The Black Iron Glory
Night Cruise and Fishing Nets

Chapter 69

Night Cruise and Fishing Nets

After school on Saturday, Claude went home first, changed into a new outfit and stuffed some underwear into his bag after some deliberation. He would spend day and night on the ship and he was not sure if they would go swimming or not, so there was no harm in bringing clothes to change. After which, he swung the gun to his back, checking all of his luggage before heading down.

She was stopped by her sister Bloweyk before she left. Even the little snow dogs came to mess it up. After playing with a fat puffball and their pets, Claude greets his mother before she leaves to take the train.

However, Claude was almost stunned when he reached the pier. "No way, Eriksson .. You've got so much stuff on board! Can we go inside?"

Calmly, Eriksson said with a straight face, "Don't worry. I only brought two nets and one purse seine. Although they looked rather tall stacked together, the ship would practically be empty once we placed them. We'll have more than enough room to move. "

Claude shook his head with a bitter smile. "You make it sound so simple. Those nets were the ones your father used on his ship, the Red Sea Shark, right? It was too large to be used in such a lake. We only got blacktiger fish back then. You're not counting on us to catch the others, are you? That's not possible. "

"This isn't the net my father used, don't worry. I wouldn't make that kind of amateur mistake" Eriksson said with a smile, "This is what my neighbor Welindas uses. They are all new and they lend it to me for free to test them out. "

Claude realized what was going on. The Welinda household that lives next to the private jetty of Altronis specializes in making and repairing nets. Eriksson has recently become acquainted with Mrs Welinda. There is a tradition among the fishermen in Whitestag. The newly created nets must be submerged in the lake for three days to test its solidity and durability and make them have a scent similar to that of a lake. Only then will the mesh not be taken by passing fish, or so it is believed.

As Eriksson was about to spend the night at the lake, he decided to do some favors on Mrs Welinda to test the net for her. If he manages to catch the fish with the new net, they will begin to smell the fish and the net will be sold at a good price.

"Where are we going then?" claude asked as he inspected the small boat.

Most fishing boats are filled with nets. There was only a small amount of empty space in the bow and stern of the ship. The space on the bow could only fit one person and the stern was where the helmet was located. They won't even be able to communicate well.

"Just wait. I had Boa ask Uncle Pegg to bring us tarps from the barn later. Once we cover the net with it, you can sit on it without any problems" Eriksson said.

The reason why the net should not be stepped on is because one's feet will easily get caught between the holes. That would easily put together neatly placed nets and taking them off would prove to be quite difficult. The nets in this world were also not made of nylon as Claude knew them. Stomp them would easily ruin them.

Eriksson, for example, has thought about it quite well. Putting a tarp over the mesh will prevent all those problems.

"Well, I'll wait and see later," said Claude, "So, just Boa here? What about Wero?"

"He should be here soon. His house is the farthest."

After a while, Borkal came carrying a large roll of tarp. He jumped up happily when he saw Claude. "Hurry, let's help me. I'm tired of dying …"

Claude put his match gun on the ground and went to receive it when he complained, "Why don't you ask Eriksson to help you?"

Borkal cursed, "The man said that he was too tired to bring the nets to the ship and remained at the stern of the ship the whole time, saying that it was inconvenient for him to go down with all the nets there."

"Are you an idiot?" Claude said as he lifted the tarp onto his shoulder, "How could he carry so many nets on board his own ship? Obviously, someone helped him with that. You even believe what he says …"

Welikro arrived at that moment. Borkal looked at her and shouted, "Don't come here. There's a bucket of red worms to use as bait in Uncle Pegg's house. Go take it."

After finally putting down the tarp, everyone went up. Welikro placed a wooden bucket filled with worms between the net room and the boat before sitting on the tarp. He even said that a clean pillow under the tarp felt good enough to sit on.

"Let's go. It's getting late" Borkal told Eriksson, who was cancelling the docking line on the back.

Eriksson pointed to a long punt pole placed at the stern on the ship. "Someone, take it to push the ship away from the shore. We don't need to paddle today because of the strong winds. Boa, help me release the sail when we leave the dock. Oh, and remember to hang out the fishskin lantern on the front of the boat. Claude, turn it on and hang it on the pole later. "

After much work, they were finally able to leave the dock.

"The wind is a bit strong tonight" said Borkal, lying on his back on a tarp, "This collar is so swinging that it doesn't feel stocky .. It's like it's going upside down or something … "

"Shut up!" Eriksson snapped furiously, "Fatty, don't talk like that! What the hell are you saying? Don't you have anything better to say as soon as we're gone?"

It was Eriksson's beloved boat and he wouldn't let anyone speak ill of it. Hearing Borkal say that it will change is the last straw. He did not think that fat would bring up such a taboo topic.

"What the fuck? I'm just saying how I feel! Not that I cursed the boat to actually flip! Are you so excited to argue?" snapped Borkal.

