Arknights' Lock of Heaven

At this point, Coral bowed apologetically to everyone, struggling to hold back the tears in her eyes.

"I will increase everyone's commission as compensation."

“That won’t be necessary,” Big Bob said, finally relieved.

"It's just sleeping outdoors, right? We're used to it."

He waved dismissively, then led his men out of the village.

"Remember to let me know when you've sorted things out."

The white-masked figures around him followed silently behind him.

The crowd passed by the box full of gold coins without lingering.

The villagers behind Krol stared blankly at their backs.

They... just... left?

Haven't taken the treasure yet?

“Hey, Chlor,” Grani glanced at Skadi, who was silently following the Reunion Movement, and after thinking for a moment, came to Chlor’s side and said, “I’ll go with them too.”

“No, Grani, you don’t have to…” Upon hearing this, Korre quickly grabbed Grani’s hand, desperately trying to persuade her to stay.

Along the way, Grani was the one who supported her the most, and it was Grani who gave her courage and hope.

“No,” Grani thought of the time when he tried to help the villagers up but they avoided him in fear, and shook his head firmly. “We are outsiders, they will be afraid.”

“But Grani, you’re different, you’re all different…”

“But they don’t know that,” Grani laughed freely, then shouldered his lance and said to Chlor, “I believe in you. You can make them believe that true knights exist in this world.”

Then they followed in the footsteps of the Reunion Movement.

All that remained were a group of dumbfounded villagers, a tearful Krol, and a large chest of treasure.

"They... just left like that?"

Watching the departing figures of the crowd, and then looking at the large chest of treasure beside Chlor, the villagers couldn't understand.

Really, he's just gone like that?

-

"So, this is how you all came to find me?" Xia Yu sighed as she looked at the exhausted group who had been fighting all day.

Big Bob said helplessly, "Actually, it's not their fault..."

“They are just afraid. Their past lives have taught them that they should do this. They are just following the survival experience passed down from generation to generation.”

“I know that as long as I say I want to rest in the village, no one will refuse. They will even make room for us in the best rooms, even if it means their own family members have to sleep in cowsheds.”

At this point, he chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Anyway, we've long been used to living in the middle of nowhere, so... it's not so bad."

"In Ursus, most of us didn't even dare to show our faces; it was much tougher than it is now."

"We've gotten used to this kind of life since we were kicked out of our house after becoming infected."

"However, some of you have been wronged."

“What’s there to feel aggrieved about?” Xia Yu waved her hand dismissively. “Everyone has suffered a little. I even lived in a tree hole for several years.”

Hearing this, Big Bob and the others were somewhat incredulous, and even Skadi turned her head in surprise.

Even with such abilities, would one end up wandering the wilderness?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Xia Yu noticed their gazes and sighed. "It's just sleeping in a tree hole. Everyone has moments of weakness."

"I still can't forget the feeling of hunting a prey when I was almost starving to death, roasting its flesh and blood without any seasoning, and stuffing it into my mouth."

Although I was just an ordinary person when I was at my weakest, I was able to enjoy a peaceful and tranquil life that most people in Terra could not.

After obtaining this body, he could only sleep in tree hollows in the primeval forest, which is somewhat ironic.

Everyone has moments of weakness, and everyone has faced enemies so powerful they seem hopeless.

Tiamat, oh Tiamat, Mother, Goddess of Creation...

Even if He were to burn all the magic power He possessed, both His life force and the Holy Grail's reserves, He could only be trapped for a time.

Moreover, recalling that dim night, Tiamat who was bound and motionless by her, recalling the look in His eyes and that mournful chirping, Xia Yu couldn't help but wonder if she had really bound Him.

Or did He stop and watch as He burned everything?

Xia Yu didn't know, and he couldn't find out the truth.

It's all in the past now.

“You’ve come at the wrong time,” Xia Yu said, putting down her reminiscence and shrugging at Big Bob. “The bounty hunters’ camp, well… there’s no camp left.”

Although he spoke subtly, those who had witnessed the horrific scene at the cave entrance understood his meaning.

The camp that could originally house more than two hundred bounty hunters probably no longer exists.

