WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Wind and a Cluster of Stars

Chapter 3

──────

Sardines, What Hit the Ship, Evening in Dover

3. Sardines

People usually used flies, worms, or bits of fish as bait when fishing.

The two or three small grasshoppers I had caught that morning, just in case, stayed in my pocket until it was time to use them as bait.

With Zenon at the helm, the Balsa caught a fair wind and moved along at ease, breaking up the flecks of sunlight on the water.

The idle sailors, Amy, and I each held a rod and waited for fish.

"Iyah! I got one!"

Three palm-sized sardines with silver scales came up at once.

Sardines lived in almost any sea and moved in schools, so they were easy to catch.

Amy gutted them right away, sliced the flesh with a knife, dipped it in seawater, then took it back out.

She did that so it would keep better in place of salt.

The nearby currents made good fishing grounds, and river mouths and straits were famous for tasty fish.

The sailors started pulling up more sardines and mackerel one by one, and I managed to catch a fairly large tongue sole too.

I let out a longer line and used a heavier sinker, and that seemed to do the trick.

I liked this fish quite a lot.

If it was fresh, I steamed it right away with a little spice and wine. If that was not practical, I dried it in the sea wind until it turned leathery and used it as an ingredient in fish dishes.

...

The sea route to Dover was not far, and since the voyage was easy, I slowly relaxed too.

I sat in the shade cast by the sail and idly watched strips of fish meat Amy had threaded and hung on the sail rope.

Those strips still wore bits of silver scale and spun in the sea breeze like they were dancing.

For lunch, diligent Amy stir-fried flour in butter over the brazier and made soup.

She sliced in onion and the sardine meat we had caught, then let it simmer. With only a little salt, it tasted surprisingly good.

We all gathered and got one bowl each.

Zenon and the other sailors had lived at sea for a long time, so they must have eaten fish until they were sick of it, but everyone ate quietly. It looked like they liked it quite a bit.

"If we keep going like this, will it take about two hours to reach Dover?"

"Most likely."

Zenon, our navigator, answered in a relaxed voice.

4. What Hit the Ship

At noon, with the sun high overhead, I sat on the bow and watched ships passing by.

The most impressive of them was a clipper.

That sleek ship with four masts was huge and majestic, enough to make the Balsa I was riding look shabby.

"Amy, who rides ships like that?"

"Probably great merchants or powerful figures of a nation."

Long signal flags fluttered from the tip of each mast, and white spray burst at the bow as it cut forward.

When the long clipper passed beside our Balsa, wind rose with the waves.

"Amazing."

"Yeah."

...

Then everything turned quiet again.

Only the small sounds of waves hitting the hull now and then, and the footsteps of sailors moving around, broke the stillness.

Beyond the bow, the sea was so deep that no bottom could be seen, dark as ink.

Above it, a seventeen-year-old girl with curly brown hair looked up at me.

"As you know, this family used to be one of the prestigious houses."

The old butler, his forehead and cheeks full of wrinkles, said that while looking at the mansion's split gable where water seeped in.

But that was only the past.

All that remained now was an old mansion that leaked whenever heavy rain fell, and a small front garden where weeds grew.

-Thud

"Ah."

When it got quiet, too many thoughts came...

Breaking that chain of thoughts, a large object drifting on the current struck the bow.

It was a tangled clump of seaweed.

A few small crabs were riding on top of it, and as soon as that seaweed mass touched our ship, they quickly climbed aboard.

"Well, this worked out."

I heard a voice and turned around. Zenon had tied off the helm and come over.

He grabbed one small crab that had climbed up to the rail, cut off its claw with a knife, and popped it into his mouth.

Then, crunching away, he used a hooked pole to scoop up the seaweed clump and drag it onto the deck.

Soon, dozens of tiny sea creatures appeared across the deck.

The black and blue seaweed pushed in by the waves had brought many creatures with it, from small red crabs to blue shrimp and barnacles.

