novelraw Chapter 431: Phoenix Species
Chapter 431: Phoenix Species
The first second Fisher heard Asuka Karasawa's scream, his expression immediately changed, turning his head to look into the river channel.
Thanks to those towering trees characteristic of the Tree Continent, they more or less obstructed Fisher's line of sight, preventing him from directly seeing the situation in the river. Because he only barely saw Asuka Karasawa's white robe and the shed "Little Bear Battle Suit Set" hanging on the branches by the riverbank, that imagination overly emphasizing presence caused Fisher's breathing to become uncontrollably rapid.
"..."
He struggled to suppress the flames in his mind, and subsequently shook his head, quickly taking out the hidden Fluid Sword from his embrace. As the weapon he had become accustomed to using slid into his hand, that cold sensation made his body temperature drop slightly.
However, at the same time, he was also wondering exactly what happened to Asuka Karasawa.
During the time she went to bathe, Fisher had been vigilantly watching the surroundings. No creature should have come over... or rather, actually that thing was originally in the river, and Asuka Karasawa was instead the latecomer?
Fisher didn't dare to think more, merely swiftly leaping out of the trees and rushing towards the direction of the river, while simultaneously calling out,
"Karasawa?!"
"T-Teacher Fisher, hiss, so cold... There's a winged Demi-human Race that suddenly popped out of the water... Hey hey hey, wait, don't..."
Over at the river, Asuka Karasawa's somewhat trembling voice transmitted. She actually wasn't too panicked, even frantically wanting Fisher not to come over first after hearing his call. But it was too late. Fisher carrying the Fluid Sword in hand had already crossed the only huge trees obstructing sight on both banks, thus taking in all the circumstances in the river channel.He only saw two figures standing in that broad river channel. Besides Asuka Karasawa with her back facing him, there stood another rather tall figure, right opposite her.
That figure was obviously a Demi-human Race, with a height of about two meters, even taller than Fisher. At the same time, she possessed extremely obvious female characteristics. Behind her grew a pair of huge frost wings, the feathers appearing pale cyan, emitting a faint chill.
Simultaneously, she wore thinly a semi-transparent cool white garment completely soaked by river water. The lower half of her body hidden in the clear river water seemed naked, highlighting her curvy figure.
That thin white garment was both thin and transparent. Even if not soaked by the river, it didn't resemble normally worn clothing, much less on the Tree Continent. Earlier Fisher had seen the clothing of Tsubaki Fiefdom residents, which were basically all thick and heavy; there couldn't possibly be such clothing.
This garment should be some kind of bathrobe, so the other party's purpose in coming here was also very obvious.
And the river water passing by that strange Demi-human Race seemed to be rapidly dropping in temperature, very quickly freezing into dotted ice dregs floating by, sufficient to see exactly how cold the temperature in that river water was.
Her white long hair caught quite a bit of the river's clarity, sticking wetly to her side cheeks and forehead. Her facial features were heroic, but her expression held a bit of faint doubt. Evidently, she also didn't realize what had happened, so like Asuka Karasawa, she also somewhat surprisedly saw the Fisher charging out from the shore.
"Waaaaaah!! You really came over! Don't Teacher Fisher! D-Don't look!!"
Asuka Karasawa with her back facing Fisher evidently heard the footsteps behind her. She didn't dare to turn her head, just screaming and covering her body squatting down into the water, attempting to block Fisher's line of sight this way. But because this water current completely unpolluted by Naris industry was exceptionally clear, the effect was somewhat unsatisfactory.
Fisher only glanced and froze slightly, and subsequently unbelievably took another look at the risk of completely exploding, only then confirming his conclusion.
This girl... is she unexpectedly this big?
Obviously it couldn't be seen when wearing the white robe and little bear underwear...
Could it be she bought her underwear too small?
Fisher's complexion very quickly returned to normal. The thoughts at the bottom of his heart could not be known by others, but that biological instinct seemingly engraved in male genes still made it somewhat difficult for him to shift his gaze.
