Autumn in the South Vantina Territory.
With the summer heat completely faded, its most enchanting season had arrived.
This was the ancestral homeland where generations of the Wilfort family had lived.
The morning light, accompanied by the dripping of dew, awakened this frontier land.
At the South Vantina Frontier Train Station, waves of noise brushed across the dark gray platforms and cold iron tracks.
With a long, resonant whistle, the rail train from the capital of Ikerite gradually slowed, finally trembling slightly as it pulled alongside the station that still preserved its classical platform levels.
The doors opened, releasing cool, moist air.
"South Vantina! Flanked by the Bibo Coast to the east and the Knox Mountains to the south—what a treasure!"
A spirited figure was the first to leap out of the carriage. She took a deep breath, her violet eyes brimming with novelty and excitement.
Today, Sigrid wore an autumn-toned khaki trench coat topped with a beret, a few strands of light-colored hair falling naturally past her temples.
Right behind her, Lanqi stepped down unhurriedly, carrying two leather suitcases.
"It really is a popular tourist destination. Even the Duke's family loves coming to play along the coast, and the pace of life in the city-state is half a beat slower than in Ikerite."
Lanqi gazed at the familiar station scene before him, feeling a touch of nostalgia.
Pedestrians bustled through the station, mostly travelers moving between South Vantina and other frontier cities.
"Whenever I see you, it's always winter,"
Sigrid said, walking ahead with supreme confidence without so much as glancing at the signs.
"That's true."
Lanqi hesitated, glancing toward the concourse sign that pointed in the exact opposite direction, but followed her anyway.
Whether in the Northern Continent, their reunion in the Southern Continent, or in the dreams of the Shadow World, it had always been winter.
Setting out on such a pleasant journey in autumn like this was a first.
Sigrid had never properly toured the South Vantina Territory.
When she first arrived from the Northern Continent, although the cruise ship's landing point had been chosen in South Vantina, she had been urgently teleported to the Creti Empire's capital, Brillda, before even getting her footing.
"Later, because of visa issues, I came back to the South Vantina Territory the same way. But none of you took that route, and since I was a total stranger here, I rushed off to Ikerite to find the Boss Cat Restaurant,"
Sigrid continued, crossing her arms in annoyance and shaking her head in complaint.
"You actually possess self-awareness about being directionally challenged?" Lanqi remarked in surprise.
Sigrid stopped in her tracks.
She drew in a breath and let out what sounded like a laugh.
"Which is why you need to lead me properly and not get me lost."
When she turned back, a smile of easy release graced her face. She snatched the suitcase from Lanqi's right hand, then took hold of his right hand with her own.
"Don't worry."
Although Lanqi was tempted to point out that she ought to turn back, theoretically taking a huge detour would still lead them to the concourse and the exit, so he simply let her march forward with mysterious confidence.
"This station is massive. It takes this long just to walk out from the platform?"
"Heh."
"What are you laughing at, Lanqi!"
"I just remembered something happy."
"You're clearly sneering! That polite smile of yours right now is even more infuriating!"
"Not at all."
The two gradually wandered into a sparse corner of the platform. Soon, the distant, cavernous end grew lively again, swallowing their banter.
"Speaking of which, what do you usually do when you're completely lost?" Lanqi suddenly wondered and asked.
"Sound."
Sigrid pondered for a moment and nodded.
"It's not scent?" Lanqi muttered subconsciously.
Though come to think of it, back when she was lost in the Purgatory Corridor Academy during that final Shadow World, Sigrid really had followed a sound, tearing down walls to come and find him.
"I'm a wolf, not a dog! Stop assuming my nose is super sharp, alright? It's just that at my realm, my senses can't help being keen!"
Sigrid immediately stepped in front of Lanqi, feigning outrage as she cross-examined him.
"But I really like puppies too." Lanqi had not meant to demean dogs in the slightest.
"..."
Sigrid studied Lanqi's expression.
She set down the suitcase for a moment.
Reaching into her coat, she produced a coin and handed it to Lanqi.
"What's this for?" Lanqi asked, puzzled.
"Toss it,"
Sigrid instructed.
Without hesitation, Lanqi flipped the coin into the air.
