A Report on Midgard Wyrm Ecology
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Several days had passed since we left Barbra.
All weâd done so far was relax. There wasnât really much to do in the first place unless we ran into some sort of magic beast, so weâd spent our days eating, sleeping, and occasionally enjoying the salty sea breeze while getting a bit of exercise on deck.
Purification magic allowed us to keep the room clean without having to tidy up.
The meals were not only hearty, but also quite healthy. Item box-type skills allowed the sailors to preserve fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the trip. Beriberi and scurvy were both total non-concerns.
That said, depleting the shipâs resources wasnât actually the crewâs first choice. They would much rather eat whatever they could catch. To that end, they were currently hauling up a giant net theyâd thrown down for fishing purposes a bit earlier.
It wasnât something Fran had ever seen before, so she ended up doing more than just observing them. She joined them in saying âheave, heave ho,â over and over as they raked the net in. The only difference was that she muttered it under her breath instead of shouting it.
ăGahahaha. You never seen a couple guys lug up a huge net before or somethinâ?ă
ăNn. Interesting.ă
ăThought so. The only ships with nets that big are huge ones.ă
ăReally?ă
ăThe only way you could haul up a net that big without a bunch of people is if you have some sort of magic item do it for you. And yâsee, both those options require big ass ships.ă
ăOh.ă
ăâSides, the bigger the net, the bigger the catch, and the bigger the catch, the bigger the chance youâll attract or even catch magic beasts. Fighting them off needs manpower and space. Itâs not something you could do on a small boat ânless you want to put yourself in danger.ă
The captainâs words led me to the conclusion that it was about time for us adventurers to finally do our jobs.
ăIâm pretty sure my menâll be fine without you for now, but yâmight as keep an eye out.ă
ăNn.ă
Fran got into position just in case anything happened, but nothing really did. The sailors hoisted the net onto the deck and laid out all the seafood they caught without running into any show-stopping issues.
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ăThose, fish, or?ă
ăWhich ones? Are there magic beasts mixed in or something?ă
ăSoft and flabby thing.ă
ăOh, you were asking about those? Those are goosefish.ă
Goosefish were really strange looking, so it did make sense for people that didnât know about them to assume they were magic beasts. I heard that many people outside Japan feared octopuses, but I myself found goosefish way more terrifying.
ăAnd that?ă
ăThose are hagfish.ă
ăAnd those?ă
ăIâm pretty sure those are sea cucumbers, though theyâre way bigger than any kind I know.ă
The world I was currently in was a veritable fantasy world, but its fish honestly werenât that different from the ones we had back on Earth. In fact, I felt that most of them were easier on the eye; Earthâs fish were way uglier on average.
ăAnd that?ă
ăWhich?ă
ăThat.ă
There were too many fish jumbled together for me to identify the one Fran was trying to point out to me, so she just ended up walking over and picking it out of the pile.
ăThis.ă
ăOh, ew.ă
The fish in question was one of the grossest looking ones Iâd ever seen. I really had to commend Franâs willingness to touch it. Sheâd lifted it up without even the slightest bit of hesitation.
It, the thing in Franâs hand, looked to me like a reddish-black, softball sized, blob of flesh. One end was shaped like an intestine. It came with an alien-like mouth, one that had its sharp teeth arranged in a circular pattern. The other looked like itâd been pinched. My immediate reaction was to assume that it was some sort of deep-sea creature.
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Appraising it caused me to telepathically shout in surprise.
ăThat thingâs apparently a midgard wyrm!ă
ăMidgard Wyrm? This?ă
ăY-Yeah, itâs probably only that small cause it hasnât grown up yet.ă
ăOhhh.ă
I almost couldnât believe that the tiny magic beast Fran was holding onto could possibly grow into the 100m long thing weâd fought before. The only way one could possibly describe the creature was to call it fantastical.
ăT-Thereâs one over there too.ă
ăWhere?ă
ăItâs that long thing over there.ă
ăThis?ă
Fran grabbed the long, rope-like organism I was talking about with her bare hands. Its colour and texture were identical to the midgard wyrm larva Fran was holding in her other hand, but their lengths were incomparable.
The first specimen was about the size of Franâs palm. The second was about a whole meter long. That said, they were still both definitely midgard wyrms.
