novelraw Chapter 597: Unsatisfied Desire
Chapter 597: Unsatisfied Desire
Fisher tentatively chanted the "password" Cidi had taught him, then raised his head to look at him, seemingly inquiring if what he chanted was correct.
Cidi froze slightly, then smiled and said,
"Very standard, even more standard than mine. This is exactly the correct pronunciation for this password."
"I've memorized it, thank you, Demon God Cidi."
Fisher glanced one more time at the two symbols on the tabletop that originated from the hometown of the contributor to the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, firmly memorizing them in his mind while simultaneously pondering over the seven important reminders she had left for him.
He knew some of these seven pieces of information, or rather, he had some clues, but some he had never even heard of before.
First was the matter of the World-Ending Prophecy. On the night Renee appeared when Fisher was reading the Life Completion Manual, she had once told Fisher of another prophecy that was entirely different from the contents of the prophecy on the title page of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook. Back then, she said her prophecy was true and Fisher's was false.
But the Demi-Human Girl Con was now telling Fisher that both prophecies currently in his hands were true.
Then to logically deduce for a bit, considering both were true and similar in structure, could it be possible that the two prophecies also corresponded with each other in content?
If so, Raphaela is very likely related to the "Flame of the Soul," Jasmine to the "Twisted Life," the False God of the Barrier is the "God of the Sky," and Renee is the "Fallacy."Although he didn't know why the prophecy would refer to Renee, who possessed the Infinity Authority, as the "Fallacy," if the four aspects of the two prophecies corresponded one-to-one, the second piece of content left by the Demi-Human Girl Con could be understood: she was emphasizing the fact that Renee was an ally... But to him, Renee was inherently a closely related female; was there really any need to doubt whether they were allies or not?
The first two warning messages from the Demi-Human Girl Con were limited, so Fisher began pondering over the subsequent ones.
The third stated that Fisher was the key to resolving the World-Ending Prophecies. This should relate to the peculiarity within his body, or perhaps it was related to him developing intimate relationships with several ladies by following the guidance of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook. Fisher wasn't too certain about this yet.
As for the sixth and seventh, Fisher roughly had some clues, because in Caleb Uz's notes, the term [Ocean] had also appeared. It seemed to be the true owner of the Sea of Souls within the Spirit World.
Moreover, he still remembered that ten thousand years ago when he entered the Mythic Rank and Renee's Authority materialized, she had reminded Fisher that he was exceptionally special to the Ocean...
Then, since the Demi-Human Girl Con said to "be wary of the ocean," and the "Ocean" she referred to here corresponded with the information Fisher obtained previously, she was reminding Fisher, "The owner of the Sea of Souls has already set its eyes on you; you must be extra vigilant and careful."
The "Ocean" wasn't a deity in the modern world, nor had Fisher ever seen its name outside of his Authority and Caleb Uz's notes. Thus, this existence whose rank must be at the tier of a deity should also be a type of Chaos.
Those targeted by Chaos generally never met a good end, which could be observed from the matters regarding a few transferred persons potentially favored by Chaos.
As for the final point about having to go to the Spirit World, Fisher could understand it well. Because that place was both the exterior and depth of the world, a place unrestrained by the Rules of the Gods, and it was also there that "False Gods" like the Spirit World Contamination—which were directly related to the World-Ending Prophecy—resided. What's more, ten thousand years ago, Fisher already knew that the Spirit World was the only direction those transferred persons could possibly flee towards. Many secrets being buried there was only natural...
But the ones that truly left Fisher feeling perplexed were the fourth and fifth statements.
[There are one or six existences intending to destroy the world beyond the Barrier]
[The Gods are Chaos]
Fisher recognized every single word in these two sentences, yet combined together, they appeared so abstract, rendering him entirely unable to understand.
The meaning of these two sentences was indeed straightforward to be frank, but the problem was that countless possibilities could be hidden behind this meaning. When everything is a possibility, in a certain sense it's equal to having no possibilities.
Fisher sank into deep thought for a moment before raising his head to look at Cidi before him, asking,
"Does Demon God Cidi have any clues regarding these messages she left behind? Or rather, did she provide corresponding explanations to you?"
Cidi regrettably shook his head and smiled as he said,
"Apologies, I have already told you word for word everything she said when she woke me. And I also feel that she didn't have much ability to elaborate further to me either; being able to say and do so much was already the limit of what she could manage back then."
"...What does this mean?"
"Kid, it means that she is also a transferred person, and furthermore, a transferred person who has lived for god knows how long..."
Cidi clapped his hands before telling Fisher, "When you first met her, you might have felt that her personality was eccentric, yet you could generally tell that this was her fundamental nature. But at the time she woke me, her appearance was absolutely unprecedentedly serious and peculiar. At that time, she was already at the brink of madness and collapse, as if being trampled upon and ravaged by an invincible enemy. That she could still articulate these words clearly was already an extreme stroke of fortune..."
