Once the news of Holme, a bottom rung poor from Squirrel Street, defeating a noble opera singer started spreading, the ratings for the World’s Singers increased to a whole new level.
The final words spoken by that opera singer called Roa managed to draw the maximum amount of hatred.
Using a close-up, Joshua revealed his villainous words to all the audiences. The only thing missing was the citizens of Norland picking up their hammers and sickles for a great revolution.
Fortunately, the audience had another method to show their support for Holme — their votes.
That being said, while the citizens of Norland had their attention focused on the ‘World’s Singers’ competition, they forgot that today was an extremely important day for Norland.
Today was the day of the yearly meeting for the Sage Parliament. The seven sages with the greatest authority in Norland will be gathered together to make decisions that would greatly affect the development and growth of Norland.
But, as the content and decisions of the discussions were things that only the Seven Sages could decide, the citizens of Norland, rather than running over to the Sage Towers to watch the parliament meeting, would rather sit around in taverns to watch the ‘television program.’
The students from the Croshere Advanced Magic Academy also made the same sort of decision.
Croshere Advanced Magic Academy. Grand Lecture Hall.
The headmaster of this Advanced Magic Academy, one of the Seven Sages, the believer of the God of Lightning and Punishment, the Yellow Mage Croshere’s forehead was bulging with blue veins. Evidently, he was in a state of extreme anger.
He was standing at the frontmost area of the Grand Lecture Hall. He was supposed to give all the students of the Advanced Magic Academy a lecture today. It was also the day he was supposed to announce that he had found an all-new rune inscription.
Originally, this was something so major that all the mages of Norland will be concerned by. This Grand Lecture Hall with a capacity of three-thousand plus people would also be completely packed full.
Yet...
Yellow Mage Croshere ran his eyes across the lecture hall. There were only two hundred-some mages present. The students from the Croshere Advanced Magic Academy were nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Sofina?” Suppressing the anger in his heart, Yellow Mage Croshere asked an attendant sitting in the audience where his disciple was.
Sofina was the absolute representative of this Advanced Magic Academy. She had displayed outstanding Lightning System Magic since when she was only a very young child.
It was due to that talent that Yellow Mage Croshere made her, a noble girl from the Nation of Frost, his designated successor.
But, it was already not the first time that this future Sage of Norland decided to skip her teacher’s lecture.
“She went... went to the neighboring... Lursk Advanced Magic Academy,” The attendant’s voice was trembling.
The old man before them seemed to be able to cause lightning strikes and thunder rolls with every single word he made and every single action he took. There was even a rumor going around Croshere Advanced Magic Academy that Yellow Mage Croshere was able to shoot out lightning from his eyes, that he could reduce his foes to ashes just by glancing at them.
Of course, those were merely nonsense rumors. Nevertheless, the look of fury on Yellow Mage’s face gave off the feeling that he would turn anyone to ashes should they dare to speak against him.
The attendant knew why this Sage would be this furious. Recently, their student president has been skipping classes and running to the neighboring Lursk Advanced Magic Academy. Because of that, people inside the Croshere Advanced Magic Academy even began discussing that their student president might be transferring schools and other such rumors.
And, the reason for her skipping classes...
“Is it for that goddamn arcanotech device again?”
Yellow Mage Croshere tried his best to contain his anger. He took another glance at the somewhat empty Grand Lecture Hall.
The emptiness of the Grand Lecture Hall was also caused by that ‘television’ arcanotech device. All the students of his Advanced Magic Academy ran to the neighboring Lursk Advanced Magic Academy to watch ‘television.’ It’s only natural that they wouldn’t have time to run back to listen to his lecture.
“We will be stopping the lecture here today.”
The anticipated lightning did not arrive. The Yellow Mage Croshere left the Grand Lecture Hall. The attendant heaved a sigh of relief.
After leaving the lecture hall, Croshere took a glance at the direction of the Lursk Advanced Magic Academy. Then, without saying anything, he started walking toward the central region of Norland, the location where the Sage Towers were.
.........
Norland’s Sage Parliament was held in the Sage Tower’s highest floor, the Space of Contemplation. The ‘core’ that provides magic energy to the City of Norland was located beneath this Sage Tower.
