Chapter 34 — Negotiation

"Do you know where that dragon has gone?" At last Victoria Wilde, Grand Duchess of the North, broke the silence. Compared with the monsters, she seemed more concerned with the dragon's whereabouts. "Or can you guess its purpose?"

Gao Yang shook his head. "That I do not know."

Though his seniority was great, it did not mean he was more worldly than those present. Gao Yang Cecil of seven hundred years ago had never dealt with dragons.

At least, not in his memory.

After seeing those crystals the night before, Gao Yang no longer trusted the memories he had inherited quite so much.

"In fact... three months ago, rumors about a dragon circulated in my territory," the Grand Duchess said, word by word. "Someone claimed to have seen a dragon flying in from the cold mountains farther north. But in the end no other witnesses were found, and the man who spread the rumor was proven to have been mistaken from too much drink—he took the wind and snow of the mountains for a dragon."

Gao Shao pressed at once: "Did that man describe what the dragon looked like in detail?"

"No," the Grand Duchess shook her head. "But I can continue the investigation once I return."

"Investigation is necessary—not only into that dragon, but into the monsters as well," Francis II said. "See whether similar things have appeared elsewhere in the kingdom, or whether there have been abnormal surges of magical force."

Rebecca could not help speaking again. "But investigation alone is not enough—we must also prepare for battle. Those monsters appear without warning; there is no omen beforehand at all. If we do not prepare in advance, there will be no time to defend, and by the time investigators find their tracks it will surely be too late..."

Duke Silas Loren, who garrisoned the eastern border, glanced at Rebecca with some displeasure. "Are we to put every soldier in the kingdom on battle footing, waiting for monsters that may emerge at any time—or may not emerge at all?"

Rebecca answered instinctively, "If that were possible, it would be for the best..."

"That is impossible. We cannot mobilize every soldier in the kingdom over a vague possibility. The local nobles would revolt, and the crown's credibility would suffer," Duke Silas said with a stern face. He was strong and tall, with the bearing of a typical warrior. "Moreover, we must contend with the threat of the Typhon Empire to the east. That country is a jackal; it has been waiting to tear a bite of flesh from Ansell for a long time."

After the destruction of their homeland, the remnant people of the former Gondor Empire broke out in four directions and in time founded new realms in the four quarters of the continent—east, south, west, and north. The Typhon Empire was the nation in the east, and to this day it had grown into the strongest of the four.

The human kingdoms of the north, south, and west all coexisted with the kingdoms or races already native to those lands. Only Typhon was now the sole nation in the eastern half of the continent; its strength and its manner of doing things could well be imagined.

Ansell bordered Typhon, and along their frontier lay vast tracts of fertile soil and rich ore—a natural flashpoint for conflict.

For the first few centuries, the human kingdoms, sprung from the same stock, could still remember the bond of brotherhood and keep the peace. But lasting peace was never realistic to begin with. A hundred years ago, when Ansell fell into civil strife, the Typhon Empire took the opportunity to "make a small move" along the border, and relations between the two countries took a sharp turn for the worse. By now, there was scarcely a quiet day left between them.

There had been no great open war, but skirmishes had never ceased.

As for the Kingdom of Ansell's present circumstances: the south was barren and long accustomed to peace; the northern kingdoms had never had any quarrel with Ansell; and the Augustin tribal state to the west had always been Ansell's ally. Of the four borders, only the east had endured the pressure of war these hundred years. Thus Duke Silas Loren, of the martial faction, would never agree to turn military strength toward guarding against those illusory monsters. To him, things that bordered on legend were far less a threat than the Typhon army that paraded under his nose every day.