<h4>Chapter 270: Magrado Civil War ⑩ Truth with a Bad Aftertaste</h4>
–Aegir POV–
As I lean back into my chair, Celia who is next to me is holding onto the hilt of her sword tightly, nervous enough that you could almost hear it.
Naturally, my Dual Crater is on my hip and my longsword is also nearby.
「Hurry up and tell me. There is no point in calling me here for a private conversation if you’re not going to-」
The silent Baklen suddenly bursts out with words after I speak to him.
「Isn’t this different than what was promised!? For the Royal army toe out to the front lines like this!」
「Anh?」
My head isn’t registering what he’s bringing up all of a sudden.
I look to Celia to see if I was missing something, but she shakes her head with a dubious look on her face.
「I can understand the Goldonian armying to assist with the uprising bingrger in scale than expected, however attacking and invading Karudia goes against what was agreed upon!」
What is this guy saying?
「Wait a second, what are you talking about? Didn’t you start the rebellion because you were seeking independence from Goldonia?」
Baklen looks surprised for a moment when I asked him before he carefully takes out a piece of paper from a thick leather case.
Seeing how his hand is shaking, I can tell that piece of paper is a very important document.
Celia takes the document and spreads it open so I can also see.
「This is-!?」「Mu......」
Celia is astonished and I’m left speechless.
I didn’t even think about this.
「This is a letter from His Majesty Alexandro I himself. “Dunois, The General Governor of Magrado is” ――」
「Quiet. I can read it myself.」
The following document can be summarized as follows:
Goldonia is disappointed that the General Governor could not properly rule over thend of Magrado.
Many people believe Dunois’s behavior is a problem.
If things do not spill over to Goldonia’s maind, the need to overthrow the general governor may be unavoidable.
A new vassal state may be established independently with Baklen as the leader as long as a certain level of tax is paid.
「......I see.」
The seal stamped on the letter is certainly the same one used by the King and it’s unthinkable for it to be fake.
This was without a doubt sent by the King of Goldonia.
「In return for swearing allegiance to the King of Goldonia......」
Baklen continues on, but I ignore him and turn to Celia.
「You have the decree for the expedition we are on, right? Not the one sent by Erich, but the one directly from His Majesty.」
「Y-yes!」
Celia hastily retrieves the document.
I would have torn it up or lost it, which is why I entrusted it to Celia.
Unlike Erich’s letter which contains specific information about army formations, the King’s royal decree contains mostly ceremonial statements and doesn’t have much meaning besides giving me legitimacy and authority as the armymander.
Even if we look back at the sentences, it’s hard to distinguish what is meant by the roundabout manner of speech.
However I do remember Leopolt making a strange face when he saw it the first time.
「......here. Thisst part.」
“Thoroughly annihte the rebels. There is no need forpassion or mercy.”
Eliminating rebels and killing all the ringleaders is an obvious thing to do so there is no need for that instruction to be written down.
The previous sentence was also talking about the dignity of the Kingdom so thisst part is redundant.
The rhyming of the ceremonial parts were also unnatural.
「......Wittmann said it was absurd to hold a private meeting, didn’t he?」
「Yes. He is obviously enraged.」
I look quietly at Baklen.
If the King made some sort of promise with this guy, it doesn’t make sense for him to dispatch us or the Royal army.
If there was a situation where he had no choice but to dispatch troops, he would have let me or Wittmann know.
If that was the case, I would have put the governorate army in front and let Dunois clean up the independent faction.
There should be no need to exhaust the time or money to organize and train the Kingdom’s army.
The decree calling attention to something so specific can only mean one thing.
The King intends to cut this guy off. No, he never intended to pick him up in the first ce.
His goal was just to get him to rebel, even if that mean promising future authority.
「......does anybody else know about this matter?」
「No way! Everyone genuinely believes I desire to be independent. If not, this many feudal lords wouldn’t follow me!」
Yeah, that’s true. If anybody knew of his secret arrangement with the King, nobody would go as far as risking their own lives to follow him.
Only the people here know of this secret.
And it’s one which should not be known by many.
I take the secret letter and hold it up to the light shining in from the window.
「It’s a fake.」
「Huh? There’s no way! The Commissioner of Government Affairs personally brought it to me!」
I chase Baklen’s angry shout from my ear and unsheathe my Dual Crater.
