Pillar of Yita

The room in the inn was somewhat quiet.

Tianlan flipped through a few pages of drawings, and a light shone from her pale blue eyes. She turned her head and said to Fang Hong with some surprise, ”Is this really a design for a Floating Airship? Can we build our own ship?”

”Er—” Fang Hong was truly startled by the girl’s unique focus. He looked at the others, then concluded his previous statement with unease, ”…that’s pretty much it. I’m very sorry for the trouble I’ve caused everyone. I actually wanted to tell you all about this sooner, but I never found the right opportunity.”

Atira listened silently.

Then she looked at him and gently shook her head. ”Ade, such a thing is a big secret to anyone; we can understand why you did not tell us. I don’t know your laws, but the Goddess allows me to see the good and evil in a person’s heart, and at the very least, she tells me you’re not doing anything wrong.”

”Exactly,” Tianlan chimed in eagerly. ”Brother Ade, you don’t need to apologize at all, you haven’t caused trouble for anyone, right? Neither the Silverwind Knights nor your military would trouble Gita, Luo Yu, Atira, the Big Cat People, and someone unrelated like me, would they?”

At this point, the Lion People put down his pipe and inserted calmly, ”And the fact that he is honest enough to reveal this secret to you shows a trust of inestimable value, but the winds that sweep over the sand dunes guard this ancient secret, warning mankind to be circumspect and tight-lipped—”

As he spoke, he glanced at Miss Hilveld with his narrow, pale silver eyes.

The noble young lady simply smiled slightly and nodded graciously.

Seeing this, the others nodded in agreement. Luo Yu hesitated but did not object.

Only the Papalarians seemed oblivious, eyeing Fang Hong curiously as if trying to discern what set a stowaway apart from ordinary people. But no matter how he blinked his black, bean-like eyes, he saw no difference after a long stare; even if his eyes bulged rounder—the latter still had two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two ears, two arms, and two legs, seemingly no different, which left him quite disappointed.

”Hey, what a bore,” he muttered.

Fang Hong looked at everyone and couldn’t help but be touched by their tolerance.

So he paused, then asked cautiously, ”Miss Atira, I promised to help Miss Hilveld fulfill her father’s last wish. They will probably be with me for a while, so may Miss Hilveld temporarily join us?”

Atira shook her head.

”No?” Fang Hong was taken aback.

But the Elf Girl answered, ”There’s no need for it to be temporary. Let’s do as Miss Hilveld said, and set up a permanent Adventure Group. We’re heading to Golande, right? We’ll register there.”

”Is that alright, Miss Atira?”

Atira shook her head, ”My brother’s issue isn’t something that can be resolved in a day or two. If Ade doesn’t mind, Reed and I can travel with you until this matter is settled. As for Parker, you should ask for his opinion individually.”

”I need to return to Sanxiak,” Parker raised his short, chubby hand.

”But what about the hat of the Mountain Lord?” Tianlan asked.

”Let’s forget about that,” the Papalar hesitated, then withdrew his hand. ”I will also stay and join you.”

Tianlan laughed heartily.

”What about you three little guys, what are your plans?” the Lion Person asked the three Trainees.

”We can build our own ship, just think about it! We could install an organ with sixteen stops and over a thousand pipes, we could have a Spoils of War display room, a mobile craft workshop, and an activity room!” Tianlan’s eyes gleamed like a tiny miser. ”We could even have our own rooms, oh heavens, I’ve decided, I want to join you too—”

”Are you mad?” Fang Hong looked at her. ”Tianlan, you’re a Trainee!”

”Ah,” Tianlan issued a tonally altered sigh, immediately becoming downhearted. ”That seems true too.”

”And besides, a small boat wouldn’t fit all the things you mentioned, aside from the necessary cabins, the remaining space must prioritize functional buildings, but a mobile craft workshop could be considered.”

”Usually on the Sky Sea, the communications officer and the Ship’s Officer reside within the captain’s duty room and don’t have their own private spaces,” Reed added proficiently, puffing on his pipe.

”Ah, that really doesn’t sound like a very exciting ship then—”

The cute complaints of the young girl prompted a round of light laughter from everyone.

Gita, small and seated neatly on the sofa with her legs together and hands on her knees, looked up cautiously and asked, ”Brother Ade, you aren’t a stowaway—sorry, I don’t mean that, I just wondered why you could control a Flexible Construct when you’re supposedly lacking in Magical Adaptability?”

The question also made Luo Yu look up at him.

Fang Hong was about to answer, but Miss Hilveld spoke first, ”Let me answer that.” She turned to look at Fang Hong, who was surprised to see a sly spark in the noble young lady’s sea-like gaze.

She articulated well as she recounted Fang Hong’s experiences—roughly. ”Therefore, to sum up, Mr. Ade’s encounters in the Elf Ruins helped him overcome this issue and enabled him to fulfill my father’s last wish for me. But as for what specific ability that is, I won’t inquire, and neither should anyone else, understood?”