Arknights' Lock of Heaven

This gave Chaldea an opportunity, and they tried to get close to him in this way, to win him over, and to get him to stand on their side at the last moment.

Xia Yu was happy with this arrangement, since his plan was to turn against his own side at the last minute and then enter the Hall of Heroes, so he wouldn't have to perish with this singularity.

His goals aligned perfectly with Chaldea's; he would do the same without them trying to bribe him.

What does Chaldea's behavior count as? It's practically freeloading!

Xia Yu gained a large number of Heroic Spirits' Spirit Origins, Type-Moon's magic, and Chaldea received a crucial blow at the last moment. We all have a bright future.

Looking at the familiar before her, Xia Yu's eyes were filled with memories of the past.

Although he complained about his days on the Absolute Warcraft Front, when he really looked back on the past and the simple joy of getting things for free, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

I wonder how Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu are doing now.

Although I kept saying that Ritsuka was annoying, I still liked that she would come and talk to me from time to time.

Living alone in the forest is truly lonely.

144 Radiant Knight

"...Korol, are you scared?"

Grani waved his spear to clear a path for the two of them, while casually making conversation.

“...I’m so scared,” Korrell said, her body trembling with fear.

Recalling what the bounty hunters had done to her hometown, and what would happen to Drip Village if she failed, Laura trembled with fear.

"But, in order to bring peace to my village and restore tranquility to our land... there are things I must do."

It is this belief that has sustained her all the way to where she is today.

Now, with Mr. Bob's fate hanging in the balance after their deaths, she looked at Grani, who had been forging ahead in front of her, and a hint of relief flashed in her eyes.

Fortunately, I did not despair and continued to seek help from the outside world, eventually receiving help from Grani, a noble person.

"Although his clothes don't look like it..." Krol recalled the scene of her first meeting with Grani not long ago.

"Excuse me, are you... the newly appointed Knight of Kazimierz? After you rescue our village, will you levy taxes on us?"

“No, no, no, I’m not from Kazimierz, and I’m certainly not a knight,” the short Kuranta waved his hands repeatedly after hearing his question. “While Victoria does have knights, I used to be a mounted policeman!”

"Mounted police officers are different from motorcyclists; they are law enforcement officers. Mounted police officers do their jobs without expecting anything in return, and they won't levy any taxes on you!"

Coral still remembers the embarrassed look on Grani's face when she heard her call her a knight.

It was as if he was somewhat ashamed because he wasn't a knight.

But Grani, having escaped the pursuit of countless bounty hunters and made his way here, never once mentioned any reward.

It was as if she had never come for any treasure, but simply received a request for help and ended up here.

That kind of people……

Such a noble person...

He was just like the legendary knight sung in the ancient songs of Kazimierz.

If such a person cannot be called a knight, then who in the world can call themselves a knight?

Are those 'knights' who hide in mobile cities and turn a blind eye to the lives of their people?

"Hey, why did you stop?" Grani stopped and asked with concern after noticing that Chlor hadn't kept up with her. "Are you tired? Why don't we rest here for a bit?"

"Perfect timing, I also need to think carefully about what to do next."

"Ah," upon hearing her words, Korre realized she had been lost in thought and stopped in her tracks, staring at Grani's retreating figure.

“No,” she quickly waved her hand. “I just… I was just thinking about something. You don’t need to stop and wait for me.”

“Uh,” Grani paused for a moment upon hearing this, then walked over to her, patted her shoulder, and comforted her, “It’s okay, take a rest when you’re tired.”

"Didn't we say that only you know the location of the buried treasure? We're not afraid of someone else getting there first."

"If you're worried about the village, don't worry. Before they get the treasure, those bounty hunters won't dare to go too far."

Hearing this, Korrell wanted to argue, but Grani pressed her shoulders and made her sit down.

“It’s not good to push yourself too hard,” Grani sat down beside her. “Before I rescued you, they left you hanging in the sun for almost a whole day, and then you followed me all this way, only managing to rest for a few hours along the way. That won’t do.”

"Listen to me, get some rest!"

Upon hearing this, Klaus opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.

In the end, they could only obediently follow Grani's instructions and rest on the spot.

“Here you go,” Grani rummaged through the simple backpack at his waist, took out two biscuits, and gave half to Chlor. “Although they’re cold now, I bought these biscuits from a super delicious shop that I stumbled upon on my way here.”

"Let me tell you, that shop owner, even though he always has a cold face and a big scar on his face, is actually a really nice person..."

