On a clear cloudless day, even in broad daylight, the floating ring-shaped structure could be seen from the ground of Mobra, high above the thick atmosphere. From this vantage point, because of the vast distance and the obstruction of the clouds, the Star Ring had lost its grandeur and shocking appearance, giving way to an elusive, almost illusory sensation. It was as if the Angel’s Ring, shimring with a silver-gray radiance, another world shining from the end of the sky, held a mysterious and eternal presence in the clear skies.
No one could imagine that among the countless Holy Relics on that halo, eighty percent were actually Ancient Weapons capable of destroying the world. Even the most learned scholars could only resort to guesses and pseudo-philosophical theories to explain the true purpose of the Star Ring, such as a device used by gods to augnt night-ti illumination... Despite their ignorance of the truth, the natives of Mobra continued to worship the Star Ring generation after generation as their most sacred relic, and they strived to unveil the secrets hidden behind its mysterious facade—though to many radical religious figures, such an endeavor was nothing short of heresy. Not a single scientist from Mobra had been able to pry off an armor plate from the Star Ring without resorting to violence.
Compared to the dilapidated "Holy Relics" on the planet, easily accessible with just a religious permit or a daring heart, the perfectly intact and operational Star Ring obviously wouldn’t allow ordinary people with insufficient clearance to visit. Despite this, for unknown reasons, we hadn’t heard about the Star Ring ever launching an attack on the Lower Realm from Milia.
Seven billion ca smoothly to a stop in front of a large house Milia had indicated. Several passersby glanced curiously at the post-modern vehicle from a distance, but quickly walked away with knowing looks as if everything was clear, making curious. Then I began to observe the large house in front of .
It was really splendid; the silver-gray-toned house shared the sa architectural style as the surrounding buildings, such as streamlined roofs and curved walls, but it was considerably larger and consisted of three layers, standing out like a crane amongst chickens. Looking at this house, possibly one of the largest in town, I found another piece of evidence related to Milia’s apparent prestigious "Holy Profession." I wondered why that girl was so reluctant to acknowledge her own distinguished status.
"Milia, does your family deal in real estate?" Qianqian leaned on the window and marveled. This girl had an incredibly keen interest in large houses: her own residence, already excessively large, couldn’t stop her admiration for other people’s grand hos.
"Just Uncle’s workshop," Milia replied as she got out of the car, waving at us to follow and shouting from afar, "Uncle! Uncle! I’m back!"
We trailed behind her, erging from the car one by one; a couple of Passerby Bs stared dumbfounded from twenty ters away as nearly a dozen people erged from the vehicle, which at most had seating for two rows. I reckoned if there were traffic cops here, they might keel over on the spot.
Milia had been shouting and scratching at the door for a while because she had lost her key, and we just stood there, puzzled. Honestly, the commotion she was making was loud enough to wake the dead, and her scratching claws filled the surrounding hundred ters with a grating noise, but there was still no response from inside. Not even a neighbor ca out to protest the disturbance. Watching Milia get increasingly frustrated, Pandora and Visca quietly took out their efficient lock-picking tools: two particle Cannons.
Fortunately, soone showed up before the girls could open fire: a passerby auntie, who ca over with a surprised tone and asked, "Milia? Is that you, Milia?"
"Aunt Rassula?" Milia stopped scratching the door and, upon seeing the newcor, imdiately brightened up, "Yes, it’s , I’m ho—where is Uncle? Aren’t the others here either?"
The auntie, whom Milia addressed as Aunt Rassula, ca forward with delight, pinching faces and touching hair as if to confirm the girl’s identity, all the while mumbling incessantly, "My goodness, where on earth have you been? There’s been no word from you for over a month; your uncle has been nearly frantic, leading the family everywhere looking for you, even to the Border. Why are you still so restless at your age, not thinking about how worried your family is..."
The auntie, oblivious to Milia’s blushing face, continued chattering nonstop. At first, Milia was embarrassed to be treated like a child in front of us, but soon she hung her head, silent under the auntie’s nagging, and finally started to cry softly.
"Auntie... sob, I... I also want to go ho, Milia almost couldn’t make it back!"
The golden-haired girl finally couldn’t help but break the silence with a crying tone. The hardships of over a month finally manifested in this mont, revealing the pressure it had on a little girl. Aunt Rassula, seeing this, quickly comforted her and patted Milia’s head, "Don’t cry, don’t cry, it’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back. Slowly tell , what happened? How co you almost couldn’t return?"
"I ended up in another..." Milia almost let sothing slip subconsciously, but luckily Sandora coughed to remind her, so she quickly changed her words, "I encountered a mishap while practicing summoning techniques and was transported to a very distant place. I got lost there and couldn’t afford a ticket for a flying ship... I wandered for most of the month until I finally t so kind-hearted strangers, and finally, I was able to return."
