Chapter 187: Jasmine’s Aunt (6000 words)
In the banquet hall, Lunsis adjusted his clothes and slowly walked up to the speaker’s platform at the front, all the guests’ gazes fixed on him.
Even though Nali had implemented extensive parliamentary reforms before this, people’s perceptions would not change easily. The name Godlin still held an incomparable weight in the hearts of the populace, especially since Godlin the Ninth had personally dominated the policies that shaped Nali’s fate and that of several generations to come.
“It’s Prince Lunsis!”
“The royal family continues to love and support charitable causes as always.”
“Why isn’t Prince Dexter here?”
Whispers quickly reached Lunsis’s ears, and the last comment made his expression change slightly, becoming a bit unpleasant.
Lunsis despised comparisons between himself and Prince Dexter, as his elder brother had always been seen as destined for greatness. Not only did their father and the people love him, but he was also diligent and kept a humble and kind heart.
In Lunsis’s eyes, he and Elizabeth were like two insurmountable mountains, pressing down on him so that he could hardly breathe. However, unlike Dexter’s broad-mindedness, Lunsis harbored a deep resentment for his elder brother. Dexter had rightfully taken the love and attention that were supposed to belong to him.
To put it simply, he was a bit petty.
He cast a faint glance at the wealthy merchants attending the meeting but failed to identify who had just uttered those words.
After a second, just as he was about to speak, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of golden lights in the night sky outside the window, gradually spreading through the air.
Like a gigantic dome, it enveloped the entire venue in an instant.
How could Lunsis not recognize the essence of that magic?
After all, he was a member of the royal family and knew that his sister was in charge of the Royal Guard, who could employ such magic.
But Sister Elizabeth wouldn’t come after him. The only explanation was that Dexter had borrowed soldiers from Elizabeth to apprehend him.
He opened his mouth, and the magical microphone in his hand suddenly fell, making a loud clattering noise as it hit the ground, amplified by the magic.
Instantly, the entire venue echoed with that incessant sound, igniting the atmosphere of the gathering.
“Bang!”
At that moment, the golden lights abruptly went out because someone was suddenly hurled out from the side corridor.
The body scraped against the wall linked to the magic rune, the force so great it shattered the rune.
“Who is it?”
“Someone attacked here?”
“Not good! It’s the Sorceress Research Society, the cult that previously attacked Saint Nali University!”
The magical lights suddenly extinguished, and chaos erupted within the venue. The wealthy, who valued their lives, scrambled toward the exits.
However, the entrance was still clogged with opportunists and newly wealthy individuals trying to get in, creating an awkward scene where those outside pressed in, not knowing what had happened inside, while those inside rushed out in panic.
“Don’t move! This is the Royal Guard. From now on, stay in place and do not act rashly. Otherwise, everyone will be considered criminals! Go, catch Lunsis and search the entire Healing Room!”
In the lobby of the Healing Room, Lunsis’s legs turned soft from fear as he heard his brother’s signature calm voice from the entrance.
Ironically, despite despising his brother, when it was time for him to personally come and capture him, Lunsis felt a rush of parental fear overwhelm him.
What does he know? Why is he trying to capture me?
Could it be about him and Blake? Would he strip away my royal title and throw me into prison?
Lunsis had lost all desire to resist, struggling to escape toward the window. Meanwhile, Kachina, even amidst the darkness, recognized that the one who was thrown out was her subordinate, the cyborg Karaken, who had been hurled against the magic rune linked to the lights with tremendous force.
Was it Prince Dexter’s people?
Kachina’s expression turned grim as she turned to look at the calm-faced director of the Bourcet Bank in the audience, holding a glass of champagne. She knew that today’s scenario was clearly aimed at Lunsis, and it was possible they knew about his relationship with her master; otherwise, Dexter wouldn’t have gone to search the Healing Room.
Thinking of this, Kachina gritted her teeth and stepped forward to Lunsis, grabbing his collar and whispering urgently, “Your Highness, you must not reveal anything to Dexter. You’re his brother; he won’t do anything to you.”
