Chapter 4
Catch a Fish!

Thanks to his accessories, Alexander was able to reach the foot of the Iliasville Mountain Range without much of an issue, in just an half of an hour.

The mountain wasn't particularly tall, he could probably reach the top in a quarter of an hour or so if he was uninterrupted.

However, he was here to find a person, not to do some climbing activity. And while he still has a few hours before the ceremony of baptism begins, he will have to take in consideration that the way of return will be noticeably slower while carrying Hans along.

He must find the missing lumberjack within an hour, at most, and even with the accessories that he has, it will be impossible for him to personally go all over the mountain and find Hans in time. That will take too much time, and it can be quite risky, considering that the mountain is filled with slimes.

Alexander didn't believe that this kidnapping was idealized by everyone in the mountain, but he didn't know how many people were aware of the plan; and the biggest problem wasn't just "How many", but also "Who".

For all that could happen, the very first slime he sees could be one of the kidnappers' friends, and there is no way for him to know which one is with the group.

However, slimes are generally not hostile towards humans, and are mostly… Dumb? Naive? Yeah, naive.

So, he should be able to pull this one plan into motion if the batch of slimes in these mountains still retained those characteristics. But first… He will need some fish.

With a small idea forming up in his mind, Alexander ventured into the mountain without showing any hesitation or fear. And of course, the first thing he saw were slimes.

These slimes took the shape of curvaceous women of varying ages depending on how much mass they were made of.

Normally, a person would question why androgynous and entirely gelatinous species like slimes would take the shape of women, or just take any humanoid shape at all. But nowadays, it was public knowledge that every monster in the world was always a girl, regardless of their species.

Animals can be either boys or girls, plants can be both at once. But as for monsters, they will almost always be girls, with rarely any exception.

This is just how the world worked.

Of course, there were some people who wanted to dig deeper into the matter and made a few theories in that regard, but the general consensus among people was to just ignore the issue and think more about the present.

And thus, Alexander completely ignored them as he walked in the middle of the road that was already paved in front of him.

Even though he was completely visible while standing in the open field and dressed with a whole suit of armor, thanks to the Seal of Nothingness, nobody would be able to notice him. In fact, even when there was a slime girl passing right past him, she simply crawled over his path without taking a single glance in his direction, as if Alexander didn't exist.

These cute and cheerful slimes that were playing and dancing together had no idea that an armed man wearing a scary armor suit just walked past them.

Alexander made sure to get out of the way of some running slimes while climbing the mountain, and after a few minutes of searching around the base of the mountain, he reached a small river surrounded by slimes who were trying to catch their own fishes.

And with that, his destination has become clearer.

Following the river's trail, Alexander climbed the mountain even further. And after ten minutes or so, he managed to reach one of the peaks of the mountain, where a large pond laid on the top like a massive natural basin, which was surrounded by a green and flat landscape.

The river ─ along with the fishes ─ came from this pond, and it is here where his plan will begin.

Alexander's plan consisted of finding a nice and big fish in this place, from where the slime girls' catches come from, and then trading it with a slime girl below for information over some sort of evil plan to kidnap a local human or whatever.

It was a simple plan, and it may have a lot of risks if one heard of it, but it was one that Alexander thought out by remembering some common details over slime girls in general and their childish behavior.

And besides, what are they going to do if they suddenly want to attack him? Chase after him?

Once he made sure that there was no monster standing on this peak, Alexander approached the border of this pond and looked down on it. The pond was unusually crystal clear, which made it easy for him to see the swimming fishes in the water.

Maybe it was because he was still holding his Seal of Nothingness, but the fishes swam around without any care, even when a massive shadow was cast over them.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't find any nice fish in the water right now. They were all small and unimpressive.

He wasn't a fisherman, or something like that, but even he could see that the slime girls below wouldn't like this kind of stuff. What Alexander needs to find is a big fish that can impress anybody.

Alexander put down his spear and dipped the other hand into the water. The peaceful pond rippled as Alexander's dragon-scaled gauntlet entered the water, but the fishes didn't seem to take notice of it as they continued to swim around his hand. However, the ones that did actually touch his hand immediately twisted around and swam away.

That was a good sign. As long as he doesn't physically touch them, Alexander can just take one of them and carry it out. This will greatly shorten the time he will have to spend to find a good fish.

But, if he has to find an actually good one, he can't just wait here on the border of the pond, he must go further inside…

Alexander started to remove his armor, accessories, and his clothes, before hiding them inside a bush nearby. And unsurprisingly for a warrior, his body showed a lean and healthy muscular figure.

One could liken this to the dream body that many men trained for, and together with his long black hair that were being blown by the wind on the mountain, there was also a particular masculine presence surrounding him which would seduce many women, humans or monsters.

But of course, that's not the reason why he stripped; he was naked so that his clothes wouldn't get wet when he goes underwater. So, while holding his Seal of Nothingness, Alexander walked into the water and started to swim into it.

This water was so clear that he could easily see the sandy bottom, with an irregular net of light moving along with the waves, and lots of swimming fishes and water-based plant life.

*Beep!*

'Let's see…' Alexander had a pensive expression on his face as he swam through the water, while looking around for a nice fish.

*Beep!*

Despite being deep in a nest for monsters, he didn't seem to be afraid of anything, because he knew that there was no risk for him around here.

With the Seal of Nothingness, he is almost completely safe as long as he pays attention to his surroundings. And even if there may be other circumstances that he didn't think of beforehand, the probability for any of them to happen would be way too low.

*Beep!*

If there was another kind of monster here, for example, he would have noticed it already; and if he had been followed, he had another accessory that could warn him of any possible ambush…

*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*

Yeah, just like that. Once he becomes a target of a surprise attack that comes with bad intentions, he would be warned by his Alarm Earrings with that sound, blasting on his ears, while their red jewel flickers with a red light…

…Wait a second.

Uh oh, something happened, and that something doesn't seem to be good at all!

What is going to happen right now? Who is trying to ambush Alexander? You'll find out in the next chapter tomorrow!

By the way, I've got no reviews to answer to, so I'll just leave it at here. As always, put the novel among your favorites if you like it, and share your thoughts in the review section if you want to.

See you guys tomorrow!