Heretical Fishing-Chapter 50Book 4: : Lessons in Flight

Sergeant Snips, wielder of water and most-loyal of Fischer’s pals,uldn’t believe what she was seeing. One shaky claw removed her single piece of clothing, the patch her beloved master had made for her. And looking through both eyes, something she hadn’t done in months, she witnessed a flock of birds wheeling around in the sky above Tropica.

That alone wasn’t shocking, ofurse. Seagulls were ammon sight by the ocean, as were the small brown birds that flitted around the nearby forest. What made it startling was that the birds weren’t birds at all—most were human. Through some manner of feathered frackery, Bill and Pelly had bonded to therrupted cultivators, turning them into pelicans.

Snips shouldbe happy for them. Through theirmbined efforts, the two pelicans had nullified a vast swathe of prisoners. They’d evolved potential enemies into aerial forces thatuld assist Tropica.

She should be happy for Maria, too. Snips spared a glance the mistress’s way, and when she saw the joyful tears in her eyes, she wasntent for her. But... it was overshadowed by something large, ugly, and embarrassing.

Her own emotions. Shame, jealousy, a feeling of not being enough.

She had been the first of Fischer’s animals to awaken, and others were catching up to her, if not outright leaving her in the dust. Even her damned pond was outshining her. Both figuratively and literally, she noted, as Slimes shifted to his crystalline form and reflected the sun’s rays.

It felt like a lifetime ago that Corporal Claws had beaten her to gaining an aspect. The troublesome otter’s chi had taken on the essence of lightning when they fought Trent, Leroy, and the other cultivator from Gormona. That alone hadn’t bothered the sergeant; it had filled her with only positive emotions. After all, that extra strength was something that sheuld utilize in the protection her beloved master.

She’d used Claws’s advancement as motivation to facilitate her own growth. Even the recent awakening as an elemental hadn’t caused Snips to worry.

Okay, that was a lie. She had worried, but not about her own inadequacy; Claws was made of both lightning and pure chaos. It would cause anyone stress.

Snips was getting distracted. She recentered herself a stream of bubbles, and as she did her best to assess her feelings, the tiny orbs turned ponderous. What was it about the birds celebrating above her that made her feel so left behind?

The parallel between the Church of Carcinization and their idolization of her crabby form was the obvious answer, but she only needed tonsider for a moment to know that wasn’t it. So what elseuld it be...? Try as she might, sheuldn’t work out why her feelings had grown into a forest of tangled kelp.

Lost in the brackish waters of her mind, Snips jolted when a soft hand touched the top of her spiky carapace. A wave of heat crawled over her skin as she turned to look up at her ambusher.

“Hey...” Maria’s face was smothered inmpassion, the redness lingering in her eyes doing nothing to diminish her beauty and kindness. “Do... do you want to talk about it?”

Snips didn’t move for a few snds that felt like an eternity. The anxiety prickling her body moved down to her legs, where it loitered and remained. Her thoughts seemed to freeze under the mistress’s attention. Then, from nowhere, a ray of hope shone down and melted the ice.

Are these blackened doubts actually a sickness? she wondered, keeping herncerns to herself. Something that a healeruld fix...?

She returned her gaze to Maria and asked with a hiss, What did you feel?

“Feel...?” She smirked despite herself. “You took your eyepatch off, Snips. That’s the first time you’ve done it since your other eyestalk was healed.”

Oh... She blew a stream of sheepish bubbles.

“Don’t be embarrassed. I did sense something from you, but it wasn’t related to my healing chi. Yourre seemed… upset. Troubled.”

Snips knew Maria wouldn’t judge her, yet sheuldn’t help but feel ashamed at hoping for such a straightforward solution. Even if there was an easy path, would taking it not hurt her cultivation? Hinder the desire to defend her master and all he held dear?

With another hiss, this oneming out as a long sigh, she looked up at Maria. How much time do you have?

“I have all the time in the world for you, Snips. Right, Slimes?”

“Yeahhh!” Slimes dropped his crystalline form and jiggled for emphasis. “Alllll the time!”

Shaking her shell at the ridiculousness of being reassured by a tidal pond—her tidal pond—Snips scuttled in place, working out her nervous energy. Where should she even begin? Before a decisionuld be reached, the closest crop shook, rumbled, and a squad of cultivators exploded out of it, obliterating most of the sugarcane.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Covered in plant fibers and greenery, they didn’t stop, slowing for only a snd as the followers wiped debris from their eyes to regain sight of the man at heading their charge. Joel, the leader of the Cult of Carcinization, leaped into the air. He crashed down into the sand before them and skidded to a halt. Sergeant Snips, all too aware of what the crabby humans were about to ask, shook her head, discarding grains of sand in every direction.

Joel pressed his forehead into the ground. When they arrived a moment later, they followed suit, going to their knees before kowtowing. The leader took a deep breath, preparing to launch into a no-doubt impassioned speech, but an oppressive forcenstricted his throat, killing the words.

Maria stepped forward with chi rolling from her in waves so strong her skin glowed pink. “Joel...”

