novelraw Chapter 293: It Is Not the Time Yet
Chapter 293: It Is Not the Time Yet
The Northern Border winds abruptly turned clamorous. Ilos's words just now awakened Fisher's memories from half a year prior at this moment. In Pherone City of the Southern Continent, when he defeated Pherone, the giant eye he saw... it turned out it had been continuously by his side watching him all along; it had never left!
The mana circuits all over Fisher's body instantly lit up. The chill spreading up from his back made him suddenly want to know exactly what it was following by his side for all along.
"Fisher! That Moon Rabbit-kin is going to fall!"
But now was not the time to ponder the sequence of events. Upon hearing Emhart's voice, Fisher violently extracted himself from his train of thought, locking his gaze onto Ilos before him who was about to fall from the edge of the bell tower.
The direction she was currently falling toward was the coast. Falling down here would mean plummeting into the sea.
The small face of the out-of-control Ilos turned incredibly pale. The surrounding frantic night winds frightened her into hastily closing her eyes and tightly hugging her own body.
But exactly in the next moment, she suddenly felt a fierce gust of wind violently attack. It turned out to be Fisher, pushing his body whose injuries still hadn't healed, running towards Ilos, wanting to grab her before she fell.
Fisher instantly arrived at the edge. But even going all out with his full strength, his speed was still a step too slow. Her body had already fallen halfway down. Moreover, she had closed her eyes like she was waiting for death right now; for her to react and reach out a hand toward him was simply impossible. Fisher could only look his gaze towards that pair of long, slender ears atop her head.
Unable to grab her hand, he could only seek a handle he could act upon to grab onto. Thus, Fisher decisively grabbed that pair of soft ears atop the other party's head with a single hand. Afterwards, his right hand firmly pressed against her lower abdomen. His left hand grabbing and right hand pushing, he drew a semicircle in mid-air over his shoulder, bringing her back into the interior of the bell tower.
The instant he reached out to touch that pair of slender ears, Fisher instantly felt roots of soft and fine downy hair. Following that was the warm body temperature concealed beneath that hair. That was absolutely a rare tactile sensation; even Fisher was slightly dazed for a second.He seemed to suddenly understand why the contributor of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook categorized demi-humans like the Moon Rabbit-kin into the [Cotton Candy] classification. Just touching the soft fur on their bodies made Fisher feel as if his heart had melted into cotton candy.
"Wu~"
"Ilos, are you alright?"
"Eh, eh? I... I... um..."
At this very moment, Ilos's brain seemingly crashed. The scare from falling off the building; the terror of seeing that monster behind Mister Fisher; the shyness and sensitivity of having her ears touched... all were taking turns bombarding her brain right now, like actors taking the stage one after another. Therefore, when Fisher questioned her, she was still groggy, unable to distinguish exactly what had newly happened.
Eh, what exactly happened just now? It seemed... m-my ears were... Eh, eh, eh, eh!
Ilos's complexion instantly flushed entirely red. Her heartbeat abruptly accelerated. Just as she wanted to open her eyes and look at Fisher, what entered her vision wasn't just Fisher's handsome face. Behind him, a massive, semi-illusory giant eyeball was simultaneously looking at her too.
That was a grotesque existence resembling both a mouth and an eye. It spanned across mid-air like a giant door, blurring the lines between illusion and reality. Within that black hole-like pupil, it was as if the stars and souls of the entire universe were falling. Seeing such an existence up close at this very moment, Ilos's fear and sense of insignificance instantly reached their peak, nearly short-circuiting her brain.
"Waaah! A ghost!!"
Ilos, within Fisher's embrace, suddenly rolled her eyes up. She was instantly frightened into fainting, leaving behind only that bright white moonlight, and Fisher and Emhart who were looking at each other in blank dismay.
"Emhart. You said before that the Moon Rabbit-kin could see hidden things, right? In other words, the thing she saw truly exists?"
"Ah, if the records aren't mistaken, it should be like that... God knows what she saw on you. Could it be she saw my greatness? And was scared by one of my eyes?"
"..."
