Chapter 906: Chapter 905: The Mysteries Modir Left Behind

When he saw yet another person appearing on the so-called "Steel Island" where Modir Vealt was trapped, Gawain instinctively raised an eyebrow, sensing something amiss.

The timing of this gold-haired woman’s appearance... was just too coincidental.

In the notebook, the now-clear-headed Modir also clearly had similar doubts—

"... After Lady Melita left and never returned, I realized that there was something exceptionally peculiar about this Steel Island. Typically, there shouldn’t be any dragonkin actively coming to this island, so I even prepared for the possibility of being trapped here for a long time. The appearance of this gold-haired woman... did not give me any hope or joy at first sight, but rather only tension and unease.

"In this eerie place, any person or event that appears without warning is enough to make one wary.

"Maintaining my vigilance, I actively inquired about the woman’s origins. She told me her name—she said her name was Enya, and she lived on a nearby continent.

"Nearby continent—that obviously refers to the dragon kingdom. Therefore, I asked if she was a dragon transformed into human form. Her answer was quite odd... She said she was indeed a member of the dragon society, but whether she was actually a dragon... was not important.

"This only added to my confusion, but the experience in that tower taught me one lesson: in this eerie sea, it’s best not to be overly curious; knowing too much isn’t necessarily a good thing, so I asked no further questions.

"In the meantime, I also noticed one thing: this self-proclaimed Lady Enya occasionally revealed faint resistance and aversion when she looked at that huge tower. When speaking with me, she also seemed somewhat uncomfortable, as if she really disliked this place, but for some reason, had to come here... Who exactly is she? What does she want to do?

"I was full of doubts yet did not inquire, while the woman called herself Enya scrutinized me from top to bottom for a long time, as if meticulously observing something, which made me uncomfortable all over.

"After observing for several minutes, she finally broke the silence and stated that she was here to offer help...

"’You have touched things here that you shouldn’t have, fortunately, I am in time to pull you out—now, the hidden danger on you has been eliminated’—those were her exact words.

"I recalled those vanished memories of mine in the tower, those few remaining fragments of images, and the scattered clues I left in the notebook, suddenly realizing that my survival wasn’t due to sheer luck or my strong willpower, but because I received external help. This self-proclaimed Lady Enya... seems to be the one who lent a helping hand.

"I expressed my gratitude to her, and she accepted it calmly. Then, she asked me if I wanted to leave this island and return to the ’place I should be’—she stated she had the ability to send me back to the human world and was quite willing to do so.

"What more could I say? Of course, I wanted to!

"Although all of this seemed bizarre, and although the appearance of this self-proclaimed Lady Enya was too coincidental, I felt that I had no other choice... Without supplies, with my condition deteriorating, unable to navigate accurately, and trapped by storms in the Arctic Region, even a top legendary powerhouse at their peak could not return to the continent alive. My previous plans of returning home sounded ambitious, but I myself knew the likelihood of their success—and now, when a powerful dragon (although she herself did not explicitly admit it) claimed she could help, I could not refuse this opportunity.

"Even though accepting help from a stranger might carry risks... I think the odds of that risk should be no higher than the odds of dying by trying to navigate through or around the storms, right? Moreover, Lady Enya always gave off a gentle, elegant, and trustworthy vibe, and my intuition told me she was trustworthy, as trustworthy as the natural laws...

"I immediately asked for her help, asking her to take me back to the human world, but before that, I first took out that strange talisman to show her and explained how it came to be in my possession—even though I didn’t know if this mysterious ’dragon’ could answer my questions, I had no one else to ask. In theory, the dragonkin living in this seaway are the only race likely to know the secrets of that tower, and if even Enya couldn’t determine the risks of this talisman, I would not hesitate to throw it into the sea.

"When she saw the talisman, Enya clearly showed surprise; she took the talisman and examined it carefully for a long time, then touched it lightly... I didn’t understand what happened; at that instant, there was no magic power fluctuation, no energy response, yet some power beyond imagination indeed appeared. I felt it descend suddenly, repressing and purifying something residual on the talisman. At the same time, the persistent, entangling feeling of panic and unease quickly faded from my mental world—I felt a sense of tranquility and warmth, and Enya handed the talisman back to me.

"’It’s safe now—it’s just a piece of metal, you can take it back as a souvenir’—that’s what she told me.

"I didn’t know whether I should believe her, but the talisman now indeed feels different, no longer emitting any unsettling aura. As a Transcendent, perhaps I should trust my intuition in this field...

"Finally, I overcame the last of my doubts and hesitations; I no longer wanted to stay on this eerie Steel Island even for a moment, nor endure its bitter cold winds. I expressed my urgent desire to leave as soon as possible, and Enya nodded with a smile—that’s the last image I remember on that Steel Island.

"Scrambled light and shadow engulfed me, and within an infinitely brief moment (or perhaps it was simply that I lost a segment of time’s memory), it felt as if I traversed a kind of tunnel... or something else. When I opened my eyes again, I was already lying on a rocky coastline, surrounded by a faintly warm light screen that was already at the brink of dispersing.

"I gazed into the distance and saw familiar mountains—I was already in the northern parts.

"And now, sitting at the edge of my own territory, I write furiously in this notebook, recording the bizarre and strange experiences of recent times—it all seemed like a mad and torn dream, full of absurd and inexplicable twists and details, yet clear evidence exists to prove that all of it truly occurred—this talisman, it now lies quietly on a large rock by my left hand, glistening faintly in the sunlight..."

