Chapter 170: The Secret of Muxi
On the table, there were many items that Muxi had sent back, but as Fisher examined them, he found nothing that contained clear recorded information.
Fisher originally thought there would be at least one or two letters, but almost everything was items similar to that healing room box, like local specialties brought home. Well, specialties that carried a lot of information.
Aside from the previously observed healing room iron box, Fisher also saw many other items.
There was a holy song seal from the Cardu, which was a souvenir from the Cardu church given to distinguished guests.
Fisher flipped over the twisted black seal, which had been soaked in water for a long time. The faint layer of gold paint on the outside had completely peeled off, with only the word “Muxi,” an onomatopoeia, carved on the side in Cardu script.
In addition to this, there were small wine bottles from the Sardinia of the Northern Region, the serpent-headed lock from Shivali, and stone amulets from the indigenous people of the Southern Continent.
Fisher noticed that all these items came from various parts of the world, ranging from the Sardinia of the Northern Region to the items from the indigenous peoples of the Southern Continent across two oceans. This aligns perfectly with Muxi’s characteristic of loving to travel everywhere, but the Muxi family receiving these items probably couldn’t distinguish between them.
In the eyes of the Whale Folk, these were all human-made crafts.
Muxi did not write letters because they had no habit of writing in the sea. It was difficult to have items capable of recording textual information and preserving it. Only during very important moments would they carve letters and murals on stones.
Jasmine mentioned that her aunt had been away from home for a year, and during that year, being able to wander around the world, she probably couldn’t have swum slowly. Most likely, she traveled on a human steamship, and so she probably also received the blessings of Ramastia and transformed into human form.
Among these, there were two items that Fisher took special notice of. One was a gray hollow cylindrical object.
This item was crafted with very high technology and had a bizarre shape. Fisher had never seen any civilization with such manufacturing characteristics, and it looked quite ancient, its age unknown.
Seeing Fisher inspecting the cylinder, Jasmine quickly explained,
“This is a relic that my aunt brought back. I know how to use this thing.”
“A relic? What is its use?”
Jasmine took the gray cylinder and rubbed the surface of the cylinder.
In Fisher’s view, the gray cylinder suddenly emitted a beam of light like an electric current. This beam traveled across the surface of the relic, quickly cleaning its dusty exterior and revealing its original form painted in strange colors.
After Jasmine rubbed the item, distant yet deep thunderous sounds faintly emerged from within the cylinder, making the listener feel as if they were present.
A second later, a lively female voice spoke in the language of the underwater, and Jasmine simultaneously translated for Fisher,
“Sister, I am currently in a place called [Stormy Sea]. No life has ever reached here before, we are the first ones! But ahead of you. And there are relics everywhere, but it’s very difficult to get them. This little thing can leave a sound, so I brought it to report my safety… Um, but by the time you receive this, I should have already returned from the Stormy Sea. Please say hi to little Muxi for me. That’s all.”
The lively female voice was undoubtedly Muxi’s aunt, but after she finished speaking, the recording wasn’t over yet.
In the background, amidst the faint thunder and the roar of some strange creature, a distant male voice was heard. The male voice was young and steady, and the language spoken was one that Fisher could understand: Nali.
Fisher’s expression changed. He turned his ear toward the small cylinder, listening intently.
“Muxi, we need to set off quickly; we can’t explore further inside.”
“Okay, I’m coming!”
Fisher felt that he had never heard that male voice before; it sounded very unfamiliar. After Muxi replied, the recording abruptly stopped, and the light slowly faded, returning to its original ancient appearance.
After listening, Fisher frowned slightly and glanced at Jasmine next to him.
Although this segment was short, it contained a wealth of information.
Firstly, the [Stormy Sea] was a place that humans had not discovered up until now; for sailors, it resembled more of a legend or story.
Legend has it that it is the end of the ocean and the world, constantly surrounded by thunder and storms. In the endlessly deep darkness reminiscent of the universe, there rests a holy island filled with gold and relics. Any ordinary person who manages to retrieve a relic from there can exchange it for great wealth.
