Chapter 73: Home?
So, I had two fish on my hand. The first one I caught myself and second one, Nisa gifted me.
But there was a problem, I couldn't eat the fish raw. I'd rarely cooked even with proper cooking ware. Well, this is going to be an issue.
The dorm keeper had given me some ice to keep the fish cool. I could have left them outside and since it was still winter, things would have been fine. But these fish were pretty expensive, so there was a big chance they would get stolen. But at the same time, keeping them in this warm room meant the ice would melt before even midnight and stink up the room pretty bad.
If only I could use ice magic, sigh.
"You've got quite the catch," Gerar said. "And… wait, why do you have that Rotten Manafish?"
Apparently black Manafish were called rotten because they smelled rotten to people. Smelled about the same to me though, fishy. "My first catch, so kept it as a souvenir. Do you know how to cook?"
"Nope." Heh. "Maybe you could bring them to your family? I'm sure they'll appreciate it. Besides, I doubt you'll be able to eat the whole fish yourself," he moved away from the window. Our interactions were basically small talk and since the dude wasn't actively trying to screw with me, I didn't bother putting up my guard around him, at least on the surface.
I mean, he had a point. My rotten Manafish was about 1.5 kg while the other one was nearly 3 kg (Jake caught it). I didn't know how to gut the fish, and I didn't know how to cook. So, the only logical explanation was to go home.
But the immediate problem was what I was going to do about keeping these things fresh. It was pretty late, so I couldn't just head home. Technically, it wasn't my home anyway. Maybe I could go to the dorm keeper for more ice?
Agh, all this back and forth over some damn fish was giving me a headache!
Sigh. With nothing better to do, I picked up the fish, made way for the dorm keeper's room, knocked and entered. "I don't know what to do with these," I said.
Her room was basically an office, with a desk and a sofa. I had no idea what she even did here but the women knew almost everything about the dorm and what was going on.
"Leave them here," she said. "Be sure to bring me the bones."
"You sure? I could even give you some of the-"
"I'm only interested in bones."
"Okay!"
Good for me!
So, I left the stuff in her care, marched into my room and slept!
I woke up sometime past midnight in haphazard fury. I might or might not have forgotten to have dinner and clean the library. Argh.
"You could have just come tomorrow morning," the librarian was still up. I never bothered remembering her name.
"I've to show up early at the church, so can't do that."
"I see."
Yawning, I helped her put the books back. She'd mostly cleaned up the place but with my help, things sped up and we were done in less than half an hour. "I can't study today," I said.
"It's fine. You're making steady progress, but I would appreciate if you didn't push yourself too hard. Who knows when your body no longer keeps up."
"Understood."
"Do you though?"
I had no idea what she was even talking about. My life was busy, sure. But I wasn't necessarily pushing myself too hard. It was still within my abilities, so everything was fine.
I went downstairs to have dinner. There were like a handful of people still lingering here. The soup was a little cold but the food (the bread) was good as usual.
The next day, I woke up early and went to the church with my fish; I dragged a sleepy Shia with me. Mrs. Alayla took one look at the fish basket, smiled and told me to finish quickly. Then we went home soon after. Or their home.
Once at home, Mrs. Alayla took charge of the fish and started cooking. What she was cooking, she didn't tell me. Actually, she kicked me out of the kitchen before the gutting process. She also advised me how it was utterly stupid of me to keep the black fish. But I explained it to her that I had barely any mana and it was probably fine for me. Of course, I didn't want to tell her, particularly because she was a priest. But considering Den had left me with this family, I figured it was probably fine. Mrs. Alayla still rebuked me anyway. But she did agree to roast the fish. She also assured me, she was a good cook so even if it was a shit ingredient, it was still going to be tolerable. I took her word for it.
Cooking was done and I was led to a table on the second floor of this shabby ass building. It was surprisingly clean here. Barack senior joined us. The kids didn't sit with us and sat on the floor instead. They all received a bowl of rice and some fish soup with small portions of fried fish.
Anyway, compared to that, the table before me had way better food. We had rice, we had good bread and we also had porridge. Fried fish, fish kebab, and even some meat dishes. The main dish though was Indian style Fish curry with mustard. Ah, the luxury! Indian food crossed worlds huh?
No seriously, human food was so better than elven bland ass food. Specially the bread and rice here was way better than the stuff I ate back home. And yet, why the fuck did I keep missing Lin's food? I guess nothing beat Mom's food, huh? Speaking of Mom's food, Mrs. Alayla really was a good cook.
The Barack family didn't speak during meals. Which was kind of good cause I wasn't feeling chatty. My focus was primarily on the damn food; the curry was exquisitely good; Manafish tasted somewhere between Hilsa and Tuna. The texture was definitely that of Salmon though. Pretty weird.
I kept eating and eating and before I knew it, my stomach was totally full.
"Would you like some more?" Mrs. Alayla said.
I was done and so were both of the head Baracks.
"I'm full."
