"Even though those two are indeed quite foolish, it's not easy to make a living in this era... Let them go, and not only will all the wealth here be yours, but the other hidden treasures elsewhere will be yours too, as long as you spare their lives."
Kree looked at the bleeding Fama Xi lying on the ground. She resisted the urge to reach out, and her expression remained calm.
Fisher didn't pause, the light in his hand grew more intense,
"Hmm, not bad, but killing you guys and taking the treasure I can see here will satisfy me as well..."
Kree's calm expression cracked a bit. As she watched the light inching closer to Xi Ya's body, she seemed temporarily at a loss for any method to stop Fisher.
She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly shouted,
"That red Dragon-man hasn't reached maturity within the tribe, she can't become complete. I can offer a method to help her reach full maturity, and all those treasures will also be yours, just let them go!"
However, after saying this, even Kree felt a tinge of regret.
Those Dragon-man Species are merely slaves to humans, and to humans, demi-human slaves are nothing but commodities, likely less attractive than those treasures.
Rafael also closed his eyes, as the answer was already obvious.
"..Interesting."
Unexpectedly, the light on Fisher's Handcane gradually dimmed, and he lowered his hand, "Your partner needs to stop the bleeding, come deal with it quickly."
After a second of surprise, Kree quickly floated behind Fisher, looking at the Fama Xi on the ground with closed eyes, blood on her body already drying quite a bit, but those two wounds still made Kree shudder.
Hastily, she covered the wounds with her illusory hands. A ring on her hand began to emit a weak glow, seemingly inscribed with a simple Healing Magic. Yet, Fisher no longer paid attention and just sat on the carriage, waiting quietly for her response.
Beside her, Rafael was surprised by Fisher's reply, opened her eyes, and turned to look at her companions, who were also looking at her.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Now, the one who became somewhat nervous and shy was Rafael. Her face remained unchanged, while her tail swept behind her, drawing the attention of nearby human captives.
"Kree... Fama Xi she..."
Xi Ya finally snapped out from her previous daze. Kree didn't look at her and only sighed in relief after confirming Fama Xi's wounds were no longer bleeding,
"She's okay, still alive."
She glanced at the disheveled Xi Ya nearby, realizing they would never defeat this human. They had robbed many humans around, but it was their first time encountering such a human, practically a monster...
"Now can you tell me the method for a Dragon-man's maturity?"
Fisher tapped his Handcane lightly on the ground, making a crisp sound that drew Kree's attention away from Healing.
Kree withdrew her hands from Fama Xi's body and then looked at Rafael, saying,
"A Dragon-man Species needs a ritual to guide them in growing their Dragon Horns. Without the specific guiding spell for the Dragon-man Species, their horns will grow wildly and could sprout from various locations. I happened to obtain this portion from a Dragon-man Tribe through exchange. This Dragon-man should mature in a few days, so now is the perfect time to prepare."
Kree continued,
"The whole ritual requires many items for the setup, some of which need to be purchased from other tribes, some tribes only accept Gold, not human coins..."
Fisher cast a glance at the treasures they left in the hall and said indifferently,
"Don't worry about the money stuff."
Kree's face showed a trace of dark lines as Xi Ya held her stomach, wanting to speak,
"Hey, at least leave us a little bit."
Fisher looked at her expressionlessly, and her body immediately went limp, not knowing what strange system trigger she bumped into as her face blushed, while her spider body trembled, yet no more spider silk came out.
"I don't want your money. Release the people here, help me set up the ritual, and we'll call it even..." He glanced at the two half-dead demi-humans, then continued, "And my wallet."
Kree looked at Xi Ya. Xi Ya then took out the genuine leather wallet from her bra, where she hid it, and tossed it to Fisher from a distance, the wallet carrying a scent and body heat. Fisher opened it to check the number of Narliou inside.
The money was alright, mainly it also contained the bank's voucher and a photo from Renie meant for safekeeping.
After confirming nothing changed, he finally sighed with relief.
"We'll stay here tonight, start preparing tomorrow. Take care of your partners first."
He walked to the prison front and released everyone. Lar eagerly ran out to hug Fisher, the little one clinging entirely onto Fisher, startling the companions behind,
"Lar!"
"Fisher, Fisher, I thought I'd never see you again. The Spiderman said you were beaten to death, it scared Lar... I wondered if you'd suddenly get holes on your head or somewhere..."
