The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 266: Lord Cardinal (Two-in-One)

She truly couldn't remember clearly, only remembering that the first time she saw Edlas, her heart beat extremely fast, especially when she saw the melancholy hanging slightly at his brow that could never disperse.

The sorrow hanging on such a beautiful face could make a lady of the matriarchy unable to resist wanting to smooth out that sorrow for him just by looking at it...

Clearly his expression was so obvious, so why did her own mother never realize it?

Although she resembled her mother in appearance, Heliana's heart was much more delicate. She very quickly and keenly detected her inner feelings towards Edlas, and naturally knew that this kind of forbidden feeling could absolutely never be tolerated by the secular world. Thus, she could only hide it in her heart all along, as a secret known only to herself.

But even so, sometimes Heliana still couldn't resist wanting to gaze at him from afar.

Gazing at him coming alone to the depths of the courtyard far away from the palace court, gazing at him staying in the pavilion for an entire afternoon wrapped alone in a fur coat, gazing at him dotingly hugging Alajina in his arms...

It was precisely because of this feeling hidden in her heart that she always harbored a strange feeling towards her younger sister, Alajina.

Because of her resemblance to Edlas, Heliana paid considerable attention to her; because of Edlas's doting on her, Heliana was especially jealous of her.

Until one day, Heliana's endured feelings truly reached their limit, making her muster her courage and finally come before Edlas to reveal the feelings in her heart to him.

Unsurprisingly, she was sternly rejected by Edlas. Even up till now, she still remembered the other party's extremely astonished and disgusted expression.That expression pierced her, making her so ashamed she had nowhere to hide. Only then did she finally choose to leave the Hammond Fiefdom, choosing to go to the Co-Ruler's side to be knighted and become a Phoenix Knight.

But being far away from the Hammond Fiefdom didn't let Heliana obtain the forgetting and peace she desired. Her spirit was trapped in the unbloomed feelings. What greeted her was not liberation, but only the simple message of Edlas throwing himself into the lake to commit suicide arriving in quick succession.

At that time, Heliana, far away under the Co-Ruler's seat, suddenly felt a bit of regret, regretting leaving the Hammond Fiefdom. If she had still been there at that time, perhaps Edlas wouldn't have ended up like this...

In the tavern, Alajina, who felt quite exhausted, raised the fist in her hand high towards Heliana, but it never fell towards her face.

"...You people of the Hammond family are not worthy of mentioning my father, all of you make me feel extremely disgusted!"

"Hah, hatred towards the family, is it... You are neither the first nor the last, but does all this really have meaning?"

Heliana narrowed her eyes, which were swollen from Alajina's beating, looking at her and sneering.

"Alajina, you possess many things others cannot envy, those are exactly the source of you being envied by people. You possess talent that even mother marveled at, have Edlas's doting, have absolutely loyal subordinates, yet you haven't done anything well, and can't grasp anything..."

"You clearly had countless conditions infinitely superior to mine to rescue Edlas from the sea of bitterness, to change the situation of the Hammond family and the fiefdom, to make a name for yourself in the outside world, yet you wasted the capital you possessed for nothing."

"In my view, you are just a bastard with empty talent but no goals, like a fool carrying a bellyful of wealth scattering money everywhere... Hehe, however, Alajina, what I want to tell you is: aim high to achieve moderate, aim moderate to achieve low, aim low to achieve nothing. The smaller the goal you set, the less you will simultaneously obtain!"

Heliana's words rang out, making Alajina blank slightly, as if her inner sore spot had been poked by her.

When her father of the Sardin Matriarchy was still alive, her goal was to stay with her father; to her, future throne and power were passing clouds. When avenging her father, her goal was only to kill the Hammond vassal king; as for what the future of this country would be like, she completely didn't care...

But in the end, exactly what outcome did such simple goals lead to?

Her father was forced to throw himself into the lake and die. The Hammond Kingdom, having lost its vassal king, only changed to another mediocre successor, along with her and her subordinates becoming wanted criminals of the Sardin Matriarchy fleeing all over the world...

Perhaps Heliana was right. If her goal back then could have been grander, if she could have worked harder, would the final outcome have been better?

Just like now, if her goal was only to give the crew a good ending, only to marry Fisher and be with him, could setting such a goal really obtain such a result?

Just as Alajina was slightly blanked because of her thoughts, Heliana beneath her suddenly violently erupted, throwing another punch onto Alajina's face.

"Bang!"

"Ugh!"

With the fall of this last punch, the atmosphere in the room finally truly quieted down, leaving only the continuously ringing, rising and falling panting sounds of the two sisters.