「A mere rebel who uses a replica of the King’s seal deserves certain death. A trial is not required.」
A smile appears on my face. It feels like I’m acting in a poorly-made y.
「Are you telling me he lied!? For the King to spew false statements, how despicable has Goldonia be!!?」
Baklen slowly steps backward and draws the slender de at his hip, then points it at me.
However, the tip of his sword is trembling and I don’t feel any threat from him at all.
「In ce of the King of Goldonia, His Majesty Alexandro I, I will deliver judgement.」
I sneer internally at my own ham acting as I raise my sword up and corner Baklen.
「Aegir-sama, let me do it for you.」
I put my hand on Celia’s shoulder to stop her from drawing her weapon.
This is betrayal and a dirty method at that. I can’t let the cute Celia do something like that.
「P-please! Let me speak with His Majesty Alexandro once more! I’ll swear allegiance to Goldonia! I’ll move the feudal lords as I am told to! So I beg you――」
It’s over, in the King’s eyes you are nothing but a pawn without value.
I mutter quietly to Baklen, whose back is up against the wall.
「Give it up. This is part of fate.」
At the same time, I swing my Dual Crater down into his shoulder.
Baklen’s slender sword snapped without offering any resistance as the de of my sword digs deep into his body.
「Guaaaaaaah!!」
Baklen’s guts spill out on the floor from his shed body as he drops to his knees.
The huge spray of blood dyes my body red.
I thought he died instantly but he still clings to my leg.
I purposely stand still.
「You fiendsss!! I curse Alexandro and Goldonia!! I hope the inferno of hell swallows them up and destroys everythingg!!」
Baklen screams in a pool of his own blood and guts.
With his eyes rolled back until the whites can be seen, he continues screaming in the same way I think a demon from the depths of the earth would sound like.
Eventually, blood fills up his throat and all he could make are gurgling noises before he copses into the messy pile of intestines.
His dying face was warped with so much hatred that even I, who killed countless people, could not look directly at him.
A curse would likely befall anybody who sees him, so Celia can’t look.
When I cover her eyes with my hands, the door opens and M followed by the escort squad rush into the room.
「What was that just now!!? -ghk!? This is......」
「This guy was acting disrespectful. So I cut him down on the spot. That’s all.」
I nce at Baklen’s corpse.
The man’s eyes are dead and stuck wide open.
I don’t know if it was a coincidence or just an inevitability, but he was staring in the direction of Goldonia’s capital.
「M-my dear...... how did this happen!!?」
The screaming woman is Baklen’s wife, I’m guessing.
When she runs in my direction, Gido moves to stand in her way, but I shake my head to call him back.
The most precious man in her life was just killed.
I could at least let her p me once or twice.
Except the woman prostrates herself before me and shouts..
「I-I have nothing to do with my husband! I’m just a powerless woman, how could I disobey my husband!?」
The wife clings to my feet.
「Please have mercy on me, I’m different from my foolish husband. I’ll do anything so I beg of you to spare me!」
What an inexplicable feeling it is to see this woman abandon her husband’s corpse and plead desperately at my feet.
That guy’s daughter also starts begging for her life after seeing what happened just now.
「The judgement for rude behavior only concerns the person in question, the verdict for others will be given outter.」
With that said, I leave the room.
I’ve only been getting unpleasant experiences sinceing to Magrado.
I want this all to end so I can go home.
Making sure nobody else can see, I pass by Leopolt casually before handing him the secret letter.
Leopolt reads it over with an unchanged expression before nodding.
The Next Morning.
All the other nobles aside from Baklen are to be treated as prisoners instead of being executed right away.
That guy’s wife and daughter were also designated as prisoners, but they were treated way better than the other men.
I want to save them somehow.
「You guys better not have done any plundering or raping.」
「Not as an organization. However, with the number of soldiers in the tens of thousands, you never know......」
Dunois nces toward the center of the city.
The soldiers thought to havemitted the crime of rebelling were being hanged there.
Well, you can find these kind of scum anywhere you go. That’s just how things are.
「By the way, what kind of impolite action did that fool Baklen do?」
Dunois asks me with soft yet serious eyes.
It’s creepy how his wide open eyes don’t even twitch but that’s not enough to overpower me.
「He disgraced His Majesty and the Kingdom of Goldonia. Did you want me to be more specific?」
I add a little bit of anger in my tone.