“Get lost, you shameless woman! It’s all over! It’s all your fault! You’re so slow!”
Kachina knew Lunsis was nothing but a useless lump but gritted her teeth, watching the Royal Guard temporarily blocked by the crowd, and suddenly slapped Lunsis, waking him up instantly.
“You dare hit me? I’ll fight you!”
“Lunsis, do you want revenge on your brother, or do you want to blame me here? If you want to say something, then say it! If we can’t fight together, just remember to keep quiet once we get captured! Idiot!”
After saying that, Kachina threw Lunsis to the ground. Her fair skin began to ripple with layers of flesh-like waves as she gently placed her fingers in front of her mouth, then suddenly opened her mouth wide and bit off her index finger.
The bloodied finger was clenched in her palm. In the darkness, Kachina targeted a direction and threw the finger.
Strangely, the finger seemed to come alive mid-air, as the fingerprint opened into a small mouth, wriggling toward a dark corner like a little worm.
“Don’t move! Everyone stay still!”
The Royal Guard had already entered the lobby, and many staff raised their hands in surrender. However, in Kachina’s night vision, she suddenly saw a gentlemanly hat-wearing man pulling a cloaked figure toward the back of the Healing Room.
No way!
Those two were definitely not with Dexter! The one who threw Karaken out was him!
Kachina’s face twisted with rage. She moved her steps, taking advantage of the Royal Guard not yet shining their lights, chasing into the back.
Actually, Fisher hadn’t completely dealt with the clay-like man. As they fought, the bathroom wall was suddenly crashed down by Jasmine, knocking out Karaken, who was about to attack.
Of course, just being hit by the fallen wall wouldn’t cause a knockout; Jasmine noticed he wasn’t unconscious yet and, feeling apologetic, gently tapped the back of the unconscious man’s head and soon heard the sound of cracking bones, and then he lay still.
He was probably knocked out; Fisher didn’t know.
“F-Fisher, a lot of human soldiers have come outside. They… they won’t be here to capture me, right?”
“No, they’re here to catch another bad person.”
Jasmine bit her lip, glancing back at the man lying lifelessly on the floor, unsure if she could be classified as a good person.
“Jasmine, the place we need to go is behind the lobby. It’s not good to go in while the lights are on. I’ll disable the magic lights in the lobby, so remember to follow me closely.”
“Okay!”
As they spoke, Fisher felt a soft little hand gently grasping his hand. When he turned to look, he saw Jasmine, blushing, explaining, “If we hold hands, we won’t get lost.”
“Alright.”
Fisher found it somewhat amusing as he used his left hand to drag the lifeless man’s body while aiming the magical rune that gave off a faint glow on the distant wall, waiting for the right moment. He suddenly hurled the man, whose body slammed against the outside wall, creating a small dent.
The next second, the lights went out. Jasmine pulled in her tail and ears tighter, as her body had a bit of luminescence that was still noticeable in the darkness.
“Go.”
Fisher held tightly onto Jasmine’s hand, leading her swiftly through the side stairs to the back rooms, moving like a ghost to reach the neatly arranged rooms.
The room Anna referred to seemed to be called the “Healing Room.” Fisher took a step forward, then turned to the first room, noticing a sign that read,
“Healing Room 1.”
“What?”
What does this mean, that they are all Healing Rooms?
Fisher frowned, using his staff to illuminate the area ahead as he walked. Room numbers continued from one to many, with no repetitions, and there was no room simply called the Healing Room.
Honestly, Fisher felt a strong urge to take out Anna; didn’t she know that giving false information at critical times could be deadly?
It was possible she had been deceived, or perhaps she switched sides; considering these things was no longer important because Fisher was certain there must be hidden facilities under the Healing Room, and they needed to blow it open with magic.
While walking, he was still confirming where the true entrance lay when soldiers streamed into the lobby. Among the cacophony of voices, his thoughts began to settle. With the light from his staff illuminating the area, he suddenly discovered a strange phenomenon.
