Night World Players

Chapter 65: Xiltina, You Don’t Understand People’s Hearts

Chapter 65: Xiltina, You Don’t Understand People’s Hearts
The scenery outside the car window was changing rapidly.

Hiltina and Rast's spiritual incarnation stood side by side, staring at the confused and uneasy little chestnut-haired girl in the memory fragment before them.

And, the light curtain that spread out before her eyes was like water waves.

Until a certain moment, the scene emerging from the hazy water curtain gradually became clear.

It was a mountain shrouded in flames, seemingly burning forever.

The forest covering the entire mountain range was completely engulfed by the red flames. The black smoke rising into the sky obscured the azure sky, leaving only a gloomy and depressing sky.

All the grass and trees were burned by the high temperature, leaving only white ash after being burned to ashes.

This is a dead silent world, even the light in the air is distorted due to the high temperature.

boom--

At a certain moment, a pitch-black griffin descended from the sky accompanied by a roaring storm, blowing up countless smoke and fine ashes.

pat.

A pair of long knight boots stepped on the dry and scorched earth.

Cecilia landed on the ground. She turned back and stroked the giant griffin's head. "Go back. It's a fire elemental demon that's at least level six. You can't help me here. Instead, you'll just be a burden."

Woohoo~
The huge griffin whimpered a few times and rubbed against Cecilia, with a hint of reluctance evident in its bright yellow eyes.

"Stop being so childish."

"Go back and keep watch over Hiltina for me."

"Aaron said that he wanted to bring Hiltina from Qiuye to the imperial capital for training. I have no objection."

"But she's so young, and usually needs me to accompany her to fall asleep at night..."

Cecilia's stern words softened a little: "I have no doubt that Aaron will win the royal election and succeed the throne. He was born to be king. But as soon as he took office, he had to consolidate power and check and balance other nobles. He must have been worried about everything and didn't have much time to take care of Hiltina."

"And we have protected Xiltina so well since she was young, she has never suffered much, and she doesn't know how sinister people in the imperial capital are."

"She is still too young, and has just arrived in an unfamiliar environment. She will have to face the kindness or malice of many outsiders... I will be worried if you are not by her side."

Woohoo~
Hearing this, the huge griffin looked at Cecilia reluctantly again, and finally flapped its wings and flew high into the sky.

After hovering and circling in the sky for a few more circles, it finally flew away and disappeared.

After looking up at the huge griffin disappearing, the female knight turned around and returned her gaze to the nearly endless sea of fire in front of her.

Her footsteps passed over the scorched and cracked earth.

And as Cecilia walked along the path, at the edge of the fire in the distance, she could vaguely see clusters of silver-grey shadows, like human-shaped packages.

"Fireproof bag?" Luster whispered.

He recognized the silver-gray humanoid packages.

It is a kind of protective equipment used by firefighters to deal with emergency fire situations. It is composed of multiple layers of high-temperature resistant materials including aluminum foil and glass fibers.

When the fire is severe and evacuation is impossible, covering yourself with a fireproof bag is the last life barrier for firefighters.

"Ah."

Hiltina's light brown eyes were also fixed on the water screen projection.

"Qiuye Territory is a border province of the empire, and most of its territory is covered by mountains and forests."

"Therefore, the forest rangers who watch over the mountains and prevent forest fires are a profession unique to Qiuye Territory. This is also why my family is called the "Forest Ranger" family."

"The population of Qiuye Territory is very small, only a few tens of thousands of people... Qiuye Territory's forest patrol team visited my home when I was a child, and I know every one of them."

Her eyes swept over the human-shaped silver-gray fire shield one by one.

"Tyler, 59 years old, captain of the forest ranger team, he was supposed to retire after this year."

"Russell, 29 years old, was a former smoker and drug addict. But for the sake of his children, he wanted to find a stable job. He withstood Captain Taylor's rigorous test, passed the test, and became a reserve member of the forest ranger team. However, he encountered an accident during his first forest ranger patrol."

