The Dragons knew the sirens.
On this planet, except for some strange creatures hiding in the Elemental World, there were only two intelligent races that could survive the demonic waves while maintaining the continuity of civilization. One was the Giant Dragon of Tarlonde, and the other was the sirens living in the deep sea. As ancient species that had lived for a long time, even if the two races did not communicate much, they would at least have a certain degree of mutual understanding. But the understanding between them was limited to "a certain degree."
The sirens lived in the deep sea far away from the land and were rarely interested in things on land. They built a mysterious and ancient kingdom around a crashed giant starship, and the dangerous remains of ancient gods were scattered around the kingdom, making it difficult for other races to get close. On the other hand, the Dragons lived in the closed Tarlonde, bound by various taboos of the "cradle era." Under the gaze of the gods, although the Giant Dragon was very curious about the sirens and their starship, it was difficult for them to have the opportunity to contact the latter.
No one would have thought that when the cradle of Tarlonde was overturned and the shackles of the gods were broken, the first to set foot on this land would be this group of deep-sea visitors.
The water elemental, which had been sucked until it was only a dozen centimeters tall, quickly ran away. The nearby Dragons did not come forward to catch it. Melita took a few seconds to sort out her thoughts before continuing to walk toward the black-haired siren. As she approached, the black-haired siren began to look around curiously.
Kassandra had figured out the current situation. When she found that there were many Dragons around and she was standing on land, she guessed what had happened. She had to admit that the situation was a little unexpected. The experienced deep-sea witch still could not figure out how she had "swum" across, but this did not prevent her from quickly calming down and making some new goals and plans based on the original exploration mission.
Exploring the Eternal Storm and investigating it was her initial goal, but now that she and her subordinates had crossed the storm directly into the kingdom of the Giant Dragon, it was a good opportunity to investigate Tarlonde.
She looked at the blue-haired woman in human form who was walking towards her and smiled. "Hello. It seems that there was an accident on our journey and we accidentally came to your land. My name is Kassandra, and I come from Antavine. I am loyal to the ruler of the deep sea, Her Majesty the Queen of Petia. But this time, my men and I were ordered by the Emperor of the Cecil Empire to embark on this journey of exploration. "
"Hello, welcome to Tarlonde. You can call me Melita Pânia. I'm the manager of this camp." Realizing that the other party was very polite, Melita immediately showed an appropriate smile and quickly noticed the key words that the other party mentioned. "Wait, you said that you are under the orders of the Emperor of the Cecil Empire …?"
"Yes, we set off from the north port of the Cecil Empire." Kassandra nodded while paying attention to the reaction of the Giant Dragon around her. The current situation was very delicate. This "entry" was an unexpected event, and in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts due to misunderstandings, the wise decision in this case was to explain the ins and outs of their trip and their mission as soon as possible. Although Kassandra was not a professional diplomatic fish, she still knew this basic common sense. "We observed that the Eternal Storm on the northern sea suddenly disappeared, so we came to investigate the situation. We were supposed to explore near the stormy sea, but we don't know what happened. Our sense of direction, the magnetic field of the deep sea, and the magic environment have all gone wrong … "
"So, you 'swam', right?" Melita maintained a friendly attitude. Although she now had a lot to say, her rationality made her keep a straight face and began to think about the reason why this group of deep-sea visitors had deviated from their destination. "I think this may be related to the recent … incident in Tarlonde. At present, the environment of this continent and a large area of the surrounding sea has changed a lot. As you can see, even the coastline has become like this. "
Kassandra looked up with a surprised expression. "Ah, I thought these stones and islands were originally floating in the sky. I have never been to this place before."
Melita sighed. "A lot of things have happened. Anyway, please relax. We can get along well. I personally have a good relationship with the Emperor of the Cecil Empire. I didn't expect to see his emissary in this situation. Anyway, this is a good thing. Please allow me to express my apologies. Our fishing team is inexperienced. Please forgive their offense. "
Of course, she was referring to the fishing team catching Kassandra and her naga followers as "strange fish." To put it bluntly, this was even a serious diplomatic incident.
