Pillar of Yita

”Elisa!?”

Sophie and Fang Hong exclaimed the name simultaneously.

”Indeed, Miss Elisa.”

”She would like to speak with you alone, Mr. Xiaya,” Ambassador Liao answered.

Fang Hong nodded.

This was exactly what he had been seeking.

Although Sophie was curious about the two of them, she understood that it was not the time to satisfy her curiosity and thus withdrew from the communication channel. The interference within the channel temporarily disappeared, creating a moment of silence, after which Fang Hong heard that gentle and somewhat familiar voice coming from the other end of the channel.

”Mr. Ade...”

”Elisa.”

”Mr. Ade, I’m sorry...” Elisa replied softly.

”This is not your fault, Miss Elisa,” Fang Hong paused before answering, ”because I believe you are innocent. But the question now is, can you trust me once, Miss Elisa?”

Elisa seemed to fall silent.

After a while, she asked, ”Trust you in what, Mr. Ade? But I have always trusted you; I know you are a good person—”

”This is different,” Fang Hong shook his head, ”because this time, I need your complete, unconditional trust.”

There seemed to be a pause on the other end.

Fang Hong continued, ”Do you remember the message I sent you before?”

Elisa did not respond.

But Fang Hong didn’t mind and continued, ”At that time, I asked, ’Elisa?’—you understand, that was to confirm your identity with Alice.”

”And your response was—’What’s wrong?’.”

”From that moment, I knew you two were innocent.”

”The reason is simple—”

Elisa was standing under the Holy Icon of the Goddess of Life, holding her Starlight Device.

Lady Milaila in the Holy Sanctuary was not as solemn and upright as Goddess Roman; her eyelids drooped, seemingly watching over her people with a gentle gaze.

And the girl stood still, the military personnel who had come to protect her had, in accordance with the agreement with her, withdrawn from the hall. Thus, in the rather small shrine, there were only she and the Goddess facing each other.

Within the Starlight Device.

A clear voice kept transmitting from the communication channel.

”...because Toragotos has a critical information loss,” Fang Hong pointed to the Black Crystal he wore on his chest: ”Remember this Information Crystal?”

”I had encountered you on the fourth level, and just then, an Information Crystal fell from Kukulkan’s Holy Relics, which you picked up and then traded to me. Though Toragotos might hold all the initiative within this relic, it couldn’t understand these specific details.”

”The Invoker’s trading system essentially originates from the fair covenant of Goddess Roman, which records the true identities of both parties in a trade—so you are aware, at that moment, I had already confirmed both your and your sister’s identities.”

”The message I sent was not to confirm anything but merely to retrieve a desired answer—an answer both clear to you and me, yet unclear to those behind you.”

”So the moment you spoke, I understood everything,” Fang Hong answered quietly, ”uncoerced by anyone; you would never blurt out without reason, and Miss Alice’s reaction thereafter further convinced me of this fact.”

”Because this was a covenant between us, I let no one perceive that I had noticed her identity, including your sister.”

Fang Hong paused for a moment.

There was also silence on the other side, with only the sound of gentle breathing.

After a while, Fang Hong continued to speak,

”...At the place where you were killed, Miss Hilveld’s handgun was left behind, perhaps to make others believe that it was ’that woman’ who killed you, which is consistent with what Alice claimed afterwards.”

”But there is a flaw in this plan, within the Black Holy City, others do not recognize Miss Hilveld, and the only people familiar with us are from the Rain Listeners. So, this detail, rather than framing, seems more like a deception meant to mislead your own people—”

”So, what is the meaning of this deception? I believe it has a purpose, which is to keep the other Rain Listeners in the dark about whether it was you or Alice who was killed.”

”And on the eleventh floor, I specifically asked the Rain Listeners if you had ever been out of their sight before that, but the answer was no. So, I guess the exchange of identities actually happened in the chaos when you were killed.”

”Why do such a thing?”

”I guess sometimes we view being murdered as something very serious because that is the usual way of thinking for the Invokers. But on the other hand, here in Eteliria—murder could also be a form of protection.”

”So your sister was protecting you, Miss Elisa.”

”And you, in turn, were protecting her.”

Fang Hong paused, looking seriously at the girl appearing in the Light Page, Elisa’s eyes slightly swollen.

”But you know what true protection is, Miss Elisa,” he said softly, ”please bring out the courage and wisdom you had in that brief reply, because now there is no one around to stop you from speaking, and it might still be possible, we may still have a chance to save everything.”

”Whether it is your sister or the lives of tens of thousands on Fenris Isle—”

Elisa stood there, startled.

She gently closed her eyes, tears unavoidably slipping down: ”But it’s all too late, Toragotos controls everyone, we can’t contact Alice without alarming it, it will kill Alice, truly kill her, I’ve seen it all...”

”Toragotos controls everyone?”

Fang Hong was slightly startled.

Somehow, he immediately connected this to the disappearance of the top echelons of the Rain Listener Guild.

And what shocked him more was everything Elisa described—Toragotos would kill her sister, truly kill her? What did ’truly kill’ mean? Although he faintly guessed the possibility, he was filled with an unbelievable dread.

If all of this was true.

Wouldn’t it mean the Natives might have the ability to kill Invokers in Eteliria.

But how could that be possible?

However, Fang Hong reacted in a moment, realizing it was not the time to consider this. He shook his head, forcing himself to calm down, and replied, ”But Miss Elisa, if we do nothing, do you really think Toragotos, after succeeding, will spare us? Spare your sister?”

These words struck the deepest nightmares in Elisa’s heart.

She suddenly widened her eyes, looking at Fang Hong, her face turning pale.

”And I,” Fang Hong pressed on, pausing deliberately between words, his voice resolute, ”I have sworn never to leave myself with regrets, so I will always try once—so, Miss Elisa, would you trust me once?”

Elisa pursed her lips, her eyes filled with complex emotions. After a while, she finally spoke, ”But what should I do, Mr. Ade?”

Fang Hong then sighed in relief.

Feeling fortuitously like there was still a way out, he answered softly, ”Do you remember the pair of Daggers I gave you?”

Elisa was startled, nodding her head.

”Then,” Fang Hong’s tone was filled with certainty, ”perhaps, we can still think of something.”

...