"Aunt Susan is in charge of logistics. According to her duties, she was not supposed to go out with us, but she still came... Aunt Susan held me in her arms when I was a child."

"And Angie and Carl..."

Hiltina narrated the story calmly.

"As soon as the disaster struck at dusk and the wildfire broke out, the forest patrol team immediately went out and began to set up isolation zones to block flammable materials."

"It was because of their hard work that the fire was temporarily blocked from spreading, allowing a considerable number of residents in Qiuye Territory to take refuge successfully."

"It's just... it's just a routine firefighting method after all."

"The wildfire that descended on Qiuye Territory was not an ordinary fire, but a domain created by a sixth-rank fire elemental demon king. How could it be blocked by a mere isolation belt?"

At this moment, Hiltina's sight and movements completely overlapped with Cecilia's in the water curtain.

They stared at the silver-grey human-shaped fire shields, their faces calm, yet with a hint of sadness.

"So-called fireproof bags can only retard flames but cannot provide heat insulation."

"What's more, it wasn't just an ordinary forest fire, but the power of a high-level fire elemental demon..."

"They hid in fireproof bags, and the only purpose was to leave a complete body for themselves."

After a pause, Hiltina's voice sounded again.

However, this time, there was no longer the confusion and sadness in her words.

All that remains is determination.

At the same time, Cecilia in the water curtain also withdrew her gaze.

She moved her wrist slightly, and a clear knight's sword quietly appeared.

The silver sword light briefly illuminated the gray sky that was covered by thick smoke.

In the flames and black smoke in the distance, a roar like thunder could be faintly heard.

That was the ferocious roar of the Fire Elemental Demon King.

And the stern female knight held the silver sword in her hand, her long chestnut hair fluttering in the hot wind.

then.

He walked past Rast and Hiltina step by step.

Looking at the weak and slender, yet majestic and awe-inspiring figure passing by her, Hiltina reached out her hand almost subconsciously.

But in the end, her hand passed through the illusory shadow and touched nothing.

In the end, they could only watch the female knight walk away step by step.

Until her back stepped into the raging fire curtain in front of her and could no longer be seen.

……

The scene in the light curtain became distorted and blurred.

It seemed that the energy level of the battle that broke out was too high, so that even Tucker's Night Blade could not fully detect the whole picture.

However, there was the burning red flame and the back of the female knight who was stepping into the flames step by step.

But it has been deeply engraved in the light brown eyes of the little girl in a dress holding a teddy bear on the other side of the light curtain.

"My father ordered Teacher Tucker to use Night Blade to create a projection screen in front of me."

"Then, I, who was still confused and ignorant at that time..."

"I witnessed my mother's end." "Not as the Empress of the Empire."

"Instead, as the head of the Ingulite family, he used his own life as a 'Forest Ranger' to kill the Fire Elemental Demon King, the source of the Dusk Disaster."

Shiltina whispered in Rast's ear.

"In fact, I was very ordinary when I was little. I was a little girl who loved to act like a spoiled child, was afraid of the dark, and wanted my mother to sleep with me at night."

"But what I witnessed that day, that figure walking step by step into the flames, I will never forget in my life."

There was a slight pause in her words.

"So, whether others call it crazy and paranoid, or call it artificial and hypocritical... it doesn't matter."

"I can understand my father's choice. Qiuye Territory is just an insignificant region in the Granville Empire. In terms of the interests of the overall situation and the trade-offs, even if the entire Qiuye Territory is destroyed, it cannot be compared with the Winter Fortress."

"But I don't want to agree with my father's philosophy at all."

"If I want to become the first princess, the so-called successor... I must become a cold machine that puts the interests of the country first and abandon the persistence of a ranger, then I would rather not have these identities and status."

"so."

"My name is Hiltina Ingulite, not Hiltina von Fresberg."

As Hiltina's words fell.

The carriage in front of me, the light curtain like water waves, and the timid little girl...

All the images in Hiltina's memory were shattered, cracking into mottled fragments, and then disappeared.

