The story of the black silk female knight

The entire fleet is now more than 5 kilometers from the sea and is still moving further away.

"This is……"

Although this was Valensa's first time sailing in this world, she still knew some basic facts about the Franco-American route:

"Are we almost at the coastline of the Barren Ridges?"

"Yes."

Elses, who had just finished a game of cards with Tia and the others, nodded and took a sip of chilled juice from her thoughtful girlfriend Gina.

"To avoid being attacked by wild beasts as much as possible, every ship keeps a distance of more than 20 kilometers from the coast when passing through this area... This area is also an accident-prone area, and more than 80% of the maritime disasters in Fran happen in this area."

Although our fleet is strong enough to have nothing to worry about, let's be prepared just in case.

"Ah."

Valensa nodded; she knew these common-sense facts as well.

For the Beastmen, who are extremely short of all resources, cargo ships on the sea routes to the west of the Wasteland are also their targets for robbery.

Cargo ships laden with various high-quality ingredients and ores are even more valuable as targets than the towns in the northern border of the kingdom.

Fortunately, the wild beasts have no navy or warships, at most some simple wooden rafts, and their ability to fight at sea is very weak.

Most powerful beings at the Shining Rank can only perceive distances of up to 20 kilometers. Therefore, as long as merchant ships maintain a distance of more than 20 kilometers from the coast when passing through the Wasteland, they can minimize the risk of being attacked by wild beasts.

However, more than 20 kilometers from the shore, the seawater is quite deep, and there are more powerful or even Radiant-level marine monsters that may appear, making it significantly more dangerous than before.

Valencia could clearly see that the atmosphere of the entire fleet had changed drastically. Naval officers and sailors, as well as merchant sailors, had all perked up and gone from a relaxed, vacation-like state to a state of full alertness.

The magic towers on the warships, which were originally just controlling ocean currents to propel the fleet forward, all increased their magic output power... while covering the entire fleet with magical barriers to conceal their own presence, they also continuously used detection spells to sense everything around them.

Want to go fishing?

Just as Valensa was also somewhat caught up in the atmosphere of the fleet and was hesitating whether to change her swimsuit into paladin armor, Yashiro suddenly made this suggestion.

"……fishing?"

Apart from Lanzhi, who clearly wasn't playing along with Yaxiluo like this for the first time, the other girls all cast questioning glances at Yaxiluo.

"Yes, fishing."

Yashilo nodded seriously, then walked to where she kept her spatial storage bag, opened the bag, and rummaged through it while saying:

"Fish in shallow waters are generally quite afraid of big boats like ours, so even if you try to fish there, you're very unlikely to catch anything. But it's different when you get to the deep water. If you're lucky, you can catch some really good fish... Last time I caught a rare golden merle here, and it tasted amazing steamed!"

"Golden Mercury Fairy..."

Valensa quickly pictured an extremely rare fish, about 1 meter long, covered in fine golden scales, with a beautiful body.

This type of fish is listed in the Food Association's food points redemption list. The food points required are second only to those for special pheromone solvent materials, making it a top-tier ingredient.

Moreover, unlike the food from powerful monsters, the Golden Mercury Fairy is not a monster, but a type of ocean fish that poses almost no danger and can be caught by skilled ordinary fishermen.

The reason it is an extremely rare ingredient is that there are very few Golden Mercury Fish. Even strength is not very useful in catching this kind of fish; you must have a lot of luck.

"You're so lucky."

Valensa sighed sincerely, then, recalling the descriptions of the Golden Mercury Fern in the Food Association's materials, tears of envy streamed down her face.

"Let's go fishing then. I also want to try the taste of golden daffodils."

"You guys have fun, I'm not joining in this time."

Elsers sighed:

"Although I know nothing about commanding a fleet, I am, after all, a member of the royal family, so the nominal supreme commander of this fleet is me... It was fine when we were still in the country, but now that we've entered a more dangerous sea area, I have to go to the fleet command room and pretend to be in charge."

Gina will naturally go with Elsers, since she is nominally Elsers's personal bodyguard.

In fact, Tia, as the nominal military advisor, should have followed Elsers, but the navy and the Britannia family were the two largest factions in the French military.

While it wouldn't lead to conflict or vicious competition, it would still be a bit odd for Tia, as the heir to Britannia, to appear in the naval fleet flagship's command center... So Tia hesitated for a moment, but still chose to stay and go fishing with Valensa.

Elsers and Gina quickly took off their swimsuits, changed into naval uniforms, and left. Yashilo also took out her fishing rod from her storage bag.

As the wealthiest young lady in all of France, excluding the royal family, Yashilo's fishing rod was certainly no ordinary fishing rod.

It feels similar to Valencia's Moon Kiss... It's not a Noble Phantasm, but with the support of various expensive materials and superb craftsmanship, it has an effect close to that of a Noble Phantasm.

The end of the fishing rod is a nearly completely transparent, top-grade, attribute-free magic crystal, and the rod itself is engraved with dense magical patterns.

