novelraw Chapter 214: Mastermind Behind the Scenes
Chapter 214: Mastermind Behind the Scenes
The ground above vibrated slightly as Fisher, Eliog, and the others passed together through the large door in front of the treasury. Because of the slight vibrations of the ground, everything from Black and Muxi's past uncontrollably tumbled down, scattering all over the floor, tossed aside casually as if it were worthless trash.
When Fisher passed by here again, he felt a few extra touches of superfluous sentiment.
Beside him, Eliog effortlessly hoisted Jasmine onto her shoulder. That posture was truly as casual as it could get. Originally, Fisher wanted to speak up and remind her to watch her posture, but an inexplicable intuition told Fisher that expressing concern for Jasmine at this moment would be very bad. From Eliog's current action of not letting him touch Jasmine, one could deduce a thing or two.
Thinking up to this point, Fisher still didn't open his mouth. They walked all the way into the room where he and Jasmine had descended earlier. A reverse transmission magic was designed there; in the past, Black and Muxi must have also returned to the surface from here.
Fisher checked the condition of the magic. Fortunately, the magic here wasn't damaged because of the battle just now.
"The transmission magic is still intact, we can go up from here..."
Eliog cast a glance at the surroundings, and subsequently put down the Jasmine on her shoulder. Looking at Fisher before her eyes, she said,
"Then you take this little Whale-kin girlfriend and leave, aww. I still have to set out from here to return to the Abyss. Agreas will very likely come to pick me up..."
"In such a hurry?"
"If you want to blame someone, blame that bastard Agreas. But no need to miss me too much, aww. If one day you return to the Southern Continent, we will meet again..."Eliog lazily blinked at Fisher. That casual yet charming female demon was the true Eliog.
But as he listened, Fisher suddenly felt a bit guilty.
The Southern Continent huh...
As he spoke, he suddenly thought of a certain arrogant, sun-like red Dragon-kin figure in the Southern Continent. If one day in the future he returned to the Southern Continent, it was hard to say he wouldn't meet Raphaela again. If at that time Eliog and Raphaela met simultaneously...
"What's wrong?"
Eliog looked at the lost in thought Fisher, asking doubtfully like so.
Fisher, however, smiled and shook his head, only then making a response,
"Nothing, just thought of some matters regarding the aftermath... Have a safe journey."
"Just this?"
"Just this."
Eliog curled the corners of her mouth, her tail rising slightly. She reached out anew, grabbing the neck of the Fisher before her eyes, pulling his head closer to herself.
Subsequently, Eliog's flaming lips, teeth, and fragrance approached Fisher anew. But this time, the kiss was very short, merely like stopping after a brief attempt or leaving behind a mark.
The body of the nearby Xi Yate trembled. She suddenly discovered a certain essence of Fisher, feeling it was necessary to say something.
But in the next second, she silently cast a glance at Jasmine sleeping on the ground, and then cast a glance at the imposingly powerful Eliog before her eyes...
Ultimately, reason overcame conscience; Xi Yate chose to say not a single word.
Jasmine oh Jasmine, I'm truly sorry, it's not that Teacher Xi Yate is too cowardly, it's that even if I told you now you wouldn't know... sorry, sorry.
After that kiss, the "gurgle gurgle" sound of bubbling magma was emitted from within Eliog's body anew. Satisfied, she reached out and pressed Fisher's chest, while her tail also stood up and pointed at him,
"Copping a feel one last time before leaving, aww. Thanks for the treat... protect yourself well, and properly practice the combat methods I gave you, they are highly useful. Also, keep the Death Rune safe..."
"I know."
She had already walked out quite a few steps and waved at Fisher standing within the magic. As a result, as if suddenly remembering something again, after first letting out a yawn, she reached out and pressed her lower abdomen, smiling wickedly at Fisher,
"Right, it didn't take last time, no little demon, what a pity... keep up the good work next time, aww, Mr. Fisher."
"..."
This demon...
The nearby Xi Yate was completely baffled, unable to decipher the encrypted conversation between her and Fisher. But Fisher indeed knew what she was talking about. With a face covered in black lines, he sighed, interrupting this unsuitable-for-children conversation, and directly activated the transmission magic to return to the surface.
"Eliog, take care."
