Chapter 639: Guests from the Northern Region
“What?! Eat? What do you mean?”
Fisher and Emhart were both stunned at the same time, with Emhart being the first to uncontrollably express his surprise and hurriedly questioning her.
However, Alicia remained calm, as if she hid a composure within her five or six-year-old body that even Emhart could not match. She merely blinked and dragged a box from the bed nearby. It was evident that the box contained heavy items; she had to exert all her strength to pull it. As the box moved, it emitted a clinking sound, and with a “click,” the latch was opened, revealing a complete set of knives inside.
“Big brother should understand. If you want to harness the value of the treasure, you must absorb it. If you eat me, then you can absorb me to the fullest extent and get what you want. This is what grandpa and I wish to see. Or do you have a more convenient method of absorption than eating me?”
“You…” Emhart opened his mouth, momentarily lost for words from anger. After a while, he finally caught his breath and shouted, “Do you think our Fisher is someone like Erwind? This is cannibalism! Cannibalism! Do you know how disgusting it is to eat you? Even the shameless elves wouldn’t do such a thing; at least they would plant trees and eat fruits!”
After quite some time speaking, Emhart realized that Fisher was silent. He was quite frightened and bit his lip, feeling somewhat unsure.
“Fisher, you… you wouldn’t actually eat her, right?”
Fisher simply looked at the little Alicia in front of him. After a moment of silence, he reached out and touched her head, allowing her to comfortably close her eyes, like a little cat.
“Do you know? We have actually met before.”
“Really? When? I just feel that big brother you looks familiar, but I can’t remember.”
“Really. Now you possess the thing you once longed for: freedom. You should cherish it, Alicia. So, even if you weren’t Heilson’s granddaughter, I still wouldn’t do that. Besides, the things you said are too shocking. In your value view, is eating people something common? Or do you think I am a terrifying monster that eats people?”
Alicia blinked, seeming to be in thought. After a moment, she blurted out again,
“Yeah, it’s very scary, big brother.”
“…” Fisher was slightly stunned, pointing to himself. “Me?”
“Yeah.”
Alicia nodded innocently, and Emhart couldn’t help but laugh and bumped his head.
“Haha, you should reflect. Even this little girl can sense your scumbag aura!”
But Alicia didn’t understand the term “scumbag” at all. She just lowered her eyes, seeming a bit hesitant. Fisher read what was on her mind and gently spoke,
“I know what I need the treasure for; what I need to understand is the nature of the treasure, which is you. This also means that there might be another pathway here to structure you, besides consuming you. As for what you’re worried about, the so-called ‘usurped vessel,’ I still need to study the specific situation further. You might be targeted by some existence from outside the Spirit Realm.”
The name mentioned in the Duke of Peach’s chaos manual referred to the source of chaos in the Life Completion Manual. Considering the treasure’s advancement role in the Life Completion Manual, it wasn’t surprising that Alicia was locked by chaos.
But what surprised Fisher was that the source of life chaos surprisingly didn’t want Alicia to meet him, which meant that it didn’t wish for Fisher to fully read the Completion Manual, enabling chaos to bloom inside him.
But why?
Could it know that he currently possessed Azanros’s blessing, which allowed him to isolate the influence of its entity while containing chaos?
This news was quite timely. However, returning to this line of thought, could he also use Azanros’s blessing to become invisible in front of life chaos, so that it wouldn’t be aware that he was in contact with Alicia, and structure the characteristics of the treasure on her?
He stroked Alicia’s head, and after a moment of silence, he asked,
“Alicia, after attending Heilson’s funeral, would you be willing to come with me?”
Alicia glanced around the small wooden house, and without much hesitation, she nodded in agreement. Her grandfather had already left, and her sister didn’t want her, so before Fisher arrived, she had already prepared herself to escape the control of the terrifying presence in her mind and allow herself to be eaten by Fisher.
Now, if leaving with him would still cause him harm, he could always eat her whenever he wanted, right?
“Alright, although following me may be more exhausting than before, I will take care of you as much as possible.”
