Chapter 882: Retrieval

The summer breeze swirled between the city’s towering buildings, and the clear, expansive sky stretched high and far. Amber leaned back against the edge of the clock tower, her curious eyes fixed on the visitor from the deep sea beside her.

“I heard you’re not native to this world,” she began. “Magic users call it… what was it? ‘Exotic visitors’? So your entire race is made up of these exotic visitors?”

“That’s no secret,” Tyr replied calmly. “At least, we sea witches have never hidden it. We openly tell every race or civilization we interact with. But the civilizations on land are short-lived; they struggle to pass down ancient knowledge. And since we only rarely engage with land-dwellers, your scholars always find us mysterious—sometimes even dangerous.”

Her tail flicked lazily in the air as she spoke, relaxed and unhurried.

“We truly aren’t natives of this planet, but we’ve been here for many, many years. To be blunt, we ‘outsiders’ have lived here longer than most of your so-called ‘locals.’ But that means little to us sea witches.

“We come from a place very, very far away. In fact, even we don’t know exactly how far our homeland is. In ancient times, we arrived here aboard a crashed spaceship. That disastrous voyage was filled with strange, inexplicable phenomena. Some scholars from that era still survive today, but they haven’t cracked the mystery of those events, nor can they locate our true home.

“Maybe I’m getting a bit too far ahead of myself?”

Tyr suddenly paused, glancing at Amber with a hint of embarrassment.

“To be honest, it sounds complicated… but not completely incomprehensible,” Amber blinked. “I know magic users have always been fascinated by the stars, but I’ve never heard of any powerful mage actually managing to ‘throw’ themselves beyond this planet. Even the best flight spells have limits. I’ve heard that the higher you go, the more chaotic and dangerous the magical environment becomes. Rebecca’s team is trying to build a flying machine that can reach extremely high altitudes, hoping to see if magical engineering can break through those limits and get a glimpse of the world beneath us…”

As she spoke, Amber couldn’t help but glance up and down Tyr, her tone tinged with disbelief. “You said you arrived here on a ‘spaceship,’ so that means other worlds really do exist out there in the stars—and that there was, or maybe still is, technology capable of traveling between them?”

“Of course,” Tyr smiled, then quickly sobered. “Other worlds exist, and so does the technology to reach them. Unfortunately, after all these years, we haven’t managed to repair the ship, nor have we seen any other race leave this planet successfully. That second part is especially strange—as if there’s an invisible barrier around this world. It doesn’t stop anyone outright, but everyone dies before they can even touch it.”

Amber’s pointed ears twitched involuntarily, her expression growing more complex. “Have you talked about this with the old… Your Majesty?”

“Of course. His curiosity is even greater than yours,” Tyr said casually. “Long before you showed interest, he was already asking me everything about the sea witches.”

“…Would you mind telling me what your ‘spaceship’ looked like?” Amber asked, eyes wide with curiosity. “How did it fly?”

“It probably won’t be of much use to your technology—and honestly, I only know the basics. I’m not a technical expert.”

“That’s fine. I’m just curious. But if you don’t want to say, that’s okay too…”

Tyr looked at Amber’s amber eyes sparkling with genuine curiosity and couldn’t help but laugh. She stretched lazily and said in a relaxed tone, “Alright then. I just woke up from a good nap, and it’ll be a while before the next one. If you’re free, I’ll tell you how we live in Antavien.”

…

Kamail drifted into the assembly workshop, immediately surrounded by the sounds of machinery and the shouts of workers coordinating.

Not far off, a large group bustled around a massive device with a long acceleration track. Judging by the connectors at both ends, more acceleration modules were yet to be attached. Numerous magical capacitors and overload devices were fixed along the track, and a dizzying array of other apparatuses were being connected to the main body.

A middle-aged man with a thinning crown of hair was directing the workers, his face serious and focused. Sweat dampened the remaining ring of hair on his head, shining under the lights, but he paid no mind to such trivialities. The task at hand was far more important.

Kamail floated over and greeted him once noticed. “Marlin, how’s it going?”

Marlin Leslie saluted before pointing to the acceleration device. “As you can see, our previous design was scrapped. The continuous acceleration rails kept melting, which is a major problem. We’re redesigning the balance between the rails. Progress is good this time; we might be ready for the next acceleration test in a few days.”

Kamail nodded slightly.

Marlin Leslie came from a noble family—his uncle is Viscount Leslie, the governor of Tansan City—but Marlin preferred working with knowledge and technology over aristocratic affairs.

As a senior member of the Magical Engineering Institute, he led a secondary team tasked with solving the “extreme acceleration device” problem.

This device is a key part of the “High-Speed Aircraft Project,” initiated by Rebecca, head of the Magical Energy Department, and assigned to Marlin’s team for development.

