Chapter 62 - 53

Interlude 62: 53.

Interlude When Fisher struggled to open his eyes, the first thing he saw was the familiar ceiling of his carriage room.

He stared blankly at the ceiling for a long time before finally turning his head to look beside him, only to find that there was no one next to him—just him sleeping alone in the bed.

He sat up, only to discover that his body was severely sore.

Looking down, he realized that his body was completely wrapped in bandages, but whoever had applied the bandages must have been a fool—they were as thin and loose as if he had been wrapped like a mummy.

Nevertheless, they had at least managed to stop some of Fisher’s bleeding so that he wouldn’t bleed to death.

Moreover, his enhanced constitution allowed his body to heal quickly; just over one night, most of his wounds had scabbed over.

He seemed to have that miraculous healing ability of Dragon-man Species.

“Fisher, you’re awake!”

Just as Fisher was inspecting himself, the door to his room was pushed open, and Rafael stood in the doorway, looking at him with some joy.

Just as he was about to speak, a loud voice came from behind Rafael.

“What, Fisher is awake?

Let me see!”

“Lar!”

The petite Lar wriggled out from beneath Rafael, ignoring Rafael’s about-to-get-angry gaze.

She happily ran to Fisher’s bedside,

“Fisher, you’re awake!

Last night, Lord Rafael said your bed was too small and feared it might press on your wounds, but Lar thinks it’s not small; I can lie down if I tuck in my tail.”

Rafael’s face flushed.

She had intended to rest together with Fisher last night, but the bed in his room was a single bed.

Although they could still sleep in it, given Fisher’s current injuries, she had decided not to.

Unexpectedly, Lar spilled the beans all at once.

“Lar, I told you to go wash yourself in the river outside, but you wouldn’t budge, would you?”

“I won’t!

Lord Rafael!

I don’t want to go wash now, Kexier Fashi’er and the others will definitely splash water on me, I promise!”

Watching the quarrelsome Lar, Fisher smiled, but after a whole night of battle and having slept until noon, he suddenly felt very hungry.

Remembering that he had kept some bread he bought in Philone City beside his bedside cabinet, he reached out to grab it, only to grasp at air.

Huh?

Where’s my bread?

Before Fisher could speak, Lar, caught by Rafael, buried her face in Rafael’s chest and didn’t move, her muffled voice coming from within,

“Ah, Lar so wants to take a bath, why not go now?”

No sooner said than done, Lar covered her ears and ran out the door again, disappearing inside the carriage.

Thus, Fisher’s room was left with only Rafael and himself.

Rafael glanced at Fisher, who was half-naked, and said, as if remembering something,

“Your clothes are ruined, I took them off and placed them over there, but I guess they’re unwearable now, everything else is here.”

Beside the bed there were his wallet, a pack of Nali cigarettes, and matches, but his two manuals were not among them.

Fisher nodded, rubbed his body and then said to Rafael,

“You go ahead, I’ll come out after I change my clothes.”

“Hmm.”

Once Rafael closed the door, Fisher, rubbing his sore body, rose from the bed and looked at his suit jacket hanging on the rack, full of holes.

Reaching into his inner pockets, he felt for the two Completion Manuals.

Oddly enough, even though they were placed together yesterday, when he felt for them now, one was on the left side and the other on the right.

He hadn’t moved them, and since no one else could see them, could it be that these two objects could move on their own?

Fisher took out the two manuals, then went to the next cabin to change into a new suit—his last custom-made suit.

He hadn’t anticipated that coming to the South Continent would find his money burning quicker than his clothes, either getting dirty or torn from battles.

If he had known it would be this troublesome, he would not have worn a suit.

Contemplating for a while, Fisher arranged his suit jacket and decided to just wear a plain white shirt.

Feeling quite hungry, it was only when Fisher stepped out of the carriage that he realized they were now stationed at the edge of a forest by a small creek.

Kexier Fashi’er and the others had almost finished washing and, holding towels from the dressing room, were drying their hair, while Mier was nearby, using leaves to start a fire to roast meat.

“Lord Fisher, you’re awake, come have some breakfast.”

“Thank you…where are we now?”

“Ah, Lord Rafael has been driving northward, we should still be on track,”

Mier handed a piece of unidentifiable meat to Fisher, then continued,

“No one is chasing us from behind, but last night we heard the sound of human artillery fire in the distance, so Lord Rafael didn’t move forward.”

“I see.”

Fisher looked towards the distant forest.

