I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The pirate episode was like a stone thrown into the sea; once the splash subsided, the sea returned to its original state.

Blood Shark and his men were tied up in groups of thirty and stuffed into the cargo hold of the old pirate ship, where they were guarded in shifts by elven sailors.

The Egret was taken over by the first mate of the Sea Sparrow with a few sailors, and followed about half a chain behind the Sea Sparrow on its starboard side, maintaining a steady speed.

After dealing with these matters, the atmosphere on the deck of the Sea Sparrow relaxed again.

The next day at noon, Lilith decided to try sea fishing again.

"This time I used the 'spiritual energy decoy' made by my second senior sister!"

She crouched at the stern, mysteriously pulling a small clump of translucent, gelatinous substance emanating a faint, spiritual aura from her sleeve. She then proudly displayed it to Ji Tian, ​​who was reading on the deck.

"My second senior sister said that as long as this thing is placed in the water, the fish nearby will be attracted!"

Ophelia's voice came from the cabin door, "I didn't say that. I just gave you a 'crystal that can slowly release magic essence.' It's your own business if you insist on using it for fishing."

"Why didn't you say so earlier!"

"You didn't ask either."

Lilith pursed her lips, tied the clot to the end of the rope, and tossed it into the sea.

The other end of the rope was tied to the railing at the stern of the boat. She rested her chin on her hands, squatted on the deck, and stared intently at the water with her purple eyes, as if she wanted to pull the fish out of the sea with her gaze.

On the other side of the deck, Ophelia and Elena set up a chessboard.

The Go stones made a crisp sound as they landed on the wooden board, which sounded particularly pleasant on the calm sea.

The sea breeze occasionally blew by, gently lifting the stray hairs on Ophelia's forehead. She raised her hand to tuck the silvery hair behind her ear, her gaze remaining fixed on the chessboard.

Elena placed a piece, speaking casually:

You seem distracted today.

"No," Ophelia replied quickly.

"You made a mistake with that move just now; you could have blocked one of my paths."

"……Yeah?"

"What are you thinking about?"

Ophelia remained silent for a long while before speaking:

"I was thinking about the day I paid respects to my mother."

Elena put down her chess piece and waited quietly for her to continue.

Ophelia also put down her chess piece, her gaze falling on the gray-blue sea beyond the ship's railing:

"I used to think that 'letting go' was something that required a lot of strength. It took me a long time to learn not to keep myself trapped in the shadow of my mother's death. But after I finished speaking at her grave that day, I suddenly felt that the weight on my shoulders seemed to have lightened."

"Because someone offered to go with you."

Ophelia's eyelashes trembled slightly, and the tips of her ears turned slightly red. After a long while, she finally said, "...Mm."

Elena picked up another chess piece and twirled it between her fingers.

"I used to be uncomfortable having people around me, always thinking that I could handle things on my own. But then someone told me, 'It's not a skill to carry everything alone; it's a skill to have someone share the burden.'"

Ophelia's lips twitched; she knew without a second thought who had said it.

"However, he didn't mean it that way at the time; he was most likely stating something he considered self-evident."

"...That's definitely his style."

At the stern, Ji Tian was sitting on a wooden box warmed by the sun, with the book "Biographies of Heroes Through the Ages, Volume One" open in his hand.

He had already seen the chapters before the first hero went to the Demon King's castle.

The book describes a scene of "fighting alongside the High King of the Dwarves," accompanied by an illustration of the first hero standing atop a mountain with his sword, a burning dwarven fortress behind him, and a silhouette of a demon army pressing in front of him.

The book describes it vividly, saying that they "fought against overwhelming odds for three days and three nights, and finally defeated the demons."

Ji Tian silently turned to the previous page, checked the time, and discovered the problem:

If the first hero had already left the core circle of the human kingdom at that point in time, then this "fighting side by side" probably really happened, but it couldn't have been as large as described in the book.

Just as I was thinking this, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a silver-white figure moving from the bow of the ship.

Lilith actually caught something! She gripped the rope with both hands and pulled hard backward.

"Wow, it's heavy! It must be a big one!"

Her demonic talent was specialized in the mental realm, and fortunately, her Foundation Establishment cultivation level was there. The rope creaked as she pulled it, leaving a wet trail on the deck.

A violent struggle came from the other end of the rope, and then a grayish-white shadow rose from the sea.

"Get up here!"

Lilith used all her strength and finally managed to pull the thing onto the deck.

puff-

A huge piece of seaweed, taller than her, landed on the deck. It was grayish-white, with thick leaves and several clusters of pale purple spheres hanging from its roots.

Lilith stood beside the piece of seaweed, looking down at it, momentarily at a loss.

"...What is this? Where's my fish?"

Elena finished her game and came over to take a look. "It looks like some kind of deep-sea algae."

"I was fishing, and I caught a piece of seaweed?!"

Captain Evelyn peeked out from beside the helm; the elves had excellent eyesight and quickly identified what Lilith's spoils were.

"It's 'Moonbeard Algae,' a type of deep-sea algae unique to the Southern Territory, growing in dark current areas at depths of over 100 meters. It has a firm texture, and after being dried and ground into powder, it can be used as a seasoning. The small round balls on the roots are its seeds, which can be eaten after being roasted; they taste a bit like chestnuts... This stuff is not usually easy to catch, so you're lucky."

Lilith crouched down and poked the seaweed that was taller than her. "...So this isn't a fish, but it's edible?"

"It's edible, and very expensive. Restaurants at the port will buy it. A pound of dried seaweed can sell for five silver coins."

Lilith's eyes darted around. She had lost count of how much money she had spent along the way, but since the food was delicious, she was happy.

She immediately squatted down, picked up the seaweed that was taller than her, and with great effort dragged it to the side of the ship. She carefully cut off a few pieces with a dagger, tied the rest with rope, and hung it in a ventilated spot on the outside of the ship.

"Second Senior Sister, is this really delicious after baking?"

Ophelia shook her head slightly upon hearing this, "Sea fishing... it's best to just let things happen naturally."

Lilith didn't listen at all; she was in a high mood after just harvesting a seaweed.

"Watch me fish out today's dinner!"

Sure enough, Lilith made another gain shortly afterward.

"...Is this a fish?"

She picked up the leather boot and looked at it from all angles, then brought it to her nose and smelled it before quickly turning her face away.

"Ugh—it stinks! How can it still smell so bad after being in the sea for so long?!"

Elena suppressed a laugh. "It might be a relic from some recent sailor or pirate. Do you want to keep it as a souvenir?"

"No, no!" Lilith quickly threw the boots back into the sea, wiped her hands on the wooden box, re-tied the bait, and lowered the thin rope into the water again.

"Again! I'm sure I can catch one!"

She fished for a while longer, pulling up a few pieces of seaweed, a small piece of broken rope, and a cork that had turned white from being soaked in seawater, but not a single decent fish.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the thread started to move again.

A small clump of wet seaweed hung from the end of a line, with a hermit crab still slowly crawling inside.

Lilith stared at the hermit crab for a few moments, then finally gave up:

"Forget it, I'm not fishing anymore... The ocean is targeting me."