Initially, Fisher thought this was merely a story created to stimulate ocean voyages, but now it seemed otherwise; the Stormy Sea truly existed, at least Muxi had reached there and brought back a relic.
Another piece of information was about this relic.
Currently, the number of preserved relics was very few, but their effects were immensely powerful. As far as Fisher knew, the Godlin Royal family preserved some relics.
The most famous among them was the Godlin family heirloom, the [Sword of Godlin], which was a peculiar sword-shaped relic made entirely of gold. It was unknown who had created it and how it came to be passed down to the Nali.
This blade was said to ignite flames of gold that water could not extinguish. Previously, when Shivali attacked Saint Nali, the beleaguered Godlin the Fifth lost both his wife and children and had to flee everywhere, but he still carried the Sword of Godlin with him.
Because it was a symbol of the Godlin Royal family’s power, the weapon used by Godlin the First to conquer the continent.
In any case, most of the relics that exist today are powerful and useful items, but this cylinder seemed to be different; it appeared to only function as a recorder, and it couldn’t keep another recording, constantly repeating Muxi’s voice.
Listening to Muxi’s words, it seems there are numerous relics in the Stormy Sea. Fisher could only wonder what the situation there was like, but it also seemed extremely dangerous, which is why they hurriedly left without further exploration.
However, this recording also confirmed Fisher’s previous speculation: Muxi was not wandering the world alone; there were humans with her.
From this relic, Fisher obtained significant information. He set it down and examined another item that attracted his attention.
This was a standard golden iris crafted from gold, about the size of a fingertip—a small and exquisite Nali traditional craft.
And because it was made of gold, it still retained its original appearance even after being soaked in water for a long time, which allowed Fisher to recognize it.
This item appeared to be a somewhat pricey Nali craft but was not so; it held behind a cultural tradition of the Nali.
Nali people liked to hold weddings when they got married and often invited guests and relatives to attend their weddings. However, in ancient times, when travel was difficult, many friends and relatives lived far away and couldn’t come to the wedding, unaware of their recent circumstances, so they could only notify them of their marriage.
The method of notification was to send an iris flower product to those not nearby, symbolizing that they had gotten married.
These irises were very small, with copper or iron irises used for notifying general people, silver irises for intimate friends, and golden irises for notifying family.
So, Muxi sending this item back indicated that she had gotten married, and her spouse was a native Nali person.
Fisher felt that it was quite strange upon seeing this golden iris; Muxi had only left the ocean for a year, yet she accomplished so much?
Not only did she travel around the world, but she also married a human?
Fisher felt her story could even fill an entire book, provided that it concealed the fact that the protagonist, Muxi, was of the Whale Folk.
With themes of sailing, a female perspective, plus strong elements of adventure and romance, Fisher believed that publishing this book in Saint Nali would surely sell well.
Shaking off these futile thoughts, Fisher shared this matter with Jasmine.
Jasmine looked at Fisher in disbelief. She had only been in Nali for a few months, so of course, she couldn’t recognize the meaning of this item, let alone the Whale Folk who lay in the trenches every day.
“Teacher Fisher, are you saying that my aunt married a human?!”
Ignoring Jasmine’s astonishment, Fisher stroked the small golden iris, confirming that it was not a counterfeit craft but genuine gold, crafted using strict wedding engraving techniques. He nodded and said,
“That’s right; your aunt is absolutely in Nali, and she has married a Nali gentleman.”
“But, but humans generally don’t like subhumans much, how could someone marry my aunt? Could it be that my aunt hasn’t broken the blessing of Lord Ramastia?”
Fisher thought for a moment and felt that it was unlikely, because if that gentleman had no physiological issues, he should have consummated his marriage with Muxi. Could that not break the blessing of Ramastia?
That should count as a form of injury, right?
So that gentleman must have known Muxi’s identity as a Whale Folk; in the end, he still chose to marry her. Fisher found himself curious about who the gentleman marrying Muxi actually was.
