Meski tidak ada cahaya, atau bahkan mata, Frigal tidak meninggalkan penampilan kota mereka. Jalan-jalannya lebar dan rata, dengan trotoar di kedua sisi. Ada jumlah tanaman yang mengejutkan bagi planet gelap dan dingin seperti ini, berupa semak-semak yang ditanam setiap selusin kaki atau lebih.
Bangunan-bangunan dirancang sepenuhnya simetris, dengan jumlah ornamen yang tidak wajar bahkan di bagian luar. Penggunaan bijih-bijih berharga untuk menghias bangunan juga merupakan praktik yang sangat umum.
Meski kota terlihat begitu megah, suasana hati warganya tidak cocok. Hanya beberapa Frigal yang beraktivitas di jalan, tapi masing-masing terlihat seolah menghadapi kematian di tikungan berikutnya.
Suasana aneh dan pertemuan dengan calon pembunuh membuat Lex sadar ada sesuatu yang sangat tidak biasa — paling tidak begitu diduganya. Saat dia memperluas indra spiritual dari tempat persembunyian untuk mempelajari lingkungan sesempurna mungkin, dia menemukan dugaannya benar adanya.
"Apakah kau sudah mendapat konfirmasi?" bisik seorang Frigal ke yang lain, berbicara dalam bahasa aneh mereka yang terdiri dari berbagai geram tenggorokan.
"Kau tahu betapa sulitnya dapat berita terpercaya, tapi ini jejak paling solid yang akan kita dapatkan untuk sementara. Aku dapat kabar dari keponakan tetangga salah satu pengawal istana. Keluarga kerajaan bertingkah sangat aneh, dan raja sudah berkali-kali ke ruangan Lord Dragon dalam beberapa hari terakhir. Tak ada yang tahu apa yang terjadi, tapi keamanan di sekitar kastil ditingkatkan drastis. Kuhar bahkan putra raja dari pelayan acak pun sekarang punya pengawal pribadi."
"Jadi mereka bertingkah aneh, itu tidak berarti Lord Dragon sudah mati! Lord Dragon abadi dan kekal! Orang asing该死 ini menimbulkan masalah tanpa alasan, menyebarkan rumor keji seperti ini. Kita harus mengeksekusi mereka semua."
"Aku juga tidak percaya ada yang bisa terjadi pada Lord Dragon. Siapa yang tidak kenal kekuatan tak tertandingi Lord? Tapi… aku tidak bisa tidak merasa ada yang terjadi! Bahkan raja tidak pernah diizinkan memasuki ruangan Lord begitu sering."
"Kurasa Raja akhirnya meyakinkan Lord untuk bertindak melawan abominasi es yang datang dari selatan! Begitu Lord bergerak, kita akhirnya akan dibebaskan dari perang tak berguna ini."
"Segala puji untuk Lord yang perkasa!" seru Frigal itu dengan antusias.
Lex mendengarkan beberapa percakapan lagi, dan memahami garis besar apa yang terjadi. Tiba-tiba dan spontan, beberapa orang asing muncul di planet ini dan mulai mengklaim bahwa Naga Perkasa telah meninggal. Pernyataan seperti itu tentu saja disambut dengan kekacauan, dan orang asing itu dikatakan sudah ditahan, meski publik penasaran mengapa mereka belum dieksekusi secara publik seperti biasanya.
Meski jumlah Frigal di jalan sangat sedikit, kebanyakan tampak memegang keyakinan yang sama atau mirip, yaitu bahwa naga itu tak tertandingi. Hanya setelah mengunker di tempat yang sama selama lebih dari satu jam, Lex bertemu seseorang dengan pandangan berbeda.
"Aku memberitahukan padamu. Kekasih ayah pacar putraku bekerja sebagai pelayan di istana kerajaan. Para bangsawan semuanya tahu naga itu sudah pergi dan memanfaatkan kesempatan ini untuk merampas harta karun Lord."
Harta karun seekor naga…
Meski Lex tidak yakin bagaimana cara memastikan apakah planet ini benar-benar planet yang dimaksud pria misterius itu, kalau ada harta yang bisa ditemukan di mana-mana, harta karun naga pasti menjadi tempat yang paling menjanjikan.
Rencana aslinya adalah menunggu di planet ini sampai Inn terhubung dengannya, setelah itu dia akan mulai mengeksplorasi semua 89 planet menggunakan alat pindai kapalnya yang sangat menyeluruh dan canggih.
Tapi, mendengar intriga seputar naga itu, Lex tergoda untuk menyelidiki. Supaya jelas, meski informasi soal planet ini sangat terbatas di portal Henali, informasi soal naga sedikit lebih banyak.
Yang pertama dan paling penting: semua naga, naga sejati yaitu, sudah berada di ranah Earth Immortal sejak lahir. Itu level terendah yang bisa mereka capai, dan 'naga' manapun yang mengaku naga tapi di bawah ranah itu sebenarnya makhluk campuran yang hanya menyerupai naga.
Ranah pasti naga itu tidak diketahui, tapi reputasinya kuat jadi peluang solid dia di ranah yang lebih tinggi.
Lex tidak percaya seorang imortal bisa mati begitu saja atau diam-diam. Kan 'abadi' ada di nama ranah mereka, kan?
Tapi jelas ada sesuatu yang benar-benar terjadi, dan rasa penasaran Lex terbangkit. Dia fokus mengumpulkan informasi soal lokasi kastil. Demi keamanan, karena kastil pasti area keamanan tinggi, Lex memanggil Fenrir sebelum keduanya bergegas.
"Dengarkan nak, kau harus gunakan kekuatanmu sebaik-baiknya. Kemungkinan besar banyak imortal di tempat kita tuju."
