Chapter 925: Act 98 – Infiltrating the Camp I
Modest squinted at the small creatures scurrying about in front of her. The goblins and kobolds offered her fresh prey—elk and wild boar from the forest. They placed these offerings near her mouth before retreating to a distance, as if fearing that this dragon might swallow them whole as well. However, Modest had no appetite and only occasionally opened her eyes to send the little things scattering, taking pleasure in their fright.
She was indeed waiting for someone, but it wasn’t Marlaxias or some lost dwarf; it was Gukko—Gwenethlyn’s servant. Shortly after Brendel and others left, Gukko arrived, descending with a group of harpies from the sky, causing quite a stir in the camp. Modest squinted at this small creature; she was a rare harpy with emerald green feathers, yet now appeared extraordinarily bedraggled, with several singed patches on her wings and several long feathers missing from her head.
“It seems you’ve run into a bit of trouble,” the black dragon said, a hint of schadenfreude in her tone.
“A few bugs infiltrated Gravel Town, that’s all, useless servant,” Gukko replied in her characteristic sharp voice, indignation flooding her words. Her tone clearly included resentment toward Brendel and Marlaxias; her singed feathers were a result of the latter’s actions, which left her quite furious. As Gwenethlyn’s servant, she was unconcerned about any verbal offense; to her, Marlaxias was nothing compared to her master’s power.
Of course, she would never dare to speak so boldly if she were alone with Marlaxias.
Modest curled her lips into a slight smirk; she didn’t mind Gukko’s retort. It had nothing to do with her. She said with a hint of amusement, “Your master, that woman, asked me to wait for you here.”
“Praise the master,” Gukko finally displayed a respectful demeanor.
This attitude slightly displeased Modest. Though she had to admit that among the three dragons, Gwenethlyn was the strongest, a dragon was a dragon. She would never easily show weakness in front of outsiders. Modest snorted, sending a wisp of flame rising from the nearby treetops, filling the air with the smell of sulfur. She interrupted coldly, “I have limited time. Have you found that person, the one your master told you to search for?”
Gukko seemed to sense the shift in attitude from the female dragon; she hesitated for a moment before reluctantly answering, “No, I couldn’t find her. Those humans are too powerful. I only saw her from a distance, and then Lord Marlaxias appeared; there was chaos in the city, and I took the chance to escape.”
“You can’t even handle the simplest matters,” Modest said disdainfully. However, despite her contempt, she felt no disappointment. To be honest, she didn’t care much for those humans’ plans. She and Marlaxias hadn’t come here for that; they were merely helping Gwenethlyn a bit. Even Modest herself found it strange why that woman would be so obedient to a mere human, calling her a fool in her thoughts, but she wouldn’t dare voice it out loud, lest she faced the other’s wrath.
She furrowed her brow and asked impatiently, “You just arrived, so you must have returned to Gravel Town afterward. Did you find her body?”
Although Modest was somewhat distracted, it didn’t mean she lacked sharpness. On the contrary, the longevity and experience of dragons endowed them with wisdom far beyond ordinary beings.
“The city has long turned into ruins; there’s no way to search,” Gukko replied awkwardly. “However, there were no human corpses left behind, only some gargoyle remains. I believe they were left by the infiltrating humans.”
Modest, who had been distracted, only casually asked, but upon hearing the word ‘gargoyle’, she seemed to jump as if someone had stepped on her tail: “Gargoyle? Are you sure?”
The harpy froze slightly, staring at her with uncertainty, not understanding her reaction.
Ms. Black Dragon raised her head high, anger coursing through her as she muttered to herself, “Damn it, it turns out he hasn’t passed through Gravel Town. The absence of human corpses at the scene indicates that someone cleaned up the battlefield. It couldn’t have been Marlaxias; he must have gone after that bitch Mistral! Damn it! They must have fled; no, they can’t have gone far. They wouldn’t dare stick around in Gravel Town; they must be hiding in the hills near Silverflume Valley!”
Her expression of irritation was clear after repeating ‘damn it’ twice. In all of Anziluwa at that moment, only one person would have a large number of gargoyles, and she and Marlaxias had come for that very person, specifically for the Earth Sword that he possessed. That individual’s last appearance was before Jotungrund began its assault on Anzeruta. She had initially thought that given the other’s pace, he should have long left the Bear Lake area. What she didn’t realize was that Brendel hadn’t abandoned the Cruz nobles and had to avoid detection from Jotungrund, taking the difficult hills, which was why it had dragged on until now.