The reel is made entirely of mithril, and the fishing line is the silk of a Moon-level spider-like monster.

But the most eye-catching part is the fishhook... It's more like a hook claw than a fishhook, consisting of three barbed hooks that gleam coldly.

Chapter 29 The Female Knight Eats Fish Without Spitting Out the Bones

Fishing with a hook and grappling hook on a fishing rod?

Can this even be considered fishing? Are you sure it's not catching fish?

Valensa looked at Yashiro with a mixture of doubt and curiosity, only to find that he really was catching fish.

Yashiro cast his line without even baiting it, and sure enough, the hook didn't just wait for the fish to bite after it entered the water. Instead, it took the initiative and grabbed the back of a passing electric eel, picking it up like a claw machine.

The electric eel that dares to ride the current alongside a super-large warship like the Seravina is certainly not a small fish with no fighting power, but a marine monster with the strength of a Pearl.

After being pulled out of the water and carried nearly a hundred meters to the top deck, it was already furious and spat out a beam of white light at the area between the top and bottom of Yashiro's swimsuit.

This is an electric discharge powerful enough to penetrate iron plates with heat energy and instantly burn a normal person. It is also the strongest attack method of the sea electric eel, and it takes a long time to charge up each time it is used.

Many marine creatures, dozens of times larger than the electric eel, dare not prey on it because they fear this attack. Every year, many fishermen lose their lives under its electric light.

However, this time the electric eel couldn't use this trick to kill its predator... The protective oil on Yashiro's belly couldn't stop the evil god's eye technique, but it could easily block the electric eel's electric shock.

The terrifying lightning didn't even change the color of Yashiro's snow-white belly in the slightest.

As for the prey that dared to electrocute him, Yashiro showed no mercy. He grabbed the electric eel's head with his left hand and punched it with his right, knocking it unconscious.

"1 to 0, hehe."

After showing off the completely helpless electric eel to Valensa, Yashiro threw it into the tank that Lanzhi had just prepared.

"...You really consider this fishing?"

Valensa complained irritably.

Why doesn't it count?

Yashilo said confidently as he cast his line again:

"Is fishing with a fishing rod, fishing line, and fishing hook not considered fishing?"

"Pfft."

Before Valensa could continue complaining, Lanzhi couldn't help but laugh, explaining in a voice that was slightly different from hers when hosting auctions, but equally sweet:

"How should I put it when it comes to fishing? Well, I guess you could say she's bad at it but addicted to it. She often goes home empty-handed without using her own abilities to cheat."

However, she also believes that as long as one does not cheat by relying on their own strength, no matter how outrageous the fishing rod is, it is still fishing if one gets the fish out of the water using the fishing rod.

So she later spent a lot of money to have a highly skilled angler from the Food Association make this fishing rod for her—a rod that… well, even a fool could catch fish with.

Yashiro was naturally indignant at his best friend's undermining of him, muttering to himself, "Equipment strength is also strength. Swordsmen can become powerful because of divine weapons, so why should a fisherman be laughed at for using a fully automatic fishing rod?"

Valensa didn't argue with Yashiro, but instead planned to try her hand at fishing in a different way.

She tilted her head and thought for a moment, then pulled Tia close and whispered a few words into Tia's ear.

Tia's eyes lit up quickly, and she nodded with a smile, taking out three magic cards.

Two of the magic cards are purple and have the effect of sharing sensations. Valensa and Tia each put one into the upper part of their swimsuits and stick it to their bodies to activate the effect.

The other magic card was gold, bound by the metal wire of Valensa's assassination ring, and casually tossed into the sea.

Yashiro and Lanzhi both showed curiosity about Valensa's fishing method, which involved not even using a fishing rod or hook.

Yashilo quickly took out another fishing rod holder, placed the fishing rod on the holder, and turned on the fully automatic mode of the fishing rod, letting the fishing rod catch fish by itself.

She and Lan Zhi each took a monocular and looked at the water through it, ready to see what Valensa was up to.

It turned out that Valencia was playing even bigger games.

After the metal wire and the gold card entered the water, Valensa placed four fingers on the metal wire, closed her eyes, and used her mental power to greatly enhance her sense of touch, concentrating on feeling it.

Using metal wires to conduct tactile sensations, one can sense the flow of seawater, roughly determine the location of fish in the water by observing changes in the flow, and finally share these sensations with Tia without delay via a purple magic card.

Snapped.

After sharing Valensa's perception, Tia snapped her fingers and used the golden card tied to the metal wire as a coordinate to activate a spatial linking technique, instantly teleporting more than a dozen fish near the golden card onto the deck.

"Hehe, now it's 13 to 4!"

Valensa stood up triumphantly, raised one of her black-stockinged legs, and kicked it like lightning at the 13 lively and ferocious fish on the deck.

There are no weak marine creatures that dare to ride the currents of large warships. Each of these 13 fish is no less powerful than an electric eel, and one of them is even extremely ferocious.

