Chapter 883: Returning the Lost to Its Owner

The turn of events was so unexpected that it took Gawain a full thirty seconds to fully register what was happening.

He stared wide-eyed at the open chest that Noretta had just revealed. Inside, nestled quietly among cushioning materials made of some unknown substance, lay a shield of peculiar design—roughly the size of a medium one-handed shield. A flood of memories about this shield surged into his mind. Of course he recognized it. Although he had long since given up hope of ever finding it again, this shield had once been a trusted companion to the body he now inhabited. The impression it left in his mind was vivid and clear.

He never imagined it would appear before him now, in this form.

Noretta’s voice pulled him out of his reverie. “This is yours, isn’t it?”

“Ah, yes,” Gawain blinked and nodded. “The Ansu Kingdom’s Guardian Shield. I thought I’d never see it again in this lifetime. It was in the hands of the Mithril Vault?”

“If that were the case, we would have returned it to you long ago,” Melita shook her head. “We only recently discovered its whereabouts. The Mithril Vault has always operated with integrity, and you’re one of our most important clients, so we made sure to return it to its rightful owner immediately.”

Dragons had no reason to lie about such matters, and Gawain knew this well. He quickly accepted Melita’s explanation, then furrowed his brow with curiosity as he looked at the two agents. “Where exactly did you find it?”

“In the Elemental Realm, within the domain of the Fire Elemental,” Melita explained. “An Elemental Lord had secretly hidden it, even integrating it as part of their elemental shell. If it weren’t for the fact that this Elemental Lord happened to owe the Mithril Vault a debt, it might have remained lost for centuries.”

Gawain was stunned. “The Elemental Realm?! How did it end up there?”

Melita shrugged. “That’s hard to say—we didn’t expect the Elemental Lord to be hiding your lost item, so we weren’t prepared to ask questions in advance. By the time we realized what it was and tried to inquire, the Elemental Lord had already… well, due to some unfortunate and unavoidable circumstances, they were no longer able to answer.”

Gawain’s biceps could have figured out the elegant subtext behind Melita’s carefully chosen words. He looked at her with a newfound respect. “When it comes to linguistic artistry, you dragons really are something else.”

Melita accepted the compliment with a calm smile behind her veil, radiating a graceful reserve. “Although we couldn’t uncover all the details, we can reasonably speculate that the shield was stolen from the battlefield by that Elemental Lord—during your human civil war a hundred years ago. Perhaps some incompetent mage opened a rift to the Elemental Realm, or maybe the Elemental Lord had long planned this and manipulated an Elemental Mage to sneak their ‘hand’ through. Your shield holds immense power, naturally attracting creatures that crave magic.”

Gawain sighed. “That kind of thing wouldn’t have happened in the days of Gondor… Even elemental beings had their rules.”

Melita shook her head. “But the Gondor Empire, which even the Elemental Realm feared, is gone. The elementals today don’t respect a fractured human race.”

“…Anyway, thank you very much for bringing it back,” Gawain said, setting aside his sigh and nodding seriously to the two senior agents. Though a shield for charging into battle was no longer as vital to him as it once was, recovering a legendary piece of equipment that had shared his name was undeniably uplifting. Especially since it was two dragons who had found it—if properly publicized, this could boost national morale and even enhance the Cecil Empire’s prestige and influence internationally. His gratitude was sincere. “I won’t let you leave empty-handed. But what kind of reward does the Mithril Vault expect?”

“That kind of talk only creates distance,” Melita immediately shook her head. “We don’t charge for returning lost property. However, before handing over the shield, we’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Gawain was momentarily taken aback. He hadn’t expected these dragons, who usually haggle over every copper coin, to be so generous this time. But when Melita mentioned “a few questions,” he immediately sharpened his focus—free things were often the most expensive, and he suspected the Mithril Vault’s questions might be traps.

The two agents exchanged a glance, and Noretta spoke first. “Our first question: we want to know the exact origin of this shield.”

“Origin?” Gawain frowned, sensing something from this initial question. Before answering, he cautiously asked, “Why are you interested in that?”

“…Considering you once traded ‘God Metal’ with us, I’ll remind you,” Melita said, pointing at the Guardian Shield. “Did you notice anything unusual about the shield’s main material?”

“Material?” Gawain was startled. Suddenly, details he had overlooked in the inherited memories flashed rapidly through his mind. He bent down and picked up the Guardian Shield. Among the corroded metal parts and covering materials, he saw the shield’s original core—a silvery-white metal, its surface shimmering with tiny, star-like specks. When he touched it, he felt a peculiar warmth, unlike any ordinary metal. “This…”

He didn’t recognize the material, but some of its properties resembled another substance he knew. Or rather, they shared the same ‘advanced’ nature. It was like suddenly spotting two burly men drawn in a Hong Kong comic style in the middle of a shoujo manga world—different characters, but clearly from the same source, standing out from the rest of the world’s aesthetic.

The shield’s core material reminded him of “God Metal,” the so-called “Eternal Slate,” an advanced ancient alloy, and the weapons and vehicle wreckage imprisoning the Nature Gods in the Shadow Fortress.

He frowned slightly—these inherited memories were not truly his own. His subconscious had overlooked such details.

