Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 599 - 598: Visiting the Typhon Camp

The giant eagle swept across the chaotic, polluted sky, bringing with it a messenger and news from afar. Under the watchful eyes of the soldiers and craftsmen, the iron-gray raptor circled twice high above before landing steadily on the landing platform to the side of the Pinnacle Base, aided by guiding lights on the ground.

"Coo-coo!!"

The giant eagle, having successfully completed its mission, let out a loud and excited cry. Though its call was somewhat embarrassing, its owner was clearly used to it—Sonia jumped off the broad back of the raptor, her steps light and graceful, then gently patted her companion’s drooping feathers before striding towards the camp.

On the way, she glanced up and saw a hexagonal tower framework, several dozen meters high, standing not far away on the open ground.

The framework was evidently not yet complete, with various structures still being added to its upper levels. In the dim light of the sky, she saw the jagged steel bars and magic symbol columns stretching and intertwining within the framework, resembling the bones and blood vessels of a giant. A faint magical brilliance flowed near the base of the framework, providing a stable source of mana for the entire construction site. Inside and outside the solid scaffolding, powerful mechanical equipment and weight-reducing platforms continuously transported various construction materials and personnel to different parts of the framework, casting the tower body, embedding magic mechanisms.

And in a narrow area extending towards the Black Forest, some distance from the construction site, a series of smaller towers were either already standing or beginning to take shape—these were the locations for "pressure relief points" or "purifiers."

Even though it was already the cold winter season, these projects experienced no delays. On the contrary, as both machinery and personnel were fully in place, several temporary frontline factories inside the base began working, significantly improving efficiency.

Even the high-ranked order messenger from the Silver Empire couldn’t help but exclaim, "The efficiency of the Cecil Clan... is truly frighteningly high..."

A voice came from not far away, interrupting Sonia’s exclamation, "You’ve only been away for two days. There’s no need for such amazement—the changes in construction over two days aren’t that significant."

Hearing this, Sonia turned her head and saw Gawain standing not far away with a smile. She couldn’t help but smile as she walked over, saying, "Elves are skilled at precisely perceiving changes in things from details. I can even count how much those buildings have been elevated by the workers in just these two short days..."

"How much?"

"... Well, that was a metaphor... You weren’t this literal-minded seven hundred years ago!"

"Occasionally making a joke is helpful for maintaining one’s mindset, which is very precious in this wasteland," Gawain lightly shifted the topic, "What about the response?"

"You probably guessed already, Emperor Rosetta Augustus welcomes you to visit at any time. He will receive you with the highest honors—the kind reserved for heroes and the top aristocracy of neighboring kingdoms," Sonia said as she took out a letter sealed with magical thread and wax from an intricately carved wooden tube she carried with her. "This is his reply."

Gawain’s gaze fell on the scroll carrying the Typhon Royal Emblem.

After a second of hesitation, he took the reply, opened it casually, and quickly glanced at the contents.

The ruler of the Typhon Empire responded to Gawain’s previous letter with impeccable words, neither lacking in courtesy nor authority, and at the end of the letter, the brilliant emperor gladly accepted Gawain’s visit and expressed a welcoming attitude.

A moment later, Gawain put away the reply, which had long been within his expectations, and let out a soft breath, "Very well, I’ll set off tomorrow."

Sonia couldn’t help but be surprised, "In such a hurry?"

"I’ve been wanting to meet the Typhon Emperor for a long time and have prepared for it for quite a while," Gawain said casually, then added incidentally, "By the way, your queen has already sent a message—the Silver Empire has officially established a deep technical cooperation with the Cecil Empire. You and your messenger team are temporarily staying as exchange envoys on my side, as you were absent, Bannar the Magician accepted the queen’s order on your behalf."

Sonia blinked and was momentarily stunned.

So soon?

She wasn’t surprised by the message itself. Ever since she learned that the Cecil Principality intended to establish technical exchanges with the Silver Empire, she had anticipated that the Silver Queen would agree to the request—the queen was never a rigid conservative, and more than half of her most trusted palace advisors were reformist progressives. She just hadn’t expected the message to arrive so early.

Excluding the necessary paperwork drafting, departmental coordination, and other steps within the empire’s internal processes, this proposal was likely approved within two to three days!

The high-ranked order messenger slightly lowered her eyelids, thoughts stirring in her mind.

... This isn’t the normal speed for finalizing a proposal.

The queen and the "Iron-fisted Prime Minister" Lord Valendian directly advanced this matter.

It seems... the troubles the astrologers encountered are even greater than outsiders imagined.

...

Heavy, polluted clouds obscured the sky above the wasteland, and the outline of the giant sun was blocked beyond the cloud layer, with only a hazy glow, slowly moving, rising and falling, proving the existence of the sun, marking the alternation of day and night.

At the Typhon Spire Base, inside a stone palace rising from the ground, Emperor Rosetta Augustus sat at a desk, examining the documents just transcribed by the chamberlain.

The contents of these documents were the most important intelligence within the nation and matters requiring the emperor’s direct command. They were transmitted to the Spire Base through messaging mage towers along the way, nearly cost no object, with each letter costing enough money to support a common family for two years.

The documents were not many, and those requiring personal instructions were only a small part, with more detailed reports on domestic affairs and the situation of the Noble Congress and various military corps. Rosetta Augustus quickly processed all the documents, with a faint, almost imperceptible smile of satisfaction hidden on his cold and slightly sinister face.

