Chapter 776 — A Gaze Toward the Sea
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
What was it that had opened the stubborn gates of the Holy Dragon Duchy?
Gao Yang was indeed intensely curious about it.
The Holy Dragon Duchy lay at the far northern edge of the continent. Half its territory was frozen, towering mountains; there was little fertile land, and for ordinary humans the living conditions were harsh beyond words. Yet this very realm—one that always styled itself a "duchy" and endured such a hostile environment—had commanded the wary respect of even Ansu at the height of its power. Half the reason the Northern Mountain Legion had ever been raised was to keep watch on that duchy within the frozen ranges. There were reasons for this.
The people of the Holy Dragon Duchy called themselves Dragonblood, and the higher a noble's rank, the more insistently he claimed pure draconic lineage. Outsiders had never wholly believed such claims, for the duchy dealt with other nations hardly at all, and no one had ever witnessed a "Dragonblood" displaying the might of a true dragon. But one thing at least everyone could agree on: the people of the Holy Dragon Duchy were no ordinary humans. Though they looked much like anyone else, their children could run bare-chested through the far-northern mountains at scores of degrees below zero, chasing magical beasts across the slopes—which hardly resembled the average physical constitution of humanity...
And now Gao Yang had hard evidence from Maggie: the Holy Dragon Duchy's so-called "Dragonblood" identity was genuine. At least among the upper classes, they truly were of dragonkind—merely dragons bearing genetic defects, somewhat weaker than ordinary dragons.
A nation founded by Dragonblood, however small, would invariably prove formidable in battle.
Beyond their fighting prowess, the mountains of the Holy Dragon Duchy also concealed the finest arcane-metal veins in the northern continent. The few ingots that trickled out of the duchy were much sought after among the northern nations.
A nation that could fight, possessed precious strategic resources, and remained neutral—such a realm could only draw the eyes of its neighbors. As far back as the Ansu era, the northern noble faction represented by Victoria Wilde had been attempting to establish clearer, more stable ties with the Holy Dragon Duchy, but to no avail.
The Dragonblood seemed profoundly uninterested in the "outside world." Beyond maintaining the barest exchange of goods, they established diplomatic relations with no nation and had never once sent an envoy abroad.
"Perhaps our arcane creations have aroused their interest. Or perhaps word of the Empire's shifting fortunes has reached the ears of that Dragonblood Grand Duke," Victoria could only offer her conjectures in response to Gao Song's question. "It may even be that the Cecil merchants who have been so active in the north these past six months or more have changed how those 'Dragonblood' view us..."
"How do you mean?"
"Those 'Dragonblood' have always respected warriors who can brave the mountains and defy the winter cold. Meet that standard, and even an ordinary human trader will be treated with great courtesy among them. In the past such 'warriors' were vanishingly rare—but ever since the wholesale price of frost-resistance potions fell to a pound and a half per ton, every Cecil merchant operating in the north has become a 'warrior'..."
Gao Yang laughed despite himself. "That counts?"
Victoria's tone was placid. "The people of the Holy Dragon Duchy do not care whether an outsider braves the cold and the mountains with the aid of equipment and potions. To them, external aids are part of one's strength. Anyone who walks into those mountains against the bitter wind is a friend."
"...It seems I shall have to find time to learn more about the Holy Dragon Duchy from Maggie," Gao Rong said.