Chapter 676 — The Legacy
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 4
"Then let your promise just now be the price," Mei Heng said. "Go advance your commoners' education, complete your reform plan. If your promise is fulfilled, the Mithril Vault will honor its word as well. And if you fail... these manuscripts will never see the light of day."
Gao Yang rubbed his chin. "That sounds like a losing deal to me."
"No. The Mithril Vault never makes a losing deal." Mei Heng smiled as she said it.
She paused a moment, then went on. "If there's nothing else, I shall take my leave. This is a rather large commission—it warrants a trip back to Tarronde on my part."
"There's one thing I'd like to ask about," Gao You said before the other could depart. "You know the origin of that enormous skull at today's ceremony, don't you?"
"Of course. I witnessed it with my own eyes. And I've also seen the propaganda you've been spreading lately."
"There will be more propaganda to come. Everyone will learn the origin of that skull, and the plan behind the Finality of All Things," Gao Dai said. "Naturally, we'll be careful to control the pace, to keep it from striking too violently and throwing society into chaos. What I want to ask is this: doing so... does it help us escape the Black Pit?"
Mei Heng fell silent for a moment. In that silence, faint scales suddenly surfaced on her cheeks and arms, her eyes in an instant transformed into golden vertical slits, and the aura of dragonkind spilled out unchecked, making the lamps in the room flicker bright and dim. And within her shadow, as though some indescribable thing were struggling to overflow, the body of this dragon in human form trembled slightly, as if in agony against some will that had suddenly descended upon her. And just as Gao Yang was about to call a halt, she finally held on with difficulty at some critical threshold, and gave a slight nod. "Yes."
"Then..."
Mei Heng clenched her teeth. "Ask again... and it costs extra..."
"No, that's enough," Gao Yang waved a hand. "I've already gotten what I wanted."
The alien power that had descended upon Mei Heng receded swiftly. The dragon in human form staggered, then nodded to Gao Yan, drew a deep breath, and left the room.
A moment later, in the images transmitted from the surveillance satellite, Gao Yang saw a blue dragon rise from the top of Silverhold and fly north.
"Watching" the trajectory of the great dragon's departure, Gao Yang could not help but feel a touch of curiosity. He was not curious why no one in the castle had noticed a dragon flying overhead—after all, spells like the "Bent-Light Field" could be mastered even by humans, so for a great dragon it must be no difficulty at all. What he was curious about was...
A creature that size, with a form hardly suited to aerodynamics, whose wings looked to offer only limited lift—just how did it fly so fast?
Surely it couldn't be riding on the magic of friendship...
He shook his head, tossing those far-fetched associations aside, shifted his shoulders slightly, and leaned back in his chair.
"The Black Pit, is it...
"So the problem really does lie with the gods."