Pillars of Ita

Chapter 901 Chapter 230 Act Two Laila
Through the morning light, one can see the majestic outline of the 'Mobius' mobile fortress, and countless pipelines support this monster-like city.Since there is an industrial area between the old city and the artisan area, there are many chimneys, and it looks foggy from a distance.

Two sparrows stayed outside the window, and they built a nest between the magic pipelines passing outside the attic.Those pipelines have been repurposed by artisans for other purposes over the years, supplying energy to the entire city through the huge magic furnace core of the mobile fortress.

Lyra wiped the mist off the glass with her hand, watched them, and tapped lightly on the window with curled fingers.The two birds turned their heads and looked at the former with their little heads tilted, as if they were not too afraid of the mistress of the attic.

A smile bloomed on the girl's pale face, and she giggled.

She has no friends in this strange city, but seeing this scene can comfort her lonely heart.Something came to Lyra's mind, and she jumped out of bed—it was nothing more than a plank, covered with a quilt and a sheet—with some thick books under it.

She walked barefoot on the floor of the attic, and came to the side of the bookshelf. The tall bookshelf occupied most of the space in the attic, and it was densely packed with all kinds of books—and some cardboard boxes.

Some books can be seen to be frequently flipped through, and the covered book covers are frayed and curled, but the owner seems to cherish these books very much, and carefully pasted another layer of adhesive tape.

Other books have not been touched for a long time, as new as before, with long titles written in strange characters.Some of them can be seen as biography and history, while others are not the common language of the Osyrians.

Lyra stood on tiptoe and took a glass jar from the top of the bookshelf—like a candy jar, but now it was full of coins, about half the jar was mostly yellow copper coins, one was Three or five Rissel's face value.

Interspersed with a few silver coins.

Laila carefully placed the jar on the desk beside her, opened the lid, and carefully counted the few silver coins that were there, a total of eleven.After confirming that it was correct, she breathed a sigh of relief, and then picked up the eleven silver coins one by one and wrapped them in her hands.

She took out another silver coin from her pocket, put it together with the other coins, and lay down her hands to look at it carefully.After watching for a while, the girl poured them back into the jar together, and made a pleasant sound of ding ding dong dong.

Finally, he closed the lid with satisfaction.

"Maybe we'll be able to scrape together enough money before the exam at this rate," Laila thought. "I still need a set of robes for admission, but Britta promised to give me her old one."

She looked at the glass jar carefully, as if looking at the whole world that belonged to her, her heart was full of happiness.That was her own dream that she saved bit by bit.

In her eyes, these coins are like pairs of wings, carrying her way to the future.

Laila looked at it for a while before putting the jar back on the top shelf and covering it with some books.

On the desk at the side, there is a magic glow lamp, the base is polished and shiny, and it has been used for many years in the hands of the owner.The magic crystal above is almost transparent, and can only emit dim light.

There are many papers scattered on the table, both sides are filled with dense formulas, a quill pen is inserted in the ink bottle, and the thick book that is spread out is also full of various notes and marks.

The girl closed the book and put it together with the notes.Then she picked up the half-eaten hard bread from last night that was covered with a cloth on the side plate, took a small bite, and swallowed the dry bread with the cold water in the cup.

She ate a small piece of bread for a long time, narrowing her eyes slightly as if savoring some delicacy.

After breakfast, Laila went to wash in the cubicle, turned on the faucet, took a small basin of water, scooped up a handful of water, poured it on her face, and then dried it with a towel.

She looked up and looked at her face in the mirror.

A girl's face of no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, pointed, but a little unhealthy pale, the hair hanging from her forehead is fluffy, but dark and beautiful, under which are thin eyebrows like willow leaves.

There is always a lingering sense of pity in the brown-green eyes, the tip of the nose is very beautiful, and there are some faint freckles scattered on both sides, which makes the girl feel a little shy.

Laila picked up the glasses on the side vanity and put them on the bridge of her nose.

There was a gap in the middle of the glasses frame, but it was glued back carefully with glue, and a cloth strip was carefully wrapped around it. The thick lenses reflected light, and together with the drooping hair, covered the timidity in the girl's eyes.

With a sigh of relief, she went back into the outer room and changed into her robes.One of the only two robes was quite short last year, but she ingeniously lengthened it with the same color of fabric, and patched up the frayed place from the inner layer in the same way.

In this way, the traces of the patch cannot be seen from the outside.

