The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 297: Meeting Valentina Again

"Someone is coming, Sister Ilos."

Fisher heard the sound of a carriage outside the church. Of course, he wouldn't think the people coming were here to do a prayer at the Mother Goddess church on the weekend. Since the card Lord Cardinal gave him had already alerted him, it was possible Lord Cardinal had perceived he had come ashore and come to find him.

He turned his head sideways to glance at the Ilos beside him, saying to her,

"You stay here first. I'll go outside and take a look."

"Eh, eh... alright..."

Lying on her bed clutching her slightly bulged lower abdomen, Ilos half sat up, looking rather worriedly as Fisher walked out of the small wooden cabin she rested in.

Maintaining his composure, Fisher grasped the black hilt of the Fluid Sword in his hand. Following that, he passed the loving Mother Goddess statue situated right in the center of the church and walked toward the front doors. At first, faint neighing sounds of horses transmitted from outside, followed by a flurry of brisk footsteps.

"Is anyone there? Hello? I'm opening the door!"

At this time, after Fisher inside the door heard this lively voice, his complexion immediately became somewhat bizarre. Because he had heard this voice previously. The time was roughly one month ago; the location was a certain small island deep inside the Southern Ocean; the voice's owner was a certain money-grubbing Lion-kin... he had even researched her back then...

What was her name again?"Phyllis. Just open the door directly. They said there's only that Moon Rabbit-kin we're looking for inside this church... Did you still expect there to be other people to welcome you?"

"Tch, Balzac. Why are you so anxious? The boss hasn't spoken yet; it's not your turn to boss me around!"

The conversational voices outside the door continuously transmitted over. The next second, the main doors before Fisher were suddenly pushed open, bringing outside's fresh yet exceptionally frigid air into the church's prayer hall. Concurrently, it also revealed a blonde Lion-kin wrapped in a thick, heavy leather coat, possessing a pair of ears resembling muffins, standing outside the door.

Sporting a full head of blonde hair, she was currently turning her head back looking at the companions behind her. Upon turning her head and seeing that expressionless Naris man within the church, the impatient expression on her face instantly shifted. It was as if the person within the doors was some sort of terrifying demon, frightening her into retreating quite a few steps backwards. Reaching out a finger pointing at the Fisher inside, she cried out in alarm,

"You-you-you-you-you... why are you here?!"

Her other hand subconsciously gripped the hilt of that massive straight sword behind her back. Within the gaps of the heavy leather clothing, that musket tied to her waist also bared its brightly polished muzzle. But Fisher had no intent of drawing his blade in the slightest. He merely raised an eyebrow, sizing up the Lion-kin before his eyes, as well as the Schwari man wearing a full red outfit whose complexion was similarly astonished behind her.

He still recognized who these two people were. One was the mercenary from the Southern Continent, Phyllis. The other was the Northern Border historical research scholar from Schwari, Balzac.

And since these two subordinates of theirs were here, their boss must definitely be around as well.

Just as expected, when his gaze shifted backwards, crossing past the vigilant figures of Phyllis and Balzac, he saw that beside that understated black carriage, that Herdor seemingly composed of machinery was slowly placing down a wheelchair onto the ground. And seated upon that wheelchair was a young girl.

She possessed hair even whiter than snow. Her excessively beautiful visage was embellished upon skin as fair as milk. Atop a petite tilted little hat on her head, a blossoming five-pointed snowflake of the Turan family was incredibly striking. At this time, her white hair lifted up a bit, and Fisher only suddenly saw there was a tiny teardrop mole at the corner of her left eye... and this was something he previously hadn't perceived clearly.

Yes. Appearing beside the carriage at this time was indeed none other than the young girl from the Turan family he had seen before, Valentina Turan.

"Sizzle... Young Lady, it is that Naris man we met on the island storing the Phoenix Scroll in the Southern Ocean previously... Fisher Benavides, whom you investigated earlier."

"I still remember him, Herdor."

Valentina's expression was composed. Her fair hands crossed, she demurely placed them upon her thighs. The Herdor behind her then pushed her to arrive at the doorway of the church, before Fisher,

"Long time no see, Professor Fisher Benavides."

Fisher wasn't surprised in the slightest regarding Valentine's form of address towards him. At that time on the island, he had reported his real name. Realistically, if Valentina wasn't stupid, she would definitely go investigate the identity of this young magician from Naris. And that bounty poster from Elizabeth was truly far too glaring; thus, his identity would definitely be exposed.

However, Fisher fundamentally never intended to conceal it anyway. Especially since he had plans of cooperating with the other party afterwards; exposing his own identity would actually be more beneficial toward achieving cooperation.

For Valentina, the reasons Fisher previously revealed of "Going to the Frostwood Sycamore Tree to search for his missing girlfriend Renee" or "Researching the long-lost Phoenix demi-human race" were both far too flimsy. But if he swapped the reasoning to "Requiring the Turan family to shelter himself to avoid Naris's pursuit," wouldn't this reason sound a whole lot more reasonable?

Fisher also gave her a greeting, considered the start of a friendly conversation,

"Long time no see, Miss Valentina."

Valentina's aloof small face swept a glance over the church behind him. She then opened her mouth and inquired,

"Why don't we be a little more brutally honest, alright? Mister Fisher from Naris... exactly who are you working for right now, to actually be able to move even faster than us? Who told you the information regarding the orphaned Moon Rabbit? You'd best definitely not tell me you were innocently blown by a storm to an unfrequented coast, and then coincidentally walked into this church."

