Chapter 235 – The Ice Prince
Fisher swam upward through the dark, deep waters, wanting to return to the place where he had just discovered the ruins to confirm the state of the Universal Warning Tablet he had so painstakingly found.
He turned back one last look at the direction of the deep sea below, where the massive glowing mushroom had completely disappeared by now, and of course, he could no longer see the jellyfish people who had been shouting at him with their hands on their hips.
Earlier, Fisher had heard Rena mention that there was a type of subhuman race skilled in weaving clothing in the ocean, called the jellyfish race, living above the great sea whirlpool. He wasn’t sure if they were the same as the ones he had encountered earlier, but they certainly looked similar to jellyfish, though their shape was somewhat strange to Fisher, who was from land.
The deep ocean was quiet; when Fisher was taken down by the siren, it felt like it had only been less than a minute, but now, swimming up from there took him quite a while before he reached the cliff’s edge.
Above the cliff, the previously disordered ruins had now suffered devastating damage. Many shards of stone pillars were scattered on the ground. Fisher hurried to the square where the Universal Warning Tablet had been placed, but now, due to the siren’s destruction, only a small segment of the base remained.
Fisher frowned and scanned the area but found no other scattered fragments; it seemed the damned siren had swallowed them.
He sighed in disappointment but was not too discouraged because Eil had said that nearly every human settlement contained one of these things. Even if he couldn’t see its entire form here, there would be opportunities later, and Fisher could also ask Emhart how much he understood about the Universal Warning Tablet.
Fisher took one last look at the base of the tablet, where a pious human was prostrating with his hands stretched upward, then followed the direction of his worship to see the half-shattered Mother God Statue that still looked lovingly down at him, just like Vienna.
The history of humans worshipping the Mother God has long been untraceable. According to human mythology, even humans themselves were created by her.
However, according to the description on the Universal Warning Tablet, humans at that time were clearly at the very bottom of the life hierarchy. The hierarchies they depicted were arranged based on themselves as the standard, and being titled “Warning” seemed to prove that the environment in which humans lived was not safe, requiring them to constantly be alert and guard against those dangerous higher-order species.
If the environment was indeed unsafe in ancient times, how did humans, ranked at the bottom of the life hierarchy, manage to overcome the immense gap and survive to develop to where they are today?
Thinking of this, Fisher felt he could answer that question himself, as he was particularly skilled in this field,
“Magic.”
Perhaps at some point in ancient times, humans discovered the secret of using magic, learned how to use their own magic power to communicate with the world, and took this as a method to resist other races?
Traditional historical accounts of the origin of magic suggest that humans explored magic by gathering and observing materials from magical creatures in the wild. On the other hand, the religious view of Cardu believes everything is granted by the Mother God; modern magicians, led by gravity magic masters, believe magic’s emergence was inspired by celestial phenomena and subhumans.
However, in the Soul Supplement Handbook, Uz had mentioned that the magic used by the dragon race in the Dragon Court was imported from human society, which proves that humans themselves conceived magic. But how they managed to think up magic remains a question.
Lost in thought, Fisher frowned. He looked up at the Mother God he believed in, but that faceless statue only looked down at him lovingly without providing any clues.
“Poof!”
In the endless vast ocean, Fisher suddenly burst out of the water, greedily gasping for fresh air with his mouth wide open.
To be honest, although Fisher could now breathe underwater, the sensation was incredibly hard to describe, as if each breath of air was limited to one-sixth of a breath, leaving him feeling suffocated.
Moreover, during the battle, the siren’s blood mixed in the seawater made the already sparse air feel as if it was tainted with excrement, making Fisher hesitant about whether to inhale or not.
In any case, Fisher had had enough of breathing underwater. At that moment, he was relieved that he hadn’t been knocked out by Jasmine and dragged back into the sea; that would have been even worse than killing him.
He took several deep breaths and wiped his face before surveying his surroundings, noticing only the continually undulating surface of the sea. There was no sign of the Iceberg Queen ship that had carried him here.
Now, it seemed the siren had unwittingly brought him to an unknown location. What if the Iceberg Queen couldn’t find him? Did he have to swim ashore on his own?
Just as he was looking around with his head tilted up, a figure suddenly swept across the sky above him like a lightning bolt, its wings spread wide. With just that enormous pair of wings, Fisher instantly recognized it as Aoxi, the second officer of the Iceberg Queen.
“Aoxi!”
Seizing his lifeline, Fisher quickly called her, and her figure paused in mid-air for a moment before she turned back to look at Fisher still floating in the sea. The sweet expression on her face clearly showed relief.
