The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 254: Shadow of the Pioneering Company

【You have witnessed a Snow Mountain Familiar: Cloud Cat-kin】

【Now providing you with more details regarding the Cloud Cat-kin specimen, in order to better locate a research target】

Looking at the text slowly emerging from the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, Fisher suddenly remembered that after finishing the social research on Aoxi last time, it had prompted him that he had obtained a reward allowing him to acquire information on familiars without needing to bind them. It seemed the content being displayed now was precisely this, capable of supplementing more details regarding the Cloud Cat-kin specimen.

The moment those phantom texts emerged, everything around him seemed to slow down. Fisher's pupils trembled slightly, but his thoughts grew faster and faster, as if some sort of thought-accelerating device had been activated.

Immediately after, those phantom texts flowed rapidly, gradually transforming into the entire process of his witnessing that Cloud Cat-kin moments ago, only much more detailed than that fleeting glimpse.

The original crowd around him was all darkened into phantom silhouettes. At this moment, the entire street seemed to only contain that departing Cloud Cat-kin girl and Fisher, who was observing her; the presence of everyone else was infinitely minimized.

Fisher's gaze swept over. He saw that the young girl's fair, clean face didn't have much fur, but her facial features were very soft, as harmless to people and animals and cute as cotton candy. And only at her hands hugging the bread could you see a bit of fluffy, long white fur.

No matter from which angle one looked at it, this should just be a demi-human maid working at some cafe, nothing special about her.

However, bolstered by the bizarre observational power of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, Fisher quickly discovered that the path she took was extremely concealed. Moreover, she was constantly shifting her footsteps to change her position amidst the crowd, as if deeply afraid of being discovered by others.

If Fisher hadn't subconsciously looked in that direction due to the prompt from the Demi-Human Completion Handbook earlier, he probably wouldn't have noticed that cat-kin maid hugging the bread at all.Fisher's consciousness slowly approached that cat-kin standing in a concealed part of the crowd. Her mood seemed quite good. Under such circumstances, there was absolutely no need to conceal her figure, not to mention she herself was wearing such an eye-catching maid outfit. This was very likely her subconscious behavior...

The scene in his mind continued to progress. That highlighted cat-kin maid walked forward according to his previous memory. But the very moment Fisher's gaze from afar landed on her, she immediately and sharply twitched her tail. This was also the reason why Fisher was able to discover the length of her tail beneath her skirt.

At that time, she had noticed him looking at her.

That cat-kin gave a reaction the moment Fisher's gaze landed on her. Aside from a slight change in her tail, everything else was normal... No, something seemed to be hidden beneath her tail.

Fisher sharply discovered that an inappropriate item had appeared beside her raised tail. After he crouched down slightly to look over, a dagger wrapped in a scabbard imposingly appeared beneath her skirt.

A demi-human maid working at a cafe hiding a dagger under her skirt for self-defense... this is very reasonable, right?

Fisher cast a glance at that Cloud Cat-kin maid who was hugging bread, humming a song, and looked completely harmless to people and animals. Clearly, her true identity wasn't as simple as her outward appearance suggested.

After she noticed Fisher's gaze, she made no other movements, just continued humming that unknown little tune and quickened her pace to leave the area. This was also why Alajina, who had been paying attention to Fisher, saw nothing when she turned her head to look.

From the special perspective granted by the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, Fisher quickly realized that this Cloud Cat-kin had absolutely undergone professional military training. Moreover, it wasn't the amateur martial arts of ordinary pirates; it was the kind with official background...

And for official people of a certain Northern Border nation... or spies, special agents, or whatever, to appear on Patlusion Island—a gathering place for pirates—was not a good sign. Not to mention, this place was still quite a long distance away from the Northern Border. If they had appeared here, it was hard to guarantee that the Schwarians and Naris people, who were even closer to this place, wouldn't show up as well.

Thinking of this, Fisher furrowed his brows. Within the enhanced details of the Completion Handbook, he took one last careful look at the uniform worn by that Cat-kin. Generally, this kind of uniform was custom-made by the store and would have the store's signboard sewn onto it.

Thus, there were three lines of text written on it, including Naris text, Schwarian text, and Northern Border text. The meaning was:

"Cloudtop Cafe"

"Giant Lizard Eggs! A pair, only 50 Northern Border Silver Dollars!"

