Chapter 910 — Something Always Has to Be Paid

Gao Yang watched helplessly as Metzen's face went from red to white and from white back to red. The agent lady clutched one corner of the desk, her eyes suddenly widening, her whole body swaying beyond her control — and then, from deep in her throat, a low, strange muttering rose, as though countless whispers of countless separate wills were mingled within it, while a pair of phantom dragon wings that all but covered the whole study unfurled in an instant, and within that phantom something like a thousand pairs of eyes fixed at once upon the place where Gao Yang sat.

The next second, all the eyes in the phantom vanished. Metzen had forcibly suppressed the tearing, the impulse to split apart, that rose from the depths of her soul; her knuckles went white with strain, and her gaze wandered blankly for a long while before it focused on Gao Yang: "Another one's blown up..."

This time Gao Yang could not even make out what she was muttering. All he felt was astonishment, and almost without thinking he reached out to steady her: "You— I only asked a name, how could it..."

Metzen took two great gulps of air before she could squeeze out words, still shaken: "That is... our god. My heavens, I never expected you to suddenly speak His true name, and even less that the true name you spoke would draw a moment of His attention..."

Gao Yang gaped.

Two seconds later he realized he had not misheard, and cried out: "You're saying En— that's the Dragon God's name?!"

"Yes," Metzen said with a bitter smile, and staggered over to an armchair by the wall and sat down — as a senior agent, doing such a thing without a guest's permission was in fact deeply discourteous, but this once she broke her own "professional conduct" for the first time. "And please, whatever you do, do not speak that name aloud again... the risk to me is truly enormous..."

Gao Yang had not yet fully recovered from the shock of learning this truth. His mind churned with countless conjectures even as a new question surfaced, and he asked almost without thinking: "Wait! You said that god just now 'took notice' of this place?"

He thought of the phantom dragon wings that had appeared behind Metzen in that instant, and of the blurred "countless eyes" deep within them, so indistinct they might have been a mere hallucination. At first he had taken it for an illusion, but now, from Metzen's few words, he suddenly realized the situation might be far from simple —

Just now, right before his eyes, that "god" far away in Talrond had heard someone here call His name, and had glanced this way!

"Yes, a brief gaze..." Metzen managed a smile. "Rest assured, He has withdrawn His gaze... Few mortals ever call a god's true name outside Talrond, so just now it was probably only curiosity."

"Even gods have that kind of curiosity..." Gao Yang could not help muttering, while in his mind he swiftly strung a series of clues together — the golden-haired woman who had suddenly appeared before Mojin Wilde was none other than the mysterious Dragon God lingering in the mortal world, and she had even lent a hand to Mojin when he was in trouble; Mojin had come face to face with a god and emerged unharmed, neither mad nor mutated, and had returned safely to the human world; the Dragon God forbade the dragon race from approaching that giant tower near Talrond, and even she herself clearly felt repulsion and dread toward it, yet even so, she had chosen to help a reckless human, and she had even freely told Mojin her own name...

Hidden within this chain of events were motives and connections baffling to explain; even with Gao Yang's fertile imagination, he found it hard to arrive at a reasonable answer.

As for whether Mojin's record was reliable, whether the golden-haired woman who had appeared before him was truly the Dragon God... Gao Yang did not doubt it in the least.

Here, hard by Talrond, no audacious being would dare counterfeit a god's name, and the name "Enya" was surely unique within the dragon race as well.

Gao Yang's expression shifted several times, brows knit, gaze deep, until a minute later he let out a soft breath.

Never mind the other puzzles for now; his greatest gain this time... was perhaps the accidental knowledge of a god's "name." This was the third deity whose name he knew, after Amorn the Giant Deer and Narritil-Duvalt, the Upper Narrator.

Only, the rules of this world were riddled with mystery, and he had no idea what use these names might have... As things stood, there seemed to be only one use he could be certain of: a "call number" — and even then the call might not go through, and if it did, it might demand the sacrifice of a dragon friend...

He glanced at Metzen, who was slowly steadying her breath, her color finally returning to normal, though she still looked weak — this was the friend who had nearly been sacrificed.

Gao Yang felt rather guilty. He rose himself and poured Metzen a glass of water, and after handing it over asked with concern: "Are you all right?"

Metzen took the glass, her gaze settling on Gao Yang, her expression complicated: "...All right... thank you."

Gao Yang hesitated: "So... shall we go on?"

"...In any other circumstances, I ought to end this consultation and go home to rest for a few days," Metzen said with a low sigh, shaking her head. "But now... I'm afraid I must hold out a while longer. What else does that travelogue say?"

Then, before Gao Yang could speak, she waved a hand: "No, you'd better not tell me. I want to read it myself — may I?"

"That's no problem at all," Gao Yang said, glancing at Mojin's travelogue lying quietly on the desk, then turning to Metzen with some worry. "But is your health up to it? Some of what's recorded in there might be just as... harmful to your health."

Metzen gave Gao Yang a complicated look. "I'll take precautions while reading — and words set down by mortal races do not carry such great power. Even if there is forbidden knowledge within, I have ways to filter it out."

There was another sentence she did not have the heart to say aloud — however harmful to the health this book's contents might be, they were surely not as frightening as talking with you...

"Since that's your decision," Gao Yang said, seeing her resolve, and did not insist. He reached out and took up the travelogue, and after finding the right page handed it to Metzen. "Start here; the next dozen pages or so are all of it. Be careful as you read, and if anything unusual happens, you must signal me at once."

Metzen nodded and took the ancient book with its mottled cover, while Gao Yang could not help sighing inwardly — the dragon race, so powerful a race, yet bound by a suspected god and the Black Pit into such pressure that even being inadvertently moved to speak certain words would bring severe backlash... When the weak races of the earth watched these mighty beings beat their wings across the sky, who could have imagined that these powerful dragons were all flying in chains?

All of it was simply a curse...

He looked at Metzen, saw her draw a deep breath and fix her gaze on the page, seemingly ready to begin reading — and Gao Yang prepared himself to wait patiently.

Mojin had written a great deal about the journey to the North Pole; it was a long passage, one that would take no short time even to skim, and Metzen would have to guard herself constantly, so it looked as though it could not be quick — perhaps, even...

He had barely gotten that far in his thoughts when he saw the agent lady propping the book with one hand, the other seizing the pages behind, flipping them with a rustle before her eyes — a dozen pages gone past in less than a second...

"I'm done reading," Metzen said with a long breath, handing Mojin's Travelogue back to Gao Yang. "Honestly... setting aside the dangerous content, this notebook is wonderfully written."

Gao Yang gaped: "That's... it?"