Chapter 122: Fishing Ain’t Easy
Chapter 122: Fishing Ain’t Easy
Kalli led the way to the back of the Academy, and gestured to the open space. "If there is no objection, this spot has access to the basic amenities that you will need. There is a tap and power combo that will allow the shop to have both water and power when it appears.
The System’s magic integrates it with the Academy’s systems."
The weaver nodded. "I will take it."
{Textile Mill Placed} [Coordinator Style Architecture selected]
The curved dome of the mill’s exterior appeared in front of them, larger than either of the previous shops, and much taller.
"Apparently your shop needs more space. Let’s go see inside."
The interior of the textile shop was more than a simple weaver’s loom. At the front doors, there were sets of storage racks, where bolts of cloth could be set in preparation for sale, at the far end, there was a large bay door where bulk materials could be brought in and waste taken away.
But in the middle, there was so much more.
Automated looms, some sort of threshing machine to separate plant fibres, spinning wheels to make yarn. All in the modern style of Kalli’s home world. All of them operated primarily on mana input if you weren’t using physical exertion to drive them. But that shouldn’t be a problem for many people anymore.
Even if they were considered level 0 commoners, they still had some mana.
If the weaver couldn’t recover his fast enough to keep the machines running for a full shift, they could just hire more people to take turns on the machines, while the rest of the crew took care of the other tasks.
It would be a full and proper textile factory once it was up and running. For their current situation, it might actually be overkill, but it would give everyone something to do, and keeping them from being idle and desperate would keep morale high within the population of Marimgar.
Then, they could assign more people to go out and check on the tubers, to haul water for the crops, pull weeds if that was actually necessary when the crops could defend themselves.
Anything to keep people working.
It was simple, but they had the basics now. The only thing left was for them to find an oil crop that they could extract cooking oil from. They got plenty of flour from the dungeon, and for now, they had plenty of meat.
Plus, if the fishing expedition worked out for them, they would have a steady supply there.
And that meant fish and chips as the Marimgar signature dinner special.
Perhaps not the most healthy or luxurious of meals. But they were doing quite well with tuber and crab chowder, so fish and chips would be a nice bit of variety in texture. At least for the heroes, as the common folk, even the ones tagged as level zero, would get a calorie overload from a single serving.
In some ways, the System was very kind to them. Food quality was one of those ways.
While Kalli planned ways to put everyone in town to work, the heroes were actively cursing her name and blaming her for their current misfortunes.
They had gone as a large group, over a hundred heroes working together to fight their way to the closest shore, about a kilometre west of the Temple area. But nobody had warned them that there were no small fish for them to catch.
The first bite they had managed came only five minutes into their attempt, using crab meat as bait.
And it had taken three warriors and half an hour to drag the catch to shore using the Academy’s heaviest offshore fishing gear. Then, they almost immediately hooked another, a much smaller fish that they had halfway in when something huge grabbed it.
That had taken them almost an hour of fighting to get ashore, and now they realized that they had a major issue.
{Quest} [A Varied Diet] catch 2 or more edible fish. Easy Difficulty.
{Current Status} 0/2
{System Note} While they are edible, Razortooth Sharks are not fish.
Nearly two hours they had been out here, and they finally had their second catch on the shore, totalling nearly three tonnes of meat between them, but neither counted as a "Fish" for the quest?
"Hey, I’ve got another bite," Niall called as he struggled to bring in the catch.
This time, it wasn’t strong enough that they needed multiple people to bring an aquatic monster to shore, the Student Council President had caught an actual fish.
A yellow fin tuna, to be precise.
{Hero Niall Has Caught a Fish} Mission Completion 1/2
"Alright, whoever catches something resembling a fish hands the rod to the President. We clean these things, and we get off this beach before we wear out our guards fighting the Magma Corrupted monsters," Joanna insisted.
The President’s little sister didn’t often speak up, but she was an exceptionally skilled warrior, and she was fighting with the rest of the council to keep the monsters off the fishermen.
"Hey, leave that tuna in the water to cool. We don’t have ice on us, unless someone can make some, and if we don’t cool it, the meat will spoil."
Niall nodded, but one of the mages came to make a bed of ice to lay the tuna on, and to pack it with once it was gutted.
That process, unlike cleaning the sharks, brought them an unexpected windfall. The offal brought many small fish near shore, and within minutes, all the lines they had were occupied, and the quest completions started to pile up.
"Alright, now we know the technique for next time. Bait the shallow waters to bring them in, instead of casting out into the deeper waters, where we keep catching sharks."
Joanna laughed. "But now we get to have Shark Fin Soup.
Someone knows how to cook it, right? I’ve never tried it before."
It wasn’t a popular dish in Marimgar. Their fisheries had long been restricted, and there were never many sharks near the coastal waters.