Dragons know the Kraken.

On this planet, except for some strange creatures hiding in the elemental world, there are only two intelligent races that can survive the magic tide again and again while maintaining the continuation of civilization, one is the dragon of Tarlund, and the other is the kraken living in the deep sea, and as ancient species that have also survived for a long time, even if they rarely communicate with each other, they will at least have a certain degree of mutual understanding - but their understanding between them is limited to "a certain extent".

Living in the deep seas far from land, and rarely interested in what is happening on land, the Krakens have built a mysterious ancient kingdom around a crashed giant starship, and the kingdom is surrounded by the remains of dangerous ancient gods that make it difficult for other races to approach; Dragons, on the other hand, live in the closed city of Tallund, where they are hampered by the taboos of the "Cradle Age", and under the watchful eye of the gods, the dragons are very curious about the Kraken and their starships, but it is difficult for them to have a chance to come into contact with them.

No one thought that when the cradle of Tallund overturned and the shackles of the gods were lifted, it would be this group of visitors from the deep sea who would be the first to set foot on this land.

The water elemental that had been sucked down and was only a dozen centimeters tall ran away quickly, and the nearby dragons did not come forward to capture it, and Melita took a few seconds to sort out her thoughts, and then continued to walk towards the black-haired kraken, and as she approached, the black-haired kraken had already begun to look around curiously.

Kassandra had figured out her current situation - she had guessed what had happened when she noticed that there were many dragons around and she was standing on a piece of land, and it had to be said that the situation was a bit unexpected, and the experienced witches of the deep still couldn't figure out how she had "swam", but that didn't stop her from quickly calming down and making some new goals and plans based on her original exploration mission.

Exploring the Eternal Storm and investigating it was her goal in the beginning, but now that she and her men have crossed the storm directly to the Dragonland, it is just the right time to investigate Tarlund in one fell swoop.

She looked at the blue-haired woman who had turned into a human form and smiled as she walked towards her, "Hello - it seems that we have had an accident on our journey and have accidentally arrived in your land. My name is Kassandra, and I'm from Antavien, and I'm loyal to Her Majesty Queen Pelleya, Lord of the Deep—but this time I'm on a quest with my men on the orders of Emperor Cecil. ”

"Hello, welcome to Talrond - you can call me Melita Pernia, I'm the administrator of this camp," realizing that the other party was polite, Melita immediately smiled just right, and quickly noticed the key words raised by the other party, "Wait, you said you were on the orders of the Emperor Cecil ......?" ”

"Yes, we're starting from the North Harbor of the Cecil Empire," Kassandra nodded, noticing the reactions of the dragons around her. The current situation is very delicate, this "entry" is an unexpected event, and in order to avoid unnecessary conflict due to misunderstanding, the wise judgment in this case is to explain the ins and outs of her party and the mission that can be made public as soon as possible - although Kassandra is not a professional diplomatic fish, she still understands this basic common sense, "We observed that the eternal storm in the northern seas suddenly disappeared, and we came to investigate. Originally, we were supposed to explore near the stormy sea, but we didn't know what was going on, and there was a problem with our direction perception and the magnetic field and magical environment of the deep sea......"

"So 'swam through,' huh?" Melita remained friendly, and though she had a stomach full of snacks to say now, reason made her look tense and began to think about what had caused the group of deep-sea visitors to deviate from their destination, "I think it may have something to do with the recent ...... in Talrond event-related. The environment of the continent and the surrounding sea has changed a lot, as you can see - even the coastline has become like this. ”

Kassandra looked up with a look of surprise, "Ah, I thought these rocks and islands were floating in the sky - I hadn't been to this place before. ”

Melita sighed: "A lot has happened...... Anyway, please relax, we can get along amicably - I personally have a good relationship with the Emperor Cecil, and I really didn't expect to see the emissary he sent in this situation, which is a good thing anyway. Allow me to also apologize – our fishing team is inexperienced, and please forgive them for their offense. ”

She was referring to the fact that the fishing team had fished Kassandra and her Naga followers as "strange fish", and at worst, it was even a serious diplomatic incident......

