The arrival of the three Sages caused the nobles and merchants present in Norland National Theater to enter a state of fear or excitement.
A portion of them immediately found reasons to leave the place whereas the others chose to stay behind as audiences. Those that chose to stay behind were then led by the attendants to a theater room.
Joshua believed that the news of the Voice of Norland being supported by the Sages will soon be spread throughout Norland.
Likely, the nobles and merchants would have to think things over before seeking out Joshua.
That said, the arrival of the Sages was not all good.
Even though Joshua had not done anything malicious in Norland, there were still some existences not suitable to be made public in Norland National Theater.
“This is the talk stage. Due to limited time, I was only able to have the people from the Construction Association remove those strange ornaments and then slightly decorate this place,” said Joshua as he led the three Sages to a relatively small theater room.
This theater room was only large enough to contain some two hundred plus people. It seemed that Norland National Theater’s past owner had used this theater room as a place to entertain important guests. As such, this theater room was the most exquisitely decorated of all the various theater rooms in Norland National Theater.
But, after Joshua took ownership, he ordered for the removal of all the precious jewels and ornaments. He transformed the room from a dazzling palace hall into a somewhat plain and unpresentable lecture hall.
“This would suffice.”
Gray Mage Lursk did not mind the unadorned surroundings. He slowly walked to the talk stage. A blackboard was already prepared and standing behind him.
Once Gray Mage Lursk got on the stage, the audiences sat down in succession. There were only thirty-some people present for the lecture.
Cinoared to the thousand-plus audience members present for World’s Singers, this number was incomparably small.
Alas, Gray Mage didn’t mind the audience number. Curious, he took a glance at the surroundings. He seemed to be searching for something.
“Do you need me to prepare some alchemic tools?” asked Joshua all of a sudden.
“No, I’m going to talk about Norland’s history today. It’s not some sort of profound magic knowledge.”
“In that case, the filming will officially begin in five minutes.”
Joshua waved his hand. The Day Banshees dwelling in Norland National Theater appeared in midair with arcanotech camcorders in hand.
Right at this moment, two owls suddenly stuck their heads out from Gray Mage’s beard. The two owls seemed to have sensed something. They leaped out from Gray Mage’s beard and started to hoot uneasily on the stage.
Even though the Day Banshees had been invisible the entire time, the three Sages seemed to have detected that something... non-human had appeared in the theater the moment the Day Banshees appeared.
“Allow me to give everyone an introduction.”
At the beginning, Joshua was planning to change the camera operators to humans. Unfortunately, he was unable to find any suitable candidates.
Furthermore, the Day Banshees could be said to be the most outstanding camera operators in the entire world. They were able to catch all the scenes that a director wanted.
Joshua was planning to continue with the Sage Thought Forum program for a long time. As such, it was inevitable that the Sages would discover his secret. Because of that, Joshua decided that he might as well make the Day Banshees public.
“These ladies are the ones who films the scenes you see on the ‘television.'”
Mild golden lights appeared in the airspace above the theater. Gradually, the golden lights took the appearance of young women. A total of twelve Day Banshees appeared before the crowd.
To amatuers, it would not be strange to think the emissaries of the God of Holy Light had appeared before them. Unfortunately, those emissaries were all undead.
“Day Banshees? Creatures created by the Necromancer Association’s emaciated sticks?” Yellow Mage raised his brows. He immediately recognized the true identities of the semi-transparent ladies floating in the air.
Humanity’s disgust for the undead came from their fear of the undead. As Yellow Mage has never been a person afraid of the dead, how could he possibly feel any disgust toward the undead creatures?
“I don’t believe Norland’s necromancers are capable of controlling Day Banshees.”
Purple Mage’s face was covered by a cloak. One could only faintly see from beneath her cloak that her lips were raised to a ridiculing smile. Suddenly, she outstretched her hand toward the void. It seemed like she was grabbing for something.
“Furthermore, these Day Banshees are no ordinary undead.”
A faint white colored silhouette flew past Purple Mage. It was the thirteenth Day Banshee. She arrived late... When she tried to squeeze through the crowd to join the other Day Banshees, she, unluckily, brushed past Purple Mage.
That Day Banshee immediately started panicking. As a soul, she has never once been ‘grabbed’ by a human before.
“My apologies. It’s just that I felt an aura difficult to describe from them.” The eyes of the Purple Mage beneath her cloak looked toward Joshua who was standing there. Then, she released the Day Banshee.
Having regained her freedom, the Day Banshee immediately rushed to hide behind her fellows.
“If there are any questions or concerns, I will answer them once the program is over.”
Joshua noticed that Purple Mage’s gaze had landed on his hand. It was the same hand with the imprint from the Duke of Bones.
Joshua had deliberately worn gloves to cover the imprint from the Duke of Bones. As for the aura of death, as long as Joshua doesn’t use the Duke of Bones’ undead magic, ordinary people would not be able to detect it.
“I will go in person,” Purple Mage did not continue to make things difficult for Joshua. She walked to the first row of the audience seats and sat down. Yellow Mage also found a seat at the other side of the audience seats and sat down.
“Is the relationship between the Sages all not good?”
Joshua quietly asked the Norland local, Ciri. When the two Sages seated themselves, Joshua felt an indescribable sort of tenseness filling the air.
“I’m not sure about that either. But, back when I was younger, it seemed like they’ve disputed over something,” said Ciri.
“Alright then.”
Joshua had no heart to concern himself with the grudges between the Sages.
The Day Banshees started working. They all took to their respective positions with filming arcanotech devices in hand ready to go at any moment.
The Day Banshee ladies had also successfully acquired a favorable impression from the crowd with their appearances. After all, no one will feel disgust toward young ladies emitting light from their bodies; even if their bodies were semi-transparent.
Joshua gestured to Gray Mage that he could begin. With that, the Sage coughed to clear his throat and, together with his owls, began to speak about the history of Norland.
Gray Mage’s lecture was unexpectedly fascinating. As someone who frequented the Mage Forum on the daily, as someone who had dipped into both movies and Hearthstone, Gray Mage was undoubtedly one of the most up-to-date people in all of Norland. He was most definitely not a stiff old man.
“Everyone, it’s possible that you do not know about my alias. I am also called Ash-colored Owl. Is that a familiar name?”
Once Gray Mage revealed his Mage Forum’s username, Joshua was able to foresee the Mage Forum turning chaotic.
Ciri immediately opened the Mage Forum. Sure enough, a vast amount of posts expressing shock or seeking forgiveness had already appeared on the Daily Discussions sub-forum.
‘Ash-colored Owl’ was akin to a legend on the Mage Forum. It was said he had replied to every single post on the forum.
Naturally, there were a whole bunch of strong-willed individuals who did not know who ‘Ash-colored Owl’ really was and openly argued with him. Some even called him out by name!
However, no one ever imagined that the Mage Forum’s ‘user with the most free time’ would be an aloof and remote Sage!
The reveal especially affected the students from Lursk Advanced Magic Academy. Once they recalled how they ‘confronted’ their headmaster, they immediately felt their bodies shivering in fear.
“I wonder, what are the people that cursed out Ash-colored Owl on the forum thinking right now?” Joshua said quietly.
“It’ll be perfect to post a reply with a laughing dwarf emoticon at a time like this.”
As Ciri spoke, she calmly posted a laughing dwarf emoticon below the post titled ‘Headmaster Lursk, please forgive me!’