Chapter 2073 About to Lose
When Gaspar released the Green Crystal, the squeezed dead fish gushed out, piling up into a small mountain. Luckily, he took them inside the cabin to release them, otherwise, we wouldn’t have had space to stand on the deck.
The other merchants looked at the dead fish littering the deck and showed their dissatisfaction. Fish were delicious because they were fresh. If they were electrocuted to death, they could only be stored in the cold room, and their taste would be greatly diminished.
Moreover, many of these were ornamental fish, even more valuable breeding fish, and even some fish that had no practical value to humans and that they would usually release when caught. Now, they were all found dead.
This made the merchants feel physically uncomfortable, a sense of waste and pity spreading in their hearts. They disliked Gaspar’s methods.
Merchants were profit-driven, but conversely, if there were no conflicts of interest, they could be relatively easygoing and wouldn’t actively harm things without economic value. This was the so-called “no trade, no killing.”
When valuable things appeared before them, they would think of maximizing their profits. Yet, Gaspar, who could have brought these fish up alive, selected the most valuable group and kept them, instead killed them all for the sake of convenience and speed.
This was the biggest difference between Gaspar and ordinary merchants. Normal merchants pursued profit, but Gaspar did not. His sadism far surpassed his greed, so he preferred to electrocute these fish, alienating him from the other merchants around him.
This made Gaspar’s image very poor in the eyes of the surrounding merchants, but Gaspar ignored their doubts and said proudly, “Count them, I’m afraid I won’t be able to count them later.”
After speaking, he slowly re-tied the green gem to the fishing rod again. Perhaps he thought the advantage was too great, leading Jayad by thousands of fish, making a comeback impossible, so he became unhurried, even starting to mock Jayad.
“Mr. Everson, try to hurry up. If you’re not fast enough, I’ll cast my second line,” Gaspar said with a smile. This duel had no referee, and as long as the witnesses didn’t rule him guilty of fouling, no one could say his results were invalid.
However, the witness was his good friend. Indeed, although Antonio frowned at his fishing method, he said nothing, tacitly acknowledging that this was a legal way of fishing.
This was another common trait of merchants: cold and ruthless. They might have a little sympathy, but it always came after profit and personal relationships.
At this time, Older Brother Jayad had already cast his line five times, and he almost always caught multiple fish with each cast. His most recent catch was a bluefin tuna over three meters long, which was already a dream catch.
In terms of fishing, everyone actually envied Jayad’s bite rate and quantity. But in terms of the duel, purely comparing numbers, no one could surpass Gaspar.
At this moment, Gaspar cast the green gem into the sea again. Strange magical fluctuations were triggered again, and fish schools began to gather and be lured in.
I did my best to control the schools of fish from entering his trap. The enchanted bait I made for Older Brother Jayad had also maximized its fragrance and attraction. Only by doing this could I forcibly prevent the fish schools from being controlled by Gaspar.
This was difficult because the range of the magic apparatus was too large. It would continuously expand its attraction range, luring fish into this area.
Moreover, there were too many fish, and they soon exceeded my control limit. I could only control dozens of fish at a time. He lured hundreds or thousands of fish, and I couldn’t control them all.
Just as I had thought, this was a magic apparatus designed to allow a single person to function as a fishing boat. The fishing rod was actually a robotic arm, the field was a fishing net, and the green gem was like a sonic fish attractor.
Due to my full interference and the fact that he had caught too many in the first round, Gaspar’s second catch was far less than the first, with only about three hundred fish. However, it was still an overwhelming catch compared to normal fishing.
When Gaspar cast his third line, singing could be heard from all around. Five mermaids sang together. Their song contained anger. They were mermaids, and they angrily accused our duel of affecting the marine ecosystem.
“What are they singing?” Fuldamantha asked. Although he couldn’t understand, everyone could feel the anger in the mermaids’ voices, even a hint of sorrow.
“They are protesting Gaspar’s method of luring and fishing, which excessively harms fish and also attracts monsters,” I translated. Actually, I had omitted part of it; the mermaids were also protesting my use of the Gluttony bait, and now they all felt hungry.
At this time, Older Brother Jayad reeled in his line. He didn’t catch any fish this time; he reeled it in voluntarily. He removed the special bait I had made and replaced it with ordinary bait.
“Older Brother, if we do this, we won’t be able to stop Gaspar from catching more fish!” I transmitted mentally. Now, the Gluttony bait was solely responsible for attracting a large school of fish to Older Brother Jayad’s casting position, preventing them from being caught. Once its effect passed, they would also be attracted by the Green Crystal.
“Since the mermaids are protesting, we can’t use this method anymore. Besides, even if we did, we couldn’t make up for the gap Gaspar has created,” Older Brother Jayad said.
“But if you lose, Flame Feather and the others will become Gaspar’s slaves again. Mari and Sandstone are fine, but Flame Feather will definitely be abused by him. Do you have a way to reverse this, Older Brother?” I asked urgently.
“No, I don’t have a good solution for now. I can only try to prevent the fish from being caught by him as much as possible, but the current gap is already insurmountable. I can only apologize to the three of you. I was too impulsive, casually initiating this duel with Gaspar without a sure chance of winning.”
Hearing this, I felt a tremor, as if the sky was about to collapse. In my heart, Older Brother Jayad had unknowingly become an invincible figure, someone omnipotent.
But this time, Older Brother Jayad was truly at a loss. At least now he couldn’t find a way to defeat Gaspar. I knew, my brother and I were connected; he had no other methods, and I knew it clearly.
After casting his line again, Older Brother Jayad, using ordinary bait, still had incredible luck, and his bite rate was still pleasing. However, the schools of fish gradually began to break free from the influence of Gluttony. As soon as they discovered that the new bait was not my special product, they began to writhe, twitch, and become agitated frantically, as if they were experiencing withdrawal.
Then they began to be gradually lured by the Green Crystal and swim towards it. After losing one dependency, they were attracted by another, and I could only watch helplessly.
Older Brother Jayad could do nothing about this and could only sincerely apologize to Flame Feather, Mari, and Sandstone.