Fisher smiled slightly, but thinking about the aura of Elizabeth he sensed today, he couldn’t help but feel a little headache. Now there was an additional person beside Emhart, and she was a little girl. He wasn’t sure what to do after the funeral tomorrow with Elizabeth.
Regardless, it wouldn’t hurt to make ample preparations beforehand.
He first opened Azanros’s blessing again, wanting to confirm the state after the protective blessing with little Alicia. After all, she wasn’t familiar with him like Emhart; if even Fisher couldn’t be seen, then there wouldn’t be any so-called care.
Sure enough, after Fisher chanted the spell to activate Azanros’s blessing, in front of little Alicia, he seemed to completely disappear, which made her expressionless little face turn panicked, looking around with an adorably flustered demeanor.
There was no way; he didn’t have enough time to deepen his relationship with her. It was normal for her not to see him, as Fisher had prepared a backup plan.
It was decided then, Sir Book, Emhart!
Don’t forget, Emhart could see Fisher, and once he distanced himself from Fisher, he would not receive the blessing. He could stand on Fisher’s shoulder; Alicia immediately noticed Emhart, who had just lost the blessing, and it would be up to him to convey Fisher’s words.
“What powerful magic! As expected of grandpa’s disciple!”
Alicia’s eyes lit up with stars, filled with admiration. However, as she spoke, she suddenly remembered something, glanced outside at the setting sun, stood up, and said,
“It’s almost evening, so I’ll go chop some firewood and prepare to light the fire. By the way, big brother, remember to look at what grandpa left you; he said it is very important.”
After saying all this, before Emhart could relay Fisher’s words, she quickly ran out of the house to gather the necessary items for the night.
Fisher, who originally planned to follow and help, was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. He then looked at the unmarked notebook in his hand that Alicia had previously handed him.
Heilson’s notes?
After a moment of silence, he slowly opened it, but he didn’t expect the first sentence at the beginning to leave Fisher dumbfounded. It read in Heilson’s handwriting:
“On the day of my 20th birthday, I accidentally blew open the door to the Spirit Realm with my self-created magic.”
Fisher’s pupils constricted slightly, and he could barely even move.
“Trash, have you seriously drained all the nutrients in your brain to come up with such a stupid thing?”
At that moment, inside the inn in the city of Qiqier, a pink flower, swaying gently under the “Sunlight Magic” above someone’s head, looked particularly lively, while a somewhat speechless voice echoed in that person’s mind, clearly carrying disdain.
In front of that peach blossom was a mirror, and in the mirror appeared a white-haired phoenix, who looked somewhat anxious—Valentina.
Hearing the words in her mind from the Duke of Peach, Valentina couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. She raised a finger and softly said,
“So I needed your help; this is a good opportunity! It’s not easy to get precise news about Fisher, and I can’t even confirm it, so I let the little slime help me, okay?”
“Hehe, don’t forget, you are now the phoenix of the Parasol Tree, their nominal leader. Do you think becoming a leader means you can do whatever you want? Power often comes with responsibility. It’s correct that they don’t let you act on your own; rather, it was wrong for you to sneak out, trash.”
Valentina pouted, clearly, even though she had exhausted herself to conform to the title of “phoenix” externally after sleeping for five years, inside, she remained an eighteen-year-old girl whose time had also stagnated for four and a half years, just like Fisher.
Upon hearing the precise information about Fisher from the slimes, Valentina wanted to confirm this specific news. Although the slimes outwardly agreed, because they had completely lost the ability to infiltrate Nali over the past few years, this agreement was clearly negotiable.
Valentina realized this and decided to enter Nali secretly herself to attend Fisher’s funeral.
Superficially, this truly seemed like a foolish act—the number one enemy against the Nali Empress emerging in a direct confrontation sneakily entering the enemy’s country was incredibly foolish. However, Valentina certainly had her rationale.
That rationale, of course, was the Duke of Peach in her mind.
After months of recovery, the Duke had been able to do more and more things, just look at how the peach blossom on her head had grown better!
“Duke, help me a bit. Earlier, when I complained about how I had grown so tall in the Parasol Tree, didn’t you say there’s a way to help me change my appearance?”
“…you remember these things clearly, trash.”
