There she was, back at the laboratory Raina worked at, the very same person who had send her on that trivial chore the previous day. While one might had wondered what someone like Lycoris was up to, in the end she had an important reason for being there. Well, it wasn’t exactly important persay… Rather, the young lady found herself back at the laboratory for two reasons: The first and foremost reason was that there was a good payment involved, and the job was not that bad in itself… the second reason was that in a way she would be a step closer to preserving a future where delicious fish sticks continued to exist! “Well, this is unexpected~” Raina said with a smile as she watched Lycoris enter the room, the mercenary girl stating with a little grin. “I’d be a poor mercenary if I skipped an easy job that promises good pay, and it’s my way of saving the fish sticks!”

The biologist couldn’t help but laugh at her remark, as she nodded her head lightly in return. “Very well~ Can you grab some of those bags of fish feed? I’ll need you to carry it to the harbor, we’ll be grabbing a rowboat there and rowing into one of the smaller canals.”

Lycoris nodded her head curtly, walking over to the room the lady pointed at and scooped up one of the large sacks over her shoulder, soon following after the biologist. “There is a pond inland that we’ll be rowing to, it’s a no fishing zone, so we can feed the fish and observe them a bit.”

No fishing zone… so those fish wouldn’t be turned into fish sticks… Lycoris couldn’t help but wonder a little, inquiring with a hint of interest in her voice. “Say Raina, are there a lot of different sorts of fish?” Raina nodded her head, seemingly excited at the question while she started to explain in a cheerful tone. “Indeed there are, there is already an amazing amount of variation in this side of Fiore alone already.”

It didn’t take long for the duo to arrive at the harbor where the biologist had already prepared a row boat, yet when she was about to start approaching the seat for the rowing Lycoris stopped her and exclaimed with a grin “Leave that to me, it’s a good way to exercise.” Raina smiled briefly in return, accepting her suggestion as the bag was loaded on the boat and the duo went into the nearby canal, slowly making their way toward the bond.

“So what brought you into the career of a mercenary Lycoris?” The question made Lycoris smile briefly, her smile somewhat bittersweet as she replied. “My adoptive brother. He took me in when I was still a child and my hometown was raided by bandits. Despite the rough outside image of my brother’s crew we were a close-knit family.” The past tense of her words caused Raina to ask with a worried tone. “Your brother, he...”

Lycoris nodded her head lightly, replying calmly. “Was murdered...”

The conversation ended at that point, the rowing to the pond continuing in silence until they arrived at the zone and Raina opened the bag of fish feed, starting to distribute it by spraying it over the water surface, and to Lycoris her surprise their boat was quickly surrounded by hungry fish!

“Are there a lot of different types of food for fish?” Raina nodded her head in return, explaining in a soft tone. “Often food is given certain properties depending on what you want to do. For example there is regular feed like this that focuses on keeping the fish healthy, but often fishers use special type of feed that is infused with mana, this causes the fish to enlarge a lot.”

She could imagine a huge fish like that would sell for quite a lot! But at the same time it sounded a bit too good to be true… “Are there any side-effects to using that type of feed?” Raina smiled at her, replying with a little compliment. “Pretty clever, aren’t you? It’s true, there is quite a serious side-effect… the mana infused in the feed drives the fish in a frenzy, basically they become like berserkers for a bit.”

Wait what… enraged fish?! Now that sounded like a sight to witness! Not that she would say that out loud, instead she scooped a hand into the bag and started to help feed some of the fishes. “I guess it would be a good thing then that fishermen aren’t allowed to fish in this zone, imagine all those fish here getting up in a frenzy around us.”

Raina snickered softly as she nodded her head in agreement. “It would likely lead to our boat being toppled, this many fish would hold quite an united power.” It actually sounded like a pretty intense challenge! Once the feeding was over Lycoris started to row the boat back to the harbor, engaging in some small talk with the biologist till they reached the harbor, upon which Lycoris picked up the bag and followed Raina back toward the laboratory.

It was only a few more minutes till the bag was properly stashed away and Raina approached with a pouch of jewels, the sight of the mercenary’s smile making her chuckle briefly. “Take it~ you earned it.” Lycoris thanked her for the payment while she said her goodbyes to the biologist, and upon leaving the laboratory she couldn’t help but idly think back about their conversation.

Those giant enraged fish sounded kind of badass, to the point a part of her desired to test her strength against one of them! However, how in the world would she get a fishing rod and suitable bait? Perhaps the stores around the town would contain some, but for now the girl was making her way back toward the town, humming softly as she seemed to had been in a brighter mood now that the idea of wrestling fish had come up in her mind! But first she had to find a good fisher...