The airship slowly moved through the clouds. It was not a light, agile aircraft like a bird, but a heavy one, like a tamed giant whale swimming slowly in the sky.
Its body is slender, with pointed ends and a bulge in the middle. Its surface is covered with a light cyan magical metal skin. The skin is engraved with dense runes, and light blue light flows from the runes.
There is a row of portholes on both sides. The windows are not big, but through them you can see the rolling sea of clouds outside. There are three pairs of wing-shaped stabilizing rudders at the tail. They adjust their angles slightly in the airflow and make a slight, rhythmic squeaking sound.
Nuoyaji was sitting near the back cabin, with a window on the right side of his body. The window was closed and sealed, but the sunlight penetrated through the glass and shone on the half-opened map in his hand.
His fingers wandered around the map, tracing back and forth over and over again along a route that started from the eastern border of the Karelia Empire, passed through the undisputed zone, and finally arrived at the small border town of the Vagrian Empire.
Chaluoke sat opposite him, with his arms on the table and his chin resting on his crossed forearms. His eyes were half open and half closed. He looked like he was asleep, but Nuoyaji knew that he was not asleep.
Fuyila sat next to Nuoyaji and leaned against the porthole, with her face pressed against the glass and the tip of her nose flattened. She looked at the clouds outside rolling and stretching in the window frame, motionless, like a kitten that was attracted by the bird outside the window.
She held the piece of bread in both hands - Nuoyaji didn't know where she got it from - and ate it in small bites, very slowly, her cheeks bulging, like a hamster trying to store food for the winter.
Nuoyaji rolled up the map and stuffed it into the leather bag on his waist, then raised his head. Sitting in front of him was a man in luxurious clothes.
The dark blue dress has dark silver edges on the collar and cuffs, and a gold badge on the chest - the double-headed eagle emblem of the Karelia Empire royal family.
His hair is dark brown and combed meticulously, revealing a full forehead and a pair of smart, smiling dark brown eyes.
Wearing several rings on her fingers, they are not exaggerated power rings set with large gems, but delicate craft rings with complex patterns that only knowledgeable people can appreciate the value of.
"So, Lord Robert, you are going to the Vagrian Empire to meet their new emperor." Nuoyaji's voice was not loud, but his tone was very sure, not asking, but confirming.
Robert·Burton--Karelia Empire Foreign Minister, one of Emperor Felipe VIII's most trusted diplomatic advisors.
He received the order from Vagrian as envoy shortly before Nuoyaji and his party arrived at Starry Vault City. At that time, he was worrying about the mountains of paperwork in his office.
The empire after the storm was full of problems, and Vagrian changing the emperor was not high on his to-do list.
But when the Crown Prince summoned him in person and handed the documents to him face to face, his tone was a little more serious than usual - "leave as soon as possible." It was not "process as soon as possible", but "leave as soon as possible". He did not ask why.
Before boarding the airship, on the landing field, he saw a man with stubble in a shabby coat standing next to his team of envoys, accompanied by a young man and a little girl.
Just as his captain of the bodyguard was about to go up and drive him away, the man turned his head and glanced in his direction. Robert recognized that face.
Chaluoke·Weir. They are not very close friends, but he knows that he is a trustworthy person.
"Yes. The new emperor Vagrian has issued notification documents to all the countries in the mainland. Of course we are going." Robert naturally followed up what Nuoyaji said.
Robert looked away from Nuoyaji and fell on the increasingly thick clouds outside the porthole. Vagrian's new emperor. They didn't even know the name of the new emperor.
The document only said "Your Majesty Caesar", with no surname or title, and no introduction to his origins. The intelligence department went through all the files and found no record of this person.
It's like he fell from the sky...
Nuoyaji lowered his gaze and landed on the cup of black tea that he had not drunk much on the table. The tea had cooled down, and a thin layer of light had condensed on the surface.
His fingers gently rubbed along the edge of the tea cup, and the rough ceramic touch came from the fingertips. In the previous life, had Vagrian changed the emperor?
He doesn't remember.
In his previous life, he was not familiar with the country Vagrian. It's not that he didn't want to go, but he didn't have the chance to go. Vagrian is to the east of the Karelia Empire, separated by a large undisputed area, which is neither the territory of any country nor any resources worth fighting for.
There is no trade, no strategic cooperation between the two countries, and even diplomatic relations are at the level of "several envoys have been sent to each other and several courtesy exchanges of credentials". Nuoyaji I have never been to a "living" Vagrian in my previous life.
His understanding of this country came from Lufuna, who told him that Vagrian is an ancient and powerful country, ruled by dragons, and has the richest ancient books and cultural relics on this continent.
Vagrian was destroyed in a divine war. This is the message Nuoyaji read from the secret report when Empire Tower Mage Corps served as an advisor.
The scale of that war exceeded human imagination. Several powerful unknown beings descended on that land and fought with each other, using that ancient country as a battlefield. He didn't know how long the war lasted, but he knew the result - Vagrian disappeared.
No, they didn't disappear, they were transformed. The people of the entire empire, including the old red dragon that ruled Vagrian for more than a thousand years, became the army of the victorious Evil God.
The dragons that once soared in the sky turned into monsters crawling in the darkness, and the once prosperous cities turned into ruins covered with black vines.
Vagrian was wiped off the map and replaced by a place called "Throat of the Abyss".
Lufuna lamented for a long time because of this. She originally planned to go to Vagrian to look at the original ancient books after finishing her thesis, but she cried in the room for a long time.
That Evil God.
Nuoyaji's brows frowned slightly. He didn't know the name of Evil God. In secret reports from previous lives, He was called "Throat of the Abyss" or "Lord of Corruption", but in older documents, He had a name - Weiergalun.
Now the world has undergone great changes. Storms, giant beasts, the change of throne of Vagrian - these things that never happened in the previous life have all happened in this life.
He was very worried that something might happen to Evil God. Maybe he woke up early, maybe his power was stronger than in his previous life, maybe his seal had been loosened. Or worse, he had already woken up, but he hadn't been discovered yet.
Nuoyaji pushed the cold tea cup aside.
Therefore, he had to go and have a look. As an "entourage member of the Karelia Empire diplomatic mission", he entered Vagrian openly and openly to learn about this country and find the god who defeated Evil God - Weierxi.
He had read this name in fragments of ancient books and some information from his previous life. He was God of Light in the mythical epic, and he had defeated Evil God.
The airship traveled through the clouds for a long time. The clouds outside the window changed from gray-white to blue-gray, and then from blue-gray to gray-black. The sunlight appeared and disappeared in the gaps in the clouds, like a light that flickered in the distance and could never reach us.
Nuoyaji leaned on the back of the chair, closed his eyes, and did not sleep.
Fuyila After eating the bread, he licked the crumbs off his fingers, then leaned back on the chair, closed his eyes, and fell asleep quickly.
Chaluoke was still "falsely asleep" and his breathing rate was still stable, but Nuoyaji noticed that his left hand moved from the table to under the table, resting on the handle of the hatchet at his waist, and his knuckles were slightly white.