Undercurrents in the Shadows

Having a high-ranking dragon of a good alignment settle in a city is an extraordinary honor and a symbol of prestige, representing the recognition and attention of the entire Prime Material Plane toward that city. For instance, there is Lady Amandra Niladru, who resides in the City of Splendor, while the most famous City of Splendor in the North is home to at least three such high-ranking dragons. It is precisely because of these super-powered beings that this rich pearl of the North can remain safe from the blatant invasions of evil entities from various planes, forcing them to resort to clandestine conspiracies and the support of proxies to subvert and seize power.

These unwritten rules are known only to a handful of powerful individuals and the upper echelons of various city-states. Consequently, hostile lords across the Prime Material Plane only dare to launch true wars of conquest against these protected, renowned cities when they have secured high-level forces capable of matching such guardians. Lady Sunderland Starglim happens to be one of the few elites in Mirabar who has heard of these rules.

The next day, the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden, accompanied by the now-recovered Dwarf King Bruenor and his party, bid farewell to Mirabar to continue the dwarves' journey home. Before departing, the drow made a special trip to say goodbye to Chen Jinyang, which greatly increased Chen Jinyang's favorable impression of the gentle elven man. He promised that if the drow ever needed help in the future, he could come to Mirabar to find him—though not this time, as Chen Jinyang still had his family to settle.

The thrilling, high-stakes life of a mercenary and the precarious, fugitive years of his past life had left a deep mark on the depths of Chen Jinyang's soul. After nearly half a year of adaptation and recuperation, he had begun to yearn for the adventurer's life described by the mercenaries of this world, especially now that the future of the two little ones was largely settled. Chen Jinyang watched with a sense of loss as the Companions of the Mithral Hall rode off on their swift horses; the mutual trust between the four of them was something he deeply envied. Chen Jinyang believed in power, but he was not superstitious about it; a strong team with tacit coordination is terrifying.

When he saw the giantess standing silently behind him, Chen Jinyang couldn't help but reveal a joyful smile. At least for now, I have a trustworthy companion, even if her strength isn't quite satisfactory yet. After standing in silence for a long while, Chen Jinyang turned to return to his newly rented residence: "Let's go back! Phinia!" Hearing this, Phinia shouldered her giant axe and followed closely behind the man; this giant girl would never be far from her weapon, no matter the time.

The work of escorting the caravan had come to a temporary end, and the Companions of the Mithral Hall had already left. Aside from waiting for the Habel Family to arrive and complete the remainder of the transaction, Chen Jinyang had essentially nothing to do. For the past two days, there had been three extra listeners beside the two little ones who were learning the Common script from Lady Sunderland. "Knowledge is power"—this famous saying, which had been worn thin in his previous life, was indeed true. Aside from Mishaer, who was a formal student, Alos and Phinia had been dragged along by Chen Jinyang. As for the last one, it was the moon elf maiden Aelf Star-Night, who still refused to give up on the so-called "Dragon's Treasure." This elf, having restored her feminine appearance, had abandoned her former mercenary partners to cling to Chen Jinyang's side, becoming the little girl's "mortal enemy."

Although the languages of the Faerun world are numerous and unpredictable, there are six written scripts: Common, Elvish, Dwarvish (Giant), Draconic, Celestial, and Abyssal. Taking the most widely circulated Common language as an example, if one were to compare Common script to Chinese characters, then spoken Common would be equivalent to Mandarin, while regional languages like Aglarondan, Eshartian, and Chondathan would be similar to regional dialects like Sichuanese, Minnan, or Northeastern Chinese. Therefore, adventurers traveling through various lands often encounter frustrating situations where a farmer in a remote area can understand their Common, but they are completely baffled by the farmer's local dialect.

This script, which resembles an alphabetic code, is extremely headache-inducing to learn. Chen Jinyang and the others struggled immensely. After a few days, he couldn't help but ask: "Your Excellency the Lady Governor, this so-called Common script..."

The Lady Governor, who was teaching with a furrowed brow, gently brushed a lock of hair from her forehead and smiled charmingly: "Mr. William, you are too polite! Just call me little Sunderland! Tee-hee—" Chen Jinyang felt a bit awkward at the Lady Governor's near-flirtatious and seductive movements. He looked back at Phinia, who was scratching her head and fidgeting while facing the script, and subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. What a simple girl.

Chen Jinyang continued his question, distracted: "Miss Sunderland! This script is so cumbersome to learn; is there any special method to speed up the efficiency of learning?"

The beautiful "teacher" smiled and said: "Of course—there is! Hehe!"

Chen Jinyang and the other "dull students" were overjoyed and asked in unison: "What is the special method?" A burst of extremely arrogant laughter suddenly came from behind. When they turned, they saw the elven girl looking smug, and they all disdainfully turned their backs to her.

