Banished to Another World
chapter-67

Yan Mo told the other two people to stay hidden. He also didn’t move. Now was not the best time to walk out.

But even then, the frightened little merboy waved his hands to Big-eyes and Sa and quickly slipped away from the bank to the lake.

“Laror, are you leaving?” The Big-eyes looked at the sky, it was still early. He didn’t understand why the little merboy would go back now. In the past, they’d always play together until very late. The little merboy would catch fish for them. He’d hid the fish in a pelt wrapping and take it back, smear salt on it and then give it to Laror again. One time he got found out by thick-eyebrows, that sharp-nosed guy, but he said he caught it himself in a nearby lake, and thick-eyebrows believed it.

The little merboy looked back to them then looked at the place where the sound came from, “I’ll come back tomorrow.” He’ll bring his brother along tomorrow, with him there, why would he be scared!

“Wait, I want to bring someone else tomorrow, can I?” Big-eyes shouted.

It’s unclear if the little merboy he heard this. He was already underwater.

Big-eyes and Sa felt that it’s a pity. Big-eyes were worried now, what will he say to thick-eyebrows when they go back!

It’s probably too boring for the two, they just walked around the lake and went back soon after.

Yan Mo warned the two warriors not to tell anyone what they saw today.

The two warriors promised they won’t.

When he went back to the tribe, Yan Mo acted as if he didn’t know about this matter, he didn’t go look for the two naughty children either. He began to make preparations.

The next day, the sky was still dark when he called the two warriors. Before leaving the territory, he asked someone to inform the three children that the would be no class today.

When he arrived at the lake this time, he didn’t let the two warriors get close. He let them stay outside the woods and told them not to get close to the lake under any circumstances, unless they heard his cry for help. But plans can never catch up to real life changes.

“It’s cold. Don’t foolishly insist on standing guard. Move around, you can also light a fire pile.”

“But…” The two warriors were grateful, but were obviously worried about him.

“It’s fine. I’ll call you if something happens.” Yan Mo patted them then let them to pass the stone pot and stone slate they carried on their backs to him. The main reason he called them to go out together was to be his labourers.

The two warriors recalled how Priest-daren’s dealt with the small creatures, and thought that they’d be nearby, and reluctantly agreed to let Yan Mo go to the lake alone.

Yan Mo turned back, “Right. Collect some more dried branches and leaves for me. I’ll use them.”

Yan Mo walked through the woods with a stone pot on his head and a stone slate in his arms. Once he reached the lake, he put down the heavy items first. He then turned back into the woods and collected the dead leaves and branches around with the two warriors. The three people worked together and collected a big pile in half an hour.

Yan Mo couldn’t carry them all by himself, so he could only let the two warriors help him take the items to the lakeside. They put down the items, but he didn’t let them go right away. They’re already here, so they might as well shovel the snow on the ground and pile them to a wall to shelter from the wind. It’s too windy by the lake!

The two warriors worked quickly and cleared out an open space in two and three motions, exposing the frozen soil below the snow.

Yan Mo stacked the dead leaves on the small open space. The two warriors gathered the surrounding snow, hit them until they’re compact, making a temporary wind shelter for Yan mo.

The two warriors probably understood that Yan Mo wanted to make a fire. Following all that, they diligently picked up some stones for him and made him a stone circle for fire pit.

“Thank you.” Yan Mo expressed his heartfelt thanks. These two people were so useful, the most important point was that they understood what to do by watching and didn’t need to be ordered to do each thing.

The two warriors simpered, they’re not ones to feign politeness. They were going to help Yan Mo light up fire too, but Yan Mo declined. Seeing that there’s really no more things they can do, the two warriors left.

Yan Mo did plan to light up a fire, he didn’t use the slow ice lens method, instead he unfastened a small stone tube wrapped with animal pelt on his waist.

Who knows when this small stone tube might’ve been made if Yuan Zhan didn’t have the ability to control stones.

He pulled out the plug of the stone tube and poured out the smouldering hay inside, blew it to make the sparks appear and mixed them together with the dry leaves. The dry leaves instantly caught on a small fire.

This simple stone fire-fold, unfortunately, was not completely airtight. The smouldering hay kept inside will burn out quickly if they’re not used. It can’t be carried on a long journey, but it can basically hold on for about an hour or so.

Yan Mo quickly put down the dried branches one by one, paying attention to leaving an breathing gap so that it can burn fully. Now he was no longer unfamiliar with the fire-making skill.

When the fire was finally lit, he worked hard to put the stone pot on the stone, scoop up snow with his wooden bowl and ladle, and poured it into the stone pot.

