"The information related to that operation should, by all rights, have been completely sealed away. The world's first electronic computer was born in 1946, and even the concept of the internet had yet to take root then—" Angers's voice came through the receiver, calm but carrying a hint of interrogation. "There should not have been any trace of that incident left in the online world."
"Indeed." Amon's tone was unhurried, as though he were unrolling a dust-covered parchment.
"The clue came from the private memoirs of an old English captain, scattered in fragments across obscure corners of the internet. He described his early voyages through the Arctic Ocean and mentioned encountering fish of extraordinarily bizarre forms—
"The creatures were so twisted that, in his eyes, they could not possibly have been creations of God Almighty or nature," but rather "failed products casually pieced together by demons." He had been deeply shaken by them, even becoming afraid of the sea itself for a time."
He paused briefly. In the background came the faint rumble of airport luggage cart wheels.
"At the time, I was investigating the mysterious Scale Disease afflicting my younger sister. Besides combing through myths and legends, I paid particular attention to records of anomalous creatures like these. That description therefore stayed in my mind. Unfortunately, my means were limited then, and I could not travel to England to verify it with the captain in person. By the time I later tried to find that online record again, it had already disappeared.
"Only after studying dragon biology at Kassel College did I connect those descriptions to the possible consequences of Dragon Blood contamination. Of course, that was originally just a conjecture without evidence—but Principal, your reaction just now seems to have inadvertently confirmed my speculation."
By the end, Amon's