Pillar of Yita

After all, it’s just a sudden idea he had, but the other party might have pondered over everything day and night for the past ten years.

Yet Delan gently shook his head.

”If it were ten years ago, I might have thought the same as His Majesty,” he replied, ”but over these ten years, we haven’t been idle either.”

”We discovered that His Majesty and the Queen made a mistake.” The middle-aged man then spoke, ”The power within the Holy Relic comes from the Pale Glory, and the Pale Glory originates from the Emerald Star. But this doesn’t mean that the Emerald Star is equivalent to the Holy Relic, nor does it mean that every Emerald Star contains Pale Glory—”

”The magicians of the Silver Tower used the power of the Emerald Star to forge the Dragon Soul, but many alchemists only managed to produce monstrous abominations from them...”

”The Numelin Elves passed down four Holy Relics, but they didn’t leave the forging techniques for these relics. They might have used the Emerald Star to forge the Hailin Crown, Morning Light Holy Sword, and Hand of Truth among other relics, but perhaps the Emerald Star they had isn’t the same as what we see now.”

”All of us overlooked one thing: the Emerald Star ultimately comes from the fragments of the Star of Calamity... but what the Star of Calamity itself is, goes without saying.”

Fang Hong listened for a while before he reacted.

”You mean, the King of Sand, Barbaltan, might have planned every factor, but fundamentally, made a mistake?”

Both nodded.

”But why didn’t you mention this—” Fang Hong suddenly stopped, somewhat understanding as he looked at the two of them.

Seeing his gaze, Delan hesitated a bit and nodded, ”You should see it too; this is just our hypothesis and doesn’t necessarily represent reality. His Majesty can’t just stop a decade-long plan based on our speculation. Besides, once the arrow is on the string, it must be released. Even if there’s some possibility in what we’re saying... His Majesty will surely gamble on the other half’s chance.”

This is what’s called obsession—

Fang Hong thought to himself.

But it was still somewhat surprising to him that they would come seeking his help.

”But if you all can’t persuade the King of Sand, how can I?” he asked.

”You can’t,” the middle-aged man replied calmly, ”but the Princess can.”

”The two princesses are the only chance to persuade His Majesty.”

”But for various reasons, His Majesty does not want his two daughters involved. More importantly, because of what happened before, there should already be a rift between the Grand Princess and His Majesty. I suspect someone is behind the scenes, fueling the divide. You should have noticed this too, right?”

”You are someone the Princess trusts, and she would never trust a stranger like me. So, we can only pin our hopes on you, hoping you can become a bridge to reconcile them and use it as an opportunity to persuade the King of Sand to delay his plans—”

”There’s another reason,” Delan also spoke, ”and that is Ye Hua.”

”Great God Ye Hua?”

”They also have the power to stop His Majesty and even restrict the Blind Followers from getting involved. But for various reasons, they appear unwilling to delve too deeply into Istania’s internal affairs. I know you and Ye Hua have a good relationship; if... if things reach the worst point, I hope you can persuade them, at least to prevent everything from reaching an irreversible state.”

Fang Hong was taken aback: ”Because of the ’Stargate Declaration’?”

”I know you are also a Holy Chooser,” Delan answered, ”so we won’t force you to do anything. But I’ve heard the stories of you Pioneers, and some of your past rumors. So Ade, just leave everything to your heart’s choices.”

Fang Hong silently pondered for a moment.

He wasn’t weighing the pros and cons; rather, he was emptying his thoughts.

But the past events surged back at this moment, like fragments of a movie playing repeatedly in his mind. Finally, he raised his head and looked at the two of them, particularly the middle-aged man:

”We once met at the Sand Lodge and even crossed paths. At that time, in my eyes, you were a wandering alchemist.”

”But now, you are also an Invoker. Mr. Delan is dedicated to what happened in the past, and he himself is also an Istania person, a child of the Sand Sea.”

”And you?”

Fang Hong asked, ”Sir, why are you involved in this?”

The middle-aged man looked at him somewhat unexpectedly.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke:

”Just an Avenger.”

...

As Fang Hong walked out of the tavern, he felt the sunlight outside was exceptionally dazzling—

But his thoughts had changed significantly from before he entered.

He hadn’t expected that merely investigating Affia’s whereabouts would lead him to uncover such a monumental secret. Although he had some inklings, he’d guessed at the connection between the two matters.

As he exited the tavern, he immediately saw Miss Ship’s Officer, Tianlan, and others approaching him.

Before the Lady Noble could speak, Tianlan chirped, ”Brother Ade, we’ve already found out who took Miss Affia!”

Looking at them, Fang Hong’s tone showed little surprise.

”It was the Princess, wasn’t it?”

Tianlan and Gita exchanged surprised glances.

”How did you know, Brother Ade?”

But Fang Hong just shook his head and said, ”Let’s go see her.”

”She might have been waiting for us for quite some time.”

...