novelraw Chapter 244: Unknown Demi-human Race
Chapter 244: Unknown Demi-human Race
By the next morning, seeing the strange expressions on everyone's faces, Filis finally couldn't help but ask what they were hiding from her. From Heidelin, she learned that Valentiina had made the executive decision to hand her over to that Naris human for research.
Thinking about how Fisher had punched her hard not long ago, she felt a shiver of fear. She automatically assumed Fisher was an extremely violent human man. Even using her toes to think, there was no way going to him would just be for simple research, right?
Filis originally wanted to pretend to sleep in and not get up, but Valentiina called her up early. Terrified, she wrapped her lion tail around herself, curled her head into her chest, and vigorously shook her head while hiding under the covers, refusing to come out of the sleeping tent no matter what.
"I'm begging you, Boss. You absolutely cannot take me to that human! He will definitely beat me!"
Outside the tent, Valentiina, sitting in her wheelchair, sighed helplessly. She spoke to Filis, who was lying inside and refusing to get up.
"I will go there with you. I will supervise everything he does. He also promised not to do anything strange... It will probably just be research. After all, the persona he has disguised himself with is exactly that."
"Persona?"
"Yes, a scholar interested in demi-humans."
"...Isn't that even more terrifying?!"
Within Filis's fluffy, golden hair, her muffin-like ears twitched in fear. Wasn't the probability of a human being interested in demi-humans even lower than money falling from the sky?Even if there was one, he had to be a pervert obsessed with buying and selling slaves!
"...If you go, I can give you a raise this month."
Seeing that Filis really didn't dare to go, Valentiina had no choice but to use the power of money. She rubbed the ring on her hand and made the offer.
Hearing those words, Filis, who had been curled up in the tent with her back turned, slowly sat up. She turned her head to look at Valentiina. After a two or three-second silence, she asked somewhat pitifully.
"How much of a raise?"
"..."
Last night, after finishing reading the True Ice scroll, Valentiina had buried the scroll along with the outer golden box entirely underground to prevent the curse from activating again and causing casualties.
Filis reluctantly pushed her boss's wheelchair along the beach toward where Fisher and the others had arrived. Along the way, they could still see the sandpit Filis had dug out yesterday. That was where she had fished out the treasures, which she had already sent back to Valentiina's flagship.
"That ship..."
Filis was actually walking very slowly, but she was a Lion-kin after all. Even at a strolling pace, she was much faster than Herdor pushing Valentiina. Thus, they quickly arrived at the place where Fisher's group had landed.
In the distance, the massive warship of the Sardin Matriarchy anchored not far from the coast came into their view. No flag hung from the conspicuous mast, but the Azurebird-kin girl they had encountered earlier was sitting at the very top.
"It's the Iceberg Queen..."
"The Iceberg Queen? Boss, do you recognize that ship?"
"Yes, it's a great pirate ship severely wanted by the Sardin Matriarchy. The captain is Alajina, who has a bounty of 4.3 million Northern silver coins... She murdered her own mother and defected from the Sardin Matriarchy with her subordinates. I never expected to run into her here."
"Huh, that terrifying? Wait, does that mean that man is Alajina's paramour?"
Sitting in the wheelchair, Valentiina recalled the scene of her encounter with Fisher earlier, then shook her head.
"It doesn't seem like it. He didn't act like he was taking orders from Alajina. It looks more like a cooperative relationship..."
Filis nodded, only half-understanding. She didn't see anyone else from the Iceberg Queen; she only saw a small boat they used to land on the island. She scanned the area and asked.
"Where are they? Are they on that ironclad ship? Doesn't that mean I don't have to do any... research anymore?"
Valentiina shook her head and pointed toward the ocean.
Following her finger, Filis saw a book levitating above the sea surface, its pages constantly turning. It seemed to be the relic that always stayed on the Naris man's shoulder. It could even talk, which was very magical.
At this moment, the book was facing beneath the sea, its mouth constantly moving as it spoke while drifting further away, seemingly following a figure moving underwater.
"...The Holy Progeny is a race, of course. I mentioned this to you before. Baimon's relationship with the Holy Progeny is very good, to the point where some humans mistakenly thought she was one of the Holy Progeny. The Holy Progeny are exceedingly great, but like the demons, they live far away in the sky. I still have a little impression, but it's not too clear."
