Chapter 44: What the hell is under this river?!
[Gawain and Tristan head into the forest to hunt, while you and the girls go to the riverbank to fish.]
"Not to brag or anything,"
Sitting on a folding chair, Eikou rolled up his sleeves and adjusted the line on his fishing rod,
"When I was younger, I used to fish alone by the riverside, casting bare hooks without bait — people even wrote poems about it afterward!"
"That's clearly the story of Taigong Wang." Baobhan Sith sneered.
"That's not all," he continued rambling, "I'm also a fishing master in JRPGs. Any game that has a fishing feature, I always collect the full fish encyclopedia."
"But this is the real world!"
In front of them was a wide stretch of river, the current surging fiercely. Under the blazing sun, the water sparkled with golden reflections, like crushed gold fragments swirling downstream.
"Three, two, one…"
Eikou and the girls counted down from three, then all cast their lines into the river.
[You begin fishing.]
[Please make a Luck Check.]
A die rolled down.
[Check failed.]
[You feel your fishing rod being pulled down, but when you reel it in, you find the bait has been eaten.]
[You didn't catch any fish.]
"Damn it… the cold's lowering my stats, otherwise I would've succeeded."
Eikou stared at the hook, now with only a bit of bait left, and angrily re-baited it.
"Totally pathetic shrimp, can't even catch a fish ~~"
Baobhan Sith's beautiful face showed a scornful smile, like a proper villainous lady covering her mouth in an exaggeratedly elegant pose just to mock him.
So annoying, this damn Bloodsucking Fairy always finds the worst times to show off!
"This lady will now teach you how to fish properly."
"System, show me the die she's about to roll!" Eikou quickly shouted at the system. "Give this brat a failed roll already!"
[Baobhan Sith makes a Luck Check.]
[Result: E, great success!]
[Baobhan Sith feels the rod get yanked downward, as if something's been caught on the line.]
[She quickly reels it in and finds… an unopened shoebox. She opens it and is shocked to find a pair of exquisitely handcrafted white high heels inside.]
"Woa!"
Baobhan Sith's stunning eyes lit up like a child receiving a gift, her smile as bright as spring sunshine.
With an extremely smug expression, she hugged the high heels and showed them off to Eikou.
"See? I knew I'd fish up something amazing!"
There's no way something like that can be caught fishing! Just admit it, your real name is Cinderella, right?!
"I'm satisfied now. I don't mind if I don't fish anymore…"
Baobhan Sith cradled the high heels in her arms, mumbling with a face full of contentment.
"Don't be satisfied yet, we don't have any food!" Eikou shouted. "Why the hell did you catch that?!"
"Probably someone upstream accidentally dropped the shoebox into the river, and it floated down here," Baobhan Sith replied calmly.
"What kind of bullshit explanation is that…" Eikou sighed.
"Wait, I think something's biting on my side too…"
Barghest suddenly spoke up, her expression serious, quickly reeling in the line with intense focus.
"..."
Eikou had a strange, indescribable premonition and immediately opened the simulated text interface.
[Barghest makes a Luck Check.]
[Result: E, great success!]
[As she reels in the line, she discovers the hook has snagged a pair of rings.]
"..."
Barghest stared intently at the pair of rings she had just fished up, her expression as if deep in thought.
Her face immediately turned bright red.
Eikou thought to himself, How come she also fished up something weird now? Just what the hell is under this river? A path to One Piece or something?!
"I'm satisfied now…"
Barghest smiled gently, clutching the pair of rings tightly in her hands.
What the hell are you all satisfied about? You haven't even caught a single fish, and my stomach is full of nothing but emptiness, got it!!
A while later, the group chat on the phone received a new notification.
Barghest:「Everyone, I just fished up a pair of rings. Is this fate? On the very first day I met a guy who made my heart flutter, I got a pair of rings. Maybe I should take this chance to confess my feelings?」
Barghest:「I… I'm not mentally prepared yet, but the atmosphere right now feels like everything's already in place…」
"..."
Eikou screamed inside: What atmosphere?! There's no such thing right now—what you should be doing is fishing. The guy you like has his head filled with nothing but food at the moment. Unless those rings are made of donut, they won't even move his heart!
[After that, you all continued fishing for a while.]
[Your luck seems to be quite good—fish keep taking the bait.]
"Oh look, it's a wild salmon."
Baobhan Sith reeled in her line while dropping the fish into the water bucket.
"Sasuga watashi, if I want to do it, I just can. Let's have salmon sashimi tonight."
She smiled elegantly, full of pride.
"Wow, that's amazing…" Barghest said admiringly.
"A simple 'wow, that's amazing' isn't going to cut it," Eikou couldn't hold back, "Why is she even able to fish up seafood from this river? How does that even work…"
"It's not that strange. I just caught a Boston lobster."
Barghest smiled and said:
"Very nutritious. I can cook it for Eikou-san to try tonight."
"Not only seafood, but even the place of origin is different now… How the hell did you manage to fish up a Boston lobster from this river? What's buried under this river, a teleportation gate from Lostbelt?!"
Eikou couldn't take it anymore—he had to try fishing for himself!
The river was already this bizarre, so even if he pulled up emergency food AKA Paimon, Eikou wouldn't be surprised anymore.
[Please perform a luck check.]
[Result: E, Great success!]
[You feel something has taken the bait, and it's struggling violently, refusing to be pulled up.]
Shit, a big one's biting!
The fishing rod bent sharply and sank downward, showing just how heavy the catch was—it had to be a super rare fish.
Eikou quickly reeled in, trying to pull it up.
[This fish seems extremely heavy and is resisting fiercely. Forget pulling it up—you're about to be dragged into the water yourself.]
"Don't worry, Eikou-san, I'll help you!"
Barghest shouted, then quickly stepped up and joined him in gripping the rod.
With Barghest's help, Eikou immediately felt things get much easier.
Except behind him, two soft objects were tightly pressing against his back, a sensation that was both soft and unbelievably bouncy.
Eikou's brain overloaded and temporarily shut down from the overwhelming softness. It took him three seconds to realize — THOSE WERE BOOBS!