"..."

The Emhart on his shoulder pursed his mouth, somewhat unable to hold it in. Let alone Fisher himself... how could he explain coincidences?

Moon Rabbit-kin orphan... Valentina was talking about Ilos, right?

But the truth was, Fisher stopping within the Healing Rot Church fundamentally wasn't for the so-called Moon Rabbit-kin Sigil. He didn't even know of this matter. He had purely just wanted to completely gather the six demi-human races of the Snow Mountain Familiars, and concurrently wanted to research the other party to obtain the first phase's biological research rewards, that's all.

"Although I look somewhat hard to trust, up to this point right now, I have not told a single lie to Miss Valentina... The vessel I piloted was attacked by a storm while entering the Woman's Country yesterday. Not only did the boat sink, I also narrowly escaped death. Fortunately, my life was saved by the nun inside the church."

"However, coming to the Northern Border in the first place, I came precisely to find Miss Valentina. And the reason why I temporarily stopped here... Does Miss Valentina still remember I said I was very interested in demi-human races? The nun here is a demi-human race I haven't seen before, the Moon Rabbit-kin. Thus, a bit of probing intent arose. Only this and nothing more."

Valentina's ten fingers intersected. Unconsciously, a finger began rubbing the ring engraved with the Turan family worn on her ring finger. She sized up the Fisher before her, her pale silver irises imbued with distrust towards Fisher just like the North Nation's blizzards.

"Boss! You definitely can't forget: wherever we find any clues, there he is! He clearly harbors ulterior motives towards our objective... you absolutely must definitely not trust this guy..."

The Lion-kin Phyllis was previously used as a bargaining chip for Valentina to reach cooperation with Fisher. She obviously held an exceptionally severe prejudice towards this guy Fisher. Stooping down sinisterly halfway, she softly whispered like this beside Valentina.

She absolutely didn't believe this guy was truly a scholar interested in demi-human races. She felt Fisher was merely targeting her, wanting to humiliate her instead.

"Mister Fisher? Outside... Eh, eh, so many people..."

Just as Valentina was pondering, a somewhat surprised shout transmitted from inside the Healing Rot Church. The crowd at the door simultaneously looked toward the interior of the church... yet only saw a rabbit nun, Ilos, with a pair of long, slender rabbit ears upon her head, both hands still gently clutching her own lower abdomen.

Aside from the human Fisher at the doorway, there was a Lion-kin carrying a broadsword on her back, a foreign man wearing full red clothing looking to have quite a gloomy expression, and then another bizarre guy whose entire body from head to toe was entirely mechanical and completely non-resembling a person... only the final one was that young lady sitting in the wheelchair.

The other party's lineup gave Ilos, this little rabbit, a jump of fright. Subconsciously, she hid behind Fisher's back. One hand clutching her lower abdomen, the other hand gently tugging on Fisher's dress shirt,

"Mister Fisher... who are they?"

Valentina opened her mouth, her expression appearing somewhat hesitant to speak. With the exception of Herdor whose specific expression couldn't be distinguished, the remnants of her companions roughly shared the same expression as her.

For an unknown reason, after seeing this somewhat weird scene playing out before her eyes, Valentina suddenly wanted to believe this guy was genuinely researching demi-humans.

No... or rather, it was safe to say this Professor Fisher's research was truly... a bit too in-depth. Actually, even a child...

Valentina's bizarre expression was acutely captured by Fisher. Experiencing immense struggle, Emhart on his shoulder kept his mouth shut. However, he couldn't block that evident gloating over his misfortune, augmenting this somewhat awkward atmosphere at the church's doorway into something even more lethal.

Face covered in black lines, Fisher obviously knew the other party's thoughts. He heaved a sigh, slightly turning sideways to yield the path entering the church. Extending an invitation to Valentina,

"Although it's somewhat troublesome to explain... it seems I had best clarify the specific situation with Miss Valentina... It is relatively cold outside, shall we go talk inside the church?"

The genuine master of the church, Sister Ilos, realized after the fact. Raising her head, she cast a glance at the Fisher standing in front of her. But after feeling the rather unordinary auras upon the few people outside for a moment, she felt it was best she obediently remain silent...

Valentina cast a glance at the loving Mother Goddess statue situated securely at the center of the church right behind Fisher. Closely following that, she performed a fairly standard Mother Goddess prayer etiquette to display respect towards the Mother Goddess. After that, she reached out a hand to push the joystick on her wheelchair, advancing towards the interior of the church, while opening her mouth to speak to the Herdor behind her,

"Herdor, remember to use magic to notify Heidelin and the others of our situation on this end... Let's go. Let's head inside and talk with Mister Fisher."

"Sizzle... No problem. I will dispatch the messenger later."

Phyllis and Balzac closely followed behind Valentina, entering the Healing Rot Church from right before Fisher's eyes. Yet his gaze didn't land upon them. Instead, he peculiarly turned his head back, sizing up the Herdor standing outside the church preparing to transport the messenger away.

The reason for this was nothing else... At this time, upon the card Lord Cardinal had given him in Fisher's palm... that bright light dot was extremely close to the bottom of the card, and its direction was perfectly the position where Herdor was standing...

And this also meant: this person seemingly entirely comprised of machinery before his eyes, was none other than Lord Cardinal's Cardinal.