At night, the pier was even scarier. You can hear the howling of the bridge itself as the cold wind passed through holes within the rotting wood. There's no light here so you can barely see anything, and most of the moonlight is concentrated on the swamp surface and it's better if you don't look at that place.

  They say the fish can smell fear, and that looking at one breaching under moonlight makes them remember who you are.

  I'm not a superstitious person but even I have to adhere to that you know? The atmosphere is just too damn creepy for me not to. It's too quiet so my thoughts are everywhere, making me go mad with anxiety.

  A sharp whistle accompanied by the sound of something screaming actually made me flinch and almost got me to drop the plate I'm carrying. I had to tell myself several times that it's just the wind passing through the rotting wood before I started walking again.

  Thankfully, no other complications happened after that and I reached the houses that the squatters commonly lived in. Like always, the first person to approach me is Wardcruncha while everyone is just standing there, staring for some bizarre reason.

  "Rontress?" He called out. I waved and he sighed in relief. "We thought you were a ghost! Don't just stand there! Talk!"

  "Eh, I didn't want to." And that's all the explanation that he's going to get, I'm not telling him I'm also scared shitless that I didn't want to make noise. "By the way, I brought you guys food! Everyone is currently celebrating back at Flotol's center since I hunted a crayfish bull. They cooked it! It's still hot!" I presented the plate and waited for Wardcruncha to take it. "Well?"

  "I mean, we're thankful but you didn't have to do it on the same night the celebration is happening you know? We could have lived until tomorrow." Wardcruncha said, his voice a little shaky.

  "Why would I do that? Just eat it! Here!" I pushed the plate towards him again. "You know I'll drop these if you don't– there we go! Thank you."

  Wardcruncha only sighed when he saw my smile. He held onto the plate with care, making sure he didn't drop bowls of soup next to the meat. "Thank you, you always go out of your way for us."

  "It's fine! I'll help you guys soon too, I think I want to set up a few fish traps here so you guys have something to eat every morning." I looked at the water and caught sight of a fish breaching, its sharp dorsal spines breaking the surface and looking like the world's most fucked up version of a dolphin. "Huh, it really does happen."

  The fact that I'm with a lot of people currently may have helped with my sudden surge of bravery. I mean, it is just a superstition that the fish can remember people looking at them right? I've never actually seen it happen. Ever. Stupid fish.

  "What happens?" Wardcruncha asked as he came back to where I am. He's now done distributing the food, he himself has only gotten a tiny piece for some reason.

  "The breaching." I pointed at the water, a little shocked that there were so many fish. "It's kind of interesting I think."

  "Hm? Oh yeah, that happens." Nodded the supposed wizard. "We throw our leftovers at the water so a lot of fish come here every night to feast on em, they're blind too. And full of bones."

  "Really?" I frowned, if this is a daily ritual for the fish, doesn't that mean that it'll be hard for my traps to catch non-boney fish in the future? "What are they anyway?"

  "Anlaks."

  Damn it! It just had to be the ones that didn't have meat on them huh? But then again, I guess it makes sense that they'd be here since they're scavengers that eat anything. I am still disappointed though, I would have loved it for the people here to finally be able to eat something.

  Well... I guess Anlaks are not that useless.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "I think I'd like to catch some of these." I told Wardcruncha, hoping he'll get the hint. "They're pretty useful bait for younger aberrants right? These guys are a delicacy to the crayfish."

  "Oh yep, can confirm that one." Wardcruncha nodded, his hands empty because he'd already eaten the food he brought with him. No wonder he's so thin, he gives his food away! "The crayfish like Anlaks because of their bones, which helps them grow healthier shells."

  "Makes sense." And doesn't it? The aberrants do have tough shells.

  "Cudgi likes em too, that's why they have all those teeth, it's to break the bones before swallowing em." Wardcruncha continued, unaware that my expression now looks like I had eaten a slice of lemon. "It's why their faces are so soft, too. Helps protect em when the Anlak is flailing on their face or from sharp bones that might hit their cheeks."

