Chapter Two: An Unknown Trout of My Dreams
Greetings, this is Takanashi Rin.
I’ve finished loading my luggage into the cabin and have started moving.
Yup, the storage space for luggage was also… amazing. I never thought that the storage area would turn into subspace like a certain blue tanuki’s 4th dimensional pocket… I didn’t expect that a fishing rod, tackle box, and a complete set of camping gear would fit in that tiny storage space behind the seats…
Anyway, this car… Campy―because it’s a camping vehicle―I’ve decided to give up trying to comprehend its specs.
Since, you know, I realized after starting up Campy, that it doesn’t need keys or anything! That’s because I’m a skill user! So we’re linked, meaning I can start the engine (?) without a key. It also automatically locks if I move a certain distance away from the vehicle, and unlocks when I approach!
What kind of godly functionality is this?!
And to top it off, it even has a navigation system that can search nearby terrain for you!
What convenient features!
By the way, I’m currently heading toward a small lake not too far away. Even though there’s drinkable water in Campy, don’t you want to secure water when doing outdoor activities? For things like washing, preparing ingredients, cooking in open air, and various other reasons, you know?
And after driving for a while, I realized that Campy’s ride comfort is superb. Due to the cab construction, the driving seat is directly above the tires, which should make the ride quite uncomfortable… but I don’t feel that at all. Instead, it feels more comfortable than the compact car I drove before being thrown over here.
Moreover, despite the high vehicle height and potentially poor balance, I don’t feel any issues with wind, rough roads, or acceleration. It runs more stable than the compact car I drove before.
The Camping Car skill is incredible!
‘We have arrived at the destination area. The navigation is finished.’
“Ah, yes, thank you very much.”
Out of habit, I thanked the navigation before stopping Campy’s engine and getting out to take a look. Before me, there is a large lake, reflecting the blue sky, white clouds, and the densely green forest surrounding it on its calm surface. It seems to have extremely high transparency, allowing me to see aquatic plants swaying at the lake bed and small fish swimming around them with crystal-clear detail.
Suddenly I had an idea, so I opened the Status Window, and sure enough, as expected, or rather, as anticipated… right next to the Status Window, in a separate pop-up, the name of the lake is displayed.
[Rhielle Lake (Water is drinkable)
A small lake in the east of Riessfeld.
Groundwater from the surrounding mountains flows into the lake.
With no settlements nearby, a variety of plants and animals can be seen.]
Huh… So I can see such things…
The description for Survival said, "provides support on both physical and knowledge aspects to adapt to the natural and social environment". So I figured there was some kind of enhancement but… I didn’t expect it to be to such an extent.
Survival is amazing…
Variously sized large and small stones lie around the water’s edge, looking very convenient to sit on or build a simple fire pit. There also seems to be some driftwood, which would be just right for fuel.
With a splashing sound, ripples spread across the water’s surface. Whether it’s the fisherman reflexes ingrained in me, my face turns toward the sound’s origin in an instant.
And appearing from the still water surface with a splash was a silvery fish…! Could it be eating insects flying above water? As my eyes focus on the fish enthusiastically rising to the surface, detailed info appears without even opening the Status Window. I see, so Survival’s detailed display can appear without opening the Status, and can be turned on/off freely…
[Milk trout (Edible: extremely delicious)
A giant trout-type magical creature inhabiting Rhielle Lake. Around this season, they voraciously feed in preparation for breeding.
As the name milk trout suggests, the fish is pure white and has plenty of nutrients and fat stored in its body.
Being a magical creature, it is free of parasites, making it suitable for raw consumption.]
TRO☆UT☆! Trout!
Seriously! There’s trout fishing in this world too!? And they’re not cultivated variety but native wild trout!?
“Yahooooooo! It’s fishing time!”
It cannot be helped. I’m so happy and excited that I can’t think of anything else! Before I even come up with ideas like what kind of fishing rig to use or where the best spot might be, my body is already in motion.
I dash into Campy’s cabin, grab my rod, tackle box, landing net, and stringer from the storage space along with my polarized sunglasses before returning to the water’s edge.
Although I don’t see any outlets, there is one inlet to the right. A small rock at the mouth of that inlet seems to obstruct the flow of water, creating irregular currents.
Fish is still quite actively rising to the surface near that inlet. So, should I go for topwater or focus on the shallows…?
Setting fluorocarbon fishing line on my ultra-light rod, I start with a transparent plug—a type of artificial bait—with which I personally have the highest catch record among topwater plugs.
