Chapter 1031: Chapter 1030: Farwalker
Iron Man Technology of the Gondor Empire—Gawain actually doesn’t know much about it. Although he inherited the memories from Gawain Cecil, even Gawain Cecil back then was merely a low-ranking knight apprentice from the Gondor Frontier, with limited knowledge derived from a few countryside teachers, and such educational levels clearly wouldn’t involve much in terms of ’Iron Man Technology’.
According to Gawain’s understanding, this technology is strong artificial intelligence + bionic robots, belonging to cutting-edge technology whether on planet Earth or in this world.
But in his limited knowledge, at least one point is certain: from the day all Iron Men come off the production line, they belong to the "Iron Soldier Corps", whether they are dispatched inland to various corps or sent to some border outpost, Iron Men cannot detach from this "corps", with related logic written into the deepest level of their mind cores, on their own... they certainly cannot change it.
As a former member of the Gondor Royalty, Veronica/Ophelia clearly knows this as well.
Therefore, upon seeing an "Iron Soldier" claiming to have detached from the Iron Soldier Corps, even she couldn’t help but be surprised: "Detached from the Iron Soldier Corps? How did you achieve that?"
Diana shook her head: "I don’t remember, my memory device once malfunctioned, after repairs a lot of content was lost—I only know that I have indeed detached from the corps, it’s a definite knowledge within my mind core."
Veronica’s expression was serious, she carefully looked at the Iron Soldier who’s been unknowingly active in the human world for hundreds of years, her tone as gentle as ever: "So, are you now serving the Typhon Empire’s royal family?"
"Yes," Diana nodded slightly, "they once sheltered and repaired me, I swore to serve their family."
"Feelings of gratitude... normal Iron Men don’t seem to perform this type of logic judgment, but that’s not important," Veronica lightly shook her head, "Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions?"
Diana looked at Veronica for a few seconds, pondered briefly, then nodded: "As long as it doesn’t violate the vow I made to the Augustus Clan, nor my mind logic."
"Just some past stories that aren’t greatly related to this era..." Veronica said gently, "Do you remember where you originally were and what work you were doing?"
Diana slightly recalled, nodding: "I was one of the guardians at Wepland Observatory, responsible for ensuring the safety of Sir Scott Prandin and Mr. Alphonse Hall."
"Do you remember the outbreak of the chaotic wave? Were you still at the observatory back then?"
"... This memory has some gaps, but can be mostly reconstructed," Diana slightly hesitated this time, but then nodded, "I confirm that I worked at the observatory until the very last moment before the chaotic wave outbreak, but have no impression of the specific situation at the time."
Veronica pondered for a moment, then asked: "And after that? What else do you remember?"
"After that, my memory has long blanks, when consciousness came back I was already in a nation rebuilt by Gondor remnants, which was then still called ’Typhon Kingdom’," Diana answered, "I was recovered by their court scholars and mages, according to them, I fell near the great walls back then, my body severely damaged, they took me to Orlandeau as a research sample, it took nearly thirty years to awaken me again... by then it was already Typhon 47."
"It took them thirty years to repair you?" Gawain, who had been listening quietly without interrupting, finally couldn’t help but speak, "And it was already Typhon 47 at that time... meaning you wandered for over ten years after the chaotic wave outbreak, before being found by humans near the great walls?"
"Indeed from the time calculations," Diana said calmly, "but I can’t ascertain whether those years were spent wandering within the wasteland or near the ’outside the wall’, this part of memory is completely missing."
"...During the chaotic wave, nearly all unprotected Iron Soldiers were damaged due to the impact, so you were likely active outside the wall, but nothing is absolute, your mind core state being somewhat peculiar might indicate you ’fortunately’ endured the chaotic wave’s impact," Veronica mused, "But in any case, you’ve lost the memory of the time between the chaotic wave outbreak and entering the human nation... Really have no impression at all?"
