The Red Ribbon Fish

Scooping two portions into each bowl, she handed the starry sky soup to us. The surface of the soup was glimmering, reflecting the kitchen light as if it was the sea reflecting the night sky. After simmering for half an hour, the sea dragon meat had all but dissolved into tiny pieces in the soup, just like the stars in the sky. When scooping up the soup with a spoon, you could see the color of the soup was a dark dark blue that was just one shade away from black.

Taking a small sip, I couldn't help but exclaim. It was delicious! The thick fats and oils in the soup immediately covered my tongue like a warm blanket, reminding me of the nutritious black soup I had once when visiting my friend's house. It was slightly sweet, almost tasting like red dates from my previous world. And although it was very oily, in a good way, it easily went down my throat.

Abandoning the spoon, I took the bowl with two hands and gulped down everything in one breath. At first Ken was startled by my action, but he soon copied me and downed the whole bowl in less than five seconds.

Letting out a satisfied sigh, I placed the bowl down and grabbed a tissue towel to wipe my oily lips. Sazzy, having had no time to taste the soup because of my sudden actions, showed an extremely sour face. But when seeing my satisfied look, she gritted her hands and sneaked over to the pot. Making sure no one was noticing, she lifted up the ladle and drank directly from it.

Usually I would immediately jump at her lack of hygiene, but I doubt she had any germs to spread to others.

I recalled back to the time I tested her taste by lacing her food with salt. She didn't even notice anything. Her reasoning for sending me here was also pretty suspicious. She definitely did try to delay sending my brother here because she wanted more food, I was mostly certain of that. But who in their right mind would bring over an amateur chef to another world for a mission related to food?

Shifting my eyes away from her and onto the bowl, I fell deeper into thought. I suspect that her sending me to another world had more to do with that villain rehabilitation department of hers than the so called 'mission' of spreading awareness of culture. Although her explanation for that mission did seem to be true. By mixing in these truths with her lies, she tried to make her whole story sound more believable, but it instead just poked more holes into her 'reasons' for bringing me here.

The villain rehabilitation department. Based on that naming alone, it seemed that something I did, or would do, made me a villain in my previous world. It was probably after I lost my mind to losing my brother. That much was easy to understand. However, why try to hide this fact? It's not as if murder, in a worldwide sense, was rare. More than 400000 people die each year from manmade causes. It's not as if the system was trying to rehabilitate all of them. There must be something else at stake here.

Concealing my thoughts as I threw the tissue into the empty bowl, Candice shooed the both of us out of the kitchen with a plate of dried fish impaled on some sticks.

Laughing cheekily, Ken pulled me by my hand as we escaped from the inn and into the streets.

"Since we are free, let me show you around the commerce street! Then after that we can play around outside the barrier! Since you know how to remove the parasites now, and also since I am with you, there should be no problems!"

Instead of going back to the crosswalk this time, we walked between the alleyways of some of the hotels in order to cross three streets left to reach what Ken called the 'commerce street'. And true to his nickname, every building on that street seemed to be selling everything under the sun.

Not only were both sides of the street filled with shops, the second and third floor of the buildings also had banners announcing their wares. There seemed to be a delivery system built right next to the windows and banners. Next to the delivery hole, there was a screen that allowed customers to order. The item would then be sent down the tube. In the middle of the road there were Carts selling snacks like the fried fairy wings we had just eaten, fruit juice and other drinks as refreshments. Even several never before seen sweets were being driven up and down the road.

Hopping from one shop to another, Ken and I observed as well as bought several small trinkets that sold for 2 to 3 UC. Holding up a shiny keychain in the shape of a fuzzy caterpillar that was slightly pink in color, with its big black round eyes scrunched up cutely as it chewed on 'moss', Ken gave me a history lesson on the Fairy wands.

"Fairy wands usually give us fairy wings. We harvest the fairy wings from its back by gently detaching the wings. Their main function is to sense the water around the worms in order to find out the sea currents as well as to sense danger. When there is too big a movement near the worms, the worms will actually release its grip on the rocks, use their weight to push away from the rock and into the nearby currents to be swept away from its predator. This also means you have to be mindful of the currents when approaching the Fairy wands lest they run away."

Laughing, Ken told a story of when he saw Fern once on his harvesting trips chasing a Fairy wand riding the current, and of Fern's disappointed and aggrieved face as he was forced to go searching for another Fairy worm when he lost it. Smiling, I joked with Ken to stop teasing Fern too much, to which Ken responded by waving it off because 'Fern likes the attention'.

Throwing our empty sticks into a nearby trash bin, we continued entering and exiting stores.

"Hey Ken, before I came to Aquarius, I saw a lot of articles mentioning the red ribbon fish. But in this street, I don't see even a single store selling anything related to it?"

Ken slowed down and let out a low chuckle.

"That's because of the negative perception of the general public against the red ribbon fish. Since it is so popular because of its parasite, and is very much associated with parasites, a lot of shopkeepers don't dare even mention it in fear that it would drive customers away. Even though the red ribbon fish is a very huge part of our culture."

Shaking his head, Ken sighed as he led me away from the commerce street. However, he suddenly showed a cheeky grin as we neared the barrier.

"In fact, if you are so curious about the red ribbon fish, there is actually a red ribbon fish farm not far away from the AT center!"

Crossing the barrier, we headed in almost a straight line from the commerce street and into the trees. And after several minutes of walking, the forest thinned out and made way for a simple and humble wood building.

"Welcome to the red ribbon fish farm!"

Ken said as he stretched out both arms and shouted. Then grabbing my arm, he led us closer.