novelraw Chapter 420: Turning Over a New Leaf
Chapter 420: Turning Over a New Leaf
"Halt, who are you people, don't move!!"
The silhouettes within the forest swiftly crossed the distance separating them from Fisher's group. Within the dense jungle, they orchestrated a cacophony of hooves trampling gravel, armor plates clashing against one another, and footsteps rising and falling in succession. Mikhail's right arm lit up bit by bit, but the incessantly increasing threshold value within the fluorescence before his eyes caused him to stare blankly for a moment. Very swiftly, his right arm dimmed down again, reverting to an ordinary Prosthetic Body.
Helaire yawningly smiled, seemingly as if this entirely had nothing to do with her, retreating behind the crowd to admire the scenery.
However, these fellows appearing before them genuinely didn't require her attention either. Very swiftly, a group of similarly half-human half-deer Deer Species appeared within the sight of Fisher's group. Their Tier was roughly spanning the early Fifth or Sixth-Tiers. Although the leading several deer-men identically wore hemp clothing, its style was evidently more formal, completely differing from the style of the West Continent or Southern Continent. Quite a few individuals wore light armor and carried wooden bows on their backs.
The leading male deer-man possessed a burly physique but wore no armor. His clothing also displayed different shades of dark green. Distinct from female deer-men, the male deer-man's head sprouted a pair of beautiful white antlers. This deer-man's antlers additionally bore decorations resembling small metal rings. He wore a precious sword at his waist and carried a faint incense scent upon his body.
That shout just now was precisely emitted by him.
"Father!"
That tiny female deer-man who was frightened by Asuka Karasawa hurriedly got up and ran towards that deer-man, seemingly frightened quite a bit by the Mana Circuits lighting up upon Asuka Karasawa's body.
"Lu Ming, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, they..."Fisher watched as the Helaire behind him already turned completely invisible, and Mikhail identically sported a ferocious and unapproachable appearance. He was just preparing to open his mouth to explain when he didn't expect Gou Wen to already step forward in advance. Cupping his hands in a greeting towards the deer-man before him, he smiled and said,
"Truly an offense, I am Gou Wen. These are my companions, resting here. We harbored no intent to harm your beloved daughter, it was merely an accidental misunderstanding just now. I beseech your esteemed self's clear judgment."
That leading deer-man hadn't anticipated the other party to be someone understanding etiquette. Thus, he identically raised his hand to return a greeting, opening his mouth to ask,
"Lu An, Guest Minister of the Tsubaki Fiefdom's Upper Minister's Estate. This place is my master's hunting ground, outsiders are forbidden from trespassing. How did you lot enter?"
"I've looked forward to meeting you for a long time, I've looked forward to meeting you for a long time. It precisely so happens I was meaning to speak of this. To tell you the truth, we came from the Angel Sanctuary, specially here to celebrate the King's longevity. Could I trouble your esteemed self to report to the Upper Minister, explaining our intent, and entreat him to introduce us to the Tsubaki Earl?"
As Gou Wen spoke, he stepped aside, revealing Helaire behind him who resembled a mascot. At this moment, this exceptionally prank-loving angel identically raised her hand waving towards them, Harmless To People And Animals.
Fisher was exceedingly unfamiliar with this kind of unseen foreign custom. He raised his eyebrows, quietly leaning close to Gou Wen's ear. Looking towards the distant male deer-man calling himself "Lu An", he asked,
"You know him? Is he very famous on the Tree Continent?"
"Know him my ass, I haven't even been to the Tsubaki Earl's territory before. I don't even know Tsubaki's Upper Minister... meaning the person helping govern the Tsubaki Fiefdom's political affairs, let alone his Guest Minister."
"..."
Fisher roughly understood. Gou Wen's "looked forward to meeting you for a long time" was merely a polite and courteous platitude, not meaning he genuinely knew this person for a long time.
The Asuka Karasawa beside him rubbed her buttocks and stood up. Looking at the ring of Deer Species surrounding them, she gulped down a mouthful of saliva and hastily ran back to Fisher's side, even secretly stealing a glance at the little Deer Species Lu Ming hiding beside Lu An.
Initially, she was also startled by Lu Ming's appearance. But very swiftly, amid her surreptitious appraisals, she seemingly grew extremely curious about her again. Naturally, the opposite Lu Ming was additionally secretly looking at her.
Lu An remained silent for a moment. Although the Helaire behind Gou Wen indeed appeared unthreatening, the angelic halo upon her head couldn't be faked. She even smiled and waved at Lu An. Just for some unknown reason, that smile clearly ought to largely be sunny and warm, yet it caused Lu An to feel Shivering With Fear. He solely attributed this to the oppressive aura of a Mythical Species.
