After getting a meal, the trio split up for a break. Reno was in desperate need of a nap, and Kaldalis wasn’t inclined to get between her and her rest.

After a few moments of slightly awkward hanging out, SeventyEight went to explore the camp as it was starting to be built. The tent city of adventurer housing had been done, and the crafting area was just now being worked on, and the materials they’d gathered had caught her attention.

For his part, Kaldalis wanted to cool down a bit after the adventure of carrying a couple of low-level friends through an area that was slightly above his own level. With the white-blossom treant core in his inventory, he was reminded that Sivima’s quest was within reach.

Obviously, the only rational choice was to go fishing. The likdon was on the list there, giving him a perfectly legitimate excuse to head out the beachside gate and put a line out in the water.

There was no dock built yet, so fishing was just standing on the sand above the waterline and casting out as far as possible. It was also necessary to do it from far enough up the beach to avoid the longboats that were still being grounded to get unloaded.

He wasn’t the only one with an interest in the ocean, though. Someone was already here with a fishing rod in hand. He stepped up next to the familiar Suyon and cast his line out, careful not to cross it over hers.

“Hey.”

Myrin let out an undignified squeak as she jumped at his sudden appearance. “The fuck are you doing here?” she asked, once she recovered.

Kaldalis laughed, but then cut himself short. The tip of her rod dipped visibly. Kaldalis pointed to it. “You got something! Get it!”

Myrin cursed again and turned her attention to reeling in her catch, though she kept shooting glares at him whenever she had the chance. Eventually she reeled in an unusual brown-scaled fish, about ten inches long, but very narrow-bodied.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Myrin asked again.

“It’s a long story,” Kaldalis said, “but I’m operating out of Panbu now.”

“Cool, cool, cool,” Myrin said, nodding as she cast her own fishing line back out. “I’m not going anywhere if you want to tell your long story.”

“Right.” Kaldalis grimaced. “Uh, short version: Garyung needed to assign an envoy to the council here. It’s too much to get into right now, but he put me in the slot without asking. So now I have to attend a bunch of meetings with people who hate me for being a PC and convince them not to go to war with Cotanaku.”

“Huh,” Myrin grunted. “So I guess Reno and SeventyEight are out of luck?”

“Nah. They came with me.”

“Dangerous.” Myrin shot him a look before focusing on her fishing rod again. “This place is spooky, even for us. I can’t imagine that they’re having an easy time.”

Kaldalis chuckled, low in his chest. “Yeah, it’s been rough. But the exp gain is better. And because I’m a tank I can kind of carry them.”

“Glad things are working out with your little harem, then,” Myrin said with a smirk.

“Don’t- No. Don’t do that,” Kaldalis said, cutting his hand through the air to catch her attention. “They’re my friends. Just because they’re women and I’m a man doesn’t mean we’re all fucking.”

“Sorry,” Myrin said quickly, dipping her head in apology. “I was just joking. You said you know them in real life, so I figured one of them-”

“Maybe one of them,” Kaldalis said, remembering his last conversation with Amy at the restaurant. “But Nakala - sorry, Reno - and I are purely platonic friends. There’s no real interest there.” He shrugged. “We went out to dinner once, to try it, you know? And it was a great time. But there’s no… There’s no chemistry between us. It was like hanging out with my sister.”

Myrin turned her head slowly towards him. “Wait. Just to be absolutely clear… you’re telling me that you think you have a shot with Seventy-freaking-Eight?”

Blessedly, the tip of his rod hooked down at that moment, and he concentrated on reeling in his catch. It wasn’t a huge pull, so he suspected it wasn’t the likdon, since it was supposed to be a huge shark serpent, but its behaviors were new to him.

In the water, his line did a quarter-circle movement before pulling straight away, and then repeating the process after a few seconds. The whole time, Myrin kept glaring at him, waiting for an answer. She wasn’t going to get it, though.

The fish put up only a brief struggle, and when he pulled it up it was the same brownish fish Myrin had gotten.

He discovered it was called a jagged quus, and the description on the tooltip said it was a common component of many seaside tales about shipwrecks and castaways, as it was a nutrient-rich meal even when only roasted over a fire.

“Anyway,” Kaldalis said, casting his line back out into the water as he ignored Myrin’s continued glare, “I’m not really looking for a relationship right now. Not after what I’ve been through the last few days.”

Myrin grimaced and nodded wordlessly.

She was one of the few people who knew the whole story of what had happened to him. Hell, Myrin had ridden to his rescue against Ara. And then she’d been present for him being the bait for Onirioago’s confession. If anyone knew the horrors he’d been through, aside from his stream, it was Myrin.

“If something happens, something happens,” Kaldalis said. “But I’m happy to have emotional support without emotional entanglement right now.” He laughed. “Not that you want to know about my love life.”

With a nod and a grin, Myrin returned her attention to fishing.

They sat in companionable silence for a short while after that. Just fishing. Kaldalis pulled up a few more of the jagged quus, but because he was fishing with roe, he got more than a couple of pale perch to add to his quest as well.

There were also a few other familiar fish from ocean fishing in Cotanaku, including littoral scorpions. What stood out to him was the eel-like red blenny, which seemed more common here, especially since he was catching them during the day instead of only at night.