It was just that, compared to Asuka Karasawa, his line of sight seemed to be attracted by another magnetic pole with even stronger suction. He only glanced at Asuka Karasawa once, to subsequently look at that beautiful Demi-human Race standing opposite Asuka Karasawa.
"Phoenix Species?"
Looking at that female's fit posture, Fisher also saw quite a few blue-cyan feathers under her completely soaked thin white shirt. Fisher previously had physical intimacy with Valentiina, and understood everything about her very well, thus recognizing at a glance that those feathers were basically exactly the same as Valentiina's.
"..."
Sensing Fisher's staring gaze, that Phoenix Species female frowned slightly. She made almost no dodging movements, her waist remaining straight. Only the huge wings behind her abruptly spread out, subsequently tightly covering her body, blocking Fisher's line of sight.
But the frost brought by spreading the wings transformed into extreme cold, continuously spreading in the water, almost freezing Asuka Karasawa who was still in the water stiff. Yet sensing Fisher's gaze Like Thorns on One's Back, she completely didn't dare to stand up, her small face also flushing red.
"Wuwuwu..."
"Who are you people? Looking at your level you don't seem like slaves; what are you coming here for?"
The one opening her mouth was that Phoenix Species in the river. Her voice sounded nice but was very cold, following those thick frost Phoenix wings wrapping her body tightly.
Fisher closed his eyes and took a deep breath. That fire of reproductive desire already showed signs of losing control, and the cold Fluid Sword in his hand had also been dyed hot by his scorching body temperature. He didn't immediately answer the other party's question, instead asking,
"We have no ill intentions. We were introduced by Earl Tsubaki to come seeking help from the Phoenix Species. She is my companion, merely wanting to wash her body here... but are you sure you want to converse under these circumstances?"
That Phoenix Species saw Fisher's closed eyes and froze slightly, also lowering her head to glance at the pitifully freezing Asuka Karasawa before her eyes. Subsequently, she flapped her wings without saying a word, slowly submerged into the water again, and quickly swam back downstream,
"My clothes are downstream. Once you have sorted yourselves out, come down along the river to find me. I will lead you to seek my father."
"..."
Fisher didn't respond to her, nor did he open his eyes. Merely turning his head around, he bent his waist walking towards the direction where he originally stood, not forgetting to open his mouth to say to Asuka Karasawa,
"Come up quickly after you finish washing."
"Ah... yes!"
Following that Phoenix slowly leaving, the temperature of the river water also started to slowly recover. Clearly it still made Asuka Karasawa feel terribly cold when going down just now, but now she felt incomparably warm.
She didn't dare to stand up, merely secretly watching Fisher disappear into the bushes at the edge of the riverbank. Her small face was hot and flushing red; clearly she felt terribly cold just now...
Whatever, quickly finish washing and go ashore, truly a deadly embarrassment!
She Give Up on Oneself patted river water onto her face, quickly washing her body.
But what she didn't know was, behind her, Fisher with heavy breathing bent over supporting himself on a tree pausing for a moment. As the process of controlling the fire of desire in his mind deepened bit by bit, the tree nearby was also squeezed out several huge holes by the force of his fingers.
"..."
He slowly exhaled a breath of hot air, only then shutting the beast at the bottom of his heart back into its belonging cage.
But obviously, the beast reinforced countless times by the Demi-Human Completion Handbook had already become unimaginably strong, making the chains imprisoning it become somewhat incapable of withstanding a single blow.
Perhaps if used frequently, the reproductive buff of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook wouldn't have such large side effects; but unfortunately, Fisher Spend Little Time Together with the other ladies, making him have suffering but unable to speak out...
However, compared to the side effects of other Completion Manuals, this could already be considered acceptable, right?
Asuka Karasawa was a good child who kept her word. If not counting the incident just now, the time she bathed really didn't exceed ten minutes. When she ran back with a red face, Fisher was already leaning against a thick tree branch with a calm face.
"Teacher Fisher, I finished washing... that really scared me to death just now. You don't know, as I was washing and washing, a head suddenly popped out of the river water opposite me. I even thought I encountered a water ghost, and almost went to beat her up... fortunately I didn't take action, she is so tall, she doesn't look like someone to mess with..."
