novelraw Chapter 179: Hoofbeats in the Klein Mountains
Chapter 179: Hoofbeats in the Klein Mountains
The carriage very quickly drove out of the urban area of Saint-Nazareth, beginning to move towards the northeast direction outside Saint-Nazareth city.
The overall topography of Saint-Nazareth was high in the north and low in the south, and from the northern mountain ranges flowed nine rivers that traversed the entirety of the Saint-Nazareth urban area. Seven of those rivers flowed from northwest to south, and only the Klein River and the Balem River flowed from northeast to south.
The elevation of the northeastern peaks was quite a bit lower compared to the northwestern mountain ranges. Behind the Klein Mountains, which were a bit further north from the Klein River, was the massive lake that gave the entire Naris kingdom its name: Lake Naris.
It was mentioned previously that a bit further away from the suburbs of Saint-Nazareth University was the Royal Mausoleum of the Godolin royal family, and the location of that Royal Mausoleum was precisely near Lake Naris.
Beside Lake Naris, which served as the private territory of the royal family, there was not only the Royal Mausoleum of generations of kings, but also the National Treasury Collection Hall, which stored the treasures of the Godolin royal family, and the Royal Library, which stored books.
In ancient times, that place was the national treasury of Naris. Ever since the parliamentary reform weakened the power of the Golden Palace significantly, that place had become a symbolic memorial museum. However, it was rarely open to outsiders, only opening to the public during the New Year or the Godolin Festival.
This year was relatively special, because Godolin IX's life had almost reached its end, and the Golden Palace also had no energy left to hold this kind of event anymore.
Fisher's carriage was exactly driving towards the Klein Mountains. Along the way, it passed by Saint-Nazareth University, and Jasmine sat in the carriage compartment, looking from afar as that university grew increasingly distant. Only when she saw the empty "Southern Continent Demi-human Protection Association" did she retract her gaze absentmindedly, and secretly ran back to the front of the carriage compartment to open a tiny crack, looking at Fisher who was driving the carriage in front.
"Fisher..."
"Mhm?"Behind him, that small animal-like sound rang out, making Fisher shift his gaze slightly to look into her eyes, asking.
"What's wrong?"
Jasmine pursed her lips, and then shook her head and said.
"N-nothing. Just... just, I'm very thankful that Fisher was able to help me this much... I also don't have anything I can give you in return. If it were just me alone, after being kicked out of the school I wouldn't have known what to do. The human world is so complex for me, although I really like staying beside Milika, Isabel, and you."
After listening to this, Fisher quietly turned his head to look at the scenery of the road ahead. The carriage's driving speed wasn't fast, carrying quite a bit of the feeling of taking a stroll within it.
In the distance, the Klein Mountains from which the Klein River flowed had already slowly appeared in his line of sight. It was exactly the time when autumn had just arrived, and there were still quite a few trees full of leaves within the mountain peaks.
"There's no need to thank me. Although it's slightly hard to admit, in fact it's difficult for humanity to have pure do-gooders, and I'm no exception. At first, helping you conceal your identity was to satisfy my personal curiosity regarding demi-human academics. Later on, helping you was because I learned that your aunt could make Relics; that was a craft lost to the world for a long time, and I was extremely interested in it. As for helping you now..."
"Probably because I was enraged by the back-to-back sneak attacks from the old immortal behind the Pink Pavilion, and incidentally, I was bewitched by you, a delicate and beautiful Whale-kin girl."
Hearing Fisher's words, Jasmine, who was hiding in the carriage, instantly blushed. Her ears were already flapping, and her tail just wanted to follow and slap, but suddenly thought of how this was a carriage Fisher had spent quite a bit of money to rent, so it forcibly stopped motionless in mid-air.
Actually, she and Fisher basically shared the same habit of being frugal. Because when she had just come ashore, she possessed absolutely zero concept regarding human currency, relying entirely on the scholarship subsidy from Saint-Nazareth University to eat. Every time she went to the dining hall to eat, she could only eat until she was twenty or thirty percent full.
Now, at Fisher's place, she could eat openly. Although Jasmine had already given all the money Baimu and the others gave her to Fisher as food expenses, the naive Jasmine always doubted whether this little bit of money was truly enough, and whether she needed to eat a bit less and be a bit more frugal.
