Chapter 798 The Fermenting Aftermath <TOC> Chapter 800 The Little Mermaid
Translator: SumTLMan
At that moment, the crisp sound of a bell echoed from the outside, accompanied by the subtle tremors of the floor. Canter glanced outside, and emerging from the pitch-black forest was a polar bear, as majestic as a snow-capped mountain.
Atop the bear was a cathedral made of frost, moving with the bear’s steady stride. The bells on the steeple of the cathedral rang out harmoniously in the wind.
“Puchibear is here again, it seems he has brought another batch of laborers,” Canter clicked his tongue in disapproval.
Just then, a piece of parchment, as yellow as a dusk sun, fluttered down from the frost cathedral on the bear’s back. It drifted down, as gracefully as a feather, and landed softly on the windowsill of the Magic Hut.
Canter opened the window, reached out, and took the parchment in his hands, murmuring, “Let’s see which unfortunate wizard organizations have had their apprentices sent this time.”
“Thirty-six apprentices from Breezy Valley, the highest level among them is an intermediate apprentice… Seventeen apprentices from Tree of Heaven, the highest level among them is an advanced apprentice… The Bran Family sent seven low-level apprentices,” Canter read aloud as he went through the list. These were the apprentices assigned to this base, who appeared to Canter more like laborers, or even cannon fodder.
“Huh? Sanders, look at what I found. A high-level apprentice from the Savage Grottoes has been assigned here,” Canter expressed his surprise, “Didn’t you say there would be no apprentices from the Savage Grottoes?”
Sanders was also taken aback. The Savage Grottoes had sent their elite forces to the Abyss this time, thus there was no need for the cannon fodder-like laborer apprentices to come and serve in the Abyss.
Therefore, when Canter mentioned that an apprentice from the Savage Grottoes had arrived, Sanders was genuinely surprised.
He extended the black wand in his hand, and with a flick in the air, the parchment in Canter’s hand was whisked up by a gust of wind, finally landing in Sanders’s own hand.
One glance was all it took for Sanders to spot the lone apprentice from the Savage Grottoes.
—Popoca, a third-level apprentice, from the Savage Grottoes.
“Popoca?” Sanders muttered this name softly. He didn’t have any recollection of it, nor did he know which wizard’s disciple it was that had been assigned to the Abyss. Hadn’t Lord Rhine warned about this?
As Sanders furrowed his brow, the door to the Magic Hut swung open.
Samantha, a woman of alluring figure, stood against the light, stating coldly, “The cannon fodder is here. Who among you will assign them their duties?”
This base had just been established. Besides the laborer apprentices, there were only the three of them, true knowledge wizards, in charge.
Ordinarily, they wouldn’t need to assign such tasks, but they were short-handed.
After some thought, Sanders stood up, “I’ll go.”
Samantha was taken aback. She came in to inquire, purely to tell Canter to get to work, as a payback for his loose tongue around Sanders earlier. To her surprise, Sanders, who always detested trouble, had actually taken the initiative to step out.
After Sanders had left, Samantha stopped Canter, who was preparing to take a leisurely stroll outside, “What’s going on with Sanders?”
Facing Samantha’s question, Canter didn’t hide anything, “This time, there are apprentices from the Savage Grottoes coming over, so… you know.”
Apprentices from the Savage Grottoes? I see. Samantha’s eyes flashed with disgust as she looked at the parchment on the nearby table.
On the other side, Sanders had reached the base’s exterior.
The enormous polar bear Puchibear crouched down, dropping a group of apprentices from its back who were from the cathedral. It addressed Sanders, “Honorable Phantom Master, the new batch of apprentices has been delivered. I will take my leave now.”
After seeing Sanders nod in acknowledgment, Puchibear stood up again, each step causing a tremor as it walked into the depth of the dark forest.
Sanders, on the other hand, looked at the group of poorly dressed apprentices in front of him, heaving a sigh. Most of these apprentices were old men or discarded individuals. Many couldn’t even perform a basic temperature control spell and shivered in the cold wind of the Abyss.
Among the crowd, there was one person who stood out.
He was a youth in a white robe, half his face hidden under a white hood, giving off an impression of a newly sharpened sword. Compared to the wilting and gloomy apprentices around him, he was as conspicuous as a crane among chickens – strikingly radiant.
The youth’s body was entwined with a chain marked with blood-red runes. The chain, as if alive, was slowly slithering around him.
“You, step forward. What’s your name?” Sanders pointed at the youth.
The white-robed youth paused for a moment, then bowed to Sanders, “Honorable Sanders, my name is Popoca…”
…
A tale of two blooms, each on a separate branch, now we return to Angel.
The Feran Continent and the Revelation Continent were not far apart, separated only by the Blackberry Sea. As the Blackberry Sea was one of the few seas where sea beasts rarely appeared and was usually calm, the two continents had already begun to interact since the Golden Era.
As Angel was flying on the Gondola, he could occasionally see cargo ships sailing on the sea below.
A week after they left the Feran Continent, they encountered a ship adorned with rose carvings on the open sea. The entire ship was decorated in a girlish style, which was quite eye-catching even from the sky.
Upon seeing this ship, Drew’s eyes lit up, “Lord, that’s a cargo ship from the Versailles Kingdom’s Rose Trading Company!”
