Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

"Okay, let's go back." Although Kuro felt that Noya's mood was not right, he did not investigate further and pushed Noya's wheelchair away. Noya did not say anything, but this time she seemed to be much quieter than before.

After returning to her room, Noah asked Kuro to rest early, and she pushed the wheelchair to her room. She didn't know when it started, but her eyes gradually turned red from pure black at the beginning. Then, the music box that Kuro gave to Noah was placed on her knees. The fragments that were extracted and preserved in it were now lying there as if they were in the palm of their owner's hand.

Noah actually knew exactly what was happening over there.

She mastered the technique, then seized control of it, ultimately designating Kuro, Mainna, and Chesper as the three targets the technique wouldn't attack before it went berserk. While the technique's rampage was inevitable, she still seemed to have proactively killed the entire Howling Guard. This included not only the remnants of the Witch King's followers, but also the ordinary people who remained within the Howling Guard. But this was already her limit.

Her ability to isolate Kuro and the others from her attack range was the limit of her ability... She could no longer discern the difference between ordinary people and the remnants of the Witch King. She could only watch helplessly as the fragments unleashed their true power, destroying everything nearby. The fragments within the music box had the power to alter or even directly distort a person's soul. It was because of this that the tower warlocks were reduced to bloated flesh and blood... clots of blood.

The essence is the result of a distorted soul - sinners who attempt to manipulate unknowable techniques or even tamper with them are punished by the music itself.

Although strictly speaking, she was not the one who killed people, she could clearly hear their wails, pleadings, and even curses before death from the music. These emotions followed the music into Noah's heart. She felt like she was in the center of hell, and she could only watch it all happen until the music had eaten and drunk its fill and finally retreated peacefully into the music box.

This music box that has devoured life and soul - could it be the earthly sound that the remnants of the Witch King are pursuing?

No... This broken and fragmented ritual didn't seem like the work of the Witch King. It was probably something they had tampered with themselves. They had no idea how dangerous it was. For someone like Noya, who could sense emotions, she was certain the danger involved the soul, something taboo.

It was difficult for her to know whether the remnants of the Witch King had produced more of these counterfeit items, but she understood that what these remnants of the Witch King wanted was not the Witch King's wisdom and knowledge, otherwise they would not have been able to produce such... inferior techniques.

All they wanted and desired... was the power of the Witch-King.

It's funny to say that they spent so much effort to create this thing, but when Noah sensed the creator's will, she discovered... what was really hidden inside.

The Voice of the World——

Noah opened the music box and wound it up. As the sound that seemed to have no rhythm and was full of noise slowly sounded, Noah reached out and touched the notes that once again floated out of the music box as if touching a lyre. With the rhythm of her fingers, these notes were reorganized and changed in order, and finally formed a piece of music that was incomplete but much more beautiful than before.

After this string of music was completed, it instantly glowed with a completely different color. When it danced around Noah, Noah felt as if he had touched the door to a treasure house - there must be huge and dangerous knowledge inside, but Noah used his willpower to resist the temptation to push open this door.

She withdrew her hand and spoke to the scattered notes in the music box.

"I will not be your heir, Witch-King."

Chapter 79: Gas Explosion

Indeed, perhaps if she took one step further she would see the treasure left behind by the great king, and perhaps just a glimpse would allow Noah to gain power and wealth.

She might even find a way to heal herself from this treasure trove...

But she still refused the gift. She didn't feel she was worthy, and she didn't think a king who had caused such a tragedy would leave behind any gentle legacy. So she rejected Yinlü's invitation to enter the palace, and even closed the music box, forcing Yinlü to return to its original place.

The entire room instantly fell into silence, with only Noah's cold sweat soaking through his clothes.

This music box is really too dangerous, especially after she completed it. The temptation of this music box to the Leithanians... or to the remnants of the Witch King may have reached the point where they would take risks.

This operation temporarily eliminated the remnants of the Witch King's collusion with the Howling Guards, but there was no room for reassurance. The Witch King's infiltration of Casimir was definitely more complex than that; merely eliminating one location was enough. The entanglement between Letania and Casimir was not easily severable. She trusted Mainna to handle Chesper, and she trusted Maria to do her utmost, but she had to do more...