Covered in scars, the two of them lay on the floor, blankly looking at the ceiling. Neither spoke again, placing one hundred percent of their attention on breathing, memories, and their conversation just now.

There was no wind and snow of the Sardin Matriarchy here, the bygone years had already passed, so revisiting the old matters at this time instead added a bit of reflective meaning for both of them.

And hearing the commotion inside the room quiet down again, Fisher, who had waited at the doorway for a long time, finally walked into the room with a wholly strange expression.

Mhm, yes, actually Fisher had already arrived outside the battlefield of Alajina and Heliana long ago. It was just that as soon as he arrived, he heard the conversation between the two of them, so Fisher wasn't in a hurry to enter the room and interrupt their conversation.

Aoxi outside was still trying to wake up those crew members, and the Phoenix Knights brought by Heliana estimated to have also not been able to stand up from the ground yet, so their conversation should have been heard by no one except himself.

Initially, he thought Heliana was a loyal supporter of Alajina's mother, coming to settle accounts for the crimes Alajina committed. He didn't expect that she actually secretly loved Alajina's father, and the reason she fought with her was completely because she was jealous of her secret crush's daughter?

Although the relationship sounded a bit messy, thinking about it carefully, Alajina's father was much, much younger than her mother, only 8 years older than Heliana. The mother and daughter's aesthetics were surprisingly consistent at this moment, making it somewhat difficult for Fisher to judge the rights and wrongs, only able to give her feelings the most basic respect...

But after all, these matters were all in the past tense, and had also concluded in the punch-by-punch "intimate exchange" just now.

Just as Heliana said, when Alajina's father died, her heart had also died, making her purpose of seeking Alajina at this time seem somewhat unclear...

To say she was responding to her past jealousy towards Alajina was not entirely true either, otherwise she wouldn't have said those words to Alajina at the end.

Exactly what it was, perhaps only Heliana herself knew. Fisher didn't care either.

He merely took off Aoxi's cloak from his face, and then came to Alajina's side, helping her up slightly, looking at her and saying,

"Alajina, are you okay?"

"Fisher..."

Actually, both Alajina and Heliana were injured very seriously. The flesh-to-flesh, merciless attacks caused Alajina's face to be stained with quite a lot of bruises and dried blood, making her current appearance become quite disheveled.

But even so, facing Fisher's gaze, she would still subconsciously hide, seemingly not wanting him to see her fragile appearance right now, along with having to say an adorably brave sentence within Fisher's expectations,

"I'm fine..."

Fisher didn't expose her stubbornness. He merely reached out and wiped the fresh blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, and then said,

"I don't have healing magic on me right now. I'll just formulate one for you later."

"...Mhm. Thank you, Fisher."

Alajina pursed her lips, seemingly warmed by his words, so she reached out and gently pinched a corner of Fisher's clothes, but didn't make any other excessive movements, as if this was already enough to alleviate a lot of the pain on her body.

And the panting Heliana beside them laboriously raised her body a bit. What entered her eyes was her own younger sister gently leaning beside a handsome man. They seemed to be the center of a heat source, making the room slowly heat up, leaving only Heliana alone beside them staying in the bone-piercing cold wind of the Sardin Matriarchy.

She opened her mouth, chewed on the bitter taste of blood from the wound in her mouth, and then laboriously moved her body alone to lean against the wall beside them, not saying a single word.

"Fisher, Pakhz and the others..."

"Ah, they are fine. Or rather, this sister of yours completely never thought about touching your crew, she came looking for you."

Alajina, staying in Fisher's embrace, turned her head to cast a glance at Heliana, only to see her sneeringly shake her head and say,

"Did you really think I would come settle accounts with you for mother? Don't be naive... If it weren't for the task arranged by the Co-Ruler, we wouldn't have met. And I am only coming over now to confirm the purity of you as a woman."

Heliana's expression appeared somewhat desolate. She didn't look at Alajina's face, deeply afraid she would thereby think of a certain person hidden in her memory,

"But the words I said before were not fake, Alajina. The future of this world is not a frozen lake, but an upcoming roaring storm. The new queen of Naris, the [Holy Pope] of Kadu, the [Black Chieftain] of the Pirate Port... Those are not monsters that can be simply understood, and will make the future of this world become even more complex."

"Even the Northern Border is about to undergo bizarre changes because of the True Ice appearing on this island. So, Alajina, staying put will only make you lose more..."

Alajina still kept a cold face and ignored her words. Towards this elder sister possessing improper thoughts about her father, she truly had no good impression, merely keeping her words in her heart without making any other response.

