The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Ugh... Ugh, ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"

Fifteen minutes later, beside a rushing mountain stream, Fish shook off the water and spat out the cold water that streamed down his face and into his mouth and nose—until thirty seconds earlier, his emergency landing had gone smoothly. Although fuel was exhausted, the biplane seaplane's enormous wing area relative to its fuselage gave it excellent gliding capabilities, and the numerous rivers and wetlands dotting the mountains of Timor provided ample landing sites for the seaplane.

More importantly, after a period of shutdown and restart, Ange's pair of anti-gravity wings, which had been temporarily disabled due to the collision, were restored to usable status. Although the aircraft's tail was damaged, making horizontal maneuvering impossible and pitch control quite difficult, she still managed to help Fish land the aircraft in a pond in a valley depression with the assistance of the anti-gravity wings.

However, both of them forgot one thing—the violent collision between Ange and the aircraft earlier had left a very noticeable dent on the lower side of its float. Upon contact with the water, this large dent greatly increased drag, causing the aircraft to flip over and land upside down in the water at the last moment.

Although Fish and Ange are both excellent swimmers and this little accident was nothing to them, being soaked to the bone as soon as they landed was hardly a good omen.

"My lord, let's hurry up and go." After wiping the water off her face, Ange took Fish's arm and quickly climbed to the bank of the pond. "The noise we made might attract people nearby. If it's an Imperial Army patrol, that would be bad."

"That's right." Fish nodded and started climbing up a mountain path near the pond. But he stopped after only a few steps.

On the mountain road ahead, a man with a gun was watching them.

The instant he saw the figure, Fish instinctively raised the ion gun on his arm armor, aiming the crosshairs on his helmet scope at the other person's forehead. But the next second, he immediately lowered the gun.

Standing on the mountain path watching them was a girl with strikingly long and golden hair. Her "turbulent" curly hair was extremely thick, hanging down to her knees, and on either side of her head, a pair of short and cute little ram's horns peeked out from the hair, indicating her rare status.

"This appearance... seems to belong to the very rare Sartre race," Ange said.

"The Sart race... uh... those are the legendary ones with special hair..."

"Yes," Ange said, "the legend is true."

Fish swallowed hard—he had heard many tales about this extremely rare new human race back in Oasis Harbor. A businesswoman selling high-end wigs had told him in a bar that her best wigs came from the south of Fayun. There, lived a unique race of women, all with the physical characteristics of sheep.

According to the wig merchant, the existence of this ethnic group is a closely guarded secret of the Duchy of Fayun, because their hair has exceptional color and texture, and grows at several times the speed of ordinary people's hair. The nobles of Fayun love to adorn themselves with wigs made from their hair, and also craft various decorative ropes and handicrafts from their hair.

Of course, shortly after the wig merchant finished speaking, three other transshipment traders in the bar immediately stepped forward to "debunk the rumors"—they stated that the "Sartre Clan" was nothing but nonsense fabricated by some wig merchants to conceal their true source of goods, and that it did not actually exist. They then got into a heated argument with the wig merchant.

Fortunately, Fish managed to guide these guests to resolve their disputes by turning it into a drinking contest, which resulted in his sales doubling that day.

After that, Fish heard similar rumors many more times on different occasions, some of which were very crude and even absurd, while others had many details that were difficult to verify. However, it was only at this moment that Fish finally confirmed that these legends were indeed true.

"Who...who are you people?!" Upon seeing Fish and Ange, the blonde girl with ram's horns was clearly startled. She held a simple, muzzle-loading shotgun in her hand, the muzzle pointed at Fish's chest, but Huang Yan didn't even consider it a threat—after all, with the initial velocity of such a poor-quality weapon, it was impossible for it to penetrate her defenses.

"We... this..." Fish was also stunned—after all, he and Ange were still equipped with intelligent combat armor. The fully activated "Phoenix Flame" and "Golden Soup" made them look like a red warrior from an old tokusatsu movie and a golden-armored knight princess from a fantasy world, respectively. For a moment, he didn't even know how to explain his identity to her.

But if they couldn't get away with it, and the horned girl ran to report to the Imperial Army stationed in the "Secret Realm," they would almost certainly face a large-scale manhunt. However, Fish simply couldn't bring himself to kill someone so harmless. And he knew very well that Ange wouldn't be able to do the same easily.

"Ah, I get it!" Just as Fish and Ange were still struggling with their thoughts, the horned girl suddenly smiled. "You two are a couple who eloped, aren't you?!"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!"

Although the two had imagined countless possibilities in their minds just now, the horned girl's words completely shattered the limits of their imagination. Therefore, after a full three seconds of stunned silence, Fish, whose cheeks were as red as ripe tomatoes, finally managed to gather his words.

"Um... miss, why... why are you saying that?"

"Yes, Mary guessed it," the horned girl said. "Although everyone thinks Mary is useless, she's actually quite clever. So, I only needed to use my brain a little to figure out that you two eloped."

"Uh, I'd like to hear the details." Seeing that the other party didn't seem hostile, Ange asked curiously, "How exactly did you deduce that?"

“It’s very simple. First of all, your attire indicates that you are all armored warriors, right?” Mary asked, “and very skilled ones at that—the kind of people who either serve the Emperor himself or the Grand Duke.”

