Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Cassis was strong against alcohol.
I was starting to feel tipsy even with the help of my skill, but his complexion hadn’t changed at all.
[Irina, your facial muscles.]
‘Ah, was I grinning again?’
[Yep.]
I guess I’m drunk after all.
I rubbed my cheeks and lowered my head for no reason.
After discussing business matters with Cassis, silence had now settled between us.
I was thinking I should go to bed soon, but remembering the quest, I decided to ask first.
“Ah, Cassis. Is it okay if I fish in the lake behind the mansion?”
Cassis might find me a bit strange, but with the inventory at stake, that’s not a problem.
“…Fishing all of a sudden. Yes, you may.”
“Wow! Thank you.”
I nodded my head repeatedly.
Cassis asked with a sour expression.
“Is this for the ice fishing competition you were talking about with Isiel earlier?”
“Yes!”
Although it would be a modest competition with just “Host: Kim Irina / Participant: Isiel Lemiere,” a competition is still a competition, so it should be fine.
“Isn’t that just the two of you fishing?”
“Huh? Did I just say that out loud? And it’s not about the fishing, it’s about the competition, so it’s okay!”
“You’re drunk.”
“Am I?”
I smiled once and then repeatedly opened and closed the quest window.
I could see that the gauge bar of the ‘Steel Liver’ skill visible at the top was over 70% full.
Hmm, I guess I am drunk.
I should go up and sleep soon.
“I guess I am drunk. I should go to bed.”
I took a few more sips of the whiskey that had a watery taste and then set the glass down on the table with a thud.
Cassis naturally put down his glass too and stood up.
He held out his hand to me.
I grabbed the hand in front of me.
He gently pulled me, and I followed him, getting up from my seat and walking.
“My goodness, Cassis is escorting me.”
“Yes, seeing as you didn’t even notice the alcohol turned to water, you seem quite drunk.”
“Huh? I’m not that drunk, just a little tipsy.”
As he led me to my room, I mumbled words I couldn’t remember, and Cassis responded to each of my nonsensical remarks.
So when we arrived at my room, I bowed in gratitude.
Bowing like this is a habit from my previous world, and whenever I drink, my 21st-century persona reflecting traditional values pops out.
“I’m going to host an ice fishing competition tomorrow or the day after, would you like to come too, Cassis?”
“Me?”
“Yes!”
I nodded my head vigorously up and down.
“This is… a secret, but Lord Isiel will be attending too.”
“…Was it a secret?”
“This is also a secret, but I’ll give you scones with cheese and olives as a participation prize!”
It includes premium olives that I personally imported from the Mediterranean!
I don’t even know what I’m saying in front of the door.
I just tried to make eye contact with Cassis, tilting my head back as far as it would go.
“Yes, if you’re inviting me, I’d be happy to attend.”
“Wow! Thank you.”
I raised my hands high to express my gratitude and then returned to my room.
I feel bad to call a maid at this late hour, so I washed up alone, changed my clothes, and snuggled into the cozy bedding.
* * *
Saturday afternoon, after solving various issues including urgent problems that had suddenly arisen, stability finally arrived.
That day when Isiel and I went up to our rooms in a drunken state.
“But was I really that drunk?”
[It was no joke.]
[It wasn’t easy.]
“…I felt fine though.”
[No…]
[You were grinning non-stop, it was something else.]
I shrugged and picked up a scone cooling on the wire rack, splitting it in half.
It split smoothly, looking like it would be delicious.
As I was wrapping each scone individually in thin paper, there was a ‘poof’ sound behind me. When I turned around, the beef stew I had personally prepared in case we got hungry while ice fishing was ready.
With the help of the kitchen maid, we packed the stew, cast a preservation spell, and sealed it.
And so, on Saturday afternoon when we finally had a moment to breathe, the Irina Seike Ice Fishing Competition was successfully held.
[SYSTEM | Ding! Congratulations on holding the ‘Irina Seike Ice Fishing Competition’!]
[SYSTEM | Host: Irina Seike.]
[SYSTEM | Participants: Cassis Luwin, Isiel Lemiere.]
Wearing a winter coat over my dress, I ended up ice fishing on the frozen solid lake with the two young noblemen.
Out of boredom, I also cast a fishing rod and sat back in my chair, swinging my legs.
On either side of me, the Empire’s only Grand Duke and the heir of the currently most prominent ducal family were gripping their fishing rods more earnestly than anyone else.
“Wow… what luxurious participants.”
“Irina, this is my first time fishing in my life.”
“Haha. Mine too.”
“Is this how you do it? I’m not catching anything.”
I picked up the scones I had prepared, pretending to be nonchalant.
“You don’t know either, so you’re trying to cover it up with scones.”
“…Now introducing scones made with premium olives from Levoir, the representative city of the Mediterranean, and Rite cheese.”
As if I was doing an unboxing, I held up the paper-wrapped scone high and slowly unwrapped the paper packaging.
Both Cassis and Isiel were staring at my hand as if they couldn’t believe it.
“Now, when you split this deliciously baked scone in half-“
“Okay, okay.”
“It’s really delicious.”
