Chapter 45: Exposure
The streets of Feilon City are not as rich in historical and cultural atmosphere as Saint Nali; they are simply and crudely named by numerical order from outside to inside. The houses further out are denser and cheaper, and like other cities, there are many retail stores here, which happen to be the places where Fisher and his companions need to shop.
Fisher’s carriage stopped at the end of Second Street. He glanced at Qiqi, who was nervously clenching her fist beside him, put on his gentleman’s hat, and said to her,
“We’re here, go ahead. We’ll be watching you at all times.”
“Got it!”
With a flushed face, Qiqi stepped down from the carriage, holding a gift box that was half her height, and began searching along the street for the address Angela had attached to her letter. In front of a residential building that sold fruits, she hesitated for a long time before seemingly confirming that this was where her pen pal lived.
“An…Angela.”
Not wanting to reveal her fangs, she called out softly to the room above, but after waiting for a long time, no one responded.
Qiqi paused for a second, then took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs,
“Angela!”
“I’m here! Who is it?”
The voice suddenly grew louder, attracting the attention of nearby fruit vendors and passersby, but she also received a response from a child’s voice upstairs.
Oh no, my teeth.
Qiqi immediately blushed and covered her mouth, afraid of being seen as different from humans. A head with chestnut-colored long hair poked out from the second-floor window. It was a girl about Qiqi’s age, with a face dotted with freckles and a big smile that revealed a mouth missing one or two teeth.
“Ah, you are… are you Qiqi?!”
Angela examined the girl below, who wore a dress and a sun hat, and after a second of thought, she excitedly exclaimed,
“Wait, Qiqi, I’ll be right down!”
As she ran back into the room, Angela’s voice faintly echoed from above,
“Mom! I told you my pen pal isn’t a scammer or a trafficker, she’s a girl about my age! I want to go out! I’ll be back before dinner! Just around here!”
With a commotion, a cacophony of “ding ding dong” sounds came from the residential building, and after a dozen seconds, Angela rushed out, still putting on her shoes.
“Qiqi! I finally see you!”
She bounced over and hugged the petite Qiqi, rubbing against her soft long hair before happily looking at her.
“An…Angela, this is a gift for you.”
Flushing, Qiqi handed the packaged gift box to Angela, her excited tail lifting her dress a bit, but she quickly pressed it down to keep it from flailing around.
“Tail, tail, stop moving around, or I’ll be discovered!”
“Ah, thank you, Qiqi. But I didn’t prepare a gift for you.” Angela received Qiqi’s gift and rubbed her head in slight distress, then suddenly smiled and proposed, “How about I treat you to coffee? Come with me!”
Angela immediately grabbed Qiqi’s hand and pulled her toward the other side of the street.
On the street adjacent to the outer wall, there was no music playing like inside, nor any maids and fragrant coffee shops. It was more like a simple outdoor beverage stand. Occasional passing workers stopped here for a drink, and it was also a place to sit, chat, and rest.
There were no elegant waiters here, only a burly uncle walking back and forth with his shirt off, holding a pipe and serving drinks to the customers.
“Bert! I brought a friend, I want two cups of milk coffee!”
“Call me uncle; it’s so rude,” the uncle grimaced at the approaching Angela while calling his wife in the kitchen to make coffee, but then noticed that Qiqi, dressed like a little princess, was there. “Angela, where did you meet this girl? If she’s lost, you’d better call your mom to get the police.”
“No! She’s my friend Qiqi; I’m here to treat her to coffee.”
Angela stuck her tongue out at Uncle Bert, looking mischievous.
“I see, you two find a place to sit, the coffee will be here soon.”
Angela led Qiqi to climb up the tall stools, first placing the gift on the table and then cradling her hands while looking at Qiqi.
“Angela, um, did you read the last letter I wrote to you?”
“I did! It turns out Qiqi, you also like the poetry of Ms. Laura. I learned many of her poems in school; they’re hard to memorize, but really beautiful.”
“I saw her poetry collection in my dad’s room before. Dad said her words are very gentle, and I think so too.”
“How about we try to imitate her and write poetry? I brought a pencil!”
Angela pulled a pencil out of her pocket, smiling as she suggested.
“Okay!”
Qiqi’s eyes lit up, and her legs were swinging on the tall stool.
Behind her, Fisher entered the outdoor beverage shop with several dragon people. The appearance of those dragon people immediately attracted the attention of others. Some men who had been drinking intended to look disdainful, but when they saw the gentleman leading them, they fell silent.
“What would you like to drink, sir?”
Fisher guessed that these dragon people had never had coffee before and probably wouldn’t like its bitter taste, so he ordered just a cup of coffee for himself and sweet fruit juices for the girls. The items here were cheap; six drinks only cost about twenty euros. They found a place to sit, and Fisher’s gaze was entirely on Qiqi, who was chatting with her companions.
The girl with the sun hat had a flushed face as she excitedly discussed the poem collections of the classic poets of Saint Nali with her friends. Though the words read by the child were simple, they always revealed a different perspective of the world, so much so that many long-famous poets rushed to imitate children yet failed to capture their essence.
Soon, the owner brought their drinks. Ral first curiously inspected the juice in her cup, cautiously extended her tongue to lick it, and quickly became captivated by its sweetness, lifting her cup to chug it down.
Her cup soon ran low, but still craving more, she mischievously eyed the drinks of Keshil and Fashir next to her, wanting to sneakily grab one, only to be swiftly prevented by Fashir, who hugged her cup to stop the pesky girl from stealing her juice.