Grani began to tell Chlor about the interesting things that had happened to her along the way.

The latter listened as he swallowed the dry biscuit in his mouth while enjoying the story.

"Do you know what he said to me in the end?"

Grani gesticulated wildly as he said, "He put on a stern face, yelling that I was so hard to please, while carefully wrapping up the cookies I wanted to take away."

"That scene was really hilarious."

“Sigh, I’ve left my water bottle and luggage in the village,” Grani said, taking a bite of a cookie and sighing, somewhat dejectedly. “It would be easier to swallow if I had some saliva.”

"These cookies don't taste as good as they used to after they've been sitting out for a while."

“Grani,” Chlor suddenly spoke up, “can you... tell me about Rhodes Island, what kind of organization is it?”

"Oh, you wanted to hear this, right?" Hearing this, she shook off her previous frustration and said excitedly, "Rhodes Island, that's a wonderful place!"

"We at Rhodes Island, well, we're a pharmaceutical company! We're working hard to conquer Oripathy!"

After hearing the first sentence, Klaus felt that she was ignorant.

"A pharmaceutical company?" Her eyes widened slightly. "A pharmaceutical company?"

Why would a pharmaceutical company, uh, care about a plea for help from a small village like ours?

These are completely unrelated.

“And…” she recalled the two times she had met Skadi, Grani’s colleague.

Why would a pharmaceutical company have such... well, such a powerful workforce?

“Well, it’s normal for you to be confused about this,” Grani said, scratching his head after hearing her question. “Actually, I was also confused when I first saw the various missions on Rhodes Island.”

"Why would pharmaceutical companies take on so many tasks that have absolutely nothing to do with manufacturing and selling drugs? They even take on crisis contracts."

"The Crisis Contract is not a simple task, but it seems that Rhodes Island has a pretty good relationship with them."

Grani showed a hint of shame as he said this.

"I can actually sense that Rhodes Island is not simple."

“Let’s put it this way,” she hesitated for a moment, then said to Chlor, “Do you know the Radiant Knight?”

"Uh, the Radiant Knights?" Krol paused for a moment, then immediately realized, "You mean the noble family of Kazimierz, the Nearl family?"

Of course she knew, after all, the Nearl family used to have a very prominent presence in Kazimierz, and the former Pegasus even organized the Silver Spear Pegasus Knights to repel the invasion of Ursus.

He is a household name and a hero in Kazimierz.

At least in remote and impoverished places like Dishui Village, the legend of the silver spear and heavenly horse remains a story passed down from generation to generation.

“Hmm,” Grani nodded, then said, “Of course, I’m not talking about the entire Nearl family, I’m talking about their current generation’s Radiant Knight, Margaret Nearl.”

“The Radiant Knight,” Chlor said thoughtfully, “is that the Radiant Knight who won the championship in the Knights Tournament two years ago?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Grani nodded rapidly upon hearing this, “It seems that Lin Guang did indeed win a championship.”

“But I heard,” Chlor hesitated, “that the Radiant Knight used dishonorable means in the competition, concealing his infected identity and taking advantage of the fact that infected people don’t need staves to defeat that year’s runner-up.”

“I’m not discriminating against infected people,” Chlor said, waving her hand as if she had just remembered something. “Although I’ve never met them, infected people are just people who have the disease.”

"only……"

"It's all made up by those people!" Hearing this, Grani snorted. "Ningguang, how could she be that kind of person!"

"Let me tell you, I've heard countless different versions of this story along the way in Kazimierz, most of which are slanderous against Nearl."

"How could someone as proud as her do such a despicable thing!"

“Actually, I don’t know much either,” Krol quickly explained when she heard Grani defending Nearl so much. “After all, in a small village like ours, we’ve never even seen a knight’s tournament. All the information we’ve heard before is just hearsay.”

“I’m not blaming you,” Grani said, fiddling with her spear in frustration. “I just can’t understand… how could Linguang have done such a thing…”

After organizing her thoughts, Grani looked at the nervous-looking Chlor.

"Hey, Chlor, after everything you've been through, do you believe that true knights, like those in the legends, really exist in this world?"

Upon hearing this, Korre replied without hesitation, "Of course I believe you!"

“You believe it too?” Grani clapped her hands excitedly. “I thought you were like everyone else I’ve met, thinking they were just stories.”

When you miraculously rescued me from the bounty hunters and overcame countless difficulties to bring me here, what reason did I have not to believe you?

Korol opened her mouth as if to say something, but Grani spoke up again.