Fishing
“We came all the way to the sea, but nobody’s swimming.”
Takuto muttered that while looking at the Arland Muscle Squad. They’re having fun, sure, but aside from the people building a castle, they’re basically just doing strength training. Also, the castle-building itself is surprisingly high-spec, they’re burying driftwood and washed-up branches in the sand as a foundation and building on top of that.
“Well, Arlanders basically can’t swim. I think people who can swim are probably a minority in this world.
You get it too, Takuto, the sea is a paradise for monsters. If you swim around carelessly, you’ll get attacked. Monsters live in rivers too, you know. And I’ve never heard of a noble who owns something as expensive as a pool.”
The lord of the Shishido Domain has firsthand experience with weekly kraken landings. He should understand how dangerous the sea is. Apparently they defeat them every time without losses. It’s a good source of income, they say.
This world is overflowing with danger. No matter how tough and brave Arlanders are, once they’re in the water their movements slow down and they’d just become monster food. That’s why swimming isn’t even an option. Still, coming to the conclusion that “then just run on the water” is… impressive, though.
Also, our nobles are poor. They don’t build facilities that cost money to maintain and have no productivity, and even if they did build them, they couldn’t afford to keep them running. These days they probably have some extra cash, but that goes toward paying off debts and investing in their territories. I doubt they’d ever think about building something like a pool. If they were going to build anything, it’d be training facilities to strengthen themselves or their soldiers. And in fact, the Kingdom of Arland is fairly well stocked with training facilities.
“Princess!”
When we reached the beach and got off the boat, knights who had been sprinting full speed through the sea came running over. They looked refreshed, like they’d worked up a good sweat, but I really wish huge, muscle-bound men in boomerang-style swim briefs wouldn’t come charging at me. I feel like the temperature just went up.
“What is it?”
“Yes! We have proven that a rumor whispered throughout the kingdom is false!”
“What are they talking about all of a sudden?”
Oh, that one? The rumor that Big Brother is pretending to be a siscon to deceive those around him? He’s a siscon, plain and simple. A hardcore one who’s plotting to marry me, even. Honestly, the ladies of high society should just eat him alive already.
“You don’t know?! Recently, there are fools spreading the delusion that humans can float on water!
However, after testing it ourselves in the sea, we confirmed that humans sink! Every single one of us sank without exception!
This proves that humans cannot float on water!”
The knights lectured me smugly.
“That’s just because you’ve built up too much muscle. If you’re too ripped, you sink. So it’s not wrong that humans can float, though of course, it depends on the situation.”
The knights froze in shock at my words.
“T-Then… does that mean… we cannot float at all…? What a tragedy…”
“If we lost muscle, would we have a chance?”
“Fool! I’d rather die than do that!”
“Exactly! Do you have any idea how much time we spent building these bodies?!”
Most of the knights shot down the desperate proposal of the one who really wanted to swim. Yeah, weakening them would be a problem for the kingdom too.
“For all of you, I have a present.”
I handed them inflatable rings. A wonderful invention. With these, the risk of drowning drops dramatically.
I haven’t been able to swim in places with currents since my previous life. I can drown even in a lazy river. The only place I can swim at all is perfectly still water, and even then only dog-paddling at best. This body has even less stamina than my previous one, so I brought float rings with me.
Of course, I knew Arlanders can’t swim, so I prepared plenty.
The knights tilted their heads, not understanding how to use them, but once I explained, they smiled, equipped them, and charged into the sea.
I watched the surreal sight of knights bobbing cheerfully in the inlet with float rings on, and promptly ran out of things to do.
Thanks to the arrival of the float rings, even the knights who had been building Arland Castle on the beach were now floating on the water. They chose floating over castle-building. Not a single one stayed behind.
As a mature, ladylike adult, I’m not childish enough to get absorbed in playing in the sand, so sand play is out. I did consider making the Statue of Liberty, but being mistaken for a child would be unacceptable.
So, Takuto and I decided to go fishing together.
Alicia is glaring daggers at Takuto from behind, but as long as she doesn’t interfere, I’ll ignore her. I secretly set up a teleportation magic circle, so unnecessary approaches aren’t possible. She’ll just get sent back to where she was.
She approaches, gets sent back, waits a bit, then approaches again, over and over. The magic circle is supplied directly with my mana, so she should really just give up.
Big Brother and Alicia both react excessively whenever I’m with someone of the opposite sex. If Father were here… yeah, he’d go berserk. The fish would all flee.
I have no fishing experience, but I’m probably a prodigy, so it’s fine. I had Takuto put the gross creature on the hook, tossed it into the sea, and sat down next to him.
About thirty minutes passed as I stared at the ocean. Takuto had already reeled in five fish. I still had none.
