Warin and Urin stared at the shiny pair of gold medallions. Even under the weak fluorescent light, they seemed to brighten the whole room with a stable future for the whole family.
Sam put his hands together and prayed to the medallions before turning to Hummer. “The Great Light—no, the Great Hummer... Please bring us more bounties of the sea tomorrow!”
“S-Stop that! You can’t pray to someone like me!” Hummer said.
Sam wasn’t kidding, though. He needed Hummer in order to conquer that sea. Sam’s daughters followed their father’s lead, praying back and forth between the medallions and Hummer.
“Please help daddy, Mister Hummer! I want some new clothes! And shoes!”
“Mishter Hummer, I want to eat sweet things...”
The girls’ selfish requests didn’t quite reach Hummer, who felt pressure mounting on his shoulders—there was no guarantee that he could produce results again tomorrow. If today was a fluke and he couldn’t fish up a thing tomorrow, Hummer feared he might be crucified for giving the Demon Lord false hope. Then, a loud clap cleared his mind. Hummer looked up to find Marin, Sam’s wife, coming out of the kitchen.
“Girls, don’t be rude. Stop that nonsense and come help me with these dishes,” Marin said.
“Yes, mommy,” the girls answered.
While their little celebration went on, there were some in the village who weren’t celebrating at all: the one hundred fishermen from the Island Legion who hadn’t met the expectations they placed on themselves.
The mood in their quarters, also located in the Longhouses, was as somber as a funeral.
“Why can’t we catch anything...?”
“None of our tried and tested techniques work here...”
Their experience in Rabbi had been trial and error without success. Their failure was made even more humiliating by a land-dweller showing up out of nowhere and coming back with a boatful of bounty. In other words, their prides had been wounded severely.
That night, however, a messiah swooped into their dreary apartment complex carrying dozens of fish strung up on a rope and a cage full of shrimp on her waist.
The fishermen stared blankly at their messiah before erupting into shouts.
“Eagle... Did you really?!”
“Fish! She has fish! You got mullet, bass, and even carp!”
“You have shrimps in that cage?! How did you do it, Eagle?!”
Eagle’s face strained at the intensity of the fishermen. There wasn’t much for her to explain. Birds of prey naturally hunted fish, as well as crustaceans, reptiles, and even small mammals. Soaring high above the rest of the world, hawks were at the top of the food chain—the kings and queens of the sky. “I didn’t fish for them, I just did what I normally do...” Eagle said. She had hunted, rather than fished for them. If she had tried to catch these fish with a rod, she would have come up as empty-handed as they had.
“So Eagle can fish!”
“You’re telling me there’s a chance!”
Eagle’s expression remained troubled—she saw the limit of her own strength. “He and I could work from sun up to sun down, but we would never get enough fish to feed everyone.”
This silenced the fishermen. There was no way that Hummer and Eagle could single-handedly feed the rapidly growing population of the village, let alone fulfill orders that were sure to come in from all around Holylight and the rest of the continent once word got out about the exceptional seafood, designed to taste like the best seafood on Earth. Inevitably, seafood in this world would be categorized into two: Rabbi seafood and everything else. And one of those categories benefited the village and nowhere else. The problem remained that Eagle and Hummer were the only sources of the lucrative delicacy.
The fishermen all grumbled, now completely dispirited. “But there’s nothing we can do...”
Eagle pointed to the corner of the room, at an octopus pot—a familiar tool to the fishermen.
“Um, Eagle? What about the octopus pot?” one of the Fishermen asked.
“For example... We can all set up those octopus pots and have him collect them.”
“So we put them out and he brings them in...?”
It was a simple idea to entrust Hummer with the last step. Eagle pointed to a net. “I don’t think he knows how to use a net, but if we all cast it together and pull it in with him, it may yield some fish.”
“All right... So we set up the nets too.”
There were plenty of different ways to fish using nets, but none of them were a one-man job, not to mention that they all required specialized knowledge and experience to pull off properly.
“It’s worth a shot...” one of the Fishermen said.
“O-Okay! Let’s go set up those pots!”
A few hasty fisherman each grabbed a pot and ran off, while some of the others eyed the pile of nets. The type of net determined which fish it could catch, as well as the required time and man power to set it up.
“Let’s try gillnetting first...” one of the fishermen suggested.
A gillnet was an old and simple tool of fishing, a net that vertically hung by attaching floaters to one end—the perfect method for testing their theory.
“Let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
The fishermen, light rekindled in their eyes, ran off like a pack of wolves. Once again, there was quite the hullabaloo happening outside of Hummer’s knowledge.
Now alone at the door to the apartment complex, Eagle gazed up at the starry sky. “Hummer, was it...? I’m sorry to have roped you into this.”
Perhaps Hummer had been born under some kind of star that ensured his life was one tumultuous event after another. In any case, his trials at sea were only just beginning... Go fish, Hummer. Go fish.
✦ ✦ ✦
Eagle
Race: Hawk-Hybrid — Age: 16 — Sex: Female
Skills:
Hawk’s Curse
An ancient curse cast by devils and Anima that drew war and bloodshed wherever she went. The Demon Lord has removed this curse.
✦ ✦ ✦
Swooping Talons
A powerful kick inspired by a hawk on the hunt. There are many other versions of this skill.
✦ ✦ ✦
Feather Storm
A powerful Storm move that annihilates enemies in a wide area.
✦ ✦ ✦
Apex Predator
She is the ruler of the skies—the top of the food chain.
All creatures, including humans, are her prey.
There is no escape from Eagle’s talons.
The last surviving hawk-hybrid who survived tragedy after tragedy.
The winged hawk-hybrid is nearly invincible, soaring through the sky where no one can catch her.
Although she still calls herself the Holy Maiden’s servant, she has earned her spot as Luna’s partner.
Eagle only has one wish—to annihilate every single Salamander Knight from this world.
✦ ✦ ✦
Hummer
Race: Human — Age: 48 — Sex: Male
Skills:
God’s Gift—Blessing of the Water Elemental
Although he no longer remembers it, Hummer once repaired a decrepit altar that worshipped the water elemental. Out of his kindness, he regularly cleaned the altar and offered wildflowers to it.
Perhaps the water elemental grew fond of his simple and good nature. It gave him a boon which eventually elevated to a blessing—a form of extreme preference.
Blessed by the cleanly water elemental, Hummer’s abilities are boosted dozens of times over in any body of water.
This blessing guarantees that Hummer will find success in anything related to water.
✦ ✦ ✦
Prank of the Earth Elemental
A prank the earth elemental cast on Hummer out of jealousy for the water elemental’s blessing.
On dry land, Hummer’s abilities are weakened so badly that he becomes utterly useless.
Elementals are fickle beings that can be cruel at times.
Unlike a curse, a prank can’t be broken—unless the elemental who cast it on him has a change of heart.
Hummer is a middle-aged man who lived a life of failure.
Finally, his life came to a turning point. From this moment on, it was all up to his own gumption to make the most of it.
Hummer lived his life in fear of his own shortcomings—now is the time for him to stand up and turn things around.
✦ ✦ ✦
Sam
Race: Human — Age: 40 — Sex: Male
Skills:
Sonar
Detects marine life.
✦ ✦ ✦
Current Conductor
Directs schools of fish to move in any direction.
A father of two girls who was sent into the Colosseum because of predatory debt from the Jack of All Trades. He was rescued from certain death by the Demon Lord.
He is an optimistic fisherman and the breadwinner of his household. If he teams up with Hummer and the fishermen of the Island Legion, he can become a force to be reckoned with.
His wife and daughters hold the same set of skills as he does.