"Believe me, that must be the most spectacular sight you could ever see in this world. Everywhere you look, there are creations like works of art, beautiful beyond description... The Holy Progeny applied their highest standards of forging and aesthetics to every aspect of their lives, thereby creating the most perfect city, the Sanctuary."
Just as Eimhart was speaking, a humanoid shadow rapidly enlarged beneath the sea. Knowing what to do, he moved aside. Then, a bare-chested Fisher violently burst out of the water.
Underwater, he had been dragging a massive fishing net filled with many sea fish of various sizes wriggling about.
Fisher wiped the water droplets falling from his hair, then looked at Eimhart.
"So you're saying the Angel-kin don't live on the surface, but in a city towering in the sky?"
"The Holy Progeny are the most special race, naturally different from all others. They disdain low-level aesthetics and knowledge, so they rarely come down from the sky... Of course, there might be other reasons causing this, but I'm not entirely sure."
Yes, the Holy Progeny Eimhart spoke of were actually the legendary Angel-kin. The race capable of forging relics were also the Angel-kin. However, whether constrained by his programming or out of genuine respect for the lifeforms that forged him, Eimhart would only refer to them as the "Great Holy Progeny."
"But they should have vanished into the long river of history by now, just like the Phoenix-kin. I have never heard the title of true Angel-kin... The only time I did was from Eliog's mouth."
"No, no, the Holy Progeny must still exist in some corner of the world. They are different from the Phoenix-kin; they are entities of the Mythic Rank! Since demons are still hiding in the Abyss, the Holy Progeny must also be living in some corner of the sky..."
"Is that so..."
Fisher dragged the large net of fish ashore. He had told Alajina to return to the ship to recover from her injuries. As her bodyguard, Aoxi naturally returned as well. What Fisher didn't expect was that Pakhz actually knew how to repair a steam engine, and she could also go back to chat with Old Jack and the others, leaving only Fisher and a few crew members on the island to catch fish.
"Oh, you're here? Quite early. This way I can do a bit more research. Wait a moment."
Sitting in the wheelchair, Valentiina glanced at his muscular upper body and unconsciously crossed her arms, but simply nodded.
Filis, who originally was pushing her wheelchair, now directly used it as a shield. She quietly crouched behind the wheelchair, revealing only a single lion tail.
"Boss, are you for real? Can you really bear to watch me be taken by that man for research?"
"...I will be right beside you."
Fisher tossed the net of fish into the small boat. There were already several nets of fish in it, all alive and kicking. Next, he washed the fishy smell off his hands by the sea and took out the paper and pen he had borrowed from the Iceberg Queen. In conjunction, he also opened the binding interface of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook.
As a nimble golden light flickered, an entirely new section appeared on the Completion Handbook.
【Lion-kin】
As the energy suddenly brightened, a line of illusory text appeared again before Fisher.
【Please select research subject. Available subjects: 0/1】
【Filis, adult female Lion-kin】
Just as Fisher was about to confirm the binding, the golden light did not pause in the slightest. Another new interface appeared on the next page.
There was another demi-human race?
His gaze fell upon that golden light, but bizarrely, as if the golden light failed to identify any valid information, it turned into a title resembling a string of garbled code.
【%￥1*&?】
"Hm? What's going on?"
Staring at the strange text, Fisher was momentarily puzzled.
Since it appeared on the Completion Handbook, it should mean it had detected a demi-human race. Yet, for the first time, it failed to identify exactly what demi-human race it was?
Moreover, it didn't even prompt an available research subject to bind...
With an odd expression, Fisher turned his head to look at the two people behind him—Filis and Valentiina.
He exaggeratedly scanned Valentiina sitting in her wheelchair from head to toe. She wore a black dress, but the exposed parts all looked exactly the same as humans, without any obvious non-human traits.
So, was the new demi-human subject detected by the Demi-Human Completion Handbook... Valentiina?
Perhaps Fisher's gaze was too direct, as if the subject he wanted to research wasn't Filis but her instead. This made her unnaturally rub the Turan ring on her hand as she asked.
"...What's wrong?"
Fisher took one last look at her, then shook his head and replied.
"It's nothing."
At the same time, his consciousness swiftly touched the word "Bind" on the illusory page. As the familiar, intense pain struck, Fisher silently closed his eyes, his body stiffening in place from the agony.
【Research Subject bound successfully!】
【Lion-kin】
【Southern Continent Native】, 【Beast-kin】, 【Yin and Yang Reversal】, 【Dragon Court Dependent Sequence】