Chapter 151: 87. Situation of the Trench
“I forgot to ask earlier, what race of subhuman are you?”
To avoid others overhearing his conversation with Jasmine, Fisher reached out to close the doors and windows, and also hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign at the entrance.
Fortunately, the soundproofing here is excellent; people outside cannot hear what is being said in the office. After all, Saint Nali University is funded by the Nali Exploration Company, and everything used is of the best quality. Otherwise, they would not have given the Pink Pavilion the opportunity to connect with the university through pipes.
Fisher first asked this as a warm-up before the research. Today, he did not plan to specifically study the biological nature of the Whale Folk; he just wanted to roughly understand Jasmine’s purpose for coming ashore and her plans for entering this university.
After a few rounds of research, Fisher had become quite skilled and understood the importance of gradual progress. Eil was an unexpected case; she was older than he should have been, and quite straightforward in her actions, lacking any need for pleasantries. It felt as if he had been tricked.
With Jasmine, Fisher intended to be a bit more careful. Firstly, because she seemed quite innocent, and he had no intention of deceiving an unaware girl. Secondly, because he had previously behaved inappropriately towards her, hence it was only right to take better care of her.
“I’m a Whale Folk.”
“Whale Folk? Are they referred to as the ‘Royal Family’ by other Ocean Subhumans?”
“Eh?”
Jasmine was initially puzzled about how Fisher knew about the royal family from the ocean but quickly realized that he had previously interacted with Rena and was not surprised he knew some things about the underwater world.
“Yeah, but that’s just a traditional name everyone calls us. We never refer to ourselves like that. But it seems everyone likes us very much; they often throw a lot of food down for us after a while, hehe.”
Hmm?
Throwing food?
Fisher suddenly recalled what Rena had said before—that many Ocean Subhumans would go to the trench nearby every year to offer sacrifices to Ramastia, specifically throwing a lot of fish and other things into the trench as offerings.
Did Ramastia not eat any of it but instead feed it all to the Whale Folk lying in the trench?
Suddenly realizing an astounding truth, Fisher went on to imagine that these Whale Folk usually did not go out to hunt for food and only ate once a year?
No wonder Jasmine came ashore looking like a starving ghost. After slowly adapting to the three meals a day routine of humans, she began to eat voraciously. Not gaining weight was probably due to having been starved for too long?
Looking at Jasmine, who was grinning foolishly in place, Fisher ultimately chose not to remind her that the food was meant for Ramastia by other subhumans. After all, they were referred to as the Royal Family by others, so giving offerings to a deity and the royal family should not be much different.
“So, the reason you are called the Royal Family has a deep connection with your deity, Ramastia?”
“Yes. Only the Whale Folk can hear Ramastia’s voice in the entire ocean. We often communicate with Lord Ramastia and live in the trench above His temple. He has a good relationship with me and often sends me a lot of food.”
While Fisher contemplated, the golden text on the open Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans danced quickly, recording all the knowledge he obtained in his mind.
Fisher had a basic understanding of Whale Folk society. Firstly, there were very few of them, all residing in the deep trenches of the ocean, living alongside Ramastia.
However, Jasmine had never seen Ramastia’s true form. She said only her mother had seen what Lord Ramastia truly looked like; she had only been to Ramastia’s temple.
That temple was deep in the middle of the ocean. Jasmine said there was no water around Lord Ramastia’s temple, making it similar to land.
To better describe what the temple looked like, the less eloquent Jasmine suggested drawing a sketch for Fisher, and soon a rough sketch appeared before Fisher’s eyes.
In the black-and-white drawing, a strange building came into view.
It was a temple of a very different style, seemingly formed by natural structures, yet as if chiseled out by some civilization, embedded in the stone wall but protruding out a considerable distance.
That temple was not built by the Whale Folk; it had stood there for an indeterminate number of years long before their existence.
The entire temple was filled with a grand majesty, adorned with numerous stone carvings of unknown meaning, resembling a chaotic mess that was impossible to extract useful information from.
The temple was suspended at the top of an extremely vast abyss, with many black long fabrics of unknown material hanging down beside it. According to Jasmine, that temple was at least a hundred meters wide, and the black long fabric hung straight down into the unfathomable depths of the earth, with no idea of its exact length.
The true form of Ramastia was at the end of that black long fabric, but reaching there was something an ordinary person could not accomplish. For centuries, only one person had stood before the deity worshipped by all ocean beings, and that was Jasmine’s mother.
Talking about this, she seemed quite proud; indeed, it sounded like a great accomplishment, but her mother had never revealed to anyone what Lord Ramastia truly looked like, seemingly to avoid desecrating Him.
Fisher speculated this might be the reason Jasmine had a good relationship with Ramastia. According to her, only she and her mother among the Whale Folk could summon Ramastia at any time through the water.
