Chapter 271: 47. Punishment for the Ice Mountain Queen (Two-in-One)
Fisher struggled to pull his gaze away from Captain Alagina, whose freshly washed body seemed to generate a magnetic pull towards him.
“Aoxi is having a hard time adjusting to life aboard the Iceberg Queen since leaving the Kingdom of Sardinia.”
“Adjusting?”
Hearing Fisher’s words, Alagina looked somewhat surprised. Just as Aoxi had said, it was only now that Fisher brought her up, that she realized the dilemma Aoxi was currently facing.
Alagina had to deal with many matters every day, her mind occupied with various concerns. It was understandable that she had overlooked her silent and loyal guard, Fisher. Conversely, it was also understandable that Aoxi felt some resentment towards Alagina in private.
Fisher couldn’t help but laugh while neatly placing the used herbs on a nearby table.
“Do you really think Aoxi enjoys staying alone on the mast every day?”
“I’ve mentioned it to her. She came down for a few days, but she returned quickly.”
“That’s because she can’t communicate normally with others. She’s tried and needs your help, but you haven’t noticed.”
“She should have told me directly.”
Fisher glanced at Alagina and calmly shook his head.
“Although it sounds a bit contradictory, not everyone can easily express their true feelings. She’s afraid of bothering you and of not meeting the straightforward nature of Sardinian women. There are countless reasons, but the end result is that she said nothing to you.”
“Alagina, when she was in the Kingdom of Sardinia, she played the role of your most loyal guard, helping you with your rebellion against your mother. But after boarding the ship, she feels you’ve lost your purpose, and with that, she has also become lost. After all, a pirate captain no longer needs a subhuman guard by their side, right?”
Emhart, who had been standing behind Fisher at the table, widened his eyes slightly. He looked at Fisher’s back and then at the contemplative expression on Alagina’s face, opening his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately gave up.
Fisher said nothing about Aoxi wanting to try dating him or wanting him to touch her wings, which was truly devious!
Emhart’s timid nature allowed him to only make a gesture towards Alagina. However, she completely ignored him, simply pursing her lips and looking down, seemingly lost in thought.
A goal…
His sister Helena seemed to have said something similar before, expressing her disdain for his complacency.
However, Alagina herself didn’t have any grand ambitions, nor did she have anything that could be called a concrete goal.
She merely wanted every subordinate who left the Kingdom of Sardinia with her to live well, and she also wished to find a suitable gentleman to live in seclusion with. Was that such a wrong thought?
“I understand.”
After a moment of silence, she seemed to remember that Fisher was still looking at her, prompting her to respond.
Her words, however, didn’t mean that the ripples ignited by Helena and Fisher in her heart had subsided. At this moment, the tattoo on Alagina’s back began to emit a slight chill due to her emotional downturn, the invisible coldness spreading bit by bit, congealing the moisture at the tips of her hair that hadn’t yet evaporated.
Fisher keenly sensed a slight drop in the room’s temperature, as if an invisible ice cube had suddenly appeared in the room, freezing the surrounding space.
“So, Fisher, you seemed to have something you wanted to tell me when you came back. What is it?”
“Are you sure you want to hear it now?”
Alagina looked at the Na’li man in a white shirt in front of her, hesitating for a moment before nodding in agreement.
“Okay.”
“Well… I can’t travel to the Pirate Haven with you for the time being. I have to go to the Northern Region first.”
The temperature in the room dropped again, and even transparent ice crystals began to form on the windows behind the curtains. After that statement, Alagina suddenly stood up expressionlessly from the bed, pushing Fisher against the wall by his chest.
Her physique was quite tall, but due to her injury and her special feelings towards Fisher, she didn’t use much force, unwilling to hurt him. However, the “fragile” Fisher was pushed back against the wall, leaving Emhart watching from the side dumbfounded.
“Why?! You’re leaving? Are you disappointed in me like Aoxi? I said I would take you to the Northern Region! Why do you have to leave now?”
Although her expression remained unchanged, her speaking speed noticeably quickened, and the coldness radiating from her body grew stronger, as if in an instant it had taken Fisher back to the Northern Region.
This was Alagina genuinely angry, a stark contrast to the fiery tempers of other Sardinian women. Even as she was frozen in sensation by the Ice Prince, her anger was still very restrained, but the danger she emitted was no less than any other.
Fisher didn’t touch her body at all. The cold, salty sea aura enveloping her constantly stimulated his senses, and even with the room’s temperature dropping several degrees, it didn’t cool the heat within him. He struggled to adjust his breathing and said to Alagina,
“I have something urgent to take care of. It would be far too late to return to the Northern Region after reaching the Pirate Haven.”