Putting the music box back on the desk, the bright red in Noah's eyes slowly faded away and returned to their original darkness - as if nothing had changed.

Honestly, she found it a bit strange that she could easily intervene in the ritual of the Earthly Sound, and that it didn't affect her mental state too much. Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps her ability played a small role. It was as if she was born to help the ritual adjust its rhythm and repair itself. The notes showed no hostility towards her, and even actively helped her, as if this piece of music was alive...

She knew that Noah could complete herself, so she acted harmless towards Noah?

Thinking of this, Noah felt that he might be overthinking it. After all, notes were just notes. How could they really have any rationality? Perhaps he, who personified the notes, was the weird one?

Putting the music box away for the time being, Noah heard the news the next day about the gas pipeline explosion downstairs in the Howling Guard building, which resulted in heavy casualties among overtime workers.

Noya was so frightened that she spit out the soy milk in her mouth. A gas pipe explosion... Didn't the Casimir officials really think about what excuse to use? A gas pipe explosion, who could believe it? While Noya was complaining inwardly, Kuro had already cleared the table. After becoming Noya's bodyguard, she became more and more proficient in these matters, even not forgetting to remind Noya. "Do you need me to wipe your mouth?"

"I... can do it myself." Noah wiped his mouth before speaking. "Uncle Manna's handling of this was too rough... It's too easy to tell that the gas pipeline leak is fake news. It's a bit like trying to cover up the truth."

"I'm not sure. I taught her and then ran off." Kuro shrugged. She wasn't good at handling these kinds of things afterward. She simply handed it over to the office worker, Mr. Mainna, and then disappeared. Although it seemed like she had left the trouble to Mainna, Kuro had something to say. She probably couldn't even come up with an excuse like a gas explosion when handling such a matter.

I can only say that although Mainna's concealment skills are poor, there is always the Strike Gundam among the strong.

Although she thought this excuse was truly foolish, Noya had no choice but to cooperate with the propaganda. As a spokesperson for the Chamber of Commerce, she quickly issued a report on the handling of the Whistling Guards and details on how family compensation would be provided. Although the Whistling Guards had carried out the assassination attempt on Maria, Noya knew it was primarily a secret agreement between the remnants of the Witch King and the Whistling Guards' leadership, and had nothing to do with the families of these employees.

So Noah still worked hard to get the pension and other things, and tried his best to distribute them in full.

She even went to the scene to explain the scale of the explosion to reporters, using clichés and fabricated explanations to effectively silence the reporters. With both the CSRC and the Chamber of Commerce suppressing the information, the controversy surrounding the Howling Guard explosion was quickly quelled, and any online suspicions were quickly addressed and banned. Noah was actually quite curious about the kind of people who dared to make such casual comments in a LAN environment like Casimir.

This time, a rare achievement was that the Commerce Federation, mindful of the impact, and the Supervisory Commission, concerned about stability, joined forces to suppress the incident. The Supervisory Commission was essentially the only party to learn about the remnants of the Witch King through Mainna. Grand Knight Russell, who came to assist, even met with Noah—honestly, Noah really didn't want to come. However, they stopped him at the company's door, so he had no choice but to accept the invitation.

After getting in the car, Noah heard Mainna's low voice in the passenger seat.

"I should thank you for what happened yesterday."

"I didn't do anything." Noah shook his head. "Uncle Mahenna also helped me a lot. If it weren't for you, Maria might have encountered even more problems."

"...That's not what I'm talking about." Mainna sighed. It was true that he had curbed the actions of the Howling Guards, but that was not worthy of Noya's gratitude. After all, he was Maria's uncle, and he couldn't just sit back and watch.

"Is the Grand Knight... okay?" Noah was silent for a moment before asking, "I haven't seen her for a long time."

"She was very cautious, just like before. After she found out, she even scolded me... It felt like I was still a child," Maina replied. "She actually missed you all the time, just like she missed Margaret."