"Sea Ghost Tentacles, Sea Ghost Ambergris, Sea Ghost Meat, selling as a bundle, price is negotiable."

"Magic materials, those who need them can come take a look, any currency accepted."

The market selling materials on Patlusion Island was located underground, and generally, this type of market was situated in such an environment. Just like how the magic market in Saint-Nazareth would also build a canopy overhead, this was because many materials could not survive long under direct sunlight and needed to be preserved away from light.

Alajina and Fisher slowly walked into this decently spacious underground market. The majority of the vendors selling items here operated from street stalls, with occasionally a few who started early and did well having their own shops.

Alajina and Fisher walked and looked at the same time, their gazes lingering momentarily when they heard the introductions from nearby vendors. However, when they arrived in front of that shop selling Sea Ghost body materials, they stopped in their tracks. Fisher noticed her movements and remembered the Sea Ghost they had failed to hunt previously.

"They sell Sea Ghost body parts here... they also managed to hunt a Sea Ghost."

Alajina, however, shook her head and suddenly spoke up.

"Something's not right."

"Not right?"

"Mhm."

Fisher didn't understand much about hunting and ecology in the sea, whereas the tradition of the Sardin Matriarchy included the custom of going out to the open ocean to hunt. Alajina understood matters in this regard much better.

Hearing Fisher's words, she squatted down slightly and pointed to the [Sea Ghost Ambergris] displayed in two lumps on the stall. That was a pale yellow natural spice occurring within the bodies of Sea Ghosts, which could be extracted to make perfume or soap. But the two chunks on this stall were roughly only as thick as Fisher's arm; compared to the massive Sea Ghost they had seen before, it seemed far too little.

"These two lumps of Sea Ghost Ambergris are complete, but they don't come from a single Sea Ghost... and for some unknown reason, the volume of the ambergris lumps is too small. The meat quality of the Sea Ghost is the same; it's completely lost the elasticity it should originally have, which is why the price is so cheap..."

The vendor selling the Sea Ghost Ambergris knew he had met an expert. He hurriedly rubbed his hands and approached them with an awkward smile, explaining to them.

"Well, I don't know what's wrong this year, to actually encounter so many Sea Ghosts out at sea... Good luck? Or perhaps their home was sacked by other, more dangerous sea monsters? Anyway, we brought in a lot of this stuff. But just as you said, the quality is too poor. Who knows what they experienced at the bottom of the sea."

The bottom of the sea?

Seeing that somewhat shriveled Sea Ghost meat, Fisher instantly thought of Jasmine. The curse on her body could extract surrounding life force. It was hard to say whether these Sea Ghosts fleeing collectively from the seabed was because of her...

At this exact moment, Fisher suddenly felt something. His body stiffened slightly, and his thoughts came to an abrupt end.

"Let's go, the magic materials are..."

Even Alajina couldn't glean any useful information from this rotted Sea Ghost meat that had already been cut into chunks. After carefully sizing it up a few times, she decided to take Fisher away to buy magic materials. As a result, before she could finish speaking, Fisher beside her suddenly reached out and pressed down on her shoulder, pinning her back in place.

"Mmph..."

By the time her earlobes blushed slightly and she turned her head in confusion to look beside her, Fisher wasn't looking at her. He merely looked past her silhouette toward the distance, covertly raising an index finger in front of her lips.

"Shh."

Alajina's blue eyes flickered slightly, and she similarly turned her head to look in the direction Fisher was looking. Over there, several people in suits were carrying an iron box as they walked out from the depths of the market. The suited man leading them had blond hair. He sized up the surroundings, then led those suited men behind him out of the market.

"Those are Naris people... what's wrong?"

Fisher didn't turn his head back. He just put on an act of examining the goods in front of the stall and explained for Alajina.

"...I sense a massive amount of magic on that suited man. If every magic is calculated as six-ring, he is carrying roughly over twenty types. If combined with lower-ring magic, the specific quantity is unknown. Therefore, it's more likely that he is carrying even higher-ring dangerous magic."

"He is very rich. In Naris, there aren't many people who can simultaneously equip this much magic and carry it on them, and those who can conveniently show up here are even fewer."

