The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 237: 13 Lion-kin

"Phoenix?"

Fisher turned to glance at the face of the man whose eyes were completely overgrown with feathers, then shot a look at Alajina. Did he address Alajina as Phoenix because she was a descendant of the Phoenix Race, or because the Ice Prince sword was on her person?

Eimhart scrutinized Alajina, then quietly spoke into Fisher's ear,

"It shouldn't be, Fisher. The Child of the Phoenix who wields the Ice Prince sword is not only a male Phoenix, but also the most tyrannical among the three Children of the Phoenix. How could he have offspring with a human... and even if he did have offspring, tracing back through the maternal lineage, the Phoenix blood in her body would be almost completely diluted by now."

"Could it possibly be an atavism?"

Fisher suddenly recalled a piece of research he had conducted previously. At that time, a wealthy merchant in Saint-Nazareth suddenly approached Fisher, saying his daughter had spontaneously become a Witch one day. However, this didn't conform to the maternal inheritance laws, as the girl’s mother was not a Witch but an ordinary human.

He went to the wealthy merchant's home to investigate and discovered that the girl's magic circuit was indeed a Witch's circuit and not a human's. But the problem was, that girl was their biological daughter whom they had raised from childhood; there was absolutely no possibility she had been switched at birth. If she hadn't one day displayed the traits of a Witch by turning the stone statues in her home into countless hopping frogs, this elderly father might never have realized his daughter was out of the ordinary.

After a cautious Fisher searched through their family history, he found that their family had migrated from Kadu as refugees a long time ago. That is to say, among the wealthy merchant's ancestors, there was once a Witch.

The reproductive laws of this demi-human Witch are exceedingly fascinating because all Witch demi-humans are female. They strictly need to intermarry with other races, and the probability of reproduction is identical to humans. Yet interestingly enough, among the children they bear, only one will be a Witch.

If a human and a Witch unite, no matter how many children they have, they will only produce one Witch child, and it is highly probable to be the first child. All subsequent children will solely belong to the father's race and will not exhibit Witch traits.In his past research, Fisher believed that the Witch portion of the blood in these non-Witch children was diluted; that is, they absolutely inherited none of the Witch's characteristics.

However, that wealthy merchant presented a counter-proof because his ancestor was a non-Witch child born of a Witch. Yet the blood belonging to the Witch had never vanished but circulated endlessly, until it blossomed in his daughter, turning her into a true Witch...

Fisher called this symptom "atavism," but specifically, only that Witch girl served as a case currently; he had yet to witness any other phenomenon of atavism.

But if Alajina harbored an atavistic phenomenon of the Phoenix Race, she should have exhibited characteristics of the Phoenix Race upon birth, such as feathers and wings. Yet Alajina's physiological structure was undoubtedly that of a complete human...

Sure enough, upon hearing Fisher's query, Eimhart analogously dismissed Alajina manifesting an atavistic phenomenon,

"I also lack comprehension regarding what the atavistic phenomenon you articulate entails. Nonetheless judging from literal interpretations, should her ancestor represent a Phoenix Race, its dignified bloodline infallibly wouldn't undergo dilution approaching this caliber. Conjecturally, that feathered individual unequivocally sensed the Ice Prince sword she continuously carries, misidentifying her for that Phoenix Prince."

Alajina furrowed her brows upon hearing this. She sensed that the true item the Ice Prince sword desired was the precious treasure the feathered man spoke of.

Although the eyes of that man wearing the black cloak had completely vanished, rendering him blind, his expressions remained extremely clear. He looked at Alajina before him with deep emotion, his voice trembling as he said,

"My master, we have awaited here for an eternity. Obeying your command, fearless of time and curses, solely awaiting your return... Please retrieve the treasure, allowing us to be freed from this agonizing curse."

Only then did Alajina notice he had constantly kept one hand firmly scratching away inside his cloak. It seemed the growth of those feathers was painfully itchy, rendering it extremely unbearable for him. Yet a mere gentle touch caused those feathers to act like razor blades lodged within his skin, causing the areas where feathers grew to continuously ooze fresh blood.

