novelraw Chapter 275: Cangniao-kin Second Stage Reward (Two-in-One)
Chapter 275: Cangniao-kin Second Stage Reward (Two-in-One)
Fisher turned his head to ask Eimhart, but only saw him roll his eye, holding an expression of "I don't even want to talk about you".
"Didn't hear any sound, nothing more than that broken bed plank was almost rocked to pieces by you two! I truly couldn't stand listening anymore so I ran out into the corridor. That silly Cangniao-kin even stayed at the doorway listening the whole time, I truly yield to you guys..."
"..."
Fisher fell silent for a second, suddenly feeling a bit regretful in the bottom of his heart. Had he known earlier he would have restrained himself a bit.
But the problem lay in that, towards ladies of the Sardin Matriarchy one couldn't be soft-hearted and slow the tempo. Moreover, unknown why, Alajina seemingly preferred him treating her roughly. This was the result Fisher obtained after practice...
"Oh right, Old Jack, I have a little matter I want to talk to you about."
Just before Pakhz and other crew members were about to enter the hotel, Fisher remembered something and hastily looked towards Old Jack walking ahead of Pakhz, calling him to his side, telling him his subsequent arrangements.
Afterwards Fisher was going to leave the Iceberg Queen and embark on the journey heading to the Northern Border. When the time came, he had to deal with Erwinde and also enter the Frostwood Sycamore Tree to search for Renee's clues. Naturally it was impossible to bring Old Jack and Isabel onto the road. Leaving them temporarily to Alajina's care was the most appropriate method.
Old Jack cast a glance at the Fisher before his eyes, nodding without any surprise, saying,
"I know, I saw early on that you wouldn't stay long on the ship... I don't have any problem, it's just Princess Isabel who you brought along needs slightly more attention. After you leave there will be no one to look after her.""She has already grown up and has also displayed her viewpoint regarding her own future. I believe she can handle this upcoming period of time on the ship well... Of course, I will also exhort Alajina to help me take care of her more. After this, upon going to the Pirate Harbor, you guys will..."
Fisher originally wanted to remind that Alajina might go search for the legendary Stormsea with the Black Chieftain Ariddo afterwards. After all, Old Jack still had three little girls beside him. These situations should be clearly explained to Old Jack in advance letting him make the final decision. If he was unwilling to continue following Alajina to take risks, Fisher wouldn't mind sending him to the Northern Border or elsewhere to settle down first.
But unexpectedly, just as he spoke to this point, Old Jack seemingly already knew what he was going to say next, opening his mouth in advance saying,
"Cooperating with the Black Chieftain, right? Pakhz has told me about this matter. Just set your mind at ease. When the time comes I will go stay at the Pirate Harbor, and won't go venturing into some deep sea with this group of pirates... These old bones of mine are also unsuited for doing this kind of dangerous matter anymore. Pakhz said she bought a shop at the Pirate Harbor. When the time comes I can take Karma and the others there to open a restaurant selling Naris dishes... Hehe, or going back to my old profession and opening a tavern isn't bad either."
Hearing this, Fisher's complexion became somewhat odd. He looked at the earnest Old Jack before his eyes, and then through him looked at Pakhz standing at the doorway of the tavern behind him, waiting for the two of them to finish conversing.
Pakhz also noticed Fisher was looking at her, so she smiled and blinked at Fisher, then took a drag of a locally bought cigarette, looking extremely cozy.
Wait, since when did Old Jack get a set of housing from the hands of this Iceberg Queen First Mate?
How did I completely not know anything, even thinking the matter between the two of them hadn't even started to take shape...
The Old Jack before his eyes had no expression, but in Fisher's eyes his image at this time revealed a touch of unfathomable profundity. His odd gaze made Old Jack speechless, forced to fold his arms and open his mouth saying,
"Just partnering up to open a shop. You know, pirates drift outside year-round. Originally her buying that house at the Pirate Harbor was only to have a place to settle down whenever she retires later... Now is just right, can also be given to me to exert my remaining heat."
