yready Chapter 562 - 561: People with Many Secrets
Chapter 562 - 561: People with Many Secrets
Since returning from the southern slopes of the Dark Mountain Range last time, Gawain has been collecting and investigating all known intelligence about the Mithril Vault.
This mysterious organization might be linked to dragons, and dragons seem to be related to the entire continent’s situation, the chaotic wave, and the mysterious "black trap" phenomenon. On the other hand, the original owner of this body, Gawain Cecil, also has certain ties to the Mithril Vault... These various clues linked together have made him wary of this mysterious organization.
During his investigation, Gawain found that the information on the Mithril Vault was more than he imagined. In fact... that information can almost be described as vast as the sea.
The Mithril Vault is indeed ancient and mysterious, but it has never been an isolated organization. On the contrary, it is active in almost any land known to humanity, including the realms of elementals and powerful magical creatures. It collects, maintains, and leases, trading with any country or race. As long as the Mithril Vault’s "trade standards" are met, an agent will appear before you. In this regard, the Mithril Vault could be described as "open."
It even has fixed contact points in major cities, with dedicated contact personnel establishing effective and stable official channels with local forces — even in Lu An City, in Hosman City, in Peibo Old Town, there are a total of seven "stores" set up by the Mithril Vault, operated by more than ten low-level agents, which are still operating normally.
Each one is a century-old shop.
They conduct business similar to paid warehouses and loans, operating legally with complete documentation. After the unification of the southern borders, they were among the first to register with the Administrative Office. One of the stores was even named one of Hosman’s Outstanding Merchants of the Year, and its agent’s photo receiving the award was published in the local Hosman newspaper...
However, beyond these superficial details, deeper information about the Mithril Vault is not as easy to investigate.
The grassroots stores of the Mithril Vault seem to have no secrets, and its low-level agents are merely ordinary people. Gawain investigated the information of some low-level agents and confirmed that they are all of innocent background and clearly identified local people. These low-level agents and grassroots stores report to higher-level "regional agents," whose identities also seem unproblematic; at least, the Cecil Administrative Office could find no issues.
So, at which level do the agents of the Mithril Vault connect with the dragons?
Gawain has no clue yet, but he thought of the Cecil business intelligence network from the organizational form of the Mithril Vault — using various levels of business organizations as carriers, with Intelligence Agency operatives as key nodes, forming a highly covert intelligence system. He suspects that the so-called agent system of the Mithril Vault might be a similar thing.
The silver ring emitted a slight warmth, and as magic power was infused into it, the spell solidified within the ring began to operate. A slightly hoarse, mature voice sounded in Gawain’s ears, interrupting his thoughts: "Salutations, Duke Gawain Cecil — do you need operational assistance?"
"Miss My Little Pony," Gawain composed himself and calmly said, "I have some questions about the Mithril Vault that I would like to consult in person."
After multiple investigations, he finally decided to make a direct contact and test. Since Lady Melita is already a "high-ranking agent," Gawain had reason to believe that she at least holds some high-level secrets. In any case, if the test succeeds, he gains valuable information; if not, there’s no loss.
The voice from the other side of the ring paused for a moment before continuing: "Consult in person... is it very important?"
"Very important," Gawain replied unhurriedly, "Is there any difficulty?"
"... No, no problem. The Mithril Vault faithfully fulfills its contracts," Melita Ponia’s voice came through, "I will visit shortly then — I happened to be near Cecil Castle."
The slight warmth of the Mithril Ring gradually faded, and Gawain gently furrowed his brows.
The fact that the high-ranking agent happened to be near Cecil Castle — was that a coincidence, or intentional? And what significance did she intend by telling him this?
Theoretically, not many "clients" could directly converse with a high-ranking agent of the Mithril Vault. On this land of Cecil, probably only himself. Melita Ponia staying nearby couldn’t be for another client... so was she actually waiting for him to reach out?
Gawain shook his head, feeling he might be overly sensitive, but...
Considering the existence of the dragon, it was wise to be cautious about this matter.
With no additional schedule planned for today, Gawain patiently waited in the feudal lord’s mansion for the visit of that high-ranking agent, and he didn’t have to wait long.
Just as the giant sun began to tilt westward, Betty burst into the study, the young maid bowing deeply: "Master!! Someone’s here to see you! She says her name is..."
"Let her in," Gawain interrupted Betty, "Also, prepare refreshments and bring them to the study."
"Ah! Yes!"
Gawain organized the documents on his desk, and a few minutes later, he heard footsteps approaching from the corridor direction.
The study door opened, and a young lady adorned in a purple gauze dress, her face shrouded in a pale purple veil, her graceful and mysterious presence led by maid Betty into the room — it was indeed the high-ranking agent from the Mithril Vault.
After leading the guest to the study, Betty temporarily withdrew. Gawain glanced at Melita, showing no unusual expression, merely nodding plainly: "Long time no see, Agent."
