Chapter 835: Chapter 834: A Visitor from the North

Sir Golosh looked curiously at the Dragonbranded Witch beside him, whose expression had suddenly changed, and could not help asking, "Lady Asharena, is there a problem?"

The red-haired Asharena frowned slightly, snapping out of a brief daze, then said in a low voice, "No... I must have seen wrong. I thought I saw someone I knew, but that’s impossible... and the face isn’t the same..."

As she spoke, she shook her head. "It’s nothing. Let’s keep going."

"This new Cecil Empire is indeed a bit different from ’Anzu’..." Sir Golosh did not doubt her; instead he raised his head, looking at those strange devices on the distant city wall that gleamed with metallic luster, at the crystals floating above certain mechanical structures, and at the deep-blue banners hanging from the battlements all the way down to the ground—the banners bore the crest of the Cecil Empire, shining brilliantly in the sunlight. All of it projected an aura utterly different from that stagnant Anzu of old. "The realms of human beings change so quickly."

"Everything about them is full of change," Asharena said casually. "Unlike Dragonwatch Keep—nothing but stones that haven’t changed for thousands of years, and old geezers more stubborn than the stones."

The Dragonborn entered the city.

These visitors from the far north rode gray-white Pack Beasts taller than warhorses, wore armor or overcoats in a style different from that of the human world, and carried White Banners bearing side-view bestial images of dragons. In an atmosphere of solemn dignity, they stepped into this city of human beings, while the soldiers of the Cecil Empire stood upon the lofty walls, watching these guests from the north with an equally solemn and dignified bearing as they approached Duchess Victoria and General Byron.

According to the agreed-upon protocol, the Dragonborn column halted at the outer edge of the square. Then the ambassador and advisers dismounted and, under the Attendant’s guidance, came before their hosts. Byron and Victoria led the officials of the Administrative Office forward to greet them, and under the Empire’s Flag, the two sides held the ceremony of exchanging documents.

Although Byron was nominally in charge of receiving the delegation, the principal negotiator throughout the process was still Victoria, who was more familiar with the northern parts of the Dark Mountain Range, along with several advisers present. Dressed in a white long dress and a short ermine cape, the Duke of the North first stepped forward to greet the steady, middle-aged man. "Sir Golosh, in the name of the Emperor of Cecil and this land, I welcome your arrival."

"Duchess Victoria, it is a pleasure to have such a special opportunity to visit another great realm," Sir Golosh showed a faint smile. "I trust this will be an unforgettable journey."

The Dragonborn did not favor excessive rituals, and the newly risen Cecil Empire likewise pursued simplicity and efficiency. The first contact between the two parties quickly ran through its procedures. Then Victoria turned her head and looked at Byron beside her. "General Byron, you... hm? General Byron?"

At some point Byron’s expression had gone stiff. He was looking with a somewhat strange gaze at a red-haired woman among the Dragonborn—undoubtedly a somewhat discourteous act. Seeing this, Victoria immediately could not help but lower her voice in reminder: "General Byron, your attention please..."

"Ilaina?" Byron blurted out before he could stop himself. "Is that you?"

And the red-haired Dragonborn woman spoke almost at the same time as Byron: "You really are Byron? You... wait, who is Ilaina?"

Byron’s expression clearly changed after hearing the other’s voice, as if some unbelievable notion had just been confirmed—but upon hearing her latter, questioning half, the joy and surprise that had not yet fully surfaced on his face instantly turned into awkward bewilderment. "Uh... weren’t you called Ilaina..."

Beside them, the quick-witted Victoria had already linked this scene back to her previous conversations with Byron and pieced together the entire sequence of events. At this point, however, she could not help turning her head slightly aside, almost wanting to raise a hand to her forehead.

Byron also quickly realized he had gotten something wrong and hastened to explain, "I might be remembering it wrong—it’s been twenty years, after all—Eliza?"

The red-haired Dragonborn’s expression grew even stranger. "And who is Eliza?"

Byron: "..."