And he, alongside the others, had endured such torment for an untold number of years purely to honor this mission. He was devotedly loyal to the 【Phoenix Race】 he spoke of, willingly enduring such suffering without a single word of complaint, solely hoping his master would smoothly retrieve the item entrusted to their safekeeping.

Considering this, Alajina finally spoke,

"The item, where is it?"

"In... in this direction! Respected master, please follow me! All your most loyal servants are there guarding that item... but the curse has eroded them too profoundly, practically immobilizing their bodies to bow to you. Please forgive them..."

He remorsefully kowtowed to Alajina on behalf of his comrades. Subsequently, he rose and gazed toward the island's interior, gesturing that the item lay in that direction.

Alajina cast a glance at Pakhz beside her, and the latter expertly tossed out a flickering signal marker from her pocket. If anything were to happen to them, they could rely on this thing to send a signal to the Iceberg Queen.

Continuing inward into the island, Fisher's group beheld a hollow cavern connecting the sandy beach to the island. Its interior was tortuous, but the landscape within was extremely horrifying. Just upon entering, everyone was startled.

On both sides of the cavern, numerous humans clad in ancient Northern Border clothing prostrated in perfect order. Each person's body appeared as if swallowed by feathers, a condition even more severe than the man hiding under the cloak just now. Their entire faces were completely occupied by feathers, remaining motionless in the most devout kowtowing posture, directly facing the direction of the island's interior.

"They... persisted for the master's mission until the last moment. We took turns guarding that item, and now I'm the only one left. I practically dared not imagine; if you still didn't arrive..."

The feathered man wearing the black cloak mournfully covered his face. Grayish-white feathers fell one by one from his face, identical to the feathers Fisher and the others had seen inside the ship earlier.

Fisher couldn't understand their language, so Eimhart translated for him on the fly, though inevitably it was slightly slower than the others. He felt it was necessary to properly study the language of the Northern Border.

Listening to his words, coupled with what they had seen on the ship just now, Fisher formed a rough conjecture regarding the situation here.

It seemed that in the ancient Northern Border, a Phoenix had entrusted a very important item to this group of humans, ordering them to take this treasure out of the Northern Border to find a place to hide it. Until the Phoenix arrived, they were responsible for guarding this treasure.

But this treasure possessed an extremely potent cursing ability, afflicting these humans with a bizarre disease of growing feathers. They had been constantly waiting for the Phoenix to retrieve this treasure and break their curse.

"We have arrived, Master..."

They walked step-by-step to the end of the cavern, passing numerous prostrating figures clad in sailor suits, captain uniforms, and first mate attire. Outside the cavern was a stretch of lush, primitive forest. Following his pointed finger, Fisher saw that the cavern contained a small stream, and at this moment, that stream was entirely covered by freezing ice.

And exactly in the center of that extreme ice, a scroll crafted from a bluish-green item resembling a block of ice lay horizontally. Its flickering light was like the divine radiance of a Phoenix; one glance was enough to tell it was no ordinary object...

"My god, that is a scroll made of a Phoenix's True Ice."

Eimhart looked at that item, one eye brightening as he spoke into Fisher's ear.

"True Ice... You mean the True Ice from Northern Border legends?"

"Exactly! That's the stuff. I've only ever seen it in ancient texts. Legend has it that this substance is naturally chilling, transparent as jade, the symbol of the Phoenix, capable of communicating with the Spirit World... I didn't expect it to be so beautiful."

True Ice was not actually ice, but a mineral from Northern Border legends that grew on the branches of the Frost Phoenix Tree, a product exclusive to the Phoenix Race.

Remember it was mentioned before that the Phoenix Race was a species exceedingly sensitive to destiny. Through the snowstorms filling the sky, they could see blurry visions of the future, thereby predicting the invasion of the Chaos-kin, preparing well in advance to resoundingly defeat the Chaos-kin.

And the source of this ability of theirs was True Ice. Legend has it that the Phoenix Race would place their newborn offspring before a mirror made of True Ice, letting their hazy gazes focus on the light of the True Ice to grant them the ability to observe destiny. It was precisely because of this that they became so sensitive to destiny...

"Wait, oh no, Master!"

