HPDBC Chapter 465: Soft flag
Chapter 465: Soft flag
chapter 465: soft flag
allen deviated largely from his path after discovering large ruins.
inside, he found the ruins only housed a large gate.
there was no gatekeeper or watchers nearby, so he simply went inside.
(somehow i feel like the air feels different inside here. maybe it's just the shade.)
when he set foot inside, a cold chill went down his back, and he looked at his companions.
"so what, it's just a gate and nothing else? or is that the gate of judgement?"
rosalina asked when she saw the gate.
(maybe i should've asked around a bit in the city first.)
allen started to wonder if dragonkin culture venerated gates.
he had headed to meet the dragon king as fast as he could, without asking much in the city.
in games, he would always talk to every npc in cities to gather hints before going to dungeons.
the gate stood in the center, with no wall around it. going behind it showed nothing.
allen returned to the front and stared at it, seeing a picture drawn on the doors.
"it seems completely normal. a dragon though...what type of dragon was this again..."
the perspective was so abstract that allen could not identify the dragon.
it was drawn to appear like the dragon was coming out of the gate.
"it won't open."
while allen looked, luck tried pushing on the doors, but they would not budge.
but considering its size, maybe he just lacked strength.
(why do i feel like i'm supposed to come here after starting a quest?)
there was little he could try in there. changing all his cards to dragon summons and opening the gate by sheer force did not feel right either.
allen felt a sense of deja vu. this seemed to be part of some event, but the story had not progressed that far yet.
"spirit king fabre, do you happen to know what this is?"
fabre knew the dragon king, so maybe she knew something. nôv(el)b\\jnn
'...i wouldn't really know. it'd be faster to ask the dragon king directly.'
she seemed to avoid the question.
in the end, allen decided not to take drastic measures and just left that place.
as allen turned around, the painted dragon's eyes looked at fabre and glowed.
they searched for the closest inn, and after two days reached the next wall.
so far they found two more old ruins similar to the first one.
past the open gate they saw an enormous temple. it was hundreds of meters large like the ruins, standing at the end of the peninsula's spiral. the dragon king had to be inside there.
"what business do you have here? this is the dragon king's temple!"
the gatekeepers there looked far better equipped than those at the border.
while it was open, they would not let allen's group pass.
"i'm sorry, the dark elf king's son wanted to have an audience with the dragon king. could you let us through?"
allen quickly acted as luck's representative and spoke to the gatekeeper.
he had asked around on his way there to confirm that the gate of judgement was in the temple.
going there had been the correct choice after all.
the two gatekeepers turned to look at the young dark elf in the group.
"ah, i've been told you were visiting. i'm assuming you are the spirit king fabre and the young lucktod?"
dragonkin seemed to be extremely influenced by authoritative figures and quickly changed their tone.
"yes, i'd like to meet the dragon king! can i go through!!"
there was no stiffness to luck's energetic acting.
"i see, could you wait a little? i'll go ask for permission to let you enter the premises and meet the dragon king."
(wait, they don't have magic communications devices? it's been three days since we arrived.)
allen thought everyone would know about the dark elf prince and the spirit king by now.
but the gatekeeper still had to go ask for permission.
"of course."
there was no need to force the matter if they just had to wait.
luck and the spirit king were there, so they would likely get what they wanted.
"feel free to rest in the inn a few streets from here. i'll send a messenger when i'm back."
"alright, thank you very much."
(i guess there's a process to enter the temple.)
allen had never been interested in religion in his past life.
he decided to obey their instructions and went to the indicated inn.
three days passed with no response.
allen and luck would just eat every meal at the inn, and rosalina sang at night.
rosalina stood on a platform in the corner of the room to practice her singing.
she had not maxed out her level or skill levels, unlike ignomas.
she had just undergone a talent change the month prior, which helped her reach level 60 in a short time, but she still had to raise her skill levels.
'i see the day has come for an elf and a dark elf to travel together. i've really lived long.'
according to the spirit king, the dragon king was also 8000 years old.
"..."
sophie seemed bothered that allen barely got to talk before it was luck's turn.
but she kept those thoughts to herself to not ruin this opportunity.
'anyway, we're actually looking to cross the gate of judgement you see.'
fabre started talking in allen's place. her voice was casual, as they knew each other.
(so that's the gate.)
there was a large gate behind the dragon king. allen assumed that gate was the gate of judgement that led to the divine realm..
'fabre, i'm sure you realize that gate was built for dragons?'
(hm? i never heard of that.)
'oh right, i think you actually mentioned that before.'
'that gate is so a dragon recognized by the gods can cross to the divine realm. everything has been prepared with that in mind.'
"prepared?"
(i think this might trigger a quest.)
allen's mind was getting excited. he could sense a quest coming his way.
'explain it to them.'
the dragon king ordered the messenger. he already knew what allen's objective there was.
"yessir! please check the carving drawn on the door here."
the messenger began to explain.
there was a dragon drawn on the gate's doors.
the dragon's eyes, claws, and fangs were hollow.
one had to go through 3 gates of trials before crossing the gate of judgement.
proof of completing each came as the dragon's eyes, claws, or fangs.
once someone gathered them, they could fill the hollow spots on the gate of judgement.
"i see."
(somehow i hoped it would open without effort, but at least it's not a fetching quest. hm? though actually...)
allen's brain was corroded beyond repair with games, so he understood the dragonkin's explanation in his own way. and he sighed in relief that it was not a fetch quest where he had to run from one random location to another.
"wait, allen, were those ruins with gates the gates of trials then?"
"i'd say so, rosalina."
rosalina whispered into allen's ear. they had seen three ruins on their way there.
the gates in those ruins had not budged no matter what they tried.
"i believe we encountered them on our way here, but we could do nothing with them."
allen asked the dragonkin.
"yes, the gates choose who can enter them. the challenger needs to have dragon blood."
"so that's a requirement?"
"yes, only those qualified can challenge it."
being at least part dragon was a necessary requirement to open the gates of trials.
'there's no dragon able to open them in the village though.'
the dragon king had delegated the explaining role, but he joined the conversation now.
"so opening them isn't so easy?"
(hm? why did he grant us this audience then?)
the dragon king had prepared the answers allen wanted, so he knew why allen was there.
not to mention that there was no need to go into such details if they were not qualified.
there was silence for a while.
'i believe there's a white dragon with you. he might be able to open the gates.'
(oh?)
"so haku might be qualified to open them?"
'it's just an idea.'
"could you tell us a bit more..."
'...well, i guess you can always just give it a try and see if they open.'
the dragon king closed his eyes after saying that. he did not seem willing to say more.
"the audience is over, please leave the hall."
the dragonkin serving the spirit king started to leave.
allen's group looked at him, and he decided to leave too.
"so what are we going to do next, allen?"
"hm? well, he said haku might be qualified, so we just have to bring him to the gates."
(this might be a soft flag to trigger a quest. at least i have something to try now.)
while he had not fully activated a quest yet, at least he had an idea of how to start it.
he had no idea if it would work, but at least it was worth trying.
the group left and went to pick up haku from heavy user island.