In the end, Joshua did not manage to have his wish for a free dinner granted. The reason for that was because Madam Schroder was planning to leave Norland with the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe overnight.
When Joshua arrived at the mansion, the entire mansion was undergoing a ‘relocation’ process. It was extremely busy.
Joshua and Ciri were brought to Madam Schroder’s study by the middle-aged butler.
“In this city, I’m able to gain pleasant surprises every day.”
Madam Schroder was sitting behind her desk. She was not holding a quill pen. Instead, her finger had replaced her pen and was moving around in midair.
Even though there was nothing before Madam Schroder, Joshua was able to recognize with a single glance that she was using the magic network.
“Merely, I wonder if this pleasant surprise was brought forth by Mister Joshua.”
Madam Schroder materialized her computer interface. This grand duchess was an outstanding mage herself.
What appeared on her screen was a post discussing ‘Léon: The Demon.’ It would appear that Madam Schroder had learned how to use the Mage Forum during these past couple days.
“Unfortunately, you’ll have to guess the answer to that question,” Joshua decided to avoid the question even though it was something that could easily be detected with some investigation.
“Gallolei seemed to be very fond of this so-called ‘magic network.’ magic. Furthermore, a lot of people seemed to be paying attention to her on this thing.”
Madam Schroder’s finger swiped to the Mage Forum. She entered the ‘Black Swan’s’ camp. She was able to see all the things Gallolei was posting on her camp the last couple days.
There were over twelve thousand people following Gallolei’s camp. Over a quarter of the users joined the magic network because of the Black Swan. From this, one could see how enormous of an influence the Flower of Farucci had.
Likely, all the audiences that finished watching ‘Léon: The Demon’ would want to find out what happened to Mathilda afterwards. Gallolei’s camp had perfectly satisfied their desire.
“It’s not only Miss Gallolei. Miss Belle also had a lot of followers too.”
With a wave of his hand, Joshua materialized his own magic network interface. He soon entered Ynor’s camp.
Ynor was not as diligent in updating his camp. Many of the updates were even made by Joshua...
But, the influence brought upon by ‘Beauty and the Demon’ did not vanish from Norland. Even now, the true identity of Belle’s ‘actress’ was still a mystery. It was even about to become a city legend.
Mages were people captivated by puzzles. Thus, whenever Ynor takes selfies or upload photos of sceneries or food, he would attract the attention of a large number of people to check out his camp.
Right now, the number of followers for Belle’s camp had surpassed nine thousand. Joshua was even thinking about calling Zenarth over some day and have him set up a camp too.
“I... must admit that this is an all-new means of communication. It is much more efficient than ball dances and meet and greets.” Madam Schroder managed to guess the reason why Joshua mentioned Belle.
He was trying to show her that Gallolei’s popularity could suffer should she remove her from the magic network.
This Grand Duchess of Blackwood was not an inflexible noble. Instead, she was like the young girl in Farucci’s famous painting ‘Revolution.’ She was someone who could accept all the new changes.
As long as it’s a good change, Madam Schroder will not hesitate to devour the change completely and convert it to her own.
Unfortunately, Joshua’s background and identity was simply too ‘enormous.’ Madam Schroder was unable to ‘devour’ him. Because of that, she chose the best alternative — cooperation.
“This will also allow Miss Gallolei to better understand what her fans are thinking of her...” said Joshua.
Madam Schroder casually gave a thumbs up to Gallolei’s latest update. Then, she said to Joshua, “Mister Joshua, is it possible for me to gain the authority to my daughter’s ‘camp?’”
The reason why she was refusing to allow Gallolei to come in contact with the commoners was because she knew how crude some comments they made were.
But, the magic network was a world where everyone was equal and anonymous. This situation blurred the identity boundary between nobles and commoners. But, that also meant that it contained a lot of hidden dangers.
“That’s no problem at all. But, I can assure you that this Mage Forum possesses a... stringent supervision and a proper way to punish those who go out of line.”
When Joshua was a child, he had experienced parents overseeing their children going online.
Madam Schroder was only trying to interfere with Gallolei’s camp. Back then, Joshua’s parents were much more direct, they would even take extreme measures like cutting the power cord.
“You have my gratitude. It’s not only with this, I am also very grateful that you allowed for the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe to participate in the filming for ‘Léon: The Demon.’”
After gaining administrative control over Gallolei’s camp, Madam Schroder stood up from her chair. The butler has been waiting outside for a long time.
The entire mansion was waiting for the conversation between Madam Schroder and Joshua to finish. Once their conversation finishes, they will step into the journey back home.
“With your talent, I am temporarily unable to think of a way to thank you. Because of that...”
Madam Schroder tossed to Joshua a key and an emblem. It was a gold-plated key. The surface of the key was branded with the words ‘Mansion of Luxuriant Flowers.’
Joshua remembered that Farucci’s mansion’s actual name was that...
To receive a villa in the city center just for filming a movie? But, when Joshua recalled the worth of ‘Léon: The Demon,’ he felt that he had been shorted...
Then, when he thought of how Madam Schroder had only handed him a key and not even the deed for the property, it became obvious that she was trying to tell him ‘You can consider this place your home in the future but it’s still going to be mine when I return to Norland.’
“This is a decent place. Although it is a bit small, I hope Mister Joshua will be able to accept it.”
Close to six stories tall and having an indoor garden too. Yet, it’s ‘a bit small?’ Joshua felt like gasping in admiration at how the nobles of the ancient were.
The conversation between Joshua and Madam Schroder did not last for long. It seemed like this Grand Duchess was itching to bring back ‘Léon: The Demon’ to her country and raise a real ‘revolution’ in Farucci.
Her enemies could be said to be all the theatrical troupes in Farucci. This included the noble families that backed those theatrical troupes. She will also face the hostility of the Holy Church. But, this successful career woman did not mind about any of those. Joshua didn’t need to worry about her either.
“Mister Joshua...”
Before leaving, Gallolei ran over to Joshua. Her attire today was that of the Flower of Farucci, the most beautiful girl wherever she goes.
“I know what you’re worried about. The unlimited distance super WiFi. Eh... you can comprehend it as being able to connect to the magic network even if you’re so uncareful as to run to the edge of the world.”
Joshua handed a leaf from the World Tree to Gallolei. That’s right, it was a leaf Joshua just plucked from the World Tree. It was extremely fresh too.
Gallolei held the leaf in her hand and looked over it carefully. Soon, she turned her eyes back to Joshua.
“This is not that I’m here to talk about...” said Gallolei.
“What is it then?” Joshua didn’t even finish his question when Gallolei’s hands were suddenly placed on his shoulders. Then, she tip-topped. Immediately after, Joshua felt a soft touch on his face and an indescribable sort of fragrance reaching his nose.
“This is a ceremony we people from the Farucci give to others when saying farewell. Farewell...”
After the Flower of Farucci finished doing that, she ran over to the corner of the hallway and disappeared. Only a single thought was running through Joshua’s head — this girl had grown taller.