"Something like this-dearimasuka ne."
"Un, not bad, not bad. This should work perfectly as lure."
I nodded with satisfaction while looking at the ships being made in Babylon's [Workshop]. Although its shape is that of a large sailboat, it doesn't have sails, and the rear has been shaped into a giant radial-shaped needle. (Note: I have no idea what this means after some effort spent on google. Maybe a thick curved needle? )
This ship will be the lure we're going to use to fish up those Tentakras. Of course, since making it in the shape of a ship is only for baiting them, the inside is completely empty. It did have several reinforcement measures installed to prevent it from being broken too easily by the Tentakras, though.
Normally, you fish for squid on the open sea, but the Tentakras attack those ships that you would have to stay on. And so, we took advantage of that and made a ship-shaped bait; after they bite onto it, Suu's Ortlinde would pull them altogether onto land.
There are problems with using [Gate] within the water, and [Teleport] requires me to directly touch them so it's also troublesome. Well, in the first place [Teleport] can't be activated on something that big anyway.
And once they're dragged onto land, Linze would use her Fragarach to pierce their heart which is located between their eyes. That's if they have their hearts positioned in the same place as regular squids, though.
Apparently, squids have three hearts, two of which are used to manipulate their gills.
For now, a stab or two between their eyes should be enough to finish them, but whether that would actually work is something we need to test in person to find out. And even if the heart's position is different, it's not like we can change it or something.
Let's see if this will go well…
*Dosun*! With that loud sound, the golden giant landed on the grounds of Egret.
With a body nearly thirty meters tall, it's Suu's giant Frame Gear, Ortlinde Overlord.
The orichalcum body with crystal coating shined a brilliant gold under the tropical sun. The wire held in its hands is connected directly to the radial needle installed on the fake ship used as lure.
The wire is made from using [Modeling] on orichalcum to turn it onto strands and then further bunching them together. Its thickness is several times that of my own waist; it's definitely not something that will snap easily.
"Alright, seems like we're ready."
Behind Ortlinde is Sakura's Rossweisse, and Linze's Helmwige is standing by in the sky in its flight form as well.
Since it's connected to the coast with a wire, I can't exactly use [Gate] to directly transfer the lure ship out to sea. Instead, I went up onto the lure ship, used [Gravity] to make it lighter, and then had Linze carry the ship under her Helmwige and fly out to sea.
And just like that, Linze carried the ship offshore and dropped it down to the sea together with me who's staying on it.
As this ship is a bait, it obviously has no methods of propulsion, so Suu used the wires to move it around slowly.
To the Tentakras, it should be the first ship they had seen in the past few days. It would be good if they'd obediently bite onto the bait…
On top of the ship that's being slowly pulled around, I looked down at the emerald-green ocean surface.
The seabed is white due to the sand from coral remains and similar particles, while for the water, since it absorbs more of the red wavelength from white light, the color of the water reflected in our eyes would become that of an emerald-green color due to the excess absorption of the red colors.
Of course, the deeper it gets, the bluer the color would become, but around here the color can still barely be called green. The coast here is shallow for a long stretch, after all. Hmm, maybe I need to go deeper off the coast?
All of a sudden, a huge tentacle shot out between the clear waves, and wrapped itself around the ship in an instant.
"It came!"
More tentacles shot out from another direction, and in no time at all the entire lure ship has been wrapped in them.
"Suu!"
"Got it-no ja!"
I sent the signal to Suu with my smartphone while flying up with [Fly].
The lure ship suddenly accelerated in the coast's direction, and the needles we installed on the rear of the ship pierced into the Tentakra's body.
It's said that invertebrates generally do not have a sense of pain when I searched it up online, but I wonder if that applies to the Tentakra too.
While I'm thinking about something like that, the lure ship is being steadily pulled towards shore together with the Tentakra.
"Pugyararaaa!"
The Tentakra which had been pulled all the way to the coast had finally showed the entirety of its huge body.
It's length is over 20 meters, and its overall size is approaching even Ortlinde Overlord. Well, since it can't possibly do something like standing upright on land, it only gives me a flattened feeling.
The Tentakra tried to grab at the golden giant that had reeled itself in, but Sakura's Rossweisse used song magic to freeze its movements.
Not missing that chance, Linze's Helmwige dived down towards the Tentakra in its flight form, and using the linked Fragarach stored under its main body, it pierced through the spot between the Tentakra's two eyes easily.
"Pugyarugyuaaaaaaa!!!"
Raising an eerie-sounding death cry, the Tentakra lost strength from its body and stopped moving soon after.
The color of its body changed from a brown-ish color to white in an instant. This part is identical to the videos of dying squids I saw on the net, huh. Seems like the Tentakra does have its heart in the same location normal squids do.
Well then, the tough work is from here onwards. I saw off Helmwige which had pulled the lure ship up into the air under itself and flew off to drop it out at sea again, before opening a [Gate] and calling out my personal machine, Reginleiv.
Using Reginleiv, I carried the no-longer-moving Tentakra off to the cape some distance away, and transformed the Fragarach on my back into two large swords.
"E—to, was it removing the internal organs first?"
