The gift of the sea

  Blue sky, white birds.

  Only where the sea and the sky are connected are there some faint clouds like smoke and mist...

  The reef area here is almost completely submerged by sea water at high tide, and is only exposed above the sea surface at low tide. Therefore, the reef is crowded with oysters and sea rainbows. Elves do not like to eat shellfish, causing the shore to The reef area is almost entirely occupied by oysters.

  Every once in a while, Roy has to clean up the shellfish growing in the fishing position, but this is a reef area and there are abundant shellfish, so there are also many fish hiding in the rock crevices.

  When fishing here, except that you have to be careful about the hook hanging on the bottom, it is almost the best place.

  The wind was a bit strong and the tide had not yet risen, but the waves hit the rocks on the shore one after another, turning into countless splashes and foam. The fine seawater drifted away with the wind, filling the entire coastline with the smell of the sea.

  Roy hung a piece of sandworm on the fishhook, and threw the fishing line in his hand into a relatively narrow sea surface under the reef with both hands. Every time the waves flowed in along the narrow rock crack, they would flow out again after a while. .

  If there is a strong tide, you will find that there is a dark pit surrounded by rocks all around, only about ten square meters in size, and there will be some black snappers in it.

  When elf people cook fish delicacies, they prefer to peel off the skin of the fish, pick the fish meat from the spine, marinate it with salt and pepper for a while, fry it, and then pour some prepared sauce on it, but they Eat fish with fewer spines so that cooking is less troublesome.

  This kind of black sea bream is a bit troublesome to cook. When it was brought to the market on the pier, only two fish shops were willing to buy it.

  Normally, Roy would occasionally put buckets at the entrance of the fish market and sell them to the elves who came to buy fish at the fish market. However, those elves were more picky, so Roy would usually rather sell the fish for less money and send the fish directly to the fish shop. You can go anytime.

  In just one morning, Roy caught half a bucket of fish. In addition to some black sea bream, there was also a three-swordfish with beautiful colors. Roy planned to steam the three-swordfish in the evening.

  As it was approaching noon, the tide began to rise again, and the seawater hit one after another, continuously hitting the reef walls and swallowing the reef area bit by bit.

  Roy knew that if he didn't leave here, it would be very troublesome to wade into the water when the water rose. There were shells as sharp as knives everywhere.

  Then he put away his fishing rod, carried the heavy bucket, climbed down from the reef cautiously, and moved towards the fish market on the pier on the soft sand beach.

  …

  The pier of Castletown Port is not very big. There are rows of large and small fishing boats moored on the pier less than 300 meters. Some are wooden boats that can only fish offshore, while others can fish farther away. Fishing sailboat.

  What is incompatible with these fishing boats are the large sailing ships anchored in the deep water area. Most of these three-masted sailing ships are merchant ships.

  They not only brought Dalildo's spices and gems from the south, but also brought various magical herbs and delicious mushrooms from the Evernight Forest in the north.

  The entire elf continent is occupied by three forces. Occupying a large area of ​​land in the south is a group of Wood Elf, who believe in the sons of nature. Most of the Wood Elf live in a huge World Tree. It is said that the crown of that big tree is an extremely prosperous city ​​of.

  The central region has the largest territory, and this is the territory of the Silvermoon Elf. The Silvermoon Elf have always believed that their own branch is the Royal Family of elf, but it is not recognized by the other two elf races.

  The Evernight Forest in the north has always been the territory of the Darkmoon Elf. They are used to living in darkness. Many Assassins come from the Evernight Forest.

  Castletown Port is the territory of Silvermoon Elf. It faces the sea on three sides and is close to the Gabe Trench, so it is a natural harbor.

  In the lively fish market, there are not only local elves selecting fresh fish, but also some merchant ships from Buenos City. They will pack the fresh sea fish from the fish market into wooden boxes filled with ice and then transport them. Go to Buenos City.

  The elfs signed this offshore non-aggression contract with the Janna Sea Clan. Therefore, Castletown Port has slowly developed from a remote fishing village into a lively fishing port in the past hundred years.

  On the east side of the pier is a lively fish market.

  Many elves don't like the fishy smell, so they come back from fishing in the sea and sell their products on the sandy hills near the seaside with relatively high terrain, which is very close to the pier.

  This place was originally just a deserted beach. Later, the number of elves trading here gradually increased, and it slowly transformed into a prosperous fish market.

  Now some stone slabs have been laid here, and there are even small wood houses or awnings built in some places.

  Ms. Angeli's fish stall has an awning, but she is more willing to buy large sea fish brought back from the distant sea by large fishing boats. She is not very interested in black sea bream like Roy. Roy usually does not buy the fish he catches. Send it to her.

  Roy has his own sales channel. The stall owner who is willing to buy his goods is a restaurant boss. In addition to having a stall at the fish market, he also opened a restaurant in the city. One of the characteristics of that restaurant is It's the dish 'Steamed Snapper'.

