1564 Han Ahlin
Alex paused halfway through his read, wondering what he had just read meant.
'The Dragon died, but his corpse wasn't taken away?' Alex thought. He was not just curious as to what it meant, but also why the Oathbreakers would give him this. On the surface, there was no need for them to give him anything about the Dragon after his death.
On its own, he would ignore it, but together, it was a mystery he needed to solve. He thought for a long moment.
The Dragon's corpse remaining inside the secret realm created a couple of possibilities.
First, the Emperor was most likely still reverent of the Azure Dragons and didn't wish to desecrate his corpse. So, he had left it behind.
Second, the Dragon's body had an Intent to it that made it hard to store in a storage bag or storage rings and bring out.
Third, the Dragon Emperor probably just didn't want people to accidentally realize that the Azure Dragon was dead.
Alex remembered something from a while ago when he was returning from the Brightfalls City to the Dragon Capital. Their pathway intersected the Azure Dragon's secret realm, but they had been made to take a detour.
Was this why? Because they didn't want anyone to accidentally come across its corpse?
'Wait, was the Dragon Emperor involved in the Azure Dragon's death or not?' he thought. He had always had a reasonable suspicion about the fact that the Dragon Emperor had most likely been responsible for the death of the heavenly beast in one way or another, but this made his suspicion not hold as much water.
Or maybe it made it a more solid suspicion. Maybe the reason the corpse was still there meant that the Dragon Emperor didn't want people to find out about the Azure Dragon's death and start making their own judgment on the matter.
What was the point of not telling the general population if he hadn't been involved? Was he afraid of threats from the other continents? Like he had done to the Western Continent?
He was the strongest. His continent was the strongest. And he knew for a fact that the other heavenly beasts couldn't come attack him.
The only reason he had to have been holding back the information was because he had been responsible.
At least, that was what Alex believed, and what he believed wasn't necessarily the truth. He needed more to make proper judgments. He read the rest of the information on the talisman regarding the Azure Dragon, but none sounded helpful.
It especially lacked information about the inside of the secret realm, which he could imagine was under oath to not reveal. That was most likely an oath they had to say even before the entire fiasco.
He skipped over to the next half of the information in the talisman, and immediately felt his heart skip a beat when he remembered it was about Hannah.
Her name was written there in the talisman, but modified to sound similar to the names of this world. Han Ahlin.
'Sister…' Alex thought and braced himself for what he was going to read next.
Han Ahlin had entered a very small sect on the eastern side of the Azure Kingdom, one known as the Winding River sect. However, due to her talent, she had improved so incredibly fast that she had made a large name for herself in the small sect.
However, it was quickly overshadowed by every other player making a big name for themselves. She was just a part of a statistic now.
A year later, she disappeared from the sect. As for where she had gone, no one in that sect knew.
The Tail Legion was brought out of reserve to do something. The information about it was vague, and the most Alex could get out of it was that they were meant to return with some sort of… thing.
A formation flag, a piece of jewelry, a weapon, a shield, or even just a random ingredient. It could have been anything.
During that hunt, they had come across Hannah. The information afterward wasn't there and what was there was not helpful. But that girl named Jiaolun had been one of the soldiers here and that was what had led to Hannah's death.
The talisman burst into his hands as he had finished reading it. The flame disappeared and the dozen or so men and women in front of him stirred as they realized he had finished reading it.
Alex stayed silent for a while, slowly calming what anger he had felt. What was it that the Emperor had been hunting for and why was it with his sister? And why was it that she hadn't just handed it back? Or was it something she could not hand back?
Why was everything about this entire situation so vague? What did he have to do to get concrete answers? Ask the damn emperor himself?
He calmed down a little before looking toward Yan Yating. "Is this all you could find?" he asked.
The man nodded. "Anything and everything about His Majesty, the Azure Dragon is either already public or under oath, so we couldn't find anything more to give you," he said. "As for… that girl that I hear is your cousin, her situation is even more curious."
"What do you mean?" Alex asked.
"I can't imagine why the Dragon Emperor could ever want to go after her. I can't imagine what the thing he is searching for is. I knew this was a thing, but it is only recently that I cared to look into the situation and try to figure out the things inside it."
"Something had happened here that even the folks that do not know about the Azure Dragon's death were forced to go against him," the man said. "I had never bothered to ask what it was exactly that had happened, but thanks to you I have some inkling."
Alex looked at him. "But it still doesn't make any sense," he said.
"No, it doesn't," the man said. "I don't know what it could be that the Dragon Emperor wanted from this girl who was not even 25 years old at the time. All I can imagine is one of the treasures that all the players get when they come to this world."
"Hmm," Alex gave that a thought. "I didn't think of that." However, when he thought some more about it, it didn't make as much sense. "No, that can't be it. The Emperor hunted for the item and came across my cousin. If he knew she had it, he would have hunted for her directly."
"Also, it makes no sense why one would be forced to speak an oath on something of such low importance," he said. "That man has done things that are far worse."
The people thought of it and couldn't come up with a rebuttal. "Well, there's nothing else we can help you with regarding these two, you're on your own," Yan Yating said.
Alex nodded. "What about the third demand?" he asked.
"We will fight to kill, but we cannot guarantee that. He is too strong after all," Yan Yating said.
"I understand," Alex said. He brought out a storage bag and tossed it to them. "There are the pills you wanted. Next time I see you all, I hope it will be the day when the Dragon Emperor dies."
