Chapter 534: 12. Residual Heat
The two people in the cave stood in a warm embrace for a long time, and the temperature around them gradually rose, but it was not an oppressive heat; rather, it felt comforting.
Perhaps it was at this moment that Emhart finally understood how important this dragon race lady, whom he had never met, was to Fisher.
After a long while, the two pulled slightly apart, transforming their wordless tight embrace into a spacious distance that was conducive for conversation.
Raphael finally took the opportunity to examine Fisher’s strange attire, and the tail wrapped around Fisher’s waist instinctively lifted a little, poking at the holes in Fisher’s clothing while asking,
“Why are you… dressed like this? It looks so strange.”
Though her words sounded somewhat disdainful, she still reached out her hands, carefully smoothing out the wrinkled, tattered white robe that was hardly worth tidying up.
Her gentle movements seemed to contrast sharply with her previously volatile demeanor. Looking at her face so close, Fisher could not help but reach out and hold her hand that had come to rest on his clothing, slowly brushing over her warm, smooth scales, bringing a slight tickle.
“This outfit wasn’t like this before; it used to look nice.”
She bit her lip, her gaze a little evasive, but her tail behind her wagged excitedly, leaving Emhart in the sky speechless.
Raphael cleared her throat and returned her focus to Fisher’s body.
“I can see it…”
Raphael glanced at Fisher’s face and continued,
“I thought you, like me, were struggling in Nali, running away from humans. Otherwise, why are you only now thinking of coming… to find me…”
“That’s about right. I’m currently a fugitive being hunted by Nali, and a lot has happened before that prevented me from coming back to the Southern Continent. Sorry, Raphael.”
What was initially just a complaint or a self-deprecating remark unexpectedly struck a chord with Raphael.
She froze slightly, a possibility arising in her mind, and her words turned somewhat guilt-ridden,
“Is it… because of me?”
Yes, in Raphael’s view, she thought it was because of her actions in the Southern Continent, and also because Fisher had encountered many of his acquaintances during their journey across the Southern Continent.
After returning to the Western Continent, they might have taken back information regarding her relationship with Fisher, which resulted in his punishment from Nali, ultimately leading to his expulsion from his society.
Fisher was momentarily taken aback, shaking his head as if to explain something, but Emhart, floating nearby, quickly came down, landing on Fisher’s shoulder, and excitedly said to Raphael,
“No, no, no, it’s not because of you. This concerns Nali’s current empress, Elizabeth. She used schemes to usurp the throne from her brother, and Fisher witnessed the entire process, which is why he fell from grace and became a fugitive.”
Fisher hadn’t anticipated Emhart had grown so much.
In his explanation, he managed to overlook his past relationship with Elizabeth.
He really couldn’t help but laugh.
Raphael looked at the eloquent book curiously; she had seen many relics, but this was the first time she’d met a talking, sentient one. She glanced at Fisher and asked,
“Who is this?”
“He is Sir Book Emhart, my good friend.”
Emhart nodded with satisfaction, standing politely on Fisher’s shoulder, and replied,
“Hello, Queen Raphael, it’s a pleasure to meet you, and Fisher feels the same.”
“I’m also very glad to meet you, Emhart.”
As the atmosphere shifted from the initial warm reunion to a more familiar comfort, the distance of the years began to dissolve in this warm environment, and what had built up inside them over the years started to spill out.
Their past experiences became an endless box of stories, diverse and numerous, but it was only those who genuinely cared that would be eager to listen.
Because it was precisely because they missed that time spent beside you that they hoped to fill such regrets through listening.
Fisher recounted some stories of his life after leaving the Southern Continent, focusing mainly on his being wanted by Elizabeth of Nali. As for the North Region, Stormy Sea, and even the Holy Realm, those matters were far too distant for Raphael, which Fisher barely touched upon.
Besides, even about Nali’s situation, Fisher only spoke of events, not the people involved; otherwise, he would not know how long it would take or if he could convey everything.