And this also seemed to be why Cidi said earlier that no matter what kind of ending that fellow met would be possible, with the greatest possibility being that she died in some unknown place.
Hearing this information, Fisher instantly felt somewhat sorrowful in his heart. An existence like the Demi-Human Girl Con, whose deeds sounded so colorful and whose Completion Handbook was entirely different from other transferred persons, still couldn't escape the same fate...
"I see..."
Looking at Fisher's somewhat complicated expression, Cidi stretched out his fair and tender palm to cup his chin. He pondered for a moment before adding a sentence,
"However, based on my experience of knowing her for several millennia, that fellow strongly dislikes speaking in riddles. Aside from a mouth brimming with trash talk, she never beats around the bush regarding matters that must be spoken of seriously."
"Do you mean that these unintelligible hints she gave actually don't harbor deep meanings, but are entirely meant to be taken at face value... and it's simply because I don't possess enough information now that I'm unable to comprehend them?"
Cidi raised his index finger and gently wagged it before saying,
"That's one possibility... There's another possibility: the information she wanted to tell you is very important, yet she couldn't state it directly, and could only remind you in a roundabout manner."
"Couldn't..."
"Yes, perhaps due to some reason, she was unable to speak frankly. But I must remind you, that fellow was a profoundly capable individual. Being a human who could mingle harmoniously with so many Mythical Species before the Mythical Wars isn't something that can simply be explained away by the hobby of being a 'Demi-Human Girl Con'... If that whatever reason could prevent even her from speaking frankly, then you'd best prepare yourself mentally..."
Terrifying dark clouds churned within Cidi's pink eyes as he enunciated word by word,
"That reason making even her keep her mouth shut must definitely be terrifying and difficult to overcome."
Fisher fell silent for a moment before taking a deep breath and once again offering his thanks to Cidi. Following that, he reached out and unfolded the map left behind by the Demi-Human Girl Con. Looking at it with his perspective as a local of Naris, although she referred to the place as "Saint-Nazareth," it was actually quite some distance away from Saint-Nazareth, approximately fifty kilometres or so.
But his geography wasn't too excellent either, unable to distinguish the specific name of the place from that unmarked map. So he could only refold the map and tuck it properly into the Demi-Human Completion Handbook in his breast pocket.
"Thank you for your reminder, Demon God Cidi... by the way, do you know the current situation? Aren't you curious as to why we had to destroy your husband's Portal?"
Cidi fought off a yawn. Only upon hearing Fisher's question did a hint of doubt spill over his delicate and stunning face. He asked,
"Oh right, why did you guys dismantle my hubby's home and Portal?"
"..."
This Demon God Cidi was also slightly dense, or so Fisher discovered.
Fisher sighed and had no choice but to briefly outline the current situation to him.
After recounting it, he had originally thought this Demon God would show a somewhat decent reaction—even if it meant agreeing and tacitly allowing it, or disagreeing and rebelling. However, diverging from Fisher's expectations, Cidi instead appeared exceptionally calm, quietly listening to the entirety of it before propping up his cheek. Simply remaining there made him as beautiful as a painting, blurring the line between male and female, making one only want to feel this most direct source of beauty.
However, Fisher ultimately didn't have that sort of fetish. Although Cidi's appearance was indeed fine, and he was also a "demi-human" belonging outside humanity, for him it seemed, missing the "girl" suffix after "demi-human" made it a bit lacking in appeal...
It was only quite a while later that Cidi spoke with some distress,
"Baimon... really causing endless harm to people. But if it was all plotted out by her, then this wouldn't be surprising."
"You understand Baimon very well too?"
Hearing this, Cidi curled his lips, shaking his head as he said,
"I don't understand her, and I dare say there exists no one in this world who can claim to understand her, probably not even those Deities... No one knows what she is thinking, and no one knows the logic behind her actions. If you say there is some deeper meaning in a certain aspect, her conduct leans more toward amusement; if you say it is purely for amusement, from the span of time, she always manages to reap returns from it, just like the 'Base' she is using now... So, no matter what she does, it isn't surprising."
"She has never had followers, nor has she ever had any close friends who she could bare her soul to. Even in this decentralized Demon Dynasty where everyone acts in their own interest, she is the most eccentric demon among them, having always been completely all alone... Oho? Strange, kid, I suddenly realize that whenever I mention her, there is always a very complicated implication in your eyes. This implication doesn't seem like enemies, but more like bickering lovers..."
Fisher froze slightly. His gaze swept over the constantly swirling pink mist in Cidi's eyes. It was as if before that mist, the so-called "carnal desires" and "feelings" were all laid bare, transformed into visible entities.
"I had contact with her previously."