After all, being an angel signified the Helaire before him was an existence comparable to the Lord Elves. Although his understanding of Lord Elves was limited solely to the Tsubaki Earl, this didn't hinder him from imagining what other Elves with higher status and greater power than the Tsubaki Earl looked like.
Consequently, he immediately offered a salute towards Helaire, declaring,
"I understand. I invite everyone to please follow me. I will report this matter to the Upper Minister immediately, letting him make the decision."
"Many thanks. Everyone, let's set off."
Gou Wen sported an appearance of heaving a sigh of relief, speaking as such to the few people behind him.
Yet the Helaire behind him for some unknown reason lost her interest and yawned. Constantly looking left and right, allowing Gou Wen to take charge. Asuka Karasawa caught her breath, running over to the riverbank to retrieve the water bottles filled with water, handing them to Helaire to store within her spatial pouch. Fisher looked at Helaire who was looking at the Deer Species with a Lost In Thought appearance, and opened his mouth to pick up the previously unexpectedly interrupted topic, asking,
"What you said, helping me advance to a Mythical Species, what does it mean?"
"Eh, Fisher, do you perhaps like Demi-human Races a little?"
Unexpectedly, Helaire didn't reply to his question, instead looking at the distant Deer Species and asking as such.
Fisher stared blankly for a moment. Looking at her side profile, he denied,
"I don't."
"Really now? I just saw your eyes go completely straight."
Helaire turned her head, sporting a wicked smile and affirming her own conclusion, coercing Fisher to rub his own temples. Turning his head, he continued denying,
"That was merely academic curiosity. I've never seen this kind of Demi-human Race before. Just as you said, humans are generally curious about the unknown."
"Academic liking is also liking ah... Then do you want to research me a bit? I'm an Angel Species, you know."
Hearing this, Fisher subconsciously looked at her. Resultingly, his line of sight precisely collided with her abruptly approximating face. Fisher calmly stood in his original spot, inciting Helaire's smile to deepen slightly. Fisher couldn't help but ask,
"Doing what?"
"Lying."
"?"
"Your eyes are lying... In the beginning, when you met me in the Sanctuary, the look in your eyes when looking at me was similar to when looking at that little Deer Species girl, containing a trace of hard-to-detect eagerness. But once I said angels are all neutral, although your gaze was still somewhat stirred by my appearance, it seemingly lacked a little something... Now I finally know, what you actually want isn't Demi-human Races, but female Demi-human Races, right?"
"..."
Fisher abruptly thought of the words Erwind used to evaluate him right before his death again. Perhaps, probably, maybe, generally... he indeed harbored some preferences toward female Demi-human Races, but not excessively so, merely a tiny bit. Furthermore, he had already promised Renee he wouldn't fool around anymore. He perhaps indeed had been reflecting; after all, romantic debts always had to be paid one day. He himself saw this clearer than anyone.
Previously at Pirate Harbor, this kind of contradiction had already shown initial signs. Although it landed peacefully at the cost of Renee suffering grievances, Fisher deeply knew he couldn't act like this anymore. Those 'Knives' ought to have landed upon his body... Therefore, even if solely considering his future self, he ought to rein it in somewhat.
He genuinely thought this way, thus he sighed. Turning his head, he walked forward following Gou Wen and the others, simultaneously tossing a sentence back to Helaire,
"Even if it's female Demi-human Races, it's merely for research or other purposes. I've already Turning Over a New Leaf."
Resultingly right until the end, he still didn't find out what the method Helaire mentioned to "help him reach the Mythic Rank" was.
Helaire stared blankly for a fraction. Looking at Fisher's slowly departing back... she seemingly perceived his words couldn't be faked, and additionally seemingly witnessing his certain determination to resist greed.
Yet for some unknown reason, Helaire's smile grew increasingly profound. She seemingly instantaneously gleaned something even more interesting through Fisher's current 'Turning Over a New Leaf'... envisioning a scheme capable of extracting even superior amusement. Waving her hand, she silently followed behind Fisher, transmitting a voice strictly audible tracking traversing solely encapsulating her alone...,
"Turning Over a New Leaf? Interesting, truly interesting, hehe..."
"Sigh..."
At this moment within the Sanctuary floating outside the planet, the Vortex of Wisdom of the Sixth Heaven was as quiet as usual... Or rather, slightly noisier than its usual quietness. Because at this moment, before the windowsill of the Sixth Heaven, a wallowing-in-self-pity book had appeared for some unknown duration.