They sat together in the cool, shaded area of the cave, close enough that, from behind, one could see that Raphael’s tail had somehow formed a semicircle, enclosing Fisher within, occasionally thumping against the ground, slowly tightening that semicircle’s area.
Even with a meticulous yet concise narration, Raphael quietly listened to Fisher and, after a moment of contemplation, could not help but voice her confusion,
“Previously, when we fought against Nali, we looked into Nali’s intelligence, and I… secretly wanted to know about your information back then. But strangely, it seemed like everything about you had evaporated from Nali. I couldn’t obtain any information related to you, and often the scouts responsible for those leads would mysteriously vanish…”
Emhart was not surprised at all, and casually remarked,
“Of course, that sounds like something Elizabeth would do. I’m certain that after Fisher left, everything from his home went straight to the Golden Palace… Oh, I mean, after all, he is a high-status fugitive, and he once had a close relationship with Elizabeth… Ahem, the Golden Palace, so…”
Fisher and Raphael stared blankly at Emhart until he realized he had misspoken and immediately tried to rectify it, which only made matters worse, leaving Fisher speechless.
“Thud…”
Behind them, the warm and agile tail had somehow brushed against Fisher’s thigh, and the enclosing semicircle had shrunk so much that it was entirely filled by Fisher and Raphael.
Meanwhile, Raphael also glanced at Fisher, casually asking Emhart,
“Did Empress Elizabeth previously value Fisher highly?”
“Uh… well, this… should be the case, I mean… on a professional level.”
Emhart shot a synchronizing apologetic glance at Fisher, signaling that he wouldn’t speak again. Then, he decided to become air, acting as if he knew nothing.
Luckily, Fisher had already mentally prepared himself before reverting to the present.
Since he needed to repay the debts of greed he had incurred, these questions were inevitably to be faced, even if they carried serious consequences.
But as the saying goes, one must eat their meal bite by bite, and resolve conflicts bit by bit; he must do the same.
Fisher did not deny it, only smiling with some helplessness. Supporting himself on his knees, he explained at a lower angle,
“Elizabeth was once my college classmate and my first love, but we separated for some reasons. When I returned from the Southern Continent to Saint Nali, she once extended an olive branch to me.”
“Oh, a classmate, your first love?”
Raphael mulled over those two somewhat ambiguous terms. While her exterior seemed unaffected, her tail behind her, unhappy, raised slightly, scanning around as if it were a venomous snake puffing itself up.
She probably should have guessed that Fisher’s relationship with Elizabeth was not simple; otherwise, that same Elizabeth would not have gone to such lengths to seal off all information regarding him, to the extent that discussing Elizabeth’s ascension in Nali for a time had become a taboo subject, of course including Fisher.
Previously, she had also read about Fisher and Elizabeth’s story in Nali’s newspaper. She was furious but also doubted that the edited story was just fluff created by the Nali people, so why was he later wanted by Elizabeth?
Fortunately, he had clarified everything now.
Fisher was a very special and outstanding human, and even after so many years, Raphael’s impression of him remained unchanged, but even more profound.
Long before her relationship with Elizabeth, she had already heard of a name “Renee,” which could easily explain why that current sun-like empress had once had an affair with him…
Raphael even anxiously wondered if Fisher would have a lady connected to him wherever he went?!
The more she thought about it, the more gloomily she felt, her breathing slightly faltering.
But then she thought, even in the end, Fisher did not accept Elizabeth’s entreaty but left Nali, and even after fleeing for so long, he returned to look for her…
In the end, she was the one who won.
At this moment, the tail that had been imposing beside Fisher slowly softened, as if that sweet feeling had eroded it, lying weakly on the ground like a well-behaved cat.
However, on her face, Raphael’s expression that had just lifted into a slight smile slowly returned to calm.