Sigrid nimbly caught the coin on the tip of her nose, then looked at Lanqi with shining eyes.
"Hahaha!"
Lanqi burst into laughter, thoroughly amused.
"It's rare to see you this happy. Looks like you enjoyed my acrobatic routine."
Sigrid tucked the coin away, picked up the suitcase, took Lanqi's hand once more, and continued walking forward.
"Ah, sorry, I laughed a bit too loudly just now."
Lanqi collected his expression, suddenly feeling that his outburst had been slightly carried away—not quite fitting his usual image.
Especially as an acting headmaster, he couldn't show that side of himself.
"Sound is the vibration that best conveys genuine feelings,"
Sigrid remarked.
"Precisely because voice exposes emotion so easily, the less familiar two people are, the more polite they speak, and the closer they are, the more casual they become."
Just by hearing Lanqi's voice a moment ago, she could picture how truly delighted he was.
"Is that so?"
Lanqi felt he would have to be even more careful in the future.
In principle, he never let his emotions show.
"So back at the start, I could occasionally tell when you were lying—well, not lying, but using truthful words to spout nonsense..."
Sigrid turned her head, giving Lanqi an eerie little grin.
"But I didn't call you out, because listening to you talk was so entertaining. I thought it would be much more fun to reveal the answer another day."
Her voice sank lower and lower.
"You're just bluffing me. I don't believe sound gives away that much; you were relying on intuition,"
Lanqi countered.
Yet Sigrid acted as though she were deaf to his words.
"Just like in a canyon, the moment you hear the echo—how marvelous!"
Sigrid gazed excitedly toward the endless stretch of tracks ahead, raising the suitcase high and speaking in a grand voice.
"That's called a boomerang,"
Lanqi corrected once more.
"Curse you, you jerk,"
Sigrid muttered softly under her breath, as if a particular memory had crossed her mind.
The two followed the flow of people out through the ticket barrier.
The concourse of the South Vantina Frontier Station was not far from the exit. Even though Lanqi had not returned to South Vantina in quite some time, nothing here had changed.
"If I hadn't dragged you out, were you planning to spend your entire break working in the School of Sages?"
Sigrid linked her arm through Lanqi's, looking at him teasingly.
As the acting dean—or rather, the person effectively in charge of the School of Sages' affairs—Lanqi always talked about taking a vacation, yet habitually frequented the campus anyway.
Except for Sigrid, everyone was busy: Lanqi was occupied with dean duties, Hyperion was busy with her cleric responsibilities, and Talia was off enjoying gourmet feasts everywhere with Iphatia.
A few days ago, when Sigrid went to the school looking for Lanqi, she found this legendary figure hauling a stepladder, wholly absorbed in repairing aging mana lamps along the corridor, with a maintenance slip left behind by Professor Polao sitting nearby.
His reason was actually: "Well, I was free anyway. Fixing it on the fly saves some budget, and Professor Polao will be pleased."
"Replacing light bulbs is very important. If a student or staff member slips and falls because a mana lamp failed to light up at night, the department bears full legal liability,"
Lanqi had explained in all seriousness.
"Back when Dean Loren was around, he never considered legal risks like that."
The two stepped out of the South Vantina Frontier Station building.
"...You're right."
Sigrid pondered for a good while before swallowing back what she had been about to say. She merely smiled and tightened her grip on his arm slightly.
"Since you're so free, bringing me to your hometown to play isn't asking too much, right? You promised to take me to the Wilfort house."
She had wanted to visit the Wilfort residence for a long time, but she was never the type to drop in uninvited, so she had insisted on Lanqi inviting her.
"Yes, yes, yes. How could I dare disobey an order from the Bishop?"
Lanqi yielded.
He led Sigrid toward the taxi rank outside the station.
The residents here lived as leisurely as the rumors claimed. Even during the morning rush hour, hurried pedestrians were rarely seen on the streets; most carried a slow, relaxed ease.
After hailing a mana vehicle bound for the northwest district on the station square, the two began their drive through this frontier city-state.
Outside the car window, South Vantina's autumn scenery unfolded steadily.
Thanks to the vast sea bordering it to the east and the towering mountains sheltering it to the south, the humid southwesterly winds blowing from the southern ocean were blocked by the Knox Mountains, creating a unique microclimate in South Vantina.
