Barghest's hands wrapped tightly around his body, her full, pale figure pressed close against his own. Ei's heart immediately raced.
"This is a crucial moment, don't let go, Ei-kun!" Barghest sternly warned, her voice turning into a sweet, hot breath in his ear. Even without trying to smell it, he could perceive the Knight Princess's intoxicating natural fragrance.
Although Ei had always considered Barghest feminine, only by being this close did he directly feel the intensity of her female charm.
"Focus more, don't let the big fish get away!" Barghest insisted.
"It doesn't matter, I'm already satisfied..." he murmured, feeling the soft, elastic sensation against his back.
"? What are you satisfied with? Haven't we failed to reel in the fish yet?" she asked, puzzled.
[This big fish has great strength and is struggling fiercely.]
[Please perform a Strength Contest check.]
Two dice fall simultaneously. One is the die rolled by the big fish. The other is the die rolled by him.
[The opponent's roll is EX. Your combined roll with Barghest is B. The contest fails.]
"No good! I'm using an inspiration die to re-roll!" Ei shouted, pulling hard on the fishing rod.
I can't handle a Servant, but I can't handle a fish either? he thought. With Barghest pressed so close to me, how can I be embarrassed in front of her? But seriously, if the two of them combined couldn't handle it, what the heck was hiding under the water?
[You use an inspiration die to re-roll.]
[You use the skills 'Hero Creation (E)', 'Charisma (B)', and 'Protection of the Lake (E)'. Your and Barghest's Strength rank has increased.]
The two dice fall again.
[The opponent's roll is B. Your combined roll with Barghest is A. The contest succeeds.]
[Your combined strength prevails. Gathering all your might, you pull the wildly struggling big fish out of the water in one go.]
Splash!
In that instant, water sprayed everywhere, refracting dazzling rainbows in the sunlight. A blond man wearing a wetsuit was dramatically pulled up on the end of the fishing rod.
Wow, a stylish man dripping with water!
The man then crashed straight onto the riverbank, motionless.
"..."
At this point, Ei wouldn't be surprised even if he caught a scuba diver. He and Barghest exchanged looks, then decided to approach and examine the situation. They carefully turned the diver over.
"...It's a wild Fionn mac Cumhaill." Ei pulled out a fishing spear, ready to deliver the final blow. "Does this thing have high nutritional value?"
"Wait, wait... Ei-kun, he's clearly not food," Barghest said, wiping her drool.
You're drooling! You look hungrier than I am!
The wetsuit-clad Finn was already waking up. Startled by the two people menacingly holding a spear, he quickly scrambled to his feet and backed away.
"Wait up, you two!" Finn quickly raised his hands in a defensive posture. "I admit my drenched figure is quite tempting, but I am still your homeroom teacher! Eating your homeroom teacher would be highly inappropriate!"
"So, why were you scuba diving in the river, Director? Did you join some kind of occasional-diving drinking club?" Ei asked.
"Alas, I was worried about you all," Finn explained with a concerned look, pulling out a bag slung behind him, filled with various kinds of seafood. "We say it's outdoor instruction, but we were worried you really wouldn't be able to find food, so I was diving into the river and placing items one by one onto your hooks!"
"...You're actually pretty nice." Ei realized. Fearing the children wouldn't eat well, he even prepared Boston lobsters. No wonder they caught so much seafood in one river.
"Director, we can understand you putting salmon and lobster on our hooks, but why did you put rings and high heels on them?"
"What high heels and rings?" Finn countered, looking bewildered.
"Huh? It wasn't you?" Ei was taken aback. He looked at the rings and high heels in their hands. Then where did these things come from? Is this river some kind of gift production line?
Just then, two more objects floated into the river. One was a muscular blond man, and the other was a well-built red-haired man. Both were only wearing their underwear.
Ei let out a casual laugh. "Haha, this river really has everything... It's even starting to float gorillas and chickens (tori)! Everyone, we can eat! We'll have game meat."
"No," Barghest pointed out seriously, "those are clearly Sir Gawain and Sir Tristan."
Ei sighed, swung his fishing rod, and hooked the two half-dead Round Table Knights out of the water.
"Explain yourselves. Why are you in the river... Wait, why are you only half-naked in the river? Is this another punishment round from some group mixer game?"
"It's hard to say. We were bullied by monkeys," Gawain said, looking ashamed.
"Did you play Black Myth: Wukong while I was gone?"
"What Black Myth? We were bullied by the monkeys in the mountain," Tristan said, plucking at his non-existent harp strings. "We encountered a demonic boar stuck in the mud on the mountain. To keep our clothes from getting dirty, we stripped completely. But in the blink of an eye, a group of demonic apes in the mountain stole all our clothes. My harp and Sir Gawain's Galatine were also stolen."
"Then we chased them, but we fell into the apes' trap and were thrown into the river. Based on my analysis, these creatures are habitual offenders; they've been causing trouble on this mountain for a long time, often tossing stolen goods into the river."
"Oh..." Ei realized. No wonder this river has everything! It was all the work of these demonic apes!
Wait a minute, does that mean my ingredients were stolen by them, too?
A single die suddenly fell.
[Please perform an Agility check.]
[Check succeeds.]
[You notice a slight movement behind you. The sound is faint, but you keenly catch it. You suddenly turn your head and see a group of furtive demonic apes. They were trying to fish the catch out of your bucket while you were talking!]
Both Ei and the demonic apes froze. About one second later, Ei suddenly charged forward.
"Hey, you thieves! Stop right there!"