[Cozy Fantasy] [Farming LitRPG] The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm

Chapter 85 - Fishing by Trawl and Error

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I pulled away from him and said, “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t stay. I have to leave.” He smoothed a stray strand of hair from my forehead.

“What? I thought you said you could stay for a few days. What happened?”

“There’s an emergency gathering, and…” He hugged me again. “I have to get treated for my qi overload.”

“Meetings again? Well, it’s good that your qi overload problem will be treated.” I hugged him back. Though I was disappointed, I wasn’t so selfish that I would tell him to stay with me instead of getting medical treatment.

“You don’t understand. The cure for my condition involves staying in my beast form for a long time. I’ll be staying in the Wildwood with my parents for two months.”

“What? Then that means we won’t be able to see each other for that long?”

“Yes.”

“When do you have to leave?”

“Right now.” He bent down and touched his forehead to mine. “I wish I could stay.”

“Me, too.”

Somewhere behind me, I heard someone cough.

“My prince, we have to go,” said a voice.

Prince Baiyu reluctantly let me go. “I’m sorry. I have to go. I only stopped on the way to the meeting because I wanted to tell you in person.”

“Goodbye, then. Get well soon,” I said.

He took my hand and kissed it then left.

This was the problem with having a wealthy, highly ranked boyfriend. He was always busy with important matters.

***

The rest of my household arrived a little later. We went to the top of the cliff and I placed the [Sunset Radiance Resort] there again. Deming and his assistants immediately rushed off to check the kitchen. Fengying gave me one long look then turned to my apprentices.

“What’s wrong?” Fengying whispered to Kharli.

I could totally hear them.

“She’s extremely depressed because Prince Baiyu had to go to some meetings, and then he’s going on a trip with his parents,” said Kharli.

“What a pity,” said Fengying.

“Come, children, it’s almost noon. It’s time for us to go fishing!” I said. “Let’s change into our work clothes and meet at the beach.”

Since it was quite cold outside, using the old fishing method wouldn’t work. This time, we were going out on the fishing boat that we had hired for the day. Just a few moments ago, the boat had come into sight, which meant that it was time for us to go fishing.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the beach where a tall, statuesque brunette was waiting for us. She had gray eyes and pointed ears.

“There you are! Hello, I’m Ruolin of the Sea Otter clan,” she said.

I introduced myself and my apprentices. “Nice to meet you. I’m Violet and these are Lari, Kharli, and Mo.”

“Are you ready? Where’s your equipment?” she asked.

“We’re ready,” I said. “The equipment is in my soul space.”

“Then I’ll take you to the boat. Pardon me.” Ruolin scooped me up in her arms and flew off.

“Kyaa~” I screamed a little bit and clutched her shoulders, but it was over very quickly since the boat wasn’t far from the beach.

She put me down and I grabbed the railing for balance.

“Alrighty, I’ll go and get the others now.” And with that, she flew off.

I put one hand on my roiling stomach. Though I was more comfortable on land, I was no stranger to boats, having gone on many boating vacations with my parents back on Earth.

Looking around me, I saw that the wooden vessel was exactly as Shuye had described. Owned by a wealthy human merchant, it was medium-sized for a fishing and leisure boat and had a sleek hull and narrow bow that should allow it to gracefully glide through the water.

The pilothouse at the center of the boat had large windows that had been closed due to the cold weather. When Ruolin finished bringing my three apprentices aboard, she ushered us inside the pilothouse, which was well-appointed, with comfortable seating, and introduced us to the captain, a middle-aged human with a bushy beard and twinkling brown eyes.

“I’m under very strict orders to take care of you and make sure that you don’t freeze to death,” said Ruolin. “The pilothouse is heated, so when you’re feeling too cold, come inside and warm up.”

She pointed at the small galley area with a charcoal stove that provided a welcome warmth.

“Yes, thank you,” I said. “But I think it will be fine. The weather is cold, but not really freezing.”

“True, but take it easy.” Ruolin reached under the seats and pulled out a wooden chest. Inside were oil-treated cloth raincoats that she distributed to us. “Put these on. They're waterproof.”

We all thanked her, and I debated whether I should pull out something better from the Cash Shop, but I decided that the old-timey coats had their own charm.

“Teacher, are we going to use the net?” asked Mo.

“Yes, let’s go to the stern and I’ll show you.” I led them to the back of the boat, called the stern, and said, “Okay, we can only do this one at the time. I’ll go first. Go to the [Fishing] tab and choose [Other]. There should be an option for [Trawl Fishing]. That’s what you will choose when it’s your turn. For now, just watch me.”

When I chose [Trawl Fishing], a magic circle appeared below us, underneath the surface of the water. It glowed brightly for a few seconds before disappearing, leaving behind the trawl, a large conical net with a wide mouth that was closed at one end. The net was attached to the boat by two long wires.

A small blue screen appeared in front of me with the words [Stop Fishing] written on it.

“I can’t see!” complained Lari.

“There’s a net, what’s there to see?” asked Mo.

“Are there any sea monsters or spirit fish?” Kharli leaned over the water and was almost thrown overboard when the boat was rocked by a particularly strong wave.

“Let’s go further out to sea at a moderate pace,” I said to Ruolin.

She left to inform the pilot, and we watched as the net was dragged behind the boat. However, it was too far down for us to see whether it was capturing any sea creatures or not.

“That’s it? It seems easy,” said Mo.

“Yes, but your energy will be drained really fast,” I said. “It’s not like using a fishing rod.”

When my energy bar was almost empty, I hauled in the net using the System’s [Stop Fishing] button.

“Nice!” I said.

