Chapter 234 — Tyre's Curiosity
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
People living in Cecil often warned newcomers to this land: this territory was founded by ancient heroes, and so it holds many things that seem odd or even incomprehensible by the standards of this age. When confronted with things that challenge one's worldview, one would do best not to make a fuss—those things were essentially harmless. If one truly could not understand them, one need only treat them as ancient magical technology and ancient relics.
The people of Cecil had grown used to seeing rumbling machines turn in the factories, used to seeing a gleaming silvery-white metal sphere drift about the territory. And recently, they would have to learn to get used to a new sight: a peculiar woman with a human upper body and a serpentine lower half slithering—or, strictly speaking, "scooting"—through the streets and alleys…
In the fourth week after the onset of winter, the weather was clear, windless, with few clouds. Gao Yang was on his way to inspect the production line of the newly completed "Rune Substrate Foundry," and beside him was Tyre the siren, who under normal circumstances could almost never be found outdoors.
The siren seemed at last to have temporarily adjusted her routine of sleeping as though she meant to sleep herself to death. Ever since the last Day of the Stars had passed, she had entered a strange "state of excitement"—put simply, she could not sleep, could not lie still, and could not bear to stay in one place without wanting to stir up trouble. So she had been forced to crawl out of her beloved saltwater tank and begin wandering all over the Cecil territory. Gao Yang had no reason to confine her to the lord's manor, but to keep this creature of peculiar worldview from causing trouble in the territory, he had thought up a compromise: let Tyre accompany him wherever he went.
And now it seemed the siren lady had no complaints about this: so long as she could wander about freely, she was content.
Walking along the road to the factory district, Gao Yang could not help but glance back curiously at Tyre, who was beside him, straining forward with all her might. "By the way, what's going on with you? Why the sudden willingness to get out and about?"
"No helping it—who'd have thought the stars would return to their places these past days?" Tyre was clearly vexed as well. At heart she plainly still wished to go back, find a saltwater pool, and sleep herself to death in one go, but in her current state she simply could not settle down. "The mana surges, and the elements grow active along with it. We sirens are elemental creatures."
Gao Yang raised an eyebrow in some surprise. "You're… elemental creatures?"
"What? Don't we look it?" Tyre planted her hands on her hips and slapped the ground with the tip of her tail to reinforce her point. "We are elemental creatures!"
"The elemental creatures I remember don't look anything like you…" Gao Yang explained, caught between laughter and tears. "The elemental creatures in my memory are the kind that are all muddled and formless, things that need a spell or a magic core to sustain them if they're to exist in the real world for long—otherwise they can only manifest briefly by using an elemental medium as 'fuel'…"
Tyre looked utterly dismissive. "Those are the cheap goods. We sirens are elemental creatures that can exist stably in the real world—top tier, we are."
Gao Yang had no time to argue with this siren. After all, these deep-sea harmonizers were bold enough to chew up even ancient gods like seafood—what about them could still surprise anyone? He was merely curious how long Tyre's willingness to be out and about would last. "By the way, this… active state of yours—how long can it last?"
Tyre thought for a moment, then said with little certainty, "Hard to say. About a month, maybe?"