In fact, Lindong isn’t quite sure herself what species she has been transformed into.
The title "Witch" was originally proposed by the church, and then as more people talked about it, she seemed to have genuinely become a Witch.
However, Lindong didn’t care about these matters, especially after meeting Ethan.
From her observations, Ethan seemed very fond of rare features like "white hair and red eyes" and "witch," but he showed no interest in the Empire’s conventional aesthetic preferences.
When they attended a banquet, quite a few young and beautiful noble ladies cast furtive glances at him and dressed up splendidly, but Ethan didn’t spare them a second look.
When Lindong passed by the Sub-human window, she suddenly felt enlightened.
Ethan is a Sub-human, so his aesthetic preferences are also Sub-human, which explains everything—just now while lining up, Lindong noticed Ethan was staring at those Sub-humans’ tails and ears for a long time, she queued at the next counter to get closer to see what was so interesting.
She specifically observed a Tiger-man and concluded, "What’s so difficult about this?"
With a "bang," two white cat ears sprouted atop her head, and a Ragdoll cat’s tail popped out from behind her, "This is much simpler than directly turning into a cat, even the weakest magician can do it."
After growing cat ears, her demeanor took on a bit of a feline quality, with a penchant for tilting her head when looking at people, "If you like these, why didn’t you say so earlier?"
"I don’t have such thoughts, I’m viewing this issue with a scientific spirit."
Ethan felt it necessary to clarify, "I’m just curious about how the Sub-human Race came to be, were their ancestors originally humans?" Fresh chapters posted on NoveI[F]ire.net
As he always emphasized, he had never been a furry enthusiast.
"Good question, sir!"
A lively voice actively entered the trio’s discussion, a young Tiger-man girl in shorts approached them, "Are you adventurers from afar? It seems your band has many Sub-human companions, welcome to Paradise Island!"
The white shirt on her had the slogan "Welcome to Paradise Island," albeit a bit distorted by her figure.
With that, she gave Lindong a smile, revealing her cute tiger teeth, and slapped Lindong’s shoulder boldly, "Counting it up, we’re practically distant relatives."
Lindong unhappily hid behind Ethan, gripping Ethan’s arm and poking her head out.
Ave marveled silently at Lindong’s significantly improved temperament recently.
If it were the witch from the Empire rumors whose name could not be mentioned, a slap like that would have been catastrophic.
The Sub-human Race often possesses traits beyond the ordinary, like the Tiger-man’s sharp teeth and strong hand strength, while Lindong is a standard Elemental Shaper, weak in body and lacking strength.
"We’ll definitely visit."
Ethan accepted the flyers handed out by the Tiger-man girl, which were meticulously crafted, with a detailed Aelium Sub-human travel guide on the back.
"Alright, I recommend the flavored BBQ restaurant run by the Yak Race, it’s sure to satisfy your cravings!"
This brought back beautiful memories for the Tiger-man girl, her eyes curved, almost salivating.
After freshening up, the captain and sailors completed their registration and greeted them; it wasn’t their first time in Ophira, they’d already made plans for fun, and told them if they needed anything, they could find them at Star Night Port in the Ophira South District, a special area set up for the sailors.
There are delicious foods, strong spirits, and lots of exciting performances.
After nine days at sea, the sailors were in dire need of entertainment to stir them up.
Ave said, "We have to go to the parliament first, they’ve arranged accommodations for us."
Typically, such international visits follow a complete hospitality process, entirely arranged by the parliament’s foreign affairs department; this time they seemed uninterested in the Empire’s visit, giving only low-spec receptions.
However, Ave was rather pleased, as higher-spec foreign exchange processes would leave them with almost no free time, and certainly no chance to visit a Sub-human gathering spot like "Paradise Island."
Ethan was very interested in the Sub-human Race—he and Lindong shared the same view on this; however, she wasn’t sure if this was also part of the plan.
The official statements emphasized so much recently that it made her increasingly feel every action Ethan took had its deep meaning.
"Wait a minute, did you forget something crucial?"
Ethan stopped the two who were about to leave.
"Where is Mr. Uerta?"
Why was no one concerned about the honest octopus-faced gentleman?
Ethan had been keeping an eye on him; Uerta was the first to go into the window, and then never reappeared, even the last sailor had left now.
"Did I forget to mention it earlier?"
Lindong had been queued behind Uerta, "He was suspected of spreading undesirable beliefs and attempting to transform other residents into octopus faces and taken for investigation, it might take a few hours for the inquiry to complete, let’s first settle our accommodations and then find him."
Ethan was incredulous, "Aren’t there a lot of Sub-humans here? Are there racial prejudices among Sub-humans?"
"I don’t think the registration lady is entirely at fault."
Ave stepped in to say something fair.
She was right in the room during registration, witnessing the events; "During registration, they ask about the Sub-human Race group status. Clearly, the registration lady hadn’t heard of the Deep Sea Race, then Uerta became a bit agitated, he suddenly grabbed the registration lady’s hand and said, ’If you’ve never heard of them, let me tell you about my master Aelium and Savior!’"
Both she and Lindong agreed this shouldn’t be considered a case of racial discrimination.
When an octopus face grabs your hands and says something like that, it’s only right to take him away for investigation.