I split the scone in half and handed one piece to Isiel and the other to Cassis.
“…Do all people from the South have a talent for cooking?”
“I’ll let my baked scones answer that question.”
Hoho.
[Irina, mind your conscience.]
After some time had passed, the system chimed.
[SYSTEM | A certain amount of time has passed since fishing began.]
[SYSTEM | Now starting ‘Fishing’ in earnest.]
“Huh?”
At that moment, Cassis’s fishing rod shook.
“Oh oh?!”
As Cassis clumsily reeled in the fishing line, something came up with it.
And what popped up above the water surface was…
“A shoe?”
“……”
“Wow, Cassis. That’s amazing?”
“Excellent, Your Grace. You’ve caught a wonderful shoe.”
I followed Isiel in teasing Cassis.
After they both turned their attention back to their own fishing rods, I grabbed the shoe that had been put down on the ground.
I tried not to let my hands shake.
‘A sneaker?’
No matter how many times I looked at it, this was a ‘sneaker’.
It was the kind of shoe that could never be found in this world.
Moreover, even the brand logo on the ‘sneaker’ was one I knew well.
With trembling hands, I slowly searched for the system.
‘What is this?’
[Oh my. We’ve been caught.]
[That’s… nothing special.]
‘It’s a sneaker!’
[Yeah. This is the trace of that lake secret thing we mentioned.]
What on earth is this ‘lake secret thing’?
[Well… this is kind of in the realm of the gods, so if I try to explain it, xo8@m! dksㅇ@$oㅏ9 nisk(11*&% kdㅏㅇ^4 exists.]
[It becomes like this.]
The words broke up and couldn’t be transmitted.
As I was swallowing my dry saliva and thinking that I should look into this lake in detail, this time Isiel let out an exclamation, “Oh oh!”
“Wow! It’s huge!”
A long, thin fish as thick as an adult man’s forearm came up, flapping.
I put down the sneaker and moved next to Isiel.
“Hyle, do you know what kind of fish this is?”
“…Although the size is surprisingly large, it looks like a smelt to me.”
Both Cassis and I looked at the ‘smelt’ that Isiel was proudly holding with eyes that said ‘Huh?’. Only Isiel didn’t understand and was lovingly looking at his fish.
“Is the smelt that big?”
The smelt I know is only as big as a finger, but this… was enormous.
Isiel’s assistant, Hyle, nodded with a blank look.
“Yes, it’s my first time seeing such a giant smelt too.”
After that, Cassis and Isiel took turns catching something continuously.
The problem was that the catches weren’t ordinary fish.
All sorts of 21st century Earth items came up.
Nitrogen-packed potato chips in plastic bags came up, something like glasses came up, huge killifish came up… even some ice cream plastic bags came up.
“Shockingly, it’s a salmon.”
“What?”
“Why is salmon caught in the North?”
“No, why is salmon living in this lake in the first place?”
Cassis, Isiel, and I all looked at the flapping ‘salmon’ with bewildered faces.
Word must have spread that we were catching strange things, as Roen joined us and marveled at the ‘salmon’ along with us.
“Cassis, this lake is a bit strange.”
“…I just found out too.”
‘Is there some kind of radioactive material or something?’
Well, that would be troublesome.
[It’s not radioactive…]
Then that’s really fortunate.
I didn’t know that even the fishing system in the game would be… implemented so unrealistically in reality.
I looked around at the things the three of us had fished up.
While Cassis and Isiel were both intrigued by the Earth items, all attention was focused on the ‘salmon’ from the moment it came out of the lake.
“Um, everyone? Shall we wrap this up?”
“Who’s the winner?”
“Lord Isiel is the winner because the ‘salmon’ he caught last is the biggest.”
I said, poking the salmon with my fingertip.
“I’ll make you… anything later.”
“Thanks.”
Somehow, even Isiel looked somewhat worn out and tired.
[SYSTEM | Quest ‘Irina’s Ice Fishing Competition’ has been successfully completed.]
[SYSTEM | Receiving ‘Inventory Skill’.]
[SYSTEM | Expanding ‘Inventory by two slots’.]
An inventory skill item appeared in the familiar system window.
When I checked that item, there were three slots inside.
While everyone else was distracted by the salmon, I grabbed the sneaker, potato chips, and a bundle of Earth trash.
“Can I take these?”
“As you wish.”
“Thank you.”
When I put the two items in the inventory, the three slots were filled.
It seems each item takes up one slot regardless of size.
As everyone was starting to clean up, and the servants were gathering the fish we had caught, Roen shouted, “Oh oh!”
“Something seems to have been caught!”
Cassis’s fishing rod, which hadn’t been retrieved yet, was shaking aimlessly.
Since Cassis had already taken off his gloves, Roen was using all his strength to reel in the fishing line, and other servants were hanging on as well because his strength alone wasn’t enough.
“Looks like something even bigger than the salmon is about to be caught?”
“It seems so.”
A huge fish slowly rose to the surface, and then…
“Wow.”
The enormous object that came up through the small ice hole in the lake was…
“Even fishing up a person. This lake is amazing.”
It was a person.
“It, it seems to be alive!”
Shockingly, it was a living person.
