Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1073: Chapter 1072: Gathering Clouds

Year 3 of the Cecil Era, 15th day of the Revival Month, Revival Festival.

The crucial international conference was finally scheduled for the sixth day after the end of the Revival Festival holiday. The approaching conference date also added a special significance to this year’s Revival Festival. From the beginning of this month, administrative offices at all levels began spreading the word, explaining in the simplest terms the major international event about to take place and the empire’s role in it. Even the least informed knew about this major event, and those with some poetic sensibility linked the conference to the month of Revival, leading to a sense of hopeful anticipation for the future.

As the esteemed scholar Godwin Orlando wrote in a newspaper: This world is about to end its history of isolation and estrangement. People who should have been standing shoulder to shoulder will truly unite this spring. This is the first ray of sunshine after the end of winter, warm like this very spring.

Meanwhile, as the conference date approached, this year’s Revival Festival in Cecil Castle differed from previous years in other ways—more foreign faces appeared in the city, bringing with them more news from exotic lands.

Actually, Cecil Castle has never been short of foreign faces. As the first magic-guided city in the world, and as the first open and international metropolis, the city’s exceptional technical treasure and incredible commercial order have continuously attracted guests with keen eyes and sharp senses. Long-distance visitors seeking knowledge and wealth are always coming in droves. Especially after the empire’s main railroads were completed, the travel cost for foreign visitors entering Cecil decreased significantly, making gray elf merchants, who were originally rare, now frequent visitors to the imperial capital. In this way, the diverse foreigners are one of the specialties of the Cecil Imperial Capital.

What sets this year’s Revival Festival apart from previous ones is the appearance of visitors from even more distant places.

In the city center, the shopping streets were adorned with lanterns and colorful decorations. Citizens used colorful draperies and various neon lights to embellish their shops and streets. Symbolic items celebrating the advent of spring and hoping for a prosperous year were hung on street lamps and building exteriors, blending tradition and modernity in a magical way. Children ran joyfully up and down the streets, their laughter echoing through the alleyways.

A pair of pale yellow, feline-like eyes shimmered beneath a white hood, observing the incredible human city with interest. The face surrounding those eyes was covered with fine, smooth brown and white fur, outlining a face that was both rough and gentle in a feminine way. When a street ”Mage” casually shot a series of colorful light bullets into the sky, causing the surrounding children to cheer, that feline-human hybrid face couldn’t help but show an expression of slight surprise, and the cat-like pupils slightly widened.

”This is truly incredible,” a slightly hoarse voice came from beneath the hood. ”Venna, I didn’t expect there to be so many mages in the human world—they even perform magical missiles on the street for children.”

A small figure, about the size of a child, stood next to the ”Feline Lady” and tried hard to look up at the nearly two-meter-tall ”childhood friend” as she responded: ”Camilla, you got it wrong—that’s not a real Mage. He’s probably an artist hired by one of the nearby shops, or maybe even a store employee. That’s not real magic, just low-power light bullets released from a Magic Transmission Terminal.”

As she spoke, the petite lady—Venna Baizhi, the leader of the gray elves, shook her head: ”Cecil Empire doesn’t have more Mages than we do, and if we count our witch doctors and Priests, the number of their Mages is even less than Augari’s. But their magic guide technology is very advanced. Everyone with a Magic Transmission Terminal is at least equivalent to a Mage apprentice or a low-level Mage. Of course, I’ve heard that the Mage community in Typhon is quite large, so they might have Mages performing on the streets...”

The tall ”Feline Lady” called Camilla showed a surprised look: ”You know a lot—didn’t you say that gray elves only dealt with Cecil people in the western regions and didn’t understand the overall situation of the human empire? But it seems like you know quite a bit about the Typhon Empire too.”

Venna Baizhi sighed: ”Well, I indeed haven’t interacted much with the humans to the east, but don’t forget, Melita is studying in this city—she wrote me several dozen pounds of letters just last autumn... You can’t imagine how detailed the text in those letters is. I could even piece together the wear patterns on each pavement tile from them...”

Camilla immediately showed a look of shock and admiration, as well as great skepticism: ”Are you serious? Then piece it together for me...”

Venna was taken aback for a moment and looked helplessly at the orc leader in front of her: ”Camilla... Has anyone ever told you your sense of humor is quite problematic?”

