The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

While Leo and Rosalia were explaining how incredibly skilled he was.

Enzo is doing everything he can to fulfill his friend's request.

Aurelius foresaw a calamity that night and dared not go home, instead going to find Bianchi.

At the same time, Natale, who was a rival of Enzo and whose relationship with him was not good, was also called over.

Natale has an excellent reputation in the village and is one of the few people in Marzamemi who are not afraid of Enzo's fists.

With these two backing him up, Aurelio believed that Enzo would never dare to act recklessly.

But he underestimated Enzo's determination—Enzo actually went to find him.

Aurelio asked him, "Aren't there other candidates? Why are you fixated on me?"

Enzo feigned ignorance—Who is it? I don't know any of them, I only know that it's your turn this year.

The two argued louder and louder, and the noise alerted Sandro.

Sandro personally intervened to mediate and learned about Rio's "deeds" from everyone.

Enzo's forehead was covered in sweat:

"Leo can't do it, he really can't."

Only a few people, including Enzo and Rosalia, knew how good Leo was at swimming. Natale, not wanting the hardworking young man to take risks, spoke up for Enzo a lot that night.

"Leo used to catch crabs all the time, and spearfishing was probably an occasional thing for him, so let's not count him in."

The two key figures expressed the same opinion, and soon the option of "Leo" was removed from the meeting, with the focus shifting to whether to send Aurelio or choose someone else.

Sandro is a reasonable man. Although he set the rule of taking turns, Aurelio also has the right not to go.

Then we definitely need to find a candidate.

Sandro knew his wife didn't want Bianchi to go, but he would have approved if they could find someone else suitable.

Aurelio looked at Bianchi and said:

"Why don't we ask Bianchi for his opinion? He's the one who went in the past few years, so he must know what qualifications the candidates need to have."

Sandro looked at his son Bianchi:

"You tell us your thoughts, so we can have some direction when looking for candidates."

Bianchi stood up and said to his father and everyone in the room:

"Accuracy is very important when fishing. We are facing swordfish that move at high speed, but now people don't go out to sea to fish anymore, so let's not talk about that for now, it's too difficult."

A bead of sweat the size of a soybean rolled down Enzo's forehead, landing on his thick beard and disappearing.

Enzo's mood plummeted along with the disappearing bead of sweat.

Bianchi continued confidently:

"Besides accuracy in spearfishing, good swimming skills are also essential. All the dangers for tall-masted spearfish to spear swordfish come from the moment they fall into the water."

Several more large beads of sweat appeared on Enzo's forehead.

An image of someone swimming effortlessly in the water lingered in his mind.

Bianchi suddenly looked at Enzo:

"The last requirement is agility; one must have the strength and courage to fight swordfish underwater, at least at Enzo's level."

Enzo wiped the sweat from his forehead and shook his head:

"No one can fight a swordfish in the water."

But there is one person... who has the ability to fight people underwater.

The figure that had been swimming effortlessly underwater in Enzo's mind suddenly leaped out of the water, somersaulted to his face, pointed at himself, and said—It's me, it's me, it's definitely me!

"It's not easy to find such an excellent candidate," Sandro comforted Enzo, who was sweating profusely. "But let's look around first, and we'll discuss it together if we find someone suitable. This is Marzamemi's business, not just yours alone."

Sandro then looked at the other party involved, Aurelio:

"If you can't find it, have Bianchi go for you."

Bianchi flashed a victor's smile and confidently looked at every fisherman present.

Everyone looked at him with admiration, except for one person.

Whether it was a misperception or not, Bianchi seemed to see Enzo looking at him with the eyes of someone looking at a 'loser'.

Although it was only for a brief moment, he captured it.

There was pity in his eyes... and regret too.

Bianchi tilted his head in confusion.

Am I seeing things?

.......

Natale has a natural affinity for hardworking and diligent people, and last night's events reminded him of the outsider named Leo.

I wonder how he's been doing lately?

Have you been bullied again?

He also took one of Leo's imported camels.

The next morning, when Natale and Aesop were trading, Natale specifically asked about Rio's recent situation, as the fishermen all knew that Aesop guaranteed Rio's goods.

Aesop and Natale are old friends, so naturally they talked about Leo's actions yesterday.

They said that kid was just fooling around. He heard about spearfishing from somewhere and went to the sea to spearfish haphazardly, which caused him a huge burden!

"It's normal to get obsessed when you're new to something," Natale said, leaning back in the truck and smoking, speaking up for Leo. "Haven't you ever fished at sea before?"

Aesop gave Natale over 12 in cash.

"I went there when I was very young, but I don't fish that way anymore now, it's too slow... You didn't bring back much yesterday, buddy, keep looking for crab nests."

Natale is such an unlucky person.

I leave earliest every day and return latest at night, but my income never seems to increase.

On a good day, a typical small fishing boat can sell goods worth 25 to 30 lira upon landing, and with a stroke of luck, it's common to sell over 50.

But Natale's income is less than half of what it usually is.

After deducting the cost of oil and ice from the total of over 120,000, he would at most have a little over 50,000 left. Old Paul and Riccardo on his boat would have earned even less.

Natale accepted the money and said self-deprecatingly:

"This is the kind of situation I'm used to."

The transaction was completed, and Natale saw Rosalia pushing a cart with two large fish boxes on it from afar.

"Rosalia boarded the ship?" Natale asked Aesop in a low voice.

Why did she bring a fish box?

Isn't that something you only find on big ships?

Aesop shook his head.

I don't know if they're expressing "no" or "don't know".

Natale didn't dare ask, because Rosalia stopped in front of them.

"Leo's fish." Rosalia's face clearly said, "I'm not happy."

She had a falling out with Leo last night, and her plan to "repay a favor" failed again. She's in a terrible mood right now.

Upon hearing that it was Leo's fish, Aesop's expression was even uglier than the widow's across from him.

Those few baskets yesterday almost drove him crazy.

Two large fish tanks were delivered today.

Leo is deliberately messing with me, isn't he?

Aesop violently opened the lid of the box in protest.

But seeing a neatly stacked box of sea bream inside, I couldn't help but exclaim, "No way!"

"You hunted back so many?"

These sea bream had holes in their foreheads or gills, clearly indicating they were stabbed to death.

Natale smiled and comforted Aesop:

"I've already categorized them all for you. Look, they're all ones that can fetch a good price."

Natale felt very gratified, experiencing a sense of satisfaction as if he had made the right bet.

There are so many outsiders in Malzamemi, and quite a few of them choose to go into business. He only helped Leo, and Leo is so successful.

Aesop was weighing fish when another small cart appeared beside him, even bigger than Rosalia's, with more fish tanks on it.

"Sorry, sorry, I went to borrow a car, I'm late," Leo apologized as soon as he arrived.

Aesop was stunned.

He looked at Leo, then at Rosalia, and asked a really stupid question:

"Which one is Leo's?"

"Yes, all of them," Leo replied with a smile.

"No way?" This time, it wasn't Aesop who exclaimed in surprise.

Natale waved his scarred arm, gesturing towards the boxes in front of him:

"Are these all your fish?"