Chapter 598: A Visit to the Typhon Camp

A massive eagle soared across the murky, chaotic sky. This great gray raptor carried a messenger and news from afar. Under the watchful eyes of soldiers and craftsmen, the iron-gray bird circled twice high above before, guided by ground lights, it landed steadily on a landing platform beside the Typhon Peak base.

“Coo! Coo!”

Having completed its mission successfully, the eagle let out a loud, excited call. Though somewhat embarrassing to hear, its rider was clearly accustomed to it. Sonia gracefully dismounted from the broad back of the mighty bird, her steps light and elegant. She gently smoothed the feathers drooping along her companion’s side before striding toward the camp.

On the way, she glanced up and saw a towering hexagonal framework rising dozens of meters high in a nearby clearing.

The structure was clearly unfinished; its upper levels were still being built up with various additions. In the dim daylight, she could make out jagged steel reinforcements and rune-engraved pillars crisscrossing inside the frame like the bones and veins of a giant. A faint glow of runes shimmered near the base, providing a steady magical power source for the entire construction site. Within and around the sturdy scaffolding, powerful mechanical devices and weight-reducing pallets continuously transported building materials and workers to all parts of the frame, pouring the tower’s body and embedding magical mechanisms.

A little farther from the site, stretching toward the Black Forest, a narrow strip of land showed a series of smaller towers either newly erected or taking shape—these were the “pressure relief points” or “purifiers.”

Despite the cold winter, construction had not slowed. In fact, with all machinery and personnel in place, several temporary frontline factories within the base had started operations, greatly improving efficiency.

Even a high-ranking messenger from the Silver Empire couldn’t help but sigh in admiration: “The Cecileans’ efficiency… it’s terrifyingly high…”

A voice nearby interrupted Sonia’s thoughts. “You’ve only been gone two days. No need to be so amazed—the changes in two days aren’t that big.”

Sonia turned to see Gawain smiling not far off. She smiled back, walking over as she said, “Elves are good at perceiving subtle changes. I can even count how much those workers have raised the buildings in just these two days…”

“How much?”

“…Well, that was a metaphor. You weren’t this nitpicky seven hundred years ago!”

“Sometimes a joke helps keep the right mindset. That’s precious in this wasteland,” Gawain said lightly, shifting the topic. “Any reply?”

“You probably guessed already. Rosetta Augustus welcomes your visit at any time. He will receive you with the highest honors—those reserved for heroes and top nobles of neighboring countries,” Sonia said, pulling a finely carved wooden tube from her side and extracting a letter sealed with magical thread and wax. “This is his reply.”

Gawain’s eyes fell on the scroll bearing the Typhon royal crest.

After a brief pause, he took the letter, opened it, and quickly scanned its contents.

The ruler of the Typhon Empire responded to Gawain’s earlier letter with impeccable wording—polite yet dignified. At the end, the visionary emperor gladly accepted Gawain’s visit and expressed a warm welcome.

Moments later, Gawain folded the letter away, exhaling softly. “Good. I’ll set out tomorrow.”

Sonia blinked in surprise. “So soon?”

“I’ve wanted to meet the Typhon emperor for a long time and have been preparing for this,” Gawain said casually, then added, “By the way, your queen has sent word—the Silver Empire has officially established deep technological cooperation with the Cecile Empire. You and your messenger team will stay here temporarily as exchange envoys. Since you’re away, Bannam the mage has accepted the queen’s orders on your behalf.”

Sonia blinked again, momentarily stunned.

So soon?

She wasn’t surprised by the news itself. Ever since learning that the Cecile Duchy intended to establish technological exchanges with the Silver Empire, she had expected the Silver Queen to agree—she was never rigid or conservative, and more than half of her trusted court advisors were reformists. She just hadn’t expected the news to arrive so quickly.

Setting aside the necessary bureaucratic steps like drafting documents and departmental coordination, this proposal was likely approved within two or three days!

The high-ranking messenger lowered her eyelids slightly, thoughts stirring.

…This isn’t a normal speed for passing a proposal.

The queen and the “Iron-Fisted Prime Minister” Valendian must have pushed this through directly.

It seems… the troubles the star mages face are even greater than outsiders imagine.

…

Dark, filthy clouds blocked the wasteland sky. The sun’s outline was hidden behind the thick veil, its presence only confirmed by the faint, shifting glow that marked the passing of day and night.

Inside a stone palace rising from the Typhon Peak base, Rosetta Augustus sat at his desk, reviewing documents freshly transcribed by his attendant.

These papers contained the empire’s most critical intelligence and matters requiring the emperor’s direct orders. They had been relayed through a network of mage towers along the way, transmitted at near limitless cost—each letter’s expense equaled two years’ income for an ordinary family.

The documents were few, and only a small portion required his personal instructions. Most were detailed reports on domestic affairs, the noble council, and various military legions. Rosetta quickly finished reviewing them, a faint, almost imperceptible smile of satisfaction flickering across his stern, somewhat grim face.

