An Over-Paranoid guest and Me Fishing

As I sat by the fire, looking at the two with a bit of hesitation to ask a question. Finally a moment came when I could speak in the silence.

"..." with the lady in armor resting with her eyes half closed…always alert and always ready to make a move, I can tell that if I act in a certain way that may threaten the other person beside her, I might get in trouble.

"..." the other lady on the other hand who wore a cloak was simply staring at the flames as time continued to pass. Knowing that silence was in the air, I thought that it might have been my chance to say something to her.

"...uhm, my name is Shay by the way…Shay Winston." I said as I lend my hand in a form of a handshake.

"...Nice to meet you Shay." said Serena as she smiled my way.

"I want to thank for what you've done for us tonight…it really meant a great deal for us to camp inside this safe haven of yours." said Serena.

"Oh, its no trouble at all…I'm sorry I pointed my sword at you a while ago, force of habit."

"Ah, no worries, we were strangers by then…but were acquaintances now." said Serena in a humble voice.

"Acquatances…I see, well pardon for me to ask, but why are you traveling here in the Flat Bioma without ever any preparation whatsoever?" I asked.

"It's a long story but…"

Long story short, far from the opposite end of the Flat Bioma, A kingdom stands and is in rule by a king who wishes to marry the Princess of the Dragon Empire in offer for peace. Not knowing until the last moment when this city was actually overruled by a demon who controlled behind the curtains of the throne. Before the princess could ever even accept the proposal, the truth was revealed and the Demon was enraged by this. In affect to his emotions of not marrying the princess, he commanded his army to capture the guest who came to support the princess in her decision to marry the King.

One of those guest was none other than Serena herself who was friends with the princess. At the last moment, she was able to escape this kingdom and ran from the dangers that came after her. With her loyal Knight by her side, she was able to survive…until when danger finally struck them and made them force to go through the Flat Bioma as a way to survive despite the risk.

It was a difficult choice, but in the two paths, where one path lead to a safer road but had an army waiting for them and the other road which was the Flat Bioma which was rather a harsh environment by night but had no army waiting for them. All in all, it all came to a fault that she would choose the flat bioma.

And so, now came to the present where she made it just barely in the night, by meeting me, a stranger who seems to have a safe haven in such a harsh environment.

'Hmm, so demons exist in this place?' I thought funnily enough as the story she said felt like it was written for a children's book. But since I came to this world via the All-Known book, I don't think everything she said would have been a lie.

"What do you plan to do with the Princess captured?" I asked.

"Simply said, with my position, I will call this matter to the king. After all, it involves the princess." said Serena.

"Ohh…that's not a bad plan." I said, as I know not much about politics.

"Right, exactly…um so enough about me, I want to ask about you…specifically, you being in the Flat Bioma by yourself."

"Is there something wrong with what I'm doing?" I asked, confused by her words.

"Not technically, but no one in their right mind would ever choose to ride in this path by themselves. It's suicide." said Serena.

"R-really? Huh…hmm."

"And this Artifact that you have to protect yourself…the shields that surrounds quite a big space around us…how is it that you have such an artifact? Where did you came to claim such an item?"

"What do you mean? I thought magic was quite normal?"

"Magic is common…but it is only common for mages who came to practice the arts of this world. There's hardly ever any artifact that conjures magic…and only a number of people came to a resolve to practice magic…to become a mage…magic itself is but an art of the higher level."

"Eh?"

"So please answer my question…where did you find such an artifact!?"

"...Uhh…it's getting late, we should get some sleep." I said as I was overwhelmed by her words.

"Ah…but!"

"...Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow." I said as I began to turn away from her.

"I…bu-…I see…I'm sorry for bothering you."

"It's okay."

"…Before you sleep, tell me, where your headed?"

"Oh, I'm headed to the Dragon Empire to buy me some seeds for farming. I'm going to use the plants I brought with me to sell them to the market for a profit."

"EEEHHH!!!!"

"W-what's wrong!?"