「No thank you.」
Dunois didn’t ask anything else, standing down after bowing once. However his eyes did not once look away from me.
I didn’t mean to cause any disturbance since I’m not suited to deceptionpetitions.
He might have suspected something.
「There were too many unnecessary elements to this war. I just wanted to enjoy myself fighting.」
「That is the duty of amander. In the first ce, it’s strange for one to swing their sword on the front lines.」
Mes over to my side. I stroke her cheek to cheer up.
「Baklen’s death and the fall of Karudia should be a big impact to the Independent faction. I believe they will lose steam in the future, but there may be some who will sacrifice everything to attack us. It’s imperative that we ready our defences in Karudia and prepare for any situation like that.」
I think for a moment before speaking.
「About that...... I actually-」
「More importantly! Can’t you do something about that thing while you’re in the middle of the city?」
Our conversation was interrupted. I guess she’ll find outter.
M points to my crotch, where there is arge bulge in my pants.
「I couldn’t eat any girls all this time. If you’d like, maybe you can have some fun with me?」
「Did you just say you couldn’t eat any girls!? Lord Hardlett had sex with me this morning. Sleeping beside you were Baklen’s wife and his daughter!」
「Hmm. I guess I did embrace them.」
Yesterday night, I had everyone confined to their own homes but Baklen’s wife and daughter snuck into my bedte at night.
Moreover, they came unmistakably not to assassinate me, but walked to my room naked with their hands covering their private parts.
I set up a tent in front of the mansion since I did not feel like using Baklen’s room, yet the two women still came to fawn over me in order to survive, despite the looks of contempt from the servants, soldiers and feudal lords made into prisoners.
As the girls entered the tent, theyy in front of me and offered their bodies in return for their lives to be spared.
Of course I never nned to kill the girls in the first ce, rather I couldn’t refuse the offered bodies after being so pent up from battle.
I didn’t hesitate to pounce on the wife of a little under 40 years old and the daughter of about 20 years old, stretching out their holes to fit my size.
Wanting to hold a memorial for murdering Baklen with my own hands, I conquered the three holes of his wife and child, except I couldn’t get in the mood and the two women fainted before I was able to ejacte.
They stuck out their tongues while squirting love juices and urine, and I assumed fucking them anymore than that would kill them so I tearfully had to end our session there.
「So that’s why you’ve been like that since this morning.」
「......you were hard for the entirety of this morning’s war council too.」
I’m reminded of Leopolt’s cold stare and Wittmann trying to suppress a smile.
Also, it seems the prisoners have gotten a little more obedient.
「T-there’s no way we could have won against a man like that......」
「He’s big so of course he’s going to be strong......」
Fufufu, are they jealous?
「By the way, I haven’t seen Tristantely, where is that idiot cking off?」
「Mm, it’s fine to leave him alone this time. I’m having him do a different job.」
M looks at me with a puzzled expression but doesn’t ask anything more.
「The governorate faction feudal lords’ armies mentioned by Dunois are still heading to Karudia, right?」
「Yes, although it’s been brought up in the war council that they are not needed now that the enemy has been eliminated. They can still be used to maintain order, besides they would get unhappy if we told them to return home after having departed already. Or was it better to order them to go back?」
「No, it’s fine.」
She talked with Leopolt too.
「I thought there was no need to gather arge army of 20 000 in Karudia at this point in time but...... o!」
M lets out a scream after suddenly being brought to her knees.
Apparently Celia tackled her.
「You tricked me again so you can get ahead! M-san, you’re ying dirty!」
「What are you talking about? Didn’t you try to sneak a fast one on me yesterday?」
I hug the shoulders of the arguing girls and put their hands on top of my crotch.
「We still have time. Make peace with each other and then the three of us can have fun together.」
With the two of them as partners, I can release my pent-up stress and ejacte without reservation.
I’m sure plenty will shoot out.
「R-right, I understand.」
「If Aegir-sama says so, I’ll get along and service you together.」
Before we could get to the finale, Leopolt puts a damper on our fun.
「Lady Hyuutia, I have something to discuss with you in regards to future ns, are you free?」
This cold voice unable to read the mood ruins our sweet time.
「Hyuutia...... wait, that’s me. Does it have to be now?」
M puffs out her cheeks unhappily.