But Kassandra apparently did not care. She shook the tip of her tail and glanced at the Giant Dragon standing next to her. "Don't mind it. It's just a misunderstanding. In fact, I realized that these Dragons might have mistaken the situation at the beginning, so I took the initiative to order my men to cooperate to prevent accidental injury. You can say that I took the initiative to come ashore …"
"Thank you for your tolerance and care. These reckless young Dragons have been taught a lesson today," Melita immediately said. "Please come with me to the camp for a rest. But we are limited now. Please forgive us if we are not a good host."
Kassandra nodded. At the same time, she had seen the barracks not far away, which were obviously built with recycled waste and the ruins of the buildings outside the barracks. She asked, "May I ask what happened to Tarlonde? How did it become like this? "
"This … It's a bit complicated to explain." Melita resisted the urge to sigh again. She raised her hand and made an inviting gesture. "Please come with me. We can talk on the way."
…
At Melita's invitation, the siren Kassandra came to her residence on the broken coastline. Although it was called a residence, it was actually just one of the many temporary houses in this small camp.
In the sheltered terrain on the coast, the Dragons built square houses with alloy plates recovered from the ruins and stones mined offshore. Compared with the luxurious palaces of the past, such houses were shabby and dilapidated. In order to save materials and speed up the construction process, these houses were not big enough to accommodate the Giant Dragon Dragons. They could only let them live in their human form. But even so, these houses were still precious shelters on Tarlonde. They were at least strong enough to withstand the cold and wind of the Arctic and let people temporarily forget about the devastated land outside the walls.
"Please come in. It's a bit shabby, but compared to our compatriots who are still trapped in the wilderness and waiting for rescue, we survivors are extremely lucky," Melita said as she let Kassandra into the house and pointed to the deeper room. "I live here with my friend, Noretta, the white-haired one. She had to lead a team to patrol the wilderness on the west side of the camp. She has left now. "
"Wait outside." Kassandra turned to the nagas and then followed Melita into the house.
After adapting to the slightly dim light, she could see some details in the house. The furnishings and the house itself had a strong, contradictory style. She saw many obviously non-standard alloy plates were joined into the walls by rough cutting techniques and crude welding techniques. The lower half of the wall was piled up with primitive stones. There was an advanced holographic projection device in the corner of the house. The device should have been picked up from the ruins. It was not in good working condition. It was intermittently playing synthesized music and dazzling advertising clips. In the middle of the house was a heavy stone table with some incomprehensible magic circles engraved in Draconic runes. A crystal floated over the table, its surface shimmered, projecting some scenes near the camp.
The primitive and the advanced, the rough and the precise, the broken glorious era and the uncertain future ahead. These contradictory things were combined in such a way. Looking at them, Kassandra remained silent.
"This is our current state." Melita seemed to have misunderstood Kassandra's silence. "It doesn't look very beautiful. But it is practical for survival. At this stage, our first task is to ensure that more of our compatriots can survive and restore some social order as much as possible. As for comfort and aesthetics, they can only be left behind. "
"I understand." Kassandra looked up and looked at Melita gently. "We have been there."
Melita was a little stunned. "We?"
"Many, many years ago, the Antavern crashed on this planet. All the factories were shut down, and the engine core was extinguished. All the compartments between the core fusion tower and the residential area were full of metal debris and deadly radiation. We could only escape from the spaceship and dig holes in the primitive seabed and shallows to survive. At the same time, we had to endure the terrible loss of control of our bodies and mental dislocation. To be honest, the situation may even be worse than what you are facing now. At least for you, the atmosphere of this planet is not poisonous."
"Sorry." Melita did not know what expression to make. "We don't know this."