Eliog leaned against the door of the treasury, no longer joking whatsoever, merely yawning and waving at Fisher. Subsequently, that familiar magic transmitted anew. Along with the generation of a feeling of weightlessness, a dazzling split of brilliant colors abruptly burst forth before Fisher's eyes.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
Those dense splits of brilliant colors shuttled before Fisher's body. They experienced the situation of out-of-control gravity once again, except compared to when they came down, this time they first felt overweight and subsequently weightless; it was exactly the opposite.
Before long, Fisher, Xi Yate, and the others appeared anew within the messy library. The ground inside the library was completely covered in cracks, and books were casually scattered on the floor.
After Fisher and the others returned anew to the surface, the restlessness of Saint-Nazareth city in the distance also became increasingly obvious. Obviously, the monster Anna transformed into had already intruded into the urban area.
They also had to hurry over quickly.
Without hesitation, Fisher hoisted Jasmine onto his back. Preparing to turn around and call Xi Yate to keep up, he only then abruptly discovered many bite wounds had appeared on Xi Yate's body. They must have been left behind when fighting those Human-Insects. Earlier, it was too dim inside the treasury, so Fisher hadn't been able to notice.
Many of the wounds were on the body of Xi Yate's horse half, and several were exceptionally deep. Worried about her condition, Fisher asked,
"Can you still walk?"
"Still can... hiss."
Xi Yate had just wanted to prove she could still continue to act, thus raising the horse hooves beneath her feet. As a result, upon moving, her entire body hurt severely, causing her movements to instantly shrink back.
Earlier, Eliog merely forcefully awakened her consciousness and didn't help heal her wounds. As long as she moved, those places hurt severely. Closing one eye and sucking in cold air, she had just wanted to say something when her expression changed, pointing outside and shouting,
"...Wait, Fisher, it looks like someone is coming from over there!"
"Someone?"
Fisher turned his head, passing through the massive cracks of the library, clearly seeing a group of soldiers wearing golden armor moving toward this side from the outside. Those were people from the Naris army.
It was Elizabeth coming.
"It's Elizabeth, let's go out and find her to heal your wounds, and incidentally we can also deal with the matters within the Saint-Nazareth urban area..."
"Mhm."
Xi Yate nodded, walking toward the outside while sucking in cold air. Carrying Jasmine on his back, Fisher also prepared to leave the library. But right before leaving, feeling something, he raised his head, looking upwards.
Upon the ceiling, on that glass, that line of vocabulary words was still just as conspicuously noticeable. Upon it was the line of vocabulary "Muxi" designed by Black.
That line of vocabulary caused Fisher to frown slightly. After pausing for several seconds, he only then followed Xi Yate and the others out of the library.
Following the corridor outside the library, just after Fisher exited the library, he saw Elizabeth, dressed in a well-fitting pale golden long skirt, running toward this side extremely anxiously. Following behind her were two files of fully armed soldiers,
"Fisher!"
Her normally gentle face at this moment seemed to have entirely lost its etiquette. At first glance, she saw Fisher, bare-chested and covered in wounds. Her breathing neared a sudden halt. She didn't even want her high heels anymore, directly flinging those high heels aside to stay in place, running straight toward Fisher in her white stocking-clad little feet.
"How did it become like this, how did it become like this... how did you get injured so severely?"
Struck with panic, she looked at the wounds on the Fisher before her eyes, yet didn't dare reach out to touch his body, merely looking at his wounds with rapid breathing.
"...I'm fine, but Xi Yate needs her wounds healed. She was bitten by the monsters reared by Black."
"Doctor! Hurry over here! Take them back for treatment..."
From among the neatly standing soldiers, two doctors wearing white robes quickly ran out. They quickly assembled a stretcher, securely fastened Xi Yate onto it, simply dealt with her bleeding wounds, and subsequently carried her stretcher out of here.
Watching Xi Yate being taken away, Fisher finally breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at Elizabeth before his eyes, he said,
"The Anna I mentioned to you before, she had an excessive flesh graft surgery performed on her by Black. That relic wasn't any Life and Death Dependency Bell at all, but rather a relic meant to stabilize her flesh grafted parts. Now she has completely lost control and is about to enter the Saint-Nazareth urban area. We must stop her."
Elizabeth, however, still stared at Fisher's wounds with heartache. After waiting for a long time, she only then recovered her senses. It wasn't until this time that Fisher noticed there were some stains on the hem of her skirt,
"What's wrong, your skirt..."
