Pillar of Yita

Reed took out his pocket watch and checked the time. That human silver pocket watch, lying in the Lion Person’s big furry paw, looked more like a tiny toy—there was still a quarter of an hour before the meeting. After spending so much time with the others, he had gotten used to measuring time by seconds and minutes, more precise than a Talia Tick.

The light from above the dome filtered through the canopy and dimmed, and after nightfall it would grow darker still. It hadn’t been like this in the past, but to make things easier for the Holy Choosers, the Tree People were taking care of every little detail.

The Big Cat People raised his head to look at the curled, glowing seed pods hanging down from the trunk. Together with the fireflies summoned by the Fairies, they formed the night scene in this golden Forest.

This place couldn’t help but remind him of that Holy Tree Forest on Giant Tree Hill. As he was lost in thought, he suddenly felt someone bump into him from behind. The Big Cat People turned around just in time to see three suspicious types wrapped tightly from head to toe walking past him.

”Hey, you dropped something,” he called out immediately.

The three of them turned back in unison. They were draped in long cloaks with hoods, and the eyes under their brims swept around warily, discovering that they hadn’t actually dropped anything.

The three all looked up at the towering Lion Paladin and asked in a disgruntled tone, ”What do you want?”

The Natural Historian girl beside the Big Cat People cast a slightly worried black-and-white gaze first at him, then at the three. She opened her mouth, but in the end no sound came out—she just drew in a faint, timid breath.

The Lion Paladin, however, was nowhere near as timid and cautious as she was. He smiled and said, ”What you dropped was your manners and upbringing, so I suggest you pick them back up—”

”Damn it,” one of the three muttered in a muffled voice, ”where’d this lunatic come from, you looking for trouble?”

He hadn’t finished speaking when a flash of reflected light hit him in the face. The Big Cat People drew his Holy Sword on the spot and said solemnly, ”In Marlan’s witness—”

The black-clothed man’s companion grabbed him immediately and murmured, ”Forget it, don’t start anything...”

The man broke out in a cold sweat, glancing at the Lion Paladin while cursing inwardly that these walking tin cans were all insane. But before Reed could finish his line, the three turned and left without another word.

Gita even heard a curse drift back from afar:

”These damned Rotao Savages!”

She looked at the Big Cat People, opened her mouth, and finally let out an almost inaudible sound: ”Mr. Reed...”

”Don’t worry,” the Big Cat People sheathed his sword and smiled. ”I wasn’t planning on going all out with them. All bark and no bite, you see that? Gita, you don’t need to worry about people like that. Sometimes you have to show a bit more courage.”

”I—I know...” Gita answered in a tiny voice.

Reed cast a glance at her with his gray eyes and shook his head slightly.

Just then, a certain Lord Captain who had no idea what was going on walked over, curiously looking at the two in conversation and asked, ”Did something happen just now?”

”Nothing, just a minor scuffle,” Reed replied, then looked at him. ”So, are they here, little guy?”

Fang Hong couldn’t help glancing at Gita.

Gita’s face flushed red. She couldn’t lie, but she was also too embarrassed to sell out the Big Cat People, so she just nodded once like an ostrich.

Though Fang Hong was somewhat doubtful, he still said, ”They’re inside. Let’s go together.”

Given the hefty consultation fee the Seven Seas Travel Group had offered, those people arrived right on time.

They were seated in one corner of the hall, five people in total, including Cuiye.

The Poet, ever the social butterfly, briefly introduced the others. All four were Chosen, the most ordinary sort of Life Profession Practitioners—three of them were from Partunan, a city in central Nogness. The last was from Traveler’s Port, a Scholar from the Miner’s Association, bearing a silver medal from the Kolin-Ishurian Geographic Society—though that place was actually closer to Asuka.

However, since they were Chosen, their Eteliria identities were more like numbers on paper and not that important. Everyone quickly found common topics to talk about.

The Scholar asked Fang Hong with a bit of curiosity, ”You’re that amazing ’big god’ everyone’s been talking about on the battlefield lately?”

Fang Hong was baffled. ”What big god?”

”Cuiye told us. Isn’t that so? Big god, you’re really from one of the Ten Grand Guilds? Which Guild are you from?”

The Poet shamelessly grinned and sent Fang Hong a message: ”If I hadn’t told them that, there’s no way I’d have gotten them to talk. Information like this, normal people don’t just hand over to outsiders.”

Fang Hong shot the guy an exasperated glare. This fellow’s mouth was pure nonsense on legs.

Still, he understood. These days, everyone had gotten smarter and wouldn’t lightly sell off the intel in their hands for cheap. Plenty of things let slip inadvertently had later turned into the key that unlocked major events.

Even if they themselves might not use it, who wanted to hand opportunities to others on a silver platter? Even the Natives had picked up this trick from the Chosen.

But he still wasn’t used to lying. He shook his head and said,

”What kind of big god would I be?”

Of course, that depended on who you compared him to. Fang Hong considered himself still a hundred and eighty thousand miles away from people like Lady Nether and Odin.

But the Scholar refused to give up. ”How are you not? I heard those teams only dare go into battle because they rely on your Scouting. If you’re not in an event, they won’t send anyone out of the Valley. They’ve got Combat Artisans too, but compared to you, big god, they’re basically useless, right?”