Winding up, I cast out with all my strength. With a swish sound slicing through the air, the plug flies even farther than I thought!
Slightly beyond the area with lots of surfacing activity, the plug makes a perfect ripple as it goes "plosh" into the water… and right after, the water surface splits, and the transparent plug disappears underwater…!
“No way…! Don’t tell me it got bit right off the bat!?”
I have internally panicked, but my body responds well. Twisting slightly to ensure a solid hooking, I quickly reel in the line.
Bang! And as soon as the rod was weighted down, the line got dragged away with a sizzling sound.
The fish seems to be shaking its head, trying to throw the hook, that feel of erratic pulling resembles rock trout I’d say?
Using the flex of the rod to nudge the fish, reeling it in and letting it run, reeling it in and letting it run… it’s become an endurance battle.
“Uwaa… Could this be quite a big one, perhaps?”
No matter how much I reel, it runs just as much offshore with no sign of coming ashore. But impatience is forbidden. Without rushing, without making a fuss, stay calm… If I wait patiently, it will naturally come closer when it tires!
I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my entire body in response to the fish’s reactions transmitted through the rod.
All or nothing.
My mind is focusing solely on that one thing…!
“Shaahh! Gotchaahh! Milk Trouuuut!”
After what feels like several tens of minutes, though in reality, it might be around a dozen minutes, there’s no line break, no snapping rod, and no slipping away… After a grueling battle, I finally succeeded in landing the milk trout in the net.
“Cooool… it’s white…!”
The body shape closely resembles a trout I often saw at the managed fishing ponds back home. Except it is white. When it comes to white trout, in the managed ponds, there were several albino trout added to make it easy to observe their movements as a group, but those have a yellowish tint, however, this trout is genuinely as white as milk, with black eyes.
It’s probably the largest size I’ve ever caught, hovering around 50 centimeters, and the body’s thickness makes it appear even larger. With the tension released, my heart is pounding and my knees shaking intensely from the relief and excitement.
Well, it’s a bit embarrassing… but, I’ve got to savor this delicious catch now, right?!
After pinning down the violently struggling milk trout, I take my sheath knife which I use as a camping and fishing knife, and swiftly hack off the backbone near the gills and around the tail, then I hook it on a stringer and soak in the lake water.
In the blink of an eye, the area around the fish’s body begins to be tinted with red. It seems like the bleeding process is going smoothly. While the heart is still beating, bleeding is more effective. It’s a bit pitiful in a way, but for the sake of savoring its flavor, quick kill and bleeding are quite crucial… at least, that’s what I believe. I got its precious life, so why not make it taste as good as possible?
While blood is draining, I check the line for damage then cast out again!
I wait a bit until the ripples disappear, and if there’s no response, I will try using a dog walk technique in which you have to create splashes and ripples with lively movements.
“Oh! Another one!”
It’s not right off the bat this time, but it doesn’t take long before the water surface splits again, and a fish takes the bait. The pulling is as strong as ever, and it is running around in all directions, making the drag jiggle, but it is easier to reel in compared to the last one.
Maybe it’s on the smaller side…?
“Or so I thought.”
The fish, now safely in the net, is about 40 centimeters in size but the body thickness makes it look, how to put it, extremely delicious.
After cutting near the head and tail, I hang it on the stringer for bleeding.
Feeling optimistic, I decided to throw a plug for shallow waters this time, and another big one, slightly over 40 centimeters and with a hefty body, took the bait.
…Rhielle Lake is truly amazing. I wonder if all the milk trout in this lake are of such sizes.
I wanna keep fishing!
However, since my motto is "catch and eat," I don’t want to release any! But if I catch more at this size, it’d go to waste!
Ahhh… what a dilemma… a dilemma indeed…
The translator's notes
Although I have never been fishing, I hope I have translated all the terms correctly. But don't hit me hard if I made some mistakes :D
And... now I want to eat some fish...
Decided to wait till this was past the previous translation and honestly I'm glad I had the self restraint. Not I get to binge it all 🥰
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say, this is absurd. I feel spoiled for how much QoL you as the translator have put into this. The popups of character info from personal pronouns, the ability to retain that feature while removing the colored text, and even really good formatting overall. That's without even saying the translation itself is really good. The only nitpick I have is not using the japanese Quotation marks, and that's only because I'm weird and prefer seeing those over the English quotation marks. All in all, thank you
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words. I'm actually planning to add some “Japanese features”. For example, to be able to choose to display “-san” instead of “Mr.”, and to display Japanese punctuation marks instead of English ones. But that's something for the distant future :).
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