Valentina noticed that the Duke actually didn’t much care about her sneaking out from the Parasol Tree. After all, it seemed to her that neither the Parasol Tree, the Northern Region nations, nor Nali were anything more than a bunch of trash playing house together, and she felt no concern about it.
The only thing she cared about was that enemy called “chaos.” Furthermore, she had only just developed a little interest in Nali.
The reason was simple: the Duke said that she knew the general named Barbatos appointed in Nali on the Southern Continent.
“So you see, Duke, you just need to make me exactly like before, turning me back into a human, and no one will discover me. Once we find Fisher, we will take him away, and you can also learn everything you want from Fisher.”
“Ha, trash, how do you know she’s willing to go with you? Didn’t you just have a bit of an attitude with that so-called trash Empress? As far as I’m concerned, he came here to meet that human woman. As for you, he must have long forgotten you.”
“I!” Upon hearing this, Valentina puffed her cheeks in discontent, “But I am married to him! He even promised to give me a ring; how could he possibly forget me?!”
“A man’s words…”
“Alright, alright, Duke, please! Help me!”
“…I’ll give you points for asking nicely, trash.”
The Duke yawned, having already seen through everything, and didn’t bother exposing Fisher’s true nature, or rather, the feelings of these scraps still held no meaning for her, she just followed what this little phoenix wanted,
“How did you look before? How do you want to change?”
“Uh, I used to be a human, not a phoenix. And I wasn’t this tall or this big; I wonder if Fisher will like my current appearance.”
“Heh, if he can’t even accept this, then your relationship is just so-so. However, based on my understanding of him, even if you become a bit stranger, he would still like you.”
“That’s not the case!”
Valentina protested with a pout.
“Although that could indeed test my feelings with him, what significance does such a test hold? I just want to meet him in my former appearance because I want him to see a more familiar me. I also hope to see a more familiar him. Moreover, before, I couldn’t even walk; he should be very happy to see me standing up in my old appearance.”
“…Is that so? Trash’s emotions are truly hard to understand.”
The Duke was silent for a moment, seemingly pondering the reasoning behind this. However, perhaps the barriers within were still too difficult for her, so in the next second, she stopped thinking about it and continued explaining,
“The power I use is still the power of chaos. The process of changing your form won’t have any feeling, but when I withdraw my power, you’ll turn back to your original form. This process only lasts for two days; although I have amassed a lot of power, I cannot use it all in this regard and must keep some in reserve for contingencies. After two days, you will immediately revert to your original appearance, and at that time, I suggest that regardless of whether you take your dead husband or not, you must leave this place using the power of the slime. Do you understand?”
“Understood! Thank you, Duke.”
Valentina nodded gratefully, and just in the next moment, her large phoenix body began to shrink slowly, her feathers gradually vanishing, transforming back into her originally fair and tender skin.
Under the impression sketched in her mind, Valentina watched in astonishment as her body miraculously transformed from a phoenix back into a human. This process left her somewhat dumbfounded, wondering if she had met the Duke before going up the Parasol Tree, would it all have been unnecessary to be this troublesome?
But then, if that were the case, wouldn’t she have missed out on all those experiences with Fisher?
“Alright, take a look.”
“Really just like before; this power is truly amazing!”
“Ha, that’s for sure. The so-called using the enemy’s skills to counter the enemy, after mother left, if I hadn’t used these extraordinary methods, my brothers and sisters would probably have long vanished in front of my two demigod elders. It’s just a pity that in the end, I still managed to do nothing.”
“Duke, actually, after hearing you say all this, I feel…”
“Let it go, trash, I don’t need your consolation. Just deal with what’s in front of you. Helping you isn’t simply about hooking you up with your dead husband. In return, don’t forget to learn about the Dragon Continent from him, and that Nali. I always feel this ghostly place has woven countless ties with chaos, giving me a bad premonition.”
“Mm-hmm, I’ll wait until tomorrow.”
Valentina smiled faintly, looking out the brightly lit window. The crowd below remained awake, spontaneously mourning the departure of that legendary magician.
And tomorrow, it would be Heilson the magician’s funeral, which would even be personally attended by the Nali Empress.
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(End of Chapter)
