Pillar of Yita

After a year, Eternal Night still vividly remembers that voice, recalling the situation when that voice issued commands during the underground battle in Fenris.

He could not help but look to one side and saw Paradise Fallen with the same lost expression on his face, their reactions almost identical as they looked in this direction. When their eyes met, Paradise Fallen couldn’t help but exclaim, ”Is it him?”

Eternal Night rushed forward, parting the crowd, ”Please make way.” ”Excuse us, please.” Paradise Fallen followed closely behind, both apologizing to the people around them. But upon reaching the front of the crowd, Eternal Night found only the old sailor packing up; the owner of the voice seemed to have left.

He immediately looked around, and suddenly, a figure mysteriously appeared in his vision, but the woman’s silhouette only flickered in the crowd for a moment before disappearing.

”Did you see him?” Paradise Fallen emerged from the crowd just a step behind him, only to miss this scene.

”It’s her!” Eternal Night exclaimed excitedly in a low voice, his voice somewhat trembling as he remembered the girl beside ’Mr. Xiaya,’ though she wore a veil at the time, that silhouette just now was unmistakable.

”Her?” Paradise Fallen was slightly taken aback; the Colin language distinguishes between masculine and feminine words, allowing him to instantly recognize the semantic difference.

But Eternal Night had no time to answer him, only shouting in that direction, ”Mr. Xiaya!”

Unfortunately, the pier was bustling, voices were noisy, and his shout did not carry far.

Fang Hong was somewhat perplexed as he turned around, always feeling as though there was a voice calling him, but not by his name. However, behind him, the hustle and bustle, the sounds of cranes, sailors negotiating prices, disputes, and chants came one after another, and it was unlikely there was any shout.

He thought he was hallucinating and turned back, muttering, ”Didn’t Mr. Bakins say we could find people on the dock? Why is that sailor ignoring us?”

”Probably because he recognized you’re a Colin,” Hilveld replied with a smile, ”Most Ancient Tower People aren’t too fond of Colin People, and it’s perfectly normal not to do business with us.”

”You might even run into someone with a bad temper who might start a fight,” Tianlan added from the crowd.

Hilveld nodded with a smile.

”Well, it’s fortunate he didn’t start a fight.” Fang Hong retorted angrily; he wasn’t afraid of an old sailor—it’s just that the unwarranted mockery from the other made him very displeased.

However, he understood the reason behind it.

The Ancient Tower People had a long history of pirating the eastern coast of Colin, but with the rise of Magic Guided Engineering, Colin reversed the situation.

Over three centuries, Colin Kingdom had conquered Ancient Tower multiple times, and while Ancient Tower pirates had brought great disasters to Colin People, the invading Colin Kingdom could hardly claim innocence.

War always brings misfortune, especially since these conflicts aren’t necessarily retaliations against pirating behaviors; one could easily speculate what happens in wars of this era.

On the other hand, conquerors, while bringing governance, also brought civilization, freeing the Ancient Tower People from primitive tribal and pirate lifestyles to enter the era of dynasties.

And they have their own nation—

But the roots of resentment between both sides were deeply planted from the very start.

A segment found randomly from a community can roughly elaborate the entangled grudges and complex relations between the two nations, but Fang Hong isn’t interested in that, he cares about the present:

”So what do we do?”

”If the people here don’t plan to do business with us? But wouldn’t those in the ’Blood Ship’ from Fenris also be Colin People, why would the locals do business with them?”

”That’s because we approached the wrong people,” Hilveld replied, ”Lord Captain, while the locals might be reluctant to deal with us, the commerce guilds are different.”

”Commerce guilds?”

Hilveld nodded, ”Merchants are driven by profit, adhering to Lady Roman’s principles; as for national hostilities, to them, it’s seen as another layer. In fact, whether it’s the Stag Commerce Guild, Tulip Commerce Guild, or Black Fir Commerce Guild, they all have open doors for business with outsiders.”

”What are these three commerce guilds?”

”They are the largest three noble commerce guilds of Ancient Tower; any port in Ancient Tower would have the guild halls of these three. Their investors are actually Ancient Tower’s noble families.”

Hilveld seemed to be quite familiar with this, elaborating in detail:

”The Stag Commerce Guild represents the Ancient Tower Royal House, the stag is the symbol of the royal house; the Tulip Commerce Guild is backed by Ancient Tower’s religious forces, as Ancient Tower People worship the God of War, Marlan. The story of the tulip and wolf is widely spread here, with the tulip symbolizing this story’s meaning.”

Fang Hong had roughly heard of the tulip and wolf story, which is roughly about a maiden saving a dying Winter Wolf with tulips—

That maiden is the ancestor of the Ancient Tower People, the mother of all Ancient Tower People, Norla, and the wolf is the embodiment of the War Goddess, Marlan, testing the maiden Norla.

Of course, these mythological stories are long untraceable, and no one can verify their authenticity, but Ancient Tower People even today believe tulips contain magic power capable of curing death, which is a fact.