**Chapter 531 – The Arrivals**
“We’ll part ways here. Goodbye, Miss Ingrid.”
At this moment, it was around eight or nine in the morning when Fisher brought Ingrid, who hadn’t rested well the previous night, to the nearest city, called “Long Ear City,” which was under the jurisdiction of the Green Dragon Court.
The names given to cities by the Green Dragon Court are mostly lacking in depth and are likely based on the characteristics of certain subhuman races that originally lived nearby, making them not particularly pleasant. However, in terms of scale, it was significantly larger than the town Fisher had seen previously and was quite bustling.
Ingrid took a glance at the city before turning back with some despair to look at Fisher, saying,
“Uncle, just how far did you take me yesterday? We’re at least fifty kilometers away from the factory we visited earlier, right?”
“That’s why I need to remind you, after you return, don’t ever mention that you met me or went to that factory. Avoid it as much as possible.”
“Yes, yes, yes, Uncle.”
Although Ingrid had been eager to accompany Fisher to interview Raphael at the Red Dragon Court, that desire was based on the premise of Fisher’s protection. Since Fisher refused, she certainly wouldn’t recklessly head into the battlefield for any investigation.
She felt a bit disappointed, but it wasn’t overwhelming disappointment.
Emhart still watched her with suspicion, even though she had stated multiple times that she was not some impostor in disguise but just a normal Shivali journalist. Emhart had become distrustful of everyone except Fisher, giving off a vibe of “everyone is a Baemon.”
After saying goodbye to Fisher, Ingrid turned away, taking a deep breath as she sought a way to return to the capital of the Green Dragon Court.
“Is there a convenient carriage here? Luckily, Uncle helped me hide my magic after using it earlier; it would be bad if these dragon court folk discovered it. Hmm, maybe I really shouldn’t do any reporting. I should write a novel and document these bizarre happenings.”
Ingrid wandered around Long Ear City for some time but found that although the city was large, getting back to Long Ting City was not so easy. There was no public transportation, and if she wanted to take a carriage back, she would have to pay a hefty price to rent one, which would consume several months of her salary.
Out of options, she reluctantly ran to the telephone communication station built by Nali to call her newspaper in Long Ting City.
Telephones were indeed a miraculous item for the subhuman races of the Southern Continent. Currently, only the various institutions of the Green Dragon Court and human enterprises needed them, so most of the people coming to make calls were human gentlemen and ladies. Occasionally, there would be some subhuman children, either selling newspapers or shining shoes, standing at the street corners watching the magical tools or cigarettes held by the humans.
“Where the hell have you been?!! Ingrid?!!”
“I’m Editor Refusa. I’m in Long Ear City now; I went out to investigate news!”
“You’re investigating? Didn’t I ask you to find Mrs. Stoff’s lost cat?”
“A reporter can’t be expected to find someone’s cat! I’ve already published the news about her cat being lost. What more do you want?”
“So what did you go out and investigate?”
“I investigated a lot—”
Ingrid was about to express her frustration, but as she spoke, she suddenly remembered what Fisher had said and trailed off,
“Alright, I didn’t investigate anything.”
“Hah! You’d better have found something before you called me! Figure out how to get back on your own; it’s normal for reporters to walk fifty-six kilometers, right?”
The call abruptly stopped amidst Refusa’s roar, and the loud noise made Ingrid inadvertently recall his Mediterranean appearance.
She helplessly slapped the phone down, muttering,
“Let me go back by myself. I need to think.”
But just as she turned to think of a way back, she suddenly noticed that the crowd around her had moved far away, all with looks of fear directing towards her.
“Tap tap tap!”
“Everyone, step aside!”
“It’s the human allied forces!”
Many soldiers dressed in golden armor with Godlin insignias marched in from outside the city, quickly blocking the telephone rental service station.
They raised their weapons and aimed them at Ingrid, shouting at her,
“Hands up!”
Ingrid swallowed hard and obediently complied.
