ca-book Chapter 340: Revisiting Familiar Grounds
Chapter 340: Revisiting Familiar Grounds
The moment he climbed onto the dragon's back, Gauss could more intuitively feel just how massive this dragon was.He even felt the area on this dragon's back was large enough to build a house.
Under the gaze of Aisvier within the ice mirror, the dragon slowly ascended into the air, carrying everyone.
It seemed to possess a strange power around it. Gauss and the others sitting on its back didn't feel the slightest bit of discomfort; the wind, snow, and dizziness from acceleration and deceleration all vanished, as if they were standing on solid ground.
Gauss knew this was all because the dragon was doing it for Aisvier's sake. Otherwise, with an adult dragon like this, forget letting everyone ride on its back, even trying to stand before it and remain calm would be difficult.
The dragon flapped its wings and quickly covered a great distance.
Space itself seemed compressed by the beating of its wings. Before long, the group passed through the icy clouds, leaving the continuous mountain range of the snowy peaks.
Only from a commanding height could one see just how vast this mountain range was. The area they had traveled through over several days was just an insignificant sliver of this massive range.
"Want to chat? Big guy?"
Gauss attempted to communicate with the dragon beneath him.
But whether he used Common or Draconic, the dragon showed little desire to communicate. It only revealed a slightly surprised expression upon hearing him speak Draconic, but that was the extent of it.
"My task is to escort you out of the snowy mountains."
The dragon's temperament was aloof. Although it obeyed Aisvier's every command, apart from its duty, this rigid creature had no intention of providing any additional services.
A while later, the dragon flew out of the snowy mountain region. Upon reaching the wilderness beyond the mountains, it set everyone down.
"Goodbye, big guy."
Gauss bid farewell to the mountain dragon.
"If there is another chance..."
The dragon exhaled a frosty breath, then beat its wings, shooting into the sky at a speed far exceeding its arrival.
It wasn't that it harbored any particular dislike for this human shrouded in a thick draconic aura. In fact, it could even sense a faint sense of kinship from him. But the disparity in their levels destined that a creature as inherently proud as a dragon could not possibly initiate any connection with Gauss.
For an adult dragon, a long-lived species, the vast majority of humans weren't worth paying attention to, as it was highly likely they would die of old age during one of its long naps.
Even within human society, social barriers existed between people of different strata, let alone in cross-species relationships like this.
"Where to next?"
Aria looked at Gauss.
"Let's return to Lakeside Town first."
Gauss looked around. Winter had already arrived.
Another year was drawing to a close.
He wanted to relay the information he obtained from Aisvier to the Lake God, Mete.
On one hand, it involved prophecies of world chaos. Informing Mete might yield positive assistance, even if just a sliver would be good.
On the other hand, Mete also promised to give me a reward upon my return from the investigation.
That flexible offensive and defensive form of the Godwater, its restraining effect against evil, would be of extremely important help to Gauss, who spent long periods hunting monsters in the wilds.
It also made him unable to help but harbor some anticipation for the remaining reward Mete mentioned.
However, comparing the sister deities Aisvier and Mete, he couldn't help but shake his head.
The former continuously expanded her power to suppress evil, while the latter spent years in deep slumber, only becoming belatedly aware of the crisis after detecting changes in the water quality.
As the saying goes, the eldest brother acts as the father, the eldest sister acts as the mother...
It seems all the pressure is on the shoulders of the Mountain Spirit upstream.
After mentally teasing the carefree Lake God a little, Gauss began his return journey.
Passing by Longdi Fort, the group made slight disguises and blended into the city.
They didn't attract too much attention.
Although only a week or two had passed, the city's appearance had already changed somewhat.
People were clearing snow by the roadside.
Tiefling orphans and the poor were queuing at the municipal government's welfare porridge station, waiting for staff to ladle out hot porridge.
Before he left, Praelius had mentioned this, saying Magistrate Nock planned to use part of the confiscated assets from the Dragon Worshipers to subsidize the lower-class citizens.
"Ethan, aren't you working at the old tanner's? Shoo, shoo! Those with stable jobs, don't come here delaying our work."
"..."
Gauss withdrew his gaze.
