Chapter 96 is the season for travel.
"Breakfast is smoked salmon with lemon, lunch is grilled squid and salt-grilled sea bream, and dinner is fish and chips and steamed clams with egg..."
On a late autumn afternoon, after a period of torrential rain, the gradually weakening sunlight pierced through the white clouds, casting a gentle glow and warmth.
White seagulls spread their wings and flew into the harbor, landing on the railings on the shore. They looked around and let out clear cries.
It's perfect weather for an outing.
The air was slightly more humid than usual. Even without using any spells to summon water, one could feel a cool dampness through exposed skin. However, it was not stuffy. On the contrary, it swept away the slightly humid weather of two days ago, making people who were outdoors feel a comfortable and refreshing feeling from the body and mind.
Hikari, sitting obediently on a small boat bobbing in the calm sea, looked down and counted on her fingers. She couldn't help but complain, "Mr. Yumi, although I already knew that Mermaid Port was a seaside city, haven't we been eating a bit too much fish?"
"Every meal every day involves eating lots and lots of fish or fish-related dishes! We rarely see poultry, let alone meat!"
To this, I could only shrug helplessly: "After all, the most abundant food here is fish, and the original settlers were mostly fishermen. Although not many people still make a living by fishing now, it is still a skill that everyone has."
"In addition, there is a good fishing ground nearby, so the daily fish inventory needs to be even greater."
"What if you want to try something different?"
Hugging her curled-up knees, Hikari listlessly raised her hands, looking as if her back was bent under the soft light from above: "My mouth tastes fish every day, I've almost forgotten what my breakfast tasted like a few days ago!"
"Now that you know the coordinates of the Little Garden, it won't take much effort to just open the door and go back... Why don't you try to sweet-talk Yao? It's just asking her to cook one more meal, I don't think that housekeeper will nag too much."
Seeing Hikari shake her head so fast it was almost blurry, I chuckled to myself, turned away, and pointed to the magnificent, towering building atop the highest point of Mermaid Harbor: "Or we could go to the city's most famous luxury restaurant for a delicious meal. They say it has a limited supply of lamb available daily, grazed on the nearby hillside behind the restaurant. They even offer recreational activities."
Hikari perked up her ears instantly, then hesitated and shrank back: "Luxury hotels...that must be very expensive, right?"
"Perhaps?"
I was a little unsure, since I'd never been there before: "But anyway, it's not me who'll be the sucker, it's those two over there."
I pointed into the distance, and in the gap where the sea meets the sky, a small, pure white boat with its sails billowing was rapidly approaching us.
Two young people, hand in hand and side by side, sat near the mast at the front of a pristine white boat, smiling and looking into each other's eyes, as if whispering something. On either side of the boat, which stretched out like wings, several other young men and women chatted and laughed loudly, and every now and then, some of the bolder ones would grab the end of the mooring rope, lean over, and play with the waves splashed up by the boat.
Only when you get closer can you clearly notice some surprising details: the sailing ship is not sailing entirely on the sea, but rather it seems to be flying straight up close to the sea, with only the slender keel and the wing-like part of the ship submerged in the water, causing fine sprays of water to rise behind it, like fish chasing the shadow of a bird.
Those were my brother Yuel and his fiancée Leticia, along with some other friends he knew from the city.
Most of us gathered here today because we were invited by Yuel to participate in this boat trip.
Perhaps noticing our aloofness, a young man with dark brown hair waved his arms and shouted at us a few times. After waiting for a while without getting a response, he quickly put down his surfboard, stepped on it, and flew over.
Hey friends! We're all out at sea now, why don't you come and have some fun?
I didn't sense much active magical energy emanating from the newcomer; clearly, he was just an ordinary person.
We saw the man circle halfway around the small boat that was still on the sea, stop his surfboard, and look at us. He was clearly standing steadily on the turbulent sea, as if he were standing on flat ground.
Seemingly sizing us up, the man pondered for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up: "If I remember correctly, you're Yuel's brother, right? I've heard him mention you before, but this is the first time I've met you. It's nice to meet you, I'm Swift."
I never expected him to be the next successor to Sharp Shipbuilding.
As a large-scale industrial enterprise that has acquired most of the non-fishing vessels in Mermaid Harbor and also independently researches and manufactures ships, although I had heard that Yuel would come when I received the invitation early in the morning, Yuel's behavior during the gathering was lukewarm. At most, he would whisper to his girlfriend or reply to a few questions when someone asked him a question. He didn't seem to have much of an intention to introduce me to his circle of friends.
Even when I suggested that I only wanted to stay near the sea, he readily agreed and allowed me to take another small boat and drift at sea.
The sudden appearance of this phenomenon is like being passing by a riverbank when suddenly a seemingly ordinary fish, resting in a ditch only a hand's width deep, leaps up and slaps you in the face with its tail.
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