Instead, the memory scene that reappeared in front of Rast and Hiltina was a dilapidated ruin.

There were figures all around, all of them wearing the school emblem of Star University.

However, at this moment, almost all of the elite students from the Star University were injured.

Further away, one could see dozens of human remains covered with white cloth. They were the victims of the battle not long ago, and their number was almost equal to the number of people still alive.

"Hiltina, are you satisfied now?"

A plain female voice sounded in the ears of the two.

"After paying such a huge price, with more than half of our team killed or injured, we finally conquered this historical remnant. Is this the ending you wanted?"

Hearing this, Hiltina in the memory picture raised her head slightly.

"I'm so sorry, Fran."

"I know that this historical remnant strategy is very dangerous, so I wanted to go in alone from the beginning. You just stay outside..."

"You know that's impossible! We are a team, and you are our captain. If we let you go in alone, are we still qualified to say that we are your teammates?"

The female voice was no longer calm, but instead contained a hint of anger.

When Last looked at the source of the voice, he found that the other person looked familiar to him.

Fran.

Previously lost in Frozen Water Town, one of the scouts who had his soul wiped out, and possessed the Night Blade "Plant Dialogue".

At the same time, Fran was also the vice-captain of the team that Hiltina briefly joined in her first year but later fell apart.

"But the night world must be conquered. Otherwise, the dusk disaster will come..."

"I am from the Ruins Institute, so of course I know that kind of common sense!"

In the memory scene, Fran interrupted Hiltina loudly.

"Conquer the night world and prevent the dusk disaster from falling into reality. It is because of this awareness that we chose to join the Starry University and become a member of the strategy team. You don't need to repeat this!"

"I admit, Xiltina, your strength and your ideas are dazzling. They are so dazzling that many people are willing to follow you and become a member of your team."

"But your decision is too idealistic. You are the protagonist of fairy tales and epic legends, a flawless knight, but not someone who should exist in reality."

"We all want to conquer the night world and stop the disaster of dusk. Otherwise, we wouldn't have joined Starry University. But we are also flesh and blood. We will feel tired, scared and terrified. After a long battle, we will want to retreat and have the dark thought of becoming a deserter. This is human nature."

"We can't be like you, who can keep going forward without hesitation and unwaveringly even when faced with life-threatening dangers time and time again."

"You are indeed an ideal knight. However, because you are too idealistic, your idealism and paranoia have also been subtly imposed on your companions, but you have never considered the weakness of human nature."

"In order to keep up with you and not become a burden to you... everyone in the team has long been exhausted. We have only been enduring and holding on. It's like a taut string that will break sooner or later."

As if the emotions that had been accumulated for a long time could finally be released, Fran looked at Hiltina in front of her.

"You may be a perfect knight, a perfect night traveler, but you are definitely not a qualified leader."

"Your light is too dazzling... so much so that ordinary people like us would suffer unbearably just by being by your side."

"Hiltina, you don't understand human nature."

She stared at Hiltina like this, with a hint of expectation in her eyes.

Around, dozens of eyes were cast towards Hiltina, also with eager anticipation.

Xiltina knew very well what her team members were expecting.

They hoped that Hiltina could let go of her pride and paranoia, learn to adapt and change, and restrain her own brilliance.

Gradually, he became a qualified leader who could understand the weakness of human nature, knew how to be detour and make choices, knew how to seek benefits and avoid harm, and was willing to give up dangers and difficulties for the benefit of the team...

If Hiltina could make such a change, then their strongest team would not have to fall apart, but would be able to continue to maintain itself.

And Hiltina will still be their captain and leader.

Just, finally.

Under the spotlight of those eager gazes, Hiltina gently closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Fran."

"Perhaps I am not a qualified leader, and I really cannot understand the weakness of the human heart."

"But before all this—"

“I am myself first.”

boom--

At the moment when these words were spoken.

The illusory world before his eyes, woven from fragments of Hiltina's memories, shattered in an instant.

Then, everything returned to nothingness.