novelraw Chapter 239: Bribe
Chapter 239: Bribe
"Fisher, the box in her hand holds another weapon of the Children of the Phoenix, the [Moon Princess]. The moon that smashed toward you just now was summoned by the [Moon Princess]. Be careful, the effects of each weapon belonging to the Children of the Phoenix are vastly different. Who told the Phoenix King to be so capable of reproducing? None of his three children look the same... If they weren't triplets from the same womb, I would doubt they shared the same father, tsk tsk."
Eimhart, hiding in Fisher's trouser pocket, poked his head out slightly. Revealing one eye to size up the white-haired girl in the wheelchair, he softly whispered his opinion to Fisher. He spoke so softly because he was afraid others would discover his presence.
Hearing this, Fisher raised his eyebrows. It seemed the other person who brought a relic ashore—as mentioned by the group of people growing feathers earlier—was the girl right before him.
He once again sized up the black clothing the girl wore, and finally his gaze landed on the small hat she wore on her head.
He saw that exactly in the middle of that delicate hat was a small snowflake-shaped crest. It looked like an ornament for her clothes, but Fisher recognized it was actually a family crest.
A standard five-pointed snowflake shape formed the symbol of the [Turan] family of the Northern Border. This family was not a family within the borders of the Sardin Woman's Country, but one that resided further north, in a more ancient place. Their territory was located near the edge of the Northern Border, almost reaching the Ice Ocean.
In ancient times, this ancient family mainly dealt in five magical minerals unique to the Northern Border. Thousands of years ago, they were the earliest to engage in export trade with the Sardin Woman's Country and Schwari, which connected to the Northern Border. However, in the past hundred years, the power of this family declined for unknown reasons, and they rarely appeared in the public eye.
Yet, unexpectedly, Fisher saw the mark of this family today in the Southern Ocean, far from the Northern Border, and on a girl at that.
Upon hearing Fisher's seemingly provocative words, the blonde Lion-kin Filis standing beside Valentiina bristled. The fluffy golden fur on the back of her head suddenly stood up ring by ring, making her originally tall body appear even more imposing.
Fisher had studied Lion-kins. Female Lion-kins bristled their fur before a fight. This was a characteristic not possessed by male Lion-kins, symbolizing that female Lion-kins had a stronger desire to attack.But this didn't mean male Lion-kins were very weak. In fact, they were also exceptionally strong, just not as combative as the females. Most of the time they were lazy because they didn't need to fight for mates like the demi-humans of other races; on the contrary, they were the ones being fought over.
There was a saying among the human natives of the Southern Continent that used "an angry female Lion-kin" to describe "a woman's jealousy and possessiveness," which showed the characteristics of this demi-human race.
Seeing her appearance as if she was about to make a move, Fisher didn't act rashly. In fact, he was also observing the situation of the opposing group closely.
First, the leader was the wheelchair-bound girl who possessed the [Moon Princess] relic. She had made a move previously when he was chasing Filis, but she probably hadn't used her full strength, only intending to stop him. Aside from the Moon Princess relic he had seen, she probably had other methods she hadn't displayed.
Then came the Lion-kin Filis who had crossed blows with him. Although her shouts were blustery, Fisher clearly felt that her strength and speed were inferior to his. Thus, Fisher placed her in the weakest tier among this group, alongside the man in red who hadn't fought.
The only ones truly worthy of attention were the white-haired girl in the wheelchair and the tall figure composed of steam machinery behind her. Fisher, who was highly sensitive to magic, noticed several Magic Crests of around the Sixth Ring engraved on his arms. Besides the [Moon Princess], he posed the biggest threat to Fisher.
Thinking about it carefully, this group of people must be completely different from Alajina, who was guided here by the Ice Prince. Judging from the conversation between Filis and the man in red, they had been actively searching for this island for a long time. Otherwise, a family from the Northern Border would absolutely not have traveled all the way to the Southern Ocean.
In comparison, Alajina only happened upon this island while at sea. Even knowing this item belonged to the Phoenix Race, she wouldn't have an intense desire to seek it out, because to her, a pirate drifting overseas, this item was meaningless.
Moreover, she had just used the Ice Prince's main body, and her right arm was severely frostbitten. Whether she could summon the Ice Prince's phantom again was still a question mark. To protect her safety, Aoxi and Pakhz naturally wouldn't actively pursue them either, but would first deal with the rampaging guards around them.
But Fisher needed clues about the Phoenix Race; this was the main reason he had actively pursued them first.