[1. It seems to me that there’s 1 main tower and 6 minor towers? Sorry, there’s no plural in Chinese unless explicitly stated. Because of that, it’s hard to understand if they’re talking about 1 sage tower or 7 sage towers. We only learned some tens of chapters after the introduction of the sage tower that there were 7 sage towers.]
There weren’t any unnecessary decorations in this simple and unadorned room. In the center of the room was a round table. Around the round table were seven stone chairs.
The conductor of the parliamentary assembly, the Sage who lives in this Sage Tower year-round, the White Mage, was sitting at the front-most seat of the round table. Of the remaining six Sages, four were already present.
“Black Mage and Blue Mage are still exploring the underground remnants. They’ve given up on their decision-making authorities in this Parliament session. Everyone, we can begin,” White Mage’s voice sounded a bit weak.
Although the Seven Sages of Norland were old, none of them had reached the limits of human lifespan. However, the oldest of the seven, White Mage, was already starting to show signs of weak health.
“Black and Blue are still underground? It’s been two years! Should we select new Sages to replace them?” Someone voice that concern.
Yellow Mage has been quietly listening without saying anything. He continued to listen until a Sage mentioned the ‘magic network’ that has recently appeared in Norland.
“Everyone here has used the ‘magic network.’ What is your opinion of this all-new magic?” White Mage decided to lead the session. He swept his gaze at the other four Sages.
“I am unable to call that thing ‘magic.’ It’s more like a miniature version of the world itself.” Gray Mage was the first user to interact with the magic network. When the magic network was mentioned, his tone became one full of excitement. It was like he had discovered the New World.
“The magic network redefined the way intelligent creatures communicate,” An owl suddenly appeared on Gray Mage’s hand. Gray Mage stroked the owl’s feathers before continuing, “Although it’ll cause these little fellows to lose their work, I cannot help but admit that... letters are simply too inefficient of a communication method.”
“But, you all cannot deny the dangers brought upon by the magic network. Its creator is able to change the magic network’s operation manner at will,” another Sage voiced a different opinion.
The discussion about the magic network continued for a period of time. When it was the Yellow Mage’s turn to voice his concern, the discussion had finally calmed down.
Yellow Mage Croshere maintained a neutral opinion toward the magic network. But, when the topic turned to the arcanotech device called ‘television...’
“I wish to be able to ban the appearance of the arcanotech devices known as ‘televisions’ in Norland,” said Yellow Mage.
“Television?”
“You’re talking about the arcanotech device capable of projecting an image from afar to a smooth surface? The principle behind its operation seemed to be having small light particles alter their appearance to create an image,” Gray Mage Lursk provided an explanation. Then, he turned to look at Yellow Mage Croshere, “In my opinion, that is also an amazing invention. Croshere, why do you want to ban it?”
“Amazing? It caused the young mages to lose their desire for knowledge! Have you not noticed that the students of the magic academies have been skipping classes to watch those televisions?!” Yellow Mage refuted with a loud voice.
Yellow Mage’s words brought silence upon the Sages present. Of the five of them, four had opened Advanced Magic Academies in Norland. The same sort of situation described by Yellow Mage had occurred in all their Advanced Magic Academies.
“That is a problem with our management. We shouldn’t push the blame onto the ‘televisions.’”
“But, it remains that the young mages’ interest for television surpassed their desire for new knowledge!”
After mass class skippings occurred in the four Advanced Magic Academies, they’ve issued multiple punishments for the offenders. Yet, a portion of the young mages continued to ignore those punishments and continued to skip classes. The most famous among those mages was the Yellow Mage’s successor, Sofina.
“...”
Gray Mage quietly listened to the discussions from the other Sages. Even though he had tried his best to shift the direction of discussion toward television to a more optimistic point of view, the other Sages had, under the lead of the Yellow Mage, started to feel the detriments brought upon by televisions surpasses its benefits.
In the end, with the full on effort from Gray Mage, the Sages decided to not put a ban on televisions. Nevertheless, it seemed like Yellow Mage was not planning to take things laying down.