Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 564 - 563: Initial Trust

When both sides choose to be open and honest, the conversation naturally becomes much easier.

At Gawain’s initiative, Melita also stopped using the formal tone of an "agent of the Mithril Vault" in her conversation with him, no longer using terms like "you" in a formal sense. In this context, it’s clearly a sign of increased trust.

Talking to a dragon is a novel and interesting experience, but real Dragonkin are clearly different from those chaotic myths—Gawain knows those myths, the ones passed down among bards, recorded on ancient steles, detailed in the esoteric notes of mystics. Humans seem to love using exaggerated and mysterious language to describe these powerful creatures. In legends, Dragonkin are powerful, proud rulers of the sky, supposedly having an astonishing fervor for shiny treasures, and particularly in ancient times, they liked to raid human kingdoms. There’s even a legend that the founder of the Gondor Empire was a dragon slayer, and they pushed back the dragons to gain human control over the continent...

Melita Ponia seems exceptionally helpless regarding these legends.

"We are a highly civilized race, but the stories you mentioned describe us more like powerful yet uncontrollable beasts. It’s true that Dragonkin like treasures—but when have we ever raided anyone? Isn’t doing business faster than robbery?"

Gawain... greatly respects the Dragonkin’s candid approach on this issue.

"The races on this continent always love creating such stories. It’s been better in the past few centuries, but there was a time when your humans’ dragon-slaying novels were particularly popular. It seemed like a young man leaving the village wouldn’t have the right to appear in the stories of bards unless he killed one or two dragons," Melita continued. "That trend even drew the attention of the Five Kings Council, and we dispatched a special observer to the Loren Continent to investigate whether there was any conflict between dragons on missions and human kingdoms—the observer ended up bringing back three bards who lived a lifetime of ease and deception in our nation."

"The unknown creates anxiety, an inherently powerful, mysterious race naturally draws people to create a bunch of sensational legend stories about it," Gawain said helplessly, then changed the subject, "But the stories of dragons destroying kingdoms aren’t entirely fabricated at times, are they?"

"Why say that?" Melita’s eyes widened immediately, "We never did..."

Gawain spread his hands: "The old Cecil was destroyed by dragon fire."

Melita’s latter half sentence was choked back, and she coughed repeatedly: "Cough cough, cough cough..."

"That couldn’t have been you, right?" Gawain noted Melita’s reaction and recollected the draconic traits he had witnessed, asking tentatively.

"You were there at the time?" Melita recovered from the cough and looked at Gawain in surprise, "How did I not notice..."

"It really was you, then," Gawain scrutinized Melita from top to bottom. Although he had confirmed the fact, it was still quite difficult for him to associate the petite lady in front of him with the obscuring dragon shadow, "Looks like we met one more time than I initially thought."

"I had no choice at the time," Melita’s voice seemed tinged with embarrassment, "That land was already contaminated by chaotic magic, with aberrations exceeding their proliferation threshold. Only a fire to burn away the pollution could stop the situation from worsening."

"I understand. I’ve dealt with aberrations before," Gawain waved his hand, "I bring this up not to point fingers, but purely out of curiosity, and I’m also curious about something else—how do your Dragonkin view me, the man who came back from the dead?"

Melita Ponia looked Gawain up and down hesitantly, "Actually, in the beginning, your resurrection only brought us chaos."

Gawain frowned with confusion, "Chaos?"

"We spent over a month just finding the things you stored in the vault back then..."

Gawain: "..."

This really makes sense.

Melita continued, "Then we mobilized a large number of people to investigate all the graves of clients who had signed preservation agreements with the Mithril Vault and died within the agreement period—we checked every grave. Even if the remains were gone, we summoned spirits across various regions for verification."

Gawain: "..."

This made even more sense.

He even momentarily questioned the business operations of the legendary millennia-old organization known as the Mithril Vault, "I signed an indefinite preservation agreement with you back then. Would you really take the items away when the client dies before the preserved period ends..."

"No, please don’t doubt our professional ethics," Melita immediately interrupted Gawain, "We don’t move the client’s stored items during the preservation period. It’s just that... they get transferred to the main warehouse, which makes it hard to find."

Gawain thought it best to end this topic that led both man and dragon to question life’s existence.

It seemed they’ve discussed everything they could.

"In any case, I’m glad we’ve gained a deeper understanding of each other," he stood up and extended his hand to Melita, "As you’ve stated, Dragonkin bear no malice towards the world; I choose to believe this. I also hope you can trust that I bear no hostility towards the Dragonkin."

"Finding a friend in the secular kingdoms to communicate with openly is also our reward," Melita shook hands with Gawain, "Our openness stemmed from an accident; luckily, this accident brought about good results."

