Translator: Yang_Wenli
Early next morning. Gallolie finally had her wish fulfilled and returned to Norland.
This city enveloped by the radiance of magic had no city walls at all. The magic barrier around Norland was its strongest city walls. Still at the border of the city, one could already see the seven sky-high Sage Towers.
Flickering magic particles were being emitted from the Sage Towers into the sky above. As the magic particles dispersed into the sky, they formed multi-colored auroras. That was a beautiful sight that cannot be missed in Norland.
“This human city... Holy Tree Narushi, please provide guidance upon us.”
Before entering the city, Gallolie could see looks of concern on the faces of the elves behind her.
As Gallolie arrived outside the city of Norland, the number of pedestrians gradually increased. Even though the elven priestesses had covered themselves with hoods, there were still a lot of humans that turned to look at them with curiosity.
Even though half of Norland’s population was composed of dwarves, the elves were rarely seen in Norland... or any other human city for that matter.
“Follow me.”
Gallolie revealed a serious expression. She knew that she did not come to Norland for the sake of touring and having fun this time around.
She shouldered the hatred of her own family and the Blackwood Elves. Furthermore, within her was the being that determined the continued existence of the Blackwood Elves.
But, the moment Gallolie reached the checkpoint to enter the city, her attention was captured by an announcement.
A wooden announcement board was set up beside the checkpoint. Most of the announcements posted on the board were hand-written. For example, there were announcements like... ‘Apprentice Recruitment – Klia Trading Company,”Magic Society looking to recruit a pharmacist,’ and so on...
Those hand-written announcements were there to provide job opportunities for vagrants coming into Norland. But, there were three especially eye-catching announcements among the archaic black-ink-on-paper announcements.
The reason for that was because those three announcements all had colored ‘pictures.’
They were all movie posters. The earliest poster, ‘Beauty and the Demon’ was already showing signs of damage. On the poster of ‘Léon: The Demon,’ Gallolie could see the scene of Mathilda and Léon holding hands and walking on the street.
“It is the right choice for you to tell me to put on a hood before entering the city,” Gallolie quietly said to her elven bodyguard.
She did not expect for the movie advertisement posters to be posted here.
Fortunately, she was wearing a hood that covered her face. If she didn’t and someone recognized her, they might shout out ‘That girl looked like Mathilda.’ Once that happens, Gallolie will definitely be surrounded by people in a short few minutes...
Back in her home country, she was able to cause that sort of disturbance walking on the street as the ‘Flower of Farucci.’
However, it seemed that the girl called Mathilda was much more famous than the Flower of Farucci in the city of Norland.
Gallolie turned to the third poster on the announcement board. It was the poster for the third movie that she longed to see!
“‘Hachiko: A Dog’s Tale...’ Dog’s tale... Hachiko...”
Gallolie stared at the poster and repeated the headline.
The poster displayed a very warm scene. It was an old man and a yellow hunting dog. The dog was putting its weight on its front paws. It seemed like it wanted to leap into the old man’s embrace.
Seeing that scene, Gallolie couldn’t help but remember the brown bear Ayte... Indeed, that was a movie about the affection between man and animal.
“Morgan?”
Gallolie took a glance at the name of the main performers listed below the poster. They were all people unknown to her. Only the name Morgan sounded familiar.
She had heard her mother mention Morgan before. At that time, her mother spoke with a tone of great respect.
Gallolie has never seen her mother evaluating a performer with that sort of tone.
That said, the main cast were not what Gallolie was concerned about. Instead, it was the premier time.
The time listed on the poster was not today. Rather, it was two days from now...
In other words, she had managed to arrive at Norland before the premiere?
“Miss, are you interested in the three colored pictures?”
Right at this moment, a young girl walked out from the other side of the announcement board.
Gallolie’s elven bodyguard Flay immediately arrived before Gallolie. Elder Safran who was quietly following Gallolie also turned his eyes to the little girl.
“The colored pictures?”
Gallolie placed her hand on Flay’s shoulder to indicate for her to not be so tense. Then, she looked to the little girl who seemed several years younger than her.
The little girl was very pretty. She had the appearance that one will lower one’s guard against. If it wasn’t for the dirt stains on her face, she would seem more like a doll than a person.
But, what Gallolie was more interested in were the two goat-like horns on her head.
Demon? Gallolie guessed her identity.
“Mmhmm. They’re called movies in Norland. You know about stage plays? Movies are a kind of performance even more interesting than stage plays. Especially this ‘Léon: The Demon,’ you’ll most definitely like this movie.”
When the little girl began to talk about ‘Léon: The Demon,’ her tone turned to one of major excitement. But, her excitement only lasted for a short while before her tone returned to one of seriousness.
“I have tickets for the movies here. They’re much cheaper than purchasing from Norland’s Weissenasche Theater. Do you want them?” asked the girl.
So she was a ticket seller. Gallolie found it to be somewhat laughable. She would naturally not believe in a street ticket peddler.
People like her were commonly seen in Farucci. But, ninety-nine percent of them would be selling fake tickets. No one in Farucci would ever believe in these cheap tricks.
But, there might be some people that would be deceived by the little girl’s outward appearance in Norland.
Right when Gallolie was pondering about how to reply to this girl, she noticed that there were bruises on the girl’s arm.
“Your arm... what happened? Did someone beat you?” She asked immediately.
Gallolie’s question immediately caused the girl to pull her hand into her dirty sleeve. Then, she shook her head repeatedly.
“Miss, I’m... fine.”
At this moment, the little girl looked up toward Gallolie. She managed to catch Gallolie’s appearance. Then, she immediately turned around to the poster behind her.
After confirming what she saw... a pleasantly surprised look covered her face.
Oh no! Gallolie immediately pulled down her hood. She was thinking about how to have the girl keep her calm.
But, the girl’s mood change was even faster than Gallolie expected. As if she saw something terrifying, the look of pleasant surprise vanished from her face in a flash. Then, before Gallolie could even say anything to her, she ran into the crowd and disappeared.
“Young miss, that girl...”
Flay also noticed the bruises on the girl’s arm. With how young she was, she couldn’t possibly be peddling fake tickets for the Weissenasche Theater on her own. There must be an organization behind her.
“We’ll ask Mister Joshua when we see him. We might be able to gather some information on the Mage Forum.”
Gallolie took a glance at the crowd. Then, she led the Blackwood Elves and entered Norland.
Even though Norland was an extremely flourishing city, there still exists a dark and shameful side to it.