Following her esteemed teacher Archbishop Desireless, Messai was walking on the flagstone road leading to the Crystal Palace.
Ever since Messai was appointed to participate in Norland's World Expo with Lord Desireless, the female knight has been looking forward to the arrival of the World Expo.
The exposition would gather all the elites from the various countries. It represented the progress of the world, the progress of humanity.
Led by the light and glory of the Lord, the Nation of the Holy Church brought with them multiple all-new arcanotech devices to exhibit at the World Expo.
In order to not disgrace her country and the Lord's glory, Messi cleaned and shined her armor multiple times yesterday. She tried her best to erase the grime, bloodstain and scratches that were accumulated through years of usage.
"Focus yourselves."
Messai straightened her back and ordered the two templars besides her.
Archbishop Desireless will soon meet with the nobles of the various nations. As they were templars standing behind Archbishop Desireless, they will undoubtedly become the symbol of their country's strength.
"Knight Messai, are you sure you'll be fine yourself? You seemed to have stayed up all night last night," asked one of the two templars with a quiet voice after hearing Messai's call to attention. That templar held the same status as Messai.
The unnatural behavior of this young female knight has been captured by her colleagues.
Every couple days, Messai would always leave to do who-knows-what for an entire day.
That said, Messai still held quite a prestige among the Ecclesiastical Templars. Mainly, it was because the templars were composed mostly of men. As a woman, Messai was truly rare… Merely her gender was enough to make many of her male colleagues pay attention to her.
"You do not have to concern yourself with that."
Messai did not directly answer that male templar's question. Instead, she threatened him with a warning tone.
Truth was, Messai was feeling a bit lacking in confidence in that matter. Even though she has always been able to convince herself by telling herself that what she was doing was a hidden mission to monitor the demon's activity, something she had no choice but to do, it remains that she had grown to like the arcanotech device invented by that demon, that arcade machine by the name of 'Hearthstone!'
What brought Messai the greatest amount of shame was the fact that she was thinking about 'what was the greatest amount of damage the Paladin class could do in a single turn?'
Messai took a deep breath. She followed her esteemed teacher Desireless into the Crystal Palace. She was determined to not think about 'Hearthstone' in the World Expo and try her hardest to absorb the knowledge from other countries.
The interior of the Crystal Palace was a bit more crowded than what Messai imagined it to be. Nobles and famous alchemists from various countries were all gathered here.
The area in the center of the Crystal Palace was most spacious. There was a stage there. Soon, the arcanotech devices from all over the world would appear on that stage.
Messai's group came too early. The nobles were still gathered in groups of three to five and chatting among themselves. Servers carrying red wine and champagne were moving back and forth around the nobles. Melodious music was reverberating through the entire Crystal Palace. This was truly a social gathering characteristic of the upper class.
Desireless led Messai to their Nation of the Holy Church's exhibition area. This place was prepared for the mages that were interested in arcanotech devices.
There was an enormous arcanotech device at the Nation of the Holy Church's exhibition area. That machine was capable of storing power into originium crystals.
Even though Messai was completely ignorant about the development and research of arcanotech devices, she was certain that the machinery before her was a powerful invention.
"Karl, you're finally here. The other old codgers are all waiting for you. This is a rare opportunity for us, founders of the Penpal Society, to gather together."
Right at this moment, an old man wearing a gray robe with a long unkempt beard that reached his chest noticed Desireless. A purely white owl was standing on his shoulder.
After seeing Desireless, the owl flapped its wings a couple times and flew over to him, landing on his shoulder.
Karl was Desireless's real name. Very few people in the Nation of the Holy Church knew his real name. Even Messai only learned of her esteemed teacher's real name today. Because of that, Messai does not dare to look down upon this shaggy-looking gray robed old man.
"It's been a dozen years. That's not a long time but that's not a short time either. Very well… you all can go ahead and look around the exposition. I will be away for a while," Desireless turned around and said to the three templars following him.
"Understood."
Messai and her two colleagues nodded their heads. Then, holding a walking stick, Desireless left the Nation of the Holy Church's exhibit hall with the gray robed old man.
With her superior leaving, Messai's tensed emotions relaxed slightly.
As they didn't understand the arcanotech devices on the exhibit halls anyways, the two male templars were more interested in the dancehall where noble ladies and young misses were gathered.
As they held the same status as Messai, Messai could only give them a look of disdain at their desire to covet riches and enjoy the pleasures of life.
The female knight was not at all interested in alcohol or the flattering between nobles. Compared to that, she was more interested in the mystical arcanotech devices being exhibited.
Having given free time, Messai began to check out the other countries' exhibit halls.
But, right after the female knight finished checking out the exhibition from the Nation of Steel, Bismarck, and walked to the exhibit hall of the Nation of Art, Farucci, that was situated next to it, she heard a very familiar phrase.
"Put your faith in the Light!"
Messai, a person uninterested in stage plays, music and painting, stopped her footsteps upon hearing that phrase.
She remembers that phrase. She remembers it very well. That was… the strongest Legendary card from 'Hearthstone's' Paladin class, 'Tirion Fordring!'
For the sake of obtaining that card, Messai had nearly exhausted all of the dowry she had saved up since her youth. Yet, even now, she still hasn't been able to open that card from a pack.
Back in the Hearthstone Tavern, she has only seen someone using that card once. But, that was enough to make her become very familiar with Tirion Fordring's summoning phrase.
Why would there be a dialogue from 'Hearthstone' here?
Messai's line of sight turned to Farucci's exhibition hall. It passed through the vast amount of renowned paintings and sculptures and saw an arcanotech device for playing 'Hearthstone' at the edge of the exhibition hall.
She also saw a fellow that she never wished to see here… the Chaos Demon Joshua!
She immediately and subconsciously moved her hand toward her waist. But, she grabbed air.
The Crystal Palace does not allow anyone to bring weapons inside. All the nobles participating in the World Expo were remarkable individuals. If anyone of them were to encounter some sort of mishap, it could very possibly lead to a diplomatic crisis and even war.
Could this be that demon's true purpose?!
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