When I woke up, it was past noon.
I washed my face, had a simple breakfast, and wiped my body down—I was sweaty.
I did the laundry on the side, changed clothes, and hung the wash out to dry.
I hung it on top of the tower.
Bit of a pain, but it was the best spot.
I went back to the room and sat on the bed.
"...Still tired, huh..."
Can't be helped, really.
That life-or-death battle. A first for me.
A life-or-death battle... I'd only been living in this world for thirteen years.
This world, compared to my past life, had a lower level of civilization—savage, lawless.
Even so, I'd thought I could muddle through well enough.
That was because I had my past life's memories and my Relic.
But this incident had made me realize—I'd been overconfident.
I deeply felt how I'd been taking this world too lightly.
"...I kept thinking I didn't need to get all that strong, but..."
I had to get stronger.
I wanted to build strength that didn't depend on my fourth Relic.
"...Alright!"
I grabbed the fishing rod.
This called for fishing.
I fished at the usual riverbank.
Fishing was great. You didn't have to do anything, you just waited.
And it was quiet here.
It calmed my heart down.
I didn't care if I caught nothing.
Right now, fishing wasn't my goal but a means to an end.
Well, catching something would obviously be nice too.
The bait was the same dried meat as before.
Only this time it was my own dried meat.
"Guh!?"
That's when the rod twitched.
A big response — it's here! It's here! A heavy pull!
I didn't yank it right up.
I swung the rod against the fish's movements, tiring it out first.
Slow then fierce, slow then fierce.
Tap. Ta-tap. Tap. Ta-tap. Tap. Ta-tap.
Almost like a dance step.
Eventually the fish's momentum started to flag. Not yet though.
Still... the fish's movements were slowing down.
Now!
Timing it right, I pulled with all my might.
A black, slimy thing spun through the air. It was... it hit the ground.
"...Again?"
A black creature, like a smooth catfish with arms and legs tacked on.
A giant salamander. And, if I wasn't mistaken...
"You're the one I caught before, huh? Huh?"
Looking closely, the giant salamander was bleeding.
Its belly was injured.
"..."
So that was why. It looked like it was in pain.
"...sigh."
Watching the giant salamander suffer from its wounds and doing nothing about it.
I just couldn't bring myself to do that.
I took out an egg-shaped container from my pouch.
I poured a tiny bit of its contents on. Yes, it was elixir.
The giant salamander's wound healed.
Once the wound was gone, the giant salamander slowly began to move.
It rose to its feet on two legs and looked up at me.
What? What a strange look. Like it actually had intelligence.
"You're a real kind one, bro."
It spoke. Hold on.
"...Huh?"
"Saving a land catfish like me, in this day and age..."
"It talked!?"
"Ha ha ha ha! Well, there are Relics that let me do that."
"I see."
One word — Relic — and somehow that made perfect sense.
I actually knew there were Relics that could do something like that.
Things like [Translation] or [Communication].
"Name's Alexander. I'm a land catfish through and through, as you can see."
As soon as it introduced itself, it pulled a pipe from somewhere and took a puff.
Alexander... huh. What a grand name. But more importantly...
"Where did that pipe come from?"
"Relic."
"You've got more than one?"
A monster with multiple Relics.
That made it silver rank, didn't it?
"...Bro. I know it's pathetic, but right now I can't even come close to repaying my debt to you."
"It's not like I saved you with any ulterior motive."
"Even so, if I feel indebted, I've gotta pay it back or I ain't a man."
"Well, yeah. That's fair."
That much I could agree with.
"Oh, you get it. So I'm definitely gonna repay this favor. Hey, big brother — I'd really like to know your name."
"Wof."
"That's a fine name. I'll remember it."
"R-right."
Having a monster remember your name wasn't exactly a comforting feeling.
Alexander tucked away his pipe and started walking off.
"Well then, let's meet again sometime."
"Y-yeah."
With a soft splash, he vanished into the river.
I watched him go, then looked up at the sky.
Nice weather.
Clouds drifted slowly by, and birds flew overhead.
"...Guess I'll head home."
My fishing total for the day was zero.