Paladin of the End - Volume 4 - Chapter SS

Bonus Short Stories

One Day at the Riverbank

I sat holding a handmade fishing rod and listening to the refreshing sound of babbling water. The bobber floated on the surface of the river, which glittered in the afternoon sunlight seeping through the trees. I had been at this for some time now.

We were in Beast Woods. To give ourselves a break after all kinds of adventuring, today Menel and I had come to a small river to fish. With hastily made fishing rods in hand, we each took up separate positions on some rocks, dangled down our lines, and gazed at our bobs. The trees swayed in the blowing wind, rustling their fresh green leaves. It was a quiet and peaceful moment.

“Oh, here we go,” Menel said as his bob sunk. He gave his line a quick jerk. A trout about twenty centimeters long was caught on the hook. With practiced motion, he pulled the line in, removed the hook, and threw the trout into his basket, which already had several fish in it. I’d caught zero. I could practically hear him smirk and was surprised at how bitter I felt. I pulled up my own line, intending to start over, and realized that something had already eaten the bait and left the hook untouched.

“What am I doing wrong?” Was it the bait, the hook, the line? I fiddled with my equipment as I tried to figure it out.

Menel chuckled. “Fidgety, aren’t you?” he said with a definite taunt in his voice. “Even a fish could tell what you’re thinking, brother. They’re all gonna swim away. Just go for it. Like you’re picking up a girl in town.” He grinned, his jade eyes gleeful.

“Well, I can tell what you’re thinking, too!” I snapped back and continued fishing for a while longer without result. There was just one moment where I thought I’d caught something, but my excitement quickly turned to confusion.

“Ya, you’ve got it snagged,” Menel said. The hook was just caught in some weeds.

Fishing had kind of a lot of depth to it.

When Menel’s basket started to become reasonably full, I finally threw up my hands in defeat and said, “I give up. I guess you have to be used to this kind of thing.”

“Huh? You aren’t used to fishing?”

“If I’m honest, no.”

“That’s a surprise.” The silver-haired half-elf blinked, a little taken aback. “You have a pretty good handle on outdoorsy stuff.”

Blood had certainly made sure I knew how to swim, climb, cut through dense forest, camp, hunt—in short, everything I needed to survive. I could even row a boat if necessary. However...

“I only learned the basics of fishing. We never practiced it much. My dad didn’t like sitting around. He was more the kind to dive underwater with a harpoon in his hand.” I should add that coming face-to-face with Blood in the dark depths felt vaguely like a horror movie.

“Wow, no patience, huh?”

“So, from the perspective of someone raised as an elf, do I seem impatient to you?”

“Most of the people back where I come from would spend all month, never mind all day, just chatting with fairies with a line in the water,” Menel said, recalling the Great Forest that was his old home. “So...”

“That’s too patient,” I said, unsure whether I sounded more impressed or incredulous. Either way, I shouldn’t have expected anything less from elves. They were the go-to example of a people who lived long lives and were slow to age. Their sense of time was on another level. “Well, I think I’ll stick with this for just a little longer.”

“Sure. Good luck.”

Picking myself up, I attached fresh bait to the hook and cast it into the river. And I fished while enjoying idle talk with my friend.

Time flowed effortlessly. These moments were surely something I had longed for in my previous world and could never obtain, and it was surely the result of several fortunes that I was even here at all. Under the warm light of the sun, I basked in that everyday bliss. With my fishing rod in hand, I thought of Blood, Mary, Gus, and all the people I’d met up until now, and prayed quietly for each of their futures to be full of happiness.

Then, suddenly, my float moved. Not daring to speak, I hurriedly pulled back. It felt inordinately heavy, and the resistance seemed to grow stronger and weaker. It didn’t feel like I’d snagged the line.

“I... I caught something!” I said.

“Is it a big one?!”

I pulled as hard as I could. The rod bent. There was a loud splash and a spray of water. And it leapt out at me: a thick body plastered with mud and covered in weeds; spiky, protruding scales; and rows of long, thin, sharp teeth in a mouth that looked like it could swallow a person whole. It was, to put it bluntly, an enormous sea serpent. And moreover, it was obviously a beast.

The mud serpent and I stared at each other for a moment in shocked silence. Then, all at once, I yelled, the serpent lunged and snapped its fangs, and I leapt away from my rock in panic, tossing the fishing rod aside.

Its fangs grazed my back just now! They came this close!

“Spear! Spear!”

Beast Woods, seriously, give it a rest!

“Fig, you heroes! Why does danger love you so much?!”

“Don’t blame me!” I shouted and yelped in panic again as I dodged another vicious bite. Grabbing a short spear I’d propped up nearby, I faced the mud serpent. Apparently this area was still too dangerous to let me spend a day in peace.

“But a catch is a catch! I’ll have you for dinner!” I charged at the mud serpent with my spear in hand.

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Side note: Beasts are surprisingly tasty.