Dragon Spear

The convoy traveled along the western royal road. Even though the golden-armored Trolls were every bit as fast as Dragonscale Horses, it still took a full two hours to cross the fields on the outskirts of the royal capital and climb onto the Leyndell Great Bridge outside the inner city's western gate.

The golden royal capital in reality was not as ruined as it was in the game. Built in a perfectly symmetrical layout around the eastern and western royal roads, the west gate, the closest to Dectus, was also the true main gate of the entire inner city. It was not until the Shattered War, after the first defense of Leyndell erupted into a brutal meat grinder of a battle, that this city gate was blocked by falling stone, while the several-thousand-meter bridge before it was all but destroyed and sank entirely into the moat lake.

However, something few knew in this age was that one of the civilization centers of the Era of Stars and Moons more than a thousand years ago—the nameless Eternal City jointly built by visitors from beyond the sky and the native beings of The Lands Between—lay buried deep in the earth beneath this very lake. If one could transcend the constraints of the river of time and look down upon this stretch of history from above, the splendid golden royal capital before his eyes was just like a newborn flower grown from an old grave.

Lucia looked out through the carriage's glass window. Although the Ancient Dragon Knights had sealed off the roads the convoy would pass in advance for safety's sake, they still could not hide the prosperity visible everywhere in the royal capital. Whether it was the ever-bright, steady magic-powered streetlamps on both sides of the road, the buildings that were grand yet exquisitely ornate, or the faint bustle of voices drifting to his ears, all of it was enough to prove this city's power and vitality.

By the time the convoy passed through layer after layer of city walls and truly reached the Golden Sanctuary at the very heart of the royal capital, the sky had completely darkened. Yet under the dazzling radiance of the Erdtree, this palace where the demigods lived and carried out their daily affairs remained as bright as day. It was also here that Lucia saw the dragon skeleton that blotted out the sky.

The high priest of the Sky Temple—Gransax.

It was an unparalleled colossal dragon.

Its pale, majestic body was like a mountain range rising from the earth, and its wings, spread in wrath, were like dark clouds weighing down the sky. Even though it had died in battle many years ago, that proud dragon head still stood high, as if roaring with thunderous fury at the towering golden tree whose crown could not be seen.

After the Dragon-Tree War ended, even the Golden Dynasty had been unable to move Gransax's remains out of the city without destroying the royal capital. And so, relying on that vast ruined body, they rebuilt the Golden Sanctuary, which had once been reduced to shattered walls and rubble.

The architects turned the magnificent dragon body into pillars, made the jagged dragon wings into stairways, and as for that straight, unbending spine in the center, it became the sanctuary's new central axis.

The resplendent halls reflected the Erdtree's brilliant light, dyeing the pale dragon body a sacred gold. In the eyes of the people of Leyndell, all of this was just like how the ancient dragon faith had begun to spread widely under the grace of the Golden Order, and how the Golden People and the people of the sky had already become as close as one family, inseparable from each other.

Before Gransax's right claw, a dark-gold spear whose entire body was shaped like a spiral stood imposingly. No—rather than a spear, it looked more like a blazing thunderbolt descended from the heavens.

Even though it had lost its master many years ago, and the spear shaft appeared dim from a lack of power being poured into it, everyone present could still feel that supreme sharpness, as if it could cleave open the very sky.

"That is the weapon the high priest inherited from the goddess. It is called the 'Thunder of Hlaris,' and it is also the only supreme divine weapon of our race that can stand alongside the Dragon King Rock Sword," Lansseax said beside Lucia.

Lucia's mind trembled. He could not help taking two steps forward. Holding his breath and focusing, he reached out his palm, as though wanting to feel the aura coming from the spear shaft. Yet all that answered him was a silence as cold and still as stone.

"After all these years, has no one come to take it away?" he said softly.

Lansseax shook her head. "In the past ten years, no one has been able to pull it free. Fortissax and I could not, and neither could the demigods of the Golden Dynasty."

This spear was not the "Bolt of Gransax" that even the Tarnished of later generations could pick up. Although the latter was also praised as a legendary weapon, in essence it was merely a fragment shaved from the spear shaft after the spear's power had dispersed. Compared to this, it was no more than an ember left over from a raging fire.

"Perhaps it is because none of us were qualified enough." Lansseax looked at Lucia expectantly. "Do you want to try?"

"No need." Lucia shook his head with a bitter smile. "I already tried—right now, I am not worthy of it."

Lansseax seemed to want to say more, but the maids sent from the palace ahead had already filed out through the hall doors. Dressed in gorgeous golden skirts, they surged over like a flowing sea of flowers and gathered around the two of them.

"Your Highness Lucia, Priestess Lans, Their Majesties are already waiting in the Hall of Eternity. Please follow me inside," the beautiful female official at their head said.

