Chapter 570 — A Deep Conversation
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Compared with dealing with those Ansu nobles in Sacred Frostrest, Soryu plainly appreciated Gaosong's way of doing things far more.
As she recounted all she had seen and heard in Ansu over this stretch of time, a note of complaint crept into her voice despite herself: "We were held up in the north for a whole month... out of sixty days, more than forty went to listening to those nobles shirk responsibility and debate meaningless questions. By comparison, the so-called 'rebels' of the Eastern Marches are rather more efficient than the nobles of the royal capital—though even they cost us no small amount of time."
"The kingdom belongs to the king, but a domain belongs to its lord, and enfeoffed nobles must safeguard their own interests; so the moment an affair concerns the kingdom as a whole, their efficiency becomes conspicuously poor," Gaoyang said with a helpless shake of his head. "I foresaw this long ago."
"It truly cannot compare with the old days..." Soryu sighed softly. "At least that girl called Victoria still carries some shadow of her ancestor."
"Victoria? Vild?" Gaoyang said aloud, turning to look at Soryu. "What is your impression of her?"
Soryu thought briefly. "Very diligent, but also very weary. She hides it well, but she cannot fool my eyes. She has considerable talent, little short of Snow's, yet it is still not enough to cope with the situation before her—I can see that she is exhausted by this kingdom in utter chaos, her true ability wholly drowned beneath endless buck-passing and internal friction."
"A hit at the heart of it."
"As an envoy of the Silver Empire I ought not to pass much judgment on Ansu, but as a comrade-in-arms from seven hundred years ago, there is nothing I need keep from you," Soryu said frankly. "We met that prince in the Eastern Marches who claims he will restore Ansu, and we met those nobles of Sacred Suniel loyal to the traditional royal house, and the Duke Protector as well. Frankly, among them are no few capable leaders—but I greatly doubt whether leaders themselves mired in the swamp can truly pull this country back onto its proper course. You are the man who once with his own hands built the fundamental order of this kingdom; can you truly be content in the Southern Marches, sitting by and watching all this unfold?"
The question was sharp to the extreme. No ordinary human politician would pose such a thing, but such is the way of the elves of Gaoyu—they have always been blunt and direct, and that Soryu had prefaced her plain speaking by stressing this was a private conversation was already the greatest tact of which she was capable.
The atmosphere froze for a moment or two before Gaoyang smiled and gently shook his head. "You know there is a kind of tree near Mount Mingcen, called the Tree of Revival."
"...After a hundred years it withers swiftly, becoming exceedingly dry and flammable, waiting only for a mountain fire; then great swaths of the Tree of Revival turn to ash, and fresh seedlings sprout and grow from the heaps of cinders..." Soryu said softly. "That is to take no small risk."
"To live is itself to take risks."
Gaoyang spoke calmly. He lifted his head and looked at the holographic image projected by the scroll-shaped arcane device on the table.
In the hologram the structure of a section of the Great Wall in southern Ansu was rendered in clear detail, and within that translucent diagram two Sentinel Towers flashed with a conspicuous blue light.
"Two Sentinel Towers, to be constructed simultaneously, is that right?"
"Yes," Soryu nodded. "One stands near southeastern Ansu, just south of the Dark Mountains; we hope you will take charge of it. The other is in southwestern Ansu—Duke Baiyu Franklin has confirmed he will dispatch a team for that tower, led by his nephew in person. Of course, outwardly both teams are under your command and direction."
"Will the men and materials be in place before the Frostmoon comes?"