novelraw Chapter 472: Misunderstanding
Chapter 472: Misunderstanding
Early the next morning, Fisher's group, who woke up bright and early to head towards their destination, quickly spotted a towering stone giant tower faintly amidst the undulating mountains at the edge of the wilderness.
And surrounding that towering giant tower, tall trees with purple elongated petals magically sprouted, heavily encasing it like a hundred-meter-tall city wall safeguarding the giant tower.
"Is that the Ideal State?"
Asuka Karasawa asked first. After coming to this world, she had seen such miraculous and spectacular scenes more than once; however, comparatively, this place was naturally inferior to the Tree Continent's Royal Capital and the Angels' Sanctuary, appearing rather crude.
"Exactly, this is the current thorn in the Elves' side. We'd best be careful, perhaps any small blade of grass or tree by the roadside right now is a disguise the Elves set up for surveillance?"
Hearing this, Asuka Karasawa immediately pursed her lips and lowered her head, carefully staring at her feet, avoiding the grass and plants by the roadside as much as possible. Even Mikhail and Nekelia began to walk unnaturally.
Gou Wen looked hesitating to speak, but Fisher speechlessly glared at Helaire. Then he reached out and knocked on Karasawa, who was like his former student constantly lowering her head to stare at her toes and only knowing how to say "heave-ho," reminding her.
"She's messing with you guys. The Elves have other methods to know the intelligence here; they are Mythical Species, they wouldn't use such means."
"Eh, eh?"
Realizing after the fact, Asuka Karasawa raised her head, then looked at Helaire in shock and uncertainty. Upon seeing her prankster-like smile, she finally knew Teacher Fisher was speaking the truth. She puffed her cheeks but dared to be angry yet dared not speak.Subsequently, she silently glanced at Fisher, whispering a complaint.
"Teacher Fisher understands Angel Helaire more and more; I couldn't tell at all..."
Before Fisher could reply, Helaire ahead had already smilingly put her hands behind her back and turned her head to look at him, laughing and saying.
"This shows our hearts are connected, doesn't it?"
"Connected my foot."
Fisher ruthlessly didn't entertain her teasing, and Helaire wasn't annoyed at all, merely raising her head and floating ahead smilingly.
But speaking truthfully, Fisher was indeed becoming more and more familiar with her pranks, seemingly becoming more and more familiar with her as well.
However, he always felt this familiarity was an illusion, as if he had never glimpsed her entirety.
Is it because of the game she mentioned?
Or is it because the seventh day hasn't arrived yet? Though speaking of which, it's already the second day, right?
Thinking to this point, Fisher's gaze involuntarily probed forward. He saw the white robe on her floating figure drooping naturally along with gravity, concealing her bare feet. Fisher's gaze flickered as he opened his mouth to ask.
"Isn't floating like this very obvious? Didn't you say you wouldn't be discovered by others?"
"You'll know when the time comes."
Fisher said no more, only leading the group all the way into the dense forest and undulating mountainous terrain. From here, they could already hear the conversational voices of the crowd in the settlement in the distance, dyeing this land with some human touch.
But the closer they got to the center, the more uneasy he felt. Moreover, this unease was rather familiar; it felt like the death entwining him was beginning to stir, and this feeling was exceptionally similar to his time in the Tree Continent.
Deep within the forest, the surrounding normal trees became increasingly sparse, gradually replaced by gigantic and crooked trees one after another. Fisher had previously seen this kind of tree in Earl Tsubaki's Tsubaki Fiefdom on the Tree Continent; all were branches symbolizing Earl Tsubaki's power.
Just like the intelligence Pandora mentioned, Earl Tsubaki, acting as an Elven traitor, had also fled here. These trees resembling spikes faintly formed an invisible barrier here. Although lacking a physical form, Fisher nonetheless perceived its unambiguous intention of rejection.
"These are Tsubaki's powers; these trees are all symbols of his power. Let's not advance further. Tsubaki is a Mythical Species and should be able to sense our arrival. Let's wait here for a moment; there should be someone coming over shortly."
Gou Wen's understanding of Elves was clearly greater than the others'. He quickly formed a judgment and reminded the people beside him such.
Fisher nodded, but looking at the purple light gleaming on these trees forming the barrier beside him, his gaze suddenly flickered slightly. Unknowing what he thought of, his expression carried some ambiguous meaning.
Their group stayed waiting outside the barrier like this, but after a long while, the ones arriving first were surprisingly not from the Ideal State ahead, but the dense forest behind them.
"Is this the nation Lord Elf mentioned?"
"We... shouldn't have gone the wrong way."
Fisher turned back alongside the crowd, only to see a group of humans in ragged clothes resembling savages. Burdened with a family, they formed a long line, carrying various items while traveling light, seemingly having arrived here after a long and arduous journey.
