Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 910 - 909: There Is Always a Price to Pay

Gawain watched as Melita’s face went from red to pale, then from pale to red again. The agent lady braced herself against the edge of the desk, her eyes suddenly widening, and her whole body involuntarily swayed —— then, a low, strange mumbling came from deep within her throat. This mumbling seemed to be mixed with countless murmurs of different wills, and a pair of dragon wings, almost covering the entire study, spread out in an instant. Hidden within the phantoms seemed to be hundreds of eyes, all staring at Gawain.

The next second, all those eyes in the phantom disappeared. Melita forcibly suppressed the tearing and separation impulse from deep within her soul. Her knuckles turned white from the pressure, and her eyes wandered for half a day before focusing on Gawain: "Another one exploded..."

This time, Gawain couldn’t even hear clearly what she was mumbling. He was only filled with surprise, subconsciously reaching out to support Melita: "You... I only asked for a name, how could it..."

Melita panted heavily twice, then spoke with lingering fear: "That is... our God. My heavens, I never expected you to suddenly say His true name, much less that speaking the name would attract His attention..."

Gawain was stunned.

Two seconds later, he realized he hadn’t misheard, and immediately exclaimed: "You said En... that is the Dragon God’s name?!"

"Yes," Melita said with a bitter smile, staggering to a nearby armchair and sitting down — as a high-ranking agent, doing so without the guest’s permission is indeed very rude, but this time she broke her ’professional conduct’ unprecedentedly, "And please, do not say that name directly again... It poses tremendous risk to me..."

Gawain had not yet fully recovered from the shock of knowing this truth. At this moment, countless speculations surged in his heart, and a new question emerged instinctively: "Wait! Did you just say the God ’noticed’ this place?"

He thought of the illusory dragon wings that had appeared behind Melita a moment ago, and the vague "countless eyes" from deep within the dragon wings’ phantom, which seemed merely an illusion at first. But now, from Melita’s few words, he suddenly realized the situation might not be that simple ——

Just now, right before his eyes, the "God" far away in Talronde had heard someone here calling His name and looked this way!

"Yes, a brief gaze..." Melita barely managed a smile, "Rest assured, He has already turned His gaze back... Very rarely does anyone outside Talronde call the true name of a God, so perhaps it was just out of curiosity."

"Gods also have such curiosity..." Gawain couldn’t help but murmur, while his mind quickly linked and combined a series of clues —— the blonde woman who suddenly appeared before Modir Vealt was actually the mysterious Dragon God lingering in the real world, and she even helped Modir, who was in a predicament; Modir, after facing the God directly, came back to the human world unscathed without going mad or undergoing any mutation; the Dragon God forbade the Dragonkin from approaching the huge tower near Talronde, and even she herself clearly showed resistance and apprehension towards that tower. Yet, despite that, she chose to help a reckless human being and even freely disclosed her name to Modir...

A series of events conceal baffling motives and connections, and even with Gawain’s rich associative ability, he still found it difficult to find a reasonable answer.

As for the reliability of Modir’s record, and whether the blonde woman who appeared before him was really the Dragon God... Gawain had no doubts about this.

In a place so close to Talronde, it is unlikely any bold and reckless being would impersonate a God’s name. The name "Enya" is absolutely unique within the Dragonkin.

Gawain’s expression changed several times, brow furrowed, eyes deep. It took him a minute to finally let out a light breath.

Other mysteries aside, his biggest gain this time... might just be accidentally learning a God’s "name". This is the third God whose name he knew, after Amoen, the Giant Stag, and Nariteer Duvalt, the Supreme Narrator.

It’s just that the world’s rules are full of mysteries, and he did not know what purpose these names could serve... As it stands, the only usage he can determine is serving as a "contact number", and it may not even work, and if it does connect, it might require sacrificing a Dragonkin friend...

He glanced at Melita, who was slowly adjusting her breathing. Her complexion had finally returned to normal, though still somewhat weak — this is a friend who was almost sacrificed.

Feeling quite guilty, Gawain personally got up and poured Melita a glass of water, handed it over, and asked caringly: "Are you okay?"

