The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

Aurelio tried to comfort Leo and tell him not to let it affect his mood, but Leo was clearly affected.

When Leo talks about the exciting duels in "The Swordsmithing Tournament," his eyes can spark with excitement.

The light in his eyes was gone tonight; Leo couldn't muster any enthusiasm for anything he said, and just kept drinking glass after glass.

He soon got drunk and began to confide one shameful story after another that had been ridiculed by the villagers.

Leo knew he was upset and wanted to offer him some comfort.

At this moment, he could no longer see the "majestic" demeanor he displayed when explaining forging techniques to the villagers during the day; instead, he exuded a pitiful air of inferiority and grievance.

Before this harpooning incident, the two had no connection whatsoever.

Leo couldn't help but wonder, could this be the real Aurelio?

Like a little punching bag...

Leo started by bringing up the topic of harpoons, trying to ignite Aurelio's "fighting spirit":

"The harpooning officially starts tomorrow, and I'm lacking confidence, 'Cyclops'?"

Aurelio shook his head, a bitter look on his face:

"Stop teasing me. We brought up Cyclops just to keep you here. I'm nothing but a bullshit Cyclops."

"The three of us are working together really well, and I have a feeling—" Leo said mysteriously, "we might actually pull off something amazing!"

Aurelio speaks the truth when drunk:

"Making it is definitely not a problem. I've been forging iron for so many years, if I can't even forge a harpoon, what will I do with my reputation? But if you're asking how good it can be..."

Having already uttered one truth, others followed suit, and Aurelio took a sip of his drink, finally revealing his true strength:

"Of those 21 requirements, I only have confidence in resilience. I've never had a resilience issue in my previous works, so even if everything goes smoothly tomorrow, it doesn't mean the remaining 20 requirements can be met... It all depends on God's will."

Leo showed no emotional reaction and even joked to comfort him:

"This is already pretty good. Have you forgotten all those competitions I told you about that I've seen? Forging swords, breaking swords... I can't even tell the difference anymore!"

From the moment the three mediocre minds got together, Leo automatically lowered his expectations for the harpoon—success would be achieved if it could be completed successfully!

The rest were all surprises.

I had hoped to talk about the harpoon to help Aurelio regain his confidence, but the more he talked, the more insecure he became...

Leo quickly started a new topic.

He pointed to a dilapidated, almost blackened ship's wheel on the wall and asked:

"You said each of these old items has a story; tell me about its origin?"

If it were the Aurelio family under normal circumstances, they would most likely brush it off with "you young people wouldn't understand even if I explained it."

But after drinking too much and revealing so many of his innermost thoughts, he became completely unrestrained, saying whatever was asked.

A spark ignited in his eyes, and his tone softened:

"In 1989, Sandro led a team to salvage the shipwreck, but they only managed to salvage this part. Because it was incomplete and badly damaged, they were going to throw it away as garbage, but I took it home."

Leo just wanted to clear Aurelio's head and get him to talk about things that interested him; he wasn't concerned with the origins of these old objects. He casually pointed to a nail and asked:

"What about this one?"

The tiny spark in Aurelius's eyes widened into a cluster, and a smile appeared on his lips:

"This is related to you. This is the boat that Sorbet made. The boat broke down, and Sorbet went to repair it. He brought back all the parts that were taken apart."

As he spoke, he stood up, walked around the hall, and pointed to several things:

"This, this, this, and this—they were all taken off that ship."

Leo was taken aback.

Surprisingly, Aurelio actually remembered the origin of each of them.

He then pointed to the largest piece of ship plank in the entire restaurant and asked:

"And this one? Is it also a faulty part salvaged from some ship?"

The fire in Aurelio's eyes burned even brighter:

"In the late 60s, Sicilian fishing boats underwent a major upgrade, and many fishing boats were abandoned. I took this plank from one of the abandoned boats."

These answers completely overturned Leo's previous guesses about the origin of these old objects.

He thought Aurelius had picked up these things... but it didn't seem so.

Moreover, he has had this hobby since he was young.

Leo became serious and asked Aurelio:

What is your reason for collecting these nautical artifacts?

Aurelio didn't answer; he just stared blankly at the old objects.

Leo continued to ask:

Are you commemorating your youth or someone else?

Aurelius still didn't answer and started pouring himself another drink.

Things that a drunk person wouldn't want to talk about must be secrets, but Leo had already become extremely curious about this secret.

He continued to ask:

"I'm afraid your reason for collecting old things isn't just a simple hobby, is it?"

Torture and forced confessions have been initiated!

About three seconds later, Aurelio finally spoke, but his tone had become low:

"Of course it's not commemorating people, it's commemorating the ship."

"A commemorative ship?" Leo asked, coaxingly. "What kind of ship?"

Aurelio said, feeling wronged:

"Boats are the fishermen's most reliable partners. They also grow old, get sick, and get into accidents and stay at sea forever, just like people. When people die, they have a grand funeral, but those boats have nothing... Seeing them slowly rotting on the beach, or thinking that they will stay at the bottom of the sea forever without sunlight, makes me very sad."

Aurelio's tone became even more frustrated:

"I don't have the ability to bring shipwrecks from the seabed to the surface, but the parts that wash up are part of them. I can't change the fate of those abandoned ships, but taking off a part is a way of preserving a trace of their existence... Someone has to remember them."

Aurelio looked at Leo, his eyes blazing with fury once more:

"When you said you wanted to melt down the old things to make harpoons, my first reaction was resistance. If the things were gone, wouldn't all traces of these ships' existence disappear as well? But then I realized something—"

Aurelio slammed his hand on the table, his eyes burning:

"As long as I remain with the sea, I will leave a new mark of existence, and I can shed the label of 'trash' and become more meaningful... They can call me a 'garbage collector,' but they can't call my treasures trash! They really aren't trash!!"

.......

Aurelio had drunk too much and soon went to rest with the help of his family.

Leo returned to the shipyard but couldn't fall asleep.

The light in Aurelius's eyes burned into his heart.

The fishing boat didn't have a grand funeral, but Aurelio volunteered to be its "gravekeeper."

This should have been a respectable thing, but it led to him suffering discrimination for many years and being unable to hold his head up in the village.

Leo couldn't make everyone understand the original intention behind Aurelio's hobby, but since he used those old things to make harpoons, he had to do justice to those fishing boats... and make these 'traces' even more meaningful.

Now, this harpoon is not just about whether Leo will have a suitable weapon in the future.

It also relates to whether Aurelio can straighten his back.