After discovering Fenris’s talent for swimming—which, much like the discovery of a cryptid, had no credible proof of actually existing—Ami settled for playing in the shallows with him. Murmur took their time at the lake as an opportunity to learn the Swimming skill, and was currently leveling it by doing laps along the shore.
Belphegor sat on the pier, watching them.
“... Why can the mech made out of metal swim better than him…?”
Fenris was walking along the lake floor with only his head poking out of the water, gently gliding through it like a particularly well-known lake monster. Ami hung onto him from behind, using him as arm support while she practiced kicking the water behind her. She glanced at Belphegor before saying something to Fenris, who then started drifting towards the pier.
“What is it, Nessie?”
Fenris was puzzled by his new nickname, but set that aside for the time being.
“Ami… wants to try fishing.”
“Oh, is that so?”
There were several eye hooks installed along the pier; Belphegor’s plain fishing rod—basically just a slightly fancier stick—was resting inside of one while he waited for a bite.
They must have gotten curious about it, Belphegor chuckled to himself.
“Can you… teach us?” Fenris asked with upturned eyes.
Belphegor twitched after being hit by the puppy eyes, but quickly recovered.
“But of course!” he replied, getting to his feet. “Please take a seat by the fire and dry off a bit—I’ll need to prepare a few things for you.”
“Nn.” Fenris nodded, making his way to the shore with Ami in tow.
A few minutes later, Belphegor returned from the woods with two straight branches and sat down across from Fenris and Ami.
“Now, the two of you won't need to worry about your tools this much unless you get more serious about fishing, but I’ll explain it now since I’ll be working on this for a while.”
Belphegor pulled out a saw from his inventory and roughly trimmed off the outer bark, also removing any smaller branches along the stick’s length.
“For fishing, it's best if the rod is strong, but flexible; it needs enough strength to resist the fish’s movements, but enough give so that you aren't directly fighting it, either. Pine wood… isn't quite ideal, but functions well enough for our purposes.”
Switching the saw for a knife, he began tapering the rod, paying extra attention to get rid of the knots in the grain.
The stick looked much like Belphegor’s fishing rod by this point; to finish it, he tightly wound a piece of cloth around the handle to act as a grip.
“Once you learn the [Fishing] skill, you’ll be able to use the [Magic Line] Art instead of physical fishing wire—but the first time around, you’ll have to use this…”
Belphegor took out a length of fishing line and passed it to Ami.
“I’d bought an entire spool of wire without knowing about that,” he chuckled with a sheepish grin. “Well, I suppose it came in handy this time around.”
“Next is this—”
Belphegor pulled out a handmade-looking wooden bobber.
“The bobber will hold the bait at a certain depth based on how far down you place it on your line. For the water around here, three to four feet from the hook is a good length. For your first time, you’ll have to use this bobber I made; however, once you learn the [Fishing] skill, you’ll also learn the [Magic Bobber] Art, and… won’t need to use this one again.”
He turned the bobber over in his hand with an indescribable expression.
“... Where was I? Ah yes, the hooks—” Belphegor pulled out a set of intricate hooks.
“While you can use wood for these, you can make a thinner, more detailed hook by using bone instead. For example, I painstakingly carved these hooks from a squirrel’s rib bones using a needle, adding barbs so that they catch onto any fish that bites onto them…”
“But again,” Belphegor’s voice shook. “You will only use these before learning the [Fishing] skill! After you use them once, you’ll learn the [Magic Hook] Art and will never get to use the hooks again.”
Ami stared at Belphegor.
“... You’ve had it hard, huh?”
“It's so unfair!” He sobbed.
———
(EXTRA: After being in the water for a while...)
"Look! Fen figured out how to swim!"
"... He's doggy paddling..."
After discovering Fenris’s talent for swimming—which, much like the discovery of a cryptid, had no credible proof of actually existing—Ami settled for playing in the shallows with him. Murmur took their time at the lake as an opportunity to learn the Swimming skill, and was currently leveling it by doing laps along the shore.
Belphegor sat on the pier, watching them.
“... Why can the mech made out of metal swim better than him…?”
Fenris was walking along the lake floor with only his head poking out of the water, gently gliding through it like a particularly well-known lake monster. Ami hung onto him from behind, using him as arm support while she practiced kicking the water behind her. She glanced at Belphegor before saying something to Fenris, who then started drifting towards the pier.
“What is it, Nessie?”
Fenris was puzzled by his new nickname, but set that aside for the time being.
“Ami… wants to try fishing.”
“Oh, is that so?”
There were several eye hooks installed along the pier; Belphegor’s plain fishing rod—basically just a slightly fancier stick—was resting inside of one while he waited for a bite.
They must have gotten curious about it, Belphegor chuckled to himself.
“Can you… teach us?” Fenris asked with upturned eyes.
Belphegor twitched after being hit by the puppy eyes, but quickly recovered.
“But of course!” he replied, getting to his feet. “Please take a seat by the fire and dry off a bit—I’ll need to prepare a few things for you.”
“Nn.” Fenris nodded, making his way to the shore with Ami in tow.
A few minutes later, Belphegor returned from the woods with two straight branches and sat down across from Fenris and Ami.
“Now, the two of you won't need to worry about your tools this much unless you get more serious about fishing, but I’ll explain it now since I’ll be working on this for a while.”
Belphegor pulled out a saw from his inventory and roughly trimmed off the outer bark, also removing any smaller branches along the stick’s length.
“For fishing, it's best if the rod is strong, but flexible; it needs enough strength to resist the fish’s movements, but enough give so that you aren't directly fighting it, either. Pine wood… isn't quite ideal, but functions well enough for our purposes.”
Switching the saw for a knife, he began tapering the rod, paying extra attention to get rid of the knots in the grain.
The stick looked much like Belphegor’s fishing rod by this point; to finish it, he tightly wound a piece of cloth around the handle to act as a grip.
“Once you learn the [Fishing] skill, you’ll be able to use the [Magic Line] Art instead of physical fishing wire—but the first time around, you’ll have to use this…”
Belphegor took out a length of fishing line and passed it to Ami.
“I’d bought an entire spool of wire without knowing about that,” he chuckled with a sheepish grin. “Well, I suppose it came in handy this time around.”
“Next is this—”
Belphegor pulled out a handmade-looking wooden bobber.
“The bobber will hold the bait at a certain depth based on how far down you place it on your line. For the water around here, three to four feet from the hook is a good length. For your first time, you’ll have to use this bobber I made; however, once you learn the [Fishing] skill, you’ll also learn the [Magic Bobber] Art, and… won’t need to use this one again.”
He turned the bobber over in his hand with an indescribable expression.
“... Where was I? Ah yes, the hooks—” Belphegor pulled out a set of intricate hooks.
“While you can use wood for these, you can make a thinner, more detailed hook by using bone instead. For example, I painstakingly carved these hooks from a squirrel’s rib bones using a needle, adding barbs so that they catch onto any fish that bites onto them…”
“But again,” Belphegor’s voice shook. “You will only use these before learning the [Fishing] skill! After you use them once, you’ll learn the [Magic Hook] Art and will never get to use the hooks again.”
Ami stared at Belphegor.
“... You’ve had it hard, huh?”
“It's so unfair!” He sobbed.
———
(EXTRA: After being in the water for a while...)
"Look! Fen figured out how to swim!"
"... He's doggy paddling..."
