Hello, Arknights

Chapter 298 On the Bench

"What the hell is this?" Maria angrily threw the newspaper on the bench. It was the first time that Ling Dengxian encountered such an abstract thing happening to him, and he didn't know how to comment on it.

Well, I’ve heard of more abstract things that haven’t happened to me.

"I say, don't you have any reaction at all?" Seeing that he didn't speak, Maria was a little dissatisfied. She frowned and leaned over to look at his expression, hoping to see more excitement.

"I'm still recovering... I can only say that the Red Wine Report is too outrageous... Isn't your family a family of war heroes from Casimir?" Ling Dengxian rubbed his temples, "How dare you make such a joke?"

"...I don't know." Maria was startled when she heard Ling Dengxian's question. She then leaned back in her chair somewhat weakly and whispered, "Ever since Mom and Dad left... No, since Grandpa passed away, our family has actually not been the center of Casimir's attention..."

"When my sister won the special championship despite my uncle's opposition, we were noticed again... Earlier, my sister received an invitation to join the Silver Spear Pegasus Knights... But because of the attention, my uncle was troubled by the company for a long time."

"In today's era, I'm afraid no one cares or worries about this identity anymore."

Ling Dengxian couldn't help but look away. He only knew a little about the situation of the Lin Guang family. He sighed, gently held his left hand with his right hand, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes: "Maybe, the changes are not caused by the disappearance of one or two people..."

"Casimir used to rely on knights to establish his country, right? The current army is also named after knights, right? But 'knights' are still treated as commodities and put on the competition stage for consumption. Not only the competition knights, if I remember correctly, the Rose Newspaper also often reports on the activities of knight groups like the Silver Moon Knights who sing and dance like idols, right? This practice... isn't it too much entertainment?"

"I heard from my sister that the country now needs to rely on the Business Federation to support its economic structure... and 'Knights' are the most attractive element of Casimir..."

"I'm not surprised anymore," Ling Dengxian looked back at the most eye-catching building in the city, the Knights Arena, "Those cheers weren't just coming from one or two people...public opinion has made most people accustomed to this kind of thing."

“And that’s not a good thing.”

Maria remained silent, not knowing how to respond. Everyone understood the truth, it was written on paper and engraved on monuments, but in this era, people would only laugh at her for being old-fashioned. She was not as good as her sister. When Margaret did not come back, she also tried hard to convince herself and was able to withstand the pressure.

"...My sister knows this, and I know this too, but I just know," Maria pursed her lips, "I have seen the business cooperation contracts that those companies sent to me when I first debuted. To be honest, Bai Ge, you have also seen my family... That is indeed a very tempting number."

"My uncle is not interested in this kind of income, but my aunt has taken over these cooperations. Now her garden is bigger than our yard..."

Ling Dengxian then realized that this girl seemed to have been shaken by a series of setbacks.

After thinking for a moment, he stood up and walked a few steps, then sent a message to Lin Guang: "Are you busy? Something's going on."

A moment later, a reply arrived: "I'm dealing with the Knights' Games. I'm a bit busy. What's going on? Is it about Nightingale?"

Ling Dengxian immediately turned around to look at Maria. She probably didn't notice this side. Although she didn't seem to mind, she might be somewhat unhappy if she found out by accident.

"Then you go ahead and do your work. I'll handle it myself. Nightingale is fine, don't worry." Ling Dengxian put away the communication terminal. Nightingale was indeed very obedient, except that she was a little too bold to come to him so early. However, she did not object to arranging for her to watch TV quietly in the apartment with Xinhuo Shuangye.

Although he was still a little worried, after all, who knew what incredible knowledge White-Faced Owl had taught her.

"Miss Maria, so it's not your own will that you stepped into the arena for the knight competition?" Ling Dengxian sat back on the bench and asked.

"I think, I am Maria Lin Guang, and the Lin Guang family... should have a knight..."

