The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

"Clatter... Clatter..."

Inside the narrow and simple wooden restaurant, the Schwalian girl Ingrid rested her cheek on one hand, staring dumbfounded at the gentleman feasting heartily beside her.

At this moment, an unknown number of porcelain plates were already stacked on the table in front of Fisher, and this was even after the Pig-Man chef had already taken some plates away beforehand.

Without hurrying, Fisher elegantly used the utensils provided by the establishment to cut the food into bite-sized pieces, yet this process didn't slow down his eating speed in the slightest. In Ingrid's eyes, even the hardest animal bones seemed as thin as a sheet of paper under his knife and fork.

This practiced motion made Ingrid increasingly certain that the man before her was not a local human of the Southern Continent, but a gentleman from the West Continent.

Gentleman or not, seeing this still made Ingrid's expression turn a bit stiff. After a brief pause, she asked,

"How long has it been since you last ate?"

Fisher glanced at her without feeling any embarrassment. Since this girl would ask something of him later, even if he didn't agree to her request, the magic he could give her afterward would be worth far more than the value of this meal, so he might as well eat to his heart's content first.

He slowly put down his knife and fork and patted his lower abdomen, which had completely flattened out again. Looking through the large hole in his clothes, his kidneys had fully reverted to their original state, but Renee's power had also completely vanished.

Where had Renee gone?

Originally, he had a Heart Bird in his wallet to contact Renee, but when they reunited earlier, that Heart Bird had flown out. At the time, both Fisher and Renee were immersed in the joy of their reunion, so he forgot to have her put another Heart Bird inside. Without that postcard to contact Renee, Fisher's view of the wallet also became inconsequential, and he had lost it in the Sanctuary.

On the surface, he took a napkin to wipe his lips, ignoring the young girl's previous question, and instead said,

"Shall we talk outside?"

Ingrid pursed her lips, took out several 100-denomination Nario banknotes from her pocket, and threw them onto the table. Then, she stood up and walked out of the cramped restaurant first, casually saying to the Pig-Man in Fimabahah Draconic Court Language,

"Keep the change."

"Ah, take care, you two."

Fisher glanced at the Pig-Man, whose eyes were shining as if he had seen a treasure while stowing the Nario behind the counter. After a moment's pause, Fisher also stood up and followed the girl's footsteps out of the restaurant.

It was currently noon in the Southern Continent. The sun shone brightly in the sky, and the wind blew gently across the wilderness, slightly lifting the long black hair on Fisher's head.

On the street, because Fisher had glared at them earlier, no other Demi-humans came over to watch. At this moment, the already not-so-bustling town seemed as if it only contained him and the girl.

When he came out, Ingrid was standing in the middle of the road near the door, looking up into the distance. Fisher followed her gaze and found she was looking at the smoke rising in the distance.

That place appeared to be a factory.

Hearing the sound of Fisher coming out, Ingrid, who was about to lift the camera on her chest to take a picture, turned her head and said through gritted teeth,

"Uncle, are you some starving ghost from nowhere? Eating so much of my food, one meal equals what I eat in a week..."

Uncle?

Although the girl before him did look very young, probably no more than twenty, and he was indeed in his early thirties, he still shouldn't be addressed like that...

Even Asuka Karasawa, who was younger than you, didn't call me that.

Fisher couldn't help but think this unconsciously.

But touching his long hair and the beard he hadn't groomed in a while, he didn't deny her form of address, simply stating,

"It was alright. I'm half-full."

"Hehe."

"Just as well, I have some things I want to ask you."

"Wait, shouldn't I be the one asking you first? I just treated you to a meal."

"Go ahead."

Ingrid glanced around the quiet surroundings, then beckoned to Fisher. Walking forward, she asked,

"How long have you been here, Uncle?"

"Just arrived."

"Just arrived? What do you mean? You got here in the last few days?"

"More or less."

Ingrid rubbed the beret on her head, looking a bit exasperated, and curled her lips, saying,

"And here I was hoping you could tell me something about that factory ahead. I couldn't capture anything in Dragon Court City at all. I've asked all the residents here, and all of them are keeping their mouths shut about that factory. Seeing that you're a West Continent person, I thought..."

This town really wasn't large. The girl walked quickly, and just with this bit of chatting, they were already near the edge.

At the end of her sentence, Ingrid, looking very troubled, held her head and crouched on the ground, staring unwillingly at the smoking factory in the distance. The only thing she didn't fuss about was how much Fisher had eaten and how much money he had cost her.

This girl's family background must be quite good.

Uncle Fisher glanced at the smoking factory in the distance, which was surrounded by a tall wall, and couldn't help but ask,

"What does that factory produce?"

