Chapter 393: 10. Intercept (6k)
Fisher squinted as she looked towards the distant harbor. Upon seeing many familiar crew members of the Iceberg Queen ship coming down to move cargo, she did not linger there for long. Instead, she naturally carried a bag of something towards this direction, just as Old Jack had said.
Fisher’s expression changed little, but she soon turned her head to glance at Old Jack in front of her and whispered, “I came here to check on your situation. I can’t stay long, especially since Renee is still here. By the way, I haven’t seen Isabel around.”
Old Jack gave her a speechless glare while wiping a glass in his hand and said, “I previously asked Isabel to stay on the island to assist me. With Alagina’s protection, it’s quite safe here. I’m worried that if something were to happen to her, Elizabeth the Empress would flatten this place. But she insisted on sailing out with Alagina and the others. She came back once a few weeks ago, all sunburned, but she has grown quite a bit since she first came out of Nali.”
He then cast another glance at Fisher and waved his hand, “Everything is fine here. Paz really likes Kalma and the others. She’s a non-discriminatory subhuman who believes in the Frost Phoenix. Although she is from the Kingdom of Sardinia, she is quite attentive and a nice person. Captain Alagina isn’t doing dangerous work like seizing ships anymore; the Black Chieftain is looking for stormy seas, and they’ve been traversing the Eastern Ocean instead, living much better than before under cannon fire. And not to mention Isabel; she is as strong as a little leopard now. It’s hard to tell if she is from Nali or Sardinia.”
“The most crucial issue right now is you! You scoundrel, you’ve been unclear with her Majesty Elizabeth back in Nali, dragging things out until she was chasing you all over the world. You still can’t stop now; you brought a woman back with you. When did you even get to know her?”
Hearing Old Jack’s words, even Fisher felt a bit embarrassed to push most of the blame onto the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans in her arms. She had long since admitted that the mistake was caused by her own greed. The Supplement Handbook may have played an indispensable role in this matter, but it primarily came down to her own issues.
From this perspective, she was indeed the most genuine gentleman in romantic Nali, despite the mix of Kaldu’s traditionally abstinent bloodlines not diminishing that status.
“In Shivali, Alagina actually met her.”
“Criminal! You are quite brave, not afraid of being eaten by Alagina who has a hat on you? Shivali… how long ago was that? You had just graduated from the Royal Academy for less than half a year? What happened after that? You went to the Southern Continent and just came back from the Northern Region. Are you planning to have relations with a lady every time you go somewhere?”
Fisher’s expression was calm, but her gaze instinctively shifted away. She stepped back a little from the table and looked at Renee, who was quite a distance away. She spoke, “I know what I’m doing, don’t worry! I will go see Alagina shortly. But we need to leave first. Just don’t let anyone know Renee was here.”
Old Jack sighed without replying, continuing to wipe the glass in his hand.
Fisher calmly calculated in her heart, then moved to Renee’s side, watching as she excitedly rubbed the ears and hair of the Three Mouse Daughters, clearly enjoying the lively children.
“Let’s go. Old Jack and I are almost done talking.”
“Eh? Are we leaving so soon?”
Renee looked puzzled, while the most lively little Kalma chimed in,
“Right, right! Fisher, you just came back and can stay longer! Grandma Paz doesn’t come back often; she usually is…”
Fisher stuffed a candy into Kalma’s mouth, turning all her words into candy-tasting actions. He gave each of the other two eagerly waiting little girls a candy as well, smiling as he said, “We have other things to do. We will definitely come back to stay for a long time. How does that sound?”
“Alright!”
Fisher glanced at Renee, who nodded with a smile while adjusting her dress to stand up, saying goodbye to Old Jack before walking to the door of the shop.
“Perfect. The Purple Lightning Water Grass doesn’t last long. It’s best we set off today. If I solve your problem earlier, I can relax. Little ones, goodbye! Hurry back to your studies, we’re off.”
“Okay, goodbye, Renee! Fisher!”
Renee did not try to keep them, and seeing Fisher signaling to leave, she floated out, with Fisher following her from another direction, intending to wander a bit longer before returning to the ship and heading towards the destination Renee had mentioned, soon vanishing into the crowd.