More than once Lyra was proud of her ingenious ideas.

Then she picked up those books, thought carefully if there was anything she missed, and then pushed the door out, lowered the stairs from the outside corridor, and climbed down from the attic.

There was no one in the hotel at this time, and it was quiet, but this made Laila breathe a sigh of relief.She was very afraid of those people pointing fingers at her and staring at her, although most people in the hotel were quite friendly to her.

When passing by the concierge, Matri, who was in charge of the boiler, turned his head and saw the girl floating out like a ghost, and couldn't help shouting: "Laila, have you eaten well recently? How can you look more and more pale?" Worse?"

"Eat, Uncle Matri," Laila replied in a low voice, "...there is an extra meal in the evening, half a piece of bread...By the way, is Aunt Rosa feeling better recently?"

"She's much better," Matri looked at the little girl and taught earnestly, "You should also pay more attention to your body, don't be so anxious, if you have any troubles, you can ask everyone for help."

"Oh."

The girl quickly responded and fled.

Matri looked at the back of the other party, couldn't help shaking his head, and shoveled a shovel of coal into the stove.

Although magic furnaces are also used for heating these days, they are luxury items that only wealthy families can afford. Ayin Brock is located on the Four-leaf Clover Plain, and there are amazing coal resources stored underground nearby.

This is a famous city of iron and steel. The Oshu people have used coal to smelt iron and steel here for centuries. The price of coal here is quite cheap, and both industries and residents use it to generate heat value.

The abundant steel resources also compose the legend of this magical city that continues to this day.

Laila came to the lobby of the hotel, and originally wanted to discuss the rent with Mr. Pusher, but unexpectedly found that there were many strangers in the lobby today—the leader was a young alchemist.

There were also a few men and women, and one of the girls made her unable to bear to look at her twice, and then hurriedly looked away before the other looked over, thinking how could there be such a good-looking person in this world.

There was also a boy holding a sword and sitting quietly on the side, which made her pay more attention.Because the opponent was obviously wearing a mage's robe and a pointed mage hat, but he was a swordsman.

Magic Swordsman?
She thought to herself that she had only heard about this profession in stories.

There was also a tall lion-man paladin, who had been sizing her up from the very beginning, seeing her looking over, and smiling kindly at her.

Lyra was so frightened that she hurriedly lowered her head.

She had heard of this race, born on the wild plains, and founded a nation with ancient precepts, that is the kingdom of Lotao, the guardian of the pillars of the stars.

The ancient knights of Lotao, the Sanctuary of Mirro, still keep their oaths to this day, guarding with that ancient country on the great wilderness, where the dragons were born and the stars died.

Is there a new guest at the hotel?
When Laila saw the platinum morning star on the collar of the leading alchemist, she couldn't help being shocked, her heart pounding, how could such a respected person live in the old city?
Are they the Chosen Ones?
Only the Holy Chosen can have such a young high-level alchemist.

She didn't dare to look more, and even felt a little ashamed in front of these people. She subconsciously covered the patched place on her robe with her hand, then walked out of the hall with her head down.

……

In the lobby of the hotel was the group of the Seven Seas Brigade.

After leaving the Stag Principality, the Traveler of the Seven Seas turned directly to the south and sailed through the Grand Canyon, the gate of the empire, leaving behind those who died in the guild.

After enjoying the magnificent scenery in the Grand Canyon, I arrived in Ravendur a few days later.

There, they were lucky enough to meet a delegation of artisans from Kaolin-Ishurian.To be precise, it was the delegation of the Ancient Pagoda Artisans Association, where Fang Plover also met the girl named Vikki whom he had seen before.

And the somewhat dull young battle craftsman who was with her.

The relationship between the Guta people and the Kingdom of Kaolin is somewhat delicate.Under the instigation of the Ravenpaw Temple, the mountain people launched turmoil in the northern border, but the Chosen Ones were little affected. After all, both Stargate Port and the Chosen Ones have their own interests and positions.

The same is true for the Guta Artisans Association.

Although the ancient pagoda and Baozhang Coast have always belonged to the sphere of influence of Japan and South Korea in Northeast Asia, and the ancient pagoda artisan association has closer ties with the interests of several countries, but the artisan association and the mountain people are not of one mind.

What's more, the Chosen of the Ancient Tower and the Chorin of Colin-Ishurian are in a competitive relationship, but they are not hostile.

