Pillar of Yita

Even after returning from a world war and saving the world, one wouldn’t expect to end up looking like this, right?

”Ah,” Hudi, noticing the concerned expression beneath the mask of the other, couldn’t help but feel a little apologetic, he let out a deep sigh. After a moment of silence, he answered, ”Ade, it’s a long story. Actually, the thing is, Miss Spoon has gone missing, and I’m looking for her.”

”What!” Fang Hong hadn’t had the chance to speak when Tianlan let out a shout that was more than ten decibels too loud, causing him to rub his ears involuntarily, ”Miss Spoon is missing, how could that be, is she in this place?”

Hudi hesitated, then nodded, ”It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have brought her here.”

As he spoke, this big man suddenly had red-rimmed eyes, and tears actually began to fall. ”It’s all my fault, I knew she had the intention to leave the adventurer’s life, why did I still force her to come here, I, I’m truly the biggest fool under heaven.”

The sincerity of his emotions left the group in silence. Tianlan in particular, who had always known that Hudi and his cat had a close relationship, didn’t expect it to be this deep.

This lively French girl, although quick with her tongue, had a soft heart and no longer dwelled on previous issues, she quickly offered comfort, ”Forget it, we’re all here, aren’t we? We’ll help you look for her. Even though this place is big, those slow undead creatures can’t do much with a cat, Miss Spoon is sure to be alright.”

Hudi wiped away his tears and managed to pull himself together somewhat, perhaps galvanized by Tianlan’s words. He shook his head and said, ”Thank you, but there’s no need, I’ll keep looking by myself here. Tianlan is right, Miss Spoon... she’ll be alright.”

Fang Hong felt the logic in his words was a bit strange when Hansen approached and, looking at his watch, said to the others, ”Ladies and gentlemen, it’s already a quarter past twelve, the Mark should have appeared by now, should we get ready?”

This conversation would ordinarily be perfectly normal, but unexpectedly, Hudi’s face changed when he heard it, as if he had suddenly remembered something and blurted out, ”Wait, are you here for the mission involving Dolifen’s three items?”

His alarm startled everyone, causing them all to turn and look at him. Hansen, in particular, frowned at the beggar, ”Who are you, and what has our mission to do with you?”

Hudi appeared somewhat bewildered, anxiously scratching his head before suddenly asking Fang Hong, ”Ade, do you believe me?”

Fang Hong couldn’t help but recall the incident at Traveler’s Rest, where he had first met Hudi during a craftsman’s competition, when he knew nothing much and Hudi, though a little boastful, seemed to be a decent person overall.

So he nodded.

Hudi grabbed his hand at once, speaking to him with a nervous air, ”Then let me tell you, this mission is a bit different from before, you should leave this place immediately, especially with Tianlan and Gita, the two trainees.”

”Trainee?” Fang Hong was startled; Hudi’s particular mention of trainees undoubtedly referred to matters related to life-threatening danger because in Eteliria, most people could be resurrected within the Holy Sanctuary, but trainees were an exception.

But he was still surprised; nobody else should have known about Jeffrey’s incident, so how did Hudi know? He asked, ”Hudi, how do you know the mission here is different now, how do you know about Jeffrey’s incident?”

”Jeffrey?” Hudi was taken aback, ”What Jeffrey?”

Before he could finish, Hansen saw one of his subordinates hurrying down the stairs with a Papalarian, shouting as they ran:

”Boss, there’s a problem!”

Hansen raised his eyebrows and asked loudly, ”What’s the matter?”

”It’s this, we couldn’t find the brooch in room 3007.” The man, having run over, panted as he gave his answer.

Meanwhile, Parker still looked as if he had just woken up, dazedly staring at Fang Hong and the others, as if confused about where he actually was.

Hansen was taken aback: ”Could not find the brooch, what does that mean?”

”It means there’s no brooch, boss, I’ve searched high and low. You know, that thing was conspicuous, it was on the dresser to the left of the bed, but now it’s gone, I checked the drawers too, nothing,” the man explained.

”The timing, did you check the timing? Could someone have beaten us to it?”

”Absolutely not, I can swear I was the first one inside, when I went in, Mr. Parker was still sound asleep.”

”What sound asleep, how can you describe a Papalarian gentleman like that, I was merely taking a short rest, a short rest,” retorted Parker at once, suddenly looking lively, ”Besides, I haven’t eaten since waking up, no afternoon snacks either, this lodge’s service is so poor.”

Unfortunately, no one paid attention to him; Hansen had been a bit suspicious that this Dwarf Goblin may have taken the item, but after listening to Parker, his suspicions were cleared. Besides, it was unnecessary for him to do so; even if he had secretly taken the Mark of Steadfast, the rest of the equipment would likely be shared out evenly, making the action superfluous.

As he puzzled over this, suddenly he heard a low cry from one of his men. Hansen instinctively turned around and what he saw next was utterly inconceivable.

When his subordinate spoke those words, all the ’people’ in the grand hall ceased their activity—precisely speaking, it was all of the Ghost Guests, Ghost Waiters, and even the Dwarf Monster ghosts who had all simultaneously stopped their movements.