"No way."
Fisher looked down at the lively Lar again, her tail swaying underneath, yet her body was so light, easily liftable.
Could she actually trust a human like himself so much?
"Alright Lar, you should come down now."
Mier was always the most understanding, quickly running over to pull Lar out of Fisher's embrace, "Sorry, Lord Fisher."
Fisher patted Lar's head to signify it was nothing, then remembered to ask Mier,
"Did Dragon-man Species really have a coming of age ceremony? Why didn't you tell me before?"
"Huh? Well, because when I came of age, I felt really bad, mostly sleeping, so I didn't know what my family did to me, only knew when I woke up, I had grown horns... sorry."
Mier felt a bit guilty and lowered his head.
Fisher nodded, just about to ask how those humans were captured, when suddenly the sound of birds chirping came from the back hall,
"Chirp~ chirp~"
Fisher turned to look and saw a long-tailed lark, emitting a deep purple glow, that had flown in from somewhere, spinning in the hall and reluctant to land, only making clear sounds.
Fisher's face darkened slightly, and he looked at the few demi-humans,
"Did any of you move the clothes on my cart?"
Kree was slightly taken aback, and then raised her hand,
"It was me..."
"Then it's fine."
These three demi-humans were all female, and he asked such a silly question.
The lark saw Fisher's reflection in its eyes and happily landed on Fisher's shoulder as he walked out of the cell, but instead of a warm welcome, he received gentle pecks, "drip, drip."
"Fisher, bad man! Fisher, bad man!"
The child-like voice came from the lark's mouth, shouting with each peck, drawing everyone's gaze toward him.
The bird spoke in Nali Language, but due to the Brain Demon Species, everyone could understand it.
Rafael, with sharp eyes, stared at his profile.
"Alright, Hart, what does she want to tell me?"
Fisher reached out and pinched the bird's head, stopping it from pecking him further, then gently stroked its soft feathers and asked.
"Three things, three things..."
"Mm-hmm?"
"First thing, first thing, stay away from those women, she touched Renie's clothes, Renie is angry and told me to peck your head."
"...And? How is she now?"
"Second thing, second thing, Kado couldn't find her home, so she plans to continue looking south."
Fisher pondered for a while, then responded to the bird on his shoulder,
"...I see."
"Third thing, third thing."
Hart, the magic lark, started chirping again,
"Renie said she misses you."
The scene became quiet; only the cute little Hart tilted its head to look at him, seemingly waiting for his response.
"I understand."
Fisher's silence lasted longer this time; he took a long time before he coughed out a normal response, squeezing his handcane and walking some distance toward the carriage.
"Do you want to send any words back with Hart? Do you, do you?"
The human man's back was all Rafael saw clearly in the cell, but their conversation was vivid in her ears, making her hear it well. Her tail remained still, seemingly indifferent as she closed her eyes.
"Tell her to take care of herself."
"Okay, okay... Fisher tells Renie to take care of herself, Fisher tells Renie to take care of herself.."
That little bird, after hearing this, chirped away as it spread its wings, taking off swiftly from Fisher's shoulder. As it spun faster and faster in the air, magic emblems formed ring by ring along its flight path. Though the speed was too fast to see clearly what kind of magic it was.
As the bird's speed reached its pinnacle, it suddenly transformed into a streaking meteor shooting out from the cave, flying straight into the foggy sky of the South Continent, pinpointing a direction where stars and moon were sparse, disappearing into the horizon.
Far away, in Kado of the Western Continent, filled with the architecture's sense of abstinence, pale white buildings under good weather, the sunlight bathed the second floor of a hotel composed of spliced towers.
At this moment, the southern room had its windows open, scented smoke wafting outward, a beautiful woman with long black hair leaned against the window, seemingly resting her eyes.
Awaiting that purple meteor from the horizon to fall back beside her, the purple little bird at the edge of the sill jumped a few times before stopping, but when it spoke again, it no longer chirped as when it was beside Fisher.
A lazy, seemingly filled with black mamba wine intoxicated woman's voice came out of the bird's mouth, speaking to the sleeping black-haired woman,
"Fine, give my body back, Hart."
The woman opened her eyes, the hollow eyes gradually dyed in cosmic purple, until the purple filled her pupils, she stretched languidly, engulfing the chirping livelier bird within her hand.
Unfortunately, Fisher was too foolish to see the difference within.