A Dragon's Curiosity

“You might not know this, but the Sacred Guardian Beast of our empire was a [Celestial Sparrow].

Perhaps it had a different name, but that is what we venerated in our temples and offices.

It’s unclear where the enemy came from, but one day the sky darkened and our land quaked in terror under the foul air of the fiend.

Because the guardian already superseded our mortal limits, it did not need offerings for cultivation or anything of the sort, making it a true power to be reckoned with.

The armies of the Great Southern Empire cleared all threats they were faced with, and only the most dire situations required it to step in, right on the cusp of a true catastrophe.

So it is unclear where a beast of similar cultivation came from, capable of fighting head to head with the [Celestial Sparrow].

But its very presence alone sundered the sky and cleaved the earth apart as they engaged in a great battle.”

If it was not for his bloody dagger and smatterings of blood and gore on the edges of his garments, Unico would pass more for a storyteller than a warrior in the midst of an expedition against monsters.

His soothing voice conjured the image of a war torn city, with the defenders on the walls ready to give their life to ward the innocent behind them against a disaster greater than their combined might.

And it was also uncharted territory for the elf, the books were written from the perspective of Leandar and missed many details.

“Our Sacred Guardian Beast proved to be stronger at first and spilled the blood of the foe over the lands, intent on driving it out first to protect us all.

Unfortunately, the cunning invader made up for lacking prowess with treachery and blood magic.

Tainted by the foul touch, traitors appeared in our ranks and ambushed the support troops of the empire.

The battle fell back into an impasse and lasted for many moons.

During the pitched engagements, it was not only two beasts beyond comprehension clashing for supremacy of the sky, the cities of the Great Southern Empire suffered under the collisions between their followers and ravaged everything in their path.

Much was lost to the flames of war, until the [Feathered Serpent] was struck a fatal blow and driven back into the endless sea west of the continent.

Perhaps driven by the fervour of battle, the Sacred Guardian Beast followed its retreating form, intent on ripping the last vestiges of life from its broken body.

Unfortunately, neither of them ever appeared again.”

Clenching his hands in the sleeves of his robe, the youth finished his part of the narration while clenching his teeth, deeply affected by the past.

Nisha was not quite as involved with the tragedy of the past and took over the flow of the conversation again.

“More than a turn of constant battle sounds impossible, but records indicate that it truly reached such a scale.

Calling sundering the land and skies does not do it justice, the area was permanently marred by that conflict.

It was the critical damage to many important places that set the Twin Kingdoms apart from their former status as an empire, as many important structures and lots of knowledge were lost to the flames of war.

And if it was not for the visible evidence, many would likely call the past of the Left and Right kingdoms an outright lie and the people braggarts.“

The elf also had trouble imagining a battle of such grand scale, but was open to the idea of anything.

Given enough power, it should be possible to circulate mana and aura long enough to fight for half a moon or a moon, and small breaks in between with posturing and recovery would prolong those gigantic encounters into something bigger.

She had no idea how to go about that at the present, yet the future held infinite possibilities.

“Evidence? I did not think there would be such a thing for stories from distant history!“

Lisa was equal parts excited and doubtful.

The Golden Expanse and Great Southern Empire were long gone by the time she was born, not even the kingdom they lived in existed at the time these ancient giants fell.

Any relics left from so many turns ago must be a precious treasure.

Their talk was interrupted as another [Mad Stonetooth Boar] crested the shrubbery and stumbled into their party.

Perhaps it had just slain a hatchling, as it was covered in wounds and scratches, which only further agitated the incensed monster.

Fortunately, the blonde girl among them was similarly incited from talks of ancient powers and grand beasts, and the interloping monster was the perfect outlet for her excess energy.

Nisha and Unico moved to the flanks respectively and made sure that no other foe intruded on the small clash, through [Spirit Sight] for the former and more mundane scouting tricks for the latter.

When the porcine lost its manic rage, Lisa was able to root it on the spot with a fierce [Shield Bash], stunning it long enough for her shortsword to lop its head right off.

Huffing roughly from the exertion, she had to center herself and rest quietly for a while, calming her excitement and coming back from the battle state before she started to dismantle the monster enough for the elf‘s familiar to retrieve another bundle.

While the blonde girl got to work, she threw another question at her group.

“What is left of the Great Southern Empire? Since it went through such a big battle, are there ruins or other remains from that confrontation?“

It was difficult to put the encounter between two higher realm beasts in words, just as difficult as it was to form a mental image of the fight with just a description.

Both Unico and Nisha had left out a lot of details and simplified some of the parts, but as a whole it was sufficient for their purposes.

The elf looked to the boy on the other side of their battleground and saw that he made no indication to intercept the question or deflect the topic, hence she answered honestly.

“You have seen one example of the evidence before, it‘s right under your nose currently.“

Lisa stopped in her work and jerked her head around, astounded at the revelation.

Why would she have seen precious remnants from a lost Empire?

Before she had a chance to voice those concerns, the other girl continued with her words.

“As part of their agreement with the Sacred Guardian Beast, the meritorious and outstanding subjects of the Great Southern Empire were bestowed with part of its own bloodline.

The imperial family was denoted by their bloodline density and intimate connection to the Guardian, whereas higher ranks in government and the military enjoyed greater bestowals.

One physical trait from this is the purple hue to the skin which nearly all citizens of the Left and Right kingdoms display.“

At the mention of purple hue, Unico‘s eyes flashed once, but he did not object and silently left the matter standing as is.