The language of Nali was a word-based language, as previously mentioned. Now that he had calmed down, Fisher realized the second and third letters of the word “Healing” on the sign were reversed.
For someone familiar with reading, reversing a letter in a word could still be recognized, but momentarily one could not distinguish that the word was misspelled.
“Fisher, look, isn’t this word misspelled?”
“Yes, we need to find the one that is spelled correctly. That one is the real Healing Room.”
Fisher’s thoughts had only just come out when Jasmine pointed at another door’s sign and exclaimed.
He quickly lifted his staff to probe forward, discovering that every room had the word “Healing” misspelled. His eyes lit up. He rushed ahead, with Jasmine examining one side, finally nearing the end when a correctly spelled Nali word appeared before Fisher’s eyes.
This room!
Fisher reached for the doorknob but suddenly found the door was locked. Just as he was about to force it open, Jasmine stretched her hand and touched the door. At that moment, the door warped as if under extreme pressure, fracturing the frame and collapsing toward the back of the room.
“It’s open!”
Fisher had no choice but to smile and retract his hand, reaching out to pat her head. Since her training awakened, Fisher had increasingly doubted whether she could knock herself unconscious while bringing him back to the sea, which seemed quite possible now, didn’t it?
The Healing Room was very simple, with a small square white bed in the corner and a desk beside it that held nothing but a simple vase shaped like a wave.
Fisher opened the curtains of the not-so-large room, and outside, in the hazy night, he could only see the aurora-like golden glow completely enveloping the Healing Room, the Klein River still flowing.
It seemed this window led to the inner entrance.
Fisher looked at the vase on the table, gently touching it, but suddenly found it could twist. He reached out cautiously, but a soft hand unexpectedly covered his hand.
At that moment, Jasmine was still holding onto his other hand, so this wasn’t Jasmine.
Fisher turned to the door, only to find Kachina, the one in charge of the Healing Room, standing in the doorway, but she no longer bore the beautiful appearance from before.
Her body seemed to have bloated slightly; her elongated right hand was spindly, like a toad’s tongue, reaching across the entire room to land on Fisher’s hand, stopping him from opening the inner layer.
“Let go of Fisher!”
Jasmine took a deep breath and instantly swung her hand toward that arm, but Kachina’s arm exploded apart like it was made of countless insects, with swarms of cockroach-like creatures buzzing around, revealing large human eyes on their backs.
At a glance, the elements of the cockroach, human eyes, and human skin merged grotesquely, reaching a level of disgusting symmetry that nearly made Jasmine retch.
“Child of the Sea! The Child of the Sea is with you!”
Seizing the moment, Fisher swung his hand, throwing a playing card like a blade that fiercely struck Kachina’s flesh, sending her reeling back to the edge of the corridor, while the card slowly glowed with white light, forming a “Gravity” ring symbol in mid-air.
Six-ring gravity magic, “Repulsion.”
This spell’s effect was as simple as its name, creating an opposing force in a specified direction. The wizard who designed this spell initially intended for it to provide propulsion for carriages or trains. However, the opposing force ended up being unexpectedly strong.
It was said that during its initial experiment, the testing carriage was shattered, injuring many people, indicating just how exaggerated the opposing force of this spell was.
Most importantly, modifying the sub-ring couldn’t change the strength, making the much-anticipated “Repulsion” spell something of a laughingstock, and the wizard who designed it soon faded from public view.
However, Fisher found that, while the changes made by modifying the sub-ring were minimal, altering the tail of the ring could yield outrageous effects.
Fisher adjusted its target application so that this spell would release a powerful repulsive force in all directions, as long as it could get inside an object.
“Boom!”
Just like now, the next second, Kachina instantly inflated; she was blasted apart by the magic, leaving behind only fragments. But Fisher’s expression did not relax at all.
The reason was straightforward—much like when battling that Karaken, no blood flowed from Kachina’s body. Instead of liquid, the space was filled with a dense humming sound like a thousand flies buzzing in your ear.
“Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!”
The dense buzzing sound gradually merged, and in the darkness, Fisher saw Kachina’s dismembered flesh rapidly morph into the “human skin human eye cockroach” he had seen before, except this time, those things had transparent wings sprouting from their bodies.
Jasmine’s fear of clusters was about to trigger; her face paled as she covered her mouth. This was definitely the first time since coming ashore that she didn’t want to eat anything!
The buzzing grew denser, slowly forming a sharp female voice filled with madness and fury, screaming at Fisher and Jasmine in the room, “Child of the Sea! Leave the Child of the Sea!”
Fisher remained expressionless because, within the room, following his earlier trigger of the mechanism, a small hidden door suddenly appeared in the wall beside the bed. Without hesitation, he grabbed Jasmine and leapt into the adjacent hidden door.
Behind the hidden door were stairs, and Fisher and Jasmine fell sideways, inevitably hitting the stairs. But Fisher tightly protected Jasmine in his arms and, meanwhile, drew forth the Fluid Sword, pulling the open hidden door shut behind them.
As the hidden door closed, Fisher suddenly collapsed onto the smooth ground, but outside, he could hear the continuous buzzing and violent crashes. Fisher’s gaze sharpened, and he hurled a playing card toward the hidden door’s opening.
Six-ring magic, “Soil Flow Solidification.”
This magic creates a puddle of flowing soil from thin air and then instantly solidifies it. This magic was invented during a battle when the artillery fire from Shivali was too fierce, and ordinary magic couldn’t quickly build trenches. The great wizard Heilson learned about the frontline situation overnight and researched this soil magic called “Shivali’s Star.”
This magic not only builds trenches but can also be used when Shivali soldiers prepare for close-quarters combat, turning their legs into solidified targets standing still, making them living targets for the Nali.
Two days to develop a practical original magic was the sign of the exceptional prowess of the royal-approved great wizard Heilson.
Fisher felt somewhat of an overkill, but the effect was good. The hidden door was sealed tight with a solid mixture of earth and stone, no matter how wildly Kachina crashed against it, she couldn’t break through.
“No! Child of the Sea!”
He couldn’t tell what they were so obsessed with regarding the Child of the Sea, driving them into such madness.
Fisher rubbed his temples, but Jasmine suddenly tapped his chest. When he looked, he found her pointing ahead.
He motioned for Jasmine to get up, then turned to see twisting magic runes of light extending deeply inside, illuminating the underground space of the Healing Room entirely.
It turned out this was a very spacious tunnel-like area filled with various experimental equipment, file racks, etc., but Fisher quickly scanned and found no living, direct proof materials, unsure if the people from the Healing Room had destroyed them beforehand.
“Fisher, quick, look.”
Following Jasmine’s finger, Fisher found that the right side of this tunnel-like secret room was completely transparent, composed of some hard crystal material through which he could see the dark water of the flowing Klein River outside, indicating that this hidden room was below ground, facing the Klein River.
Fisher frowned and walked over to the file rack adorned with wave symbols, because on the top shelf was a black-and-white photo framed in wood.
He gently took the photo down. It depicted a beautiful lady standing alone in front of lush mountains, with footprints beneath her feet. Upon closer inspection, there were also footprints next to hers, indicating that the person standing beside her was the one who took the picture.
What captured Fisher’s attention was that the woman in the photo had long whale-folk ears flanking her beautiful face, and behind her was a massive tail, similar yet distinctly different from Jasmine’s, elegantly cascading from her white dress.
This woman, like Jasmine, was a whale folk from the ocean!
“It’s Muxi Aunt! Fisher, it’s Muxi Aunt!”
Jasmine, excitedly pointing at the beautiful woman in the photo, exclaimed to Fisher.
Fisher’s gaze shifted as he focused back on the photo of the radiant woman smiling brilliantly at the camera, elegantly posing.
That was Jasmine’s aunt, Muxi.
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(End of chapter)