"S-S-Sell the Hail Mary plants!?"

"Y-yeah?"

"You plan to sell them? For how much!?"

"Oh..uhh, I…I don't really know."

"WHAT!?"

"P-Please stop shouting, your going to attract the lions again."

"I-I'm sorry…but do you have any idea what this plant is? It's the Hail-Mary Plant…a Holy plant that came from the tears of the Gods."

"Uhuh…"

"The very tears of the Gods are a way to show concern to us mortals…and by having this plant be given to us, it shows the mercy of a God as a sign of forgiveness. It cures you of anything quite lethal. From poison to a lost limb, this plant is but the miracle of a God itself."

"Uhuh…I see."

"One leaf could go for 1 gold coin for that matter!"

"Hmm…I see. It's very pricey then."

"Do you even know the value of one gold coin!?"

"Hmm…"

"One gold coin is equivalent to one hundred silver coins…and one silver coin is equivalent to one hundred copper coins!"

"Hmm…I see. Okay then."

"Did you not know?"

"...no."

"Oh, I see. Hehehahaha…*Sigh* can I ask what your name is again?"

"Shay…is there something wrong?" I answered her question.

"How long have you put the Plants inside that barrel?" she asked.

"I've had it with me since the morning."

"I see…well, I have bad news for you Shay, the plants you carry…they won't survive the journey to the Dragon Empire. The moment you pulled them out from their place in the forest, they will die."

"Hmm…I see." from the way she tells me this explanation, it seems as though she was aware of the nature of the Hail-Mary plants dying by the moment they were pulled out by their roots. But thankfully, I have the blessing to counter that element of the plant.

"I'm very sorry. If anything, I can reimburse you with the leaves you used on Shirley."

"Is Shirley the person who's wearing the armor?"

"Y-yes, Shirley is her name…she doesn't really talk much, but she's the one of my trusted companions."

"Hmm…I see. Well, you don't really have to pay me anything."

"B-but!"

"it's okay, I'll be fine. And if your wondering if you can join me on the ride to the Dragon Empire, you can."

"I see…well, thank you for the offer."

"No problem, just get to sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

As I turned away from their direction to try to sleep again, I could feel the gaze of one particular person.

"..."

It was clear to say that she was still disturbed by the events that happened to her. And based off the story she just told me, I really thought that she would have been to exhausted to even rant just now…but given the time we'll have tomorrow, I might as well, answer anything they'll ask of me.

The next day….

As early as the sun was in rising, I was the first person to wake up.

"..." I looked to the other two's direction and saw that they were still sleeping. I didn't was to disturb them, so as quietly as I could, I started going out of my way to fix up the barrier artifact.

Since there was no Grizzly Lions in the morning, it was safe to turn off the artifact.

One by one, I pulled the items from the ground and simply carried them to the wagon to store them. The moment I tossed the artifacts to the wagon, the noise it made quickly woke up the two…especially Shirley who seemed extra alert by the noise.

"...Um, Goodmorning." I said as I waved my hand to greet her.

"G-goodmorning." she said back.

"Can you wake up the lady? We have to move to a place where water is stored so that I could wash my face in." I said as I requested her to wake up Serena who was out like a lightbulb.

"...Hmm, I'm sorry but she won't wake up until later. She's a very heavy sleeper." she said.

"Hmm, then you might as well carry her and put her in the back, I don't want to waste any time just standing by in this open area." I said.

"Okay." in response, she went near Serena and simply lifted her up as easy without any issues at all.

As she slowly placed Serena down at the back, she made sure to cushion the lady's head with her lap to not make the trip any harder for the noble lady.

"...Are you ready?" I asked in question if she was prepared in travelling for the day.

"...Hm." having nod her head, we made our way to the Dragon Empire as smoothly as the wagon could take us. I didn't want to ride so rough that it would wake up the girl, because if I did, I might be meet with a lot of questions later on…so for now, I want to cherish this peace.

A few hours passed by and finally, we came upon a river that flowed its way across the vast open area of the flat bioma.

