“I can’t?”
“It’s fine. Let’s do it together.” Perhaps concluding that there was no point in trying to stop me, with an exasperated look on his face, he began explaining how to catch the shellfish. “First, find a shell that’s half buried in the mud. If you try to reach for it with your hands, it’ll sink underground before you can grab it, which is why we’re using a wooden stick. Mollusks keep their shells slightly open so that they can breathe. When you insert the branch into the gap, the shell closes. Pull on the branch when this happens and you’ll catch the mollusk without fail. That’s all there is to it.”
“Understood. Thank you. I’ll give it a try.” I gathered my skirt to just above knee height and affixed the excess fabric about my waist before going to look for shells with Wibble.
“Fran, you shouldn’t expose yourself like that in the presence of others,” Gabriel cautioned me.
“I know.”
“It’s not safe in front of me either.”
“Did you say something?”
“No, it wasn’t important.”
Wibble, who had heard what Gabriel had said, tried to repeat his words, but Gabriel hurriedly covered the slime’s mouth. I was curious, but the two of them were an amusing sight, so I decided not to pry further.
It was my first time stepping into a lake. I timidly trod forwards into the water. The ground was sludgy—as I stopped moving, my feet began to sink deeper and deeper. If I didn’t focus, I’d get stuck. I’d tried taking firm steps so that I wouldn’t fall, but now I couldn’t pull my feet out.
“Fra, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fi— Ahhh!”
“Fran!”
The moment I lost balance, Gabriel pulled me to him by the waist.
“Th-Thank you,” I said.
“It’s easy to get stuck in the mud, so please be careful.”
“I-I can see that now.”
After that, I found myself surrounded by the six unique slimes. Whenever my body tilted even slightly, they all extended their tentacles to keep me upright.
“Th-Thank you, everyone,” I said.
“It’s nothing!”
“We’ll all protect you!”
“Relax!”
“We’ve got you!”
“Don’t worry!”
“Keep at it!”
After walking around for a while, I got used to the mud. Just as I was about to announce I didn’t need their assistance anymore, I noticed Gabriel looking at me with worry. It would probably be best to stay with the unique slimes for the sake of reassuring him.
I peered into the water, but it was so muddy that I couldn’t spot any shellfish. Perhaps because it was taking me so long, Wibble dived in to search for them.
“Pwah! There’s one here!”
“Um, where?”
“Here! Right here!”
There were many rocks in the mud, so it was hard to discern stones from shells. As if sensing my struggle, the green slime sucked up the remaining algae in the area, making it easier to see the bottom of the lake.
“Oh, found it!” At last, I spotted the half-buried shell Wibble was talking about. As Gabriel had said, its valves were slightly separated and it appeared to be breathing. I inserted the tip of my branch and it immediately clamped onto it.
“Now!” Wibble shouted.
I pulled the stick out, fishing up the shell. “I caught it!” It was a large mollusk, about the size of my fist.
The unique slimes applauded me.
“Look, Gabriel,” I said.
“It’s a splendid catch.”
“Yes, it is!”
In the time I had spent struggling to gather a single shellfish, Gabriel had managed around ten. Nico had also found five while trailing after Alexandrine.
“She told me where they were,” Nico explained.
“I-I didn’t know she had that talent,” I replied.
We’d caught many more mollusks than expected.
“These should be more than enough since we’re still in the trial stage,” Gabriel said. “I’ll transfer them to the other lake after cleaning off the mud.”
To remove said grime, the blue slime shot water out of its mouth at the mollusks. Once they were washed, their shells had a beautiful jet-black sheen, the color of crows.
“Gabriel, what are these mollusks called?” I asked.
“W-Well...” He gazed into the distance, a wistful look on his face. Perhaps my question brought back painful memories of his father.
“I’m sorry. Is it difficult to discuss?”
“No...I just wasn’t sure how to answer. These mollusks are commonly referred to as ‘gutter clams.’”
Apparently the people of Triste called them that because they were found in the channels that drained the fields.
“When I was a child, I saw one and brought it home because I thought it was beautiful. However, the gardener looked at it and said, ‘That’s a gutter clam.’ I was shocked to learn that it had such an ugly name. I hesitated to answer your question because I realized that if we were to use these to make pearls, the locals would probably call them ‘gutter pearls.’”
“I see.” I’d never expected them to have such a nickname.
“They’re formally known as ‘freshwater black mussels,’ though. They seem to be endemic to Triste.”
“Really?! That means if you succeed in cultivating pearls within them, the pearls will be one of a kind.”
“Yes, so when that happens, I’d like you to give them a lovely name.”
“I’ll start thinking of ideas.” I’ll come up with a name that would make anyone want to own them.
“Now then, I suppose it’s time I bring home gutter clams once again. Hopefully the second time’s the charm.”
“Gabriel...please don’t make me laugh.”
“That was the goal.”
“Oh, you!”
His amusing use of the mollusks’ nickname almost made me forget their real name. I’d have to be careful not to call them gutter clams. I told Nico and Alexandrine they were forbidden from saying it too.