ăThis becomes that?ă
ăI think so⌠Oh god that thingâs gross. Its unevenness only makes it all the worse.ă
The longer specimen wasnât just thin and long. It looked like a bunch of spheres stuck onto one another. The indents ran along it in an almost regular sort of pattern.
Jerome approached Fran as she continued to observe the still-wriggling midgard wyrms.
ăOh, so you managed to find a couple puny midgard wyrms.ă
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ăNn.ă
ăAt that size, Iâd say theyâre probably still only a few months old⌠Their parents might still be in the area.ă
ăThought only kraken around here?ă
ăFor the most part, yeah. There are a couple other things, just not too many of âem.ă
ăFought midgard wyrm before.ă
ăYou mean recently?ă
ăNn. Very recent. On way to Barbra.ă
ăSeriously? If thatâs the case, then weâd best be on our toes.ă
ăWhat to do if attacked?ă
ăMidgard wyrms tend to react most to smell, so we should be able to outrun them if we just throw a couple barrels overboard as a decoy.ă
It looked like we wouldnât have to worry because the ship had countermeasures on hand. That said, we were still quite curious as to their ecology. Jerome actually seemed really knowledgeable about them, so we decided to have him sate our curiosity.
ăThis becomes that?ă
ăYeah, but the stubby one youâre holding onto wonât just grow longer or anything.ă
ăThen how?ă
ăThey get longer by sticking together. You see how the longer oneâs got indents all over? And you see how theyâre about the same length?ă
ăNn. Narrow parts.ă
ăThatâs because thatâs where two midgard wyrms are connected. The larvae bite onto each otherâs butts in order to form chains. As time passes, they eventually all merge into a single creature.ă
The fuck nature?
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I was freaked out at first, but immediately recalled that there were similar creatures back on Earth. I wasnât too clear on the details, but I did remember that most were single celled organisms, like jellyfish.
Hearing Jeromeâs explanation finally led me to understand why the damned things had so many hearts. A midgard wyrm was both a single giant magic beast and an entire colony of smaller magic beasts at the same time. It was that precise trait that stopped them from being affected by Deathgazeâs instant kill ability.
ăWhat to do?ă
ăTheyâre parasitic and not that great for the sea, so weâll gather them up and dispose of all of them at once later. You seem to be able to pick them out, so could you lend us a bit of a hand?ă
ăGot it.ă
Our Appraisal and Magic Perception skills made it easy for us to sort through the pile and pull all the magic beasts it contained. The tasksâ only two downsides were that it was boring, and that it made Franâs hands stink. That said, the stink could be cleansed, so I made a mental note telling myself that I should cast purification magic on Franâs hands once we were done.
The screening process ended up finishing without any real hitches; todayâs haul hadnât seemed to contain any dangerous magic beasts. More importantly, it looked like tonightâs dinner was going to consist of quite a few interesting fish-based dishes.
ďźMaster.ďź
ăWhatâs up?ă
ďźWant to take bath.ďź
ăYou do know weâre on a ship in the middle of the ocean here, right? Thatâs definitely going to be asking for too mu-wait a second. Maybe not, actually.ă
Getting our hands on hot water would be a cinch since it was something we could make with magic. The only real problem was that we didnât have a bathtub. Weâd normally just make one out of earth magic, but there wasnât any soil anywhere in sight.
They probably had wooden wash basins somewhere, but I figured weâd be able to find some sort of higher quality substitute if we looked hard enough. Asking led to the surprising answer that the ship actually had a bathtub on board.
At first, I thought that having a bath on board was a luxurious addition that we shouldnât have expected, but soon realized that I was wrong. I shouldâve known thereâd be one seeing as how the ship was equipped with a whole slew of expensive magic items to begin with. In fact, it turned out that most larger ships actually did have them.
We only hadnât really heard of other people using it because sailors didnât like bathing. I wasnât really surprised. Sailors were, for the most part, wild seafarers not too different from pirates. I couldnât exactly see them sitting down and soaking in a tub. They didnât normally bother getting the baths ready at a set time because it was just an added cost that few ever made use of.
Fran started heading over the moment they told us we were allowed to make use of it as long as we got our own hot water.
Mordred, Buphett, and several other guys had told us they also wanted to get in, so we ended up telling them it was ready once we finished with it.
Buphett had been particularly happy about being able to take a bath, and even asked us to keep taking them going forward so he could as well. Fran liked washing herself on a daily basis anyways, and I kinda liked the idea of him owing us a favour, so we ended up happily agreeing.
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