“Hmph. The one who gets impatient loses.”
“Oh? This was a competition?”
“I won’t lose to you, Takuto.”
Skill-wise, we should be evenly matched. It’s fine, I’m not at the point of panicking yet. There’s nothing I can’t do, having watched fishing segments on the news and variety shows in my previous life (even if I always changed the channel after a few seconds because I wasn’t interested).
After that, Takuto kept casually pulling fish out one after another, but my rod showed no reaction at all.
“It’s an island reserved for the imperial family, so the fish aren’t wary. A great fishing spot.”
“That overconfidence will be your downfall.”
“You’re just as competitive as ever, even after reincarnating.”
Takuto was born after me. That means I’m in the position of an older sister. I can’t lose. There’s dignity at stake.
Then… my rod twitched.
I grabbed it in a hurry, activated [Body Enhancement], and reeled in with all my strength.
Something burst out of the water at speed, but the line came loose midair. No problem. With that trajectory, it’d fall right into my hands. I caught it.
“… What, a rough diamond?”
What I caught wasn’t a fish, but a rough diamond about the size of an adult’s fist, maybe a bit bigger. I almost clicked my tongue. I have no use for you.
“Why are you fishing up a rough diamond…? I mean, there’s nowhere for the hook to stick. Where did it even catch?”
“If it’s not a fish, it doesn’t count. That’s a miss.”
I thought about tossing it back into the sea, but decided I might as well take it home as a souvenir and put it in the Treasury.
After that, Takuto kept catching fish, but everything I reeled in was junk.
Here’s the list:
A silver key that looked like it might open the Ultimate Gate (released into the sea)
A bust of Stalin (incinerated)
A small Statue of Liberty (stored in the Treasury)
A mysterious fossil (stored in the Treasury)
A shoggoth (attacked us, but Takuto instant-killed it; it wasn’t a monster)
A shrimp (escaped after taunting us and snapping the line)
Monster bones (stored in the Treasury)
My clone (released into the sea)
A rough chunk of orichalcum (GOT IT)
A mysterious magical device (to be analyzed in the Treasury)
A holy shield (mediocre effect, and it defied me, so I released it into the sea)
A water spirit (shared mana with it, then released)
A water-attribute fairy race (apologized, then released)
A half-fish, half-cat creature (not a monster, but couldn’t breathe on land, so released)
Terrible results. Not a single fish.
“Grrr…”
“No, I think that’s incredible in its own way. Including the fact that you didn’t catch a single fish.”
“Even the armed flying ships catch krakens and water dragons…”
Armed flying ships fire depth charges, then shoot rocket anchors into the corpses of krakens and water dragons before they sink, hauling them back. If left alone, they’d just become food for other monsters, and both krakens and water dragons make decent materials. They’re rare, too, so they sell for a high price. The meat’s tasty as well.
The samurai corps from the Land of Tranquility are aboard the armed flying ships as observing military officers. It’s to show off the Kingdom of Arland’s technological strength.
The Land of Tranquility is far from the continent, not just geographically. Like the Kingdom of Arland, there’s a national sentiment of not wanting to get involved with other countries.
That said, Arland is fairly flexible. It was originally founded by immigrants, so as long as there’s profit, there are no complaints. They’re flexible enough to say, “If you want to be an ally, we’ll establish diplomatic relations.”
The Land of Tranquility doesn’t seem to be like that. Unlike Arland, they don’t actively protect other races. They guarantee the rights of other races living within their borders, but not to the point of accepting immigrants.
I don’t think that’s evil. But that unique isolationism, combined with the pride of having defended their land against the Empire on their own, runs deep in the samurai corps. That’s why we showed off Arland’s military power when shipping Yamata no Orochi.
They achieved a complete victory against a monster they themselves couldn’t defeat and could only seal away. This visit is the follow-up. It’ll carve into their hearts the idea that opposing Arland is a bad idea.
They’ve already formed an alliance and even signed a trade treaty, so the opposition faction likely has little momentum left. Still, this visit will weaken them further. This country has value. So we give them benefits, but betrayal won’t be tolerated. Be friendly and reap rewards; become an enemy and learn what happens.
Already, over a hundred krakens and water dragons have fallen victim to depth charges, piled up somewhere other than the inlet we’re in. The samurai corps is probably pale with fear by now.
“Looks fun.”
“It is. If our ties with this country strengthen, the Central Nations Federation won’t be able to stay calm. Serves them right.”
There’s no need to act directly. Just the fact that they’re sandwiched between kingdom allies is heavy enough. You’ve got to enjoy a little harassment.
Takuto watched me with an amused look as I wore a thoroughly villainous grin.
“What?”
“No, nothing.
That aside, you’ve been staying here quite a while, are you sure it’s okay? Aren’t you incredibly busy?”
