novelraw Chapter 478: Four Men
Chapter 478: Four Men
Rewinding the time slightly, back to when Fisher and Asuka Karasawa were still in the high tower, let's temporarily shift our gaze to the treehouse Tsubaki just built for them. On the balcony facing the distant stone high tower, Gou Wen, slightly wagging his whale tail, narrowed his eyes slightly while looking at the golden light flashing in the distant high tower.
From the room behind, Helaire, who was rubbing her eyes, walked out slowly. It seemed ever since Fisher left, she appeared somewhat bored, even walking listlessly.
"Is that the power of the Loom of Fate?"
Gou Wen faintly sensed the dangerous power contained within that golden light, hence speaking thusly. And Helaire behind him also smilingly came to the windowsill, at a position slightly farther away from Gou Wen.
But she merely threw a glance at that high tower, then boringly withdrew her gaze, offering no evaluation, and even let out a yawn.
After being silent for quite a while, Gou Wen withdrew his gaze. Along with the retraction of his gaze, his consistently unchanged gentle expression on his face also retreated slightly, veiled by a faint layer of shadow.
He glanced at Helaire beside him, who was bored to death and seemingly doing something distractedly. After hesitating for a moment, he still spoke up,
"Regarding my remuneration, did Angel Sariel give it to you?"
Helaire's blue-gold scattered pupils recovered a bit of focus. She looked at Gou Wen smilingly and asked,
"If you didn't bring this up, I would've almost forgotten... Lord Sariel already gave me your remuneration first. Not saying it in front of her earlier, but then relying on me as a coolie to privately cash in your remuneration for you later... What, you don't want others to know your true purpose for ascending to the Sanctuary, especially Fisher?"Half of Gou Wen's face was cast in shadow. Facing Helaire's question, he didn't respond, merely stating instead,
"I have my reasons. As long as I hold no malice towards him, saying it or not doesn't matter, right? So, where is the remuneration I asked for?"
"Then be thankful for Lord Sariel's ability to see through desires."
Smilingly, as if performing a magic trick, Helaire took out a folded halo from her hand. As her wrist shook, that slip of paper flew slowly towards Gou Wen.
After Gou Wen received it, he narrowed his eyes and opened that miraculous substance flashing with divine light. With the action of opening, that halo became obscure bit by bit, until lines of legible Angel text clearly manifested upon it.
Fortunately, however, this thing didn't require Gou Wen to know Angel text to read it.
An address was written on it: The Kakav Serpent-kin Settlement on the southern shore of Dragon Tail Island, Dragon Continent.
The expression on Gou Wen's face didn't change much, while Helaire beside him added another sentence,
"Lord Sariel said, this is the remuneration for your help in bringing back intelligence on the World Tree Teardrop. You cannot operate in the Sanctuary anymore, otherwise you will ruin her plans, you can go here to find him. But you know, Angels are all Mythical Species, and you are just a doctor. If you can't handle it, you'll have to wait until you bring back the World Tree Teardrop to cash in the other remuneration... Though personally, I strongly advise you not to do this."
Gou Wen threw a glance at Helaire beside him, who was still looking into the distance. He didn't ask why, only pausing for a moment before gradually releasing that halo.
As his fingers left that light, the light seemingly lost its mass, slowly dissipating on the spot.
"I'll be fine alone, I plan to set off for that place right now."
"No rush no rush..."
As Helaire spoke, she suddenly seemed to see something interesting. The utter boredom on her face dissipated bit by bit. The next second, she unexpectedly flipped straight over the railing and ran towards the distance,
"You wait here a moment, I'm going to catch someone in the act. Incidentally, ask the Nekelia behind you and the other Transferred Person resting in the room if they're coming. Wait for me, I'll be back in a while!"
Catch in the act?
Behind me?
Watching Helaire run further and further away, Gou Wen turned his head somewhat baffled, only to abruptly discover that at some unknown point, a Phoenix Race Nekelia resembling a statue was sitting in the corner of the living room.
She seemed to have listened to the entirety of Gou Wen and Helaire's conversation just now, thus not knowing whether she should speak at this moment, merely blinking an innocent look at Gou Wen expressionlessly.
"When did you get here?"
Nekelia looked at Gou Wen at this moment. Although she had no expression on her face, her eyes blinked.
After the room's atmosphere fell silent for several seconds, facing Gou Wen's questioning gaze, Nekelia's eyeballs shifted upward bit by bit. Her entire person, like a statue, maintained immobility and silence, as if trying to prove she hadn't heard anything just now.