"That's not right." Ling Dengxian retorted. Maria said "Huh?" with a puzzled expression. At this time, a third person's voice interrupted: "Maria, you should go back."

“Uncle, uncle?!” Maria shrank her neck and stood up to greet him fearfully. She looked at the man carefully, then at Bai Ge, “What are you doing…”

"Find a place to rest. Go home now and don't linger. Zofia will be waiting for you at home."

"Okay, okay uncle... Bai Ge, I'll be leaving first..."

"Then uncle, I will also--"

"You stay." The tall blond Kuranta sat down and spread out the newspaper in his hand, without putting pressure on Ling Dengxian with his eyes.

Maria gave him a worried look from a distance, then left obediently.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Uncle, I..."

"You can call me by my name...Maenna."

"Uncle Maenna, please tell me... do you have something to say to me?"

Maena really wants to say that telling you my name means you don’t have to call me “uncle”.

"You're not from Casimir, where are you from?"

"Yan Country." Ling Dengxian felt that this was the answer closest to the truth.

"Then it's up to you." After a moment of silence, Mainna understood and lowered his head to continue reading the newspaper. He also read the news in the Red Wine News, but he was not as excited as Ling Dengxian had imagined. He just frowned and closed the newspaper after a while.

"...Casimir's journalism is quite...excessive." Ling Dengxian smiled awkwardly.

"...But this is what Casimir looks like now." Mauna closed her eyes, and the wrinkles on her forehead seemed to have never loosened. "No one can change it. In the face of the trend of the waves, the sand will only be shaped and drift with the flow."

Ling Dengxian felt that he seemed to be referring to something, but it seemed that he was just commenting on his niece. He shook his head, and Ma Enna opened her eyes: "Do you have any other opinions?"

"Sand manifolds do go with the flow, but shaping... isn't sand also shaping the waves? In any case, the first barrier to curbing the waves is sand."

“Sand is loose, but when gathered together, it becomes rock, the edge of the sea that holds back the waves, and also… the bottom line.”

Ma Enna shook her head and sighed: "It's just a linguistic embellishment, a victory of language, it's meaningless."

Didn't you mention this first? Ling Dengxian sighed helplessly, knowing that a person's thoughts could not be changed by just one or two words, and he hadn't figured out Ma Enna's intentions yet.

He couldn't be worried about hurting Maria and the others, right? Although he did beat Maria up just now...

“You are not from Casimir, and I don’t want you to lose your life in Casimir because of a whim.

"There was once a Leitanian who was much more powerful than you. She refused the invitation of the Commercial Union and defeated a group of knights backed by corporate chaebols to win the Knights' Championship three times in a row... In the end, she still ended up with a broken sword and serious injuries. If someone hadn't offered an outrageous price to buy her away from Casimir, she would have had difficulty protecting herself."

Ling Dengxian scratched his head: "Uh... Black Knight?"

He had learned a lot about the Casimir Knight Competition these days, and he was quite impressed by the knights with such prominent single-word titles as the Black Knight.

"But Uncle Manna... My purpose is not to fight against the Business Federation. I just came here--"

"You hate being taken advantage of by speculators." Maina said something that surprised him. He and Maina had only met a few times. Maina then added: "I saw today's game on TV. Although I was not there and could not see your expression, the live broadcast captured your abnormal performance clearly enough."

"That's why I came here today, it was accidental."

"You are very good. It is not difficult for you to enter the Special Championship, but it is also ideal. Many people can't find this 'Platinum Knight', but when the Special Championship comes, you will be unavoidable."

Ling Dengxian looked at the man in front of him who was almost overwhelmed by life, imagined the Black Knight bleeding, and said nothing.

"You hate Casimir's behavior of turning knights into commodities, even though we Casimir people don't care."

"You guys?" Ling Dengxian suddenly asked, "Does it include you?"

After a moment of silence, the man lowered his eyes and uttered two words.

Ling stood up and turned his head. In a few hours, Casimir would be dark again and the neon lights would be lit up.