Gawain furrowed his brow.

Modir Vealt... just returned safely like that, rescued by a mysterious woman who suddenly appeared, and some hidden dangers were resolved before returning safely to the human world?

In Gawain’s view, it seems similar events always require some twists and undercurrents to be "reasonable," yet the way the real world unfolds doesn’t follow the patterns of novels. Modir Vealt did indeed return safely to the northern parts of the Dark Mountain Range. His subsequent decades of life and numerous adventurous experiences can attest to this. In this "record of the voyage legend" in Modir’s Travelogue, the record of this voyage legend also comes to an end. At the very end of the record, there’s only Modir Vealt’s conclusion:

"... It’s all over. I’m walking on the road back to Bitter Winter Castle, recalling the adventures I’ve had over the past few months, and my thoughts are gradually awakening from chaos. These familiar mountains, familiar villages, and towns, and the very real people I’ve encountered on the road, all indicate the nightmare is gone. The land beneath my feet truly exists.

"While organizing my notes from the past period, I saw again those disturbing scribbles and mad ravings, and of course the word ’leave’ with an unfamiliar handwriting... Now I can confirm, this word wasn’t written out of my own will; it must have been written when Lady Enya helped, utilizing my hand. Its function might be some sort of ’mental awakening’ or a medium for transmitting power.

"I hesitated for a long time whether to leave these records — they are indeed peculiar, and truly don’t look like content appropriate for a normal travelogue. Yet in the end, I decided to preserve every trace of this adventure —Including those scribbles and the word written by Enya through my hand.

"There is no special power in these words; this fact I have verified. Leaving them serves as a warning to future generations. They can fully demonstrate the perils of adventure, and perhaps give other adventurers as rash as I an extra moment of contemplation before setting out...

"To later readers, if you’re also interested in adventure, please heed my advice — the ocean is full of danger, and the northern parts of the human world even more so. Beyond the Eternal Storm is certainly not a place ordinary people should tread. If you truly wish to go, then prepare to say a permanent goodbye to this world...

"As for myself... it looks like I’ll need to rest for a period and properly follow up on the aftermath of this reckless adventure. As for the future... well, I can’t lie to myself in my notes. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Modir Vealt is a bold, reckless person who doesn’t know how to repent, I’m simply unable to contain my adventurous urges!

"In fact, I cannot possibly be a qualified Duke, nor am I a competent aristocrat, or an adequate ruler. I’ll promptly finish ceding my title and distributing the inheritance. Neither the King nor the other Dukes can stop me. Let me continue being absurd, let me set out again to the next unknown — perhaps next time I’ll be alone, not dragging any innocents along, or perhaps one day I’ll end up dying in some place far away from the human world, with only a notebook as my companion. But whatever!

"This world full of unknowns is just so damn awesome!!"

Gawain quietly closed the thick and ancient notebook, watching its mottled, old cover hide the words inside once more. The sunlight nearing dusk shone on its restored spine, casting a faint glow amidst the gold lines and silver embossing.

After taking charge of this nation, he had specifically gone to learn about the stories behind the main noble lineages on this land, and about the series of changes following Gawain Cecil’s death. During this process, many names gradually became familiar to him.

Modir Vealt, six hundred years ago... was indeed quite a renowned figure.

Early on, he inherited the title of the Duke of the North, and then promptly passed it to his heir. He roamed the world for half his life, acting nothing like a normal aristocrat. Even among the pioneers’ descendants in early Anzu, he was extremely distinctive. To the extent that when nobles and historians mentioned this "adventurer duke," they would furrow their brows, unsure of how to portray him.

He was a great man, traversing every corner of the human world, and even many corners beyond the border of the human world. He expanded Anzu’s territory six hundred years ago by nearly a third of a duke’s domain, and found more than a dozen rare magic materials and new crops beneficial to human civilization, which had just found stability at the time. He measured the borders of the North and East with his own feet, and many things he discovered — minerals, plants and animals, natural phenomena, the magical rules after a chaotic wave — continue to benefit the human world to this day.

He was also an absurd man, abandoning his title, neglecting his fiefdom, ignoring the royal family. His contributions were genuinely motivated by interest; his whimsical actions caused nearly as many problems as his contributions. This forced Anzu’s royal family six hundred years ago to devote considerable effort to helping the Wilder Clan stabilize the northern regions, preventing chaos due to the Duke of the North’s "intermittent disappearances." If placed within the Second Dynasty where the royal family’s control greatly weakened, Modir Vealt’s willful actions might even have caused a fresh division.

Thus, the historians among the aristocrats and scholars refused to pass judgment on this "eccentric duke’s" life. They recorded his biography ambiguously, leaving no conclusions, and if it weren’t for the "literary preservation project" initiated during The First Year of Cecil, many invaluable historical records concerning Modir might never have been unearthed.

"Quite the remarkable fellow..."

Gawain chuckled, then sighed and stood up from behind the desk.

He walked to the nearby "world map," his gaze slowly roaming over it.

Modir Vealt truly left behind too many mysteries...

Gawain silently lamented in his heart, picking up a pen from the small rack beside him, the pen’s tip falling onto the land representing Talronde opposite the Eternal Storm — this land was merely indicative and not accurately detailed like Loren Continent. After a moment of hesitation and thought, he moved the pen’s tip over the sea on Talronde’s western side, leaving a mark, then added a question mark beside it.

"Another tower, is it..."

He softly muttered to himself, his gaze dropping to the coastline where Northport is located.

"A world full of unknowns..."