Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong felt Hilveld gently wave her hand in front of him. The young girl’s hand was fair and slender, with pointed fingers, shining with a lustrous glow as if they had been soaked in milk, exquisite like a piece of art.

”What’s wrong?” He snapped back to reality.

”Lost in thought?” Hilveld’s gaze reflected the firelight in the bar’s fireplace, like a flicker of blazing gold amidst sea blue. Her gaze seemed both focused on Fang Hong before her and yet gazing into the farther distances of the bar—somewhat wavering. ”Every time you daydream, you show this kind of expression. I didn’t want to wake you, but in a place like this, mixed with all sorts of people, it’s not a good place to daydream.”

”Sorry.” Fang Hong picked up a plate of peeled nuts and set it in front of Gita on the other side of the table. ”Has Mr. Reed not returned yet?”

”Thank you, Brother Ade.” Gita adjusted her glasses and said softly.

The night was deep as most of the guests in the bar had already left, leaving mostly out-of-towners behind. A group of Dwarves occupied a table, loudly discussing gold prospecting, as if afraid others wouldn’t hear them.

Elsewhere was an adventurer team, gathered around a table discussing their next plans, with a candle casting a glow on their faces. They seemed to be a close circle, speaking in low tones, their atmosphere harmonious.

Hilveld turned her head back and shook her head: ”Not yet.”

She took a sip of wine, faint red wine really, but under the candlelight, her cheeks were slightly flushed. She leaned forward slightly, resting her elbows on the table—the leather case holding the Magic Guided Gun was placed conveniently beside the chair, not the original one—watching with interest as Fang Hong used a small knife to pry open the shell of a nut.

”What were you thinking about earlier?” she asked.

Fang Hong held a local specialty nut in his hand, resembling an acorn. It matures and falls in autumn, collected from the forest to be stored as winter food.

Only in the central region of Colin could such nuts be seen.

A candle also stood on the three people’s table, its light warm. Daisy was curled up with her snow-white neck fur sitting next to the candle, while Tata sat kneeling beside her, as if nestled in a fur sofa, moving a flickering blue light before her with her hands.

The community’s information seemed like several layers of chaotic light to outsiders, a layer of icy blue reflecting on Miss Fairy’s face.

Hilveld’s question made Fang Hong frown slightly. He didn’t look too well, as though the fireplace’s warmth was insufficient, causing discomfort. He shook his head; he was lost in thought earlier because he recalled the events at Traveler’s Rest a few months ago—what he’d seen in the Phantom Realm, that shadow of death.

A question lingered in his mind: was the Dolifen affair truly resolved perfectly?

He still remembered—in the Phantom Realm, the Dwarf Haggston, who once followed Yoshude, betrayed his master and stole the Ring of Golden Flame. However, during that brief conversation afterward, this Dwarf clearly still revered his former master greatly until the end.

Who was the middle-aged man he spoke with?

The latter was evidently not Manlo Huolite.

From the conversation between the two, it could be known he had confronted Yoshude once in Golande. But the information about the ’Dragon Witch Rebellion’ was too fragmented. Fang Hong had tried to investigate this matter in Golande, but perhaps due to the Royal Household’s cover-up, someone of his level found it difficult to obtain any valuable information.

And aside from everything about the Ring of Golden Flame, Sir Duke didn’t tell them much else either. Fang Hong could understand. As a member of the noble circles, Sir Duke was unlikely to defame the Royal Household.

But this invisibly increased the difficulty of their trip.

Fang Hong couldn’t help but recall the Dragon Worship Sect’s mastermind called the ’Messenger’ from the Dolifen affair. The other side died once in the Dolifen Fantasy, but he should still be alive, plotting some conspiracy unknown to them.

Why was he called the ’Messenger,’ whose ’Messenger’ is he, and to whom will the ’message’ be delivered?

Perhaps only the people in the Dragonfire Guild know this point, yet the entire Dragonfire Guild and that ’Big Sister’ he ’knew’ vanished without a trace after an attack on Tabopolis.

The same goes for the Rain Listener Guild, where conditions on Fenris Isle are similarly shrouded in mystery. Toragotos should have gone into hiding, and no one knows the final outcome of its plan.

Both lines incidentally point to the Colin Main Continent, but the person manipulating things behind the Adventurers’ Guild is still missing, which is why they must go to Fanric to seek out the trail of clues.

All that happened a hundred years ago seems to have some connection to the death of Miss Atira’s brother today. The doubts Sir Duke voiced concerning Dragon’s Golden Eyes, and the team Miss Hilveld had collaborated with, what relation do they hold?

Every clue appears entangled together, but instead, it makes the truth behind it increasingly elusive. Always leaving Fang Hong feeling like he almost grasps something, but at the moment, cannot make sense of it all.

Since leaving Golande, the closer he gets to the historical place Sir Duke informed them about, the more pronounced these thoughts and signs become in his mind, and he often becomes lost in thought from thinking too deeply.