This is how many projects operate now. Rebecca, as the department head, has limited time and can only focus on a few things at once. As projects grow more complex and numerous, and the technical staff expands, she delegates many foundational or short-term tasks to secondary labs or independent teams like Marlin’s. These teams receive the honors and rewards for their work, while Rebecca and Kamail personally oversee only about twenty percent of the most advanced, long-term projects.

They also regularly inspect the various teams to monitor progress—just like today.

“Princess Rebecca is currently in a remote meeting with technical delegates from the Silver Empire. She’ll be here once it’s over,” Kamail said casually while watching the technicians work. “I reviewed your last acceleration test report. Although the device melted, the monitoring array showed the accelerated body nearly reached the ‘missile limit’ before losing power?”

“But it still didn’t break through,” Marlin shook his head regretfully. “We also found severe elemental erosion on the surface of the accelerated body, likely caused by the rails failing to release waste energy in time. At such high speeds, many factors exceeded our expectations. There’s still a lot to adjust and improve.”

“Take your time,” Kamail said in a calm, reassuring voice. “Success always comes after many failures.”

Hearing the words of this ancient archmage, Marlin nodded solemnly. He wiped the sweat from his head, briefly disheartened by the smooth scalp beneath his fingers, but quickly regained his spirit and returned to calibrating and assembling the acceleration device.

…

Gawain set aside his paperwork, stretched his stiff shoulders, and sighed deeply as he walked to the window.

Outside, the sunlight was just right, and the bustling cityscape stretched before him.

Everything was finally on track. A rare period of steady growth was approaching Cecil. With a series of diplomatic ties established, overseas trade flourishing, and the new name “Cecil” gaining recognition among neighboring countries, more and more merchants, scholars, and travelers were arriving from afar. Cecil’s merchants and envoys were gradually expanding their reach to the Ogure tribes, northern nations, and even the Typhon Empire.

Magical engineering had shattered the old production order’s barriers, liberating productivity from the land on a large scale. This brought commercial prosperity and the free movement of people, which in turn fostered cultural exchange and inevitably affected relations between nations. Once distant and mysterious lands were losing their mystique as goods flowed in, and the foreigners who came with them broadened people’s horizons. Whether people liked it or not, the walls between nations, races, and civilizations were being challenged. The idyllic, seemingly peaceful but actually isolated pastoral life was under threat.

Commoners in Cecil’s heartland were beginning to meet gray elves, red valley folk, dwarves, orcs, and even fairies. Meanwhile, more humans were appearing in those races’ homelands. Of course, this was only the beginning; exchanges were still limited in scope. But without a doubt, this was the future Gawain hoped to see.

If possible, he wished this period of steady development would last longer.

A soft knock at the study door interrupted his thoughts. Betty’s voice came from outside: “Your Majesty! There are visitors!”

Compared to a few years ago, the young maid’s voice was now more mature and steady. But despite her growth, her choice of words still occasionally betrayed a hint of youthful awkwardness.

Gawain smiled and turned to let her in. “No visitors were scheduled today. Who is it?”

Dressed in the royal head maid’s uniform and a bit taller than before, Betty thought for a moment and nodded. “They’re the special guests you mentioned—Miss Melita, and the other lady who came last time.”

Apparently, she had forgotten the other lady’s name—but after a few years of growing up, she no longer boldly admitted it by shouting “I forgot!”

“Melita and Noretta? Both together?” Betty’s forgetfulness didn’t stop Gawain from piecing together the important information. Upon learning that two senior agents from the Mithril Treasury had come calling, he frowned slightly. “And they came on their own initiative…”

He set aside his doubts for the moment and nodded to Betty. “Let them in.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Betty bowed deeply, then broke into a quick trot and left. Not long after, Gawain heard the steady rhythm of footsteps approaching from the corridor outside.

Moments later, Melita and Noretta appeared together before him.

“Apologies for the sudden intrusion,” Melita stepped forward first, her tone as polite as ever. “I hope we’re not causing you any trouble.”

“Not at all. I always welcome friends,” Gawain nodded. “I just didn’t expect two senior agents from the Mithril Treasury to visit at the same time… Did you bring something with you?”

His eyes caught the heavy-looking box Noretta was carrying, and curiosity got the better of him.

Two agents arriving together, carrying such a large box—it set off a faint alarm in his mind. And somehow… perhaps it was just his imagination, but from that tightly sealed box, which looked to be crafted from some advanced magical material, he sensed a faintly familiar aura.

“Well then, let’s get straight to the point,” Noretta stepped forward and set the box down. “Our first task today is to return something to you—something you lost many years ago.”

As she spoke, she activated the locking mechanism on the case. With a soft, crisp click, the lid—made from precious arcane metal—lifted open on its own, revealing its contents.

A shield, weathered and scarred by countless battles.

(End of chapter)