How were triumphs traditionally celebrated?

Shin couldn’t help but feel as if a more heroic figure would have insisted upon lavish feasts, full of speeches and toasts and a lot of cheering. Or perhaps some sort of grand tournament, an invitation for the conquering heroes to showcase their skill and courage so the adoring crowds might delight in a small taste of their victory. At the very least there would have been a golden statue erected, enshrining for all eternity a victory over implacable foes.

Well, Shin didn’t particularly enjoy feasts and their buffet-style service, nor did Shinki Itten have a convenient spot for a tournament grounds. And it seemed a bit gauche to build a statue when, all things considered, their ‘implacable foes’ had wound up being pretty damn placable.

So instead, he went fishing. Hey, it was his victory, and he’d celebrate it however he wanted. Go find your own foes, implacable or otherwise, if you want a tournament.

Still, Shin couldn’t help but compare his current mindset to how he’d felt after his first milestone victory. In the days after overthrowing the guard outpost, when Shinki Itten was still new, he’d felt lost. Useless. The idea of simply packing up and sitting by the water all day would have seemed like the ultimate surrender, back then.

Now? He knew better now. If Shinki Itten didn’t need him, that meant things were good. And Shin had worked too hard and taken too many risks not to enjoy things being good.

Shin lazily cracked open an eye, glancing towards his companions. “You catch anything yet, Moots?”

The only response he received was a bone-rattling snore from the old human. Clearly the combined effects of the comfortingly warm sun and gentle ocean breezes had been too much for Moots to resist.

“Hob? How about you?”

The ancient hobgoblin was nearly non-responsive as always, but something about being near the sea seemed to bring a bit of light back to his watery eyes. He actually swiveled his head towards Shin in response to the kobold’s question, his mouth working fruitlessly for a moment before he managed to croak out a response. “....salt.”

“I haven’t caught anything,” Gero offered without being asked, “Because I’m still not trying, because fishing is boring.”

Shin’s tail waggled mischievously as he plucked his newest catch from its line, slipping it into the portable tank with the others. “You can still just take a couple of mine and tell everyone you caught them. The offer still stands.”

“Shut up.” Gero huffed, immediately casting her line back into the water with a look of fierce determination. “You think you’re so great. You just got lucky when the Tribe upgraded!”

Well, the warrior had something of a point. When Shinki Itten became a Level Three City, it had gained a full suite of Profession Masters to go along with their Grandmaster Chefs. And as luck would have it, Shin himself was the Fishing Master. One of the Animal Husbandry Experts as well, but as far as he could tell that particular skill was specialized solely towards the breeding and cultivation of increasingly colorful strains of carp. “Oh, I’m definitely lucky,” Shin airily replied, “And it takes real skill to be as lucky as I am.”

“That is dumb and makes no sense.” Gero growled in frustration as the fishing graphic slipped outside of her bobber brick for a moment too long, the Fishing Minigame’s annoyingly judgemental failure music chiming out yet again. “Ugh this dumb game! The controls are so awkward! The System must be a masochist for leaving this game the way it is!”

Shin shrugged. “You could always just try doing it my way.”

“No! Never!” Gero glared at Shin, angrily pointing towards the fishing node. “In fact, you should try it the official way!”

Huh. As much as he preferred his way of fishing, it was true that Shin had never actually tried playing the Fishing Minigame. That was something of a black eye for an official Fishing Master, wasn’t it? Well, he hadn’t come all this way and bested all of his foes just to quail before a simple-looking game. “Alright, fine.” Shin lifted up from his seated position, taking a moment to stretch out his back. “When I’m the best at this, too, what will you give me?”

Gero scoffed, stepping aside to give Shin a clear shot at the Fishing Node just beyond the edge of the dock. “I’ll buy you a victory dinner, how about that?”

“Okay. deal.” Shin shifted his grip on his fishing pole, casting a thoughtful eye at the unassuming Node. So okay, he just had to cast his lure into the circle, and then wait for a bite. Then two bars would pop up, right? After that he just had to keep the bubble in the first bar over the fish icon long enough for the second bar to fill. Maybe it was harder than it seemed?

No reason to guess when he could just test it out for himself. Shin flicked his lure into the dead center of the Fishing Node, ignoring his practiced-honed instincts and ignoring any vibrations from the rod itself. The Minigame didn’t work like actual fishing, he just needed to keep his ears open for–

A bright chime rang out, and Shin immediately pulled up. The expected bars popped into being above the circle, a cheeky looking fish icon in the middle of the first. A cheery tune began to play as the fish doodle shot erratically up and down, its cartoon grin somehow seeming to go more smug as if it considered its escape to be a foregone conclusion.