“Something urgent? Is it the kind of thing you can’t tell me? Fisher… You said you would give me a chance to pursue you, but why can’t you tell me anything? Did I do something wrong? Or do you just want to play with me? You don’t really care about me, and there are other women in your heart. You don’t like Sardinian women at all, do you?”
Alagina, looking down at Fisher, erupted with a fierce sense of aggression. As her words flowed, the atmosphere in the room became increasingly precarious.
Beside them, Emhart, who often clamored for Fisher to face a reckoning from the ladies, now saw Fisher nearing the edge of capsizing and immediately panicked and intervened,
“Captain Alagina! Please don’t misunderstand! What this guy is going to do is something even I am not privy to! It’s clear it has nothing to do with his disappointment in you or with any other lady! This guy usually, um, well, is quite upright, absolutely not the kind of person you think he is!”
Yet Alagina ignored him entirely, her piercing stare fixated on Fisher, as if demanding a precise answer to her question.
While Fisher was pressed against the wall, he took several deep breaths to ground himself but found it impossible. Finally, when he opened his eyes again, the gentlemanly restraint in his gaze had transformed into an intensely fiery intensity, like a beast roaring and breaking free from its cage, pouncing at the prey before him.
“Alagina, you really think I’m just a man of your kingdom, right?”
“I…”
Just as Alagina was about to speak, Fisher’s unreleased hand suddenly seized her arm, like a pair of scalding iron tongs that made Alagina feel the heat through her clothing.
In the next moment, he suddenly pulled Alagina around in a swift motion, pinning her firm body against the wall, her back to him.
“Mm…”
In stark contrast to Alagina’s previously polite inquiry, Fisher excessively twisted her cold wrist behind her, leaning his face close to her gradually reddening earlobe. The sudden proximity of his breath to her skin made her tremble slightly, as if she had been electrocuted.
It was hard to explain—compared to the previously polite Fisher, who had shown restraint, this version was the true embodiment of raw and forceful passion.
Feeling Fisher’s burning temperature behind her, Alagina’s lips pursed slightly, and the temperature in the entire room began to rise as the frost on the floor and windows gradually receded.
Emhart had just wasted his breath to no avail, now watching with wide eyes as the bad man, Fisher, had his rough actions seem to dissolve the frost in the room. He opened his mouth as if he had witnessed something entirely new and extraordinary.
“What kind of fool are you? How does me leaving become you being disappointed? Isabel and Old Jack are still on your ship, so I can’t take them with me. So I need your help in keeping an eye on them. What you just said is making it hard for me to trust you with their care.”
“No, I…”
Fisher’s breath slammed into Alagina’s neck like a searing flame, causing her words to stutter. His hand unintentionally pressed against his own newly inflicted wound as feelings of pain, shame, pressure, and the itch from healing magic swirled together in a chaotic mix within her heart.
The cold, isolated heart that had been wrapped up by the Ice Prince began to throb frantically. The pain from her wound didn’t make her feel uncomfortable; instead, it triggered a sense of exhilarating joy within her that she was unwilling to admit.
Thus, she didn’t request that Fisher release her hand. Instead, she bit her lip and slightly tilted her head to meet his gaze, only inches apart.
So close. And the posture was so strange.
With no experience in romance, Alagina had never encountered such a situation, needing to rapidly respond to Fisher while also grappling with the outpouring of sensations. Her complex feelings disrupted her decision-making, and her legs felt weak, leaning against Fisher’s embrace. She stood much taller than Fisher, yet in that moment, she was entirely under his control.
“I’m just… afraid. Afraid that you’ll be like others, disappointed in me.”
Fisher greedily breathed in her fresh fragrance. As her semi-confused words came out, he opened his eyes wide, as if trying to engulf her completely.
Alagina continued, making his advance slightly pause,
“I’m a woman from the Kingdom of Sardinia without any grand ambitions. Perhaps Helena was right; my aspirations do not match my abilities. I just want my crew to have a good ending and want to be with you. Beyond that, gaining fame or leaving a legacy means nothing to me.”
“But maybe it’s this sense of complacency that has caused my father’s death, and made my crew who could have stayed in the Kingdom of Sardinia follow me around. Perhaps that’s why you look down on me. I know Isabel is an empress of Na’li, and being with her is far better than being with a pirate like me who has nothing to offer, isn’t it?”
Perhaps today’s encounter with Helena had dragged Alagina back into her past, a past where she couldn’t prevent her father’s suicide or change the situation in the Hammond fiefdom. Even the people around her felt out of reach, wrestling with her disdain for herself and lack of confidence, revealing for the first time her sensitivity and suspicion.
