Sword of Dawnbreaker

"News from Talronde? And related to the Wilder Clan?" Upon hearing Betty’s words, Gawain’s first reaction was a bit bewildered—he couldn’t think of anything happening in the distant Talronde Continent across the Northern Seas that could be related to the Empire’s Wilder Clan, but in the next second, a piece of intelligence he had almost forgotten suddenly floated from the depths of his mind, causing his expression to change slightly, "Let her come to the study directly!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Betty immediately bowed deeply and then quickly got up to leave the study, her crisp "clatter" echoing in the hallway as she jogged away.

After Betty left, Gawain looked up and met Amber’s gaze at the same time.

Their eyes met, a subtle nod, and before speaking, they reached a tacit agreement, thinking in the same direction. Gawain spoke in a low voice, "Do you remember that Modir’s Travelogue..."

Amber almost spoke simultaneously, "Betty managed to deliver the message without forgetting the guest’s name this time!"

Gawain: "..."

Amber: "..."

"So you nodded seriously at me just to say that?!" After a half-second of pause, Gawain finally grinned, "I thought you and I were on the same page!"

"I also thought you were on the same page as me!" Amber didn’t show any embarrassment at all but maintained her always justified manner, hands on hips, "Who knew you were so serious thinking about serious things..."

As she spoke, the half-elf forcefully waved her hand, shifting the topic back to where it should have started before Gawain spoke, "Let’s not talk about that, let’s not talk about that. You reminded me too—Modir’s Travelogue. If there must be a connection between the Wilder Clan and Talronde... the only thing that might come to mind is that book."

Gawain blinked and slowly frowned, "Could it be that Talronde, while sorting through the piles of data in the wasteland, discovered some new clues related to Modir’s Travelogue? Found the aftermath of that great adventurer causing trouble in the Dragon Kingdom six hundred years ago? Or discovered something about the Tower of the Inversion Tide not recorded in the travelogue..."

Before he finished speaking, a rhythmic sound of footsteps came from the corridor, followed by Melita Ponia’s voice from the doorway, "You can be bolder in your guesses."

Gawain looked up at the ambassador walking into the study, subconsciously asking, "Bolder in guessing? How bold?"

Wearing a light purple gauze dress, Melita stepped into the room with great familiarity, found a chair beside herself to sit down, and smiled at Gawain, "For instance, we discovered the author of Modir’s Travelogue."

Gawain & Amber: "..."

The study suddenly fell into silence, only broken after nearly half a minute by Amber’s uncontrollable exclamation, "Ha?! What did you say?! You guys dug up someone’s ancestral grave too..."

"Shut up," Gawain was bemused that this goose suddenly raised her voice, expecting it to be something astonishing, only to hear her openly mention this topic. He immediately frowned and cut Amber’s words short, then refocused on Melita, his expression growing particularly serious, "Melita, I must remind you, humans with shorter lifespans are very concerned about their ancestors’ tomb relics, even if it’s for the reconstruction of the Mithril Vault’s accounts, you must get the consent of the descendant before..."

Melita couldn’t hold her serious expression any longer, not expecting such a serious matter could detour in that manner due to a half-elf’s interruption nor foreseeing Gawain Cecil, usually quite serious, could also have such a leap in thinking on this topic—well, what can be said? These two are truly the "caught with evidence" duo of the grave-digging world, their thinking invariably diverges from the norm on certain topics...

"You’re overthinking it," the blue dragon lady quickly waved her hands, "Of course we haven’t desecrated any resters’ graves; we were outside..."

"Even a wilderness grave isn’t okay!" Amber jumped in before she finished, "That’s still someone’s ancestor—it’s been years since even I did such things..."

"Quiet!" At this point, Gawain had already awoken from the initial chaos and realized something, immediately pulling Amber back slightly while looking at Melita, "Wait, you mean you discovered... the still-living Modir Vealt? He’s still alive?! And ran to Talronde?!"

As soon as he finished, Amber widened her eyes, and what further widened the eyes of this Shadow Assault Goose was seeing the Dragonkin ambassador nod slightly.

