Chapter 147

Chapter 147

The dark elf flew past Norland’s sky. She was flying toward Norland’s borders.
Looking down from above, Norland resembled a circle. The center of the circle was the most imposing building, the Sage Tower. Then, it continued to expand to four square spires forming a square shaped border. This was Norland’s first central district. The Farucci’s Mansion was built in this district.
When the dark elf flew past this district and arrived at the commercial district by the Hearthstone Tavern, she could see the magic network signal dropping by two bars.
The commercial district the Hearthstone Tavern was in belonged to Norland’s second central district. The four advanced magic academies were all built in this district. Norland’s two theaters, the Norland’s National Theater and the Weissenasche Theater, were also in this district.
Even at night, this district would be filled with light emitted by the illumination technique. Because of that, the dark of the night was practically unpresent in this district.
When the dark elf flew past the Weissenasche Theater, the chatter from the crowd was completely replaced by the rumblings of the arcanotech gears and the pounding of the iron hammers.
With the Weissenasche Theater as the dividing line, if one was to continue south to the external-most district of the city, one will reach the arcanotech workshops. This district was cut through by a river flowing through Norland, the ‘Gear River. ‘
The source of the river wasn’t any mountain or another larger river. Instead, the river emerged from underground. It could be said that this river served to prove the existence of the ancient magic civilization that lies beneath Norland.
The river water was being propelled from beneath the ground by an unknown magic. It continued flowing through Norland’s magic borders and continued into Norland’s city center.
Starting from this district, one will be able to frequently catch sight of dwarves and other races on the street...
When the dark elf gradually flew deeper into the arcanotech industrial district, the surrounding light began to gradually disappear. In the end, only the flames from the smelting furnaces and the magic particles spraying out from the arcanotech workshops remained.
This district was jointly managed by the dwarves and the human master alchemists. Right after the dark elf flew past the ‘Gear River,’ she saw the magic network’s signal disappearing completely.
Because of that, she had to land atop an alchemic atelier. She avoided the smoking chimney and looked to the far away commercial district separated by the Gear River. Seeing the bright commercial district from afar, she felt like she was seeing an extravagant painting embedded with all kinds of gems.
Then, she looked to the rear of the industrial district. That place was Norland’s border. The Squirrel Street was located there. It was so dark that one cannot see the outline of a single building from that place.
The dark elf did not continue to linger around. After confirming the limit to the range covered by the magic network’s signal, the dark elf started flapping her wings and began flying back to Norland’s central district.
Gradually, the signal of the magic network was restored to full. She returned to Farucci’s Mansion. With a flap of her wings, she landed on the edge of the window still.
“How did things go?”
Joshua walked over to the window still to ask the crow lady.
“After passing the Gear River, the magic network’s signal disappeared completely,” said the dark elf.
“Gear River?”
Joshua remembered when he met Ciri’s older sister Hyrlan, her alchemic atelier was right beside that river.
“The city of Norland’s most important river. If it could reach that place... let me think about it. I think this should be the case.”
Ciri had lived in Norland with her family for five-six years. As such, she could be considered a local too.
She took out a white piece of drawing paper and drew five overlapping circles on it. In those circles she drew sketches of buildings and indicated place names. Then, she drew a horizontal line going between the second and third circles.
“A conservative estimate would be about a third of the overall area? It’s still too small...”
Joshua looked at the reference map Ciri drew. The magic network constructed by the World Tree that had just germinated into a seedling was only able to cover a third of Norland.
If the World Tree was to be established in the center of Norland, in the Sage Tower, the dwarves living in a district without any signal will definitely raise their hammer in protest.
“But, the World Tree had enormous room for growth. It is able to cover a third of Norland as a young seedling; once it matures into an ancient tree, it should be able to cover the entire nation without any issue.”
Joshua was not worried about the range of the magic network. If the range was truly not enough, he could also use root servers.
In theory, it should be possible for him to transform this world into a place where one could obtain wifi signals anywhere. But, in order to do that, Joshua would have to spread the internet first.
“Is the World Tree truly able to grow in such a short period of time?” The dark elf raised her question.
All the World Trees were all grown into ancient trees through the nourishment of generations of elves.
Using the dark elf’s life span of roughly a thousand years, a world tree would need at least that much time to establish itself. Only then could it grow from a seedling.
“It’s possible. That is, assuming that we’re able to publicize things properly.”
Joshua had asked Tylene about the details in regards to the World Tree. Even during her race’s peak, they had less than ten thousand people. Because of how long-lived elves were, their reproduction capabilities were second to only dragons — extremely infertile.
“Publicize?”
The dark elf pondered about Joshua’s words. If they didn’t know what it was, no mage would be willing to accept an unfamiliar magic into their mind. Furthermore, even though the majority of the mages in Norland believed in the God of Order, not all mages do...
“Ynor and Miss Gallolei will be able to handle that matter,” said Joshua.
“Eh...”
Ynor who was dozing off suddenly jolted awake the moment he heard Joshua mentioning his name.
Ynor tidied up his skirt in a panic and got up from the sofa. He looked around uneasily like a startled squirrel.
When Joshua mentioned the name ‘Gallolei,’ a sound something colliding onto something sounded from outside the door. It seemed like someone had fallen on the ground.
“Miss Gallolei, please don’t eavesdrop outside. You can come on in,” Joshua spoke to the door.
The door knob turned slowly. Still wearing Mathilda’s outfit, Gallolei walked in from the door. The Blackwood Elf also came in with her.
“Mister Joshua, please excuse my late disturbance.”
Even though Gallolei was wearing Mathilda’s outfit, she still maintained the proper behavior of the Flower of Farucci.
Joshua noticed that her forehead was slightly red. It would appear that she was the one who slipped and fell earlier.
“May I ask... what is it that I can help you with?”
Eavesdropping was most definitely not something a wise and virtuous lady should do.
Unfortunately, curiosity had the better of her. Now that she has been discovered by Joshua, she decided to go for broke and enter the room.
“Miss Gallolei, have you heard of the God of Order?” asked Joshua.
If the God of Order truly exist, Joshua will most definitely demand from that guy a missionary fee!