Alaric was back at his home. The first thing he wanted to do was place the fish in the pool.
Alaric tied the boat to the tree he had tied it to earlier, and took the fish off. He had to dunk the fish a couple times in water to revive it along the way.
As he would head back up to the house he would have to dunk the fish in the river a couple times.
Alaric did so. He walked alongside the river and dipped the fish in water a couple times. it seemed to retain water pretty well so it was only a short time.
Eventually he reached back home. as he had thought earlier, he quickly grabbed the fish and put it down the pool.
Alaric watched as he saw the fish sink to the bottom of the six foot deep pool. Alaric did want to check it out later, but for now he wanted it to get used to the pool.
It would be its home for the foreseeable future.
It was already decently late in the day. The sun was setting, so Alaric would have to do his nighttime routine. He started by taking off his extra layers, namely his pelt coat.
Alaric then decided to eat some dinner with the rat. He brought out the bottle of drinking alcohol and poured it out for the rat and himself.
He heated up the soup and had a little out of it as well. At this point, the broth was at maximum flavor.
Alaric decided to feed the fish for the first time too. He bought a large keg of alcohol that he put in bottles for the bait. He filled one of these bottles and dropped it into the pool. Alaric assumed the fish could figure out how to open it and drink out of it. After all, that was what the fish was constructed to do.
Alaric now got ready for bed. He took off his work clothes completely and changed into his set of clothing that he usually slept in.
He quickly went off to sleep. He didn't particularly have poor sleep to the noise.
Alaric woke up with a thought in his mind.
"It would be bad if I got too used to the noise..." Alaric thought. He didn't want to become such a sound sleeper that he wouldn't be able to be warned by an incoming threat.
Alaric dismissed the thought.
Right now, he wanted to check in on his fish.
He looked over the pool, and stared down. It was still there.
"It definitely is a concern having a beast eat it..." Alaric thought. He could definitely imagine a world where the wolves would dive into the hole and eat the fish.
"Should set up something to deter them..." Alaric decided.
He looked around at what he had and landed on a solution.
He got a large stick, and stuck the monkey skull on the end of it.
"A little bit like a scarecrow huh" Alaric thought.
It would be better if he had the skull of something stronger, but it would do for now.
"Plus, if the wolves were to eat the fish, they would die from alcohol poisoning." Alaric thought.
Alaric now wanted to look at the fish.
Alaric got down into the hole and scooped the fish out before climbing out.
He was now able to get a good look.
The fish was about the same thickness as the one he had fished up previously. And the shape was similar too. It was still that round barrel shape.
However, the color was slightly different. This one was a darker shade of brown. It seemed like the fish, along with growing a beard with age, would also grow to a darker color. Alaric examined the beard. It was white, and short. It appeared just under the protruding mouth, and also made a circle around it.
"Let me taste a little bit of the alcohol now." Alaric thought.
He took a bottle out, stuck it in the fish's mouth, and rubbed the sides. Soon enough, a deep green fluid started to come out.
"That's enough!" Alaric said before plugging the mouth shut.
The color of the alcohol this time was a deeper green. Before it was just a faint tint, but this could definitely be described as a green drink.
"That might make it a little more displeasing to customers..." Alaric thought. There weren't many green drinks in the world other than vegetable juices that a small, strange section of society indulged their mouths in. Alaric wasn't part of that section of society.
"It'll be fine as long as it's good." Alaric decided finally before taking a sip.
"Dang!!" Alaric said out loud. It was definitely stronger, and more flavorful. This would definitely sell well given the right audience.
"Alright, go back in the pool and keep fermenting." Alaric said to the fish, who didn't respond.
He pushed the fat fish over back into the pool and saw it sink down and float about at the bottom.
This fish would definitely be valuable.
"Today I'll try to catch a couple more, and then I'll shift to a new fish. I want to get this one down though, it should be good." Alaric thought.¥
He got all of his things ready and headed back to the ship.
The curse was still continuing on the rod, but Alaric still had yet to see any negative side effects.
For now, all he could do was be weary about it.
"When I got this rod, it definitely reset itself. So worst case scenario it becomes bad I just sell it to someone else." Alaric thought. It seemed pretty good, so he wouldn't feel to bad selling it to someone as long as he properly explained the curse.
But Alaric would need some more experience before he would truly understand what the curse entailed.
But for now, Alaric would head back out on the ocean to satisfy his fishing soul.