Chapter 172. The Taste of the Sea (2)
At Victoria’s invitation, Nova hesitantly stepped forward.
Victoria spoke gently.
“Take off your shoes.”
“Feel the waves directly with your feet.”
Nova carefully slipped off her shoes.
Then she slowly placed her bare feet into the water.
Whoooosh...
The cold wave washed over her feet before retreating back into the sea.
Nova stared down in surprise at the unfamiliar sensation tickling her skin.
“This is strange.”
“It’s the same water, but it feels completely different from water coming out of a shower.”
“Of course.”
“Waves are the breath of the enormous living creature we call the sea.”
“Breath?”
Nova tilted her head, not understanding.
Victoria quietly faced her.
Another wave rolled in and gently flowed between their legs.
Victoria watched the beach constantly changing shape with every passing wave and nodded.
“Yeah.”
“The sea breathes in a steady rhythm.”
“Every time it does, the waves come in.”
“Right now, we’re connected to the breath of the ocean.”
Nova slowly lifted her head.
A sea breeze happened to brush gently across her cheek.
The wind.
The cries of seabirds in the distance.
The waves rolling back and forth.
All of it spoke of the same thing.
Vitality.
Life.
Being alive.
Nova eventually realized one very simple truth.
“This place is alive.”
Just as Nova was fully taking in the abundant life of the sea, Victoria suddenly pulled out a bottle as though she had been waiting for this exact moment.
It was filled with a suspicious gray liquid.
“Wahahahaha!”
“And if I use these waves to spread my alchemical creation, DTX-9873, every hidden piece of seafood in the area will come crawling out!”
Victoria burst into mad laughter and poured the gray chemical into the water.
It quickly mixed with the waves and spread throughout the area.
Before long, shellfish began bubbling up through the sand one after another.
That was not all.
Schools of fish suddenly swam toward the surface nearby.
Every one of them looked as though they had been hypnotized.
“W-What did you do?!”
Nova naturally panicked at the absurd sight.
Victoria answered proudly.
“DTX-9873 is a neuroparalytic substance I made by cultivating the mold and bacteria I collected from that aged sashimi earlier.”
“Once aquatic creatures are exposed to it, they lose their sense of direction.”
Nova had seen Victoria doing something with the moldy sashimi back in the kitchen.
Apparently, she had created this in that short amount of time.
Nova could only be baffled by her absurd speed.
“Is this even safe?”
“Don’t worry.”
“DTX-9873 was designed specifically for aquatic life, so it’s harmless to other organisms.”
“And because it’s made from naturally occurring substances, it breaks down over time.”
“So there’s no need to worry about environmental pollution either.”
Victoria explained with a cheerful smile.
Nova, who had just been deeply moved by the vitality of the sea, stared at her in disbelief.
“Wasn’t this supposed to be an emotional moment just a second ago?”
Victoria ignored her completely.
She was already busy throwing shellfish and fish into the bucket.
“Look, Nova!”
“All the shellfish lost their sense of direction and crawled right out!”
“There are tons of fish too!”
“With this much, we can eat as much as we want!”
Nova watched her for a moment.
Then she sighed and was once again forced to confront the harsh reality of their situation.
“Yeah.”
“What kind of sentimental nonsense am I getting caught up in right now?”
“Staying alive comes first.”
“We’re back!”
Victoria and Nova returned while struggling with buckets overflowing with seafood.
Yukgap, who had been preparing the meal, looked impressed.
“What did you do to catch this much?”
Victoria smiled proudly.
“Well, as always, my alchemy shone once again.”
“Hehehe.”
“You didn’t blow up the ocean or anything, did you?”
Yukgap asked suspiciously.
Victoria immediately protested.
“Come on.”
“I don’t use violent methods like that.”
“I just released a little neuroparalytic substance into the water.”
“That somehow sounds even more violent.”
Yukgap could only stare at her.
Still, the amount of seafood Victoria and Nova had brought back was impressive.
There was enough for several meals.
“You finished cleaning the kitchen already?”
Nova looked around the now spotless kitchen.
Yukgap shrugged lightly.
“Yeah.”
“Looks like a completely different place, doesn’t it?”
The guesthouse owner, who had personally watched Yukgap clean, praised him enthusiastically.
“You’re incredibly fast.”
“For a moment, I thought you weren’t human!”
Well, of course. I’m a chimera.
Yukgap barely resisted saying it aloud.
In any case, the important thing now was the food.
Nova looked exhausted and asked,
“We brought back plenty of ingredients, so make us something decent.”
“I’m starving.”
Yukgap drew the dagger from his waist and answered confidently.
“Just wait.”
“I’ll make you some proper food this time.”
“Everyone, come eat.”
Yukgap placed a steaming pot on the wooden platform.
Victoria smelled the food and exclaimed,
“Wow.”
