Pillar of Yita

Hilveld quietly watched as the flames from Idus shot into the sky. Those sparkling flashes mirrored in the depths of her eyes, with her deep pupils reflecting a peculiar light purple hue because of the night sky, inside a dazzling starry cosmos.

The Big Cat Person handed the Communication Crystal to Bakins, which was then passed to her by the Bosun. Miss Ship’s Officer turned her head, nodded slightly, then took the crystal from Bakins and gently enclosed it in her hand, a playful smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

A screen was projected in front of her, illuminating the girl’s snow-like skin, displaying Fang Hong’s frowning expression. Since Hilveld didn’t have a system, she could only use an externally projected screen. She took two steps back to prevent outsiders from seeing the glow from the valley here.

”Hilveld.”

”As long as Lord Captain is fine, I’m relieved.”

Adjacent, Elisa watched this pair with interest — there was an uncommon grace in this era’s Earth women exuding from the Noble Lady, which made Ade Captain’s situation seem quite amusing to her.

Fang Hong coughed softly and pretended to be serious: ”...Hilveld, I’ve encountered some issues here.”

”Oh?”

Fang Hong then described what had happened.

Hilveld listened without concern for the rest, just smiled and asked: ”Is Miss Eve pretty, how does she compare to that Sea Witch?”

”Ah?” Fang Hong immediately got stuck: ”Hilveld, that, it’s not related to the matter...”

”You met Miss Miya, didn’t you?”

”This...”

”She contacted me.”

”That...”

Miss Ship’s Officer laughed like a little fox, lightly covering her mouth. ”Don’t worry too much, Lord Captain — actually, it was Tianlan conveying So She just cared about the Seven Seas Travel Group — and if it’s Miss Miya, I may not mind.”

Of course, Fang Hong wouldn’t believe a word of this, as this Noble Lady’s ability to deceive was top notch, and he wouldn’t be fooled again. Besides, he and Miya were in the clear, he didn’t think the Sea Witch would get entangled in these trivialities.

Fang Hong cleverly changed the subject: ”Alright, Hilveld, let’s talk business.”

Hilveld chuckled, then replied: ”Lord Captain, Mr. Bunigu is currently with Luo Yu, Parker them — but before calling someone over, could we first have a look at Miss Eve’s ring?”

Of course. Fang Hong nodded, placing the ring in his palm, presenting it to everyone.

Hilveld glanced at it, showing an enlightened expression, then said: ”This ring isn’t very much like Mr. Bunigu’s ring.”

”Indeed.”

Fang Hong nodded but looked at his Miss Ship’s Officer with some surprise — in his impression, his Miss Ship’s Officer wouldn’t say such ’seemingly correct nonsense’. These two rings were certainly different, you could even say they had no resemblance.

Since he’d already considered this direction, if there was a problem, he’d have discovered it earlier.

But Hilveld shifted the conversation, saying: ”But they’re not entirely different. Actually, we habitually use the latter to liken the former, but if reversed, Mr. Bunigu’s ring does have some similarities to this one. Lord Captain, hold back before speaking, let me explain each point—”

She saw Fang Hong ready to speak, interrupting him: ”...I consider myself knowledgeable in the adornments, heraldry, and noble aesthetics of Eteliria, the patterns and imagery on Mr. Bunigu’s ring actually derive from this ring. The reason they don’t look alike is simply because the former is a crude imitation of the latter.”

”Lord Captain has seen the Hailin Crown, so let me use the Hailin Crown as an example.”

”...As one of the Four Great Treasures left by the Numelin Elves (though common folk refer to them as the Three Great Treasures), just like Ishurian’s Morning Light Holy Sword, there are many depictions of the Hailin Crown among the people. This Elf Crown often appears in various forms in carvings, paintings, and even illustrated scrolls, but these artworks show the Hailin Crown in different forms, some vastly different from the original version.”

Fang Hong opened his mouth, but Hilveld spoke first:

”...Lord Captain might say that among these works, there are similar pieces. That’s normal because the Hailin Crown did appear in the world, and some witnesses might have documented its appearance in ancient texts. Otherwise, how would Lord Captain recognize the Hailin Crown?”

”However, the further in time the representation goes, the more distorted the image of the Hailin Crown becomes. This is due to the crown being lost for a long time, and people did not know which of the many Hailin Crown images in history was real. But despite being distorted, they still retained some Basic characteristics that won’t change because these are determined by the nature of the written records — certain characteristics are easier to express through words, like dimensions and numbers.”

”And this distortion actually shares similarities with this ring.”

Fang Hong listened attentively, and at this moment, Miss Tata at one side timely informed him that such a situation indeed occurred with the Hailin Crown. However, Fang Hong looked at the ring in his hand, unable to see what possible similarities it had with Bunigu’s ring.