Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 934 - 933: Another Invitation

Gawain was not surprised by My Little Pony... Melita Ponia’s return. Ever since he first rejected the ”invitation” from the dragon god, he knew this matter wouldn’t end so easily. An invitation from a god to a mortal cannot be a mere whim, and it certainly wouldn’t end with a simple refusal—it’s just that the gods have immense patience and don’t mind waiting for a momentary delay.

The only thing that surprised him was how quickly the second invitation came, not even waiting for a winter to pass.

He nodded at the agent before him and casually asked, ”Does your ’god’ have anything new to say this time?”

”He said you can still refuse, or postpone your visit based on the situation. It’s just a friendly invitation,” Melita Ponia said with a serious expression, her attitude becoming cautious when the topic involved gods. ”Additionally, he asked me to convey a message.”

”A message?” Gawain showed a hint of curiosity, ”What is it?”

Melita lowered her head: ”...Not all gods leave as harmless as the Goddess of Magic. The chains binding gods and humans are not that simple.”

Gawain’s expression instantly grew solemn.

He had already planned to refuse again because, no matter how he looked at it, he didn’t have the leisure to travel to the distant Talronde and certainly didn’t intend to take such a huge risk. Yet the message conveyed by Melita stirred up unexpected waves in his heart—the first part of the message was understandable, as he knew not all gods leave like the Goddess of Magic; even the War God on the side of Typhon clearly had no intention of leaving quietly, but the second part of that message...

Not as simple as a chain... There was clearly a deeper meaning.

Gawain furrowed his brow slightly, revealing a thoughtful expression, while Melita showed a slight smile: ”You can take your time to consider; our god does not require you to respond quickly.”

Gawain chuckled: ”What if I consider for a whole year and still don’t give an answer?”

”Then take a year to consider,” Melita said calmly, ”I can find a place nearby to settle down.”

Gawain was speechless for a moment and then shook his head wryly: ”...Long-lived races truly have patience, both you and your god.”

”So do you intend to consider for a year?” Melita asked curiously, ”If so, I should start looking for accommodation.”

”Wait a moment, let me think first.” Gawain waved his hand, signaling Melita not to leave yet. He then slightly narrowed his eyes, his mind quickly processing.

This was already the mysterious ”Dragon God” inviting him for the second time... and at such a short interval. Although the god’s attitude seemed patient, the fact of the two consecutive invitations itself was enough to indicate something...

The god seemed eager to meet him, to the point of setting aside divine dignity—if some principles of judging mortal actions apply to the gods as well, then Gawain could almost confirm that the ”Dragon God’s” attitude towards him was not just simple curiosity.

Yet the key lies in this: What reason does a ”god,” a god ruling over the dragonkin, have to meet a ruler of the human world? Gawain didn’t think he had any connection with the god, nor could he think of anything about himself worthy of the god’s attention, unless... it was related to the satellite system behind him, and the ”Voyager” fleet behind the satellite system.

Should he really go?

Gawain’s heart quickly weighed the pros and cons. From a rational standpoint, he felt it was absolutely inappropriate to undertake such a journey now, especially one with potential risks. However, a vague intuition and the message from the Dragon God conveyed by Melita swayed his thoughts. He had a vague sense that this seemed to be a very critical choice, crucial for both himself and the ”Dragon God,” and concerning the future.

This decision couldn’t be judged solely on rationality and appearances.

The ”intuition” of a legendary powerhouse must be taken seriously; Gawain hadn’t forgotten this point. So after some brief contemplation, he took a deep breath and began checking his other ”cards.”

He emptied his mind, concentrated his spirit, attempting to stretch his senses high into the sky, allowing his consciousness to transcend his current form, to communicate with that ”other pair of eyes” amidst the stars. His spirit rose higher and higher, his senses gradually departing from the human five senses, and finally, once it crossed a certain threshold, there was a boom in his mind, and the view before him had changed.

He hadn’t entered the ’satellite’ perspective but instead directly connected with the ”Firmament Station” above the equator.

This was quite a consuming operation; he still remembered the mental exhaustion ”incident” from last time when he accidentally forgot about the time and stayed connected too long. Therefore, as soon as he successfully established the connection, he began timing in his heart and simultaneously started mobilizing the remaining commands in the Firmament Station according to his memory, checking those satellites and space stations connected with the Firmament Station, checking those steel tombstones that have been forgotten for millions of years.

A miniature holographic projection representing all the orbital facilities in space appeared before Gawain’s ”eyes,” where each flashing model was orbiting the planet, and next to nearly ninety-nine percent of the miniature models floated red warning signs, indicating that the corresponding platforms had gone offline or were on the brink of disintegration due to severe damage.

His gaze moved among this complex group of orbital facilities, where, above the arctic, he caught sight of a space station and two small satellites flying over the top of the orbit.

The planet itself was merely a light blue representation, with no sight of the Talronde Continent. However, he knew that every moment, every second, there was at least one orbital facility performing surveillance over any inch of land and ocean on this planet. From a certain angle, even gods descending to the mortal world couldn’t escape the ”eyes” left by the Voyagers.

It’s a pity these eyes are in poor condition.

Gawain sighed slightly in his heart, beginning to tentatively communicate with a surveillance satellite positioned above the north pole—it was a satellite that brought him a strong sense of familiarity. If his guess was correct, that satellite should have some data association with his ”essence,” possibly of the same model or on the same channel. Among all these defunct space facilities, those that evoke a ”familiar” feeling were most likely to be reactivated and brought online.

At least, Gawain thought so.

