novelraw Chapter 246: Dispute
Chapter 246: Dispute
According to what she said earlier, she had arrived here by relying on her relic, the Moon Princess, and her research on the tombs of the Azurebird-kin. As for Alajina, although she had also found this island because she carried the Ice Prince, it could only be called a beautiful coincidence. She only stopped here because she wanted to repair the steam engine on the Iceberg Queen and catch some fish along the way.
In the time that followed, Fisher relied on his ability to breathe underwater to catch quite a number of fish. Holding a large net, he stayed completely motionless in the path of schools of fish, simultaneously listening to Eimhart boasting about stories of the past from above the surface. Then, when a school of fish passed by, he would suddenly burst into action and net them. This trick was tried and tested, yielding a massive haul every single time.
The surrounding schools of fish were all completely fed up with Fisher, this sneaky ambusher. Every day they saw him in the water, and every time, just as they laid eyes on him, a huge chunk of their kin would be swept away by that merciless giant net in his hands.
"Do you really not know how you were forged by the angels?"
"Nonsense, if no one else told you, would you know how you came out of your mother's womb? Not to mention, so many years have passed since I left the Sanctuary and finally developed true consciousness... The Holy Progeny is the oldest race in this world, bar none. They experienced so many changes over the ages, which is how they acquired aesthetics and craftsmanship that surpass all other races."
"Even that fellow Baimon was deeply subdued by the civilization of the Holy Progeny. Otherwise, she wouldn't have obediently studied the aesthetics of the Holy Progeny and secretly hoarded so many of their holy artifacts..."
Fisher dragged the fishing net as he slowly walked toward the edge of the coast. Listening to Eimhart's complaints, he also felt it made some sense. Although this guy's analogy was a bit crass, the basic logic was the same.
The loss of relic crafting techniques was a fact. In the past, many humans had been mesmerized by the magical effects of relics and wanted to restore the complete process of manufacturing them, but clearly, they all failed in the end.
The thing that truly puzzled Fisher was: besides the Angel-kin Eimhart mentioned, why did Muxi also know how to make relics? Where exactly did she learn this skill?
According to Jasmine, long before Muxi left the ocean trench to go ashore, she had already learned the method of crafting relics. She even made a hairband for the young Jasmine to guide her home.Eimhart had told him that the Holy Progeny would never teach outsiders the method for creating relics. Furthermore, even if they were willing to teach, one might not necessarily be able to learn it. Even a supremely intelligent Great Demon like Baimon couldn't learn it and eventually had to leave the Sanctuary dejectedly.
According to Fisher's calculations, adult Whale-kin possessed formidable strength, but not to the extent of the Mythic Rank. Yet, Xuan Can, as the Ocean Emperor, felt far above an ordinary Mythic Rank. This left Fisher somewhat confused; after all, he had far too little contact with beings of excessively high ranks. Counting them all, there were only two in total, making it truly difficult to compare.
However, it was absolutely impossible for Muxi to have reached the Mythic Rank. Otherwise, at that time, he definitely wouldn't have been a match for Blake, who had implanted Muxi's flesh into his body.
Then, as someone merely at the Transcendent Rank, it should have been impossible for Muxi to directly learn the techniques of crafting relics from the Angel-kin. It was more likely that she learned them somewhere else after they had disappeared...
Where could that place be?
Fisher was undoubtedly covetous of the method to craft relics. As a scholar, he possessed an innate desire to uncover a long-forgotten history and technique, secondary only to his love for elegant ladies.
"Forget it, I'm not going to talk about the Angel-kin with you anymore. Every time it's just you showering them with praise, talking about how inconceivably great the Holy Progeny are. My ears are growing calluses, and I never even get any useful information..."
"Bullshit! Everything I said is a fact! They are just that great! Since you are a human who understands nothing, stop speaking nonsense! Rebuttals are forbidden! Even if you rebut, I'm still right! Otherwise, I'm going to get angry! I'm getting so agitated by what you're saying!"
Fisher cast a glance at Eimhart, who was spinning in circles in place out of impotent rage. He now realized that if he wanted to continuously provoke Eimhart as quickly as possible, all he had to do was badmouth the Angel-kin in front of him and express doubts about their aesthetics and craftsmanship; he would absolutely be the quickest to lose his temper.
Ignoring him, Fisher simply dragged the massive fishing net to the side of the small boat. He took a rough look at the number of fish inside, and adding them to the ones caught previously, he felt it was more or less enough to eat for the coming days. Although they wouldn't spoil on the Iceberg Queen because of the Ice Prince, taking up too much space wouldn't be very appropriate either.
"Mr. Fisher, this is our morning harvest."
"Just leave it here, thanks for the hard work."
