Chapter 71

Reincarnated as a Fisherman and a Dad Chapter 71

It had been ten days since Karlos and his family started living in the villa owned by Larry Araneto. They had formed a great relationship with Wanda and the others. However, as much as possible, Maya avoided a certain maid. She didn’t feel comfortable around Claire. Whenever Claire’s eyes lingered too long on Karlos or her voice grew too sweet, Maya’s stomach twisted uneasily.

As days passed, Maya began to feel restless. Doing nothing except caring for the twins made her bones creak. She used to cook, clean, do the laundry, and handle all the household chores. But now that she lived in the villa, almost every task was done by the maids.

Although she admitted that this kind of lifestyle wasn’t bad, she also found it a little boring. She felt relaxed, yes, but having nothing to do made the silence of the big house feel heavy.

Most of the time, she spent her hours visiting the library. She was shocked when she found a bookshelf filled with romance novels, and not the simple ones. The titles alone showed how smutty they were: Tempted by the Hot Sword of the Knight, Sinful Whispers in the Midnight, Velvet Obsession, and many more. Her cheeks burned red just reading the titles. She glanced over her shoulder once, twice, making sure no one saw what she was picking up.

Maya started reading the steamy romance novels, though she eventually found them boring. Almost every love-making scene in the stories was mediocre. In fact, her nights with Karlos were far better than what was described in those books. A mischievous smile crept across her lips as she flipped another page.

Whenever Karlos returned home after his job, Maya would invite him into the bedroom for some “play time.” She entrusted the twins to Wanda, who was always happy to take care of two adorable children. Wanda loved doting on them, and Maya realized that having a maid wasn’t bad at all, someone could entertain the kids while the parents were entertaining each other.

“I’ll leave now.” Karlos changed clothes and kissed Maya’s forehead early in the morning.

“Mm, take care,” the woman replied sleepily before returning to bed. Her voice was soft and hazy.

Karlos left the villa very early, carrying the engine and other belongings. He thought about hiring another person to work with him, but he wasn’t sure if he could afford to pay one. Besides, his boat was only five meters long, very awkward for two people to move around. He scratched the back of his head, imagining two men tripping over each other inside the narrow boat.

‘But for the time being, hiring another person seems suitable. Salmon season is still at its peak, and it will last another month. Even Bluefin Tuna is showing up more at the fish port lately. To maximize the profit, I need someone to help me.'

When he hit the road, it was quiet and dark. Only the lights from the lampposts illuminated some parts of the street. He had to use his flashlight. The air was cold.

When he reached the harbor, it was different. That part of town was lively, much like the beach. But unlike the beach that only had bangkas, the harbor was bustling with big fishing vessels hauling boxes filled with ice. Fishermen were moving everywhere.

“Good morning, Karlos!”

“Good morning.” Karlos smiled and greeted back, raising his hand slightly with his usual calm grin.

The person who called him was the middle-aged man who had prevented him from docking his boat at a better dock a few days ago. Their first impression of each other had been bad, but that changed when the old caretaker spread the story that Karlos was actually living in Araneto’s villa.

Since then, the people had treated him well.

“If someone messes with you, just find us. We’ll handle it.”

Karlos was surprised by the influence that the Araneto name had in this harbor. He hadn’t expected the surname “Araneto” to hold so much weight.

He waved his hand at them and walked farther. The big fishing vessels were docked on concrete, while his small bangka was tied to a wooden platform hundreds of meters away. His boat looked fragile compared to the towering steel vessels.

Once he reached his boat, he set up the engine and untied the rope before starting his sail. The engine sputtered before coming to life, cutting through the sea. The smell of fuel mixed with the ocean breeze as the boat slowly drifted from the dock.

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“Haha, look at that! We caught three Bluefin Tuna today! Three! And they’re all adults! We got lucky! We might even earn half a million pesos today!”

Antonio laughed out loud as porters carried his catch. The Bluefin Tuna had to be taken to the tuna section, where buyers meticulously inspected their quality. As for the other fish, small-time buyers would purchase them on the spot. The air buzzed with excitement and chatter, the smell of fresh fish thick as always.

Most of the fishermen caught King Salmon, and because of that, the price quickly dropped to 451 pesos per kilo. Now that the catch was better than the demand, the price naturally went down.

Even then, some fishermen had no problem earning 50,000 pesos a day. It was still a huge profit. Their laughter echoed through the fish port.

“Hey, what about this? This is a Bluefin Tuna under 72 inches. You guys aren’t allowed to catch this.”

“Yeah,” Antonio sighed. “This small tuna got caught in the net and died. We’re not going to sell it; we’re going to eat it.”

Selling a Bluefin Tuna below 72 inches was illegal in their region. There were many cases where sea creatures got trapped in nets and died. For tuna, they couldn’t breathe if they stopped moving, hence the small tuna’s death.

“What a waste.”

Catching a small Bluefin Tuna was illegal, but stopping such incidents was hard to enforce. No one could stop fishermen from doing whatever they wanted while at sea when no one could see them. Selling a small Bluefin Tuna was illegal, but eating it was fine in the eyes of ordinary fishermen.

Around this time, Karlos also arrived with his boat. He caught sixteen King Salmon and thirty-one spiny lobsters. After the storm, he decided to stop catching crabs for a while. He left five crab traps to maintain his territory in the mangroves but hadn’t visited them in ten days. Instead, he focused on fishing for salmon and catching lobsters.

That was why he had caught thirty-one lobsters today, he had set up ten traps around the island. It was also why he managed to catch sixteen salmon: he had more time to fish. His muscles ached pleasantly, but seeing the stacked lobsters and expensive fish in his boat filled him with quiet pride.

Karlos looked around and noticed several bangkas hauling Bluefin Tuna, which meant that this fish was now active in their region as the temperature continued to drop.

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