Chapter 286: Golden City and Outsiders
“Golden City?” Griphis stroked his chin and shook his head after a moment of thought. “I haven’t really heard of it. Is it made of gold all over?”
“Not quite! Even if it’s extravagant, there’s no way to actually build a city entirely out of gold.”
Yuliya had discreetly glossed over some details. As for how much gold was actually in Golden City, she wasn’t entirely sure.
“But they’ve got a ton of space magic-related stuff there, which is incredibly valuable. In fact, I got lucky and managed to snag some inheritance. I can set up a mini cross-realm teleportation array. I’d like to ask His Majesty if it’s possible to construct one that directly connects to the Jade Emperor Kingdom?”
“Absolutely necessary!”
Before Griphis could respond, Alisa shouted out.
She’d always been eager to check out the Jade Emperor Kingdom.
As for her reasons? Let’s just say those in the know would certainly know.
Griphis shot her an annoyed look, then turned his attention back to Yuliya with a smile. “Will it be very tedious? What are the specific costs?”
They had actually been capable of setting up a cross-realm teleportation array for a while now, but each use required the sacrifice of someone at least of Emerald Level aptitude in space magic.
After using it, the poor sap wouldn’t recover for a week, or regain their strength for a month.
And all that just to teleport someone of no higher than Gold Level strength!
“About… a few hundred gold coins, roughly?”
“So cheap!!!” Griphis exclaimed, a bit taken aback. “Just a few hundred gold coins? LET’S DO IT! BY ALL MEANS!”
“…”
Noticing everyone was staring at him, Griphis cleared his throat. “Ahem! What I meant was, if we can set up a direct teleportation array, that would indeed be wonderful. Communication between us would be much more convenient.”
“Yeah right! You sound just like Father!”
“Shut up.” Griphis shot Alisa another glare then turned to Yuliya again. “Look at Yuliya, so well-behaved! For someone so young, she’s got such strong abilities and is reliable and steady. Can’t you learn something from her?”
At this, Edward blinked and looked at Yuliya.
Who exactly are you just calling reliable, steady, and well-behaved? Do I know this person?
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Please arrange for me afterward,” Yuliya said, nodding slightly in gratitude.
“Of course. In fact, if you handle this matter well, I’ll give you some extra rewards.”
Griphis was finding himself liking this little girl more and more.
Looking back at his own daughter, he really didn’t know what to say.
Though he had an elder daughter too, she was even worse—over a year had gone by without her visiting old Dad!
Sigh, saying too much just brings tears.
“Back to Golden City,” Yuliya redirected the topic. “It’s a very ancient city. I discovered some scripts inside, and they looked quite close to ours. I wonder if Your Majesty recognizes them.”
“Oh? What do they look like?”
She pointed, and with a flick of her hand, tea in her cup rose into the air and formed a line of text.
It was Senra script.
She had pulled a sound-bite from the dictionary Maria had given her that sounded particularly impressive.
The moment Griphis saw the script, his eyes widened.
“Let me think…” Griphis pondered for a moment before reading it slowly.
“I recognize this! It’s an ancient language. It appeared in very old texts in our Verdant Empire. It seems to be a script from the origins of our language; what we use now is a simplified version.”
“The translated meaning should be… Calamity is the divine being’s trial, the king returns from the dust. Could it be that Golden City has something to do with our Verdant Empire?”
“Perhaps, but there are more types of scripts there and it’s just this one that looks familiar. I was just curious and thought I’d ask Your Majesty.”
“Indeed. But it’s hard to understand just this fragment alone. Is there anything else?”
Yuliya shook her head. “I can’t remember too much. I’m responsible for exploring this relic, and I’ll keep an eye out. I’d also like to ask Your Majesty if I can learn more about the history of the Verdant Empire.”
“Not a problem at all. Let Alisa take you afterward.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Yuliya smiled and performed a bow.
That was actually one of her main objectives!
“I’m super interested in this Golden City. I really hope to find a chance to visit.”
Griphis continued staring at the floating line of text, lost in thought.
“Right now there are a ton of adventurers over there, mostly outsiders. I heard there are plenty of outsiders wandering around in the Verdant Empire too, especially in Caberna?”
“Way more than we can count! This was a headache for a while,” Griphis sighed.
“But later we found that these outsiders were pretty well-behaved; any trouble was mostly internal squabbling among themselves, with little impact on the locals.”
“On the contrary, they greatly boosted our local handicraft economy and even solved many problems in the outer districts. It’s become quite the help for us. There was this one time, though, when they suddenly went a bit haywire and made a ruckus sneaking into the inner city and around the palace area. Who knows what for?”
“…”
What for? To take your neck off? Oh wait, I mean for your life’s safety.
But Yuliya didn’t dare say that, pretending she didn’t know was safer.
“As long as there are no issues, that’s good. Our Jade Emperor Kingdom is the same. I wonder if His Majesty has made any discoveries regarding these outsiders?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, is there any connection between the local residents of the Verdant Empire and them?”
Griphis frowned. “Connection?”
“Right! From my perspective, we share a common characteristic between ourselves and the outsiders.”
“What’s that?”
“Language.”
“Well, that’s true.” Griphis nodded. “They blend in with us pretty naturally. Although there’s a sort of class gap, communication is totally smooth.”
“But that doesn’t mean much. The language of our Verdant Empire has a high degree of universality; many other realms use it as well.”
Yuliya kept pondering, not turning her head as she answered, “But according to Teacher Edward, the language of the Jade Emperor Kingdom has very low usability. At least he hasn’t encountered it in all his travels. Yet the outsiders in our Verdant Empire seem to be completely familiar with it.”
“This…” Griphis hesitated for a moment, then turned to Edward.
Edward glanced at Yuliya and his expression sobered. “That’s indeed the case.”
This little girl didn’t even say hi to me while traveling, huh?
And all this long exchange she had with Griphis? I didn’t have a clue beforehand.
She initiated the discussion about the mission with a clear purpose, didn’t she?
But Edward chose to play along first; he’d save any concerns for a private chat later.
“I’ve noticed the question Yuliya raised as well; it’s quite a profound one upon reflection.”