Her tone was artificially flat, feeling like the blunt side of a deadly scythe ready to twist and slash. It made Snips’s mouth go dryer than the sand surrounding them.

“Would you care to explain why you just destroyed one of Barry’s crops?”

Though it was still pressed to the ground, Snips didn’t need to see Joel’s face to know he understood the severity of Maria’s question.

“I...” He swallowed, only able to move his neck because Maria allowed it. “We came to beg Sergeant Snips, our benevolent and all-powerful deity, to instruct us in the way of the crab.”

Time passed by, the snds dragging on, yet Maria’s oppressive fury didn’t subside. “That’s not what I asked, Joel.”

With deliberately slow movement, he pressed both palms into the ground. His own anger flared, and he lifted himself upright to stare back in defiance. Compared to the storm front that was Maria, however, his resolve was a wave lapping at the shore. “I had to reach our deity as soon as possible. Time was of the essence.”

“No. It wasn’t.”

“It... it was. The cultivators from Theogonia just became birds! If they can do it, there’s no way that we can’t! All we need—”

“No,” Maria repeated, the air warping around her. Like an invisible fist had struck the ground, a giant circle of sand sank an inch. The force smashed Joel’s resolve apart. But she wasn’t done. “Have younsidered that your lack of care for others is the reason you haven’t turned into crabs yet?”

No answer came.

“That wasn’t a rhetorical question, Joel. Have. You. Considered it?”

“Noth—” His voice cracked; he cleared his throat. “Nothing is more important than our evolution. Care for others eurages weakness.”

“Wrong.” She gestured at the destroyed crops. “That sugarcane was. It’s hypocritical of me to say because I’ve caused similar destruction on a lesser scale, but there was literally no reason for you to walk through that field. If you’d strode around it, you still would have found Snips. Hades’s blackened realm, youuld have just leaped over it!”

“That would have been slower, and time—”

“Shut up.” Despite having there of a healer, Maria’s pulse of chi held deadly intent. She took a deep breath and patted Slimes’s head to steady herself.

All the blood had drained from his face. He nodded.

“Let me finish. I was there for the pelicans’ transformation—ituldn’t have happened without me—and none of them had anything close to the level of self-importance you do. If delusions of grandeur were a part of your path, don’t you think you’d already have succeeded by now?”

As Snips watched Joel and the rest of the crab-ish humans closely, she saw something almost as astounding as the pelicans circling above—the mistress’s words seemed to be taking root. Their faces showed introspection, as did the essence circulating theirres.

Abruptly, their leader reached a decision. He sat upright and met Maria’s gaze. “I wasn’t aware you took part in their transformation.”

She sighed, the pressure and pink light returning to herre. “Yeah, well, I did, so maybe give what I said some th—”

“Please!” he interrupted in a yell, slamming his forehead back into the ground. “Your healing chi might be the last thing we’re missing! Help us achieve carcinization!”

The only warning was a twitch of Maria’s upper lip. She shot forward so fast she may as well have teleported.

“That!” She grabbed Joel by thellar of his robe. “Isn’t!” Her other arm gripped his ankle. “The!” She pivoted and drew him back like a sack of grain. “Lesson!”

As she unleashed her last word, so too did she unleash the leader of the Church of Carcinization. He sailed high over the ocean, his limbs splayed and scream feminine. Because of the angle she’d thrown him at, he reached the apex of his flight just before he crested the horizon.

“Think about your actions while you crab-walk back!” Maria bellowed, then spun to look down at the others, pausing to straighten her shirt. “Are there any other questions?”

“N-no!” Jess replied, glancing up with wide eyes—and looking ridiculous because of the sugary pulp stillvering her. “I saw the truth in what you said. I’d assumed Joel did too…”

“Maybe Sally wasn’t entirely wrong...” another said. “Perhaps we’ve been a bit much.”

“We’ve been a bit much...?” asked a third.

Jess shook her head, then winced and wiped away a sugarcane splinter from the crook of her neck. “Joel has been a bit much. With any luck, he’ll actually do some self-reflection on the way back. If not, I’ll talk to him when he returns.” Still kneeling, she rotated to face Snips. “Sorry. For him, and for us. We’d still love your guidance, but only if you’re willing—”

Ofurse I’m willing, Snips hissed, waving a claw.

“Really?” She tried to keep her voice calm, but a slight twitch of her facial muscles betrayed her. “Are... are you free now?”

Snips shook her carapace, then shrugged. Soon, maybe. She patted Maria’s fleshy-yet-firm leg. The mistress made me realize something important, which I must attend immediately.

“I did?” Maria asked. “Does that mean you don’t want to...” She frowned, her gaze as she assessed Snips’sre. “Huh. You reached a decision.”

Snips nodded. She had, and it was all because of the mistress’s wisdom. She showed her thanks by rubbing affectionately against Maria. Then, with a polite wave to the rest of the Church of Carcinization—who watched her with curious looks—she departed, trailing Joel’s passage out into the ocean.

It has been too long…