But Kassandra obviously didn't care, she shook the tip of her tail and swept her gaze over the dragons standing next to her: "Don't care, don't care, it's just a misunderstanding - in fact, I realized from the beginning that these dragon friends may have made a mistake, so I took the initiative to order my subordinates to cooperate to prevent accidental injury, you can count me as coming to the shore on my own initiative......"

"Thank you for your forbearance and care, these reckless young dragons have learned a lesson today," Melita immediately took the steps, "Please also follow me to the camp for a short rest...... However, we have limited conditions at the moment, so please forgive me if we are not well received. ”

Kassandra nodded, and at the same time she saw the barracks not far away, which were clearly made of recycled waste, and the precarious ruins of buildings outside the barracks, she asked, "May I ask—what happened to Tallund?" How did it come to this? ”

"This ...... It's more complicated to explain," Melita resisted the urge to sigh again, while raising her hand in an inviting gesture, "Please come with me, we can talk slowly on the way." ”

……

At Melita's invitation, Kassandra the Siren arrives at the other party's home on the broken coastline, which it says is a residence, but it's actually just one of many makeshift houses in the small camp.

In the sheltered terrain of the coast, the dragons built boxy houses with alloy plates recovered from the ruins and stones mined from the sea, compared to those gorgeous and extravagant palaces and pavilions of the past, such houses are not exaggerated to describe as shabby and dilapidated, and in order to save materials and speed up the construction progress, the size of these houses is simply not enough to accommodate the dragons in the form of dragons, so they can only live in human form, but even so, These houses are still valuable refuge in the land of Tallund today: they are at least strong enough to withstand the cold and snow of the Arctic region, and to make people forget for a moment the devastated earth beyond the walls.

"Please come in—it's a bit shabby, but we're the lucky ones to be the ones who are still trapped in the ruins of the wilderness waiting to be rescued," Melita said as she let Kassandra into the room, gesturing to the room deeper, "I live here with my friend Noretta - the white-haired one." She was also going to lead a patrol of the wilderness on the west side of the camp, which she had now left. ”

"You're out there." Kassandra turned back to the Nagas and followed Melita into the house.

After adjusting to the slightly dim light, she could see some of the details of the room—the furnishings and the house itself had a strong, contradictory style, and she saw that many of the obviously substandard alloy plates were joined into the walls by rough cutting techniques and rudimentary welding techniques, the lower half of the walls were made of primitive stones, and in the corners of the houses were placed advanced holographic projection devices, which were supposed to have been picked up from the ruins, and that they were not in good working condition. Intermittently playing old-time synth music and dazzling advertising clips, a heavy stone table in the center of the house depicted some incomprehensible circle in dragon runes, and a crystal floated above the table, its surface shimmering, projecting scenes from the vicinity of the camp.

The primitive and the advanced, the rough and the sophisticated, the shattered glory of the era and the future with no future, these contradictory things are so combined that Kassandra is only a little silent.

"That's where we are now," Melita seemed to misunderstand Kassandra's silence, "and it doesn't look very pretty...... But it's pretty practical for survival. Our priority at this stage is to ensure that as many of our compatriots survive and restore as much social order as possible, as far as comfort and beauty...... You can only stay behind. ”

"I understand," Kassandra looked up, looking at Melita gently, "we've been through it too. ”

Melita was a little stunned: "You guys? ”

"Many, many years ago – the Antavian crashed on this planet, all the factories shut down, the engine cores went out, and all the modules between the core fusion towers and the habited quarters were filled with metal shards and deadly radiation, and we had to run out of the spaceship and burrow in the pristine seabed and shallows to survive, all while enduring a terrible loss of control and mental dislocation...... Truth be told, it may be even worse than what you are dealing with now, at least for you, the planet's atmosphere is not poisonous. ”

"I'm sorry......" Melita didn't know what to do, "we don't know about these ......"