  An exhausted groan came out of my mouth, I didn't need to learn about those birds. I genuinely have no interest in them, they're so ugly that I couldn't care less if that ugliness is a result of evolution. They should stop eating boney fish or something, maybe then they'll look appealing.

  "You look like you don't like Cudgi." Wardcruncha's chuckle sounded amused but I didn't share the sentiment.

  "Yeah, I don't." Memories of my first ever coffin flashed. Not a fun thought. "Honestly they're annoying."

  "I guess so, they do look like they're leering at you while perched don't they? Grin and all."

  "Yep!" I signed in relief, glad that someone finally got what I was trying to say all this time. "It's like they're old men showing you a smile full of teeth, nothing good comes out of it."

  And a grin like that... You'll remember it forever when you see it next to a corpse.

  "Well, enough about them then." Wardcruncha's gaze went to the water, which no longer showed signs of fish breaching the surface. Guess they all left. "You said you wanted to make traps for the fish?"

  "I would have if, you know, they weren't Anlaks." I glared at the water, pissed that the perfect plan in my head went up in smoke seconds after I mentioned it. "You guys can't eat those things."

  "You also said you wanted to catch a few of those?" Wardcruncha sounded thoughtful and I decided to take advantage of it. I had been implying this when I first mentioned it.

  "Yeah, I want to use them as bait to catch young aberrants." There should be a good number of those in the healthier parts of the swamp so making traps dedicated to catching them is a pretty good idea. "Take them down before they can become a threat."

  "Old Kokar used to do that, we always had fresh aberrants when he was still alive." Chuckled Wardcruncha, "it's been a while since we had something like that."

  "Wait, you were already here when the previous [Trapper] was alive?" I blinked in surprise, wondering just how long this man lived. "How old are you?"

  "Old enough." The supposed wizard said vaguely. I know that magic can extend lifespans but... No, there's no way. He must have been young back then, he looked old now but that's normal if a person ages.

  "Right, I guess since I'm the next trapper so I'll also do that." I nodded to myself, happy that my class sounds like it'll actually be profitable. "I’m gonna make sure that the market has fresh aberrant meat every day!"

  "I'll hold you to that." Wardcruncha let out a sigh. "I'll catch you some Anlaks so come back here tomorrow yeah? And I know you're no longer part of the church so you don't have to bring me food. It's not your responsibility."

  "Of course." I lied, I'll bring him food again tomorrow. And all the days after that. "By the way, do you eat bugs?"

  "Not particularly no, I only do it when I'm hungry enough. Why?"

  "Just asking." The plan where I make a bug trap in the forest got scrapped, replaced by something else. "Snails?"

  "Kind of? But they're hard to cook and you don't know what's poisonous or not." Shrugged Wardcruncha, the old man was really making this hard huh? "Rats maybe? I hear rodents are plentiful in the forest, they're large. Too."

  "... I can work with that." I narrowed my eyes as blueprints for rat traps popped into my head. A lot of them were simple and only needed basic bait such as nuts or meat. "Rats huh? I guess it wouldn't be that hard."

  Since I'm planning on placing a lot of traps in the forest, I should probably get myself a cart huh? I know I already planned to do it but I left the idea because I assumed I'd have Howaph's friends help me out in the long run.

  Now though? Yeah, the cart really will be useful. And the ones who will build it will be Howaph and dad, or maybe I'll do it personally since I do have the [Carpenter] sub class.

  "You look like you're in deep thought."

  "Because I am." I shook myself out of my head and smiled at the old man. "I need to go, I'll come back here tomorrow to get those Anlaks you promised me."

  "I expect you too. Goodbye little Rontress."

  "See you!" I waved and turned away from him. On the way out of the pier, I found myself staring at the still water surface. Maybe there's a species of shellfish in the water that I can farm?

  I know clams can sometimes live in rivers, it wouldn't be weird to find them in a swamp as well...