"Hmmm…. Then what will you do about the other one?"
"There's more!?" Sharmon said.
"He also caught a black one," Alayla whispered.
Sharmon's face crumbled but he chuckled. "Well, we shouldn't eat luxury food everyday anyway," he laughed loud. "You have my thanks though Sol. Been meaning to treat the boys but money's tough around this time of the year."
This wasn't just luxury, this was divine! No seriously, Mrs. Alayla really knew how to cook Manafish!
"No problem," I said.
"How did you even get the fish anyway?" Shia said.
No one asked me where I got the fish till now, so I thought they didn't really care all that much. But Shia was different? "I went out fishing with Nisa the other day."
"Nisa? Nisa Alzania?" Sharmon said, eyes going slightly narrow. Wait, Shia said the families were at odds. I thought she just didn't like her. Could it be?
"Yeah?"
"Well, first Micheal, now Nisa. You're actually pretty good," he said dismissively. "Just what I'd expect from the first son." Yet, something was cold about that glare.
But I didn't lose my poker face even for a second. "Thank you, father. I am your son after all."
Wow, that was a disgusting grin. "Good. I hear you've been invited over for a tea party?"
"That's right."
"Got any good clothes?"
"Not that I remember…" My clothes were pretty commoner-ish. Well, that's because you ARE a commoner. "I'll probably just wear my uniform."
He sighed. "Shia, be sure to do some shopping with him."
"Umm…?"
"You don't think you're going alone, right?"
I was kind of confused but didn't bother. They were helping me a ton anyway. "Very well," I said. Can you even take a plus one to a tea party?
Shia nodded while stuffing her mouth. Apparently, she wasn't done eating yet.
The kids were done though, and some were looking expectantly at us for seconds. They didn't get any though. Instead, they got fresh fruits? Huh?
Hey, even I didn't get any fruits!
Anyway, with that over, I hung around the house. There were some chores to do, namely cleaning and keeping the place from falling to pieces. I also helped the kids and played with them. I didn't remember their names but their faces were even more forgetful. They all looked the same if I was being honest. Meanwhile, I was the only one who didn't look like them.
Around noon, I rested upstairs in Shia's room and promptly fell asleep. When I woke up, I could have sworn I felt different. My skin was sensitive and for the first time, the world seemed more colorful, as though I was seeing stuff.
Why do I feel high?
Was mana just drugs and magic just illusions or something? No, probably not. After all, I did see Sisna and Rexen use magic quite flexibly. Those couldn't have been illusions, at least their effects weren't.
I tried imagining fire, water, earth and stuff on my hand but nothing happened. No matter how I imagined it, nothing happened. I couldn't really move the tingly feeling in my veins either, at least not willingly.
Pointless, I guess?
I felt hungry, so I went downstairs and found my roasted Manafish. Mrs. Alayla was kind enough to warm it up for me. She took some days off but it was rare. So, I wasn't expecting her to stay here after breakfast, yet she was still here.
For some reason, no matter what, I couldn't get a hold on the personalities of this family. On the surface they were something, but they all had some layers. Each layer felt like a different person. Mrs. Alayla on first impressions seemed strict and cunning. But right now, she was caring and loving. Maybe tomorrow I'd see another side to her and then something else. The same with Shia and her father. Maybe I really am a shit judge of character.
Anyway, I tried the Manafish. It was alright. Tasted okay, not too shit but not good either. Especially considering what I ate before. And no, it wasn't the cooking. If anything, Mrs. Alayla had somehow managed to make this thing edible with all the herbs and spices she used.
I ate small bits and eventually managed to eat like one quarter. The rest, I could not manage so she put it in a container.
"The dorm keeper wanted the bones," I'd nearly forgotten.
"Hmm… I kept some from the other one, you can have half."
"What do you even use the bones for?"
"Alchemy, sorcery, magical catalyst and such."
Wait, didn't that mean, these things-
I slapped my forehead. I was dumb, really dumb. Sighing, "Thank you."
***
I went back to the dorm, handed some bones over. "These are from the normal one, and these are from the rotten one."
"I expected more," she said. "I'm going to use some myself."
"I see."
As I kept eating the black Manafish, the tingly feeling only increased and made me shit about five times a day. That was about it.
For the next week, I kept my daily routine going and tried experimenting with the bones. I learned a few things. Namely, even if I ate Manafish daily, my actual mana wasn't going to improve in any meaningful way. However, as long as I chewed on the bones, particularly the ones from the black one, I could feel mana coursing through my veins and see bright colors. It made me feel a little high but it wasn't addictive… yet.
However, I couldn't replicate any magic. Not even the void thing, which I should have had an edge because I was from earth.
I didn't let it deter me though and kept going. Only on the second week did something connect. The words of the librarian.
The body could no longer keep up: I had successfully caught a cold.
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Nr_Yet1208 My new book "Mega Slime Reborn (Litrpg)" is out. Check it out if you're interested.
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