Isle of Dawn
For the last 3000 years, the Isle of Dawn had been a paradise far removed from all strife and war on the Firuman continent.
The humans on the continent had always regarded the island as a place akin to heaven. However, the High Elves there had descended into turmoil.
Not too long ago, the Isle of Dawn had sent eight Silver Storm Sparrow battleships to launch an assault on Ferde, with a Level-16 Legendary master as backup. However, the entire fleet was wiped out, and the Legendary master was even captured by the enemy.
Every High Elf back on the island were all taken aback by this.
Everyone reacted differently to the defeat of their Silver Storm Sparrow fleet.
Some of the older High Elves immediately looked towards the World Tree and exclaimed, “Thank god we still have the World Tree to protect us!”
On the other hand, the younger, wiser High Elves seemed deeply concerned about this.
“I can’t believe the people of Ferde have become this powerful, especially the Lord of Ferde. He was able to dispel the entire fleet’s Doomsday Meteor attack with one stroke of his sword. There’s no way any one of us could possibly hope to defeat someone with that kind of power!”
“The continent now belongs to the human race. Must we really continue keeping to ourselves on this tiny island?”
“The Lord of Ferde managed to withstand the Doomsday Meteor attack. Will our World Tree even stand a chance against him?”
For the last thousand years, a top-tier educational system had been in place on the Isle of Dawn. Despite being plagued by internal strife among the various High Elf households living on it, most of the island’s inhabitants were still more educated than the average human being.
Though not able to guarantee excellence all the time, the island’s educational system was at least able to make sure that its inhabitants did not turn out to be complete idiots.
At that moment, the entire island was surrounded by an air of unease.
Amid the unrest, a High Elf merchant vessel had entered a small port on the northwestern corner of the Isle of Dawn. It had just returned from the Black Forest.
A couple of sailors were bustling about on the ship’s deck. Ten minutes later, the ship’s purple sail was furled securely on top of the mast.
“We’ve reached land! Drop anchor!” said the ship’s first mate while waving his hand at the sailors. A thick metal chain slid down from the deck and into the sea water. Once the ship was properly moored, the sailors began unloading the ship’s cargo.
While the sailors bustled about, a High Elf Warrior clad in a dark green leather armor leaped down from the ship and landed on the dock below. He then waved a hand at the ship’s first mate to bid him farewell and began walking towards a wyrm nest near the harbor.
Thanks to their green dragon blood, the wyrms living in these nests were automatically acknowledged by the World Tree as natives of the island alongside the High Elves and so were given free rein in the island’s airspace. On the Isle of Dawn, these creatures were commonly reared as modes of transportation.
Due to their rarity, they were also rather expensive. One trip usually cost around three gold pieces. Even in a place as prosperous as the Isle of Dawn, an ordinary High Elf would have second thoughts about paying such an extravagant price just to fly on one of these things.
However, this did not seem to bother the High Elf Warrior in the least. Upon exchanging a few words with the wyrm breeder inside the nest and paying him the requisite number of gold pieces, the High Elf was finally given a dragon whistle.
A few minutes later, the young Warrior flew straight towards the center of the Isle of Dawn on the back of a wyrm, leaving the port far behind him.
The Isle of Dawn was approximately 400 square miles wide. A wyrm would be able to fly across the entire island at full speed in two hours. However, this was prohibited. Due to safety concerns, any airborne object flying more than 60 miles per hour in the island’s airspace would be immediately seen as a threat by the World Tree and shot down by it.
Right now, the Warrior’s wyrm was flying just shy of 55 miles per hour. Considering how slow the wyrm was flying, one might have assumed that the High Elf was simply taking it out for a leisurely flight.
After flying for more than two hours, St. Doze City finally appeared before them. The High Elf blew his whistle a few times. Gradually, the wyrm began lowering its altitude until it landed outside a wyrm nest on the outskirts of the city.
The nest was connected to the city via the main road. A while later, the High Elf Warrior was riding a horse down the main road towards St. Doze City.
St. Doze City’s population was second only to Andwar’s. Still, the city was no less busy than the latter. Occasionally, the High Elf would come across a High Elf or two on the road that he was on. Their presence was testament to just how prosperous the city was.
Soon, the young High Elf finally reached the city’s entrance. As they had lived in unbroken harmony for the past 3000 years, the inhabitants of the Isle of Dawn never saw the need to build proper walls around their cities. The entrance to St. Doze City had simply been erected for show. Two guards were standing on both its sides at that moment.
The guards immediately stopped the High Elf Warrior in his tracks.
