Pillar of Yita

Xiuli looked at them, then smiled again and said, ”That’s about all that Chairman Linxiu left for you. But since you came all the way here, you must have some other proper business as well, right?”

”That’s right,” Fang Hong didn’t avoid the topic. ”Our ship ran into a Storm on the way. It probably needs some simple repairs, and we need to take on some supplies.”

”I understand.” Xiuli nodded. ”So that’s how it is; I was wondering what brought you to this place. But that’s all a trifling matter. For the Black Goat Commerce Association this is just our bread and butter. Don’t worry, this won’t take much time. For Chairman Linxiu’s sake, I’ll do my best to persuade my colleagues to quote you at cost.”

”Huh?” Tianlan blurted out in surprise. ”We still have to pay?”

Atira yanked her back with one hand.

Xiuli looked at the little girl with a smile. ”You may be the chairman’s friends, but business is business. The Black Goat Commerce Association was founded jointly by many merchants; we have to protect the interests of every Member.”

Fang Hong hurriedly nodded and replied, ”The price isn’t really the issue, but the time…”

”Relax.” Xiuli gave them a reassuring look. ”Leave it to me.”

Only then did Fang Hong let out a long breath. The supplies the Seven Seas Traveler needed weren’t worth much; compared to what he’d burned through on the Construct these past days, they were a drop in the bucket. The crucial thing was the work period; they’d already lost quite a bit of time.

Only now did he have the leisure to size up the Ancient Tower man. Seeing that the other showed not the slightest hostility toward them—this was the Black Goat Commerce Association, after all—was still a little unexpected. He couldn’t help asking, ”Come to think of it, Mr. Xiuli, you’re an Ancient Tower People, aren’t you?”

But Xiuli seemed to know exactly what he was going to ask. Smiling, he answered, ”I only count as half an Ancient Tower People. My father is a Colin People, my mother an Ancient Tower People. And even if I were a full Ancient Tower People, I wouldn’t bear you any ill will.”

He split his mouth in a grin, showing a row of white teeth. ”In fact, never mind me—most others are the same, so long as they know who you are. You’re people wanted by the Colin Royal Family. In our eyes, that makes you natural allies.”

Fang Hong was left a little dumbfounded. This friend came a bit too easily. Which meant that if they’d announced who they were back at the docks, that old sailor might have treated them very differently.

Of course, that was only idle speculation. Compared with the trouble of exposing their identities, he’d much rather spend a little extra money and time.

...

When they came out of the Commerce Association, Tianlan was still chirping away about their strange encounter.

”I really didn’t expect that Luen Linxiu to value Brother Ade so highly, arranging several capable assistants to wait for us on our route,” she said. ”I suppose that even if we hadn’t come here, we’d have run into some ’John’ or ’Peter’ in Elpaxin or at Traveler’s Rest. What in the world is that guy making such a huge fuss for?”

”Fuli.”

Atira glared at her.

Our Elf Miss’s education and upbringing in the Holy Sanctuary simply wouldn’t allow her to sit by while Tianlan called someone ”some so-and-so” and ”that guy.”

But Tianlan only pulled a funny face in secret, pretending she hadn’t seen. She’d long since picked up bad habits from Parker and the rest. Back in the early days, she’d also been able to pass for a proper young lady in the party—if only on the surface.

”So the emblem’s pattern should be exactly the same as the one on my sword?” The Big Cat People mimed the longsword in his hand and asked Fang Hong, ”What do you think it is, some message related to the Oathkeeper?”

Fang Hong nodded. That was exactly what he’d been thinking. What Luen Linxiu had left them—what truly mattered was the information it conveyed. So what connection was there between that emblem and the place name ’Quinlars’?

The only thing he could think of was the Oathkeeper behind it.

The Oathkeeper keep the Holy Sword. As long as the Oathkeeper Clan was not wiped out, the Holy Sword would never find its way into the world, just as Mazak still held the Fairy Sword Galapea. The fact that the Holy Sword in the Big Cat People’s hand existed at all likely meant the Oathkeeper Clan behind it had long since vanished in the river of history. Ever since Foe Slayer disappeared, the outside world had, in fact, been circulating such rumors.

And as for the first among the Five Swords—the Mo’ya Holy Sword—it had been stolen from the Scepter Coast by the Wanderer, or rather Tang De’s maternal grandfather. Though he still didn’t quite understand what had happened back then, the Mo’ya Guardians hadn’t appeared in the world for many years, and no one had gone to reclaim that sword. That alone seemed enough to suggest something.

The Guardians of the Mo’ya Holy Sword, the Oathkeeper Clan there, might have run into trouble—or, like the Guardians of Foe Slayer, perished with their whole Clan.

It wasn’t impossible. The Mazak siblings were a ready-made example: the Oathkeeper of the desert in days gone by, the Guardian of Galapea, and today only a single person remained.

A faint sense of historical decay rose in Fang Hong’s heart. But he also understood that since the Giant War seven centuries ago, the sky-darkening black wings had long since vanished, becoming nothing more than a bedtime legend. Their ancient foes, naturally, had grown old one by one as well.

Mortal kind, in the end, is a brief-lived race.

”Could there really be an Oathkeeper Clan on the Scepter Coast as well?” The Big Cat People stroked the whiskers on his chin, muttering to himself.

If three of the five Oathkeeper Clans were all in Colin Ishurian (Foe Slayer’s Oathkeeper Clan being Dwarf), that truly did sound a little unbelievable. Besides, Fang Hong had never heard of such a legend on the Scepter Coast. About those frozen fjords scoured by bitter winds, there were all kinds of ancient tales—but not many of them had to do with a Giant Dragon.