Camilla looked serious: ”No, my sense of humor is very strong among the beastmen—my tribespeople call me the ’Humorous and Cheerful Queen’.”

Venna: ”...If you say so.”

Camilla felt a bit baffled but didn’t sense any anger from her friend’s demeanor, so she quickly shook her head indifferently and casually said: ”Aren’t we going to see Melita today? I haven’t seen that girl in a long time either. The last time was at the Ancestral Peak festival, and back then, she was only about this tall...”

The beastmen leader bent down to demonstrate the height but quickly realized it wasn’t enough and squatted down: ”...About this tall.”

”It’s about enough now, it’s nearly enough,” Venna immediately glared at the other, ”even Stella was taller than that!”

”Sorry, I am a bit unsure,” Camilla squatted on the ground, making eye contact with Venna, ”So, are we really not going to see her?”

”We’ll go tomorrow. Today we need to meet with Princess Heidi, even though we’re not here for an official state visit, the delegation will eventually have to stop by Cecil City,” Venna shook her head. Her gaze drifted past Camilla’s fur-covered face to the street in the distance. In her view, the broadcasting device at the far end was displaying dazzling visuals, seemingly introducing the international conference to be held at Silver Empire’s Outpost 112, and the foreign races expected to attend. She saw gray elf faces, as well as tall beastmen and short dwarfs, ”I heard the dwarf delegation has also arrived in the city, but they’re in a different area from us.”

”That elf outpost is located at the border of the wasteland, and to reach the outpost, one must cross human land—this city is the only suitable transportation node in the northern continent. Envoys from the north and west with normal logic would certainly gather and transfer in this city. After all, riding a magic-guided train is much easier than trekking through the wilderness,” Camilla said, seeming to suddenly notice something. Her gaze swept the surroundings: ”Venna, why do some passersby look at the two of us curiously?”

”They’re looking at you,” Venna glanced at her friend, ”Beastmen are not common in the human world—especially beyond the Plains of the Holy Spirits, orcs like you are even rarer than gray elves.”

Camilla immediately showed a surprised look and instinctively pulled her hood: ”What! Has my disguise been seen through? How did they figure it out?”

Venna looked helplessly at Camilla’s back: ”Your tail has been swishing around outside for a while now—haven’t you felt the cold?”

”So that’s how it is!”

...

In the eastern part of the city, within the industrial area, a construction site is bustling with activity. Enormous magic-conducting machinery roars, racing against time to catch up on the construction progress delayed by winter—despite the strong festive atmosphere, many of Cecil Clan’s projects in this rapidly growing city do not cease operations completely due to holidays.

Standing on the empty land beside the road, Baramo Blacksteel, short and stocky with a yellow beard and messy hair, clad in a black light armor, watched in amazement as the giant mechanical claws effortlessly moved heavy steel and earth as if lifting a ball of cotton to its predetermined location. This dwarf emissary from Forge City had his whole face flushed with excitement, using his muscular arm to nudge his companion’s shoulder: ”Hey! Paladin!! This thing seems even stronger than our Rune Stone giants! No wonder you’ve been so eager to understand Cecil Clan’s magic guide technology and bring it into Forge City—I am convinced by you, I will return and join you in presenting this to His Majesty Morton!”

”You are convinced by the facts, not by me,” said Paladin Glintrock, who was equally short and stocky, with gray beard and hair and a voice like thunder rolling through the mountains, looking at the heavy machinery with equally excited eyes, ”In White Feather Port, I saw their mechanical ships, and I knew then that these mighty things would change the world sooner or later—look at this steel, look at these stones, and those mechanical beasts, there are countless places in our Ironstone Hills and Forge Mountain for these beasts to show their might... The only pity is that these things seem to be quite expensive.”

”Yes, all are quite expensive, many good things in this world are available but clearly priced—Cecil Clan’s machinery and potions, the minerals and crystals from the eastern part of the continent, the elves’ botanical raw materials and rare timber, those cloistered in Forge City can hardly imagine the costs involved in these,” Baramo Blacksteel fell into silence while speaking, then showed a serious expression after a brief contemplation, ”But according to His Majesty Gawain Cecil’s promise, becoming a member of the alliance will substantially lower trade costs between countries, and many items originally restricted for export will be allowed to be traded. Plus, with the reopening and establishment of the southern and northern ring continent routes, the shipping costs for trade goods will also become very low.”