She cleared her throat, casting a glance at Fisher, as if no emotion had ever surfaced, and casually said,
“It’s alright, it’s all in the past; you… just coming back is enough, Fisher.”
Yeah, Miss Raphael, it’s not known whether to say it or not, but… it seems like it hasn’t entirely passed yet.
Emhart blinked, thinking that, but certainly did not dare to speak again.
“What about you, Raphael? Since I entered the Southern Continent, I’ve heard the name ‘New Dragon Court.’ I thought it was your masterpiece, but later found out it wasn’t.”
Fisher didn’t continue with his topic, instead probing into Raphael’s matters.
As soon as she heard the relevant concept, Raphael’s expression slightly darkened. She scoffed and said,
“Isael, that traitor who betrayed the Southern Continent. He sold everything of the Southern Continent, the souls of his kin, history, and future to Nali. On the surface, he called for peace, hoping to halt the conflict, a stance that led many of the subhumans who only sought safety to lay down their weapons, willingly becoming subjects of that fake court. Externally, they escaped the risks of ‘slavery’ and being sold, but in reality, we are still viewed as livestock in the eyes of humans.”
Steam gradually escaped from Raphael’s body, but ultimately dispersed.
She looked at her outstretched palm, and finally, with disappointment, said,
“I don’t blame many Southern Continent residents who sided with them; the key reason is we failed in the war against Nali. They seemed to have transformed into an entirely different country. The originally fragmented power became focused, and the already tricky magic and firearms now had to contend with a kind of machinery they developed.
“That machinery can do many things: reconnaissance, attack, transportation… And even if we fortuitously find remnants, we can’t study them; the advanced level of that technology is basically unreplicable. As a result, our armies also suffered huge losses in strength. But even so, we persisted, we were clearly so close to winning… But at the most crucial moment, that general named Barbatos…”
Raphael’s resentment was palpable, her outstretched claws slowly clenched, as if she wanted to crush something.
“Barbatos? You mean that human general is Barbatos?!”
Emhart floated up incredulously, his voice trembling as he repeatedly exclaimed,
“That’s a demon god of demon race with an eighteenth mythical rank! It would be a wonder if you could defeat him! With such a guy helping them, why hasn’t Nali flattened the Southern Continent? But wait, shouldn’t he have still been locked in the Abyss of Demons? How come! It must be Baemon! It’s all Baemon’s fault! I get it now!”
“Demon?”
Raphael had also heard this name from the elder of the bat race; it seemed to be an extremely ancient concept, residing in depths hotter than magma, and their existence history was longer than the rise and fall of the Dragon Court.
She felt both vague and enlightened about this powerful concept.
The vagueness stemmed from her not having a systematic and profound understanding of mythical beings and mythical ranks like Fisher and Emhart, of course, not knowing the chasm that existed between the demon race and herself.
What she understood was that she had just narrowly escaped from the other party’s grasp and had glimpsed a part of that enormous power before.
She did not feel fear or despair towards such a formidable opponent; she was merely curious about how those humans had colluded with demons, which was undoubtedly a mystery that puzzled both Emhart and Fisher.
Fisher suddenly remembered that mythical rank figure they encountered in the factory with Ingrid that day. Perhaps that person who acted was the Barbatos that Raphael mentioned; or worse, that person was not Barbatos but some other demon, which also indicated that the powerful demon race of Nali was not limited to just Barbatos.
But regardless, some demons had already escaped the confines of the Mother God, leaving the Demon Dynasty and openly mixing in with the forces of Nali.
The mingling of mythical beings into the human dynasty indeed seemed a ridiculous thing to Fisher, who had experienced the glorious era of mythical beings a decade ago.
Since it was absurd, it must have some ulterior motive.
Perhaps Emhart was right; all this was indeed related to Hela.
But why?
What did she want?