Autumn was deepening at this time. The tall plane trees along the streets had already taken on shades of interwoven gold and crimson, their broad leaves drifting down with the wind to carpet the ancient stone-paved streets in gold.
"Is that Heart Pulse Square over there?"
Sigrid leaned against the window, pointing at a magnificent statue sweeping past in the distance.
"Yeah. That's a statue of Margrave Vantina from long ago, quite a landmark in the city. Past the square, the main thoroughfare heading northwest is Guardian's Path, and my home is on a branch off of that, Northmar Street."
Lanqi acted as a guide, pointing out the streetscape outside the window for her.
After the vehicle entered the residential area of the northwest district, the noise dwindled further.
The courtyards here were mostly spacious and lush with green grass, dotted with autumn's distinctive red leaves.
Although South Vantina had once been engulfed in the flames of war due to the assault by the followers led by Salomon, Holy Son of Destruction, and the Eighth Progenitor Marquis Somerset, after a year of reconstruction, the city had almost completely returned to its former state.
The car cut across the bustling Heart Pulse Square. The famous statue of Margrave Vantina still stood in the center, watching over the land he had once protected.
"I hear the folk customs here are very rustic and pure?"
Sigrid asked pointedly, looking at the residents lounging in their courtyards, soaking in the sun and enjoying afternoon tea.
She had likely heard from Tata about the sorts of things Lanqi had pulled in this place.
"At the very least, it's considered very pleasant to live in."
Lanqi recalled the past.
As they turned onto Guardian's Path in the northwest district, the surrounding commotion faded away.
This was a residential neighborhood. Fallen leaves blanketed the streets on both sides, rustling softly under the tires.
"Is that the Wilfort residence?"
The car gradually slowed, and Sigrid's gaze locked onto a mansion situated at the street corner.
No. 25 Northmar Street.
It was an old estate bearing the architectural style of the Hutton frontier. Tall trees in the courtyard stood like burning torches, red leaves drifting onto the fountain pool and stone steps, coating this long-unvisited home in warm golden-red tones.
"We're here."
Before long, the vehicle came to a stop before the spacious estate.
"Looks like the renovations went quite well."
Lanqi paid the fare and stood before the wrought-iron gate holding the luggage. Looking at the old home that was both familiar and touched with fresh vitality, he turned to Sigrid and said,
"Welcome to South Vantina, and welcome as a guest of the Wilfort family, Sigrid."
He extended his hand toward her, as if inviting an honored guest.
"Pardon the intrusion, Young Master Lanqi."
Sigrid placed her hand in his palm, a radiant smile curling at the corner of her lips, every bit as bright as the warm autumn sun.
"Speaking of which, didn't you have a backup merchant guild mansion?" she asked as she stepped into the courtyard with Lanqi.
When South Vantina was attacked before, Tata had convalesced on the upper floor of the Wilfort Chamber of Commerce.
That place bordered the sea; lying in bed, one could hear the sound of the waves.
"Oh, that place. It's certainly livable, but as soon as the old man made sure the situation in the Creti Empire was safe, the first thing he did upon rushing back from Ikerite was repair the old manor."
Lanqi explained it to Sigrid.
Even with the guild building available as an alternate residence, Noe Wilfort had insisted on restoring the old estate, just in case Lanqi's mother came home one day only to find that the house was gone.
"Wait, Lanqi, you actually have a mom?!"
Listening to Lanqi's account, Sigrid suddenly gasped in realization.
"Why does that sound so much like an insult...?"
Lanqi stared at Sigrid's shocked expression.
He had no idea why everyone assumed by default that he had no mother.
From the very beginning, he had stated that he wasn't an orphan and that both his parents were alive and well.
It was just that over the past two years, he had spent most of his time away from home and rarely saw his family.
"What kind of person is your mother?"
Sigrid pried curiously.
Even Tata and Little Hyperion had never seen Lanqi's mother.
Perhaps she would be the first to meet her.
"In my memory, I've seen her even fewer times than the old man,"
Lanqi recalled, looking at the trees in the courtyard.
Yet she would tell many stories.
