Noretta? Another senior agent of the Mithril Vault?
Melita has gone on a 'pressing mission'? So, is this temporary 'substitute' Noretta also a Giant Dragon?
Hearing the voice coming from the ring, a few thoughts popped up in Gawain's mind. Then, he suddenly frowned as he realized something —
I can't play My Pony this time.
Pony is stuck!
After suppressing the strange thought in his mind, Gawain immediately coughed twice. As he gathered his thoughts, he said to the "Miss Noretta" on the other end of the ring, "It's like this, I need to ask about something. It may involve the dragon race, so I hope to talk face to face."
"Dragon … I understand." Noretta's voice paused for a second. "Please wait for a moment. I'll see you in about an hour."
Gawain blinked. Another hour had passed. The senior agents of the Mithril Treasury were truly admirable for being on call at all times. Gawain wondered where the dragons were hiding when they were carrying out their duties. Now that he thought about it, there were quite a few suspicious points in the whole thing.
…
Dark red lava meandered on the dry and hot land. The shockingly hot cyclones were wrapped in an inextinguishable flame. The burning tornadoes swept across the red sky like flaming pythons, sprinkling hot ashes and rain of fire. This was a world dominated by fire. Everything here, including the soil and stones, was in a state of constant agitation and change due to the rich state of the fire element. A large number of 'creatures' mainly based on the fire element lived in this place that was like hell to mortals, and each of them had a variety of strange 'life forms'.
Magma Leapers leaping in the lava, Fire Demons that spawned in the cracks of rocks, Living Heatwaves that rode the wind and moved swiftly. All sorts of fire elemental creatures were blindly burning, fighting, and consuming their long or short lives in this blazing world. However, a loud noise that seemed to be able to shatter space and a terrifying roar suddenly resounded throughout the entire space, causing the restless elemental creatures on the ground and in the lava lake to scatter in all directions.
"Damn it! You damned reptiles!! "
In the deafening roar, a shocking crack suddenly appeared in the red sky. A behemoth made of burning boulders and viscous lava fell to the ground from the crack. It smashed a crater with a radius of a hundred meters next to the lava lake. Then, the boulders wriggled and roared, crawled out from the bottom of the crater, and reformed into a terrifying flame giant little by little.
The giant raised its burning head and roared angrily at the sky once more. And in the sky where the rain of fire and ashes were falling incessantly, several figures of the same size were circling — those were the seven dragons.
The giant raised its arm, and a blazing flame spear had already formed. However, before it could throw the spear, a dragon's roar came from the sky. The balance of elemental forces was instantly shattered by the dragon's roar, and the flame spear was torn into pieces. Then, lightning, frost, wind, and arcane power rained down from the sky like a storm, suppressing the giant to the surface of the cracked earth.
Those low-level elemental creatures that could only rely on their instincts to move had all fled the moment this terrifying battle broke out. What rose from the cracks in the earth were pure flames that had no sense of reason.
"You … How dare you in the realm of elemental …"
A blue Giant Dragon descended from the sky and stepped directly on the head of the flame giant. A deep and majestic voice came from the Giant Dragon's mouth. "No one can owe a debt to the Mithril Vault, including the Elemental Lords."
"You bunch of lunatics … Idiots … Reptiles!" The giant struggled with all its might, but it was getting weaker and weaker under the influence of the gravity spell. "The cycle is coming, it's coming! Everything will be reshuffled, and the whole world will be reshaped. Debts, contracts, everything will be meaningless! You are doing this … "
"What a young Elemental Lord. I'm afraid you were born in the fire less than a thousand years ago. Didn't your elders teach you this?" A red dragon with thick scales, alloy plates on its back, and electronic eyes sneered and interrupted the flame giant's cursing. He stepped forward and looked down at the giant's eyes. "The world can be destroyed, and civilization can be reshaped. But even if the planet crashes into the sun, you have to pay off the debt to the Mithril Vault before you die!"
The giant used all its strength and roared intermittently under the blue dragon's foot. "You … bunch of … lunatics!"
"It seems that your elders did not teach you well." The red dragon shook its head. "But it doesn't matter. We will complete the deal. You have secretly hidden the collateral that you promised to the Mithril Vault. It has been a hundred years since you promised to give it to the Mithril Vault. Today, we have the bill. With your confirmation, the Mithril Vault will collect the overdue fine and collateral today. "
The blue dragon, who was stepping on the giant's head, also lowered its head. "Also, don't forget to give a good review of this deal."
A black dragon who had been standing at the side without saying a word all this while took a step forward. Accompanied by an inaudible low chant, complex draconic runes gathered in front of her and spiraled into countless spinning arrows. The arrows approached the flame giant's torso little by little, and the latter immediately roared madly, "Stop! Stop! You can't do this! You … "
Sparks flew, and the rotating arrows easily tore open the outer shell of the stone like a knife cutting through butter. The roar of the flame giant finally weakened, and only intermittent curses were left. "You bunch of worms … You can't take it away … It took me a lot of effort to steal it … It's mine, it's my treasure …"
After a low muffled sound, the elemental shell in the giant's body was cut open by the arrows. Its solid body finally began to fall apart. Its weak and intermittent voice floated in the air. "You … are just … a group of prisoners …"
The Blue Dragon looked down at the stone skull that was quickly extinguishing, and stomped hard on it, breaking it into pieces. "Thank you for your comments. I've received your comments."