"That’s indeed the case," Melita nodded after a two-second silence, "It sounds shocking, I know, but we did discover an adventurer highly suspected to be ’Modir Vealt’ himself; he is currently active in Talronde, and our upper echelons have already contacted him."

The blue dragon lady paused her narrative briefly, then looked at Gawain with a curious gaze, "However, I’m quite curious, how did you immediately link to the correct answer—typically, most wouldn’t imagine an ancient from five or six hundred years ago suddenly reappearing and running to the Dragon Kingdom."

"Because sitting before you is a ’ancient’ buried seven hundred years ago but still very much alive today," Gawain chuckled, then his expression turned serious again, "Alright, that’s just a joke. The real reason is... I couldn’t think of solely anything other than that Modir’s Travelogue that the Dragonkin would suddenly get anxious about and that could relate to the Wilder Clan. You also mentioned discovering its author—digging up an ancient’s grave wouldn’t require your prior attitude. Plus, I always had a vague feeling; the oddities surrounding that great adventurer from six hundred years ago are far too many. Based on my experience, in a world with extraordinary powers, someone with such heavy secrets usually won’t just stay quietly buried in history books."

"Someone with such heavy secrets won’t just stay quietly buried in history books..." Listening to Gawain’s assessment, a thoughtful expression appeared on Melita’s face. She seemed quite heartfelt when she glanced at Gawain, nodding gently, "It makes sense."

"Your gaze was a bit strange just now, but as a ’ancient’ who indeed didn’t stay quietly buried, I have to accept it," Gawain waved his hand, looking solemnly at Melita, "Let’s talk more about Modir Vealt... Honestly, despite everything just said, I find it hard to believe it’s real. How did you discover him, and what’s he doing on the Talronde Continent now? Did he reveal any of his purposes to you?"

"Believe it or not... the way the highly suspected Modir Vealt arrived in Talronde was unexpectedly ordinary: he traveled to Talronde with a whole ship of adventurers, and before departure, he followed regulations, registered his information honestly, right under your Naval Commander and the entire fleet you dispatched north’s nose, he reached New Argondale.

"As for what he’s doing there? It’s simple; he lives in the camp like an ordinary adventurer, helps build the barracks, accepts missions, clears monsters outside the camp... basically just these activities.

"At first, we hadn’t realized such a figure had mixed in among the adventurers; you can imagine, the number of adventurers in the camp is numerous, and only a few dragons are aware of the name ’Modir’. It wasn’t until once that great adventurer struck down an unexpected fire elemental lord, making a considerable stir, that he entered Speaker Andar and Leader Heragor’s radar...

"Shortly after that, Leader Heragor contacted the adventurer, but according to the message from above... this contact had some issues, and the situation of the Great Adventurer seems to be unusual."

"Unusual?" Gawain noted this term, slightly furrowing his brow, "What’s unusual about it?"

"He seems to have lost his memory, and doesn’t even remember his surname—the name ’Modir’ is the only thing he remembers about himself," Melita Ponia leaned forward slightly as she spoke slowly, "Further contact revealed not only can he not actively recall his surname, but if he receives strong stimulus related to himself, his consciousness would even experience a ’break’ and ’reset’ for a short period..."

"Consciousness break and reset?" Hearing Melita Ponia’s words, even Amber beside them couldn’t help but become serious, "That’s not an ordinary situation... I remember only the undead experience such things..."

"Yes, only the undead experience this, but we can confirm that the Great Adventurer is a living, breathing human being with a very strong life aura," Melita Ponia nodded to Amber, "No matter how we look at it, even dragons cannot explain what has happened to Modir Vealt... We don’t even dare to fully confirm that he is indeed the Great Adventurer Modir of old. For now, we can only describe him as ’highly suspected’."

Gawain listened attentively to every word Melita Ponia said, only nodding gently in thought after she finished, "An adventurer who may have lived for over six hundred years... some abnormalities with him are understandable. So, you’re not sure of the adventurer’s identity, and you’ve come to consult me?"

