Chapter 886 — A Bizarre Topic

Perhaps Gao Yang had answered too readily, for the two well-traveled senior agents were left stupefied for several seconds. Metzen was the first to recover; she blinked and asked, a little uncertainly, "You mean... you won't go?"

"Correct. I won't go," Gao Yang said. "Is there a problem with that answer?"

"...It's just a little unexpected," Metzen said in a strange tone. "Your reaction is too far removed from an ordinary person's. It caught us off guard."

That answer only made Gao Yang curious. "Oh? And how should an ordinary person behave?"

"Faced with an invitation from a god, an ordinary person would either be overjoyed or utterly overawed. Granted, you may possess a sturdier spirit than most and would stay calmer—but your calm goes well beyond what we expected."

"That's because you told me yourselves—I'm allowed to refuse," Gao Yang said with an easy, unhurried air. "Frankly, I am genuinely curious about Tarronde. But as the ruler of this nation, I can't simply pick up and go on a whim. The Empire is finding its footing; countless projects await my decisions, and there is still so much for me to do. Meeting a god was not part of my plans. Please convey my apologies to your god—at least for now, I cannot accept her invitation."

What Gao Yang said was no mere excuse—but it was only one of his reasons.

Truthfully, this unexpected invitation had genuinely startled him. He had imagined how he might advance relations with the dragon race, but never that it would happen in this manner—that a god actually existed in Tarronde, dwelling in the mortal world, and from the sound of it, that god had lingered here for many years before this current civilization even began. Gao Yang had no idea for what purpose such a god would suddenly wish to meet a "mortal" like himself, but one thing he knew for certain: anything involving the gods had to be handled with the utmost care.

Judging by Metzen and Noretta's reactions, the relationship between the dragon race and their god seemed rather delicate—but at least the "Dragon God" was certainly not insane.

A mad god was terrifying; yet a god in full possession of its reason did not mean safety, either.

Did He know of the Defiance Project? Did He know that Cecil had restarted the Defiance Project? Had He lived through the ancient age of the gods? Did He know of the Godslayer Fleet and the secrets behind it? Was He benevolent—or malevolent? All of it was unknown, and Gao Yang... was not so blindly self-confident as to fear nothing under heaven.

True, he had stopped two disasters on the scale of divine calamities and defeated two "gods," directly or indirectly. But he knew perfectly well how much of that had been luck and coincidence—even if this "satellite spirit" of his seemed able to suppress or even immunize him against certain divine powers, that did not mean he truly possessed strength to contend with gods, or at least not strength that could do so reliably. If he let the accomplishments of two brushes with divine calamity inflate his confidence into believing himself a "godslayer"... then he would not be far from being buried again.

So, out of wariness toward the Dragon God, out of the most basic caution, and because he truly could not simply leave the Empire for a "journey" all the way to distant Tarronde, Gao Yang had no choice but to decline the dragon race's "invitation."

Having refused an invitation that was, in truth, quite tempting to him, Gao Yang could not help but breathe a long sigh of relief, feeling his thoughts flow freely again...

"You are indeed no ordinary man," Metzen said, giving Gao Yang a deep look. After two seconds of silence, she lowered her head and spoke gravely. "Very well. We will carry your response back to our god."

Then Noretta spoke up from the side: "One more thing I'd like to confirm—from what you just said, it's that you cannot go to Tarronde 'right now,' not that you are rejecting the invitation outright. Is that correct?"

Gao Yang looked at her. After several seconds of deliberation, he gave a slight nod: "If that 'god' is truly magnanimous enough to tolerate a mortal's caprice, then perhaps one day in the future, I will accept His invitation."

Noretta and Metzen exchanged a glance. The latter suddenly wore a faint, bitter smile and said softly, "...Our god is, in many ways, very forgiving."

Gao Yang was about to ask what she meant by that when Noretta suddenly stepped half a pace forward and bowed slightly to him. "Our task is complete. It is time we took our leave."

So it seemed this was a question that could not be answered.

Gao Yang understood, and did not press further. He gave a slight nod, and watched as Noretta once again picked up the large case used to hold the Shield of the Kingdom's Guardian and bowed to him once more. "Thank you for your cooperation with our work. The answers you gave us just now are all very important to us."

"Wait," Gao Yang said then, suddenly recalling something, and hurried to speak before they left. "About that signal from last time..."

"It has nothing to do with Tarronde," Metzen said, shaking her head. She seemed about to say more, but after a brief hesitation, she shook her head again. "We cannot trace its source either."

Gao Yang looked quietly at the two dragon-kin in human form for a few seconds, then slowly nodded. "I see."

The two senior agents nodded, then took their leave. Their presence rapidly receded; within mere minutes, Gao Yang could no longer sense them at all.

Gao Yang stood there for a while. When the various thoughts in his mind gradually settled and the swirling conjectures and notions no longer surged, he let out a breath and returned to his broad desk, setting the heavy, archaic Shield of the Kingdom's Guardian upon it.

Under the sunlight streaming through the window, the ancient shield's surface gave off a faint luster. The additional fittings his former pioneer comrades-in-arms had added to it were now rusted and battered beyond recognition, yet the metal plate that formed the shield's main body still gleamed beneath those corroded coverings, its light unchanged from days of old.

Gao Yang recalled how the smiths of the expeditionary army had tried every method and failed to melt that metal. With supplies and tools in desperately short supply, they had not even been able to drill a few holes in its surface for mounting handles—which was why the craftsmen had been forced to take the crudest, most direct approach: wrapping nearly the entire slab in a great quantity of extra alloy castings.

Now, after centuries of wind and frost, those traces—into which countless people had poured their heart's blood and upon which countless hopes had rested—had rotted away to this degree at last.

Gao Yang pressed the call bell beside the desk. A moment later, pattering footsteps sounded from the corridor, and Betty pushed the door open and stepped in. "Your Majesty, you called for me?"

"Is Hedy here?"

Betty thought for a moment, then nodded. "She's here, but she'll be heading to the government hall shortly!"

"Have her come to me first."

...

Outside the city of Xuanyao, beside a patch of woods in a sparsely populated suburb, the figures of Metzen and Noretta appeared on an open patch of ground amid a gust of wind.

The two senior agents walked forward a few steps and confirmed there were no bystanders nearby. Then Noretta let her hand fall slack, and the ornate metal case she had been carrying dropped to the ground. She exchanged a glance with Metzen beside her, and in that brief instant the two seemed to complete a wordless exchange. The next second, they both staggered two steps forward and dropped to one knee, strength failing them.