When Fisher heard Emhardt’s familiar, duck-like voice, all the anxiety and guilt welling up inside him came to a halt, for he suddenly realized a problem—Caleb Wuz was someone he had never actually met, and had been dead for a long time, so why would he still be conversing with him?
Fisher abruptly looked down to find the Demi-human Girls Completion Manual searing against his chest like a branding iron, his skin sizzling like steak. He yelped in pain and quickly grabbed the scorching Demi-human Girls Completion Manual, tossing it to the ground.
He sharply inhaled and stood up, only to see that the Magic Circuits on his body were frighteningly bright and increasingly strange in shape, becoming more and more distant from a human’s... of course, they were also growing stronger.
Sweating profusely, Fisher clutched his head as Emhardt, floating above the table, flew over in a panic. Looking at Fisher’s somewhat scattered gaze, he urgently asked,
"Man, should I go call others over? You’re not looking quite right... You suddenly started talking out of nowhere earlier, scared the heck out of me, didn’t some woman curse you or something?"
"I... I’m fine, will be in a moment."
Fisher, breathing heavily, continued to bleed from his chest as the ringing in his ears persisted. The questions that had plagued his mind a moment ago replayed over and over as he struggled to his feet to look at the Soul Completion Manual; on its pages, the additional queries were gone, only Caleb Wuz’s travel notes and narratives remained.
He patted his somewhat muddled head, sensing the knowledge and pathways he’d gained from the Soul Completion Manual, and felt more and more course of action was akin to suicide.
But Fisher’s gaze remained fixated on the Soul Completion Manual lying open on the table. The concern he had felt for Renie, who had been missing for some time, turned into worry because of the words just spoken. He suddenly feared something had happened to her, or that she had encountered some danger she shouldn’t have...
"That stupid woman, when she comes back, I should lock her up to prevent her from running around the world and not coming home..."
"Damn it, who the hell are you talking about... No wait, why would you say such things about a woman, have you lost your mind tonight?"
Fisher seemed especially odd tonight, making Emhardt unable to resist charging at him and bumping his head sharply, almost knocking Fisher to the ground. Emhardt perched on Fisher’s shoulder, relentlessly bumping him,
"Snap out of it, snap out of it, snap out of it!"
Annoyed by Emhardt’s persistent vexation, Fisher finally grasped him in hand and held him under the light, staring into his single eye for a long while before somewhat dazedly putting him down and massaging his brow,
"My mistake, I’m a bit off today..."
"Where did we first meet?"
"... At the Nali Royal Library."
"Do you think I am a great relic?"
"Who is your favorite woman?"
Hearing these three responses, Emhardt finally relaxed as if the correct password had been entered. He perched on Fisher’s shoulder and said, with a mix of exasperation and affection,
"You guy, always causing trouble every few days, making these past few months with you more thrilling than centuries before... It’s just that I have a good temperament. If it were some other relic with a bad temper, like the eye relic from your ex-girlfriend, you might’ve been dead countless times by now."
"Right, I was just... a little too hasty."
Fisher sat down on the carpeted floor, remaining silent for a long time before finally speaking. Then, he slowly reached out and took the cooled-down Demi-human Girls Completion Manual into his hands, feeling the soul within him enriched by the madness, and slowly pulled out the postcard Renie had given him from the book.
"Next time, it won’t happen."