Asuka Karasawa adorably waved her pink fists, and subsequently also thought about Fisher appearing behind her back just now. She didn't know if he saw anything; this sense of uncertainty made her rather shy, and her words abruptly halted.
Fisher looked at Asuka Karasawa who had just come out of the bath. The black long hair she had no conditions to blow dry fell wetly behind her head. Actually, looking at it before, her appearance couldn't be considered absolutely stunningly beautiful, but at this moment after coming out of the bath, it unexpectedly also made Fisher feel rather adorable and enticing.
However, due to changing into a clean long robe, her originally seemingly proud figure also had nowhere to show.
Her underwear didn't quite fit.
But Fisher didn't mention this suggestion, and the pursing-lipped Asuka Karasawa also didn't mention the matter of whether he saw anything just now... the two tacitly skipped this topic. Yet the scenes and emotions left at the bottom of their hearts showed no signs of dispersing at all; instead, it added a bit of hazy ambiguity to their current conversation.
"It's fine, I was just worried something happened to you. That Demi-human Race you saw just now should be the Phoenix Species we are looking for. She appeared here Completely Defenseless, which also means our current position is very close to the Phoenixes' station. Let's set out, to find that Demi-human Race."
"...Mm-hmm."
Fisher calmly turned his head and left. As for the Asuka Karasawa behind him, she pursed her lips, and only made a response after a second passed.
As expected huh, Teacher Fisher is a mature and reliable adult. Even if he saw it there wouldn't be any obvious reaction, or rather, even if he had a reaction he shouldn't have a reaction towards an ordinary high school girl like herself...
She felt somewhat rejoiced yet somewhat disappointed, but that hidden accelerated heartbeat had finally slowed down a bit after all. She patted her cheeks again and hurriedly caught up with Fisher in front. Very quickly, these small emotions were cast behind her mind. Not knowing if it was because of taking a bath, Fisher always felt her mood had become much better.
"Teacher Fisher, that Phoenix! Is up ahead!"
This river was extremely long, and it was unknown how that Phoenix Species swam this far to the place where Asuka Karasawa bathed before. With Fisher and Asuka Karasawa's walking speed, they walked for about a quarter of an hour before seeing the Phoenix they met before next to a waterfall formed at the end of the gradually widening river channel.
At this very moment, she had already changed into an outfit of pure black pure-cotton clothing. It was not a bulky long skirt, thereby making her posture appear very capable. At the back of that clothing an opening shape was designed, revealing large patches of blue-cyan feathers and the roots accommodating the wings, only revealing a bit of her originally fair skin.
Her facial features were cold and pure. She stood quietly beside a polearm deeply inserted into the ground, her left hand carrying a dripping wet bundle; what was stuffed inside should be exactly the bathrobe she just changed out of.
Not until seeing Fisher and Asuka Karasawa coming from afar did she single-handedly grab that longspear and fly over, crossing the river channel to land beside Fisher. But the moment she landed, Fisher felt the temperature around him immediately drop a few degrees, along with her voice that was like an ancient well with no ripples,
"How did you people get into the back mountain? Outside the back mountain is the Wutong border, guarded by heavy troops, you shouldn't have been able to come up from either side..."
So that place was very close to the heavily guarded border. No wonder when Asuka Karasawa used Trace Magic previously, she basically didn't see any traces of frequent activities by intelligent living beings...
"Our entourage has an Angel. She used some method to directly bring us here from Tsubaki Fiefdom seeking your aid. Perhaps there was a slight error and we appeared directly there."
"...Mm, come with me, I will bring you to see father."
She seemed to have very quickly believed Fisher's explanation. Not to mention Fisher, even Asuka Karasawa felt somewhat surprised. They just bumped into two strangers like this, yet she had completely no intention of holding it against them.
"Um... aren't you suspicious we are lying to you? What if we have completely no relation to Earl Tsubaki?"
