A farming master in Stardew Valley

Chapter 207 Willy's Secret

After drying himself, Lyon put on his clothes again. Although there were still some salt stains on his body without washing with fresh water, fresh water was still quite precious in the sea. Lyon didn't want to waste it and thought he could just endure it.

At this moment, Gus had set up a small coal stove and was frying the cod. The aroma of oil drifted to Leon's nose, making him swallow unconsciously. He walked forward to take a look at Gus's cooking method. Apart from oil and salt, Gus did not use any other seasonings to enhance the color of the cod slices fried in the pan.

"The fresh and sweet flavor of sea fish itself is the best seasoning. Too much seasoning is not good." Seeing the doubt in Lyon's eyes, Gus explained to Lyon with a smile.

"That's why good ingredients often only require simple cooking." Lyon joked.

"That's a very concise statement." Gus nodded, obviously liking what Leon said.

"Let's just wait for dinner. Leon, do you want to come and see this compass?" After putting on his clothes, Willy hooked his arm around Leon's neck and pulled him aside, then handed the compass to Leon like a treasure.

"Why is it called a direction pointer?" Lyon asked after taking the compass.

At the same time, he also noticed that the letters HS were engraved on the compass casing, which seemed to be the abbreviation of Old Hans' name.

"Because this directional pointer can only point to one place," Willy explained.

"The material used to make this kind of compass is usually a pair of special magnets. One is placed in the area where you need to anchor, and the other is made into a compass. This way, you get a compass that permanently points to the anchoring area. Pirates on the sea basically have this kind of compass to ensure they can find their base."

"Permanent Pointer? If you tell me there are devil fruits in the sea now, I probably won't be surprised."

Lyon couldn't help but complain when he heard this.

"What is a devil fruit?" Willy asked Leon in confusion.

"It's okay, I was just joking." Leon waved his hands and did not explain the meaning of this joke to Willy.

Willy didn't care. Instead, he cheerfully suggested to Leon, "If you encounter pirates in the future, Leon, take this directional compass from them. This way, you might be able to easily find their lair and steal their lifelong wealth, becoming rich overnight."

"Knowing that such a pointer will expose their lair, why do these pirates still make this thing? Doesn't this increase the chance of their base being exposed?" Lyon asked in return.

"Because many small islands in the sea are not fixed, they will be forced to move by the ocean currents. Without this thing, most pirates may not be able to find their own settlements." Willy replied.

"Large islands aren't like that, but they're full of all sorts of dangers. Pirates are desperate, but bullying ordinary people is fine, but facing the monsters or ancient creatures that might exist on large islands is simply courting death."

"Interesting." Lyon was quite happy to hear this, as he had gained new knowledge.

"Don't you have anything else to ask?" Willy couldn't help it when he saw that Leon stopped talking after saying something interesting.

"What else do you think I want to ask?" Leon looked at Willy and teased.

"Like, how did I find this directional pointer?" Willy replied. "Everyone has their own secrets, right?" Leon replied with a smile.

"Even so, I was ready to tell you, but I felt bad when you didn't ask," Willy complained, shrugging his shoulders.

"Then just say whatever you want to say." Leon looked at Willy speechlessly and complained.

"Okay, since you asked, I'll tell you. Actually, it's because I asked the nearby fishmen for help." Willy answered mysteriously.

"Mercurials? Those guys with fish heads and human bodies?" Lyon asked.

"Have you seen a merman too?" Willy looked at Leon in surprise. "That shouldn't be the case. You don't even know such common sense as being able to open your eyes in seawater."

"Are you looking down on me?" Lyon complained.

"Hahaha, no, no, I just think it's weird. After all, it's not easy to see murlocs near Stardew Valley. I'm just curious about where you've seen murlocs. I'm sorry for causing you to misunderstand." Willy explained, patting Leon's shoulder.

In fact, Leon didn't care about Willy's words. After all, he was just an ignorant newcomer to the ocean of this world.

"This is a long story, but it's not a very important one. What I really want to ask now is, Willy, how did you contact those fishmen and get their help?"

"Do you remember my fishing box?" Willy asked.

"Yeah, I remember." Leon nodded.

"Yes, it was my great-grandfather who learned it from the mermaids. This involves a story about our family. That is, in addition to his wife and children, my great-grandfather also started a family among the mermaids." Willy said this with an embarrassed expression.

"But I can understand him. After all, according to my grandfather, my great-grandfather was nearly drowned in the sea when he encountered a waterspout. He happened to be saved by a mermaid nearby, and then this happened. After that, he lived with the mermaid for a while, and then some things happened that are hard to describe in detail."

"That's understandable." Leon agreed. After all, he had also seen mermaids. Except for the elder ones, the young mermaids were all extremely beautiful. It would be hard for a sailor who went to sea all year round to control himself.

"So our family had connections with the mermaids back then. My great-grandfather came back a few times, but by then he had transformed into a different state and was no longer suitable for living on land."

"However, to compensate his wife and child, he passed on some of the special skills he learned from the mermaids to his family on land. That fishing box was one of them. He also left my great-grandfather, his son, a shell necklace that could summon and command the merpeople as a talisman, a means of protecting his life in the ocean. This shell necklace became a family heirloom and has been passed down to me."

Willy said this as he took out a necklace from the inside pocket of his shirt and sighed.

"I had planned to pass this necklace on to my son according to family tradition, but my ex-wife didn't like my job, so she divorced me and left Stardew Valley with our son. I don't plan to get married again and have children. Aside from sending alimony to them every month, we don't have much contact anymore. I don't know who to pass this necklace on to."

(End of this chapter)