“Fuh…”
I wake up. Today too, I will live in the dungeon for another day.
As I leave my bedroom, the early-rising monsters have already begun their work. They are truly diligent creatures.
I need to make sure I keep up with them and do some fishing today as well.
“Good morning, Evilham -sama!”
Littleham, holding a fishing rod, comes to talk to me. He seems completely ready to fish.
“Good morning, Littleham. Well then, shall we go fishing right away?”
“Yes!”
And so we headed out to the fishing pond. We cast our lines and waited for the fish to bite.
“Evilham -sama, shall we have a competition on our catch?”
“Oh, you think you can beat me, a fishing novice? That’s quite amusing!”
I don’t particularly dislike competitions like this. In fact, I tend to get more fired up when there’s a goal, so having a contest might boost my motivation.
“Evilham -sama, there’s something called beginner’s luck!”
“Alright. The one who catches the most fish from now on wins.”
Thus began my fishing competition with Littleham.
We waited with our lines cast. After a while, the tip of Littleham’s fishing rod twitched!
“Oh, you got one!”
Littleham starts to pull on the rod to reel in the fish.
“Good job, Littleham! Keep it up!”
Even though it’s a competition, I can’t help but cheer for Littleham. But it can’t be helped; I want my subordinate to experience the joy of fishing, so I want him to succeed here.
“Wow, this is a lot of power!”
“Is it a big one? Alright, put your back into it and don’t let the fish win!”
“Yes!”
Littleham is small, so he doesn’t have much power. Perhaps he’s struggling against the fish.
But I believe Littleham can do it. I continue to cheer him on.
“W-What’s that? I can see something!”
A large shadow appears beneath the water’s surface. Littleham is doing his best to pull the fish up.
“Just a little more! Go for it, Littleham!”
“I’ll do my best!”
Littleham grits his teeth and shows his determination as he successfully reels in a big fish.
“W-Wow! This is a big catch!”
I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. It’s bigger than any fish I caught the other day and looks like it will be quite filling.
“I-I did it! Evilham -sama!”
A large fish flops around on the ground. This adds a significant amount to our food stock, making me happy.
“Well done, Littleham. As expected of my subordinate.”
“Hehe.”
Littleham looks delighted by my praise. Seeing that reaction makes me want to compliment him even more.
“But Littleham, I won’t lose. I’ll catch an even bigger fish than yours.”
While the competition is based on the fish caught, I’d feel disappointed if I didn’t catch something bigger.
If Littleham, who is small, can catch a big fish, then what kind of excuse do I have for not being able to catch one myself?
As I think that, I feel a tug on my line. I pull up the rod and reel in the fish in one motion.
“…”
“Oh, Evilham -sama, you did it!”
I feel a little sorry that Littleham is getting so excited, but the fish I caught was a fry.
“Littleham, this one’s still a baby. Let’s release it and let it grow.”
I say that and return the fry back into the pond. Come back and get caught again when you’ve grown!
“Wha? Evilham -sama, you’re letting it go?”
“It can’t be helped. If we only catch the fry, the fish stock will dwindle.”
“But what about the competition?”
It is true that the rules state the one who catches the most fish wins. Is this fry even counted?
“No, my pride won’t allow me to count this. Fry don’t count.”
“Oh, as expected of Evilham -sama. You’re playing fair.”
I gather myself and cast my line back into the water.
This time, I channel my hopes into the rod. Let my feelings reach the rod!
However, fishing isn’t so easy that it will yield results just because I wish for it. Time passes without any bites.
But fishing is also about patiently waiting, and eventually, I feel a hit on my line again.
“Oh, good! This feels nice. This time it must be big!”
I pull the rod sharply. This feels definitely larger. I put my weight into it and yank the rod up in one go.
There’s a splashing sound from the water. A large fish surfaces. The fish tries to resist, but I’m stronger. I’ll reel it in!
“Evilham -sama! Do your best!”
“Yeah!”
Encouraged by Littleham’s cheers, I successfully pull up the fish.
Its size is… about the same as Littleham’s fish.
It’s a decent catch, but it’s uncertain if I won the competition.
“Oh, Evilham -sama’s fish is big too!”
“Yeah.”
But at least I maintained my pride by catching a fish of the same size as my subordinate’s. Now I just need to catch more fish to win.
“Littleham, I won’t lose.”
“Yes. I won’t lose either.”
And so we continued fishing together. It was quite a good match; every time Littleham caught a fish, I followed suit, and vice versa, creating a seesaw game.
In the end, we counted our catches.
I caught 8 fish. Littleham caught 7. I narrowly won.
“Alright! I win!”
“Of course. Evilham -sama, you truly can’t be beaten.”
Littleham clapped enthusiastically. We caught a decent amount of fish today. Alright, let’s take these fish back and share them with everyone.
I transformed the caught fish into grilled fish over the stove. The aroma of the nicely grilled fish wafted through the air.
I wanted to eat it, but I held back. I had already eaten fish. My desire to share it with the other monsters was stronger.
“Okay, it’s about time to start the distribution.”
I gathered bread, potatoes, and grilled fish and headed toward the other monsters. When I signaled the start of distribution, the monsters gathered around.
“Everyone, listen up. Today we have grilled fish. However, not everyone can have some since we didn’t catch enough. So, those who want grilled fish, raise your hands.”
“Whoa!”
All the monsters raised their hands at once. Well, that’s to be expected. These monsters are quite enthusiastic about food.
“It seems impossible to decide through discussion. So, we will have a fair game of rock-paper-scissors. The monsters who win will get a meal with grilled fish.”
The monsters began to play rock-paper-scissors, cheering and groaning with every outcome.
Then, those with good rock-paper-scissors results started taking the big fish one by one and began to eat.
“Whoa. This fish is delicious. The skin is crispy, and the flesh is rich, flooding my mouth with the taste of fish!”
“Evilham -sama! We want to fish too! And catch a lot of fish!”
The monsters who ate the grilled fish were so impressed by its deliciousness that they demanded to catch more.
“Wait, calm down. There aren’t infinite fish. If we catch too many, the pond will run out of fish. We have to impose strict limits on the monsters who can fish.”
The fish stocks will replenish over time, but if the catching speed exceeds that, they won’t recover again. I explained this to the monsters.
They reluctantly nodded in understanding.
Hmm. I might need to expand the fishing pond or something to increase the replenishment speed of the fish stocks someday.