Too bad you’re dealing with the Fishing Master today, you arrogant doodle. Shin expertly flicked his fishing rod left and right, keeping the bobber brick locked onto the fish graphic no matter how unpredictable its movements become. Up and up went the capture gauge, desperation seeming to fill the unmoving face of the piscine drawing.

Gero scowled as the victory music trumpeted out triumphantly, doing her best not to be too impressed by the nearly four foot long tuna that now dangled at the end of Shin’s line. “L-luck! Beginner’s luck!”

Shin tilted his head. “Don’t you mean ‘Master’s Luck’?”

“Yes! I mean, no! I mean, you’ve got to do it again! Once doesn’t prove anything!”

Half a minute later the victory tune rang out again as Shin held up another tuna that was, if anything, a little bigger than the first. Gero folded her ears completely flat, her tail held very low. “Okay, well…it takes three times to make a pattern, right? D-do it one more time, and then I’ll–”

Shin laughed, unperturbed by Gero’s awkward obstinance. “Okay, okay; this is kinda fun anyway. One more time, right?” When Gero nodded, Shin returned the gesture. “Alright. Casting!”

The kobold’s lure dropped neatly into the circle of the Fishing Node once more as Shin settled back, waiting for the tell-tale chime. But instead of the usual merry jingle, the Schemer nearly jumped off of the docks in surprise when a blaring claxon sounded instead.

Fishing Challenge (Rank: Grandmaster) Encountered! Prepare for The Anglers’ Mettle!

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Shin turned his head towards Gero, both of their eyes very wide. “What the whoa!”

The two bars appeared as normal, though instead of the usual fishing graphic was a rather mysterious star. And to his sinking realization, Shin’s normally quite wide bobber brick was now barely wider than the star itself. Before he could protest the unfairness of this turn of events, however, the enigmatic capture icon rocketed up and down its bar, forcing the kobold to grit his teeth and immediately put his everything into keeping up.

Sweat poured down Shin’s brow as he desperately kept his bobber locked onto its target, every tendon in his legs and arms straining in protest. He had no idea how he was keeping up, but somehow no matter which twist or turn the star took he was able to just barely keep his bobber locked onto it. But he was doing it. The capture bar was moving so damn slow, but if he could just keep this up he’d actually–

And just then, his fishing pole snapped in half.

Fishing Tool Sundered, Replace Tool or Forfeit in Five, Four, Three–

“Gero, gimme yours!”

Shin snatched the fishing pole as soon as the stunned woman extended it, the line splashing down into the circle just as the timer was about to run out. And then without missing a beat, the contest was back on. The star icon hardly seemed to stay within the confines of its bar, nearly breaking the laws of space and time as it did its devilish best to confound Shin’s abilities. But somehow, someway, he still managed to keep up. Until–

Fishing Tool Sundered, Replace Tool or–

“Gero, Moots! Get the–”

“I know, I know~!”

Gero had already snatched up Moots’s fishing rod, as well as the untouched one they’d brought for Hob for good measure. Moots’s pole barely lasted ten seconds under the fiendish assault of the Grandmaster Challenge, but Hob’s seemed as if it would go the distance. And a good thing, too, because that was the last fishing pole they’d–

Fishing Tool Sundered, Replace–

Woof.

That was the last fishing pole. There was literally a centimeter left in the capture meter, and that was the last pole. Was Shin going to stand for that? Absolutely not. “Gero, catch me!”

“What do you bwah?!” Gero could only choke out a gasp of shock as Shin jumped head first off of the dock, instinct alone allowing her to rush into action. She dove belly-fish onto the surface of the dock, half of her body hanging over the side as she caught her obsessed comrade by the ankles. And there they dangled, Gero holding Shin by the legs as the man shoved his entire arms into the waters of the Fishing Node, insane determination etched across his face.

The Anglers’ Mettle Complete! Congratulations, Fishing Grandmaster!

With a heave of sheer power, Gero slowly dragged the soaking wet and maniacally cackling Shin back up onto the docks. “Okay, it doesn’t matter if you won anymore,” Gero grumbled. “After that stunt, you are buying dinner!”

Shin could only collapse back on the docks in response, still giggling uncontrollably. The kobold wheezed out in shock as he accidentally sucked in a mouthful of water, coughing uncontrollably for a moment before lifting his head to grin up at Gero. “Definitely.”

Gero smiled, then quickly did her best to resurrect her air of annoyance. “Well, what did you even catch?”

