"Alright, alright, no more fooling around." Alecto saw Yu Jin being passed around in the arms of the Black Knives and intervened to stop their desire to go further.
The King's dignity needed to be maintained, even though she herself had just taken advantage of Yu Jin.
At Alecto's word, the Black Knives reluctantly put Yu Jin down.
Yu Jin, now on his feet, felt a bit dizzy. Ever since he was picked up, he had been held by the Black Knives in various different positions.
Due to their size, the Black Knives held Yu Jin, a person of ordinary build, like a child; his feet couldn't even touch the ground.
Yu Jin shook his head, recovering for a moment, then asked the Black Knives, "Hmm... how did you all get here?"
He was genuinely very curious about this. Yu Jin could only burn a large hole through the world when he sacrificed himself.
As for The Lands Between? Yu Jin thought about it. If he wanted to open another large hole, he would probably have to capture the Greater Will, that old bastard, and burn it.
"It was Patches, along with two unknown individuals, who sent us here," Alecto replied.
Her tone carried some confusion. As one of The Lands Between's top assassin and intelligence organizations, the Black Knives surprisingly had no information about those two people.
This was indeed very strange.
"Describe their appearance. Maybe I know them," Yu Jin said, also beginning to ponder after hearing Alecto's words.
Who could it be? Most of his friends were met in The Lands Between. As for why, one could only say that the Dark Souls world was more despairing than The Lands Between, and he wasn't strong enough back then.
Remembering the friends he couldn't save in the past, Yu Jin could only sigh. People in the Dark Souls world always seemed to have a sense of fate.
Onion Knight Jacques, after defeating Yhorm the Giant with him, laughed and committed suicide right in front of him.
Anri, after killing Aldrich, Devourer of Gods, with him, distanced herself from him.
Ultimately, Yu Jin only found a Hollow. Thinking of how Anri had given him her sword at the end, Yu Jin could only leave silently.
Strictly speaking, Yu Jin and her had the closest relationship. After all, he was almost tricked into marrying Anri once.
However, the marriage didn't happen in the end, and they instead became companions in battle.
Even Sirris, who had once pledged allegiance to him, was the same. After Yu Jin killed the Lothric Twin Princes, Sirris silently left him and committed suicide before her grandfather's grave.
There were many more such examples, countless of them.
Thinking of this, Yu Jin couldn't help but clench his fists. Precisely because of this, he had to become more cheerful, more enthusiastic, and emit a little more light.
As long as this light was dazzling enough, the people around Yu Jin would care enough about him. At that time, if he just said, "Live," then he could confidently open up a new world.
As for what would happen to him after opening a new world? He couldn't die anyway, so Yu Jin didn't care much.
"My King?" Alecto softly called out to Yu Jin.
"Hm?" Yu Jin looked up, then scratched the back of his head and said with a smile, "Haha, it's nothing, I just zoned out. You were saying."
Alecto glanced at Yu Jin, then thought for a moment and said, "Those two were a man and a woman."
"The man was ordinary; I couldn't see anything special about him."
"As for the woman, her attire was somewhat like a nun's, but she wore an eye patch, which was a bit unusual."
"Was that woman dressed all in black?" Yu Jin asked, a little excited.
"Yes, she was," Alecto recalled the woman's appearance and replied. Then she looked at the somewhat excited Yu Jin and asked,
"Is that lady very important to the King?"
Yu Jin looked at the Black Knives around him, who were all perking up their ears, and affirmed, "Indeed. She is my Fire Keeper. Our relationship is definitely very good, after all, we spent so much time together."
"And compared to us?" Wu said with a smile.
"Wu! You overstepped!" Alecto immediately rebuked Wu upon hearing her inappropriate words.
"Wu was abrupt. Please punish me, My King!" Wu also realized her slip of the tongue and immediately knelt on one knee, bowing her head to Yu Jin.
Yu Jin winced again at the sight and quickly said, "Get up, get up. From now on, if I don't express an opinion, then there's no need to be reserved, understand?"
