Chapter 903 — Journey to the Far North

"At last I lost even that pile of 'rotten wood'; it shattered so utterly, and was swallowed by the waves almost at once.

"Worse still, I was afterward left hanging from the claws of this blue dragon whose head I cannot fathom... The only good news is that I am alive, and my notebook is still on me...

"Now I have been set down on a huge iceberg floating on the sea, and the dragon is with me. Just now we finally cleared up the misunderstanding—this 'lady' clearly took me for someone rushing at the Eternal Storm to kill himself, while I briefly recounted my adventures and my all-or-nothing plan to go home... I could see that this dragon lady was somewhat dejected and disappointed.

"But I am ten thousand times more dejected and disappointed than she!!

"The only things now keeping me from dueling this wicked dragon are my human reason and my aristocratic restraint—I certainly cannot beat her.

"Also, I must mention, quite casually and with complete indifference, the wicked dragon's name—she is called 'Metzen Ponia,' and claims to be a member of something called the Talrond Council..."

Gao Yang's hand trembled, and he nearly tore a page from the ancient and precious original book.

He had never imagined he would see Miss MyLittlePony's name under such circumstances!! After all that, the dragon Mojin Wilder encountered when he lost his way in the Arctic Circle six hundred years ago was that very same creature?!

And at that time Metzen claimed to be a member of the Talrond Council... Should she not be a senior agent of the Mithril Treasury? Where had this Council come from? Was there some connection between this Council and the Mithril Treasury?

For an instant a little curiosity about Talrond society and interest in Metzen Ponia herself rose in Gao Yang's heart, but soon the thirst for knowledge drew his attention back to Mojin's travelogue—the adventurer duke's Arctic journey clearly had more to come, and what came next seemed even more marvelous:

"...After a spell of awkwardness, the wicked dragon and I had to discuss how to deal with what came next... Fortunately, despite her rough manner, this dragon lady was still reasonable, and she had a conscience... All right, I take back my judgment of 'wicked dragon'; she truly did feel very guilty about the losses she had caused...

"First I asked whether she might help me return to the human world—for a dragon, flying across the ocean ought not to be too difficult—but she said she did not for the time being have permission to go to the Loren Continent. She mentioned some system of applications and assessments: a dragon like her, if she wished to go to another continent, would have to apply to the higher levels of dragon society and wait for approval... This was truly unexpected, even astonishing. Bards have always described dragons as fierce, savage creatures, something like high-grade magical beasts, and never considered that such highly intelligent beings should have their own society and civilization. So now I am sure that human conjecture has gone very far astray... I could not help growing a little curious about the daily life of these dragons.

"After that I asked this dragon lady whether she could find me a place to stay. I thought that ought to be possible at least; if the dragons all lived in these far northern lands, they must have at least some... settlement or country, and at the very worst the dragon lady must have her own lair? That would still be better than drifting on the cold ice sea...

"But things did not go as I wished. This dragon called Metzen refused my proposal; she said that if the higher-ups of the Council learned what had happened here, it would very likely affect her finances for the better part of the coming year, and so she absolutely could not take me to Talrond... Damn it, why should dragons worry about financial matters?! Could they not simply go and kidnap princesses and princes from the human continent in good conscience?!

"In short, my plan to add an important entry to my adventure notes seems to have failed; this dragon lady clearly does not intend to take me to visit the dragon kingdom... But things are not too bad, for this 'Miss Metzen' does have a sense of responsibility after all—though she seems to care more about her finances, at least she has not chosen to leave me on this iceberg to live or die on my own in order to protect her income.

"She said she could take me to a 'stopping place' near Talrond... From the sound of it, no dragons live at this stopping place, but at least it is far better than an iceberg floating on the sea...

"Frankly, I do not much trust this dragon. Though she has behaved with reasonable courtesy, her way of doing things is truly suspect—if my magic were still at its full strength, I think I would rather drive this iceberg beneath my feet and challenge the Eternal Storm once more, but... there are not so many 'ifs' in this world.

"I must admit my own weakness—must admit that I... have no other choice.

"I accepted this Miss Metzen's proposal, and then... I was hung from her claw, and we set off flying further north.

"A note must be made here: more than half of this record was written upon a dragon's claw—which surely counts as an unprecedented 'adventure achievement.' What other adventurer has ever known an experience like mine?

"...After we had flown for some time, when I began to feel that even my own magic was no longer circulating smoothly, something else at last appeared in my field of vision.

"At first I dimly glimpsed an expanse of land, immensely vast—it seemed to be a continent, a continent in the far north, unknown to humankind. I could not see it clearly, but it appeared to be shielded by some barrier of tremendous scale; within the barrier lay lush and verdant scenery. And just as I was about to fix my gaze and look closely, the dragon bore me away in another direction—toward the northwest of that continent, if my sense of direction did not fail me. We flew on in that direction for a while longer before we finally arrived at our destination—

"A giant tower of metal... standing upon the sea."