Chapter 14: I’m craving River Fish

Chapter 14: I’m craving River Fish “I feel like eating fish once in a while.” Ryo muttered to himself one day after finishing his morning practice. “Grilled fish would be nice. I’d love to have it grilled with salt. To be honest, I want to drizzle some soy sauce ... but that is just wishful thinking since I don’t have soy sauce so I’ll compromise on that. All right, let’s have salt-grilled fish tonight for dinner!” Now that he had decided on it, he should take action immediately. There was no sea here but river fish should suffice. That was because the images that came to mind when Ryo imagined salt-grilled fishes were grilled sweetfish and rainbow trout. His choice for the tool to catch fish was his usual knife-tipped bamboo spear. “I actually wanted to have a barbed tip that curved back at the end like a harpoon but ... I’ll have to give up on that.” Fishing was previously something that Ryo would never opt for. “This time I won’t need the hemp bag.” With the knife-tipped bamboo spear in his hand, Ryo headed toward the river located to the south of his home. This was absolutely not because he wanted to have fun. Right, definitely not. Probably ... not. At that time, it so happened that there was a crocodile at the river bank. It was not listed in the 『Monster Encyclopedia: Beginner Edition』. Therefore it was probably an 『animal』 rather than a 『monster』. Naturally, on 『Phi』, there were millions of types of existences that were not monsters, or in other words, ordinary animals. The difference between monsters and animals would be the small stone called a 『Magic Stone』 located near the heart of monsters. In addition, depending on the species, some monsters were capable of using 『Magic』. And most of the time, monsters were more violent and stronger than ordinary animals. For that reason, in Rondo Forest where strong monsters roam, most ordinary animal types had been exterminated. That was the reason why Ryo had not seen any animals in Rondo Forest until now. However, now, there was an animal in front of his eyes. Even though it was a huge crocodile-type animal over 5 meters in length, it was still an animal ... According to a famous Japanese book on Earth ... 『How to hold a crocodile』, the way to go was to approach it from behind. It was a book a friend showed Ryo when he was a primary school student. “That probably won’t come useful” ... Ryo thought to himself so he didn’t read it properly. Now he regretted it. There really was no telling what would be useful where! “Well, I don’t necessarily have to catch it.” Right, it wasn’t as though the crocodile was coming toward him. It had not noticed him yet so he just had to secretly move upstream such that it doesn’t notice him. “Jiiiiiaaaaa” “Guomooon” After moving about 50 meters from the crocodile, Ryo heard the cries of beasts. It seemed that the crocodile he saw just now was fighting something. Despite going through the trouble of gaining a distance from it, now he was curious as to what the crocodile was fighting. He tried to secretly catch a glimpse. After creeping closer to look, Ryo saw a bull charge at the crocodile and pierce it with its horns, raising it above its head. The crocodile seemed to have breathed its last breath. “Horn Bison ... as the name implies, I have to watch out for its horns. They often appear around rivers and swamps. I have to be aware of its charge using Wind Attribute Magic to wrap around its body. Oh. Right, let’s try my new technique.” Ryo raised his left hand above his head and chanted. “<Guillotine>” An Icicle Lance with a guillotine-shaped tip flew into the sky from his left hand and gained sufficient acceleration before dropping onto the Horn Bison’s neck from directly above. “All right, success.” Ryo grinned. If the ice container was too cold, fermentation would not occur ... at the very least it had to be above room temperature. Because of that, the first step was to create a wooden barrel. Naturally, Ryo had never created anything like that in his life. Even if he tried his best, the bottom might come off or the contents might leak out. For the time being, it would be great if there was a barrel-like tree somewhere. “I see the candidates!” Yes, this was Rondo Forest. Some of the trees had grown to be unimaginably thick as compared to those on Earth. And they were right next to the home barrier. The diameter of the trunk was approximately 2 meters. 10 meters in height. It was a coniferous tree like cedar and cypress. With heavy machinery like those on Earth ... no, it might be quite troublesome to cut down a tree of that size even with heavy machinery. Furthermore, Ryo did not have any heavy machinery on hand. But, in exchange for heavy machinery, he had 『Magic』. Yes, he could use Water Jet to cut through ... but that was still impossible. Although he had been practicing Water Jet ever since he came to 『Phi』, it still did not possess the strength to cut down trees. However, Ryo had other means. Yes, the 『Guillotine』 that beheaded the Horn Bison in one hit. “『Guillotine』” Zashun The guillotine dug roughly a meter into the trunk before stopping. “We-well, I didn’t expect to cut it down in a single hit!” He didn’t sound very convincing but he continued to chant. “『Guillotine』” He fired off consecutive shots of the guillotine. Finally, he managed to slice through and the conifer fell along with a resounding boom. There was quite a lot of deforestation around the area affected but Ryo didn’t mind it. From the fallen coniferous tree, he chose a one-meter-long section that would become the barrel and started cutting. “『Guillotine』” “『Guillotine』” Here, he used the same consecutive shots of the guillotine. With a diameter of 2 meters and height of 1 meter, visually it looked like a splendid but slightly large table was carved out. Next would be to carve out the interior to shape the barrel. The tool of choice was the <Water Saw>. The <Water Saw> that he once failed to shoot out as an offensive spell. He probably could use it as a ranged offensive spell now similar to the Icicle Lance but now he didn’t require that effect. “<Water Saw>” On his right palm, a rotating saw made of water was generated. And he proceeded to carve the cut-out section of the coniferous tree. It cut at a speed comparable to the chainsaws on Earth. There was almost no resistance and no material stress either. It took about an hour before he finally managed to carve out a satisfactory shape. Visually it looked like a private open-air bath made of cypress wood in luxury hot spring inns. He moved it home by creating Ice Bahn underneath the fermentation barrel. It was truly a convenient spell. Even though the content has been hollowed out, due to the large size ... it should weigh considerably heavy. And then, Ryo noticed when he brought it home. “This barrel ... where should I put it?” Yes, it was too big to fit through the door.