Chapter 1084 — The Turning of an Age

"The Silver Empress Belantia, as witness and recorder, and the ambassador from the Holy Dragon Duchy in the north—no one else," Gao Yang said. "The former is, in a sense, the host of the conference, so naturally she knows the roster of all delegates; the latter has deep ties with the dragons."

"…Dragonborn. I still remember the shock I felt when the front-line dispatches said there were dragons among Cecil's air force. Even after we later discovered that those 'dragons' were in fact 'dragonborn' from the north, that shock did not diminish much," Luo Yan said with a complicated expression, shaking his head, his tone plainly moved. "I never thought that in such a short time I would be shocked by real dragons… But why tell me this?"

"Because Thalrond needs help now," Gao Yang said with a solemn expression, "and I plan to use this to establish a long-running grain commission, and through it to lay down the fundamental order of mutual aid among the Union's member nations—for that I need more powerful support, and Typhon is the strongest voice in the south and east of the continent."

"…Thalrond needs help?" Luo Yan felt more and more that this topic was racing off in the direction of a legendary tale, almost to the point where he could no longer follow. "You mean those legendary dragons? Dragons that could single-handedly destroy human city-states? They have come to the Loren Continent to seek aid?"

"It is a long story," Gao Yang said with a soft sigh. "First, please do not take them for despicable creatures who come running to the human world for help the moment they face a crisis. What happened in Thalrond is more tragic and stirring than anything you or I have ever been through—and it all began one million eight hundred and seventy thousand years ago…"

Luo Yan rose in silence, took the red wine from the tea table, and personally poured it for Gao Yang; then he poured a glass for himself—from the other man's expression, he had already judged that this story was likely to be a very, very long one.

……

Betty came again to the room where the giant golden egg was kept. The dragon egg named "Enya" still stood quietly upon its grooved pedestal. The near-noon sunlight poured in brilliantly, spilling across the walls and floor and seeming to make the faint halo around the giant golden egg all the brighter—a serene and peaceful atmosphere hung about the room, and it lifted the spirits of the maid, already in a good mood, even further.

"Good morning, Lady Enya!" Betty bustled briskly over to the golden egg, bowed politely, and greeted it happily. "Ah, are you reading the newspaper?"

She saw a newspaper floating in midair before the giant golden egg, its finely printed pages gleaming faintly in the sunlight; some invisible force upheld it, holding it at a forty-five-degree angle "before" the egg. Just then the paper turned a page, and the rustle of the sheets in the air made a pleasant sound.

"Good morning, Betty," came a gentle voice from within the egg. "Yes, I am reading the newspaper—the very one you hurried over this morning."

"Ah, I was a little busy this morning and did not get to chat with you properly…" Betty scratched her hair a little sheepishly, then her eyes lit up as she looked at Enya and the newspaper floating in midair. "Well? Do you find the things in the newspaper interesting?"

"Very interesting—and very useful," Enya said with a smile in her voice. "From it I can learn what is happening in your country, and come to understand how many of your people view this world and how they think… And I cannot remember how many years it has been since I last saw such a primitive medium. These old-fashioned printed pages carry a feeling of vibrant life, and I like that feeling."

Betty thought it over, then could not help saying: "You always say things that sound so profound… I feel I can half follow them but not quite."

"Ah, really… I am sorry. I have grown used to speaking this way for so long," Enya's voice carried an apology. "To express my feelings frankly and precisely is very difficult for me, and in the process to also consider the listener's capacity to receive them is even harder. I will be more mindful from now on."

Betty quickly waved her hands. "You don't need to apologize like that! I have always been slow to understand things, so I am used to it! And as long as I know you are happy now, that is enough—then I am happy too!"

The voice within the shell was quiet for a moment, then came with a hint of curiosity: "Betty, you always seem so cheerful."

"That is right," Betty laughed, radiant in the sunlight. "Because good things keep happening, after all."

"So good things do keep happening... that's wonderful," Enya seemed touched, but she quickly set something aside, and her voice grew light again. "Could you tell me more about the city of Xuanyue? The way you tell it seems more interesting than what the newspapers write."

"Of course!" Betty nodded vigorously, beaming with delight—but before "telling stories," she first fished a soft white cloth from her side, then started toward the giant egg as she spoke. "But I have to wipe your shell first—I can wipe and talk at the same time~"

Enya's tone turned strange for a moment. "...Actually, I think it would be fine not to wipe it, but if you find it interesting, then go ahead."

Soon the squeak-squeak of the soft cloth rubbing against the shell echoed through the room, and along with that wiping sound, Betty began to recount everything about Xuanyao City to Enya with great enthusiasm—everything she had seen of the city of Xuanyue, from its beginnings to all that had happened since.

...

At that same moment, in the deepest space of the Fortress of Defiance—within the "Courtyard" that lay in the Shadow Realm—the giant deer Amorn, cloaked in white sacred radiance, lay quietly upon ground strewn with shattered boulders, colossal metal beams, and crystal shards.

This sacred being, vast as a small hill, had its eyes open now, and those eyes, as though carved from crystal and flooded with white light, were fixed straight ahead at something placed not far before it—a large-scale magic-net terminal device, its precision alloy base inlaid with high-quality projection crystals, within which a dim, faint glimmer flowed.

The device had not yet been activated, and nearby one could see mana obelisks for amplifying and relaying signals, auxiliary magic-net power matrices, and various other magical instruments of differing function.

Not far from the giant deer Amorn stood another vast shadow—a beautiful lady tall as a bell tower, her lower body formed of illusory magical mist and cloud. She was crouched to one side now, glancing at the still-dormant magic-net terminal, then at the motionless giant deer, and after several false starts she finally could not help saying: "Do you need help?"

"No," the former god of nature refused at once. "I can do it myself."

"You've been fumbling at it for ages—really, to make it start, all you need to do is..."

"No, I can do it myself!"