The black sun hangs high

Chapter 292 Fish Fish Fish

"It doesn't smell like a commonly used medicine..."

Vera sniffed carefully and then made a professional judgment: "It's more like a potion from a magical creature laboratory, somewhat similar to 'White Lake' used for preservation, but judging from the smell, it's probably a folk 'imitation' version."

"White Lake?"

"In order to ensure that certain organs or tissues retain their original magic and properties after being removed from magical creatures, this potion is specially used for preservation... Some alchemy workshops or wild mage societies also use imitations of this potion, which are generally ineffective but have a very pungent smell."

Why would a fisherman's house smell like this?

Hughes frowned, then went to the door and saw an old bell hanging by a rope. He reached out and tugged at it.

Although the bell was old, it made a very loud sound. Hugh waited quietly for a while, and when no one came to open the door, he raised his hand and knocked twice more heavily.

This time, there was finally a response from inside the house.

After a series of somewhat chaotic sounds, someone staggered to the back of the door, and then Hugh heard a hoarse and husky voice.

"Who, who?"

Just as Vera was about to speak, Hugh raised his hand to stop her.

He composed himself and then said, "It's me! Old Glenn! I've come to pay back the money... I've gathered up all the money I borrowed from you!"

Upon hearing Hugh's voice, Veraine couldn't help but widen her eyes, because she discovered that when Hugh spoke these words, he skillfully used the unique tongue-twisting habit of the residents of the Duchy of Burt, making his voice sound indistinguishable from that of a real port fisherman.

Compared to the oppressive "The Legal Committee is handling this, open the door now!", Hugh's strategy was clearly more effective. So the door opened, and a figure holding a bottle of liquor staggered out from behind it: "Money? Pay me back? Damn it, when did I lend it out?"

As old Glenn mumbled, a strong smell of alcohol wafted over, but then the old fisherman saw the figure standing in front of the door.

He was stunned.

Although the alcohol had clouded Old Glenn's judgment, he knew perfectly well that the young couple in front of him would never lend him money; in fact, they were more like loan sharks!

Instinctively, old Glenn tried to close the door, but Hugh didn't give him the chance. His metal cane shot forward and blocked the door. A mage's hand appeared out of thin air and precisely grabbed old Glenn's mouth, preventing him from making a sound.

And so, the two successfully entered the house.

The room was very dimly lit. The crystal lamps on the walls were not in use, the windows were covered by curtains, and the only light sources in the room were an oil lamp and a candlestick.

Faced with Hugh's "gentle attitude," old Glenn had already sobered up considerably. He leaned timidly against the door, and even after the mage released his mouth, he still dared not speak, fearing that these two mages of unknown origin would kill him on the spot.

His panic was only somewhat relieved after Verin and Hugh showed him their official mage credentials.

As to whether their credentials represented the council or the legal committee, old Glenn didn't really care, since for many people, there was essentially no difference between the two.

Having worked at the Legal Committee, Violet was already very familiar with indoor search operations. Seeing her begin to systematically inspect the entire house, Hughes led the anxious old fisherman to the table.

Faced with this display of force, old Glenn's mental defenses were on the verge of collapse. After sitting down, his first words made Hugh burst out laughing.

"Master...Master, I have not harbored any unlicensed sorcerers!"

"Don't worry, it has nothing to do with the wild mage, and we won't take you away. We just need to confirm some things with you."

Hugh adopted a conciliatory posture, while taking out a few common coins from his purse and pushing them in front of old Glenn: "You just need to answer my questions normally. The mage lady is just doing some routine checks. She won't damage anything here, much less take your belongings."

"Okay... okay."

The old fisherman said this, but his eyes couldn't help but glance at the ground.

Hugh keenly noticed the other person's reaction, but he didn't point it out. Instead, he asked, "I heard you just returned from sea a few days ago? How was the fishing at sea? Did it go smoothly?"

Upon hearing this question, old Glenn's body trembled slightly, then he shook his head hesitantly: "Of course it's not going well, sir. In the past, every year at this time we would catch a lot of burt snapper and have the port's fishermen's association help us sell them to Deland. This was the most important time of the year for us..."

"Does this year sound terrible?"

"Yes, very, very bad. We went to several places where fish like to gather, but we couldn't even see a fish scale when we cast the net. Many people said that it was that... black sun that scared the fish away."

Hugh nodded, and following up on the other person's words, he asked, "Besides the Burt snapper, there should be other catches, right? I heard that the crabs and shrimp of the Duchy of Burt are also famous this season, so have you considered catching something else?"

"Crabs and shrimp..."

The old fisherman gave a bitter smile: "Sir, you may not know, but those crab catchers have also had a terrible time. A lot of their crab traps that are submerged in the water are broken. Out of ten, five or six will break. And according to them, the traps are as if they were chewed up by something, and they can't even be repaired!"

Hugh silently memorized these words, then steered the conversation back to the other person: "And you? Did you encounter anything strange on your voyage this time?"

Old Glenn hesitated for two seconds, then looked up and, seeing that the young mage before him seemed to have a good attitude, nodded in acknowledgment, "Yes, we've encountered that as well..."

“We had already searched several familiar locations, but the catch was meager. However, it would be unacceptable to go out to sea without catching anything, so we changed to a new location and cast our net as if trying our luck.”