But Heliana had never expected her to respond to her in the first place. She merely rubbed her shoulder and slowly got up from the wall.

It seemed indeed her physical stamina was much stronger than Alajina's; just this moment of breathing time was enough for her to recover her mobility.

Speaking of which, since before, Fisher had always been very curious: why were the women of the Sardin Matriarchy quite a bit stronger than the men of other countries?

Now, Fisher, who was well-versed in rank theory, suddenly began to suspect: could it be possible that in their bodies there was some bloodline of high-rank demi-humans, which created this special phenomenon?

Mhm, it seems indeed very possible. He could research the origin of this phenomenon later.

"Alright, I should take this group of trash and leave here too. You guys should also quickly leave Patlusion Island, it's not safe here..."

Mhm, leave?

Fisher cast a somewhat puzzled glance at Heliana walking outside while twisting her neck, momentarily not understanding what she meant.

"Weren't you guys going to make a transaction with the Naris people? Leaving now without making the transaction?"

Hearing Fisher's question, Heliana was somewhat astonished. Looking at Fisher beside Alajina, she said,

"Man, you know quite a lot. You are right, we did indeed come to make a transaction with the Naris people. They obtained a piece of True Ice from within the borders of Mya, and told us this news. But only after I boarded the island did I feel their people were somewhat strange, especially that group of people from the Pioneering Company..."

"Strange?"

"Mhm..."

Heliana seemingly recalled something, her expression appearing somewhat grave,

"I felt that the aura of that group of people from the Pioneering Company was very strange, the smell on their bodies was also very special, like several pieces pieced together, that kind of feeling. So we delayed the time of the transaction."

"Sure enough, just now the Matriarchy sent us a warning through magic, saying Mya's warships are currently approaching this side, telling us to abandon the transaction and leave Patlusion Island... I don't know what happened on the Naris people's side, but we dare not gamble. If we fall into a trap, it will be troublesome, so I told you guys to be more careful, and hurry up and leave here."

Fisher suddenly caught the key information in the other party's words. He seemed to realize something strange.

Mya's warships are currently approaching here, then what was the situation with the Snow Cloud Commandos encountered before? Could it be this was also part of their plan and they didn't reveal it to himself?

But if they stated early on that Mya's warships would directly ignore other countries and deploy over directly, there was completely no need to contact the Iceberg Queen in search of his help...

Or could it be, they contacted the Iceberg Queen for another purpose?

For example, himself.

Moreover, with Mya's warships forcefully coming over directly, wouldn't the Sardin Matriarchy and Naris have any reaction?

Now even the Phoenix Knights of the Sardin Matriarchy couldn't figure out what happened. There was only one single possibility: namely, some mishap occurred with the Naris faction on this island, making them suddenly break away from the originally set plan...

Fisher's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly lowered his head and said a sentence to Alajina,

"Alajina, you recuperate here first, I have a little matter to deal with!"

"Fisher..."

But before her words finished, Fisher had already supported her to the wall, and then sprinted madly outside.

He jogged all the way from the tavern, bypassing Aoxi treating the wounded outside and the Phoenix Knights slowly walking into the tavern, all the way onto the street.

There were scarce personnel outside, and the tavern where the Naris people lived in the distance didn't produce any commotion at all either, only the sound of Mya's warships negotiating with pirate ships in the distance was that distinct.

Fisher frowned, took out that mechanical card Blair had handed to him previously. After tapping it once, he placed it by his ear. Not a few seconds later, the sound of the Cloud Cat-kin Blair came from over there,

"Ah, just right, Mr. Benavides, I have more or less dealt with things here. How is the situation on your end?"

Fisher's expression became increasingly stern. He seemed to understand something and completely ignored his pleasantries, suddenly opening his mouth to say,

"You people are not members of the Snow Cloud Commandos. Who exactly are you?"

Yes, Fisher suddenly understood that the group of Blair's people they encountered before were completely not members of the Snow Cloud Commandos at all. As early as when they brought out those bizarre creations of the Completion Handbook, Fisher had had his suspicions. Now with the Naris people having an accident, he became exceptionally certain of this thought.

If it was an ordinary situation where Mya's warships could sail here, neither the Sardin Matriarchy nor Naris would sit idly by. Only if a mishap occurred with the Naris people on Patlusion Island, making Naris officials unable to be contacted, which thereby also caused the Sardin Matriarchy to not understand what Naris meant, would the transaction be forced to cancel.

Blair's voice over there came to an abrupt end. Only until a moment later did that voice transmit again,

"Truly unexpectedly sharp, Mr. Benavides... but it doesn't matter, I am still in the hotel where the Naris people reside. The risk from the Lord of Life has already been temporarily eliminated. If you have any questions, you can come over and ask me. Just right, I also have some matters I want to discuss with you, regarding the matters in Naris."