Inside the tavern, Old Jack watched as Fisher and the others quickly disappeared and sighed after some thought, saying to the Kalma sisters who were still eating candy at the table, “You’ve all played all day; it’s time for your afternoon nap, as promised! Hurry up and go rest!”
“Grandpa, just finish this candy! Plus, Alagina sister will be back soon; we want to see what gifts she brings back for Grandma Paz!”
Old Jack thought that if he kept these three chattering little girls around, Alagina would definitely figure out about Renee. Although Old Jack didn’t intentionally want to cover for Fisher’s misdeeds, it was clear that now was not the time to deal with their relationship issues.
Alagina was trying hard to get back to the Kingdom of Sardinia, and her status in the Pirate Harbor was rising; as for Fisher, it went without saying that he was currently being hunted by Empress Elizabeth. Adding another Iceberg Queen to the mix could indeed be seen as “too many debts.”
In any case, Old Jack believed this problem must be resolved in the future; by then, even if those ladies wanted to stab Fisher, he wouldn’t intervene, but it absolutely couldn’t be at this moment.
“Hurry up! Don’t make me say it twice! Hasn’t Paz spoiled you three enough? Go to sleep!”
“Okay…”
Under Old Jack’s orders, the three mouse daughters unwillingly moved towards the room, leaving Old Jack alone at the counter to continue wiping glasses, silently repenting in his heart for this behavior.
Meanwhile, Fisher and Renee left Old Jack’s tavern and began to stroll slowly in another direction. Renee hummed a tune while glancing at the various shops, and behind her, Fisher was pondering how to temporarily excuse himself from Renee.
Alagina was pure but not foolish; Old Jack was an upright elder. Even if he wanted to explain for Fisher, it wouldn’t be effective. She would certainly notice something was off when she returned, and she had a messenger connecting her to him. Even if she walked with Renee, that messenger would reach her.
Another reason was that, in both reason and emotion, Fisher should see Alagina, whom he hadn’t seen for a long time. If he could not escape his impending death this time, it might be their last meeting.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve walked in such a lively place with you. Back in Nali, you were either writing papers or going to other kingdoms for research; a beauty like me wasn’t even given a chance.”
“These people are cold-blooded pirates. Since we arrived on the island, someone has been watching us, and they left only when we entered Old Jack’s tavern. The liveliness you see now will lead to being heavily ripped off when we go shopping. The outfit you bought for me in Nali was less than three hundred euros; here, they want to sell it for around one thousand euros!”
Renee rolled her eyes in frustration and turned around, poking Fisher’s chest with her finger, almost as if she wanted to poke a hole in him, “Go die, go die, go die, Fisher! Is your romantic sense allergic? Is that what I meant?”
“Sorry.”
Fisher smiled helplessly and reached out to grasp her finger. Suddenly reminded of the illusion of Renee’s voice he experienced while studying the Soul Supplement Handbook in the Northern Region, he continued, “Actually, when you weren’t here, I thought about it. If you were leaving, I would have stopped you by saying, ‘My rented place in Nali is your home.’ If I pretended to be ignorant and didn’t say those unromantic words while you were teasing me, you wouldn’t have left. I didn’t expect that once I relaxed around you, I would subconsciously say such things.”
Renee covered her mouth and laughed, pouting as she held Fisher’s chin, “It’s commendable that Fisher, the gentleman, can have such awareness; however, this is just your nature. Not understanding romance doesn’t mean you don’t understand it. You simply refuse to embrace it. If you entertain everyone’s affections, I would be quite troubled, so don’t accept the affections of other ladies in the future. Otherwise, I might feel very envious~”
Without waiting for Fisher to respond, Renee turned around smilingly, gazing at the afternoon street, which was a good time for people to take a break. Compared to when they first arrived, it felt a bit quieter. Seemingly influenced by the calm ambience, Renee stretched lazily and added, “Now, let’s see… I just remembered I still need to prepare something. The place we’re heading to is at least a day’s journey even by flying; we need to prepare some supplies. I don’t know if the magic materials you bought are enough; when I stopped you from spending earlier, you didn’t want to. Now that I’m asking you to spend, you’re being so frugal. Also, I said I would bring a gift for Emhart on our first meeting. I only bought for you and forgot about him. Come on, let’s take a look!”