Grant Duke Ferdinand Wendell, who governed the empire in his stead, was doing an excellent job. The empire ran like clockwork.

The emperor stood, handing the processed documents to the chief attendant waiting nearby. He exhaled softly and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

A third of the Typhon Peak base stretched out before him.

Empire engineering mages had shaped this base through magical marvels. Before winter’s arrival, hundreds of mages had transformed this corrupted, twisted land into a camp using spells that turned fossils to mud, mud to stone, and built walls and rock formations. On this foundation, they had drawn a fortress array and set up a magical shield protecting the entire base. Now, protected by this shield, craftsmen and engineering mages worked in shifts, constructing the crucial “secondary tower.”

He could see a shimmering magical glow on the base’s southern side. Several mages floated in the air, using mage hands to stack massive stones on a high platform. The partially built structure already revealed the outlines of the first and second octagonal tower levels.

It had proven effective to systematically register and manage supernatural practitioners under state control. Without this “new policy” implemented over a decade ago, who could have imagined the existence of “engineering mages”?

Yet Rosetta frowned slightly as he gazed out.

In Ansu, in the suddenly rising Cecile Duchy, they seemed to have gone even further and more thoroughly down the path of “using supernatural power for development” than Typhon…

Was that path the right one?

A rhythmic sound of boots interrupted his thoughts. He turned to see a young female knight with determined eyes, tall stature, and shoulder-length gray hair standing behind him.

“Your Majesty,” the young Wolf General, Andersa Wendell, bowed her head. “Lady Shiva the Wanderer has received a message from messenger Sonia. The visitor will arrive soon.”

Rosetta was somewhat surprised but nodded calmly. “I see.”

Shiva the Wanderer was the Silver Empire’s envoy to Typhon, while Sonia Frostleaf was the messenger for Ansu. Elven messengers were a unique profession—not mere couriers of letters and parcels, but masters of communication magic, especially the special transmission magic used among messengers.

They could relay messages between kin with minimal mana loss, as long as they were within a certain distance. Now that Shiva had received the signal, it meant Duke Gawain Cecile was very close—something Rosetta hadn’t expected: he hadn’t anticipated the visitor’s arrival to be so swift.

“Andersa,” the Typhon emperor suddenly said, “how do you think that ancient duke who returned from death traveled here?”

“How?” The young general paused, then quickly grasped the question’s deeper meaning.

For rulers like the Protector Duke and the emperor, every journey and visit carried special significance. Every action was a form of “diplomatic language.”

Gawain Cecile was coming to the Typhon camp, crossing a considerable distance through the wasteland.

Monsters roamed everywhere. The base’s outer outposts faced attacks roughly every three days. The open, unprotected wilderness was even more dangerous.

Crossing the wasteland itself was a demonstration of strength.

He obviously wouldn’t arrive on the giant eagle for safety and convenience—that would be humiliating.

He could bring a large, well-equipped, well-supplied guard, showcasing his army, duchy, and even, to some extent, the power of the Ansu Kingdom.

Or he could rely on his legendary personal strength, bringing only a few elite warriors to cross the wasteland—a display of his own formidable might.

For an imperial ruler, Rosetta Augustus clearly feared the former more.

“He came quickly,” Andersa said after understanding the question’s implication. “If he had brought a normal army, he wouldn’t have made it this fast. So he probably traveled with only a few guards, relying on his legendary strength to cross the wasteland.”

She shook her head slightly. “Maybe the legendary ancient hero is just a reckless brute… here to show off his personal power.”

Rosetta looked at Andersa quietly, as if about to say something. But before he could speak, faint commotion and a distant, sharp whistle-like sound suddenly drifted in.

The emperor and his knight exchanged glances.

At the same moment, outside the gates of Typhon Peak base, Gawain and Amber sat in the back of a magi-car.

Before them stood a towering stone wall about ten meters away. A few Typhon soldiers, looking somewhat startled and unsure, were standing atop the wall, pointing and whispering among themselves. Two mages had flown over from a distance to check the situation, while behind them, a convoy of three magitech vehicles and four “Steel Ambassadors” lined up in a neat row.

Amber craned her neck, scanning the spiked fortress the Typhons had built, unable to help but compare it to Cecil’s own base. “They must have used Wall-Building and Rock-Shaping magic to just… pull it up like that. It’s not as polished as a reinforced concrete wall, but it looks pretty impressive. And their base seems even bigger than ours.”

“The Typhons arrived at their construction site earlier than we did,” Gawain said casually.

“Hey, hey,” Amber leaned closer to him, lowering her voice, “Do you think the Typhon emperor would be interested in your proposal?”

“I don’t really care,” Gawain replied with a shrug. “I’ve got to get the vehicles out first, anyway.”

(End of chapter)