Pillar of Yita

Looking at the person in front of him, Parker took three steps back, almost sitting down on the ground, his face wearing an expression as if he had seen a ghost. Of course, Fang Hong wasn’t doing much better, wearing an exceedingly stiff smile as he nodded to the girl in front of him, greeting dryly:

”M-Miss Mei, why are you in this place?”

This Miss Knight, because she still had tasks from the Knight Order, actually left the Grey Forest half a day earlier than them—after completing the Tree People’s commission, she confirmed that there wasn’t the target she was looking for, and planned to try her luck elsewhere. She had said she was heading towards the Lake Tear of Obey area, but unexpectedly, just as they walked out of the Ice Gorge, along with the biting wind and snow, they encountered this Miss Knight standing in the ice and snow.

She rubbed her hands, blowing white breath, stamping her little feet, seeming to have been waiting for them a long time. At the first moment Fang Hong saw this lady, his mind reacted with a thought that it was over, that this lady had figured out that they were the band of villains on that Wanted Order, accomplices of the main perpetrator in the Sanxiak art theft case, accomplices, and insincere imposters.

Now she’s here waiting for them, obviously here to uphold justice.

Of course, if he gave it his all, this Miss Knight might not be able to keep them. But now this Ice Gorge has taken on a new appearance, as the guilds of South Noggnis seemed to have heard his plea and built a temporary camp here, selling the ’must-have adventure items’ needed to enter the mining area, which is actually a disguised ticket sale.

By now, it was totally different from when they first entered; in just a few short days, it no longer held the desolate, uninhabited look of before, but was replaced by a bustling marketplace. Adventurers and adventure groups from all over were gathering here, preparing to enter the underground, at least a few hundred people were gathered in this not-so-spacious gorge.

When they first came out from underground, the more than twenty fully loaded beasts of burden had already attracted a lot of attention. Fortunately, the people of Holy White Stone still remembered them and specially arranged a path for them to leave. If this righteous Miss Knight called out their identities here, no matter how confident Fang Hong was, he didn’t think he could fight off hundreds of people.

”I’ve been waiting for you here for a long time; you arrived much later than I expected.” Mei wore a red and white fur cloak, and because she was so short, even though the cloak was custom-made, it still trailed on the ground, the rose-colored hues particularly striking amidst the ice and snow.

The fluffy white collar framed her round face, the Miss Knight looking up at Fang Hong, her war halberd and that oak shield strapped to her back, her pretty brows furrowed, with a trace of cute complaint in her voice. ”I was afraid of missing you, so I’ve been standing here all along, not daring to leave.”

Yes, to catch that damned villain Parker, the Miss Knight really was diligent and responsible. If Parker wasn’t part of his own team, Fang Hong would have handed over this shameless Papalarian without hesitation, but the problem now was that the Seven Seas Travel Group was also being wanted—the Papalarian villain had narrowly escaped.

He grasped the control gloves, planning to lay all cards on the table with her. It’s a pity, as he actually quite agreed with this earnest, responsible, and somewhat overly serious Miss Knight, but they were on different paths, and there was nothing to be done. It’s like the tragedies described in countless plays, where everyone has honest goals, yet merely due to differing ideologies, they end up on opposing sides, battling each other.

Fang Hong was filled with indescribable emotions: ”Miss Mei—”

”Ade, Miss Hilveld, the Knight Order sent a message not long ago, the target I was tracking might be heading to Kailan Ao,” Mei spoke in a childish voice, ”The Captain asked me to check it out, and I suddenly remembered that you seemed to be heading there too, so that’s why I’ve been waiting here to accompany you.”

The air was filled with awkward silence; only the low howl of the wind carrying snowflakes remained.

Fang Hong opened his mouth, glancing at the Papalarian beside him, then at the Miss Knight in front of him, his mind racing with several thoughts:

She’s playing us for fools.

She’s trying to lull us into letting our guard down, to then capture us all at once.

Between me and her, who is actually the dumber one?

But none of these assumptions fit the personality of this Miss Knight. Fang Hong coughed dryly, asking, ”J-Just like that?”

Mei nodded earnestly, ”Ade doesn’t mind if I travel with you, right?”

”This... should be fine.”

”Great,” Mei looked a bit happy, ”I knew you wouldn’t mind.”

Tang Xin was somewhat surprised, ”Miss Mei, you waited here for us for over half a day just for this?” It was from midnight to dawn, standing for several hours in this icy wind, just to meet them—travel together?

Yet Mei nodded naturally, ”There aren’t many people I consider friends, only genuinely honest people I’d be willing to be with. And to wait for friends, of course, it doesn’t matter how long it takes; is there a problem with that?”