As Milia spoke, she turned her gaze toward Lilina, who gave her an ’OK’ gesture, signaling that she could rest assured; the tall tales concocted by the top Archbishop of the Life God Sect had never been exposed.
Aunt Rassula looked like the classic homaker, and her personality, deanor, and way of speaking reminded of the aunties from my childhood neighborhood. So, Milia’s "summoning technique failure theory" imdiately seed plausible to her. She repeatedly exclaid, "I didn’t know summoning was such dangerous magic. Lucky I never learned it," while her curious gaze swept over our large group of strangers before finally resting on the seven trillion above.
Tears were almost coming to the aunt’s eyes, "Such good people, to bring you back even through such hardships, this vehicle’s doors must’ve been able to close when it started, right?"
I felt heavy-hearted, "You flatter . The vehicle’s doors are closed now, and yes, it’s exactly in this shape!"
Milia caught up with old acquaintances and chattered on and on about many things, mainly because the aunt kept tirelessly asking about her experiences over the past month. Of course, the truth couldn’t be told, so Milia had to start spinning yarns according to the scripts provided by Lilina and Qianqian’s prompts, telling stories of being transported to another hemisphere, wandering into a native tribe by mistake, stepping into a trap and falling into an Ancient Tomb, encountering an old man with a white beard in the tomb who turned out to be an adventurous man who had fallen in fifty years ago looking for the previous white-bearded man and couldn’t get out, facing a prehistoric creature frenzy after erging from the tomb, boxing with mammoths, fighting off alien creatures for hundreds of rounds, getting caught between warring nations and being seen as a spy by both sides, and being embroiled in a war between seven magicians, and so forth. In this process, Qianqian was responsible for providing the script and Lilina for inventing the lines, while we gathered around to enliven the atmosphere; we all seed to smile in silence but were actually full of fantastic storylines in our spiritual connection, the aunt’s eyes sparkling with stars as she listened, Milia getting dizzy with the tales, while we on the sidelines were sweating profusely.
Half an hour later, Milia spread her hands, "I can’t talk anymore."
The aunt hugged Milia with tears brimming in her eyes, "Poor child, auntie can’t listen anymore either—you’ve really suffered out there; you haven’t been traumatized, have you?"
Seeing Milia was a bit overexcited from just returning ho, I didn’t expect this obviously honest and elderly aunt to also be unreliable. Their conversation got more and more outrageous, and I quickly stepped in to diate, "Well, it’s not easy to co ho; shouldn’t we quickly notify Milia’s family? Her uncle is out of town now, isn’t he?"
We had considered that Milia’s absence for a month would make her family anxious, but we didn’t anticipate it would result in a full-scale search across the world. We had co to this world on a mission (just take it as truth), but we couldn’t just sit around waiting foolishly, could we?
"No no," Aunt Rassula waved her hand, "They are all back. They’ve been unable to find Milia these last few days and were afraid that if the child ca back and no one knew, so they issued quite a few commissions and then ca back to town to wait for news. They should be at the detective office right now, probably on their way back soon."
Aunt Rassula was right, and coincidentally, just after a little while, a very solid-looking vehicle, much like an extended box truck, ca racing around the corner from the distance, heading straight this way with unstoppable montum. Intuition told —this was Milia’s family, hurrying here upon hearing the news.
Sure enough, the "private car" (maybe?), which looked a bit odd to , pulled up right beside us with a screech that startled Lilina. Imdiately following that, the car door opened, and out jumped an imposing figure with dark skin.
He appeared to be a middle-aged man who exercised regularly, with a well-built physique. His skin had a healthy coffee color, and he was dressed in thick grey trousers and a light-colored vest that showed off his robust arm muscles. He had short hair that seed unkempt, shiny with grease, and a scruffy beard, also untrimd for so ti. All in all, he looked like a fierce but disheveled middle-aged uncle.
As soon as he jumped out of the car, he charged towards Milia in just a few steps—instead of the expected warm embrace and tearful reunion, a storm of scolding erupted.
"Do you even know this place is ho?! Do you have any idea how long you’ve been missing this ti? Aside from loafing around and causing trouble, can’t you give us a mont’s peace?!" The uncle, who stood a full third taller than Milia, loudly chastised her, seemingly forgetting the desperate way he had just rushed over, "Why are you silent now? You usually have so much to say, answering back twice for every word I say..."
Milia had been hanging her head all along, but suddenly, she looked up, startling the uncle in front of her who instantly stepped back half a ter, "What now?! Ready to talk back? Old rules, let finish first, otherwise I’ll lose my train of thought later..."
"Uncle, I’m sorry for worrying everyone."
Milia’s eyes were a little red as she deeply bowed.
The uncle stood, dumbstruck in his scolding posture, while a noise from the car door made turn my head. I saw a tall woman with a stern expression and purple-red long hair closing the car door. She was dressed in professional-looking black attire and looked at Milia with a kind of stunned expression.
