Chapter 332: 107. Devout Servant
“Feima Baharon.”
“What dragon god?”
After pondering for a long time, Fisher suddenly spoke up, uttering a rather obscure word in the dragon language. As soon as he finished speaking, a square, sleepily book-shaped relic suddenly appeared on his shoulder; it was none other than Emhart.
He was so sleepy that he could barely open his eyes, but that book cover with one eye and a mouth kept inching towards the table, as if it had caught a whiff of some gourmet feast and was feeling a bit ravenous. The aroma of knowledge instantly jolted him awake. He eagerly jumped onto the table, eyes shining as he looked at the few ancient pages.
“Wow, Fisher, you celebrate my awakening with such great stuff! With these things, my internal injuries should almost heal. What is this? Where did you get it?”
Fisher was interrupted from his thoughts. He glanced at the extremely excited Emhart, paused for a moment, and then smiled as he replied, “Just for you. Take a look.”
Emhart opened his mouth, and his one visible eye clearly displayed signs of being touched. Unfortunately, lacking hands, he couldn’t wipe away any imaginary tears. If he could, he would be making that gesture right now. But even so, his signature quacking voice trembled slightly. He turned to look at the pages, saying to Fisher,
“You usually talk too much, but you’re quite reliable at critical moments. Fine, I won’t mention those past troubles with Valentina; you can rest easy.”
“…”
Fisher darkened his expression and didn’t reply, just watching as Emhart glowed with layers of reading light, absorbing all the text from the ancient pages while exclaiming in astonishment,
“My heavens, so this is how sorceresses are made? Wait, who on earth has such abilities to form contracts with the Chaos Race? Those guys can’t even mess with Baemon.”
In Emhart’s words, Baemon was close to becoming a unit of measurement. In his eyes, a terrifying existence’s opening remark was likely, “Even Baemon couldn’t…”
But the next moment, Emhart’s excited expression stiffened slightly. He immediately bounced back two or three steps, turned his head, and spoke to Fisher through gritted teeth but in a low voice,
“What the hell, Fisher, I’ve realized you’re losing your mind day by day! I really doubt you could survive three days without me around; every day you’re either seeking death or on the path to seek it! If you plan to die, could you at least think about the great Sir Book? Are you trying to take me down with you?”
Fisher propped his chin with his hand, raising an eyebrow. Looking at the excitable Emhart, he wasn’t angry. The first thing that came to his mind was that this guy could yell so much perhaps meant that the damage done by the Soul Supplement Handbook was almost healed, so his expression was rather casual. He only asked,
“What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean what’s wrong?! Are you crazy? I know you’re Nali and closely tied to the Mother’s faith; normally saying ‘May the Mother bless’ would be fine, but why on earth did you really bring something from the Mother? You, you, you, do you know the relationship between the Mother and those gods is very bad? They are deadly enemies, understand? Are you not afraid of being struck by lightning right here?”
Fisher squinted his eyes. In fact, he was well aware that he thought of this point when he obtained this item. The Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans referred to the Mother as a “false god rejected by the world,” which to some extent already proved the prior relationship between those deities. But this opens up two questions.
First, this “false god” rejected by the world, where did she come from, and why was she expelled by other gods? Was it simply because she participated directly in that great war? Second, why did the Mother suddenly vanish after that war? Was it due to her own faults, or did other gods punish her collectively? Then, is she still alive now? If so, where is she?
But regardless of the outcome, Fisher had not felt any deep hatred from other deities toward the Mother until now. He wasn’t clear why the deities chose him, but he was sure it was closely related to the Supplement Handbook in his arms, especially that Handbook for Sub-Humans.
Even though this handbook, from its content to its rewards, was rather unserious, its magic was undeniable. If so, the rewards from the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans must be within the consent of those deities, and it is highly likely they would prefer him to know as much as possible and grow as quickly as possible to help them resolve unknown problems.