This was actually Fisher's first time seeing the humans of the Dragon Continent in this era. Watching them carefully and vigilantly scan their surrounding environment as if afraid some enemy would suddenly pop out, he suddenly recalled the era he'd heard of before when the Mother Goddess hadn't bestowed magic upon them.
After that group of humans saw Fisher's group in front of the nation, they didn't look at Fisher, Asuka Karasawa, or the others first. Instead, they placed their gazes on Gou Wen and Nekelia, their eyes constantly sweeping back and forth over the non-human organs on their bodies. Those gazes carried a careful vigilance Fisher had never seen before; it was as if at this very moment, the two Demi-humans were some sort of unexploded high-explosive ordnance.
Nekelia merely took one look back, and the lined-up group practically all held their breath as if startled, not daring to make a single move, terrified that these two Demi-humans who looked difficult to mess with in front of them would finish them all off.
Most bizarrely, Fisher keenly noticed that after seeing Fisher's group, the leader of this human group would first look back. Then, near the front of the back of the line were three elders holding a few pieces of shattered stone tablets. When that human leader looked back, the elder in the middle pointed with his lips towards him, then slid his finger up the stone tablet bit by bit until it rested on the topmost section.
In a flash, Fisher understood what this group of humans was doing. They were likely informing that leading human of the approximate Alert Rank of these two Demi-humans before them, so as to better assess the threat level of the existences before them.
And the moment the elder behind reported the Rank, the Patriarch also instantly made a decision, which was: Run!
Consequently, the two groups silently observing each other in the woods hadn't even begun their first formal interaction before this bunch of humans before Fisher very proficiently turned and bolted, and in a scattered fleeing formation no less. Fisher guessed this was probably to prevent the Demi-humans from catching them all in one fell swoop.
"Halt, everyone."
Just then, a gentle voice abruptly sounded from behind Fisher. Turning his head, he saw Earl Tsubaki, dressed in clothes similar to before, standing within the barrier. He could speak the language of the Dragon Continent, and that group of fleeing-at-the-drop-of-a-hat humans seemed to trust him deeply. They quickly paused, carefully looking back at Earl Tsubaki and Fisher's group blocking their way.
"...Mind making way? They are friends I invited."
"No problem."
Waiting for Fisher and the others to make way, Earl Tsubaki also opened the purple barrier rejecting outsiders, saying to that group of humans.
"Come in, everyone, come into your new home. You are safe now."
"Many thanks, Lord Elf..."
Watching that group of ragged-clothed humans file into that barrier before them, they didn't forget to maintain a wide berth from Nekelia upon entering, seemingly fearing her even more than Gou Wen, because she possessed far more non-human parts than Gou Wen did.
On the Dragon Continent, there were countless Demi-human Races, whereas the areas of human activity were generally very narrow. Naturally, communication between tribes and tribes wasn't as frequent as in the era Fisher lived in. Many among them would spend their entire lives in constantly migrating tribes. Even exhausting the lifespans of generation after generation of humans wouldn't be enough to record all the Demi-human Races.
Of course, some patterns could still be summarized: generally speaking, the weirder a Demi-human looked, the faster they died.
Actually, among Mythical Species, the Elf-kin didn't adhere to this rule, it was just that they had never seen a Mythical Species.
Asuka Karasawa's gaze followed the last human entering the ideal state surrounded by the barrier. Only after the very last human entered did Earl Tsubaki direct his gaze to Fisher and his group standing before him.
Seeing this, Gou Wen immediately wanted to step forward to salute first, yet didn't expect Earl Tsubaki to raise his hand and interrupt him.
"No need for excessive formalities. Margaret and I both know the purpose of your arrival. She has already seen it through the loom... Come in, you are very sincere, having not brought a single Angel. Margaret wishes to converse with you."
After hearing this, Fisher's group all looked somewhat astonished at Angel Helaire standing at the back of their group. But seeing this, she merely smiled and waved her hand, signaling for the others not to expose her too obviously.
Earl Tsubaki didn't linger here for long. Very quickly, he turned his head and walked toward the direction of the Ideal State, leaving behind that opened gap in the barrier and the looking at each other in blank dismay Fisher and the others.
"How did you do it? He didn't recognize you at all."
Fisher led the rest to follow Earl Tsubaki forward whilst asking in a low voice to Helaire floating behind him. She smilingly flew to Fisher's back, producing a circular Mirror from her embrace.
Although it was a mirror, its entire body was crafted from a certain type of wood Fisher had seen before, yet conforming to a water-surface-like mirror face in the middle. However, she didn't display the mirror fully, merely sneakily revealing a small corner, explaining to him.
