At Heart Pulse Plaza in South Vantina, an afternoon breeze swept past, accompanied by the soft, melodious murmur of the canal's flowing water.
"Oh no! It’s miracle!"
Walking along the river, Lanqi clutched his head, his voice rising half a pitch.
"You..."
Talia's blood pressure instantly spiked, and her fists clenched.
Though she could not understand what this mysterious tongue Lanqi suddenly spoke meant, she could easily guess his thoughts from his tone!
In the middle of summer, Lanqi gradually felt that familiar chill creep in.
"I'm sorry. You really are the genuine Tata."
Lanqi backed down in a split second, bowing to Talia with the utmost respect.
Talia kept a frigid face, refusing to pay him any mind.
This fellow still deserved to die; she shouldn't have been nice to him in the slightest.
"..."
Hyperion glanced between the two, who had fallen silent once again, feeling an odd sensation.
Bickering like this between Lanqi and Tata was completely normal. Back at Tata's house, Hyperion had always stifled a laugh whenever she saw them interact.
Yet to her eyes now, there seemed to be an inexplicable touch of flirtation between them—even though Lanqi's life was still on the line at any given moment. Flirting with a demon had always been a gamble with one's life, after all.
And being sandwiched between the two of them made it feel even weirder...
"Lanqi, you're too close to the riverbank. You can walk a little closer to me," Hyperion cautioned, watching his footing.
"It's fine. The stone balustrades of the South Vantina moat may have some years on them, but they're still sturdy. There's no way I'll fall in," Lanqi said confidently, reaching out to pat a sharply carved relief pillar beside him.
"Then..." Hyperion started to say something more, but decided against it. Even if Lanqi did fall, she wouldn't hesitate to catch him.
"Where should we go next?" Hyperion asked.
She felt that both Tata and Lanqi were intimately familiar with the surroundings, whereas every time she visited, things seemed vastly changed, and she could no longer recall the streets she had seen as a child.
Ever since leaving the Wilfort residence, she had simply been following Lanqi's lead.
"It depends on what you two want. Now that we're near Heart Pulse Plaza by the city center, anywhere is easy to reach." Lanqi cast a glance around at the distant surroundings; in truth, he had no fixed plans either.
He had only just returned to the royal capital of Ikerite yesterday and rushed all night to South Vantina early this morning. He never expected that by the afternoon, the three of them would be strolling about at leisure.
In recent years, the city-state had also constructed light mana rail transit, making it far more convenient than the vast, sparsely populated Protos Empire.
"If we head northwest, there's a sprawling residential district. Follow it for a dozen kilometers and you'll reach the century-old inner city walls of South Vantina's main city. Beyond that, past the main city train station, lies an expanse of manors, endless grasslands, and seas of cliffside flowers."
Lanqi looked back toward the direction they had come from, explaining in a calm voice. That was an area Tata was surely familiar with.
"Heading south takes us toward the Knox Mountains and the Creti Empire. A ride of thirty-odd kilometers leads to Hutton Southern Border National Park on the outer edge of the mountains, passing many iconic scenic spots along the way. To the east is South Vantina's most famous attraction, the Blue Wave Coast. There are even passenger routes to the Northern Continent from South Vantina—if you don't mind the long voyage, you can take a cruise ship and relax."
The eastern sector was the city's port district, home to multiple wharves and docks, serving as South Vantina's hub for foreign trade.
"The Blue Wave Coast..."
Hyperion murmured, looking toward Tata.
She had occasionally heard Tata speak of South Vantina, but never once had she heard her mention the Blue Wave Coast.
"I only ever stayed in the northwest and the central districts," Talia said, shaking her head.
Though she had spent over two months in South Vantina, she had spent every single day protecting Lanqi—going wherever he went, never entertaining any thought of sightseeing.
Then again, who was that assassin who originally tried to kill Lanqi anyway?
"..."