“I’m still doing well, you’re the one who’s being overly dramatic. It was the same when you saw Dalasgon last time.”
“What do you mean by ‘saw a divine being’? You really have guts! Oh, now I finally understand why you always flirt with those ladies; it’s because of your courage, huh? Is bravery a manifestation of your active exploratory spirit as a scholar?”
Fisher scratched his ear, automatically filtering out the rest of Emhart’s emotional speech. Although this incomplete volume didn’t record any ancient divine spells, he derived a method to connect with the Chaos Race from the Magic of Stars. After all, in a sense, the essence of this starlight magic was merely to summon the Chaos beings to check if this female met their preferences.
Coupled with the summoning method he obtained from Baemon on the Flying Fish, he had already found two stable ways to connect with mythical beings.
“The summoning method for the Chaos Race seems quite complex, and it can only be performed at night. However, before, when we were walking in the crevice between the spirit realm and the world, we could still see them winking at us. Is this magic really necessary?”
After hearing Fisher’s question, Emhart’s aromatic words finally came to a brief halt. The pages in his stomach kept turning, and amidst the golden light emanating from them, he seemed to find the answer to the question. So he replied to Fisher,
“Heh, that’s because those Chaos beings you saw were actually very far from you. What you generally see are merely past projections. Oh, except for that time at the Moon Rabbit Tribe’s shrine, those stars you saw were genuinely Chaos beings coming from afar to watch a show; I have no idea why.”
“There are no real-world constraints in the spirit realm; they can appear even when both the distance and time are significantly different from your position. Each time you see them, you might think there are a lot of Chaos beings, but honestly, that heap of eyes you see could just be a single Chaos being’s projections at different times. Their real number is pitifully small; after all, the spirit realm is inherently a very dangerous place. Only monsters can gather there and form a clear consciousness.”
Emhart’s recited content probably came from knowledge acquired in the Abyss Baemon’s treasury. Many puzzles in this world desperately need solutions, which made Fisher empathize with the humans who once traded with demons for power and knowledge thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, in the church’s records, these people’s ends usually weren’t pleasant.
There are essentially two methods to summon the demon god Baemon for knowledge. The first is to offer what you regard as the most precious item, and then she will grant you the desired exchange; the other seems to be presenting your own death, releasing blood from your arm and then lying in the center of a magic circle marked with Baemon’s symbols. Just as you’re about to die from excessive blood loss, she will appear and grant you an answer to your most puzzling question.
From whatever angle you look at it, Baemon seems to be a powerful demon god with profound knowledge, cunning, and a taste for dark humor.
“Knock knock!”
“Who is it?”
Just as Fisher was pondering these things, his room door was suddenly knocked upon. He called out, and the next second, he heard Heidi Lin’s voice from outside,
“It’s me, Mr. Fisher. The young lady asked me to bring you the magical materials sent from the family, saying they might be useful.”
Upon hearing this, Fisher hid the ancient pages under the bedding and then placed Emhart on his shoulder before opening the door, revealing Heidi Lin standing between two large bags of magic materials. Each bag seemed almost as heavy as Heidi Lin herself; how could she lift them? Is she some sort of strongman?
Heidi Lin crossed her arms, and after feeling Fisher’s scrutinizing gaze, she rolled her eyes at him and spoke with some exasperation,
“Of course, the maids helped carry these up together. Do you think I’m as strong as you, Mr. Fisher? Check and see if there’s anything else you need. While the family members are still here, I must quickly give them the list.”
“Nothing seems to be missing. Some materials are still general and can be substituted. If nothing is to be engraved… Hmm?”
As Fisher bent down to inspect the magic materials in the bags, he suddenly noticed a small pouch tied at the back of one bag. When he opened it, he found a small bag of Cold Water Candy and an expensive red wine from the Northern Region. As he looked up, he suddenly saw Heidi Lin pointing a finger at his chest, giving him a forceful push backward. Fisher didn’t resist, and along with standing up, he turned to face the woman standing before him.