Fisher didn't explicitly mention that he knew her in the past, nor did he recount Baimon's earlier stories. Cidi, appearing wholly unconcerned with this, simply smiled and said,
"My eyes can see through the turbulent feelings of this world. Any complicated, unspeakable emotions can be smoothed out by me. Therefore, in my eyes, the relationship between you and her isn't as simple as mere contact, but rather akin to an unending, till-death-do-us-part... lingering entanglement.
"In the past Dynasty, although we weren't intimately familiar with one another, we could still be considered to know each other. Only Baimon made the others feel icy cold, hence no one ever truly understood her, and mentioning her merely invoked unfamiliarity. But I vaguely sensed a kind of solitude distinct from her icy demeanor, leading me to firmly believe that she indeed possesses feelings. It's just that we aren't the objects her feelings are directed towards, thereby preventing us from feeling anything..."
Upon hearing this, Fisher stirred slightly. In his mind, her smiling angelic face unceremoniously manifested within Fisher's mind.
That was solitude bridging a gap of ten thousand years, only today being narrated through Cidi's mouth for Fisher to hear.
"As for now... while I don't look too favorably upon you guys—because over there after all lies my husband whose true body has already departed this place, alongside that fellow Agreas, making it probably impossible for you guys to oppose them just relying on yourselves. I won't stop you either, seeing as you share such a connection with that friend of mine, and Eliog is helping you. It puts me in quite a difficult position choosing a side..."
Cidi's finally stated attitude pulled Fisher out from his memories of Helaire. He looked at Cidi before him with gratitude, then opened his mouth and said,
"Thank you for your help. I've gained quite a fulfilling bounty this time. I will personally seek verification on your friend's words afterwards, after I resolve the matters here..."
"Mm-hm, then let's set off for the Gate of Knowledge now. Although I won't do anything, if there's an opportunity, I'd still quite like to see my husband one more time."
"However, I still have one final matter I wish to inquire about..." Before Fisher left, he suddenly thought of something and asked Cidi, "Did that friend of yours know decades ago that I would definitely arrive here today?"
Cidi smiled, intertwining his fingers as he asked,
"What, suspecting that everything you've encountered and experienced before was all planned out by her?"
"Is it possible?"
"I wouldn't know either. But what she told me when she requested my help back then was, 'If there comes a day in the future when you wake up, it means the soul energy I left you has taken effect. Please go find a human man bearing my aura, and relay some words to him'."
Fisher froze slightly, only then bursting into laughter as he said,
"I see."
"Mm, then that's all. Let's go, kid... we set out for the Gate of Knowledge."
Cidi stretched lazily, stood up, and brushed his slender red hair draping over his shoulders behind his head, saying this to Fisher.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
Passing through the "Gate of Expression" which manifested rugged mountainous terrain where gales howled, heading all the way towards the magma deep within, one could see a touch of profound darkness resembling starlight. In front of that spiral-shaped cave outlined by crimson magma, Eliog sat cross-legged on the ground watching Jasmine, Eimhart, and the accompanying group approaching, massaging her temples quite distractedly while her tail swayed uneasily behind her.
"Which means, awooo, he happened to meet the husband of Barbatos—the one we're supposed to deal with—over there, and even though he's currently at the Thirteenth-Tier, Fisher still... eagerly followed him?"
Jasmine pursed her lips, remaining rather unresigned to Eliog assuming the posture of a big boss interrogating her as if they were sinners. Pouting her lips, she said,
"That Demon God Cidi possesses some crucial information related to someone Professor Fisher knew previously. Professor Fisher himself said he wanted to go."
Then, it was fellow student Eimhart's turn to raise his hand and speak, expressing his view,
"It's also possible that fellow Fisher was seduced by Cidi."
"You shut up!"
"You shut up!"
Eliog and Jasmine simultaneously snapped with darkened faces, causing the Sir Book Artifact—who was livening up the classroom atmosphere—to suddenly be struck as if by lightning. Gloomily falling to the ground, he crawled obediently with grievance, with only the Lord of Souls casting a sympathetic gaze his way.
Instead, after hearing Jasmine's words, Eliog rubbed her chin, muttering a question,
"Related to someone... male or female?"
"Hey, Eliog!"
And right at this moment, a somewhat effeminate and coquettish male voice abruptly drifted over from not too far away.
Eliog's eyebrow twitched; her whole body shuddered. Looking up, she rapidly spotted the red-haired Demon God Cidi obediently trailing behind an expressionless Fisher, reaching out his hand and waving it above his head, seemingly greeting her.
"Cidi..."
Eliog spoke thusly with quite a headache. Before she could begin to say anything formal, she saw Cidi sizing up Eliog, his expression suddenly growing somewhat surprised.
His dense pink, star-like eyes rapidly flickered. Then, he was seen pointing at Eliog and saying,
"Oho? Eliog, you seem to have a little bit of an unsatisfied desire playing up there?"
"..."