"All right, stop arguing. Boa, please watch your mouth too. Today was his maiden voyage, so it's not good for us to say something like such a hunch." Claude stopped their argument and asked, "Oh, Ouch, which way are we heading again? "

"Northwestern side. There was a swamp near the beach there with a lot of birds. You can practice shooting there tomorrow. There were also not many fishing boats there, so we could find a place to spread the net more easily. "

It'll take two more hours, uh. . . I wonder if I should meditate once here? Thought Claude.

He then said, "Then, I'll take a quick nap first. Boa, move a little."

Borkal reluctantly stepped aside and asked, "What's the matter with you lately, Claude? I always see you sleeping during morning class sessions. Are you a baby or what?"

Correct . . . Sleeping in class every day is not a long-term solution. In time, someone will see something strange about it. . . Snap Claude immediately. What am I supposed to do? One less time at night and sleep?

"Well, I slept because the class was boring. When did you see me sleeping during the afternoon session?" Claude yawns. "And if I sleep now, I can be on night duty instead of all of you so you can get all the sleep you want."

"That's right. The academic instructor reading the textbook sounded like a fly buzzing in my ear. I felt sleepy even though I wasn't tired" Welikro said. He also slept well during the morning session, but now Claude seems to sleep much more often than he does.

In fact, he's even better at it. Welikro only slept from time to time in class during the morning sessions, but Claude slept almost daily during that time.

As for Borkal and Eriksson, they did not sleep in class. Instead, they would flip through their books lazily or play some sort of board game during class. They can play monster chess during the entire morning session. They are allowed to do so because the instructor is not so attentive to the students sitting behind the class. They will get permission to do what they want as long as they do not interfere with the class.

Claude wanted to meditate immediately, but he found that it was not the right time. When he meditated, he would be completely separated from the outside world. He's going to be divorced from sensory experience altogether. Otherwise, he would know when so many people gathered in his house thinking that he was a thief instead of waking up after he finished his meditation only to find out too late.

Even though Borkal was out of the way, the ship was only that big and full of nets. If they meet each other and her friends notice that she is not reacting in the slightest, they might try to slap her up or try to do CPR on her or something. Just thinking about it made Claude's spine goosebumps.

Should I meditate or not? Claude was caught in that dilemma before he actually fell asleep.

Nobody touched him nor did they try to give him CPR. Either way, he couldn't sleep for long. When he woke up, the stars filled the sky. Borkal on the other hand appeared to be sound asleep and even snoring.

Rubbing his face, Claude sat down and realized that Welikro was holding the wheel with Eriksson standing beside him.

"How long am I sleeping?" ask Claude.

"About an hour or so" said Wellikro groggily.

"How long until we get here?"

"soon. Do you see a grassy area by the lake? We have to go further" Eriksson said with his fingertips.

The silhouette of the mountains could be seen in the distance. At the bottom of the mountain range was the reed that Eriksson meant.

"soon. Do you see a grassy area by the lake? We have to go further" Eriksson said with his fingertips.

The silhouette of the mountains could be seen in the distance. At the bottom of the mountain range was the reed that Eriksson meant.

Although it doesn't look too far, it's a considerable distance away to cover a small fishing boat. After half an hour of sailing, Eriksson finally lowered his straight upright line to test the depth of the water. After a while, he said with satisfaction, "Alright, this will be the place. Claude, wake up Boa. We will deploy the net of the players first before we use the purse seine. I believe we'll get a good catch this time around. "

Borkal, who had just woken up, looked somewhat dizzy. Had it not been for Claude holding on tightly to her, she might have already fallen into the lake. However, the surprise was enough to keep him completely awake. He helps Claude roll up the tarp and follows Eriksson's instructions to deploy two large nets. The net was rather large, with a length of one eight meters and another ten. However, both of them only had a width of about three meters. They can be deployed in waters as deep as three meters and above.

After exerting the mesh, they sailed the ship forward for about ten more minutes and deployed the purse seine. This one was about 20 meters long and four meters wide and it caused quite a ripple to form on the surface of the water.

Finally, the boat was empty. Eriksson opened the cabin and pulled out some towels. "Wash your face, buddy."

Borkal soaks the towel into the cold lake water and squeezes it dry. As he wiped his face, he asked, "Can we start grilling now? I'm feeling a little hungry."

"Wait ten minutes or more. We'll see what we get when we pull the net first. If we set up his stuff now, we won't have anywhere to pull the trawler purse. I want to see if we can get fish for dinner, " said Eriksson.

Welikro on the other hand generously took out a paper bag from the cabin. "Let's eat honey bread and butter to fill our stomachs for a while."

The fist-sized bread sack was quickly emptied by the four of them in a hurry. Since it was time, Eriksson gave the order to withdraw the purse seine.

The effort was quite exhausting. They can't just pull a trawler from one end. Two people had to transport it together so as to let the net climb onto the ship in a semicircular shape. After that, they would pull out a strand of purse seine and roll it all up. When the rope is securely fastened to the net, the fish inside will not be able to escape.

They only managed to bring the net after thirty minutes or so. They did not get many fish, only seven to eight of them. But three of them are long-tailed swordfish about a foot long, so they won't be short of fish for that night's barbecue.

After reusing the net, their barbecue finally began.