"Of course it's a ticket, Lord Captain." Hilveld gave him a light wink. "Using these Earth Origin Crystals to buy a guarantee that Miss Beiji will be sent somewhere safe—that's the ticket. Wasn't that what we agreed on beforehand?"
"But..."
But it didn't feel like any of that had actually been mentioned before?
Hilveld smiled faintly. "That's to ensure everything is genuine. Mr. Walnut from underground and I drafted a memorandum on the community. He promised us that if this deal contained any false information, he'd have to pay the Seven Seas Travel Group an astronomical amount in compensation. That memorandum took effect under your laws, and of course went through your channels as well—"
"In addition, we also have a fair contract in front of Lady Roman—"
Fang Hong's eyes gradually widened.
An electronic contract?
Right, if they treated this as one Invoker commissioning another, they could absolutely run it through the community process and use an electronic contract to define each side's responsibilities.
The community is managed by the Stargate Port and bound by the "Stargate Declaration"; the Super Competitive League has no authority over transactions between individuals.
That way, the chances of this being a trap drop drastically.
He'd gotten used to dealing with Natives and had almost forgotten that he was an Invoker too; dealings between Invokers aren't limited to Eteliria's local formats.
Not to mention Lady Roman...
Fang Hong was briefly at a loss for words. So the problem really was that simple.
But then something hit him, and he hurriedly pulled his Miss Ship's Officer to the side and quietly asked, "How did you sign the contract with them? Don't you not have a community ID? The community doesn't recognize contracts between Invokers and Natives. They only recognize registered accounts. You didn't get scammed by these people, did you?"
Fang Hong was terrified that his "inexperienced" Miss Ship's Officer had been tricked by these crafty, sly Invokers.
Hilveld pressed her lips together, smiling. "I'm Lord Captain's Ship's Officer, so of course I used Lord Captain's account to trade with them."
"Hold up," Fang Hong was dumbfounded again. "You used my account—when? How come I don't know about it?"
Hilveld's eyes were curved with laughter. "I didn't dare trouble Lord Captain. I had Miss Tata do it for me."
"No, wait, Miss Tata can't just do that without my permission..."
"But didn't Lord Captain hand everything on the community side over to her to manage?"
Fang Hong's mouth fell open as he finally realized the root of the problem was actually here.
His expression suddenly changed and he hurriedly sank into the Mind World. Tata was reading, one hand resting on Nini's head as the latter slept soundly.
Seeing him appear, she finally looked up and quietly asked, "Does Mr. Knight need something?"
Of course he did, and it was something big.
"Miss Tata," Fang Hong asked, "why did you give my account to Hilveld?"
Tata tilted her head, listened to him, then blinked gently. "Miss Hilveld asked me for a favor. It was about Mr. Knight."
"No, but you didn't even ask me first."
"But didn't Mr. Knight say that Miss Hilveld is someone he can trust completely?"
Fang Hong's mouth worked. "Wait, when did I ever say that?"
"In Mr. Knight's heart, that's what you think."
Fang Hong: "..."
He rubbed his forehead, finally remembering that Miss Tata could read minds.
"Fine," he said. "Even if Miss Hilveld and I can completely trust each other, that doesn't mean there's no privacy between us, you understand?"
Miss Fairy thought about it seriously. "I don't understand."
Right, explaining this "privacy" thing to a Miss Dragon Soul with whom he shared a Mind World was honestly a bit difficult.
Either way, when it came to Miss Tata, he basically had no such thing as a right to privacy.
Still, after thinking it over, he said, "In short, there are some things Miss Tata doesn't need to tell Hilveld."
"For example, those memories Mr. Knight told me about last time, the ones you forbid me to look at?"
"...Speaking of which, the reason Mr. Knight kept getting beaten up back then wasn't exactly without cause."
"Stop, just stop," Fang Hong was on the verge of tears. "As long as you get it."
Tata immediately closed her mouth obediently and fell silent.
Fang Hong pulled out of the Mind World, a little speechless, and looked at Hilveld, who was smiling sweetly at him.
He couldn't shake the guilty feeling, like his phone and private contact list were currently in his girlfriend's hands.
"So, then this Lake Tear of Obey is...?"
"That's the habitat of the War Lizard People. Because of the whole Toragotos incident, the Colin Ishurian Alliance is on very tense terms with them right now. The Royal Household's Wanted Order doesn't mean much there," Hilveld answered with a smile. "Similarly, they probably won't be too friendly toward the Descendants of Flor, who are very close to the Royal Household. I want to ask them to help gather some intel over there and, while they're at it, see if the Seven Seas Traveler can find a place nearby to rest and resupply."
"So," Fang Hong asked dryly, "this is also... part of that... deal?"
He watched Hilveld nod and couldn't help thinking: just how many times had his Miss Ship's Officer sold this one ticket?
And since she'd made the Seven Seas Traveler take this route, she must have already taken the Lake Tear of Obey situation into account. Come to think of it, the reason the Colin Ishurian side and the War Gecko clan were on such bad terms was basically all their fault in the first place.