Diana showed a human-like expression of thought and perplexity, though the change was subtle, it still made one marvel at her almost indistinguishable from a real person. Then she shook her head: "I only remember a very brief and vague impression—Sir Scott Prandin ordered me to proceed northeast, apart from that, I don’t remember anything else."
This knight’s name surfaced a second time, prompting Amber to ask: "Who’s this Sir Scott Prandin?"
The answer didn’t come from Diana, but from Veronica, holding the platinum scepter, this old Defier clearly knew more about the upper levels of the ancient Gondor Empire than Gawain: "He was the administrator of Wepland Observatory at the time."
"Then it’s pretty clear, when the chaotic wave outbreak occurred, the head of Wepland Observatory ordered his bodyguard to evacuate, head towards the safe zone, and this lady complied, but she likely didn’t outrun the chaotic wave, plus she didn’t act with the escape units at the time, she was probably caught up by the chaotic wave—after being damaged, wandered for years between the wasteland and human kingdoms, until she was discovered by Typhon people back then, then spent thirty years being repaired, and when fixed, most of her memory was lost... That’s basically the process," Amber pinched her chin, with pointy ears twitching while analyzing the situation thoroughly, but then she scratched her head, looking at Gawain, "By the way, where’s that Wepland Observatory located?"
"Near the northern frontier of ancient Gondor, close to the magic scorch mark," Gawain’s mind flipped through the map while he casually said to Diana, "If you proceed northeast from there, as long as the direction wasn’t extremely off, you should meet the eastern end of the Dark Mountain Range, back then the Black Forest hadn’t spread there yet, so you had an opportunity to cross the mountains, directly entering the northern Shadow Marsh... That indeed is Typhon borders. A perilous journey, I should congratulate you for completing it safely."
Diana slightly lowered her head towards Gawain: "Thank you for your praise."
"This isn’t much of a praise," Gawain waved his hand, then looked at Diana with curiosity, "So... have you mentioned these things to Emperor Rosetta Augustus?"
"I’m sorry, I can’t disclose that." The black-haired maid’s tone was calm yet firm.
"... Seems like anything related to your master, you won’t talk casually to strangers," Gawain was not surprised by this, "But I guess he surely knows, and certainly knows more than we do—with several hundred years, the Augustus Clan should have inquired about everything they could."
Diana still maintained that indifferent expression, neither affirming nor denying, not even implicitly agreeing—only at this moment did she reveal a characteristic different from a real person, nothing was discernible on that face covered with bionic skin, with steel and polymers within.
Then Veronica and Gawain asked a few more questions; under the non-violative principles, Diana answered some—on Veronica’s ’face’, this lady’s attitude was actually quite cooperative, yet she ultimately didn’t disclose any more valuable information.
After all the questions and answers were concluded, Diana’s gaze swept over Gawain, Veronica, and Amber, then asked patiently: "Well then, may I leave? Or are you planning to disassemble me for more intelligence?"
"Ah, certainly not," Gawain startled and quickly waved his hand, then he couldn’t resist a brief hesitation, but after a quick consideration, he still nodded, "You may leave, Lady Diana."
"Well, thank you for your care during this time." The black-haired maid slightly bowed, lifted her skirt again and curtsied, then she paid a special bow to Veronica beside her, before stepping back half a step, her figure gradually disappearing into the air.
After the other’s figure and presence had vanished for a few seconds, Amber suddenly looked at Gawain: "Are you really letting her go just like that? If you regret it, I can still stop her—she left pretty obvious traces at the edge of the shadow realm, I can track her."
To be honest, Gawain did have a bit of hesitation in his heart, after all, such a special Gondor Iron Man possibly hiding countless secrets just leaving like that under his eyes; the background of the other is indeed hard to resist curiosity. However, after hesitating, he still shook his head: "We cannot detain an envoy sent from Typhon without any reason—especially such a special ’envoy.’"
Diana indeed has many secrets, but Gawain thought carefully, these secrets do not seem to involve the core interests of either Typhon or the Cecil Clan; at this stage, they could only satisfy his curiosity. From a value perspective, endangering the current particularly fragile and dangerous balance between the two countries to uncover these secrets is not worthwhile.