They were fantastical tales filled with whimsy—stories that could rightfully be called legendary grand adventures. They might have seemed a bit childish to adults, but to young children, they were just right.
Not only Lanqi, but even the neighbor kids loved listening to his mother's stories.
A large part of Lanqi's eloquence likely stemmed from his mother.
Crossing the leaf-covered stone steps of the courtyard, the two chatted as they walked past neatly trimmed hedges along the path, arriving before the mansion.
"Your mother sounds quite extraordinary. Haven't you ever thought about it? Anyone who can captivate you with conversation must be on your level, or even more impressive,"
Sigrid said after hearing Lanqi's description.
"And to earn your praise as a great storyteller, she must be exceptionally articulate. Does she come from an extraordinary background?"
"She's born and bred in the South Vantina Territory of the Hutton Kingdom. Her father and grandfather were farmers who ran a ranch. Because of the Wilfort family's food procurement business, the old man got to know her when he was a boy. Both of my parents are commoners,"
Lanqi answered.
"Eh? I thought she would at least be a noble, or a knight's descendant."
Sigrid stepped on the crisp red leaves beneath her feet.
"Over the past two years, she barely returned to the Hutton Kingdom at all, right?"
Sigrid questioned further.
Her curiosity had visibly deepened; she even wanted to meet Lanqi's mother to see for herself.
"Right. I don't know where she is right now,"
Lanqi shook his head.
"The old man might not know either, but he's definitely the person who understands her best,"
he added to Sigrid.
Just as they reached the entrance hall, the heavy front door clicked open from within.
A woman dressed in a traditional black-and-white maid uniform appeared in the doorway.
She had short linen-colored hair and an air of natural languor, but the moment she saw Lanqi and his companion, her eyes brightened noticeably.
"Welcome home, Young Master Lanqi, and Miss Sigrid."
Maid Francine deftly took the two suitcases from Lanqi's hands.
"I heard voices out in the courtyard just now and wondered if the young master was back."
She had always been one of the servants at the Wilfort estate who shared the best relationship with Lanqi.
Stepping inside, familiar furnishings met their eyes.
The ground-floor living room was spotless. Although it was not yet cold enough for a winter fire, neat stacks of firewood were already piled inside the fireplace.
However, the spacious interior felt slightly too quiet.
"Where's the old man? Not at home?"
Lanqi looked around.
As far as he knew, work at the Wilfort Chamber of Commerce hadn't been busy lately, so on a weekend, his father would almost certainly be home.
Just like the period when the whole family temporarily relocated to Ikerite, coming home meant almost always seeing the semi-retired old man.
"Master Noe is working in the second-floor study."
Francine shut the front door and led the two toward the stairs.
She slowed her pace slightly, as though delivering an update on recent family affairs.
"Although the Wilfort Chamber of Commerce's cross-border business is gradually recovering, after the previous upheavals, the master seems to have shifted his thinking. Even though the overall scale has contracted considerably, he now values steady development within Hutton. So he spends most of his time in South Vantina now, and rarely goes over to Glen Waverley in the Creti Empire."
Francine explained to Lanqi.
"I never anticipated those twists and turns in the business either,"
Lanqi sighed.
"Who could have? No one did."
Chatting along the way, the three arrived before the study door at the end of the second-floor corridor.
Francine paused, smoothed her collar, and raised a hand to knock gently on the solid, dark wooden door.
"Master, Young Master Lanqi has returned."
The moment the words left her mouth, a sudden commotion came from inside.
It sounded like someone banging into a desk leg, followed immediately by the dull thuds of several dropped books.
Evidently, the person inside was quite startled and excited by the sudden news.
A moment later, Noe Wilfort's steady, dignified voice came from within, trying hard to maintain its gravity.
"Is that Lanqi? Come in."
"Yes."
Standing outside, Lanqi pushed the door open.
Inside the study, Noe Wilfort sat upright behind a wide mahogany desk.
Seeing Lanqi return, the head of the house did not display excessive shock. He merely gave a slight nod, maintaining his profound "I knew you would return" demeanor.
However, when his gaze moved past Lanqi's shoulder and landed on Sigrid walking in behind him, his eyebrows finally failed to hold their composure and twitched.
