Ian Silverpeak (6400, Seeking Double Monthly Pass)

For Elder Pude, no matter how many rumors he heard from the outside world, none could compare to a single sentence spoken by Ian himself.

Although Ian had sent no few messages to Harrison Port lately, reporting good news, this piece of news was undoubtedly the greatest of them all.

"A noble title!"

The moment he heard Ian speak those words through the communications device, Elder Pude felt his heart stop for an instant.

The elderly White Folk man with Dwarf-like features stood blankly by the window of his Elder Hall. For some reason, Elder Pude suddenly felt an autumn breeze drift in. Combined with the warm noonday sun, it left him feeling faintly intoxicated.

The end of the year was drawing near.

The old man gazed dazedly out at Harrison Port. When he had first arrived here, this city had been nothing more than a small wooden fortress on the Southern Ridge frontier, with four or five scattered settlements around it. Back then, the smell of the sea tide had made him want to vomit.

But now, whether it was the jade-green sea in the distance or the deep blue sky, both felt familiar and dear to him. They even... gave him the warmth of home.

He had lived here for far too long—longer than he had lived in the Imperial Capital, longer than he had lived with the family. Harrison Port had already become his second homeland. The gentle sunlight of this coastal city flowed over the windowsill before him, changing with the drifting clouds and wind overhead. The thriving White Folk district was solidly built and comforting, all of it created by his own hands.

But soon, he would have a third homeland.

A distant place, yet one that represented even greater hope.

*At last... could the