Hearing Gukko’s description now made her realize she had just barely missed something and she couldn’t help but curse that fool Marlaxias internally.
“So close, yet didn’t notice; it’s as if I’ve grown eyes for nothing!” Modest raged: “No wonder we sensed the presence of the Earth Sword last night, damn it!”
“The Earth Sword!”
Gukko exclaimed. In her eyes, the black dragon suddenly rose, wings spread wide, almost blocking the entire valley. The giant wings began to flap, sending gusts of wind that toppled the nearby goblins and kobolds, even causing Gukko to stagger. She was swept up in the chaotic wind, calling out, “Ms. Modest?”
“Listen well!” Modest said coldly: “Gwenethlyn assigned you the task of ensuring that woman cannot leave Anziluwa, whether temporarily or permanently. You don’t need to find her. I’m sure you understand my words.”
“Ms. Modest, could she be with those people?”
“That woman came for revenge; there’s no way she would be with those guys,” the black dragon replied with a cold smile. “But if they are together, that would save us a lot of trouble. Make sure your master thanks me properly!”
Modest’s voice still echoed through the valley, but the entire dragon had already soared into the sky, and everyone in the valley could only see a small shadow in the sky.
…
Hiding in the thicket on the distant hillside, several little girls were blown about, and before the raging wind could calm, QiYala rushed over to grab Romaine’s sleeve, asking loudly, “What’s going on? Did you hear them? What were they talking about?”
“Shh!” Romaine turned back, placing a finger to her lips in a gesture for silence to the two. “Keep your voices down.”
“Did you hear it?” QiYala asked softly again.
Romaine nodded and recounted the conversation between the dragon and the harpy.
After hearing her description, QiYala let out a low cheer. From the start, she had her eye on Lady Sargoss, wanting to extract more information from here—danger was never something she considered, as nothing could deter her curiosity. This was no empty phrase. Yet, even she hadn’t expected the situation to progress so smoothly, just as she hadn’t anticipated encountering a dragon in this valley. She beamed proudly, saying, “Did you see that? We were right to come here! Though I didn’t expect that dragon would be here, it’s clear they are also looking for Delphine, which says a lot!”
“Really?” Romaine asked, puzzled.
“Of course!” QiYala replied decisively, her eyes shining with an exciting glint, as if she had stumbled upon a particularly interesting puzzle amidst a grand conspiracy. “Now the nature of this matter has completely changed. Don’t you understand, Romaine? This isn’t just human intrigue anymore. There are dragons involved! Whether it’s Earl Fleuruit or the Empire’s Chancellor, they wouldn’t be able to move the dragons. The facts have proven everything I’ve described. In the entire empire, only a few could pull this off, no, in fact, only two people can.”
“Do you have an inkling of who they are?” Romaine asked, perhaps not fully grasping the meaning behind her words but still asking out of sheer curiosity.
“My instincts tell me it should be so, but reason protests that it’s impossible,” QiYala responded cautiously, but anyone could see that she was trembling with excitement, as if she faced a colossal conspiracy. “No, we should first choose to trust reason. I need more evidence.” She licked her lips.
It seemed to be a case of finding common ground, as the three troublemakers understood each other instinctively, glancing almost in unison toward the nearby grass.
There, a hapless dwarf seemed to sense a chilling presence, struggling and whining to no end.
QiYala kicked at him: “Shut up.”
Then she knocked her knuckles together and turned back: “Alright, now let’s carry out the next part of the plan as previously written in the script!”
“But Brendel told us not to cause trouble,” Romaine replied with some worry.
“This isn’t causing trouble,” QiYala scoffed. “It’s helping him. He’s good at everything, just too stupid. If I don’t step in, he might end up selling himself out and doing the math for others. Of course, in principle, I’m his enemy, but for now, I’m still in this embassy and I don’t have a habit of escorting people to their deaths, so I have to reluctantly help him out a bit. Besides…”
“Besides?”
QiYala blushed: “Nothing, I guess I’m just too kind.”
However, the sprite was right beside her and couldn’t see where this seemingly equal-sized human girl was kind at all, struggling to fix her crumbling worldview.
…
QiYala’s original plan was quite simple: to send the poor Poli Fireanvil to Lady Sargoss to extract information, and now perhaps even include a harpy. This plan was indeed bold because as soon as the old dwarf entered the camp, he would be out of their control. The first challenge of this plan was convincing Poli Fireanvil that if he dared to do this, it would certainly end badly for him.