The atmosphere on the scene rapidly slid toward a direction no one had anticipated. Before this important meeting could be completely wrecked, Sir Golosh finally stepped forward to smooth things over. "This is the Dragonbranded Witch from Dragonwatch Keep, Lady Asharena. She once traveled the human world and is our adviser on this journey—it seems that wondrous fate has arranged a long-awaited reunion for today?"

The red-haired Dragonborn woman folded her hands over her midriff and looked at Byron without much expression. "The alias I used back then was Shana."

Byron quickly adjusted his posture as well. After straightening up, he coughed lightly to cover his embarrassment and said calmly, "...Look, I at least remembered one syllable..."

Asharena: "..."

"Let us return to the castle first," Victoria’s voice came from the side, like a heavenly choir rescuing everyone present. "We cannot keep our guests waiting out here for too long."

Everyone immediately voiced their agreement.

The brief mishap in the square thus seemed to become just a small interlude, and the remaining procedures finally concluded in relatively smooth fashion. Afterward, the guests from the Sacred Dragon Kingdom were led by Victoria and the others to the castle hall of Wind Shield Fortress.

The thick walls and the barrier encircling the castle shut out the biting cold wind, and a lavish feast had already been laid out. Amid the light, cheerful music echoing in the hall, the interlude from the square resumed—

After the formal ceremonial process, the Dragonborn and members of the Cecil Clan began to chat casually, and some people could finally sit down and properly talk about their private affairs.

In the banquet hall, Byron and Asharena stared wide-eyed at each other. The unbelievable coincidence left both parties at a loss for how to start. Also marveling at fate’s tricks, Victoria spoke up to break the silence. "General Byron, is this truly that ’female Swordsman’ you remembered?"

"...That’s right," Byron rubbed his nose a little awkwardly. "Her looks haven’t changed at all since back then—I recognized her at a glance, yet still didn’t dare believe my eyes."

"Your appearance, on the other hand, is vastly different from twenty years ago," Asharena said offhandedly. "At first glance I thought it was my own illusion."

"It has been twenty years," Byron shrugged. "And I am a human being."

Asharena pressed her lips together, letting her gaze roam over Byron several times before she could not help saying, "...It really is you... but how is this possible... You were clearly just a small mercenary groups Leader on the southern borders, and now... an Imperial General? What in the world happened in these twenty years?"

"Sometimes I myself can’t help feeling all this is like a dream," Byron Kirk shook his head with a smile. "But you, Ah... mm, Asharena, what’s going on with you?"

"Is it that hard to understand?" Asharena lowered her head and glanced at herself, a faint smile appearing on her face. "Sorry, I really did lie to you back then. My home planet isn’t Kazaburgh in the northern parts of the Dark Mountain Range, but Dragonwatch Keep of the Sacred Dragon Kingdom. I’m a Dragonborn—but once that identity is made public in the human world, it brings all kinds of trouble."

"It’s Kazaburgh," Byron immediately corrected, then cast a slightly odd look at Victoria Wilder standing to the side. "So I didn’t remember the name wrong—it was her who said it wrong..."

Victoria suddenly felt a bit tired and said, almost in a sigh, "But you got the person’s name wrong."

"Kazaburgh?" Asharena’s eyes widened in surprise, then she shook her head. "I always thought it was Kazaburler, so I was wrong all along... and no one ever noticed?"

"Twenty years ago... that was a closed-off era," Byron sighed, then looked at the red‑haired Dragonborn before him with a slightly strange expression. "So you didn’t die back then, falling off that cliff..."

"Didn’t you fail to find my corpse?" Asharena waved a hand. "Compared with Dragon Leap Cliff, that cliff is downright ’adorable.’"

"So you suddenly left back then because you had to return to the Sacred Dragon Kingdom?"

"What else?" Asharena gave a small laugh. "I ran away in secret in the first place, but I couldn’t keep running in secret for a lifetime. When news came that my father was gravely ill, I had no choice but to ’say goodbye’ to you in that way. Sorry, Byron... Leader, I was very young at the time too."