However, after several consecutive attempts, the satellite still showed no response, with only a few cold responses from the Firmament Station: ”Target system-offline/unresponsive. Operation-try again/unresponsive. Facility abandoned-(some kind of garbled text).”

It seems investigating Talronde’s situation directly through this ”add-on” of surveillance satellites is impossible... Dreams end merely as dreams.

Gawain abandoned the idea of restarting the satellite, and then turned to testing other things at the Firmament Station, verifying more of his hypotheses...

...

”What’s he doing?” Melita asked curiously, looking at Gawain, who had been standing still for quite a while. ”Did he fall asleep standing up?”

”Don’t mind him, he often does this,” Amber responded nonchalantly to Gawain’s ”out-of-body” state while skillfully acting as a guardian and casually said to the agent, ”He’s in ’deep thought.’ But sometimes he really does fall asleep...”

As she spoke, she shook her head, but couldn’t help recalling the times when Gawain’s ”out-of-body” state had startled those nearby.

To be honest, even though she seemed carefree on the surface back then, internally, she was genuinely scared. After all, this legendary knight who rose from his coffin had died once before. No one in this world could say for sure how long someone who had died once would last after coming back to life. Of course, Amber only worried about this back then; nowadays, she no longer doubts Gawain’s state after rising from his coffin. According to her judgment, this hero who rose from the grave is quite robust. He could slam her against a wall with one hand, seemingly able to live for another forty millennia...

As Amber was lost in her thoughts, Gawain’s voice suddenly echoed beside her, startling her, and slightly pulling Melita Ponia from her wandering mind: ”I can make a trip.”

Gawain spoke as he set his gaze on the agent in front of him.

Melita was stunned for a moment, probably not expecting Gawain to actually agree to the invitation from Talronde after such contemplation. A few seconds later, she reacted, and uncertainly confirmed, ”You’ve decided?”

”I’ve decided. In fact, I am quite interested in Talronde,” Gawain nodded, and then quickly changed his tone, ”But I can’t leave yet.”

”Do you need to make preparations?” Melita showed no surprise, ”Of course, that’s perfectly fine. I understand your status and responsibilities — if you want to leave for a while, proper arrangements are necessary.”

Gawain hummed in agreement: ”I do need to prepare, and there’s another very important matter that I must personally oversee. I can’t leave until it is settled.”

Melita displayed a hint of curiosity: ”An important matter?”

Gawain glanced at the agent and smiled: ”It seems you just returned to the human world recently, otherwise you might have heard some rumors and guessed what it is.”

”Ah, I indeed returned to the Loren Continent just today — I didn’t even pause before coming to find you,” Melita said with a light smile, ”Looks like I missed something?”

Gawain nodded: ”The Goddess of Magic has fallen. I have to personally oversee a very important funeral.”

Melita: ”...”

The agent was petrified, her smile frozen on her face. At this moment, Amber took the opportunity to exclaim in surprise while looking at Gawain: ”You really want to go to the land of dragons!?”

”It’s necessary for me to go,” Gawain said with a faint smile as he looked at her, ”In a way, this could be the Cecil Empire’s greatest ’diplomatic progress’ since its establishment — we will establish contact with the Dragonkin.”

Amber still stared wide-eyed, clearly feeling that this matter wasn’t as simple as it seemed. However, before she could continue speaking, Melita Ponia had snapped out of her astonishment. The agent stared dumbfounded at Gawain, finally managing to speak: ”The Goddess of Magic has fallen?! And a funeral?!”

”You should keep an eye on the newspapers lately,” Gawain smiled and nodded, ”There will be a lot of extensive reports.”

”And extensive reports!!” Melita’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, ”Is this matter public?!”

For a moment, this humanoid dragon felt a strong sense of disorientation and dizziness, unsure if she had misheard. She had only been away from the human world for a short time, yet how many crazy changes had occurred on the Loren Continent?!

— As an ”ordinary agent of the Mithril Vault,” coupled with the fact that she had been resting at home recently, she hadn’t paid attention to the human world at all and was naturally unaware of the fall of the Goddess of Magic.

Confronted with Melita’s astonishment and inquiries, Gawain merely kept a mysterious smile, offering no further explanation or new questions.

Seeing the ever-graceful Miss My Little Pony looking so overwhelmed and astonished was quite amusing.

...

A few minutes later, Melita left the gardens of the Cecil Palace.

Walking down the still bustling city streets, the humanoid dragon from Talronde couldn’t help but glance back at the rather modest ”palace,” an odd expression on her face.

Her fingers touched a few tube-shaped objects she carried with her; these were specially designed vacuum injectors filled with a concentrated enhancer to stabilize her spirit even in human form, something she prepared specifically for today’s meeting.

Before seeing Gawain, she had braced herself for the possibility of her heart bursting again (along with the mental preparation for it), even though passing on an invitation shouldn’t have involved many risk factors. Nevertheless, her past experiences of getting injured had made her fully prepared for ”unexpected work-related injuries during conversations.” Yet today’s talk with Gawain didn’t encounter any danger, her enhancer remained unused, nor did the safety valves recently installed next to her heart.

However, despite all this, Melita still felt her heart pounding at this moment — every single one of them.

A mortal emperor preparing to host a funeral for a god...

The agent shook her head, slowly withdrawing her gaze, with an odd smile in her eyes.

Even without involving ”seals,” the ”ordinary” topics were still quite daunting.

She began to walk deeper into the somewhat familiar human city.

It seemed she would stay here for a while longer and should arrange her stay sooner rather than later. She wanted to pick a comfortable place to stay and witness this... mortal’s farewell to a god.