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A Harem in the Fantasy World Dungeon Volume 7 Chapter 2 Part 13

「Miria heard that supposedly more fish can be caught in the seas to the north, but as for the reason why is that, she says that unfortunately she doesn’t know.」

More fish can be caught in the North Sea than in the South Sea. Okay, duly noted. If Miria, our residual expert on all things fish-related, says so, then that has to most likely be the case, and I see no reason to doubt her words in regards to that.

*Phew*, what a relief! And here I thought that I ended up blabbering something that I’ll not be able to talk my way out of. So the conditions of this world do seem to be similar to the ones that were present on Earth after all.

「While we are on the subject of fishing and the sea…. I wonder why is it that there seems to be more fish in the waters to the north than there are in the waters to the south. As much as I would like to know, it is a complete mystery to me.」

「Mystery, desu!」

Sherry and Miria are getting along pretty well, much better than I thought they would be based on their personalities and differences in characters. Maybe it has something to do with the positions in which they are seated, with the two of them sandwiching Roxanne between themselves? Anyway, it’s quite strange, but if that arrangement works out for them just fine and Roxanne herself does not seem to have anything to say against it, then everything’s good in my book.

The two of them looked at each other and shook their heads at one another from across Roxanne.

「That might be because the seas are primarily made out of water without much else being in there, so basically the fish that live in it don’t get enough nutrition that they need in order to function and reproduce properly.」

「A lack of proper nutrition? Is that really the case?」

「That’s right. Now, you might be wondering where exactly the nourishment in the sea is coming from, so allow me to explain it to you. Usually, when the fish die, their corpses sink all the way to the bottom of the sea, where they are then slowly getting disassembled bit by bit by small aquatic insects that live at the bottom of the sea. Then, the small insects that ate the fish are getting eaten by bigger insects, and these are getting eaten by small fish. As the next step, the small fish are getting consumed by the medium-sized fish, and once the big fish that eat the medium fish die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean again so that the cycle of life and death can repeat itself all over again. And that is basically how the circulation of the nourishment in the environment of the sea works, more or less. That is also why it can be said that the entirety of the nourishment in the sea comes from the bottom of it. But at the same time, while the bottom of the sea is relatively rich in nourishment, others parts of the sea have it that much less, and without proper nutrition in the entire sea, the number of fish in it is not going to increase. There, did that explanation of the life cycle in the sea helped you understand?」

I teach them what I learned in biology class, but I decided to drop the bits about bacteria, organic matter and the food chain, because even if I did try explaining it to them, I don’t they would have understand it.

「X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X.」

「The nutrient-rich water at the bottom of the sea is always cold. In the case of the Southern Sea, the temperature of its waters that are closer to the surface is increased in comparison to the temperatures at the bottom of it, owing it to the fact that the surface of the water heats up by having the rays of the sun shine down on it throughout the entire day. However, as a result of that, it is pretty hard for the warm water from near the surface and the cold water from the bottom of the sea to mix with one another properly, and as a result of that, the nourishment-rich water from the bottom of the sea cannot be spread all the way to the surface of the sea in equal measures. On the other hand though, in the Northern Sea where the water at the bottom of the sea and near the surface is always cold, the nutrients get the chance to mix up relatively well across all depths, therefore, the nutrition at the bottom of the sea tends to spread around the sea instead of staying at the bottom of it all the time. And this is the reason why the North Sea has plenty more fish in it than the South Sea.」

After I finished my explanations, I waited patiently for Roxanne to translate my words to Miria.

「As expected of master. Miria says it is her first time hearing this, and she says that it’ll definitely come in useful.」

「Hmm… I, on the other hand, smell a lie in here.」

「Amazing, desu!」

The reactions that I got from Sherry and Miria were mixed.

Miria believed my words and accepted them as truth right away, but Sherry proved to be unusually skeptical this time. Well, I guess I should have expected as much, since when you get down to it, Miria is a rather straightforward person who doesn’t seem to care that much about thinking about things too hard, but Sherry is an intellectual who always tends to think about things way too much, which makes her critical towards most of the things that I tend to say. That, and Miria’s response is probably a result of the education that she received from Roxanne thus far.

I wonder why Sherry is always like that? Does that mean that she doesn’t trust me at all?

「Sherry, what do you mean by 「I smell a lie」?」

「Exactly what I said.」

「But I’m telling the truth here.」

「Hmm, I wonder about that. Are you sure that you’re not just trying to pull the wool over my eyes.」

「No, I am most certainly not trying to pull the wool over your or anyone’s eyes.」

I swear to God, this girl can be such a handful sometimes. Why would I ever lie to her about something like that? What would that achieve if I did that? And besides, I don’t remember ever lying to any of them about anything.

「Have you found something wrong with what I just said?」

「Yes, I did.」

Hoo boy, here we go again.

「The surface of the South Sea is warm, and the surface of the North Sea is cold. Up to this point I understand everything perfectly and it all makes logical sense. But if we assume that what you said is indeed correct, then wouldn’t that actually make the bottom of the North Sea colder than the bottom of the South Sea? It would, wouldn’t it? But according to what you said just now, the temperature would not change at all!」

「Yes, you certainly raise a good point. But let me tell you why you’re wrong by assuming that what I said is incorrect: it’s because when the water becomes colder, it’s going to freeze up and turn to ice.」

「Then that makes what you said even more suspicious! With all that ice forming at the bottom, why would the bottom of the North Sea not be completely cold and frozen?」

「Uhm, hello? Because the resulting ice is going to float from the bottom of the sea all the way to its surface?」

「Ice will float… to the surface?」

Huh? Now wait just a goddamn minute. Does… does Sherry not know about the properties of ice? Well, I guess that makes sense, since this world lacks the appliances such as freezers and refrigerators and such.

「Yes, ice will float on the water’s surface. Have you not heard any stories of how the surfaces of rivers and lakes tend to be frozen solid in winter?」

「Yes, of course I have heard about that.」

「Well, this is basically the very same thing. When the temperatures in the North Sea become excessively cold, even its surface is going to be covered by a layer of ice, and as a result, this phenomenon is going to prevent the water at the bottom of the sea from getting any colder. For this reason, the water temperature at the bottom of the both seas stays more or less the same without any noticeable differences, and the only thing that does differ is their surface temperatures.」

「Hmm… I see. While I still don’t buy that explanation as a whole, I feel that some of what you just said does sound quite logical.」

Oh? Have I finally managed to convince Sherry that what I was saying was right after all? Because if so, then this victory of science over the lack of proper scientific knowledge that could only be obtained after the years, nay centuries of research conducted by countless scientists is truly a case to rejoice! Long live science!

Although this might seem like something that’s not too significant for me as a person, this small step for me is actually the beginning of a series of great leaps for Humans of this world as a whole!