Chapter 934 — The Second Invitation

"Don't mind him, he does this often," Amber said, quite accustomed to Gao Yang's "out-of-body" state. Serving as his guardian with practiced ease, she explained to the agent, "He's 'thinking deeply.' Though sometimes he does actually fall asleep..."

As she spoke she shook her head, but inwardly she could not help recalling how, the first few times Gao Yang had entered this "out-of-body" state, he had given the people around him a fright.

To be honest, even though she had seemed carefree on the surface back then, she had actually been truly afraid. The main reason was that this Legendary knight who had risen from his coffin had, after all, died once, and no one in this world could say for certain what the "shelf life" of a man would be like after he died once and then got up again. Of course, she had only worried about that back then; Miss Amber of the present day no longer doubted the shelf-life question of Gao Yang after his rise from the coffin—by her judgment, this great hero who had risen from his coffin was in remarkably good health, strong enough to slap her into a wall with one hand, sturdy enough to live another forty thousand years...

Just as Amber's mind began to wander, Gao Yang's voice suddenly came from beside her, startling her and also startling Metzenn Pernia, who had begun to drift slightly: "I can make the trip."

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon the agent before him.

Metzenn was briefly taken aback, apparently not having expected Gao Yang to actually accept the invitation from Talrond after such a spell of pondering. A few seconds passed before she recovered and confirmed, with some uncertainty, "You have finished considering?"

"I have, and in fact I am full of interest in Talrond myself," Gao Yang nodded, but then his tone shifted. "However, I cannot leave just yet."

"Do you need to make preparations?" Metzenn was unsurprised. "Of course that is no problem. I understand your position and responsibilities—if you wish to leave for a time, you will indeed need to arrange things properly."

Gao Yang gave a murmur of assent. "I do need to prepare, and there is also one very important matter I must personally oversee right now. I cannot leave until at least that matter is settled."

Metzen put on a look of mild curiosity. "Something important?"

Gao Yang glanced at the lady agent, and a smile surfaced on his face. "It seems you've only just returned to the human world. Otherwise you'd have caught wind of it by now, and it wouldn't be hard to guess what I'm talking about."

"Ah, I did indeed only return to the Loren Continent today—I didn't even stop to rest before coming to find you," Metzen said with a faint smile. "So it seems I've missed something?"

Gao Yang nodded. "The Goddess of Magic has fallen. I intend to personally oversee a funeral of great importance."

Metzen: "..."

The lady agent froze as though turned to stone, the smile on her face stiffening along with the rest of her. It was then that Amber, seizing her chance, could not hold back any longer and stared at Gao Yang, crying out in shock, "You're really going to the dragons' realm!?"

"It's necessary to make the trip," Gao Yang said, watching her with a half-smile. "In a sense, this may well become the greatest 'diplomatic progress' since the founding of the Cecil Empire—we will establish a certain connection with the dragon race."

Amber was still staring wide-eyed; plainly she felt this matter could not possibly be so simple. But before she could speak again, Metzen Ponia had already recovered from her astonishment. The lady agent stared at Gao Yang, dumbstruck, and took a good while to find her words. "The Goddess of Magic has fallen?! And a funeral?!"

"You should pay attention to the newspapers in the coming days," Gao Yang said with a nod. "There will be a great many lengthy reports."

"Lengthy reports too!!" Metzen's eyes went perfectly round. "This matter is even being made public?"

For a moment this human-form dragon felt a powerful wave of dizziness and bewilderment, and in her daze she could scarcely tell whether she was hearing things—she had been away from the human world such a short time, so just how many insane changes had taken place on this Loren Continent?!

—As a "perfectly ordinary agent of a mithril vault," and having spent the recent period resting quietly at home to recover her health, she had not paid the human world's news the slightest attention, and naturally knew nothing at all about the Goddess of Magic's fall.

And in the face of Metzen's astonishment and questioning, Gao Yang merely maintained his unfathomable smile, offering neither further explanation nor any new questions.

Seeing Miss Mylittlepony, who always presented herself with such elegance, reveal this flustered and astonished demeanor—well, that was rather amusing.

...

A few minutes later, Metzen took her leave from the garden of the Cecil Palace.

Walking along the still bustling and lively city streets, this human-form dragon from Thalund could not help but glance back once more at that rather plain "palace," a strange expression surfacing on her face.

Her fingers brushed against several tubular objects she carried close to her body—specially made vacuum syringes filled with concentrated enhancers that would effectively stabilize the spirit even in human form. She had prepared them specifically for today's meeting.

Before meeting Gao Yang, she had steeled herself for the possibility of blowing out a heart or two today (and braced her mind for it as well). Though she judged that merely delivering an invitation would not involve too many dangerous elements, her experience of being wounded many times over had led her to prepare thoroughly for "accidental workplace injuries sustained during conversation." Yet she had never expected that today's talk with Gao Yang would truly pass without danger. After several tense tens of minutes of conversation, the enhancers had gone unused, and the several safety valves newly installed beside her heart had gone unused as well.

Even so, Metzen still felt that her heart was pounding away at this very moment—every last one of them was pounding away.

A mortal emperor preparing to hold a funeral for a god...

The lady agent shook her head and slowly drew back her gaze, and there seemed to be a peculiar hint of amusement deep in her eyes.

Even a "perfectly ordinary" topic that did not touch upon the "steel seal" was truly deadly enough.

She set off, walking deeper into this human city that had already grown somewhat familiar to her.

It seemed she would be staying here for a while again. Best to arrange her lodging early—she would pick a comfortable place to stay for herself, and properly bear witness to that... funeral of a god, conducted by mortals.