Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

Iberia has never given up on reopening the ocean. In Terra, surrounded by powerful enemies, they can only re-embrace the ocean and restore their connection with Agor to restore the glory of Iberia's Golden Age. The Eye of Iberia, this large lighthouse originally located on a high hill, is the top priority of their plan.

If it weren't for the importance of this lighthouse, I guess they wouldn't let the Deep Sea Hunter and others get involved even if they killed the top leaders.

"Anyway, leave me alone. I'll just wait for the teacher here," Elini said coldly. "Also, I suggest you be careful. The people here are tough. They're descendants of lighthouse workers and sailors, and they're very xenophobic. If a conflict arises, I suggest you avoid getting involved."

"Thanks for the reminder—" Noah first thanked Elini for the reminder, but she thought of a better idea instead. "But I remember Saint Carmen's order was for you to protect my safety, right?"

"……Correct."

"So how can you protect my safety if you stay in the hotel now?"

"……this……"

"How about this? No one here knows you anyway. Why don't you change your clothes, put your weapons in your bag, and pretend to be in plain clothes?"

Noah suggested, clapping his hands with a smile.

"Mace, go buy some clothes outside. I think my clothes are a little too big for Miss Elini."

"Yes."

Jian nodded and jumped out of the open window, leaving Elini in the room stunned.

"No, I haven't agreed yet."

"But Mr. Carmen the Saint..."

The saints' orders are absolute. Elini gritted her teeth and could only agree with Noah.

"I understand! I'll go with you guys, okay?"

After a while, Jian returned to the room with a bag of clothes and threw it directly to Elini.

"It's said to be traditional Iberian clothing. Just put it on."

Elini took the clothes, her face turning red and white, but because the saint's order was so meaningful, she could only sigh and turn around.

"I'll go change in the dressing room..."

After Elini entered the locker room, Ghost Shark's confused expression suddenly brightened. She stretched, as if she had just woken up. "Ah, it's finally my turn."

"Good morning, Miss Laurentina."

"Good morning, my dear Miss Noah." Noah always felt that she had to distinguish between Laurentina and Ghost Shark. The Miss Ghost Shark she knew would never speak to her in such an energetic tone. She was a mysterious and pious person. "How long have I slept?"

"It takes about seven or eight hours from Saltwind City to Glenfarlow, right?" Noah answered truthfully. "But from what I've observed, you've been awake longer and longer. Is that considered an improvement?"

"Maybe it's because we're so close to the ocean, my sea cells are working hard to expel the Originium?" Laurentina, fully aware of her own physical condition, joked with a smile, "But we've already arrived in Granfalo? When are we going to the Great Lighthouse?"

"Saint Carmen will need time to assemble the Punitive Forces, and we'll need them to provide support. We're just the vanguard; the real force is the Iberian Punitive Forces—" Noah explained. This was the first time, besides the Silver Spear's entry into the city, that Noah had witnessed a nation's ultimate organ of violence come to the fore. The Iberian Punitive Forces—in the past, that was a rather impressive title.

"Is that so..." Laurentina has been in a state of being sometimes lucid and sometimes confused recently. As the holder of the telepathic Originium technique, Noah has the ability to force Laurentina to wake up, and can also do his best to treat Laurentina's schizophrenia symptoms.

But rather than saying it's schizophrenia, it's better to say that Laurentina now has two consciousnesses in her body—

However, neither of these two consciousnesses was bad, so even Laurentina herself felt it was fine to maintain this state. After all, even in her nun form, she was ruthless in her killing of sea creatures. Both the Deep Sea Hunter Laurentina and the Nun Ghost Shark seemed to have at least maintained a basic level of rationality, reserving their aggression for the enemy.

However, when it comes to being near the sea, Laurentina clearly has the upper hand - she has been awake for longer and longer periods of time recently.

After explaining the situation to Laurentina, Elini's sharp roar was heard in the locker room.

"(An indescribable Iberian curse)!!" The noise scared everyone present. Noah immediately opened the Eye of God and looked directly through the door of the locker room to see the situation inside. Then she curled her lips.

"Mace, did you do this on purpose?"

"you guess."

"I guess you are."

Noah was indeed a little bit impatient, because the clothes he had just given to Elini were actually a maid outfit - but to be honest, Iberian maids are indeed quite famous. However, to say that it was traditional Iberian clothing was pure nonsense.

"Ahem, Miss Elini, why are you making such a loud noise?" Noah coughed twice and could only ask the question even though he knew the answer.