“Apparently busy enough that it’s normal for bureaucrats to collapse and fall asleep in the corridors.
But actually, the Air Force and the Technology Development Bureau have already finished their organizational reforms, so they have plenty of leeway.”
“So the others are insanely busy, then?”
“Unlike those two, they’ve got structural problems and all sorts of issues.
Big Brother is good at coming up with and implementing new policies, and at keeping the nobles in line, but he’s not that good at streamlining existing organizations.
Because up until now, it wasn’t that much of a problem.”
Even if the organizational structure is bad and inconvenient, the ones who suffer are the people on the ground. There’s no way Big Brother would understand that struggle. Just like I’d be at a loss if someone told me to understand the hardships of farmers.
That’s why Big Brother isn’t particularly good at organizational reform.
Of course, there are other reasons too.
Big Brother is a reformist. The mainstream in the Kingdom of Arland is reformist, but conservatives obviously exist as well.
Especially the so-called Noble Assembly, tax-wasting complainers who oppose everything, were basically Big Brother’s enemies. The reason they tried to put me forward as queen was because they believed that if Big Brother inherited the throne as-is, they’d never see the light of day again.
Sorry, but I wouldn’t show them mercy either. In fact, I used wartime authority to bind them by force and dissolve the assembly. Big Brother drives people into a corner mercilessly, but then extends a helping hand. If they make an effort and produce proper results, he’d let them avoid confinement and even entrust them with offices or territories. Me? I suppress obstacles directly with armed force. Which one’s better, I wonder?
Anyway, the kingdom’s organizational structure is terrible, even from my perspective.
First, paperwork. Documents are split between plant paper and parchment, and there are nearly thirty different formats alone. Obviously wasteful. But there are vested interests here too.
There are nobles who control those formats. Standardizing them would strip those nobles of their interests.
Until now, it wasn’t a problem. The total volume of paperwork wasn’t unmanageable. At worst, the people on site would mutter “what a pain.”
But then came project after project, massive infrastructure development that practically reshaped the nation, pushing capacity far past its limit. That’s the current Kingdom of Arland.
Officials and nobles collapsing from overwork, popping [Cheer-Up-and-Feel-Happy Medicine] every time they went down, and sleeping in piles in the corridors.
Problems Big Brother had postponed to avoid making unnecessary enemies finally exploded.
“So you ignored all that and carried out reforms anyway?”
“That’s harsh. I didn’t ignore it. I just didn’t have subordinates who complained.”
The current Air Force might as well be a newly founded organization, it used to be tiny. The paperwork load was small enough that a single retired military officer could handle it.
They barely got any budget to begin with. When I told them, “This way’s easier,” everyone just said, “Is that so?” and accepted it without complaint. To them, I was a benefactor who finally brought people like them, long stuck in the shadows, into the spotlight. This was nothing to complain about. They were grateful, if anything.
The Technology Development Bureau’s developers were sick of complicated paperwork. They wanted to spend their time researching instead. They’d been submitting mountains of improvement requests every year anyway, so it wasn’t an issue, those requests just got approved.
In my case, the organizations simply weren’t bound by complex vested interests. That’s the difference between Big Brother and me.
“Is it okay not to help them?”
“If I help, they’ll resent me. I’m waiting for them to come crying.”
By now, mountains of complaints are probably pouring in toward the responsible nobles and Big Brother.
Those nobles should realize this isn’t something they can keep being stubborn about. Big Brother probably won’t protect them this time.
They’ll relinquish their posts, and the kingdom will prepare alternate positions for them. That’s likely how it’ll go.
Before long, Big Brother will start feeling uneasy about how the Air Force and Technology Development Bureau keep running smoothly even while I’m away for so long. He’ll quickly understand why.
He should realize that efficient organization and operation, like mine, are necessary. That’s when I’ll lend a hand.
“With proper delegation of authority and streamlined organization, my subordinates have enough leeway to leave work on time.”
“If they heard that, they’d cry tears of blood.”
“The problem is that it’s taking Big Brother longer than expected to notice…”
“He’s probably just too busy to pay attention to your people.”
“…………”
“…………”
“Let’s wait and see.”
That ends this discussion. And fishing, too, the armed flying ships seem to be done.
I fired [Thunder] from my palm without chanting.
The lightning struck the sea surface, and the surrounding fish floated up, electrocuted.
Using [Telekinesis], I gathered the fish into a basket.
“Hmph. My victory.”
“That’s cheating!”
“No rules. Winner takes all.”
Now then, when will Big Brother notice, I wonder? I headed toward the armed flying ships returning to the inlet.
The knights were still floating on the sea.
They really don’t get bored, do they?
What do you think about this chapter?