But from Fisher’s perspective, looking back as an observer, had Alagina not done enough?
Perhaps to a select few, like Helena and Aoxi, that was true.
In Helena’s eyes, being the daughter of Aedras, Alagina had countless better chances to save her father, yet she lacked the ability to turn the tide. To Aoxi, Alagina had failed to realize the little things with her, leading to a bit of resentment.
Yet, these words were all hindsight. Helena only saw where Alagina, as Aedras’s daughter, had fallen short, but she overlooked the shame and bullying she endured in the Hammond family. She had to rise, train, defeat her sisters, and conquer her mother.
Aoxi only saw Alagina as her master and failed to recognize that she was also a captain, the leader of a fugitive group.
Alagina had many things to consider. From Fisher’s perspective, Alagina had already done her utmost, yet she still reflected and felt disheartened by others’ opinions of her.
The saying “hard to stay under great fame” illustrates this very point. Fisher believed Alagina had done well.
“Perfect people do not exist. As a woman from the Kingdom of Sardinia, you can’t be more reserved and self-deprecating than ladies from other countries.”
His low rumble of a voice echoed as Fisher reached out to grasp her cheek, making her meet his gaze. Once her blue eyes reflected his face completely, he continued,
“No matter what others say, no matter how you feel about yourself, in my eyes, the Ice Mountain Queen should be you. Your crew trusts you so deeply and never feels disappointed by your actions. You must maintain this basic understanding and continue to strive based on it.”
“At least that’s what Fisher Benavides, a gentleman from Na’li, believes. Just my opinion. But on another note, your doubts and questions just now have made me very angry, so I must give you some punishment.”
“Punishment?”
Alagina’s earlobes grew increasingly flushed, as if she had no idea what Fisher meant by “punishment,” yet her heartbeat quickened, and the frost in the room completely melted, turning into droplets of water that dripped from the window ledge, rhythmically accompanying her racing heart.
“Well, does what you promised me still stand?”
“Promised you… what?”
“About whether you’ll stay below or above.”
It was only then, hearing Fisher’s reminder, that Alagina seemed to remember her previous embarrassing declaration, her earlobes flushing like a runaway horse spreading pink across her beautifully cold features.
She pursed her lips, and the blue in her eyes melted from Fisher’s warmth, revealing a watery emotion.
“Yes, it stands.”
Alagina’s white hair fell slightly to the side but didn’t cover her slightly pouted pink lips. The modest shyness that made her unwilling to look directly at her own feelings, the increasingly evident scent of fresh sea salt, and her fleeting gaze weighed heavily on Fisher’s breath.
Alagina was simply too adorable.
Fisher thought this to himself as he gently lifted her chin, positioning her profile toward him. He then leaned down slightly, kissing her cool lips.
“Mm…”
Unknowingly, Alagina, who had been facing away from Fisher, turned to face him, her back against the wall. The other hand, not held by Fisher, instinctively wrapped around his waist, drawing him closer as if she couldn’t bear to let him go, tasting him.
It was impossible to tell who had benefited more, the Sardinian woman or the Na’li man—or rather, was this not the true win-win situation?
Only the two in the room appeared to be reveling in their victory, while Emhart, who stayed at a nearby table, was utterly dumbfounded.
He abruptly opened his mouth, his eyes wide. Just as he was about to berate this indecent situation, he was distracted as Fisher instinctively grabbed him.
In the next second, before Emhart could react, he was roughly thrown out of the room, escaping the heated atmosphere within.
Emhart’s square book-shaped body rolled down the corridor several times before he sat up dazedly, staring at the ceiling. Only when the sound of wooden furniture moving resonated from inside did he come to, muttering curses toward the room.
“Fisher! You beast of a human! This is how you repay me for helping you out? Wait until I tell every lady you encounter about your misdeeds! Whether subhuman or human! I swear!”
Emhart glared impotently at the closed door, pausing for a couple of seconds. Just as he was about to float away to find a quiet place, he turned around and was surprised to see Aoxi, her face flushed and half of her face hidden behind her wing, squatting outside in the corridor.
Earlier, she had gone to inform Captain Alagina about the departure of the Iceberg Queen from the coastal waters to avoid conflict with Miya. Returning and just as ready to tell Alagina about it, she overheard Fisher and Alagina’s conversation.
At first, everything seemed normal, especially for Aoxi, who felt grateful for Fisher’s ability to convey his feelings to the captain.
However, as unspeakable sounds of contact emerged from inside, innocent Aoxi belatedly realized something unusual was happening.