Fisher looked at the street ahead, thought for a moment, and shook his head at Renee, saying, “That would be too troublesome. How about we split up? I’ll prepare supplies and magic materials, and you take Emhart to buy a gift. We can meet again at the ship in the harbor later.”
Upon hearing this, Renee immediately put a hand on her chest, stepping back as if rejected by a lover, faux-crying with tears in her eyes, “Wuwu, is it… is Fisher already tired of me after just one day together? Oh well, it’s a disappointment after all.”
“Renee.”
Just as the eyes of the islanders preparing for their afternoon nap turned towards them and Fisher’s face darkened a bit, Renee suddenly burst out laughing, pulling out a bag of Kaldu silver coins from her pocket and placing it in Fisher’s hands, while also retrieving Emhart, who had been signaling him in his arms, “Alright, alright, no more jokes. Let’s meet at the harbor after. Come on, Emhart, what do you want to buy?”
“Just random. It’d be best if there’s a book I haven’t seen before.”
Emhart, floating in mid-air, glanced at Fisher and then at the smiling Renee. After exchanging a glance with Fisher, he lethargically followed Renee, clearly understanding that Fisher intended to seize this moment to see Alagina.
Fisher gratefully glanced at the valiant and self-sacrificing Sir Book, then intentionally avoided the path they took from Old Jack’s tavern, instead heading towards the market they had previously visited, planning to make a detour back to Old Jack’s tavern.
Alagina was rushing towards Old Jack’s tavern, carrying fish that Paz brought for him. Ordinarily, such resupply tasks would not require an Iceberg Queen like her to do. She clearly had other matters to attend to.
Previously, while in the Southern Ocean, she received information from the Pirate Harbor through a magic message, learning that Fisher was being hunted overseas in Nali. However, news transmitted at sea revolved around task assignments and major events. Although the Pirate Harbor had established an intelligence network across nations, the information was generally chaotic, and most pirates were not involved in the tasks, making it impossible to send messages constantly using magic.
Therefore, to keep abreast of news from the Northern Region, she often returned in person to check the newly acquired intelligence at the Pirate Harbor, usually every two weeks.
Of course, she could write to Fisher; after all, she had the messenger that Fisher specifically connected her with, which she kept on her at all times like a talisman. However, she was not a good communicator. She could only write “I miss you” after struggling for a long time to pick up the pen, disregarding any literary quality, and worried about appearing too “masculine” or petty.
So, weighing her options, she decided to secretly come and check on the state of the Northern Region to speculate on Fisher’s current situation. This time was no exception; she brought back a small gift for Old Jack from her older deputy, Paz.
“Old Jack, here’s a gift from Paz. She sends her regards to you.”
Alagina pushed open the door to Old Jack’s tavern, greeting him as usual with her expressionless face but quickly realized something felt off today.
“Ah, Captain Alagina, you can just place it there. How has your voyage been these past few days? Is it safe?”
The first to speak was Old Jack, who usually would just nod casually, but today, for some strange reason, he asked about their search for stormy seas, and his gaze seemed evasive, his expression unnatural.
Coming from the military of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Alagina quickly sensed the oddity. She scanned Old Jack perceptively while thinking in her mind and replied, “It’s alright.”
“Mm, that’s good.”
Alagina placed the fish on the table by the door, but she did not see the usually noisy three mouse girls. Instead, she noticed a chair pushed out at the neighboring table. The tavern’s chairs were fairly high, and Kalma and the others were too short and generally wouldn’t want to only sit on one, plus there were two opened bags of candy on the table and discarded wrappers on the floor.
“Where are Kalma and the others?”
“Oh, they are taking an afternoon nap; they just fell asleep. They got tired reading this morning.”
Alagina stared at the candy wrappers on the floor without responding. After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke, “Old Jack, have you received any news from Fisher?”
“Not really, didn’t he go to the Northern Region? If you’re worried about him, just write him a letter afterwards.”
“Mm, I will. I’m leaving now.”
Alagina seemed to not have noticed anything amiss, nodding slowly at Old Jack before slowly pushing open the tavern door to walk out. Old Jack, who had just committed this kind of wrongdoing for the first time, felt slightly relieved.
He was just a bystander and his heart raced a bit merely covering for Fisher. He had no idea how Fisher managed to remain calm while in the midst of a storm; was it purely courage?
