[76] - Alice Nakiri's Cash Power, Lament of the Fisherman

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"Now that everyone agrees, we can work according to this method. But because we're split into two areas, the dishes we'll make will need to be adjusted accordingly." Yuuki said.

Then, everyone made plans. There were two areas:

Group A with Soma Yukihira, Ryō Kurokiba, Shun Ibusaki, Zenji Marui, and Ryōko Sakaki.

As for Group B, Yuuki, Megumi Tadokoro, Alice Nakiri, Yoshino Yuki, Daigo Aoki, and Shōji Satō.

The distribution was pretty balanced.

"This grouping is pretty good. Everyone's Culinary skills are quite strong, with Soma and Ryō leading the way in Group A. As for Group B, while Daigo and Shōji's skills are a bit weaker, with me there, that won't be a problem."

Yuuki's participation in the Autumn Elections meant an almost guaranteed victory. For him, it was like playing against newbies—and simply crushing them was no fun.

So, he'd do something more interesting—take the entire Polar Star crew into the top eight!

NOW things would get interesting—eleven people in the top eight! That would surely make everyone watching the Autumn Elections scratch their heads.

"Let's call this plan—OPERATION POLAR STAR DOMINATION!" Yoshino Yuki excitedly gave this plan a name.

"Great! We now have the framework and the name. I'll work out the details. For this plan, all of you will return to Polar Star for the last ten days of vacation. After all, a plan like this requires practice and coordination," Yuuki said.

Naturally, no one had any objections.

They couldn't wait to see their plan succeed, picturing how the Autumn Elections would become Polar Star's personal stage.

After finishing their discussions, everyone turned their attention to the food—the current main attraction—

"The refreshing aroma of the bamboo, blending with the spices, creates a unique fragrance, and it complements the flavor of the chicken so well. And this unbeatable texture! It's SO GOOD!"

Only after eating did everyone realize that the earlier scent bomb had been merely an introduction. The key was still the taste of the dish itself.

Soon, the chicken and bamboo rice before them were completely devoured. Although the chicken portion was substantial, after being divided among them, it wasn't enough.

But Yuuki couldn't do much about that now.

It wasn't that he didn't want to make more, but he had run out of ingredients here. So, he could only wait to eat the dishes the others made.

....

Soon, everyone brought out the dishes they had prepared. Alice Nakiri had now also started learning Chūkaryōri from Yuuki.

This didn't mean she had abandoned Molecular Gastronomy, just shifted its position from primary to secondary.

The reason was simple: Molecular Gastronomy was a completely new field. It wasn't that it was wrong, but rather, it was like an untamed wilderness—not many people had truly explored its full potential.

Wanting to single-handedly develop a new Culinary path was an incredibly difficult task. Alice Nakiri wasn't Yuuki—she didn't have a System, so on this path, she was bound to gradually be overtaken by others.

Following Yuuki's suggestion, Alice had gradually shifted her focus to traditional cuisine, directly learning from Yuuki.

As for Molecular Gastronomy, she hadn't given up, but instead, was trying to find a balance, allowing it to complement traditional cuisine.

This approach further enhanced Alice Nakiri's Culinary skills. Her talent was already exceptionally high at Polar Star, so after choosing this more suitable path, her improvement speed amazed everyone.

....

Everyone also cooked some of the wild mushrooms they had collected. The taste was quite good—wild mushrooms had a unique freshness to them.

Only in the evening did everyone clean up and return to Shōkeien Ryokan. At the Ryokan, they had access to more tools and equipment.

As for the remaining wild mushrooms, those suitable for frying were deep-fried and preserved. This wild mushroom oil was an excellent topping for noodles.

....

On their third day at the Ryokan, through Alice Nakiri's financial support, they chartered a fishing boat for a day trip out at sea.

They planned to play on the boat, do some fishing, and even dive at suitable locations.

For safety reasons, there were several diving instructors on board, and they even had top-notch equipment. It could only be said that with "money power," getting these things was simply too easy.

This also left everyone once again speechless.

Megumi's original idea had been to find an acquaintance, get a good price, and take everyone out for a simple fishing trip, and then play on the beach.

But with Alice Nakiri here, "money power" made everything easy...

Looking at the boat captain, beaming from ear to ear, they knew he must have made a killing.

And the grinning diving instructors also made a small fortune.

As Alice put it, "Since we're out to have fun, we're here to spend money," and this small amount of money was less than a drop in the bucket for her.

"Yuuki—aren't you going fishing?"

After the others prepared their fishing rods, they looked at Yuuki with some curiosity—Yuuki currently didn't seem to be in the mood for fishing.

"I'll pass. I have other methods—" Yuuki said with a smile, although there was something about that smile that made people feel... strange.

"Megumi, what's wrong with Yuuki?" Yoshino Yuki quietly asked Megumi Tadokoro. After all, Megumi had spent the most time with Yuuki.

Alice Nakiri and the others also perked their ears.

"Well... before, Yuuki and I went fishing quite a few times—" Hearing Yoshino Yuki's question, Megumi Tadokoro's expression became a little subtle—

Yuuki was the closest to her and had even gotten along with her family members.

During his holidays, Yuuki would often visit Megumi.

Before transmigrating, Yuuki wasn't really into fishing, but he had heard about the woes of being a fisherman—

—So when Megumi first took him deep-sea fishing, a new world opened up to him; his catch that day had been quite impressive.

The other experienced fishers on the boat at the time had been envious. But when they heard he was a beginner, they simply said it was "Beginner's Luck."

Yuuki hadn't really cared much, but his subsequent fishing trips made him rather miserable.

His fishing luck afterward had been cursed—although he caught things, they were never fish.

However, as an angler, it was impossible to simply give up just because of bad luck.

