Chapter 1374: A Touch of Sweetness (Part 2)
"A reward?"
"Swimming with a sister like me...isn’t it a reward?"
She blinked mischievously, then leaned backward as if losing her strength, falling into the blue pool with a splash, slowly sinking downward.
Fisher didn’t remove his robe, since removing it would mean skinny-dipping, but just as he was about to enter the water, Emhardt flew out,
"You guys go below, I want to stroll outside."
"Are you sure?"
"No matter how great I am, I really hate entering the water! Don’t you remember the storm in Northern Sardinia? I almost puked out everything I remembered! I wouldn’t go through that again even if I were dead!"
Before Fisher could respond, he flew up, heading towards the distant mountain, saying along the way,
"More importantly, I don’t want to watch you two splash around below! Hmph, I think I caught a pleasant scent above, I’m going to check it out now!"
Fisher smiled helplessly; he originally brought Emhardt to enjoy the moonlight because he thought given Renie’s shyness, she certainly wouldn’t do anything inappropriate with him. Also, always abandoning Emhardt at critical moments wasn’t nice, so he’d been holding grudges.
He didn’t think much further, just also submerged into the water.
With a splash, he sank entirely into the vast blue world below the ground.
Previously, he obtained the ability to breathe underwater from the Demi-human Girls Completion Manual, along with enhancements, rank advancements, and the Life Completion Manual’s power, entering the water now felt like returning home. There wouldn’t be an issue even if he visited Moli’s hometown—provided her mother and father were disregarded.
"Fisher, come over here."
Underwater, Renie’s voice sounded unaffected, still clear.
Fisher followed her gaze forward and saw her looking up at him from below. Her black hair spread out, her figure graceful, hands behind her back, slowly sinking into the forest.
He quickly followed her, descending downward.
As Renie said, the differing shapes of trees below each represented a deceased elf.
Among the forest, there were occasional pavilions and towers, but perhaps due to some impact, they’d become fragmented. Only every tree remained intact, with a stele standing before each, complete or shattered. The words on them were brief, perhaps because elves had reincarnations, making it impossible to describe a specific lifetime concretely.
"Li, steadfast like a rock"
"..."
Following Renie’s shadow, Fisher could only read the trees he passed by and their text.
Until before a lush, sturdy-looking tree did he pause his strokes,
"Bai, like flowers like fire"
This was Marquis Bai’s grave.
Fisher recalled the elf who once made Hooked Kiss headache-inducing in Master Tao’s barrier, but now, all that lay before him was the wood symbolizing her.
"Do you know this elf?"
"Ah, met once."
"I see, if so, let’s swim faster."
"So suddenly?"
"Because I don’t want this dummy to get sentimental over the grave of someone he knows; this is a date, it should be happier."
"Am I that fragile and childish?"
"Not cherishing the opportunity in front of your sister for coquetry."
Fisher smiled slightly but still obeyed, leaving behind these steles.
He finally swept past a colossal tree, and in front of it was written,
"Chun, Mirror Flowers Water Moon"
The path ahead widened, at the end of the forest, crossing a grand ’No Door’ made from three types of wood, Renie and Fisher arrived at the cemetery’s end, surrounded by an uncorroded painted stone wall, appearing solemn and respectful.
The wall bore a poem inscribed in Elf Language, but to Fisher’s surprise, there were three steles though only two trees.
Fisher glanced around and said to Renie,
"There are only trees for Elf King [Handle] and [Gui] here, but [Tao] is tree-less..."
"I’m not sure either, but you mentioned Gui was here, right?"
"Mm."
Fisher looked at the empty steles between the two trees, realizing that place was where Master Tao’s tree should have been planted.
Yet as there’s nothing here, it suggests Master Tao battled until her last breath in the war, such that after her demise, no elf could erect a stele or plant a tree for her.
On another note, since Gui’s tree is here, were the elves certain she was dead?
Helair said Gui sacrificed herself after fulfilling the prophecy’s divination, corroborating each other, because in the past, the elves only deemed Gui vanished, unsure she was dead.
"What does it say here..."
"[Gui, No effort is in vain.]"
"What does it mean?"
"It means some actions she took won’t be without reward..."
Renie glanced at Fisher, asking,
"Any clues found, about her and me?"
Fisher didn’t respond, just looked at the surrounding poem, trying to find related clues. But like the ’Third Son,’ the poem still narrated a story, recounting a history.