The elf similarly left out that there were two colors that were prominent, purple and violet, but each kingdom claimed one of them as the true bloodline of their Guardian.

They fought over this matter for perhaps thousands of turns already, so the dragon had no illusions that she would be able to solve that particular issue, but she did feel inclined to side with the boy in their group on this and give in to his birthplace.

Lisa gasped and her eyes shot towards Unico, staring at his fine features, his clear skin and deep eyes … at least briefly, before her own skin reddened and she turned her eyes down abruptly, avoiding to openly stare at him as usual again.

Understanding came a tick later and her hands slowed as she contemplated the information of the story so far through a new angle.

Nisha gave her some time before picking up the rest of the conversation again.

“Other effects of the bloodline include greater physical strength, heightened agility and balance and a greater inclination for particular skills, but not much of this is known outside of the Twin Kingdoms.

Some scholars speculate that most of the bloodline has thinned over the course of time and that the current demarcations of high, middle and low should all belong to the low category in the Empire of the past, yet the royalties of both the Left and Right vehemently deny that line of thought and claim that the bloodline has not weakened at all since the Guardian Beast left to chase down its foe, a sign that it is still alive and recovering, somewhere out in the Endless Ocean in the west.“

The youth with the purple hue on his skin hummed in agreement and eyed a stretch of forest that was rife with smaller movements, judging whether another combat encounter was on the way, which turned out to be some small critters of the first rank that fled actively populated forestry.

With her dismantling job finished, Lisa took up her weapons and the group wandered deeper into the forest to look for more enemies, though the aforementioned girl turned quieter and no longer asked questions.

Nisha eyed the third member of the group and decided to give her the whole perspective and let her judge for herself.

“The second proof is a major source of wealth for both kingdoms.

Due to the fight between the [Celestial Sparrow] and the [Feathered Serpent], lots of blood was spilled on a sundered land, soaking deep into the earth.

Whether the stories of mind control through that spilled blood is true or not, there was still lots of it left all over the empire's territory.

After the two major beasts left for the western waters, the ground eventually closed up and buried their hidden treasures, giving them time to turn into something else.

As long as you dig deep enough in the lands around the Left and Right kingdoms and their cities itself, you are bound to find a layer of crystalline rocks where the blood of two higher realm beasts dissipated over time, turning into blood jade and other precious materials, that garnered the growth of even more jade.

The Twin Kingdoms are the biggest source of jade on the entire continent.“

Nisha had almost talked out all the knowledge she had read about, bringing the history lesson to an end and nearing the end of their talk about the past.

Lisa, who was constantly eyeing the boy next to her out of the corner of her eyes, turned pensive and somber, quite contrary to her usual lively self.

On the other side, Unico managed to preserve his polite smile and did not act bothered under the closer observation and gave his silent approval to the elf‘s portrayal of his home’s past.

Unfortunately, there was going to be one stain on the otherwise positive recount.

“Naturally, this is the perspective of the Left Kingdom.

If you ask anyone of the Right Kingdom about the past, they will tell you pretty much the exact same story, only that the Sacred Guardian Beast is now the [Feathered Serpent] that protected them and the gruesome foe that invaded their country turns out to be the [Celestial Sparrow].

Neither side is willing to concede their version of the past to be wrong, so they have warred against each other for as long as the kingdoms have existed.

Perhaps it would have been a much more open war if it was not for the expedition of the southern barbarians from the frozen plains, forcing them to band together to survive.

They are pretty much the other side of the same coin towards each other, so every time one of them grows strong enough, they gain control over the other kingdom and form a tentative dynasty.

No one was able to reestablish the empire so far, but perhaps in the future, the Great Southern Empire will be reborn as the Great Western Empire along with the Terus Empire to the east?“

Retrieving her greatsword from her back, the elf got ready for another fight.

Her segment on the Empire was finished and a smaller group of [Starved Shredder Hatchlings] lumbered just beyond sight in a nearby grove.

The party was here to gain fighting experience after all, and not to digress into discourses of the past and history lessons.

Adjusting the point of her weapon in the same line as the handle, the girl rushed through the undergrowth of the forest with increasing speed, Lisa and Unico following her into battle.

They had enough trust in the elf to follow her lead with no questions asked.

And their trust was rewarded with a quick fight as each of them picked an opponent, the fourth insect bleeding out on the ground after the dragon roughly ripped her greatsword out of its bisected midsection.

Individually, the trio did not learn much anymore from opponents around or below their own cultivation level, so it was mostly a crushing victory for them while they consolidated their combat experience.

While Nisha and Unico dealt with the corpses, the elf finally came to the part that started off the whole history lesson.

“As a result from the incursion of the frozen fields, the two kingdoms no longer warred internally and took stock of their external concerns and internal stability.

By that time, a lot of the previous spies either abandoned their posts and aimed to establish a new life elsewhere or they were caught without the support of their homeland.

With the records pertaining to them lost in the fighting, the Twin Kingdoms had to start anew to send out new agents, but they had a hard time evading capture, as they had no base or other helpers at the target sites.

For ten spies sent out, at least nine of them were captured and either ransomed back or kept as prisoners.

This did not change until a particularly strong prince took over both kingdoms and started his dynasty and looked into a way to solve the problem.

Enraged over the treatment of his landsman, he allegedly shouted, ‘If they take us all for spies, then we shall all be spies!’”