novelraw Chapter 151: The Situation in the Trench
Chapter 151: The Situation in the Trench
"I forgot to ask before, what race of Demi-Human are you?"
In order to prevent others from hearing his conversation with Jasmine, Fisher reached out and closed all the doors and windows. Incidentally, he hung a 'Do Not Disturb' sign at the doorway.
Fortunately, the soundproofing here was very good. People outside the door couldn't hear the people inside the office speaking. Saint-Nazareth University was, after all, funded by the Nari Pioneering Company. Whatever materials used were all the best of the best. Otherwise, it wouldn't have given the Pink Pavilion the opportunity to enter the university's interior through the pipes.
Fisher first asked like this, considering it a warm-up before researching. Today, Fisher didn't plan to specifically research the biological properties of the Whale-kin. He only wanted to roughly clarify her purpose for coming ashore and her plans for entering this university first.
After experiencing several instances of research, Fisher was already quite proficient, understanding what proceeding step by step meant... That guy Eliog was an accident. Her age should be older than his, and her way of doing things was also extremely direct. There was nothing to be polite about. Speaking of which, it actually felt like he had been swindled out of his body.
Whereas treating Jasmine, Fisher planned to be somewhat more careful. Firstly, it was because she was genuinely somewhat pure, and Fisher didn't intend to deceive an ignorant girl. Another point was because, after all, he had done something excessive to her previously. Whether emotionally or logically, he ought to take more care of her.
"I-I am a Whale-person."
"Whale-person? Are Whale-people what other Ocean Demi-Humans call the [Royal Family]?"
"Eh?"
At first, Jasmine still wondered why Fisher knew about the Royal Family at the bottom of the sea. But she quickly realized that Fisher had previously come into contact with Reinar. Knowing some matters at the bottom of the sea wasn't surprising either."Mn, but those are all just everybody's traditional appellation for us. We've never called ourselves this way... However, everybody seems to really like us. Every once in a while, they will throw a lot of food down to give to us, hehe."
Hm?
Throw food?
Fisher suddenly thought of what Reinar had said before. Every year, many Ocean Demi-Humans would head to the vicinity of the trench to offer sacrifices to Ramastia. The specific method was to throw a lot of fish and whatnot into the trench as Sacrifices...
As a result, Ramastia didn't get to eat it, and it was all fed to those Whale-people lying in the trench?
Suddenly knowing an incredible truth, Fisher incidentally associated it—then this group of Whale-people ordinarily didn't go out to forage for food, and only ate one meal a year?
No wonder Jasmine was like a starved ghost right after coming ashore. After slowly converging with the three-meals-a-day human schedule, she started eating and eating. She probably didn't gain weight because she was too hungry before?
Looking at Jasmine, who was sitting in place smiling sillily, Fisher ultimately didn't open his mouth to remind her that the other Demi-Humans were giving that food to Ramastia. In any case, the other Demi-Humans all respectfully addressed them as the Royal Family. The difference between giving it to a Deity and giving it to the Royal Family probably wasn't great.
"So, the reason you are called the Royal Family has a very deep connection with your Deity, Ramastia?"
"Mn. In the entire ocean, only the Whale-kin can hear Lord Ramastia's voice. We frequently converse with Lord Ramastia, living right in the trench above Lord Ramastia's Divine Temple. His and my relationship is very good; he frequently gifts me a lot of food."
As Fisher pondered, the golden text on the Demi-Human Completion Handbook spread out on the table rapidly danced about, wholly recording the knowledge he obtained in his mind.
Regarding the society of the Whale-kin, Fisher roughly had a basic understanding. Firstly, the population of Whale-people was exceedingly small. All of them resided within the trench in the depths of the ocean, keeping company with Ramastia.
But Jasmine hadn't seen Lord Ramastia's true body. She stated that only her own mother had seen what Lord Ramastia's true body looked like. She had only been to Ramastia's Divine Temple.
That Divine Temple was in the depths right within the middle of the ocean. Jasmine said that there was no water surrounding Lord Ramastia's Divine Temple; it had no differences from being on land.
In order to better describe what that Divine Temple looked like, Jasmine, who wasn't adept at speaking, proposed using a Pen to draw it for Fisher. Very quickly, a quick sketch appeared in Fisher's eyes.
Within the black and white picture, a bizarre building appeared in Fisher's eyes.
That was a Divine Temple with a completely different style. It seemed as though it was naturally constructed, yet also seemed like a creation chiseled out by a certain civilization. The entirety was inlaid atop a stone wall, whilst also protruding out a considerable distance from the stone wall.
That Divine Temple wasn't built by the Whale-kin. As early as before they were born, it had already stood towering here for god knows how many years.
The entire Divine Temple was brimming with a magnificent aura. Carved upon it were numerous stone carvings with unknown meanings, akin to a picture composed of chaotic and disorderly chaos, fundamentally incapable of being analyzed for useful information.
The entirety of the Divine Temple hung upside down at the top of an exceptionally massive Abyss. And then beside it hung down many long black veils of unknown material. According to Jasmine's description, that Divine Temple was at least a hundred meters wide. The long black veils hung straight down toward the bottomless core of the earth; their specific length was unknown.
And Ramastia's main body was right at the end of those long black veils. But reaching there wasn't something ordinary people could accomplish. For thousands upon hundreds of years, only a single person arrived before the Deity jointly believed in by all ocean-dwelling lifeforms. That was Jasmine's mother.
Speaking of this, she was rather proud. Sounding it out, that was indeed a great occurrence. But her mother had never revealed to anyone what exactly Lord Ramastia looked like, seemingly in order to not blaspheme Him.
Fisher guessed this might be the reason why Jasmine and Ramastia had a very good relationship. According to what she said, in the entire Whale-kin, only she and her mother could summon Ramastia at any time through the water currents.