Holding this kind of superfluous worry, Jasmine also began to worry about expense issues for Fisher.
"Does Fisher think I look pretty?"
That soft question was transmitted through the door that was opened quite a bit more. Jasmine inside had already taken off the cloak draped over her body, allowing Fisher to see her proud figure and her naive, beautiful face.
There was a bit of uncertainty, but her gaze also continuously stared at Fisher, as if wanting him to speak the answer. Thus did Jasmine open her mouth and ask.
"Yes."
"...Hehe."
Just one simple word from Fisher, and she foolishly smiled again. Afterwards, she completely closed the carriage compartment door, and another collision sound came from within the compartment. It was unknown whether it was her tail or body that accidentally bumped into the compartment door.
"We are almost at our destination. Afterwards, my training will be extremely strict. I hope you are prepared."
However, afterwards Fisher's tone became slightly more serious, as if Jasmine had returned to Fisher's classroom.
"Yes, Teacher Fisher!"
Jasmine inside the compartment immediately responded somewhat loudly. However, very quickly, as if she realized something, she softly repeated it again, only this time changing the address from "Teacher Fisher" to "Fisher."
With the carriage rocking, they had very quickly already arrived at the destination Fisher wanted to go to. Before his eyes, beneath the peaks of the Klein Mountains, a river fell from between the mountains, merging into one body at the foot of the mountain, and flowing toward the direction of the Saint-Nazareth urban area.
After Fisher parked the carriage, he undid the reins binding the horses pulling the carriage, tying them to somewhere else where they could eat grass. After confirming there was no one nearby, he let Jasmine out of the carriage.
They continued walking into the mountain for a certain distance, subsequently setting up camp near a small mountain stream. The field of vision here was open. Standing on the edge of the mountain peak's cliff, one could exactly see the flow direction of the Klein River in the distance.
However, observing the condition of the Klein River was not the most important thing. The most important thing now was to let Jasmine, this unstable factor, thoroughly stabilize.
The previous teachings given to Jasmine were entirely carried out in theory. Regarding whether Jasmine could truly master balance, Fisher actually held a skeptical attitude. However, her mother was a talented player, so her daughter shouldn't be too bad either, probably so.
Fisher walked back to the broad woods, gripping his walking stick and opening his mouth to speak to Jasmine in front of him.
"Now, let's test your stability..."
"Mhm!"
Jasmine nodded, looking at Fisher with full concentration. But it was only after she subconsciously responded to Fisher that she tilted her head in confusion and asked.
"Eh? Testing stability, how..."
Before her words were even finished, the walking stick beside Fisher abruptly lit up, and illusory threads and buzzing halos abruptly appeared by his side.
"Crack!"
Without saying a word, he waved his hand toward Jasmine. The Weaver extended along the ground like a whip, slapping toward her while emitting crackling sounds.
"Wuu!"
Jasmine's pupils shrank, subconsciously holding her head and crouching in defense. Afterwards, she stayed perfectly motionless in place, wearing an expression of waiting for death.
Fisher's eyes instantly turned into dead-fish eyes, and the walking stick also pulled the magic away from her. But Bee's Dance and the Weaver still brushed past her body. Feeling the fierce wind and sound generated by the magic's friction, her body trembled even more violently.
Looking at Jasmine's "pitiful, weak, and helpless" appearance, Fisher showed absolutely no mercy, opening his mouth and saying.
"Jasmine."
"Y-yes!"
"What's the meaning of you staying perfectly motionless? Are you waiting for me to use magic to cut your head off?"
"B-but, if it's necessary to fight, I won't be able to control myself... When the time comes, the curse will..."
Fisher, who had already roughly understood the operational state of the Whale-kin's Blessing and Curse, looked at the cowering Jasmine in front of him. Paying zero regard to her excuses, he directly and ruthlessly exposed her.
"You are clear-headed when you enter that state. Fundamentally, it's actually not that you can't control yourself, but that every time you encounter an enemy you feel fear, subconsciously wanting to escape. You yourself said that when the power of the curse is excessive, your Attendant Sea Beast will suffer, and it will lead you to a deadly end. You still want to escape right now. Until when do you intend to wait before being willing to face it yourself?"
