Claude busied himself with barbecuing while Welikro ate his beef kebabs and stared at the three small fish skin lanterns floating on the surface of the lake.
He had always been fond of fishing, so when Eriksson announced that they could have a barbecue, he had already baited three fishing rods and thrown them into the water. In just over half an hour, he had caught four fish that weren't small at all.
It was no wonder that the fishermen of Whitestag believed that fishing at night was better than fishing in the day.
Eriksson helped Claude skewer meat by the grill and looked at the six chicken wings on the grill with a mouth full of saliva. He couldn't wait to see if they were done.
Borkal, on the other hand, leaned against the high bow of the ship and sat on the deck with a bottle of blueberry wine in one hand and a fork with a large piece of tender steak on it in the other.
He used a brush to spread the sauce evenly on the six chicken wings and flipped them over. Finally, he had one hand free and said to Eriksson, "Don't rush, it'll be ready soon." He picked up a piece of roasted mutton from the wooden plate and stuffed it into his mouth. He was famished after all that work.
One of the three small fish skin lanterns floating gently on the surface of the lake suddenly sank, and the candle flame went out.
Welikro reacted quickly and grabbed the fishing rod to pull it up. He couldn't help but exclaim, "Quick, get the net! It's a big one!"
The one caught on the hook was indeed a big fish that struggled with all its might. Eriksson stood at the side of the ship with the net in hand and stared at the surface of the lake. Just as Welikro was about to pull the fish closer to the surface of the lake, Eriksson caught it in the net with lightning speed.
"It's a redback greenscale. It's about a foot and a half long and weighs about five to six catties." Eriksson confidently estimated the weight of the fish that was still struggling after being pulled to the surface of the ship. Redback greenscale was one of the specialties of Lake Balinga and was a freshwater fish.
However, it would smell of soil if not cooked properly, so it was usually made into fish floss for long-term preservation.
"Throw it in the cabin. Your chicken wings are ready."
Claude placed the six chicken wings on a wooden plate at the side and a finely sliced longtail swordfish on the grill for his own consumption.
Welikro stepped on the redback greenscale in the net and removed the hook from the fish's mouth before tossing it into the living water cabin.
He didn't continue baiting the hook. Instead, he washed his hands in the lake water and took a chicken wing from the wooden plate Eriksson was holding and started gnawing on it.
The barbecue of the Long-tailed Swordfish was very simple. It only took three minutes to turn the fish.
He placed the fish on a wooden plate, brushed both sides with salt water, and was ready to eat.
He liked eating it that way, believing that it preserved the freshness and freshness of the fish.
Welikro, on the other hand, had a heavy taste and liked to smear all sorts of sauces on his fish.
Seeing that Claude was eating the longtail swordfish, Welikro finished his chicken wing and put it on the grill.
Claude asked, "Aren't you going to keep an eye on the two lanterns?"
The biggest problem with night fishing was that you couldn't see the buoys floating on the water, so fishermen invented these fist-sized lanterns made of fish skin. There was a small round piece of driftwood at the bottom, and a lantern made of fish skin on top, with a slender candle inserted inside.
By connecting the lantern to the buoys and lighting the candle, the fisherman would be able to see if any fish took the bait.
As long as a fish took the bait, it would drag the lantern underwater just like the redback greenscale did. The moment the candle went out, the fisherman would know that the fish had taken the bait.
The candle was waterproof and could be used repeatedly until it burned out.
"There's no need to look. The redback greenscale we caught was so big that the fish below would've been scared away. We'll have to wait and see," said Welikro as he smeared the sauce on the longtail swordfish.
Claude shook his head. Smearing sauce like that would cover up the freshness of the fish. What a waste. It would be better to just roast a random fish.
He took a sip of the blueberry wine and heard Welikro say, "Give me some too."
So, he poured a cup for him and Welikro gulped it down in one gulp. He clicked his tongue as he reminisced. "It's sweet and boring. That's for women.
Eyke, bring me the barrel of rye wine I bought to quench my thirst. "
Claude smiled bitterly. Borkal was the one who insisted on buying the blueberry wine.
After getting a headache from the blueberry wine back in Egret, Borkal finally learned his lesson and didn't dare to buy that kind of alcohol again. However, he said that when his father's friends came over, his father brought out the blueberry wine.
He secretly drank half a cup and found that it tasted good. It was a little sweet and didn't go to his head. So, he decided to buy it and drink as much as he could.
Among the four of them, Borkal was the most addicted to alcohol. They were only sixteen and didn't dare to drink openly at home. At most, they would just drink a cup of ale.
However, the four of them had tried to steal alcohol at home before. The more their families forbade it, the more they wanted to try it. Perhaps that was the rebellious mentality of teenagers.
Claude was a transmigrator and had the ability to control himself.
Welikro and Eriksson could drink a little, but they weren't that interested in alcohol.
Only Borkal was an exception. His alcohol tolerance was the lowest, but he loved to drink and he got drunk the moment he drank.
By then, he had only finished half the bottle of blueberry wine, but his eyes were already glazed over. It seemed that he would fall asleep again soon.
Eriksson gobbled down five chicken wings in one go, finally satiating his cravings.
He took out the barrel of rye wine from the cabin and poured a large cup for the three of them.
The rye wine was a little bitter, but it felt refreshing in the mouth. It was indeed a great drink to quench one's thirst.