QiYala’s persuasion was surprisingly simple. She patted the dwarf’s chubby face and told him, “This is a great opportunity for you to prove that you haven’t betrayed them and have nothing to do with this matter. You wouldn’t be foolish enough to expose us, would you? Look, since you’ve already betrayed them and cannot make amends, the information we have from you has already spread. What you need to do now is to distance yourself from this matter. You escaped from Gravel Town all the way here without encountering anyone, and there was no chance for a leak, right?”
Old dwarf’s face turned red, as if he had an axe in hand, and he would leap up to duel QiYala. Although fighting a little human girl didn’t seem glorious, it was better than enduring such humiliation.
Unfortunately, Mr. Poli Fireanvil was not like his stubborn kin, who could endure monotonous mining in underground tunnels day after day, as if such a rigid nature had seeped into their blood. He was different; he was a dwarf seeking freedom and enjoyment, and he had always taken pride in this individuality. Nothing had ever made him hate his weakness as much as he did now.
Just a moment ago, he had vowed that once he was free, he would take revenge, but as soon as QiYala loosened the ropes, the dwarf began to hesitate.
Maybe QiYala was right. He had drifted all the way here from Gravel Town without encountering any humans. The route he was taking to find those with Jotungrund was completely separate. Even if he kept quiet, no one would suspect him; he could report to that unfamiliar Lady Sargoss without any pretenses about what had happened. After all, everything that happened in Gravel Town had nothing to do with him. It was all that damned black dragon’s fault; he couldn’t be blamed for being incompetent. Once this matter was resolved, he could happily pursue his alchemical endeavors as if nothing had happened.
Poli Fireanvil pondered for just a moment, and his thoughts became more agile.
He rubbed his wrists and walked out from the thicket. At first, he felt a bit nervous, but he soon regained composure. The three ladies, cloaked by Romaine’s invisibility spell, trailed behind him. QiYala softly reminded him, “Just report what you originally intended to the lovely lizard lady. No need to fabricate any lies, and don’t worry about being exposed.”
Hearing this, the dwarf felt a sense of relief, even a bit of inexplicable gratitude toward her.
However, moments later, QiYala threatened, “But if we’re caught, we’ll be the first to give you up. A reliable companion must share the same fate; that’s the quality expected of a noble.”
Poor Mr. Poli Fireanvil’s face turned dark after hearing this, and even Xainne, who had been perched on the sprite’s head, couldn’t help but roll her eyes. For a time, only Romaine appeared to be in high spirits.
Regardless of how old Poli felt, under the invisibility spell, QiYala looked back at the sprite—they were effectively enveloped under an invisible curtain. This witch’s spell was similar in function to Brendel’s King of Giants’ Cloak; it could hide vision and presence and allowed them to see one another, but the only flaw was that they could be detected by detection-type spells. Fortunately, goblins and kobolds didn’t have such concerns.
The sprite looked at QiYala with some fear, instinctively gripping her demon-slaying spear tightly as QiYala warned fiercely, “Remember my words; don’t hold back later.”
The sprite quickly nodded.
Before long, Poli Fireanvil reached the camp’s entrance. The goblins and kobolds clearly had no concept of vigilance. Moreover, Modest didn’t require any caution; who would suddenly think to provoke a real dragon? If such a person existed, even the goblins and kobolds would be unable to defend against them. When the little creatures saw the dwarf approach, they only scrambled to react, and shrieks erupted within the camp. Kobolds were often referred to as dragonkin in many tales, but their cries were genuine barking sounds, which is how they got their names. Their collective yapping filled the air as they cautiously pointed spears at the old dwarf, who gestured wildly, finally managing to explain his intentions.
It was at this moment that QiYala noticed a robed kobold emerging from the camp, brandishing a staff and gesturing towards the dwarf from a distance.
“Kobold mage!” Xainne wanted to facepalm. She couldn’t help turning back to look at the human girl beside her. Wasn’t it stated that kobolds absolutely wouldn’t use such high-level magic for detection?
“Damn it,” QiYala yelped, startled. “These underground kobolds are not the same as the ones in the surface world.”
“This isn’t the time to complain; what should we do?” Xainne trembled with fear. Although kobolds and goblins weren’t particularly formidable, there were at least a hundred goblins surrounding them. If they suddenly became exposed, even if they had one spear each, they’d surely be turned into a pincushion. She didn’t want to be turned into a pincushion, given that her adventures on the continent had just begun.
The sprite, while not fully understanding what was happening, sensed that it couldn’t be anything good. She was already very tense and was now nearly crying from fear.