"Facing humans you can escape, facing those monsters you can also escape, facing capture you can also escape, so how are you supposed to find your aunt like this? Relying on that curse that will lose control at any time? Or do you want to place all your hopes on my help?"
Fisher's icy reprimand made Jasmine purse her lips uneasily. But this time she didn't open her mouth to echo him again. She wiped the corners of her eyes, directly standing up and assuming a combat stance facing Fisher. One look and it meant she wanted Fisher to do it all over again.
Fisher's teaching words hit the mark. This time, the light on the walking stick lit up anew, and the same magic rushed out again, assaulting towards her.
Fisher's words of reminder took effect. This time she finally no longer foolishly held her head and crouched in defense, but instead struggled to run away and dodge to the side.
Looking at her appearance of running away in the surroundings with somewhat unsteady footsteps while swinging her fishtail, Fisher knew she still hadn't used her full strength.
When the curse manipulated her body in the spatial magic of the Pink Pavilion previously, relying purely on her physical strength she could directly smash the wall of that building into pieces, much less those footsteps that were as fast as swimming in the sea.
Her progress was slow; this was something within Fisher's expectations. Fisher hadn't counted on entirely stimulating her potential with a single paragraph of words, otherwise his training would be utterly meaningless.
Fisher decided to increase the intensity, his fingers pulling the illusory threads to accelerate their assault towards Jasmine. Being just slightly slow in one movement, her whale tail was caught by an illusory thread. She turned around and yanked that illusory thread. Although the force was quite a bit larger than normal, it still didn't reach its peak.
Fisher's gaze shifted slightly. Countless threads extended again, sweeping over from all directions like spreading vines, trapping Jasmine within them at once like a large net.
"Squeak!"
She let out a cute sound as if begging for mercy, but Fisher showed absolutely no mercy. Countless high-speed rotating Bee's Dances cut down trees and stream water like saws, slicing towards her.
Looking at those increasingly closer Bee's Dances, Jasmine was instantly frightened out of her wits. All teachings and balance were entirely tossed to the back of her mind. In a panic, she had no choice but to close her eyes. And in the next second, streaks of ink-like radiance overflowed from her eyes, yet compared to the amount of curse that night, it wasn't much, supposedly still within a normal range. After all, Fisher wasn't as terrifying as the Human-Insects created by the Healing House.
But Jasmine still couldn't hold back the sense of evasion and allowed her body to be dominated by the curse. In the next second, her hair was seen turning black, the softness on the front of her body once again familiarly shrank, and when she opened her eyes again, her ink-like gaze was entirely filled with greedy aggressiveness towards Fisher. One look and it was obvious she wanted to pounce on the human in front of her and drag him back to the sea.
She took a deep breath, blowing the tree branches beside her into a frantic tremble like a whirlpool. Only now was Jasmine truly firing on all cylinders as a Whale-kin, or perhaps, as the prophesied world destroyer.
But exactly like what Fisher said, once she entered this state she would act as if she completely lost her rationality, indiscriminately and involuntarily wildly bombing her surroundings.
Jasmine was just like holding an unparalleled treasured sword. Every time she swung this treasured sword, she wasn't holding the hilt but rather the blade, thereby resulting in injuring the enemy by a thousand while harming herself by eight hundred.
After a mouthful of air was swallowed into her chest cavity, she grabbed Fisher's Weaver at once, reaching out and tearing the Weaver into shreds.
In the next second, Jasmine, having regained her freedom, instantly leaped into mid-air, as graceful and full of a sense of strength as an orca twisting its body and leaping out of the water. Bits of water droplets sprinkled onto Fisher's cheek. In the next second, she plunged down fiercely, crossing the Bee's Dances thrown out by Fisher and pouncing straight toward the man himself.
Her expression was filled with the misaligned feeling of ferocious hunting and courting. Escaping sharp teeth like tiger fangs protruded from the corners of her mouth, and she arrived in front of Fisher in an instant.
Fisher's expression changed. His Dragon-kin-like body fired on all cylinders. He fiercely hurled the walking stick beside him away, and then sank the center of gravity of his entire body, opening his arms horizontally to welcome Jasmine's arrival.