Welikro downed two cups in one go.
Eriksson then took out a small bag from the storage compartment and said, "I almost forgot about this."
"Claude, come and have a taste."
Claude looked at the bag and saw that Eriksson was presenting it to him like a treasure. It was a round ball the size of a thumb.
"What's this?"
"Try it." Eriksson refused to say.
Claude picked one up and put it in his mouth. Wasn't this the maltose from his previous life?
He remembered those hawkers dressed like farmers who would appear in front of the school gates with bamboo baskets. The baskets were filled with maltose and they would knock down as many as you wanted.
He loved it when he was young, but he didn't like it much after he grew up. It stuck to his teeth a little.
"This … this is maltose …" Claude said hesitantly. He couldn't remember if it was called that in this world, but he remembered Eriksson mentioning it before, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
"Yes, it's Hurian's maltose."
Eriksson didn't mind that Claude recognized it. He handed the bag to Welikro and asked him to try one. "Didn't you say that Hurian came back to open a grocery store?
I went to take a look after school this afternoon and he happened to be selling maltose, so I bought these.
One for a feeny. Twenty here cost me two sunars.
But it's great that Hurian is back. We didn't have any maltose to eat when he went to the royal capital. "
Claude asked curiously, "What's the identity of this Hurian?"
Eriksson understood what he was asking and nodded. "He's a peasant, but he's a cripple and he's in his fifties."
So he's a cripple and he's in his fifties. No wonder he could go to the royal capital.
Peasants weren't allowed to leave their homes without a valid reason. The kingdom's checks on men between the ages of eighteen to forty were the harshest.
Whitestag, for example, had more and more peasants moving to live there. Most of them were landless peasants and bankrupt craftsmen from the three southwestern prefectures.
Whitestag was part of the three southwestern prefectures and they were as far as they could go to make a living. Any further east and they would be out of the jurisdiction of the three southwestern prefectures. That wasn't allowed.
Claude didn't know much about it in the past, but after hearing his father's plans for his future, he understood that the kingdom had a quota for conscription for each region during times of war. The peasants were all cannon fodder, so they couldn't be allowed to wander off to other places to prevent them from evading military service.
"Hurian's legs were still fine when he was young. I heard that was about thirty years ago. When our kingdom invaded Nasri for the first time, Hurian received a conscription order.
He was riding on a donkey at the time and fell off in fright. His leg was even run over by an ox cart and broke on the spot. After he recovered, he became a cripple, "Eriksson said with a chuckle.
Eriksson chuckled. "While he escaped the military service, he couldn't avoid the second war between our kingdom and Nasri after his leg recovered. It was a war between our kingdom and the duchy of Berkeley. He didn't need to be a soldier because he was a cripple, but he was conscripted as a coachman to transport supplies to Berkeley. He only came back a year later to work as a merchant.
"About four years ago, he said he wanted to go to the royal capital to take a look. Perhaps he would settle there permanently, so he went to the town hall to get a pass and identification.
"But he didn't seem to have changed much since he came back. He probably didn't make much money in the royal capital, so he decided to come back.
"Now that he's getting old, he can't afford to run around as a merchant anymore. That's why he decided to open a shop at home.
"I went to take a look. I heard that many of the things he sells are from the royal capital. If you want to buy things for your siblings in the future, you can go there to take a look."
"Alright, I'll go take a look when I'm free," Claude replied, "Do you guys want anything else?"
"No need … Burp …" Welikro burped and shook his head. "I'm already full. Let's leave it for now. Maybe we can have some supper when we get hungry later."
Eriksson picked up the fishing rod Welikro left on the side of the boat. "I don't want any food either. Let's focus on fishing for now."
As expected, Borkal was drunk from a bottle of blueberry wine. He was snoring as he lay on the bow of the boat.
Claude went over to clean up the plates and bottles beside him and covered him with a blanket before letting him sleep.
The three of them started fishing at night. Eriksson had to admit that the place he found was rather decent. There were plenty of fish and they caught them quickly. There weren't any other fishing boats in the area. In just two hours, they managed to catch more than fifty fish of various sizes with four fishing rods. The three of them were incredibly busy.
When they finally got some rest, the fish didn't take the bait so easily anymore. It took about ten minutes for one to bite the hook.
Eriksson told them to rest for a while. This place should be good enough and they would move to another place later. For now, it was better to get something warm to fill their stomachs.
Claude couldn't be bothered to barbecue anymore. He took a pot and started cooking some dough soup.
After drinking a large bowl of soup, not only did his stomach feel comfortable, his entire body felt warm.
Welikro lazily picked up the last fishing rod. There was a fish the size of a palm on the hook that was struggling non-stop. "Let's go to the internet cafe. It's been so long, so it's time to get up. We can cast another net after that and reel it in tomorrow morning.
We're almost out of candles in the fish skin lanterns. There's only four or five left. We can use them for fishing during our night shift.
If we continue to fish at night, we'll use up all four rods in less than half an hour. "
Eriksson gave it some thought and nodded. "Alright, we'll do as you say. I'm a little tired from all that night fishing. I'll take a nap after we pull up the net."
So, Claude cleaned up the barbecue utensils and put the ingredients back into the cabin.
The three of them set up the purse seine.
However, they didn't catch much. There were only around ten fish this time.
Claude felt that it wasn't as busy as the night fishing.