Chapter 883 — Finding What Was Lost

"Her Highness Princess Frostflower is in a remote conference with the technical exchange delegation from the Silver Empire; she'll come over once it's finished," Kamel said to Malin Leslie as he watched the technicians at work. "I read your report from the last time the accelerator was started. The device melted down then, but according to the records left by the monitoring array, the accelerated body should have come infinitely close to the 'projectile limit' before it lost power?"

"But it still failed to break through," Malin shook his head regretfully. "And afterward we found severe elemental erosion damage on the surface of the accelerated body. That was most likely caused by waste energy inside the rails that had no time to dissipate—at such extreme speeds, so much of what happens exceeds our expectations. There is still a great deal that needs adjusting and refining."

"Take it slowly," Kamel said, his voice low and measured, carrying a reassuring tremor. "Success is always built up through failures like these, one after another."

Hearing these trusty words from the ancient great archmage, Malin nodded seriously. Then he wiped the sweat from his head—and when his hand touched his smooth scalp, he seemed for a moment downcast, but he soon rallied his spirits and threw himself once more into calibrating and assembling the acceleration apparatus.

...

Gaoyang set aside the documents he had been reviewing, rolled his somewhat stiff shoulders, then let out a long breath and rose to go to the window.

The sunlight outside was just right, and the city's bustling prosperity filled his view.

At last everything had taken the proper track, and a rare period of steady development was coming to Cecil—with the establishment of a series of diplomatic relations, the smooth progress of commercial activity abroad, and the gradual recognition of the new name "Cecil" among the neighboring nations, more and more merchants, scholars, and travelers were coming here from afar, while Cecil's own merchants and envoys were slowly spreading into the Augurein tribal lands, the northern states, and even the Typhon Empire.

Arcane technology had shattered the barriers raised by the old order of production, liberating productive forces from the land in great numbers. What followed was commercial prosperity and the circulation of "people," and all of this in turn brought cultural exchange and the inevitable influence on relations between nations. Once-distant and unfamiliar lands would lose their mysterious aura as goods flowed in, and the foreigners who appeared alongside those goods further broadened people's horizons—whether they liked it or not, the walls between nation and nation, race and race, civilization and civilization were being battered; the once idyllic scene that seemed beautiful and peaceful but was in truth isolated and closed was being challenged.

The common folk in Cecil's heartland, too, were beginning to encounter gray elves, Red Valley folk, dwarves, beastfolk, and even fey, and more and more humans were appearing in the homelands of those races as well. Of course, all of this was only a beginning; the exchange took place only on a small scale—but without question, this was the situation Gaoyang had hoped to see.

If he could, he hoped this period of steady development would last a while longer.

A light knock at the study door suddenly interrupted Gaoyang's musings, and he heard Betty's voice from outside: "Your Majesty! You have a visitor!"

Compared with a few years ago, the little maid's voice now sounded much more mature and composed—but only her voice had grown mature and composed; in her choice of words, Betty still occasionally carried a touch of impetuousness and a certain lack of "solemnity."

Gaoyang smiled, turned, and bade Betty enter, asking casually: "I don't think I had any visitors scheduled for today—what sort of person is it?"

Betty, dressed in the long gown of a royal head maid and a little taller than a few years ago, thought for a moment, then nodded: "It's the guest you said could be announced specially—Miss Metzen, and the... other miss who came last time!"

Clearly, she had forgotten the name of "the other miss"—but a few years of growing up had finally taught her not to blurt out "I forgot!" with such self-assurance anymore.

"Metzen and Noretta? Both of them together?" Betty's forgetfulness did not stop Gao Yang from extracting useful information. Upon learning that two senior agents of the Mithril Vault had come calling together, he frowned instinctively. "And they came to us of their own accord..."

Then he set his faint misgivings aside for the moment and gave Betty a slight nod. "Show them in first."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Betty bowed deeply and scurried off. Not long after, Gao Yang heard two measured sets of footsteps approaching from beyond the corridor.

A moment later, Metzen and Noretta appeared together before Gao Yang.

"Forgive us for intruding so abruptly," Metzen said, stepping forward first with her customary courtesy. "I hope we have not caused you any trouble."

"Not at all. Friends are always welcome," Gao Yang nodded. "I simply did not expect two senior agents of the Mithril Vault to visit at the same time... Have you brought something with you?"

He had suddenly noticed that Noretta was carrying a rather heavy-looking trunk, and could not help asking out of curiosity.

Two agents arriving together without warning, bearing such a large trunk—it hinted faintly at something out of the ordinary.

And... perhaps it was merely his imagination, but from that tightly closed trunk, which appeared to be wrought from some high-grade magical material, he sensed a trace of something familiar.

"Then we shall come straight to the point," Noretta said, stepping forward and setting the trunk on the ground. "Our first task in coming here is to return something to you—something you lost many years ago."

As she spoke, she activated the locking mechanism on the trunk. With a soft, crisp click, the lid, fashioned from precious magically conductive metal, rose of its own accord and revealed what lay within.

A shield, weathered by time and scarred all over.