Gone Fishing~

With that, Ender walked away from the stall and continued her trek through the beautiful park. She sat down on the nearest bench, and a gray cat sat down next to her. She smiled at the cat and start petting it a little with her free hand.

"Relationship built on lies huh?" Ender ate the last bit of chocolate from her crepes. "Should I tell Emilia the truth about her father?" she ate some of the crepe wraps before looking at the cat. "What do you think, possibly intelligent cat?"

The cat simply meowed at her. Ender, who couldn't speak to animals like Alan, can only guess that it's asking for her Crepe. She then leaned on the bench and finished her sweet, sweet breakfast.

Then, a funky tune came from her flip phone. Ender quickly answered it.

"Ender! I noticed a temporal disturbance!"

"Yeah, that was me, chill,"

"Really? Oh, thank goodness… Are you alright? It's unusual for you to use that thing,"

"I'm fine, just feeling a bit lazy… Where are you now?"

"I was just going to sleep,"

"Well, go to sleep Marshall, I'll take it from here," Ender hanged up and pocketed her flip phone. She looked at the gray cat from earlier and found it sleeping beside her.

[[[UPF]]]

After sitting there for almost an hour, Ender stood up and exhaled a deep breath. True to Alan's words, she did enjoy this mission. It's relaxing and peaceful, unlike the demon purge mission where she and Marshall were sent to all sorts of hostile environments.

Except for the part where she fought an angry reality warper, but then again, it never happened in the first place.

The agent walked through the park once again. She glanced at the crepe stall in the distance and saw that it's selling nicely. The park itself is adjacent to the woods, with dense and thick foliage that people seldom traverse to.

However, Ender found some footprints going into the woods. It belongs to that of small children, and Ender decided to follow it. Maybe she'll find some demonic human meat farm? Who knows?

After walking through the woods for about fifteen minutes, Ender found herself staring at the floating city's edge. A large lake stretches forever into the mountain range in the distance.

Not only that, but Ender also found the children, apparently fishing, at the edge of the town. Judging by the lighting, the water right in front of them directly drops into the bottom of the lake, and she really hopes they know how to swim.

Ender approached the children. There's two of them, both are little girls Emilia's age. One of them has short dark hair and black eyes wearing a blue T-shirt. The other has long blonde hair and bright blue eyes wearing a green dress. The former is holding the fishing rod, and the latter just watched from the sidelines.

Then, Ender noticed that the rod is just a stick, and the fishing line is literally just a regular string tied on it. She narrowed her eyes when she saw a bucket filled with water near them that actually has a couple of fish in it. 'How is that possible?' Ender thought to herself.

"Hello," Ender greeted them.

The two of them looked at Ender. "Hi!" the one holding the rod replied. "Are you going fishing too?" she asked.

"Ah, no, I'm actually not good at fishing," Ender lied. "I'm just here enjoying the view," she sat down near them and took a closer look at the fishes in the bucket. Another odd thing, the fish doesn't even look wounded by the fishing hook. Their mouth looked clean and unblemished.

After a moment, something tugged on their string. The dark-haired girl grinned and started pulling on the rod. A decently sized fish jumped out from the water, and the girl pulled the rod with all her might. The fish flew across the air, and…

'Smack' it hits her right in the face.

"Ah! I'm hit!" the girl exclaimed though she managed to catch the fish. She pulled out her bait from the fish's mouth, revealing… a candy. Like, literally just a candy, she somehow fished a large fish with a candy. "Got another one," she said before putting the fish into the bucket.

Ender blinked owlishly after seeing that. She considered asking them, but something tells her that even they have no idea what's going on. So she decided to go with an indirect approach. "Wow, that's a nice catch,"

The little girls smiled. "Thanks miss!" she said.

"Call me Ender," Ender replied.

The fisher girl grinned after hearing that. "Whoa, that's a cool name, is that really your name?"

Ender chuckled a little. "My parents were an odd bunch," she replied. Then she looked at the three fishes swimming in the bucket of water. "Where did you learn how to fish?" Ender asked.

"I just know how to do it," she said before throwing the fishing line once more.

"And what inspired you to start fishing?"

"Well, it was when I made that bet with Em-" the other girl covered her mouth and stopped her from talking.

"Sh-she saw it on the tv once," the other girl said nervously.

Ender nodded a little. "I see…"

'Okay, Emilia definitely has some sort of power. Now if I can somehow make her show me her power and let me gauge it, my mission is done. Sure I can just use the Fragmented Time to reverse time after having Marshall push her to the limit, but where's the fun in that?'