If the little merboy was a glutton, there’s absolutely no way his craft would lose to two children who can only spread salt on their food.

As for whether the little merboy would run when he came out and saw Yan Mo instead, Yan Mo wasn’t very worried.

If the little merboy wasn’t afraid of Big-eyes and Sa who were about 12 years old, his body was under 15 years old and he looks simple, honest and kind. No matter what, he wouldn’t be so scary that the little merboy don’t dare to come out, right?

Touching his head, he thought, he didn’t have to worry about his hair balding ever since Jiu Feng went to sleep. He didn’t keep shaving it and now a layer of stubble had grown.

It looked like his hair growth was affected by his mood. Before when Jiu Feng kept pecking his hair and there were many lice on his head, he thought that if the hair was pecked out then just don’t grow out again. Who’d have thought that it really didn’t grow that much after that. Right now, he thought that his hair was finally free from the bird disaster, and after using medicine and removing the hair, the lice on his body were gone. In cold weather, having hair would always feel warmer, and as a result, his hair started to grow again, although the speed wasn’t that fast.

In order to make a good impression on the little merboy, Yan Mo made a point to tidy up before he went out. He washed his face clean and even wiped the simple homemade cream to protect against frostbites. The cloak Yuan Zhan stole and now he wore was carefully rubbed until clean, he also tidied up the fur coat he wore on the outside.

However, Yan Mo was afraid of the cold, so even though he had cleaned himself up, he still looked like a ball to other people no matter the distance they see him from. Added to the fact that he now had a head with only some hair fuzz, from far away it looked like there’s a small ball of cactus on top of big grey ball of cactus.

He pulled out a goat leg from the medicine pouch. Goat meat is accepted by the medicine pouch because of its various nourishing effects, but it’s only limited to very recently slaughtered meat. If the meat is let outside for just a bit longer, if it had deteriorated even a little, the medicine pouch will not allow it to be stored in.

He didn’t know whether merpeople ate goats or not, but he could eat it if they don’t. Eat a pot of delicious goat stew in this sort of cold weather, that’s a really nice experience too.

He cut the goat meat with the scalpel and put them into the pot, added various herbs following an order to remove the fishy smell and add fragrance and taste, then mixed them together. Then Yan Mo left he pot alone. There was enough snow water in it, it won’t all be boiled off at least for a while.

He grabbed the long branch he had just broken off when picking up dead branches, it had a fork at the end of it. He stepped on the the stone on the lakeshore like Big-eyes did, and hopped closer to the meeting point of the ice and water little by little. He stopped when he finally got to a big stone.

Then, he took out a ball of hemp string from his clothes. This was one of the finished products A’wu people offered up to him before he left with the team.

This roll of twine is a little thick, but it’s just the right thing to use for fishing, that way it won’t be broken after one pull.

Yes. This guy, was going to fish. Before he ran over, he already had every equipment ready. In his mind, a salted fish that had been dead for a long time can never be compared with roasted fish and fish soup made from freshly caught fish.

For the fishing hook, he directly used one of the golden needles. Although he couldn’t bear using it like this, he couldn’t find a more suitable substitute and so could only use the golden needle. Fortunately he had a total of 72 golden needles. If he did lose a few, he can make them again when he finds a suitable material to make needles in the future.

He tied the twine to one fork of the branch, then tightly tied the fish hook to the twine. He even pinched a small piece of a roast meat and attached it on the hook as bait.

He raised his hand then cast out the twine. The hook sank into the water.

In a distance, two handsome mermen, who’s currently patrolling the shore of the lake, assessed the weird human boy from behind one big stone.

“Symon, what do you think the boy is doing?”

Symon observed him for a moment but shook his head. “I can’t tell.”

“It seems that our new neighbour has a lot of little ones.” Their baby mer ran out to play with the human children and had played with them for so many days already. There’s no way the adults didn’t find out about it. But since it was just two children and they didn’t have bad intentions towards little baby Laror, they just stayed on guard and didn’t stop the kids’ exchange. Their chief also knew about this.

“Davin, what do you think Chief wants to do? Does he want to expel these humans?” Long before they discovered the two children, they had seen the A’wu people who came to the woods of the shore to gather firewoods. But their territory had never had human beings living in it, and they didn’t know how these humans actually are like, so their chief didn’t order to remove them right away.

“I don’t know either. Laror seems to like the fish the two human cubs brought. I wonder if they had smeared something on the fish.”

“I smell something strange, it seems to come from behind the snow wall. What did that boy make behind that snow wall?” Because of the angle, they couldn’t see that clearly.

“Hm??”

“What?”

“Fish are gathering around the weird hanging thing.”

“Let’s go and check it?”