If he could find a member of the Phoenix Race, it would help him complete the two demi-human sequences of [Royal Choice Sequence] and [Snow Mountain Familiars], thereby obtaining the bonus rewards from the Demi-Human Completion Handbook. Otherwise, if he kept dragging it out, he might not be a match for Erwind when the latter came looking for him, let alone actively seeking him out to settle the score.
But having said that, Fisher felt the combined pressure from all of them wasn't as great as Blake, who had been implanted with Whale-kin flesh, let alone the deceitful Erwind.
It was understandable; playing high-end matches with maxed-out pressure was just like this.
"Sizzle... His physical quality is very strong, if Filis goes over, she will die."
When the Lion-kin Filis bristled, the steam automaton Herdor behind the wheelchair looked at Fisher, spewing steam as he spoke.
"Huh?"
Filis looked at Herdor beside her, then recalled how that man had punched her senseless just now. After pondering for a second or two, she silently curled her lips and stepped back to her original spot, the bristled fur relaxing a bit.
Intuition told Filis that Herdor was right, so she listened to her inner voice, deciding to observe for a while longer.
Since the boss hadn't spoken, she wouldn't stick her neck out either. It wasn't easy to earn some money; she wanted to live a bit longer to spend it.
Seeing this, the white-haired girl sighed politely, gently raising her hand toward Fisher.
As her fair right hand lifted, Fisher noticed she wore several rings glowing with magical light on her delicate fingers. Each ring had a small, beautiful snowflake-shaped pattern engraved, displaying magic around the Sixth or Seventh Ring, exuding an aura of wealth.
Valentiina looked at Fisher, extending five fingers, and said calmly,
"This pirate gentleman from Naris, I can tell that your female captain from the Sardin Woman's Country knows nothing about the origin and use of this scroll. Her pursuit of this item was only guided by her own sword. Even if she obtains it, there's a high probability she will only sell it as an antique made of True Ice."
"Pirates chase profit, so they easily ignore its other values. As a reward for this value, I will give you five million Northern silver coins. As long as you give me the box, and tell your captain you failed to catch up with the person just now, you can easily get this money."
She twirled her fair fingers, and a pure black unregistered Northern bank check appeared in her hand. Seeing this check, Filis's eyes widened, and she even unconsciously swallowed.
It seemed Valentiina mistook Fisher for a pirate selling his life on the pirate ship Iceberg Queen, hence bribing him with such a large amount of money.
The exchange rate between five million Northern silver coins and Naris Nario was roughly 1:1.75, meaning these five million silver coins were worth even more than Alajina's 7.5 million Naris Nario.
It was a tempting sum for anyone, but unfortunately, Fisher wasn't a pirate blindly chasing profit, but a scholar with a slight fondness for demi-humans. His desire to delve into demi-human lore far exceeded mundane wealth.
Seeing Fisher remain unmoved in his original spot, Valentiina's fingers holding the check slightly stiffened. Remaining indifferent in the face of such a sum meant either he was an extremely loyal pirate, or the man's goal itself was the scroll, yet the female captain genuinely seemed unaware of its use...
"Fisher!"
While Valentiina was stunned, Pakhz's iconic voice finally rang out from the woods behind Fisher.
A few seconds later, Pakhz, covered in feathers and holding a musket, jumped out first. In mid-air, Aoxi also flew out, hovering defensively while observing the people on the distant beach.
Even if Alajina couldn't use the Ice Prince's phantom, their own strength was not weak. Of course, dealing with those mindless monsters wouldn't take long. Furthermore, Alajina was deeply concerned about Fisher, rushing to his side as quickly as possible wielding a pirate scimitar in her left hand.
In the next second, Alajina walked out from the woods with a cold face, holding a pirate's curved knife in her left hand, confirming Fisher had no further injuries before standing beside him.
Witnessing this scene, Valentiina took one last look at Fisher holding the scroll, then helplessly looked at the cold-faced Alajina, and spoke,
"I am Valentiina Turan from the Northern Border. I have no intention of making enemies of you all. It is only because this scroll contains dangerous information. The cursed group of mutated individuals just now suffered such a fate precisely because of this. I didn't want it to entangle with any of you, so I sent my subordinates to take it first."
Hearing these words, the lively eyes on Pakhz's chubby face spun around, then she glared at the other party, cursing,
"What secret? Are you fabricating a story because your theft failed, or have the members of the Turan family degraded to needing to make up lies to cover for their petty theft?"
"Sizzle..."
Herdor behind Valentiina exhaled a large amount of steam hearing this remark, as if intending to move, but the girl in the wheelchair stopped him.
Her face looked unpleasant, but she still turned to the gold box in Fisher's hand, simply explaining,
"That scroll seals the secret of the [Frostwood Sycamore Tree], where the legendary Phoenix Race have lived for generations."