That kind of thing…
But there was nothing wrong with those things happening in a relationship, right?
It was unclear whether out of a desire to learn or for some other reason, Aoxi surprisingly did not leave but instead squatted by the door, eavesdropping intently on the unfolding events.
When Emhart was tossed out, her shy gaze met his. A subhuman, a book, and a parakeet exchanged glances across the corridor, and the atmosphere became strangely quiet.
It was still that clueless parakeet, Steel Knife, who broke the silence first, greeting Emhart.
“Fool. Fool.”
“You bastard! I’m the great Sir Book, Emhart! You dare insult me?! Do you believe I’ll ram my head into you?!”
“Shh! Steel Knife, and, um, Sir Book, please keep it down. If we get caught, we’ll…”
The ambiguous events regarding the Ice Mountain Queen in the Pat Sulshen Island hotel were of course unknown to outsiders.
At the same moment, on the southern coast of Sardinia, in a fiefdom named “McDowell,” a quiet little fishing village, where even calling out names from ten kilometers away was impossible, a story unfolded that was entirely different from their past peaceful days.
“Come look! Old Madis seems to have caught something valuable at sea today!”
“What kind of treasure? A big fish? Or a shell that can produce pearls?”
Numerous inexperienced fishermen dropped what they were doing. Even the landowners who usually washed clothes at this time came to the center of the village, curiously watching the item standing in the village’s middle.
It was an egg, adorned with layers of strange patterns on top, with some charred black marks as if pressed by a man’s iron.
They had seen sea creature eggs before, but it was the first time they saw a gigantic egg towering over regular human size.
“This must be the egg of a sea ghost! Old Madis, your family is going to get rich! Can little Madis finally go to school in the city today?”
“Nonsense! If it’s a sea ghost’s egg, they could buy a house in the city! They’ll be city folk from now on! Congratulations, congratulations!”
“Congratulations, indeed.”
Listening to the villagers’ praises, the white-haired old woman standing beside the giant egg smiled bashfully.
“Ah, stop talking about going to the city. I say once I sell this egg, I’ll help little Madis find a husband and buy a new ship, then treat you all to a feast with the rest of the money.”
Just as Old Madis finished speaking, the massive egg began to tremble slightly. In the next instant, a blood-colored tentacle, much thicker than an arm, shot out from within the egg.
The strange tentacle pierced Old Madis instantly, but her body, now riddled with a large hole, didn’t bleed a single drop. Instead, all her blood flowed towards the tentacle.
Everyone present didn’t react to the sudden change until a man at the back watched helplessly as Old Madis was drained of her blood, turning into a lifeless husk. He screamed loudly.
“Ah!! Monster!!”
“What is that thing?!”
“Run!!”
But it was all too late. Once Old Madis had brought that giant egg aboard her ship, her fate had already been sealed.
Because this was not a sea ghost’s egg, but the embodiment of the life lord Erwind, who had defected from the Creation Society.
From its stance, the giant egg burst forth simultaneously with dozens of blood-covered tentacles, targeting every villager attempting to flee. Amid screams, the sounds of blood being sucked, and bodies falling echoed in succession, as the tentacles emerging from the egg multiplied until every visible living thing in this small town was devoured.
In less than ten minutes, this once vibrant little fishing village was plunged back into silence, with only the giant egg, surrounded by shriveled corpses, growing increasingly restless.
“Boom!”
In the next moment, the giant egg exploded like a bursting cyst, showering the space with sticky blood droplets.
The blood rained down from the sky, then eerily began to converge toward a central point. Without bones or recognizable human tissue, it reformed in an unknown manner until it transformed into a recognizable human shape, resembling a creature with a massive bird’s beak.
That was a figure unfathomable in gender, garbed in heavy classical clothing, its face seemingly masked with a bizarre bird beak.
“The Mechanism certainly restrained me the most. It’s just a robot that doesn’t even have a complete manual, yet it harbors something capable of affecting the soul.”
Erwind extended his hand. As his magical circuit lit up, the twisted magical circuit, which had already completely severed ties with humanity, glimmered. The circuit spiraled continuously, but a noticeable gap appeared at his abdomen.
His soul was still too weak; had it been stronger, the Mechanism would not have stood a chance against him.
Erwind fell silent for a moment, suddenly recalling the scene he had witnessed in the frigid depths of Pat Sulshen Island.
In the midst of whirling snowstorms, a pair of frost wings unfurled in the snowy mountains. The overwhelming sense of pressure and the level of life present—neither a Phoenix Race nor a mythical being—was the key to transcending everything he had achieved.
That was the sky god.
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(Chapter End)
