Translator: Yang_Wenli Editor: Yang_Wenli
The curtains of the World Expo finally dropped with the performance from the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe.
More or less, the representatives from the various nations obtained the arcanotech devices they desired.
At this moment, the world seemed to have bid its farewell to the medieval ages and pushed open the gates to the industrial age with magic as the vehicle.
Joshua’s plan was to bring Norland into the information age. Unfortunately, he would never be able to do so unless he could obtain a solution to the server problem.
The black cat Joshua encountered in the Grand Duke of Blackwood’s mansion was the only server-capable host so far.
But, Joshua was in no rush. Once the filming for ‘Léon: The Demon’ starts, the Flower of Farucci will become the main female lead. At that time, Joshua would be able to encounter that elven bodyguard every day.
The day after the end of the World Expo. Joshua had returned to the Hearthstone Tavern.
“Mrs. Melina, as of now, I hope that you can purchase two stores to expand the tavern.”
Joshua was browsing the account record Melina prepared for him. Hearthstone Tavern’s profits and expenses were all accurately listed on the record.
“I’m already doing that. So far, I’ve managed to convince the owner of that emporium near us. I’m also in talks with the jewelry store. But, they might be a bit thorny. Nevertheless, I believe I will be able to handle them.”
Melina was certain that the Hearthstone Tavern was the most successful business she had ever conducted in all her life as a merchant.
The dwarves’ capacity for alcohol were as vast as water buffalos. Every night, those dwarves would down over a dozen barrels of expensive rye wines.
As this tavern does not possess any cellars for storing alcohol, Melina had to have her alcohol suppliers re-supply alcohol every three days.
That said, what truly earns money would be the ‘Hearthstone’ card packs. The amount of gold coins the dwarves used to purchase card packs could pile up to a small hill every day.
As more and more mages noticed Hearthstone, the tavern started to become crowded.
“You can move ahead with the branching of the tavern. There is no need to wait.”
Joshua was not too familiar with business. Thus, he could only rely on this female merchant. As for Joshua, he merely needed to control the core technology behind ‘Hearthstone’ and then swim in piles of money, counting them.
After Joshua finished briefing Melina his plans for the further growth of the Hearthstone Tavern, an owl flew through the second floor window and slowly landed on the table.
The owl was carrying a letter. The familiar Blackwood symbol sealed the letter.
It was a letter penned by Madam Schroder herself.
Joshua opened the letter and began skimming over its contents. Essentially, the letter was stating that the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe weren’t busy anymore and asking when the filming for the new movie will begin as well as where the filming would take place.
The Grand Duchess’s hardwriting was quite illegible. It seemed like she was feeling very anxious while writing that letter.
She was only in Norland to tour the place and was not planning to stay here long-term. Perhaps, she might be hoping to personally oversee Joshua’s filming process before leaving Norland.
‘Beauty and the Demon’ has been screening for nearly a month and half now. Soon, the audiences of Norland would likely grow tired of that movie. Joshua felt that it was time to pour new blood into the Weissenasche Theater.
“Mrs. Melina, do you know any street and hotel nearby that’s chaotic or disorderly?
Joshua placed away Madam Schroder’s letter. He was in no rush to respond. After all, he had yet to determine the filming location for ‘Léon: The Demon.’
“A disorderly street...”
Melina carefully pondered for a bit. Norland was the city that signified the epitome of human civilization. Trying to find a ‘disorderly’ place was quite difficult.
But, there were indeed disorderly locations in Norland.
“I believe the place Mister Joshua is searching for should be Squirrel Street. But... that street is very dangerous,” said Melina with a somewhat worried tone.
“Dangerous?”
Joshua had always thought Norland’s public safety to be exceptionally good. At least, Joshua felt an intense academic ambience in this city. It was an ambience that could only be experienced in few universities on earth.
“I’ve inquired about that street before. It’s close to a dwarven entrance leading underground. Furthermore, that street is not a place where humans gathered. I’ve heard that necromancers would frequently roam around that street,” said Melina.
The Squirrel Street emerged because a group of non-humans were attracted to Norland during its founding. They also came to this primitive location out of curiosity toward the underground remnants. Merely, their numbers were not as numerous as the dwarves.
While the surface city of Norland was a city of human mages, it was actually jointly administered by the humans and the dwarves. With the protection from the dwarves, the non-humans were able to establish a street for themselves in a corner of Norland.
It was a chaotic street.
“Tell me the location of that street.”
Norland’s architectural style was unsuited for ‘Léon: The Demon.’ Thus, Joshua could only hope that the dangerous Squirrel Street Melina mentioned would be able to suit the movie.
Seeing that her dissuasions were ineffective, Melina gave up on that thought. She did not forget that Joshua was not only her superior and her business partner, he was also a powerful mage.
Thus, the old lady took out a map of Norland and pointed to an area in the city with her pen.
That place was at the edge of Norland. It would take some time for one to reach Squirrel Street from the commercial street the tavern was located in.
If Squirrel Street was truly as chaotic as Melina described it to be, Joshua felt that it would be best to rush over there before night falls.
“What’s the place with the Ecclesiastical Templar that’s been following you the entire time? You want to find a place to knock her unconscious?”
Ciri who has been quietly listening to the conversation suddenly spoke.
Ever since yesterday’s World Expo, the female knight Messai seemed to have some sort of major hostility toward Joshua. Even though she was currently playing Hearthstone downstairs, she would always keep her third eye on Joshua to monitor him.
She seemed to have replaced the duty of her esteemed teacher Desireless and was on constant alert toward Joshua’s every action.
“If we knock her unconscious, we will really become criminals. As a good citizen of Norland, how could I do that sort of thing? Let us adapt to it and ignore her instead.”
The most important reason as to why the Ecclesiastical Templars did not dare to touch Joshua was because... Joshua was a citizen of Norland. Even though Joshua was a demon, he was still protected by the laws of this city when inside this city. Furthermore, he was also protected by the dwarves.
With the influence the Holy Church possesses in Norland, they could only, at most, continue to monitor Joshua from afar. Should Joshua do anything that goes against Norland’s laws, they will catch it immediately and use it to justify their crusade against him.
Thus, intrinsically, that female knight’s current profession should be switched to... a journalist?
*******************************
Translator YangWenli:
Please support my translation and this novel by upvoting it.
Check out my other translations too!