At the same time, her eyes involuntarily glanced at her camera, for within it, the photos taken inside the factory hadn’t been deleted yet. If they were discovered…
How did they find out about her? She should have kept her face hidden.
No, she had to destroy her camera!
But just before she could act, a young man riding a white horse, donning a gray cloak and carrying a bow and arrows on his back, emerged from behind the Nali troops, his expression unreadable.
It was Barbatos, the commander of the human allied forces.
Ingrid looked at the towering man before her and swallowed nervously, yet he said nothing, only ordering,
“Come here, to that carriage.”
Ingrid cautiously glanced behind Barbatos and indeed spotted a golden carriage parked behind the army.
Every hair on her body stood on end. How could she dare to resist? She could only comply and approached the carriage obediently.
“Alright,”
Ingrid thought to herself, “You really are a fool!
Is this it? I knew I shouldn’t have gone to that factory. I thought it was just a place for producing some pharmaceuticals or something; who would have imagined…”
Her legs felt weak, but she still trembled as she reached for the carriage’s doorhandle, slowly opening it.
As she opened the door, for a fleeting moment, it felt as if a wave of scorching heat rushed toward her, as if a column of magma had erupted right in front of her.
But in the next second, that heat vanished abruptly, as if it were all an illusion.
Ingrid figured she was simply too tense and had hallucinated.
“Um, hello?”
She cautiously peeked inside and saw a petite girl in a black tailcoat sitting on the seat, with her legs crossed while looking at Ingrid.
The girl was young, her long black hair tied into a short ponytail, and her handsome face adorned with a pair of glasses that seemed to sparkle with some weird light, which Ingrid couldn’t discern the function of.
“Take a seat.”
Though she was young, for some reason, Ingrid always felt a significant pressure emanating from the girl before her.
Ingrid glanced back at the expressionless Barbatos outside on his horse and then stepped into the carriage, shutting the door behind her.
“Is there something you need from me?”
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ag, the Chief of Staff of the Nali Human Allied Forces.”
“Hello, little girl. I’m the Internal Court Director of the Saint Nali Golden Palace. I’m Diane.”
In addition to the girl in front of her wearing glasses, another voice with a smile rang out within the carriage.
Ingrid was startled and quickly scanned her surroundings, searching for some time before discovering a woman with long black hair smiling at her, reflected in the mirror on the carriage table.
When the woman introduced herself, Ingrid felt as if her soul might jump out from shock.
Even though she was an intern journalist graduated from a prestigious Shivali university, the presence of a general, a chief of staff, and an internal palace director was simply overwhelming.
With a distraught expression, Ingrid, reminiscent of a little chick, stood nervously at the edge of the carriage, carefully saying,
“N-no, I wouldn’t dare… I’m Ingrid. May I ask what business you two have?”
The girl named Ag said nothing, but the woman in the mirror, Diane, smiled and said,
“No need to be nervous. We know you were the one who broke into the factory earlier. Although Empress Elizabeth is quite angry about it, we understand that you could not have entered alone, right?”
“Ah?”
Ag opened her eyes and looked at Ingrid, asking,
“Where is the person who took you into the factory? Did he tell you his whereabouts?”
“He… he didn’t.”
“You’re lying, little girl.”
The reflection of Diane in the mirror smiled, sending a sudden shiver down Ingrid’s spine.
“Ke!”
At that moment, on the windowsill of the carriage, a large black bird, not entirely distinguishable whether it was a crow or an eagle, swooped down, coldly glaring at Ingrid. The bird seemed to be chewing on some part of an animal, but Ingrid felt it resembled a human finger.
Ingrid was nearly scared out of her wits; she immediately cried out,
“Dragon Court! He went to the southern Red Dragon Court. But beyond that, I know nothing. I met him just yesterday; I—”
“No need to be nervous. Just say it. However, you also know, merely saying these isn’t enough to atone for your crime. Luckily, I have prepared another path for you to compensate.”
