Pillar of Yita

She couldn’t help but say with a sneering tone, ”Dear Captain, you’re just under Level 5, aren’t you?”

She had wanted to say something else, but suddenly, the room stirred with wind, and a whirlwind seemed to appear out of nowhere, causing the paper slips she had carelessly thrown to the floor to dance in the air, shredding into pieces and dust, dissipating into nothingness.

It wasn’t just the dust and paper slips on the floor.

The entire office was engulfed in this whirlwind, even Xiesta, who had been searching for something in a pile of old papers, unexpectedly turned around.

Only Fang Hong stood unaffected by the whirlwind, as if he could casually stand in the midst of the raging wind.

Completely motionless.

He looked at Hilveld and said, ”Do you remember what I said earlier, Miss Hilveld?”

”Because this is the final scene—”

”Hustings Cathedral.”

”For thirty years it was obscured by mist, but a voice from the beyond has guided us here. These are the names on this list, the innocent Sacrifices, such is their Power.”

”Insignificant as it may seem, it’s not without the power to change.”

”And perhaps they should be thankful to Hudi—”

”Because someone always needs to step forward.”

Fang Hong took a step out of the whirlwind, looking somewhat somber, even though he had been unsure what to call the overflowing emotion in his chest until now.

But now he understood.

It was called anger.

With such measured anger, he slowly extracted something from his chest and laid it on the dean’s desk under Hilveld’s watchful eyes.

It was a brooch—

The black badge, outlined with dark silver edges, seemed as if it had been polished by many years and handled by many people.

The black backdrop had absorbed blood, dried up after bleeding, leaving behind a historical witness.

Reflecting the moonlight, it glimmered faintly dark.

Then the wind stopped.

It ceased abruptly, and the paper slips fluttered down, as if an invisible hand grasped them, restoring them page by page to their original places.

The whirlwind had swept every speck of dust from the ancient, decrepit office, leaving it as pristine as it was decades before.

It was the era of its imperious master.

The curtains were properly drawn open, and the moonlight outside was frighteningly bright, like satin, or fringe, or a gleaming stream.

It flowed softly in the quiet room.

The empty Silver Moon, however, was only half full.

Hilveld stared at the moonlight for a moment, then hurried to read the latest document on the desk, half-written, the ink still fresh.

She skipped straight to the date.

For thirty years, the Phantom Realm of Dolifen had been unchanged, frozen four days before the festivity—

The noble young girl turned back to Fang Hong, watching him in silence.

But Fang Hong only gazed at the side wall of the office—there hung many portraits, and the face of one of the girls appeared slightly tense,

Strikingly familiar to him.

The brooch on the table seemed to be shimmering.

Then he thought, now, let himself see what exactly happened thirty years ago—

Suddenly, a faint noise came from outside the door.

A man’s voice, somewhat familiar to him, began outside, ”Misu, step back a bit, I’ll open this door. Let’s see what kind of schemes these folks are up to inside!”

Fang Hong turned around.

He just caught a glimpse of the surprise that flashed across Hilveld’s face, ”That voice is...?”

At that moment, the door was thrust open with a ’bang’.

Three people stood outside.

It was an aging Knight, not yet bearing the weather-beaten look of later years, his face stern and filled with righteous indignation, his gaze unwavering and clear.

The other person Fang Hong had not met before, but he had heard of him. He remembered how Tianlan had described this man: cunning, crafty, hardly human in shape.

But here, he was just a green and unripe youth, with curly black hair, somewhat handsome, with a ruddy face like an apple, standing at the back of the trio.

Fang Hong knew his name.

Luen Linxiu, Chairman of the Black Goat Commerce Association.

As for the last girl, she was looking in Fang Hong’s direction.

...