Chapter 66: The Eratana and The Zanakoka

After completing the planned movement of people and the transportation of Zunana grass, I immediately started preparations for the extermination of Zanakoka (the name of the small herbivorous fish that was devouring Numesa*).

First, I had to plan how to exterminate it; therefore, I went to a different site after getting permission from Mercia and the others (an experiment with other fish in a different site in order to avoid damaging the Numesa).

The experimental site was…a lake.

It was also inland, not an island.

The purpose was to catch the fish as I implied before.

「Is this lake okay for the experiment? 」

「It’s okay. By the way, how will you catch the fish alive? 」

The guide and watchman were fishermen who usually caught fish in the lake.

「I will catch it with magic. I will it try now…Here I go. 」

I made a magical net and secured the fish together.

It was easy to lift the fish, but I struggled to think of a mechanism that would drop only the water down.

「Oh…That’s amazing. Magic is convenient. 」

When I pulled up the net…around 100 Eratana fish came up.

I didn’t want them to die, so I left some water inside.

I caught them by cooling the water temperature with magic so that the fish would not die…Ah.

What should I do?

I completely forgot about the means to carry the fish alive.

I couldn’t just put them in an item box like the other lifeless food.

「Do you have an aquarium? I would like to put the fish in it. 」

「Sorry? What is that? I don’t have such a thing. 」

So, what should I do as an alternative?

「If you put water in the ship…you could create a living tank that moves! 」

「Don’t say nonsense. 」

「It would mean our death. 」

It was no good.

…All the means to carry the fish were not good options.

「There is no other way to carry live fish…except for the item box. 」

Should I wrap them in a wet cloth and carry them, and then, drop the recovery medicine with the bad name on them…?

I wondered if that medicine worked for the fish.

While thinking so, I tried to store the fish in the item box to see if that option worked.

「What are you doing…? 」

They saw that the fish had disappeared from my hands.

I could see the Eratana fish from the item window.

Were they alive?

「Hmm, I wonder if they are still alive… 」

I took them out.

The fish were alive.

They were swimming vigorously in a large tank made of magic.

Was it possible to store living things?

If I thought about it, there should be invisible creatures such as bacteria in the things I always stored in the item box.

Being able to store them itself was not strange but I did not know I could store living things.

I shall try it when I encounter a monster I cannot defeat.

…I would like to refrain from doing a deadly battle with a Dragon, should I test it with a suitable monster?

「I found a way. Spare me just a minute. 」

「Okay, we’ll wait. 」

「Yeah. Do what you have to do. 」

I looked around the tank inside the item box for about 5 minutes and secured 50 fish.

I took them back to the island.

Now was the time to use the rest of the fish for the original plan…getting rid of Zanakoka.

We went to the original site. Well, speaking of how to use fish, I had an idea.

「Go, Eratana! 」

「Ohh. 」

I released them in the area where the Zanakoka were.

I ate this fish called Eratana in the past**, but the appearance resembled the black bass. In other words, carnivorous fish.

I wondered if there was anything better suited to get rid of these disturbing small fishes without damaging the aquatic plants by bringing a competitor/enemy.

In Japan, even the release of fish was prohibited, and in some places it was even forbidden to let go of what was caught. The black bass was a fish that should be called “Forbidden Anti-fish Ultimate Weapon”.

The performance was as expected.

As soon as they were released into the water, they shouted happily as if they were saying, “Ha Ha! Fresh fish!” and ate the Zanakoka with great momentum.

—

…About an hour later, when Eratana, who had eaten up the Zanakoka, started cannibalism, I pulled them out.

They had a strong appetite as expected, but cannibalism was…a bit too much.

I put them in the item box, but…I never expected they’d eat so much.

「It’s more than I expected…I heard that Eratana had such a use, but damn. 」

It was better to avoid thinking with the scientific knowledge of earthlings too much…

「It seems that some of the strong ones remained, and even if they recover, they won’t do many damages. It will be good for Numesa.」

The result was slightly different from what I imaged, but it was okay.

Even if there were Zanakoka eggs left, the Eratana would eat them from one end to the other.

「By the way, Mercia, is it okay for you to come here? How are the sales of the magic tools and that Eternal Powered Super something Super? 」

I forgot its name.