"Why are you apologizing? We just haven't had a chance to establish communication. "Kassandra laughed." We all live on this planet, but we haven't had any contact for so many years. But maybe it's fate. We can start to understand each other today. His Majesty Cecil once said that the fate of mortals in the world is connected. I think it makes sense recently. "
"He has a lot of sense," Melita nodded. "Most of them are being realized one by one. The rest … may come true one day."
"When he knows what happened to Tarlonde, I am afraid he will be deeply surprised," Kassandra said from the bottom of her heart. "Out of our sight, such an earth-shattering event has happened on this planet. You have created the biggest change in this world that has never happened in millions of years. Even the sirens will be amazed by this."
"But the opportunity to realize all this comes from the humans of the Lolun Continent," Melita said with a smile.
Then she paused, and her expression gradually became serious. She looked into Kassandra's eyes and said, "Ms. Kassandra, please tell me about the current situation of the Lolun Continent, especially the Cecil Empire."
"Of course." Kassandra nodded and smiled. "The world is becoming more and more 'interesting,' and the most interesting thing is that His Majesty Gwen Cecil is trying to create a new world order."
…
The northernmost mountains were bathed in the warm sun of the Month of Resurgence. The snowy peaks that had not melted gradually began to shrink. Dragon's Arrival Castle still stood on the top of the mountains as it had for thousands of years, overlooking the country of the dragons.
The Dragonblood Archduke was back.
Balogel stood on the highest terrace. The clouds in the mountains in the distance reflected the sunlight and slowly rose and fell in his field of vision. The courtiers Sir Golos Hickel, Sir Eugene, and Sir Casimir stood behind him, quietly waiting for the Archduke's orders.
All the countries on the mainland had their own ruling structure and titles. In the Duchy of Holy Dragon, 'Sir' was a very special title. It was not a clear part of the aristocratic system like other countries, but a unified title for the uppermost aristocrats. In this country full of mountains and steep ridges, those who enjoyed the title of 'Sir' were all big shots who were qualified to enter and leave Dragon's Arrival Castle freely.
"… I didn't expect to come back alive," Balogel said softly after a long silence. "Now the plan has to change."
The coming of age ceremony not long ago was like an unbelievable dream, but everything in the dream had happened. Balogel could not believe that he could return to Dragon's Arrival Castle safe and sound after all that had happened. He recalled everything he had experienced in space and in Tarlonde. At this moment, other than lamenting that the world was unpredictable, the rest was that plans could not keep up with changes.
"We haven't officially announced the death of Dragonblood Archduke. This should be considered good news," said the tall, young Sir Kersimir, who had short black hair. "Although some news still spread and caused some waves among the people, it's not a big problem. We can still change the plan more easily."
"… Indeed, if I came back a day later, I'm afraid I would have to attend my own funeral," Balogel said with a strange look. "When I flew back, I even thought about how to return to the public eye in a reasonable way, including whether to climb out of the coffin in public like Gwen Cecil … Sigh, if that's the case, the situation will be complicated."
"Ahem, fortunately, we now only need to do some appeasement and guidance to suppress the rumors about the 'palace coup,'" Sir Golos Hickel coughed dryly. "Now that you have returned, the affairs of the duchy can be carried out as usual. Should we draft a new official letter and send a new response to the Cecil Empire? Our previous response to their invitation was not appropriate … "
"Of course, we will have to respond again." Balogel nodded. "But before that … let's announce something first."
Sir Golos looked curious. "You mean …"
"The truth about this long, so-called 'exile,' the price the Dragons paid for freedom, and the truth about Tarlonde … it's time to announce it."
The white-haired Sir Eugene immediately frowned. "This is bound to cause an uproar. Not all of our people can accept this. Didn't you decide to bury the truth?"
"The truth will be revealed one day. We also have to prevent the buried truth from turning into a hidden disaster in the future. In this world, 'the unknown' and 'blindness' are terrible things. After seeing what Tarlonde looks like today, I have a deeper understanding of this matter," Balogel said slowly. "Guide the public opinion, deal with the aftermath, and let the dragonkin make their own choice."
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