One thing I noticed about this particular scene was that it wasn't as strong as the river by the lake in the forest where I was settled in. We made a stop by the river to fetch some water and tried to clean myself.

"We're going to stop here for a while, I want to clean myself up a bit." I said to Shirley.

"Hm.." she only nodded at my words. One thing I noticed throughout my journey with her was that she was exactly how Serena described her to be…which was a very quiet person. She only ever talks when I question her and most of the time, she just nods… I don't really min it since back in my world, a lot of people were the same in the fact that they had communication problems with other people. So if she doesn't really want to talk, I wont force her.

As I went near the river, I could see some fish flowing by…

It made me think of the possibility of catching one to cook by the fire. I really wanted to change the game of just eating deer meat for the rest of the journey like so.

"I wonder if I have what it takes to catch one…" I say to myself as I looked at the scene before me.

As I was in deep thought, finally Lady Serena woke up from her sleep. As she did, she looked like your average sloppy and sluggish type of a person when waking up first thing in the day. She wasn't a morning person.

"W-where am I?" she asked.

"You're in the Flat Bioma, my Lady." said Shirley.

"Hmm…ah…yeah, I remember…but why am I in the wagon?"

"...Mr. Shay decided to continue on the journey to the Dragon Empire despite you still sleeping, My lady."

"..Oh, and where are we now?" she asked.

"We're by a river in the Flat Bioma...Mr. Shay decided to freshen up while we came across it."

"I see…well, we might as well freshen up too." said Serena.

"...Ah, yes my Lady."

As Serena got down from the wagon, she then went and approahed me.

"Hello, Goodmorning." she said.

"...Goodmorning." I said as I continued to look to the fishes by the river.

"What are you trying to do?" she asked.

"Hmm…I'm trying to catch some fish." I said.

"...How? I don't really see you carrying a fishing pole or even a net for that to happen."

"...Just watch."

"...I don't know much about fishing, but it might be dangerous, considering that we don't know anything about the type of fish there are that's swimming around. What if the fishes around here are more than what you can handle?"

"...Shh…" as I tried to shush her quietly, to go back to concentrating on the fish, before she could have even approach me about my process on the matter of catching a fish, I remembered back when I was leaving as a thief, one particular fun fact I learned from fishing was that a man can actually catch a fish barehanded, without the use of any sort of tool…just skill alone was needed.

I learned two particular things when fishing with just your bare hands. One was called Noodling where one fisherman tries to catch a fish that burrows itself by the mud at the sides of a river, using their fingers, they tried to latch on the mouth of the fish and pull it out as simple as it could be.

The other was called Stalking. This technique involves observing fish in the water and slowly approaching them. Move quietly and avoid making sudden movements that could startle the fish. Once you're within reach, extend your hand slowly and gently try to grab the fish. This method works best in shallow waters where visibility is good. Luckily for me, the current in the river wasn't so strong that it was messing with the fishes, but it was calm enough for me to possibly approach it with just my pure instinct to grab. With my sly fingers in the works as a thief, I was confident in catching a fish bare-handed.

"..." I was going for the stalking approach.

After minutes of observing the fish… I finally came to a determined choice to approach one particular target.

With me sneaking by it, my presence was able to disappear from its instincts…thanks to my sneak skill, I was able to erase my presence by 60%.

And after just one attempt, I was able to catch one.

And another one…

And another one…

Until finally, I was able to catch five fishes…

"Hmm, I guess this is enough." I said.

As I turned back to the two women who were waiting by the fire that they made as they waited for me, I was meet with a surprised expression from the two…and more especially from Serena.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"How!?"

"How what?"

"How were you able to disappear from our eyes!?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you an assassin?" spoke Shirley in a rather threatening tone.

"Y-you…you were gone…you disappeared every time you were able to catch a fish! And after that…you went away again, like a ghost. Five times…you disappeared for five times."

"Oh…no, I have this skill called "Sneak". It lets me be undetectable for about sixty percent…I think."

"W-What!!?"