Pillar of Yita

Elisa laughed cheekily: ”Even Miss Hilveld can’t do it, neither can I. You’d better just wait patiently for Miss Atira’s forgiveness.”

The little girl had a look of sighing helplessness.

At this moment, Fang Hong saw Hilveld push the door open and come out, looking at them with a smile of inquiry. She, too, probably hadn’t slept all night and came out upon hearing the commotion outside.

”Is everything okay? How did the task go?” she asked.

Fang Hong only nodded, indicating that everything went smoothly.

Hilveld then looked at Tianlan and Parker, smiled and said: ”Don’t worry, Miss Atira just wants the two little ones to sober up.”

”I know,” Fang Hong nodded, as he wasn’t worried at all, those two were simply asking for it.

However, he was also curious about how the Dragonfire Guild appeared in this place. What is their relationship with that Alchemist? Fang Hong thought for a moment and then asked: ”But what’s going on with the Dragonfire Guild?”

Hilveld was gently tucking her hair behind her ear, unintentionally revealing a trace of youthful allure, causing Fang Hong to gaze at her for a moment.

She seemed to notice the look on his face and couldn’t help but cover her mouth with a laugh: ”This is a long story...”

But Miss Ship’s Officer seemed very patient in front of her captain, carefully narrating the whole matter. She was actually just reiterating Parker’s original words, but with clear logic, leaving no room for doubt.

She finally said: ”...Tianlan and Parker took a photo at the end, I’ve seen it, it should indeed be that ’Big Sister’ from the Dragonfire Guild without a doubt.”

As Hilveld spoke, she showed the picture to Fang Hong: ”Look, this is the photo.”

Fang Hong glanced briefly and immediately recognized the person in the photo, clearly the ’Big Sister’ without a doubt—and he even recognized another person beside her, the one wearing a tall top hat, someone he had crossed paths with more than once.

His name was Twenty, an assassin.

Seeing his satisfaction, Hilveld continued:

”...Parker overheard their conversation at the end. That young man should not have come to meet with the Dragonfire Guild alone; he is likely representing a guild he belongs to...”

”Belongs to a guild?”

Hilveld nodded gently: ”...They seem to be looking for someone, but the specific target is unclear, as Parker only caught the tail end of the conversation.”

If it were before this, Fang Hong might not have paid much attention to it, but after the expedition to Aimumu Fortress, he was highly sensitive to things related to ’finding someone.’

Upon hearing this, he keenly asked: ”Looking for someone? Do you have any more detailed clues?”

Hilveld thought for a moment but still shook her head: ”...According to Parker, they mentioned some details about Mountain Kou Ke and that Undead Wizard, it seemed like orders were given by some big figure behind the scenes, but no specific clues regarding that figure were provided...”

”Also, they seemed to have gone to Aimumu Fortress... That Alchemist should just be someone stationed here for the handover, they mentioned someone was injured and there seemed to be a professional healer among the people the Dragonfire Guild brought this time.”

Indeed—

Upon hearing this, Fang Hong understood most of it. He originally thought finding these people would take him quite some time, but unexpectedly it was all effortlessly handed to him. He subconsciously looked at Hilveld, and Miss Ship’s Officer was also looking at him, her azure eyes meeting his gaze.

She simply nodded slightly: ”I also have this suspicion, these people could very well be the ones who took Lady Kuisu’s son, the timeline matches up perfectly. However, I haven’t had the chance to check with the Adventurers’ Guild—”

”No need to check,” Fang Hong shook his head, replying confidently: ”It’s definitely them. And they probably won’t leave any clues, but confirming their identities is actually quite simple.”

Hilveld was taken aback for a moment, realizing that he might have found something on this journey which prompted such confidence. Sure enough, he took out an item—it was a badge with an image of a black lightning tearing through the sky on it.

Seeing this emblem, a light flickered in Hilveld’s eyes: ”This emblem... Parker saw it on their clothes, it should indeed be their guild’s emblem.”

”I guess so.” Fang Hong wiped the emblem with his hand. This emblem was found on that corpse, except for Lady Kuisu’s son, the other people were all wearing such an emblem.

As an Invoker, he instinctively recognized this emblem as a guild badge, but with thousands of guilds big and small in Eteliria, he couldn’t identify the affiliation of every single emblem.

But this emblem clearly didn’t belong to any well-known Grand Guild anyway.

He said: ”They left hastily, leaving behind these corpses and emblems. With the emblem, it’s much easier to figure out their identity.”

Hilveld knew this must have happened at Aimumu Fortress, but she didn’t ask further because she knew Fang Hong would tell them the details of the mission at an appropriate time.

She thought for a moment and then changed the topic: ”There is also another matter, Lord Captain.”

Fang Hong raised his head: ”What is it?”

”Lord Captain should know the most widespread organization in Dulun’s southern regions, right?”

”You mean the Southern Region Alchemist Alliance?”

Hilveld nodded gently: ”Those people mentioned this organization in the end, and said some strange things... I think it might be worth noting...”

”What kind of things?” Fang Hong asked.

”They said: ’The plans of the adults are already more than half successful, the Alliance is inclined to support us, now what you need to do is find more like-minded people and pull our people back—’”

”’Pulling back the fist, naturally to hit harder. This time we will make everyone sit up and take notice, we have already decided the final launch date, but specifics still need to be kept in secret.’

”’In short, it will be around the time of that competition, you must be prepared.’

Miss Ship’s Officer carefully finished describing what was said, then looked at him: ”These, are Parker’s exact words. However, I guess in this plan these people are mostly just Executors, while the real planners—”

”Are the Dragon Worship Sect.”

What other mysterious force could be connected with the Dragonfire Guild, if not the Dragon Worship Sect?

But Fang Hong fell silent, feeling some issues surfacing in his mind.

He originally thought the Dragon Worshippers were only active in the areas around Tarun, but now it seems far more widespread. During the Aimumu Fortress mission, he encountered a Messenger from the Dragon Worship Sect, the Undead Wizard connected to the Rogsel Family, and that shattered Dragon Slaying Holy Sword.

How does any of this connect to it all?

Were they really only plotting the resurrection of the Dragon’s Witch, then what does this ’plan’ in the southern regions of Dulun represent?

The more Fang Hong thought about it, the more everything behind this seemed to grow increasingly mysterious and intricate.

...