Then, what he said was basically the same as what Hugh and the other man had heard in the tavern. The only difference was that old Glenn's "strange events" had many more details.

"What do those strange fish you mentioned look like?"

"Sir, how am I supposed to describe this?"

Old Glenn looked troubled and fearful. He involuntarily raised his hand to gesture and said, "If you ask me, that's not a fish at all, because it's impossible and shouldn't exist in this world for a sea bream to have three heads at the same time. No... not just three, there might be more!"

Having finished checking the second floor and returned to the dining table, Vera was also listening intently. After hearing Old Glenn's description, she couldn't help but frown. Clearly, in her memory, there was no such magical creature.

Old Glenn was clearly lost in his bizarre memories, seemingly oblivious to the two mages before him, and said to himself, "I'm certain those things are indeed heads, but how could a snapper grow so big and have such sharp teeth? Besides, it was eating its own kind when it was caught in the net... Several heads sharing one fish, that's terrifying..."

Weilin couldn't help but interject, "Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"

“There’s no way I could have been mistaken, ma’am! Everyone on the boat saw it. Some people were almost bitten, and the fishing net was gnawed to pieces. I brought it back, but we haven’t finished catching any fish yet!”

As old Glenn argued, he walked to the wooden cabinet next to him and, right in front of the two men, pulled out a large roll of fishing net that smelled strongly of fish. With the help of the light magic released by Veraine, the two men saw that the fishing net had indeed been torn with a shocking gap.

Hugh quickly reassured the fishermen, then posed the most important question: "So, where did those strange fish go? Did you bring them back?"

"No! Of course not!"

Old Glenn quickly shook his head in denial: "How could we possibly bring back such a monster! Would anyone want to eat it? You must be joking with me!"

"I suggest you tell the truth, otherwise I might take all the money."

Hughes flicked his fingers twice, and a shiny universal gold coin nimbly jumped out and precisely placed on top of the other coins.

However, old Glenn, whose current living conditions were clearly somewhat tight, shook his head directly and said, "Sir! I'm telling the truth, absolutely the truth! I can refuse your payment... but I haven't told a single lie!"

Seeing this, Hugh could only shake his head helplessly. He raised his cane and gently poked the ground. With this action, a soft rustling sound immediately came from under the walls and floor.

Then, to old Glenn's horrified gaze, a group of dark shadows of varying sizes quickly emerged from behind the furniture and from the cracks in the floor and walls. They rapidly gathered at Hugh's feet and emitted a series of cries.

Hughes sighed, stood up leaning on his cane, and casually ordered, "Lead the way."

The rest of the mice scattered, leaving only one behind. It shook its body as if trying to please Hugh, and then ran towards the other end of the house.

The strange scene before him made the fisherman nervous; his legs seemed to go weak. However, a blue mage's hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbed his shoulder, and pushed him forward.

Soon, the three of them arrived at a small cubicle. After easily moving aside a pile of randomly stacked clutter, a trapdoor leading to the basement appeared in front of them.

At this point, Hugh and his companion naturally no longer needed to heed any of what old Glenn said.

After carefully sealing off the entire house using protective rituals and making preparations, they opened the trapdoor, led by the rat, and went down the stairs into the basement.

This basement was clearly the source of the strong alchemical potion smell. However, after the trapdoor was opened, Hugh and his companion smelled a fishy and bloody odor mixed in with the potion smell, which was very unpleasant. In addition, the temperature in the basement was also low, even frigid.

Several lighting tricks appeared one after another, illuminating the basement brightly.

The space here is actually very limited, only slightly larger than the storage room above. Hugh saw a metal instrument placed next to the wall of this basement, with a magical ritual inscribed on it slowly operating. It was the source of the low temperature in this basement.

"Madam, this is just an ordinary machine. Many fishing boats, or even homes like mine, have one... It can be used to preserve fish and meat, and also to make ice for use when going out to sea."

Vera turned her head and, sure enough, there was a huge wooden barrel next to the machine, filled with a lot of broken ice. In the middle of the ice was an iron barrel filled with a lot of fish meat cut into pieces.

She narrowed her eyes and asked, "This fish isn't for you, is it?"

"Of course..."

Faced with the oppressive aura emanating from Vera, the old fisherman could no longer hold on. He shook his head as if deflated: "Of course not... The strange fish you're looking for is right there... I've covered it with a cloth."

As he spoke, he pointed to the other end of the basement, where there was a piece of canvas that looked similar in color to the walls, clearly indicating that something was hidden behind it.

So Hugh moved his fingers, and the Mage's Hand immediately flew forward, tearing open the canvas to reveal a huge rectangular water tank.

"Boom!"

Almost at the same time, a muffled thud came from the basement. Hugh saw that the moment he tore open the canvas, several strange black shadows slammed hard against the sink. Under the light, the appearance of these strange fish was fully revealed to Hugh.

Old Glenn's description wasn't far off; these twisted bream swimming in the tank had multiple heads of different sizes, and each head had razor-sharp teeth in its mouth.

They looked like multiple sea breams twisted together by some force, or like multiple heads growing from the same body.

Perhaps because the light in the basement was too bright, or perhaps because they thought they had found new prey, the eyes on the heads of these twisted snapper began to roll violently, while their teeth rubbed against the glass in front of them...

An undisguised predatory desire was thus clearly conveyed.

(End of this chapter)