Chapter 851: Chapter 850: Bishop Megal III’s Intelligence

The night sky descended.

The starry sky enveloped the night over Cecil Castle, where the starlight intermingled with the artificial lights of the city, a thin halo spread across the sky, giving the stars a hazy and illusory texture. Sir Golosh looked up at the stars in this foreign land, hearing faint music coming from the distant bustling district.

The night sky over Dragonwatch Keep was brighter, but also colder. It wasn’t as prosperous as here, yet it had a solemn dignity.

Putting aside personal emotions, which side is better is really a difficult question to answer.

Asharena’s voice came from the side, interrupting Sir Golosh’s thoughts: "Sir, your daughter has already left. If you plan to stay here and catch a cold wind for a few hours, I won’t accompany you— a warm room and a little nightcap are calling me."

Golosh snapped out of his thoughts, his gaze leaving the dark night sky. He glanced in the direction Maji had left and shook his head with a complex smile, "Do you think tonight’s meeting between Maji and me was arranged by Gawain Cecil?"

"As long as we’re here, everything that happens around us can be seen as arranged by the Emperor of Cecil. It’s meaningless to obsess over it," Asharena glanced at Golosh. "The key is whether you’re willing to accept these ’arrangements’ and whether they affect your judgment as an ambassador."

With that, the Dragonbranded Witch paused and added, "As for my personal opinion—this is not necessarily a bad thing. So far, Gawain Cecil’s actions have all been within his means. He has been careful to cater to the emotions of the Dragonborn and is making efforts to advance the entire matter. You can see tonight’s event as an ’arrangement’, but you can also see it as goodwill and sincerity."

Golosh was silent in thought for a few seconds, then spoke before Asharena urged him, "Lady Asharena, I’m afraid I must trouble you once more—please contact Dragonwatch Keep again."

Asharena sighed deliberately, "...Ah, I knew it would come to this."

...

The night wind blew into the study.

Gawain lifted his head from a pile of documents and saw Amber’s figure quickly materialize from the air.

"How are things?" he asked casually.

"The father and daughter talked for a long time. Except for a small accident in the beginning, the overall atmosphere seemed harmonious," Amber reported her surveillance results, "but according to your instructions, I didn’t get too close and didn’t eavesdrop on their private matters—I don’t know exactly what they talked about."

"Hmm, mostly because your powers would make it easy for people to kill you if you got too close," Gawain nodded, "It’s fine, after all, our main purpose was just to have Maji and Sir Golosh meet. Whatever comes of it... let it be. We don’t expect anything from it."

Amber didn’t argue against Gawain’s comment about "easy to get killed" but agreed with a nod, then curiously glanced at the large pile of documents in front of Gawain, "...Speaking of which, you still have so much to handle?"

"Construction projects across the country have started, along with new diplomatic, economic, military, industrial plans. Although each department has people responsible, there are still many things that need my personal attention," Gawain glanced at the mountain of files in front, smiling wryly, "Actually, it’s okay, not many things are particularly troublesome."

Amber scratched her head, muttering, "I’m busy enough with just processing the intelligence summaries from the Intelligence Agency every day that my head feels like it’s going to explode..."

Gawain’s hand paused as he flipped through files, then he smiled after a moment: "Once the computing center is officially up and running, things will be much better—a lot of work can be done by machines and networks, allowing clerks and assistant officials to focus on more important matters. Once efficiency improves, our workload..."

"Our workload will also increase accordingly, going from approving ten documents a day to a hundred, you’ll be solving as much work in a day as you used to in several days, but you’ll find that the queue of problems waiting for your resolution still doesn’t end—" Amber rolled her eyes, speaking in a life-enlightened tone, "I’ve been following you for years now, next time you try to convince me, at least change your approach..."

Gawain was taken aback, watching Amber, who seemed to have a great revelation, and suddenly felt that this half-elf’s progress over the years was no less than anyone else—this one was getting harder to fool.

