Late night. Hearthstone Tavern.
Holding a platter, Joshua placed three cups of warm milk before the three girls sitting around his desk.
“Are you three really not planning to sleep?”
Joshua picked up a cup of warm milk from the platter and took a sip of the milk. Then, he looked to the three net-addicted girls seated around his desk playing co-op.
“I’ll return once I finish building this house.”
Gallolie was holding the ‘runes inscribed crystal’ and controlling her game character. Her elven bodyguard Flay was seated next to her and Ciri was seated across from them.
Ever since Gallolie learned how to play ‘Minecraft,’ she would come to Joshua’s study to ‘test the game’ practically everyday.
Even though Joshua was planning to inscribe this version of Minecraft onto her magic network, Gallolie was still unwilling to leave.
Using her words, ‘the atmosphere here is better.’
“Well, do what you want. I’m not qualified to urge you to sleep early anyways.”
Joshua took a glance at the Blackwood Elf priestess seated at a side of the study. Oranka was looking at him with an apologetic expression.
Suddenly came a knocking sound. Through the aura of the person outside, Joshua could tell that it was his chief reporter, Thousand Faces.
“Please excuse me.”
Joshua planned to go out to meet up with Thousand Faces. For her to seek him out this late at night, he was sure that she must be here because of some important intelligence.
Tactfully, Priestess Oranka didn’t ask anything. Joshua had already proven himself to her over the past three days that he does not hold any malice toward the Blackwood Elves.
The proof came in the form of the Blackwood Elf priestess by the name of Luvita. Currently, Luvita was able to converse wittily with the Lich overlord staying at Farucci’s Mansion. Furthermore, their topics of conversation were actually music and movies.
Priestess Oranka had seen simply too many unbelievable things in Norland. By now, she has started to gradually adapt to them.
Joshua walked out the study and closed the door on his way out.
“Your Highness Joshua, may I know when the game you’re testing will be officially released to the magic network client?”
The first thing the dark elf did upon seeing Joshua was not reporting the intelligence she gathered. Instead, she asked him about the release date of the game Gallolie and co. were playing in the study.
“That will depend on the growth of the Blackwood Elves’ World Tree. With the transmission speed of the current magic network, it’s unrealistic for it to serve as a large-scale game server,” Joshua paused for a brief moment before asking, “Thousand Faces, could it be that you’re also fond of the games on the magic network?”
“No... Your younger sister, Her Highness the Fourth Princess, has always asked me about the development of the games. I’ve informed Her Highness Faye about Minecraft. Because of that, she has been looking forward to playing it... it’s so much that... she wanted to personally come to the human world to play that game,” The dark elf sounded somewhat angonized.
Her actual master was Joshua’s younger sister Faye. Her relationship with Joshua was only that of an employer and employee.
It would appear that having a stubborn master was a major headache for the dark elf.
“I’ll find some time to provide her with a special test version.”
As Joshua has been busy with the debut of the ‘World’s Singers’ and ‘television station,’ he didn’t have much time to develop and refine new games. The classic pixel games from Nintendo Entertainment System were simply not enough to satisfy the Mage Forum’s game enthusiasts.
“You have my gratitude... Your Highness Joshua.”
After Thousand Faces finished her personal matter, she took out an originium crystal and handed it to Joshua.
Joshua activated the originium crystal by imbuing it with his magic power. Soon, several photographs appeared before his eyes. They were photos of fully armed templars.
“They’re a templar squadron that entered Norland a while ago. There’s a total of seven templars. A priest and two nuns are also with them.”
“What is their purpose in coming to Norland?”
Joshua checked out the photos stored in the originium crystal one after the other. He saw an old friend in the photos — the frequent customer of the Hearthstone Tavern, Knight Messai.
Joshua was not surprised by her return to Norland. But, he was concerned by how she did not return alone.
“About that... I’ve yet to determine their purpose. But, with the intelligence I’ve gathered so far, Your Highness Joshua, you must be on guard against these two templars.”
Dark Elf Thousand Faces pointed at two of the photos projected in midair. One was a photo of a white-haired and white-bearded yet still extremely robust and spirited looking old man. As for the other photo, it was a gloomy-looking middle-aged man.
“They are?”
“Back when I was still a member of the Heresy Tribunal, I’ve met this person before. Although he was still very young back then, he was already the legion commander of the Ecclesiastical Templar Army’s Third Legion. That man is a difficult fellow to deal with,” said Thousand Faces as she pointed to the old man’s photo.
“What about this one?”
“It’s possible that he’s also a legion commander. I checked him out yesterday. Whether it be his alertness or battle reaction, neither of them resembled that of a new recruit...” said Thousand Faces.
“You... weren’t injured, right?”
Joshua examined the dark elf. There were people in the Ecclesiastical Templar Army that were even more difficult to handle than the Heresy Tribunal’s inquisitors.
“Your Highness Joshua, you’re underestimating my abilities. That said, that human managed to catch the arrow I shot at him from afar and also discovered my whereabouts even though I’m hidden. In short... he is most definitely not an insignificant soldier of the Nation of the Holy Church.”
Thousand Faces’ voice gradually became more grave. While the Nation of the Holy Church did not dispatch a large quantity of people to Norland this time around, there were two templar legion commander-level existences among them. That itself was enough for them to raise their guard.
Even if Joshua’s elder sister, the Demon Realm’s Second Princess Cecily, was here confronting the two legion commanders instead, she would also not loosen her guard.
“If they came here to eradicate what I’ve established in this city, the strength of only two legion commanders would be far from enough.”
Joshua does not believe the missionaries from the Nation of the Holy Church came to Norland for the sake of touring the city.
“What about that priest and the two nuns, did you manage to find out who they are?” Joshua moved the originium crystal in his hand and changed the photos projected to that of the three people he just mentioned.
“I did not manage to find much information about them. All I managed to gather is that one of the nuns by the name of Lia had signed up to participate in the ‘World’s Singers.'”
“It would appear that it is truly difficult to refuse the charm of that competition... Well, that’s a joke.”
Joshua projected a photo of that nun. Even though she was walking together with that priest, she does not appear as reserved and unflustered like ordinary nuns.
“A nun signed up to participate in a banquet held by a demon yet the templars with her did not stop her from doing so.”
Joshua knew that what he had done in Norland was enough to turn him into the Nation of the Holy Church’s most wanted criminal. If they were to offer a bounty on his head, the bounty could definitely reach over a hundred million gold coins.
It would be impossible for the two legion commanders to not know about what Joshua did in Norland.
“Could it be that the nun had concealed her participation from the others?” proposed the dark elf.
“Or perhaps, this nun lady’s status is higher than all the other people in the entourage,” said Joshua.