Old Jack stood in place, his mind slightly restless, reflecting without wiping any more glasses. Unbeknownst to him, Alagina had stopped at the street corner, furrowing her brow as she scanned the surroundings, guessing that someone very familiar to Old Jack had come by, otherwise, he wouldn’t allow that outsider to give candy to his beloved Kalma and the others.
Aladina was from Sardinia, and she did not know the specifics of Old Jack’s personal connections. She only learned from Paz that all his relatives had passed away and in Nali, he had only known Fisher. Thus, the identified visitor would likely be confirmed, and no one else would travel all the way to the deep Eastern Ocean Pirate Harbor.
But if it was Fisher, why didn’t he let Old Jack tell her?
Could it be that something had happened to him, and he didn’t want her to worry?
Yes, even so, the first thought that crossed Aladina’s mind was whether something had happened to Fisher and he did not want her to be concerned.
Regardless, she wanted to see Fisher. This increasingly intense desire quickened her heartbeat, prompting her to take out the messenger that Fisher had given her, where Fisher’s handwriting still was visible, writing “My Queen.”
During this time of separation from Fisher, Aladina had carried it with her every moment, treating it as a talisman, believing her feelings for her loved one would turn into a blessing to protect herself.
Therefore, at this moment, as she nervously prepared to verify her guess, activated the paper airplane-shaped letter with magic and tossed it out, the paper airplane wobbled in mid-air, and instead of pointing towards the distant Northern Region, it quickly changed direction and wobbled towards an inner direction of the island.
Fisher was really on the island!
Aladina caught her breath, her mind flooded with countless thoughts that were too hard to articulate, but the action she had to take was singular and certain: to follow that messenger to see Fisher.
She took a deep breath, adjusted her expression, and quickly ran in the direction of the paper airplane.
At this moment, Emhart, floating next to Renee, was utterly confused, seemingly unaware of the current situation.
Just moments ago, Renee had clearly said she would buy him a gift, which was why she brought him along, but now that she had separated from Fisher, she didn’t ask him what he wanted, but rather busied herself wandering around the place where they had just parted with Fisher, peeking at this shop and then glancing at the boats sailing out to sea.
Renee’s silence left Emhart, who had fully prepared to sacrifice himself for Fisher, feeling somewhat lost, clearly not knowing what this sudden appearance of Fisher’s old flame meant.
He watched as Renee stood with her hands behind her back, examining the jade sold by the vendors in detail, and finally couldn’t help but cough, speaking up, “Um… Miss Renee, you haven’t asked me what I want yet?”
“Eh?”
Renee turned her head in surprise to look at Emhart floating in mid-air, suddenly realizing he was with her, and that unexpected expression caused Emhart to feel an urge to explode. This was the first time the great Emhart had been entirely overlooked, but remembering the important task that Fisher had given him, he held back his anger and said nothing.
“Sorry, Emhart! I completely forgot that I was here to buy you a gift. What do you want? Books or decorations?”
Finish?
What could possibly be finished here?
Wasn’t she just here to buy him a gift? Or was she waiting for Fisher to return with his purchases?
No, Fisher had said he wanted to meet again at the harbor, so waiting here was meaningless.
Even a genius like Emhart was momentarily stumped by Renee’s words, but he had an ominous premonition surfacing in his heart.
Sure enough, the next moment, Renee touched her red lips, then suddenly reached out her hand, and a shaky paper airplane flew into her palm.
Renee didn’t speak or wander around anymore but seemed unexpectedly and naturally to dismantle the paper airplane little by little, revealing a line of clear, prominent words that were almost glaring.
“My Queen, hehe.”
The moment Emhart saw those words on the paper airplane, a chill ran up his spine, realizing it was the very messenger Fisher had written to Aladina.
He shook with fear, looking at the smiling Renee holding the messenger with a dangerous grin, then instinctively turned to look in the direction where the letter had flown. He spotted the tall, beautiful Iceberg Queen, unmistakably recognizable, and also caught sight of the familiar figure that shone like the sun in the crowd, Renee.
“Boom!”
Under the bright sunlight, a rumble of thunder exploded in Emhart’s heart, nearly causing him to faint.
And inexplicably intercepting that messenger, Renee adjusted her black dress, turning to look at Aladina, who was furrowing her brow and striding over in a fierce manner.
A battle was imminent.
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(THE END)
