His three companions were sleeping soundly on the cabin. Welikro even made clicking sounds as if he was eating something delicious in his sleep.
Borkal, on the other hand, didn't make a fuss even when he was drunk and slept peacefully until now.
It seemed that there was a reason why the blueberry wine was more expensive than the gran wine. At the very least, he wouldn't have to look for water to drink in the middle of the night.
Eriksson, on the other hand, curled up into a ball under the blanket and slept like an obedient child.
He was the one who went to sleep first the night before. Welikro said that he didn't want to sleep yet and wanted to take the first half of the night shift so that Claude could rest first.
Actually, it was already around one in the morning and Claude agreed after thinking about it.
However, Claude didn't sleep and used the time to meditate. By the time he woke up, an hour and a half had passed.
Welikro was still fishing, but there were only two candles left in the fish skin lantern. He said that he caught another seven fish.
Judging from their night fishing, their luck wasn't too bad.
Excluding the ones they caught with the purse seine, they caught around 60 fish at night, which was worth around seven to eight riyases.
It was no wonder the fishermen said that fishing at night was more profitable than fishing during the day. It was a pity that they couldn't catch that many fish every night.
Claude washed his face with the cold water of the lake and urged Welikro to rest while he took the two fishing rods from him.
Welikro fell asleep rather quickly and started snoring not long after he wrapped himself in the blanket.
Claude's fishing skills weren't as good as Welikro's and the fish that got hooked escaped a few times. Even so, he still managed to catch four fish, one of which was a rather valuable goldfish.
Even though it was a freshwater fish, its meat was delicious and it didn't have many bones. Coupled with the fact that its scales resembled a miniature goldcoin, it was known as a fortune fish and was one of the rare freshwater fish that the taverns were willing to pay a high price for.
The one Claude caught weighed around half a catty and could probably be sold for five to six sunars.
By the time Claude used up the remaining two candles, he wouldn't be able to continue fishing. He looked at the hourglass and saw that it was only 4: 20.
This should be the darkest moment before dawn. The silver moon in the sky seemed to be blocked by the clouds and did not shed its silver light.
The surface of the lake was dark and gloomy. Only the large fish skin lantern on the mast of the small fishing boat still gave off a faint candlelight. The light shone on the surface of the lake around the small fishing boat and painted it a dark red.
He felt that it should be safe on the lake. Seeing that his three friends were sleeping soundly, he started meditating again.
However, after this cultivation session, he discovered that the sky had turned bright. Dawn had already arrived.
He stood up and stretched, rubbed his face, picked up the linen towel hanging on the side of the boat, and wiped his face with it.
He picked up the iron pot and shook it in the lake water to rinse it clean. He then went to the storage cabin and took out a large wooden bucket filled with spring water from the day before. He poured half of the water into the pot and put it on the stove to boil.
Claude was the one who insisted on bringing the bucket of spring water. Eriksson felt that it was unnecessary since they were going to the freshwater region of Lake Balinga. There was no need for them to worry about not having water to drink.
The lake was filled with freshwater.
However, Claude said that the fishermen in the freshwater region washed their faces and feet in the lake. Even their bowels and bowels were in the lake. Would they be able to drink the water?
So, they all agreed to have a large bucket of spring water sent over at the cost of one sunar.
Claude planned to boil half a pot of black tea. He also bought a large bottle of milk and honey the day before and would put them in later. Drinking a cup of honey milk black tea early in the morning would not only soothe the stomach, it would also rejuvenate one for the rest of the day.
However, Claude wasn't able to finish half of the cup, mainly because it was too hot.
Eriksson woke up after smelling the fragrance. He rubbed his eyes and said, "What's so fragrant …"
Claude poured him a cup as well and the two of them sat on the deck, sipping it slowly as they looked at the green mountains in the distance and the reeds by the lake at the foot of the mountain.
The morning glow was like a beautiful ribbon that danced in the sky, dyeing the white clouds in five different colors before slowly dyeing the entire sky red. The sky was already bright.
The fresh morning breeze caressed the rippling surface of the lake, bringing with it the crisp cries of birds. Flocks of waterfowl took flight from the reeds in the distance and circled in the air. Some spread their wings and soared into the sky while others slowly descended into the reeds.
"It's going to be a good day today," Eriksson said.
Just as Claude was about to agree, he suddenly asked, "What are we having for breakfast?"
"Umm …" Claude really didn't understand how Eriksson connected good weather with breakfast. He didn't know how to respond for the moment.
"Erm … Eyke, there's a lot of food on the ship, but we can't eat much in the morning.
Claude sighed. "We forgot to bring a frying pan. I wanted to fry some steak and eggs, but I couldn't find a frying pan anywhere.
We brought a pot, a grill, and a stove, but we just had to forget about the frying pan. "
Eriksson was speechless. This was actually his responsibility. He was the one who had placed everything in the cabin. He was the one who had forgotten to bring the frying pan onboard. He had only remembered to grill chicken wings, so he had been busy moving the grill up. It was truly a tragedy.
"When the two of them wake up and finish this pot of black tea, I'll make another pot of noodle soup," Claude said after some thought.
They couldn't have barbecued meat so early in the morning as it wasn't good for their stomachs. In that case, they could only use the pot for breakfast.
Borkal finally woke up and was in high spirits. He greeted Claude and Eriksson before pouring himself a cup of honey milk tea and gulping it down.