“Okay. Be careful, don’t let him find out!” The two mers dived into the lake as they talked.

Yan Mo saw the movement on the twine and immediately picked up the fishing rod, but… it was empty, nothing was caught. He pulled up the hook and check the bait, the meat piece was also gone.

Yan Mo didn’t think he’d catch fish after just one or two casts. He’s not new at fishing. In the original world, fishing was one of his recreational activity. When he felt upset or wanted to relax, he’d go out and fish for a day, then his mood will become much better.

He would’ve ran out quicker to scratch this itch if the lake wasn’t too cold and there weren’t too many things he had to do.

He pinched another meat piece and attached it on the hook, then threw the twine to the lake again.

One, two, and three times… Every time, he had seen the hook move, but when he lifted the fishing rod he’d only find an empty lone hook.

What’s going on? Why are the fish in this lake so sharp?

On principle, it won’t be hard to reel in fish that had never been tricked by bait. Moreover, this lake don’t just have a few fish. He saw many ripples on the lake surface, obviously a lot of fish were gathering.

Unfortunately for him, there was sheets of ice on the lake and he had thrown the hook far away. Because of the depth and swaying water plants under the lake, he can’t see through much even though the lake water was very clear.

Davin took the meat off of the fish hook and stuffed it into his mouth. Smacking his lips together, “Nice flavour, just that it’s too small. This boy is too stingy.”

“Isn’t he! Since he’s gonna feed fish, he should’ve thrown out a large piece of meat. It’s so small, it’s gone before I can taste it.” Symon complained then hurriedly said, “It’s my turn next.”

“But, humans are so smart, they even thought of this way to fish.” Davin appraised. When they saw the curved hook, they quickly understood what it’s for. After all, they hunt the fish all year round.

“The material this thing is made from is a little strange.”

“En, en. Maybe we can give him better materials, exchange it for his food?”

“Ay? Look up, do you think he’s leaving?” Symon got anxious, he had only ate two meat pellet, one less from Davin. “Quick, catch a fish and screw it to that thing of his.”

At this time, Yan Mo felt his patience running out, the twine he had just taken out of the lake still didn’t have any fish on it. Added to the fact that it’s cold around him, he couldn’t sit still anymore.

Cast it this one last time. If he couldn’t get it then he’ll leave it.

Yan Mo tossed the hook out again.

Symon grabbed onto the hook, rushed to take out the meat on it and stuffed it into his mouth, then quickly attached the fish Davin had just caught on the hook. “There you go.”

Back up on the rocks, Yan Mo felt a heavy weight.

This, it must’ve been caught! Yan Mo got a little excited and quickly raised the fishing rod.

The fish, still swinging its tail around, got lifted out of the water.

It’s about 30 cm long, he tossed the fat fish that looked like grass carp to the snow on the shore. Yan Mo wasn’t afraid of others stealing fish or the fish flapping away. The weather was so cold that that fish would soon freeze after leaving the water.

Now that he got some results, he obviously wouldn’t want to leave right away. Yan Mo thought he’d cast the hook out a few more times, he set himself a limit of ten times. No matter how many he caught by then, he’d get up from here.

This time, he attached a meat pellet twice the size from ones before. He thought, maybe the meat from before was too small and the fish in the lake was relatively bigger, so the meat was gone before the its mouth could get caught on the hook.

“It’s here, it’s here!” The two handsome mermen were excited.

“It’s bigger this time! Sure enough, we have to give him fish.”

“Quick, get him one fish after we eat three.”

The two handsome mermen cheerfully ate under the lake, while Yan Mo was also very cheerfully fishing above the lake. This time, he would generally catch one fish after casting the rod three times. The bigger the meat pellet, the bigger the fish he caught. In the end, he directly attached a piece as big as a thumb on the hook.

Down below, a slender merman with a silver tail cut through the water and swiftly sped to Davin and Symon’s side. “What are you doing?”

Merpeople don’t use sound to talk underwater, they communicate in another way.

“Lamen!” Seeing the robust merman swimming up to them, the two handsome mermen felt flustered and embarrassed from getting caught red-handed.

“Do you smell something strange?” Lamen suddenly said, not waiting for the two to explain.

Up above, Yan Mo, who got immersed in fishing until he forgot the cold, was bursting with the sense of achievement.

Counting back, he had caught four fish, and each one fatter than the last! Even if he can’t hunt, he’ll never really starve! Wa ha ha, he can feed himself by fishing! Wait, what’s that smell?

Ah—! His goat meat stew!

Yan Mo finally remembered the pot of goat stew he made on the lake shore. He was so immersed in fishing that he completely threw that pot of soup to the back of his brain.