Asuka Karasawa foolishly asked thusly. The Phoenix holding the longspear before their eyes heard this, turned her head to look at her, shook her head, and said,
"Apart from Earl Tsubaki and my family, no one in the entire Tree Continent knows my father and Earl Tsubaki correspond closely in private. They once took an oath, unless absolutely necessary it will not be leaked out, it's of no benefit to either him or my father. You being able to state the name Earl Tsubaki is already enough to explain everything. Secondly, considering our current situation, there is nothing for you to scheme for. As for other matters, converse with my father in detail, he will go verify."
"Sister! Sister! Stop swimming, father tells you to go back! An Angel came to the tribe! Elder brother and the others also came back... Eh... Who are these two?"
Right at this moment, bouncing along the small path next to that falling waterfall ran over a little Phoenix also with white long hair. Her wings looked like they hadn't fully grown yet, drooping with a few scattered feathers, looking just like two chicken wings, currently unconsciously bouncing up and down following that little girl's bouncing.
But even for a Phoenix appearing so young, she unexpectedly was around 1.2 or 1.3 meters tall. It seemed there was still a definite difference in body type between Phoenixes and humans.
"Nephiramui, run slower, did your feathers fall out again?"
Hearing the excited voice of the little loli behind her, the face of this iceberg beauty before their eyes finally revealed a bit of gentle smiling expression. She thrust the longspear nearby into the ground with one hand, extended both hands, and lowered her head to catch the bouncing little Phoenix before her eyes, holding her in her embrace, rubbing the few sparse feathers remaining on her back...
"Hehe, mother says my Molting Period is almost here. I already agreed with her, when my wings are full of feathers mother will give me a jade hairpin."
"You're still so small and already want a hairpin, can you wear it?"
"I won't wear it, I'll give it to sister to wear."
That little Phoenix called "Nephiramui" by the cold-faced Phoenix smiled happily, burying her head against her sister's chest, giggling like a spoiled child. This made her sister freeze slightly, and subsequently smilingly pat her head, saying,
"Mm, these two are also guests like that Angel. Let's go, let's go back."
Asuka Karasawa looked at the rather warm appearance of those two sisters feeling somewhat dazed, and subsequently also smiled, seemingly moved; only Fisher seemingly abruptly remembered something, frowning somewhat unbelievably.
Nephiramui?
Isn't this name the honored name of the Frost Phoenix worshipped in the Northern Border?
The name of Moon Princess's mother, the Phoenix King, was exactly Nephiramui, and also the Phoenix leader who led the whole clan to migrate to the Northern Border a few thousand years later...
Then, this Phoenix called "Sister" by her before his eyes is?
Fisher silently opened the illusory interface of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, allowing that surging golden light to display much information,
[Phoenix Species]
[Available bind research counts: 0/2]
[Available bind targets]
[Nekelia, adult Phoenix Species]
[Nephiramui, juvenile Phoenix Species]
Fisher opened his mouth. That heaviness of history seemed to wordlessly press down at this moment, making him instantly break into laughter despite being dumbstruck.
Who would have thought, a few months ago when he was still adventuring with Valentiina in the Northern Border, everything about the Phoenix Species had vanished without a trace for a long time. Everything of theirs was hidden in ice and snow waiting for him to excavate. Yet now, the Phoenix leader who would establish a legend in the future was actually still drooping wings resembling chicken wings, hiding in her sister's embrace acting coquettishly. This had to be called a case of "fate making a fool of people".
Stare~
When Fisher snapped back to his senses, Nephiramui holding her finger in her mouth in Nekelia's embrace was already staring at him with big watery eyes, seemingly also very curious about this human before her eyes.
"Let's go, your several companions should have already arrived at the tribe."
Although he already knew her name was [Nekelia] through the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, finding she didn't possess any intention of introducing herself on the surface, her strength appearing very large; he saw her supporting the sister in her embrace with one hand, incidentally tying the wet bundle onto the longspear. Carrying that bundle, she glanced at Fisher and Asuka Karasawa, signaling them to follow.
(End of Chapter)