I used the Fragarach to cut the sides open, and took out things like the organs and the eyeballs. The internal organs may have been a surprising delicacy, but I'll pass this time. As expected, trying to handle something this big is gonna be tough.
As such, I returned the cut-out organs and such back to sea with [Gate] where they would probably become food for some other sea monsters, and then washed the now-prepared Tentakra with salt water.
After soaking it in some salt water, the concentration of which was adjusted with the help of Sango and Kokuyou, the meat of the Tentakra is cut into suitably sized pieces before I hung them up on ropes strung along the palm trees standing near the beach.
Since the sun is strong in this southern country, the dried Tentakra should be completed in a few days… I think. I won't be able to tell if it'll work out well until it's actually completed, after all.
Honestly speaking, our primary objective is the extermination of these Tentakras, and making them into emergency rations is until the end something we're doing on the side. Once the Tentakras are gone and the people of Egret can go out to sea to catch fish again, they won't have to force themselves to eat these anymore, after all.
"Pugyoraraaaa!!"
Oh, seems like they've caught their second one already.
Come to think of it, we're gonna keep doing this for more than fifty times in a row, right…?
It took us a bit more time to realize that this is going to be some seriously tiring work. Especially for me.
"So tired…"
It took us an entire day to fish up almost all the Tentakras from the sea around Egret and string them up in pieces along the coastline to the north of the capital, Letrabanba.
For the ones on the opposite end of the island or in relatively far-away places, I used [Gate] to transfer them together with the water around them to the area we're fishing in, and reeled them in like that.
Since there's so many of them, the fishy smell coming from the place is extraordinary, so I've requested the spirits of wind to carry the smell towards the ocean as much as possible.
Also, since it would be bad if those Tentakra pieces gets eaten by wild animals and the like, I've casted a wide-range [Prison] around the area that prevents anything from entering unless if it's a human or a demihuman. Since it's a wide-range one, it's relatively easy to break through, but if the opponents are only animals then it should be fine.
Of course, it's not like I only made dried squid out of all of them; I also passed things like recipes using the dried squid, and samples of saki-ika and noshi-ika to the chefs of this country. With them, they might be able to produce something far more delicious than someone inexperienced like me could.
A delicious smell is drifting over from the beach bathed in the rays of the setting sun close by. His Majesty the Egret King had used the country's chefs to provide cuisines, made from the leftover Tentakras that I did not make into dried squid, to the people for free.
Although this island overall did not have squid-eating habits before, there were many people who lowered their resistance to it after trying it out, and now some people are even walking around sampling all the different squid cuisines being made.
Those grilled Tentakra skewers looks somewhat delicious…
"On this occasion we cannot thank you enough for saving our country. And on top of that, to have provided us so many ships…"
"No, please do not mind it, we are properly receiving compensation for them after all. The supplies from other countries will arrive soon, so with this I guess the food shortage problem is solved."
While saying that, I asked the king to stop lowering his head.
Off the coast, several hundred ships made using [Workshop] are bobbing along on the ocean surface. Of course, the materials used in their constructions are mostly trees from within Egret territory, as a form of payment. We've received other things from them too coupling with the reward for the Tentakras extermination.
There's no way I can receive money from a country recovering from disasters, so instead I gave them the location of a decently large gold mine I found with search magic that is on one of the smaller islands around Egret. After they start mining there, the plan is for us to take away a percentage of their profits.
The reconstruction efforts in damaged towns should also go smoother with an extra income source.
On the evening beach, Suu's Ortlinde was using a seine to catch large amounts of fish near the shore. The fish that were dragged to shore are picked up by the townspeople, who either brought them back home or started preparing and cooking them on the spot.
Various dishes were also lined up before us who were sitting on the sand.
"Ooh, looks delicious."
"Please eat as much as you want. Well, I say that but most of these are caught by Your Majesty's fiancée-donos, so."
Various fish cuisine from grilled fish to sashimi are lined up altogether on a simple wooden plate. So this place has sashimi similar to Ishen which is also an island country, huh. There's no soy sauce here; instead, they eat it with things like mustard or vinegar, leek and garlic, and so on.
Is searing only the surface like how seared bonito is done something they do to kill things like parasites, I wonder. I stealthily used [Analyze] to check, and there were no problems with regards to that.
I tried dipping it lightly in mustard before eating, and it was delicious. In my opinion it was several times tastier than the Tentakra cuisines. Man, if only there's some white rice to go with this.
A lively banquet began after Suu and the others came back here. With the threat of the Tentakras gone, everyone is expressing their joy in various ways such as dancing and singing.
Surrounding the bonfire that was set up, people who are playing flute-like things and drums appeared and started performing together with some singers, and everyone around them sent applause their way whenever they're finished with a piece.
Soon after that, probably reaching the end of her endurance, Sakura also stood up intending to sing a few pieces. Of course, the accompaniment is me. I took out a piano from [Storage], and began playing a tune as per Sakura's request.
