Hao Ren stared at the statue depicting himself for a long time, not knowing what expression to make. After thinking it over, he felt this was probably normal, but for someone who had never been any kind of important person, the sight before him was still a little too stimulating. Wim, standing beside him, didn't find anything strange about it at all. Instead, he cheerfully asked, "What do you think? Satisfied with this image? My mother believes it's absolutely necessary to place this statue in the central square of the city..."
Lily finally reacted and threw herself forward with a loud cry. "Wow! Landlord, you finally get to show off in a public square too!"
Hao Ren had just raised his hand, intending to smack the husky, when Wim told Lily with a smile, "Your statue is on the gate of the western district. Both your human and beast forms are depicted—the guardian of the Erem Elves, the ferocious beast that opened the path ahead. Every one of you has a statue."
Hao Ren patted Lily on the shoulder. "See? They even hung you on the gate."
Lily thought about it and actually felt pretty good. "Oh, maybe I really can ward off evil..."
"Er, is this really appropriate?" Hao Ren looked at Wim. The magnificent statue beside him made him feel extremely strange. As a veteran ordinary citizen of over twenty years, he was of course secretly pleased, but even more than that, he felt an indescribable embarrassment. It was like casually helping an old woman cross the street, only to discover the next day that someone had printed your headshot on banknotes. It was too unreal, too unstable, too unbelievable—and, incidentally, made him terribly guilty.
"What's inappropriate about it?" Wim nodded as though it were only natural. "An