The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

With the sales problem solved, Leo worked even harder to make money.

They went out with their tools before dawn.

Recently, his activities have expanded beyond the rocky beach near the shipyard; he can now be seen on every stretch of coastline in the village.

Today he chose a spot at the junction of the rocky beach and the fine sandy beach, where there are many small shrimp and fish, so he can bring back a lot to feed his big fat orange cat.

Previously, during "halftime," Leo would deliver takeout to the coast where it usually stayed, but after the kitten leg recovered, Leo stopped going.

One day during halftime, he went back to the shipyard to rest and found Big Fat Orange waiting for him near the shipyard. After that, "delivery" was changed to "self-pickup".

After feeding it for so long, Leo had also tried to develop it into his own "power".

For example, I would take it back to the shipyard to sleep with it, call it "my little kitty," or use spells, spellcasting gestures, and altars learned from novels... but without exception, all of them failed.

The task "Add a chair" remains untouched in the "To be completed" list.

Leo guessed that he might not have fully grasped the meaning of "family members".

However, the little thing is quite interesting. It doesn't like going into the shipyard. Every time I take it in, it runs away quickly, probably because it smells like thieves inside, which it doesn't like.

As usual, during the halftime break, I went back to deliver food, played with the cat for a few more minutes, and then returned to the shore.

With Aesop buying his goods, Leo no longer needed to arrive early every day to reserve a spot, giving him more time to catch crabs.

The thought that things would get better starting today made him wish the sun would never rise, so the crabs wouldn't go home and he could keep working forever.

But the sun is definitely going to rise, and along with the rising sun comes a strange system notification.

[Attention! Your base is under enemy invasion!!]

[You have received a temporary task: Clean up the intruding trash within 1 hour]

[System Note: A few obnoxious, filthy rats have invaded your territory. Go and crush them! Let them know that places protected in your name are not places they can come and go as they please!!!]

[Quest Reward: Reputation +3]

The system was angry because it used three exclamation marks at the end.

Leo was confused. Lately, the only ones frequently "invading" the shipyard were those greedy little cats... Was there any need to get so angry?

With the sun up, he didn't have much time left to catch crabs.

Going back now would directly impact today's income.

While he was hesitating, Leo suddenly thought of a problem—the system probably wouldn't describe stray cats as "dirty rats," would it?

This cat is so yin-yang!

He immediately packed up his tools and rushed back to the shipyard.

.......

Andre stayed by Leo's stall every day, making Salvatore and the others afraid to get close.

Their solution was to keep Andrei at home and prevent him from going out.

Simmons got someone to get him a bottle of powerful laxatives, saying that four or five drops would keep a person's butt stuck to the toilet for at least three days.

Their plan was to sneak into Andrei's house and put a few drops in his drinking water.

Now the plans have changed—they've decided to permanently weld Leo's buttocks to the toilet.

The shipyard has no security measures.

There are many ways to get in, whether through the main gate, the beach, or the windows.

The three men swaggered into the shipyard without even having to control their volume; they could even chat and do their dirty work at the same time.

"That kid is never in the shipyard from dawn until sunrise. He's absolutely safe today; he won't be coming back."

"Quickly, find out where his water is."

"This shipyard is huge. Isn't he afraid to live here all by himself?"

"You're such a scaredy-cat, Simmons. What could be so scary about here?"

"Awoo awoo awoo—"

A series of urgent meows came from outside the gate.

The shipyard was large and spacious, and the cat's meow echoed through the air, which sounded rather eerie.

Salvatore gestured for a stop and pointed in the direction of the meow, saying:

"Listen to what's happening outside."

......

"What are you yelling about?" Leo asked the big orange cat, squatting at the shipyard entrance.

He rushed back to check on the situation and was surprised to find that the orange cat, which had already finished eating, had reappeared nearby.

As soon as it saw him, it started meowing and seemed really off.

Leo tried to hug it, but it wouldn't let him touch it, keeping its tail up and circling around, looking very anxious.

The cat was very intelligent, and its unusual behavior made Leo even more wary.

He put the crabs and tools at the door and picked up a handy stick from the roadside.

"Don't steal any food." With that, Leo pushed open the door and went inside.

This was obviously said to the big fat orange, but the big fat orange had no intention of stealing food.

After Leo entered, it nimbly jumped onto the roof and followed him inside.

.......

In a dark corner of the shipyard.

"Damn it, why is he back?"

"I don't know, it shouldn't be his turn to come back yet. But this place is so big, he probably won't be able to find us, right?"

"Shh! Don't speak! He's coming..."

Salvatore and his two companions were bad, but not actually very brave.

Don't be fooled by their confident pronouncements, like "What's there to be afraid of?", "If we run into him, it's just three against one," and "How could we possibly lose?"

Upon hearing the door open, he immediately hid, waiting for an opportunity to slip away.

If they really had that much courage and ability... they wouldn't have had to come to Marzamemi because they couldn't make it in Palermo.

They're just a few losers.

The shipyard was so large that the hiding place the group found was extremely well hidden.

Leo found nothing in the vicinity and quickly left for other places.

The footsteps faded away, and Simmons patted his chest and whispered to the two people beside him:

"That was terrifying. My heart has never beat that fast in my entire life."

Vincenzo further advised Salvatore:

"I think we should just forget about it and not give him any laxatives."

Salvatore was also very nervous and whispered:

"He'll leave once he can't find it. We'll go out after he leaves."

"Meow?"

A little kitten peeked out from among the clutter and joined their discussion.

Fortunately, the calls were relatively quiet and did not cause much of a commotion.

There are many stray cats in Marzamemi, so it's not unusual to see them here. Salvatore shooed one away with his foot, trying to get it to leave and not cause them any trouble.

He didn't even touch the orange cat, but the cat seemed to be 'faking an accident' and let out a 'meow' again.

Then came the third sound...

Fourth tone...

Fifth tone...

The cat's meows grew louder, sharper, and more urgent...

Salvatore had never found a cat's meow so frightening; it was downright terrifying.

But something even more terrifying followed – the fading footsteps returned!