Right at this moment, the expression of the black-robed man waiting nearby changed abruptly. He suddenly sensed something and looked at Alajina in considerable panic, saying,

"Quick! Quick, Master, quickly retrieve this treasure... I sense the aura of your kin's blade coming from another direction of the island! It must be that tyrannical Ice Prince coming to the island personally; there can absolutely be no one else! The power of the True Ice envelops this island; only you and your kin who wield those three swords can see this island. Quick, quickly take the treasure and go, I'll stall his steps!"

Hearing the flustered man's words, expressions among Fisher's party turned exceedingly bizarre. Fisher even sneaked a peek at Alajina, whose face was equally bewildered...

Based on this guy's meaning, he apparently wasn't a servant serving the Ice Prince, and additionally constituted sworn enemies opposite the Phoenix Prince possessing the Ice Prince sword?

Yet presumably chronic torment originating from the curse eroded his lucidity substantially. Beyond optical blindness, his cognitive capacity solely permitted approximating identifying a sword's terrestrial arrival, incapable of precisely determining precisely which particular sword landed. Consequently, this precipitated his misidentification attributing Alajina...

Having you lot as such massive geniuses under their command genuinely rendered your master speechless; managing identifying individuals could skew this drastically amiss.

However, this also explained why this island remained unaccounted for within nautical charts previously. Turns out the True Ice's power enshrouded the entirety defining the island; individuals lacking equipped Phoenix relics fundamentally remained optically imperceptive.

"Wait, someone is approaching."

Just as Alajina opened her mouth intending extending explanations, Fisher's Dragon-kin premonition instantaneously activated. His fine hairs slightly stood on end, perceiving perilous entities advancing approaching.

"Oh my, someone already beat us to it? Balthazar, your condition slowed us down, oh..."

Sure enough, the next moment in the distance, a rather bold and unrestrained female voice suddenly transmitted. Although it was instantly recognizable that the sound was quite far away, the voice was nevertheless extremely resonant and particularly clear.

Fisher frowned, a black sword hilt falling into his hand. When he looked off into the distance, he saw a scantily clad woman slowly emerging from the dense jungle.

That woman possessed a vigorous, fluffy mane of golden blonde hair, with many strands cascading down her shoulders, resembling the mane of a male lion. Yet she herself was undeniably female. Her overall skin tone manifested a bronze hue, and her appearance was exceptionally valiant.

Atop that fluffy golden hair, two small, round pancake-like ears popped up, twitching occasionally. The distinct muscles on her body were robust and powerful, hiding immense explosive strength.

On her back was slung a rather long straight alloy sword, and at her waist hung a pair of oddly designed muskets, which appeared to be a paired set of relics.

Just as Fisher was sizing her up, she also very quickly noticed Fisher's group standing before the ice block. After a brief moment of surprise, she began to laugh, revealing a prominent canine tooth in her mouth.

Behind her stood an unkempt man wearing deep red Schwari attire, his expression gloomy. He stood very straight, but his aura was quite bizarre, and his face was somewhat pale.

Upon hearing the woman's words, he disdainfully curled his lip and said,

"Precisely locking onto the island's location based on clues takes a great deal of time. As for them... one can only say they are lucky ghosts who happen to possess a Phoenix relic."

"Stop making excuses. If you can't do it, you can't do it. Confess your mistakes sincerely; accept the consequences."

The tall woman with bronze skin laughed heartily, issuing a resonant voice resembling a lion's roar. The fangs in her mouth were very long, surpassing the extent of mere canine teeth.

Fisher quickly recognized that she was an adult female 【Lion-kin】, a dangerous demi-human race native to the Southern Continent, generally distributed across the western coastal grasslands of the Southern Continent, renowned for their massive size and extreme aggressiveness.

The strength of female Lion-kin completely crushed that of males. In the tribes, male Lion-kin were critical strategic resources for reproduction, frequently robbed and kidnapped by invading female Lion-kin, locked up to birth little lions. Moreover, female Lion-kin experienced three reproductive seasons a year, and their desire to attack was strongest during these periods...

The Lion-kin's pupils swept a glance across Fisher's group. Subsequently, she licked her lips and shouted toward Fisher and the others,

"Hey down there, let's negotiate. Mind if I ask if you guys want the scroll inside that ice block? My boss really needs that thing. If you hand the item over to us, you'll be handsomely rewarded~"

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(End of this chapter)