Chapter 108 - 31. Veil of the Face Changer

Chapter 108: 31. Veil of the Face Changer"Fisher had walked a long distance from Saint Nali University to the nearest tram station. Earlier, he had called to inform Trandell to come to his rental home. It was Monday, and that guy would be off work by noon, probably planning to head to Pink Hall or another leisure facility in the afternoon.

With Trandell, an experienced patron, guiding him, Fisher could ask anything he didn’t know and also minimize risks. But before that, he needed to return home to fetch something. He didn’t want to go there directly or use some poorly done disguise—he had a more clever way of hiding.

As mentioned before, the Demi-human Girls Completion Manual now recorded two demi-human females. During his journey in the South Continent, he had obtained a lot from Rafael, including the Fermat Baha Dragon Court Language, Dragon Court Magic Book, and Dragon Court Ruins clues. Although Renie was not an Undead Witch, researching her had also yielded some rewards.

Renie’s research progress was far behind Rafael’s because of her nasty personality; Fisher could see strict defenses hidden beneath her absurd flirtations. Only Fisher could touch her body, otherwise no one else could even make contact. Hence, the progress in researching the Witch Species was slow.

Interestingly, despite having not researched Renie many times, the progress bar had increased quite a bit and had now surpassed fifty percent. Besides enhancements in Magic Circuit strength and Constitution, Fisher had also obtained two items from the Completion Manual.

Before long, Fisher got off the tram in Saint Nali District and after transferring at one or two stations, finally returned to his rental home.

It was just past noon. Martha had finished lunch and gone out to visit neighbors. Fisher casually grabbed some cold pumpkin porridge in the kitchen to deal with his hunger and then went upstairs to his room.

He lay on the floor and reached under the bed to pull out a heavy safe where the item he needed was sealed.

Twisting the combination lock and opening the safe, a thick, intense fragrance immediately diffused out. Fisher frowned and took out a substance as viscous as aloe vera gel from the safe, which constantly emitted silky glowing threads, almost as if it were alive.

This was the first reward obtained from Renie, "Veil of the Face Changer," a "relic."

The sludgy substance Fisher now held was not its true form, which made it appear somewhat ugly. Its actual effect was to alter your appearance upon wearing it, completely changing your bone structure and skin texture, far surpassing common Disguise Skills, but maintaining the disguise required a certain level of Magic Power and placed a burden on the body.

There was a special note given to Fisher when this item was granted by the Completion Manual, clarifying its origin:

Chameleon, this is proof of the Undying hidden in the world.

Fisher speculated this might have been an item used by an Undead Witch. He had even attempted to use Tracking Magic when he first obtained it. The magic shone but remained in a vertical position, as if not pointing to any direction.

There could be two possibilities: first, the owner of the veil lived high up in the sky, but based on its orientation, only if that person lived on the moon or the sun would it be possible; the second possibility was that the owner had already died, hence the magic could not point to any location.

In the end, Fisher even began to doubt whether this item was a relic of an Undead Witch since he couldn’t derive any further information from it, and decided to just put it away.

He hadn’t taken this item to South Continent before because carrying it absorbed Magic Power, and there was no need to bring along a heavy safe onto the carriage, and under normal circumstances, it wasn’t needed.

But now, he required its little aid for a visit to Pink Hall.

The sludgy transparent material brightened Fisher’s Magic Circuit the moment it touched his fingers. A pure burst of Magic Power was absorbed into it, and it solidified from the "aloe vera gel" into a piece of gauze-like veil, its intricate patterns carrying an ancient fragrance, seeming to verify it had once belonged to someone.

However, Fisher found the scent unfamiliar, having never smelled it before.

He didn’t immediately wear the veil because its effects were too potent; he planned to wait for Trandell to arrive before putting it on to save the time explaining.

Fisher glanced down into the safe, where a very ancient sheepskin scroll also lay—an award for his witch research. This item was named "Location of the Witch Tower," a map, similar to the Dragon Court Ruins clues obtained from Rafael.

But Fisher totally couldn’t understand this map; neither the text nor the drawings were from any known ancient language. Interestingly, though he could read the ruin clues of Dragon-man Species from South Continent in Dragon Court Language, he couldn’t decrypt the West Continent Witch Tower’s map markings.

Fisher had always been looking for a language that could match the text, but to no avail, so he stored it alongside the Veil of the Face Changer.

This time, Fisher revisited the contents again. Just as he was reading, the doorbell rang below—it should be Trandell.

He replaced the map properly, took the Veil of the Face Changer, and walked downstairs. Upon opening the door, there indeed was the blond-haired man with a slicked-back hairstyle outside. It was very hot outside, and he was sweating profusely, yet he still flamboyantly smoothed back his hair and said to Fisher,

"What’s up, why call me over now? I have to go to a part-time job this afternoon."