"...Alright then."
Whether the relationship between Old Jack and Pakhz was truly as pure as he spoke of, as long as he knew what he was doing in his own heart, Fisher respected his thoughts.
He drew out a messenger paper airplane originally engraved using purchased magic materials from his breast and handed it to Old Jack before his eyes, exhorting him,
"If you have any problems afterwards, you can always use this to contact me. Just place the letter you want to carry on top of it... I have enhanced this magic, covering the distance between the Pirate Harbor and the Northern Border is absolutely no problem."
Taking over Fisher's messenger, Old Jack nodded. After conversing a few more sentences with Fisher, he turned around and returned to the hotel together with Pakhz. Watching the back figures of the two of them walking towards the depths of the hotel with their arms around each other's shoulders, Fisher truly couldn't understand exactly what the relationship between them was.
Could it be this is the recently popular dating method for elderly people?
Fisher shook his head extremely uncomprehendingly, walking upstairs together with Eimhart. Yet unexpectedly he saw her again at the place he saw Ocie previously. She stood at the edge of the second-floor wooden railing. At this time, she had redraped the cloak Fisher wore on his face previously over her body, but this time, that cloak didn't wrap her into a ball again.
Before her, the usually closed cloak currently opened a reasonably wide slit, revealing the soft body wrapped in the white sailor suit on her body. Her face, leaning towards the cute type, was also completely freed from the cloak at this time, looking at Fisher walking up the stairs with a ruddy complexion.
"Fisher..."
"Idiot... Idiot..."
Upon seeing Fisher, the Steel Knife standing on her shoulder simultaneously spoke. Upon seeing the Steel Knife standing on her shoulder, Eimhart instantly floated up from Fisher's shoulder. After floating for a while feeling uncomfortable, he ran onto Fisher's head again. Just as he was preparing to take a seat, he was grabbed and thrown down by him, angering him to the point of gritting his teeth.
"You've finished chatting with Alajina, where is she?"
Looking at her somewhat brightened expression, Fisher knowingly cast a glance towards the direction of Alajina's room. After ensuring the door of that room was closed, he smiled and leaned against the edge of the corridor railing, speaking thus to Ocie.
"Mm, I chatted a lot with Alajina. We both now know what the other party's thoughts are. This helped me immensely, thank you, Fisher... She is in the room now, waiting for you to return."
"I see, that's good."
Just as Fisher nodded in satisfaction preparing to leave, she suddenly called out to Fisher,
"Wait, Fisher..."
Fisher's departing footsteps paused slightly, turning his head to look behind himself.
He only saw the wings on the body of the Ocie behind him spread slightly, seemingly symbolizing her somewhat nervous and joyful mood right now. Her small face was slightly red, her footsteps also somewhat shrinking back. But even so, she still looked at the Fisher before her eyes,
"I have... a little gift I want to give you, as a thank-you gift for helping me."
"...You have already given me a thank-you gift, remember. You letting me research you, that is already enough."
"Then this is an additional thank-you gift."
"A thank-you gift?"
Fisher looked quite puzzledly as Ocie's wings fumbled around beneath her cloak. Along with the movement of her wings, Fisher finally saw clearly a distinct wooden shape beneath her cloak. The instant that basket-shaped item appeared, a quite ominous premonition surged in Fisher's heart.
No way...
This thing wouldn't be...
"Mm. It's... this, want to give to Fisher."
The next second, Ocie's cloak shook twice. Only to be seen imposingly held upon her wings was a wooden basket Fisher had seen once before. Within that wooden basket, an egg-shaped bird egg lay quietly within. The top of the eggshell was covered by a pink towel, so this time Fisher also couldn't see clearly whether there were water stains he had seen previously on it.
"Actually... that egg Fisher ate with the crew on the ship previously was mine... But but but don't worry, this isn't a true egg, inside... inside there isn't a little Cangniao-kin either. It's just if I don't expel it for a long period of time my body will feel very uncomfortable."