If he were the original Gawain Cecil, after encountering fragments of the Eternal Slate, he would have connected it to this shield. But he wasn’t. Unless necessary, the memories he inherited remained archived deep within, causing many details to slip past unnoticed.

“Looks like you figured it out,” Noretta broke the silence, watching Gawain’s expression change. “The shield’s main material is linked to the ‘Eternal Slate’ God Metal—they were made by the same civilization.”

Gawain looked deeply at Noretta.

For some unknown reason, the dragons of Talrond had been collecting “God Metal.” The true identity of God Metal was fragments left behind by the ancient “Godslayer Fleet.”

The dragons seemed to know some secrets of the ancient godslaying wars, even the origins of the Godslayer Fleet.

But they clearly had no intention of revealing these secrets. He had once asked Melita about this, nearly causing her to collapse on the spot, confirming this beyond doubt.

Since all dragons were probably similar, questions that would kill Melita would likely do the same to Noretta. So he didn’t press further on “God Metal” or the “Godslayer Fleet.” Instead, he exhaled softly, organizing his thoughts as he answered Noretta’s earlier question. “I obtained this shield when the Northern Expeditionary Army crossed the Mana Scars. Its core material was found in a supply warehouse beneath the Vipland Observatory.”

Noretta’s curiosity piqued. “Vipland Observatory?”

“The largest astronomical and celestial research center in northern Gondor,” Gawain explained. “It was built after the famous Vipland Meteor Shower. The Gondorians established research facilities there to study the extraterrestrial materials that fell to the surface. Years later, they added an observatory, an astrology hall, and a massive gravitational analysis station called the ‘Star Axis.’ Of course, all of these were reduced to ashes during the Mana Tide. Our northern forces were only scavenging for supplies in the remaining underground warehouses.”

As he spoke, Gawain couldn’t help but sigh quietly.

The once-great Gondor Empire’s technology was far more advanced than his previous life on Earth. Although their tech tree hadn’t yet reached space exploration, scholars had a solid understanding of planets, stars, and space. Sadly, all that brilliance vanished with the Mana Tide. Not only were the empire’s core talents and data destroyed, but even remote research facilities were lost.

Today, the common folk’s knowledge of the stars had dwindled to shallow notions like “we live on a planet” and “there are other planets out there.” These ideas were rapidly fading, merging with vague legends.

Fortunately, the revival of mage technology was halting this decline. Scholars, newly inspired and organized, were beginning to share knowledge hidden in mage towers and rebuild modern astronomical research centers where possible.

Noretta, unaware of Gawain’s reflections, immediately noted the observatory’s original purpose. “So the observatory was initially built to study meteorites—you found that metal in the warehouse ruins, meaning it likely fell from the sky with the meteor shower.”

Though answering Noretta’s question, Gawain himself was piecing together clues. Details he had overlooked or buried deep in memory surfaced, connecting into a coherent theory—Godslayer Fleet, Vipland Meteor Shower, mysterious metal…

A huge truth was taking shape, one he never imagined had been hidden right beside Gawain Cecil, deep within his own memories.

“You mean the metal we found in the Vipland ruins was part of that meteor shower,” Gawain said, looking at the Guardian Shield in his hands. He pictured the shield’s forging—or rather, its crafting process. “Falling from the sky… no wonder.”

“I’m curious,” Melita suddenly spoke up. “You must have found just a mysterious metal plate back then—how did it become the Guardian Shield?”

Gawain thought for a moment, then answered frankly. “None of us recognized it. Most of the expeditionary army came from humble backgrounds, and the few scholars, mages, and clerics knew nothing about the Vipland Observatory. But we found the metal incredibly sturdy, almost completely resistant to magic attacks, and it showed no signs of corrosion in the Mana Tide environment. Plus, it was the perfect size. So Charlie suggested we mount a handle on it…”

Melita: “…”

Noretta: ”…”

Gawain looked at the two agents staring wide-eyed at him and helplessly spread his hands. “You can’t expect the human expeditionary force—facing a critical supply shortage and lacking advanced technical experts—to have handled an unknown metal any better. We couldn’t just assemble a team of specialists to slowly study what it was. Back then, the expedition desperately needed stronger firepower. A shield that was practically unbeatable at the time allowed a powerful knight to protect more people crossing the contaminated zone, while a heavy chunk of metal would only slow us down. Of course, I admit that ‘just slap it on’ was a bit hasty and crude… but there was no one in the expedition with wilder ideas than Charlie. We had no better options, so Charlie’s plan was at least a choice.”

“We’re just surprised you dared to turn an unknown metal into personal equipment without first figuring out whether it was harmful,” Melita said solemnly, looking Gawain in the eye. “As a man of Gondor, you should at least have some understanding of elemental corrosion and energy radiation, right?”

Gawain glanced at Melita and suddenly laughed. “Worse than the elemental corrosion and radiation of the Gondor wastelands themselves?”

“…I suppose not.”

Melita reluctantly acknowledged that what seemed like reckless ignorance back then was actually a choice made after careful consideration. Meanwhile, Gawain stared at the Guardian’s Shield in his hands, his thoughts growing heavier—

When he searched his memories of Gawain Cecil using the shield as a keyword, sure enough, he found a gap.

(End of chapter)