Chapter 834: Visitors from the North

Sir Gorosh watched curiously as the Dragonmark witch beside him suddenly changed expression. Unable to hold back, he asked, “Lady Asalina, is something wrong?”

The red-haired Asalina furrowed her brow slightly, snapping out of her brief daze. She then whispered, “No… I must have been mistaken. I thought I saw someone I knew, but that’s impossible… and their face didn’t even look the same…”

Shaking her head, she added, “Don’t mind me. Let’s continue.”

“This new Cecil Empire really is quite different from ‘Ansu’…” Sir Gorosh said thoughtfully, looking up at the strange devices glinting with metallic sheen on the city walls, the crystals floating above certain mechanical contraptions, and the deep blue banners hanging from the ramparts all the way to the ground. The banners bore the emblem of the Cecil Empire, shining brilliantly in the sunlight. All of it exuded a completely different aura from the old, gloomy Ansu of the past. “The human realms change so fast.”

“Everything about them is in flux,” Asalina replied casually. “Unlike Dragon’s Rest—where the stones have stood unchanged for thousands of years, and the old folks are even more stubborn than the stones.”

The Dragonborn had arrived.

These visitors from the far northern lands rode towering gray-white beasts larger than warhorses. They wore armor and cloaks unlike anything from the human world, carrying white banners emblazoned with dragon side-beasts. With solemn dignity, they entered the human city. The soldiers of the Cecil Empire stood tall atop the towering walls, matching their solemnity as they watched the northern guests approach Duchess Victoria and General Byron.

Following the agreed protocol, the Dragonborn halted their procession at the edge of the square. Their ambassador and advisors dismounted, guided by attendants to meet their hosts. Victoria and Byron led the officials forward to greet them. Under the solemn imperial banners, the two sides exchanged documents.

Though Byron was officially in charge of reception, the main negotiators were Victoria—more familiar with northern affairs—and several advisors present. The Duke of the North, clad in a white gown and a short ermine cloak, stepped forward first to greet the composed middle-aged man.

“Sir Gorosh, on behalf of Emperor Cecil and this land, I welcome your arrival.”

“Duchess Victoria, it is an honor to have this special opportunity to visit a great realm like yours,” Sir Gorosh smiled faintly. “I believe this will be a journey to remember.”

The Dragonborn were not ones for excessive ceremony. The newly formed Cecil Empire also valued simplicity and efficiency. The initial formalities concluded swiftly. Victoria then turned to Byron.

“General Byron, you… hmm? General Byron?”

Byron’s expression had stiffened without anyone noticing. His gaze was oddly fixed on a red-haired Dragonborn woman among the visitors—a somewhat rude gesture. Victoria quickly leaned in and whispered, “General Byron, please be mindful…”

“Ilyana?” Byron blurted out instinctively. “Is that you?”

The red-haired Dragonborn woman spoke almost simultaneously, “You’re really Byron? Wait… who’s Ilyana?”

Byron’s face shifted noticeably upon hearing her voice, as if some unbelievable truth had been confirmed. But when she asked the latter half of her question, his surprise and joy quickly turned into awkward confusion.

“Uh… weren’t you called Ilyana?”

Victoria, quick-witted as ever, immediately recalled her previous conversations with Byron and pieced everything together. She turned her head slightly, almost wanting to rub her forehead.

Byron hastily tried to explain, “I must have misremembered—it’s been twenty years after all—was it Elysa?”

The red-haired Dragonborn’s expression grew even stranger. “And who’s Elysa?”

Byron was speechless.

The atmosphere rapidly slid toward an unexpected and uncomfortable direction. Before the important meeting could be completely derailed, Sir Gorosh stepped forward to salvage the situation.

“This is Lady Asalina, the Dragonmark witch from Dragon’s Rest. She has traveled extensively in the human world and serves as our advisor on this trip. It seems fate has arranged a remarkable reunion today.”

The red-haired Dragonborn woman crossed her hands over her abdomen and looked at Byron expressionlessly.

“My alias back then was Shana.”

Byron quickly composed himself, straightened up, and coughed lightly to cover his embarrassment. Calmly, he said, “Well… at least I remembered one syllable.”

Asalina said nothing.

“Let’s return to the castle,” Victoria’s voice came like a soothing melody, rescuing everyone present. “We can’t keep our guests waiting here too long.”

Everyone agreed immediately.

The brief incident in the square became a minor footnote. The rest of the proceedings went relatively smoothly. Afterwards, the guests from the Holy Dragon Duchy were led by Victoria and others to the great hall of the Windshield Fortress.

Thick walls and the castle’s protective shield kept out the biting cold wind. A sumptuous feast was laid out, and light, cheerful music filled the hall. The earlier awkwardness lingered subtly.

After the formal ceremony, the Dragonborn and the Cecilians began to chat casually. Some personal matters could finally be discussed.

In the banquet hall, Byron and Asalina stared at each other, wide-eyed and incredulous. The strange coincidence left both unsure how to start the conversation. Victoria, marveling at fate’s twists, broke the silence.

“General Byron, is this truly the ‘female swordsman’ from your memories?”

“Yes,” Byron said, scratching his nose awkwardly. “Her face hasn’t changed a bit since then. I recognized her immediately, but I couldn’t believe my own eyes.”

“You look very different from twenty years ago,” Asalina remarked casually. “At first, I thought it was just my imagination.”