Celia smiles, making gestures urging her to go quickly.
「M, it’s better if you go. ......it’s probably something important.」
I can imagine what it is about.
Rather than hearing an exnation from me, she’ll understand better if she heard it from Leopolt.
I’m bad at exining things after all.
「Uuu...... as expected, you’re favoring Celia-san. Is it because you prefer silver pubic hair!? You just love the cute, thin wisps don’t you.」
「What are you saying out loud!!? The soldiers will hear everything!」
「So Celia-san is really trimmed down there......」「She’s methodical too so she probably keeps everything neat and tidy.」
「Don’t listen! I’ll kill you all!」
After the briefmotion, M follows Leopolt with an extremely displeased face while Celia pulls my hand happily into the tent.
Her expression quickly bes serious.
「About ‘that’ matter. Do you think we can make it?」
「Barely. It depends on how far Tristan can take it. ......right now we’ll have to figure something out.」
When I was about to take off my clothes, Celia speaks embarrassingly.
「Um...... could you let me take it off?」
When I see Celia look down shyly after she asks me, I smile unconsciously.
It feels like my worn down heart is being healed.
「Okay, go ahead.」
「Yes, if you would excuse me.」
Celia slowly takes off my shirt.
Then she folds it neatly and moves her hand to my undershirt next.
「It smells like Aegir-sama.」
She rolls it up and rubs her nose gently across my belly button.
I feel her warm breath on my skin and my crotch pulses.
「Nn, nn, chu~」
As she takes off my undershirt, she runs her lips over my stomach, chest and then tiptoes to reach my shoulder.
This is unbearable.
「It’s my turn next!」
「Aahn!」
I make Celia raise both her hands like she’s cheering and take her clothes off, except I leave her thick winter jacket on, leaving just the front undone.
「Aau.」
Her breasts spill out from the opening in front.
She instinctively covers them, but reconsiders and puts her hands down to keep them exposed to me.
They’re notrge enough to have an impact but they’re enough to stir any man’s lust.
「What pretty breasts. Your nipples are tiny and cute too. Also...... fufufu, they’re pink like a child’s.」
I poke her nipples with my finger.
「Haaun!」
The writhing Celia is too cute, I can’t help but hug and kiss her.
The sensation of a man’s chest rubbing against a woman’s breasts brings pleasure to both parties.
「Puha! It feels so good. Aegir-sama, hug me tighter.」
As requested, I wrap my arms tightly around her and repeatedly kiss her with small pecks until I see a change in her chest.
「Fufufu, they’re getting harder.」
When I let go of her body, Celia’s nipples are erect and pointy.
She blushes and bes frantic. I nevertheless bury my face into her chest and take one of her swollen nipples into my mouth, rolling my tongue around them.
I don’t forget to rub the other one with my fingers at the same time
「D-don’t! If you do that-...... aaah...... something incredible is-!」
I let go of her nipple after teasing it for a while and admire how much bigger it has gotten than before.
「Ooh, it’s getting bigger. Not to mention how swollen and red it is,」
「Noooo!」
Celia tries to bring a shirt close to her chest to cover her body. But I’m not going to let you escape.
She turns around and ces her hand on the water jug.
Without dy, I pull her short pants and underwear down at the same time.
「Aaaah......」
I bring my face close to her exposed slit and asshole.
When I take a sniff, Celia wriggles her body like crazy, so I had to hold her waist still before sticking my tongue into her vagina.
「Auuuu! It’s hitting me!」
While pleasuring her vagina with my tongue, my nose pushes against her asshole.
「There, it’s all exposed.」
「Noooo! This is too embarrassing.」
When I spread open her anus with my fingers, she covers her face with both hands and shakes her head in embarrassment.
「I’ll have to spread this hole to fit my size eventually.」
「I’d be happy to let you do so! However, right now...... please make love to my front hole.」
Celia and I smile at each other as I once again put my mouth against her genitals.
With my intense licking and sucking, her crotch quickly overflows and covers my face with juices.
「How does it feel? Does it feel good?」
When she lifts up her face, I see Celia already aroused with an expression like a bitch in heat.
「Haa, haa...... Aegir-sama...... Aegir-sama......」
Her eyes are entranced with me, her mouth is open slovenly and the thick scent of a woman wafts from the cute Celia.
