Fritt walked out of the arcanotech vehicle. The ground he stepped on was somewhat muddy.
In this world, Norland was the city with the greatest advancement in magic. The proof of that lies in Norland’s roads.
In Fritt’s home country, the Nation of Steel, many of the cities’ roads were completely unpaved and difficult to walk on. But, in Norland, even the most fridge districts, the roads were all paved with white paving stones.
The only exception was Squirrel Street. This street was the only tiny shadow in the most civilized Capital of Magic. No, it cannot be considered to be a shadow. At most, it was a ‘stain.’
The location for that demon’s business meeting was a very remote tavern located in Squirrel Street.
It was so far away from the city that the ground below was covered in nasty mud.
After Fritt exited his arcanotech vehicle, he took out the letter that demon sent him and repeatedly confirmed the location mentioned in the letter. It was the same as the name on the tavern’s signboard.
In the end, he confirmed that he had arrived at the tavern indicated by the demon in his letter.
“Lord Fritt.”
Fritt’s bodyguard felt that things were fishy.
The tavern’s appearance was simply too terrible. Even its wooden signboard was damaged.
If it wasn’t for the fact that there was a wooden jug symbol on the signboard, one might even consider this place to be a pigsty instead of a tavern.
“Perhaps it’s to keep things confidential,” justified Fritt.
After a moment of silence, with steps covered in mud, Fritt walked toward the tavern.
He only hoped that this would not be a ‘prank’ from that demon.
Fritt pushed open the tavern’s door. To Fritt’s surprise, the tavern was... extremely lively.
Practically all the tables were full. It was impossible for Fritt to quickly find that demon from all these people.
“Lord Fritt, they do not seem to be people from Squirrel Street,” whispered Fritt’s bodyguard.
Fritt had also noticed that himself.
The way the guests of this tavern were dressed was completely unlike the rags worn by the rogues of Squirrel Street. Fritt even noticed that there were several people wearing mage attires sitting in the tavern.
Finally, Fritt managed to find the young demon by the bar. The last time Fritt met him, they were at Lursk Advanced Magic Academy.
One of Norland’s Seven Sages, Gray Mage Lursk, was his student in that class. Because of that, Fritt had never once looked down upon this young demon because of his age.
Fritt quickly walked up to the bar.
Compared to the external appearance, the insides of this tavern was much neater. At least, there were no disgusting vomits or bloodstains on the chairs.
Swaying the glass of water in his hand, Joshua said to Fritt, “You’ve come at the perfect timing. If you came a couple minutes later, there’ll be no more seats.”
Couple minutes later?
Hearing Joshua’s words, Fritt took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. It was almost eight at night!
“Mister Joshua, I doubt that many people would start going to taverns this early.” The only sort of people Fritt could think of that would go to taverns this early were useless drunkards.
“Well... there’s men that stayed up all night watching the European Cup only to have their televisions smashed apart by their wives...”
Joshua gave an example that Fritt was incapable of understanding.
Fritt wanted to say something. But, right after Joshua gave his prophecy, it started taking effect.
Six more customers entered the tavern. No matter how one looked at them, they do not resemble people from Squirrel Street. Two of them were even panting. It seemed like they ran all the way here.
“Is this tavern also full?” Asked one of the customers.
“Might as well sit on the floor,” proposed another customer.
Right at this moment, the tavern owner hurriedly walked out from behind. He was carrying two benches as he walked toward the six customers.
“Customers, if you all don’t mind, why not sit for a moment?” asked the owner in a probing manner.
The six customers looked at each other. In the end, with no other choice, they seated themselves on the two benches.
Fritt observed the entire exchange. These people did not come to the tavern for the sake of drinking at all. Instead, they seemed to be waiting for something.
“Could it be, that so-called ‘television’ arcanotech device is installed in this place too?”
Fritt suddenly recalled the arcanotech device that his intelligence gatherers mentioned to him. As he was too busy disputing with that Loraft Trading Company from the Nation of Frost, he had not been paying attention to the matters about that ‘television.’
“Correct,” answered Joshua.
“I’ve heard that after ‘televisions’ were installed into many shops, their customers started increasing.”
Fritt swept his eyes across the entire tavern. Back when he first learned of this information from his intelligence gatherers, he was skeptical. But now, after seeing it for himself, he was convinced.
This shabby and remote tavern in Squirrel Street was already able to attract all these people. There were even people that ran all the way here.
When Fritt was about to ask Joshua exactly what the ‘televisions’ were, a sound emerged in the tavern and interrupted him.
He looked toward the direction where the voice came from. Following the sound, he saw a completely white wall. Suddenly, a man sitting before a long desk appeared on the wall.
Fritt couldn’t help but recall the setting for the movies in the Weissenasche Theater. Furthermore, Fritt recognized that man. He was the demon hitman in the movie ‘Léon: The Demon,’ Léon.
That said, his character now was not the demon hitman Léon. Instead, he was a broadcaster. Using his deep and low voice, he greeted the residents of Norland.
“Welcome to Norland Today, I am Pluk. Yesterday at roughly seven in the morning, an explosion accident occurred in Norland’s Alchemic Marketplace...”
Fritt immediately realized what the so-called ‘television’ was.
He was a fond listener of the Voice of Norland. Naturally, he knew about the Norland Today news program.
In the beginning, the Voice of Norland was only able to transmit sounds... But now, with the so-called ‘television’ arcanotech devices, the public will be able to ‘see’ the Voice of Norland.
It was his first time seeing the owner of that bassy voice. Furthermore, the image of Norland’s Alchemic Marketplace appeared on the projection.
“Those damned foxes!”
Fritt recognized the location being shown. It was not far from the alchemic shop he owned.
That Nation of Frost’s trading company used treacherous means to exchange his goods into a pile of poor quality failures. That was the reason why those goods ended up exploding.
Due to the explosion, Fritt ended up paying a large sum to his customers that were injured.
Fortunately, the image being shown did not indicate which alchemic shop the explosion came from. It was only meant to remind the public to be careful when purchasing easily explode-able alchemic materials.
Because of that, Fritt heaved a sigh of relief. If the Voice of Norland were to directly point out which alchemic shop the explosion came from, it will bring about serious negative consequences to his trading company.
When that thought came to Fritt’s mind, he was suddenly startled. He turned to look at the demon seated next to him. Vaguely, he was able to guess what the bargaining chip this demon prepared was.