Seeing the smile of the woman named “Diane” in the mirror, Ingrid gulped and asked,
“W-what?”
“You seem to be a reporter from the Shivali Giant Serpent Press?”
Ingrid shook her head, crying out,
“I’m an intern!”
“That’s sufficient. Listen, Miss Ingrid, on behalf of the Nali Human Allied Forces, I want to hire you to delve into the front lines, take pictures, and report on the brutal conditions of that pseudo-Dragon Court in the south. What do you think?”
“Isn’t that too dangerous? I’m just an ordinary person; I can’t keep up… Being a war reporter really doesn’t suit me.”
Ingrid shook her head in refusal, but it was clear she was failing to refuse,
“Who said it was a treacherous battlefield?”
Diane shook her head, smiling as she said,
“First, we will send people to protect you; second, isn’t it safe to enter the pseudo-Dragon Court? When the time comes, just say you are the wife of that man you met yesterday for four years; they will let you in.”
Ingrid thought to herself, “You think this is safe? It’s not safe on the frontlines, so going right into their base is safe, right?”
“Bang!”
At that moment, the carriage door next to Ingrid suddenly swung open, causing her to collapse to the ground, fearing it might be some executioner from outside.
But looking outside, only three women stood there — two tall and one short, dressed in the golden attire of the Nali army, with indifferent expressions, resembling attendants to the two prominent figures in the carriage, addressing Ingrid,
“Miss Ingrid, please come with us. We will tell you exactly what to do.”
Kneeling on the ground, gripping her camera tightly against her chest, Ingrid glanced between the expressionless Ag and the smiling Diane, then looked at the three female attendants outside the carriage, swallowing hard before nodding frantically,
“Uh-huh.”
Inside the carriage, Ag watched as the three women took the frail Ingrid, who resembled a little chick, away, pausing for a moment before glancing at the beautiful woman in the mirror, and lightly said,
“Baemon, is this your plan to have three demon attendants help that human empress pursue her husband?”
Concerning Ag’s question, the “Diane” smiled as she sorted through the materials on her desk, casually saying,
“Isn’t this interesting?”
“Are you joking?”
“Oh my, indeed, using a base to pull you and Barbatos out from the depths of the demon abyss was truly the correct decision, Ag. After all, among our kin, only you two concern yourselves with our race; if we were to release other guys, they would either enjoy the Fallen Nature somewhere or, like Eil, go back to sleep; unlike you, who willingly serve these ants, wouldn’t you say?”
“Hah, fellow kin.”
Ag looked at the “Demon God” who had survived the trial of the false god in the previous myth war, holding some skepticism toward her statement. However, they had been together for nearly ten thousand years, and even if they were not born together, they at least were cohabitors under the same roof.
During the thousands of years they were sealed, Baemon rarely left the Demon Dynasty; she didn’t know if there were other methods.
“Nevertheless, there’s a purpose. The soul of that red dragon queen is priceless. A long time ago, a Trans tried to enter the Spirit Realm within the Dragon Court, but he was utterly devoured by madness, becoming part of chaos, heavily injuring the Dragon God and consuming part of his soul and flesh. Even Fei didn’t know that after that Trans was killed and reduced to ashes, the flesh and soul that Fei was consumed by flowed into the Spirit Realm and reincarnated.”
Ag narrowed her eyes, saying,
“You mean, that dragon queen?”
“Indeed. Besides the authority of the main god Ramastia, the three demigods each possess an extra blessing from the true gods. The Heavenly Lock has Ouyun’s blessing; hence, the angels love to forge holy artifacts so much; the World Tree has the blessing of Aniba, which makes them sensitive to fate; and Fei has the blessing of Dalasgon, but unfortunately, his offspring only possesses a fragment of that power so cannot inherit that precious ability.”
