novelraw Chapter 465: Cupid
Chapter 465: Cupid
"So Angel Helaire got injured just to protect Teacher Fisher?"
After coming down from Pandora's lighthouse, Fisher and Asuka Karasawa walked amidst the clouds of the First Heaven. Leaving that dauntingly imposing Archangel, Asuka Karasawa could finally breathe a slight sigh of relief. Subsequently, her gaze wandered over Fisher's body, and she suddenly asked this question.
Fisher didn't look at her, merely keeping his eyes straight ahead on the road. Only after a long time did he respond.
"I don't know either."
Hearing this, Asuka Karasawa curled her lips and complained to Fisher.
"Wait, Teacher Fisher, giving an answer like that is too much of a foul, isn't it?"
Fisher expressionlessly turned his head to look at her and suddenly spoke.
"Hm? Are you very interested in my private life, Karasawa?"
"Eh, eh, eh? Interested in your private life?"
Asuka Karasawa's face flushed red, and she hurriedly raised her hands to wave them, saying flusteredly."No, no, no, that kind of thing, I... I just... anyway, just..."
Watching her flustered appearance, the expressionless face of Fisher suddenly dissolved, turning into a wicked smile.
Subsequently, with a curl of his lip as if he had succeeded, he reached out and gently knocked Asuka Karasawa's head. Walking toward the staircase leading to the Second Heaven ahead, he simultaneously said.
"I know... stop standing there spacing out, let's go."
Having her head knocked, Asuka Karasawa covered her head and retreated several steps. After several seconds passed, she arrived at the unbelievable realization that her teacher had cultivated a terrible, bad habit: knocking on her head!
Asuka Karasawa was quite angered. After several seconds, she actually took a few steps straight forward and gently bumped her entire body against Fisher. But with her small frame and life rank, she instantly felt as if she had hit an iron plate, taking a step back and sitting down on the soft clouds in an instant.
Fisher raised an eyebrow, turning back to look at her with concern, only to find her covering her head like a little hedgehog, seemingly in a lot of pain, tears welling up.
"Are you an idiot?"
"I'm not an idiot! Teacher Fisher is the idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Ooh... it hurts so much... Namo Amitabha..."
Asuka Karasawa was in terrible pain, and seeing Fisher before her looking amused, she became even more flustered and exasperated. Just as she wanted to say something, she discovered Fisher had already crouched down and extended his hand to her.
"Insulting the teacher isn't a good habit. However, although I'm very strict about studies, I'm very lenient about these things, so I don't mind... Hm, perhaps."
Asuka Karasawa pouted, looking at the Fisher before her with somewhat complex feelings.
Emotionally speaking, she naturally harbored goodwill toward Fisher. She certainly still remembered her first night arriving in this unfamiliar world, that anxious, uneasy night when it was Fisher who counseled her and gave her a sense of security. Furthermore, along the way, Fisher not only taught her magic but completely lacked the airs of a teacher. Although very steady, he was more like an understanding senior, making Asuka Karasawa always unknowingly lower her guard.
But objectively speaking, even if there was goodwill, such feelings were very hazy.
Even ignoring Asuka Karasawa's own inexperience, both she and Teacher Fisher were Transferred Persons, and they didn't even come from the same place. If they had the chance to return to their homelands in the future, they would definitely separate. Furthermore, everything about the two of them was worlds apart. Whether in terms of life rank, level of knowledge, or life experience, a gullible High School Girl like Asuka Karasawa was naturally completely uncompetitive.
Hazy feelings are the most adept at hiding, especially for an Asuka Karasawa who loved to wallow in an inferiority complex, right?
Thus, exactly as she had completely failed to notice it, and as she frequently did in the past, she ignored the feelings in her heart. She merely reached out her hand, borrowing Fisher's strength to stand back up. Subsequently, she patted the white robe on her body and said to Fisher.
"Then, Teacher Fisher, are we going to the Second Heaven now to notify Helaire to go see Archangel Pandora?"
"Mm, we have to wait for Pandora to retrieve the intelligence on Ideal State and Margaret before we can proceed with the next step of our plan."
Going to visit Helaire is probably just a passing thought?
Asuka Karasawa nodded, naturally lacking any objections. It was just that when the Transferred Person named "Margaret" was mentioned in Fisher's words, she couldn't help but uncontrollably think of the situation within Lord Tao's barrier back then.
