Once they walked down the hill the inn stood on, they finally realized something.
They didn't know where this supposed nursery was.
Looking around them, there were no signs to explain where they were or what each building was. They did notice the architecture was slightly different for some buildings, but it wasn't like they understood what that meant. So, they had to resort to asking for directions from the locals.
Strangely enough, they were reluctant to tell them anything about it. Shirley had to be mentioned by name for the information to be squeezed out of these tiny fish people.
Soon, after going through a few twists and turns, they came to a cul-de-sac of sorts. In the middle was a building with two floors and was quite similar to those surrounding it. Other than that, it had rectangular fence posts surrounding it, all of which had runes carved onto them.
Next to the gate were two guards. They both sat on pillars, perhaps to make them look bigger. Seeing people come closer, the guards quickly stood on the pillars.
A bit of their aura stuck out as they eyed everyone, revealing their rank-5 accomplishments.
"Please state your name and purpose for arriving here."
The one on the left spoke first, and he was not friendly. Nonetheless, they did everything they could to clear up the situation. And once again, they were wary at first and only after stating the name of their friend did the guards heave a sigh of relief. The group supposed that Shirley was quite popular… which wasn't wrong I suppose.
Then, they both kind of scratched their heads after a moment.
"When Shirley came here, what floor did she say that she was helping in again?"
The one on the left looked at the one to the right, but he wasn't confident either.
"She said she would be helping out on the third floor, right?"
They both contemplated for a little bit before just assuming that it was right. The group was confused by their words, though. Weren't there only two floors?
They then looked back at everyone before saying, "when we enter the building, make sure to stay quiet. You'll regret it otherwise."
The group were stunned by those words and looked at each other for a bit. They simply just nodded and followed the guards into the building.
The double doors opened quietly, allowing everyone to see the inside of the first floor. But what they saw was perplexing to them. The first floor was completely except for a few chairs.
However, on these chairs were people. There were around ten in total and all were men that appeared to be middle-aged. More importantly, the faint aura around them indicated that they were all rank-5. And yet, there they were; they were even sleeping. Or should I say meditating? Well, now it was clear why the guards said to be quiet, it was to not disturb these elders here.
But this wasn't the point. In a corner of the barely lit room, there was a pair of staircases—one went up, the other down.
The guard led the group carefully to the stairs and led them down into the basement. Once there, it was clear that it was just a normal basement. There were a bunch of boxes that probably held amulets that in turn held goods. It was even a bit dusty. However, it didn't end there; there were more stairs that headed downwards.
So, they continued downwards to the second basement floor. Again, it was just more storage, but the stairs ended there. The guards continued into the basement until they came onto a particular wall. Upon pushing a certain rock, runes suddenly emerged from the wall itself, pushing an entire section out of the way. Now, there appeared to be an entrance that continued downwards.
Now excited, the group continued following the guards down the spiraling staircase. It took an entire minute for them to reach the end and even before they reached the end, they could hear various noises.
Yet, upon exiting the staircase, the supposed third floor of the basement was in full view for them to see at.
The room itself was about as large as a football field with an almost fifty-foot ceiling, which would explain the long journey down here.
Dozens of male workers ran about between this room and smaller side rooms. Not only them, even female workers were here. In fact, this was where most of the females were within Angleford.
They were all at least as tall as Shirley and many of them seemed to have a strange lump on their napes. This was indeed a male that had fused with their partner—strange isn't it? Luckily, the difference in size between the males and females of this species only left the fusion looking like they were all hunchbacks, which was the least hideous it could turn out looking.
But the most awe-inspiring of this scene were the giant tanks that filled this giant room in rows. The tanks themselves were almost forty feet in length, width, and height.
Every glass tank was filled with water and in every tank were dozens of little anglerfish children. They would play, eat, and even sleep in there, enjoying the company of their caretakers and peers until they grew up.
What was truly tear-jerking was the effort everyone seemed to put into raising the children.
Many had posts where they would run converters and preservers with their own soul juice, turning it into pure air that would keep all the air ventilated and circulating. It kept the place at a nice cool temperature as well.
There were others that also constantly used their soul juice to convert it into pure water with a heavily regulated pH level, keeping the tanks clean and fresh for the little ones.
