Time rewound half an hour.
Compared to the commotion in Greystone Town, the surrounding hills were utterly silent. Everyone on the hill where the Eluin delegation was staying remained quietly in the pine forest. Fearing the Harpies circling overhead, no one dared light a fire or make any conspicuous movements. Even their voices had to be kept low. Everyone was waiting for the sky to become completely dark.
Before that happened, however, time became especially dull and interminable. Some people whispered among themselves, while others gnawed on dry rations to conserve their strength. Four Inner Court Knights were discussing North Mountain Outpost in the woods. Roman was telling stories to Grand Duke Goren-Elson's youngest daughter, who gazed at Merchant's Daughter with open admiration. Roman possessed a special talent for describing things that had not yet happened as though they were already unfolding before her eyes. She spoke of her merchant caravan: merchant ships carrying enormous cloud-like sails crossing glittering seas toward bustling ports, wild regions, colossal beasts lurking in the distant ocean, storms brewing above the waves, strange fish, and wondrous sights that ordinary people might never see in their entire lives. Though she had never visited any of those places, she narrated them as if she had witnessed them personally, her gentle and fascinating account drawing people to her side. Brando saw Candy Jar, Dirfiel, and Hypamira among her three most loyal listeners, followed by Chiara and Princess Magdal.
The Grand Duke's daughter was counting stars with Yinide. Vonder's strange night sky always glittered one after another from east to west, like black cloth strewn with fragments of jewels. A long river of gathered starlight had already begun to emerge, as though announcing the night's final arrival. Yet once the light of the stars and moon gathered together, the