"You should know my ability is actually that power like morning light. In reality, the claim of transformation is not innately acquired by me; it originates from this mirror. I picked up this mirror while playing on the Dragon Continent earlier; it probably came from some Elf whose name I don't know. Through it, I can freely change my appearance without being detected by any means... perhaps the Demigods and True Gods can discover it, I don't know either."
Whilst introducing it, Helaire correspondingly floated and placed her head beside Fisher's ear, laughing and whispering to him.
"However, once the mirror is activated, I absolutely cannot take action. My power would cause the mirror surface to become unstable, leading to easy exposure. So that's why I didn't act previously. I don't know forging, thus unlike other Angels who possess many Holy Artifacts as trump cards, this serves as my trump card. I'm only telling you alone, you mustn't tell anyone else..."
Her soft voice, carrying trace amounts of warm breath, struck his earlobe moistly, engendering a sliver of an itchy sensation in Fisher. His pupils quivered slightly as he didn't turn back, instead stating.
"I seem to have seen the wood on this mirror in the Jianmu Palace before. There was a door made of three types of wood inside called the [Supreme Gate], symbolizing the World Tree's three most favored children. The wood representing [Gui] among them is extremely similar to this mirror of yours. This could be her item; I wonder how you managed to pick it up. I previously encountered her within Lord Tao's barrier, I wonder what relation she has with this incident..."
"Looks like my luck is quite good. Sure enough, Angels who love to smile won't have bad luck."
"What kind of twisted logic is that? And also, are you even listening to me?"
"Sigh, don't you like watching me smile?"
Helaire immediately put on a mournful face. Her face—captivating like Cupid, alluring enough to incite crime—would evoke boundless spreading sympathy the moment she wept, as if even one's heart could perceive her sorrow, unable to resist grieving and shedding tears alongside her.
Fisher, already possessing Renee's prior training, possessed unexpectedly high resistance against this combo attack. Not only was his face unmoved, he could even sneer and offer a perfunctory remark or two.
"It's alright."
But Helaire, after all, wasn't Renee; she was even more dangerous and fatal.
If Renee's words like this were rejected, she'd definitely come over angrily to discipline him, and would use her small fists to hammer the insensitive to romance Fisher. Yet the smile on Helaire's face merely grew thicker; instead, she seemed to witness something extremely amusing, causing her eyes to sparkle brightly.
"Smooch."
The next second, Fisher's cheek received a sudden light kiss, breaking his sneering façade in a second, rendering him stiff.
"Apologies, you are truly too cute; I couldn't resist."
"You..."
Fisher was almost possessed by Sir Book Artifact, a classic line nearly escaping his lips. But looking back at the smiling Helaire leaning on his shoulder, her inadvertently revealed beauty and the sparkling pupils were enough to block his next words back down.
Perhaps she was right, he did indeed like watching her smile, although she was also indeed always smiling.
"Oh my, have you been charmed by me, my only believer?"
How keen was Helaire's observation? Even a second's distraction could be perceived. The maliciously mischievous offensive smile on her face made Fisher increasingly hard-pressed to parry, exhausting him with coping.
"What believer?"
"A believer of Cupid. You've already been shot by my arrow, do you still want to run?"
"Speaking of which, where did the previous arrow go? Without you retrieving it, I haven't seen it again either."
"Shush, that's a wonderful tool for future use."
Helaire winked a single eye at Fisher, speaking thus.
And as they held this sneaky, whispered conversation, they completely failed to realize that the people beside them, apart from Asuka Karasawa, had all walked ahead with dead fish eyes. Especially Gou Wen, his expression was an amalgamation of mixed feelings and was beyond words.
Even Earl Tsubaki, walking ahead and looking back behind him, exhibited an extremely bizarre and hesitating to speak expression.
Gou Wen initially assumed he was puzzled by Fisher's actions. Though having previously tasted the prowess of this human over at Marquis Zhong's place, Earl Tsubaki's expression at this moment was simply too outrageous, compelling Gou Wen to helplessly interject.
"No need to be surprised, it's just the way he is. You also really want to punch him, right? That's right, I want to as well."
"...Doesn't he like Demi-human females?"
"To be precise, he likes them all."
Gou Wen curled his lips, gnashing one's teeth as he stated this.
"...Males too?"
"Exactly, males too... hmm?"
Gou Wen frowned, abruptly sensing something amiss. However, soon he realized something and looked back somewhat astonishedly, only to see that upon sensing his astonished gaze, the smile on the smiling Helaire leaning behind Fisher grew even more intriguingly profound.
Gou Wen suddenly formed a bad conjecture: Could it be that this fellow Helaire presently appeared as a male in the eyes of others, and she hadn't informed Fisher yet?
"Ah, well... um, yes, yes, he can accept it all."