"I don't know. I only know this is land the New Dragon Court [leased] to Naris. The legal authority here belongs directly to the Golden Palace and the Pioneering Company. They've built many factories here, similar to the nature of the Naris Consulate next to the Dragon Palace in Dragon Court City."

Fisher narrowed his eyes, feeling more and more that something was wrong. Recalling the new-style Nario she had taken out earlier, he couldn't help but ask,

"Ingrid, what year is it?"

"Uncle, which country's calendar are you using?"

"Naris."

Ingrid looked up at him and muttered,

"You are a Naris Person... Why do you act like an old antique... The year just started. Let me think, it's exactly the Fifth Year of Empress Elizabeth."

Fisher's eyes wavered slightly, and then he turned his head to look at Ingrid in utter disbelief. Even Eimhart, hiding in his coat, peeked out in extreme shock and also looked at Ingrid.

One had to know that when Fisher had just left this era, Elizabeth had only been on the throne for about half a year. Now that he had returned, she had already been reigning for five years, which meant he had been away from his own time for four and a half years?!

"How is this possible..."

"Uncle! You... What on earth is that in your jacket? It's so ugly..."

Ingrid, looking at the utterly astounded Fisher, was about to say something when she was immediately frightened by Eimhart in his coat.

At first, she thought it was some sort of spirit creature hiding in Fisher's clothes. Only upon closer inspection did she realize it was a book with eyes and a mouth!

"Your mom! Say that again, do you believe the great Sir Book Artifact..."

With her mouth wide open, Ingrid hastily raised the camera hanging around her neck, aimed at the book poking its head out and hurling insults, and pressed the shutter.

"Click!"

In an instant, Eimhart's vision was flooded with a white flash. Caught off guard, he quickly shrank back into Fisher's jacket while squawking loudly in his duck-like voice,

"Ah! It's sorcery! Fisher! My eyes! This girl uses sorcery!"

"Eimhart, there's been a deviation in our return. We shouldn't..."

Fisher patted Eimhart's body and said this with a bit of a headache.

But Eimhart, squinting his eyes that were so blinded he couldn't see a thing, drilled out and interrupted his speech, saying with certainty,

"It's definitely Baimon's fault! That guy causes endless harm!"

"No, it might be my fault..."

Fisher glanced at his fully healed kidney, already having a bit of a guess forming in his mind.

He had to admit that releasing the power Renee had left him while on the Tree Continent was a mistake. Extracting that power and resealing it in his body very likely altered the direction and intensity of its effect on the threads of Destiny, which was why it couldn't precisely return him to where he was supposed to go.

This analysis was sound because that power had completely lost control at the time. Although it calmed back down for unknown reasons, it was definitely not the same as the original, otherwise its repository wouldn't have shifted from his chest to his kidney.

But Eimhart only felt that Fisher had been brainwashed by that bad woman Baimon.

Fisher turned to the incredulous Ingrid before him and asked,

"Tell me everything that has happened from half a year after Elizabeth's coronation until now."

"Hey, Uncle, I'm the one who treated you to the meal, right now you..."

"Tell me, and in return, I'll take you inside that factory."

Ingrid's eyes, hidden behind her sunglasses, lit up slightly. Then she stood up, coughed lightly, and said to Fisher,

"Deal! Ah, wait, didn't you just arrive in the Southern Continent a few days ago? And you don't know about West Continent affairs either, so where were you before? The Northern Border? Drifting at sea?"

"Get to the point."

Ingrid glanced at the equally curious Eimhart hiding in Fisher's coat, then continued,

"Well, actually, there's not much to say about your Empress. Right now, she is one of the top figures in the West Continent... no, in the entire world. Under her leadership, Naris is just too... Hmm, I don't know how to describe it, but honestly, the difference from before is massive. Even from my perspective as a Schwalian, I find it extremely envious..."

She counted on her fingers, detailing everything that had happened in the past.

Ingrid knew quite a bit about Naris' domestic affairs, but only in a general sense, lacking specific details.

Ingrid only knew that Elizabeth's economic system reforms had become a learning model for the West Continent and the Northern Border. She seemed to have appointed many newly risen officials, adopted examination and assessment systems, and changed the Golden Palace era names—which were formerly passed down by surname—to be passed down by name, completely detaching the image of every monarch from the shadow of the Gothrin family.

Thus, Elizabeth Gothrin's formal title now could be [Empress Elizabeth] or [Elizabeth I], but more people preferred to call her [Empress of the Sun] or [Golden Empress].

The reformed Naris burst with astonishing vitality in a short period, with various emerging technological and magical achievements appearing frequently. However, since much information and data weren't made public, Ingrid was unaware of the specific internal situations.