According to Philone, this area should be where people from the Schwali City Lord Alliance were about to go to war with the local tribes because of the mines.

Fisher decided to recuperate here for a day, waiting for his injuries to improve a bit further before continuing forward, to avoid any accidents.

“Fisher, come and see, Lar has learned to swim!”

Lar’s loud shouts came from the shallow creek.

Beside her, Mier’s face flushed, and he stood up to scold,

“Lar!

You’re not wearing any clothes, I told you not to swim over here!”

“But I wanted Fisher to help me clean my scales…”

Wipe…

scales?

Such a thing…

Only a tail-matching partner can do that!!

Mier blushed and didn’t say a word, but it was Rafael beside the stream who got goosebumps and told Lar to quickly swim back and wash.

Fisher didn’t look at him, just kept chewing on his meat.

“Sorry, Lord Fisher, Lar was just being too mischievous.”

“It’s okay.”

After breakfast, the previously lively and mischievous Lar became listless, wrapping himself in a bath towel and shivering, unable to even open his eyes.

They had stopped around dawn the previous day and had barely slept.

Mier and Rafael were fine, but Lar, the youngest, really couldn’t hold on any longer.

After Mier had dried her hair, she was ready to take a nap with them, while Fisher went outside the carriage to get some air.

The forest during the day was unexpectedly quiet.

It seemed that the battlefield between humans and goblins was some distance away, so it didn’t disturb the peace here.

Taking advantage of this resting time, Fisher’s mind surged with details of everything that had happened before, like the Soul Completion Manual Philone had given him, and that terrifying creature that took their souls at the end.

When Philone handed him the Soul Completion Manual, he mentioned that it was for him to handle this technology himself.

Was this technology about extracting and using souls?

It seemed that he had to study the Soul Completion Manual now.

Fisher tried to pull the Soul Completion Manual out from his chest, but in the place where he usually kept the manual, he only felt the Demi-human Girls Completion Manual.

“Hmm?”

He reached with his other hand and finally found the soul manual jammed in the right pocket’s corner.

Just as he was puzzled, a sound of footsteps came from beside him, and he turned to see Rafael standing beside him.

She appeared to want to wash as well, wrapping only a simple towel around her body, her eyes avoiding his, her face flushed.

Fortunately, her tail didn’t move, otherwise that simple towel might not have held her beautiful body.

“I…

I also want to take a bath.”

“….” Fisher glanced at her inadvertently revealed fair skin, which tempts like apples and cream.

His gaze darkened for a second, but he still got up to leave, his body was full of wounds and it wouldn’t be good to add more right now.

“Alright, then I’ll go back first.”

However, as he passed by her, she grabbed his sleeve.

He turned his head, but only saw her profile,

“Wait…

wait a moment, help me, help me wipe my scales, I can’t reach my tail and back.”

Okay.”

The creek wasn’t deep; even when Rafael kneeled in it, it only reached below her chest.

She didn’t fully open her towel, only exposing her back and the scales on her tail.

“How should I do it?”

Her smooth and dense scales were perfectly shaped and finely laid on her fair back, her tail also lifted above the water surface, naughtily shaking from time to time, making Fisher always look through the water to see the towel that floated underneath.

“Use water…

help me wipe…”

Fisher scooped water with his hand and began to gently wet and clean her scales.

Dragon-man Species’ scales were hot, feeling like a small warm furnace to the touch, where his large hand passed, the scales subtly trembled but never stood up.

Cool spring water rose like steam from a hot spring, enveloping them.

In that moment, Rafael turned her slightly blushed face back and saw Fisher intently cleaning her scales.

“Fisher…”

“What?”

He responded expressionlessly, his hands wiping her usually restless tail, which now obediently trembled comfortably from time to time, without splashing any water.

Rafael didn’t speak, but reached out to grab the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer, then kissed him on the lips, softening Fisher’s expression slightly.

The kiss lasted for a moment before Rafael, breathing like she was out of breath, let him go, then turned her head to cling to her towel, not letting Fisher see her expression.

“Thank you…

for helping me wipe my scales…”

“After this, you can only help me wipe my scales…”

Her last sentence was quiet, but in the quiet forest, Fisher heard it clearly.

Perhaps Lar mentioning getting help with her scales earlier had reminded Rafael of this, prompting her to speak up now.

“Okay.”

Hearing Fisher’s affirmative reply, her slightly moist tail slowly wrapped around his trousers, not ready to let go just yet.

The mist thickened, and the creek murmured on.