CH 2

Chapter 2 : Searching for the Unknown Trout in My Dream

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Good day, reader-san.

This is Takanashi Rin speaking.

Currently I’m loading my luggage into the cabin to prepare for my departure.

Yeah.

Somehow the space to store my luggage is kind of….. Amazing…..

Who would’ve thought this storage space has a similar subspace to a 4 dimensional pocket of a certain blue tanuki…….

T/N: Doraemon

Who would’ve thought I could fit in my fishing rod, tackle box and all of my camping gear in a storage space located behind the driver seat…..

Somehow… I already…. This car… Mo-chan(because he’s a motorhouse)… I’ve given up on trying to think about anything related to Mo-chan’s specifications!

Because you know, when I was about to start Mo-chan up, I found out that… Mo-chan doesn’t even need a key!!

Why? Because this skill belongs to me!

That makes me basically linked to Mo-cha so I can start the engine(?) without using a key.

When I go a certain distance away from the car, the car will lock itself and vice versa, if I go near the car until a certain distance, the car will unlock itself.

What’s with this godly skill?!

Furthermore, this car also comes with a navigation system, it can give me information of the nearby terrain.

What a convenient function!

By the way, it seems there’s a small lake not far from the direction I’m heading at.

Although I have access to drinking water, as I thought, you’d still want to ensure you have a source of water when doing outdoor activity, right?

Like for washing, cooking and even getting your own food!

There’s a lot of benefit in being near water.

Also, after driving for a while, I finally noticed that Mo-chan is really comfortable to ride.

Because of the general structure of a camping car where the driver’s seat is located right on top of the tire, the driving experience usually feels so uncomfortable but that’s not the case with Mo-chan.

In fact, Mo-chan is more comfortable than the kei-car I used to drive back before I was sent into this world.

Kei-car (軽自動車), a japanese small car.

Furthermore, because of how high this vehicle is, I thought the balance would be bad.

Like I thought this vehicle would be bad with wind and bumpy roads or couldn’t move fast but once again, that’s not the case with Mo-chan at all.

Really, Mo-chan is more stable compared to the kei-car I used to drive back then.

Motorhome skill, you’re amazing!!

『You’ve arrived at your destination. The navigation is finished.』

“Ah, okay. Thank you.”

I thanked the navigator out of habit, then I turned off Mo-chan’s engine and descended down from the driver’s seat to take a look outside.

Before my eyes, there was a large lage surrounded by dense, green forest along with a clear blue sky with white clouds.

The calm water surface reflected the surrounding scenery like a glimmering mirror.

The water was so incredibly clear, I could even see the aquatic plant swaying along with the water’s current and some small fishes playing around it. 

A sudden thought came to my mind and so, I opened the status window…. 

I knew it, I already knew it.

There was the name of the lake displayed on a side window, located beside the status window. 

【Rielle Lake (safe to drink)

A small lake located east of Reesevelt.

The groundwater from nearby mountains gushes out throughout the area.

There are no nearby human settlements so a wide variety of flora and fauna can be seen here. 

】

Yeah. I see. I can see it…..

Just like what 【Survival】explained.

『This skill will provide support in the form of information to ensure the user’s survival by adapting in both physical environment and social environment.

』

I was wondering what kind of compensation it’d give me but I never expected it’d help me to this extent…..

Survival-san is really amazing….

On the edge of the water, rocks in various sizes were scattered all around which seemed to be a convenient place to set up a kamado.

Kamado, a traditional Japanese wood- or charcoal-fueled cook stove.

There were also some driftwood laying around, it looked perfect to use as a fuel to light up the kamado…..

Suddenly, a splash could be heard and the water rippled along with it.

Perhaps, because the spirit of a fisherman was deeply ingrained in me, my head immediately turned around to the direction of the sound.

From beneath the calm water, a silver fish jumped out, breaking through the water…!

Upon closer look, the fish were rising from beneath the water enthusiastically, they might be preying on the insects hopping on the water’s surface. 

The details of those fish were also displayed on a status window.

【Milk Trout (Edible : Extremely Delicious)

A magical giant trout native to Rielle Lake. They’re preparing for a breeding season at this time of the year and so they’re more likely to eat the bait. As the name implies, their flesh is milky white and has plenty of nutritions and fat. Since they’re a magical creature, they have no parasites and are safe to eat.

】

TRO☆UT☆

TROUT!!

TROUTTTTT!!!

For real?! I can go fish trout in this world too?!

Huh?? Really?!

And not an area trout but a native trout to boot?!

Trout Area Fishing : It’s like.. A fishing place where you can only do ‘catch and release’ using harmless equipment. Basically it seems the fish in there are only used for sport and the breed of the fish is limited.

“Huahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Fishing!! Heaven!!!”

Somehow, I’m so happy, I’m so excited, I already can’t think of anything else!!!

Things like what should I do first, the place to put my set…. Before I can think of all those things, my body is already moving first!

I ran toward Mo-chan and jumped into the cabin.

From the storage space, I took out my rod, tackle box, landing net and stringers. 

