On one particular afternoon, I found myself shoveling grass, trying to unearth maggots from rotten wood carcasses.

“Oh, come on you wimp, it’s only been ten minutes!” Nisa howled.

It wasn’t just the two of us, Jack was here too. She wasn’t shouting at Jack though, she was shouting at me and my stamina-less ass. I could barely hold the shovel, let alone dig with it.

Mana maggots. They were called maggots but were actually worms. Big fat juicy- ahem… worms. These things were underground, but unlike typical worms you couldn’t find them willy-nilly. You needed special conditions. One of which was rotten Barmawood that was under the earth for about a year or so. But in that case, wouldn’t they just run out and stuff? No, because one particular rule of this place was ‘Doesn’t matter how many holes you dig you, you’re always going to have to plant more wooden planks.’ So there was always a surplus.

And what place you might ask? Well, at the very west corner of the city, there was a lake barricaded from the city. On four parts of the lake, you had big ass fields full of these worms. Nisa had rented the whole field for us today. So, we were the only ones. Or would have been if some of her goons hadn’t shown up. They were staying, far away though. respecting our, or rather Nisa’s privacy maybe? The same with the guards.

“I’m taking a break,” I huffed and puffed, falling flat on my butt.

“Weakling,” Nisa mumbled.

“Don’t want to hear that from someone who’s just standing there, looking pretty.”

“Why thank you, I am quite pretty,” she flashed me a smile.

I always pegged Nisa for the stoic type. I suppose that was an act? Or was this an act instead? No, this was too authentic to be an act. But wouldn’t someone who wanted this to be an act, think that and- yeah, I was just confusing myself with that. Who cared what was her real self? She seemed to be having fun and doing me a favor, so it was all good. Until she asks for the favor to be returned.

Come to think of it, the moment she brought up Manafish, she immediately suggested we go fishing for it. She didn’t need any prodding from my whatsoever. Kind of suspicious.

Jake meanwhile, didn’t complain and just did his job. He was quite good at it too. “Do you do this often?” I said.

“Yes. Lady Nisa likes to fish every now and then.”

So, I was just an excuse.

But wasn’t fishing an old man’s hobby? No wait. This world didn’t have much entertainment, so maybe it wasn’t.

“That should be enough,” Nisa said.

We or rather Jake caught about twenty-ish worms. These worms were imbued with a particular mana that Manafish loved to eat; they looked like just typical black worms though. Technically, these worms were safe for consumption too but ordinary people didn’t really want to… at least I didn’t; also they tasted horrible. As for the Manafish? Well, I heard it tasted really good and was cultivated here for that reason. The owner of this place, Count Albide made double profit thanks to expertly controlling who got to rent this place and how much fish he provided to the local market. Crafty guy. I made a mental note of eventually getting to know him and figure out some of his tricks.

“How much does it take to rent this place anyway?”

“For a day? About a hundred gold,” Nisa said.

The what?

Huh? Wha- fucking hell… I tried to keep my poker face plastered on but God damn it wasn’t working. “Oh and I’m sure you know how to fish but this is how you hook the maggots,” she said, giving me a live demonstration.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Yeah, I didn’t need that. I’d never fished in my life, so maybe I kind of did. Jake helped me put it on, so maybe I didn’t? Just make up your fucking mind already….

Also, this lady wasn’t afraid of mangling a worm in her hand? Wow….

Crude fishing equipment. Just bamboo rods and strings and a hook. Yet, it felt authentic for some reason. Everyone who were here took this seriously and were concentrating like their lives depended on it.

I threw the baited string into the lake without hooking it to anyone’s dress on my third attempt. “What now?”

A small white thing bobbed on the water, apparently that was our window into the bait’s condition.

“We wait,” Nisa said, elegantly throwing it. Girl knew how to do things in style that was for sure. “I heard you’ve recently started working at your mother’s church.”

We’re going to stand here the whole time? A lot of kids had brought stools and stuff and some were even sitting on the damn ground. But we were merely standing. Technically, Nisa was of higher standing so I couldn’t sit even if I wanted to. But we’re from different countries though. Nah, I didn’t want to accidentally disrespect her. Hang in there my legs!

“That’s right.”

“You even made that Micheal go with you.”

“I suppose? He willingly went there, just so you know.”

“Smart. Make him think he’s doing it on his own volition so he doesn’t realize you’re controlling him. Were you trying something similar with me?”

Huh?

What did she just-

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Nisa said.

She had gotten me. I was prepared for a lot of things but not a direct confrontation like that. I took her for a spoiled rich kid. But she clearly had some brains. “Perhaps,” I said. “What are your opinions on the church?”

Still it wasn’t over. Even if I couldn’t use her as a pawn, I could at least try to salvage this relationship. Having strong connections meant I could do a lot of things. If Den didn’t have connections, I wouldn’t be here.

“Corrupt…” she said under her breath. She said it so faintly, only I could hear. And she hadn’t moved her mouth either. People can do that?

I flashed a smile and brought my attention back to the bait. “Should it do that?” I said.

“Gently pull, once you’re sure it’s hooked, give a strong pull.”

“Got it!”

I followed instructions and when I eventually pulled it, I got nothing. Even my bait was gone. Sigh.

“Don’t worry, that happens,” Jake said. “Let’s try again.”

Meanwhile, Nisa reeled in her first catch. A carp-lookalike; I never fished but I knew my fish from the grocery store. So that’s a mana fish? This thing had red scales and blue eyes. And it was about a kilo at best. “Put it in the bucket,” she said. I was surprised her bamboo rod didn’t just break from the weight.

We continued fishing. We didn’t talk much but I got the impression that Nisa didn’t really like the church. I may not be able to use her but what about a collaboration? No, having my name would be suicide.

Damn it! is there no way-

I felt a pull. So, I pulled with all my might and… a fish! Half a kilo and really black but still a fish!

“That’s not edible…” Jake managed. “It’s one of the bad ones. That’s what happens when fish consume too much mana.”

So, too much mana turns it black? Was that why the worms were black?

“Why is it not edible?”

“Tastes terrible; worse than the worms.”

“Not poisonous or anything like that right?”

“No, but the more mana you have, the nastier it tastes and you usually develop a fever.”

“Means nothing happens if you don’t have mana.”

Jake smiled awkwardly. “Everyone has mana Sol.”

Uh-huh. Not me though. At least everyone who assessed me told me as much and deemed me a failure of a human. No wait, that was just that damn priest.

“I’m keeping it as a souvenir. I mean, it’s my first catch.”

“Okay,” Jake said, reluctantly taking the fish.

That said, we kept on fishing. By the end of it, Nisa had caught four and I, zero. Jake also tried his luck and caught two big ones. On his third, the rod snapped in two.

All in all, we caught about ten kilos worth of fish. Each Kilo sold for about Gold, so technically we barely made 10 gold.

Major loss from my perspective, but considering we had fun and Nisa’s goons also fished and all that stuff, didn’t seem that bad of a deal. At least not for me, since I didn’t pay jackshit… yet.

“Alright, let’s go,” Nisa said.

“Thought we had to plant planks.”

“They have to, we don’t,” Nisa shrugged.

Oh, so that’s why….

That said, we were on our way back on a carriage. It was already evening but since I was with a literal princess, things would be fine, or so thought.

“This is the second time,” the dorm keeper took me to her room. Just me, not the others.

“Sorry, I got carried away.”

She sighed. “I understand your family runs the business but accidents happen. And I don’t want another one of my patrons dying on me.”

Patrons? She considered students who lived here, patrons? Or maybe my family… hmmm….

“Understood mam.”

“I hope you do.”