Chapter 244 — The Young Wolf General
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"From the years when Camille was active all the way to the eruption of the magic tide three hundred years later, Gondor was in its honeymoon with the elves and the dwarves—above all with the Silver Empire the elves had founded. The 'Covenant of the Ten Forests' brought human-elven relations to their peak: a third of the elven royal descendants studied in the Gondorian capital, while human caravans trod every corner of the Silver Empire. Had the bonds not been so close, the elves would never have been so eager to aid human refugees after the magic tide. Remember, beyond raising the great wall, the elves also took in humanity's southern pioneer legions—the Highland Kingdom in the south of the continent today was all but built by the elves helping mankind."
"So... if humans had known about the magic tide all along, they would at least have warned the elves," Heddy said, fully understanding Gao Yang's doubts now. "But Camille never mentioned anything of the sort... All he ever knew was the part about preserving human civilization."
"Camille was only a technician, so he may not have known the full plans of the higher-ups. But from the intelligence I have alone, I can be certain the elves knew nothing of the magic tide either," Gao Yang nodded. "At least... their common folk knew nothing of it."
"Everything was sealed away," Heddy drew a soft breath. "Most members of the Defiance plan were locked away, held in stasis inside this fortress, and their achievements were never made public from beginning to end. The Gondorian royal house neither told the people about the magic tide nor warned any race on the continent. If at the outset one could argue this was to prevent panic by controlling information, it still makes little sense that they were controlling it right up until the tide erupted... Those in the know—what exactly were they afraid of? Merely the panic of the people?"
"...I don't know," Gao Yang said at last, after a long silence, still able only to shake his head. "But I do know that what they feared could not have been the magic tide alone..."
Gao Yang did not tell Heddy all of his doubts. In truth, beyond that unreasonable "information lockdown" of those years, he sensed another dissonance running through the whole affair: the ancient Gondorian royal house's judgment of the magic tide's scale seemed to have gone wrong as well.
From the final message they sent to the Fortress of Defiance, they clearly believed that those within the fortress after the tide would be humanity's final survivors—perhaps even the final survivors of all mortal civilization. Yet in truth, the magic tide of seven hundred years ago did not so much as destroy human civilization; even Gondor saw a great host of refugees escape from the wasteland.
In Tyr's words, what came seven hundred years ago was merely a "minor magic tide."
The Gondorian royal house of that time had clearly made a mistaken judgment—they had taken that tide for a great one capable of destroying the entire world...
But such a misjudgment... was it truly only a blunder born of frayed nerves? Or was that tide which erupted seven hundred years ago... in fact supposed to have been enough to destroy the world?
For now, everything remained a mystery.
Camille finished his final farewell. He came before Gao Yang and bowed slightly. "I have kept you waiting too long."
"Not at all—we happened to be discussing a few things," Gao Yang said, ending his discussion with Heddy and turning to nod at Camille. "Rest assured, I will gather every body here and see them properly laid to rest. The world will remember each one's sacrifice."
"I thank you on their behalf," Camille said. "Then next, I will open all the remaining sample vaults in the fortress. I hope these ancient things may prove of some use in this age."