“Is there anything special about it? You seem quite excited,” Angel said with a faint smile.
Drew cast a sidelong glance at Lord Pat, a sheepish grin tugging at his lips. A week had passed, during which he had witnessed Lord Pat’s demeanor gradually reverting to the congenial one he had exhibited aboard the Cloud Conch. This had caused Drew’s tensed nerves to somewhat relax.
“The merchant ships of the Rose Trading Company hold a peculiar status in the Blackberry Sea. Their cargo consists almost entirely of rose products, primarily food. However, rose products perish quickly. As a result, they are often consumed entirely by other ships they encounter at sea before they can reach the Feran Continent.”
“Whenever a ship of the Rose Trading Company is spotted, people can board it directly to purchase rose products. Thus, it has been dubbed the ‘floating restaurant of roses’.”
Drew had been subsisting on dry rations for the past few days. The food produced in the small fishing village was monotonous and bland. Therefore, when he saw the merchant ship of the Rose Trading Company, his mouth watered as if he were drooling from the sky into the sea.
Although Drew didn’t explicitly express his desire to board the ship, his yearning was palpable, his thoughts laid bare.
Angel deliberated for a moment. He looked at the pink ship below and recalled his first encounter with Shalem four years ago.
Shalem had been a frail boy then, always clinging to his thick books, timidly hiding in a corner. Back then, only Angel could hold a conversation with him. Later, Nausica’s entry and her declaration of being the former Blackberry Queen had elicited other expressions from Shalem.
He still vividly remembered Shalem confessing that he came from the Versailles Kingdom on the Revelation Continent. The kingdom was small, and Shalem had felt inferior because of this.
Nausica had promptly expressed her fondness for the Versailles Kingdom, even extolling the rose fields there. She had remarked nostalgically about their rainbow rose cake, instantly bolstering the then timid and self-conscious Shalem’s confidence.
Nausica’s personality was such—grand yet supremely tactful.
“In that case, let’s savor the taste of roses from this floating restaurant,” Angel suggested with a laugh. He, too, was curious about the taste of the rainbow rose cake that Nausica had spoken so highly of.
Upon hearing Angel’s words, Drew’s eyes lit up instantly. With eyes brimming with excited tears, he navigated the Gondola toward the merchant ship below.
Their arrival caused quite a stir aboard the Rose Trading Company’s merchant vessel.
They were received with trembling hands and nervous smiles, only to discover that these two mysterious high-flyers had come merely to taste the rainbow rose cake.
The trading company’s crew, of course, didn’t dare to neglect them. They immediately presented the highest quality pastries, including the much sought-after rainbow rose cake.
Drew ate with glee, even shedding tears as he ate and started packing some for later.
Angel, on the other hand, took a small bite and then put it down.
It was just too sweet for his liking. A single bite made his teeth ache…
Angel was familiar with Nausica’s palate. Despite being a woman, Nausica didn’t have a sweet tooth. Her favorite foods were rich in salty flavors.
“So, what was she thinking when she said she missed the taste of the rainbow rose cake?” Angel wondered silently. He figured she must have said it to spare Shalem’s fragile ego.
Boarding the Rose Trading Company’s vessel was just a minor episode in their journey. They ate, paid, and left.
After they left, Drew kept prattling on about the taste of the rainbow rose cake. Suddenly, Drew declared, “Lord, I just got some news from the Rose Trading Company’s ship. They say that there have been mermaid sightings in the sea area up ahead.”
“Mermaids?” Angel raised an eyebrow. His attention had been engrossed in exploring the onboard rose garden, not lingering in the dining hall.
“Indeed,” Drew affirmed. “The manager of the Rose Trading Company said they came across a group of mermaids making huge waves as they frolicked. When the mermaids spotted them, they began to use their enchanting songs to lure them off the ship. If they hadn’t tossed a significant amount of rose cakes into the sea, they might have been submerged in the ocean depths by now.”
Angel mused, “Using their songs to bewitch the sailors, it certainly sounds like mermaids. But the fact that they resisted the allure of flesh and instead ate the rose cake implies that they belong to a higher-ranking tribe among the mermaids.”
Upon hearing Angel’s words, Drew curiously asked, “Mermaids have tribes, too?”
Angel nodded. After all, this was common knowledge, and he didn’t mind giving a brief explanation, “Just as there are various types of humans, there are also different types of mermaids. For instance, the Feg mermaids who dwell on the shores of the Shampoo Sea all year round, the Black Jael mermaids of the White Sand Sea, the Pulushi mermaids of the Illusory Long Beach… and so on. Different mermaid tribes exhibit distinct physical traits, such as skin color, scale patterns, size, language, and culture. Even the figurehead of our ship, the Sea Monster, actually possesses a portion of mermaid lineage.”
“Lower-ranking mermaids are more easily attracted to human flesh. The aristocrats or royals among the mermaids, on the other hand, have a much stronger self-control.”
As Angel elaborated, an enchanting world of mermaids unfolded before Drew.
While Drew was still marveling at the rich diversity of races in this world, Angel’s ears perked up.
“Hmm, it seems like a song is faintly carried by the wind?”
Chapter 798 The Fermenting Aftermath <TOC> Chapter 800 The Little Mermaid