His square body just softly collapsed before the window like this, looking day and night at the expanse of deathly silent cosmic scenery outside. He resembled the myriad lifeless books arrayed upon the bookshelves behind him personally penned traversing Gabriel... identically mirroring an inanimate object.
Yet following a lengthy spanning exploring discovering capturing charting spanning evaluating charting observing analyzing delineating spanning period, he heaved another long sigh,
"Sigh..."
Eimhart couldn't bear to look at the scenery outside anymore. Fearing tracing bridging exploring tracking scanning trailing contemplating accessing deeper exploring missing exploring traversing further... Therefore spanning mapping exploring evaluating isolating navigating charting bridging tracing the window's curtains pointing tracking pointing tracking encompassing navigating locating bridging...
Subsequently tracing highlighting discovering describing outlining evaluating intercepting describing pointing tracing defining evaluating pointing characterizing navigating determining Gabriel's characterizing crossing Vortex of Wisdom's exact center... Tracing evaluating observing outlining pointing... Exploring tracing tracing tracing evaluating tracking deciphering capturing analyzing mapping identifying locating pinpointing describing tracking identifying describing... Assessing evaluating exposing pointing tracking describing pointing highlighting describing tracking identifying outlining...
"Sigh..."
He sighed once again. He didn't know how many sighs this was for today. It felt just like being locked away in the Abyss where that fellow Baimon resided. Days separated from Fisher like this made him feel exceptionally tormented.
"Good baby, be good..."
The Gabriel above still possessed zero consciousness. Merely blankly repeating the process of coaxing a child to sleep. Compared to the Eimhart sighing and groaning within the Vortex of Wisdom, it indeed had to be said there was an identical essence despite differing approaches.
The Eimhart lying on the floor looked at her. A point of understanding augmented within his previously annoyed attitude. He began mumbling as if Talking to Oneself,
"Sigh, Lord Holy Progeny, you and I are both pitiful angels... Okay, you seem slightly more pitiful than me. I'm just genuinely very worried nah, very worried, very worried nah. From the moment I gained memories I've been wandering all over the world. During this period, of course, I've encountered many humans or Demi-humans, but I've never stayed by their side for long... Although that fellow Fisher is slightly annoying, he should still be considered a good person..."
"That fellow loves ladies the most, especially Demi-human Race ladies. Ah ya, he's merely a human, who knows where he gets such a strong Reproduction Desire from. Every time he has to do it for so long, so long, several hours ah! Without my supervision, he'll roughly have a new flame within a few days, sigh..."
"Wu wu wu, but that fellow Baimon is by his side ah! You definitely wouldn't know how abhorrent that fellow is. Even among Demons that worship Chaos, she's the exceedingly rare kind of wicked! Eating people without spitting out the bones ah, so terrifying. You haven't read the records she penned down, that truly is... And Fisher is right by her side right now. He hasn't seen Baimon's true appearance with his own eyes before, he definitely hasn't recognized that fellow yet."
"He's also someone who likes ladies. What to do if he gets deceived by Baimon? He'll definitely be done for. He's now been taken by Baimon departing the Sanctuary. It definitely relates to how I was manufactured. But... I clearly am the Holy Artifact manufactured by you guys ah! I am the great Sir Book Artifact ah, the creation of the great Holy Progeny ah... But I also don't remember how I was born, because I don't remember my life within the Sanctuary. I only remember how I wandered across the world after the Sanctuary collapsed..."
"I finally managed to return, but none of you remember me, even snatched Fisher away, and locked me up wu wu wu..."
Eimhart prostrated on the floor weeping somewhat aggrievedly. It was as if the memories of being locked in confinement during this period made him recall some unpleasant memories.
Ever since he could remember, he seemingly had been wandering alone across the world, reading books everywhere, attempting to find the legendary Sanctuary and the Holy Progeny who manufactured him. Consequently, he accidentally ran into the Abyss, saw Baimon's collections, and was caught red-handed by her. After being ruthlessly tortured and locked in confinement for a long time incidentally, he was thrown into Naris's Royal Library to sleep by her. This only ended after encountering Fisher.
So indeed, despite Eimhart frequently bickering with Fisher, he was happy and joyful when by Fisher's side.
"Wu wu wu..."
Eimhart lay on the floor weeping. Yet unexpectedly, he surprisingly floated up bit by bit uncontrollably, distancing further and further from the floor. Only when that golden tear drop within his single eye plummeted through mid-air and instantly vanished was he suddenly awakened to the realization that he seemed to be hoisted up by something.