"I know..." The matter between Noah and Grand Knight Russell was essentially due to the fact that his grandfather, Margaret's grandfather and Grand Knight Russell had a very good personal relationship. So, Noah loved the descendants of his two deceased old friends and took great care of them. Noah had met Russell when she was a child, and it could even be said that she grew up under her care. However, since she left Casimir for treatment, the two had not met privately.

His grandfather was dead, his parents were missing, Yolanta was missing—he was the only one left in the Kirilet family.

As for Noah...she may have been waiting for Russell to give her an explanation.

Just this explanation, it seems...

Not yet arrived.

Chapter 80: Confidant

This was a private meeting. Strictly speaking, it was not a banquet inviting the spokesperson of the Chamber of Commerce, Noah Kirilet, and the current head of the Linguang family, Mainna Linguang, but a small dinner party inviting two people to participate in their personal capacity.

The meaning was self-evident. Russell, or the Grand Knight, wanted to have a conversation with the two of them regardless of their identities. At this time, she didn't want them to still regard him as the Grand Knight. Originally, this was a very simple matter. After all, the Linguang family, the Kirilet family and Russell were all friends who had lived and died together. Noah was even held in Russell's arms when she was a child. Logically speaking, it was just a kind elder inviting his juniors to dinner.

But the subtle thing is... Noah, Maina and Russell haven't seen each other for several years.

The reasons were similar. Noya's parents and Mainna's brother and sister-in-law had all disappeared under orders from the Overwatch Committee. To this day, the Overwatch Committee hadn't given them an explanation, nor had they revealed their whereabouts. Even their lives were unknown. How could Noya be without resentment? Compared to Mainna, her resentment was even greater. After all, she had lost two loved ones in quick succession!

So on the way, Noah's mood was already very complicated. Mainna next to him could understand it to some extent, but he still reminded him before getting off the car.

"This time...it's best not to mention anything about them."

"I know."

Noah nodded miserably. It was obviously inappropriate to interrogate someone in such a private setting. Moreover, if she could tell them, she believed that this respectable elder would not hide it from them for so long. The two of them walked into the Supervisory Commission with different thoughts and stopped in front of the Wall of Champions. The champions of Casimir's Knight Championship would be hung on this wall, and the place where they stopped was exactly where Margaret Linguang was.

Although Noah couldn't see, she knew they had arrived when she heard Mainna stop.

【Knight of Glory】Margaret Linguang.

Touching the nameplate, understanding its contents through touch, she raised her head slightly and smiled helplessly. "Even though he was expelled, he wasn't removed from the Wall of Champions?"

"You haven't come to see it?"

"Ah."

"The situation was quite complicated back then. The Chamber of Commerce considered removing Margaret from the Wall of Champions, but the Supervisory Commission prohibited them from further depriving Margaret of her honor, citing the unacceptable nature of the Wall of Champions." Mainna explained, "So her portrait remains on the Wall of Champions."

"is it?"

Noya sighed. As a witness to what happened back then, she knew perfectly well that Margaret couldn't possibly have been infected with oripathy. Honestly, it felt a bit strange that these merchants from the Commerce Union had twisted the facts and expelled Margaret while the old man was still alive. From her current perspective, the Commerce Union shouldn't have such extensive power. After all, the Commerce Union had limited tools at its disposal. Besides their own bodyguards and security teams, they only had the Wuzhou Alliance as a weapon.

But the Wuzhou Alliance obviously has no way to offend the Linguang family. Old Tianma is still there. As the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. What excuse did they use to force Margaret away?

And he used...his own diagnostic report.

Noah felt a little depressed when she thought of this. She never thought that her test report would be changed into Margaret's, causing the innocent Margaret to be expelled and deprived of her glory. When she knew the truth, she had a feeling - could it be that I was the one who forced Margaret away?

This feeling is obviously wrong. This group of people from the Chamber of Commerce got their own test report from somewhere, and then exaggerated it and changed it into Margaret's test report. This should be the reality.

But what puzzled Noah was why they dared to take action when Old Tianma was still alive...

