Chapter 127 - 46. Demon Species

Chapter 127: 46. Demon SpeciesSnake Head Street was just as dirty and disordered as ever. It was a good thing that Fisher had been visiting during noon or afternoon. Had it been nighttime, this place would become truly "lively."

At that time, the filthy street would be populated either by drugged vermin, smugglers peddling various prized goods, or women selling their company for the night.

The environment here was terrible, nearly devoid of public facilities. Various crimes bred in this place. Even the police chief, when he came here, would end up stolen down to his underpants, which was why Old Jack wanted to move out so badly. This place was just too poor for his three lovely granddaughters.

When Fisher pushed open the door to Old Jack’s tavern, his scarred face was staring blankly at the entrance. Only when the Nali Gentleman with a hand cane appeared before him did he let out a sigh of relief, a look of deep gratitude on his face.

"Thank goodness I still have you to help. Otherwise, I might have really had to throw her out. But after all, she’s a woman, and laying on Snake Head Street all night, not even her bones would remain."

Old Jack spoke with disgust, but it did not conceal his goodwill towards his guest. After all, he also had three demi-human children. Although initially, he had many prejudices against demi-humans, after living with them for a long time, only verbal prejudices remained. Occasionally, despite his stubborn reluctance, he could not resist the requests of those three lovely girls to buy nuts.

Fisher smiled, took off his gentleman’s hat, and asked,

"Where is the demi-human?"

"This way, follow me."

This time, Old Jack didn’t lead Fisher towards the basement but instead had settled the mysterious lady in the storeroom behind the tavern. He didn’t trust to let this unknown lady mingle with the three Mouse Human girls.

As the storeroom door was pushed open, the cramped space inside was revealed. At that moment, the space was entirely taken up by a demi-human woman with wheat-colored skin and red hair, breathing evenly in deep sleep.

The storeroom was filled with strong smells of rum and gunpowder, though it was uncertain if the scent of gunpowder was emanating from the demi-human herself.

Upon closer examination, the demi-human’s skin looked healthy and her features striking. She wore a cloak which was now open due to her sleeping, revealing a cool-looking bandeau and trousers underneath. Her exposed stomach showed well-defined muscles, seemingly stronger than many men.

After a thorough inspection, Fisher noticed two curved swords hidden behind the woman’s cloak, sheathed in wooden scabbards. The blades had an odd curve, and Fisher had never seen such cold weapons before. Among the two swords, one long and one short, the shorter one was engraved with extremely intricate black patterns, appearing far more noble than the longer one.

Yet, what truly captivated Fisher was the lady’s unique physical features. Twisting, obsidian-like horns eccentrically grew amidst her red hair, constantly emitting magma-like patterns. And from within her cloak, a long, slender tail extended, ending in an arrowhead shape.

Her demi-human characteristics were obvious, but even Fisher had never seen which type of demi-human she might belong to, despite having read all the humanoid literature available on demi-humans...

So, up to this point, no book had recorded what breed of demi-human this creature before him was?

"She came the day before yesterday, and after getting drunk that night, has she been asleep since?"

"Yes." Mentioning this made Old Jack somewhat irritable. He glanced at the peacefully sleeping demi-human on the floor. If not for her steady breathing, he would have thought that she had drunk herself to death in his tavern, "She drank three big glasses of rum, two bottles of distilled liquor, then collapsed on the table and hasn’t moved since. She didn’t even pay!"

"She hasn’t woken up at all during this time...?"

"Who knows? I’ve been busy and can’t keep an eye on her all the time. She hasn’t moved since she fell asleep, so she probably hasn’t woken up..." Just as Old Jack was about to continue, the door to the basement outside suddenly knocked. He paused slightly and, looking towards it, said, "Oh, Karma needs me... You stay here and see if you can find a way to wake her up, or if you’re interested, you can take her with you. I know you’ve always been fascinated with studying these demi-humans."

Fisher didn’t respond. He just moved closer to the sleeping demi-human and crouched beside her. He touched the woman’s abdomen, feeling the muscles as hard as refined iron, hammered and solidified. Her tiny navel moved slowly with her breathing.

According to Old Jack, he was close to slapping her to wake her up, no matter how much he called her. Falling asleep to this extent was indeed unique...

Fisher had never before encountered such a uniquely looking demi-human. Seeing no movement from the lady before him, Fisher pulled out his Demi-human Girls Completion Manual from his chest, ready to utilize the manual’s power to determine the type of the demi-human in front of him.