Gawain looked at Melita’s light purple eyes beyond the veil, his expression slightly more serious, "I’ve experienced many incredible things. Please trust me; what I’ve truly experienced is far more than your understanding of ’Gawain Cecil.’ I can accept all unbelievable truths, be it about the chaotic wave or the black traps. If you discover the timing to tell me—or find the method to convey it—please come whenever, I’m ready at any time."

"I will relay your words to the Five Kings Council verbatim."

Melita said calmly, using "you" in a formal tone once again, not to show distance, but to express solemnity.

Gawain nodded and added, "Also, regarding the Mithril Vault stores within Cecil’s domain..."

Melita blinked: "Do you mean to shut them down?"

"Keep them running," Gawain smiled, his response surprising Melita a bit, "as long as they operate legally and pay taxes according to law, I have no reason to expel them."

He cannot expel the Mithril Vault, or rather, he has no way to expel the agents of the Dragonkin.

Even though his conversation with Melita is pleasant at the moment, it does not change the disparity between the Dragonkin and the current Cecil Principality. The other side is an ancient civilization that has survived countless ages; their history spans even the chaotic waves. Their power on the continent surpasses any human kingdom. If they wish to "observe," then the current Gawain cannot expel them.

Without the Mithril Vault, they might assemble a Black Iron Treasury, Adamantite Treasury the next day — and it would be completely secret.

At least, the Mithril Vault is registered with the Administrative Office, making it essentially a transparent third-party intelligence organization. For a ruler, if he cannot eliminate every hidden threat, he must at least ensure these factors remain within controllable limits.

"The Dragonkin will remember this trust," after a moment of silence, Melita slightly bowed her head, "rest assured, it may not be long before we have deeper trust between us."

"I’m looking forward to that day."

Gawain said with a smile, watching Melita reach the study’s door, but he suddenly remembered something and quickly called her: "Wait a minute—don’t you want this box anymore?"

He picked up the box full of The Mithril Rings, shaking it towards the agent lady.

Based on his past novel and TV-watching experience, he thought she should casually wave her hand, indicating these items were no longer important — after all, these Mithril rings seemed to be just a topic opener for their conversation, and likely weren’t too precious in and of themselves.

But in fact, Melita hurried back the next second, grabbing the box in her hand: "Ah, I forgot about this..."

Gawain: "...My Little Pony lady, is this quite important?"

"Very important. And why did your accent change back?"

Gawain waved his hand: "I’m more used to calling you this way."

Melita glanced at Gawain and shook her head: "Humans, indeed hard to understand."

Then this elegant and mysterious agent lady grabbed her box and walked away limping.

Gawain stood quietly behind the desk for a while, then turned to look toward the corner by the window.

It was empty there, with no sign of anyone.

Amber slipped away early.

He shook his head helplessly, went forward to open the window, and shouted into the yard: "Come back—she’s gone!"

The next second, a swift shadow tore through the air into the study, and in the room’s center emerged the figure of the half-elf lady.

Amber patted her chest with an exaggerated expression of fear: "My goodness!! My goodness!! Melita turned out to be a dragon?! You stayed in a room with a Humanoid Dragon for two hours?!"

When Melita first entered the study, this disgrace to elves was still in the room, but as always, invisibly present. However, Gawain sensed it clearly; when Melita revealed her dragon identity, this guy dashed out.

Melita surely noticed this detail, but she evidently did not mind this little half-elf.

"Rather than that, you being the personal guard, running away at the first moment, is that proper?" Gawain glanced at Amber, "I thought you would at least run to get help, but actually stayed in the yard catching ants for two hours?"

Amber wore an unabashed expression: "I wanted to get help, but after observing for a while, I found out you two were getting along well, so I didn’t — like you said, not to alert the snake..."

Seems this guy didn’t run too far, but stayed nearby observing, which somewhat comforted Gawain.

"Normally, I shouldn’t teach you such phrases; you misuse them whenever possible," Gawain shook his head, then pondered briefly and instructed, "Do some serious work — list all Mithril Vault stores and agents within the territory for priority monitoring, and pay extra attention usually."

"Secret surveillance?"

"Secret surveillance will do."

Gawain cannot expel the Dragonkin’s agents, and he doesn’t intend to strain relations with the Dragonkin — if possible, he’d rather build good relations with this ancient and powerful foreign civilization, but this does not mean he will do nothing.

He keeps the Mithril Vault and its agents in the territory but monitors them appropriately, which is normal enough not to provoke the Dragonkin, while allowing the Administrative Office to maintain at least minimum control over those lower-level agents.

He has a judgment—with the Dragonkin’s connection to the Black Iron Treasury, their focus on secular kingdoms, and their possible civilization level—a time will come when keeping those agents and lower-tier stores will be useful.