Pillar of Yita

Among Fang Hong’s praises, Hilveld only smiled gently, her eyes playfully blinking as if to say, ”This is my duty as a team member, Captain.”

These words made Fang Hong feel terribly embarrassed, while his admiration for this sensible noble Miss greatly increased.

The group quickly gathered again after tidying up the battlefield a bit.

Given that the threat of Dragon’s Golden Eyes was still present, Fang Hong gestured for everyone to leave the area first before discussing further.

This place was already deep within the Haggston Cemetery, where a thin, veil-like cold mist hung between the trees. Tombstones hidden beneath the mist could be distantly seen, along with some webbings of the enormous Grahar spiders—

Although the residents of the Aquen region considered these as a symbol of death, the spiders were actually tame creatures, non-venomous, feeding on rodents, and did not attack humans on their own accord.

Parker tiptoed at the front, his eyes rotating as he looked at the icy tombstones passing through the graveyard, occasionally reading aloud the epitaphs inscribed on them.

— ”Here lies Williams-Hannock, who delivered a lengthy discourse amidst a life-and-death battle, hence now he rests here.”

”Ah, what a bit of bad luck,” said the Papalarian.

”Keep your voice down, Parker,” she whispered.

With Atira and Tianlan absent, Fang Hong had to personally remind this unreliable dwarf.

Thinking of the Elf Miss, whose fate was unknown at the moment, he felt an additional shadow over his heart.

Moreover, although Tianlan and Gita had probably found places to hide, no one here could assure absolute safety. However, there was no helping it; being with him was the real danger at the present.

With this thought, he involuntarily patted the small bundle on his chest.

Elsewhere, Hilveld took something from her maid and approached Fang Hong.

Seeing the noble girl, Fang Hong asked softly, ”Did you find the item?”

Hilveld nodded, handing him the item. Fang Hong took over the small trinket and closely examined it in his palm—it was simply a one-inch-sized brooch.

Silver shield, silver lilies, and a cold crescent moon.

In the Summoners System, this brooch naturally displayed a label, and the name on that label was no surprise to him:

Martyr’s Mark of Steadfast.

Fang Hong sighed, ”This item was indeed with Fox.”

According to Red Leaf, Hudi entered the Phantom Realm before them, likely right after leaving the Traveler’s Rest and before the Tabopolis Oak Knights received the missions.

Red Leaf even mentioned how the Knight Order, due to inadequate preparations, inadvertently lost the initiative of their first mission upon entering the Phantom Realm.

Thinking about it now, it was merely because someone had already prepared everything inside—that someone was Hudi.

He alone could have possibly helped the Dragon Worshipper acquire the Martyr’s Mark of Steadfast.

After he obtained the Martyr’s Mark, whose hands the item would ultimately fall into, the most likely possibility was none other than the Dragon Worshipper who had interacted with him at the Traveler’s Rest.

That person, naturally, was Fox—

Of course, there was another possibility, that Hudi gave no one the Martyr’s Mark of Steadfast, yet this likelihood was minimal.

From the conversation between those two Invokers from the Dragonfire Guild earlier, it was clear that Hudi had not yet broken ties with these people before obtaining the illusory Blade of Victory.

Fortunately, at least this time, his guess was correct again.

”It looks like the Dragon Worshippers don’t value this thing,” commented Red Leaf, who had been quietly ignoring him until now.

Fang Hong blinked and turned to her, ”Why do you say that?”

Red Leaf answered disdainfully, ”From our encounters over these days, the average level of the Dragon Worshippers is quite higher than those in the Dragonfire Guild, with several particularly troublesome members, some even not inferior to our Captain. Yet Fox, merely around level twenty, does not rank amongst the high echelons within the Dragon Worshippers. The fact that this brooch still remains in his possession is indeed the best proof.”

Fang Hong nodded and said while looking at the brooch, ”Indeed, the Dragon Worshippers care about completing the mission, not about the items themselves. These are merely equipment to them.”

”Then why are we going to such lengths to obtain this trinket?” Parker mournfully recalled his loss, ”My dagger was quite expensive, you know. Just a plugin back in town, and it would have been wonderful war gear.”

Fang Hong replied, ”This thing may not be useful to the Dragon Worshippers, but it’s different for us. Fortunately, the Dragon Worshippers don’t know this, and that’s the advantage of having asymmetrical information.”

”It’s also our only advantage right now,” Hilveld added quietly from the side.

Fang Hong nodded.

He then tightly clasped his hand around the brooch, securely storing it.

Yet, what made him curious was, considering the reactions from both Fox and Hudi, they seemed to greatly care about the illusory Blade of Victory—logically speaking, wasn’t the mission at Grey Oak Square already triggered?

But the trouble Hudi caused for the Dragon Worshippers was, in any case, a rare good fortune for them. Currently, if this Phantom Realm were compared to a chess game, the situation of the Tabopolis Knights side might already be too dire to recover.