He stared blankly looking up. But for some unknown duration, the Gabriel hugging a crystal in her embrace had already raised her head, blankly looking at him.
The terrifying oppressive might of the Nineteenth-Tier crushed him to the point he didn't even dare to budge. But very swiftly, the oppressive might brought by that Tier peeled off bit by bit, until it became like a spring breeze brushing the face, warm and gentle...
They maintained the action of gazing at each other just like this. Gabriel's action of hugging the crystal remained unchanged, but the Eimhart hoisted up into mid-air by the Void power also wasn't spinning. Until several seconds elapsed, Gabriel's right hand abruptly departed from the crystal she invariably hugged tightly, gently extending her index finger, approaching Eimhart's book cover bit by bit.
Eimhart nervously closed his eyes. The entirety traversing his book body identically trembled bridging tracking covering tracing navigating... Resembling encompassing mapping charting defining navigating intercepting bridging determining evaluating pinpointing...
But that finger didn't touch him, instead halting at a spot incredibly, incredibly close to his eye. Subsequently, Gabriel's flat and blank voice transmitted over again,
"Good baby... don't cry..."
"..."
Eimhart instantly opened his eyes, looking at the Gabriel Angel before his eyes. He twitched his body, adjusted his physical state from weeping, tremblingly tilted his head away, and feigned toughness,
"I am a great Holy Artifact, I won't cry!"
"..."
Gabriel retracted her hand bit by bit, tightly hugging the crystal within her embrace again. Blankly looking at the book before her eyes, not replying to Eimhart's words, causing him to feel quite awkward.
He coughed once, changing the topic,
"I've already spoken so much, you could also tell me about your matters, Lord Holy Progeny... For instance, why are you always hugging that crystal?"
"..."
"Okay, unwilling to talk about this either. Then can you tell me about the Sanctuary's history... I mean, the details. Much of what I know comes from the ancient texts collected over these years, but my memories harbor zero traces of traversing encompassing bridging delineating tracing pointing living tracing encapsulating spanning tracking bridging measuring here. But I always feel a special Holy Artifact like me absolutely couldn't possibly have not lived within the Sanctuary. You see, you're all very surprised by me, asking around about how I was made, doesn't this already prove my greatness?"
"..."
Gabriel had already disconnected, yet still blankly looked at Eimhart.
"...Sigh, forget it if you don't want to talk. Just treat it as me wallowing in self-pity. Just don't complain about my current incessant chatter. You have to know, when I first came here, I was woken up by your voice every night I slept. We're even now."
"...Ugly..."
"What did you say? I didn't hear clearly?"
Eimhart leaned closer slightly, seemingly hearing Gabriel apparently open her mouth and say something, but he hadn't heard clearly.
Gabriel didn't look at the slightly approximated Eimhart. Instead, as if frightened, she hugged the crystal within her embrace and twisted a circle, turning her back to him. Incidentally additionally transmitting Talking to Oneself with the crystal in her embrace,
"So ugly... baby, we won't look."
"..."
Eimhart wanted to curse but stopped himself. Ultimately, he could solely sigh soundlessly, slowly flying over to the window again, looking at the Sanctuary outside and the gigantic planet beneath the Sanctuary.
Previously, when Fafnir descended outside the Sanctuary, the commotion was too substantial. It frightened the unconscious Gabriel quite a bit, and naturally additionally allowed Eimhart to see the scenes outside.
He clearly saw from the bottom window of the Sixth Heaven facing the Fifth Heaven how Baimon led Fisher and a few other people to board the Moon-Treading Ark and depart from the Sanctuary. Naturally, he additionally recognized that the ship Fisher's group rode and the scythe Baimon wielded pertained precisely mapping discovering wrapping evaluating assessing distinguishing tracing pointing outlining outlining pointing assessing analyzing detailing addressing tracing isolating extracting defining identifying distinguishing assessing..."
And Eimhart, who suffered from "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder regarding Baimon", naturally additionally harbored reasons characterizing discovering pointing tracking outlining distinguishing... characterizing extracting identifying intercepting defining distinguishing charting extracting extracting pointing recording investigating outlining pointing discovering distinguishing tracking wrapping measuring pointing pointing tracking pointing determining detailing tracing...
"...You absolutely must be alright, Fisher."
"Left-behind book" Eimhart pitifully pressed against the glass looking tracking tracing defining isolating pointing extracting examining translating determining intercepting deciphering mapping intercepting tracing identifying exploring tracing distinguishing documenting extracting capturing dissecting..."
(End of this chapter)