Fisher glanced at his somewhat hazy face, and a saying seemed true—the more hollow, the greater the craving. Fisher suspected that if this guy hadn’t paid, those ladies would have kicked him out of bed.

Fisher pulled him into the room and said,

"Just perfect, I’ll go to the Pink Hall with you in the afternoon."

"Oh okay... huh?! You? You’re going with me?"

Trandell unconsciously agreed, but after a second or two his expression became utterly astonished and he looked at Fisher in amazement. After confirming that Fisher was serious, he uncontrollably shook his head,

"No...no, absolutely not! I can’t possibly take you there. You can go by yourself, don’t drag me into it. If Princess Elizabeth finds out I took you, I assure you my hometown will be flattened three times over by the Royal Guard!"

He waved his hands, his strong desire to survive driving him to turn and walk away, not wanting to get involved. His initial invitation for Fisher to go to the Pink Hall was just a joke, because he knew Fisher’s nature would never allow him to go to such a place, but now that he knew Fisher really wanted to go, Trandell dared not get involved.

Nonsense, almost everyone in Saint Nali with a bit of status knew about the delicate relationship between Fisher and Elizabeth! That’s why many noble ladies, even though they knew Fisher was talented, young, handsome, and wealthy, dared not cozy up to him, which might also be one of the reasons he was still single at 28.

Incidentally, the only one in Saint Nali who knew Fisher had Renie by his side was Martha, that man was an exception; if she didn’t want to be discovered, it was impossible for others to find her.

Fisher sighed and said,

"Watch this."

Trandell looked back in confusion, only to see Fisher gently covering his face with the Veil of the Face Changer. A rich and mysterious fragrance instantly filled Fisher’s nostrils, and amid the profound sensation of darkness enveloping him, his face slowly transformed into another appearance.

This transformation was random, but generally didn’t result in very ugly or very handsome looks. Now, Fisher had the appearance of a man with tanned skin and a masculine face, exuding a virile charm that made Trandell immediately think of the people from Schwali.

Not to say that there were no such people in Nali because the people of Nali and Schwali were of the same race; it was just that the burly man style was not fashionable in Nali anymore.

"My Mother Goddess bless us! Is this a relic? Where did you get this, I can’t tell it’s you, Fisher, at all!"

Fisher stroked his own face, where the sensation of silk had completely vanished, yet he could still feel something covering his original skin, tightly clinging to his face.

It would be somewhat troublesome to tear it off as he would need to use something like tweezers enchanted with a magic overlay; it couldn’t be removed by hand.

"Now there should be no problem, no one will recognize me as Fisher, and no one will trouble you."

"Alright Fisher, you’re really going all out just to meet a lady. Fine, I support you. Let’s go, this afternoon I’ll increase your knowledge; I’ll pick a lady for you in each room, and by the time seven or eight will be around you..."

Fisher shook his head, took off the suit he was wearing; he needed a different outfit to avoid being noticed,

"I’m going there for business. I need to find someone who is hiding in the Pink Hall."

"Not going for fun?"

Trandell looked as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a fly. Now if he didn’t visit the Pink Hall every few days, he’d get restless. The ladies there were... oh, irresistible, not on the same level as those outside. Only there could you experience what it was like to be a truly happy and free man.

The ladies there understood a man’s mind perfectly. If you had Naliou, they could definitely make you supremely comfortable for a good while.

"No, you are going for fun, and I am your companion. If you truly go to have fun, otherwise I will be discovered. So you don’t need any disguise, just come as you usually do, nothing will happen."

Fisher came out in a brown suit, and this remark made Trandell’s expression brighten again. He let out a breath of relief and confidently patted his chest,

"Don’t worry, I know my stuff. Even if you are by my side, I can work without changing my expression, I won’t drag you down!"

They didn’t even have time to mock Trandell’s enthusiasm for certain matters. He then unprecedentedly took out perfume from the wardrobe, applying some in the air on his wrists and other places, ensuring they were absolutely safe.

It wasn’t that he had to be so careful, but intuition told Fisher that the Pink Hall was no simple place. On the surface, it was just a venue providing borderline services, but its significance lay in its large scale and its ability to silently corrupt personnel from both sides.

The drugs they sold, originating from Schwali, were very difficult to import following the cold war with Schwali, yet they were able to procure them from other sources, which alone demonstrated their capability. Now add to that they were harboring an Undead Witch, it was simple to deduce their motives weren’t pure, so being cautious was absolutely necessary.

Fisher didn’t bring a handcane or hat; he pocketed a few playing cards engraved with magic and tucked a flintlock at his waist. He then followed Trandell out of the house’s back door, headed for the Pink Hall.