After arriving in the Empire, this relationship is even more obvious. After all, they are all players in the second division, and the common enemy here is the Oshu people and the chosen ones of the Empire.

So the Ancient Pagoda Artisan Association, which was originally hostile to Fang Plover, even eased its attitude; and Vikki and the boy had no hatred against him. After all, Fang Plover taught a group of people to learn ancient alchemy in the southern border.

Therefore, the two told Fang Yan that people from the Southland Alchemist Alliance and the Colin-Ishurian Federation had set off before them, and they had already gone to Aiyinbulok one step ahead.The Ancient Tower Artisan Association stayed temporarily because it had some affairs to deal with in Ravendur.

In terms of time, the Guta people really have nothing to worry about.

For some unknown reason, the Imperials changed the start time of the Artisan Contest this year. It was scheduled to start in March after the Flower Festival, and it would not end until May or June.

Even if you wait for the snow to start on the road, there is more than enough time.

However, Fang Plover didn't plan to stay and wait for the Guta people. After all, although the relationship between the two parties has eased, it can't be said that they are harmonious.What's more, the Seven Seas Brigade has its own sailboat, and there is no need to stay and wait for the liner between Lavendure and Ronaldo.

After bidding farewell to Vikki and others, the Seven Seas Brigade set off on the road again.

Through the hinterland of the empire via the "Wind Gorge Route", passing through several cities, and also experienced the first snow since the beginning of winter-a light snow, the snowflakes disappeared without a trace even before they had time to accumulate .

After drifting on the empty sea for several weeks, the Seven Seas Traveler finally entered the Ronore area.

Arrived at Ayn Brock.

It was already mid-January at this time, and according to Yayo, it should have snowed in the northern part of the Stag Principality at this time.However, in the warm southern part of the empire, the Clover Plain never sees snow all year round.

As soon as everyone left the airport, they immediately headed towards the old city.

After asking passers-by along the way, I finally found this hotel called 'Gears and Magic Books'.

Fang Plover and Sylvaide went to the Stag Principality to find Sir Mawei's old friend, and one of the purposes was to seek help for the trip to the empire.But although Sir Ash is no longer alive, and the Lynn family has disappeared, but the old servant of the Lynn family still provided them with some guidance within his ability——

The owner of this inn called 'Gears and Magic Books' is a businessman named Pushe.

When the other party was young, he used to do business between Xintaan and Colin-Ishurian. After retiring, he bought the hotel from others. He is currently running the hotel and several real estate businesses in Einbrok.

This hotel was originally owned by the Lynn family, but after it was sold, it was transferred to the former.

The old servant told them that the other party had met him a few times when he was managing the Lin En family's property, and he was a reliable person.If they want to find a reliable foothold in Aiyin Brock, they can use his name to find each other.

This Mr. Pusher is a warm-hearted person, and he will not hesitate to help them.

This is exactly the reason why Fang Plover and his party appeared here——

"That's it?" Fang Ploy was seeing Lila hurriedly passing through the hall with her head bowed, and her figure disappeared outside the door. Seeing the amiable old businessman in front of her, who seemed to know him, she couldn't help asking: "A local college student?"

From the very beginning, he noticed the robe on the girl's body. Although the style was old, it could be seen that it was a gray-brown low-level mage's robe.And there is no rank on it, maybe it is still a student of the academy.

"That's Miss Laila," Pushe shook his head, "She has some relationship with the original owner of this property... The little girl came to this city alone to study, and she didn't have any relatives. Her financial difficulties really made people feel sympathetic. .

For the sake of the original owner, I let her stay here temporarily, and the accommodation fee is only paid by her according to her own situation... But she is a good girl, but she is too thin... Even if I save money, under normal circumstances, Risel is fine. Less hotels.Occasionally, I couldn't get the money out, and it was only recorded on the account, and I was never allowed to reduce or deduct it.

I also persuaded her, but I didn't want to break her mind.When I was young, I went to many places and saw many things, and I know that everyone has their own persistence. "

The old businessman sighed a few more words, "It is said that she is still saving her own tuition fees, and she only hopes that the girl will have a good result. If she becomes an official magician and can subsidize her own life, her life will be better in the future many."

"You're really kind." Sylvie praised with a smile, and then asked, "Is she from Lynn's family?"

