Chapter 243
Zeke was startled by Yellin’s words.
“There are still living dragons?”
Officially, all dragons had vanished from the Central Continent after the Liberation War.
There were rumors that a few dragons still existed across the sea in the Eastern Empire, but no one could confirm whether they were real.
And now, hearing that a living dragon resided within the underground labyrinth of the House of Ishtar—it was hard to believe outright.
Zeke composed himself and asked Yellin,
“So you're saying the pact made by your ancestor wasn't about protecting the lands of the Black River tribe, but about the dragon in the labyrinth?”
“To be precise, the original pact was made between the Black River tribe and the dragon of the labyrinth. Our ancestors temporarily took over the responsibility, but when the tribe failed to return, we’ve remained bound by the terms ever since.”
If it hadn’t been Yellin—the current head of a powerful house—saying this, Zeke wouldn’t have believed it.
He picked up Annexie’s dagger and asked,
“This dagger—the Black River’s token—does it mean we can break the pact with the dragon?”
Yellin hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Actually… there’s a prophecy that has been passed down in our family.”
“A prophecy?”
Zeke ran his fingers over Chronos’ watch, a keepsake from his mother, which he kept in his pocket.
“Don’t tell me this prophecy has something to do with my mother, too…”
“Roughly 150 years ago, before your time, Lord Zeke, a guest visited Ishtar’s main palace. That guest was the prophet.”
Judging by the timeline, it wasn’t a prophecy from Laura Agamemnon.
Yellin continued,
“That prophet foretold that when the Black River’s token reappears, the shackles of the pact that bind the House of Ishtar would be broken.”
“So you’ve been waiting all this time just on the prophet’s words?”
“We’ve waited over two thousand years. A bit longer wouldn't make a difference, would it?”
Zeke had to admit, she had a point.
Especially if it concerned a method to break a pact with a dragon—this wasn’t the time to be picky.
From the Ishtar Clan’s perspective, calling on a prophet might have been like grasping at straws.
Zeke pressed further.
“Is that all the prophecy said?”
She shook her head.
“There’s more. This part isn’t directly tied to the Ishtar Clan, but the prophet also said: ‘When the Black River’s token appears alongside a new immortal power, the time of ruin will come, and the King in Yellow shall rise again.’”
Zeke swallowed hard.
“An immortal power, ruin… the King in Yellow… All these prophecies seem to be pointing to the same outcome.”
After learning that Siemens Apollion—who sealed the Divine Dragon—was an immortal and had become the vessel for the Demon King, Zeke had been uneasy.
“Surely… the King in Yellow who brings ruin can’t be connected to me… right?”
He wanted to believe that wasn’t the case, but the unsettling feeling wouldn’t go away.
Then Yellin said,
“Lord Zeke, I have a request. Please accompany us with the token to our main palace.”
Zeke hesitated for a moment, then subtly pulled out the compass to check something.
The compass needle still pointed to Yellin.
“So if I want to reach the Fairy Lake, I need to follow Yellin…”
He didn’t know what connection there might be between the lake and the dragon in the labyrinth, but there weren’t many other options.
“If I go to Ishtar’s main palace, I could use this token as leverage to break off the engagement. If I help free them from a pact that’s lasted two millennia, I might even put Ishtar in my debt.”
With Abel having become a Black Knight and been named a Guardian Knight, the situation had shifted.
Even if Ishtar was technically an external force, drawing in a transcendent household like theirs to Zeke’s side could help tip the scales.
Zeke nodded toward Yellin.
“Understood. Let’s head to the main palace of Ishtar together.”
At his words, Yellin smiled radiantly. Her smile seemed to brighten the entire meeting room.
Zeke found himself briefly dazed by her presence but quickly came to his senses. He then arranged for them to travel to Mycenae the next day to use the portal to reach the Ishtar palace.
“The terminal in Mycenae is under my ownership. If we align coordinates with Ishtar, the portal should be operational.”
“Understood. I’ll inform the palace in advance.”