Fisher fell into deep thought, but beside him, Raphael did not fall into a pit of self-doubt or stagnation. She quickly pulled herself out from such news and turned to Fisher, who had a serious expression, smiled a little, thinking he was worried for her, and said,
“I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have brought up such heavy topics today. No need to worry. Since we repelled their last formal attack a few months ago, they haven’t organized a large-scale offensive for a long time. At most, some rats might try to sneak in, which is why I’m currently staying here.”
Fisher awakened from his contemplation and looked at Raphael, who seemed to be ablaze, also feeling moved by her optimism and bravery. He reached out wanting to hold her shoulder, but Raphael glanced at his hand and gently leaned her cheek against it.
Fisher was slightly taken aback, feeling the warmth of her smooth skin and her flowing gaze, causing a stir in his heart.
It had been mentioned before: once a dragon race found a suitable tail partner, their desires would be hard to resist, and the dragon clan relied on it to ensure the number of offspring.
Clearly, even the Dragon Queen Raphael adhered to such rules, especially since she hadn’t seen Fisher in a very long time and hadn’t released for a while.
Looking at Fisher without introducing herself, ever since “Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans” came to be — a book that was out of place among completion manuals — his body had been improving day by day.
A dragon race who hadn’t seen a suitable tail partner for a long time, and a greedy human who didn’t understand satisfaction, was just like dry tinder meeting flame, ready to ignite.
Emhart floated overhead, glancing between Fisher and Raphael, only to notice the tension in their eyes nearly stretching to a breaking point while their distance continued to close.
He wore an expression of hopelessness, even feeling like he was beginning to shine like a light bulb.
He probably shouldn’t be here; he should be up in some tree outside instead.
“Woof! Woof!”
Just then, a melodious horn sounded suddenly from outside the cave.
Raphael’s lips were close to Fisher’s, her hazy, dazed gaze suddenly sharpened, then her excited tail behind her protested as if doused with cold water.
Looking at Fisher so close, her face blushed deeply, and she even felt that her cravings had transformed into an evident desire to devour him.
But they had only just met for less than half an hour!
This was too shameless!
But… if they were suitable tail partners, then there wasn’t much to be done about it, right?
“Thud thud!”
Her tail whipped against the ground, like a customer impatiently urging the waiter for their meal.
Nevertheless, she stood up, covering her flushed face, slightly turned away, whispering, “It’s my subordinates calling me; the troops behind are rotating. Tonight, I’ll secretly take you back to the temporary palace, and in a few days, I’ll return to address some matters back there — there are many humans, and we won’t need to be so careful then.”
Fisher stood up, bemused, understanding that she was not the same as before — she was now the Queen of the Dragon Court, responsible for many matters.
Fortunately, he had no intention of refusing and would let Raphael make arrangements at her discretion.
He smiled faintly and said to Raphael,
“Then, I’ll leave it all to the queen’s arrangements.”
After hearing this, Raphael seemed to think of something as a deeper blush crossed her face; even the scales that were previously lying flat on her body exuded hints of steam.
She swished her tail, her gaze darting as she swept over his body and face, then cleared her throat softly, saying,
“Ahem, come with me first; I’ll summon you later… tonight.”
She adjusted her armor, shyly turned away, straightened her armor, and hurriedly left the cave, leading Fisher to her temporary residence.
Watching her retreating figure, Fisher smiled faintly, unsure of what he was smiling about, but simply wanting to laugh.
He glanced at Emhart, who had a look akin to a dead fish, and called out,
“Let’s go, Emhart.”
Emhart shot him a glance, muttering,
“Don’t forget, she’s going to summon~see~you tonight. Oh no, let go of me!”
He wanted to say more, but he couldn’t resist Fisher’s ruthless grip and was easily caught, following in line behind Raphael.
As the two figures disappeared from the cave, it instantly seemed a little empty.
Only the spot where they had sat, devoid of sunlight, remained with a trace of residual warmth, accompanying the cave through its upcoming solitude.
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(End of Chapter)
