Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 605 - 604: Kindred Spirits

For a long time, Gawain found it difficult to truly see the ruler of the Typhon Empire — but at least at this moment, as he gazed into Emperor Rosetta Augustus’s eyes which were staring at the wasteland, he suddenly felt a slight sense of familiarity.

After a brief confusion, he realized that this familiarity came from Gawain Cecil’s memories, yet he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it originated or who it corresponded to.

The monsters charging from the plains had almost all been exterminated, with thick black and red smoke rising from their mutilated remnants. Amongst the smoke, only a few staggering aberrations with missing limbs were still struggling forward, only to be thoroughly torn apart by arrows, fireballs, or lightning from the city walls.

Rosetta quietly watched all this and suddenly broke the silence with a soft voice: "I’ve always been thinking, pondering how they come to be and how they’re maintained, how they operate..."

"The birth of aberrations is a mystery, but several pieces of evidence suggest they might be mutated sacrifices of Gondor," Gawain said, "As for their sustenance and actions... I can only say it’s related to the chaotic magic energy environment within the wasteland."

Rosetta’s expression remained unchanged, and his voice was deep: "Your explanation aligns with what’s recorded in ancient texts. I’ve gone through all the materials related to aberrations, and they all say the same. However... isn’t that quite ironic?"

Gawain didn’t understand why the other said this, but he believed the other would soon explain himself.

Indeed, Rosetta continued after a brief silence: "The first generation of pioneers summarized these experiences and conjectures seven hundred years ago, and now, after seven hundred years, we still only know this — in terms of understanding aberrations, I know no more than you."

Gawain understood Rosetta’s intent, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

"This place is outside the grand walls," Rosetta continued, raising his hand and pointing to the plains between the great walls and the spire base, "Theoretically, the monsters trapped within the Gondor wasteland shouldn’t be able to get out, yet, in reality, this plain is always crawling with roaming monsters, sometimes just ordinary corrupted creatures, other times aberrations. I once sent knights to figure out where these monsters come from, but the knights saw them silently coalesce out of thin air... They appear out of nowhere, such an illogical phenomenon."

Gawain nodded: "High concentrations of chaotic magic energy environments produce monsters; that’s a significant trait of the wasteland, but the exact principle remains unknown."

"Yes, unknown. Besides, there are many unknown things, like why these spontaneously formed monsters haven’t overrun the entire world by now — if they can’t be completely eradicated no matter how many we kill, then what factors limit their maximum number? Why do they mostly wander around the wasteland? What’s binding their range of activity? What differences exist between the aberrations outside the great walls and those within the wasteland?"

The Typhon ruler posed a series of questions but clearly didn’t expect an answer. After speaking, he merely closed his mouth, seemingly lost in his own questions, immersed in thought.

Gawain glanced at the plains to the southwest and saw the last monster beginning to gradually turn into black and red smoke. He suddenly felt a stir in his heart and asked, "Have you encountered any particularly gigantic aberrations recently?"

Emperor Rosetta Augustus, coming out of his contemplation, replied with a hint of confusion in his tone: "Particularly gigantic?"

"Yes, about two to three times the height of an ordinary aberration, exceptionally massive, with magical structures on their body surface capable of unleashing powerful spell attacks, and they seem to have the ability to enhance surrounding aberrations. The most crucial aspect — those extraordinarily gigantic ones seem to possess a certain level of thinking ability."

"Thinking ability?" Rosetta’s tone finally showed a hint of surprise, but quickly he shook his head, "I’ve heard of them; Winterwolf Fortress was once attacked, and Andresha mentioned such gigantic entities in her report, but we’ve not encountered them here. If they did appear... they would indeed be a tremendous threat. Did they attack your camp?"

"No, but they did attack the Cecil Homeland — I suspect they came out when there was a breach in the great walls. I initially thought I would come across them here, but I haven’t seen them again yet."

Gawain was referring to the giant aberrations that appeared during the second Cecil Defense, also known as "Giant Variants." Although the mutated monsters were eventually destroyed by the garrison soldiers and Rebecca’s grand fireball, their terrifying strength and faintly intelligent characteristics still left a deep impression on Gawain.

He thought that he would have a chance to see such monsters again upon arriving at the wasteland’s border, yet he hadn’t encountered them once.

Ordinary aberration attacks in this area were frequent, but the "Giant Variant" had never reappeared.

Emperor Rosetta Augustus hadn’t seen such gigantic entities either, and regarding this, Gawain believed there was no need for the other to deceive him.

This made Gawain vaguely speculate — could it be that such extraordinarily gigantic aberrations were unique to the depths of the wasteland?

Whether at the Cecil Camp or the Typhon Camp, all the encounters and confrontations in recent times were only with wandering monsters outside the grand walls. All aberrations were naturally generated due to the spread of chaotic magic energy from the wasteland, while the aberrations that initially attacked the Cecil were most likely wandering out when there was a breach in the great walls, products from the depths of the wasteland!

He recalled the last question from Rosetta’s series of queries: What distinguishes aberrations outside the great walls from those within the wasteland?

Could this be the difference? That monsters within the wasteland "evolve," while those outside do not?

Gawain furrowed his brow and instinctively looked toward the distant, grand energy barrier connecting heaven and earth, as a second question arose in his heart:

Even if those gigantic aberrations are unique to the wasteland’s depths... why, after all this time, have the sentinels stationed at the barrier’s edge never laid eyes on them?