This was because researchers who did not have a naming sense added more names every time they improved it.

「Isn’t it called Eternal Power Hyper Ultimate Extreme Recovery Medicine? 」

One of the employees tried to guess the name.

I wasn’t sure if it was the right one or not.

「It’s called Eternal Energy Extreme Hyper-Enhanced Recovery Medicine…I don’t care about the name, but they told me that they’d like us to bring as much extract as possible, and sales seem to be good. Catherine’s magic tools are better now. Production has shifted to magical armor, which is expected to be more profitable. It is going well so far.」

「It’s going well, I see. What about the grocery store? What kind of magical armor is it? 」

It was like a bonus.

Originally, it was a department that was supposed to be the main part of the company.

「The butcher section is doing well for the time being. Compared to other businesses, the scale is small, and it has become a place that secures human resources…」

「Ah, okay. It can’t be helped. 」

「Magical armor is an armor that has been finely processed to make it into a magic tool. It is useful because you can increase the defense power with light equipment using the magical power that a swordfighter does not use. It is extremely difficult to produce. But… 」

「Did Catherine make it? 」

「It seems that she is unusually good at detailed work, perhaps because it is related to her inability to use ordinary magic. She said, “Recently, the pace of work per day has dropped slightly”, but with the exceptional magical power and production speed, she is making terrifying profits. 」

「How much is it in a day? 」

「If it’s per day…Will it be about 100,000 Tael of work? She earns 50 times more than her peers.」

In Japanese Yen…Was it a daily income of 1 million yen?

It was monster numbers. It was at a different level now.

「There seems to be no problem even if I leave it alone…Is the food storage in the warehouse about to be completed? 」

「I think it will be ready tomorrow. 」

That equipment was also necessary to store a large amount of monsters before making dried meat without rotting.

Dried meat butchers required huge equipment and personnel.

「It’s a hassle for a delicate business. 」

「Even if the profit is subtle, it will be useful in other ways… For the time being, we must secure personnel and get used to it. 」

It was a training facility for Mercia…

It was better to get a surplus.

「It doesn’t have to be that exact… Well, anyway, if we don’t have other matters to discuss, I’ll go outside a little. I want to see other frontline cities.」

「What do you mean by other frontline cities? Is there anything interesting? 」

「No, that’s not it. I only know the frontline cities like Broken and Decibator, and I’m thinking of looking at others too. I thought the royal capital would be interesting, but there are no monsters. I’m going to get bored if go there.」

The royal capital seemed to be troublesome because of various things.

In that respect, I would be able to move freely to some extent if I were in a frontline city instead.

I would like to see other Guilds and other types of monsters too.

「In other words, do you mean sightseeing? If left unattended, it will be difficult to manage the store…」

She was relying on me for transportation…

「Well, yes, it’s like sightseeing. I’m planning to come back in a short period of time, and if we can have food storage, you will probably be able to manage it for a certain period of time! Is there a recommended frontline city that I don’t know about? 」

「Then… What about Minatonia? It is a special frontline city in terms of the rarity of monsters. I’ve never been there, but it’s rare to see a place where fights aquatic monsters. 」

「Is there a frontline city fighting aquatic monsters? I think its okay to leave it alone. Aquatic monsters won’t invade the land.」

「…That’s what you think. But, it seems that fish and shrimp are attacking the land.」

What the hell…

「I don’t know what to think about it, but it sounds interesting. How do I get there? 」

「Hmm, well…From here… 」

—

The next day.

The company was going to work without me for the time being, at least when it came to monster meat and Zunana grass. I was sent off by the people of the company and was about to leave the city.

「Are you okay? I would be very grateful if you could come back within 10 days. I can manage things during that amount of time. By the way, it would be nice if you found something good for the business there.」

The kind-hearted hired president, Mercia, spoke kind words.

I wondered if the making of a transport ship could make her manage things without me.

Anyway, this was how I left Photoren and set out on a journey to Minatonia.

It was an elegant journey about 100 meters above in the sky while trying to dodge birds and mountains at a speed close to the speed of sound.

I got a nice view of the scenery from above.

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*Wakame seaweed, which was called Numesa in this different world.

**Found in chapter 59 of volume 4.

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