Yellow Mage Croshere was walking toward Norland’s Law Enforcement Agency.
Yesterday, he proposed the banning of the arcanotech device by the name of television on the Sage Parliament. His proposal received the support from two other Sages.
Even though Gray Mage Lursk tried his hardest to veto their decision, the three Sages held identical positions to him. As such, he lacked the ability to influence their decisions.
Yellow Mage, although old, had senses as sharp as a feline.
As he walked on the streets of Norland, he could hear the discussions regarding television from the passersby.
“What? You managed to see ‘Beauty and the Demon’s short film yesterday? I ran to multiple taverns all over Norland yesterday but was unable to squeeze myself inside any of them. Quickly, tell me what ended up happening with Belle and the demon prince.”
“Don’t be so anxious, it’s said on the Mage Forum that the short film will be broadcasted again.”
“Really? When?! I’m dying from missing out on seeing Belle.”
Yellow Mage Croshere was quietly listening to the discussions from the young mages. The hand hidden by his long sleeve, the hand he held his staff with, was slightly trembling in an uncontrollable manner.
Hearing the conversations of the passersby, hearing them talk about things like ‘I’m dying from missing out on seeing Belle,”My life is for Tylene,”Let me introduce you to the my wife, Miss Gallolie’s new picture album,’ and various other similar comments, Yellow Mage Croshere arrived at a verdict — the arcanotech device by the name of ‘television’ was corroding the minds of Norland’s young mages!
He knew very well how terrifying those ‘addictions’ were.
The reason for that was because he had experienced the darkest period in Norland’s history...
He was one of the founders of Norland’s Law Enforcement Agency. The founding of the Law Enforcement Agency was all for a single purpose — clearing out the ‘poison’ corroding the city of Norland.
That was something from over seventy years ago. It was during Norland’s early years. The city had only expanded to the Great River. The bustling commercial street and those magnificent alchemic ateliers and factories hasn’t even been developed yet.
Norland was only a small town where a group of mages gathered. But, they’ve already established several magic academies in the town.
As the Capital of Magic gradually grows through the influence of the underground remnant and originium crystal ore veins, something terrifying appeared in the town — magic craving crystal.
No one knew how the terrifying ‘magic craving crystal’ came to be.
But, any and all mages would be able to gain a great amount of power temporarily upon crushing a magic craving crystal with their fingers. Nevertheless, they would have to pay a serious price for the increased power. Not only will their bodies suffer injuries, even their minds would be damaged. They would become much more frantic and restless.
But, back then, there were many mages in Norland that were incapable of refusing the temptation of the magic craving crystals. Because of that, the streets of Norland became extremely bleak. It was like Norland was a rotting city.
Faced with that crisis, Yellow Mage stood forth. He called for the mages that also detested the magic craving crystals like him. Together, they destroyed the underground organizations selling those magic craving crystals. Together, they drove out the ‘poison’ corroding Norland.
That was also how Norland’s Law Enforcement Agency came to be.
After that, Norland enjoyed a very long period of peace. It became the Capital of Magic, the most flourishing city in the entire world.
But, after Yellow Mage Croshere had retired from the Law Enforcement Agency for tens of years, he once again saw the appearance of another ‘magic craving crystals.’
Although ‘television’ would not cause irreversible damage to one’s body like the magic craving crystals, they were whittling away the young mages’ desire for knowledge.
Those young mages no longer put their focus on their classes. They stopped caring for their teachers’ lectures and stopped paying attention to the knowledge left in the books kept in the library.
Instead, they began to spend their time on those damned television programs. All for the sake of the performance of a young opera singer, the students did not hesitate to risk dangers to flee from their classes.
Yellow Mage would definitely not allow for this sort of thing to continue to spread unchecked in Norland!
At least, Norland’s Law Enforcement Agency was still present. As one of the founders of the Law Enforcement Agency, Yellow Mage was able to easily gather the power of the Law Enforcers and destroy those televisions.
It was no different from how he completely eliminated the ‘magic craving crystals’ from Norland seventy years ago.
While thinking about the soon-to-be destruction of the televisions, Yellow Mage Croshere arrived at the entrance of Norland’s Law Enforcement Agency. As he saw the statue of a young man holding a staff towering before the Law Enforcement Agency, he couldn’t help himself from reminiscing.