Pushe was very helpful, and even brought the other party and the group to be friendly, "I don't know about it, but she came here with a letter of introduction, which was from an old friend of mine. The above Just say that Miss Lila has an old relationship with Lynn's family, let me help take care of it."

He suddenly thought of something and asked, "By the way, you are also friends of Lin En's family. I haven't been back there since I heard about the accident in the Stag Principality. Can you tell me what happened?"

Fang Plover and Sylvaide looked at each other.

Then he told the old gentleman the story that they had heard in the stag principality for more than ten years.

"I didn't expect so many things to happen there since I retired and stopped caring about things above Kukai," Pushe sighed after listening, "When I came back to Ainbrok, I wanted to bid farewell to the past and work on A stable business. Just at that time, I found out that the Lynn family was dealing with local property, so I bought the hotel from them.

At first, I thought they were just selling off the real estate here normally. After all, this place was bought by Mr. Ash Lynn when he was studying in his youth. Time has changed, and it is understandable to want to sell it.But later I found out about the things that happened in the Stag Principality. I also considered helping out of love, but the things about the wizards are really not something that a small businessman like me can talk about.

Later, I helped Lynn's family deal with some of their local properties, and then transferred the money to the person who came to contact them.After that, I didn't hear any more news about it until you came here. "

After listening to the other party's narration, Fang Yan couldn't help feeling disappointed.

Originally, they expected to get some news about the Lynn family from the other party. After all, apart from the old servant of the Lynn family, the other party was the last person they knew about the Lynn family.

But this is expected, after all, it is reasonable for outsiders to know things that even the servants of Lin En's family don't know.

He just continued: "Actually, that's all we know. Since then, the Lynn family has lost contact with Tagli since they left, and no one knows where they went now."

Pusher thought for a while and said, "If you really care about Mr. Ash-Lynn's family, you might as well ask Miss Leila.

I thought about it, and here she should be the only one who has the deepest relationship with the Lynn family.But she seldom talked about these things, and everyone respected her privacy, and never asked about her origin.

But since she has a letter from my old friend, she must have something to do with it.You are also friends of the Lynn family, maybe you have some relationship with Ms. Leila, she has some difficulties in life recently, you are all important people, maybe you can help her. "

Fang Plover thought about it carefully, and felt that this was also a solution.If the girl named Laila really had something to do with the Lynn family, maybe only the other party would know where the Lynn family went after they left Tagore.

But he had seen before that the other party seemed a little shy, and his group took the initiative to ask the other party these things, fearing that it would be self-defeating and scare the other party.

And since the Seven Seas Brigade is going to stay here for a while anyway, it might as well take this matter slowly.

After all, they actually have things to do at hand——

The first thing is to go to the artisan association located in the mobile fortress of 'Mobius', and inquire about whether the Colin-Ishurian Artisan Association and the Southern Alchemist Union have arrived.

They had inquired at the airport before, but did not get any relevant information.

It stands to reason that the Colin-Ishurian Artisan Association and the Southland Alchemist Union set off from Ravendur earlier than them, and they will not arrive at Aynbrok later than the Seven Seas Traveler. Even if the Seven Seas Traveler is very fast, it is still Not so fast.

It's a pity that they are not familiar with the place of life in the empire, their eyes are darkened, and there is no more useful information from the airport.

Fortunately, there is finally a local person to rely on, and Mr. Pusher is also very enthusiastic, just as the old servant said.After learning about their difficulties, the old businessman took the initiative to find someone from the hotel to take them there.

The man who found it was Matri, who was guarding the boiler, and the latter was also a very enthusiastic person. He led them to inquire about everything in the craftsman's association, and finally figured out where the two craftsman's associations went. where.

It turned out that after the members of the Colin-Ishurian Artisan Association and the Southern Alchemist Alliance set off from Ravendur, they did not immediately go to Ayinbrok, but went to the imperial capital first.

After figuring out what was going on, Fang Plover was not in a hurry.Anyway, there is still more than a month before the Craftsman Competition, and the people from the Craftsman Association can always come back before then.

But before that.

But another thing was put on the agenda——

Purchase supplies for the lost constructs in previous battles, as well as for the upcoming Artisan Contest.

After finally coming to this holy place of alchemy, this matter is naturally the top priority.In fact, he had this idea as early as in Tagri and Ravendur, but since they have all gone to Osu, of course they have to go to Ayin Brock to make a big purchase.

Otherwise, isn't he here for nothing?
……

(End of this chapter)