”If these promises are all fulfilled,” Paladin Glintrock grumbled, ”opening up the southern and northern ring continent routes... The old ring continent route lasted only for a brief period, but it was a glorious age that remains recorded in history books... To make the ring continent route reappear in the world today is indeed a bold accomplishment, but I’m not so optimistic about it.”

”Is that so?” Baramo Blacksteel said casually, ”This matter benefits everyone.”

”Yes, it benefits everyone—because at this moment, none have ships capable of deep-sea navigation, but it’s a different story for the two human empires. To connect the ring continent route means not only Cecil but Typhon Empire must open their ports and routes and integrate with Cecil Clan’s route systems—I have no doubt those mechanical ships can sail around the continent, but the premise is Typhon must truly accept Cecil Clan’s terms. After all, as we know, Typhon’s national strength has suffered a great blow, and they couldn’t even build new ships. If they open up their routes now, the entire ring continent route leadership will unquestionably fall entirely in Cecil Clan’s hands... In the future, if Typhon people recover and want to reclaim their ocean territory, it will not be so easy.”

”The greatest regret is not failing to gain treasure, but having the ability to return fully loaded yet unable to intervene momentarily leading to a missed opportunity... The mountains’ logic applies just as well to the sea,” Baramo shook his head, then looked unexpectedly at his companion, ”I didn’t expect you’ve considered these matters so deeply—Typhon and Cecil are separated from Forge City by thousands of miles.”

”But now the entire world is connecting together, you came here by the Magic-guided Train, you know distances of thousands of miles will soon be shortened,” Paladin Glintrock spread his hands, ”In Forge City, few cast their gaze beyond the mountains, but we must have someone to understand the changes of this world. Luckily, I usually have plenty of leisure time, at least to think more about the future than those who spend all day with stones.”

”The future... The future is not so easy to fathom,” Baramo said, puffing at the corner of his mouth to let his proud facial hair flutter, ”I feel my mind has been working quite enough today, to have a good mental state for tomorrow, I think it’s best we go to have a drink.”

Paladin’s eyes immediately lit up: ”Just what I wanted, and I have a suggestion—let’s not waste time at some bar, real good liquor doesn’t sit on those flashy counters, I know a place in town that sells Frost Resistance Potion, the kick is strong...”

Baramo cast a doubtful glance: ”Frost Resistance Potion? Are you sure? That sounds like some kind of alchemical potion...”

”Trust my judgment, I’ve tried it at White Feather Port, human alchemists are more genius than you imagine,” Paladin’s eyes shone brightly, with pride as if he invented the Frost Resistance Potion himself, ”Fifty-two degrees, sauce fragrance type—it’s said even northern dragons can’t refuse the wonderful taste from the little bottles!”

Baramo looked at his companion’s nostalgic expression, without any doubt on his judgment regarding fine liquor, dispelling his own confusion, he could only exclaim: Truly worthy of the human new star city Cecil, even their potions are so extraordinary...

...

As emissaries from the north and west gathered in Cecil Castle, far in the northeast direction of Gondor wasteland, near the elf stronghold, the giant eagles from Silver Empire soared through the clear, high blue sky.

The northern areas are much colder than the southern, high-altitude air currents though blocked by Wind Shield seemed to still penetrate with a hint of chill, Perseitia Morningstar slightly squinted her eyes, sharing the vision with the giant eagle, and saw the elf outpost in the distance.

The gleaming antenna devices and streamlined rooftops and sentinel towers all pointed towards the blue sky, looking slender yet possessing a unique strength and beauty.

A grand fleet of dozens of giant eagles flew orderly around her, appearing quite majestic.

The voice of the lead elf came through the magical brooch: ”Your Majesty, we’re approaching Outpost 112, landing in fifteen minutes.”

”Understood.” Perseitia simply answered, her gaze sweeping over the distant outpost.

Cecil lies to the west, Typhon to the east.

”Seven hundred years...” the ruler of Silver Empire murmured softly, ”Unconsciously, humans have split for seven hundred years... I thought I’d never see them together again.”