'Problem is, Alicia doesn't trust me one bit. Without Alicia's trust I won't be able to get near Emilia. This is troublesome, I should've took the hint and not take Marshall with me when the cats started running away from him. Aaaaah, so frustrating, but no use crying over spilled milk. Focus Endie, you gotta earn her trust somehow…'

'The easiest way to earn someone's trust is to save their life. But this town is anomalously peaceful so there is literally nothing I need to safe her from. Should I make a fake threat? No, Alicia will be suspicious of me. Okay, this is a much harder mission than I expected…'

'Well, first off, I need to get along with all of Emilia's friends. These two are definitely her friends,'

Ender nodded, satisfied with her conclusion. She stood up and walked towards the fish they just collected. "So, what are you going to do with these fishes?" she asked.

The blonde-haired girl answered her question. "I'm going to cook them,"

"So you know how to cook?" Ender asked.

"Yes, Robyn's cousin taught me how to do it," she pointed at the fisher girl. "She works in a restaurant near the round fountain."

"Oh really? What's it called?"

"It's called the Secret Garden,"

'Bingo!' Ender thought to herself

"Oh, I've heard of that place," Ender said in interest. "So, are you going to cook them here, camper style, or are you going to take it to the Secret Garden?"

"We're going to roast it here/take it to the restaurant," they both said simultaneously.

They looked at each other, and the fisher spoke up. "Come on Annie, let's cook it here! I'll grab some stick and we can cook it on top of fire, like the marshmallow we had for picnic," she said.

"It's not that simple Robyn, we need to properly clean, gut, and skin the fish before we can cook it," Annie replied, "Besides, are you sure you're going to eat fish without proper seasoning?"

"I brought some clean water!" Robyn took a large bottle of drinking water and a bottle of soy sauce out of nowhere. "I also have salted soy sauce, I came fully prepared!"

"Still, it's not that simple!" Annie replied.

Ender chuckled at their bantering and realized that it's a perfect opportunity for her. "Alright, settle down you two," she told them. "What if I help you cook the fish? I know something about outdoor cooking myself."

Robyn looked at me with stars in her eyes. "You know?" she asked.

Ender nodded a little. "Of course, I'm used to travelling," she took out her retractable blade from her pocket. Then Ender extends the bottom edge that is much shorter and smaller than the primary blade. "I can skin, gut, and clean the fish before roasting," she explained.

Annie looked at her in suspicion. "How do you know if it's hygiene?"

Yeah, that's a risk we all have to take shorty, Ender wanted to say. But she just smiled sheepishly at her. "Well… I don't, but we have clean water there, so… worth a try?"

Robyn nodded vigorously while Annie just sighed in defeat.

With that, Ender grabbed one of the fish. She sat down on the ground and put the fish on her lap. "Don't worry, my clothes are enchanted, it cannot get dirty."

Their eyes widened after hearing that. "Whoa! Seriously?" Robyn asked. "Isn't enchantment super duper expensive?"

"Well… I did save a lot for this," she told her before looking at the fish on her lap. It's decently sized, about twice the size of her hand. "Annie, have you ever killed a fish before?"

The girl shook her head a little. "No… miss Lala did all that…" she said.

"Well, no better time for you to learn then," Ender looked at her smaller blade. It seems like a spear point, but there's a short, thin spike at the end of it. "First thing you do, is to stab it right in the brain, that way it doesn't feel that much pain,"

Ender held her blade with one hand and the fish with the other. Then she stabbed the fish right through its head. It spasms in her grip before going limp. Robyn already averted her eyes, but Annie kept watching.

"Okay, now the fish is dead, however, its heart is still beating," Ender lifted up the fish and cut through one of its gills. "One," she cut the other gill. "Two," then she stabbed the back of its tail. "Three, and that's how you help remove the blood."

Ender dunked the fish back into the lake and gently massaged it. She thought about the next step to destroy its spine, but she doesn't really have the proper equipment. After about half a minute, she pulled out the fish and put it on her lap once again.

"Okay, now we can start cleaning it," Ender told them. "First is to shave off all the scales," she dragged the back of her blade against the scales' direction. She kept at it for a few minutes until it's done. "Second, open up the fish from the base of the tail."

With that, she opened up the fish and started gutting it. "Now, we start scooping up the inside of it," she used her bare hand to scoop up the fish innards. She noticed that Robyn is staring at the rest of the fish with a slightly nauseous look on her face while Annie is staring intently.

Ender dunked the fish back into the lake after she's done, clean it some more before taking it out. "Now this fish is ready to be roasted," Robyn snapped her attention back to her after hearing that. "However, we want to make this taste good, no?"