Figiran mendengus, tapi secara bersamaan Lex merasakan dia sudah mulai menggunakan kekuatan penuhnya. Meski mungkin bodoh pergi ke lokasi berbahaya seperti itu, bukan berarti Lex akan masuk tanpa rencana. Dulu dia akan menyelidiki area itu dengan tenang, dan baru setelah planet ini terhubung ke Inn dia akan masuk ke dalam.
Dengan suitnya sendiri, dan kemampuan luar biasa Fenrir, mereka seharusnya bisa menghindari perhatian. Satu-satunya kemungkinan nyata mereka terdeteksi cuma kalau ada imortal di sana, dan Lex hanya bisa menduga mungkin ada.
Di saat yang sama, dia penasaran apa 'abominasi es' yang disebutkan tadi. Tidak ada informasi seperti itu di portal, dan planet ini seharusnya di bawah kendali penuh naga, jadi siapa yang bisa menimbulkan masalah? Atau apakah ini hanya dianggap konflik internal yang tidak layak diperhatikan naga?
Despite the absence of light, or even eyes, the Frigal had not forsaken the appearance of their town. The streets were wide and even, with pavement on either side. There was a surprising amount of vegetation for such a cold, dark planet, in the form of bushes that had been planted every dozen feet or so.
The buildings were designed to be completely symmetrical, with an inordinate amount of design even on the outside. The use of precious ores to decorate the buildings was also a very prevalent practice.
Yet as gaudy as the town appeared to be, the mood of the citizens did not seem to match. There were only a few Frigal's moving about in the streets, but each and everyone seemed like they were expecting death right around the corner.
The unusual mood and the encounter with a potential assassin made Lex aware that there was something extremely unusual going on - most likely. When he extended his spirit sense from his hiding place to try and learn as much about his environment as he could, he discovered that his suspicions were entirely correct.
"Do you have any confirmation yet?" one Frigal whispered to another, speaking in their unusual language that consisted of various throaty growls.
"You know how hard it is to get confirmed news, but this is as solid a lead as any were going to get for a while. I got the news from the nephew of the neighbor of one of the palace guards. The royal family is acting extremely oddly, and the king has been to the Lord Dragons chamber multiple times in the last few days. No one knows what's happening, but security has been drastically increased around the castle. I've heard that even the king's son from a random maid has a bodyguard now."
"So they are acting strange, that doesn't mean that the Lord Dragon is dead! The Lord Dragon is immortal and everlasting! These damn foreigners are causing problems for no reason, spreading such vile rumors. I say we should execute them all."
"I also don't believe that anything can happen to the Lord Dragon. Who doesn't know of the Lord's immoral might? But… I can't help but think that something is going on! Even the king has never been allowed to enter the Lord's chamber so frequently."
"I think the King has finally convinced the Lord to act against the Icy abominations coming from the south! As soon as the Lord makes a move, we'll finally be freed from this unrewarding war."
"All praise to the mighty Lord!" the Frigal exclaimed with enthusiasm.
Lex listened in to a few more conversations, and understood the gist of what was happening. Suddenly and spontaneously, some foreigners appeared on the planet and began claiming that the Mighty dragon had died. Such statements were received with predictable disharmony, and those foreigners were said to have been imprisoned, although the public seemed to be curious as to why they had not been publicly executed yet, as would normally be the case.
Though there were very few Frigal's on the streets, most of them seemed to have the same or similar beliefs, which was that the dragon was infallible. Only after squatting in the same place for well over an hour did Lex encounter someone with a differing view.
"I'm telling you. My son's girlfriend's father's mistress works as a maid in the royal palace. The royals all know that the dragon has passed on and are taking this opportunity to raid the Lord's treasury."
A dragon's treasury…
Although Lex was not sure how he would confirm if this planet really was the planet that the mystery man meant, if there was treasure to be found anywhere, a dragon's treasury sure sounded like the place.
His original plan was to wait on this planet till the Inn connects to it, after which he would begin to explore all the 89 planets using his ship's extremely thorough and powerful scanning tools.
But, upon hearing the intrigue surrounding the dragon, Lex was tempted to investigate. To be clear, while the information about this planet was very limited on the Henali portal, there was slightly more information on the dragon.
The first and most important thing was that all dragons, true dragons that is, were in the Earth Immortal realm from the moment of their birth. It was literally the lowest level they could be at, and any 'dragon' that claimed to be one but was below that realm was actually a mix-breed creature that resembled a dragon.
The exact realm of the dragon was unknown, but it had a strong reputation so there was a solid chance that it was at a higher realm.
Lex didn't believe an immortal could die so randomly or quietly. After all, immortal was in the name of their realm, right?
But it was clear that something was definitely going on, and his curiosity had been piqued. He focused on gathering information on the location of the castle. Just to be safe, since the castle was bound to be a high security area, Lex summoned Fenrir before the two bolted.
"Listen buddy, you better use your powers to the best of your abilities. There's probably going to be many immortals where we're heading."
Fenrir snorted, but at the same time Lex could tell it had begun to use its full power. Although it might be foolish to head to such a dangerous location, it wasn't as if Lex was going to head straight in without a plan. First he would take his time to scout the area out, and only after this planet had established its connection to the Inn would he venture in.
With his own suit, and Fenrir's remarkable abilities, they should be able to avoid attracting any attention. The only real possibility of them being detected was if there were immortals there, and Lex could only guess that there might be.
At the same time, he wondered what those 'icy abominations' that were mentioned were. There was no such information mentioned on the portal, and this planet was supposed to be under the thorough control of the dragon, so who could possibly be stirring trouble? Or did this just count as internal strife, which the dragon could not be bothered to care about?
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