While he was in the South Continent, Fisher had encountered many unnamed demi-humans. Even if he didn’t recognize them, by opening the manual, it would help identify the name of the demi-human as long as they were female.

At the moment the manual opened, a series of ethereal words appeared before Fisher. Behind the pages marked "Dragon-man," many new sections spontaneously appeared, and golden letters wrote out words Fisher could understand:

"Demon Species."

Fisher’s eyes flickered as he read the following text,

"Please select the research subject. Usable subjects 0/1."

Hmm?

Why were there two subjects available when studying Dragon-men and Witches, but for other races, there was only one? Could it be because of the Doomsday Prophecy? If it’s a species recorded in the Doomsday Prophecy, maybe an extra slot is granted!

It seemed that Fisher discovered some sort of pattern as he continued to gaze at the illusory text below,

A higher-ranked demi-human species?

This was the first time Fisher had received such a special evaluation from the Completion Manual, and it was also the first time he had heard of the term "Demon Species." Up until then, his concept of demons stemmed entirely from ancient mythological texts treasured by the Church—those traditional impressions of ugly monsters that beguile the hearts of people.

And the one before him...

As Fisher lifted his head to take a closer look at this Demon Species’ appearance, he saw that the demon had, unknowingly to him, opened her eyes and was staring at Fisher, who was squatting in front of her.

Her eyes were not like those of humans, but rather, they shone with a bright red, resembling naturally glowing rocks, and within her pupils, there were layers of eerie patterns, like circles of fire snakes.

She just stared silently at Fisher in front of her. Despite the room being much warmer than outside, under her gaze, Fisher suddenly felt a chill.

But the next second, the piercing cold suddenly disappeared, and the Demon Species twitched her nose while lying there, looking at Fisher and saying,

"Ugh, you have an annoying smell on you, and it’s two kinds."

She spoke in Nali Language, but her style of speaking wasn’t like that of the traditional Nali people; rather it was muddy, like lava tumbling about.

At that moment, Fisher still held the Demi-human Girls Completion Manual in his hand, but it seemed she did not notice the item in her own hand and began to closely examine Fisher’s face.

"Annoying smell?"

Elliog didn’t get up, and after several seconds of scrutiny, she yawned and nodded, saying,

"Ah, it probably smells like burnt volcano worms without any dipping sauce, just really stinky... Ugh."

At the end, she yawned sleepily again, appearing as if she hadn’t had enough sleep, then she extended a finger and began to point at Fisher in front of her,

"But the smell on you doesn’t seem like it’s from the person I’m searching for. I’ll just tolerate it... By the way, where am I now? Why do I feel my memory is a bit fuzzy, um, what did I come here for? To drink? Or to sleep?"

She struggled to move her brain, and then seemed to give up, slumping back into a pile of miscellaneous items behind her, shifting into a comfortable position and preparing to close her eyes,

"Never mind, I’m too lazy to think, I’m going to sleep some more; sleep is really comfortable. Good night, human, I’m not seeing you out."

Fisher couldn’t let this person keep sleeping; he quickly placed the Completion Manual into his embrace and said to her,

"You were drinking here the day before yesterday; you’ve been asleep for almost two days now. If you don’t wake up soon, the tavern owner will throw you out."

Having said this, the demon in front of him didn’t move, but suddenly, the tail behind her lifted up, and Fisher now noticed that the arrow-shaped tip of her tail began to flicker on and off with a small fireball.

Hmm, is the tip of a Demon Species’ tail ignited when they are conscious?

"Ah, right... Wait, let me think about what I came here for. It’s so annoying, why do I have to think about these things."

She looked despondently and irritably at the ceiling of the storage room for a long while, then, touching her head, she suddenly sat up and said,

"Ah, I remember now. I came here to chase down sinners, but chasing criminals is just too bothersome, so I decided to drink some alcohol before setting off. After having some alcohol, I felt very tired, so I just rested a bit and fell asleep in the tavern. Ah, thanks for reminding me. It’s time for me to get to work now; let me pay you first..."

Though she spoke thus, she showed little enthusiasm, seeming utterly uninterested in what she called "work." However, right now, it appeared she had finally awakened from her drowsiness as she subconsciously reached into the pocket of her chest binding and carefully searched, but seemed to find nothing, which suddenly made her expression turn unnatural.

She sneakily glanced at Fisher in front of her, and feeling his gaze on her, looked at the closed surroundings again, her expression growing even stiffer.

Fisher seemed to realize something as he observed her somewhat evasive gaze and suddenly guessed,

"You... couldn’t be out of money to pay for your drink, could you?"