Zeke decided to depart for Mycenae with Yellin the next day and first sent them back to the hotel.
Only then was he finally able to head to the lab where Paynun was waiting.
As Zeke entered, both Paynun and Gelion rushed toward him, pale-faced.
“L-Lord Zeke! Are you alright?”
“Master! Artificers from Ishtar? What happened out there?”
Zeke calmed the alarmed Paynun and Gelion and assured them everything had been resolved peacefully.
Given Ishtar’s secretive reputation, it wasn’t surprising they reacted this way.
“They probably wouldn’t believe me if I told them the Ishtar family carries elven blood.”
He wrapped up the topic with a vague explanation and proceeded to take out the artifacts he’d collected from the Inverted Tower.
Everything from cold-weather gear made from vampire rabbit fur to ancient magical artifacts spilled out.
As rare relics kept appearing, Paynun and Gelion’s jaws dropped.
“M-Master! Where do you even find things like these?”
“Just lucky. I happened to unearth a forgotten ruin.”
At that, Gelion gulped.
“Just finding a single minor ruin is said to be a lifetime’s worth of luck… It seems, my lord, that you were born under a mighty star.”
Zeke flashed a smile at Gelion, then selected two items from the assortment laid out before him: the primitive form of the Hercyon armor worn by the goblin warrior, and the imperial Hercyon armor recently seized from the Baptists. He placed them both on the workbench.
“Would you take a look at this?”
As Zeke activated the prototype Hercyon, Paynun's eyes lit up with curiosity.
“Fascinating. The activation pattern is similar to standard Hercyon, but the structure is much simpler.”
Gelion nodded in agreement.
“Indeed. From what I can tell, this early version functions solely by expanding its plating to increase coverage — essentially a basic exoskeletal enhancement.”
The two began examining the armor in detail, occasionally marveling, nodding, or frowning in concentration.
Zeke addressed them as they studied the elven Hercyon.
“If this is what the original Hercyon looked like, would it be possible to recreate armor of this level with modern technology?”
Paynun hesitated, then answered slowly.
“Master, to answer your question directly — yes, it’s possible.”
He continued, “But... to be frank, I’d say it would be highly inefficient.”
“Inefficient? In what way?”
At Zeke’s question, Paynun gestured to Gelion, who detached the back plate of the Hercyon. Beneath it was a delicate and intricately etched magical activation plate.
This magical array was the key mechanism that allowed the armor to shift from a simple backplate into a full suit.
Pointing to the activation plate, Paynun explained, “Only recently did I learn this through the Syndicate — the activation plate is the true heart of a Hercyon. The exorbitant price of imperial Hercyons isn't just due to rare materials, but also because these plates are extremely limited.”
“Limited? How so?”
“Most activation plates in use today are salvaged from ancient ruins. They’re refurbished and incorporated into newly crafted suits of armor.”
“You mean even the Holy Kingdom and the Empire do this?”
“Yes. The Empire, in particular, is far ahead in the technology of adapting these plates, which explains the performance gap between their Hercyon and those of the Holy Kingdom.”
Zeke frowned, puzzled.
“If the secret lies in these ancient plates, why didn’t other nations figure it out? Surely the Empire and the Holy Kingdom aren’t the only ones excavating ancient sites.”
Paynun nodded. “That’s because the plates themselves are such powerful artifacts that most wouldn’t even consider dismantling them. Only countries with deep pockets and advanced tech — like the Empire or the Kingdom — would take the risk of disassembling one.”
Now it made sense to Zeke.
“So you’re saying it’s not impossible to create these activation plates with current technology, just highly inefficient?”
“Yes, the issue lies in energy density and magical efficiency. Even today, replicating the density of magical circuits in ancient plates is incredibly difficult.”
“How inefficient are we talking?”
“I’ve run the numbers. Even with our current understanding, it would take a 7th-circle mage three years to produce an activation plate — and even then, its performance would still fall short of this one.”
Zeke understood exactly what Paynun meant.