Melita took the cup, her eyes resting on Gawain, her expression rather complex: "...I’m okay... Thank you."

Gawain hesitated a bit: "Do we still continue?"

"... Under other circumstances, I should end this consultation business and go back to rest for a few days," Melita sighed softly, shaking her head, "But now... I’m afraid I have to persist a little longer. What else is mentioned in that travelogue?"

Without waiting for Gawain to speak, she waved her hand: "No, you better not tell me. I want to take a look myself — is that okay?"

"That’s not a problem," Gawain glanced at Modir’s Travelogue, which was lying quietly on the table, then looked at Melita with some concern, "But is your body okay? Some of the records there may also be... harmful to your health."

Melita cast a complicated glance at Gawain, "I will take precautions while reading — moreover, the words recorded by Mortal Races do not possess such powerful strength, even if there’s some forbidden knowledge in them, I have a way to filter it out."

A thought she couldn’t bring herself to say out loud — no matter how health-hazardous the contents of the book might be, they’re probably not as terrifying as chatting with you...

"Since it’s your decision," seeing her resolute attitude, Gawain didn’t insist further. He picked up the travelogue, flipped to the corresponding pages, and handed it to Melita, "Start from here, the subsequent dozen or so pages are. Be careful when reading, and signal me at the first sign of any anomaly."

Melita nodded, taking the cover-worn ancient book, while Gawain couldn’t help but inwardly sigh — the Dragonkin, such a powerful race, yet burdened with such immense pressure due to the suspected shackles of gods and the black pits, where even inadvertently uttering certain words could lead to severe backlash injuries... When the weak races on the ground watch these mighty creatures winging across the sky, who would have thought these mighty dragons were actually flying with chains?

This is simply a curse...

He looked at Melita and saw her taking a deep breath and setting her gaze on the pages, seemingly ready to start reading — Gawain also prepared himself for a patient wait.

Modir had written extensively about the journey to the north and south poles, it was a long section. Even a cursory glance would take a significant amount of time, and Melita needed to constantly guard herself, which would surely not be quick, maybe...

Just as the thought formed, he saw the agent lady, with one hand holding the book and the other hand flipping through the pages effortlessly, sweeping through the dozen or so pages in less than a second...

"I’m done," Melita sighed long, handing ’Modir’s Travelogue’ back to Gawain, "Honestly... if you disregard the dangerous contents, this journal is truly captivating."

Gawain was stunned: "Is it... finished already?"

A faint light gradually faded from Melita’s eyes, noticing Gawain’s surprise, she casually explained: "It’s a speed-reading capability—very effective for dealing with text materials that pose certain dangers."

She did not explain the principles in detail because related content might be difficult for humans to understand—in that brief second, she actually blocked her biological vision and used the optical implant in her eyes to scan the contents on the pages, then sent the text to an auxiliary electronic brain that check and filtered the text. The "risk identification library" would black out or replace harmful text, and finally output it to her biological brain. The whole process was efficient and safe, and it basically did not affect her grasp of the travelogue’s overall content.

Gawain did not delve into the secrets behind this mystical "speed-reading capability," but instead curiously asked a question: "After reading, do you have anything to say?"

Melita thought for a moment, and her expression suddenly became serious: "I would like to ask first, what do you plan to do with this travelogue?"

She even used the polite "you" again, clearly very concerned about this issue, and it had already elevated to a "business" level.

"This book is one of the results of the ’Text Preservation’ project of the Cecil Empire. This project aims to collect and sort those scattered ancient knowledge, protect and repair various ancient books, so this ’Modir’s Travelogue’ must be archived," Gawain’s expression also became serious as he answered, unwittingly omitting the fact that Modir’s Travelogue had already been copied and archived, "As for afterward... Most of the knowledge in the Text Preservation is meant to be open to the public, which is a basic national policy of the Cecil Empire—this you should also know."

"Indeed... Universal literacy, knowledge spread... very good system," Melita first said with a bit of admiration, but then frowned and shook her head slightly, "However, some ’knowledge’ is not real knowledge; it only leads people in the wrong direction, or even makes them pursue things contrary to ’reason.’... Can you understand what I mean?"