They went to observe outside the private school where Abby was studying for a while. Through the fence, they saw a group of mage apprentices, including Abby, being taught by a mage to cast spells in an open space. Gauss nodded with satisfaction.
"Want to go see Abby?"
Aria asked softly.
"No, let's not disturb her and York this time."
They had been gone for less than half a month. Abby's life had just gotten on track. There was really no need for another meeting, followed by another farewell.
"But we can go see that little one, Rhine."
It had been half a year since he last saw his first disciple, Rhine.
Gauss and the others left the school. The purpose of returning to Longdi Fort this time was to inform the Adventurers Guild about the news that monster numbers in the Tarna River basin would increase year by year over the coming period.
He had asked Aisvier about this matter at the final moment of parting, and she hadn't vetoed his suggestion.
Arriving at the Adventurers Guild, Gauss reported his intelligence.
He smoothly received a reward of one hundred gold coins for the information. However, because of reporting this matter, he learned from Guild Master Ferguson that the Adventurers Guild had long ago made prophecies about the crisis in the Tarna River.
"Fine then. Do one's best and leave the rest to fate."
Learning this, Gauss felt somewhat relieved.
At least humanity wasn't completely ignorant of the future crisis. Presumably, they would make some preparations.
In the evening, Gauss met with the tiefling paladin Praelius again. After a confidential discussion about some matters, they left Longdi Fort the next day, officially embarking on the return journey.
Retracing the path taken on the way here was quite interesting in itself.
Especially since, although winter was gradually setting in now, the party members, protected by the wind and snow, didn't feel much discomfort from the severe cold, making the journey even more comfortable.
As time passed, revisiting old places revealed many changes.
The vast wilderness once filled with Yeenoghu's minions, the gnolls, had been cleared out by the Golden Eagle Family. When Gauss passed by, he only saw traces of a few active goblin tribes, probably ones that had migrated from other places after the gnoll forces were eradicated.
What the goblins didn't expect, however, was that having finally endured until their major concern, the gnolls, were exterminated by humans, and having just taken root in this wilderness, they now faced their racial nemesis.
Gauss naturally wouldn't show them any mercy.
He understood the principle of eradicating evil completely.
Remember, the best time to eliminate a goblin tribe is always now.
Every goblin killed potentially saves a human, even a family, in the future.
Continuing forward, they came to the Herbal Medicine Village that had birthed the Brain Transferer Witch. The Village Chief and the other village elders were no longer in the village. According to villagers, they had been escorted to Sena City to await trial by the city court.
Although they had lost the witch's protection, under the leadership of the professional mage David, the current village chief, the village had established protective fences and watchtowers.
The moment Gauss and the others arrived, they were spotted by the militia on the watchtower.
Young men were organized to receive basic weapons training. Even female herb gatherers going out couldn't avoid it.
Seeing the changes in the people and affairs of these places, Gauss once again realized the significance of his journey.
...
"It's so cold, this weather."
"Let's take the opportunity to chop more firewood on the way back today."
"Rod, stop slacking off! Come over here quickly and help harvest the spoils."
In the snowy wilderness, a young adventurer team of two men and two women was bustling with activity.
Beside them lay a large wild boar with its rump bristling with wooden arrows.
The leader of this team was clearly the female archer Mira, who kept issuing orders. She called over the slacking priest apprentice Rod to hurry up and cut the edible parts from the boar.
Soon, under everyone's efforts, the large wild boar was divided into dozens of meat chunks of varying sizes, its hide, and two relatively intact tusks.
Mira skillfully wrapped the most tenderloin and leg meat in oilcloth and stuffed them into the professional adventurer's backpack the team had pooled money to buy.
"Good harvest today. Enough for our families to eat for several days. The extra can be sold for some money."
Mira wiped the fine sweat from her forehead and smiled.
In the first light snow of early winter, managing to hunt such a plump, strong wild boar was indeed good luck.
Especially since we set out this morning for another commission. After a busy day finding no trace of the monster, we encountered this blocking wild boar on the return journey.
This also indicated that this fledgling adventurer team was getting on the right track.
Don't underestimate it being just a wild boar. For most inexperienced rookie teams, it could be considered a tricky opponent.