Alajina cast a glance at the retreating backs of that group of suited men, suddenly understanding something, and guessed while lost in thought.

"The Naris Pioneering Company?"

"Mhm, it's them. I just don't know what they're doing here... It looks like they came here to retrieve something, the thing inside that iron box."

Now, seeing that even the Naris Pioneering Company had appeared here, the ominous premonition in Fisher's heart grew even stronger.

It was entirely possible that the Cloud Cat-kin from the Northern Border was connected to this matter, and he exactly wanted to research her... This situation was just like a difficult problem presented to him by the Demi-Human Completion Handbook; it all depended on whether Fisher dared to gamble that he would be lucky enough to encounter this type of demi-human again next time.

Right as Fisher and Alajina were conversing in low voices, a strong stench of alcohol mixed with a slurred sentence also drifted over from the side.

"Heh... I can smell that foul stench from far away, the Pioneering Company."

"Hey, you drunkard, go back to your stall! Don't come to mine."

"Stingy. What difference does it make if I stand at your place for a while? Is it gonna kill you?"

"Scram, scram, scram! Last time you puked on Kallio's stall just like this... I'm telling you, Jesse, scram quickly!"

Standing behind Fisher, Aoxi looked quite curiously at the person leaning against the wall behind the stall selling Sea Ghost meat. That man seemed to have only just appeared here. His clothes were in tatters, looking even more down-and-out than those native fishermen outside who used sackcloth to cover their bodies.

He pinched a wine flask in his grime-covered hand, his entire body reeking of potent alcohol, just as if he had only just crawled out of a hell brewed from strong liquor. No wonder others despised him so much.

Seeing how unwelcome he was, the drunkard called "Jesse" first raised his hand and poured a gulp of alcohol down his throat. He then nonchalantly waved his hand and left the area, walking toward a corner of the market.

As he walked, his mouth was still cursing something in a low voice. They probably weren't words fit for the ears, and the target of his insults was clearly the Pioneering Company Fisher had just mentioned.

Fisher watched him lie down behind a street stall and start continuing to drink. Then, he slowly stood up and walked toward his direction. To protect his safety, Alajina immediately followed as well, leaving only Aoxi to start wondering exactly when it would be time to eat.

The wretched old man's stall position was terrible. Right beside him was the waste disposal area for the entire underground market. Normally, no guests searching for treasures would come over here at all. The items he sold were just simply placed atop a piece of cloth laid out on the ground. Fisher swept a rough glance over them; they were mostly handicrafts from all over the world.

Fisher's gaze then swept over his dirty body. Under his ever-present wine flask, the outline of a golden box appeared on his chest, which was coated in a layer of grime. Fisher recognized that thing; it was a compass manufactured by the Naris people.

Among the nations of the West Continent, the earliest to send out fleets to leave the continent was Naris. In shipbuilding, navigation technology, and cartography, if the Naris claimed to be first, no one dared to claim second. Compass craftsmanship, of course, was naturally included within.

This man was very familiar with the Naris company, and additionally carried a compass with him. Not many people could meet these conditions simultaneously...

"You know those people from the Pioneering Company?"

Fisher squatted in front of his stall. Just as he wanted to reach out and touch the handicrafts on his stall, he was interrupted by his alcohol-laced words.

"Don't touch if you aren't buying; I don't have the rule of inspecting goods first here... The Pioneering Company's piss-poor attitude, even if they walk into a cesspit, they can't bear to part with those orthodox suits. The nickname 'Suit Dogs' isn't something that can spread just from people calling it out."

When the employees of the Naris Pioneering Company went overseas to work, they frequently wore expensive suits from Saint-Nazareth. Therefore, no matter the time, they always appeared in the image of a full suit. Thus, they earned this nickname.

"You don't allow inspecting goods because you firmly believe that these treasures you brought back from overseas are all authentic? Among you navigators favored by the era, there aren't many who end up as miserable as you."

The man reeking of alcohol narrowed his eyes and sized up Fisher. Then, he took another sip from his wine flask. Without responding to his words, he just directly asked point-blank.

"What do you want to get from me, Naris man?"

Fisher didn't waste any more breath either. Staring at him, he asked.

"I want to know what that group of Pioneering Company employees came to this market for."