Chapter 380 - 379: Peace?
After the dragon completely flew out of surveillance view, Gawain reluctantly reconnected the satellite and adjusted the satellite camera to search that area for a dozen more minutes. Finally, he had no choice but to accept the fact that he had lost track.
He then checked the situation at Covenant Castle one more time and confirmed that nothing had exploded there before completely disconnecting.
The night was deep, and the inner city district of the Cecil territory was shrouded in a peaceful but not dark nocturnal scene. Bright Magic Crystal Street Lamps dispelled the darkness of the night. The distant street lamp light and a hint of starlight streamed into the room through the large windows of the study. Gawain did not turn on the lights. In this dark environment, he allowed his consciousness to be clear and focused, and he fell into a state of contemplation.
The dragon had appeared again, just as Gawain had anticipatedâDragonkinâs interest in this continent had not ended.
Although it was unclear why this mysterious race was concerned with this continent, both from historical records and what Gawain personally witnessed, they clearly paid attention to the situation on the continent. This time, the dragonâs appearance confirmed thatâwhen Gawain saw it, the dragon was flying over Covenant Castle. Gawain believed this could not be a coincidence.
The last time a dragon appeared was on the site of the aberrationâs first invasion of the human world after a seven-hundred-year absence from the realms of the mortal kingdoms.
While pondering, Gawain made a hypothesisâcould it be that whenever anything âhistorically significantâ occurs in the realms of mortals, these dragons will appear? But what do they appear for? Just to observe?
If he hadnât just been spying on Covenant Castle using the satellite view, Gawain might have wanted to ridicule the dragonâs perverse interestâbut now that theyâre all like-minded, he could only lament how theyâre all rather bored...
But no matter what that dragonâs purpose was, one thing was certain: the âdragonâ as a creature deserved its legendary status as a powerful being. They could even intuitively sense observations from synchronous orbit satellites. Although it seemed that the dragon had no way of dealing with such satellite observations, only avoiding them by darting around, it was enough to make Gawain feel amazed.
The only comforting thing was that no one knew about the connection between Gawain and the satellite, and even the legendary dragons couldnât trace the satellite signal back to him to accuse him of spying...probably...
Moreover, speaking of spying, everyone was hanging in the sky watching others meetâwho would report whom?
After figuring this out, Gawain felt an epiphany and thought next time he could justifiably continue tracking that dragonâif it happened to wander into the surveillance area again. But speaking of which, the dragonâs alertness and mobility were a big problem. Gawain still couldnât figure out how such a large creature could perform such an exaggerated spiral dive action in the air... It was so fast he couldnât even adjust the focus.
A slight breeze from the window interrupted Gawainâs thoughts, and he raised his head. In the perception of a legendary knight, he saw a shadow sneaking onto the windowsill.
As the shadow was about to steady itself on the ground, Gawain immediately asked loudly, "What are you doing jumping out of windows in the middle of the night?!"
Sure enough, he then heard a thud, and Amber, practically prostrate, appeared from the air, and the half-elf lady awkwardly climbed up from the ground. She immediately lunged at Gawain with a tooth and nail, "You scared me to death! You sit in the dark in your study late at night, and when you suddenly speak, itâs terrifying, you know that?!"
Gawain easily held Amberâs head down, letting her, who was short, bounce around a meter away, while her reaching hands couldnât even touch his shoulder: "And you, a stealth user, are actually afraid of someone talking to you in the dark?"
"No one usually talks around me while Iâm working, okay?!
Hmmmm... Gawain felt that Amberâs words had many layers of meaning...
"What happened?" After making a silent retort in his heart, Gawain let go of his hand and casually turned on the Magic Crystal Lamp in the studyâhe had kept it off since dinner as he was focused on monitoring Covenant Castleâs situation, not bothering to turn on the light. Now, there was no need to keep the darkness, "You rarely come to report at this hour."
"Soldrin is back," Amber said while rubbing her hair that Gawain messed up, "and brought back some significant informationâI think you should know it as soon as possible."
"Back already?!" Gawain was a bit surprised, "What information?"
"They discovered a Class I isolation door at the southern end of the Defied Fortress. On the other side of the door should be a yet undiscovered large experimentation site; according to the signs in the ruins, this experimentation site is named âShadow Testing Groundsâ," Amber said, "Soldrin suspects itâs a large area similar to the Defied Fortress. Since they werenât fully prepared, he has returned with his team to rest and intends to explore again after preparations."
"A new large area?" Gawain furrowed his brows slightly, not expecting the first exploration of the ruins after the weather warmed up to yield such significant findings, "Who else knows about this?"
