"Phoenix?"
Fisher turned his head to glance at the face of the man sprouting feathers from his eyes, then took a quick look at Alagina and wondered aloud whether the man had called her a Phoenix because she was a descendant of the Phoenix Species or because she possessed the Ice Prince Sword?
Emhardt surveyed Alagina, then whispered into Fisher’s ear,
"It shouldn’t be, Fisher. The one who wields the Ice Prince’s Sword, the Phoenix’s Son, is not only a male Phoenix but also the most ill-tempered one among the three Phoenix’s Children. How could he have progeny with a Human... Moreover, even if there were offspring, according to maternal lineage, the Phoenix Blood within her should be nearly diluted."
"Could there be ancestral return?"
Fisher suddenly rembered a study he had conducted before when a rich man from Saint Nali had urgently sought him out, saying his daughter had turned into a Witch overnight, although this did not follow maternal inheritance patterns since the girl’s mother was a common Human.
He investigated at the rich man’s house and confird that the girl’s Magic Circuit was indeed that of a Witch’s, not a Human’s. The problem was, she was their own daughter, raised from infancy, with no chance of being switched at birth. If it weren’t for the day she manifested Witch traits and turned their stone statues into hopping frogs, her elderly father might never have noticed her uniqueness.
After cautiously researching their family history, Fisher discovered that their ancestors had fled from Kado and migrated here long ago, aning there had indeed been a Witch among the man’s ancestors.
The reproductive patterns of Witches, a subspecies of demi-humans, were fascinating since all Witches were females and needed to intermarry with other races. The probability of reproduction was no different from Humans, but interestingly, among their children, only one would be a Witch.
If a Human mated with a Witch, no matter how many children they had, only one daughter would be a Witch, most likely the firstborn. All other children would belong to the father’s race and not exhibit any Witch traits.
In his past research, Fisher had concluded that the non-Witch children’s blood had diluted the Witch part, aning they inherited none of the Witch traits.
But the rich man provided a counterexample since his ancestor was a non-Witch child born of a Witch, yet the Witch blood had never disappeared and continued to flow through generations until it manifested in his daughter, turning her into a real Witch...
Fisher had terd this phenonon "ancestral return," but so far, he had only seen this in the case of the Witch girl and had never encountered other instances of it.
Yet, if Alagina exhibited a case of ancestral return from the Phoenix Species, she should have been born with Phoenix traits, such as feathers and wings. However, Alagina was undeniably a full Human...
Indeed, upon hearing Fisher’s query, Emhardt also doubted that Alagina’s condition was a case of ancestral return,
"I’m not sure what you an by ancestral return, but from its literal sense, if her ancestor were a Phoenix, such noble blood would not be diluted to this extent. I suspect that the Feather Man must have sensed the Ice Prince Sword she carries and mistaken her for the Phoenix Prince."
Upon hearing this, Alagina’s brow furrowed as she sensed that the Ice Prince Sword truly desired the precious treasure the Feather Man ntioned.
The man in the black cloak, although his eyes had vanished, leaving him blind, had a clear expression as he gazed at Alagina and said with a trembling voice,
"My queen, we have waited here for a long ti, following your orders, defying ti and the curse, just waiting for your return... Please take the treasure and free us from the anguish of this curse."
At that mont, Alagina noticed him scratching vigorously inside his cloak, as if the growth of the feathers was both painful and itchy, causing him great discomfort. A re touch would make the feathers cut like blades stuck in his flesh, causing blood to seep from the growths continuously.
He and the others had endured such tornt for countless years to honor their mission, demonstrating profound loyalty to what they referred to as the "Phoenix Species," willing to suffer with no complaints, only hoping that their queen would successfully retrieve the item they guarded.
With this in mind, Alagina finally spoke up,
"Where is the item?"
"It’s... this way! Honorable queen, please follow ! All your most loyal servants are there guarding that item... but they have been severely ravaged by the curse and can scarcely move to greet you now, I beg your understanding..."
He bowed apologetically on behalf of his partners to Alagina, then stood up and walked towards the interior of the island, gesturing that the item lay in that direction.
Alagina glanced at Pahetz beside her and deftly tossed a glowing marker from her pocket; if they ran into any trouble, they could use it to signal the Iceberg Queen for help.
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