Chapter 106 — The Support Team
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
On the third day after reaching an understanding with Nicolcy Egg, this "magical device from the ancient ruins of Gondor, housing an ancient soul and bound in friendship with the ancestors of Cecil" finally began to appear openly before the people of the new Cecil Territory.
From then on, this egg could no longer be called "it"—it had to be "he."
His appearance naturally drew a good deal of attention. Even the most numb of serfs and slave laborers could not help but feel curious about this metal sphere; when a gleaming, translucent metal ball one and a half meters across came drifting toward them through the air, everyone would stop in their tracks to stare, then turn and discuss the thing with whoever stood beside them.
At first, many were frightened, for Nicolcy Egg's form was truly bizarre, and he shone far too brightly in the sun—like a magic orb on the verge of exploding. The ignorant and deeply superstitious common folk would even cry out and run at the sight of him. But Gao Yang specially dispatched soldiers to explain and introduce the origins of this "magical device," stressing above all that inside the egg was in fact a venerable ancient scholar, trapped within the metal sphere only by a magical accident, and that apart from his strange appearance he was no different from anyone else in the camp.
After this had been repeated many times, people finally managed to accept the existence of such a metal sphere—though a little fear and tension were unavoidable. Still, they did discover that this round, rolling fellow was harmless, and could even speak and converse with people; and with Gao Song's promise besides, they forced themselves to calm down.
As for Nicolcy Egg himself—itself—he was thoroughly satisfied with his present circumstances.
From the very first day he tumbled into this bizarre otherworld, his situation had been difficult and awkward. First came the strangeness of his surroundings, then the ill-intentioned locals, who caught him and made him a research specimen in their laboratory and nearly had him shaved into metal curls by the Gondorian mages of a thousand years ago. In the end those same mages casually sealed him away for a millennium, and when he opened his eyes it was to a new world in which civilization had regressed and technology had collapsed. He had assumed he was doomed to perish in an unbroken run of such bad luck—yet never expected to meet an oddity like Gao Yang.
Someone he could communicate with, who understood what he said, and whose mind was open enough to accept all his various claims; who was neither as ignorant as the locals of the present age, nor like the people of ancient times, who knew only dissection and study.
Thinking back on it now, that secret attempt to flee a few days ago, only to be caught red-handed by someone at just the right moment... had truly been a blessing in disguise. Otherwise, who knew how much longer he would have had to keep pretending to be a stone ball before he could stroll about openly as he did today.
But while Nicolcy Egg enjoyed his wanderings about the camp immensely, someone went to Gao Yang to complain. Hetty stood before him, her face full of worry: "That ball keeps drifting all over the camp. Are you really not going to do anything about it?"
Gao Yang was bent over, carefully studying personnel files—the rough register of the hundred technicians from the royal capital who had arrived just a few days ago. Hearing Hetty, he looked up and smiled. "Has the ball been causing trouble for anyone?"
"Trouble? No," Hetty shook her head. "But his curiosity is simply too boundless. Basically, wherever he sees people at work, he drifts over and watches for ages. His appearance is so conspicuous that the workers can't help being distracted."