Gou Wen was somewhat unable to help laughing. Struggling to suppress his mirth, he covered his mouth, simultaneously delivering yet another considerable shock to Earl Tsubaki beside him, in no way inferior to the incident with Marquis Zhong.
Meanwhile, Fisher, having entered the barrier, quickly discovered the situation within the Ideal State to be considerably better than he imagined. This basin amidst the mountains was immensely spacious. Excluding the colossal stone high tower in the center, the remaining settlements were largely orderly. Aided by Earl Tsubaki's Mythical Rank, their difficulty in constructing and surviving was immensely reduced. Within merely a half-year span, the architecture of the Tree Continent was replicated here.
The living beings coming here to reside were generally around the Humanoid Rank, denoting between the zero to fifth ranks. On the Dragon Continent, the living environment for such creatures was rather harsh, situated at the bottom of the food chain, the sort that got bullied everywhere they went. Humans occupied the absolute bottommost rungs of this tier.
Yet the humans migrating here appeared to live quite well. Instead of the "seen everywhere" World Alert Steles Eliog mentioned, a pillar crafted from Tsubaki wood covered in legal clauses was finally erected in the center of their camp.
The surrounding environment was pleasant; even Asuka Karasawa gazed at it for an extended period. Although seemingly exceedingly backward compared to the modern era she lived in, the tranquility she perceived emanated from the atmosphere.
The living beings residing here lacked the impetuousness of Tokyo. Having divorced themselves from the perilous life in the wilderness, they were largely content.
Owing to rushing to meet the Transferred Person Margaret, Fisher refrained from continuing to observe the neighboring environment. Instead, he briskly tagged along at the tail end of the procession, matching Asuka Karasawa following every move whilst striding toward the towering giant tower.
Of course, along the journey, he gradually began noticing the surrounding residents casting extremely peculiar gazes upon him and Helaire, leaving him completely baffled.
Is it because of me?
I'm just a human wearing a white robe, appearing slightly buffer, it's not enough to draw such attention right?
Then is it a problem with Helaire?
Pondering over it, Fisher suddenly seemed to realize something. Turning around, he scrutinized the humming Helaire leaning on his shoulder—she appeared to relish singing; this wasn't Fisher's first time hearing her sing during the journey, merely due to the hasty progress previously, Fisher consistently ignored it.
"What?"
Meeting Fisher's inquiring gaze, she preemptively and innocently questioned.
"I forgot to ask, since you're using that mirror ability, what do you look like to people other than us right now?"
"Ehehe, I don't know either?"
"..."
Fisher squinted at her. One didn't need to guess to know that in the eyes of others, this fellow definitely didn't possess a decent appearance, and Fisher possessed no qualms about speculating her with maximum pure malice.
Under Fisher's visual assault, Lord Cupid suffer continuous defeats. But before Fisher could obtain her explanation, she somewhat surprisedly raised a hand pointing ahead, directing him.
"Fisher, look."
Frowning, Fisher turned to look, only to see that ahead of their procession, beneath the towering stone tower in the center of the Ideal State, a blonde, middle-aged human female donning a slender gray robe was currently stepping out.
Though slightly advanced in age, her appearance remained beautiful. Her long blonde hair fell straight downwards, and her light blue pupils were soft and moist, brimming with an ocean of tenderness.
Her gaze swept across, locking eyes with Asuka Karasawa looking up from below for a second. Subsequently, the woman smiled faintly. Waving at them, she initiated.
"You've arrived; I've waited for you for a long time. Ever since you entered the Tree Continent previously, I began noticing you. Regrettably, I lacked a means to assist you then, only able to inform you of the truth at the time to delay Lord Tao's timetable... Ah, though you've probably already seen me in the barrier, I still desire to introduce myself."
Standing on the steps below the stone tower, she introduced herself to Fisher's approaching group.
"I am Margaret Rene, a French Transferred Person originating from 1956. Hello."
"1956..."
Mikhail murmured, his brain continuously processing what specific era that constituted. Asuka Karasawa glanced around, offering a somewhat bashful self-introduction as well.
"Hello, I am Asuka Karasawa from 1996. Please advise!"
"Mikhail, New Russian, 2156... The remaining individuals here are respectively the Transferred Person Fisher, this world's Whale-kin traveling doctor Gou Wen, Phoenix Race Nekelia, and..."
Helaire raised her hand to speak, stealing the answer.
"The slave of the Sanctuary, Cain."
Margaret froze slightly, then covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
"Sometimes I truly doubt if I really transmigrated. Honestly speaking, I've heard many names of the Sanctuary in my world before; there might be a unique connection between them... But regardless, on behalf of the Ideal State, I welcome you all, dear guests. That's right, please come in, I've prepared some delicious pastries for you, suitable as breakfast or morning tea."