The other 12 fish were all knocked unconscious by Valensa's black stockings leg. Only the fierce fish that looked like a piranha but was nearly two meters long remained ferocious even after being kicked three times. It even bit through Valensa's black stockings and injured her calf.

Yashiro, who had just been quite defiant, laughed gleefully upon seeing this:

"Fishing isn't just about getting the fish out of the water; you also have to subdue it... This is the infamous Manila piranha, which loves to prey on human fishermen. Perhaps in its eyes, you are the food to be eaten?"

"You think you can eat me with such a small fish?"

Valensa, feeling utterly humiliated, was enraged after failing to stun the fish with her three kicks and even having her black hair bitten and her leg injured.

While Yashiro and Lanzhi stared in disbelief, and Tia covered her face in embarrassment, she devoured the ferocious piranha that preyed on fishermen alive in an extremely unladylike and even brutal manner, without spitting out the bones and scales.

"Humph."

After swallowing the last bite of fish, Valensa regained her aristocratic elegance, took out a handkerchief, gently wiped her mouth, and said disdainfully:

"It's just a fish, how dare you treat me like food?"

She hadn't originally intended to use such a brutal method, but when Yashilo said that the fish might be using her as food, she suddenly felt a surge of inexplicable anger.

Any act of treating her as food is an unforgivable provocation! This is a pride that comes from blood and soul!

So even though she knew her behavior was somewhat indecent, Valensa followed her instincts and executed the ferocious piranha by eating it on the spot!

Chapter 30 Eating fish slices and chatting

Fishing continues after the ferocious piranha of the Menla is eaten by Valensa.

Yashilo's expensive, custom-made, fully automatic fishing rod kept catching all sorts of fish from the sea and throwing them onto the deck. Tia also activated her spatial linking technique several times to move the various fish that were following the Seravina out of the water.

In just over ten minutes, nearly a hundred fish were brought aboard the deck. Most of the fish would struggle before being stunned by Valensa or Yashilo. A few fish simply gave up and did not bite the anglers like the Manla piranha.

Seemingly feeling she had caught enough fish, Valensa retracted the metal wire from her assassination ring and began fulfilling her duties as a cook, picking through the fish on the deck.

Good luck doesn't last forever. Among this group of fish, there were no top-tier ingredients like the Golden Mercury Fairy, only three high-end ingredients that, although expensive, could be bought as long as one was willing to spend the money.

Instead of using the spices and cooking methods typical of Chinese cuisine, Valensa simply blanched or steamed the three good fish with spring water after removing their scales, bones, and innards. She then divided the fish fillets among Tia, Yashiro, and Lanzhi, and had Elser's maid deliver a portion to Elser and Gina, who had already gone to the command room.

In fact, blanching and steaming are the cooking methods for most high-end ingredients in French cuisine. The Chinese dishes that emphasize seasoning, like those in Valencia cuisine, are only suitable as everyday dishes and folk delicacies. That's why, despite their high popularity, they don't receive many points in the Culinary Association—because their cooking philosophy doesn't align with the association's mainstream.

Valensa wasn't bothered by this, because she knew very well that most high-end ingredients didn't need any seasoning. Simply steaming, roasting, or blanching them in boiling water was enough to make them incredibly flavorful. Using spices would be superfluous and ruin the delicate taste of the ingredients themselves.

While eating fish slices and chatting, another half-day quickly passed, and the fleet entered the waters west of the Barren Ridge, where they would sail for three to four days.

During this half-day, Valensa and Tia stopped fishing together, but Yashiro's fully automatic fishing rod was not reeled in, and he caught quite a few more fish and brought them onto the deck.

Most of the ingredients were not to Valensa's liking, so she instructed the maids to send them to the kitchen to supplement the navy soldiers' meals.

A small number of the monster fish that could be harvested for magical materials were dismantled by Valensa, who then gave the magical materials to Tia.

Only fish whose flesh is unpalatable and whose body parts cannot be used as magical materials are lucky enough to be thrown back into the sea.

One of the fish was long and snake-like, which Yashiro had planned to throw back into the sea because it was highly poisonous... He had heard it tasted good, but everyone who tried it died from the poison.

But would Valensa care if the food was poisonous? She only cared about how good the food tasted. In the end, the poisonous fish couldn't escape its fate and was eaten by Valensa like a spicy snack, dipped in homemade hot sauce.

"Hmm, the fish meat is indeed quite good, it has a nice texture when you chew it, a bit like the texture of pork skin wrapped in preserved plum... but it's a bit too poisonous, you'd better not try it."

As Valensa said this, she even pretended to cast a detoxification spell on herself.

Her evil god bloodline is currently a top secret, and she can only explain her immunity to poison by saying that her divine magic cultivation has been very successful.

"what?"

As the women were lazily lounging on deck chairs, basking in the last rays of the setting sun, a royal maid responsible for tending the automatic fishing rods suddenly exclaimed in surprise, removed something from the hook, and trotted over to the women: