Chapter 792 — Matilda

"Invented by you?" Matilda looked at the several desserts on the table and the roast meat on her plate with no small astonishment; after her surprise she offered praise from the bottom of her heart. "How incredible. I had thought you only a mighty knight and a wise sovereign—I never imagined you were also a gourmet capable of creating fine dishes. Their flavors are truly excellent; it is my honor to taste them."

Gao Yang smiled and said little more.

A few years ago, when he had just clawed his way up out of his coffin, he had even thought of using the dishes in his memory to improve the fare of this other world, and had seriously tinkered with several foods not found locally; but in the end there was no scene of "I pull out a plate of roast meat and the natives all fall to their knees." After all, the gourmets of this world had not grown up eating dirt, and he himself... in his last life had been but an ordinary diner—no matter how many dishes the Celestial Empire might boast, he could eat them but not cook them.

The best reviews his few creations had received were "tastes not bad," and they had soon been crushed by local chefs in both variety and number; to this day a few roast meats and Jiangnan pastries remained as garnishes on the "state banquet" table—the last trace his transmigrator self had left upon the culinary world of this realm.

While Gao Yang's mind wandered slightly, Matilda swallowed another mouthful and looked with some curiosity at a small dish of fruit sliced thin. "This fruit has a wondrous flavor—I have never eaten anything like it. Is it a specialty of Cecil?"

Gao Yang glanced at the dish of fruit, and his expression nearly turned strange, but at the last moment he maintained his composure. "That is the Solin tree fruit—it does indeed count as a specialty of the Cecil Empire."

He controlled the expression on his face, but could not control the thoughts in his heart.

Those were fruits borne by Beiyila Augustus; the vast majority had been used to relieve the grain crisis in the Holy Spirit Plains region, and a small portion had been sent to Xuanyao City as samples.

And now he was serving the fruit borne by the Augustus Frostvein Sect to that family's own descendant.

And after eating it, she would have to say thank you.

Thinking the whole process over carefully, it did seem rather devilish...

Meanwhile, on the other side, Matilda was well aware of what she was eating (though it hardly mattered if she knew—after all, thousands upon thousands of people in Cecil were eating these fruits too). After offering a few polite compliments, she brought up a rather more formal topic.

"My visit this time, beyond the formal diplomatic mission and the preparations for follow-up programs such as the exchange students, also carries a personal greeting from my Imperial Father," she said, setting down her knife and fork with a faint smile. "He believes that the new order you have pioneered, and the arcane technology you have brought, are great things capable of changing this world—and that commands his admiration..."

"The order was not built by me alone, and the arcane technology was not created by me," Gao Yang said in a level voice. "But I will admit one thing—they can indeed change this world."

Matilda glanced at Gao Yang and said with a touch of amusement, "My Imperial Father... guessed you would give an answer like that."

"Oh?" Gao Yang raised an eyebrow. "And what else did he say?"

"He said you and he are similar sorts of people—that what you both concern yourselves with lies beyond a single city, a single nation, a single generation," Matilda said earnestly. "He also asked me to pass along a message: before the interests of nations, we are Cecil and Typhon; before this world, we are all human. This world is not safe—and that, at least, you understand."

Gao Yang paused slightly in his movements.

A moment later, he smiled and said mildly, "We once built a great wall together. At the borders of the Gondor Wasteland, your father and I spoke briefly.

"So I can tell that his vision reaches farther than that of most people in this age.

"I am glad he had you bring those words. You may tell him this in return: the fates of all of us lie upon this continent, and on that premise, Cecil would be most willing to join Typhon in creating a new era of peace and prosperity."

As the words fell, Gao Yang had already raised the wine glass in his hand.

Matilda smiled and raised her glass as well.

"Then let us celebrate this era of peace and prosperity in advance," she said.

...

After the grand luncheon, the envoy delegation was shown to the appropriate quarters of the Autumn Palace to rest, while Gao Yang returned to his own residence.

He did not go to rest, but went to the study.

Vero was already waiting there.

"Rait said you had something to discuss with me," Gao Yang said, sitting down behind his desk and regarding the "Holy Maiden" before him—the white-gold scepter in her hand, the former leader of Gondor's Defiant—"and I noticed you sizing up Princess Matilda several times during the welcome and again at the banquet—is it something to do with her?"

"Yes," Vero nodded and came straight to the point. "I sensed a trace of a deity's aura upon her—very faint, but it is indeed there."