The lifeless elemental body turned into hot stones and fell to the ground.
A small flame, as small as a candle flame, jumped out of the stone crack and screamed angrily as it ran away. Its scream could be heard far away. "I will be back! I will be back! "
"Next time you are reborn, ask your elders about the market in this world!" The Red Dragon shouted at the fleeing little flame from afar. "We won't charge you a service fee this time!"
The blue dragon shook her head and a pale golden projection panel appeared in front of her. After activating the work system, she began to seriously record the attendance report. "… In summary, after the service was completed, the customer made a sincere and enthusiastic review. Due to the lack of time, the customer did not have time to choose the rating. After the unanimous agreement of the agents present, we think it should be a good rating by default …"
"Melita, don't record that. You can write it down slowly when you get back." The black dragon who summoned the arrows stepped forward and said in a somewhat young voice. "Let's clean up these things first."
"Ah, that makes sense." The blue dragon, Melita Pânia, put away the pale golden panel in front of her and looked down at the pile of hot stones on the ground. "Hiding for a hundred years … This fire elemental lord almost broke the record of debt evasion in the Mithril Vault. Now let's see what treasure this guy is hiding. It is worth the risk of breaking the dragon oath … "
An invisible magic blew across the hot stones and dispelled the last bit of malice entrenched in the elemental residue. The already fragile stone shell silently turned into dust and drifted away with the wind, finally exposing the 'treasure' that was tightly wrapped in the residue.
It was a piece of metal with a silver base and black inlaid decoration on the surface.
It was shaped like a shield, but it did not look like any standard shield in the world. It had a very symmetrical rhombus structure, and the protruding side was still flowing with a faint luster. The energy vibrations caused by the draconic magic lingered around the shield, and a low and pleasant humming sound came from the ancient and sturdy metal, as if it was resonating with some kind of resonance.
Several Giant Dragons came over. These huge creatures craned their necks and looked at the metal plate that was almost 'small' to them. It was like a group of people squatting on the ground and looking at a small pebble. After a few seconds of silence, a puzzled and curious look emerged on the scaly (or bionic skin) faces of each Giant Dragon.
"What is this?" A particularly strong red dragon muttered as it stretched out two 'fingers' of its front claws and carefully grabbed the metal plate. "An elemental lord, risking the risk of being chased by the Mithril Vault, just to keep this thing?"
The red dragon whose eyes had been replaced with electronic eyes muttered, "This is a human shield. Isn't it obvious?"
"I know a human shield, but I don't understand why an elemental lord would value it so much …"
At this moment, the blue dragon Melita suddenly interrupted the conversation of the other Giant Dragons. "Friends, I think I know the mark on this shield."
As she spoke, she raised her front claws and pointed at the mark on the surface of the diamond-shaped shield. The material of the shield itself seemed to be a bit special, so much so that it was still intact after centuries of elemental erosion. However, some of the metal parts on the surface were obviously added later. The mark was on the metal plates added later, and there were already signs of severe weathering.
But the general outline of the shield was still recognizable: crossed swords and plows.
"I seem to have an impression of this too … Ah! Last time, we had to run around to confirm whether our deceased clients showed any signs of resurrection. It seems that it was because of the owner of this mark … "The exceptionally strong red dragon exclaimed, his face showing an expression that he could not bear to look back on." This seems to belong to the human named Gawain Cecil? "
Melita nodded solemnly. "That should be the case."
The Giant Dragons at the scene were silent. These powerful supernatural creatures looked at each other, suddenly feeling that this simple and crude debt collector had suddenly become complicated.
"Mithril Vault operates with integrity. We should contact the owner …"
"But this is a lost item from a century ago. If the owner does not retrieve it on time, he will automatically give up the ownership."
"But the owner has been lying in the coffin for hundreds of years. The responsibility for the overdue payment should be borne by the person responsible, right?"
"But the person responsible is also dead!"
"Try summoning the soul?"
"I don't think so. And can you not mention summoning the soul?"
"Stop for a moment, my friends." Melita finally could not help but interrupt the increasingly heated conversation of her colleagues. "Before we discuss the lost item process, shall we seriously study this shield? Don't you think … even if this shield belongs to a legendary human hero, it is not worth the risk of an Elemental Lord? "
"Melita, you mean …"
"There is a problem with the main material of this shield. Take a closer look."
…
An hour of waiting did not take too long. Soon, Betty ran to tell Gwen that a stranger who claimed to be a senior agent had come to Cecil's palace gate.
Not long after, a beautiful and elegant lady in a snow-white dress, with long pale blonde hair and a mole at the corner of her eye, walked into Gwen's study.
"Hello." The elegant and beautiful lady bowed slightly to Gwen, with a gentle professional smile on her face. "I am the temporary senior agent of Melita. You can call me 'Noretta'."
Gwen controlled his curiosity and after ordering Betty to close the door, he nodded to the lady in front of him. "Nice to meet you, Miss Noretta."
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