Seeing Talia's brows furrow slightly in confusion, Lanqi's lips couldn't help twitching.
He could pretty much guess what puzzled her every time she thought about the northwest district of South Vantina.
It was good for her to use her brain; thinking worked up an appetite, and she would eat well tonight. Just watching her eat was endlessly entertaining.
"Then it looks like we can really enjoy our time in South Vantina over the next few days. Can we go to the Blue Wave Coast today?"
Hyperion hastily cut short Lanqi's increasingly perilous train of thought, speaking to him and Tata.
The awkward atmosphere among the three of them had fully dissipated. In fact, she wanted to spend time with Lanqi and Tata even more than before, certain that the next few days would be wonderful.
Her only slight concern was that seeing Lanqi's father, as well as the butler and maid, might remind her of that socially fatal scene of being caught on the floor this morning.
Still, everything would pass with time.
Hyperion firmly believed so.
"Although the weather today is perfect for it, it's already afternoon, so we might not have enough time," Lanqi said, feeling a bit reluctant since the coast was clearly what interested Hyperion most.
Apart from the commercial port, South Vantina's iconic Blue Wave Coast was located in the east. Many years ago, the eastern plains had been a volcanic region. Over centuries of tectonic and climatic shifts, the land had transformed into a vast expanse, leaving behind only several striking volcanic cones, crater lakes, and barrier lakes formed by ancient lava flows blocking waterways, scattered like stars across the plain.
The southern stretch of the Blue Wave Coast wound all the way to the entrance of the Knox Mountains. The southwesterly winds blowing from the southern ocean carried abundant moisture, which was blocked by the Knox Mountains, creating orographic precipitation and a distinctly cool, humid climate that nurtured towering, dense forests alongside farms cleared by local residents.
Carved out amidst towering cliffs, the Blue Wave Coast stretched along South Vantina's eastern seaboard, offering visitors from Hutton Kingdom breathtaking maritime vistas and countless seaside activities. Dotted with coastal towns along its nearly three-hundred-kilometer span, the route was a continuous procession of wonders, unmatched by any other road across either the Northern or Southern Continents.
"Yet precisely because it's so long, the cliff road along the Blue Wave Coast is essentially a journey of one marvel after another. There's a breathtaking view nearly every kilometer—magnificent, sheer cliffs rising straight from the sea, rock pillars tens of meters high with no two alike, bathed in the slant of the setting sun as flocks of birds take flight. If we head over now, we probably won't get to see much."
Lanqi offered a helpless smile as he explained to Hyperion.
"Let me plan things out in advance. We can set off for the Blue Wave Coast tomorrow morning."
When ordinary travelers from Hutton Kingdom visited the Blue Wave Coast in South Vantina, a large portion chose guided tour groups. If it was just the three of them going, Lanqi needed to map out an itinerary first to ensure both ladies had a wonderful time.
"I hope the weather will be great tomorrow," Hyperion said happily, gently swaying Talia's hand, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons full of anticipation.
Today, they could just wander around the nearby city districts and relax.
"Don't worry. Unless something like the Resurrection Church launching a full-scale assault on South Vantina happens tonight, our trip tomorrow won't be disrupted."
Seeing Hyperion show such a relaxed smile—a rare sight—Lanqi felt a surge of motivation swell in his chest. Pausing for a beat, he declared with firm resolve:
"No—even if we run into an act of God tomorrow, I'll take care of it. Get plenty of rest today, and tomorrow we're going to the Blue Wave Coast."
The look in his eyes made it seem as though even if a god tried to stop their outing tomorrow, he would go and stop the god.
"Uh, Lanqi... actually, if an emergency really happens, you don't need to take it so seriously. We could always go the day after tomorrow..."
For some reason, seeing that streak of dead earnestness rising in Lanqi, Hyperion felt an inexplicable prickle of dread.
Unlike normal people who just talked big, when Lanqi ran into a problem, he genuinely dared to see it through.
Chapter 501