Yuuki himself even suspected that The System was somehow absorbing all his good luck as a fisherman—

Today, Yuuki had no intention of fishing.

Actually, with his current abilities, creating a special kind of bait that could guarantee a huge haul wasn't a problem at all, but today, Yuuki wanted to vent his pent-up resentment.

....

After everyone else started fishing, Yuuki also took out the things he prepared.

Two harpoons connected to ropes. Since he couldn't catch any fish with a rod, he might as well use a more direct method.

He came up with this approach only after acquiring his super vision.

Using this method to catch fish was very difficult—only specialized fishing boats targeting tuna or swordfish would use this method.

However, for Yuuki, using this method was much easier than fishing with a rod.

His super vision allowed him to clearly see everything within a hundred meters below the surface; he could tell with just a glance if there were any fish or other creatures.

And the strength control brought by Food Honor allowed him to throw harpoons with effortless precision.

Although there was water resistance, with the help of Food Honor, that was no problem.

....

While everyone else was busy fishing, Yuuki, harpoon in hand, walked to the edge of the deck.

"Young man—catching fish like this isn't easy. Are you sure you don't want a fishing rod?"

Seeing this, the captain couldn't help but offer a reminder.

Although his boat was for sea fishing, they usually caught regular fish and shrimp.

So, he wasn't very optimistic about Yuuki's method. Just glancing at the vast ocean—it was impossible to tell what was down below.

The moment the captain finished speaking, Yuuki hurled his harpoon.

The harpoon shot out with incredible speed, plunging into the water—

—And because of Yuuki's unique control, the harpoon's entry didn't cause a huge splash; in fact, there was barely any disturbance on the surface.

Yuuki's method minimized water resistance.

After the harpoon went down over twenty meters, it directly pierced a large parrotfish.

Seeing the harpoon hit its target, Yuuki quickly pulled on the rope.

If he were fishing with a rod, he wouldn't dare be so forceful. After all, fish were still pretty strong in the water.

Too much force and the fish might escape the hook. But this was a harpoon, and the rope attached to it was also very thick; it was impossible for the fish to struggle free.

Besides, after being pierced, the fish was already severely injured and had little strength to struggle.

Soon, Yuuki pulled up a huge parrotfish.

"He actually hit SOMETHING!"

Seeing this, the captain, the crew members, and the diving instructors were all dumbfounded.

No one expected Yuuki could actually catch a fish this way!

And this parrotfish was SO big.

"Now I get why Yuuki doesn't use a fishing rod. If I had this skill, I wouldn't bother with fishing rods either!" Zenji Marui said looking at his still-motionless fishing rod.

This method was simply too powerful. Anyway, it was the first time they had witnessed such a thing.

"As expected of Yuuki, even this is a piece of cake for him—" Alice Nakiri even dropped her own fishing rod and ran over to watch what Yuuki was doing.

Compared to the dullness of fishing, Yuuki's method was way more interesting!

Megumi Tadokoro, seeing this, also immediately followed.

Although she was a kind and trusting soul, she also noticed Alice Nakiri's actions. She wasn't going to let Alice snatch Yuuki away.

"Yuuki, can we try it?"

Seeing Yuuki detach the fish, Alice Nakiri asked eagerly.

"Sure, there's another harpoon. But actually hitting a fish isn't so easy—" Yuuki said.

If it were others, he could guarantee that no one could replicate what he just did, not even those professional fishing boats that targeted tuna.

Although those fishermen also used this method, they would choose stormy weather to go out to sea because only then would their targets come to the surface.

They couldn't possibly hit fish with a harpoon through dozens of meters of water.

....

After hearing Yuuki, Alice Nakiri, ignoring his warning, tried to copy Yuuki and threw her harpoon.

However, the moment the harpoon made contact with the water's surface, a big splash erupted.

The force of the harpoon was completely dissipated, and Alice's strength wasn't particularly great in the first place.

So, the harpoon lost all its momentum before even fully entering the water and could only slowly sink downwards.

This scene made everyone fall silent.

After Yuuki's God-like performance, Alice Nakiri's attempt looked downright pitiful...

"Ahem... Looks like it's not that simple... Yuuki, you can do the honors!"

Alice, being thick-skinned, didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by her failure and just pulled the harpoon back.

Judging from her expression, it seemed like nothing had happened at all.

Such a mentality made everyone envious.

If it were them, they would probably want to find a hole to crawl into right now. But looking at Alice, she was as calm as could be.

Seeing this, Yuuki couldn't help but smile. Then, he hurled another harpoon, this time bringing back a medium-sized moray eel.

The moray eel continued to struggle even after it was pulled up.

Except for Yuuki, no one, not even the captain, dared to touch it. After all, being bitten by this thing wasn't something to look forward to—at best, you'd get some new holes in your hand; at worst, you'd lose a chunk of flesh.

Yuuki, ignoring these concerns, directly grabbed the moray and detached it from the harpoon before resuming his hunting.

After that, all sorts of seafood were harpooned by Yuuki, even a large lobster!

Thanks to "Money power," the waters the captain brought them to were teeming with seafood.

Yuuki was also thankful this was a Gourmet world.

If it were the real world, even if he had such an ability, he wouldn't DARE to do it this way, as who knew if these fish were contaminated.

In this Gourmet world, the ecological environment was still relatively well-preserved.

....

Yuuki was now the center of attention on the boat. Seeing Yuuki continuously exert himself, pulling all sorts of seafood from the sea, the other people who were fishing were all incredibly envious.

But envy was envy—they simply didn't have Yuuki's skill. They couldn't even see clearly what was in the water, let alone replicating Yuuki's technique—Alice Nakiri's failed attempt was still fresh in their minds.

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