Pillar of Yita

Tang Xin thought of her cousin’s unlucky appearance and couldn’t help but smile slightly. It’s a pity she wasn’t there at the time; it would have been so interesting. What made her angry was that pigeon would always consult her before anything—doesn’t it know her thoughts, or think she would stop it?

But she thought for a moment and felt that she probably would.

After all, no normal person would come up with such a shocking idea.

”You hadn’t known him for long at that time, right?”

”Mm,” Hilveld gently nodded her head. ”The first time I met Ade was at the Traveler’s Rest. He was silly then, but exceptionally eye-catching—”

Tang Xin let out a cold laugh, thinking that the pigeon was indeed like that.

”That’s just the kind of person he is.”

”But how did Miss Hilveld end up fancying him?”

Hilveld smiled, her charming eyes gazing at the young girl.

Tang Xin also stared at her.

”So it was precisely this simplicity that Miss Hilveld found appealing?”

But the noble lady countered, ”Isn’t simplicity a wonderful quality?”

Tang Xin sighed and asked:

”But does Miss Hilveld really like my cousin...”

”Like him...”

The noble lady thought for a moment, first shook her head, and then nodded.

”At first, I couldn’t really say...”

She answered softly, ”Perhaps it’s more admiration, precisely because of that admiration for such integrity and courage that I couldn’t achieve myself, that made me attracted... Mr. Ade is the most purely virtuous person I’ve ever met, purely so...”

”I didn’t think too much, but Ade gave me the most help during my most restless and uneasy times. The Albert family keeps their promises; today’s everything is something I acknowledge, and even gladly accept.”

Tang Xin listened to all this quietly.

She was a bit surprised inside. Honestly, she didn’t expect this noble lady to open up to her—she thought the other would at least find an excuse instead of such heartfelt confessions.

And she parted her lips: ”Miss Hilveld, isn’t this not exactly liking...”

But Hilveld just smiled, tilted her head, and said, ”Isn’t liking just mutual attraction?”

”Yes, but...”

Tang Xin always scoffed at the so-called everlasting pledges of love among young boys and girls of her age—and yet she knew deep down that mutual liking was at least not about promises, nor was it about obligations.

But Hilveld looked at her and just smiled slightly, ”My background is a bit different from yours. In my view, everything right now is already extremely precious.”

”Because at least compared to some other girls of similar backgrounds, I’m a bit luckier and can freely choose my future path—even if it’s full of thorns, I relish it. Before meeting him, I never thought I would be so lucky—my captain may not be perfect, but to me, he is one of a kind.”

”Indeed it is.”

Hilveld concluded with a tone of certainty.

Tang Xin was momentarily struck dumb by what she heard.

Could her clueless cousin really be that good?

She was dazed when suddenly the door to the room was ’bang’ pushed open.

Tianlan once again appeared there, panting heavily, looking at them, and stammering:

”Ade, Brother Ade is back!”

Tang Xin immediately looked to the side at Hilveld, then at Tianlan.

Wait a minute, could this be a dream again?

...

As Fang Hong and Aierna walked into the lobby on the first floor of the apartment, they happened to see Tianlan yawning with a milk bottle in one hand and bread in the other, coming down the stairs.

However, her yawning motion froze the moment she saw Fang Hong, her eyes went wide round, her open mouth couldn’t close, and the bottle in her hand dropped to the floor with a thud, rolling far away.

Tianlan rubbed her eyes hard to confirm she wasn’t seeing things, then exclaimed in surprise, ”Ade, Brother Ade?”

Fang Hong looked at the round and cute face of the girl, couldn’t help but smile, and nodded lightly—yes, he was back.

Tianlan let out an ’ah’, hurriedly said, ”I’ll go notify the others.”

Without waiting for Fang Hong to speak, she quickly turned and ran back, her high-pitched squeal soon came from upstairs:

”Brother Ade is back!”

”The Captain is back!”

Fang Hong watched the figure run off until it disappeared, feeling slightly embarrassed—he had planned to ask about the others.

He then looked over at Aierna beside him, who was a bit surprised and curiously said, ”You hold a lot of authority among them. I’ve seen a lot of teams of Holy Chosen, but rarely like this.”

”Has Lady Aierna seen other teams?”

Fang Hong was a bit curious about the other teams. He had seen Jiefulite Red Cloak Team, Silver Forest Spear, and Oak Knights’ teams but hadn’t gotten to know them deeply. In the community, there weren’t too many detailed records about the major guild’s travel groups, and when it came to constructing an adventure group, he only had some theories cooked up behind closed doors.

”Of course I’ve seen,” Aierna said angrily, ”What are you talking about? Tansnier is not a small place, though it’s just a branch, it’s quite significant in Istania. We also take on contracts from outside, and I’ve seen many Holy Chooser teams; there are at least three or four this year.”

Three or four, is that a lot?

Fang Hong carefully refrained from speaking much, only inwardly making a small silent complaint.

But Tansnier isn’t a small place—yet the Crafting Association there can’t be considered large by any means; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been left to Aierna, a ’newcomer’, to be chairman. Of course, our Lady Giant Spirit would never admit such a thing; she first emphasized the importance of the Tansnier Crafting Association and then continued: