Demi-human Girls Completion Manual Chapter 1605 - 100: News from Nali (Double-Length) (Part 2)

"What’s up with that ship?"

Right at that moment, Fisher seemed to turn his head toward the sea almost on instinct. Out there on the water, a massive steamship was parked steadily in the shallows with no intention of coming any closer. The "Bai Cui Family" flag hanging above it made Fisher raise an eyebrow—because beneath that crest was another line: "Wutong Chamber of Commerce."

Since when did Nali’s Bai Cui Family start cozying up with the Northern Realm?

And for some reason, every time Fisher saw the word "Wutong," he always got an extremely ominous feeling.

"That’s a ship from the Wutong Chamber of Commerce. They used to be our partners, but it was all very superficial. I’ve no idea what they’re here for this time..."

It was Rafael who spoke. Mentioning this, she instead turned to look at Fisher, smiling as she said,

"And in a certain sense, the reason we were able to work with them has something to do with you, Fisher."

"Me?"

Fisher tensed up, afraid there might be some "Valentina-related" factor involved.

"Ah, didn’t you have a classmate... or rather, a junior, named Keken?"

Hearing Rafael say that, he finally relaxed a little.

"Keken... now I remember."

Back on the South Continent and the Western Continent, Keken had helped Fisher out more than once, and Fisher had never had the chance to repay him. He hadn’t expected to hear his name again now.

Mm, Fisher also remembered that Keken had a pair of sisters from Kado as his wives.

"This Wutong Chamber of Commerce is the business he founded. Apparently they have partnerships with forces in the Northern Realm, and people over there don’t discriminate against demi-humans. After we were defeated by Barbatos and retreated south, the blockade from Nali caused a long period of material shortages. It was one of those situations where you had money but literally couldn’t buy anything. Back then it was the Wutong Chamber of Commerce that supplied us with goods and helped us get through the toughest stretch..."

Rafael turned her head to look at Fisher, smiling as she said,

"And the markup on their goods was still within an acceptable range. We’ve done business with them on and off since then. I’ve heard they trade with countries all over the world."

Fisher was a bit surprised at that. Stroking his chin, he said,

"With things the way they were back then, the markup still being in the normal range really doesn’t sound like Nali merchants; and conversely, the fact that you chose to deal with him back then was unexpected too."

"Which is why I said it had to do with you... Because of your relationship with him, I decided to close the deal. It was through them that I learned you’d been to the Northern Realm, but they didn’t tell me what happened to you in Nali, nor that you were currently wanted by Nali..."

Hm?

Being that nice to him?

Not mentioning the Nali incident meant keeping Moli and Elizabeth invisible to Rafael—so she only found out about Moli and Fisher when he came back; and judging from the way Rafael talked about the Northern Realm right now, she probably had no idea about Fisher and Valentina in the Northern Realm either...

Fisher didn’t believe that was simply Keken’s own decision. Keken should understand the inside story of a lot of things better than that, and he had no reason to handle it this way unless doing so benefited them...

Unless there was someone truly sharp advising him from the shadows, and the party who benefited was also related to that "mastermind."

For example, that group of Slimes.

Fisher suddenly remembered his connection with those Slimes back in the Boundary. Thinking of that, he couldn’t help but take a much closer look at the massive steamship.

Rafael also glanced that way in puzzlement and asked Mier,

"Why are they here? Any word?"

"Ah, about that—they said they just wanted to get a sense of what’s going on over here, and incidentally they brought a piece of news about ’Fisher’ for Lord Rafael. The boss of that chamber of commerce, that Nali man named Keken Bai Cui, seems to be on board as well. It was his wife who told me."

Fisher raised an eyebrow. Rafael turned to look at him too, hesitating as she said,

"Then..."

"Then let me go meet him. Whatever news there is, I’ll come back and tell you. Aunt Yaril and the Dragon Court need you over here as well."

Emhardt, perched on his shoulder, gave the very serious-looking Fisher a dead-fish stare. Anyone familiar with him would know he was probably trying to prevent Keken from telling Rafael some "trumped-up" piece of news.

Like, say, that inexplicable Phoenix wife who’d already woken up and was currently scouring the world for Fisher; or that Human Empress who was pining herself sick over her long-lost Prince... Mm, Emhardt also felt most of that stuff was very bad for the baby in Moli’s belly.

"All right. It’s a good chance for you to catch up with an old friend anyway. I’ll handle things over here..."

Rafael didn’t overthink it. She nodded decisively and began issuing orders, directing the work all around them.

Fisher jumped down from the carriage and, with Emhardt in tow, hurried toward the Wutong Chamber of Commerce’s ship.

...

...

The closer he got to the steamship, the more obvious its Northern Realm icebreaker style became. It actually had design elements in common with the Iceberg Queen, but since the Iceberg Queen’s predecessor was a warship, she looked much more slender, while the merchant vessel in front of him was bulkier, almost bloated by comparison.