She could only glimpse the current appearance of this empire rising like the sun from the increasingly numerous Naris factories, the growing wealth of the Naris citizens and merchants, and its increasingly tough diplomatic and military might.

After stabilizing her own backyard, Elizabeth's ambitions for outward expansion were quickly revealed without a doubt.

Toward Naris' ancient neighbor Schwari, with whom they had an entangled love-hate relationship, Elizabeth's economic and military strategies became increasingly aggressive. Over the past four and a half years, although there had been no open warfare, anyone with eyes could see the Schwali Empress suffering continuous defeats in her games with Elizabeth.

Regarding the disputed territories between the two countries that had remained vague for hundreds of years, Elizabeth only took back one piece, but it was exactly that piece which held the longest history of dispute between Naris and Schwari.

The Naris army stationed troops there, and Schwari could surprisingly only watch from afar within its borders.

Along with this, Elizabeth made the Church and Magic Association—which were originally nominally affiliated with Kadu—completely independent, establishing institutions wholly autonomously controlled by Naris. Originally, Elizabeth even personally invited Helson to be the first President, but he declined due to old age. Not long after, this legendary magic grandmaster announced his retirement, opting to enjoy his twilight years in peace.

In short, the West Continent had completely turned into territory where the order was led by Naris.

Of course, this wasn't without its issues; both within Naris and abroad, there was a certain level of dissatisfaction with Empress Elizabeth. But this dissatisfaction stemmed mainly from her near-absolute power, rather than her actions or results.

Those who resented her cursed her, degrading her as a "Dictator" or "Tyrant." Those who loved her praised her, hailing her as a "Sage" or "The Sun."

The constitutional monarchy that had been brewing for a long time and was nearly formed had been thoroughly twisted by Elizabeth's power the day her originally mediocre brother died. Perhaps in the future, someone would summarize and reflect upon Naris' current system and phenomena that existed in name only, but evidently, Elizabeth couldn't care less about any of that...

What she wanted was only today and now, Naris rising like the morning sun.

Fisher listened expressionlessly. In the four and a half years he missed, the West Continent had changed too drastically. But just as she had told him when he left, when she bloodily seized power from her brother's hands, she would do a better job than Dexter.

Fisher wasn't sure if Elizabeth was satisfied with the current situation, but judging from Ingrid's rather shocked and sighing tone, many people in the West Continent were deeply astounded by it.

"Uncle... Uncle..."

Fisher paused slightly, but Ingrid's calls from the front pulled him out of his thoughts. She resignedly raised an eyebrow and asked,

"Are you still listening?"

"Yes, I'm listening."

"So, how is it? Has the long-departed you re-experienced the feeling of finding your way back home?"

"A little..."

"Oh, that's really strange. Every time Naris people in Dragon Court City talk about their Empress and domestic affairs, their faces are full of pride. And yet, I can't read a single emotion on your face... Hey, Uncle, are you perhaps some fugitive exiled by Naris who smuggled himself to the Southern Continent?"

Don't say it, in a certain sense, what Ingrid said was actually correct.

Fisher shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and then asked,

"What about the Dragon Court? Who is the leader here, and what is this Dragon Court City you mentioned earlier?"

Upon hearing this, Ingrid's expression faltered slightly, then she curled her lips and said,

"Who else could it be but the Green Dragon King, [Yser]..."

Fisher frowned and couldn't help but ask,

"Then, have you heard the name Raphaela?"

Even now, Fisher felt a bit uneasy about his sudden departure for such a long time. For this era where Mythical entities were perishing and Long-Lived Species were scarce, four and a half years was not short. Many mundane things could change. Though it might not mean much to a Whale-kin like Miri, who could sleep away decades, it was different for Raphaela fighting in the Southern Continent or Valentiina sleeping in the Northern Border.

Especially when Fisher heard that the leader of the current New Dragon Court was a name he had never heard of, his concern for Raphaela's current condition grew even greater.

Unexpectedly, Ingrid, whose expression had been relaxed just a moment ago, immediately experienced a change in complexion upon hearing "that name" from Fisher's mouth. It was as if she was reminded of something terrifying, as though the name originated from something utterly frightening.

"Why? Does this name represent something?"

"Of course it does. I've heard of that name even before coming to the Southern Continent. Although I haven't seen her with my own eyes, it's said she is an extremely violent and bloody Dragon-kin, renowned for the blood-red scales covering her body. She is the head of a violent resistance organization that opposes the existing Dragon Court. They seem to call themselves the Dragon Court as well, but who knows which one is legitimate..."

"And the reason that Dragon-kin became famous is because she cruelly buried and slaughtered a great many humans."