"(Intense Iberian swear words) Who told you this is traditional Iberian clothing?" Elini's voice was audible even through the locker room door. The furious little bird wanted to pull out her hand cannon and empty the magazine on her mace. "I will never leave the house wearing this!"

"Oh - what happened to my lovely little bird?" Before the personality exchange, Laurentina had already met Elini, so she naturally knew who was making the sharp explosion.

"...Actually, it's just that Jian gave her a maid outfit." Noah answered honestly, "I guess Miss Elini found it a little hard to accept."

"Now! Immediately! Right now! Buy me a new set of clothes! I will never go out on the street wearing this kind of clothes!" Elini shouted angrily.

"Maid outfit? I'm actually a little interested in that." Laurentina laughed. "Besides, I want to try it on too."

"...Laurentina?" Skadi was stunned. "We're going to investigate Granfalo."

"Of course, I bought several sets." Perhaps anticipating this situation, Jian actually bought several sets of maids as backup. He immediately gave one to Laurentina as well. "I wish you happiness."

"Cute little bird, I'm here to change clothes too~" Laurentina picked up her maid outfit and directly twisted the lock of the locker room and walked in. This action of course caused Elini to resist more fiercely, but Noah could only pretend not to hear it.

"...Then...should I also be more sociable..." Skadi looked at the two people who had changed into maid outfits, and she felt a little embarrassed in her red diva costume, and asked in confusion.

"Here." Jian immediately took out another maid outfit as if by magic, "I hope you have a good time."

"..." Noah tilted his head and thought for a while, "Mace, you didn't meet a profiteer who sold you everything in bulk, did you?"

"The merchant who sold me the clothes did look quite strange. By the way, his name was Cannot."

"Oh...him, that's not surprising." Noah nodded immediately when he heard the name. "Since everyone has changed clothes, I should change too, Mace?"

"It has been prepared for you a long time ago."

So, before going out, Elini (forced by Laurentina), Laurentina (voluntarily), Skadi (wanting to fit in) and others changed into maid outfits. When Laurentina pushed them out on the shoulders, Miss Elini's face was as sour as it could be.

Jian changed into a black suit and tied his hair into a ponytail, making him look like a butler.

After seeing Jian's clothes, Elini felt a little unbalanced.

"Why are you the only one wearing a suit? Can't you prepare one for me too?" Ailini's dissatisfaction made Jian look down at Ailini, and after looking up and down, he spoke. "There are no such small ones."

"Ntm!" Elini almost jumped up and kicked Jian's knee. Laurentina, who was behind her, immediately picked Elini up from under her arms, like she was holding a cat, and said with a smile, "Forget it, forget it. Isn't this cute?"

"Cute... huh?" Skadi blushed and twirled her silver hair with her fingers. "Ah... where's Miss Noah?"

"Her clothes are a bit complicated, she should be out soon." Just as Jian finished speaking, the door of Noah's room opened, and Noah came out in a Lolita long dress. Her hair was carefully tied up, and her face was specially made up with the cosmetics that Miu Miu forced on her. In addition, her complexion looked much healthier due to the adjustment of gray matter. Noah's own beauty looked even more dazzling against the backdrop of the clothes.

She now looked like a well-off young lady, even wearing silk gloves and a folding fan, with a slightly tilted hat, which made everyone captivated for a few seconds.

"...How is it?" Noah asked with a smile. Although she could feel emotions directly, hearing them from others and sensing them herself were two different things.

"Very beautiful..." Skadi hesitated for a while and could only use poor adjectives to describe it.

"Ms. Noah, are you interested in being the model for my new sculpture? I promise you will be remembered forever." Laurentina's words were sincere, but it was obviously not the right time.

"...just...it's okay." Elini hugged her arms, snorted and turned her head away.

Just when a few people were making a fuss, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Kal'tsit walked in. She just glanced into the room and sighed silently.

"We're not here for sightseeing," Dr. Kel'tsit said, looking at everyone seriously. "Enough is enough. There's still a lot we need to do on this land."

"Dr. Kel'tsit, this is a disguise, a disguise." Noah explained with a smile, "We wear this outfit to avoid being rejected by the locals of Granfalo."

"...disguised?" Kel'tsit looked at these people in confusion. "What are you disguising as? A young lady surrounded by a group of maids and a butler?"

Noah nodded, "Why? Doesn't it look like it?"

Noah comes from a serious family, and she is really confident when she asks this question.