Fisher took a sip from the water canteen he had brought down from the Iceberg Queen. He glanced at the crew members arriving behind him, who were also carrying several bags of fish. As people of the Sardin Matriarchy, they politely averted their eyes from Fisher, avoiding looking at his sea-soaked clothes and the muscles beneath them.
This wasn't just out of respect for Fisher and Alajina; the main reason was that over these past few days, Fisher had been very diligent in his work and knew a great deal of things. Not only did he like to talk about them, but he also liked to ask them about life in the Northern Border and the situation of the vassal states... well, it was just unknown why his topics were always related to the demi-humans there.
However, after learning that Fisher was a scholar researching demi-humans, their doubts were completely put to rest.
In short, in the eyes of these women from the matriarchy, Fisher's image was somewhat contradictory. He was the kind of person who could do physical labor, giving off a 'virtuous husband and good father' vibe, yet he also exuded a sense of dominance distinct from the fragile men of the matriarchy. This significantly diminished their long-standing stereotypical views of men and women from other nations, and even made them want to try finding gentlemen from other countries.
Though it seemed that men from other nations preferred cleaner and gentler women, like the captain?
"Alright, this should be about enough fish. We can go back now. Once the engine on the ship is fixed, we can set off..."
"No problem... wait, Mr. Fisher, the second mate is flying over."
"The second mate?"
Hearing the crew member's reminder, Fisher turned his head and looked up toward the ocean's surface. He saw Aoxi, her wings spread in mid-air, flying toward them from the Iceberg Queen's mast at some unknown point in time.
Fisher had actually assumed she was coming over to ask about the quantity of the fish catch or to call them back for lunch. He had previously been considering how to trick Aoxi down from the mast to research her. After all, she was the second mate of the Iceberg Queen, plus she had a bit of social anxiety, isolating herself on the mast every day, making it rather difficult to make a move on her.
"Fisher..."
"What's wrong?"
Aoxi's figure landed on the edge of the small boat. Before she could even catch her breath a few times, a soft yet fully clear sentence emerged from her mouth, which was hidden by a cloak.
"The... the blonde girl you brought onto the ship got into a fight with a crew member..."
"Got into a fight?"
Fisher raised an eyebrow. Only a second later did the image of Isabel, the youngest princess of the Gedrin Royal Family, surface in his mind. He recalled her fragile appearance crouching in the corner of the wooden demon ship...
And Aoxi was saying she got into a fight with a crew member from the Sardin Matriarchy?
"You! What's going on?!"
Pakhz's fat face was usually full of smiles, but when she truly got angry, she was like a fierce tiger. That resounding voice was like a roar from the mountains; just hearing it would make people subconsciously cover their ears and shrink back.
At this moment on the deck of the Iceberg Queen, she was fiercely scolding a crew member. That crew member had her head slightly lowered, but she maintained a firm standing posture, her hands perfectly still behind her back. Hearing Pakhz's roar, the short hair on her head shook, as if vibrated by the sound.
"First Mate, I..."
The reprimanded female soldier raised her head slightly. One could see that her face had suffered a bit of damage; there was a slight bruise just below her eye socket, but mostly evident were prominent scratch marks. The overall injuries weren't severe; her expression just looked a bit guilty.
"Don't call me First Mate! Call me Officer! Stand at attention!"
"Yes, Officer!"
Even though they had defected from the Sardin Matriarchy, the shadow of the military still lingered in their hearts. Just hearing Pakhz's angry roar, the scolded crew member instantly straightened her body.
"What do military regulations say?! Have you forgotten everything?! You even dared to brawl in private, not to mention that she's a guest on our ship! Are you trying to turn the sky upside down?!"
"Reporting! No!"
That crew member actually had other things she wanted to say to defend herself to Pakhz, but she simply stood straight, listening to Pakhz's reprimand without moving an inch, as soldiers absolutely couldn't interrupt an officer when they were speaking.
Behind Pakhz, Alajina, whose right hand was wrapped in bandages, looked slightly cold. She glanced at the cabin below the deck, and hearing the sound of wings flapping by her ears, she turned to look at the mast above. Aoxi had returned there and nodded to her.
Sure enough, in the next second, Fisher's voice came from the side of the deck.
"What happened? Aoxi said Isabel got into a conflict with your crew member?"
Alajina nodded and walked over to Fisher, who had just come up to the deck, saying to him.
"Yes, but it was already stopped by other crew members. My crew member made a mistake by laying hands on your companion... I'm sorry."
Fisher, however, didn't reply. He merely cast a glance at the crew member who was taking the scolding with her head bowed. She had quite a few injuries on her face. As she listened to the reprimand, her lips pressed together tightly, holding a somewhat subtle sense of grievance...
Seeing that crew member's demeanor, a thought suddenly and inevitably arose in Fisher's heart, one that even he found somewhat hard to believe.
Could it be... that Isabel threw the first punch?