A Promise

"What?! A Sanctuary?!"

Even Jiang You, a well-informed transmigrator, was left rather dumbfounded by the question.

He looked uncertainly at the human girl before him and asked hesitantly.

"Why would you say that?"

Seeing Jiang You's expression and hearing his answer, the human girl immediately looked disappointed.

Sanctuaries were high-tech creations built by the Human Race at the end of the previous era to escape disaster and preserve the seeds of their bloodline.

Over the endless years, many Sanctuaries had collapsed, and the humans sheltered within had died without a sound.

But the girl believed that some human bloodlines might have survived outside. That was why, after hearing about the Winged People's appearance and features, she had decided to accompany the goblin envoys on their visit.

Unfortunately, although the Winged King before her looked almost indistinguishable from a human, his people ultimately did not descend from the Human Race!

She shook her head and forced a smile.

"Nothing, respected Winged King. I was mistaken."

She was about to turn and leave.

Standing before her, Jiang You frowned as he watched the human girl, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration!

The expansions from his previous life had indeed included scattered bits of information about the Ferland Continent's previous era.

As a veteran Ferland player, there should be nothing wrong with posing as a human from the previous era to gain a few benefits.

He was quite envious of the goblins' rapid development.

So he cleared his throat softly.

"Airships, trains, seafaring, steam!"

A steampunk world-he had played plenty of those in his previous life!

The girl froze in place.

With every word Jiang You spoke, the human girl's eyes brightened a little more.

When she turned and saw Jiang You looking at her gently, she exclaimed in delighted surprise.

"You know what our era was like. Are you truly one of my people after all?"

Jiang You shook his head.

"I'm not. Or rather, I was once a human!"

"And I didn't come out of a Sanctuary, either!"

He deliberately blurred the distinction between the Human Race and humans, and everything he said was true.

But the girl clearly did not care. She stared at Jiang You, hope shining in her beautiful eyes.

"Whether or not you carry our bloodline, my eyes and soul tell me that your soul is wholly human!"

"My dear kinsman, if the descendants of the Human Race forget everything someday, please be sure to tell them of our glorious past. No matter how far they have fallen or how humble they have become, they must stubbornly cling to life and wait for their chance to rise again!"

"And in times of particular need, please give them shelter!"

Hearing the girl's pessimistic words, Jiang You was filled with confusion.

"Are things really that difficult for you now? As I recall, don't you hold an extremely high position among the goblins?"

The beautiful girl with long golden hair shook her head bitterly.

"In our Sanctuary, the powerful Sequence Users had long since died. Those of us who remained were no match at all for the goblins' transcendent fighters!"

"When the goblins broke into our Sanctuary, we had only just awakened. We didn't have time to use the Sanctuary's weapons against them!"

"But your weapons can deal with powerful Titans. Why can't they deal with goblins?"

Jiang You was even more puzzled.

"They work against Titans because the Titans carry the bloodline of the Human Race! They most likely evolved from beings our people created long ago!"

"That makes our weapons especially effective against them. But goblins are different. Compared with us, they aren't weak!"

The human girl explained.

"So that's how it is!"

Jiang You finally understood.

The human girl continued.

"To return to your earlier question, everyone seems to think we hold a high position among the goblins, but that is only an illusion!"

"Goblins are an extremely selfish race. They admire our civilization, yearn for our past, learn our knowledge, and take over our weapons, yet fear our potential!"

"They have us under their control!"

A mocking look appeared on the human girl's face.

"Several hundred of our people awakened in our Sanctuary, and over the past few years, we've had many children."

"The goblins learn our knowledge, yet refuse to let us educate our own children."

"Goblin King Amigel made us choose: live and reproduce on the continent as an ordinary race of Ferland, or bind ourselves to the goblins forever!"

"Being bound to them would mean slavery for generations. How could we possibly accept that?!"

"So we chose the former!"

Jiang You nodded in understanding and sighed.

"It's easy to imagine that, many years from now, the Human Race will become an ordinary, weak race on the Ferland Continent, perhaps even facing the constant danger of extinction!"

"That's true. But we humans would rather start over from nothing than become slaves!"

The girl smiled resolutely.

Then she looked at Jiang You and solemnly entrusted him with her request.

"If the Human Race is ever in trouble in the future, please lend them a hand. I'm begging you!"

"I will!"

Jiang You nodded.

"Then, may I know your human name?"

"Jiang You!"

Upon hearing those two words, the human girl finally smiled with relief.

"So you're an eastern human! My name is Christina!"

The next morning.

The goblin delegation bid farewell to Jiang You and the others and set off back to the Goblin King Court.

Jiang You stood on the mountaintop and watched them leave.

Looking at the human girl's retreating figure, he shook his head and sighed.

"When I played the game in my previous life, I often heard news of prehistoric ruins. Historians from Ferland's various races speculated that its previous era had been an age of steampunk."

"Yet they had no idea that, back then, the Human Race had been the continent's rulers!"

"Come to think of it, if I could open the system, wouldn't I have triggered a legendary quest by now?"