Pillar of Yita

”I’m truly heartbroken for the descendants of Sir Haggston,” Miss Misu said sadly, shaking her head as she set down the roster in her hand and sighed.

”He wasn’t much better himself, otherwise there wouldn’t have been so many issues afterward,” Luen couldn’t help but speak disdainfully, ”And I suspect the Praetor is on their side as well. There’s no hope in this, they’re all tarred with the same brush.”

”If that’s the case, our situation is quite dangerous,” the Knight answered after a moment of silence, ”But I don’t think it’s that bad. Dolifen’s council has turned over more than a dozen Praetors. The political landscape behind it now encompasses most of the Colin Kingdom. Unless the followers of the Dark Giant Dragon have taken control of the Kingdom, it shouldn’t be to that extent—”

Luen also felt his own words were a bit too extreme and could only shake his head without saying more.

He sighed and changed the subject, ”What do we do now?”

The young lady glanced at the two before answering, ”Let’s split up and act. We still have to trust Lord Praetor; without his support, our hopes are too slim. You and Mr. Diket will take this evidence to Lord Praetor.”

”What about you?” Luen asked, looking at the young lady.

With her hand resting on the roster, the girl replied, ”Mr. Diket reminded me, these victims are indeed the most critical part of the enemy’s plan—I’ll try to find the whereabouts of these missing students. Although the chances of finding clues are slim, we still have to try.”

”Just you alone?” The young man seemed a bit anxious.

Miss Misu smiled, a rare occurrence: ”Don’t worry, I won’t act recklessly. If there are any clues, I’ll join you guys.”

After hearing this, Luen exchanged glances with Diket and nodded.

His gaze followed Misu’s hand, landing on the name at the top of the roster— ”Hes?” The young man sighed, ”I really hope that miss has some luck on her side, that it would allow us to find her.”

As the three were reflecting, just then, the office door suddenly opened.

A young man in a sailor shirt rushed in frantically, ”Boss, Miss Misu, Mr. Knight, Manlo’s people seem to have noticed something. They’re back.”

Misu looked at the others and said, ”It seems we should leave too. I could only deceive Manlo for so long, staying longer might be dangerous.”

The three nodded their heads.

Then Luen turned to the young man, ”Jeffrey, stall them for us, and after we’ve left, find a way to leave the city yourself.”

The young man removed his cap and saluted the three, ”Leave it to me. You all be careful, especially you, boss.”

”Thank you, Jeffrey,” Luen looked at him gratefully.

With that, the four of them went their separate ways out of the office.

And behind them, the Phantom Realm crumbled like a castle built on sand, slowly dissolving—under the gaze of Fang Hong and Hilveld, the office basking in the moonlight vanished, the wallpaper on the walls faded, curled, darkened, and then shattered to pieces.

All of the papers turned yellow, the corners curling up before finally turning to dust.

The desk collapsed with a bang, turning to ashes.

The bookshelves also caved inwards, then broke and fell onto each other, webs forming and gathering dust. The curtains became tattered, stripe by stripe, filled with holes.

And the windows on the outside, empty and hollow, resembled the eye sockets of a skeleton.

But only the cold Moonlight—

Unchanged for a thousand years.

Shined upon this ruin-like office.

With a tiny tinkling sound, Fang Hong noticed a pin shimmering with faint light in the direction where the four had left the office.

Quietly lying amid the dust.

At the end of their vision, a door—

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