They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 42 The Kind Coachman

Once again exposed to the light of day, the fish thrashed about on the rain-soaked grass, their translucent gills opening and closing as they greedily absorbed the oxygen from the rainwater.

"I didn't believe that you could see fish on the plains before, but now I do."

Lia used her cane to flip the fish at her feet over, then squatted down to observe it for a moment, discovering that the fish's appearance was quite abstract.

Their heads are twice the size of their bodies, their fins are also large and wide, and their two eyes are almost on the top of their heads, protruding outwards in a round, bulging manner, similar to those of mudskippers.

As Lia observed them, they also turned their eyes toward Lia, making "gurgling" noises, and the mucus on their bodies glistened.

If it were an ordinary person, they might be so frightened by the dense and hollow fish eyes that their legs would go weak.

But Lia is different.

He was already used to seeing many eyes crowding around him, so when he saw this scene, he simply turned his head to look at the black tentacles beside his head.

Do you think... these fish are safe to eat?

If it's edible, it should be able to be sold, but the probability that it's not edible is probably higher.

"Goo?" Little Swarth waved its tentacles twice, and a fish that was rapidly wrapped around them exuded strong acid to digest it. A moment later, it "thudded" and threw a complete fish skeleton to the ground, and the movement of its tentacles became limp.

It seems she doesn't like the taste of fish.

Ria looked away and focused her gaze back on the fish.

Suddenly, countless eyes appeared on his skin, and his cane pointed directly at the fishbone on the ground, then at the fish near that fishbone.

In the fish's eyes, Ria's voice was like a devil, impossible to disobey.

"I'll use this fish bone to exchange for your internal organs."

After saying that, he withdrew his cane, and the fish that had been pointed at suddenly began to struggle violently.

Its internal organs were still emitting white steam when they appeared out of nowhere in the place where the fish bones were originally placed, and the places on its body where the internal organs were originally were now haphazardly filled with new fish bones.

"Gulu! Guru!"

The fish's belly shrank at a visible speed, followed by an instantaneous and irregular expansion, and throughout this process, the fish still could not die.

It could only watch as its body mutated uncontrollably, its eyes filled with a bloodthirsty light, and long, thin white fangs grew from its mouth.

This sight surprised Ria, so she turned her attention to the other fish and used two bones from the body of this seemingly resentful fish to exchange for the internal organs of the other fish.

One by one, the fish lost their internal organs, and their bodies were filled with fish bones one after another.

In the end, not a single fish remained intact; all of them were pierced through the flesh by the sharp tips of bones that were not their own, and grew out of their bodies through the scales.

They were still alive at this point, but their eyes had changed from numb, empty, and bloodthirsty to extreme awe.

"It's raining and I have nothing to do, so I'll collect some faith to fill my stomach." Ria felt that she had no faith left to collect, so she used her cane to support herself and stood up again. Then she asked Little Swarth to take these strange fish with her, as they might come in handy later.

Little Swarth secretly ate two of them. Although he hated the fishy smell, he liked the feeling of eating.

“It’s just a pity about the mule.” Ria felt sorry for the poor creature, as well as all the creatures that perished from the rain. As he spoke, he drew a neat sun symbol on his heart.

"May your souls be redeemed, and praise the sun."

"Goo." Little Swarth also praised the sun like Ria, and then followed Ria on their way to their destination.

It extends one of its tentacles pointing north, perfectly serving as a "compass".

The rain gradually stopped, the dark clouds dispersed, revealing a sky that gradually changed from red to purple, with scattered stars dotting the sky. The sun slowly sank towards the bottom of the horizon, and the crescent moon, shaped like a sickle, took its place without hesitation.

At the edge of the Gutheron Plains, a tiny black dot appeared in Ria's field of vision. The dot grew larger and larger until it was quite close to Ria when he could see it clearly.

"carriage?"

Ria saw clearly that it was a carriage pulled by two large, splendid horses. Outside the curtain of the carriage sat a coachman wearing a fisherman's hat, holding a whip in one hand and a long tong in the other, picking up the mixture of silvery-white scales on the ground and putting it into the back of the carriage.

Little Swarth immediately returned to Ria's body, and spat out an umbrella for Ria to hold. At this moment, the coachman also noticed Ria and spurred his horse toward him. The wooden wheels made a unique sound as they rubbed against the grass—perhaps the axles of this carriage should be reinstalled.

“Friend, why are you alone in the Gutheron Plains? The rain here is not something a traveler like you can withstand.”

“I brought an umbrella.” Ria raised the umbrella in her hand.

"This isn't a foolproof idea. Monsters often appear in the rain. Are you really that lucky?"

"How can it be okay?"

Ria shook her head: "I lost my mule."

"That's a pity. Relax, friend. It just so happens that you've met me passing by. If you don't mind, I can give you a ride."

"Thank you very much."

Lia took off her hat and covered her chest, expressed her gratitude to the other person, got into the car, and then told the other person that her destination was Grani town in the north.

"Oh! Grani! The grilled fish at the Baisher Tavern is a rare delicacy, and the whiskey tastes different from that of ordinary taverns. You should try it if you have the chance."

Grani is famous for its hospitality. You're lucky; I just managed to get a truckload of fish to send to Grani. Please be sure to try my cousin Katie's fish cooking when you get there.

"That was a real honor."

"Polite young man, it's rare to see people like you in a small town." The driver sighed, chuckling as he tucked his long metal tongs into the gap in the curtain behind him.

"The way you speak reminds me of my distant relative who got into the Royal Academy of Lidsh, but his demeanor is far less outstanding than yours."

Ria didn't answer; he smiled and turned his hat back up on his head.

"You just said you hauled a truckload of fish?"

"The harvest wasn't very good today; it will probably take a while before we can fill a truck."

The coachman cracked his whip, urging the horses to continue on their way. Ria stopped talking and leaned back, quietly watching the stars in the sky.

These stars were different from those he was familiar with; the constellations he usually knew in the sky were nowhere to be found here.

"Young man, it's so late, would you like something to eat?"

The driver maintained his driving posture, but began asking Liya if she wanted anything to eat to fill her stomach.

Given this situation, if they want to eat, they might only be able to eat the fish in the back of the truck.

(End of this chapter)