Duke Ferdinand Wendell, overseeing domestic governance, was doing very well, and the empire was running in an orderly manner.

The Imperial Emperor stood up and handed the processed documents to the chief chamberlain who had been waiting beside him. Then he exhaled slightly and stepped towards the floor-to-ceiling window on one side of the room.

A third of the Pinnacle Base unfolded before him.

The Empire’s engineering mages harnessed the miraculous power of magic to shape this base. Before winter arrived, hundreds of mages transformed the decayed and twisted land into a camp using spells like Stone to Mud, Mud to Stone, Wall Construction, and Rock Creation. They then drew the fortress array on this foundation and set up a magic shield capable of protecting the entire Pinnacle Base. At this moment, craftsmen and engineering mages within the base were taking shifts under the shield’s protection, constructing the crucial "sub-tower."

He could see that on the south side of the Pinnacle Base, a shimmering magical brilliance glowed. Several mages were floating in the air, using Mage Hand to stack massive rocks on a platform. The portion already stacked revealed the outlines of the first and second octagonal layers of the tower body.

It has been proven that the policy of systematic registration and mandatory centralized management and national inclusion of transcendent professions is effective. If not for the "new policy" implemented over a decade ago, who could have imagined the existence of "engineering mages"?

However, Rosetta was observing the scene outside the window with a slight frown.

In Anzu, in the suddenly rising Cecil Principality, they seem to have gone further and more thoroughly down the path of "using extraordinary power for development" than Typhon...

Would that path be more correct?

A rhythmic sound of military boots interrupted Rosetta’s thoughts. He turned around and saw a tall young female knight with determined eyes and gray hair draping her shoulders standing behind him.

"Your Majesty," the young Wolf General, Andresha Wendell, bowed her head in salute, "Lady Shiva the Voyager has received a transmission from Sonia’s Messenger. The visitors will arrive soon."

Rosetta was slightly surprised but nodded lightly. "I understand."

Shiva the Voyager was the messenger sent by the Silver Empire to Typhon, while Sonia Frostleaf was the messenger from the Anzu side. Elven Messenger is a unique profession, working not just as imagined, merely delivering letters and packages. In fact, they are proficient in communication magic, especially in the special transmission magic used among messengers.

A messenger can relay messages between their peers with minimal mana consumption, as long as the distance is adequately close. Now that Shiva the Voyager has received the signal, it indicated that Duke Gawain Cecil was very near, which was the part that slightly surprised Rosetta: he hadn’t expected the other party to arrive so quickly.

"Andresha," the Typhon Emperor suddenly said, "how do you think that resurrected ancient Duke arrived?"

"How did he arrive?" The young Wolf General was momentarily confused but quickly understood the deeper meaning behind the Emperor’s question.

For men of the level of a Protectorate Duke and an Empire’s Emperor, each journey or visit often carries special significance, with every move in the process actually showcasing different "negotiation languages"—

Gawain Cecil was coming to the Typhon Empire camp, and for that, he would have to traverse a not-too-short journey, across the wasteland.

This place is full of roaming monsters, and the external outposts of the Pinnacle Base are attacked on average every three days. The danger level in the unshielded and unprotected wilds is even more imaginable.

The process of crossing the wasteland itself was a way to showcase strength.

He obviously couldn’t opt for convenience and safety by borrowing the elves’ giant eagles, as that would be disgraceful for him.

He could choose to bring a well-equipped, adequately supplied, and sizeable guard force, showcasing the strength of his army and principality, and to a certain extent, demonstrating the power of the Anzu Kingdom.

He could also rely on his own legendary strength, bringing along only a few top-notch experts, confronting and crossing the wasteland with a few, showcasing his formidable personal combat power.

To an empire ruler, Rosetta Augustus was evidently more wary of the former.

"He arrived quickly," Andresha Wendell quickly made her judgment after understanding the deeper implications behind the question. "If he brought a regular army, it would clearly not have been able to travel so quickly—thus he most likely crossed that wasteland journey relying on just a few guards and his own legendary strength."

After speaking, the young female knight could not help but lightly shake her head. "Perhaps the legendary ancient hero is just a rash man... he only came to demonstrate personal combat power."

Rosetta Augustus quietly glanced at Andresha, seeming to want to say something. But before he could speak, a slight commotion and a faint, sharp flute-like sound suddenly echoed from afar.

The emperor and his knight exchanged looks.

At the same time, outside the gate of the Typhon Pinnacle Base, Gawain and Amber were sitting in the back of a Magic-guided Vehicle.

In front of them, a stone wall towered ten meters away, and some slightly surprised and flustered Typhon Soldiers stood on the wall pointing over, as two mages flew in from the distance to investigate. Behind them, a convoy of three magic-guided vehicles and four accompanying "Steel Envoy" vehicles lined up one after another.

Amber was craning her neck, constantly surveying the Pinnacle Base constructed by the Typhon people, involuntarily comparing it to the Cecil’s Pinnacle Base. "This was probably ’pulled up’ directly with Wall Construction and Rock Creation... Though it may not look as nice as our steel-reinforced concrete wall, it’s quite impressive. And their base seems even larger than ours."

"The Typhonists reached their construction point earlier than we did," Gawain said carelessly.

"Hey, hey," Amber couldn’t help but lean over beside Gawain, "do you think that Typhon Emperor will be interested in your proposal?"

"I won’t concern myself with that—anyway, I must first make a presentable entrance."