This dance-like action combined with Fisher's calm expression looked like a massive contrast, because this move was absolutely not his own capability.
This was the Demon Combat Method Eliog wrote for Fisher to learn. He had previously practiced it many times in front of her, but she was never satisfied.
Now that she had been gone for a long time, Fisher's degree of understanding regarding these combat methods had also deepened quite a bit, though this was still his first time applying this combat method in reality.
Fisher's eyes were seen shifting slightly. Taking advantage of the instant the opponent drew close, those hands spread open like a dance looped forward, fiercely embracing Jasmine's waist. At the same time, without giving her any opportunity to react, he twisted his waist, turning her upside down to spin a half-circle in mid-air, and then ruthlessly slammed her onto the ground.
"Boom!"
Fisher, who possessed the stamina bonus of a Dragon-kin, executed this move with extremely immense lethal power, instantly smashing a large crater into the ground. Jasmine's whale tail trembled slightly, but that pitch-black curse in her eyes seemed like it had been smashed backward by Fisher, revealing her originally light blue pupils.
This was still Fisher's first time completely using Eliog's combat method. During training, he consistently thought the damned things Eliog wrote were "makeup class materials for a demon dance class." After all, many of the postures on them were extremely bizarre, making it look exactly like dancing. To think using it on the out-of-control Jasmine would actually yield surprisingly good results.
And at this time, Jasmine in the crater had slightly red orbital rims. Facing the mistake of losing control yet again, she didn't quite dare to look directly into Fisher's eyes, only able to open her mouth with some grievance to apologize.
"I-I'm sorry, Teacher Fisher..."
Mhm, it seemed because of this kind of guilt, her address towards him once again became "Teacher Fisher."
Fisher, however, shook his head. Extending a hand toward her, he said.
"Get up. I also didn't expect to make you become balanced in a single attempt; proceeding step by step is fine. But you must know, we don't have much time, you must work even harder..."
"Mhm..."
Fisher supported her up. While explaining, he looked at the afternoon sun in the sky whose light was significantly blocked by tree leaves, having formed some plans in his heart. He turned his head into Jasmine and said.
"Let's go tidy up the camp we live at first. I brought camping tools from home. Later, when it's a bit later, we will go hunting. This way we can also train you a bit. Remember, if we can't catch any prey, there will be no dinner for us tonight..."
Upon hearing that she might have an empty stomach for dinner, Jasmine quite nervously pursed her lips, as if undergoing some massive trial. Consequently, she decisively nodded her head to signify her agreement.
This proactive appearance of hers made Fisher suspect whether he ought to change to another training method. After all, Fisher understood the logic of teaching according to ability. For example, regarding Raphaela, one needed to use the provocative method; could he also use the "providing meat according to Jasmine" method for Jasmine?
Just making a joke. Fisher felt this method couldn't fundamentally improve her personality of fearing and dodging, so he very quickly gave it up.
When it was slightly later, Fisher looked with satisfaction at the camp erected in the woods. This way, their resting place for the next few days was practically done.
Fortunately, recently after the arrival of autumn, it rarely rained in Saint-Nazareth, so there was no need to worry about the camp being submerged by water at night like in summer.
After handling the camp issue, Fisher planned to take Jasmine into the mountains to find some wild animals for dinner.
The ecology near the Klein Mountains was good. Moreover, due to it being close to the Godolin royal family's private territory of Lake Naris, many hunters wouldn't come near here.
Naris had no laws protecting wild animals, but actually, charging into the mountains and forests without ample preparation was very likely to result in losing one's life. Don't even expect the Naris police to come rescue you here; who knew which year and month it would be by the time your corpse was discovered.
Fisher's outdoor exploration ability was very strong. As early as when he was in the Royal Academy, he could already proficiently use firearms. Additionally, researching the unpopular knowledge of demi-humans also required him to read notebooks left behind by various adventurers from the pioneering era, many of which recorded methods on how to survive in the wild. Therefore, Fisher could still be considered richly experienced.
Not to mention he had also smoothly driven a carriage completely through the wilderness of the Southern Continent previously.
Fisher didn't make a move during this hunt; he was merely responsible for looking for traces of prey. As for how to catch it, that was Jasmine's business. Fisher merely followed not far behind her, lest she run into any accidents.