On the church's first floor, Fisher built a fire at the doorway of the small room she rested in. The church at night was somewhat cold; a fire allowed one to fall asleep better. After finishing this, he placed his gaze onto Ilos lying inside resting. Having received a scare just now, she presumably wouldn't wake up anytime soon.
But now that things had quieted down, he began to ponder the eye behind him that Ilos saw just now again.
Although he couldn't confirm exactly what its purpose of following and watching him was, Fisher could largely ascertain it held no malice toward him. Furthermore, its purpose for following him was highly likely related to items like the Completion Handbooks.
Back then, after he killed Pherone, this giant eye revealed its face before him. It also used the Naris language to tell him it owed him one. This also indicated that killing Pherone was a result it hoped to see. It was possible Pherone's actions had caused a detriment to it; it was also possible all owners of Completion Handbooks were a detriment to it.
Simultaneously, its existence also reminded Fisher of one thing again: the Completion Handbooks were not completely invisible. They could be perceived by people.
He still remembered when Eliog met him for the first time, she smelled a strange odor on his body. In other words, although she couldn't directly see the Completion Handbooks, she could sense their existence.
In other words, creatures beneath Mythical Rank couldn't see nor perceive the Completion Handbooks. Those at Mythical Rank should be able to faintly sense them, but still couldn't directly see them.
Could this giant eye behind him see the Completion Handbooks? If it could see them... then it... no, it should be 'He', was absolutely an existence of a higher echelon than Mythical Rank. Meaning, a genuine [Deity].
Fisher remained silent for a second. Then, he grabbed a piece of paper from the nearby table, drawing out the general appearance of that giant eye within his memory. Subsequently, he placed this piece of paper before Emhart and asked him,
"Emhart, do you recognize this?"
Emhart narrowed his eyes, sizing up the drawing Fisher produced. Then, smacking his lips, he said somewhat blankly,
"I seem to have seen this thing in the Southern Continent before. But not within the Demon's Abyss; rather, in a certain human village on the surface. But I am not entirely certain if it's strictly Him or not."
"You've seen this pattern before?"
Upon hearing the keyword "Southern Continent," Fisher shot Emhart a rather surprised glance, causing him to reveal a disdainful expression.
"Tch, who do you think I am? You human little brat have seen too few things; looking like someone who hasn't seen the world is exactly like this... I saw this thing in a human tribe back then. They worshipped this insignia as a totem. You know, many things in the Southern Continent have continuity, and can more or less be traced back to the Dragon Court era. This deity is the same..."
"The humans there referred to this exalted deity as [Dagon]. Although in the eyes of that group of humans, this name was merely an appellation, based on my rough understanding of the ancient human language, this vocabulary word meant [Gate] in ancient times."
Fisher raised an eyebrow, chewing over this vocabulary word with a simple meaning.
"Gate?"
Emhart nodded, explaining for Fisher,
"That's right. But no one knows where Dagon is a door leading to. I personally believe He has a certain relation to the Spirit World, because the local humans believe that worshipping Him grants eternal rest and immortality for souls."
Speaking to here, Emhart's tone became slightly more serious. Floating before Fisher's eyes, he said to him,
"Fisher. Since you can draw His appearance, that indicates you have seen Him previously. In this case, the thing that dumb rabbit saw behind you just now is real. Dagon has continuously been watching you... Although I don't know what the specific reason is, I must remind you: a deity's gaze always has special reasons."
"From the first time I met you, I discovered the weapon you used was the Ramastia's Fluid Sword from the ocean. For a foreign race to obtain this item can only mean you are simultaneously also being paid attention to by Ramastia. To be simultaneously watched by two deities... I'm afraid not even Baimon has such luck. But I can't say clearly if this is a good thing or a bad thing... You'd best quickly figure out Their purposes..."
Fisher pondered for a second. Nodding, he took the paper in his hands back. Pinching his pen, he wrote a line of text on it using the Naris language. Then, he raised it, aiming it towards his back.
Emhart floated up, looking at the contents Fisher wrote on that paper.
