Pillar of Yita

After leaving the territory of the Dwarves, the Seven Seas Traveler sailed north along the winding edges of Hudi Bay, bidding farewell to Eldron’s snow. Colin’s winding coastline once again appeared before everyone’s eyes, as if, after a year, they had returned to this place.

This route has been one of the busiest merchant paths on the Cloud Sea since ancient times, crossing Roaring Long Gorge, down to Saint Hugon Corner in the south, and reaching the kingdom’s Capital Region in the north. The narrow, busy sea is filled with various merchant ships.

Sometimes, they even encounter Colin’s warships, but these warships mostly hurry southward, crossing the Roaring Long Gorge, and swapping defenses with fleets near Saint Hugon.

The sailors regard this as hard labor, and it’s fraught with danger. Saint Hugon is famous for its pirates, and every year, the Colin people inevitably clash with them head-on. No one dares to guarantee that the next unlucky one won’t be themselves.

Thus, before leaving the safe sea regions, everyone eagerly seeks pleasure, relaxing and slacking. Captains, to maintain morale, turn a blind eye, as the Capital Region is unlikely to have any incidents anyway.

This way, the Seven Seas Traveler manages to slip by. To outsiders, they probably seem like a coastal fishing boat; at least from appearance, it doesn’t look much different from ordinary two-masted coastal ships.

To minimize encounters with patrolling warships, the Seven Seas Traveler also tries to navigate near the coast, laying low in the winding straits during the day, and setting sail with the wind lantern at night.

They took the route north past Aike, barely skirting Grey Island; standing on the deck and gazing westward, they saw the low ridgeline of the Vampire Mountain Range.

The black mountain shadows were visible from afar, ensuring the Seven Seas Traveler wouldn’t get lost at sea in the dark.

On the pitch-black coastline, scattered little lights shone, belonging to a few fishing villages. This area was still the kingdom’s frontier—sparsely populated, and the series of mountains isolated transportation, causing the locals to be trapped here for generations.

During the rise of Magic Guided Engineering, the Ancient Tower People would cross the strait on old airships, plundering this long coastline. In the second and third centuries, the Ancient Tower People once advanced near northern Golande, creating quite a panic—for instance, the famous Pirate King Oranka invasion event in 271.

Until large airships emerged, the Colin people took control of the situation, and thereafter the Void Canyon became a new burgeoning route, prosperous even to this day.

However, the prosperity at sea has little to do with the life on land. Large merchant ships passing through rarely stop midway, and locals sometimes see these giants traversing among cloud mountains, but they rarely disturb their lives.

Past the Vampire Mountain Range, there was a place they were quite familiar with on the other side of the mountains—Masongke Creek outpost.

The Great Canyon, Aimumu Fortress, and Blood Thistle Woods were nestled among the mountains here, a place they passed by when traveling south.

Watching the heavy mountain shadows, Fang Hong couldn’t help but recall his experiences in the past year. Some seemed distant in memory, but upon reflection, experiences at Aimumu Fortress and the turmoil in Dulun seemed like yesterday, enough for him to vividly remember the people and events involved.

Ye Hua, Odin, Enan—the second son of Duke Phoenix, and his maid Feyos, his teacher Ande, Lady Kuisu—whom he had only seen a few days ago.

Lady Kuisu had disbanded her logging team, wholeheartedly following them; now she was with the Forest, handling logistics, with only a few unwilling elderly left by her side.

The two talked about the Wanderer; the lady had emerged from the pain of losing her son but hadn’t given up hope for revenge.

The Wanderer has disappeared, but Fang Hong also believed the other party was just lying low for a time.

Fang Hong then thought of the girl in the painting, which led him to think of Evril, and how she and Xiuyuede were doing in another world.

He then thought of Rolin, the Big Cat People and Miss Atira, the enemy of the Big Cats, and friends he had met in Istania: Aleph, the Grand Princess, Affia, Lady Aierna, Mr. Bishop.

Is everyone doing well?

For some reason, he also thought of that cat in the painting, Lady Cat, who had once become a member of the Seven Seas Travel Group. Tianlan and the others even gave it a name—Lady Daisy.

But since the trip to Idus, Lady Daisy had vanished without a trace. To this day, the little girls still discuss where Lady Cat went; has she been completely released into the wild?

However, occasionally, as Fang Hong recalls Lady Daisy’s turquoise-like eyes, he feels Lady Cat isn’t that simple. Don’t forget, it’s the cat of the girl in the painting; how many years has it lived in this world?

While pondering, he suddenly heard a horrified scream come from below decks: ”Ah—!”

It was Tianlan’s voice.

Fang Hong awoke with a start, pushed the door open, and descended the stairs, meeting Luo Yu who was also hurrying over. Ai Xiaoxiao was standing in the corridor with a face of shock, a little at a loss as she pointed to the floor:

”Tianlan is below.”

Below was the lower cabin.

The two entered Luo Yu’s woodworking workspace, ahead of each other. Here, quite a few rolled-up canvases were piled up, and spider silk was soaking in the Magic Solution; not far away, a door was ajar.