Just then, a special aura suddenly disturbed Gawain’s senses. After some recognition, he nodded to Amber across the table, "We have a guest."

Amber’s first reaction was to reach behind and pull out her Power Cudgel, "Okay, I’ll just..."

"No, it’s really a guest," Gawain quickly waved his hand, realizing his words were misleading, "Put that thing away—Megal, you can appear now."

As he finished, an invisible surge of magic power suddenly appeared out of nowhere, all the lights in the study seemed to be disturbed by an unseen force, dimming slightly. A shadow mixed with a deep purple hue and starlight pulsing in the shadow gathered in the center of the room—these starlights and shadows quickly coalesced into a swelling and contracting starlight polymer, floating like a ghost in the air.

Amber was startled by the sight, not managing to ask what it was, when a low humming voice came from within the starlight polymer, "Good evening, Your Majesty, and this... tense half-elf lady. If I may be frank, young lady, the weapon in your hand may not have much effect on me, as I lost my head many years ago."

Amber stared blankly at the swelling starlight. Though startled, once the entity spoke, she quickly connected the information in her mind, raising an eyebrow, "Megal III? The Pope of the Eternal Sleepers?"

"That’s in the past," the starlight polymer said plainly, "You may call me Megal directly—now I’m just an ordinary Cecil Citizen, loyal to His Majesty Gawain Cecil."

Amber slyly grinned, storing her Power Cudgel while muttering casually, "Alright, after issuing documents to a ball of arcane light, an iron ball, and a tree, now we have to make an ID for a... glowing mist."

She looked at Gawain, "Should I excuse myself for a moment?"

"No need, you can stay here," Gawain nodded toward Amber, then turned to Megal III, "Her name is Amber, she’s my Minister of Intelligence. What brings you here at this time?"

"Minister of Intelligence... I understand," Megal emitted a faint, tremulous sound as the shapeless starlight slightly contracted and lowered, stopping in front of Gawain as if engaging in face-to-face communication, "Your Majesty, as you promised, you have taken in those we transferred to the Cecil Clan, and you assisted us in resolving the crisis of the Supreme Narrator. Therefore, as per our previous agreement, all the techniques and secrets held by the Eternal Sleepers now belong to you.

"I have come today to fulfill that agreement.

"I hold some secrets about the Typhon Royal Family. I wonder if you’re interested?"

Gawain’s eyes made a barely perceptible change, then he said solemnly, "In what aspect?"

"It relates to the two-hundred-year curse of the Augustus Clan."

"... I’m quite interested," Gawain said, immediately sizing up the starlight polymer floating in midair, "Should I prepare a chair for you? It always feels like I’m making a guest stand while talking this way."

"No need, I’m used to this form," Megal III responded, "Of course, if it makes you uncomfortable, you could give me a chair, and I could float over and pretend to sit on it."

"... Let’s skip that," Gawain imagined the scene and shook his head, "Please begin your story."

"Let’s start from the era of Old Orlandeau, the old imperial capital of Typhon," Megal said, "You probably know that the headquarters of the Eternal Sleepers is hidden deep beneath the ruins of Orlandeau, and the curse on the Typhon Royal Family only appeared after the great collapse of Orlandeau... and in fact, the Eternal Sleepers were active in the underground of that place even before the great collapse."

Much of what Megal mentioned was information Gawain had already grasped, and he had long harbored suspicions about the area. Upon hearing Megal’s last words, he immediately frowned, "So the key to everything is Orlandeau—what exactly is there?"

"... It’s a fragment of the God of Dream Realms, Your Majesty, lying beneath Orlandeau."

Gawain’s breath paused for half a beat; however, after this brief and minor reaction, his expression was much calmer than Megal had anticipated.

"You don’t seem very surprised?"