Erwinde?

That group of Naris people who came to trade were targeted by Erwinde, but why?

Was it because of himself, or because of something else that they were targeted?

And that group of Cloud Cat-kin completely didn't care about what transaction between Naris and the Sardin Matriarchy; what they targeted was Erwinde who acted against Naris. They were people from the Creator's Society...

Fisher looked at the card in his hand, was silent for two or three seconds, only then moved his footsteps and ran towards the direction of the tavern where the Naris people lived in the distance,

"...I'm coming over now."

"Quietly awaiting your arrival."

Actually, the position where Alajina and the others were located just now was still very far from the place where the Naris people lived, but under Fisher's excessive enhancement as a Dragon-kin, it wasn't long before he had already rushed to the doorway of this most luxurious hotel on Patlusion Island.

Unsurprisingly, the hotel before his eyes was also perfectly quiet, seemingly having been completely cleared out.

Fisher frowned and walked into the lobby of the hotel, and was instantly startled by the scene inside. Only to see countless human figures standing within the lobby of the tavern, original service staff of the hotel, and also gangsters holding muskets, but at this moment their bodies all stood pencil straight, as motionless as dolls.

Faint specks of light continuously surged on their bodies. Those lights looked familiar to Fisher, just like the light on the Wisdom Machines seen at that group of Cloud Cat-kin's place before... Within the bodies of these people, there also seemed to be something emitting light.

Just as Fisher evaluated the surrounding environment, a service staff member of the hotel nearby abruptly twisted their head around, opened their mouth to him and said,

"Mr. Fischer Benavides, I am waiting for you inside Room 304. There is no need to worry, they are all still alive. After I leave, they will lose their memories and return to normal."

"Please speed up, it won't be long before Mya lands on the island, at that time I will have to leave here."

Fisher cast a glance at the direction of the stairway entrance pointed to by the hand of that doll-like person, then placed the black Fluid Sword in his hand. Eimhart on his shoulder was also terrified quite a bit. Just as he wanted to open his mouth to speak, a fluctuation like an electric arc suddenly was transmitted from the surroundings and struck him, making him instantly lose consciousness and change back into an ordinary book.

"Please understand, our conversation needs to be kept secret, and cannot be recorded or remembered by any other existence possessing wisdom."

Fisher had no choice but to put Eimhart back into his clothes, and followed the direction pointed to by the hands of those doll-like people up the stairs.

Following flight after flight of spiraling stairs upward, Fisher very quickly reached the third floor and came to the tight-shut door of Room 304.

The surroundings were perfectly quiet, but arriving at the doorway of 304, Fisher still smelled a strong bloody scent from within.

"Bang!"

The next second, the door before Fisher abruptly opened, revealing the room inside in a complete mess.

Only to see the interior of the room was covered with quite a lot of shattered flesh and blood, among which were also scattered components unsure if they came from a human.

Fisher was deeply afraid that a Human-Insect or a bizarre monster attached with Erwinde's consciousness would suddenly dart out from some corner of the room. He vigilantly evaluated the doorway for a round, but discovered no danger whatsoever.

"There is no need to worry, the consciousness of the Lord of Life has already left this island, and he also failed to obtain the item he desired."

Right at this moment, a monotonous, emotionless, non-fluctuating voice like a machine sounded from within the room, interrupting Fisher's vigilant observation.

He paused for a second and then slowly walked into the room. Only to see a row of Cloud Cat-kin standing like puppets in the room, precisely the several Blair siblings he had encountered before.

Their expressions were sluggish, and similarly, bizarre lights continuously lit up on their bodies, just like some components similar to the previous machines had been implanted in their bodies.

Fisher evaluated them, then placed his gaze on the source of the voice just now. It was a mechanical item floating right in the middle of the room, like an eye.

That was the Annihilation Prototype Blair had introduced before.

"Apologies, Mr. Fischer Benavides, meeting you in this manner is not what I originally desired. This is a direct program set by the [Lord of Fate], I can only adhere to the production specifications she left behind."

The light on that Annihilation Prototype became increasingly vigorous, just as if breathing towards Fisher. It swayed its body, and then said to him in a monotonous, emotionless voice like a machine,

"Introducing myself to you for the first time. Pleased to meet you for the first time, respected Completion Handbook owner, Mr. Fischer Benavides."

"I am a member from the [Creator's Society], the [Lord Cardinal] responsible for affairs in the Northern Border region, very pleased to meet you."