Chapter 322: Meeting the Sahua Fish People Again

Midnight.

While Rod and Tally were still busy under the moonlight.

A message from the Rabbit Person Lady Aona arrived at his ear.

"Rod, are you two done?"

Her voice was awkward and embarrassed, carrying a hint of shyness.

"What's wrong?"

Pushing away the lazy and lingering Succubus, Rod used the message technique on the 【Trembling Soul Blade】 to reply.

"I found some new clues nearby; could you trouble yourself to come over and take a look?"

"Of course."

It took some time to calm Tally down.

Rod arrived at the place agreed upon with Lady Aona.

It was the branch of the Hansen River they had passed during the day.

At this moment, the Rabbit Person mage in white robes stood by the river channel, with a Sahua Fish Person in front of her.

This Sahua Fish Person was bowing and scraping, with a confused and empty expression, clearly under the influence of her magic.

A mutated race of the Koshi Plain, the only group of Sahua Fish People on the continent capable of living in fresh water.

Rod landed beside Lady Aona.

He noticed the Rabbit Person's small nose twitch.

After being active with Tally, his body would be covered in essence and the scent of a Succubus.

Humans were fine; they couldn't really smell it.

Certain races with sensitive senses would care more, so Rod stepped back a few paces.

"What do you think?"

"I couldn't settle my mind, so I patrolled the surroundings and happened to find a Sahua Fish Person hunting in the river channel."

The spore message from the Mycelium Clan disappeared right over this river channel.

Perhaps the Sahua Fish People might know something.

"Speaking of which, can Sahua Fish People be infected by the Beast Transformation Disease?"

"Yes, but their swimming speed is famous even in the sea; land races can't catch them. Also, look."

Lady Aona pointed to the forearm of this Sahua Fish Person.

There was a row of obvious humanoid Ya Yin, but they had not pierced the skin.

"Sahua Fish People can dive in the deep sea, so they possess defense skills like 【Hardened Skin】 and 【Water Flow Shield】; at least surface blood contact won't infect them. For a wound to get infected, one must first break through the hardened epidermis."

"Ho."

The Water Flow Shield skill just sounded very cool.

"Back to the main topic, I temporarily controlled this Young Lady Fish Person. She told me that two nights ago, she indeed encountered a group of Mushroom People in this river channel. The Mushroom People looked exhausted at that time. While attempting to cross the river, several young Mushroom People were accidentally swept away. To save their companions, the rest of the Mushroom People all plunged into the river, and the result was that they were all swept away together."

So that's how it is.

Wait, is this Sahua Fish Person female?

I can't tell any difference from a male at all.

It seems not everything can be tried with other races; look, Sahua Fish People are so ugly and lack female characteristics, so they should definitely be passed over.

But then again.

The world is vast and full of wonders; what if there happens to be a Fish Person who fits human aesthetics?

The Orc Amy looked pretty good, didn't she?

Right, one still cannot generalize.

If it needs to be done, it must be done.

"Rod?"

Lady Aona's voice woke the dazed Rod.

"Hmm, I was thinking about whether Mushroom People can swim."

"They aren't very good at it, but they wouldn't drown in the river. I was thinking we should follow the river channel to search."

"Perhaps we can ask other Sahua Fish People. Since the Mushroom People were swept away in the Hansen River channel, maybe other Fish People saw it."

She thought for a moment and said:

"I thought of that too, but the mind-control magic cannot work over a long distance, and due to racial characteristics, this Young Lady Fish Person's companions would easily notice something was wrong with her state."

"Let me try; I have some acquaintance with the Sahua Fish People here."

"Really?"

The red pupils of the Rabbit Person girl glowed slightly.

"I can only say I'll try; I'm not certain."

Rod smiled.

He took a palm-sized humanoid statue from his magic satchel, which was the statue of the God Hoff worshipped by the Sahua Fish People.

He had received it as a gift when he previously helped the Sahua Fish People reclaim their Sacrificial Offering.

He remembered they had promised to regard Rod as a friend of the Sahua Fish People.

Rod approached that Young Lady Fish Person and then let Lady Aona release the magic.

Hoo—

The Fish Person froze for a moment, her green, small bean-like eyes gradually becoming clear.

She roared and instinctively reached for the trident on her back.

But this had already been knocked away by Ona.

Her claw swiped through empty air, then immediately spun into a vicious claw strike.

Then her wrist was seized mid-air by Rod; the irresistible force brought a clear look of fear into the eyes of this fish-woman.

"Calm down, friend."

Rod gestured with the statue in his hand.

The woman immediately froze.

She looked at Rod, then at the statue, her face full of confusion.

"Perhaps you don't know, two months ago I helped—"

"Rod!"

Rod couldn't help but freeze when the fish-woman before him pronounced his name in clear, crisp syllables.

"You know me?"

Then she began chattering away about the prophecy of their Sahwa fish-people.

Rod only understood after activating the translation skill on his 【Soul-Quivering Blade】.

It turned out this one had been the person involved that night; that ultra-masculine woman Jenna had snatched the Sacrificial Offering right out of her hands, and the Hof god statue in Rod's hand had been carved by her own hands.

"Heh, what a coincidence."

The fish-woman Young Lady said another string of grateful words.

Then she came over and hugged him, speaking with deep feeling about how she was willing to abandon her current husband and become his concubine, and the like.

Uh.

Rod glanced at this fish-faced lady whose mouth alone took up half her face, and a thin bead of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Still no good.

Sahwa fish-people, as expected, were not something a human could handle!

Ona, watching from the side, couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.

She had cast the 【Universal Tongue】 spell, so naturally she also knew what the other was saying.

In the end, though.

Rod still refused this fish-woman Young Lady.

After all, she still had twelve juvenile Sahwa fish-people to raise at home; they couldn't be left without a mother.

In return, she was of course also willing to gather information on the fungus-people for Rod.

Same place tomorrow morning; she would tell him everything she could find out.

Rod and Ona walked slowly through the night.

They did not use flight magic to return; it seemed Ona had something to say.

"Rod, I think this matter should probably end here."

"What?"

At the far end of the grassland, Rod could faintly make out a huge humanoid figure in the distance—it was probably a giant.

After crossing the Koch Plains, the Giant Mountains, where giants roamed, lay in the distance.

"If the Sahwa fish-people still have no leads by tomorrow morning, I won't keep troubling you two."

"Aren't you looking for your old friend's child?"

"No, I'll head back to the Magic Control Union for a bit, spend some points to have someone cast a prophecy."

Rod nodded.

Indeed, if the fish-people still had no leads, this would be the best method.

As for the fungus-person Noah, let's not even mention him; this fellow is clearly someone who inhales hallucinogenic spores every single day.

The Star Spirit Hayley is, after all, some kind of squad captain; she must have plenty of affairs to attend to, and holding her up indefinitely isn't proper either.

(End of this chapter)