After all, in all of Casimir, families more prominent than the Kirilet family were extremely rare, not to mention Noya held the title of Grand Duke of Kirilet. Theoretically, the person sitting before Kel'tsit was the Patriarch of the Kirilet family of Casimir, the Honorary Saint of Kjerag, the Grand Duke of Kirilet of Victoria, and the Last Princess of Nightmare. It was truly rare to find someone more noble than her—

And... a maid outfit, Kal'tsit has worn it before, right?

Chapter 25: Carelessness Loses Ancestral Grave

I don’t know if it was because Kal’tsit was inspired by some sentiment or for other reasons, but in the end she allowed these people to go out wearing these clothes.

The streets of Granfalo were suddenly filled with a head-turning group: three maids, a butler, and a young lady in a wheelchair. Such a combination was undoubtedly eye-catching. Elini was the most reluctant of them all, her head lowered, her face flushed, and she wished she could dig a hole and jump into it. If it weren't for the suddenly awakened Ghost Shark pushing her, she would never have gone out dressed like that.

I am a serious judge. How can I go out dressed in such a frivolous way?

Clutching tightly at the apron of her maid outfit, Elini had never experienced such humiliation!

"Little bird, cute little bird, don't be angry, this is really pretty!" The culprit, Miss Laurentina, the ghost shark, circled around Elini, holding her shoulders to prevent her from escaping, and whispered praise in her ear. "Trust me, this suit suits you perfectly. Why don't we wear it on missions too? It's so convenient anyway."

"Shut up! Cuteness means nothing to an Inquisitor! And I'm an Inquisitor! How could I possibly wear such shameless clothing during battle?" Elini lowered her voice. If the residents of Granfalo knew she was an Inquisitor, the atmosphere wouldn't be so harmonious. But she still felt indignant. Why did she have to wear such clothing to go out? Normal clothes would be fine.

However, no matter what, Elini could not escape from the ghost shark's clutches. After all, the deep-sea hunter's physical strength was not exaggerated. These hands pressed on her shoulders, as if they were cast in copper or iron. No matter how hard Elini tried, she could not break free.

Skadi on the side even felt a little sympathy for Elini, but when she thought that if Elini didn't attract the line of fire, she might be the one in trouble, so she could only let her sympathize with her while pretending to ignore it.

Of all these people, the most relaxed and at ease were, of course, Noya and Jian, the eldest daughter and butler, respectively. It was as if they had returned to their Casimir days, with Jian practically standing beside them in a mask and suit. While it wasn't a distant memory, they both still missed that time. Thinking back, it was also the most relaxed time for them.

"Jian, do you miss the old days?" Nuoya said, "I used to have to go out to social events all the time. Although most of them made things difficult for me, you always came out to help me block the drinking - they were quite dissatisfied at first."

"Then I secretly went to their homes at night, masked, and beat them all up. The legend of Casimir's masked Zoldyck even spread." Mace's mouth curled up, "Although every time you would say I was too harsh."

"After all, I had to stifle laughter the next day when signing the contract. These people thought I couldn't see, but how could I not hear the change in voice due to their red and swollen faces, as well as the sound of their air conditioners?" Noah laughed. "I almost got hurt from holding back my laughter, especially when these people pretended to be fine and talked to me about business, their tones more serious than the last. But when I think of their bruised faces and noses, just trying to put on a brave face, I want to laugh."

"It's not good to hold it in. Smiling more will do you good." Jian suggested, "If it really doesn't work, I'll go beat them up tonight. Is that what I said at the time?"

"Right—luckily I held you back." Noah nodded. "It's okay once, just treat it as a lesson. They can't hold anything against me anyway. But if it happens twice or three times, the meaning will be different."

The atmosphere was just right when the two of them talked about the past, and the distance between them was shortened. She had rarely had such leisure time recently. While waiting for the mission to begin, she felt like she was sitting on a train waiting to reach her destination.

In the car, all external responsibilities have nothing to do with you, and you can wait for time to pass with peace of mind.

Even such an experience was quite a luxury for Noya. After all, she always had things to do.

At this moment, Skadi suddenly interrupted the conversation.

"Casimir... I seem to have been to Casimir as well." She didn't mean to interrupt the topic, but she really remembered what happened to her in Dripping Village. At that time, she was still a bounty hunter and was hired by Rhodes Island - to be precise, she was hired by Dr. Kal'tsit to go to Dripping Village. A series of things happened... Skadi didn't remember most of them clearly, but... she remembered one thing very clearly.