"Hey, Biluna," the uncle scratched his head and turned to the long-haired woman who got out of the car, with a tone of utter disbelief, "Milia just apologized to ."
"I heard it too, loud and clear."
The woman with the long purple-red hair that reached her waist nodded emotionlessly, Biluna must be her na.
"What I an is, Milia apologized to !" The uncle repeated, louder this ti, and the woman nad Biluna responded even more briskly, "If you want to hear soone getting scolded, I can do that for you."
It was as if Milia’s apology were a world-shaking event. Despite facing such unsparing sarcasm from his companion, the uncle didn’t take it to heart. He was almost in a fluster, repeating "Milia apologized, Milia finally admitted her mistake," and we bystanders felt a pinch of sorrow for him. While we didn’t know what Milia’s family situation had been like, it was apparent that the uncle didn’t fare too well, his toughness lasting only during the few minutes of his lecture.
With the experience of having just explained to Aunt Rassula, Milia now seed much more adept at explaining to her Uncle Zaku, still using the story of the failed summoning technique, only leaving out the nonsense about falling into an ancient tomb. It appeared that in this world, mishaps during summoning technique practice could really end up transporting oneself away. Though Uncle Zaku’s face showed a trace of doubt, he seed to believe almost entirely what Milia said. He then turned his gaze toward us.
A group of "kind-hearted folks who brought Milia back from the primordial forest on the other side of the planet for free," that’s our current identity.
"No amount of thanks would suffice, but I still have to say it, thank you so much. If there’s anything within my power to repay this kindness, I’m willing to do whatever it takes," Uncle asserted with a serious expression that was entirely different from the unreliable rambling before, even deliberately letting his gaze linger on the seven hundred billion figure twice, "First and foremost, I’ll definitely help you fix the damage to your vehicle—it was symtrical before you set off, right?"
"Couldn’t you have stashed that clunky thing a bit earlier?" Lilina finally couldn’t help but let out a good rant in the spiritual connection.
Ding-a-ling, how was I supposed to know that this clunker had a head-turning rate on Earth, and that it’s considered a bizarre item on this alien planet too!
Facing the Uncle’s insistence on fixing the car, I repeatedly gestured no thanks, and amazingly he didn’t ask how we managed to stuff an entire crowd into the car and traveled halfway across the planet, nor did he ask why Milia didn’t contact ho first thing after she had kind-hearted people help her, as if he had forgotten these obvious logical loopholes. Clearly, the surprise of their reunion made him forget all these details, rendering the patches we had prepared while rehearsing our lines with Milia totally useless.
"Ah, right, I haven’t introduced myself yet," Uncle said after talking with Milia for a while, then suddenly rembering sothing, he turned towards us, "I’m Milia’s guardian, well, no blood relation, but you could also call her uncle. Just call Zaku."
"Pfft—"
Bubbles and I burst out laughing at the sa ti.
Uncle Zaku, with the formidable na, was puzzled by our overreaction and kept asking what happened. I could only apologize while tapping myself and Lilina’s bronchial tubes, thinking to myself that this man in front of truly deserved to be called a man, a real man should not just drive a Zaku, but also rge with one.
Aside from the two of us, who were profoundly shocked by the Uncle’s na, the rest didn’t seem to have much of a reaction. Seeing that Milia had been safely returned ho, Big Sister then put forth our request, which was to stay at Milia’s place for a few days.
At first, we had planned to sort out our living situation in this world on our own and then have Milia show us around... cough cough, I an, to understand the local culture and customs developed in the midst of the Imperial Relics. But when we saw Milia’s spacious grand house, a noble idea of not letting good opportunities pass us by burgeoned in everyone’s minds.
To put it plainly, we were just here to have fun. I was quite sure of that. As for the so-called data collection, that should be left to the experts—in fact, at the sa ti that the Leader’s family landed on the planet, a large number of spies also landed in other parts of the planet. Based on the limited information from Milia, they were trying to communicate with the natives here to gather more rumors about the world’s Imperial Heritage. After all, no matter what, the real experts in scouting were them. While we, the Leader’s family, claid to be here to investigate, judging by Qianqian’s completely delighted expression, we were probably just sightseeing.
After Big Sister raised this request, Uncle Zaku hadn’t even had the chance to respond when Milia was the first to jump up, "I agree, I agree! Uncle, let them stay at our place! They are... they are good people, one should repay kindness with kindness, right?"
"Shut up, you freeloader at ho!" Uncle Zaku casually pushed Milia down, but after a mont of thought, he still nodded, "Indeed, it looks like you’ve co from the remote areas near the Mist Forest. It’s definitely a hassle to go back. Before you manage the procedures for the return trip, just stay here."
(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to vote and send monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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