Chapter 466: Pufferfish Bomb
I packed the bento box with food. So far, the furthest east I 【Teleport】to is around where Snow Leopard lives.
Ah, but I guess that’s a bit too far north, huh? Well, I figured civilizations with similar cultures are located in areas with similar climates.
Nalluahdid has trade routes connecting it to the southern dragon region, the western lands beyond the Mist, and I’m pretty sure it also has dealings with the eastern lands. Maybe I should follow those routes for now? The spirits living in places with people can usually understand language, so it might be easier to communicate with them.
I stowed a small bottle of Japanese sake in 【Storage】. I’m all set.
And so, here I am now, in Nalluahdid. The first thing I’m gonna buy is a map of the sea routes.
I’ve been pretty much ignoring the manmade maps since I already have the map from the deities, but I guess if I wanted to go track the places where humans are, a map made by people should be more useful.
It’s insanely expensive but you can’t say it’s accurate either. The mapping around the Es area is already off compared to my map.
And what’s this giant octopus thing in the sea drawn in this corner? Does it really exist? Is it a monster? Is it edible? I heard that giant squids are too rubbery and not tasty ー I wonder if it’s the same.
I decided to go somewhere I had already done some preliminary exploring before, so I 【Teleport】to the coast located east of Es River. It’s the same beach where I had to fight a turtle ages ago. I remember snagging some tortoiseshell back then… The memory of almost handing it to Shiva without realizing it was a charm for safe childbirth and fertility crossed my mind. That was a close call.
The plan is to head south from here, then once I’m at the tip of the continent, I’ll go east along the coast. There’s bound to be a town by the shore. Other than the coastlands, the pricey map is too generally written, so who knows what’s actually out there.
Just like that time when I went upstream of the Es River ー I had to fight against monsters that I had never seen before while naming spirits and 【Teleport】as I go.
This time, I can’t let my guard down. I had to be diligent in checking the spirits out. Unlike the monsters in the Magical Woods, there were some so toxic you’d instantly die when they hit you with their poison.
The azure and emerald-green sea, coral reefs, and dolphin monsters.
Hey, stop, stop throwing pufferfish at me! Snout? Mouth? ーWhatever it is, they’re poking theirs out of the sea as they aim at me. Hey! It’s like they’re taunting me, like ‘Bleh bleh~, you can’t reach us ~’! Ack, stop doing that! These punks are quite smart, huh!
The pufferfish blew up in its spiky glory. Seems like they take a second to blow up after hitting the ground, so it’s probably timed, huh?
Now, how to get back at them ー I guess I should use magic. Yup, magic it is, right.
「Take this! 」
I hit the pufferfish back at them with a magic bat.
Oh, wait, what? Something feels off.
The pufferfish exploded near the dolphin monsters. A couple of them listlessly floated to the surface, and their dolphin monster buddies followed, gathering around them in a circle and watching them.
The other dolphins tore their gaze off from the floating duo, and they glared at me with blazing eyes, all fired up. Ack, it’s raining pufferfishes now! I swung them back. Not sure if there are dolphins among them who had poor control, but some of the pufferfishes were totally off target and were blowing up wherever they landed, but I still managed to swing them back somehow.
By the way, the ‘bat’ I was using had the shape of a regular bat, but instead of wood or metal, it’s some sort of object made with fine particles of light. Whatever it is, it seems to stick around as long as I’m pumping out mana? It’s kinda strange in a lot of ways, I should probably ask Hauron how it works.
And these dolphins! Turns out you guys aren’t bright enough to time the pufferfish throw so they explode just right! Bwahahaha! Oh, or maybe they just can’t hold it long enough with those snouts, huh. Anyway, now I’m starting to get the hang of hitting them back right at the dolphins!
ーThis feels kinda wrong, but it’s too late to change strategies now!
So, yeah, I ended up taking down these bunch of dolphin monsters. I dragged them up from the water ー turns out they’ve got tough scales on the lower half (?), so they’re not exactly the dolphins I know.
They’re monsters so they’ve got horns, dark patches under their eyes with warts growing in the folds of their wrinkles, so, overall, they really don’t resemble dolphins. They only looked kind of like dolphins when they poked their heads out of the water.
If they’re the same type as what I heard about in Nalluahdid then their oil should be frequently used in leather tanning. Into 【Storage】they go then.
By the way, where’d all the pufferfish go? Did they all explode? Or were they actually part of the dolphin’s magic? Which one is it?
I washed my hands in the seawater, then settled down behind a rock for lunch while gazing at the sea.
I had rice-stuffed inari sushi with sesame and red pickled ginger. The tofu pouches were slightly sweet and juicy. The thick dashi omelet tastes delicious. The eggs are harvested from my very own chickens.
There’s also two crispy pieces of butterbur sprout tempura. I put the entire bento box inside the 【Storage】, so it’s still perfectly freshly fried. I popped one in my mouth and the slightly bitter, tangy taste spread in my mouth.
I sipped a bit of cold sake. I’m still not really sure what to make of the taste of sake, but there’s a certain vibe to it… No, it burns my throat a bit; maybe it’s too strong!
There’s also pickled lotus root with red shiso in its center, dyeing it pink, bright orange vinegar-pickled shrimp, a piece of salt-grilled tilefish, deep-fried fresh wheat gluten, green beans with sesame sauce, and roasted baby potatoes.
I’d gone with a Japanese-style lunch, expecting a fitting scenery, but it’s only the first day and I’m still deep in Es territory and its culture! Plus it’s hot as heck! The plants look more tropical than anything else!
The emerald-green sea with the coral is stunning, but guess I jumped the gun.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
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