“Diane” smiled, cradling her chin, looking at Ag before her, saying,
“Conversely, once that blessing is passed down, she will inherit the true god blessing comparable to Fei’s, and that blazing soul granted by Dalasgon is exactly what you need. Only the power equivalent to the divine can break the shackles of the pseudo-god confining you, as you should know.”
Ag was silent for a moment before saying,
“That dragon has only reached the Fourteenth Rank. I’ll be going to kill her tonight with Barbatos and reclaim her blessing.”
“The transfer of blessings has only occurred during the creation of offspring by the demigods, and even then, it’s a minuscule part influenced by the authority of life. Not until those demigods fall and the blessings vanish will transfers happen again. Hence, only the power of the true gods can transfer this blessing. If we could harness and find the power of the true gods, why bother liberating our kin with that blessing?”
As her cold water remarks came to an end, Diane continued,
“However, this is not without exceptions; didn’t Fei’s blessing fall upon that dragon?”
“You mean because of that Trans who descended into madness within the Dragon Court?”
“Or because of the chaos within him. Coincidentally, the book recording the forbidden knowledge written by that Trans is on the body of the spouse that Empress Elizabeth is pursuing. He knows about Barbatos’ existence, and you both, as Demon Gods of the Eighteenth Rank, only possess Fifteenth Rank capabilities.”
Diane maintained her smiling demeanor, yet for some reason, an eerie shadow emerged on her face,
“To protect the lady entwined with him, he will surely continue to climb the ranks, no matter the cost, even if it means plunging into madness with the chaos knowledge. And all you and Barbatos need to do is be the push to exert pressure on the dragon queen; that will suffice.”
Ag waited in silence for a moment before snickering softly, saying,
“No wonder, just a while ago, Barbatos had almost struck down that dragon and that whale, yet you wanted to prevent him from acting; it turns out this is what you were waiting for.”
“Not entirely; that whale’s mother is particularly formidable for us. Although she has been recuperating underwater for these past thousands of years, you have heard of the name ‘Demon Destroyer’ in that war. If you don’t want the abyss flipped upside down by her, it’s better to hold off on that whale for now.”
Before Ag could reply, Diane clapped her hands, intending to wrap up the topic,
“Alright, that’s enough. You just need to handle the arrangements and stay in touch. Also, you just referred to me by my real name; that’s a flaw. Next time remember to call me by my current [name], Ag dear~”
Ag scoffed, responding,
“You think we are like you, able to casually discard our original names?”
“Then you should be thankful that humans have short lifespans, hence in the few millennia since the myth war, not many remember your true names. Oh, my goodness, or else how would Elizabeth promote two terrifying demon gods like you to be generals and chief of staff? Not to mention that her army has almost turned into a lair of demon attendants and little demons.”
“Thanks, that goes to you, doesn’t it, Internal Court Director?”
“No need to thank me, Ag.”
Diane smiled as she ended the “call,” the mirror rippling with watery waves before reflecting Ag’s glasses-wearing appearance, indistinguishable from a human.
The bird nearby cawed, and Ag glanced at it before gently breaking off a piece of her finger and tossing it to the bird.
“Ke ke!”
“Go, keep an eye on that girl. If necessary, you can summon me.”
“Ke ke!”
The large black bird chewed on Ag’s finger, and though it glanced at her regrown finger longingly, it spread its wings and soared into the sky, disappearing into the horizon.
“Fisher! Ahead is the [Southern Branch Mountain] of the Southern Continent! The Red Dragon Court should be right inside there. Are you planning to go directly in to find her?”
“Boom!”
After Emhart’s voice, Fisher directed his gaze towards the area, where the open wilderness met the lush, layered mountains.
To the north from here lay Raphael’s homeland. In the past, he had never visited her hometown during his trips to the Southern Continent, let alone this further southern region.
And beneath that grand mountain range lay the scars of countless wars, indicating that numerous bloody conflicts had occurred here in the past.
They had arrived at the doorstep of the Red Dragon Court.
**(End of Chapter)**
