Pillar of Yita

”Very well, it appears we have at least established a unified front for our external communication, but for God’s sake, find the person first—”

”This is going to take time, we’ve found the guy who brought him in, and he’s still matching the pictures.”

”In the past eight months, nearly thirteen thousand Chosen have entered or left, and the number of tourists is several times that. Mr. Savage, you tell me he’s still ’matching the pictures’, oh God, how long is that going to take? I can explicitly tell everyone that my people are holding the media at bay, but how long we can stall is anyone’s guess. Don’t we have any more high-tech methods? ”

”There’s no other way, we have too little information.” Someone sighed in the noisy conference area.

”Perhaps we could ask him to describe what that lovely big boy looks like. After all, our success rate with intelligent recognition is now extremely high, with an expectation of over ninety-six percent. That would allow us to filter out nearly eighty percent of the options.”

”Good idea, but who will take responsibility for the remaining three-something percent?” A representative from the United States of America asked from his seat, looking at the others: ”If you don’t mind, you can raise your hand to vote.”

The conference area fell silent all of a sudden.

You look at me, I look at you, everyone staring blankly at each other. Almost six years have passed since the July Incident, but its repercussions have yet to subside, greatly tarnishing the positive image of the Chosen.

The poor saps who went to prison for dereliction of duty back then were no fewer in number than the attendees here.

”How can there still be stowaways now?” Someone complained involuntarily.

All eyes turned to Ambassador Liao as he stepped in through the door.

The representative from China couldn’t help but turn a shade darker in frustration, but unfortunately, it was their person who had caused the problem. They too were at their wits’ end, wondering why stowaways still existed in what had slowly become a routine tourist channel.

What sort of madness was this!

Wasn’t this just looking for trouble!

Yet they still had to take this matter seriously, with the July Incident as a stern warning. They shuddered at the thought of that scenario.

”After all this time, haven’t we found anything about the name Ade?”

Ambassador Liao sat down and shook his head at everyone: ”This month, we’ve urgently reviewed the immigration records of the past six months, but have not found such a person.”

”Then maybe he’s a Chinese person with another nationality.”

”Hold on, there’s news,” suddenly a representative from India shouted: ”Ladies and gentlemen, you’d better take a look at this. Ade Rolin, born in the era of Magic, one of the greatest Alchemists in history, one of the founders of modern Alchemy.”

”What the hell is this?”

”Without a doubt, it’s a fake name,” the person said, holding his forehead. ”Of course, that big boy might not have done it intentionally, I suspect he was referring to his ID in the New World.”

”But he hadn’t entered the New World at that time—”

”You know, that’s how these teenagers are,” the first speaker replied irritably: ”The one who should be responsible for this is that damned Derelict. He actually believed that name, and with that sort of intelligence, he still dared to take private jobs?”

Once again, everyone’s gaze fell on the China Region.

The faces of the Chinese representatives turned dark.

”It’s not entirely without gain,” Ambassador Liao tried to smooth things over: ”At least we know that the boy might be an Alchemist, and the scope of our search has been reduced quite a bit.”

Although he said it had been reduced quite a bit, his tone didn’t seem at all relaxed.

And it was at this moment that the personal communicator in his suit pocket suddenly lit up, buzzing insistently.

Ambassador Liao stood up and gestured an ’excuse me, one moment’ to the others, then went to a secluded spot, pressed the answer button on his headset, and spoke: ”Hello, may I ask who this is?”

”Liao,” a raspy, deep voice came through the headset: ”Do you have a personal terminal nearby? You’d better check out a post on the Eteliria United Community, it’s just been posted in your China Region—”

”Community?”

He subconsciously raised his head, looking out through the windows of the gallery.

Outside was the residential area of the ’Ring of Uroboros’—

About half an hour ago, Sicape, accompanied by other members of the Morning Dawn Star Adventure Group, was finalizing the paperwork for her retirement as an Invoker.

The official gave her several glances before reconfirming: ”Miss Sicape, your immigration records show you are an American citizen, are you sure you want to sell your ’property’ to us—I’m sorry, I must confirm this to avoid any disputes, this is the office of the Russian Federation.”

Sicape looked tenderly at Kroid beside her and replied with a smile: ”Yes, I am certain of my choice. Also, I need a permanent residence permit for the Russian Federation.”

The official suddenly realized, looking at the two of them, and couldn’t help but laugh: ”Understood, that is certainly no problem, the Russian Federation welcomes any Invoker, whether former or current. And besides, I wish you both good luck.”

”Thank you.”

”Would you like to settle the remaining information in the Glow Material now?” the official asked: ”Just a reminder, if it’s a death departure from Eteliria, more than half of the information stored in the Glow Material will be lost. How much is left needs further tallying. I hope you can understand, Madam—”