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, raising her head to look at Fisher and saying,
"Lensis went mad, actually daring to assassinate Father within the Golden Palace. Dexter, who went to stop him, is also heavily injured. When I rushed to the Golden Palace it was already too late. Dexter is currently still undergoing emergency rescue... Fisher, since there is evidence within the treasury, I will send people back to retrieve it later on. Right now the most important thing is to stop the chaos within the Saint-Nazareth urban area; we must return to the Golden Palace first."
"Mhm, but Jasmine, she..."
"It's fine, take her back to the Golden Palace first, she will still need to testify in court later."
"Mhm."
Elizabeth reached out her hand and held Fisher's hand, while from among the soldiers, another two military doctors wearing white robes stepped out of the ranks. They quickly assembled another stretcher, placing the poisoned and unconscious Jasmine onto the stretcher. Fisher followed Elizabeth out one or two steps.
But he continuously gazed at the quiet Nari Lake nearby. The giant "Muxi" text in the library and the matter of Erwind unseasonably surged into his mind at this time. It felt as if matters had progressed to the current stage, but the results he obtained and absolutely everything possessed some glaring loopholes and problems...
Suddenly quieting down, Fisher had the time to review the suffocating events that had come one after another over these past few months anew. In the unseen world, he always felt a kind of powerlessness like punching cotton.
At this moment, a logical loophole suddenly surfaced before Fisher's eyes.
There was a question which was: when exactly did Erwind know the person who killed Pherone was him?
Reviewing his entire process of returning from the Southern Continent, the first time he encountered Erwind should have been during the spatial magic when Schwari was attacked.
Prior to this, he should have never exposed his identity. According to Erwind's version of events, in Pherone City on the Southern Continent, due to Pherone's backup plan, they completely failed to discover him...
Then, taking this as a hypothesis, what if Erwind discovering him for the first time was exactly within that spatial magic?
He completely didn't know someone like him existed prior to that. Only until he saw him with his own eyes for the first time, sensing the connection between the Completion Handbooks, did he discover him...
Then, what did he go into the magic to do?
An excellent memory told Fisher, he went there at that time to shelter his safety.
Sheltering his safety?
It was exactly the same in the Healing House, and even after killing Black he had said similar words...
Eliog had once told him that Erwind had always been in a state of living in seclusion and evading capture prior to this. The reason he appeared in Saint-Nazareth this time was because he reached a deal with someone in Saint-Nazareth. When he had just listened, he subconsciously felt Erwind was cooperating with Black, because he provided Black with flesh grafting technology, helping him extend his lifespan...
Then what if he wasn't cooperating with Black?
Thinking up to this point, Fisher's scalp instantly felt as if electrocuted.
Extending along this train of thought, why did Muxi still want to protect Black prior to her death, still harboring no complaints or regrets in using her Blessing to shelter Black?
Fisher had once experienced Muxi's perspective; she was a brave and intelligent Whale-kin. If her lover had a change of heart, would she truly be foolish enough to shelter Black regardless of everything?
Now, Fisher remembered anew the combination to the treasury engraved by Black he had seen earlier, that line of vocabulary named "Muxi"...
What if Muxi believed Black hadn't had a change of heart?
Clues connected one after another. At this moment, Fisher's footsteps abruptly stiffened; he instantly stopped in place.
If these hypotheses were established, then the result these conditions led to would be extremely terrifying.
He suddenly understood where the source of the powerlessness and suffocating feeling he always produced when dealing with Black for such a long time was.
What if his true enemy wasn't Black, and even Black and Muxi were merely tiny pawns?
"No..."
Fisher's stiff footsteps and sudden speaking caused Elizabeth, who was holding him from the front, to turn her head doubtfully. Seemingly even thinking he was injured, she thus cast an rather concerned glance over his body,
"What's wrong, are you feeling unwell?"
But Fisher didn't respond to her. He merely gently broke free from Elizabeth's fingers, looking straight at the beautiful and gentle lady before his eyes, as if meeting her for the very first time.
"It's you?"
Elizabeth's expression became slightly stunned. She still looked at the Fisher before her eyes, this man she deeply loved,
Only at this moment,
That pair of pale golden golden eyes, were so hollow.