“Twenty years have passed,” Byron shrugged. “And I’m only human.”

Asalina pursed her lips, scanning Byron several times before finally saying, “…It really is you. But how is this possible? You were just a small mercenary captain in the southern lands back then. Now… an imperial general? What happened in these twenty years?”

“Sometimes I feel like it’s all a dream,” Byron chuckled, shaking his head. “But you, As… well, Asalina, what about you?”

“Hard to believe, isn’t it?” Asalina looked down at herself, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Sorry, I did deceive you all back then. My homeland isn’t Kazabrel in the North, but Dragon’s Rest in the Holy Dragon Duchy. I’m Dragonborn—but revealing that identity in the human world has its complications.”

“It’s Kazabrel,” Byron corrected immediately, then glanced oddly at Victoria. “So I wasn’t mistaken about the place name—it was her who got it wrong…”

Victoria sighed softly, almost weary. “But you got the name wrong.”

“Kazabrel?” Asalina’s eyes widened in surprise, then she shook her head. “I always thought it was Kazabrel. How did no one ever notice?”

“Twenty years ago… it was a more isolated time,” Byron sighed, then looked at the red-haired Dragonborn with a strange expression. “So you didn’t die back then, falling off the cliff…”

“But you never found my body, did you?” Asalina waved her hand dismissively. “That cliff was ‘cute’ compared to Dragon Leap Cliff.”

“So you left suddenly because you had to return to the Holy Dragon Duchy?”

“What else?” Asalina smiled. “I ran away secretly in the first place, but I couldn’t keep running forever. When news came that my father was gravely ill, I had to ‘say goodbye’ to you all in that way. Sorry, Byron… Captain. I was young then.”

“To be honest, if it hadn’t been twenty years, I might have come after you,” Byron said, glancing at the Dragonborn. “Your ‘joke’ was a bit too big.”

“…What happened to our old comrades?” After a moment of silence, Asalina swirled the wine in her glass, watching the ripples spread across the crystal vessel. She asked casually, “You’ve become an imperial general, so the others… must be doing well too, right?”

“They’re all gone. A few years after you left… it’s all in the past now.”

The two old acquaintances fell into silence.

Twenty years had separated them onto different paths. This unexpected reunion brought no miracles—only a remarkable coincidence and a chance to reminisce. After the memories, only a sigh remained.

Asalina raised her glass and drained the last of the wine, sighing softly. “Human wine is still so bland, but this taste I haven’t had in twenty years… it’s not bad now.”

Byron smiled. “Don’t romanticize it. We were so poor twenty years ago, there was no way we drank good wine like this.”

“True enough,” Asalina smiled too. “I never thought my travels in the human world back then would lead me to join this delegation today—and to be greeted by the ‘captain’ from over twenty years ago… maybe this is a good beginning.”

She lifted her eyes to look at the middle-aged knight standing before her, dressed in a crisp officer’s uniform adorned with sashes and medals.

The human world changes fast. Nobles from twenty years ago… certainly didn’t dress like this.

“Tell me about now,” she said with a smile. “How have you been these past few years?”

The image of Pea flickered in Byron’s mind. The knight, now nearing fifty, couldn’t help but show a smile mixed with joy and relief. He nodded. “My daughter has started calling me ‘father’…”

…

“Achoo!”

Pea, sitting in a chair, suddenly sneezed loudly, startling Pittman, Kamail, and the others who were adjusting equipment nearby.

“Caught a cold?” Pittman instinctively reached out to feel Pea’s forehead. “Doesn’t seem like you have a fever…”

“It’s nothing, just a sudden tickle in my nose,” Pea said through the synthesized voice from the communicator. “I wonder if Dad has met the Holy Dragon Duchy’s envoy yet. By my calculations, it should be about time… I just hope he can be serious at least during the formal occasions, and not act so unreliable all the time… Sigh, though Grant Chancellor Victoria is there too… Oh, by the way, Grandpa Pittman, do you have a magic network terminal that can connect directly to the North? Wait a moment…”

“Stop, stop, stop—” Pittman didn’t even wait for Pea to finish before clutching his head in frustration. He quickly waved his hand to cut off the increasingly chatty girl. “You don’t need to get so worked up. The Duke of the North will handle everything. As for you, it’s better to just focus on yourself for now.”

“Oh.” Pea pouted but obediently sat back down in the chair, letting the technicians fiddle with the metal device connected to the back of her neck. She only twitched her neck now and then when an itch got the better of her.

“The results look good,” Kamail said from nearby, watching the neural thorn device operate smoothly. A soft, cheerful blue glow radiated from his form. “This is the final check, Pea. Congratulations—you can now use this safely. Of course, since it’s still new technology, you’ll need to keep an eye on how it’s working and come to us immediately if anything feels off.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll remember!” Pea hopped off the chair, her tone light and upbeat. Her gaze swept across the lab and instinctively landed on another chair in the testing area nearby—there sat another subject with a neural thorn connected at the back of his head. But unlike her, this was a man dressed in a researcher’s white coat, looking every bit the professional technician.

“Is he testing the neural thorn too?” Pea asked curiously, nodding toward him.

Kamail stepped closer, a gentle, melodic hum emanating from his pale blue arcane form.

“Researcher Cohen Bell is working on a different project.”

(End of chapter)