The incident happened a long time ago, and it would be difficult to get any results if we investigate it now, so Noah could only put this problem aside for the time being. After the two of them stopped here for a long time, Noah's little ears suddenly moved, and she heard two familiar footsteps.

One walked in a stumbling and hurried manner, while the other walked in a completely opposite manner, elegant and unhurried. Noah was familiar with both footsteps, belonging to Maria and Viviana respectively.

But why are they here? Have they also been invited by the Grand Knight Commander?

Forget Maria, why was Viviana also invited? Noah was a little confused, but he still turned around with his wheelchair, waiting for the two to appear from the corner.

-

For Viviana, this invitation was perhaps a bit unexpected. Her adoptive mother, Ms. Russell, rarely interfered with her affairs, especially after she decided to become a jousting knight. She neither opposed nor supported her, simply acquiescing to her willfulness. It was only after she became a titled knight that she realized her actions had been somewhat foolish. After all, even with her titled knighthood, she had not become the knight she had dreamed of, or the knight she had imagined in picture books.

She is now more of an idol than a knight.

This incident itself made Viviana quite depressed, but there was also a good thing about participating in the knight competition, which was meeting Noah.

At the time, Viviana was still relatively unknown, just an independent knight, yet she was valued by Noah, who invested in her without demanding any changes or logos. Compared to those business wizards who were eager to cover themselves in trademarks, Noah's behavior clearly impressed Viviana. Coupled with her curiosity about Noah himself, she quickly became good friends with him.

While the relationship between the two was nominally boss and employee, they were actually on equal terms, and their contract was a gentleman's agreement. Essentially, Noah was only responsible for paying the bills and selling merchandise, then giving Viviana a share of the profits. Everything else was up to Viviana herself. She had considerable freedom, even allowing her to unilaterally terminate the contract without penalty.

Viviana checked this contract, which could be called an angel clause, several times before signing it, but she didn't see any traps before signing it - this contract was really weird.

But the more she understood Noah, the more she understood why Noah had given her this treaty——

Noah later confessed that part of the reason why he agreed with Viviana was that when Viviana was interviewed in public, a reporter had maliciously used the topic of Yao Knight who violated the rules to test Viviana.

However, Viviana frankly expressed her admiration for the Knight of Glory, her recognition of his character, and her dissatisfaction with the clause in the knight system that prohibited infected people from participating.

At that time, Viviana wasn't a Candle Knight, but simply an independent knight. Her words moved Noah, who had only come to watch the game, and he decided to sign Viviana that same day. After all, it was dangerous for an independent knight to make such remarks, and she had to be protected.

This is the story of how the two met - simple, but they became close friends.

Chapter 81: People in the Painting, People Outside the Painting

Even now, Viviana feels that the situation was very coincidental when she thinks about it.

It just so happened that I was interviewed, and Noah just happened to hear it. Then it just so happened that Noah was looking for independent knights at that time, and finally he invested in me and successfully invested in the popular Candle Knight.

There are reportedly several versions of this investment legend on the Casimir network, and there are even courses specifically designed to teach people how to identify talented individuals, encouraging them to become mentors and identify independent knights with unlimited potential. However, only Viviana herself knew that Noah had signed her not for profit, but purely to protect her.

She had only heard about the relationship between Noah and Margaret from Noah, saying that the two were childhood sweethearts. However, for Viviana, Margaret Linguang was her true idol. Not long after she came to Casimir, she witnessed the rise of Margaret Linguang. It was because of Margaret that she decided to participate in the knight competition.

It's safe to say that these two people are the head and deputy head of the Margaret Linguang fan club, and they even have a considerable amount of Margaret Linguang merchandise at home. Even though the Trade Union expelled Margaret, they haven't stopped releasing any Radiant Knight merchandise, from the limited edition Past Glory card set to a limited replica of the Radiant Knight Linguang family heirloom sword and spear (which was apparently taken by Snitzer). There's even a 1:1 Radiant Knight figurine, which was reportedly bought by an unnamed knight from Leithnia.