“You still need more pale perch?” Myrin asked as she pulled one in.

Kaldalis laughed bitterly. “A few. If you have nine thousand to spare, then I guess I’m almost done.”

Myrin laughed as well before handing over only eight of them. “I’m a little short on that. But is there anything else I can get you?”

“You haven’t happened to see a likdon, right? It’s um… A sea-serpent shark monster with sandpaper-like skin.”

“No,” Myrin said with a shrug. “I could check my inventory though, in case it slipped my memory. What do you need it for?”

“It’s for that quest from Sivima. Though it’s probably not the hardest item on the list. If I want to be serious about it it’s most likely I need to find a quartermaster and find the right bait for it.”

“What’s that quest even for, anyway?” Myrin asked. “You said it was a workshop?”

“Yeah.” Kaldalis looked out over the ocean as he dropped his line again. “She said something about her mentor’s notes about weapon mods and so I decided it was definitely worth pursuing.”

“Ooh. Weapon mods like what?” Myrin’s eyes lit up. “Can I get a scope on this thing?”

“I’m not sure,” Kaldalis said, “but it’s likely to be customization options. We might not all be carbon copies of the same kit, which is honestly the dream.”

“Nice!” Myrin paused as her line caught something. She tried to keep talking as she reeled the fish in. “You know what that means? Theorycrafting.”

Kaldalis groaned at that.

Theorycrafting meant doing math. He was always the one who did the spreadsheets and calculations. Because it was his literal job, and everyone knew it.

If at all possible, he’d like to leave his accountant license back in the real world.

But as much as he didn’t want to do this - and even as he was already overwhelmed by other responsibilities - he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. It was just too tempting.

“If you need help with that,” Kaldalis said, “you know where to find me.”

“Do I?” Myrin laughed, losing her concentration on the fish on her line for a second.

“Concentrate on one task at a time. Get the fish and then snark on me.”

Myrin kept her big stupid grin, but focused on the fish instead. A few seconds later, she had a litoral scorpion in hand.

Once the fish was in her inventory, she whirled on Kaldalis.

“Am I going to be able to find you?” she asked with a playful grin. “Or are you going to randomly turn up in the next new camp because someone else asked? Maybe are you going to have another pack of newbies running around your ankles needing a powerlevel? Or are you going to be out in the wilds doing fetch quests for another random NPC? Or are you going to...”

Kaldalis caught something on his line, and tuned Myrin out as this fish put up a significant fight.

He didn’t expect it to be the likdon, but its erratic spiral movements were new. He struggled with it for almost an entire minute before it’s strength gave out, letting him land the catch.

It was called a serranus grouper, with yellowish tips on its fins and orange dots scattered over its splotchy beige body. It was a little over two feet long, a relative behemoth compared to the number of smaller fish they’d caught so far. The description warned that it had been fished to near extinction, making it extremely rare, and that no abundant wild populations were known.

Though it wasn’t clear on why they might have been valued so highly as to fish them out.

Kaldalis hefted the fish’s bulk in his hands, testing its weight. It was hefty, and if it was valuable for some reason, he might be holding a significant financial boon in his hands. But at his core, he wasn’t that greedy. Being raised in a part of the country that valued natural conservation had impressed upon him the value of natural life. Furthermore, Foturns’ quest for pale perch seemed to imply that player actions could have a long-term effect on fish populations.

He didn’t want to ruin any part of this game for anyone else.

Kaldalis took a few steps out into the water, and - after recovering his hook - tossed the fish back into the sea.

“What did you do that for?” Myrin asked.

He didn’t turn to look at her, and instead watched the fish swim away. “The description said it was near extinction.”

Myrin paused a moment. “Oh. Well, you did the right thing, then. I don’t know if I would have.”

“I’ll admit,” Kaldalis said, watching the yellow tipped dorsal fin poking out of the water as it retreated back out to sea, “it does feel a little silly because videogame. But I don’t regret it.”

“Kal!” a voice came from up the beach. “The fuck are you doing out here?”

He turned to see Balrim approaching with a big toothy smile. Kaldalis waded out of the water to slap the other man on the shoulder

“That’s what I said!” Myrin laughed.

“Well, I can tell the whole story again,” Kaldalis said, “and maybe include a few more details.”

“If you’re not busy,” Balrim ventured, “maybe we could talk and walk at the same time? I was hoping to get some use out of the next few hours of daylight, now that my crafting is done.”

“You don’t mind me tagging along?” Kaldalis asked. “Reno and Ess are still catching their breath after running around out in this area, so I can spare some time.”

“Yeah,” Balrim said with a smirk, “as long as your harem doesn’t mind-”

“Nope,” Myrin said, stomping quickly towards Balrim. She violently waggled a finger up at his face, even though it was so very far away. “Do not call them that! They’re his friends. Just because they’re women and he’s a man doesn’t mean they’re all fucking!”

“Okay, uh, sorry,” Balrim stammered, giving Kaldalis a pleading glance. “Forget I said anything.”

Kaldalis wasn’t sure how he managed to keep a straight face, but he kept his humor under control as the trio partied up and made their way out towards the jungle.

Just like old times.