"'What exactly do you want by following me?'... Fisher, are you a straw bag? You actually directly went to ask Dagon what He wants to do?! Not even pigs do things like you. You already know He's following you yet you're perfectly this bold? Aren't you afraid He'll make you die a sudden death on the spot?!"
Fisher actually disagreed mentally. Since He was following him and held no malice towards him, then He definitely needed his help. This being the case, wouldn't it be better if He spoke a bit more clearly?
"What's wrong with this? If He has continuously been watching me all along, wouldn't it be perfectly suitable to directly go ask Him exactly what He wants to do? I don't have the time right now to go to other parts of the world to find clues and guess exactly what His meaning is..."
"And so you just directly wrote it on paper to ask Him?!"
"Uh-huh."
Emhart was rendered completely speechless by Fisher. He opened his mouth, yet unexpectedly found himself temporarily unable to rebut his words.
But after holding it up for a long time, there was no response whatsoever on that paper. It was dead silent all around save for the sound of fire burning fuel, as if that so-called Dagon simply didn't exist at all.
"Heh, I already said it couldn't possibly be useful..."
Fine, playing dead and ignoring me, huh? Playing the riddler, huh?
Fisher wordlessly set the paper in his hands down. He pinched the pen once more, adding a line of text beneath the words he just wrote. What he wrote was:
"When are you preparing to cash in the favor you owe me?"
Back when he killed Pherone previously, Dagon took away his and Nana's souls. He thus also made a promise to him... assuming Fisher hadn't misunderstood the meaning of His "owe you one."
Yet in Saint-Nazareth when he was almost beaten to death by Erwind, He still didn't show his face. Could it be that if he didn't ask Him, He wasn't preparing to cash in His promise? Or did He know Eliog would come over to rescue the scene?
Then, what exactly was the favor He spoke of trying to repay him with?
Bodyguard services? He had continuously been following him simply to wait for the critical moment when he was about to be beaten to death by someone to suddenly make a heroic entrance? To chicly say "We're even" and then leave the scene after saving him?
This sounded truly far too third-rate. Not to mention Fisher simply didn't dare gamble his life on this existence behind his back that was illusory to the point of being indeterminable. Just relying solely on the other party's identity as a Deity, Fisher also didn't believe His meaning would be this simple.
If it was because of some other reasons... why did Ramastia pay attention to him? Was it because of his relationship with Jasmine?
Forget it. If it was because of this, shouldn't He just kill him?
"What? What the heck are you writing? Dagon owes you a favor?! Who do you think you—"
Hovering in mid-air, Emhart saw the words Fisher wrote on the paper. Staring doubtfully at that perfectly calm and collected Fisher, before he could finish a complete complaint, the surrounding atmosphere violently shifted.
Fisher's mana circuits from head to toe instantly turned bright. The fire he had just lit immediately extinguished, rendering the Northern Border night church incomparably pitch-black. Yet he didn't dare move an inch, as at this very moment, he violently sensed a certain incredibly terrifying existence emerge behind his back.
The mid-air hovering Emhart instantly shrank down, turning into a harmless book collapsing onto the ground. When the book cover struck the floor, it emitted a crisp "clack" sound, easing up the pressure on Fisher's stiff body slightly.
Just then, he suddenly felt something touching the paper he held up. Without turning his head back, he witnessed patches of vividly lifelike stars gradually spreading within the surrounding darkness, analogous to a tiny bit of content coincidentally leaking from a certain massive gateway.
The paper Fisher was holding trembled slightly. After a few seconds, that immensely terrifying sense of suppression vanished. The fire in the room also abruptly flared up, as if it had never gone out. Only the physiological cold sweat seeping from Fisher's back reminded him that Dagon's consciousness had descended behind his back just now.
His body temperature warmed back up bit by bit, yet his expression remained fairly calm. Fisher could sense the Deity behind him held no extraneous emotions; He had purely appeared simply to give him a bit of a response...
Fisher slowly brought back down the paper held up in his hands, reading the contents upon it.
He saw that the paper he had literally just finished writing on completely lacked his handwriting. The ink had been twisted by a certain power, forming a short, crooked segment of the Naris language. Written on it was:
"It is not the time yet."