The black sun hangs high

Chapter 293 Grass Snake Gray Line
Hugh approached the tank, lowered his head slightly, and met the gaze of the strangely shaped fish.
Even disregarding their numerous heads, these strange fish are already a whole size larger than ordinary sea bream.

Within their constantly opening and closing mouths are exposed exceptionally sharp and exaggerated teeth, making them look very similar to large hunting dogs, a feature not found in ordinary sea bream.

However, they still retain the distinctive pattern of the Burt's snapper. These distinctive silver stripes indicate that they were indeed members of that vast snapper population before the distortion and mutation occurred.

As Hugh approached, the monster fish's aggression grew. Their heads, varying in size, twisted and turned, and their enormous eyes seemed to gleam with a silvery-white light, as if they contained a large amount of mercury.

Hughes was naturally not afraid of these fish. He took another step forward, pressing his face directly against the tank. At the same time, dark, dense abyssal light slowly emanated from the depths of his eyes.

As the power that Hugh had concealed began to emanate outwards, the light spheres floating in the basement began to be affected and interfered with. In the flickering light, these strange fish that were incredibly ferocious just a second ago suddenly swam away in the opposite direction, as if they had encountered their natural enemy.

Through the reactions of these strange fish, Hugh had obtained the answer he wanted, so he immediately stopped his intimidating actions, retreated to his original position, and the strange color in his eyes disappeared once again.

The old fisherman, who had been taken to the basement, was already terrified by the strange changes that had just occurred. When he saw Hugh back in front of him, he almost collapsed to the ground. Only thanks to Virin's mage hand that he was able to keep his body upright.

"So, you still brought them back after all..."

Hughes stared at old Glenn and sighed, "Mr. Glenn, this is completely different from what you said before."

"me……"

Faced with a mage's questioning, old Glenn's voice trembled uncontrollably. He hesitated for a long time before stammering, "Our earnings from this voyage were really... really too little. With that little bit of money divided up, we wouldn't even have a chance to eat!"

Vera glanced at the sink: "So you want to bring them back to sell?"

Old Glenn's lips trembled slightly, but he finally nodded.

Then Veraine asked, "Interesting. So, have you found a seller?"

"Not yet...no one wants to buy this kind of thing."

Hearing this, Vera gave a subtle smile: "It seems you still don't want to tell the truth."

She pointed to the water tank in the basement: "Isn't that filled with more than just seawater? Would a fisherman like you really mix alchemical potions into seawater? You think we can't smell such a strong odor?"

“Mr. Glenn, I suggest you tell the truth… This lady is not as patient as I am. If you don’t want to be turned into an idiot by magic, then you’d better not tell any more lies. We have plenty of ways to detect them.”

Every word Hughes uttered struck precisely at the old fisherman's psychological defenses.

Old Glenn glanced at Hugh, who was leaning on his cane, and then at the young female mage with a cold face, who seemed about to cast a spell at any moment. He finally gave up struggling, lowered his head helplessly, and began to truthfully recount his experiences over the past few days.

“I’ve been raising these fish for three days now… When I first brought them home, they were even more aggressive than they are now, and they were never full. No matter how much fish meat I threw in, they would eat it all in the blink of an eye!”

The fisherman pointed to the fish meat placed in the pile of crushed ice: "Not only that, they become very... very agitated whenever they see light or when they see me approaching. I'm almost worried they'll break the tank."

“I asked quite a few acquaintances, including the town’s alchemists, but no one wanted these things. In order to find a seller, I finally had to go to the fisheries association…”

"Your fisheries association is involved in these things?"

Old Glenn gave a wry smile: "Generally speaking, the people in the association don't care about these things... They're just responsible for transporting the fish, shrimp, and crabs to more distant places and selling them. After all, only vehicles equipped with mages and large alchemical instruments can truly keep them fresh..."

"However, the Fisheries Association occasionally issues some odd, scattered orders. These orders are mostly issued by mages, alchemists, or collectors. In most cases, they need fishermen who are out and about to catch some rare items for them. Sometimes they even specifically request certain parts of magical fish... It's quite troublesome, but the pay is also quite high."

Vilin nodded slightly. She had given similar tasks to Merlin before. This was common among mages, especially when certain special experiments needed to be conducted.

She asked, "So, there really is someone willing to pay a high price for these fish?"

"Yes ma'am."

Old Glenn quickly added, "The reason I went to the association is because someone posted a list in the association a while ago, saying that he wanted to continuously acquire all kinds of strange-looking fish. The stranger and rarer they are, the higher his offer will be... We all call this kind of person a 'foolish collector'."

"Anyway, I found the person who posted the quest through the association. He seemed to be a mage as well. After hearing that I had caught a fish with several heads, he came to my place... He was very satisfied, but told me that he would come back in a few days to collect the fish and would give me a generous reward then."

At this point, the fisherman pointed to the other side of the basement. Hugh turned his head and saw a wooden cabinet in the corner.

So Hugh opened the cabinet and quickly found a large bottle of clear alchemical solution inside. The solution was already half used, which was obviously the source of the pungent potion smell.

Hughes brought the vial to Vilin, who quickly examined it: "Hmm, it's just inferior 'White Lake,' but with such a large quantity, even an ordinary alchemist probably couldn't just take it out so easily."

Hughes nodded, then looked at old Glenn: "So, this was also given to you by that 'collector'?"