"..."
Time and gaze gradually returned to the edge of the Ideal State. After Fisher said those astonishing words "as expected," Tsubaki was also temporarily undecided. Thus, he sent a little flower flying toward the towering stone tower in the distance, wanting to inquire about Margaret's opinion.
Beside him, Fisher wasn't urgent at all, merely standing beside with the smiling "Cain," waiting for the decision from over there. Naturally, aside from being visibly affectionate to others, they also did some serious business, such as inquiring her about specific methods to enter the Mythical Rank.
"You mentioned previously that a trigger of Chaos is needed to enter the Mythical Rank, what's the specific method?"
"Mm, actually you probably already know that rank transition is based on body and Soul. At this moment, both your body and Soul have reached the level required for the Mythical Rank. The only thing lacking is the qualitative change to combine them together. Just like I analyzed before, either have an extremely profound resonance with Order, or rely on the power of Chaos; and regarding the latter, you are uniquely endowed with advantageous conditions..."
"As for how exactly to do it, I'm not very clear either. You can find a quiet place yourself to try, feel the aura of Chaos, pray to Chaos a bit. Perhaps at some point you'll 'poof' and enter the Mythical Species? But I'll still remind you temporarily, this process carries certain risks, it's best to be a bit careful and cautious oh."
Fisher's first feeling after hearing this was that it was unreliable. He didn't know if it was because of the previous Completion Handbooks, but he always subconsciously felt that the power of Chaos wasn't very reliable. But later, due to Renee and the certain Chaos Resistance he obtained, he relaxed slightly, merely stating,
"I'll give it a try."
As they conversed, they didn't wait for Margaret's reply, but instead waited for those two fellows Gou Wen and Mikhail. Seeing that smiling Gou Wen and the expressionless Mikhail behind him, Fisher cocked an eyebrow and asked in puzzlement,
"Why did you guys come, where's Nekelia?"
"She's staying in the room, we didn't have anything to do. Just now we saw you hurriedly walk over carrying Cain, so we came to see what's going on."
Fisher originally didn't intend to explain to the other party, because although Tsubaki might believe the lie that he was going out because he liked Demi-human Races, he felt Gou Wen probably wouldn't believe it. Although there was also no need to explain to the other party, it would be bad if suspicions resulted in exposing flaws.
Moreover, there was another crucial issue: it was unknown exactly how outrageous the specific efficacy of Margaret's Loom of Fate was. Fisher wasn't clear if the efficacy Margaret displayed just now was merely a drop in the ocean of the Loom of Fate's abilities. Anyway, he didn't quite believe an item of a True God would only have this bit of usefulness.
But Fisher still roughly explained the matter to the two of them. Unexpectedly, upon hearing it, Gou Wen actually nodded with deep conviction, even squinting his eyes at Fisher, as if deeply afraid that he truly went out for some Demi-Human Girls.
"Alright, then let's go together too, nothing to do anyway, and we can also provide some help."
Feeling his pure reputation damaged, Fisher raised an eyebrow. But before he could open his mouth to say anything, a flower slowly floated down from the sky, it was exactly the item Tsubaki sent out earlier to deliver the message.
After he reached out and received it, in merely an instant he seemed to have sensed some information. Subsequently, as he pinched that flower in his hand, it instantly vanished without a trace.
"I understand... Margaret said that Transferred Person named 'Asuka Karasawa' picks it up very quickly, their progress is very fast, probably able to complete the mastery over the loom before Mother finishes the King's reincarnation. Since this is the case, I'll trouble you to help. Margaret has already roughly informed me of the other party's traces, let's set off."
"Going directly? Don't we need to bring things for staying overnight?"
Mikhail was originally resting, only to be forcibly booted up and called by Gou Wen. He came over and before figuring out what the situation was, he had to leave again. He glanced at the gradually westward-slanting sun in the sky, speaking thusly.
"Tsubaki is a Mythical Species, coming and going is very fast, no need to worry. It's estimated the sky won't even be dark when we're done, let's walk."
Compared to Mikhail's indifference, Gou Wen instead appeared unexpectedly eager. Fisher pondered for a moment and had no objections either, but he didn't immediately follow Tsubaki to leave. Instead, he turned his head and said to Helaire,
"Cain, you stay here."