Ocie didn't know Fisher had heard the entire process of her laying the egg, nor did she know Fisher already clearly knew the bird eggs the crew members on the ship ate were laid by her. But exactly this caused the current Fisher to be exceptionally awkward. Looking at that small wooden basket she brought out, neither accepting it nor not accepting it was good...
But looking at Ocie full of anticipation before his eyes, hesitating for a moment, Fisher still gently reached out a hand unable to refuse, taking over that wooden basket containing her eggs.
"Thank you."
Seeing Fisher take over the eggs she handed over, a bit of bright smile also brimmed over Ocie's face. That smile complemented her soft face wonderfully, making her aura at this time appear exceptionally bright in contrast to her aura previously.
She seemed to recall something, hastily shaking her head and explaining to the eggs in Fisher's embrace toward him,
"Actually... Father once told me, in the Cangniao-kin communities over at the snow mountains, Cangniao-kin generally bury the unfertilized bird eggs they lay in the ground as a memorial or place them in altars. But there are also special situations. When a Cangniao-kin encounters a friend they need to especially thank, when they want to offer loyalty to others, they will give these eggs as gifts to others."
"Although I am not an orthodox snow mountain Cangniao-kin tribesperson, but I still remember the words father said. Hoping Fisher won't mind... although it looks somewhat strange... it's very... very delicious."
No, this is completely not a question of whether it's delicious or not.
Fisher opened his mouth. He looked down at that egg contained in the basket in his hand, suddenly understanding something. Actually, according to Cangniao-kin customs, Ocie had absolutely no need to hand these laid eggs over to the cook on the ship, yet she still chose to do so. This indicated she indeed viewed those crew members on the ship as friends and family, even if she had never conversed with them.
Ocie was Alajina's most loyal guard, and had always been so.
[Cangniao-kin biological research progress: 34%]
[Cangniao-kin societal research progress: 55%]
[Extra reward bonus obtained from researching Snow Mountain Familiars: 20%]
[Cangniao-kin societal research progress reached 50%, unlocking the second stage's rewards!]
[Constitution +6, Spirit World Contamination Resistance +3.6, A Blood-Stained Letter of Death Remonstrance]
Exactly at this time, after Fisher heard the Cangniao-kin tribe customs Ocie poured out to him, the illusory text in the Demi-Human Girl Completion Handbook finally lit up again, making up the required research progress for the second-stage societal research reward Fisher failed to attain last time.
Amidst countless golden lights only Fisher could see, an illusory scroll suddenly appeared before his eyes. That scroll didn't appear before his eyes, merely unrolling towards him, revealing the contents within.
The second-stage rewards of the Demi-Human Girl Completion Handbook generally came accompanied by a physical item, such as [The Undoer] obtained from Renee, [Femabaha Dragon Court Clues] obtained from Raphaela, etc...
The Cangniao-kin was no exception, merely the thing given this time was very special. That was not some scroll or treasure, but a piece of rag seemingly roughly torn from the lapel of a garment. Upon it, two lines of sharp and messy ancient Northern Border text were written in bright red blood. Although Fisher couldn't read them, the Demi-Human Girl Completion Handbook had already considerately translated them for him,
[The situation within the Wutong Tree has changed, beseeching the Prince to absolutely not obey the summons to return]
At the bottom of that illusory scroll, there was also an item description given by the Demi-Human Girl Completion Handbook,
[A Blood-Stained Letter of Death Remonstrance: The arrogant Ice Prince failed to heed the death remonstrance from his most loyal subordinate within the Wutong Tree, and he also paid an extremely tragic price for this]
Fisher's gaze swept over the text recorded on that illusory cloth fabric, rapidly extracting the information granted by the Demi-Human Girl Completion Handbook.
Firstly, combining the source of the reward being the Cangniao-kin with the history of that year, this letter of death remonstrance was highly likely a warning sent to him by a Cangniao-kin tribesperson under the Ice Prince's command.