It’s no time to keep fishing. Yan Mo quickly hopped on the rocks, making his way back to the the shore.

The soup in the pot was overcooked and had clumped. Some meat and herbs were stuck to the bottom of the pot. But thankfully the fire below it was very small because there’s no one adding firewood to it. Otherwise the things in the pot would have become burnt black long ago.

Yan Mo quickly added snow water, stirred the bottom of the pot, and added dry twigs to the fire. His hurried movements made him sweat.

“You there, human child.”

Yan Mo was startled. He looked up and saw a sharp three-pronged spear aimed at himself.

“What are you doing here? Can you understand our words?” Lamen extended a long finger and poked the boy’s head with the tip of it. He was rather curious how the hair on this head can be so short. It looked fluffy and made others want to rub with strength.

Yan Mo was silent in shock. He wanted to pretend that he’s scared at first, but thinking that he’d definitely be revealed to be priest in the future, his lips slowly made a smile to demonstrate his good will just after staying silent a bit.

“Who are you guys? My name is Yan Mo.”

The three mermen were really happy hearing that Yan Mo can speak their language and was not afraid of them.

“I’m Lamen. This is Symon and Davin. We are the merfolk of the Long-tailed clan. We live in this lake.” Maybe because the boy gave him a good impression, Lamen didn’t have a guarded attitude towards Yan Mo. There had not been many enemies coming to their territory, so they are not that wary of things.

Long-tails? Then are there also short-tails? Do merpeople have their own clans and tribes like humans do? Yan Mo guessed.

“I’m from the Jiuyuan tribe. Our tribe lives a distance away from here, I came here to fish.” Yan Mo made a little awkward and embarrassed expression. “This lake is very big, bigger than the other lakes. I thought there must be a lot of fish here.”

“Are there many of you?” Lamen asked.

Yan Mo’s thought turned at a lightning speed: If I say not many, will that make them think they can invade us and drive us away? If I say many, will they take us as imaginary enemies?

But what they needed now was to make their strong neighbour not regard them as a threat. Display of strength might not be the wisest thing to do, because they are currently not very strong. It’s better to make merpeople feel that this newly arrived neighbour of theirs is more friendly and brings them many benefits, rather than offensive.

“Not many.” Yan Mo honestly said, “We had just moved here. We can’t stay at our original place anymore.”

“Ay? Why do you have to move? Did you run into some beast?” There are also fierce beasts inside the water, the merpeople are not without enemies below the water.

Yan Mo nodded, “We ran into a group of short monsters that looks like human. They are only this tall, but they’re very aggressive, they also eat human. They hunt us and kill us. We already fought them back and killed them too, but we don’t know how many of them are left. We can only move out, because we have many children, women and old people who can’t fight.”

Lamen, Symon and Davin looked at each other. They didn’t even suspect a young child like him would lie. They just thought what he said was all true.

Symon was already unable to bear with it from long ago. After hearing the explanations, he cut in in a hurry, “Yan Mo, what are you making there? Are you cooking food?” It smells strange, but he couldn’t help but want to taste it.

Davin and Lamen were also very curious. They didn’t come here to intimidate this little human cub. They were mainly lured over by the strange smell.

Yan Mo immediately laughed when they asked about the food. “This is a goat stew, I used goat meat in it. Would you guys like some?”

Lamen and the other two nodded strongly together. Anyway, whether to expel these humans or not depends on the chief’s intention. They don’t have to fight with the human child now. Moreover, this little cub who feeds meat to fish is kinda cute.

At the same time, at the original residence of the A’wu people.

Meng and the A’wu people were tidying up. Yuan Zhan had left a route map for him. They had decided they will follow up thirty days after Yuan Zhan’s group departure.

Most of the women and children of the A’wu people were busy gathering flax fibres and spinning them into strings. There were a few old people tanning beast skin. Despite the tear-freezing weather, they still sat by the frozen lake, rubbing the fur with snow and cleaning the residue on it.

“Meng-daren.” The head of the A’wu clan came to Meng’s side with a troubled look on his face.

“What is it?” Meng asked.

“That woman… is crying again. We gave her food but she won’t eat.”

Meng indifferently waved his hand, “If she’s not eating, don’t give it to her. Don’t need to manage her.” Once she’s starving, he’ll carry some meat over, that woman will definitely sleep with him then.

“But…” This was very hard on A’wu clan leader. “The clan witch said that she might also be a priest of God. No one can touch her body, and she can also…”

“What did she do?” Meng finally looked at him.

A’wu clan leader gritted his teeth. “She put her hand on Black-skin who was responsible for watching her last night. This morning, Black-skin can walk with his crippled leg again!”