Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 234: Leisurely Dangling A String

I invoked an alchemy spell in front of the materials in the workshop.

「Transmute.」

The light of the magic circle engulfed the materials in its radiance and a long, narrow cylindrical item was completed.

From the resin of a Treant and coal, a carbon fiber rod was made.

Once I attached it to the reel made beforehand, it was complete.

「Takumi-sama, what sort of tool is that?」

Sophia asked in wonder. Do the Elves, forest dwellers, not know about fishing? I thought they were able to fish in ponds and lakes though……

「It’s a fishing rod, you know?」

「A fishing rod? What does that tool do?」

「Eh?! Sophia-san, you don’t know what a fishing rod is? It is a tool for fishing.」

Laeva, who was working on her own table in the workshop, was shocked. Laeva seemed to be familiar with fishing.

「In my country, fish are caught with arrows shot by a bow, as such, this is the first time I’ve heard of the term fishing.」

「Cultural differences, I suppose.」

When Elves catch fish, their tool of choice is the bow. I couldn’t say that I thought it was similar to the method of indigenous people from some place[1].

So, as the person who should be thinking about the design and construction of the aircraft that would be our method of transportation in the Demon Continent, if I had to say why I am making a fishing rod and reel………… it’s because I’ve reached a dead end.

Therefore, I thought to go fishing as a change of pace.

Since I was doing that anyway, I checked the materials and challenged myself to make carbon fiber.

「Master, let’s hurry and go fishing」

「Alright, shall we get going?」

Kaede, who had supplied the line for the reel, urged me to hurry up.

I prepared fishing rods, reels, and fishing hooks for a large number of people.

When we came out of the mansion, the Cat Sith sisters Miri and Lala, Catkin siblings Wappa and Sara, and the Human sisters Colette and Shirona were there waiting with straw hats and buckets in hand.

「Let’s go fast.」

「Yeah, okay let’s leave.」

We searched for a place that looked like a fishing spot in the coast on the west side and dangled our lines.

「I did it! I fished another one!」

「I caught one too!」

「Oneechan, it’s heavy. Help me!」

I started giving each pair of siblings a set of fishing poles, but looking for a spot we could fish at wasn’t necessary, as the bites came one after the other.

「…………」

Except for me……

「Nothing’s biting, huh.」

「……yeah, well, this is just the usual though.」

Fishing had been my hobby ever since I lived in Japan. From Sea fishing to river fishing, bait fishing to lure fishing, I’ve tried everything but……… yes, I am one of those people that’s crazy about something but was oh so bad at it.

Like when I went black bass fishing, no matter how many years I went to the lake but I never caught a single one. When I did bait fishing at sea, I caught horse mackerel and sardines using a flasher rig, but that’s about it.

As the children reeled in the fish, I dangled my line mindlessly. I think, perhaps, fishing isn’t for me. I hear that fishing fits impatient people more. Even if I can’t fish, I like this time where I’m just staring off into space. Well, it’s still better to catch things though.

twitch, zwoooosh!!

Suddenly, the line was pulled strongly.

「Uwaa! Fish on!」

The line was rapidly unwinding from the reel.

「Kuh!」

「Good luck!」

I enveloped my body in magic power, then reinforced the line by distributing magic power starting from the pole.

I was barely managing to wind up the reel.

I was sure that it was something relatively large that was hooked. I was sweating as I winded the reel as hard as I could, trying to give the children a good show.

Once I winded the line up enough to eventually see it in the distanceー no, I actually knew since much earlierー what appeared on the surface of the water was not a fish. It was over 10 meters long and 1 diameter wide gigantic Sea Snake.

「「「Uwaaaa!!」」」

The children ran away at the sight of the gigantic Sea Snake.

「……huh? That’s weird. Monsters shouldn’t be able to enter the barrier.」

「Takumi-sama, is the Sea Snake not a monster?」

『Hisssssss!!』

「「Wind Cutter!」」

Sophia and I fired Wind magic at the gaping mouth of the attacking Sea Snake.

Blam!

Its thick neck was severed and the head fell off, killing it instantly.

「Takumi-sama, it really did not have a magic stone. It was not a monster.」

「……I see, maybe I should look over the barrier again.」

「Isn’t it fine? Those this large are rare.」

On this day, I was unable to catch a single fish, but the children ended up looking at me like I was some sort of hero.

It was sweet, so it was acceptable.

***

Footnotes:

1. I don’t know if this was a reference to something or just speaking in general.