"Is it like this..."
After all, the Mother Goddess believed in by humans didn't exist. He also had no way to imagine what kind of feeling it was to live atop a Deity's head.
According to Jasmine, Ramastia had never left the place He resided. On the contrary, He super liked talking. Other races couldn't hear Ramastia's voice; only the Whale-kin could hear it. Therefore, He frequently argued with the Whale-kin so much that they couldn't sleep.
However, Jasmine's mother was very smart. She came up with a method. If you didn't want Lord Ramastia to bother you, then pretend to be asleep and play dead.
If He saw you were asleep and didn't respond to Him, He would silently leave to bother the next Whale-person.
This method was exceptionally useful. Currently, He was frequently bored and was already preparing to go plague the other Demi-Humans outside the trench. It was just that they fundamentally couldn't hear what Lord Ramastia was saying...
Hearing Jasmine's description, even Fisher could be amused by that affable Deity. It seemed that Deity didn't put on any airs. But if He was called a Deity, there were definitely His special points. Fisher had already seen Him transform a human appearance for Jasmine before. The previous matters were merely a manifestation of His affinity for Life.
Fisher still remembered His honorable title: Origin of Life, God of a Hundred Faces. This proved He possessed an inseparable association with Life.
If a Deity creature akin to Ramastia existed in this world, then would the other Deities exist?
For instance, the Dragon God traditionally worshipped by the Dragon-kin [Fafnir]. Or for another instance, the Deity Frost Phoenix worshipped by the living creatures of the Northern Border [Nephiramui]. Or for another instance...
The Mother Goddess worshipped by humans.
Fisher didn't continue his train of thought. Instead, he continued asking,
"So, for what reason did you come to the land?"
"Wu, my mother told me to come deliver a letter to a human. Furthermore, to go find my Aunt Muxi and have me bring her back to the sea."
Deliver a letter? To a human even? Was there already a human with a connection to an Ocean Demi-Human?
Moreover, based on Jasmine's previous words, Fisher guessed her mother's position within the Whale-kin, and even the entire ocean, wasn't low either. After all, the sole Whale-kin who could directly face a Deity sounded exactly like a legend in itself. Yet right now, there was actually a human who had a connection with her mother.
"Where was the letter sent to?"
"I-I also don't know. Mother gave me a [Blood Origin Positioning Magic] that could directly deliver the letter into the hands of the human she was looking for. Mother didn't want to let me show my face in front of humans, so she specially requested Lord Ramastia to grant me a blessing, letting me transform into a human appearance."
"But I know that it seems there was a person who borrowed a Relic from my mother. They agreed that by the time of his 35th birthday, he would return it to my mother. My mother writing the letter was to wish that human a happy 34th birthday. There's still one year until the agreed time for return. When the time comes, it will be my mother personally coming over to fulfill the promise and retrieve the Relic."
After hearing this, Fisher raised an eyebrow, wearing an extremely astonished expression.
"So it's like this. Then what's the matter with looking for your aunt? Is your aunt also on the land?"
"Mn!"
After hearing of this matter, Jasmine pursed her lips and spoke with quite a bit of worry,
"My mother and Aunt both like to leave the seabed to travel outside. Otherwise, Mother wouldn't have loaned the Relic she carried on her person to a human during the course of her journey. Aunt is much younger than Mother in years, but she likes going out to play very, very much. She even knows how to make Relics. When I was small, she gave me many Relics."
To think there was still a lifeform in this world that could craft Relics. Fisher originally thought the craftsmanship for crafting Relics had already been lost to time. If her aunt knew how to do it, he wondered if he could learn that lost technique from her?
"But Aunt hasn't returned to the trench for a year already. Although she frequently mailed things back to the trench through big sea crabs before, my mother is very worried about her, so she told me to come ashore and call her back home. I hold no malice toward humans. After finding Aunt, I will leave the land and return to the ocean. Though... I will come back from time to time to look up you, Milika, and the others to play."
Fisher's Pen moved as fast as flying, recording many situations relating to their Whale-kin. He also had a rough understanding regarding the situation at the bottom of the sea.
Just as Jasmine said, she only came up in order to look for her relatives. Fisher also didn't doubt that she was deceiving him. She basically revealed nearly everything to him.
Including the fact that her Nari Language was gifted to her by Ramastia. Otherwise, she wouldn't have learned this language in such a short amount of time. And also, that night when he encountered her, it was indeed her. Her purpose at the time was to go out and use magic to mail the letter to that human who had an agreement with her mother.
All of this and more, Fisher first recorded all of them down. However, after finishing asking about her purpose, Fisher then no longer continued recording.
Firstly, it was because the time was already approaching evening. Secondly, it was because he could clearly feel the Jasmine before his eyes getting hungrier the more she spoke. She was continuously swallowing saliva, not knowing what delicious food she was thinking of.
Fisher smiled wordlessly. He threw a glance at that Whale-kin Society Research Progress which had already arrived at 16%. This progress was considered quite satisfactory. Thus, he stood up and said,
"We will stop here for today. I believe your words are completely genuine. If it is in order to search for your relatives, you can share the info with me. I will see if I can be of any help... I will treat you to an evening meal tonight, counting as an apology for the previous matters."
Fisher was already keeping his mouth shut regarding the promise to treat her to meals at any time during the semester. After eating a meal with her at the Magic Market last time, if he treated her a few more times, he would become the most undignified gentleman in Saint-Nazareth...
Jasmine's eyes slightly lit up, wearing an extremely delighted expression. But very quickly, she remembered what Fisher was apologizing for.
With a ruddy face, she touched her own lips. Subsequently, she nodded in a small voice to agree,
"Mn!"