Eriksson didn't give him a friendly look and walked to the stern with a huff.
Borkal asked in confusion, "What's wrong with him?"
Claude shook his head. "Boa, is this the kind of night fishing gathering you like?
You drank a bottle of blueberry wine and slept for the whole night. You couldn't help us at all.
The three of us were tired from the whole night. Do you think Eyke will be happy to see you? "
Borkal said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, Claude. I didn't know I would get drunk. The blueberry wine was just too good and I drank so much without realizing it."
"You didn't drink much," Welikro said as he got up. He picked up the pot and started drinking the tea. The temperature was just right. It wasn't too hot or cold, making it perfect for gulping down.
"There's still half a bottle of blueberry wine left. Eyke and I didn't drink it. There are two more bottles in the cabin. You can take them back.
Such sweet fruit wine is the favorite of the ladies. I didn't think you'd like it too. You can have it all.
You can't even drink half a bottle of it. I really don't understand why you still want to drink it every day, "Welikro mocked.
Borkal felt like he had been slapped in the face. All he could do was lower his head and drink his tea, pretending he didn't hear anything.
Claude held back his laughter and tried to smooth things over. "Alright, Wero, stop talking and drink your tea. I still have to cook breakfast with this pot. We forgot to bring the frying pan."
After an hour of work, they finally had their fill. After packing up, Eriksson started the fishing boat to collect the purse seine.
The catch this time wasn't too bad. There were more than twenty fish in the lake and there were more than a hundred in the living water cabin.
After putting the purse seine back into the lake, it was time to hunt the water birds and wild ducks.
Claude took out two muskets from the cabin and asked, "Which one of you wants to go first?"
"Give it to Boa. I'll fish first," said Welikro.
Eriksson raised the sail to half mast and used the breeze to bring the fishing boat closer to the reeds. The others didn't say a word and just lay down on the side of the boat, only peeking out to look ahead to avoid attracting the attention of the water birds.
"Over there," whispered Welikro. About a hundred meters away, a flock of egrets was looking for food in the reeds with their heads lowered.
Being in the other world is much better. In my previous life, I'd have to spend three years in jail for killing an egret.
Claude leaned his musket against the side of the boat and took aim while kneeling. At the same time, he reminded Borkal, "I'll shoot the one on the left. You shoot the one on the right. Don't forget."
Even though the egret was rather large compared to other water birds, it wasn't much bigger than a soybean in Claude's eyes. The reeds swaying in the wind made aiming even more difficult.
A click sounded beside his ear. He hurriedly pulled the trigger and fired the match into the box.
Boom!
Boom! Two explosions sounded and white smoke rose from the muzzle of the musket.
"We missed!" sighed Welikro.
The two shots didn't hit anything. Instead, the sound of the musket broke the silence of the reeds. Countless water birds spread their wings and flew into the sky, chirping loudly.
"Why did you fire without aiming?!"
Claude said angrily. If Borkal hadn't pulled the trigger first, he would've aimed more accurately and not pulled the trigger so hastily.
"I … I clearly aimed …" Borkal tried to defend himself.
"Forget it. I'll shoot first next time," said Claude.
Claude didn't want to argue with him any longer. He hadn't practiced shooting at a distance of a hundred meters, so it was normal for him to miss. "Eyke, move forward a little. I think the birds are resting in the reeds over there."
Claude fired seven shots and only hit a wild duck and an egret.
Borkal fired ten shots and didn't hit anything. In the end, he threw his gun away angrily and grabbed Welikro's fishing rod to go fishing.
While they were hunting, Welikro caught more than ten fish from the lake.
Eriksson steered the fishing boat through the reeds and finally managed to get the two prey Claude hunted onto the boat. It was all thanks to the four-meter-long pole. If it wasn't for it, the egret wouldn't have been able to be pulled out from the reeds.
Welikro removed the sights from the gun barrel. Now that he and Claude were hunting, their efficiency was much higher.
The reeds were indeed a paradise for the water birds. Countless of them were startled by the gunshots, but they quickly landed back down. So, Claude and Welikro didn't lack targets. It was just that some of the targets were too far away and small.
In half a day, the two of them killed seven water birds. Of course, the number of times they missed was even higher.
Eriksson also came over and fired six shots. Just like Borkal, he didn't hit anything.
Borkal didn't continue fishing either. When he saw Eriksson miss, he mocked him and the two of them started arguing again.
By then, Claude and Welikro had picked up the last water bird they killed. The other water birds in the area had all left and the two of them decided to rest for a while.
Hearing the two of them bickering, Welikro said, "Why don't you two have a competition and you'll know who's the blind one?"
It was fine to compete, but they didn't have a target yet.
Borkal looked around for a long time before his eyes lit up. He pointed at the front of the boat and said, "There, there's a log in the water. Let's hit it."
The log seemed to be a long tree trunk that was half-submerged in the water. There wasn't much of it above the surface and it was roughly 200 meters away from the boat.
"Alright, let's hit it," Eriksson agreed. "The one who can't hit it is the one who's blind."
Welikro put the sight back on and adjusted it. Claude handed his gun to Eriksson and the two of them fired about ten shots at the log in one go.
The problem was that they were too far away and the log was rather long. It was hard to tell if they hit it or not. So, the two of them started arguing again.
After a long while, Borkal looked up and asked curiously, "Huh?
Why is the log getting closer and closer to us? There's no wind at all. "