「Oh no!」
I hear a tearing sound.
Celia gets surprised and her expression returns to normal.
「Wh-what was that sound!?」
「My pants tore again.」
My lust-filled cock erges because of Celia’s aroused face and bursts out from my pants.
My dick pops out in the open without me having to take off anything I’m wearing on my lower half.
Celia giggles before kissing the tip softly, then touches my balls.
「Wah, they feel so heavy. Didn’t you y around with some women yesterday?」
「I didn’t manage to cum. I’m pretty backed up.」
Celia carefully rouches my balls with a face full of delight.
「Let’s fix that.」
「Please.」
I push Celia on her back and mount her.
I lift her slender yet toned leg and push my dick against her already moist hole.
She loves the moment when I enter her and smiles back happily at me.
To meet her expectations, I tighten my stomach and expand my dick before slowly pushing myself inside.
「Auu......」
Her usual tight entrance clenches down on the tip of my dick.
I’ll just push through with a little strength here.......
「Agguuu.」
My dick slides deeper into her hole...... finally reaching the end of the tunnel where it feels rougher.
「Haaun!」
Celia twitches. My dick is only halfway in. This is the deepest I can go inside her.
「Does it feel tight? Are you doing alright?」
「It’s creaking...... but I’m fine.」
Whenever I put my dick inside her narrow hole, she always lets out a scream.
「I want you to make my hole looser so it will fit Aegir-sama’s dick easier.」
I’m all for Celia making it easier to insert my dick, though I have mixed feelings about making her hole loose.
When I push my hips against hers to indulge in the pleasure, Celia gives one look at her entrance and asks me for a request.
「Could you move so I can hear it?」
「Make noise? Like this?」
I pull my hips back before swinging them back and forth with emphasized motions, making some resounding pping noises.
「Aaah! D-do more of that please!」
「If you’re happy with that, I’ll do it as much as you want. How about this......?」
I shorten my thrusting motion and focus on rubbing the area close to the entrance where a woman’s weak point is located with my tip.
Celia squeals and bends her body backwards.
「And this......」
I push my hips further inward and knead the back of her canal with my tip.
Celia’s leg stretches and bes taut as she lets out a moan.
「Aren’t you feeling good?」
「Y-yes. I-I am. Except when Aegir-sama bumps against me, it feels like I’m offering my body up to you and...... it’s also threatening to M-san who is peeking.」
I don’t hear thetter of herment, but if she wants more, I’ll give her more.
I m into her with bigger movements, making loud almost obnoxious wet pping sounds.
Celia lets out scream-like moans and twists her body in pleasure.
When I continue rocking my hips for about 30 minutes, Celia’s eventually reaches her limit.
「A-Aegir-sama! You’re too amazing! I can’t think of anything anymore!」
Celia’s face is a mess now.
Drool covers her upright face and her logical eyes are distorted with pleasure.
Her clitoris is engorged with blood and even touching the erect bean slightly makes her moan loudly.
「Is it alright if I don’t make noise anymore?」
「Anything is fine, just make me feel good!」
I give her one kiss before concentrating on her G-spot, making Celia gasp repeatedly until she squirts uncontrobly.
When I hold her shoulder and thrust deeper, her short moans turn into long sighs and her entire body convulses.
She should have climaxed more times than I can count by now, and one more big orgasm should be enough to knock her out.
I want to cum soon too.
「Shall we finish things soon? I’ll send you over the edge too.」
I change position to Celia’s favorite – the seated position where we face each other – and prate deeper into her vagina.
「I have one more request...... will you let me bite your neck?」
「Oi oi, doing that will cause more trouble again. Your hole might tear apart.」
During my time with Lucy, I’ve developed a sexual fetish where getting my neck bitten will instantly bring my pleasure to its peak and erge my dick in an instant.
A girl with arger body would be fine, but it’s dangerous for a girl like Celia.
「I don’t mind. If my hole tears, it’ll fit Aegir-sama’s dick easier the next time.」
「Fine. Tell me when it really hurts though.」
With that said, I make Celia bounce on top of my hips while still sitting.
My meat rod gets harder as it prepares to ejacte eventually starting to twitch.
「Celia, go ahead!」
「Yes!」
Right before cumming, Celia bites down on my neck.