That statue was none other than a status of his youth. Craved below the statue was a line ‘The only desire for mages is the desire for knowledge.’ Those were words that he had said in the past.
Even now, his aspirations remained unchanged. He was certain that the aspirations of Norland’s Law Enforcement Agency were also unchanged.
Holding his crutch, he entered the main lounge of the Law Enforcement Agency. When the Law Enforcement Agency was founded, it was only a small wooden house. There were only fifteen members at the beginning.
But now, Norland’s Law Enforcement Agency had expanded to an impressive sight and was on par with the other Wonders of Norland. Seeing the sight of people moving about their day inside the Law Enforcement Agency, Yellow Mage Croshere realized that the Law Enforcement Agency had matured into a huge organization together with Norland.
Yellow Mage Croshere felt the passion and fighting will from his youthful days of gathering up his colleagues to crush those magic craving crystals corroding Norland!
But, before he could call for the person in charge of the Law Enforcement Agency to meet him, he suddenly heard the sound of music playing in the main lounge.
“Isn’t this the song sung by Miss Luvita? I remember it’s called ‘Rolling In The Deep!’ Where did you obtain this originium crystal?”
“From the World’s Singers competition. I heard that it’s some sort of ‘attendee gift.’ This originium crystal could fetch for over three thousand gold coins in the market!”
“How could you value the song from Miss Luvita with gold coins?! Quickly, play it again. When I first listened to that song, I even stopped eating my food.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Wait... do you have an originium crystal containing the sung performance from Lil Lia?!”
In the lounge, a group of young law enforcers on standby duty were surrounding a young man with the ‘commemorative originium crystal recording’ of Luvita’s sung performance. Evidently, these young law enforcers were all faithful fans of the World’s Singers competition.
“No, I don’t have that. But, I’ve heard that there’s another opportunity for us law enforcers to be present at the World’s Singers competition today!”
“But, the competition has already started. Hmm... wasn’t he that fellow from Squirrel Street who performed yesterday?”
A law enforcer pointed to a wall in the lounge. The World’s Singers competition was being projected onto that wall. The person being shown on the projection was none other than Holme.
“That’s called a ‘rerun!’ I’ve heard that they’re showing a part of what happened in yesterday’s competition again,” explained a law enforcer.
“Everyone... it’s possible that I will be the one dispatched to World’s Singers today too. It might be possible that I’ll receive an originium crystal containing the singing from Lil Lia.”
The young law enforcers were in an uproar. Seeing his colleagues being so excited, the young law enforcer holding the originium crystal music record felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. As he held the originium crystal, he felt like he was holding the entire world in his hand.
But, that sense of accomplishment did not last for long. A thunder clap exploded by his ear and an electric current streaked across his arm and shocked his hand.
The shocking pain numbed his arm. Just like that, the ‘musical record’ he held in his hand fell to the ground.
He immediately bent his back and attempted to pick up the fallen originium crystal. However, a thunderous explosion sounded again. Together with the brick floor, the ‘musical record’ was reduced to charred coke.
The young law enforcer watched in shock as his ‘world’ was turned into charred coke. His facial expression became incomparably stiff. Life disappeared from his eyes.
“My Miss Luvita’s...” His voice was trembling.
“Old bastard, what the hell did you do?!”
“Did you not know that attack magic is forbidden here?!”
The law enforcers beside him discovered the culprit. It was none other than the unfamiliar old man standing before them.
Faced with their questions, Yellow Mage didn’t say a word. He merely let out a cold snort before violently tapping the end of his staff on the ground.
The instant he did that, a large quantity of electric current began to explode outward with him as the center. Through the ground, it spread through the entire main lounge.
All the originium crystals that came in contact with the electric currents exploded. This included the originium crystal used to project the ‘television.’
All of a sudden, the entire lounge grew completely silent. All the law enforcers stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the yellow robed old man standing by the entrance.
Soon, more and more mages recognized who that old man was — one of Norland’s Seven Sages. Then, the young law enforcers that shouted at him earlier started to shiver and immediately bowed to greet him.
The other law enforcers also stopped whatever they were doing and bowed to the Yellow Mage, showing their utmost respect. The only exception... was a certain young law enforcer kneeling on the ground looking at the remains of the ‘musical record.’
“My Miss Luvita’s...” He mumbled as if possessed.