Arknights' Lock of Heaven

“Yes, yes, yes,” Zofia nodded repeatedly upon hearing this. “I knew it. It’s my own home, and I can do whatever I want with it. After all, I paid for it myself.”

"You understand me so well!"

Zofia gave Xia Yu a look that suggested she had found a kindred spirit.

“Exactly,” Xia Yu chimed in with a smile, “I wonder when I’ll be able to buy a house in my hometown like Miss Zofia.”

Hearing this, Skadi, who had been seemingly indifferent to her surroundings, twitched her ears.

“Um,” Zofia turned her head and said, “Is Rhodes Island’s pay… really that low?”

“It’s not that the salary is low; compared to others in the industry, it’s already considered high,” Xia Yu said, lowering her head. “It’s just… I can’t go back to that.”

Skadi thoughtfully withdrew her gaze.

"Can't go back?" Zofia looked Xia Yu up and down a few times when she heard this. "Speaking of which, Mr. Xia Yu's name has a Yan style, but I don't know what his race is?"

Zofia couldn't tell Xia Yu's race at all, since he didn't have any physical characteristics.

On Terra, Agor is probably the only person like that.

But Agor...

To be honest, Zofia didn't think so, because he didn't have that Agorian vibe.

Ah, saying it tastes isn't quite accurate. I should say, well, it's a kind of feeling?

The kind of feeling that makes you subconsciously think, "This guy is an Agorian," just by looking at him.

The Agor people of Terra split into two groups.

One group consists of the common Agor people who settled on the mainland after coming ashore, while the other group represents the orthodox Agor people from the mysterious underwater kingdom.

Although the phrase "I can't go back to my homeland" sounds like something an Agorian would say, aside from his appearance, he really doesn't resemble him at all.

That woman named Skadi, who carries a greatsword, looks more like him.

Zofia was puzzled.

Of course, she was just asking casually.

“Race,” Xia Yu smiled faintly upon hearing this, uttering a lie she had repeated countless times before, “I am Agor.”

Zofia and Skadi, standing to the side, looked on incredulously.

One of these two people understood the Agorians on land, and the other understood the Agorians in the deep sea.

No one would believe his nonsense.

"Um, Agor, no wonder he doesn't have any other physical characteristics," Zofia thought that Xia Yu probably didn't want to say more, so she didn't ask any further and chuckled to change the subject.

“You don’t believe me, right?” Xia Yu shrugged as she read this. “Sigh, why don’t you believe me? What other race besides the Agorians could look like me?”

“That’s true,” Zofia replied. “Although Mr. Xia Yu is not quite the same as the Agor people I’ve met, he’s probably the only one like this.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Skadi, who had been lost in thought, suddenly interjected. “We Agorians aren’t the only ones without distinctive features.”

"Um, is this young lady also from Agor?" Zofia was stunned when she heard this.

Xia Yu did not mention their race when she introduced them earlier.

Skadi nodded slightly after hearing her question, then fixed her eyes on Xia Yu, waiting for his answer.

His usually indifferent eyes now expressed incredibly intense emotions.

Xia Yu knew that she wasn't trying to find topics to talk about like Zofia did.

She genuinely wanted to ask herself that question.

“I am human,” Xia Yu said seriously.

“Uh, Mr. Xia Yu is joking,” Zofia smiled when she heard this. “Aren’t we all human?”

“Yes,” Xia Yu said, her eyes filled with meaning as she looked at the ears on her head and the tail behind her, then turned to look at Skadi.

"Among all the races today, who isn't 'human'?"

“Agor is fine too, isn’t he?”

"As for why I don't have any of the common characteristics of the Agor people, perhaps it's because I grew up in Yan Kingdom."

“I’ve never been around an Agor person since I was a child, and I haven’t experienced that culture, so I’m not like a traditional Agor.”

"Oh, I see," Zofia exclaimed, suddenly realizing. "No wonder. Ah, we've arrived at my manor. It's just ahead."

Hearing this, Xia Yu turned to look at her.

