Chapter 292: 67. Goodbye Valentina
“Someone is coming, Sister Ilos.”
Fisher heard the sound of a carriage outside the church. He certainly didn’t think the visitor was there to pray at the Mother God Church on the weekend. Since the Mechanism had already hinted at it with his card, it was possible that the Mechanism had noticed his arrival and was looking for him.
He glanced at Ilos beside him and said, “Stay here; I’ll go take a look.”
“Okay.”
Ilos lay on the bed, covering her slightly protruding belly, and half-sat up, looking worriedly at Fisher as he exited her small wooden cabin.
Fisher calmly gripped the black hilt of the Fluid Sword in his hand, then crossed past the loving Mother God Statue in the center of the church and moved towards the front door. Outside, first came the faint sounds of horse neighing, followed by a lively sound of footsteps.
“Anyone there? Hey? I’m opening the door!”
At this moment, upon hearing that lively voice, Fisher’s expression changed slightly, as he recognized it — he had heard it about a month ago, on a small island deep in the Southern Ocean, belonging to a greedy lion race. At that time, he had even researched her.
What was her name again?
“Felis, just open the door. They said the only one we’re looking for in this church is that Moon Rabbit tribal member. Do you really expect anyone else to come welcome you?”
“Tsk, Balzak, why are you in such a hurry? The boss hasn’t even spoken yet, and it’s not your turn to boss me around!”
The chatter from outside continued, and the next second, the door in front of Fisher suddenly opened, bringing in the fresh but particularly cold air, revealing a golden-haired lion race standing outside, wrapped in a heavy leather coat, and with a pair of ears that looked like muffins.
She was turning her head to look at her companions behind her, and her expression of impatience dramatically changed as she turned to see the expressionless Nali man inside the church, as if he were some terrible demon, causing her to take several steps back in fright. She pointed a trembling finger at Fisher, exclaiming, “Y-you, what are you doing here?!”
Her other hand instinctively gripped the handle of the massive straight blade on her back, and the polished barrel of the pistol tied around her waist glinted under the light. However, Fisher had no intention of drawing his weapon. He simply raised an eyebrow and examined the lion race before him, as well as the red-clad Shivali man behind her, who also wore a shocked expression.
He recognized who these two were: one was the mercenary Felis from the Southern Continent, and the other was Balzak, a historical research scholar from Shivali’s Northern Region.
And since both of their subordinates were here, their boss had to be around too.
Sure enough, when he shifted his gaze further back, beyond the vigilant figures of Felis and Balzak, he saw Haldor, seemingly composed of machinery, slowly placing a wheelchair on the ground next to a discreet black carriage, and in that wheelchair sat a young girl.
She had hair whiter than snow, and her milk-white skin adorned with an extraordinarily beautiful face. Atop her head was a small, slightly tilted hat with a blooming five-pointed snowflake emblem of the Turan Family standing out prominently. As her white hair was slightly blown up, Fisher suddenly noticed a small tear mole at the corner of her left eye, which he hadn’t seen clearly before.
Yes, the person appearing beside the carriage was the young girl from the Turan Family he had seen before, Valentina Turan.
“Zizizi. Miss, that’s the Nali person we met earlier on the island storing the Phoenix Scroll. It’s Fisher Benavides, who you were investigating.”
“I remember him, Haldor.”
Valentina’s expression remained calm, her pale hands crossed elegantly on her lap as Haldor pushed her to the church entrance, right before Fisher.
“It’s been a long time, Professor Fisher Benavides.”
Fisher was not surprised at Valentina’s way of addressing him; he had introduced himself by his real name on the island. If Valentina weren’t foolish, she would have investigated this young mage from Nali, and the bounty letter from Elizabeth was too conspicuous, ensuring that his identity would be exposed.
However, Fisher hadn’t planned to hide, especially since he intended to cooperate with her. Revealing his identity could actually be more beneficial for achieving that cooperation.
For Valentina, the reasons Fisher previously disclosed — “to go to Frost Parasol Tree to find his missing girlfriend, Renee” or “to research the long-lost Phoenix race” — sounded too weak. Changing the reason to “needing the Turan Family’s protection from Nali’s pursuit” sounded much more reasonable, didn’t it?
Fisher greeted her, serving as an opening for friendly conversation.
“It’s been a long time, Miss Valentina.”