A few shrimp leaped around, popping iridescent foam in the sunlight.

"What is all this?"

Amy ran over without thinking and ended up stepping on a few unlucky little creatures.

She did not care and picked up several plump shrimp.

"I should put these in tonight's soup."

Zenon, our navigator and boatswain, found something else among them, a fish egg sac about the size of a walnut.

"Captain, try this. This is one of the sea's delicacies."

He tore off half and put it in his mouth without hesitation, then held out the other half to me.

He ate so casually that I followed without thinking and chewed it slowly.

"How is it, Captain?"

"It does not taste like much..."

It really did not taste like much.

The salted fish egg sac smelled strongly of kelp.

After chewing a little, a faint nutty flavor seemed to come through.

But the slimy egg membrane had a slight fishy smell.

"Haha, Captain, you still have a long way to go before you become a true sailor."

...

"Dover is just ahead."

Zenon shouted loudly, ringing the bell.

We had followed the coastline the whole way, so Dover did not stand out at a glance, but I had gone there often from Navigation School because it was close. I could tell by subtle differences in the coastline and by feel.

As we neared the harbor, gulls came into view one by one.

They circled ships with sleek wings tipped in black.

"So now we just have to deliver the salt?"

I stood up from the wooden box I had been sitting on.

On the low rope, sliced sardine flesh spun in the wind as it dried, and the shrimp threaded on string had turned red from the sun's heat and danced this way and that.

"Get out here, boys. Tidy the rigging and get ready to unload!"

When the harbor came into view, Zenon gave orders to the sailors.

I stretched and took a deep breath.

Ships that looked like dots started to appear one by one.

-Ding ding ding

Bells rang from ships passing nearby, and several gulls cried sharply as they began following us.

Near a wooden water bucket set in a corner by me, one lucky red crab that had survived was busily blowing bubbles.

The weather was good.

5. Evening in Dover

-Ding- ding ding

When we arrived at Dover Harbor, the sailors threw the hemp ropes they had prepared in advance onto the dock.

Dock workers caught them and tied them tightly to iron posts so the ship could be moored.

"Do not overdo it. Carry them one at a time."

Amy had the sailors place the salt sacks in an open lot, and the sacks unloaded from the ship were then taken to Dover's trading post.

"Good work. We will head back to London after ten tonight. Rest until then."

Zenon and the sailors would probably go drink their fill at a tavern now.

Amy took a small leather pouch and handed out drinking money little by little.

...

"Let's see... twenty sacks of salt... delivered on time. Not a long distance, but still."

The owner of the trading post signed the Merchants' Guild document I handed over.

Then he placed one gold coin and a few silver coins in my hand as payment for the salt.

"You will receive the reward for this job from the Merchants' Guild."

The trading post workers carried the salt into the warehouse again.

Feeling much lighter, I went with Amy to a nearby restaurant.

Compared to the great city of London, Dover was only a small fishing town, but even so, its inns and restaurants had a decent reputation for cleanliness and taste.

I sat with Amy at a corner table in a dimly lamp-lit restaurant and enjoyed, for a moment, the coziness of that gloomy atmosphere.

"I am tired... somehow."

I rested my cheek on the rough tabletop.

"It is because this is your first time."

"It is raining..."

Leaning forward and looking out the window, I realized rain had started.

With the sound of countless taps on the glass like tiny bird claws, a chill slowly crept in.

A single candle on each table swayed as if trying to drive that chill away.

"Enjoy your meal."

A waitress who looked about my age set down one plate for each of us and a basket.

My portion was yellow rice and fried salted fish caught in nearby waters.

The small basket, woven from supple twigs, held rye bread.

Amy uncorked a wine bottle and poured into my glass.

"Shall we make a toast, Captain?"

"For what?"

"For the big ship we will ride one day."

"Ha, really..."

The wine had aged too long and tasted strongly sour...

But so what.

This was only the beginning...

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