Aberrations within the wasteland wander aimlessly, inevitably drifting near the barrier, and every day, sentinels from the spire base witness vast groups of aberrations wandering to the barrier’s base, and then being instantly vaporized by the energy evoked by the barrier. Yet, all this time has passed, and no sighting reports of Giant Variants have emerged...

Is it because Giant Variants are exceptionally rare? Or is it because... something is controlling those Giant Variants, preventing them from wandering to the barrier’s edge, keeping them from being seen by the sentinels outside the barrier?

Following this line of thought, Gawain couldn’t help but ponder whether those Giant Variants that attacked the Cecil were merely an accident, or... deliberate?

As he reflected upon this level, a name naturally emerged in his mind, a name that is, so far, the only one associated with the grand walls and the Gondor wasteland, and filled with intrigue:

The Scapegoat Society.

...

In the end, Gawain did not get any answers from the Typhon camp.

He embarked on his journey back to the Cecil Peak Base.

The barren, corrupted wilderness receded outside the car window, endless winds swept dust around the convoy on the wasteland, and on the side of the "Steel Envoy" multi-functional war vehicle at the front of the convoy, a flash of flame burst a scorching ray that pierced through a nearby mutant monster, while Gawain sat quietly within the magic-guided vehicle at the center of the convoy, lost in thought for a long time.

Amber withdrew her gaze from the desolate wasteland and curiously glanced at Gawain: "What have you been thinking about all this way?"

Gawain exhaled softly, temporarily set aside his numerous complex thoughts, then glanced at the bright-eyed half-elf girl and said casually under her curious gaze, "What do you think of Rosetta?"

Without thinking, Amber replied, "An old fox like you— I mean, the kind that’s shrewd and scheming."

Gawain looked at this elf of disgrace who hastily changed her wording at the last minute and shook his head slightly: "I can’t determine how deep Emperor Rosetta Augustus’ connection with the Oblivion Association is, but judging from the details we’ve observed, they might just be cooperating out of interest. Of course, it could also be that Emperor Rosetta Augustus’ acting is flawless."

"When you mentioned Beltira Augustus, he acted as if he had no idea she was already a high priest of Oblivion," Amber blinked, "If he truly doesn’t know, then his cooperation with the Oblivion Association might really be superficial, and Beltira Augustus might indeed have completely broken away from the former Typhon Royal Family. If he’s pretending not to know, well then... that means the Typhon Royal Family is definitely in league with the Oblivion Association."

Gawain did not comment on this, but in fact, instinctively, he began to lean towards believing that the Typhon Royal Family’s connection with the Oblivion Association was purely of interest, at least Emperor Rosetta Augustus himself thought so, but he also knew that one can’t rely on "intuition" in matters like this.

Inside the car, it became quiet again, leaving only the buzzing of mechanical operations and the occasional weapon firing sound from the guard vehicles dealing with monsters suddenly appearing on the wasteland.

After a moment of silence, Gawain sighed softly to break the silence: "I don’t know why, but I always feel that Rosetta Augustus is a bit like me..."

This sentence did not receive a response, and Gawain couldn’t help but look curiously at the half-elf beside him, only to see the elf of disgrace staring at him in shock, unable to hold back a sentence for a long time: "What did you do back then?!"

Gawain: "..."

In an instant, an almost irresistible thought came to him: to tie this elf of disgrace to a pole, fix it on top of the car, and hang her all the way to the camp!!

Having barely distanced himself from the headstrong Rebecca, now how has Amber also got her head so stubborn?!

...

At the Typhon Spire Base, next to Emperor Rosetta Augustus’ palace, a steel-made, tough-lined magical mechanized construct was quietly parked in the square.

A dozen Typhon Soldiers in full gear were guarding the place.

Rosetta and Andresha Wendell stood by the "Magic-guided Vehicle", curiously observing the complex machinery before them.

This was a gift from the Cecil, left here as a memento of the "Trade Treaty".

"It’s truly an unbelievable engineering and magical miracle... isn’t it?"

Rosetta sighed softly.

Andresha slightly frowned: "But I still hold doubts about this thing."

"You may be doubtful of the actions of Anzu, but you should hold advanced technology in awe," Rosetta reminded the young Wolf General with a faint reminder, "Technological advancements bring substantial development, social outputs increase, the public becomes prosperous, the military becomes stronger, and the nation flourishes. Every step forward Typhon has made over the years was built on these foundations."

Andresha lowered her head: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Rosetta nodded slightly, his gaze returning to the magic-guided vehicle, sighing softly: "I just didn’t expect... didn’t expect that Anzu, which was fully behind us, would suddenly get ahead. The Cecil found a path no one had ever thought of before. If we had discovered it later, we might even be left behind by a Principality."

"You seem to value the Cecil Principality very much?"

Rosetta did not answer Andresha’s question but, after a few seconds of silence, suddenly asked, "What do you think of Gawain Cecil?"

Andresha candidly expressed her feelings: "...He seems generous and upright, yet hides an undiscernible side. I’ve heard many stories about the first generation of pioneers, including him, but those stories only depict him as a symbolic hero, never mentioning him engaging in negotiations."

Rosetta inadvertently glanced at the "Wolf General".

Considering the Wolf General’s attitude of hostility towards Anzu, this was evidently a high appraisal.

He managed a slightly stiff smile, his voice low: "That pioneer... will eventually become an enemy of Typhon.

"Because he and I are the same kind of people."

(Friendly recommendation of a book, "My House Editor is Super Fierce", a fan’s work, kill the sacrifice to heaven (not really =.=))