Ender cut the fish just behind the top of its head and gently filleted it halfway, revealing the pinkish-white flesh underneath it. "Say, where's the clean water?"

Robyn handed Ender her bottle, and the latter carefully pour in the water while scrubbing the fish clean. Soon enough, it's clean enough and ready to be roasted. "Okay, it is done," Ender looked at the children and smiled sheepishly. "I forgot to tell you guys to prepare a fire."

Robyn stood up with a proud look on her face. "I'll go look for fire wood," she said before running back into the woods.

"Make sure you choose the wood near fruit trees," Ender shouted.

Ender looked at a bottle of soy sauce beside Annie. "Annie, can you get me that?"

Annie handed her the soy sauce, and Ender started pouring a little bit on the filleted part and incision near the tail. "Ano, miss Ender," she looked at Ender. "I've never seen you before, are you a tourist?"

Ender smiled a little. "Yes, I'm currently staying at the Black Cat Cafe," she said.

"Black Cat Cafe?" an excited smile formed on her face. "Does that mean you know Emilia?"

"Of course, Rena and Christopher too," she replied. "Are you Emilia's friend?"

Annie nodded a little. "Yes, Emilia is my classmate, we used to play alot," then her smile faltered a little. "Well… We wanted to play with her again but she's too busy with her work… But we'll meet her again after our vacation."

'Vacation?' Ender thought to herself. 'I honestly thought that she didn't go to school. Damn it, I should've asked Rena.'

After about ten minutes, Robyn returned with a bunch of sticks and a large branch. She's stronger than she looks, Ender has to admit. She put down the wood in front of Annie and folded her arms. "Okay, now what?"

Ender grabbed a stick and started shaving off all bark and resin, leaving a clean pointy stick. Then she stabbed the fish straight through its mouth. Ender held the stick with one hand and handed it to Annie. "Hold this while I prepare the fire," she said.

Annie grabbed the fish on a stick, and she looked at Ender, who's already cutting off the larger branch. She wondered if Ender is one of those famous adventurers she saw on television. She's not even surprised if her name is a fake one to keep her identity a secret.

Then, Ender took out a match stick from her pocket, and the wood started to burn. "Nice…" she said. "Okay, you can start smoking the fish now," she said.

Robyn and Annie hold the fish together. The smell of smoke combined with soy sauce made an odd yet pleasant combination. "Not too close, you'll burn the fish."

It was then that they realized that Ender is already cleaning the second fish. However, unlike before, she's doing it in quick succession without explaining every part. She finished it in under five minutes before she too started roasting the fish.

"I'll take this fish as my payment," Ender said with a mischievous smile.

After almost half an hour of roasting plus smoking the fish, the fish is ready to eat. It looked quite appetizing for something cooked with just one ingredient in the wilderness. So far, everyone was satisfied with how it looks.

"Hold on, let me try it first," Ender took a bite of the fish. It's salty on the outside and stale on the inside. But when she started chewing on it, she couldn't help but smile with pride. "Not bad, not as good as oven roasted, but beggars can't be choosy."

Robyn and Annie looked at each other. Then they took a bite at each side of the fish. They, too, smiled a little after eating it. Not because it's delicious, but it's because it tastes much better than they expected.

"I wouldn't mind eating this again," Robyn said.

"Maybe next time we should bring something else other than soy sauce," Annie commented. "And a proper grill."

Everyone just burst out laughing after hearing that. Ender herself was immensely enjoying the little girl's company. They're so lively and much more fun to hang out with than Emilia. She thought about how much more fun it will be to bring Emilia along.

Then, Ender remembered something. She took out her flip phone, it's very old fashioned, but it has a camera function. Not an HD kind of camera, but good enough. "Hey, can I take your photo?" she asked.

Robyn and Annie made eating pose together, and Ender captured it with her phone camera. Then she turned around for a selfie action. It's a bit hard without a front camera, but she trusted her instinct somewhat. "Cheese!"

All in all, Ender spent almost three hours with her new friends, and it's already 13:00. She stood up from her position and simply tapped on her clothing a little. True to her words, her clothes are still clean, and no trace of filth visible.

"Wow, must be great to have enchanted clothes," Robyn said. "I don't have to take a bath ever again.

"Of course I need to take a bath," Ender said. "It just means I don't have to change my clothes if I don't want to," she explained.

"Still, it's pretty convenient," Annie looked at her dress that's just a little dirty. "I don't have to worry about getting yelled at when I get home."