“Were they all S-grade winners from last time?”
“Yes.”
The man hadn't expected Lan Qingyou to guess so quickly, so he answered without hesitation.
That explained it. It made sense then.
After all, if they were the type of people who treated this like a management simulation game, it was highly likely they would gather to discuss such matters.
However, that wasn't enough to convince Lan Qingyou.
Or rather, the highly cautious Lan Qingyou wasn't someone who could be swayed by a few sentences from a stranger.
“And what is your field of research?”
Lan Qingyou asked.
“I study Basic Cartography, and my interest is mapmaking. Currently, I provide the maps I draw to the members of the villa.”
The man spoke to Lan Qingyou with a face full of confidence.
But then his expression suddenly changed, giving Lan Qingyou a start.
He suddenly bowed deeply toward her and spoke in a very sincere tone.
“My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hells Mo. Respected Witch of the Tower, you may call me Hells.”
What the—? It was just an introduction? Scared the daylights out of me.
Lan Qingyou breathed a sigh of relief.
“Then don't call me Witch of the Tower. Just call me Lan Qingyou or the Witch. Regarding the maps you mentioned... can I see one?”
“Of course, no problem.”
As he spoke, Hells took a card out of a small pouch at his waist. After tapping it a few times, a blueprint the size of a desk appeared in his hands.
After taking out the map, Hells looked around and placed it on a relatively flat rock before backing away about ten meters.
He was well aware of Lan Qingyou's suspicion toward him, so he kept all his movements minimal and maintained a safe distance that would put her at ease.
He was certainly a meticulous person.
Seeing this, Lan Qingyou looked at the spatial tool in his hand and then floated down, hovering about three meters above the map.
Although she couldn't see every line and label clearly from this distance, she could clearly see the words 【Abandoned Land】 in bold, black Federation standard script at the top left of the map.
“Is this a map of our Abandoned Land?”
Lan Qingyou spoke with uncertainty as she looked at the coastlines, forests, lakes, and even a ruined city depicted on it.
After all, the Abandoned Land did have those places.
She had heard about them during the region merger, and Shang Chuan had occasionally mentioned them when buying herbs.
“Yes. I drew it after I arrived here a while ago. I only came to find you after finishing this map.”
“Wait, you said you 'arrived' here? You mean you aren't from District 666?”
Lan Qingyou was a bit stunned.
Traveling from another region to District 666—was that something a human could do?
Could it be related to a talent?
“It's just as you suspect. I did indeed come from another region. Otherwise, I wouldn't have taken on the job of being an inviter while I was at it.”
Hells shrugged helplessly.
“However, I hope the Witch won't ask about how I got here. After all, it involves my talent.”
Fine, so it really was because of a talent.
“Alright. I've seen the map; it's definitely hand-drawn. Although I don't know if you're the one who drew it, I'll believe you for now. So, Hells, since this is an invitation, shouldn't you show some good faith? For instance, how did you find the location of my shelter?”
Lan Qingyou flew back up.
“Tarot Villa has a diviner who studies Divination and Astronomy. Your location—and the locations of most of the villa's members—was found through her divinations.”
These talents really are diverse.
Lan Qingyou muttered to herself.
As Hells spoke, he walked to the rock, carefully picked up the blueprint, and brushed off a bit of snow from the back. After checking it over, he put it back into the card.
It was clear he cherished this map deeply, which earned him another point of trust from Lan Qingyou.
“You said you draw maps out of interest. So you traveled from another region all the way here just for that interest?”
“Yes. I've traveled through five regions in total. But the regions merged only after I arrived here. Counting it that way, I've only barely managed to map three regions. Two of them were small maps from before the merger, which is a bit of a shame.”
Hells answered seriously, but there was a hint of loneliness on his face.
Lan Qingyou guessed this was likely because he was thinking about those two previous regions where he couldn't map the entire area because the merger hadn't happened yet.
“One last question.”
She held up a finger.
“Please, go ahead.”
“How did you travel here? Putting aside your talent, the nights on the Kalim continent aren't places where we should be able to stay right now. You couldn't have been walking around with your shelter on your back, could you?”
Exactly.
That was Lan Qingyou's biggest question.
If there was one thing that was the greatest constraint for the humans of Blue Star right now, it was their activity radius.
Whether it was flying in the sky like Lan Qingyou or walking on the ground like others, everyone needed to return to their shelter by nightfall.
Otherwise, they would be swallowed by the night of Kalim.
Even a combat maniac like Li Huai wouldn't stay outside unless it was an absolute emergency.
It was clear just how dangerous the outside was.
“Now that is an excellent question.”
Hearing Lan Qingyou's question, Hells immediately snapped his fingers and performed another sequence of operations on his card.
Poof!
In an instant, a massive, jagged rock appeared beside him.
Using Hells' height as a reference, the rock was at least ten meters high and about twenty meters wide.
“As expected of the Witch. Just as you said, I do indeed carry my shelter with me.”
Standing beside the rock, Hells smiled and opened a stone door, revealing an interior lit by a magic lantern to Lan Qingyou.
“...”
I'm impressed!
She was genuinely impressed by Hells' method.
She had never expected that her joke would turn out to be the truth—this guy actually had a portable shelter.
“What's the deal with that card? Can current spatial tools hold that much stuff?”
Although Lan Qingyou suspected it might be related to his talent, to be honest, she preferred to believe it was a magic item.
After all, she had one too.
And after being nourished by mana potions for a while, its capacity had grown to two cubic meters. Given time, it might eventually grow to have a capacity like Hells' spatial tool.
However, Lan Qingyou was destined to be disappointed.
“I'm afraid not, Witch. This spatial tool might be a bit different from what you're imagining.”
Although he didn't know exactly what Lan Qingyou was thinking, Hells, knowing exactly what the item in his hand was, spoke up to clarify.
Rate on N.U.
