落とし穴４６堀：贅沢な時間の使い方 (Part1)
### Pitfall 46: A Luxurious Way to Spend Time
**Side: Yuki**
*Splash. Splash.*
The only sounds reaching my ears are the rhythmic lapping of the waves. Before me lies an expanse of blue sky and blue sea. There are no voices to be heard—only the workings of nature.
I’m sitting on a concrete structure that rises out of the ocean, a makeshift breakwater I built far from the shore. Since I used my Dungeon Master skills to create it, the sea here never gets rough, though I designed this jetty in a spot away from the swimming area purely for my own amusement.
Why? The answer is simple.
Swimming in the summer sea is a classic pastime. But what is one supposed to do at the beach during the other seasons? To anyone living in an island nation like Japan, that question would be absurd. The answer is...
*Whizz!*
The sound of the air being sliced... followed by a soft *plop*. A red dot bobs on the surface of the blue water.
Yes, fishing.
Fishing is a type of trap for catching fish that has existed since time immemorial. While historical records vary, the oldest evidence dates back to the Paleolithic era, some 40,000 years ago; even in Japan, excavated bone fishhooks have been found. It is a practice inseparable from humanity. For us Japanese, who have lived alongside the sea, it is a way to seek our daily sustenance from the mother ocean, woven into our history and now established as a leisure activity.
The style I’m using is float fishing. It’s the type that uses a bobber and live bait, allowing one to leisurely observe the float. Unlike sport fishing, which uses lures or artificial flies and requires constant movement, this is a sedentary affair. Well, to be precise, the "correct" way to float fish is to carefully watch for the bobber to sink, then jerk the rod up before the fish swallows the bait, hooking it in the mouth. If the fish has completely swallowed the hook, you’ve failed.
Well, that’s the rule for people who take fishing seriously. For someone like me, who has cast a line just to relax, it doesn't really matter.
Now, changing the subject—what is a "luxurious" way to spend time? The key here isn't a "meaningful" way to spend time, but a "luxurious" one. "Meaningful" implies significance—using time for training or self-improvement. But luxury is different.
The way I see it—no, I can state with certainty that there is no more luxurious way to spend time than this. It is to waste time. To waste it for everyone, including yourself.
To just space out.
There is no greater luxury for one's finite life than that. And so, exhausted by modern society, I often come to the sea to spend my time luxuriously, to space out, and to heal my heart. Just gazing at the sky like this, occasionally lifting the rod. This slow, wasteful flow of time heals me. I don’t have to think about anything.
"…It’s very laid-back, isn't it?"
"…Mm. A first-time experience."
Sitting beside me, casting their own lines, are my escorts for this trip: Samantha and Cleena. Jessica and Ria are currently heading to Cleena’s country with my doppelganger. Unlike the trip with Samantha, they have to go to the royal capital rather than a duke’s territory, so it will take about three days.
I had been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the situation with the Holy Sword User, Alfin, so when I asked my wives if I could take a little break, they granted it immediately. I left the departure logistics to them and came here to reflect on myself. Or rather, I’m just here to luxuriously waste time and relax. Since my "garden"—the dungeon—is the best place for that, I figured two of my newer companions would be fine as escorts, and here we are.
At first, neither of them was used to this "luxurious" way of wasting time. Samantha, the second daughter of a duke, spent every day busy, and Cleena, who held a single-digit rank at the academy, spent her days buried in studies and the pursuit of magic. Both were accustomed to using time meaningfully, but neither had ever tried using it luxuriously.
"…As you said, Yuki-sama, this truly is the ultimate luxury."
"…Mm. Agreed. Not spending money, just wasting time. But I think this leeway is necessary. This sensation isn't something you can get normally."
"Yes, in a way... there’s something about this slow flow of time that you can’t find anywhere else."
Both of them said this while staring blankly at the horizon.
"Well, people with a lot on their minds often come to gaze at the sea, too," I said.
"…I can understand that."
"Mm. Thinking about things in front of this vast ocean seems efficient. …No particular reason why, though."
Perhaps it’s because we are drawn to the mother ocean. This feeling is something you really can't understand until you try it. Just spacing out. Though, if I did *only* that, I’d get bored, which is why I’m fishing.
*Tug, tug-tug.*
As I watched the rod, there was a clear reaction that something had taken the bait.
"You two, look at my rod. When something bites, the tip reacts like that. Naturally, the float is bobbing up and down, too."
"Oh, you’re right."
"I’d heard about it, but seeing it in person makes it click."
Showing them the real thing is the best way to learn. With both their gazes fixed on the rod, I pulled it up. To my surprise, a fish of decent size was hooked.
"That’s amazing!"
"Amazing."
They were both surprised, but so was I. The fish you catch from a breakwater shouldn't be anything special... but then again, we’re the only ones fishing here. Maybe the fish aren't wary of humans. Usually, at a famous fishing spot, you’d only catch a few small ones or maybe a flatfish waiting in the sand.
Anyway, better get the hook out.
"Ah, it swallowed it, just as I thought."
"Swallowed it?"
"What do you mean?"
This is their first time fishing, so they wouldn't understand the issue with swallowing the hook.
"Look, the line goes deep into the fish, where you can't see it, right?"
"Yes."
"Mm. I see it."
"The original purpose of fishing is to catch fish to eat. The rod and hook are just tools. The correct way to fish is to pull just before they swallow it, hooking them in the mouth. The reason is..."
I took an item out of my tackle box.
"What is that?"
"A small iron rod with a hook on it?"
It looked exactly as Cleena described. This is used when a fish swallows the hook; you thread the fishing line through the hook on the tool, follow it down, and locate the fishing hook...
*Clink.*
A hard sensation traveled through my hand. This was the swallowed hook. Because of the barb, it takes quite a bit of force to remove, and it often tears the fish's mouth. Doing this inside the fish's body...
*Crunch.*
With that sound, I managed to retrieve the hook. However, the fish, having had the hook forcibly removed from inside its body, was bleeding and twitching.
"…Ugh."
"…I see. If you remove the hook inside the body, this is the inevitable result. And the freshness drops."
"Cleena’s right. The fish’s internal organs get shredded, and once it dies, the freshness fades. That’s why you need to hook them in the mouth. Was that hard to watch, Samantha?"
Samantha looked a bit pale as she watched the fish staining the seawater in the bucket with blood.
"No, I’ve fought monsters and the like before. I’m just not used to seeing fish this way. I’m fine."
"I see. Well, don't push yourself."
"Yes."
I quickly stored the fish in my Item Box. No point in letting it lose any more freshness.