Fishing The Lord Of The Lake

On the shore of my team, Team Leopin, as many as fifty fish were flopping about.

Every one of them was a pretty impressive catch, gleaming with rich fat.

Everyone was overjoyed at landing a hit on their very first time fishing.

Meanwhile, on Sir-sensei’s team, student after student was getting tangled up in fishing lines.

Their leader, Sir-sensei, was being pressed hard by Kakerukun.

“Hey, Sir-sensei! They caught fifty fish right away over there!? We’ve got three times as many people, and we even have the latest fishing gear, so how come we still haven’t caught even one fish!? How, how!?”

“I-I mean, Sir hasn’t the faintest idea why fish are biting on those pathetic little branches while we can’t catch anything at all either…? B-bviiiinn!?”

Until I changed jobs to Fisherman, I had been a little intimidated by those flashy rods over there, but now I understood.

Those rods were made for sea fishing, way too overpowered for lake fishing.

The lures were gaudy things modeled after creatures that don’t even live in lakes, and the hooks were thick monsters made for tuna.

“If there’s any fish in this lake that would require something like that, it’d only be the lord of the lake.”

The instant I muttered that, an explosive spray of water burst up in the middle of the lake.

What drew the attention of everyone at the lake was the silhouette of something huge, dancing through the air like a giant shark.

Before I could even wonder what it was, it splashed back down and began swimming around arrogantly, leaving only its sharp dorsal fin above the surface.

“Th-that is…! The lord… of this lake…!”

At those words from someone, Kakerukun’s eyes lit up like a gambler who had just drawn a winning hand of twenty-one.

“The team that catches that lord first wins this ‘Leopin Fishing Match Game’! Okay!?

Catching one giant fish is obviously more impressive than catching lots of small fry like Team Leopin-kun did! That’s just common sense in games, right! Right right!?”

The first to react was Sir-sensei.

“Bviiiiiiin! Sir has been waiting for this moment! The time has come to unleash the ultimate weapon! The finest and biggest fishing rod of all, one forever beyond the reach of failures!”

Sir-sensei hoisted up the gigantic rod leaning against a container, a rod as huge as a streetlamp, and then,

“Bviiiiiiiiiiiii!”

He spun around and around like he was throwing a log, building up centrifugal force.

The point where the lord was swimming was in the center of the lake, a considerable distance away, so a normal throw would never reach it.

“But maybe that thing could reach…!?”

I was an idiot for even thinking that for a second.

“Bviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!!”

With fighting spirit from the pit of his belly, Sir-sensei hurled out the fishing line.

Spoonk!

But he threw the entire fishing rod along with it, and while the rod did reach the place where the lord was, it simply splashed down and sank into the lake.

“B… buhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!?!?”

Sir-sensei let out a scream of utter despair after throwing his ultimate weapon away as lake trash.

By then, I already had my own fishing rod at the ready, my gaze fixed on the center of the lake.

Then I spun once on the spot, and as though I were setting a baby bird free,

…Lightly!

I cast the hook.

Kakerukun spat out a mocking remark.

“Kakakakaka! There’s no way that pathetic little hook is going to reach with that weird way of throwing it! No waaayyyyyyy!?”

Kakerukun’s jeering laughter turned into a scream.

Because I had activated the Fisherman special skill, Fishing Technique: Spring Haze.

The hook floated through the air like a drifting dandelion seed, and more than a hundred meters away, it fluttered down onto the center of the lake like a flower petal.

The very next instant, the lord of the lake swallowed it whole.

“It’s hooked!”

The moment I shouted that, I was hit by a violent pull, so powerful it felt as though my entire body were being sucked in.

I braced myself with both legs on instinct and endured it.

Monaka and Kotone came toward me as if to help, crying, “Leo-kun!” and “Master!” but I stopped them with my voice. “Don’t touch it!”

“This is a one-on-one fight between me and that thing…!”

My heart had already become that of a solitary angler, wandering in search of a serious contest with a fish.

The line was stretched to its utmost limit, and the rod had bent into a U-shape, as if it might snap in half at any moment.

I raised the rod’s durability with Fishing Technique: Autumn Moon, then activated Fishing Technique: Winter Wither as well.

Still holding the rod, I turned my back to the lake and hunched my body up as though I were struggling forward through a blizzard and walls of heavy snow.

…Ggggggggggh…!

If I let my guard down even for a moment, a shock would hit me that felt as if I’d be dragged in at once and have both my bones and the rod shattered to pieces.

The lake, which had been calm until then, transformed completely, lashed everywhere by stormlike waves rising from the center.

At that dreadful power, that scene like a natural catastrophe, screams broke out all around.

My fishing rod was something I’d made from an ordinary branch and an ordinary vine.

Compared to Sir-sensei’s finest luxury rod, it was nothing but a stick.

But I believed…!

That what I had made was the greatest stick in the world…!

And I was feeling a numbing thrill at this battle with my very first true worthy opponent as an angler.

You’re pretty good, lord of the lake…!

My skill versus your power—which one is superior, let’s settle it…!

But into that pure contest cut an uncouth thunderous noise.

…Dobabababababa!

When I looked up sharply, the shutters of the warehouse on the opposite shore of the lake were opening, and a military boat was bursting out from inside.

Mounted on its bow were three ballistas, and seated at them were the three stooges… no, the teachers.

“Bviiiiiiin! Well, what do you think, you loser!? This is Sir’s true true ultimate weapon! With this, something like the lord of the forest is no challenge at alllll!!”

“Amazing, amazing, amaaazing! With this, it’s basically a guaranteed win, right! Right!? Leopin-kun loses! Loses!”

“In any gamble, it’s always the dealer who wins in the end!”

Kakerukun was in wild high spirits, and even the vice principal, who usually kept a poker face, had a faint flush in her cheeks.

The military boat had tremendous impact, and even the students on Sir-sensei’s team were getting wildly excited.

Having my contest with the lord interfered with made me furious.

The teachers intended to pierce the lord with the ballistas and capture it.

At that point, it wasn’t even a fishing contest anymore.

“At least wait until I finish my contest with the lord…!”

But the teachers had no such sense of morals.

They delightedly fired the ballistas straight at the lord, who had stopped moving because I was in the middle of reeling it in.

Pierced through the torso by three spears, the lord rampaged violently, spraying blood like a whale’s spout.

The instant I saw that, something inside me snapped.

I activated the Dexterous Body skill of Jack-of-All-Trades.

I poured everything I had into Strength.

And without a moment’s delay, I activated the Fisherman skill Fishing Technique: Summer Crossing.

…Mekimekimekiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!

Something made a creaking sound.

I didn’t know whether it was me, the rod, the lord, or even the military boat making that sound.

I no longer cared about something like that.

I roared with the intent to smash everything apart.

“You goddamn bastarddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd!!!!”

…DOOOOON, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNN!!!!

With that thunderous roar, the entire lake swelled up like a mountain.

The spray that shot high into the sky came raining down all around like a sudden shower.

I swung the rod through as though I were shouldering a whale, as though I were ripping a divine tree out by the roots.

The lord flew over my head and slammed into the ground like a crashing magic airplane, smashing down trees one after another with loud cracking noises.

The chains attached to the ballista spears stretched to their absolute limit, and when they still didn’t come loose, they capsized the boat along with them.

…DOOOOPAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

Thrown out from the overturned boat, the three stooges were tossed about by the rough waves, floundering and drowning.