Still, you know… Should I say that Sakura's song choice is as skewed as ever… Well, it's a western song so she wouldn't understand the lyrics, but this is a song about homesickness, you know…
She probably doesn't even know West Virginia is the name of a state in my world when she sings it. Well, even the song's singer has said that he hasn't been to West Virginia before he wrote this song, and it had been quite a funny topic back then. The writer for the lyrics was someone else, too, so maybe this couldn't be helped.
(Note: this song is so famous that I really don't think I need to tell you guys the name, but whatever. It's Take Me Home, Country Roads.)
Well, the people of Egret are listening to Sakura's song so intently that it doesn't matter even if the song is mismatched. That reminds me, I'm pretty sure a Japanese animated film had used this song as an insert song… It was sung with Japanese lyrics, though. Just like the title of that film, everyone is attentively listening to Sakura's song, almost as if they're afraid to miss a
single beat.
When the chorus has passed and the song entered the second verse, the melody of a string instrument suddenly flowed in from somewhere. When I thought to see who the player is and turned my head towards the source of the music, the Music God, Sousuke nii-san was there sitting on the sands while playing a guitar.
"Bu—!"
I almost unintentionally stopped my performance, but somehow managed to pick it back up properly. Wait a second, since when were you here!?
When I looked closely at the surroundings, Karen nee-san was there eating sashimi together with a group of Egret women, Moroha nee-san and Karina nee-san was waiting in front of the squid-grilling station, and Suika as well as Kousuke ojii was mingling with a group of people who were drinking alcohol. (Note: ojii=uncle)
Uoooooi! Kami-samas! When the hell did you guys get here!? (Note: the s behind Kami-sama was there in the raws, lmao)
Since I'm in the middle of a performance, I couldn't unleash my retorts against them, and could only continue playing the piano with strange sweats forming on my brow.
While it may be obvious, since they're gods, they can use something like transfer magic whenever they want to. Strictly speaking, those aren't actually magic-related techniques, but anyway using that they can easily move themselves over here.
While being showered by applauses after the performance ended, I went towards Karen nee- san who was biting into a piece of fried fish. Sousuke nii-san began playing a second song, and Sakura went there to sing along with him.
"Touya-kun, these are delicious-no yo. You should eat some-no yo."
"Oh that's good isn't it. And so, since when were you guys here!?"
"Just a while ago, after hearing about it from Rosetta-chan-no yo. Since it seemed like quite the party, I also called everyone else along-no yo."
When I turned my head to look in the direction Karen nee-san was pointing to, there, together with Linze and Suu, were the figures of Yumina, Elze, Yae, Luu, Hilda, Rin, and also Pola, sitting in a circle and eating fish dishes.
In the end you came with basically everyone!?
I went back to the King of Egret and apologized with a bow while feeling embarrassed. His Majesty accepted it with a laugh.
"I also have seven wives, you see. It's nothing to be worried about. Isn't it nice that they're all so friendly with their fellow fiancées? It's something to be envious of, really."
"Eh, is that so? … As expected, is it tough when your wives start fighting between each other?"
I asked that question without thinking to my senior in polygamy. When I did, the king who was smiling jovially until now lost all his expressions and replied with a face reminiscent of a noh mask.
"It was like sitting on a carpet made of needles… Listen, Your Majesty the Sovereign King of Brunhild. The nation is peaceful if your family is peaceful. You must make haste in relieving any anxiety or stress from your wives. Or else… You'll see hell. I guarantee it."
The king who looked like a seasoned warrior through and through gave me that advice with empty eyes. Wai, what happened to you!? It's so scary that I don't even wanna ask though!
Judging from the bitter smiles of the soldiers behind him, it's not a very serious matter overall, but seems like to the person involved it was quite a heavy incident.
I changed the topic of conversation to cheer up the king who had suddenly become depressed and had a dark face. When I asked about the matter of joining the World Alliance that I had been pondering since a while ago, His Majesty gave a positive reply immediately.
Apparently he has heard the talk some time ago already from His Majesty the Refreese Emperor, so he had been thinking positively that it may bring merits for his country.
Also, as part of their thanks for the Tentakras extermination, they've agreed to lend us their royalty-exclusive private beach for us to use, so I've decided to set that up after this month's alliance meeting.
A sea as beautiful as the one here is extremely rare, after all. I'm sure the other kings would be happy with this too. Let's set it up well for leisure activities. Of course, while paying close attention to safety details, that is. We should be able to keep dangerous sea creatures out of the area with the use of [Prison].
Oh, let's also officially recognize the memberships of Ishen, Hanock, Ryle, Elfrau and Palerius in the World Alliance on that occasion too.
There's a problem with Ishen though… While the actual ruler of the country is basically Ieyasu- san of the Tokugawa clan, there's still the official ruler, the Mikado. I think it should be the proper course of action to contact him/her and ask for his/her opinion first. (Note: Mikado is an old way of referring to Imperial Japan's emperor in the past.)
In terms of the formalities, the Mikado is the emperor of the Country of God, Ishen. Ieyasu-san is only something like the leader of the local lords, who are all retainers under the Mikado, after all.
…I know nothing about Ishen's emperor, come to think of it. I've never even heard of basic information such as the emperor's gender or age group. Guess I'll ask Yae about it later.
The banquet on the sandy beach continued on under the starry sky.