If Fisher guessed correctly, the Frostwood Sycamore Tree seemingly issued three summons back then for the Children of the Phoenix and Phoenix-kin outside the Frostwood Sycamore Tree to return to the Frostwood Sycamore Tree. But in actuality, a drastic change had occurred within the Wutong Tree. When the three Children of the Phoenix brought other tribespeople to return to the Wutong Tree, they paid the price of their lives... It was exactly because of this drastic change that led to the disappearance of the Phoenix-kin today.
In actuality, calculating from Life Rank, although the Phoenix-kin wasn't a Mythical Species, they should at least be existences of around Rank 14, meaning to say, they were very close to true Mythical Species.
Currently there were three species Fisher knew of whose lowest rank was above Mythical Species, respectively the Demon-kin (the true 72 Demons), the Angel-kin, and the Chaos-kin. Therefore it was hard to say whether the Phoenix King and the three Children of the Phoenix belonged to the Mythical Rank.
And these three species of Mythical Rank had no records indicating they intervened in the Northern Border during the period the Phoenix disappeared. Therefore Fisher suspected it was highly likely the Phoenix truly perished due to internal strife exactly as Eimhart had said...
Thinking to this point, Fisher silently dispersed the information and rewards provided by the Demi-Human Girl Completion Handbook. He carried the basket in his hand, thanking Ocie again,
"Thank you, Ocie."
"I'm the one who should be thanking you... Then, I'll be leaving first... Um, goodnight."
After saying these words, she lowered her head a bit, running towards the other direction of the corridor without looking back, leaving only Fisher and Eimhart, who had relanded on his shoulder, staring blankly at the eggs in his hand,
Eimhart asked first, his tone revealing curiosity,
"Speaking of which... this thing, is it delicious?"
"Not much different from chicken eggs... if you ignore the psychological factor. Why do you ask this?"
"I previously recorded many gourmets with resplendent reputations among you humans. They frequently wrote the delicacies they ate in books. I've read them, but could never taste such flavor. I know I'm rather curious towards that kind of flavor, therefore only asking."
"I can engrave a magic for you later, sharing my sensations with you."
"Really?!"
"Merely a conjecture, cannot confirm whether it will take effect yet... After all, you don't have a brain like us."
"...Why do I get the feeling you are scolding me."
Fisher carried the wooden basket and walked towards the direction of Alajina's room. He knocked on the door, and Alajina's answering voice transmitted from inside,
"Fisher?"
"It's me."
"The door isn't locked."
He pushed open the door leaf, his body making a movement the instant he saw the scene inside. He saw his left hand instantly pinch the body of Eimhart on his shoulder, interrupting the words he originally wanted to continue saying,
"Ouch! My eye, my eye, doing what?! What's the situation, don't cover my eye!"
Fisher tightly pinched Eimhart's eye on his shoulder, his dark gaze sweeping a circle around that room constantly radiating mist. Erected in the very center of the room was a wooden basin. Within the wooden basin, Alajina, with her hair tied up, was soaking in hot water, looking quite surprisedly at the Fisher standing at the doorway, whose gaze landed on her body and was constantly growing heavier.
"Fisher?"
Sensing Fisher's quite vigorous offensive desire from afar, Alajina didn't know what she thought of, her earlobes starting to become slightly ruddy again.
Fisher silently placed the basket in his hands on the ground, then turned his head and sent Eimhart out of the room, angering him into floating around in circles at the doorway,
"What are you doing?!"
"Sleep outside today, go find Old Jack and the others. If he isn't staying with Pakhz at night, I'll take you onto that ship later to find that book you haven't seen before."
Eimhart, who was just preparing to curse Fisher, heard his words. The insults in his throat were abruptly squeezed back, entirely turning into a quite dry, meaningless question,
"...Then what about you?"
Fisher's figure completely blocked the scene of the room behind the crack of the door. He cast a glance at the Eimhart before his eyes, simply explaining a sentence before closing the door. He said,
"Bathing, sleeping."
"..."