Chapter 903 — Journey to the Far North
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 4
"After that I asked this dragon lady whether she could find me a place to stay. I thought that ought to be possible at least; if the dragons all lived in these far northern lands, they must have at least some... settlement or country, and at the very worst the dragon lady must have her own lair? That would still be better than drifting on the cold ice sea...
"But things did not go as I wished. This dragon called Metzen refused my proposal; she said that if the higher-ups of the Council learned what had happened here, it would very likely affect her finances for the better part of the coming year, and so she absolutely could not take me to Talrond... Damn it, why should dragons worry about financial matters?! Could they not simply go and kidnap princesses and princes from the human continent in good conscience?!
"In short, my plan to add an important entry to my adventure notes seems to have failed; this dragon lady clearly does not intend to take me to visit the dragon kingdom... But things are not too bad, for this 'Miss Metzen' does have a sense of responsibility after all—though she seems to care more about her finances, at least she has not chosen to leave me on this iceberg to live or die on my own in order to protect her income.
"She said she could take me to a 'stopping place' near Talrond... From the sound of it, no dragons live at this stopping place, but at least it is far better than an iceberg floating on the sea...
"Frankly, I do not much trust this dragon. Though she has behaved with reasonable courtesy, her way of doing things is truly suspect—if my magic were still at its full strength, I think I would rather drive this iceberg beneath my feet and challenge the Eternal Storm once more, but... there are not so many 'ifs' in this world.
"I must admit my own weakness—must admit that I... have no other choice.
"I accepted this Miss Metzen's proposal, and then... I was hung from her claw, and we set off flying further north.
"A note must be made here: more than half of this record was written upon a dragon's claw—which surely counts as an unprecedented 'adventure achievement.' What other adventurer has ever known an experience like mine?
"...After we had flown for some time, when I began to feel that even my own magic was no longer circulating smoothly, something else at last appeared in my field of vision.
"At first I dimly glimpsed an expanse of land, immensely vast—it seemed to be a continent, a continent in the far north, unknown to humankind. I could not see it clearly, but it appeared to be shielded by some barrier of tremendous scale; within the barrier lay lush and verdant scenery. And just as I was about to fix my gaze and look closely, the dragon bore me away in another direction—toward the northwest of that continent, if my sense of direction did not fail me. We flew on in that direction for a while longer before we finally arrived at our destination—
"A giant tower of metal... standing upon the sea."