Alaric used all of the strength in his body to finish the job and reel up the fish.
He contemplated using the harpoon, but that would be overkill, as well as inconvenient for him to use while he was reeling in.
It was sudden, and he didn't have a ton of time to prepare for reeling in.
He was surprised, this was insanely good news.
Now he just had to figure out how good the fish he fished up was.
He brought it over the lip of the boat so it would fully rest inside the ship.
Looking at the fish, he marveled in its strange appearance.
It was a stocky fish, about four feet long, and two feet wide.
Its scales were a deep brown color.
"Shit brown…" Alaric said out loud.
There were meager fins and a dorsal fin on it.
They were disproportionately small, they were about four inches long.
"I don't understand how something like this can even swim…" Alaric thought.
As if to answer his question, the fish started slithering around strangely on the bottom.
It seemed to have some basic mobility on the ground level.
Alaric flipped the fish upside down.
It had a flat, white belly. It was slimy, so it likely produced some kind of slime to slide around on the bottom of the ocean with. That explained how such a fat fish could walk around.
It had small eyes, barely noticeable. The most noticeable feature was its mouth. For a mouth, it had a small, short cylinder sticking out of its face. Its face was flat, almost like the front of a barrel.
The cylinder jutted out about seven inches, and was wide.
There were tightly sealed lips on it that would keep whatever was inside in.
"It's really fat, must mean there's a lot of alcohol inside…" Alaric thought.
He recalled in the story, the brother that fished up the alcohol fish had squeezed it over his head to get alcohol out.
The fish was way to fat, and Alaric was to weak to lift it over his head like that.
The hook and the bait should still be inside, so Alaric would need to open the lips.
Alaric put one arm around one side of the fish, and the other arm around the other.
He then gently squeezed.
As he had hoped, the hatch on the mouth opened up.
Some liquid started to spill out.
Alaric moved quickly, not wanting to waste anything.
He quickly ripped the hook and the bottle out.
Remarkably, the bottle was still intact. It seemed like just the smell of alcohol was enough. Being able to conserve bait like this was a stroke of fortune.
Alaric placed the bottle to the side.
He would need to be careful with how he handled the fish. He quickly put the lips back in place, sealing them. The fish was very fat, so it wouldn't be able to go back into the ocean. It was fully stuck now.
Alaric looked at the liquid that had been left on the ground, and he dipped his finger in it.
It was mostly clear, but it had a slight green tinge to it.
Sucking on his finger, he tasted it.
"Ehh… not very strong…" Alaric thought.
Taking another fingerfull, Alaric came to another conclusion.
"The flavor is pretty good." He lapped up the rest on his finger.
The rat quickly lapped up the rest that was on the floor of the boat.
Despite it not being very strong, it confirmed the identity of the fish.
It was clearly not fish juice of any kind, and it clearly had alcohol content in it.
Then, Alaric came to a realization.
"It's like a keg, it likely has some kind of fermentation process inside its stomach that turns the juice or whatever it is into alcohol over time." Alaric inferred.
This was complete conjecture, but it was reasonable. This was likely true.
Alaric thought about it.
"This won't make me money immediately… like a fine wine, I have to age it." Alaric thought. If he held on to the fish for a long time, and let the insides age, it would become stronger and more flavorful. That would lead to a higher price.
"I wonder if I can fish up more of them… Maybe if I fish up an older one than I'll be able to immediately sell it with its higher alcohol content." Alaric thought.
But he would have to handle the one he had here first.
He looked at the fish again, and noticed something.
It was dying. It needed water.
"Shit… I should have prepared like a fish tank or something for this…." Alaric thought.
He didn't want this fish to go to waste. But he didn't have forever.
The main thing he had gained here was knowledge. He knew how to fish up the fish, so he could likely do it again.
Looking at the sky, Alaric judged how much time he should have left.
"Not long…." Alaric grew worried. He would have to do something with the fish. Bringing it back Alive was something he couldn't do now.
"I'll just take what I can." Alaric decided. Quick choices like this were what separated him from the rest of the shmucks of the world who would just sit, panic and cry.
He took out all of the bottles he had, and emptied them. They were all mid-quality alcohol anyway.
He then took the fish, and squeezed its juices into all of the bottles.
The faint green liquid went into all of the bottles, filling them up.
Alaric then hesitantly threw the fish back into the ocean.
He would come back for it.
The rat scurried around, staring at the bottles.
"No, you can't have any. I'll get you something later." Alaric told the rat.
He put the alcohol back into his bag and started heading back.
Tomorrow he would come up with a solution to his problem.
Alaric began back to the city, ready to get part of his body cut off again.
"Damn." Alaric thought.