The next moment, without answering, she changed direction and flew toward Fisher. Her powerful bird-like talons gently grasped his hand reaching out to her, pulling him out of the ocean.
As soon as her talons touched his skin, Fisher felt the remarkable sensation of feathers, and he looked up at Aoxi with a strange expression. From this angle, he could see her exact appearance hidden beneath her cloak. Then he noticed that she was dressed quite minimally, wearing only a thin crew shirt under her cloak.
Thus, Fisher realized that Aoxi’s figure differed significantly from the tall, slender women back home. Aoxi was slightly…well, plump, looking soft and cuddly, a type favored by Nali gentlemen.
Fisher had hardly looked at her for more than two seconds when suddenly, her flight experienced intense turbulence, nearly sending Fisher flying back into the sea.
It turned out Aoxi was embarrassed by Fisher’s gaze and instinctively tried to cover her shameful figure with her wings but forgot she was still in flight. Losing a wing made her uncontrollably fall toward the ocean’s surface.
She quickly spread her wings again, unable to care about her body hidden under her cloak, focusing on flying instead, but a faint layer of pink began to color her fair cheeks.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry.”
Both Aoxi and Fisher, who had diverted their gazes, simultaneously apologized. Then they looked at each other in surprise, which made her flustered and quickly avert her gaze. After that, she fell silent.
After flying for about seven or eight minutes, the Iceberg Queen emerged back in Fisher’s sight, resting on the surface of the sea. He had unknowingly been led so far from where he had started.
At this point, the deck of the Iceberg Queen was in chaos. Many crew members were looking despondently at the ice debris covering the deck, while Captain Alagina sat beside the ladder, bandaging her right hand, and Paz stood beside her, gritting her teeth, staring angrily at the ocean.
“That despicable bastard dared to ambush us underwater and actually got away with it! It’s like he brought shame to his whole family. I’m really…”
“Come back. Come back.”
Just as Paz was about to let something slip, she halted when she heard the sound of Steel Knife nearby. She turned her head to look into the distance, and her expression instantly changed as she burst into laughter.
“Captain, Fisher and Aoxi are flying back!”
Hearing this from where she was bandaging her wound, Alagina quickly looked up at the sky and finally spotted Fisher unhurt. The chill in her face due to pain melted considerably, and she briskly walked to the edge of the deck.
Aoxi flew above the deck and safely placed Fisher down before quickly soaring up to sit atop the mast, covering her body with her heavy cloak and curling away in silence.
“Are you hurt?”
Fisher shook his head, shaking off the water droplets from his hair. Not having taken care of his hair during the return to Saint Nali resulted in a longer style. He looked at Alagina’s right hand, which was half bandaged but exposed some purple bruises, and asked.
Unexpectedly, he received no response. Confused, he looked up to see Alagina swallowing hard at the sight of his damp hair. When he turned his gaze back at her, she awkwardly raised her left hand to wipe her nose and, avoiding his eyes, said, “It’s nothing serious.”
Alagina didn’t want Fisher to think she was a lustful ghost, sneaking glances at him just because his white shirt was wet, which was why she explained it that way.
Both Paz and Fisher glanced at her swollen purple fingers, unsure how to comment on her stubbornness. They could only change the subject.
“Is this the consequence of you using the Ice Prince’s true form earlier?”
Fisher had previously heard Emhart say that the Ice Prince was a weapon designed for the Phoenix race. It was normal for human Alagina to not be able to wield it, but was it too much that just using it for a bit almost ruined her entire hand?
“Yeah, and it seemed like the Ice Prince was acting a bit strange earlier; it seemed like something around it was attracting it.”
“Attracting?”
Fisher glared doubtfully at the captain’s cabin, only to notice the broken book Emhart was lying on the captain’s cabin roof, playing dead. He was about to say something when a crew member standing at the bow suddenly shouted.
“Captain! Captain! There’s an island ahead!”
“Island? Where did an island come from around here? Let me see it!”
Paz looked at Alagina in disbelief after hearing that. Though they hadn’t strictly followed the trade route, they were at least near it. According to logic, to ensure safe navigation, any confirmed path nearby would have been fully explored.
But now, a crew member claimed that an island suddenly appeared ahead?
Paz hurriedly ran to the bow with binoculars, looking straight ahead. She saw a moderately sized island abruptly rising in the midst of the vast sea.
“Damn it, there really is an island.”
As Alagina wondered and looked toward that direction, a sudden warmth started radiating from her back. Instinctively, she reached back to touch it, only to find that the tattoo connecting her with the Ice Prince began reacting, seemingly alerting her that it wanted to go to that island.
“Ice Prince?”
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(End of this chapter)