Puzzlement spread across the old man's face.
He instinctively glanced behind the two, seemingly checking with Francine or searching for someone.
Yet Francine merely shook her head.
Noe saw neither Talia nor Hyperion.
Standing beside Lanqi was a light-haired young woman he had never laid eyes on before, possessing a capable yet striking presence.
Still, Noe merely gave Lanqi a brief once-over before regaining his composed manner as if nothing had happened.
"Ahem. You brought a friend back?"
He quickly coughed once, probing with caution.
Just then, Sigrid smoothly took Lanqi's arm.
"Pleased to meet you, Uncle Noe. I often hear Lanqi speak of you."
She offered a flawless, graceful junior's greeting, her face lit with a dazzling smile.
"Hello..."
Noe looked at Lanqi, then back at Sigrid.
Immediately after, his confusion vanished without a trace, replaced by total enlightenment.
Setting down his teacup, Noe broke into a smile of pure gratification.
"Lanqi, how should I address your friend?"
He turned to Lanqi and asked.
He could ask Lanqi about the details later, but regardless, when greeting a prospective daughter-in-law, he had to express the Wilfort family's warmest welcome.
"My name is Sigrid. I work in the real estate business in Herrom on the Northern Continent."
Sigrid straightened her posture and introduced herself with confidence.
"You're in real estate at such a young age?"
Noe asked in surprise, temporarily overlooking the equally astonishing fact that she was a visitor from the Northern Continent.
"My colleague left it all to me, that's all,"
Sigrid demurred modestly.
"That generous?"
Noe muttered to himself.
"Sounds like your workplace environment was great—none of that backstabbing between colleagues. To leave the company and hand over all their resources so openly..."
"Yes, they were a wonderful person."
As Sigrid spoke with clear articulation and extraordinary elegance, Noe nodded repeatedly, his eyes full of approval.
Standing to the side, Lanqi felt there was no need for him to chime in.
He knew very well that any explanation right now would be superfluous; Sigrid had taken complete command of the room.
Void of arrogance, working a respectable job with outstanding ability, and carrying such effortless grace.
*What a fine girl.*
Father Noe's attitude grew increasingly benevolent, to the point where he seemed to be calculating which guest room would be best to redecorate.
One had to admit, Sigrid was truly impeccable in every respect.
Her sense of propriety in social interactions, coupled with that innate confidence from within, made it far too easy to win the favor of elders.
If his mother were here, she would likely view her the exact same way.
While Lanqi's thoughts drifted, Sigrid seemed to suddenly recall something.
Her gaze circled the ornaments displayed on the study's cabinet.
Then, she asked with natural curiosity:
"I've only ever heard Lanqi mention you, Uncle, but where is Auntie? To raise such an exceptional son as Lanqi, she must be a truly magnificent mother."
"Her?"
At the mention of his wife, the smile on Noe's face softened a fraction.
"That restless woman ran off traveling again some time ago. Aside from the occasional letter sent back, you can't catch so much as a glimpse of her."
Though Noe was complaining outwardly, his tone was steeped in fond remembrance.
"Your mother can never sit still at home. She runs off on adventures, and then, at some inexplicable hour, she'll abruptly appear at the front door holding a suitcase, a rose clamped smugly between her teeth,"
Noe said, turning to Lanqi.
"Doesn't that sound wonderfully charming? Did she travel far away even when she was young?"
Sigrid pictured the scene and asked.
Lanqi had just mentioned that his mother's family had lived on a rural farm in South Vantina for generations, and that she had known Father Noe since childhood.
Certain matters regarding Lanqi's mother in her youth were likely known only to Noe.
"She started traveling when she was about Lanqi's age. Back then, she was a mischievous village girl. If she stayed still, she felt her blood boiling; she simply couldn't remain stuck in tiny South Vantina. But she promised to have me wait for her return, and said she'd tell me heaps of stories."
Noe continued speaking of Lanqi's mother.
"She traveled for three years before returning. A few years later, she married me, became Mrs. Wilfort, and then we had Lanqi."
"Three years,"
Sigrid repeated under her breath.
"Yes. Ever since she came back, she's had an endless supply of stories."
Once the topic was broached, it struck the softest chord in the old man's heart.