Others carried boxes full of food that were given strictly to the little ones at the top of the tank.
When the children grew to a certain age, usually about a year, they would have matured enough to begin training with their soul juice in some of the smaller side rooms.
It wasn't like they couldn't have done earlier, it's just a lot easier after a certain point. Beginning using one's juice at too early an age is extremely exhausting just from the sheer lack of juice and consciousness in the first place. And because of this lack of consciousness, accidentally using it too much to train can lead to irreversible damage such as an indefinite coma or even death. This not only goes for anglerfish, but for every species, including humans.
All in all, this was a well oiled machine from beginning to end, allowing them to effectively raise entire generations that will inevitably be just as strong if not even stronger than their predecessors.
This entire scene almost brought a tear to everyone's eyes. They were mostly humans, so they were much more accustomed to the more nuclear approach to a family. However, the phrase "it takes an entire village to raise a child" rang happily in their hearts as they watched everyone work hard.
Eventually, a whiff of someone's aura drifted to them by accident, and they all went wide-eyed. It was because this person was irrefutably rank-4, and following the aura, they found it was a female. Not only that, as they concentrated more, they realized that most of the females were of this rank.
These were the female elders who already had a partner as well as children, so they simply busy themselves by protecting and taking care of the little ones. Of course, not all of them were here; it's like never putting all your eggs in a single basket, kind of thing.
This surprised the group and only raised their impression of this anglerfish settlement.
Anyways, at a certain point, the guard left to retrieve Shirley, who had been helping train some of the children.
Upon seeing her newly acquainted friends, she excitedly came up to them.
"So? What do you think?"
She was talking about this nursery; she obviously took pride in it.
"It's… very safe."
They couldn't really come up with a good summary of how they felt, so they just said this. But Shirley bumped her hulking chest with a fist.
"Of course it's safe, hmph! Anyway, why are you here, to see me?"
"Yes. We were getting ready to leave, but you weren't at the inn. Your father told us you were here helping, so we came to say goodbye."
"Aw, you're leaving already? Okay… well, before you leave, I think you should have something."
She then took off her backpack that she had been wearing onto the floor.
After second, seeing nothing happening, Shirley became a little embarrassed. She kicked the backpack a little and then a groaned ribbit rang out from inside.
"Peppy, come on out of there already! Don't make me kick you again."
Finally, another ribbit came from inside the backpack and then it ruffled about. Soon, a sizable toad came out of the backpack, or I should say "leash".
The toad looked back at Shirley as if was wronged, and Shirley could sigh.
"Go ahead, give them the thing you showed me yesterday."
The toad was surprised, but then gave up. It soon vomited in front of the group, and to their absolute horror, a stone was puked up.
Shirley picked it up and cleaned it with her water-attributed soul juice, before giving it to Ran.
"I'm not really sure what it is, but it appeared that Peppy had eaten it accidentally while stuck in the cannon."
Indeed, looking at the black runes carved into the stone, it was remarkably similar to those found in the laser cannon.
"I'm not sure how you're connected to all of that stuff, but it didn't look like you liked it very much. Hopefully, this can help somehow."
Ran, now holding the stone, was almost reluctant to hold it at all. Who knows what it could be, but considering the point he was at now, could it get any worse? Ran doubted it. And on the flip side, maybe this could actually help somehow.
"T-thanks Shirley. You're right, I'm in the middle of a difficult situation; this might even be the key to it all."
He said the last part so as to make Shirley worry, and it worked. Hearing she was some help to her new friends, she sighed in relief.
"Alright, alright I get it, you're gonna make me cocky. Now, Peppy, what do you say to the people who saved you?"
Peppy, confused, looked at Shirley. Saved? I came out of there with a mate, what saving are we exactly talking about here?
Seemingly hearing his silent refusal, Shirley's non-existent eyebrows shot up. She was gonna give another little kick, but Peppy was a coward.
"Ribbit."
He gave a loud ribbit, and looked at them before returning back into his new home within the backpack. Shirley could only pick up the backpack and strap it back onto her shoulders.
"I guess I should be thanking you guys too for helping me find him."
"No, no it's fine. We ended up running into someone truly dangerous, so we're all even here."
"Ah, I see."
Everyone then gave their goodbyes to Shirley, took one last look at the nursery, and left with the guards.