[6 Lobster] [1 Sea Turtle] [8 Tuna] [2 Manta Ray] [8 Swordfish] [3 Old Boots] [5 Sea Glass] [3 Caskets] [7 Seaweed] [2 Driftwood]

All the items inside the net were automatically placed inside my inventory. I took out the [Sea Turtle] and threw it back into the water.

“Goodbye, Mr. Turtle,” I said. “Stay safe!”

My three apprentices exchanged glances.

“Teacher, why did you release the turtle?” asked Kharli.

“I don’t know. I just like turtles,” I said. One of my classmates in grade school had a pet turtle, and ever since I made the acquaintance of Shelly, a diamondback terrapin, I’ve never been able to eat turtles. “So, who’s next?”

The question was, of course, rhetorical. Lari silently stepped forward and I moved to the side in order to give him the center spot at the stern. The same magic circle appeared beneath the waves, and disappeared after flashing white a few times. Once again, the conical net materialized behind and below us.

“Ah, my energy is draining so fast!” said Lari.

Ruolin coughed lightly and said, “Baroness, you're finished? Why don’t you go inside and warm up? I can watch over the others.”

“Thank you, but this won’t take long.” I had been able to fish for around an hour, but the kids had less energy than me, so I reckoned they would be done in around half an hour.

“Very well,” said Ruolin. She disappeared into the pilothouse and returned with a large bucket full of red rocks that radiated heat.

We all moved closer to the bucket and I crouched down to warm my hands over it.

“What’s this?” asked Mo.

“These are fire rocks from Ka’u volcano. I used my qi to heat them up,” said Ruolin.

The four of us thanked her for the heated rocks, and the kids and I sat down on the deck to relax. The sea wind was quite bracing, and I took out a scarf from my inventory and wrapped it around my neck and the lower half of my face.

Ruolin and I chatted a bit while Lari fished.

“I should get some fire rocks for my house,” I said. “Are they very rare?”

“They’re rare and expensive, but I’m sure you can afford it. Shall I send some to your house?”

“Please do. I’ll inform my housekeeper.”

“Fire rocks were a good find, but did you hear about the latest discovery in the Ka’u region?” asked Ruolin.

“No, what was it?”

“An ancient teleportation stone!”

“No way, aren’t those dangerous?” Adventure Incarnate had a teleportation network that could be accessed by people level 50 Farming and higher, but teleporting in a game was different from doing it in real life.

I mean, was it like a Star Trek teleport where people were dematerialized before being rematerialized in a different location? That sounded painful!

Ruolin seemed to agree with me. “Yes, it’s extremely dangerous. There’s a team of magic formation masters working on it, last I heard. I definitely wouldn’t want to be one of them.”

“Gosh.” I shuddered at the thought of being one of the first to test a teleportation stone.

Our conversation was cut short when Lari hauled in his net. He had caught plenty of fish despite the fact that he had only been able to finish half as long as I had.

[8 Lobster] [1 Sea Turtle] [9 Tuna] [3 Manta Ray] [8 Swordfish] [1 Old Boots] [3 Sea Glass] [2 Caskets] [5 Seaweed] [2 Driftwood]

“Well done!” I said.

By this time, however, we were all feeling too cold, so we went inside to warm up and keep a hot meal since it was close to lunchtime. The captain expertly cleaned, fileted, and diced the tuna we had just caught and marinated it in freshly squeezed lime juice. When he added sliced onions, chili peppers, salt, pepper, and oil, I realized that he was making a ceviche.

I wasn’t too fond of raw fish though and refused a serving, opting to eat the fish stew and rice instead.

The captain and his deckhand were quiet folk. I tried to ask them about life on the sea, but they responded in monosyllables, so I limited myself to complimenting them on the food and the cleanliness of the boat. Ruolin, on the other hand, proved to be quite a chatterbox.

“Is it true that you're living together with the prince?” she asked me.

“No, that’s not true,” I said.

“But they say he rushes home to you after every hunt,” she said.

“We’re…” I was going to say “dating,” but that wasn’t quite true. “It’s complicated.”

Mo and Kharli giggled while Lari just rolled his eyes.

I ate as fast as I could and then rushed the kids back outside. Kharli fished next and had a pretty decent catch.

[3 Lobster] [1 Sea Turtle] [5 Tuna] [1 Manta Ray] [3 Swordfish] [2 Old Boots] [6 Sea Glass] [5 Caskets] [3 Seaweed] [3 Driftwood]

Mo, on the other hand, didn’t do as well.

[1 Lobster] [0 Sea Turtle] [1 Tuna] [0 Manta Ray] [2 Swordfish] [10 Old Boots] [9 Sea Glass] [2 Caskets] [6 Seaweed] [5 Driftwood]

“Well, that’s it, we’re all out of energy,” I said. “Let’s go back to the hotel.”

“I didn’t know there was a hotel at the Emerald Cove,” said Ruolin.

“There is now. Would you like to join us?” I asked her.

“No, thank you, Baroness. We have a schedule to keep,” she said.

I gave the crew five of the tuna since I wanted them to have something good to eat on their way back home. The stuff that we caught was superior to ordinary fish, after all.

“That was fun, wasn’t it?” I asked my apprentices.

“Yes, but it didn’t give a lot of exp,” said Mo.

“I think the cost of hiring the ship was more than the cost of the fish we caught,” said Lari.

He wasn't wrong.

“Should we release the turtles we caught?” asked Kharli.

“Please do,” I said.

“Is that out of respect to the Black Tortoise clan? Because I don’t think they would care, ” said Ruolin.

“No, I just really like turtles,” I said.

Little did I know that today would give me a reputation for having a great deal of respect, or even reverence towards the Black Tortoise clan which would prove to be quite useful later.