When I feel her teeth digging into my skin and her hot breath on my neck, I’m reminded of my time with the beautiful vampire and my crotch gets hit with lightning.
「Uoooooh!」
「K-kyaa!」
My dick swells up at once and stretches Celia’s vagina.
The stretching quickly reaches its limit but my meat rod doesn’t stop growing in size.
「Hiiiiiiiiih! It’s tearing me aparttt!!」
Celia throws her head back and she shouts with a pained face.
At this rate, her hole will really break.
However I’m nearing my ejaction and once I start releasing my semen, my dick shouldn’t get any bigger.
「I’m gonna cum Celia!」
I grab her breasts with a little force and suck on the nape of her neck.
At the same time, I feel my balls tremble and semen rise up my urethra as I climax.
......or I should have.
「Guwah!」
Instead of pleasure running through my crotch, I feel a dull pain in my balls.
I understood what happened instantly.
「Crap! It’s stuck!」
Too much semen umted in my balls and it became too thick for anything toe out.
If I don’t find some way to release the load, my dick will continue to expand and break Celia from the inside.
「Celia, y with my balls. Grab them tightly.」
「Agugh...... l-like this?」
Celia takes hold of my balls while dripping with cold sweat.
She doesn’t seem to have any time to spare so she doesn’t hesitate to grip pretty hard.
Good on her.
「Oooh.」
I feel the semen get released from my balls and travel up my meat rod.
The base of my dick slowly swells up and I’m sure even those looking from the outside can tell how much seed is stored inside me.
「I’m cumming Celia...... guooh!」
After a short animalistic groan, I spray out my semen.
It was so thick I couldn’t tell if it was fully liquid.
「Agaah!」
Celia surprisingly doesn’t moan and only lets out a short squeal before her limbs stretch out, then remains motionless.
She falls forward and into my chest, passing out on the spot.
「Good night Celia. That was an incredible ejaction. I didn’t even feel it pulse.」
My meat rod didn’t twitch and just erupted like a volcano, expelling all the backed up semen.
In no time, Celia’s stomach intes asrge as a woman in herst month of pregnancy and she lets out a strained groan.
「Woah, gotta make sure not to explode her stomach.」
I quickly pull my dick out of her and then realize something unexpected.
All that semen I released didn’te out.
Celia’s hole has stretched out way more than before because of my erged dick.
Nevertheless, nothinges out...... what’s going on?
「Uu...... it’s stilling out.」
I realize the answer when the remaining semen in my rod sshed onto Celia’s face.
The jelly-like substance falling on her face is slimy and like goop.
The mass of yellowish semen appears thicker than yogurt.
「......so I’ve stored up so much that it’s be almost solid.」
That’s why nothinges flowing out even after I pull my dick out.
「Sorry Celia. But you look happy.」
Celia lets out a subdued moan as she holds her stomach, but she still maintains a smile on her face.
「I’m pregnant......with Aegir-sama’s child. My stomach is big and feels hot......」
I hug Celia as she sleep talks and fall asleep myself.
Incidentally, the semen I pumped in Celia’s stomach didn’te out even after two days, so the soldiers had to treat her like a pregnantdy.
At the same time, a groundless rumor started to circte regarding any woman who sleeps with me ends up getting pregnant for one day.
Protagonist: Aegir Hardlett. 24 years old. Winter.
Status: Goldonia Kingdom Margrave. Great Feudal Lord of Eastern Area. Mountain Legend. Friend of the Dwarves. Friend of the King of Aless. Dragon yer Hero.
Elf Mediator.
Citizens: 175,000. Refugees: 1600
Major Cities – Rafen: 26,000. Lintbloom: 5000. Vandolea Special Town: 9000.
Apanying:
Leopolt (staff officer), Tristan (in construction), Celia (pseudo pregnant), M (bitter tears), Irijina mander)
Gido (escort troops), Christoph (escort troops), Wittmann (Royal army corpsmander), Agor (battalionmander)
Dunois (Magrado Governor General)
Army undermand:
Royal Army – 4th Army Corps: 13 000 men, Governorate Army: 8700 men, Governorate faction feudal lord army: 20 000 men
Escort Squad: 95, Poor Group Vassals: 85
Appointed: Polte (administrator of refugees)
Assets: 19,470 gold (Refugee measures -30)
Sexual Partners: 422, children who have been born: 55 + 555 fish