“Ms. Heidi Lin?”
Once both entered Fisher’s room, Heidi Lin finally raised her gaze slightly. Her lips, painted with lipstick, opened, and combined with the emerald crown on her head, gave her an alluring appearance.
“You really… I’ve thought about what you said before; although I did it for the young lady’s sake, I indeed made some inappropriate considerations. I was so focused on taking care of her daily life that I forgot she should have legitimate needs like other children and that she doesn’t want to be seen as a disabled person. Let me ask you a question: how old are you today?”
“My birthday just passed; I’m around twenty-nine.”
“Around?”
Facing Heidi Lin’s raised eyebrows and unfriendly expression—a clear sign that she thought Fisher was joking—he had to explain,
“I’m an orphan, how would I know the exact date of my birthday? The nun who adopted me provided the birthday, so my age is naturally just a range.”
“… I see, then I am a few years younger than you.”
Heidi Lin was slightly taken aback, then sighed, her tone softening as she continued,
“I can tell you know many things, and you are meticulous and relatively reliable, which makes it quite comfortable to be around you. The young lady has been quite happy in your company these few days. I don’t want to hinder your communication with her, but I must remind you, she has just come of age! Ten years younger than you!”
Emhart on Fisher’s shoulder disdainfully rolled his eyes at Heidi Lin, thinking that recently coming of age and being ten years younger doesn’t mean anything. This guy, who is liked by subhumans, humans, and even the matriarchal Sardinia people, wouldn’t care much about that age gap. After all, even Eil is thousands of years older than him.
“She is still inexperienced in the world, and you are a playboy who enjoys manipulating others. How can she possibly compete with you? Don’t say you have no interest in her; if you were truly so self-righteous, you wouldn’t be chased to the Northern Region by the emperor of Nali. With a little Cold Water Candy, a bit of red wine, and some flirtation, are you planning to do something more with her, this disabled girl?”
Fisher felt somewhat speechless, quickly growing a sense of being wronged. Even if he were to say he had interest in Valentina, it was purely about her Phoenix bloodline, not any romantic interest. Quite honestly, sometimes his boss’s innocent stubbornness and lively outbursts were quite cute, but that was merely a fleeting curiosity, not something worthy of condemnation.
“I don’t want to ruin the young lady’s experience of life. After all, you should know that members of her family usually have short lives. I don’t want her to go through life mechanically, just completing some foolish mission to find the Parasol Tree without experiencing anything. She should taste the flavors of Cold Water Candy and red wine, see the scenery outside Snowflake Castle, and meet interesting people beyond the family, which certainly includes sweet romance.”
“But even if she wants to experience romance, it might be with you. I hope Mr. Fisher will showcase the sweetest side of love to her and refrain from mixing in anything dirty to defile and humiliate her disabled body.”
Heidi Lin completely entered Fisher’s room. She turned to look at his bed, and a strange expression flickered across her painted lips as her eyes gleamed with ambiguous meaning.
“If any desires arise from this, feel free to vent them here without concern. I have been grown in the training of the Turan family since I was little; my life’s purpose is to serve the designated master. Lady Valentina is the master assigned to me by the family. As her most devout servant, I have resolved to accompany her on this journey at all costs. Before this, I have had no experience interacting with men, so you need not worry.”
“So, this might also be why I understand Lady Valentina’s desire to experience those unattainable things within her limited life, right? Because I occasionally feel lonely and want to try the feeling of interacting with men; will you agree to this, Mr. Fisher?”
She shifted her gaze away from Fisher’s bed, then smiled softly at the Nali gentleman before her. Her soft lips, like an illusory flame, seemed to ignite the very air around Fisher, and in the heated atmosphere, Heidi Lin said,
“Please, I urge you to vote, tip, and support; it’s very important to me!
Thank you so much for your support!
()
(End of Chapter)