That's really strange. Isn't the garden we're in now part of your estate?

So you don't consider this garden your home at all?

Sure enough, this is where freebies end up.

-

“Armor, armor!” Maria hurriedly put her armor into the suitcase. “Oh, and a sword…”

“This is,” she turned her head and picked up an old sword covered in countless scratches, her fingers gently stroking the rough, uneven blade, “the training sword my sister used to use.”

After feeling sad for a while, she remembered that her sister would be back soon, so she immediately perked up and put Margaret's training sword back into the bridge and stuffed it into her suitcase.

"Change of clothes...armor...sword..."

"Alright, everything's here!" After checking the items, she energetically zipped up the huge suitcase and turned to leave the room.

The moment she locked the door and turned her head, the expectant smile on her face froze instantly.

His uncle, now his guardian, Marna, was watching him coldly from behind.

"How could this be?" Maria was extremely flustered. "Shouldn't Uncle be at work at this time?"

They stared at each other in silence.

Maria was actually very afraid of her uncle Marna.

It's not that her uncle treated her badly; in fact, Marna has never mistreated her over the years.

only……

She recently did something that Marna would absolutely not agree to, and she felt extremely guilty about it.

After staring at each other for a while, seeing that her uncle had no intention of speaking, Maria could only awkwardly greet him first, "Ah... Uncle Manna..."

"What, isn't the Lin Guang family shameful enough already?"

As Maria had expected, Marna's opening remarks were incredibly harsh.

“No, I…” Maria was about to explain when Marna interrupted her.

"My colleagues in the Knights Arena department have already told me about this."

Marna said coldly, "You are not worthy to stand on the arena of the Knights' Tournament, and the Knights' Tournament is not worthy of the name of Nearl."

Maria fell silent upon hearing this.

She might be able to get away with signing up for the knight competition by jokingly calling Zofia "sister" a few more times, since her goal is simply to keep her family's knight title. She doesn't necessarily need to compete in the main tournament; she just needs to finish the preliminaries and qualify.

If we're not targeted, it's not that dangerous.

That's why Zofia agreed after she acted first and asked for permission later.

Unlike Marna, Zofia did not reject the Knights' Contest itself, or rather, she at least accepted its existence.

However, she insisted on fighting fair and square. She had participated in the Knights Tournament as a servant of the Shining family, but because she refused to bow to sponsors and companies, she never received good supplies and equipment, and ultimately stopped in the top sixteen.

Even though she later found herself unable to use her left hand in a match due to equipment disadvantages, she did not regret it.

But Marna was different. Maria knew very well that her uncle hated knightly competitions to the core.

He would never agree to it under any circumstances.

That's why Maria was so happy when Zofia offered to let her move in with her.

Zofia let her stay at her place not only for necessary protection, but also to keep the news of Margaret's return a secret from Marna.

It goes without saying that Maria, as the weakest member of the Nearl family, would definitely be the first target of anyone with ulterior motives.

As for Marna, a working stiff who goes to work every day, he can't protect her all the time.

The reason for keeping the news of Margaret's return a secret was also out of fear of provoking Marna.

He was the one in the family who most opposed Margaret participating in the knightly competition, and in the end Margaret was exiled. Zofia knew that Marner must have felt bad too.

After all, since her older brother and sister-in-law went missing, Marna had always raised the two sisters as her own daughters.

If he finds out now that Margaret has returned at this critical juncture, he'll have to waste a lot of his breath talking to her.

Thinking of this, Zofia gritted her teeth and took Xia Yu and the other two to her house. Even if they saw the dilapidated state of her house, she had to do it for the sake of secrecy.

As for explaining to Marner?

Haha, Margaret, you should come back and explain yourself!

Zofia had no doubt that if he knew Margaret was coming back, he would definitely drop his job, which he hadn't taken a day off in three years, and run straight to Rhodes Island to 'persuade' Margaret.

How will I stop them then?

He brought Maria to live with him partly for her safety and partly to prevent her from letting something slip.