"I expected as much," Gawain shook his head, "The Eternal Sleepers are dreams clerics fallen into darkness, and you have been hiding in the depths of Orlandeau for centuries studying forbidden knowledge. There must be something that attracted you there, apart from its suitability for concealment. Coupled with the unique nature of the Augustus Clan’s curse, which clearly pertains to the realm of dreams and the mind—I have long suspected that all these point to some god. To me, the ’suspects’ are but a few."

Referring to gods as "suspects" is clearly a privilege of the Wanderers from Outer Realm.

Megal’s voice carried a hint of reverence, "Everything is as you judged."

Gawain gestured with his hand, looking earnestly at Megal, "So you’re saying the so-called ’curse’ of the Augustus Clan is essentially divine contamination caused by the God of Dream Realms—then what about the great collapse of Orlandeau two hundred years ago? How did the contamination spread to the Augustus Clan? You had been using Orlandeau as a stronghold long before that; was this all your doing?"

"Not at all," Megal immediately denied, then his tone became slightly hesitant, as if organizing his thoughts as he spoke, "Where should I begin to explain... in fact, it’s all a result of coincidences and accumulated mistakes. The great collapse of Orlandeau was caused by an out-of-control underground ruin, the sudden activation of fragments of the God of Dream Realms, which was largely an accident; on the other hand, you should know that the Typhon Royal Family had timely ’foreseen’ the disaster before it occurred and evacuated the entire city’s residents, miraculously avoiding tens of thousands of casualties, and they managed to ’predict’ the great collapse only because of the warning they received from the Eternal Sleepers..."

"Then start from the beginning," Gawain tapped the table gently, "From when the Church of Dreams fell into darkness and made Orlandeau a stronghold, from when the Typhon people established their imperial capital at Orlandeau."

"Yes," Megal replied, "First, the Eternal Sleepers taking root beneath Orlandeau and the Typhon people building their capital at Orlandeau happened around the same time, but there was no connection between the two, just a coincidence.

"Early in the foundation of Typhon, the Augustus Clan chose Orlandeau, a land relatively fertile and suitable for building a city, to establish their capital. Just after they settled, the Church of Dreams, barely recovering, reached the place, then still a camp, and we settled there, hiding in the nearby mountains and forests and in the villages and towns, where order was still chaotic, maintaining a low profile for a long time and living with the people of Orlandeau.

"Later, as Orlandeau developed into a burgeoning city, the Church of Dreams also regained strength. We reorganized into the Eternal Sleepers within Orlandeau’s alleys and operated in secret, focusing primarily on survival and recuperation. During a particularly unexpected situation, while seeking a new hiding place, we found a passage leading underground in an area outside the city... Initially, we thought it was a cave, but soon we discovered it actually led to an ancient ruin almost as vast as Orlandeau at the time.

"It completely shocked us back then."

Gawain interrupted Megal’s account, "Did you discover facilities left by the Gondor Empire? You’re a Gondor, so you should recognize the technology and architectural style of the ancient empire."

Though he had entered the core of the dream city multiple times, he had never seen what the Eternal Sleepers’ headquarters looked like in the real world. From Daniel and others’ partial memory images, he could only glimpse the state of the underground ruin after seven hundred years of remodeling, unable to imagine what it looked like when the Eternal Sleepers first discovered it. At this moment, he instinctively connected it to the Gondor Empire’s defied Plan, suspecting that what the Eternal Sleepers found was actually another "defied Fortress" used to store divine samples—just like the fortress in the Dark Mountain Range.

After all, the combination of ancient ruins and divine samples evokes a strong sense of déjà vu.

However, Megal provided a negative response, "I can assure you it wasn’t—it’s definitely not something built by the Gondor Empire. Firstly, it’s outside the ancient empire’s territory, on land newly developed by humans; secondly, and more importantly—this facility was filled with things unknown to us: construction styles we’ve never seen, parts of walls with writing no one can recognize, some sealed rooms had remains of equipment using technologies unheard of..."