You know, besides the Candle Knight merchandise that's still in service, the Radiance Knight merchandise is the hottest seller. It can only be said that in business, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

Of course, none of the profits from these peripheral products go to the Linguang family or Margaret. This seems to be related to the fact that the copyright of the Independent Knights originally belonged to the Knights Association. Noya once tried to reclaim the copyright of the Radiant Knights character image, but the Knights Association refused to let go. After all, this IP is so profitable. They even stated that the copyright cannot be sold privately unless the Radiant Knight himself asks for it.

——Margaret herself came to ask for it...Why not let Old Tenma come to ask for it?

He might be willing to ask for it, but do you dare to meet him?

Viviana still remembers Noya's angry expression. After all, her friend was like a person without temper, rarely angry. Viviana valued Noya very much. She was her first friend since arriving in Casimir, the first one she could share poetry with and the first one she could go to the opera with. She was sincere, never restrictive, and respected herself, never letting herself get upset. She even gave her small gifts on holidays.

For example, the pendant hanging on my corner was given to me by Noah.

In any case, although not everything turned out as he had hoped after becoming a competitive knight, and the country of knights was not as chivalrous as he had imagined, at least meeting Noah was enough.

This time, when she attended the banquet at her adoptive mother's request, she had intended to invite Nuoya out for dinner. Although it was a pity, her adoptive mother rarely invited her to dinner, so she had to temporarily give up the idea. Fortunately, she hadn't sent a text message yet. As soon as she arrived at the Supervisory Commission, she found Maria Linguang in the waiting room, the younger sister of Margaret Linguang, whom she admired.

Viviana was also quite concerned about Maria. On the one hand, she also participated in the knight competition and was even called the reincarnation of the Glory Knight. On the other hand, she was one of the few people in Casimir who could be called a knight. The last reason... was that Noah also paid attention to her, which reminded Viviana of how she had invested in herself. She also seemed to want to recruit Maria into the Sanhua Knights.

As the leader of the Sanhua Knights, Viviana certainly welcomed Knight Yao's sister to join, but the other party seemed to have refused.

However, Maria was much more talkative than she had imagined. After knowing that Viviana also admired Margaret, she opened up directly - but she didn't know if it was Viviana's illusion, but when the other party glanced at her, there was a hint of hostility.

Had she in some way offended this Brilliant Knight's sister? Viviana was baffled, but she pretended not to notice and continued the conversation. Regardless of the perspective, she and Maria should maintain a good relationship.

Their conversation ended when Maria suddenly wanted to see the Wall of Champions. Fearing she might get lost, Viviana followed her. As they reached the Wall of Champions, they spotted Noah beneath Margaret Linguang's portrait. She seemed to have noticed them a while ago; she turned and, under the dim light of the Wall of Champions, revealed a serene smile.

"Noah? Why are you here?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you this too... but it doesn't matter. Are you here to see Margaret?" Noah asked. "It's a rare opportunity to see the Wall of Champions without buying a ticket. Don't miss it."

Maria was also surprised that Noya was there, but when she saw Maena beside Noya, she understood a little. It was likely that the entire Linguang family, save for Aunt Zofia, had been invited, and Noya, a prominent non-official member of the Linguang family, was naturally also invited. Noya, sitting in a wheelchair, under the large portrait of Margaret Linguang, looked like another painting in the bright lighting.

Maria looked at her sister in the portrait and Noah under the portrait, and couldn't help but sigh - they were such a perfect match.

Noah, with her black hair and black eyes, and Margaret, with her blonde hair and golden eyes, complemented each other perfectly. Although they looked completely different, they had something in common. More importantly, their looks were equally striking.

It's just that Margaret has a more neutral and handsome look, while Noa has a more classical beauty. It's like the image of a knight and a princess recreated in real life... It's hard to even feel jealous.

Viviana had the same feeling as Maria. Although it was just a portrait, Noah and Margaret did look quite compatible... Although it was not clear whether Noah had any other feelings for Margaret besides being childhood sweethearts, Viviana couldn't help but think that if the two of them were together... no one would say they were not a good match, right?

There was suddenly a sour feeling in the atmosphere...

Chapter 82: Alien