He didn't feel reassured directly leaving Asuka Karasawa and Nekelia alone here. Although he couldn't yet determine if Margaret harbored malicious intent toward them, and judging rationally, it was highly unlikely she would do anything before Asuka Karasawa helped her master the loom, but to play it safe, it was better to leave Helaire, who was a Mythical Species, behind as well.
"No problem."
She had no objections, even smilingly waving her hand at Fisher and the others, always making Fisher feel this Angel wasn't brewing holding any good intentions.
But Tsubaki indeed didn't hesitate. Seemingly because he didn't want to leave the Ideal State for too long, he quickly raised his hand. From the ground, sturdy branches grew out of thin air, forming a floating vehicle akin to a small boat, signaling Fisher and the others to board.
Gou Wen took the lead, Fisher also quickly followed, and Mikhail also boarded reluctantly. On a small boat, four grown men sat cross-legged in a circle, continuing to leave the Ideal State following the direction the group of Demi-humans from the Kakav Serpent-kin Settlement had departed earlier.
The space of this boat-like wooden vehicle wasn't considered spacious. Mikhail always felt half his butt was exposed outside. Not knowing if it was due to this or because he thought of the situation of the Ideal State hidden amidst the mountains behind them, he spoke and asked,
"The Elves are now glaring like a tiger watching its prey regarding the Ideal State, won't we be arrested by them coming out like this? Feels a bit like sheep entering a tiger's mouth..."
"My compatriots don't like playing those tricks of schemes and surveillance. Like me, they are Mythical Species, possessing pride unique to Elves. If they don't strike, so be it, but once they strike, it must put us to death, and that time will be after Mother finishes dealing with the King's reincarnation."
Mikhail didn't say "But this dragged on for a full half-year." But to care for the Elf's face, he didn't speak up.
Instead, it was Gou Wen who rubbed his chin, looking at Tsubaki's back figure with black hair fluttering in the wind, unable to resist asking,
"What about you, Lord Tsubaki? You betrayed your compatriots, stole the thing your mother cherished the most, and fled to such a distant place, for what? You should know, this is a felony to Elves, right? The kind where even reincarnation is impossible."
Tsubaki's back remained motionless, even the two slender ears on his head drooped down somewhat, causing the earrings hanging on them to emit a crisp clink. But he quickly spoke up again,
"Every day I lived on the Tree Continent previously was a torment, because of my compatriots' contempt for lives other than ours. But I don't blame them, I even occasionally blame myself, because only I myself would think this way. All thinking souls in this world originate from the Stream of Consciousness in the Spirit World, merely entering different bodies. Whenever I think of this point, I would feel unbearably painful.
"In the years gone by, I have already exhausted my utmost effort to create a nation on our land, attempting to create a joyous pure land, only to receive plundering, insults, and ridicule in return. I just felt doubtful and puzzled, could it truly be that I did wrong, thus making me so tormented. But when I saw the King's deeds within Jianmu Palace, that heartfelt disgust told me the answer..."
"I would be right."
The three people behind him all looked at Tsubaki's back figure. Honestly speaking, this Elf was indeed quite different from other Elves. Even Fisher and Mikhail, who weren't too familiar with this time and place, harbored such thoughts, let alone the traveling doctor Gou Wen who had traveled extensively for many years.
Gou Wen deeply knew what kind of bird-like temperament that group of Elves possessed. Their ranks were too high, so much so that they entirely didn't care about other creatures. The entire Tree Continent was a complete hell to low-ranked creatures, and the kind where it basically couldn't be managed.
This was also the reason why Gou Wen rarely entered the Tree Continent in his many years of practicing medicine. Comparatively, the primitive "the weak are the prey of the strong" here was much better, at least here Demi-human Races wouldn't slaughter slaves for amusement when they had nothing better to do.
"We've arrived."
As he spoke, Tsubaki's small boat slowly came to a halt. The expressions on the faces of the four men on the small boat varied.
Because of the past events mentioned just now, Tsubaki's expression appeared somewhat complex, but he quickly adjusted, focusing his gaze on the matter of catching the thief before them; Fisher and Gou Wen both looked left and right. For some unknown reason, one always felt both men were full of bad intentions, yet occasionally they could always look towards the same seaside direction; as for Mikhail, he...
Uh, he was completely bewildered, even somewhat puzzled, puzzled as to why he wanted to come here. Bafflingly, four grown men began an outing; he just wanted to sleep for a while.