Noe leaned back against his chair, his gaze focusing on the two before him.
Yet it also seemed to drift past them, gazing out the window toward the distant Knox Mountains painted red by the autumn wind.
Without realizing it, his voice took on the mellow warmth of someone telling a bedtime story.
"She could always make the dullest days sound like a grand festival."
Cradling his teacup, Noe spoke softly.
"She'd just go into the hills to pick mushrooms, but when she returned, she'd describe in vivid detail how she negotiated with a squirrel knight guarding a treasure in the 'Misty Forest,' finally trading an acorn for safe passage. Or when she went to the beach to collect seashells, she'd claim she was invited by a 'Deep-Sea Siren' to attend a coral concert held only on nights of the full moon."
This shrewd, capable businessman clearly lacked the dramatic flair of an opera singer.
His delivery was straightforward, attempting to mimic his wife's exaggerated wonder from all those years ago.
Yet the tenderness in his eyes—as though watching his wife sitting by the bedside, tucking in their young son—lent these absurd tales a peculiar resonance.
"Those stories of hers were utterly extravagant. Tales of a 'Golden Land Suspended Upside-Down in the Sky,' or a 'Clock Tower Phantom That Feeds on Space'... From her mouth, there was nothing in this world that couldn't fit into a story."
Noe shook his head and chuckled.
"Back then, it wasn't just Lanqi. Even the neighbor kids would linger in our yard every evening, refusing to leave for dinner until she finished that day's story."
"I hardly remember any of that,"
Lanqi mused. He had probably been only a few years old back then.
Only his father would remember it so clearly.
"Because you grew up surrounded by love and fairy tales, so it naturally felt ordinary to you,"
Sigrid said softly, looking at Lanqi.
She had lost her mother when she was very small and grew up in a church asylum. To her, the stories Noe described already sounded like a fairy tale.
"..."
Lanqi listened quietly from the side.
Those familiar images resurfaced in his mind as his father recounted them, forming the warmest backdrop of his childhood.
"You're still the better kid, you rascal,"
Noe said abruptly.
"Naturally,"
Lanqi did not deny it.
Aside from that bout of heavy drinking in the past, he had always done things to give his father peace of mind.
"I was always worried that after sending you to Ikerite, curiosity might lead you to wander off into dangerous places,"
Noe chided crossly, seeing how confident Lanqi was.
"I wouldn't. The places I go are all very safe. Besides, haven't I come home?"
Lanqi leaned back in his chair.
"..."
Noe remained silent for a long while, looking at Lanqi's high-spirited demeanor. Perhaps he realized he truly had no need to worry about him anymore.
"No need to make promises. I knew you'd come back, which is why I bought you that train ticket in the first place,"
Noe sighed.
"Just like your mother. Once the journey is over, a person naturally misses home—misses South Vantina, and misses the windmill farm where she grew up."
Noe removed his glasses and wiped them, sighing with emotion.
He glanced down at the photographs on the desk.
"Are you staying tonight?" Noe asked Lanqi.
"Yes,"
Lanqi answered.
"Speaking of your mother's stories, are there any I haven't told you yet? Why don't I tell them all to both of you today?"
Beside a family portrait—an old photograph showing Lanqi as a young child held by his mother, whose eyes were the exact same emerald green, both smiling brilliantly—stood another frame.
Noe didn't understand Lanqi's profession or tiers.
Yet inside that frame on his desk was the photograph of Lanqi receiving his Platinum-rank card maker certification.
"None left."
Lanqi realized that sometimes, those stories had not come directly from his mother's lips, but from his father recounting them about her.
Because those fairy tales were woven so bizarrely, Lanqi couldn't recall many of them clearly now.
He only remembered the voice.
It was the voice of a slightly clumsy father, someone not particularly gifted at storytelling, who nonetheless wanted to pass his love to his child, stitching together whatever pieces he could find to weave a fairy tale.
Lanqi smiled involuntarily.
"However,"
he said, sitting down across from his father's desk.
This very moment felt just like that day long ago, when his father called him into the study to discuss the entrance examination.
"I also have some stories to tell you. It's been a very long journey."
Sending back an echo of his own.
Chapter 899