“So, is that so?”
After all, the mother deity worshiped by humans did not exist, and he could not imagine what it would be like to live atop a deity.
According to Jasmine, Ramastia never left His dwelling place; instead, He loved talking. Other races could not hear Ramastia’s voice, only the Whale Folk could, which often kept them awake at night.
However, Jasmine’s mother was quite clever; she thought of a way—if she didn’t want Lord Ramastia disturbing her, she would pretend to be asleep and play dead.
If He saw her asleep and did not respond to Him, He would quietly leave to bother the next Whale Folk.
This method was very effective; now He was often bored and had prepared to cause trouble for other subhumans outside the trench, but they could not hear what Lord Ramastia was saying at all.
Hearing Jasmine’s description, Fisher couldn’t help but chuckle at that amicable deity; it seemed that deity had no air about Him. However, it was certain that a being called a deity must possess something special. Previously, Fisher had already seen the human form Ramastia manifested for Jasmine; what had happened before was merely a reflection of His amiable nature.
Fisher still remembered His titles, “Origin of Life” and “God of All Forms,” proving His close relationship with life.
If deities like Ramastia existed in this world, could there be other deities as well?
For example, the dragon god “Fei” worshiped by the Dragon Race, or the Frost Phoenix “Nefiramui” venerated by the beings of the Northern Region, or perhaps the mother deity worshiped by humans.
Fisher didn’t continue on his thoughts but instead asked, “So, why did you come to the land?”
“Um, my mother asked me to deliver a letter to a human and to find my aunt Muxi, asking me to bring her back to the ocean.”
Deliver a letter? To a human? Has there already been contact between humans and Ocean Subhumans?
Moreover, based on Jasmine’s previous words, Fisher inferred that her mother held a high status among the Whale Folk and even in the entire ocean, given that she was the only Whale Folk who could face a deity directly. This sounded like a legend, and now it seemed there was a human who had contact with her mother.
“Where is the letter to be delivered?”
“I… I don’t know. My mother gave me a ‘Blood Location Magic’ that can directly send the letter to the human she is looking for. My mother doesn’t want me to reveal myself before humans, so she specially asked Lord Ramastia to grant me a blessing to turn into a human.”
“But I know it seems that someone borrowed a relic from my mother, agreeing to return it to her when he turns 35. My mother wrote the letter to wish that human a happy 34th birthday, as it’s only a year away from the time he promised to return it. At that time, my mother will personally come to fulfill the promise and take back the relic.”
After hearing this, Fisher raised an eyebrow, looking quite surprised.
“So that’s how it is. And what about looking for your aunt? Is your aunt also on land?”
“Yes!”
After hearing this, Jasmine bit her lip, looking quite worried and said, “My mother and aunt both love to leave the sea to travel; otherwise, my mother would not have lent her personal relic to a human during a journey. My aunt is much younger than my mother but loves to go out to play; she even made some relics and gave me a lot of them when I was little.”
Fisher did not expect there to be beings that could make relics in this world; he thought the craft of making relics had been lost. If her aunt could do it, he wondered if he could learn the lost skills from her.
“But my aunt hasn’t returned to the trench for a year. Although she often sends things back through sea crabs, my mother is very worried about her and asked me to go ashore to call her back. I mean no harm to humans. Once I find my aunt, I will leave the land and return to the ocean. However, I will come back occasionally to play with you and Milica.”
Fisher quickly jotted down many details about the Whale Folk, and he gained a general understanding of the situation underwater, as Jasmine said she had only come up to look for her relatives. He did not doubt her honesty; she had practically revealed everything about herself.
Including that her Nali language was granted to her by Ramastia; otherwise, she wouldn’t have learned it in such a short time. Also, that night when she encountered him was to send a magical letter to that human who had made a promise with her mother.
With all these various pieces of information, Fisher took note of them all. However, after asking about her purpose, he did not continue to record any further.
Firstly, because it was getting close to evening, and secondly, he could clearly feel that Jasmine was starting to feel hungry, constantly swallowing saliva, not knowing what delicious food she was thinking about.
Fisher silently smiled, glancing at the Whale Folk social research progress that had already reached 16%; this progress was quite satisfactory, so he stood up and said, “That’s enough for today. I believe your words are true. If it’s to find your relatives, you can share information with me, and I’ll see if I can help. I’ll treat you to dinner tonight as an apology for what happened before.”
Fisher had already closed his mouth about a promise made during the semester to invite her for a meal anytime; after their last meal at the Magic Market, if he treated her to a few more, he would become the most disreputable gentleman in Saint Nali.
Jasmine’s eyes brightened a little, looking quite happy, but quickly she remembered why Fisher was apologizing.
Her face flushed, she touched her lips and then quietly nodded in agreement, “Mm!”
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(End of Chapter)