"You mean... that tower that lured Modir deeper," Gawain said slowly, "Yes, I can see that Modir was drawn by some force to enter the tower, and even you should have been affected at the time—plus now you have forgotten these things, which makes the whole situation even eerier and dangerous."

"Yes, it’s very dangerous. Letting the world know about the existence of Voyager’s legacy itself is risky—of course, I’m not saying to absolutely forbid anyone from knowing it. After all, at least you and the craftsmen who were responsible for repairing this book have seen the content of the travelogue, but that’s different from being open to everyone. Some things... are premature to announce now."

Gawain looked into Melita’s eyes: "You mean..."

"As a friend, I suggest that you erase the content about Talronde and that huge tower in this travelogue... At least until we have a way to counter the tower’s contamination, do not make these contents public to prevent more reckless people from taking risks," Melita said earnestly and sincerely, "Our gods have glanced this way, I’m unsure how much He knows, but since He hasn’t ’descended’ further, that indicates He tacitly approves my advice to you. My friend, I don’t wish to use any forceful means to interfere with you and your country, but I’m really doing this for your own good..."

Gawain interrupted her with a nod before she finished: "I understand, I agree."

This time, Melita seemed surprised: "Uh... you agreed really... swiftly."

"I’m not an unreasonable person, especially since I often deal with some strange and dangerous things," Gawain laughed, "I know how tricky they can be, and I understand your concerns. Rest assured, I will hide these risky things—you should trust the execution efficiency of the Cecil Empire and my personal credibility."

Melita appeared relieved: "I have great trust in it."

Then she lightly breathed, holding the armrest of the chair as she stood up: "For now... I need to make a trip back to Talronde. The matter at hand must be reported, and I also need to investigate the lost memory of mine..."

"I understand," Gawain nodded, "Wishing you all the best."

He watched Melita rise and walk toward the study door, but as she was about to leave, a question suddenly occurred to him: "Wait a moment, I have another question..."

Melita stopped and turned around, puzzled, looking back.

"Regarding Voyager’s legacy—I’m talking about that huge tower," Gawain said while organizing his thoughts, "It obviously possesses a ’contaminating’ nature toward mortals. I want to know, did it inherently possess this contamination? Or did some factor cause it to develop this ’mutation’? What makes it so dangerous? Are there other Voyager legacies? Do they also have contamination?"

He was very concerned about this issue, and the biggest reason for his concern was that he was tightly bound with the "legacy of the Voyager!"

The satellite array of the sky, the Firmament Station above the equator, and a series of other ancient facilities... All these were left by the Voyager, so does it mean they, like the huge tower near Talronde, carry contamination? If that’s the case... then Gawain might find it hard to remain calm!

After hearing Gawain’s questions, Melita stood there silently, two seconds later, she opened her mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood—

Bright red blood tinged with a faint light scattered in the room, and the energies contained within it even caused the carpet and parts of the desk in the study to emit wisps of corrosive smoke!

Gawain was startled instantly, rushing to Melita’s side to support the shaky high-ranking agent: "Are you alright?!"

"It exploded... the sixty-eight thousand limited edition with light rings just exploded..." Melita looked at Gawain with desperation, even gritting her teeth, "Why... why today are your questions so dangerous..."

Gawain: "..."

How should he know!

Melita struggled hard to stand up, her body swayed several times before stabilizing again, and she only spoke quietly after a long while: "The contamination... appeared later, and it’s only that tower that possesses such contamination..."

Gawain did not expect Melita to still answer his question under such circumstances, and for a moment he felt both moved and astonished, instinctively stepping forward: "You..."

"Stop talking!" Melita retreated half a step immediately, her body nearly collapsed again due to this intense movement, and then she looked at Gawain, her expression was so complex that Gawain couldn’t understand it, "Sorry, this consultation service ends here, I must go back to rest... Don’t talk to me anymore, don’t say anything..."

Say more... and it won’t be enough to explode.