"Ah, I guess so." Ange nodded—at least, Mary's statement was indeed reasonable on a common-sense level. Although a considerable number of intelligent combat armors have been unearthed in various ruins and relics, the number of candidates that can effectively adapt to them, especially high-level intelligent combat armor, is extremely limited. To prevent these powerful individuals from going out of control, even if there is no immediate need, various countries, especially royal families, will control them with high-ranking positions and generous salaries.

"Yes, I saw that you arrived here by plane. But under normal circumstances, no one would let a high-level armored warrior fly a plane himself. After all, that would be too wasteful." Mary continued to deduce with the air of a "famous detective." "Moreover, your plane was dilapidated and its flight behavior was very strange, which means it must have been attacked."

Fish and Ange nodded again: Putting everything else aside, Miss Mary's meticulous observation skills are absolutely commendable. Even many seasoned spies and scouts probably can't match her in this respect.

"Furthermore, in the 'Secret Realm,' the Imperial Army has its own temporary airfield. We see planes taking off from the mountains around here every few days. The fact that damaged planes don't land there but deliberately come to this desolate wilderness suggests only one thing: you're intentionally avoiding the Imperial Army!"

"Well……"

"Um... am I right?" Mary clasped her hands together, just like a primary school student who had just finished answering a question and was eagerly waiting for the teacher's feedback.

"Ah...yes, yes, yes." After a brief moment of thought, Ange finally decided to admit it directly—because she keenly sensed the displeasure on the face of the horned girl in front of her when the Imperial Army was mentioned. "We are indeed hiding from the Imperial Army...I think you probably don't like them either, right?"

"Yes," Mary nodded vigorously, "Of course, those guys are the worst!"

"Phew." Seeing the other party's response, Fish breathed a sigh of relief: at least he didn't need to worry about Mary going back and informing him. "But why did you say we were a couple?"

"In the wilderness, a boy and a girl embark on a perilous escape to break free from the shackles of fate. Could there be any other force driving this than the power of love?" Mary said with utter rapt attention. "That's what stories always say!"

"Yes, yes, that's it!" Although the actual situation was somewhat different, upon hearing the phrase "the power of love," Ange immediately took Fish's arm and nodded vigorously. "It's the love between us that has sustained us all this way!"

Fish's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't say anything more—he and Ange both remembered that when they first met, Ange first challenged him to a real fight, and only after being impressed by his combat abilities did she suddenly force him to agree to the marriage. Fish's agreement was largely due to Huang Yan's belief that it would help him complete her "mission." However, although the beginning of this story was incredibly cliché, after fighting side-by-side for so long, their relationship had indeed changed drastically from the initial purely mutually exploitative one.

"It's quite obvious that this is what happened: you were noble armored warriors who were directly loyal to the Emperor, you were in love with each other, and you were sent here with that imperial army," Mary continued excitedly, stating her speculation. "However, after arriving here, you suddenly received news that His Majesty the Emperor had arranged your marriages to people you didn't love! After all, the marriages of noble armored warriors are all arranged, with no consideration for love, only how to increase the probability of the next generation inheriting the armored warrior's talent."

"That's certainly true..." Ange muttered—at least Mary's explanation of the armored warriors' marriages was largely accurate. However, Mary naturally took this as evidence that she had guessed everything correctly from beginning to end.

"Heh heh, I told you! You didn't want to marry someone you didn't love, so you weighed your loyalty to the monarch against your devotion to love. Finally, with the wedding date approaching and you about to be recalled, you decided to risk everything by stealing an airplane and embarking on a grand escape towards the brilliant sunrise! To prevent your escape, the Imperial Army immediately gave chase. You engaged in a fierce battle in the air, and although you eventually defeated your pursuers, your plane was severely damaged, forcing you to make an emergency landing here!"

As she said this, Mary gestured with her hands to resemble an airplane, simulating a dogfight—at least in Fish's opinion, her understanding of it was quite reasonable.

"In short, as you said, we're in trouble now," Ange nodded vigorously. "The noise from the plane crash might attract the Imperial Army soon! Can you help us?"

"Of course! Helping those in distress is an inescapable duty!" Mary waved her hand. "Come with me! Anyway, none of us like the Imperial Army, so we're willing to do anything that makes them uncomfortable."

Led by Mary, Fish and Ange quickly climbed the narrow mountain path and passed through a series of forest trails known only to those familiar with the local terrain. Finally, after passing through a cave that appeared to be an old mine shaft and was filled with support frames, they arrived at a small town.

Of course, calling it a "small town" is an understatement—after all, this settlement nestled in a small mountain valley consists of only seventy or eighty buildings, mainly wooden stilt houses, as well as some warehouses and two-story huts painted white. However, it doesn't resemble a village either. Apart from small, meticulously tended vegetable gardens, there are no large-scale farmlands.

Clearly, this place does not rely on primary industries in the conventional sense for its livelihood.

What puzzled Fish and Ange even more was the near absence of adults in the town. Only a handful of blonde girls with short ram's horns, like Mary, moved about. The atmosphere in the town was rather gloomy and somber. Upon seeing the two, the girls who had been doing chores showed signs of unease; some whispered in fear, while others tried to hide inside. Fortunately, Mary waved her hand, silencing them once more.

"Welcome to Mary's town," Mary said to Fish and Ange. "I'm sorry, there aren't many people in town right now, just Mary and these little lambs."