“Oh!” Shin lifted his hand, somewhat surprised to find himself holding a perfectly normal eel. “Huh. I was expecting something a bit more…I don’t know. Exotic?”

“Yeah, that’s…wait.” Gero squinted, crouching down to stare more closely at the eel. “What’s up with its neck?”

Shin squinted himself, and sure enough there was an odd sort of bulge just below the head of the serpent-like fish. “I think it swallowed something? Let me just…Ah!” Shin squeezed his fist and the eel’s jaws snapped open, an opalescent orb the size of a child’s fist popping out onto the kobold’s chest. “Uh, is that a…Oh! Oh, Gero! Empty out the tank!”

Beyond asking questions at this point, Gero quickly took hold of the fish tank Shin and brought and dumped all of its grateful-looking occupants back into the ocean. She brought it to the man’s side as he tossed the eel back as well, then carefully dropped the multi-hued orb into the safe waters that had been cleared for it.

Gero peered down at Shin’s prize, softly glistening from inside the tank like some aquatic opal. “What is it?”

“It’s an egg, Gero,” Shin exulted, a familiar excitement building inside of him. “It’s an egg.”

——————————————————————————

The holding pond directly behind Shinki Itten’s central tower had formed empty, despite being particularly grand both in size and design. That had always struck Shin as quite a waste, but for whatever reason he’d never been able to bring himself to relocate any of the other fish into that unfilled throne of a pond. He’d never known why, until now. The throne was simply waiting for its proper owner.

Shin and Gero stared down at the egg as it settled deep into the waters of the grand pond, nestling itself comfortably against a bulwark of scouring rushes and under the cooling shelter of a water lily. Gero seemed impressed, but Shin couldn’t help but frown.

No, this wasn’t enough

An hour later nearly all of the children of Shinki Itten had gathered in the Tower Garden, their parents looking on in amusement as Shin gravely informed the deadly-serious young kobolds and hobgoblins of their weighty task. “I need all of you to pick the five best fish in the whole garden, each with a different color. Can you do that?”

Little Tama immediately threw his fists into the air. “Yes~! I already know the best yellow fish! It’s Grumbo!”

Shin was already moving towards the pond that housed the all-yellow koi. “Which one is Grumbo?”

“Her!” The young boy pointed excitedly to an unquestionably majestic fish, massive and elegant with markings of alabaster and amber across her golden body. “She’s the best, right? Right?!”

The children cheered out in agreement before running off to the other ponds, chattering and screaming as they set about the tremendous task of selecting the remaining four Best Fish. There was laughter, there were arguments, and there were more and a few tears. But two hours later they had all gathered behind the tower, five objectively superior fish floating in travel tanks as they awaited their new homes.

Shin raised his eyebrows, his ears perking straight up as he addressed the intensely eager children. “Are you ready?”

The sheer volume created by the children of Shinki Itten shouting back their agreement could have probably been heard on the other side of the world.

“Alright then!” Shin lifted his hand high, held it there for an agonizing moment, and then brought it down in a decisive swipe. “Now!”

With that the children tipped the fish into the Throne Pond, cheering wildly as the chosen koi splashed about in momentary confusion. The fish quickly seemed to acclimate, however, cautiously testing the waters of their new home. And then, in near perfect unison, they turned towards the egg.

Shin and Gero watched in rapt fascination as the five Queen Fish slowly swam towards the egg, barely hearing the goodbyes of the children as their parents began to collect them. Soon all five of the piscine royals had arranged themselves in a ring around their rose and purple flecked charge, one by one bobbing their heads in a gesture that was startlingly close to a bow.

And then they turned, swimming off to inspect every nook and cranny of the Throne Pond with looks of unmistakable resolve in their fishy eyes. Come what may, Shin was absolutely certain that this was going to be the best-guarded fish egg in all of Magica.

Gero shook her head, unable to hide her amazement. “I have no idea what this was. Could you please explain to me what this was?”

“Sorry, Gero. Your guess is as good as mine.” Shin had to laugh when Gero scowled at him. “Let’s try to figure it out over dinner! I still owe you, right?”

The woman grinned at that, opening her mouth to reply. But then something over Shin’s shoulder caught her eye, and she tilted her head. “What’s up?”

Shin turned, finding the entirety of the Shinki Itten Council coming up the path. “Oh, hey!” He called, waving out to his approaching friends. “Did you come to see the new pond? It’s pretty amazing, we–”

“No, it’s not that.” And uncharacteristically solemn Momo held up a scroll, a giant ‘M’ etched onto its side in glowing blue and gold letters. “We’ve got an issue.”