She thought of that gentle woman who lost her daughter early in life.
The scenery within the Second Heaven was somewhat different from Fisher's previous memories. But indeed, the last time he came here, Fisher had just crossed over with Eimhart. At that time, he couldn't even breathe in the sky and was arrested by Angels and thrown to the Third Heaven before holding out for long. As a result, he was separated from Eimhart.
And just now when delivering Helaire over, he hadn't fully entered either. He merely handed Helaire over to other Angels at the entrance, and then Gou Wen started arguing with Raphael at the entrance.
He still wanted to go to the Sixth Heaven to see if he could meet Eimhart before Pandora provided the intelligence.
It just so happened Mikhail was sent to the Fifth Heaven due to his injuries. He could also take the opportunity to figure out the situation with the Gabriel who had been crazy for a long time.
"Are you here to look for Helaire?"
The current Second Heaven didn't have many Angels. Compared to the grand spectacle of the Fifth Heaven, it was very quiet and peaceful here, with clusters of floating motes of light like fireflies everywhere.
And besides the few Angels, Fisher had barely arrived at the Second Heaven when he saw the Archangel of the Second Heaven, Raphael, gazing at the distant deep space at the edge of the Second Heaven. Before him, an Angel Gospel forging furnace seemed to be placed, and he seemingly was forging something. This further evidenced how passionately the Angel race loved forging.
The appearance of this Archangel was exactly identical to Uriel of the Third Heaven, only his hair color and expression were somewhat gentler. Furthermore, unlike the other Archangels, he basically put on no airs. Just now when coming up, if he hadn't spoken first, Fisher wouldn't even have noticed this big shot standing at the edge of the Second Heaven.
"Yes, Archangel Raphael."
Since the other party spoke first, Fisher also greeted him very politely.
Raphael swept a glance over Fisher and Asuka Karasawa, then looked at the very quiet Second Heaven behind him, saying.
"She's right inside. After my treatment, her condition should have recovered quite well now. If you go in and call out to her, she should be able to hear it... However, as these years pass, this period of time has seen quite a frequent occurrence of rare events. Over the past ten thousand years, there were scarcely any instances of Angels getting injured, yet two have occurred this year alone. Helaire also became the rare Angel to proactively choose a gender since Gabriel, which astonishes me even more."
"...Two instances of injuries? Besides Helaire, has any other Angel been injured?"
Fisher fell silent for a moment. Seemingly having not heard Raphael's latter sentence regarding choosing a gender, he merely pursued the contents of the former sentence.
Raphael smiled slightly, pretending not to notice. Looking at the planet below, he recalled for a moment before saying.
"Let me think... probably seven months ago? It was Angel [Sorobato] from the Third Heaven. He suffered relatively severe injuries and came up to request my healing. Are you very interested in this matter? It is a pity Sorobato's popularity in the Sanctuary is not good. There are rumors saying he was violating the law by forging [Life Gospel Holy Artifacts], so I didn't press him on the cause of his injuries either."
"Teacher Fisher, wasn't this name mentioned by Angel Helaire before?"
The Asuka Karasawa beside Fisher suddenly remembered something and softly spoke thus to Fisher.
Angel Sorobato?
Yes, Fisher vaguely remembered Helaire mentioning this name in the Tree Continent. At the time, they had met his Prime Minister, Kuin, within the Tsubaki fiefdom. He was originally a slave of the Sanctuary, brought to the Tree Continent during the last birthday celebration. And the Angel leading the team at that time was this Sorobato.
Was he also severely injured? In this era, who else could injure a Mythical Rank Angel? The Elf-kin?
"Was it the Elf-kin who acted?"
Raphael shook his head and replied.
"Unlikely. When a Mythical Species acts, a strong aura is left behind, just like the peach blossoms that bloomed all over Helaire previously... But Sorobato bore no such marks. It looked more like he was battered by brute force. However, he loves going out, and furthermore has a bad record of forging Life Gospel Holy Artifacts. Who knows what he did? It's also possible he was punished by Lord Chief God."
"I see. Thank you, Archangel Raphael."
Having obtained no extra information, Fisher could only drop the matter, merely silently keeping it in mind.