Sunderland smirked with a hint of pride: "The special method is to learn Elvish first!" The laughter behind them grew even more arrogant. Damn it! No wonder the little elf girl is so smug, but what does learning Common have to do with Elvish?

Fortunately, Sunderland answered the doubts in their hearts in time: "The Common script is derived and extended from the Elvish script (the relationship between Common and Elvish is somewhat like that between Simplified and Traditional Chinese, though the differences between the former are far more complex). You can only read Common script fluently with the help of Elvish grammar; compared to Common, most people are more accustomed to using Elvish for writing and record-keeping. Only the official bodies of our human nations and cities tend to use Common, but that cannot hide the convenience of using Elvish! Only specially trained scribes can read and write Common with relative accuracy and fluency. There are even mysterious spells like 'Comprehend Languages,' 'Erase,' and 'Tongues' that can allow an illiterate farmer to fluently read and write various profound texts. Mr. William should know more about these magical aspects than I do!"

Like hell I do! How would I know about these mystical things! Chen Jinyang said angrily, looking displeased: "According to you, we only need to learn Elvish! But what kind of messy things have you been teaching us these past few days? Are you playing with us?"

The Lady Governor, questioned and accused, defended herself in a low voice: "You were the one who said you wanted me to teach human language and script! Who can you blame?" Of course, the shrewd Lady Starglim admitted to herself that there was a small element of revenge for Chen Jinyang's intimidating behavior when he entered the city, but only a tiny, tiny bit (the woman used her slender fingers to indicate a small gap).

"Then from now on, you only need to teach Elvish! However, if there is any other common knowledge I don't know in the future, I hope the beautiful Miss Sunderland will remind me in time!" Feeling his lack of common sense, Chen Jinyang felt he might have wronged the Lady Governor and quickly changed to an apologetic expression.

Sunderland pretended to be nonchalant and said: "If you want to learn to read and write Elvish, then Mr. William has asked the wrong person!" Asked the wrong person? Following the Lady Governor's playful gaze, the group looked with difficulty at the elf girl, who was laughing with extreme arrogance. "Wahahaha—!"

At this moment, in a corner of the North, a mysterious conversation was taking place:

"Have you found them?" asked an elegant, deep female voice.

"They have been found! They had a misunderstanding with our family's grain caravan and were delayed in Mirabar for a few days!" This was an old man.

"A misunderstanding? How did they end up in Mirabar?" the woman asked with some concern.

"Do not worry! The Glimmerstone Council won't realize their threat for a while! Though, this time, the Dwarf King was beaten into a serious injury by a strange little fellow."

"A strange fellow?" The woman wondered which famous young powerhouses in the North could defeat the Dwarf King.

"Yes! A boy who was originally a fool suddenly turned into a powerful champion, even capable of killing a Fish-Eating Crocodile and a Hell Hound with his bare hands." The old man boasted without restraint.

"Hell Hound? You mean a Hell Hound?" The woman's voice instantly became high-pitched.

"No! Oh! By the gods! May lightning strike this shrewd woman! I said a Troll! Not a Hell Hound!" The man hurriedly and flusteredly denied it.

"You said it was a Hell Hound!"

"It wasn't a Hell Hound! It was a Troll!"

"Fine! Let us stop this meaningless argument! How is the matter of the contact going?" The woman gave up the argument and changed the subject.

"I have already contacted Nesme and Yartar, but both refused. I have also sent people to contact Waterdeep, but I estimate the hope is not high. After all, it has been many years since anyone mentioned Mithral Hall; few people remember it anymore." The old man's tone was somewhat dejected.

"But this is the only way to break Mirabar's monopoly, and forces from the dark side have already begun to infiltrate the mining centers of the North. We must accelerate the implementation of the plan!" the woman said with great determination.

"I know! Respected Lady! But the Shadower is too powerful for ordinary people. Are you prepared to deal with that Shadow Dragon yourself?"

"No! I cannot convince the others in the alliance to allow me to leave the city alone! This time, I am preparing to seek aid from afar—a sister of mine will arrive as soon as possible to help!"

"That would be wonderful! But can those dark elves find the way to Mithral Hall?"

"Rest assured! I have already asked that old dragon living in the Citadel of the Hermit, and he has agreed to provide appropriate guidance when the time comes. After all, Old Night is also very unhappy with that evil neighbor, the Shadow Dragon! Oh! By the way! How did you handle the Hell Hound that the strange little fellow killed?" The woman, who was speaking, changed the subject and asked casually.

"The Hell Hound has already been—oh! Damn it! You tricked me? Cunning woman! Shameless liar! There is no Hell Hound! There is no strange little fellow! There is nothing! Damn it!" The old man, realizing he had let it slip again, was absolutely furious.