"Fine." Ren sighed in resignation.
"Yes!"
"Watch me beat all of you." Isolde rubbed her palms together in anticipation. But then she realized that he was acting like a boy again. She should be reserved and a little shy like a girl.
She saw her classmates once when she went with them on a festival in the real world. They were all reserved, letting the boys win prices for them as they cheered them on the side. And when she decided to play, the boys suddenly lost interest seeing at how she almost won everything. She was even called party pooper, mood destroyer, insensitive, and no one invited her ever since.
Isolde coughed between her fist and muttered in a low voice, "I mean . . . I-I'm not good at this. Please be easy on me. Tehehehe."
Leonel had hives.
Ragnar just raised a brow.
And Ren didn't even notice Isolde's acting.
Shelly, the merman, was in charge of the fishing game. His skin was transparent blue, and there were fins in some parts of his body. He was walking on two feet, but his fingers and toes were connected by a webbed similar to a duck feet. Theirs only have a complete set of five fingers and toes.
"The rules are simple," Shelly said. "Within a minute, catch as many fish as you can without the net breaking. The more you catch, the more prizes you'll win. And who knows, you might take home this beautiful golden scale that belonged to no other than Princess Nereid! The most beautiful mermaid alive!"
No one was listening to Shelly as he spoke. While Leonel and Isolde were excited at the game, Ren and Ragnar seemed to have a silent rivalry going on from the way they looked at each other.
"I'll go first!" Leonel rolled his sleeve and basically snatched the net from Shelly's hand. Since he was in his Dwarven form, Shelly gave him a stool to stand on.
With his tongue slipping from his lips, Leonel focused on the fish swimming in the wide tub. With a net in one hand and a bowl on the other to where he would store his caught fish, Leonel stroked the waters lightning fast.
"Aha! Got you!"
The splash he made was as loud as his voice, but the fish that was supposed to be in his bowl was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh? I thought I got it for sure. My net didn't even break."
"It's because it's on my face."
Every eye looked over at Isolde and found a wiggling fish slapping her nose before it jumped back into the tub of water. Isolde's face was dripping wet, and she even spurted a small amount of water from her lips and wiped her eyes with her hands.
"S-sorry!" Leonel panicked, and he wanted to wipe Isolde himself but was too short to do so.
At the side, Ren hid his laughter over his fisted hand while Ragnar looked to the other side while repressing his laughter.
"It's fine. Be careful next time." Isolde grumbled. If it was another, she might have smacked that person on the head. But since Ren was present, she couldn't do that. An aggressive girl isn't cute, after all.
"Sorry. Sorry. I'll be careful this time." Leonel apologized for the tenth time, and when he was about to take his scoop, Shelly interfered.
"Your time is up."
Leonel whipped his head to the NPC. "Huh? Already? I haven't even caught one yet!"
"You're too occupied with apologizing, idiot," Ren said.
"My turn!" Isolde hopped in front of the tub, and her big eyes sparkled like a kid that was getting a present.
At the first mark of the timer, Isolde took his first scoop until she gained momentum and her hands started to blur while her bowl was beginning to be filled with fish.
"Whoa! You're so good at this!" Leonel was impressed. Isolde had such a good aim, but her wrist was as gentle as a feather that she could scoop so many fishes without breaking the thin net.
"Times Up!" Shelly announced. "Wow. Ten fish in one minute. You're the ever first player to do that. You're an amazing lady." Shelly praised.
Isolde stood tall, and it seemed like her nose went longer than usual. "It's nothing. I'm always good at this stuff."
But then her smile dropped when she realized that she was doing it again. What would Ren feel if she caught more fish than him?
He would be embarrassed for sure that he was beaten by a girl! At least, that was how her ex-boyfriend felt.
Oh no! Isolde bit her nail, and her eyes seemed to be going in circles from panic.
But contrary to Isolde's thoughts, Ren wasn't even paying attention to the numbers she caught. He was studying the fish's patterns. Where they go and where they stop every second. Counting in his head to make an outline that he could exploit.
When it was Ragnar's turn, no one expected the man to be good at the game since he seemed the type with a heavy hand that the net would break on his first try.
But contrary to everyone's expectation, the moment that Ragnar positioned himself in front of the tub and stood for his first scoop, his hand went blurred, and his bowl went full within seconds. After his time was up, he stood to the side and brushed his hair back, which created sparkles around him.
Only he was ugly at the moment, so no one was mesmerized.
"Whoa! Ragnar, you caught twelve fish! More than Isolde."
"Ah . . . it was just luck."
But something told everyone that Ragnar was a pro at this game from the pride in his voice.
Isolde fisted her hands and squealed in delight before she breathed easy. Now she wasn't leading.
"Wow, Ragnar. You're handsome, rich, and good at this game. You sure have it all. Is there something that you can't do?" Leonel praised.
While Ren didn't let Ragnar's achievements weigh him down. He stood his ground next to the tub. Using his analysis, he had made mental notes of the fish's position and where they would swim. He was confident that he could store two to three fish in his bowl with just one scoop.
A sweat tickled at the side of Ren's face while his eyes strain on the sea creatures, and when the timer started with a loud ding, his hand moved in a precise and practiced manner as he had envisioned in his head a hundred times.
A splash of sound seemed to stop time, and everything went in slow motion. And another splash signified that the fish was in the bowl of water in his hand.
Ren smirked in triumph, and he scooped and scooped some more without stopping.
And when the timer stopped, Ren released the breath he was holding and happily checked how many fishes he got, only to be turned to stone when there wasn't a single fish in his bowl.
Leonel couldn't hold it any longer, and he doubled over in laughter. "Bwahahaha! Ren, your net got ripped at your first try! I see that you're still bad at this! Ahahaha! I can't–ouch! My aching side!"
Leonel was laughing so hard that he clutched his stomach.
Isolde repressed her laughter with a calm face but failed miserably when her lips trembled and twitched. "Its fine Ren . . . pft . . . no one is . . . good at it . . ."
Ragnar laughed a little. "How can you not notice that your net broke the first time? You look so funny when you thought that you were still catching fish when all you did was scoop air."
Ren burst red, and he looked to the side with clenched teeth. "Whatever! This is just a scam, anyway! Let's go."
Ren went ahead with heavy steps while the others collected their prize. He was embarrassed at his blunder, and there he thought that he had really caught some fish. Only to realize that the splashes he heard were the fish going back to the tub because his net broke.
Even meters apart, Ren still heard the others' laughter while he only rubbed his head.
How could he be so bad at that game?
"Hey, Ren, let's try other games!"
Ren wanted to ignore Leonel, but his pride wouldn't let him back down when Ragnar teased him that he chickened out.
"Fine then!" Ren would redeem himself tonight, and he would show the others that he was only bad at the fish scooping game.
The night raged on with players enjoying themselves with the festivities and games, spending all their gil without thought and worry until COVENANT announced that it would start to update after the fireworks display in an hour –– and Ren still didn't get the chance to redeem his name.
From throwing hoops, shooting arrows, and even playing cards, he lost all of them.
"Ren . . . it seems that you're terrible at games. Or are you just cursed?" Leonel joked.
"Shut up. This is just not my night," Ren grumbled. He even spent a few thousand of gil contrary to what he said that he wouldn't spend a hundred. The game wasn't addicting, but he got hooked on the desire to win after a series of losses.
A/N (Doesn't consume coins)
One more chap before Arc 2 ends. And as you might know, Festival of Gil is a break chapter. Meaning a relaxing chapter before another round of drama and fights break out �🤣
Thank you all for the support! �
Happy weekend!
