Chapter 949 — Who's the One Out of Character?
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
As they flew past a floating light in midair, a vast holographic image abruptly appeared in Gaoyang and the others' view. In the hologram, a red dragon swept across the sky, drew a deep breath, and then spat a astonishing torrent of flame toward the bottom of the frame. Another dragon flew up from below, rising to meet the flames and dancing with the red one high in the air. Then a cheerful, heart-lifting voiceover sounded from the image—but Gaoyang could not understand a word of it. It was the ancient dragon tongue, clearly bearing no relation whatsoever to the common speech of contemporary Loren.
"Damn it..." Metzen seemed to have been startled by the sudden hologram. Her flight wobbled, and once she had adjusted she immediately muttered, "Can't they control the number of these roadside advertisements..."
"That was an advertisement?" Gaoyang asked curiously. "What was the voiceover saying?"
"Ah... an advertisement for some kind of breath enhancer. After injection it turns your breath into sweet orange flavor—with a variety of fruit flavors to choose from," Metzen said offhandedly. "Useless stuff, in my view... Most of the time our breath is used against enemies and for roasting meat, and neither of those targets is going to care whether the dragonfire hitting them tastes of sweet orange or strawberry..."
Gaoyang and Amber were simultaneously dumbfounded: "??"
Virodai, aside from being dumbfounded, managed to get out a few words: "...Why does such a thing even exist in this world?"
"Tarrande may hold many things you find incomprehensible, but the reason you find them incomprehensible is mostly that the human world's legends about dragons contain far too much that is misleading. But if you look at us as a race like your own—one that needs ordinary lives and social interaction—then perhaps you won't be so surprised by things that don't match your imagination," Metzen said, a hint of a smile seeming to enter her tone. "I think you understand what I mean."
"I understand... though it's still a bit strange." Gaoyang thought it over and nodded. He did indeed understand Metzen's meaning—the dragons of Tarrande were a living civilization, and their daily lives must therefore contain many rich and varied things. Some of those things might not look very "dragon-like," some might not look very "legendary," but precisely because of that, they built up a real dragon society.
Real dragons did not, as in the legends, spend every day lying atop piles of gold in their castles, sleeping and counting coins and doing nothing else—that would unquestionably bore any sane intelligent being to madness. And to be honest... they probably didn't have that much gold anyway...
After all, judging by certain clues, Miss Metzen—a dragon of impeccable pedigree—did not seem to have much money in her ordinary life. Loving money yet having none—perhaps that was the true dragon.
Just then, Amber, who had been busily craning her neck this way and that, suddenly asked curiously, "By the way, where are we going next?"
"We're going to that mountain ahead—see the palace with the dome? That's the Council's headquarters. The Mithril Vault is a department under the Council, so that's also where I usually report for duty," Metzen said, lifting her head. "In Tarrande, the Senate handles the dragons' internal affairs, while the Council handles intelligence coming from the 'outside.' So this task of receiving foreign guests falls to the Council. The Speaker and the high-ranking councilors are already there, prepared for the welcoming ceremony. We'll land directly on the upper platform of the headquarters—after that, we'll see what arrangements the Speaker has made."
Amber said "oh" and glanced up at the sky again. "Ugh, I really can't get used to it here... I look up and see stars all over the sky, and I keep thinking that once we land I should find somewhere to sleep..."