There might be many more... well, 'trash', not really suitable for accommodation.

“Then let’s go back to that cave,” Big Bob nodded knowingly. “At least it’ll be a place to shelter from the wind and rain.”

“That’s true,” Xia Yu sighed, “there’s nowhere else.”

After saying that, the group walked heavily toward the cave.

The Reunion Movement members led the way, followed by Skadi, then Xia Yu and Grani.

As for Lion Scorpion, she stayed in Drip Village to secretly protect Chlor.

Although the bounty hunters have been defeated, it is still necessary to take precautions.

However, it wasn't a terrible job; at least it was better than them sleeping in the wilderness.

Grani brought up the rear, his shoulders slumped, listlessly carrying his spear as he slowly made his way into the cave.

At this moment, she could no longer see the unwavering determination she displayed during the day when facing hundreds of bounty hunters.

She... was somewhat confused.

Although Nearl had already told her when she was enthusiastically asking the other party about every detail of Kazimierz, the current Kazimierz would definitely disappoint those who came looking up to him because of his knightly reputation.

However, she attributed all the reasons to the fact that knightly competitions were an activity that made the name of knights entertaining and commercialized.

Unexpectedly, after excitedly snatching the Kazimierz mission from Sister Meteor, the first thing she encountered was not the so-called knightly arena, but the suffering at the very bottom of society.

"Excuse me, are you... the newly appointed Knight of Kazimierz?"

She remembered asking herself the same question after she rescued Chlor from the bounty hunters.

"After you rescue our village, will you levy taxes on us?"

After being rescued from the bounty hunters, her first thought wasn't to beg the 'knight' in front of her to save her homeland, but rather to ask if she would impose taxes on them...

It was probably from that moment that cracks began to appear in her heart regarding Casimir.

Then, as the adventure progressed, the gap gradually widened until...

She reached out to the villager who was kneeling before her, but he flinched away in fear. She opened her mouth to explain, but the man's back bent even more humbly. From that moment on, the Kazimierz she had longed for since childhood, the knights of the stories she admired, crumbled in an instant.

She remembered that person; whether she was able to find Chlor or escape him, it was he who guided her and Chlor to hide in the empty barn when they were being chased by bounty hunters.

Why can they talk to me properly during the day, but at night they can only crawl in fear at my feet?

The story was just a story. In a daze, she recalled when she was a child, when she pestered her mother to tell her about the past of Kazimir, and she never noticed the unfamiliarity her mother had with the land of Kazimir.

Their ancestors had long since left Kazimierz, and their impressions of the place could only be passed down orally.

As this tradition was passed down from generation to generation, people would inadvertently romanticize their hometown in the past, and in Grani's ears, it became a beautiful scene just like the one in the novel.

These sights were also an important factor that fueled Grani's curiosity and longing for Kazimir.

But a lie is always a lie. Since arriving in this country, she has not seen any simple and honest villagers living in peace and contentment, but only a group of 'serfs' who have been tamed to the point of not daring to raise their heads.

She didn't see the knight in the story who possessed many virtues, but only the knight lord who stood above people, constantly exploiting and oppressing them.

She didn't see the peaceful and tranquil country in the story; all she saw was a fragile prosperity built on the lives of countless ordinary people.

Grani vaguely recalled how her colleagues and friends reacted when she told them about her impressions of Kazimierz.

I'm an adult now, so why would I still believe those stories?

As expected, it must be because of Rinko-nee.

Sister Linguang, she is so dazzling, so reliable, and a true embodiment of chivalry.

Perhaps it is because of her influence that I still firmly believe in those stories today.

But what I hadn't noticed before was that even Nearl had been expelled from Kazimierz...

When I told Lin Guang those stories with such anticipation, her feelings must have been very complicated.

"What are you thinking about?" Xia Yu noticed her absent-mindedness and asked casually, "Why do you look so worried?"

“Senior,” Grani looked up at the senior’s profile in the bright moonlight.

The fleeting beauty momentarily captivated her, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"what happened?"

Seeing her stop, Xia Yu turned around and looked at her in confusion.