Chapter 1276 — Meeting in Person

A pair of wings that blotted out the sky swept over the castle district, and the colossal dragon was slowly circling and slowing, easing toward the broad landing field behind the Pacthold; and as it steadily lost altitude, Metzen and Noretta were also studying that vast complex of facilities—the towering energy spires, the makeshift roads, the national zones of the alliance members, and the immense surges of energy filling the area that ordinary eyes could not see.

Raised by Cecil and Typhon at the head, drawing on the manpower and resources contributed by a great many alliance member states, the "Gate" built on this cold, barren wilderness was a marvel such as Metzen had not seen in tens of thousands of years of dragon life—her eyes, brimming with arcane radiance, could see more than ordinary people could; in her magical vision she beheld the torrents of mana surging among the facilities, the vast energy gathered at the heart of the Pacthold, and a "focus" that seemed to devour all mana, appearing in the real world as a vortex—even without anyone to tell her, she could guess that was where the "Gate" stood.

This was, truly, a prodigious commotion.

The dragon slowly descended and at last came to rest on the landing field attached to the Pacthold, and before that the facility's chief technicians had long since gathered around the open ground, waiting with craned necks.

"...This is my first close encounter with a dragon," Windsor Mapel said in a low voice, her face touched with feeling, as she watched the two dragons gradually fold their vast wings—the enormous, heavy bodies settling to earth with a shock that made the whole plaza tremble. "I really can't imagine it... only two years ago, these powerful dragons were creatures that appeared only in adventure tales."

"And more than half of those adventure tales were written by the dragons themselves," Kamaier said with a shake of his head, speaking offhandedly from beside her.

More than half the dragon-related adventure stories circulating among the mortal nations of the past had been idle fabrications by dragonkind wandering the continent of Loren, and writing such tales had been the chief income that covered the travel expenses of dragons abroad—a truth that spread gradually as Tarond and the nations of Loren established ever broader ties, and as more and more dragons entered human society as mercenaries, technical advisers, and dispatched scholars; when the "dragonologists" of various countries learned the truth, they beat their breasts and stamped their feet in despair, and countless celebrated legendary dramas were overnight steeped in a thick absurdity—but to the scholars of magic, who had never paid much attention to such fields, the greatest significance of these "truths" was merely as a diversion, a laughingstock.

"...When I was sixteen I was rebellious, and I very nearly gave up my studies of magic to go research something called 'dragonology,'" Windsor Mapel said softly, as though recalling something, with a touch of melancholy. "Thank goodness I didn't take that road—otherwise, never mind the achievements I have today, I'd probably be as broken as those 'dragonologists' are now."

The old mage Daniel, standing beside her, gave a disdainful sniff at this, his tone carrying undisguised contempt: "Those so-called 'dragonologists' have only themselves to blame—they take a heap of specious legends and patch them together into so-called 'historical evidence,' they band together to flatter one another and suppress dissent, and they 'invent' a whole mass of theories, conjuring a so-called academic field out of thin air to deceive the world—they packaged themselves as scholars and went swindling for all these years, and who could have guessed that one day dragons would actually walk out of the stories, and greet the whole world openly?"

Windsor Mapel instinctively glanced a few more times at her mentor; she had noticed that her ill-tempered teacher was now increasingly "returning to normal"—especially after the "Gate" project began, the fulfilling life of academic research was bit by bit restoring the vitality and kindliness he had had years ago, and she could not help but smile. "So it's thanks to your timely discipline back then—my rebellious streak didn't ruin my life."

Daniel merely gave his student—now a legendary powerhouse—a faint glance, his face showing little expression: "And thank goodness your rebellious phase ended when you were sixteen—from the time you turned seventeen, I could hardly beat you anymore."

Windsor's expression turned a little awkward for an instant, while Daniel had already turned his head, his gaze going to the figures now descending from the dragon; his eyes seemed to drift carelessly across the tallest of them, and in a motion so slight no one else could perceive it, he gave a small nod, his lips moving faintly: "...I salute you..."

The epic-level spymaster and the master he truly served had at last achieved their historic first meeting in person.

Gaoyang walked down along Metzen's wing, and behind him came Amber, glancing all about, and two hatchlings in high spirits; not far from them were Noretta, likewise crouched low with her wings lowered, and Victoria and Mojin, descending from Noretta's back.

Victoria had originally been meant to "dismount" at Northport and return to Winterhold, but considering that Mojin was also to accompany Gaocen to the Divine Kingdom of the God of War, the grand chancellor had come along as well.

As for the two hatchlings who had come along too... that was still because of the deep-blue demonic marks they carried and their innate gift of special "sensing"—near the Tower of the Countercurrent Tide, the two little ones had already proven that they could directly observe the breath of the deep-blue rifts, and this time there were similar rifts at the borders of the Divine Kingdom of the God of War; both Gaoyang and Metzen believed that bringing them along might prove useful.

A curtain of light appeared out of thin air, and the dragon's form gradually gathered into human shape amid a blaze of radiance; Gaoyang stepped forward toward the chief technicians gathered beside the landing field, looking first at Kamaier and Windsor, and only then letting his gaze fall on Daniel, who kept his face sternly composed, and on Mary, who had her head slightly bowed, doing her best to shrink into her mentor's shadow.

This drew an inward word of praise from Gaoyang: Mary's acting was really quite good—on an occasion so apt to make one nervous and excited, she maintained her usual "persona" perfectly; her cautious, timid nature would indeed produce exactly this sort of reaction upon meeting a great personage from a foreign land.

"Your Majesty," Kamaier was the first to come forward, a humming resonance coming from within his body, "it is a pleasure that you could come in person."

"I have heard of the progress you have made here—there are certain things I needed to see for myself." Gaoyang nodded, his gaze falling naturally on the others; Windsor Mapel, as Typhon's highest technical officer, immediately stepped forward and bowed slightly with full courtesy: "I salute you, great Emperor Gaoyang Cecil. I am Windsor Mapel, president of the Typhon Royal Mage Association. On behalf of the Typhon scholar team, I wish to express our gratitude and respect for the tremendous support you have given to the field of frontier technology—so far as I know, no human emperor has ever done so much to advance the development of technology as you have."