Chapter 1072 — Things Are Looking Up

A moment later Hetty finally put away her staff. The chief steward glared at Rebecca and Amber, then looked at the dragon egg, then back at her own Ancestor. "Are you really determined to hatch it? We still can't be sure of the true intention of that 'deity' in entrusting this egg to you... Even if He means no harm, the consequences of hatching this thing are far too unpredictable."

"I understand your concern, but we have to try before we can know how this thing changes under external stimulus," Gao Yang said. "And honestly... aren't you curious about it too?"

Hetty stared at the dragon egg. After a long hesitation she nodded, a little embarrassed. "...True. I'm rather curious what will hatch out of this thing."

"Arrange a special room for it, maintain a suitable temperature according to the parameters Metzen indicated, and have the technicians set up the magic web and conversion devices in the room," Gao Yang said as he walked. "After that, arrange shifts to keep watch and note any abnormal changes in the egg at all times."

...

Beneath the night sky, Xuanyao City was still ablaze with light. Artificial lamps shone across the land, making a splendid city that never slept at the foot of the Dark Mountains. And on a plaza near the central district, Cassandra was curiously observing this human capital so utterly different from the northern port.

She kept to her sea-serpent form, strolling on her belly under the streetlamps at the edge of the plaza. The lamplight fell upon her glistening scales, casting a dreamlike shimmer. Tyr, yawning constantly, followed beside her, pushing forward while swaying her head left and right—the latter had been dragged out by Cassandra by force; after all, the deep-sea witch was a stranger to Xuanyao City and needed a guide, and Tyr was the only one of her kind in the city.

The Cecil citizens moving nearby occasionally cast curious glances, sizing up the two sea monsters strolling on the plaza, but no one rudely came up to disturb them: Xuanyao City possessed a curious sort of pride and reserve. The people who lived here had strong curiosity and a spirit of exploration, yet always maintained a restrained and courteous bearing before outsiders. Cassandra did not know how such a custom had come to be, but she rather appreciated it.

"I say, can't you wake yourself up a bit?" Cassandra finally could not hold back after Tyr nearly fell asleep walking for the third time. "When I came to find you in the evening you said you were going to catch up on sleep; when I came to find you at night you were catching up on sleep; now it's nearly ten and you tell me you're going to catch up on the next sleep. Don't you think something's off?"

Tyr forced her eyelids up to look at her long-unseen kinswoman, and said lazily and as a matter of course, "Nonsense, it's night now, of course it's time to sleep—asleep at ten on the dot. Isn't my schedule healthy?"

Cassandra had known the name "Tyr the Sleeper" back in Antavien, but hearing this self-righteous reasoning now she still could not help covering her forehead. "Sleeping at night is of course fine, but you should at least be awake during the day... I'm curious—is there any time of day when you're awake?"

Tyr lifted her head. "Of course there is! I'm wide awake in my dreams!"

Cassandra: "..."

The deep-sea witch shook her head helplessly, her serpent tail winding forward toward a night shop not far off. A few citizens heading out together for the night shift passed by the roadside; two of them glanced curiously this way, their eyes falling on Cassandra's tail—though they quickly smiled politely and withdrew their gazes, Cassandra still noticed those looks, and at the same time recalled the strange stares she had met so often since arriving in Xuanyao City that day. She frowned and could not help turning to her kinswoman beside her. "Tyr, I think something's odd..."

Tyr raised her drowsy head and looked. "What's odd?"

"Aren't the Cecil people familiar with sea monsters?" Cassandra pointed at her own tail. "But today it seems many humans were startled when they saw me, and observed my tail with great curiosity..."

"How would I know why," Tyr said with an indifferent shrug, her long tail curling up and arching forward in undulating pushes. "Why don't they stare at my tail? So it must be your problem. All right, all right, let's go—after I give you a quick tour of the shopping street around here I'm going back to sleep..."

Was it her own problem?

Cassandra thought it over, then shook her head and raised herself to catch up with Tyr, who had already arched some distance ahead. Then, after crawling only two steps, she finally noticed the other's tail, arching and pushing along.

In an instant, the deep-sea witch realized what the problem was.

"Tyr!! You still haven't learned how to crawl properly?!" Cassandra cried. "By the Endless Deep—for the Queen's sake, if you really can't manage it, just grow out legs and walk upright, would you?"

"No. You can't coil up and sleep anytime you like if you walk on legs."

Not far off, Tyr waved a hand, fobbing off Cassandra's request with her own set of reasons. The deep-sea witch grew angry and sent up an indignant shout from afar—and beside them, this city without night grew ever more clamorous and prosperous amid the lamplight.

Human wandering scholars from the city-state kingdoms of the northwest strolled the streets at their leisure, discoursing on thaumaturgical craft and the roar of machines in the factories;

Squat gray elves wove through the stalls and the crowds of the night market, while towering western orcs and the dusky-skinned folk of Red Valley walked the streets alongside humans;

Above the Magic Web broadcast device not far away, a holographic projection was showing a documentary on elven culture; several golden-haired, long-eared silver elves had halted beneath the projection, watching with curious faces as humans tried to make sense of those customs rooted deep in the tropical forests;

Farther off toward the harbor, a northern ship on night passage had just come alongside the quay, and a group of young people from the old royal capital had just set foot on this soil, their hearts brimming with passion for the future, the legendary shadow-magnate Philm the hero of their dreams.

Wingbeats and a droning hum came down from the sky; an enormous shadow swept over the city, and amid the navigation lights and flickering beacon lamps the outlines of dragon wings could be faintly made out. Those were exchange students from the Holy Dragon Grand Duchy, training in night flight under their instructors' lead, strapped into practice steel-wing rigs, taking off from the Imperial Academy and crossing the urban districts toward the training camp in the western forest, there to complete a two-week spring training camp alongside the cadets.

The finest dragon-blooded student in each class would receive, free of charge, a brand-new set of steel wings to keep as their own forever, and each rig would bear Princess Rebecca's own signature.

High on the tower of the Autumn Palace, Metzen Ponia drew back her gaze from the sky. She watched the elated dragon-blooded exchange students skim across the heavens, and at last a trace of a smile surfaced on her face.

"Things are looking up..."