rod, made from nothing but an ordinary tree branch, finally gave way and snapped.
"Damn it! Get up on shore!"
Quick as a flash, Nalant kicked the sea fish in the belly. It narrowly flew onto shore, where Quick rushed forward and caught it in his arms.
"My lord is mighty!" Everyone burst into cheers.
"Haha, it was nothing!" Nalant felt a sense of accomplishment too. More importantly, he'd confirmed that Lure Fishing worked in this world as well. Catching the sea fish earlier hadn't been a fluke.
Nalant had planned to catch a few more to take back to the castle and add some variety to the menu, but now that his rod was broken, he decided to call it a day.
"Kenbi Cowdung!"
"My lord, I'm here!" Kenbi Cowdung was now filled with admiration for his lord. He'd never imagined his lord could catch fish just by dancing.
If only I could learn to move like that! That was what Kenbi Cowdung was thinking.
"How many days' worth of food does your village have left?"
"My lord, we have only a little over a week's worth of wheat left! But if we go gather wild fruit in the Blazing Forest to the west, maybe... maybe we could keep eating for a while." Kenbi Cowdung answered carefully.
"You can't gather wild fruit anymore." Nalant had an idea of their situation, but he refused to let the serfs risk going into the Blazing Forest to gather fruit. With all these sea fish available, he wouldn't waste manpower on that, even if it weren't dangerous.
"This..." Kenbi and the other serfs turned deathly pale at his words, thinking Nalant had forbidden them from gathering wild fruit in the territory.
In this world, every blade of grass and every tree in a territory belonged to its lord. If the lord ordered them not to gather anything, then even pulling up a single blade of grass would count as stealing his property.
Of course, normally no lord would issue such an order.
"I'll make some fishing rods over the next couple of days. From now on, your job will be to catch fish," Nalant said.
"Huh? Catch... fish?" Kenbi Cowdung looked stunned.
"What, you're unwilling?"
"We're willing! We're willing!" Kenbi Cowdung nodded eagerly, like a chicken pecking at grain.
"Good." Nalant nodded and dismissed Kenbi Cowdung. Just as he was about to reach into his clothes for something, Quick stepped up and asked cautiously, "My lord, are you really going to teach them the secret technique of dancing to catch fish? Won't it leak out?"
"What secret dance technique?" Nalant asked, not understanding.
Seeing that his lord hadn't caught on, Quick immediately raised his hand, twisted his waist, and mimed the way Nalant had danced to attract the fish. "This secret technique!"
"..." Nalant's face darkened. Did I really twist my waist like that while fishing? How embarrassing!
"Quick, go tell the serfs that not a single word about fishing is to leave this place." Quick's words had reminded Nalant: fishing with artificial bait was an invention unique to this world, and it could bring in enormous profits. He really couldn't let the secret out.
"Yes, my lord!" Quick knew his lord had made up his mind and didn't dare say anything more. He immediately went over to the serfs, and soon his stern warnings rang out.
After Quick left, Nalant took a little creature from his clothes: the Blue Sprite he'd obtained the previous night.
The little creature had reacted as soon as Nalant approached the beach.
"This isn't good news." They were on the coast, and Nalant was very worried the little creature would choose a habitat in the sea.
If there were no merman Sea Monsters, Nalant wouldn't be too concerned. But with merman Sea Monsters around, even if the sprite attracted some rare sea fish to settle there, Nalant wouldn't be able to catch them.
But the little creature's choices were random, and Nalant had no choice but to accept them. "Go on, little guy!"
With that, Nalant set the Blue Sprite down on the ground.
"Migu, migu!" The little creature chirped excitedly at Nalant, then ran down the beach.