015. LIVE
“Lord Suho? Peep?”
“Ah, sorry, Orlan. I was filming for a moment. I’m promoting products from our fish farm.”
“Filming? Ah. So the Status Window also has a recording function. Fascinating.”
Orlan approached while I was in the middle of filming my daily vlog and peeked curiously at the screen.
“Ugh. Lord Suho. If you were going to film me, you should have captured my magnificent side. Peep... Of all moments, you recorded me staggering around with a hangover. Peep, peep.”
“That was a little inconsiderate of me. But I also filmed myself suffering from a hangover, so forgive me this once.”
“Ahem! If the Small Dragon King goes that far, peep! This Orlan has already vowed to help with anything the Small Dragon King requires! Peep! If it is for Lord Suho’s great undertaking, then even if I must sacrifice my digni... pfft!”
Peet-peep. Peet-peet-peep.
[Translation: Maybe alcohol still in system. Eat this.]
“Hahaha...”
And so, we leisurely spent the morning enjoying the clear Shy Clam soup together.
The hangover disappeared.
The warm soup even drove away the sudden late-spring chill.
My body and mind both felt warm.
Ah.
Seriously.
“I’m glad I came back.”
Peet-peeeep!
[Translation: I put here!]
“Yeah. Leave it there. Thanks. Let’s eat something delicious after work today too!”
Pee-hooo!
[Translation: Tonight’s dinner is dead! Hoo!]
That same day, early in the afternoon.
We finally returned to the fish farm maintenance work we had skipped yesterday.
We cleaned the tanks where the Dragon Palace Rockfish were growing.
We also carefully maintained the filters that purified the seawater pumped in from the ocean.
Peep-peep-woo, peet-peet, peehehe.
[Translation: Grow big, chewy, tender, delicious.]
“Daldal. If you say something that frightening while feeding them, they’ll get scared.”
Peep.
[Translation: True feelings slipped out.]
The Dragon Palace Rockfish fry born some time ago were growing well under special care.
For an ordinary rockfish to reach shipment size took at least eighteen months.
To grow into a large commercial product, it could take more than thirty-six months.
But!
“Skill, Area Growth Acceleration, activate.”
Along with the sensation of warm power draining from inside my body...
[Information: Fantasy Creatures currently being farmed have undergone +15 days of rapid growth.]
The Mana that had completely recovered over time dropped almost instantly again.
It would be nice if I could find an Item capable of restoring Mana quickly.
“Phew.”
If I continuously used Growth Acceleration, I could expect a much earlier shipment.
Peet-peep-peep!
[Translation: Suho! Drink this!]
Daldal pulled a tiny bottle filled with bright blue liquid out of empty air and held it toward me.
“What’s this? Spirit Beast version of BacXus?”
...Peeeeep? Peet-peet-peep.
[Translation: ...What that? This Mana Potion.]
Oh.
A Mana Potion.
It did not even need an explanation.
And it was exactly what I needed right now.
I immediately drank the Mana Potion Daldal handed me.
[Information: Mana +70 restored.]
That effect was incredible!
“Good. One more time. Skill, Area Growth Acceleration, activate. Phew. It’s much more fun when I can actually see them growing.”
I never thought the day would come when raising fish would feel like playing a game.
Life really was full of surprises.
I watched the Dragon Palace Rockfish, which had already grown to around the size of a child’s palm.
Then I moved on to managing the Jewel Sea Bream tank, our newest farming attempt.
Whoosh!
Orlan, who had been scouting the area around the fish farm from the sky, suddenly dove down and whispered into my ear.
“Lord Suho. Someone is approaching the fish farm. Peep.”
“Hm? Who could it be? Hardly anyone has visited lately.”
I looked in the direction Orlan indicated.
Put-put-put... Rattle-rattle...
Far away, a middle-aged man wearing shabby clothes was slowly approaching on a bright red scooter.
That figure...
Ah!
“Mister!”
“Oh, Suho! Wow, it really has been a long time. I was worried because I couldn’t reach you by phone, but I’m glad you’re here. This is the first time since Taesik passed away, right?”
“Yes. Have you been doing well?”
“How much better or worse can an old countryside mailman really be doing? Hahaha! Thanks for asking.”
He was Mr. Gupabal, the kind postman who had single-handedly managed mail delivery for this rural area for more than ten years.
“I heard you inherited the fish farm. Wow, before you came back, this place was so empty I expected a water ghost to appear. Now that you’re here, it looks like people live here again.”
“Hehe. I’m still lacking in skill, but I’m working hard. If you have time, would you like to look around?”
“Nah, I’m fine. Good grief. I’m busy enough covering this giant area alone.”
Apparently, even when young mail carriers were assigned to countryside areas like this these days, they somehow found a way to transfer to larger regional cities where the provincial offices were located.
Mr. Gupabal joked that he needed to hurry before the grandmothers became angry waiting for their mail.
“You got quite a lot of mail, but most of it didn’t look very pleasant.”
“Really?”
“I mean it’s mostly people asking for money. Are you earning enough? These days every fish farm owner I meet keeps saying they’re dying.”
Mr. Gupabal glanced around the fish farm with concern.
“You don’t need to worry about that. I found my own way forward.”
“Really? That’s genuinely good to hear. Well, our Suho has always been smart. You’ll do fine no matter what. Keep it up!”
“Yes, sir. Take care on your way back!”
Mr. Gupabal started his old scooter and left for his next delivery.
He left...
Then...
“Hm?”
He came puttering back through a cloud of dirt.
“Oh, right. Suho. There’s one thing I wanted to ask.”
“Yes?”
“Recently, I’ve suddenly been seeing young people carrying cameras around here. They seemed to be asking about the location of your fish farm, so I roughly pointed them this way... Do you know anything about that?”
Young visitors looking for the fish farm?
I thought about it for a moment.
Nothing came to mind.
I had uploaded footage showing the fish farm scenery, but I had never shared the location.
Could they have tracked it down through the videos...?
No way.
Surely not.
It was not like everyone in the world had that much free time.
Who would carefully analyze videos uploaded to an Awakened forum just to discover the location...
“I’m not sure. I did sell a few unusual products recently, but nothing comes to mind.”