The knight's treasure in Dripping Water Village is the focus of competition among bounty hunters.

Knight Casimir would be buried with a large fortune, so the treasure contained not only money, but also weapons, equipment, secret information, and even more dangerous items. Therefore, it was closely watched by various factions. Many bounty hunters went there, not for the money, but for the possible items in the knight's treasure, such as the legendary magic sword. However, the knight's treasure in Dripping Water Village was a little special.

Thinking back carefully, even though she was so powerful that she could be said to have crushed everyone, she could still sense a threat from the Knight's Tomb.

This threat came without any reason, as if someone was always watching her actions.

She trusted her intuition very much, but from beginning to end, she could not find the person who was staring at her. The gaze disappeared only after they left the tomb.

"Dripping Village..." Noah pondered for a moment, but couldn't find such a village in his memory. "But you're right. The knights of Casimir, of course, aren't the knights of today. In a much longer time, when Casimir was still a knight lord, there was indeed a tradition of lavish burials. These knights plundered the people's wealth and buried it underground, hoping to continue enjoying wealth and glory after death. This is not a rumor. However, correspondingly, the tombs of these knights were basically looted during the chaotic period when Casimir was defeated by the Nightmare. Although I don't like tomb robbing, in a sense... these people's attempts to take away the wealth of the land have attracted more people to covet them."

Cause and effect are cyclical, and every cause has its effect. The tradition of lavish burials let everyone know that there are huge amounts of wealth in these tombs. If it were the heyday of knights, of course no one would dare to risk being killed to dig up graves. However, it was a time of chaos, and the knights were busy with their own affairs, so naturally a large number of tomb robbers emerged who made a living by stealing from the knights' tombs.

Later, the knights abolished this tradition, which was considered as the final respect given to the deceased knights.

Noah speculated that the knight's treasure in Dripping Water Village was most likely the remains of a knight who died before then. "But one thing is strange: most knight family tombs are concentrated in the area surrounding the Grand Knight Territory. Why would a knight choose to build a tomb in an obscure place like Dripping Water Village? Theoretically, a knight family capable of building such a tomb wouldn't choose such a remote location, right?"

"I'm not sure about that either... maybe I should ask the client?" Skadi shook her head and looked at Dr. Kel'tsit, who was walking at the front of the team. "After all, it was Dr. Kel'tsit who told me."

"...That's right." Noah nodded, and the few of them quickened their pace and caught up with Dr. Kal'tsit. After they told her the doubts about the treasure of the knight in Dripping Village, Kal'tsit did not hide anything.

"Because there is no knight's treasure there at all."

Kal'tsit shook her head and looked at the curious Noah.

"The knight's treasure they're heading for is actually a mass grave, or a family grave. They chose this place as the burial site because they are guarding a secret in their own way."

"...Family tomb?" Noah blinked. "Such a traditional word, it's not often seen these days."

"Indeed, but this family does have a long history—" Dr. Kelsey continued, "But regarding this matter... do you really want to know the truth?"

"……what?"

"After all, that tomb is your family tomb."

"...???"

Noah was stunned for a moment, then pointed at himself, "What do you mean? That place... is my family's ancestral grave?"

"...Theoretically, yes."

-

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet, and even Skadi, who told the story, felt a little embarrassed. After all, he dug up someone's ancestral grave, took away the things in the grave, and even talked about it in front of the person involved. This was somewhat embarrassing.

Even though it took Noah a long time to calm down, it was also her fault. The Kirilet family had almost no habit of visiting the ancestral graves. They just commemorated them at home. In addition, Yolanta disappeared a long time ago, so even if Noah wanted to go to the ancestral graves to pay homage, she couldn't find the place.

But she had never heard that her ancestral grave had been dug up!

"Don't worry, they didn't desecrate the dead. They just took the treasures from the outer areas." At this time, Kal'tsit could only offer comfort. "Your grandfather and the other heroes of Kirilet were basically not disturbed."

"...Never mind. That money wasn't exactly legitimately earned anyway..." Noya sighed. Her family had once been one of those knights, and the fact that they possessed such immense wealth proved that the Kirilet family at the time was anything but clean. So long as these ill-gotten gains weren't taken, they were taken. As long as it didn't bother Grandfather, that was all. If Kal't hadn't brought this up, she wouldn't have even known such an ancestral tomb existed.

Hey... I suddenly found out that my family has an ancestral tomb, and it was dug up by someone. What is going on?