As time passed, Desireless finished his meeting with his old friends.
Hundreds of owls were perched in a side hall of the Crystal Palace. Those were all couriers raised by the Owl Penpal Society.
Desireless never imagined that the Penpal Society that he formed with some like-minded friends would develop to such an extent.
But, compared to the Owl Penpal Society, Desireless came to visit Norland for the sake of obtaining more new knowledge.
To Desireless's delight, not long after he arrived at Norland, he found knowledge nearly enough to infatuate him in a tavern's arcanotech device.
The reason why he was infatuated by it was because he was simply unable to understand it. Recently, Desireless has spent all his time on trying to figure out the principle behind the composition of 'Hearthstone.' Unfortunately, his efforts bear no fruit.
"Karl, don't joke around. There are no rune sequences that I cannot make sense of!"
A gray robed old man standing beside Desireless expressed contempt toward the all-new rune sequences mentioned by Desireless.
"Do not be too overconfident in your knowledge. Lursk… if you don't believe me, I can bring you to check out that arcanotech device."
In the past, Desireless was like this gray robed old man. As people standing at the top of this world, their attainments toward magic had long reached a level very difficult for ordinary people to achieve.
With such a vast amount of knowledge, it was normal that they would examine the works of the younger generations with haughty attitudes.
But, Desireless's pride and haughtiness has been worn to nothingness by those rune sequences so complicated that even he was unable to make sense of them.
"Sure. I'm not really interested in the arcanotech devices exhibited by those white mages anyways."
The gray robed old man took out several earthworm-like insects from his long sleeve. He fed them to the owl on his shoulder.
"Follow me."
Supported by his walking stick, Desireless began to walk toward the exhibition hall. The moment he entered the Crystal Palace, his third eye had detected the Chaos Demon.
Merely, Desireless had once again chosen to monitor and not try to banish the Chaos Demon. Unfortunately, his disciple also encountered that Chaos Demon. Furthermore, she sent a signal to gather all the Ecclesiastical Templars present.
That was a situation Desireless did not wish to see. Rashly starting a conflict or attacking someone in the Crystal Palace could possibly bring negative consequences to their country, the Nation of the Holy Church.
Because of that, Desireless realized that he should personally handle this matter to avoid the young and hot-headed Ecclesiastical Templars from attempting to capture that Chaos Demon and create major diplomatic inconveniences for their country.
Following the guidance of his third eye, Desireless soon led his old friend to Farucci's exhibition hall.
To Desireless's pleasant surprise, his disciple was actually behaving herself and staying together with that demon. Furthermore… it seemed like she was… enjoying herself?
"This one… no... this one."
Messai was pondering which card to use. The person sitting across from her was not Joshua. Instead, it was Hyrlan.
Unsurprisingly, Joshua defeated Messai. After winning, he opened his seat to Hyrlan who has been spectating the entire time.
Using Joshua's decks, even though Hyrlan was a newbie, she still managed to put Messai in a difficult battle.
The female knight was pondering when her two unreliable colleagues would show up. But, as she was a young Hearthstone player, she felt that it was a matter of reputation to not lose to a total newcomer in the game.
But, Messai's tanglement and thinking were soon interrupted. The reason for that was because she saw the sight of her esteemed teacher outside Farucci's exhibition hall!
It was not only Messai. Hyrlan who was also pondering about her next move also had her train of thought interrupted by the people that appeared outside the exhibition hall.
The gray mage, Lursk!
Hyrlan couldn't have mistaken the headmaster of her Advanced Magic University. He was a mage standing at Norland's apex. He was someone extraordinarily grand.
Due to the arrival of those people, Messai and Hyrlan, as if they possess a tactful understanding, stood up from their seats simultaneously. In a reserved manner, they continued to stand there as they watched the two old men slowly walk into Farucci's exhibition hall.
It was clear that they didn't come here to appreciate Farucci's famous paintings and sculptures.
"Miss knight, if you don't hurry up and make your move, your turn will be over."
Joshua kindly reminded Messai who suddenly stood up mid-turn.
This… was already Messai's second time being caught by Archbishop Desireless… playing a game together with the demon! Even Messai herself began to suspect if she was colluding with the demons.
"Don't act so reserved."
Archbishop Desireless gave Messai the same sort of response as before. It was as if he had forgiven Messai's mistake.
As for the gray robed old man, he was even more direct. While he didn't know Hyrlan and Ciri, he knew Joshua… He was the person who audited Joshua for his camera patent.
He had a very deep impression of this black haired and black-eyed young man. This was especially true after Joshua displayed the 'chat box' to him. That 'chat box' made him catch sight of the future of the Owl Penpal Society.
Unfortunately, Joshua requested for an originium crystal with a nearly unbounded capacity. That demand was simply too much, so much that practically no one would be able to satisfy him.
Truth was, Norland does possess one such unbounded originium crystal. That was Norland's core. Should that originium crystal disappear, the magic barrier protecting Norland would also disappear.
That would be fatal to the city of Norland. Thus, even though the Owl Penpal Society was faced with a crisis of disbandment, Lursk would still not hand that originium crystal to Joshua.
And now, it seemed that this young man had brought over another mystical arcanotech device.
"Lord Archbishop…"
Even though Desireless's eyes were covered by old shabby cloth, Messai was still able to tell that Desireless came here for the 'Hearthstone' machine and not to capture the demon. Because of that, Messai was planning to give her seat to Desireless.
Seeing that, Hyrlan was also planning to give her seat up. After all, that was the headmaster of her university. Furthermore, there were rumors that Lursk was very possibly one of Norland's Council of Seven!
"Don't worry. The two of you haven't finished your match yet."
Joshua prevented Messai and Hyrlan from giving up on their match.
"But… Mister Joshua!"
Hyrlan was pressing to tell Joshua the identity of the gray-robed old man.
"It's alright. Young lady, we'll just spectate from the side."
Desireless gently shook his head to express that he had no desire to start playing. After hearing that from the Archbishop, Messai was slightly stunned. But, in the end, she returned to her seat.
But, at this time, Messai became tense from head-to-toe. She was far more nervous now than when she was facing the Chaos Demon Joshua.
She does not dare to relax in the slightest. After all, her superior was spectating her!
To be stared at by one's superior while playing a game was most definitely the most unpleasant thing ever. Joshua was able to understand that feeling.
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