“State your name and origin, young one,” said one of the guards curtly.
“Theodore Morgenstern. I have just gotten back from the Black Forest,” replied the young High Elf. He then produced a couple of purple fruits from his pouch. “Souvenirs from the Black Forest. Go on, try some.”
The two guards immediately let their guards down at the sight of such a friendly face.
After taking the young High Elf’s fruits, one of the guards waved a hand at him and said, “Go on ahead. Try to stay out of trouble.”
“Don’t worry, I will,” replied the young High Elf with a smile. He then rode his horse into the city and began wandering through its streets until he reached the city’s northern corner.
The young High Elf had come to a halt in front of an inn. After leading his horse into a nearby stable, he approached the innkeeper who was standing behind the counter.
St. Doze City had an area of approximately ten square miles. However, it only had 200,000 High Elves living in it. As it was currently a few minutes after two in the afternoon, the inn was almost deserted.
“Do you wish to stay here for the night, young man?” The innkeeper was no older than 40 years old. However, given how long High Elves tended to live, the woman was still quite a sight to behold. She was wearing a black dress, and her skin was white as snow. Her eyes were slightly drooping, due to the soporific effect of the afternoon heat.
Making sure that the other guests could not see what he was doing from the lounge, the young High Elf dipped his finger into the innkeeper’s cup of tea on the counter. Before the latter even had time to react, he quickly traced out the shape of a dragon on the table with his finger.
When he was done, the young man looked up at the innkeeper.
The woman was now wide awake. She then looked at her guests in the lounge. None of them seemed to have noticed what just happened. The innkeeper quickly said to the young High Elf, “Come with me. It just so happens that we currently have an empty room upstairs.”
She then rose up and began leading the way. The innkeeper’s figure was a tantalizing sight. Her slender hips undulated sensually with every step she took. Even her male guests could not resist stealing a glance at her from time to time.
The young High Elf Warrior followed the innkeeper to the third floor of the building. The innkeeper then opened a door at the end of a corridor and quickly stepped into the room behind it.
The young High Elf followed her into the room.
With a bang, the wooden door closed shut behind him, plunging the room into darkness. Suddenly, the High Elf felt something cool and sharp near his throat. It was a dagger. A cold, female voice then rang out in the darkness. “Who are you? How did you know the dragon’s code?”
The voice belonged to the innkeeper. However, it was now devoid of the warmth that she had greeted the young High Elf with at the counter. There was no doubt in the young High Elf’s mind that she would not have hesitated to slit open his throat if she did not like what he had to say.
The High Elf Warrior’s face remained calm. Without even making an attempt to resist the ambush, he muttered, “The dragons are a flight in the sunlit sky. The lord’s patience has reached its end!”
The innkeeper’s trembled. The dagger that she was holding to his throat fell with a clatter. She then spoke in a low voice, “We still haven’t gotten a detailed layout of the royal capital. We’re still searching for the World Tree’s weak points.”
“Which is why I’m here,” replied the young High Elf Warrior. Through the dim light, one could still see that his eyes were a deep shade of black rather than green, which was the typical eye color of most male High Elves in the Isle of Dawn.
However, the innkeeper was so shaken up by what he had said that she had failed to spot this irregularity.
“Prepare a new identity for me in two days. I have some business to attend to in the capital,” said the young High Elf imperiously. For some reason, the innkeeper’s dagger was now in his hand. Without warning, it evaporated into a puff of smoke in it.
The High Elf was none other than Link himself. He planned on speeding up the realm fusion process. This was going to be an extremely delicate operation. Preparations had been completed on Aragu’s end. Link only needed to prepare Firuman now for the realm fusion.
As soon as everything was prepared, both realms would be able to fuse with each other without any additional side-effects.
However, he had killed Milda and King Mordena. He was now the High Elves’ public enemy. In order to prevent the High Elves from doing anything stupid, Link decided to proceed with a subtler approach.
The innkeeper was one of Ferde’s many spies Link had planted on the island. All this time, the High Elves had planted their own spies across the continent. Naturally, Ferde thought it fair to return the favor and managed to set up a network of spies in the Isle of Dawn to track the High Elves’ activities, at a price of course.
Now, Link’s hard work had finally paid off.
The innkeeper was startled to find that she had lost all will to bargain with the mysterious High Elf. She caught herself saying, “Yes, my lord, as you wish.”
Only after she finished her sentence did she realize she just how horrifying the man was. When she exited the room, her feet were trembling slightly, and her back was slick with sweat.
Oh, God of Light, what kind of monster have I brought in this time? thought the innkeeper.