After making sure I got them all in my hand, I put on my polarized sunglasses and headed back to the water.

I don’t know the outlet of the water here but I could see the inlet of the river on the right side.

There were small rocks near the exit of the inlet, those rocks divided the water and made irregular flows.

The rise of the water near the inlet was pretty high, currently the water was still actively rising.

I wonder if that means I should aim for topwater or shallow water…?

First I’ll take this ultra weight rod with a fluorocarbon set and attach a topwater plug, a lure that looks like a fake bait which has the best track record in catching fish and then I will attach this clearplug.

After the rod is set, I will throw it as far as I can.

With a swoosh, the plug went flying into the sky. 

Ooooh! It went better than I expected!

It went a little deeper into the active water’s rise.

The plug splash landed on the water, creating a nice ripple….. But just when I thought about how nice it had landed, the clearplug broke the water’s surface and plopped underwater.

“Are you kidding me?! I got one already?!”

While I was panicking from the inside, my body already moved accordingly.

I made sure I was hooking properly by twisting my body a little and reeling it up fast.

Thud!

Something heavy pulled the rod back, the line got dragged away with a ringing sound

In between the intervals, I could feel a slight tug, like the fish were tugging the bait away with their head.

I think this kind of pattern is similar to a rock trout?

While using the flexibility of the rod to parry the fish, I waited and then reeled, waited then reeled… It was like an endurance battle. 

“Nonononono…. This… This fish must be pretty big, right?!”

No matter how much I reeled and reeled, the fish kept on going farther away into the lake.

The fish showed no sign of getting tired at all….

But, I mustn’t be hasty.

Don’t rush it, don’t panic, be calm…..  The fish will become tired eventually…!

I could feel adrenaline rushing through me as the fish’s reaction was transmitted through the rod I gripped.

All or nothing.

That was the only thing I could focus on……

“Yeeeeeeeshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Milk trout! I gotchu!!!”

Physically it felt like quite a long time had passed by but actually it only took several minutes to catch the fish.

Without the line breaking, without the rod breaking, the fish’s mouth didn’t get dismembered as well….

After struggling to death, I could finally put the milk trout in my landing net. 

“Oooooooooohhhhhh….! S-so white….!”

From the appearance alone, it looked exactly like the 『trout』I used to fish in a fishing place but it was really, really white.

Talking about white trout, I remembered the fishing place often put an albino trout to be able to see the movement of the fish better but the whiteness of this trout was different from the albino trout.

The albino trout was white with a hint of yellow but this milk trout… It was really milky white, just like the name implied and the eyes were really black.

The size was about 50 cm and it was the largest trout I ever catched. 

This trout looked even bigger than it should because of how fat the trout was.

After being released from the tension, relief surged forward, my heart was still beating wildly and my knees were shaking.

Well… I felt bad but…! For the sake of having delicious thing, I must prevail…!

I pinned down the flapping milk trout and with a sheath knife that I used as both a camping and fishing knife, I made a cut around the gills and the backbone of the fish near its tail.

After that with a thud, I made a piercing, hooked the fish on a string and let the fish soak in the lake.

In the blink of an eye, the surrounding area near the fish was painted in red. 

Seemed like the blood draining was going all right.

It was easier to drain its blood while the heart was still beating after all.

I felt a little bad for the fish but for the fish to taste more delicious, it was crucial to drain the blood immediately.

Since I was granted the fish’s life, wouldn’t it be better to make sure the fish will taste more delicious?

While the blood was drained, I decided to check the damage on the line and threw my cast off once again!

I waited for the ripples to disappear completely and if there wasn’t any response, try moving the rod in a walk the dog technique…

T/N: Walk the dog is a legit fishing technique, damn the author really did her homework.

“Ahhhh! There it is!!”

The bait didn’t drop down like it did before but the water still made quite a splash.

The pull was as strong as the previous fish but the dragging of the line felt so much lighter.

Maybe this fish is smaller than the previous one?

“…..Or so I thought but I got another milk trout.”

The fish that I had just put into the net was about 40 cm long and the body was very thick too.

How do I say it… This fish… It looks… Incredibly good!

I also cut the spinal cord near the tail and hooked it up on the string to let the blood drained out.

Feeling good, this time I put on a shallow plug type and threw the cast away.

The fish that bit on my bait was about 40cm long and had a very fat body too!

…….Rielle Lake… You’re so amazing… Don’t tell me all the milk trout in this lake are about this size..?!

I want to fish!!

……..My motto is to catch and eat, I don’t want to release the fish I got.

But… If I got another fish this size, I wouldn’t be able to finish them all!

There will be leftovers!

Aaaaaaaaaahhhh….. I’m in a bind…… I’m totally in a binddddd ahhhhhhhh…..

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T/N: You know what, I think I’m going to drop this novel. At first I thought there would be a lot of cooking and some camping but turns out there’s so many fishing techniques mentioned here! It’s too much for a city girl who never held a live fish like me…. 

Dear foodie novel, I hope you will get a new daddy/momma soon!