"Just you," Amber said, "Shall we inform Kamel tomorrow?"
"...No need, he doesnât understand the situation outside of the defied Fortress," Gawain shook his head and then glanced at Amber. "Speaking of which... Shadow Testing Grounds, you seem quite proficient in shadow manipulation?"
"Huh?"
Eastern region of Anzu Kingdom, Winterhold Castle, the long-awaited first formal negotiation had finally ended.
The rulers of the two countries and their followers exerted their utmost efforts at the negotiation table, engaging in a battle of wits and eloquence for several hours, expressing their respective demands and beliefs, and in the process reached a preliminary consensusâor perhaps, exhausted every bit of energy and had to temporarily lay down the gauntlet. Throughout this process, Duke Silas Loland felt physically and mentally drained.
The feeling of negotiating with people at the table is almost more exhausting than fighting on the battlefield.
The only consolation was that he was not the lead commander in this negotiation battlefieldâthe wise old King Francis II was the one charging forward. It was hard to imagine that such an aged king could exhibit such resilience and strength at the negotiation table, undeterred, to the extent that Emperor Rosetta Augustus and his entire advisory group couldnât gain any verbal advantage over Anzu.
Now, the negotiation had finally ended, and whether people were beside the negotiation table or waiting outside the hall and the castle, all couldnât help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Following the negotiation was a banquet, a difficult negotiation should conclude with a grand feastâand the social activities at the banquet could be seen as extensions of the negotiation in a certain sense. Aware of this, Duke Silas Loland stood in the banquet hall holding a glass of red wine, casually conversing with the surrounding Anzu, his eyes never leaving the center of the banquet hall.
Francis II was at that spot, where the Typhon Emperor was also present, apart from a few accompanying attendants standing beside them, undoubtedly serving as guards.
Outside the conversing king and emperor, the remaining attendees could be distinctly divided into two groupsâAnzu and Typhon, each occupying one side of the banquet hall, forming their own groups to engage in discussions, simultaneously maintaining vigilance towards the other side.
The ritual officers who originally designed this banquet segment couldnât have anticipated this, yet this awkward situation was evidently unavoidableâalthough from Duke Silas Lolandâs perspective, simply canceling this façade of a banquet might be the simplest solution, those adhering strictly to rules and etiquette likely wouldnât think so.
As he pondered, a young man approached the Duke of the East.
"Prince Edmund," Duke Loland raised his glass in salute to the blond young man, "Your performance at the negotiation table was remarkable."
Apart from the king, this promising young prince was undoubtedly the most noteworthy presence at todayâs negotiation, his sharp words and insights like swords even earned praise from Emperor Rosetta.
"Uncle Loland, letâs not be too formal here," the young prince smiled, raising his glass towards the duke in return, "Moreover, without the Loland Clan guarding the eastern region, todayâs negotiation might not even have had the chance to beginâwe should jointly celebrate todayâs progress."
Finally, a slight smile appeared on Duke Silas Lolandâs always majestic and somewhat inaccessible face: "Yes, a celebration is in orderâfor the impending peace."
Although the negotiation wasnât over, and both sides would continue to wrestle on this matter a while longer, significant progress in todayâs talks couldnât be denied, with everyone aware that the rulers of the two countries were striving earnestly to achieve peace, which was indeed the purpose of everyone gathering here.
"Peace...Peace is certainly invaluable," Edmund chuckled softly, "But unfortunately, simple peace cannot solve all issuesâresolve the state of decay in Anzu."
"Patience, my Prince, we must have patience," Duke Silas Loland spoke in a calm and steady tone, "As long as we resolve the peace issue with Typhon, we will have the opportunity to revive this ancient kingdom."
In the Typhon-occupied "half of the hall," the young Wolf General Andresha Wendell cast a complex look towards Anzuâs King standing in the center of the hall.
A middle-aged man with a mild demeanor and mage-like aura, clad in a light-colored cloak stood beside the young Wolf General. Noticing Andreshaâs gaze, he gently shook his head: "Andresha, learn to control your emotions."
"...Yes, Uncle Palin... Count Winterhold," Andresha Wendell, upon hearing the advice of her lifelong caring elder, took a deep breath to rein in her gaze, "I just never anticipated... this day would indeed come."
"We should feel glad," Count Winterhold smiled, though his gaze fell upon Emperor Rosetta Augustus, "Our Emperor ultimately chooses a path of peace."
Andresha Wendell couldnât resist murmuring under her breath: "Peace, huh..."
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