"Why apologize? We just didn't have a chance to communicate," Kassandra laughed, "We all live on this planet, but we haven't dealt with each other in years, but maybe it's fate - we can get to know each other from today." His Majesty Cecil once said that the destinies of mortals in the world are connected, and I think this makes sense lately. ”

"He has a lot of points," Melita nodded, "most of them are being fulfilled one by one, and the rest is ...... Maybe one day it will come true. ”

"He would have been amazed to learn what had happened in Tallund," Kassandra said from the bottom of her heart, "and that such an earth-shattering event had happened on this planet beyond our sight...... You've created the biggest change this world hasn't seen in a million years, and even the Kraken will be amazed. ”

"But the opportunity for all this to come true came from the humans of the Loren continent." Melita said with a smile.

Then she paused, her expression gradually became serious, and she looked into Kassandra's eyes: "Lady Kassandra, please tell me about the current situation in the Loren Continent, especially the Cecil Empire. ”

"Of course," Kassandra nodded, laughing, "the world is getting more and more interesting, and there's nothing more interesting than ...... His Majesty Gawain Cecil is trying to forge a new world order......"

……

The mountains of the far north are bathed in the warm sun of the moon of recovery, and the snow tops that have not melted for years are gradually beginning to shrink, and the Dragon's Landing Castle still stands on the top of the mountains as it has been for thousands of years, overlooking the kingdom of the dragonborn.

The Dragon's Blood Grand Duke is back.

Balloger stood on the highest terrace, the clouds of the distant mountains reflecting the sunlight and rising and falling in his field of vision, and the courtiers Sir Gorosh Hickel, Sir Eugene, and Sir Crossmir stood behind him, quietly waiting for the Archduke's orders.

All the countries on the mainland have their own ruling structure and title positioning, in the Holy Dragon Principality, "Sizzle" is a very special title, it does not belong to the more clear part of the aristocratic system like other countries, but the unified honorific title of the highest nobles, in this country full of lofty mountains, enjoy the title of "Sizzle", are qualified to enter and exit freely in the Dragon Landing Castle.

“…… I didn't expect to come back alive," Baloger whispered after a long silence, "and now the plans have to change." ”

The recent rite of passage was like an unbelievable dream, but everything in that dream had happened was real, and Baloger couldn't believe that he could return to Dragon's Castle unharmed after all this experience, he recalled what he had experienced in space and in Talrond, and at this moment he lamented that the world was unpredictable, and the rest was to lament that the plan could not keep up with the change.

"We haven't officially announced the death of the Archduke of Dragon's Blood, which should be good news," said the younger Sir Cosimir, a tall man with short black hair, "and while there is still some news circulating and causing some stir among the people, it is not a big problem – we can change our plans with relative ease." ”

“…… Indeed, if I came back a day late, I would probably have to attend my own funeral," Baloger looked a little strange, "and when I flew back, I even thought about how to get back into the public eye in a reasonable way, including whether to climb out of the coffin in public like Gawain Cecil...... Alas, if that were to happen, the situation would be complicated. ”

"Ahem, fortunately, we just need to do some pacification and guidance now, and suppress the rumors about the 'palace coup'," Sir Gorosh Hickel coughed dryly, "so now that you have returned and the affairs of the Duchy can run as usual, should we draw up an official letter and send a new response to the Cecil Empire?" Our previous response to their invitation was inappropriate......"

"It's definitely going to be a re-response," Baloger nodded, "but until then...... Let's start with a few announcements. ”

Sir Golosh had a curious look on his face: "What do you mean ......"

"The truth about this long, so-called 'exile', about the price the dragons paid for their freedom, about the truth about Tallund...... It's time to make it public. ”

Sir Eugene, who had a white beard, immediately frowned: "This is bound to cause an uproar, and not all people can accept it - didn't you decide to let the truth be buried before?" ”

"The truth will always be revealed one day, and we must also prevent the buried truth from turning into a hidden danger in the future - in this world, 'unknown' and 'blindness' are really terrible things, and after seeing what Tallund looks like now, I have a deeper understanding of this matter," Baloger said slowly, "Do a good job of guiding public opinion, do a good job of dealing with the aftermath, and the rest ...... Let the Dragonborn make their own choices. ”