“That's… astonishingly inefficient.”
“Indeed. That’s why, if you’re lucky enough to have a high-density plate like this, it’s far more beneficial to use it to upgrade a new suit into a more advanced Hercyon than trying to reverse-engineer or build one from scratch.”
Zeke tilted his head thoughtfully.
“Then why did people in ancient times use such advanced plates in such primitive armor?”
This time, Gelion answered.
“My lord, metalworking has advanced considerably since ancient times. In terms of physical protection, modern armor is superior. But as Paynun said, ancient magic was far more advanced. That’s why modern weapons may cost more, but ancient artifacts are far more valuable.”
Zeke nodded slowly.
“So their metallurgy was inferior, but their magical engineering was superior.”
“There are several theories, but the most accepted one is that many of those magical tools were made by dragons.”
“Dragons made them?”
Paynun confirmed it with a nod.
“Yes. Dragons were the original source of magic for humans. They taught us magic, and in a sense, they are its sovereigns. For them, creating activation plates like these would have been trivial.”
“You’re telling me dragons were sitting around etching mana circuits onto plates?”
“That level of circuit density would’ve been nearly impossible otherwise.”
Zeke let out a faint, incredulous laugh. The image of a dragon hunched over a workbench, meticulously inscribing magical circuits, felt strangely surreal.
‘Then again, back in those days, there were many contract dragons. It’s not far-fetched to think they’d do such things for their chosen partners.’
He recalled something Kaisir had said — that after the founding of the Kingdom of Cronos, it became almost a trend for dragons to seek out human partners. At one point, every noble house had its own guardian dragon.
‘There were so many contracts that they eventually limited it to one dragon per house.’
If those guardian dragons were acting for the benefit of their bonded households, even in polymorphed forms, crafting activation plates wouldn’t have been much of a challenge.
As Paynun studied the activation plate of the prototype Hercyon, he couldn’t help but show a trace of wistful regret.
“If only we had the annotated version of the activation formula engraved on this plate, reproducing such a device with modern technology wouldn’t be difficult. It’s a shame.”
“What’s an annotated version?”
As Zeke asked, Paynun brought a magnifying lens to the activation plate and explained.
“If you look here, you’ll see numerous magical circuits intricately intertwined. These are highly condensed magic arrays, engraved to maximize density. If we had an annotated version—essentially a detailed breakdown of each of these circuits and the spell formations they represent—we could theoretically recreate the plate.”
Zeke’s eyes lit up as a thought came to him.
“What if a dragon saw these activation plates? Could it create the annotated version?”
Paynun paused for a moment before nodding.
“Most likely, yes. Dragons were the originators of magic, after all.”
Zeke nodded at his answer, then picked up the activation plate embedded in the armor.
“I’ll hold on to this plate for now.”
With the plate secured, Zeke turned to Paynun and Gelion.
“I’ll bring this up again during the upcoming regular meeting, but we’re planning to establish a new base on one of the southern sea islands.”
Paynun looked surprised.
“The southern sea? Wouldn’t it be difficult to access, given the Dead Waters?”
Zeke shook his head.
“The southern sea has recently stabilized due to certain developments. It should be safe now.”
Turning toward Gelion, he continued.
“Gelion, I want to recruit dwarf labor for the island’s development. Can you manage that?”
Gelion gave a firm nod.
“In fact, we have more than enough manpower in construction. How large a project are we talking, milord?”
Zeke hesitated, then replied.
“Think of it as building an entire city.”
At that, Gelion's jaw dropped.
“Understood. I’ll contact the northern regions and gather as many workers as possible.”
Zeke was already planning to summon kay and the Syndicate members currently hiding in the Kingdom of Cusco to the southern island as well.
Once the settlement was complete, it would undoubtedly evolve into a hub for intermediary trade between the central and southern continents.
After assigning the detailed instructions to Paynun and Gelion, Zeke exited the lab.
Back at the mansion, a familiar and welcome face was waiting for him.