"To be honest, if it hadn’t been twenty years, I’d probably be coming to blows with you," Byron gave the Dragonborn a look. "The ’joke’ you pulled was a bit too big."

"...What are our old companions doing now?" After a brief silence, Asharena swirled the wine in her glass, watching the ripples spread across the liquid in the crystal container, and asked in a seemingly casual tone, "You’ve actually become an Imperial General, so the others... should be doing pretty well too, right?"

"...They’re all gone. Just a few years after you left... they were all gone."

Silence suddenly fell between the two old acquaintances.

The span of twenty years had sent everyone down different paths, and an unexpected reunion after twenty years could not bring any miraculous twist of fate—it only brought coincidences that made one marvel, and gave those involved a chance to look back on the old days. After the reminiscing, all that remained was a faint sigh on each side.

Asharena raised her glass and drained the remaining liquid in one go, sighing softly. "The wine in the human world is still this bland, but this taste I haven’t had for twenty years... now that I try it again, it actually feels pretty good."

Byron chuckled. "Don’t get sentimental over an illusion. We were so poor twenty years ago—how could we possibly have drunk wine this good?"

"That’s true," Asharena also laughed. "I just never expected that my travels in the human world back then would one day make me a member of a diplomatic mission, and the one receiving us would turn out to be the ’Leader’ from more than twenty years ago... Maybe that’s actually a good start."

She lifted her eyelids and looked at the middle‑aged Knight standing in front of her, dressed in a crisp officer’s ceremonial uniform, Ribbons and medals hanging from his chest.

The human world had really changed fast. The aristocratic lords from twenty years ago... did not dress like this.

"Tell me about now," she said with a smile. "How have you been these past few years?"

Pea’s face surfaced in Byron’s mind, and the Knight, now nearing fifty, couldn’t help showing a smile tinged with joy and reassurance. He nodded. "My daughter already knows how to call me ’Dad’..."

...

"Achoo—"

Pea, sitting in the chair, suddenly let out a huge sneeze, startling Pittman and Kamel, who were adjusting the equipment nearby.

"Caught a cold?" Pittman instinctively reached out and felt Pea’s forehead. "Doesn’t seem like you have a fever..."

"I’m fine, my nose just suddenly got itchy," Pea shook her head from side to side, and a synthesized voice came from the speech device. "I wonder if Dad has met the envoys from the Sacred Dragon Kingdom yet. If I do the math, the time should be about right... I hope at least when he’s in a formal setting he can be serious, and not always look so unreliable... Ugh, though High Chancellor Victoria is there too... Ah, right, Grandpa Pittman, don’t you have a Magic Web Terminal here that can connect directly to the northern parts of the Dark Mountain Range? In a bit..."

"Stop, stop, stop—" Pittman’s head was already starting to ache before Pea finished, and he hurriedly waved his hand to cut off the girl who’d grown increasingly fond of rambling lately. "Don’t get so wound up. The Duke of the North will definitely handle everything properly. As for you, you’d better stay focused for now."

"Oh." Pea pouted, then sat obediently back in the chair, letting the technicians fiddle with the metal device connected to the back of her neck. Only when it felt really itchy did she involuntarily move her head a little.

"Things look good," Kamel watched the operation of the Neural Thorn nearby, a relaxed, cheerful pale blue glow flowing over his body. "This is the final check. Pea, congratulations—you can use this thing with confidence from now on. Of course, since it’s still a new technology, you need to keep an eye on its condition in daily life. If anything abnormal happens, come to us right away."

"Don’t worry, I’ll remember~~" Pea hopped down from the chair, sounding quite chipper. Her gaze swept across the lab and subconsciously landed on another chair in the adjacent test area—there, another test subject was also sitting with a Neural Thorn connected to the back of his head. Unlike her, though, he was a man in a researcher’s white coat who looked like a professional technician.

"Is he testing a Neural Thorn too?" Pea looked over that way and asked curiously.

Kamel came to Pea’s side, and from within his pale blue arcane body came a gentle, pleasant hum:

"Researcher Cohen Bell is working on a different project."