Chapter 1183 — The Basis for Cooperation
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 5
"...He seems to have no interest at all in joining us," Amorn said after a moment, shaking his head with a sigh and sitting back down in his place with considerable regret. "I thought adding the word 'gods' might have held some appeal for him."
"The word 'gods' would never appeal to him in that way," Milmina glanced at Amorn with a touch of mockery. "Besides, he is not idle and bored as you and I are — he has plenty to attend to."
"Well, true enough. But it does not matter," Amorn said with great ease, glancing at the two ladies on either side of the table. "In any case, there are still three of us left, and we can still play a round of Gods' Cards..."
"I will not waste time with you," Milmina said offhandedly, her figure already fading in the air. "I recently discovered a free settlement outside the city with rather fine scenery. I intend to create a foothold there. We can talk about cards another time."
The Magic Goddess's figure vanished completely into the air. Amorn stared blankly for a moment, then turned helplessly toward Enya — but she had already risen to her feet. "My apologies, I must leave as well. There are still matters in the physical world waiting for me, and I expect to be busy for some time."
"The physical world?" Amorn was taken aback. "Is there something you still need to do in the physical world? In your current state..."
"I am incubating an egg."
With that single sentence, the elegant figure wreathed as if in pale golden radiance vanished from beneath the golden oak. For a moment, only Amorn was left beside the square table. The former God of Nature blinked, and only after several seconds did he finally grasp what Enya meant by "incubating an egg." Then he looked around at his surroundings, and unmistakable dejection came over his face: "So they really have all gone..."
He muttered to himself, sat back down beside the square table, and conjured the exquisite cards once more, slowly shuffling their order and the phantom suits displayed upon them, while his mind went back to something Milmina had mentioned offhandedly just now — she seemed to have found another surveillance loophole in the neural network, and had certainly been studying it closely of late.
"She really is good at that... I suppose that is only fitting for a god created by the group of mortals most skilled at research and exploration..." the former God of Nature sighed softly, then casually sent Naretir a message and reported Milmina.
...
Oldernan. The approach of autumn was gradually driving back the summer heat that lingered over the land, and the whole imperial capital, together with the vast plains around it, was welcoming the relatively dry and comfortable season of the year — before the constellation of Frostsky rose high and Frostmoon arrived, the sun would continue to shine upon this land for some days yet, until the mists rose again over the plains and wrapped everything in Oldernan once more in a damp, chilly breath.
And in these last days of sunlight, the study on the upper floor of the Obsidian Palace had its windows thrown open, letting the fresh air and the sunshine spill together across the desk of the empire's ruler.
Luo Yan Augustus sat in his favorite high-backed chair, head bent over the documents just delivered by an attendant. Sunlight poured down from behind him, throwing the writing on the pages into sharp black and white. In those orderly, concise, and precise words he could clearly grasp the pulse of the entire empire at this moment — just as he had done for the past twenty-odd years, everything that happened across this vast land was laid out clearly in his mind.