"Long time no see, Duke Cecil," Melita also slightly nodded, then... slightly unsteady in her steps, approached Gawain’s desk, "This city is changing every day, truly astonishing."
Gawain: "..."
Although this My Little Pony lady had made an effort to maintain a calm and composed posture, Gawain could immediately tell that her leg seemed to be injured!
"What’s wrong with your leg?!"
"...Life is always full of surprises," the agent lady said calmly and indifferently, but whether it was an illusion or not, Gawain caught a faint trace of annoyance in her eyes, "Just a minor injury that doesn’t affect work..."
Gawain was, of course, very curious about how a high-ranking agent of the Mithril Vault got injured—and this agent was probably a powerful Order Supernatural— but he wasn’t in the habit of rashly inquiring into others’ privacy, so he only pointed to the chair beside her, "Then sit down and let’s talk—if I’d known you were injured, I wouldn’t have called you here today."
"Mithril Vault, reputation comes first, we’ve never compromised on customer service, it’s always been that way for hundreds of years," the agent lady sat down and casually continued before Gawain could start the conversation, "Besides... our conversation today will be very necessary, won’t it?"
Gawain’s brow furrowed slightly: "Oh?"
"Let’s speak openly, Duke Cecil," Melita Ponia sighed, "Not long ago, you went with people to the southern part of the Dark Mountain Range, didn’t you?"
Gawain’s eyes slightly froze, but beneath his calm demeanor, his heart was already shocked.
In the surge of various hypotheses and conjectures, he temporarily suppressed all possible connections and calmly met the eyes of the high-ranking agent before him: "Do you know what we discovered there?"
"You discovered..." Melita Ponia whispered, then leaned forward, bringing her face closer to Gawain—
Her bewitching pale violet eyes had unknowingly turned into slitted pupils, fine scales faintly surfaced from the sides of her eyes, and amidst a subtle powerful aura, her voice reached Gawain’s ears—
"The traces of a dragon, right?"
Gawain watched Melita’s faintly dragon-like face with quite a calm demeanor, and as she maintained this pose for two seconds, she quickly reverted to normal, returning to her original position. In the next second, Betty’s voice came from outside the door: "Sir! I’ve brought the refreshments!"
"Just put them here," the atmosphere in the study instantly returned to normal as Gawain instructed the little maid to place the tray of refreshments on the table, then gently nodded, "You may take a rest now—don’t let anyone into the study for the time being."
"Okay, got it!!"
Betty obediently closed the door and left the room. After a brief silence, Melita Ponia broke it with a soft laugh: "I thought my eyes and scales would at least surprise you for a moment."
Gawain opened his hands: "To be honest—there’s someone here with even more scales. Strictly by number, she might have more than you, so I’m not that amazed by non-human physiological traits like those."
This response was somewhat unexpected for Melita, she paused, her tone a bit helpless: "...That sea demon lady, indeed, you have quite the collection of... peculiar people here."
Gawain was striving to maintain an outward appearance of tranquility and composure, but in reality, his mind was swirling with countless thoughts. His immediate thought led him to recall the dragon he had witnessed through a satellite perspective—
Melita Ponia, this high-ranking agent of the Mithril Vault, she must be that dragon!!
So the injury on her leg...
Could it be this dragon lady’s method of shaking off satellite tracking is by crashing every time...
All the clues in Gawain’s mind seemed to link together at once, but he surmised Melita Ponia probably didn’t know anything about his identity as the "satellite spirit." This dragon lady likely only knew that he had led people to investigate the southern Dark Mountain Range and discovered the impact craters; that meant he couldn’t reveal the information about "crashing" or show any signs of already knowing about dragon activity in the southern Dark Mountain Range...
He cautiously considered the parts where their information was asymmetrical and judged the motives and objectives behind Melita Ponia’s active identity reveal; in weighing and judgment, he cautiously spoke, "Peculiar, is it... sea demons and dragons to humans are more than just ’peculiar’. I’m lucky enough to have the chance to know members of these legendary races. I’m very curious, a dragon... a dragon bearing the identity of a ’high-ranking agent of the Mithril Vault’, what do you really want to achieve in the human world?"
"You don’t need to be so wary. Dragons bear no malice toward the human world," Melita said, "But before we continue this topic, I hope to retrieve something I inadvertently lost—they are precious assets of the Mithril Vault. I know they are currently in your possession, I can sense their presence."
After Melita revealed her identity, Gawain had expected she would mention those rings. He retrieved the box of The Mithril Ring from a compartment under the desk and placed it on the table: "Are you referring to these rings?"
"Yes—may I have them back?"
"Then we need to have a good chat," Gawain placed his hand on the box, leaning slightly back against the chair, "Let’s start with the relationship between the Mithril Vault and the dragon—are you an exception among the high-ranking agents?"
Melita did not immediately reply but looked quite amusedly into Gawain’s eyes: "You seem quite calm when confronting real Dragonkin."
"When I crawled out of the coffin, I already faced the most surprising situation possible," Gawain smiled slightly, "A dragon doesn’t really surprise me."