"That’s one reason," Melita Ponia nodded lightly, "We do want to confirm the adventurer’s identity, which should at least be informed to the Wilder Clan. Furthermore, there’s an even more crucial reason... We are concerned that Modir Vealt’s appearance might be connected to the situation with the Tower of the Inversion Tide."

"Tower of the Inversion Tide?" Gawain’s eyes widened slightly, instinctively switching to a more formal sitting posture, "Has there been something wrong with that tower?"

"No, at least everything looks normal from external observation," Melita Ponia shook her head, "But you know, Modir ventured into that tower six hundred years ago, and later... our God intervened personally to bring him back safely to the human world. Now, our God is no longer there, so..."

Before Melita Ponia could finish, Gawain understood, "You suspect the Dragon God did not fully purify the contamination Modir suffered back then, but instead set some kind of buffering ’ban’. Now that the divine power has faded, you’re worried Modir’s actions to return to Talronde are subtly driven by the tower’s pollutive consciousness?"

Melita Ponia nodded.

"...Then this matter needs to be directly inquired from Lady Enya," Gawain exhaled slowly, quickly devising a plan, "Amber, notify High Chancellor Victoria Wilder, ask her to verify Modir Vealt’s last record within the family; Melita, accompany me to the Hatching Room, we’ll directly ask Enya about the matter."

While speaking, he got up, while Amber seemed flustered, "Hey, wait—how am I supposed to mention this to Victoria? Should I just ask her to check if there’s someone in their ancestral tomb?"

Gawain paused, silently glanced at Amber, and nodded solemnly, "From the result... yes."

"Wouldn’t she just fly over from Bitter Winter Castle and kill me?!" Amber jumped up, with a look of "Old man, you’re trying to get me killed" on her face, "Especially with having to say that myself..."

Clearly, this half-elf who once altered the entire trajectory of world history by initially robbing graves and tombs is still quite self-aware in her professional field and personal reputation.

"Now why would you say it so directly," Gawain knew she was missing the point again, his face revealing a helpless expression, "consider your words carefully, think of how to quickly explain the situation correctly without starting by suggesting someone go knock on their ancestors’ coffins."

While speaking, he gestured for Amber to think things through herself, then quickly left the study with Melita Ponia, heading towards the Hatching Room.

Behind him, in the study, Amber watched Gawain leaving, stood dazed for a long time before murmuring quietly, "Would adding a ’please’ in the beginning make it seem more courteous..."

...

In the corridor leading to the Hatching Room, Gawain and Melita Ponia walked briskly, and when they neared the room, Melita Ponia couldn’t help but ask, "Has Lady Enya been assisting in caring for the dragon eggs I brought recently?"

"Of course," Gawain nodded, "She’s pretty engaged with it."

He spoke with an unspoken thought: her ways of caring are a bit puzzling... Is polishing and reading news to the dragon eggs every day really a necessary part of the hatching process?

Melita Ponia nodded lightly, with a somewhat complex expression on her face: "I never imagined, even a remnant humanistic cluster left by the divine would help care for my dragon eggs. Honestly, every time I go to the Hatching Room, I’m nervous to death."

Gawain looked at the blue dragon maiden, lightly shaking his head, "...You should relax, Enya’s temperament is actually very approachable, her former aloofness was merely due to clerical constraints."

Melita Ponia responded affirmatively, just as she was about to say more, a rush of footsteps suddenly approached from ahead, interrupting her and Gawain.

She looked towards the sound, seeing Betty in maid attire sprinting from the direction of the Hatching Room, her face filled with anxious excitement.

"Betty!" Gawain also saw Betty and immediately raised his hand to greet her, "What’s the hurry?"

Betty accelerated her steps, almost tumbling when she abruptly stopped in front of Gawain and Melita Ponia, only stabilizing herself after two sways. After catching her breath, her face showed an excited expression as she said, "It’s about to hatch! The egg that Lady Enya’s been tending is about to hatch!!"