It wasn’t so much a matter of wanting to communicate similar experiences as it was that finding that gentleman would likely lead him to Muxi.
“That human knows your aunt’s identity and was aware of it before making the marriage decision.”
After hearing this, Jasmine pursed her lips and looked at Fisher’s calm profile. Suddenly, she asked,
“Are there humans who like subhumans? Is it possible for humans and subhumans to be together?”
Fisher thought about his situation with Raphael and nodded, and he proceeded to educate Jasmine on the physiological relationship between subhumans and humans—a subject seldom mentioned in Jasmine and human studies.
Including that they could bear offspring, and that offspring followed the maternal line, though the probability was very small.
According to Eil’s words, the reproductive probability between the two races was determined by the “Rank of Life.”
It was unclear whether the Whale Folk or the Demon race held a higher rank, but the reproductive capabilities of subhuman women seemed to be enhanced by the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, having even received praise from that Demon woman Eil, and should far exceed those of humans.
After hearing this, Jasmine seemed to have opened a door to a new world; her ears fluttered a couple of times as if her mind flashed through some images, and her face suddenly grew slightly flushed.
“I see.”
“Yes, now the clues regarding your aunt are quite clear.”
Fisher summarized,
“Your aunt should now be settling in Saint Nali and has married a human. As long as we find that gentleman, we should be able to locate your aunt.”
But the issue was that the information clues about that gentleman were very minimal, or perhaps Muxi sent back something that had information about him, but Fisher hadn’t discovered it?
Thinking of this, Fisher asked Jasmine,
“What is the order of these items based on the time they were sent back to the ocean?”
“Um, that…”
Jasmine looked at the items on the table, and for a moment had a bit of trouble recalling. She seemed unsure about the sequence and could only remember some rough details.
“The items from other human kingdoms and the relic from the Stormy Sea were sent back relatively early, while the little golden flower was sent back later.”
As she spoke, Jasmine seemed to remember something and added,
“Oh, and by the way, Teacher Fisher, after the golden flower was sent back, my aunt also sent some human clothing here. Those clothes were tiny; we couldn’t wear them at all, and they deteriorated quickly after being in the sea, so I didn’t bring them up.”
Tiny clothes?
Were they meant for a child?
But they probably shouldn’t be, Muxi’s aunt had been on land for only a year. The more they explored, the more tight the timeline seemed to become.
Not to mention how Muxi managed to travel the world and reach the Stormy Sea in just one year—now there could even be mention of a child?
Moreover, considering the reproductive probabilities between humans and Whale Folk, it was likely that the gentleman would need to toil for five or six years to reap a result.
So what did Muxi send these things back for?
Fisher couldn’t make a precise guess as there were too many possibilities; they might have adopted a child, or perhaps Muxi just wanted a child.
He roughly shared his thoughts with Jasmine, but the amount of information obtained so far was already substantial. Given Jasmine’s ignorance of human society, it would absolutely be impossible for her to analyze as much on her own. With Fisher’s assistance, the progress bar was rapidly increasing.
Jasmine looked at Fisher gratefully, her heartbeat inexplicably quickening.
She had to admit that after hearing about her aunt marrying a human, the thought of knocking Fisher unconscious with a stick and dragging him back to the sea had intensified in her mind.
Although thinking this way was wrong.
But, but just thinking about it shouldn’t cause any problems, right?
But… but Teacher Fisher couldn’t breathe underwater; what should she do?
Maybe wait until they found a way for Teacher Fisher to breathe underwater and then talk about it? By then, Teacher Fisher would probably miss his hometown. After all, living one year in the sea and one year on land?
Ah, but that seemed to be a long time.
Jasmine indulged in such wild thoughts in her heart, while beside her, Fisher was obliviously analyzing clues.
Before Fisher, there was still a clue that pointed very clearly.
He looked at the small iron box engraved with the emblem of the [Healing Room], a lead that coincided perfectly with his goal of revenge against Blake.
So let’s start with the Healing Room.
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(The End of This Chapter)