"Understood!" This time, all the Black Knives knelt, and their "Understood!" was particularly spirited and imposing.
"Are you all deliberately trying to annoy me?" Yu Jin stomped his foot a little.
"How could that be? Necessary rituals must still be observed," the Black Knives stood up and responded with a half-smile.
"Alright, have it your way," Yu Jin didn't correct them further. Then he quietly said, "Wu's question, do you want to know the answer?"
"Yes!" This time, the Black Knives' nods were even more uniform than when they knelt on one knee.
"Alright, then I'll be direct. Don't get angry, okay?" Yu Jin rubbed his hands, then pinched his thumb and forefinger together.
"Her relationship with me is definitely a little better than yours, but only by this much."
Yu Jin brought the tiny gap between his thumb and forefinger to the Black Knives' eyes and emphasized, "Just this much."
Alecto watched Yu Jin's thumb and forefinger almost touch, and she couldn't help but worry about Yu Jin.
That Fire Keeper's strength seemed to be much greater than the King's current strength. If she knew the King described their relationship this way, would she die of anger?
But Alecto quickly relaxed. She had spent more time with the King and surely understood his personality.
"Hahaha!"
"Indeed, a description very fitting of the King's personality."
...As soon as Yu Jin finished speaking, the Black Knives burst into laughter. Only Yu Jin could make them laugh so happily.
"Alright, stop laughing. I need to go deliver the commission. What are you all going to do?" Yu Jin waved his hand and said to the Black Knives.
With so many of them, and such large physiques, his small house couldn't accommodate them all.
"The King need not worry about us. You may simply do as you wish." As soon as Alecto finished speaking, Yu Jin saw all the Black Knives vanish into thin air before his eyes.
He walked around, realizing he couldn't find any trace of the Black Knives. Were they truly the most skilled at concealment in The Lands Between?
Terrifying! Yu Jin gasped. Then he said, "Alecto?"
"My King, I have a codename, One." Alecto knelt on one knee, her figure appearing before Yu Jin.
She knew Yu Jin was just calling her out of curiosity, so she merely appeared to speak a sentence, then vanished again.
"Tsk, quite a bit stronger," Yu Jin smacked his lips, sighing in admiration.
If he wanted to detect the Black Knives' location now, he would probably have to use some extraordinary means.
And from his observations just now, it seemed the Black Knives' strength had improved significantly after he left.
But this was normal, after all, he had sacrificed himself. If the strength of The Lands Between didn't increase, he would be the one going crazy.
Yu Jin only sighed for a moment before rushing to the Adventurers' Guild. Work was important, work was important.
After a familiar conversation, Yu Jin successfully handed over the commission. After placing the Mora into the leather pouch at his waist, Yu Jin began to ponder what to do next.
"Mr. Yu Jin, I recall you were quite short on Mora, weren't you?" Katheryne said with a smile, looking at Yu Jin, who was deep in thought.
"Uh... actually, not really short anymore. I'm only saving Mora for some unnecessary expenses," Yu Jin said, scratching his head.
He truly didn't have many places where he needed Mora. He was working so hard to save Mora now just so he could openly travel to Inazuma when the time came.
Moreover, Yu Jin had a premonition that the cost of landing in Inazuma might increase!
Yu Jin's premonitions were usually correct, so he had to plan ahead.
He definitely had to talk to the Raiden Shogun sometime in the future. What was she thinking with the Sakoku Decree? It made it impossible for him, a tourist, to see Inazuma's famous sights.
"Oh? Is that so? Well, there's no harm in telling you anyway." Katheryne smiled, then continued, "Recently, the number of monsters near Mondstadt has suddenly increased."
"If Mr. Yu Jin has some free time, you could visit the Knights of Favonius Quartermaster's Office. There, you can exchange monster drops for rewards."
"Hmm?" Yu Jin's eyes lit up.
Hilichurls, I'm coming to save you!