Chapter 1064 — The Secrets of the Elements

"...Conversing with a 'visitor from beyond the stars' is most instructive," Metzen said after a brief pause, unable to keep from marveling. "We, who have always been confined to this planet, could never imagine what a world beyond the scale of light-years might look like."

Cassandra shook her head. "We too are confined to this planet now—so there is no great difference between us. Even when you and I discuss interstellar travel, it is no more than boasting of past glories. In the end, we are all rebuilding the civilizations we once had, and it means little to bring up the lavishness of those days."

"True enough," Metzen smiled, and then, as if something had occurred to her, she said thoughtfully, "Seen in that light, every race on this planet has ended up on the road of rebuilding civilization."

Cassandra merely smiled and said nothing, and at almost that same moment a young dragon suddenly flew in from the direction of the camp and landed on the platform where they stood, bending its neck toward Metzen: "Captain, Gresdor sent me to ask you—what is to be done with those water elementals we caught in the camp? They grow noisier by the hour."

Metzen at once recalled the water elementals imprisoned in the dragon-rune array, drained down to barely a dozen centimeters tall, and their ceaseless clamor of complaints; her expression turned a little odd: "They are still imprisoned?"

"Still imprisoned, yes. Gresdor meant to try whether any fresh water could still be drawn from them, but it failed—those water elementals have reached their stable limit, and drawing more water would only send them straight back to the elemental plane," the young dragon answered honestly. "But without your word, we dared not release them rashly..."

"Stop wasting effort—no water can be drawn from them now," Cassandra waved a hand from the side. "No living water ever survives my straw—and besides, I squeezed those elementals most thoroughly."

"Then release them all," Metzen nodded to the young dragon. "And tell Gresdor that if he finds similar small water elementals in future, he is simply to ignore them—no need to waste manpower."

The young dragon acknowledged the order and departed on beating wings, and Metzen turned a curious glance on Cassandra beside her: "I must confess I am somewhat puzzled... Do sirens ordinarily hunt other water elementals and draw moisture from them to sustain themselves? I had thought you took water directly from the natural environment..."

"Of course we take water directly from the natural environment," Cassandra said at once. "Under normal circumstances a siren has no need whatever to hunt primal water elementals—it was only that this time we met with an accident. While crossing the seabed, my subordinates and I encountered an unstable elemental rift, and some audacious primal water elementals burst out of it and attacked my company. To teach these brash ruffians a lesson, I took a hand in chastising them."

As she spoke, the black-haired siren with the tear-shaped mole at the corner of her eye narrowed her eyes: "Do not worry about those creatures—though they were drained dry, once they return to the elemental world they will recover quickly enough. Only, the sensation of being drawn out drop by drop by a siren will surely leave a deep impression on them; for the next ten thousand years at least, I doubt those fellows will dare stir in these waters."

Metzen was somewhat dazed by this, unsure whether to judge the other's manner of "chastising" or to marvel at the unexpectedly ruthless methods of a siren—seemingly so placid—when dealing with "near-kindred." After pondering for some while, she thought of a question: "Why would those water elementals attack sirens, who are also water elementals? Are not all beings of the same element on good terms with one another?"

"On good terms?" Cassandra smiled. "Ah, that is true enough of other elemental beings—but we 'outsiders' are the exception on this planet... The primal water elementals here do not welcome us sirens, who have disturbed the peace of their plane.

"When the Antavien crashed onto the planet's surface, it was not merely a stretch of continental shelf that we shattered—certain structures of the Antavien also happened to pierce through many 'tributaries' of the water elemental realm, and the effects of that have not fully subsided even today.

"So since ancient times the primal water elementals and the sirens have been on tense terms, and there have even been several direct clashes. But we know the fault lies with us, so we have always striven to improve relations with those primal water elementals... Those efforts have not been without result; at least in the regions covered by the several major elemental tributaries, we have come to live in peace with the local water elementals. But in the more remote places..."

Cassandra's tail curled up and swayed in midair. "Those scattered, roaming water elementals care nothing for any 'coexistence pact'—the moment they surface they make trouble for sirens, and in most cases they refuse all communication. Over time... we sirens who travel abroad have had no choice but to fight back when we meet such things."

Metzen had lived a great many years and witnessed countless inconceivable things in this world, yet this was the first time she had heard of matters that only elemental beings could know and perceive. She listened to Cassandra's account with astonishment and keen interest, and only when the other had finished did she voice her wonder: "I truly never imagined... In places beyond our knowledge, this world still holds so much unknown and fascinating history."

Then, feeling her own wording not quite apt, she hastened to explain: "Ah, forgive me—I suppose 'fascinating' is not the right word for such history..."

"Think nothing of it," Cassandra waved a hand at once. "We sirens see the world differently from you, so in fact you are not wrong—even we find such history rather fascinating... The quarrels among the elements are just that, in the end; we are used to dying, one way or another, and I suspect even those primal water elementals who keep their hostility toward sirens have grown used to it too—take that last water elemental I released today: the more I think on it, the more I am sure I sucked it dry once already, forty or fifty thousand years ago..."

Metzen: "..."