"Yes, yes... He also told me that I had to mix some of this drug into the water for these strange fish, otherwise they would never be full, and would even destroy the tank and eat me."

At this point, old Glenn slumped to the ground. "Gentlemen," he said, "that's all I know. The 'collector' who was willing to buy these strange fish warned me not to tell anyone else, otherwise he wouldn't just stop buying them, he'd even make me 'regret it.'" "Make you regret it? You mean he'll retaliate against you for it?"

"Otherwise what! Sir, Madam! I'm just an ordinary fisherman. Let alone a mage, even an ordinary official or soldier could wipe me off this world!"

After obtaining the information he needed, Hugh immediately helped the fisherman up from the ground and then said, "You should consider yourself lucky, Mr. Glenn... You may not know, but the 'collector' who buys these strange fish everywhere is very likely a wild mage who is wanted by the authorities. Even if you hadn't told us these things, that person would definitely have chosen to silence you."

"what?"

Seeing the old fisherman's wide eyes, Hugh sneered: "What, you don't believe me? Then let me ask you, in all your years, have you ever seen a mage from the Legal Committee openly buying up these deformed monsters?"

"of course not……"

"That's it, because these deformed monsters are actually materials for some forbidden experiments... Hey, maybe you're one of these experimental materials too. Think about it, Mr. Glenn, you might end up merging with a few other unlucky guys, just like these fish, sharing a body!"

The old fisherman was utterly terrified. He carefully recalled his previous experiences, looked at the incredibly ferocious fish in the distant tank, and then at the two young men in front of him who exuded the air of scholars and nobles. He had already come to believe ninety percent of what Hugh had casually made up.

Having already witnessed Hugh's ability to "make things up," Verin stepped forward and stared at old Glenn, saying, "So meeting us is your good fortune... Only by choosing to cooperate with us will the Goddess of Magic protect you."

“Of course…of course! I am a believer in the goddess, and I am willing to cooperate with you two…”

Having reached this point, Hugh and the other man naturally didn't need to say anything more. After Hugh carefully inspected the basement again, the three of them returned to the house, and then Vera made a very detailed record of the whole incident.

……

In the afternoon, the two left the old fisherman's house. They had been in the town for a long time and it was time to return to the port where the Dawn Society was stationed.

On their way back to the port, the two continued to discuss their unexpected discovery.

"So, you think those deformed fish are connected to those ancient magical creatures? And the people who want to buy those deformed fish are actually members of the Black Sun Society?"

Protected by the soundproofing magic, Vera finally voiced the question she had been holding back for a long time.

Hughes nodded and said, "It's highly likely. There's a very familiar feeling about these mutated sea bream, although it's very faint. But I'm pretty sure that the mutations they've undergone are similar to those of those ancient creations."

"As for that buyer... even if he is not a formal member of the Black Sun Society, he is probably involved. At the very least, he is some believer or informant serving the Black Sun Society."

Vera had no objection to Hugh's judgment. She pondered for two seconds and then said, "The condition of those fish is indeed bizarre enough. They are not only severely deformed but also not isolated cases... It's a pity that we can't touch these fish for the time being. It would be best if we could take a couple back to study them."

"Don't worry, it won't be long before any fisherman can catch this kind of fish."

"Ok?"

"Their appearance is no accident... Do you remember what the fisherman said? Not only are the fish populations decreasing, but the crab traps that have sunk to the bottom of the sea have also been severely damaged. This shows that the anomalies in the ocean are spreading and may soon become a common phenomenon."

As he spoke, Hugh's gaze fell on a shop selling seafood and dried fish on the side of the street. He said with some helplessness, "I wonder if people will still have the courage to eat these things at that time... They will probably not be facing three-headed sea bream, but perhaps a shark with a hundred eyes, or a crab covered in pus."

Vera couldn't help but frown. She had just imagined the scene based on Hugh's words and found it to be extremely disgusting. When she thought about how she had been eating fish these past few days, she felt a slight nausea.

Veraine's mental state was ultimately very resilient. She quickly overcame her inner discomfort and turned her attention to the matters at hand: "In that case, would it be inappropriate to just leave that fisherman at home like this? After all, the people we want to capture could come knocking on our door at any time."

Hugh shook his head: "If we stay in that area, it might actually alert our targets to something unusual... They know that the Dawn Society is active nearby, so they will definitely be extremely careful about these things."

As he spoke, he raised his palm, and then Vera saw a tiny black magic mouse appear in Hugh's palm. It spun around happily in Hugh's palm, then turned towards Vera and tried to raise its upper body as if to greet her.

Vera raised her eyebrows in surprise: "This is..."

"This is Countess Alexandra, she is greeting you."

"Long time no see, madam!"

Veraine was very impressed with this countess from the Ernst family, so she immediately greeted the furry shadow.

Perhaps because she heard the title she preferred from Verine, the countess in Hugh's palm nodded happily, then turned into a shadow and disappeared from the spot.

Hughes smiled helplessly, then explained, "Before we left, I left General Bernhardt at Old Glenn's house. He will notify me immediately if our target appears or if any other unusual event occurs, and we can come over at any time."

Upon hearing that Hugh had made very detailed arrangements, Vera's expression immediately relaxed. As a scholar with an extremely meticulous style, she felt very satisfied with the feeling of having everything under control.

(End of this chapter)