Valentina’s cool face scanned the church behind him before she inquired, “Shall we be more frank? Who is the Nali Fisher working for now, able to act faster than us? Who informed you about the Moon Rabbit orphans? Don’t tell me you were innocently blown to a remote coast by the storm and happened to walk into this church.”
“…”
Emhart on his shoulder struggled to keep his mouth shut, let alone Fisher himself. How to explain such a coincidence?
The Moon Rabbit orphans — Valentina was talking about Ilos, wasn’t she?
But the truth was that Fisher had not remained in the Healing Rot Church for the sake of so-called Moon Rabbit tribal marks; he didn’t even know about that matter. He just wanted to collect all six subhuman types of the Snow Mountain clan and, incidentally, study their first-stage biological research rewards.
“Although I seem a bit hard to trust, so far, I haven’t lied to Miss Valentina. The ship I was steering encountered a storm on the way to the Land of Women yesterday. Not only did the ship sink, but my life was almost lost; thankfully, the nuns in the church saved me.
“Besides, I came to the Northern Region specifically to find Miss Valentina, and the reason I’m temporarily staying here… Do you remember I mentioned my interest in subhuman races? The sisters here are the Moon Rabbit race I’ve never seen before, so I was just a bit curious, that’s all.”
Valentina’s fingers crossed, unconsciously rubbing the ring bearing the Turan Family emblem on her ring finger. She scrutinized Fisher before her, her pale silver eyes filled with distrust akin to the northern winds and snows.
“Boss, don’t forget, wherever we find clues, he’ll be there. He’s clearly scheming against our target; you must not trust this guy.”
Felis, the lion race, had previously been seen as a bargaining chip for Valentina to negotiate with Fisher, and she certainly held serious biases against him. She crouched slightly, whispering beside Valentina, “I absolutely don’t believe this guy is a scholar genuinely interested in subhuman races; I think Fisher is targeting me, just trying to insult me.”
“Mr. Fisher? Outside… Hey, there are so many people.”
Just as Valentina pondered, a surprised shout came from inside the Healing Rot Church, and everyone at the door looked inside, only to see a rabbit nun, Ilos, who had a pair of long rabbit ears and hands gently covering her small belly.
In addition to Fisher, a human, there was a lion race with a large blade on his back, a foreign man dressed in red with a rather grim expression, and then there was a peculiar character made entirely of machinery, last of all the girl in the wheelchair.
The sight startled Ilos, the little rabbit, causing her to instinctively hide behind Fisher, one hand gripping her belly while the other gently tugged on Fisher’s shirt.
“Mr. Fisher, who are they?”
Valentina opened her mouth, appearing as if she had something to say, but her companions, aside from Haldor, whose expression was indistinguishable, all looked about the same.
For some unknown reason, upon seeing the strange scene before her, Valentina suddenly wanted to believe that this guy was truly researching subhumans.
No, rather, this Professor Fisher’s research was excessively… too profound, even concerning children.
Valentina’s peculiar expression was keenly caught by Fisher, and Emhart on his shoulder struggled to keep his mouth shut, unable to conceal his evident glee, adding to the already awkward atmosphere at the church entrance.
Fisher, fully aware of their thoughts, sighed, slightly turned to make way for entering the church, and invited Valentina, “Although it’s a bit of a hassle to explain, it seems I should clarify the situation with Miss Valentina. It’s pretty cold outside; shall we go inside the church and talk?”
The true owner of the church, Sister Ilos, had belatedly raised her head to glance at Fisher in front of her, but upon sensing the impressive aura of the people outside, she felt it was better to remain silent.
Valentina glanced at the loving Mother God Statue at the center of the church behind Fisher, then performed a rather standard prayer gesture to show her respect to the Mother God. After that, she began to push the joystick on her wheelchair to move towards the church while speaking to Haldor behind her, “Haldor, remember to use magic to inform Heidi Lin and the others about our situation. Let’s go inside and talk with Mr. Fisher.”
“Zizizi. No problem. I’ll send the messenger after this.”
Felis and Balzak followed behind Valentina and entered the Healing Rot Church, but Fisher’s gaze did not settle on them; instead, he particularly looked back at Haldor, who was preparing to send the messenger away outside the church.
The reason was quite simple; at that moment, the bright dot on the card that the Mechanism had given him was very close to the base of the card, and the direction just happened to be where Haldor was standing.
And this meant that the person in front of him, seemingly entirely composed of machinery, was the Mechanism’s Mechanism.
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(End of Chapter)