  Of course, there is also a little suggestion from Roy to make this dish have a special taste.

  The black snapper Roy caught has a stable market, but the purchase price is still very low.

  Two kohlers, no matter how big or small.

  Of course, if Roy catches a black snapper smaller than two palms, he will throw it back into the sea.

  Carrying a bucket, Roy walked through the fish market in the lively Castletown Harbor and would say hello to some familiar faces he saw.

  The ELFs in the fish market are all ordinary persons. Nobles will not come to this dirty and smelly fish market. Many of the ELFs here are mixed-races with low status.

  For the Silvermoon Elfs, their tolerance for Roy, a half-elf who looks more like a human, is much higher than that of some mixed-race elves.

  ELFs have a unified name for mixed-race ELFs, which is 'blood ELF'.

  It just so happens that elves are so 'artistic' in character, and it's easy for them to devote themselves wholeheartedly to a new relationship.

  And in the face of new feelings, love has no boundaries...

  Roy heard that there were a large number of mixed-race elves who couldn't stand the discrimination of elf continent, so they left the elf continent in batches by boat.

  Speaking of which, Roy's neighbor Ms. Gillian's two daughters are like this. The eldest daughter Sabrina has a bit of Wood Elf's bloodline, and the youngest daughter Moira has a bit of Darkmoon Elf's bloodline. Ms. Jillian and mother Bei Like Linda, both are Silvermoon Elf...

  Among the elves at the fish market, everyone has long been familiar with Roy, and some of them even greeted Roy familiarly.

  "Roy, are you going fishing again?"

  "Well, Giroud, how was business today?"

  "Forget it, the fishmongers in Buenos keep the prices too low!"

  "..."

  Whenever this happens, Roy doesn't know what to say.

  The boss of the fish stall, who was wearing waterproof leather pants, didn't mind at all. He just wanted to complain. I have to say that Roy was a good listener.

  Giroud continued to chatter:

  "Our fish market should unite and resist those foreign fishmongers. Hey, look over there, it seems that another big ship has docked."

  Roy followed Giroud's gaze and saw that another large ship had indeed docked in the deep water area of ​​the pier thanks to the tide.

  Not only is the style of this ship very unusual, even the sails are not made of white silk fabric commonly used by elf people, but are made of dark gray, and the half of the sail that is raised is clearly embroidered with patterns of swords, shields and griffons.

  Although the five-masted sailing ship was several hundred meters away from here, Roy could still clearly see that the sailors on the ship were not elfs with pointy ears, but a group of humans who looked somewhat similar to him.

  These human sailors also stood on the side of the ship extremely excitedly, cheering and waving to the shore...

  …

  Roy soon carried the bucket in front of a fish stall. Unlike other fish stalls, the types of marine fish at this fish stall were very diverse. There were almost no traders among the customers who gathered around to select marine fish.

  The stall owner is an elderly elf. Although time rarely leaves traces on elf bodies, his age can still be judged from the sparse white hair on the top of his head and some subtle wrinkles on his face. Very big.

  The elf's lifespan is about 800 years old, which does not mean that they will be immortal...

  Time will also take away their lives, but an old elf represents a rich life experience, even if he is just a stall owner at the fish market.

  "Going fishing again?" the old elf asked Roy kindly.

  Compared with other young elves, Roy is more pragmatic and understands life better.

  The ELFs in Castletown Harbor live in an environment of abundant material resources, and even the poorest ELFs can afford breadfruit.

  ELFs do not have high demands for food, and most young ELFs will choose to pursue higher artistic literacy.

  Let them face the sea and recite poems. Very few young elves would go to the beach to fish like Roy.

  "Only seven, fourteen kohler."

  Roy placed the bucket at the old elf's feet.

  "Pour it in!" the old elf said without counting the quantity.

  Then he counted fourteen white shells from the money bag. Here is the smallest denomination currency in circulation in the country of Silvermoon Elf. It is an unusual shell.

  Roy had searched the coastline around Castletown Harbor, and no shells of this style were found on this beach at least.

  Roy put the fourteen kohler in his hand into his wallet. This thinly polished shell was very light, and Roy couldn't help patting his pocket. If his luck was the same tomorrow as today, he would finally have the appraisal fee.

  But what worries Roy more is another thing.

  Roy carried the bucket with only one saury fish left. He turned around and saw the five-masted sailing ship at the deep-water dock. This huge sea ship looked very dilapidated. The collision angle on the front of the hull was a bronze statue of the Gripen. However, not only was the left wing broken, it was actually covered with green patina, and it looked like it needed to be repaired.

  Different from the exquisite streamlined hulls of elf boats, the front of this seagoing ship is relatively pointed, while the back of the hull is somewhat square. At a glance, you can tell that it can carry a lot of cargo.

  Roy was not in a hurry to go home, but moved towards the deep water pier with the bucket in hand.

  (End of chapter)