Wild boar hides are tough, and their strength is considerable. Even well-aimed arrows might not cause significant damage, let alone the fact that an injured boar would go berserk and flee.
"I really wish Mr. Gauss could see how much we've grown now."
Mira put her hands on her hips but suddenly sighed.
Although several months had passed, she still remembered vividly the handsome man who had rescued them from the water ghost siege.
She had even served as his town guide.
Although she had realized back then that Gauss was a seasoned adventurer, she hadn't expected his fame to grow so immense later.
So much so that after that guiding job ended, she never saw him again.
Blue Lake Hunting Champion, Lake God's Divine Envoy, even...
"You mean Mr. Gauss..." Hearing this familiar yet distant name, Rod beside her couldn't help but fall into thought.
"I heard he was received by the Lake Goddess during the blessing ceremony at Fisherman's Song Town, the first time in hundreds of years."
"Lake God's Divine Envoy, that's a truly great figure. It's not so easy for us to see him now."
"Rod, your information is outdated!"
"What's outdated?"
"Haven't you read the newspaper these past two days?" The young female mage Pello wagged her finger.
"Mr. Gauss has a new title now: Crimson Dragon Knight, Bane of the Dragon Worshipers..." Recalling the news she saw in the newspaper, Pello still felt it unbelievable, just like when she first saw it.
"What's that?" Rod indeed hadn't been keeping up with the latest news recently.
Pello, along with the other two companions who already knew about it, proceeded to explain to the clueless Rod.
...
"Transcendent beings are at least level 11 professionals? That's too... too... amazing!"
"Now you know?" Pello and Mira nodded with shared pride.
They couldn't really imagine how strong a legendary Transcendent professional was either. But they weren't even level 1 formal professionals themselves. A level 1 professional could easily defeat their novice team.
Level 11, that must be strong enough to reach the heavens.
"And dragons... Have you ever seen a dragon?"
"I haven't."
"Does seeing one in a picture book count?"
...
"Whoosh!"
Just as everyone in the snow was discussing animatedly, a strong wind suddenly whipped up above their heads.
Their hair was tossed into disarray.
The sky seemed to darken instantly.
"Careful!"
Realizing something was wrong, everyone looked up. In the twilight glow, they saw a large winged creature slowly descending from the sky ahead of them.
"This... this is?"
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the massive creature landing before them, gulping in unison.
The appearance of this winged creature instantly raised the surrounding temperature by several degrees.
It also made their bodies instinctively tense up, accelerating their blood flow.
It's... it's a dragon!!!!
The very dragon they had just been chatting about.
They never expected it to appear before them the next moment.
They could even smell the intense sulfurous scent it emitted.
The few people it fixed its gaze upon became as if under a paralysis spell, motionless.
Even though their brains desperately sent signals to move their legs, their feet refused to take that first step.
It's over, we're dead!!
Seeing the red dragon slowly bring its head closer.
Mira nervously closed her eyes, her heart almost stopping.
Goodbye, father, mother...
After a long while, feeling no pain, Mira slowly opened her eyes.
Am I okay? Or am I already dead?
Just as she was utterly confused, a young man wearing moon-white mage robes, with an upright posture, jumped down from the dragon's back, from her blind spot.
"Long time no see, Mira."
Hearing her name, Mira slightly turned her head to look.
Then the bow and arrows in her hands clattered onto the snow.
Her mouth fell open, her eyes widened into perfect circles, her cheeks flushed red.
"G-G-Gauss?!" Her voice was excited, almost cracking.
Surviving a brush with death and then seeing the person she admired most left her so excited she could barely speak.
The other three also plopped down onto the snow, staring dumbly at Gauss.
To them, Gauss was the living legend they could actually encounter. They never expected that just after mentioning him, he would descend from the heavens not long after.
It even gave them an unreal feeling, as if they were currently in a dream.
Seeing their reactions, Gauss smiled somewhat helplessly.
He hadn't expected such a coincidence either. On this return to Lakeside Town, he encountered Mira and the others, whom he had met when he first arrived at Lakeside Town.
"Relax. You had a good haul today."
Gauss's gaze fell on the cleanly divided wild boar skeleton on the ground, his face showing appreciation.
He had given them a few pointers when they first met. Now it seemed they had at least become competent adventurers.