Alaric now decided to continue fishing.
The curse would likely have some obvious effect down the line, so it would be something that he would be able to deal with later.
For now, Alaric attached a bottle to the end of the rod again, and cast it out into the ocean,
Once again, Alaric returned to waiting. There was a certain amount of time investment required.
Despite this, Alaric was relatively happy.
"From what I know, for some things being fished up it can take much longer. The process seems pretty repeatable for me, at least for this fish."
Alaric had had decent luck fishing at this point.
He had two fish secured, and was on track to get a few more.
At this pace, it would turn out to be decently profitable.
"The problem in the future is going to be scaling the business up. I can't take care of let's say 100 fish at once at this point. I'm going to have to hire people and get better facilities." Alaric thought.
The crappy pool would work for now, but in the long term it wouldn't stand the test of time.
Especially regarding the ever present concern of wolves or monkeys going into it and eating his money.
Alaric waited, a couple hours had passed. Still nothing.
This was to be expected.
"Yesterday I only caught one, so even if I just leave with the one that will be fine." Alaric thought. He was greedy, but not unreasonable.
Yet, he continued fishing, and his waiting paid off somewhat.
He heard the signature choking sound, as well as the weight at the end of the line.
"Huh, feels a little lighter this time." Alaric thought.
Alaric reeled it in anyways.
At the end of the line, was a small drunkard fish, It seemed to be a child. It had no facial hair to speak of, and it was of a tan color.
"Might only be a couple years old." Alaric thought looking at the fish.
It still had the barrel shape that the other fish had, so it was definitely a drunkard fish.
"I'll take it anyways." Alaric said before taking the bottle out of the mouth and plugging it back up. He threw it into the bucket along with the standard one.
Alaric continued his original routine by looking at his fishing rod.
As he thought, the curse had developed. It turned darker, and the spikes became longer. Alaric no longer wanted to run his hand over the rod. The spikes were still small but they would definitely prick his hand. At this point they were similar to thorns that could be found on a standard rose.
"I think I have a general idea about the curse now." Alaric thought.
"It's definitely something related to fishing luck. As I've fished up more fish I've gotten less lucky each time. It either takes longer for me to fish them up, or they are a worse quality fish." Alaric thought.
"I wonder how much it's affecting my luck though. I still may be in the positives in luck, and. What I am experiencing now in fishing is still better than the standard." Alaric had little experience with Esoteric Fishing, so he had little to go off of regarding what the baseline was for luck.
"I'll just get a standard rod when I get back to the city to reset my luck. But for now it should be fine. I'm still fishing up what I'm looking for." As far as Alaric could tell, the curse wasn't that bad.
"Still should be weary, there might be something I'm missing with the curse." Alaric was still not completely sure about the nature of the curse.
"Tiberius rated the curse six out of ten, so I'll just see how it develops. I see no reason to stop using it right now." Alaric, now having an increased comprehension regarding the nature of the curse was able to move on with more confidence.
Alaric, now having two fish decided to head back to the house. It was getting reasonably late so it would be fine to make his way back home.
Looking into the sky, it was beginning to be more orange.
It took a short while to reach the shore. Once he was at the shore, he tied the boat up, let the rat rest on his shoulder, and he took the bucket.
The fish were both decently heavy, so it wouldn't be extremely easy to carry them up. Alaric expected maybe a forty minute walk.
On his walk, Alaric scanned the woods beside him. He couldn't get complacent with his safety. There was always risk involved in living here.
Crack
Alaric suddenly heard the faint sound of a branch snapping in the forest. It was the forest that would contain wolves.
Alaric tried to be as quiet as he could. It seemed that the rat was on the same page as him, as it also stopped moving.
Step Step Step
There were now the sounds of footsteps. Alaric could clearly hear the wolf now.
Judging from the sound of the feet, it was likely a decently powerful wolf.
Then, Alaric saw it. It was a four headed wolf. It had a large build, almost like a longer version of a bear. It had four heads on different parts of the body. It had one head where one would typically expect one, as well as two at the midpoint of its body.
The fourth head was facing backwards and was on top of the back of the wolf.
Alaric didn't exactly understand the utility of all of the heads, but it was a clear signifier of the power of the wolf.
The more heads there were, the more dangerous the beast.
The most Alaric had ever heard of someone encountering was a six headed wolf. Things didn't end well for that person. They returned with no limbs, as well as a report of a hill being completely destroyed.
The hill was a reasonably sized hill.
Anyways, there would be no way for Alaric to kill this wolf. Even with the cooperation of the rat. He just had to stay silent and try to wait out the wolf.