Only, unlike what he thought, during the judgment by the seven Archangels previously, this Archangel and Archangel Uriel had both agreed to execute their group of Transferred Persons. Yet unexpectedly, he was this amiable now, making it hard to say exactly why.
It was possible Raphael only took that stance previously due to Archangels Uriel and Raguel, and was thus forced to choose a side. It was also possible they had already heard some rumors and knew that what they were currently doing might be related to the events in the Tree Continent, so standing on the overall interests of the Sanctuary, he discarded his previous hostility? Fisher didn't know either.
After a brief conversation, Raphael spoke no more. Fisher got ready to lead Asuka Karasawa inside to visit Helaire, but didn't expect the Asuka Karasawa behind him to suddenly stop. Sensing the pause behind him, Fisher looked back and saw her giving a dry laugh. Looking around, she said.
"Um... Teacher Fisher, you go visit Angel Helaire. I... I want to stroll around the area. Don't worry! I absolutely won't run around causing trouble!"
Seemingly to avoid repeating the previous mistake in the Tree Continent, she hurriedly guaranteed this.
Fisher fell silent for a moment, thinking about Helaire's temperament. She'd probably pull some R-rated stunt again. And if Asuka Karasawa was present, there was no way he could make an effective counterattack from "minor protection mode." Thus, after deliberating, he still agreed to Asuka Karasawa's request.
"Alright, but remember not to wander too far, especially be cautious around the Angels. This is the Sanctuary, you don't want to get caught and put on trial again, do you?"
"Don't worry, Teacher Fisher, I'll just stand right here, I won't go anywhere."
She waved her hand and spoke. She wasn't going anywhere, preferring to stand right where she was rather than going inside; it was hard to say whether she simply didn't want to disturb Fisher and Helaire.
Fisher stared at her for several seconds. When she stared back until her eyes darted evasively around, he finally nodded, turned around, and headed deep into the Second Heaven.
If the Elves' architecture was something capriciously resonating like nature, then the Angels' architecture was a hall of Order, extremely rigorous and full of aesthetic sense. Like the healing arts Raphael oversaw, the architecture of the Second Heaven was mostly gentle white structures. There were very few Angels here, yet those tiny motes of light resembling fireflies seen outside previously were everywhere.
Fisher shuttled through the white halls for quite a while, still not knowing where Helaire had been taken. Not until he was about to get lost did he turn his head to look around, having no choice but to call out.
"Helaire?"
"Whoosh!"
Just as he opened his mouth, the sound of something tearing through the air violently came from behind. Fisher reacted quickly, turning his head sharply with a serious look in his eyes. But the speed of that incoming projectile far exceeded his expectations. Before he could even make a move, an arrow struck his body like light.
Yet other than that, there was absolutely no pain.
Stunned, Fisher looked down at the arrow in his chest. Only then did he discover that the arrowhead of this arrow seemed to be shaped like an extremely soft heart. That heart-shaped arrowhead stuck to his chest like a piece of rubber, and behind the fletching trailed a fine thread.
Following the thread's line of sight, he saw behind him a stunningly beautiful Angel with short, golden curls, wearing a skirt-like white outfit. She was holding an adorable little curved bow resembling a child's toy, looking at him. If it wasn't Helaire, who else could it be?
Fisher opened his mouth. First, he glanced at the halo above her head, discovering that apart from its light being slightly dim, there were no other symptoms. This probably also proved her injuries were mostly healed.
Thus, his face darkened. He grabbed the arrow at his chest but found he couldn't rip it off no matter what; that arrowhead seemed glued dead to his chest.
"What are you up to again, Helaire?"
"I'm not Helaire, I'm Cupid~"
"...What the hell is that?"
"Um, the legendary incarnation of love. As long as two people are respectively shot by Cupid's arrows, the two people shot will inevitably fall in love."
She had changed into a white robe more fitting for women's clothing. That skirt hem reached roughly to her knees, exposing her fair, tender calves and two jade-like feet floating above the ground. Upon hearing Fisher's question, she slightly bent one leg upwards, adopting an extremely alluring pose. At the same time, she closed one eye, raising the bow in her hand and pointing it at the Fisher before her, seemingly aiming.
"Pew!"
Subsequently, although the arrow had already been shot, she still spoke with to mimic the sound effect.
"No wonder Archangel Raphael said you've completely transformed into a female..."