There is plenty of time for that in the future.
He suspected it wouldn’t be the last time he dealt with that "Gondor Mechanical Maiden."
"Actually, I’m a bit worried that the Typhon people might learn some...sensitive information from her," Amber apparently had more concerns, the normally carefree half-elf was quite sharp in intelligence, "like Veronica just revealed her identity, letting someone go just like that, wouldn’t it be a bit...hasty?"
"I didn’t know you were this astute already?" Gawain glanced at Amber in surprise, then smiled and shook his head before she could jump up, "Being astute is a good thing, Veronica’s identity is indeed somewhat special, yet...what kind of threat do you think this information poses to the Cecil Clan when it reaches Rosetta’s ears?"
Amber froze for a moment, subconsciously pinching her chin, while mumbling and pondering: "There doesn’t seem to be any clear threat...Rosetta cannot take any specific actions based on this information...but it is ultimately important intel, someone like Rosetta would grasp and make good use of every valuable piece of information."
"Exactly, he will probably think over these things carefully," Gawain said slowly, "but it’s okay, in some way, I don’t mind him knowing more about matters related to the Defier, including some of our ’little secrets’...if he thinks a bit more about these little secrets, or even loses a few nights’ sleep over them, that would be for the best."
Amber blinked, stared at Gawain for a long time, and finally muttered, "Seems like you’re scheming again..."
Gawain seemed not to have heard Amber’s muttering, he noticed that Veronica had been somewhat absent-minded since a while ago, which was a rare occurrence with her, and couldn’t help but ask: "What’s wrong? Are you still thinking about that ’Diana’?"
"Nothing much," Veronica shook her head, "I am indeed thinking about her, but it’s not important."
Saying that, she slowly raised her head and glanced into the distance, then withdrew her gaze and said to Gawain, "Please excuse me—I have been ’watching’ for too long and am somewhat tired."
"Of course," Gawain immediately agreed, "Thank you for your hard work, go and rest."
Watching the ’Saint Princess’ leave the courtyard, Gawain exhaled a little and thought of a detail from earlier:
When Veronica gazed into the distance, she didn’t seem to be looking towards Bitter Winter Castle—the place Diana was supposedly returning to—but was looking towards the direction of the Gondor wasteland.
This made him think for a moment, but he quickly shook his head, temporarily setting it aside: he still had other tasks to attend to.
Gawain raised his right hand, his gaze falling on a silver-white ring on his finger.
He recalled his recent journey to Talronde, and the last conversation with Dragon God Enya— a conversation that was cut short by the sudden changes in the situation on the Loren Continent, halted by the mutation of the War God.
Now, the calamity that descended on mortals has finally ended, the battle on the Bitter Winter Castle Front has settled, perhaps he should contact those dragons, they might also be paying attention to the changes of this God Disaster’s situation.
Gawain curled his fingers, gently caressing the surface of the Mithril ring.
A subtle magic power flowed within this exquisite magic device, communicating with the distant Talronde, however...
No response.
...
On the northern part of the Loren Continent, atop the towering peaks of the Sacred Dragon Kingdom.
The cold winds howled over the mountain pass, the snow from the top of Dragon Leap Cliff whirled in the wind, traversing through continuous giant stone structures on the high mountains, swirling up the heavy, ancient walls of Dragonwatch Keep, and was blocked outside by the roaring fire pans and invisible dragon language magic.
Duke Balogar Knal stood on the highest circular platform of Dragonwatch Keep, he disabled the protective barrier around the platform, letting the howling cold wind lift his grey hair and heavy cloak.
His gaze penetrated the wind and snow, looking far towards the direction of the northern sea.
Omega’s voice was roaring in his mind, yet as a special ’Departee’, he retained the thought process of his flesh and blood brain till now, not responding to Omega’s call.
But even so, he should ’go home.’
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