The Ancient Dragon Knights led by Kristoff saluted and withdrew. The maids lined up in neat ranks on both sides of the long staircase, and Lansseax deliberately fell half a step behind Lucia. The two of them ascended the steps along a red carpet woven from precious fabric, then followed the female official through one elegant, luxurious corridor after another, finally arriving at a great hall with a circular dome at the center of the Golden Sanctuary.

Lucia quietly took in the surroundings. This was probably the "Queen's Bedchamber" from his memories of his previous life, but its scale was not even remotely comparable. As the place where the two highest rulers of the Golden Dynasty lived, conducted their daily affairs, and even handled routine work, the Hall of Eternity's visible area alone was already no smaller than the entire royal capital in the game.

As for the Elden Throne where the Omen King had "scolded his ministers," in reality, it was the Golden Court used only when grand court assemblies were held. It was not adjacent to the Hall of Eternity at all, and there was at least an hour's journey between the two.

After climbing another long staircase of more than a hundred steps, they reached an extremely broad terrace at the end. When Lucia and Lansseax arrived there, Queen Marika and the current Elden Lord, Radagon, were already waiting.

"Welcome to Leyndell, Lucia, my dear child." Queen Marika was the first to step forward and gently embrace Lucia.

Feeling Queen Eternal's warm embrace, Lucia's heart tightened. Although he had spent the whole journey mentally preparing himself, the queen's enthusiasm toward him, this "hostage," still exceeded his expectations.

This was also the first time in both his lives that he had seen Queen Marika's face properly—the broken stone statue at the end of the boss fight in his previous life did not count. Unlike the sacred, otherworldly goddess image Lucia had imagined, the queen was certainly beautiful, but she was also filled with a natural, lively air.

Her long hair, like flowing sunlight, was draped rather casually behind her head. On her delicate, fair face were features that were pretty and exquisitely bright, and the most vivid thing about her was those blue-green eyes. The bottoms of her clear, waterlike pupils brimmed with brilliant golden grace, yet also contained a few traces of a young girl's pure innocence. With just one casual meeting of gazes, it made a person feel as though his whole body were bathed in sunlight.

She was not a god, but a person—Lucia could not help having that illusion.

Of course, the queen could be warm, but he could not be rude. Right now, he was only the prince of the Ancient Dragon Dynasty, and before Queen Eternal, who ruled The Lands Between, he naturally counted as a junior. So after the embrace, he immediately stepped half a pace back, bowed properly, and said in a clear voice, "Lucia-Sancus of the ancient dragons, son of Hlaris and Placidusax, greets Your Majesty Marika and Your Majesty Radagon."

After straightening, he smiled. "Your Majesty the Queen is indeed as beautiful and wise as the legends say, and Your Majesty Radagon is as valiant and extraordinary as the epics describe."

Only then did Radagon, who had originally been standing beside the queen, take two steps forward and stand shoulder to shoulder with Marika again. He smiled gently and said, "As expected of the bloodline of the Dragon God and the Dragon King. Even in youth, your brilliance is already plain to see."

Unlike the queen, who was filled with a sense of living warmth, visible divinity seemed to flow all over Radagon's body.

Perfect—perhaps that was the only word that could be used to describe him. Physique, muscles, features, bearing... everything about him had surpassed the realm of mortal beings, and he was even more perfect than the ancient Greek statues Lucia had seen in his previous life.

Only when he opened his mouth to speak could others briefly feel that this was actually a living, breathing human being!

Lucia quietly scrutinized the "two Majesties" before him. As for the fact that these two were each other's other half, perhaps in all the world right now, he alone knew it. Even the Two Fingers envoys under the Greater Will might not all be aware of it, so he did not dare reveal the slightest abnormal reaction.

Still, he had now personally verified one thing: the "split" that had occurred in Marika was definitely not merely the splitting off of a second personality that opposed her will. Regardless of whether any limiting factors existed behind it, Radagon could at least separate from her body and move through the world in an independent shell.

On careful thought, it was not hard to understand. If it really were one person "playing two roles," then leaving aside how Miquella and Malenia had been created in the first place, just looking at the War of the Moon Tree, where Radagon led troops on campaign for several years while Queen Marika had once traveled with the War King's Eastern Expedition Legion all the way to Caelid and presided over that grand exile there, such an operation would have been completely impossible on a practical level.

"Lucia has journeyed so far to get here. You must be very tired. Let us not keep standing here. Come in quickly!" the queen said with a smile. "And Lans, I troubled you to make an extra trip this time. It truly was my oversight."

"Your Majesty is too serious. I am not only the ancient dragon priestess of Leyndell, but also a priestess of the Sky Temple. Welcoming the prince of my race was my duty to begin with," Lansseax said with a calm, neither servile nor overbearing smile.

As the four spoke, they tacitly avoided mentioning the Golden Knights of Dectus and the two barons who had just died. For a time, host and guests were all delighted. Lucia temporarily threw all his tangled thoughts to the back of his mind and followed Marika and Radagon into the hall with an impeccable bearing.