Fisher was somewhat speechless, slowly walking to her side. He paid no mind to her erotic role-playing game; besides, he didn't know anything about Angel legends. Cupid or whatever... speaking of which, did Angels even have legends concerning love? After all, they couldn't even reproduce; they probably had no needs in this area, right?
Fisher swept a glance up and down her body, discovering the cracks on her body were pretty much fully healed. Only the wings on her back still hadn't unfurled. Not knowing if they had fully recovered yet, Fisher still remembered her two pairs of wings had been almost entirely shattered by Lord Tao.
Sensing Fisher's gaze inspecting her up and down, Helaire placed that toy-like bow and arrow on her back. Subsequently, she generously opened her arms, waiting for his inspection. Only while doing so, her eyes seemed to carry a wicked smile as she looked at the Fisher before her.
Unperturbed, Fisher finished confirming she was intact, truly somewhat marveling at Archangel Raphael's healing techniques; it was as if she had never been injured at all.
"It looks like you've completely healed. This is good... I went to see Pandora earlier and roughly learned Margaret's whereabouts. She went to the Dragon Continent to create a settlement called 'Ideal State', and presumably found some method to threaten the Elves. Pandora will next seek more intelligence about that place, so we can rest for a while. Oh, by the way, she asked you to go to the First Heaven to see her."
"Tsk, how troublesome. I'm still a patient, you know."
Hearing she had to run down again, the Helaire who had just generously accepted the checkup instantly quit. Floating up, she placed her hands behind her back and drifted toward the room beside her, quickly lying down in one of the hammocks inside. Evidently, that was the place Raphael had treated her just now.
After lying on it, she pondered distressfully for a moment. Then the halo above her head lit up, and she languidly lay on her side in that hammock. Like an unsealed fine wine, she looked at the Fisher before her with a gaze full of seduction, smirking and saying.
"Hm, but Pandora asked Helaire to go see her. What does that have to do with me, Cupid?"
Saying this, she even dry-fired the bowstring, seemingly to prove her identity.
Fisher looked at her expressionlessly. Under the offensive of such a look, Helaire finally retreated, curling her lips and saying.
"Alright, alright, I know. But anyway, Lord Pandora has to go collect intelligence too, might as well wait a bit before going. We could even conveniently bring the intelligence back; that way we won't have to make two trips, right? Lord Pandora acts very quickly, she'll have the ins and outs sorted out by tomorrow at the latest."
Fisher nodded, considered to have tacitly approved of her approach.
Subsequently, he didn't leave, but instead sat down in the room where she was resting. It was very quiet all around. Waiting until Fisher's gaze moved away from her for the third time, confirming her injuries were largely healed, he then unconsciously said once again.
"...It looks like Raphael's healing arts truly are magical. I thought you would need more time to fully recover."
Smiling, Helaire lay on her side, taking in all of the other party's several inspections. Subsequently, her scattered blue-gold pupils seemingly finally noticing something, she revealed a hint of teasing.
"Say, were you that worried I wouldn't pull through?"
"...That Cupid stuff you just spewed was meant to trick me, right? How do I get this arrow down from my chest? This is a Holy Artifact, right?"
Fisher silently changed the subject.
"How is it tricking you?"
"Didn't you say there had to be two arrows? I think you just wanted to shoot me with the arrowhead."
Helaire froze slightly. Then, smiling slightly, she finally crooked her finger at Fisher, seemingly gesturing for him to come over.
Fisher crossed his arms, maintaining a motionless, vigilant stance, simply refusing to go over no matter how Helaire enticed him.
Left with no choice, Helaire merely reached out to tug at the string trailing from the arrow stuck to Fisher's breast. With the shift in force, Fisher finally realized that the tail end of this arrow in his chest seemed to be linked to something afar.
His gaze trailed forward along that slightly swaying silk thread. Only to see in Helaire's direction, the smiling Helaire lying on the hammock had flipped up her skirt hem slightly. There, between the white robe where somewhat shadowy silhouettes and various healing Holy Artifacts lay, he suddenly spotted another arrow hidden at her chest—the very arrow linked to the one shot into Fisher.
Fisher froze slightly. Moving his gaze up little by little, he happened to meet the wicked smile blossoming on her slightly red lips.
"The other arrow is right here with Cupid~"
While the linking silk thread swayed slightly, she spoke thus.
(End of this chapter)