"Mhm, there might be a [Cinhe Wild Boar] ahead. It's a type of wild boar with a large head, a small body, and extremely long fangs. The aggressiveness of this wild boar is quite strong, just right for use as training. He will be our dinner today."
"A wild boar?"
Jasmine had absolutely no specific idea about what creatures on land looked like. At this time, hearing Fisher describe the appearance of that wild beast, the scent of roast chicken appeared in her mind first, and then she became very curious about what the taste of this wild boar was like, and whether it was very delicious.
Waiting after she subconsciously gulped her saliva, she nodded towards Fisher, subsequently running towards that side alone.
Fisher wasn't anxious to follow. Right now they were near the peak of the Klein Mountains. Continuing to look north from this angle, one could see a huge lake quietly lying in front of the mountain range, like a pitch-black pupil gazing at the sky.
That place was none other than Lake Naris, the place where Godolin I dispatched troops. This lake looked like a closed lake, but actually, somewhat further north there was still a river channel extending to the South Ocean, it simply wasn't in the direction of Saint-Nazareth.
Beside the lake, there were golf courses and villas developed for the royal family's vacationing. The Royal Library and the National Treasury Collection Hall were both located here. It was just that they were all closed right now, and there were also quite a few royal soldiers guarding the entrance to the mountain over there.
Seeing that group of soldiers wearing white clothes, Fisher retracted his gaze, slowly keeping up with Jasmine's footsteps up ahead.
Not long after, in front of a patch of trees, Fisher saw Jasmine cautiously looking towards the direction of the bushes in the distance.
Looking further toward those bushes, there was a lean, red, pig-shaped creature about as tall as an adult's knee. At the same time, there was also a lot of wavy white hair on the wild boar's back.
That white shape was exceptionally similar to Schwari's traditional pattern, the [Cinhe Pattern]. Plus, this kind of pig was distributed within the borders of both Naris and Schwari, hence resulting in the name Cinhe Wild Boar.
Jasmine was still quite nervous. Looking at that wild boar's long fangs, she subconsciously felt afraid. But thinking of Fisher's exhortations, she knew she couldn't keep escaping from battles forever, escaping from the things she feared.
She must face it herself.
Jasmine cheered herself up for quite a long time, subsequently lifting up a massive wooden club beside her. Actually, her strength was truly not small. She focusedly stared at that wild boar, not even noticing that she had effortlessly lifted up a wooden club even taller than herself.
Within Fisher's gaze, she slowly lifted the wooden club in her hands, took a deep breath, and then aimed the wooden club at that wild boar, slowly standing up.
"Whoosh!"
Right at the exact instant Jasmine was preparing to lift the wooden club and charge out, a sound tearing through the air instantly struck over.
Fisher's expression changed. Just as he was about to rush to Jasmine's side, that wild boar fell over in response to the sound. When it fell, a tail feather of an arrow had already appeared on its neck. The force of that arrow was so immense, directly piercing completely through the wild boar's neck.
Jasmine instantly fell silent, looking somewhat vigilantly toward the direction that arrow was fired from. One or two seconds later, clear hoofbeats suddenly resounded through the mountains.
Fisher's expression changed slightly, because in the following moment, a familiar person ran towards them from the distance.
That was a female demi-human with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. It was just that compared to the Naris dress she wore when Fisher previously met her, right now she wore the tight-fitting clothes she only wore when running together with Fisher.
She held a curved bow in her hands, and slung across her body was a quiver. One look and it was evident that the arrow from just now was shot by her.
This Centaur demi-human was none other than Xi Yate from the Southern Continent Demi-human Protection Association. She hummed a song and happily ran out from the bushes, and then saw Jasmine, who was still blankly holding the massive wooden club high.
Still thinking she was going to face dog-eat-dog, Xi Yate's expression changed, and her horse hooves also raised high aiming at Jasmine. Concurrently, she also shouted loudly in the Naris language.
"I am the Centaur Xi Yate from the Saint-Nazareth Southern Continent Demi-human Protection Association. This lady, although I don't know what demi-human you are either, but we are not enemies... In the worst case, everyone present gets a share of this wild boar, how about we split it half and half?"