After I had calmed down, I used Aqua Lung, which was a skill that allowed me to breathe freely underwater for about ten minutes. However, I still couldn’t see much, thanks to all the mud and algae turning the water a greenish brown. I could only see at best fifty centimeters in front of me. I couldn’t see any creatures around us, nor the bottom of the unexpectedly deep pond.
What I could see was that I was holding Perca in an iron claw and Reflet in a headlock. But why did they look like they were having fun? This was supposed to be their punishment!
“Humm!”
“Honk honk!”
I guess to them, this still counted as physical affection. They were both grinning wide. If they didn’t see this as a punishment, then there was no use for it. I released both of them from my hold, then suddenly remembered my Water Exploration skill. I decided to use it. It had been a while since I had, so I had completely forgotten it existed. It was a skill that functioned like sonar, searching the area around me and showing me its topographical data. It looked like the deepest part of the pond was at about fifteen meters. There were no monsters, but there were fish and shellfish, and one clearly man-made object sunken at the very bottom. It looked like some sort of mechanism made up of thin metal frames.
I decided to take Reflet and Perca down there to get closer to the mysterious object. Once we were close enough to see it, I appraised the item and found it was called a “Giant Broken Trap.” It looked sort of like a bear trap used by hunters. It was over five meters wide, so it must have been intended for some pretty big beast.
I put the trap away in my inventory, then swam quickly for the surface. Once I was out of the water, I saw Akari and Pollick peering worriedly at the pond.
Akari was the first to call out to me. “Yuto! Are you all right?”
“We got worried when we didn’t see you resurface.”
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “I decided to investigate a bit underwater since I was in there.”
I probably should have let them know I was okay first. I bowed my head in apology to Pollick and Akari, then I took out the item I had just found underwater. When Pollick saw the broken trap, he looked ecstatic.
“Oh, you found it! That’s the trap we villagers used when we fought against the giant boss in the cave!”
After failing to get past the boss, the villagers had fled back home and accidentally dropped the trap in the pond. There were only a few people in the village who could swim underwater for a long period of time, so retrieving the trap had been put on the back burner.
“Can this trap work on the boss?”
“Hmm, when we tried it, it only worked for about ten seconds.”
“Huh? You were able to stop it for ten whole seconds?” Akari asked in surprise.
“Well, sure.”
I was surprised to hear that too. If this trap could keep that giant raid boss from moving for ten seconds, then it was a very useful item.
“Who does this trap belong to?” I asked Pollick.
“Are you thinking of getting it fixed?”
“If it’s possible.”
“Then you should go to the hunter Yadan’s place. That’s his trap, so he’ll be the only one who knows how to fix it.”
“Great, thanks! Should we go there after we’re done here?” I asked Akari.
She replied enthusiastically, “Yes, we should!”
I was starting to feel a glimmer of hope. We could probably find a few hints and key items for fighting the boss around in the village.
Right now though, our main objective was fishing.
“Reflet, Perca, could you two go catch shellfish and crabs?”
“Hum!”
“Honk!”
Those two had been all smiles ever since they dunked me in the pond. I guess it was all fun and games to them. Didn’t they know how much that had freaked me out? Oh well, they were cute, so all was forgiven!
“Oh, before I forget! I summon the Kappa!”
“Gwak gwak.”
Nice, nice. I was able to summon it without any issues.
“Kappa, can you go catch fish underwater with Reflet and Perca?”
“Gwak!”
“Glad to hear it!”
I was a little worried since Gather and Fishing weren’t listed among its abilities, but apparently it was still capable. It would be pretty weird if a kappa couldn’t do things underwater.
There were four kappa abilities that players could also learn. In addition to Kappa Sumo and Spirit Removal, there was also Underwater Activities and Plate Making. Underwater Activities probably included gathering and catching fish underwater. As for Plate Making... Well, I’d have the Kappa do something with that in the workshop at some point.
“Dive away, then.”
“Gwak!”
“Honk honk!”
“Hum-humm!”
The underwater duo-turned-trio eagerly dove into the pond. The way they jumped in reminded me of when some kids in my hometown had excitedly jumped into the river from a bridge. Those three just really loved being in water.
“Meanwhile, we’ll be fishing up here.”
“Mm-mm.”
“Squeak squeak.”
“Tra-la-la.”
What kind of fish can we catch here? I wondered excitedly as I cast out my line. After some time, I managed to catch several new varieties of fish, like a Cave Char, Cave Shrimp, and Cave Trout.
Akari was happy to have registered new fish to her encyclopedia. And since we also learned a lot of information from Pollick, I’d say that coming back to the village was the best thing we could have done.
After we were finished at the pond, we went to deliver our fish to the Adventurers’ Guild, and then we set out to find the home of Yadan the hunter. The guild receptionist had given us clear directions on how to get there. I wondered if it was a good idea for her to just give out personal information so easily like that, but she told us that she made an exception for us since we had caught and delivered so many fish. The village was really struggling to secure food ever since their trade with the other side of the cave was cut off.
“It’s all thanks to you three.”
“Honk!”
“Humm!”
“Gwak!”
The underwater trio, amicably walking side by side, had fished that pond empty.
In exchange for giving us directions, the guild receptionist made us promise to bring more fish again later, so we’d have to make another delivery of fish sometime soon. Which meant I’d have to ask for the trio’s help again. Though these three enjoyed fishing, so I was sure they’d do so happily.
Plus, once we had defeated the raid boss, trade would flourish once again, which would take care of the village’s food problem. What I was more concerned with right now were some of the names of the fish that we had to deliver.