“Alright, Ral, have mine.”
Mill smiled and handed her cup to Ral. Ral glanced at the hardly-touched juice and swallowed hard but shook her head, pushing the cup back.
“You drink it; Ral has already had some. It’s really delicious, Sister Mill.”
She soon noticed the distinctly different drink in front of Fisher. After observing the steaming brown beverage for a while, she said,
“Fisher, can Ral have a taste of your drink? Just a little.”
She held her thumb and index finger close together to demonstrate she really only wanted a tiny sip.
“Go ahead.”
Ral laughed and picked up Fisher’s cup, taking a sip before her face contorted again.
“So bitter, so bitter, ugh.”
“You idiot!”
The coffee here doesn’t taste great, so Fisher didn’t drink much; he took out the Feimabaha Dragon Court grimoire to study magic. The modified spell he developed during the battle with Raphael was now usable, but altering it too much made its originally enormous magical power somewhat awkward, resulting in it collapsing easily when pulled by Raphael.
It seemed further modification was necessary. Fisher thought to simulate the idea of a closed magical loop found in humans, allowing the magic to harness the power of resonance and perhaps enhancing its power.
“Hey, Bert, bring me a drink!”
“. Right away.”
While Fisher was lost in thought, a bald man holding a cigarette walked up to the entrance of the beverage shop. The man’s messy stubble looked like it hadn’t been taken care of in a long time, and he was hunched over, resting one hand on a nearby table while surveying the surroundings.
After surveying the shop for a while, he suddenly spotted Angela and Qiqi, his eyes brightening as he walked over to Angela.
“Hey, little Angela, is your mom home?”
Still discussing poetry, both Angela and Qiqi turned their heads to look at him. Angela’s small face immediately puffed up as she pointed at the man loudly,
“Balrick! My mom already said she doesn’t want to see you anymore; you’re not getting money from her!”
“You rude little brat, I’ve told you countless times to call me uncle. Come with me, and you’ll find out if your mom will give me money!”
“Ah, let go of me! Balrick! Let go of me!”
The man suddenly grabbed Angela’s wrist, causing her to struggle desperately, but being so young, she was easily lifted by him. Seeing her friend being grabbed, Qiqi panicked and suddenly pushed her small hand against the man.
“Let go of Angela!”
The strength of a werewolf is much higher than that of a human; this unexpected push actually knocked the man back a step. Balrick looked astonished at the girl panting on the high stool, noticing her exquisite dress and little sun hat, and he excitedly wiped his mouth.
“Whoa, when did you meet such a wealthy kid? Which street is she from? Come let uncle take a look.”
He reached out to grab her by the neck, but Qiqi quickly dodged, though he managed to catch the sun hat on her head.
The ribbon beneath the sun hat tied itself in a tight knot; when the hat was yanked off, it fell on the back of Qiqi’s head, and the next second, her pair of sharp ears were revealed.
The gaze of Balrick, Angela, and the onlookers all focused on the pair of pointed ears atop the girl’s head. Qiqi’s face instantly turned pale, and she instinctively reached up to cover her ears.
“Ah no. Don’t, my ears.”
“Hahaha! Little Angela, look, it turns out this is a subhuman hybrid. Who taught you to wear human clothes? Is it your human master who beats you every night?”
Before he could finish, an iron-like staff had firmly grasped his neck from behind. By the time he reacted, his left knee was brutally struck, causing him to kneel on the ground.
“Who… uh!”
The person behind him grabbed his neck and punched his face. That punch held nothing back; in an instant, his nose caved in, and a large amount of blood erupted forth.
As stars danced before his eyes, he saw Fisher, expressionless and dressed in a suit.
Fisher grabbed his bald head, lifting the burly man as if he were a small chicken, turning him to face the two girls.
“Tell me, how old are they?”
“I…”
Before he could answer, Fisher slammed his head against his knee, delivering a blow that immediately swollen his face, causing several teeth to fall out into the blood.
“How old?”
“I don’t know.”
Fisher lowered his head and punched him again; this time, his eyes swelled up like balloons, and he couldn’t even see who was in front of him, unable to discern the stars generated by his brain.
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-two years…”
Fisher bent down and delivered another punch, this time hitting him in a way that made all his limbs go limp, feeling utterly weakened under Fisher’s grip. The man turned to glance at Angela beside him and asked,
“Tell me, how old are you?”
“Seven, seven years old.”
Angela was so shocked by the scene before her that she trembled as she spoke.
Fisher bent down and addressed the dazed Balrick, saying,
“Now do you know how old they are?”
“I… know.”
Fisher suddenly punched him in the face again. With that blow, the man could no longer hold his head up, and Fisher let go of him, casually tossing him to the ground, glancing at the surrounding onlookers. Those humans who had previously looked at Qiqi with ill intent all averted their gazes and silently drank their alcohol.
But Qiqi, whose face was pale, trembled as her body shook. In that fleeting moment, she had seen the gazes of the people around her, and of course, she also saw Angela’s shocked expression beside her.
In the next second, she could no longer bear it and covered her ears with her hands, running outside.
“Qiqi!”
Angela’s voice faded as Qiqi’s figure quickly dashed out of the beverage shop, heading in the opposite direction down the street.
Everyone, I’m so cute, so please give me some votes, pretty please!
(*`*)
(End of Chapter)
