The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

Leo left carrying a serving of fried artichokes and four sesame breads, saying before he left, "I'll come back in a few days."

He had barely left when Monica immediately ran out.

Elena asked her daughter as she cleared the table:

"Why are you standing at the door peeking in? Didn't I tell you not to come out when strange guests come?"

Monica replied as she drew:

"He's not a stranger; I saw him this morning."

"You've seen him?" Elena stopped what she was doing and pressed her daughter for details. "Where? In front of the house? What was he doing? How did you run into him? What did he say to you?"

Monica replied without even looking up:

"I was chasing the kitten when it passed by. Aunt Rosalia saw me and took me to her house to play."

It turned out to be a misunderstanding... Elena continued tidying up the table:

"What did Rosalia say to you?"

"Don't go to remote places by yourself. Go to squares or places with lots of people to have fun."

"Did you say anything else?"

"No, I played for a while, and then she brought me back."

Elena carried the used tableware to the kitchen, her tone suddenly becoming somber:

"Next time I see Rosalia, I'll spend more time with her, and also—"

"And I invited her over for dinner, I remember, Mom!" Monica exclaimed excitedly, holding up her drawing paper. "Look, Mom, I've finished!"

Elena said proudly:

"It's really well drawn."

Monica asked expectantly:

"Will my brother like it?"

Monica put down what she was doing, wiped her hands, and sat down in front of her daughter.

"Of course you'll like it. Go close the door, let's close early today. Put it on the menu now."

......

When Leo emerged from the lighthouse, it wasn't completely dark yet; it was during Calzamemi's most "bustling" time of day.

Every household was preparing dinner, and the aroma of cooking was so strong that it was visibly filling the air.

Having eaten his fill, Leo no longer craved the smell of food, but was curious—why do the Marzamemi people eat dinner so late?

They prepare around 7 a.m., eat around 8 a.m., and finish eating around 9 p.m. This schedule is completely out of character for a small village.

If he weren't genuinely scared, Leo would have actually planned to go find Andrei tomorrow and ask him what was going on.

But he also faced a series of even more important problems—

Is it really feasible for someone to go out to sea alone? Are there many fishermen in Marzamemi who go out to sea alone? What do they mainly catch? What do they need to prepare? Do they need a boat? If so, where do they get one? How much does it cost? Can they only sell their catch at the fish market? Is the competition fierce?

With too much unknown information to take immediate action, and unable to sleep soundly even if he went back, Leo returned to the café with the packed food, wanting to call Uncle Sorberto and find the answer as soon as possible.

Leo believed that Solberto would tell him.

......

Marco wasted a lot of time looking for the number again, even though he had just called two days ago.

While searching for him, she kept muttering, "Why is my memory getting worse and worse?"

After finally managing to make the call, the person on the other end told Leo that Solberto had gone to a furniture factory in the countryside of Palermo to "work there" for at least a week. They asked Leo to leave his name so they could relay it to him as soon as Solberto returned.

Marco overheard the conversation, muttered "He's forcing himself to suffer when he has no reason to," and went outside for a smoke.

Unable to get an answer from Solberto, Leo hung up the phone and turned his attention to his other, and possibly only, "friend" in Marzamemi... wondering if he could extract something through torture.

But before he could even speak, Marco impatiently complained:

"Look at the time! You're making me late for dinner. Hurry up, I'm closing up shop."

Okay, okay, eating is more important than me?

Leo threw down a vicious "Smoke less" and stormed off!

.......

After walking for a while, Leo calmed down and thought about what to do next.

After arriving in Marzamemi, he lived very frugally, never spending money on anything that was free.

Uncle Solberto helped him keep track of the accounts for another month, and with his own money, it was easy for him to live in Marzamemi for one or two months.

Therefore, from a time perspective, there is no real rush.

But the news he heard from Natalena made Leo feel threatened.

You never know when the government might take strong measures to crack down on the fishing industry... so it's best to get on board as soon as possible and make plans early.

Therefore, we cannot do nothing and just wait for Solberto to return from his post at the factory; we must also try to find out some information through our own means.

Once the information from both sides is combined, we can immediately proceed to the next step.

As for how to find out...

It's difficult to ask directly; Sicilians are too wary of outsiders.

While torture to extract confessions can be effective, it cannot be relied upon entirely.

Not everyone is like Marco, who has crossed paths with him a few times and whose vigilance fluctuates, nor is everyone so lucky to be in a low-health state... With a 40% success rate and a 4-hour cooldown, it's too slow to find out everything through skills.

Therefore, Leo needs to listen and observe more.

We should also create as many opportunities as possible to connect with fishermen.

Therefore, we must continue to go to the fish market and treat the "intelligence gathering" mission as a daily task.

Having devised a plan, Leo glanced at the time on his watch—it was 5 minutes to 8 o'clock.

The Marzamemi man was still preparing dinner, but he was already extremely sleepy.

"At the same time, we can't give up making money by selling crabs. If we can't even sell the crabs, who will we sell the things we bring back from the sea? I need to go to bed early tonight... Aren't the people of Marzame tired after getting up so early?"

With that, Leo yawned and disappeared into the darkness.

This scene made the lights of the thousands of homes behind him seem even brighter.

......

Aesop said there weren't enough crabs in Leo, so he should catch more.

Even if Aesop doesn't accept it, it still attracts the attention of other merchants, and many drivers in small trucks come every morning.

Having made up his mind, Leo got up at 3 a.m. the next morning.

Atlantic blue crabs are nocturnal animals.

During the day, they mostly hide on the seabed in deep waters and are rarely active.

Around dusk, they crawl towards the shallow bay to forage, and then retreat back to the deep sea after sunrise the next day.

After collecting twice as many crabs as yesterday, Leo headed to the dock.

It was still early, but in order to gather more information, Leo needed to occupy a central position.

Moreover, arriving early allows you to seize every trading opportunity.

Fishermen go out to sea in different ways, and the species they catch also have different habits.

Some fishing boats set sail at dusk and return in the morning.

Some fishing boats go out in the morning and return in the evening.

Some fishing boats go out a few hours before sunrise and return after sunrise.

Yesterday, Leo arrived early and observed that some villagers and merchants came early, bought their goods, and left without waiting for most of the fishermen to return and choose more suitable ones.

Therefore, arriving early allows you to meet all the people who are interested.

Unexpectedly, around the same time as yesterday, there were already people setting up stalls at the dock.

"Natale..." Leo recognized the middle-aged man with a scar on his arm.

Natale was somewhat surprised to see Rio arrive with crabs.

The two people's eyes met from a distance.