Pillar of Yita

”What if it wasn’t the Dragon Worship Sect that made a mistake, but someone else?” Elisa asked softly in the Communication Crystal.

A spark of insight flashed through Fang Hong’s mind, and he glanced at the others before suddenly speaking: ”I just realized that we have never considered such a possibility. Mr. Mazak told us that Nikopolas was born inheriting the cursed bloodline of the Oathkeeper Clan, naturally endowed with the Dragon’s Golden Eyes. According to ancient prophecy, she is destined to become the returning Shadow of Dark.”

”But was the Dragon Witch disaster a hundred years ago really a natural calamity and not a man-made disaster?”

The others remained silent. The Big Cat People stroked the mane on their chin, Atira and Parker both showed thoughtful expressions, and a spark of light flashed in Hilveld’s eyes: ”What does Lord Captain think?”

”I am not being a conspiracy theorist,” Fang Hong replied, ”Initially, we thought the Dragon Worshippers were Nikopolas’s followers, remnants of the Dragon Witch disaster a hundred years ago.”

”But from the truth we’ve uncovered since, the facts seem otherwise. At least there is no clear subordinate relationship between the Dragon Worshippers and Nikopolas; on the contrary, Nikopolas is quite indifferent to her ’Believers.’”

”We’ve learned this much, but we haven’t followed this line of thought further. Since there is no chronological relationship between Nikopolas and the establishment of today’s Colin Ishurian’s Dragon Worship Sect, when did the Dragon Worship Sect begin to exist?”

”What if these people existed long before the timeline of the Dragon’s Witch?”

He continued, ”This isn’t groundless; during that catastrophe, there were no Survivors from the Dragon’s Land. So, how is the Dragon Worship Sect so certain that Nikopolas’s Dragon’s Initial Scale must be in Idus, which so contradicts mainstream understanding?”

”When did Lord Captain think of this?” Hilveld asked with a smile.

”Just now.”

”So, are you saying that the Dragon Witch incident itself might have been orchestrated by the Dragon Worship Sect?” Elisa realized.

Fang Hong nodded.

”There is some logic to it,” the Big Cat People replied, ”But having personally participated in this event, why would they turn back to seek the Dragon’s Initial Scale?”

”I’m not sure either, Mr. Reed. After all, I’m only suggesting a possibility. However, it seems the Dragon Worship Sect itself has experienced fragmentation. After Yoshude defeated Nikopolas, perhaps their organization indeed went astray for a while.”

He reached into his arms and took out an old journal: ”This journal was found in the residence of an Adventurers’ Guild official, and I believe it is the one mentioned in the conversation earlier, the one the Dragonfire Guild people lost in Fanric—”

”The most important thing in this journal should be the information about Idus it contains. Now it seems, this information is likely related to the current excavations by the Blood Shark Sky Pirates in Idus—that is to say, they might indicate the location of the Dragon’s Initial Scale.”

”I think the person who initially recorded this information must have had quite close ties with the Dragon Worship Sect.”

”And from the newer part of the journal, it seems that the Adventurers’ Guild official made multiple trips south precisely to recover this journal. After many twists and turns, he finally got hold of it. It shows that the Dragon Worship Sect has also been fractured for quite some time.”

”Brilliant analysis,” the Big Cat People said, looking at the journal in Fang Hong’s hands: ”So what clues can we derive from this journal now?”

Fang Hong remained calm and said, ”Let Miss Elisa come back first. Her current location is not safe. Once she’s back, we can discuss it together.”

Elisa cheerfully responded in the communication channel: ”Understood, Captain.”

Fang Hong reminded her again, ”Remember to have that little guy return my Clockwork Fairy. The Model II Clockwork Fairy is quite expensive, so as for the little guy, just let it go.”

Miss Nightingale laughed softly, covering her mouth: ”The Captain really keeps his promises, doesn’t he?”

”Naturally,” Fang Hong said righteously.

Soon, Elisa quietly and discreetly brought back his Clockwork Fairy. Fang Hong was in no hurry to discuss the matter with everyone but instead first led them back the way they came, reclaiming the Disturber before returning to the passage.

After Hilveld lit a torch, Fang Hong opened the journal in the faint and flickering torchlight.

He had flipped through this journal several times before, and the others weren’t seeing it for the first time either. The pages of the journal were slightly yellowed and brittle, making a unique ’rustling’ sound as they turned. The journal contained a lot of records about Idus, which he and Miss Tata had studied many times, but most of them were vaguely worded.

All that could be determined was that most of the records were about locations, pointing to the existence of certain things. After all he had seen and heard before, Fang Hong had some belief that the ’certain things’ mentioned in the records might be the Dragon’s Initial Scale the Dragon Worshippers were currently pursuing.

But his hand did not stop; he turned to a page in the journal:

It was a map.

This map, however, was folded separately and tucked into the journal, and when unfolded, it could roughly fill a small table.

Hilveld, the Big Cat People, and Atira had all seen this map before, and Fang Hong had studied it more than twenty or thirty times, but previously their conclusion had been—they couldn’t be sure this map was of Idus.