Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 754 - 753: Some Changes

In the southern part of the Mage District, within the recently unveiled "Philem Film Company," Fendil and others are watching the recruited technicians assemble the dazzling magic devices in the open space.

Elywen couldn’t help but focus on a girl in a plain coat, with flaxen long hair, silent and serene.

As far as he knew, this girl had just started working here today. She and her two companions seemed to have just finished their studies at Cecil General Academy and came here to apply for temporary work, and... she could not speak, she was mute.

Yet this mute girl possessed astonishing knowledge of magic and skillfully used those tools to assemble complex magic-conducting machinery, rivalling even those much older mage technicians in proficiency.

Fendil’s voice suddenly came from beside, interrupting Elywen’s attention: "Friend, watch your gaze, this young lady is a minor."

"...Damn it, Fendil, since when have you become so crude?" Elywen couldn’t help but glare at Fendil, "Leaving the icy wilderness of the north, has your mind gone uncontrolled?"

"I’m just reminding you," Fendil raised his hands with an innocent expression, "We should start discussing Philem’s script."

Hearing this, Elywen looked towards Philem sitting on the other side, who showed a slightly helpless expression and pointed to the papers on the table.

"Alright, let’s figure out how to portray all immigrants on the ’Highlander’ through a series of scene transitions," Elywen waved his hand, "To be honest, I think this segment could become exceedingly lengthy and tedious if not handled well..."

Pea lowered her head, quickly and expertly inserting the calibrated rune trigger into the base of the Magic Web Terminal, watching as the crystal embedded in the base gradually lit up, she smiled with satisfaction.

And the conversation of those three young people not far away also reached her ears.

She didn’t quite understand what the three were discussing. In fact, she hadn’t even figured out exactly what this so-called "Philem Film Company" was doing.

She only surmised from the surrounding conversations, the settings on the open ground, and the actors dressed in various costumes reciting lines, that this seemed to be a "theater"—albeit of a somewhat peculiar style.

Theater was something she never even dared to think about. Before meeting her adoptive father, she was the slave of some merchant, and her only connection to the theater was waiting near the stables to look after her master’s horses and belongings while he went in to watch a play.

But after becoming the adopted daughter of a knight and living an unbelievably good life, she did visit a theater once out of curiosity—that was in the theater of Tanzan Town, which, of course, is now Tanzan City. She went there with friends while traveling to that city, and a keen theater owner somehow heard about it and extended a warm invitation to her, the "daughter of the Imperial General," to attend a performance. However, that experience of satisfying her curiosity by watching a play was not enjoyable.

It was a lengthy, tedious performance with incomprehensible preachy dialogues and a baffling story logic. Pea only remembered the actor playing the prince on stage uttering line after line, while some well-dressed people in the audience applauded and cheered, taking up less than a third of the seats. She spent the entire time counting the seats around the stage and the number of bricks on the ceiling.

This "Philem Film Company" was quite different from the theater in her memory.

She still hadn’t found where the audience seats were, nor could she identify a clear stage.

Perhaps it was another clever idea thought up by some smart person—looking at the Magic Web Terminal in front of her, Pea couldn’t help but think.

After all, in this city, new things are always emerging one after another.

...

More and more new things are being born in this young yet ancient country, and their emergence is more than just a change in lifestyle for some people.

Bright sunlight poured through the wide crystal glass windows into the room. The winter snow scene outside painted a beautiful picture, and the new-style magic thermal exchanger maintained a spring-like warmth in the room. A girl in a white dress sat in a wheeled chair, fully engrossed in watching the Magic Web Terminal placed not far away.

Brilliant sunlight fell upon the girl, coating her burn-scarred and wrinkled skin with a layer of brilliance, making her already bright eyes appear even more radiant.

In the holographic projection above the Magic Web Terminal not far away, a distant northern landscape was being displayed. A "journalist" far away in St. Soniel was introducing the ancient walls of St. Soniel City and the history behind that city to the audience in front of the terminal.

Those scenes from afar were something that could never be appreciated or imagined from books or through oral accounts from elders or teachers.

The program ended, and the girl in the chair showed a somewhat disappointed expression as footsteps came from behind her.

Ropney Gran came to her daughter’s wheelchair, bending slightly, with a gentle smile: "Patty, it’s time to rest."

Patty couldn’t help but puff her cheeks: "But I still want to watch a bit more..."

"Your body has just started to recover; you can’t strain yourself too long," Ropney Gran shook her head. This lady was the Governor of the Gran Region, a Lady Viscount known for her decisiveness and wisdom in the eyes of outsiders. Yet, before her disabled daughter, she never hesitated to show tenderness, "Be good, we’ll watch more tonight."

Patty thought for a moment and lightly nodded: "Alright."

Ropney couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on Patty for a long time.

Even that simple nod was enough to stir her emotions.

Once, her daughter couldn’t even nod. This frail child could only lean in the wheelchair, held in place by a bunch of belts and cloth strips. Lifting her neck for more than five minutes was a huge pain.

But now, she could nod, and even sit up with her upper body. The burns on her body had stopped festering, and the arm that was once completely disabled had recently regained sensation.

His Majesty Gawain has always kept his promises, without any compromise. Since the battle of Rocky Ridges Fortress, and the southern borders being returned to the Cecil Clan, a brand-new order had been established on this land. The Gran Territory received the protection and help of the Cecil Clan, and Patty... continued to receive treatment from Cecil’s Druids.

The Druid named Pittman and his team have devised a detailed treatment plan for Patty. They have spent two and a half years healing her wounds and slowly restoring her strength. Recently, they introduced a regenerative technique that miraculously restored some of Patty’s mobility.

Treatment is not yet complete; Patty still needs to sit in a wheelchair, with many scars on her body, and her disabled legs have not yet recovered. Pittman once confided to Ropney Gran that Patty’s injuries exceeded the limits of medical technology and even the current "regeneration technique" cannot guarantee a full cure. Nonetheless, Ropney feels unprecedented joy and satisfaction—the current situation is much better than she ever dreamed.

Patty noticed her mother’s gaze fixed on her, but she was used to it. The girl blinked her eyes, voice full of curiosity: "Mom, when will Uncle Gawain come again? He seems very busy and hasn’t been here for a long time..."

"You must call him ’His Majesty,’" Ropney couldn’t help but press on Patty’s hair, "His Majesty is busy with important affairs; he has a vast Empire to manage. We shouldn’t cause too much trouble for him—and didn’t he send you the Magic Web Terminal? It can keep you company too."

"Yes, I like the Magic Web Terminal," Patty smiled brightly, "It shows things happening far away... Mom, will I be able to travel far in the future?"

"As long as you take good care of your health, you will definitely be able to go out," Ropney replied earnestly, "But you shouldn’t spend too long on the Magic Web Terminal every day."

Patty quickly nodded: "Then I will take a nap, Mom."

Ropney smiled, and the maid always waiting by the side stepped forward, holding a delicate and complex coronet.

This coronet was used to help Patty sleep in the past few years.

Due to severe burns and psychological scars, Patty could not sleep like a normal person. She relied on the coronet’s hypnosis and dream-inducing effects to fall asleep, allowing her spirit to rest in the "perfect dream realm" of the Eternal Sleepers during precious sleep.

Now, Patty’s body is gradually improving, and her heavy psychological trauma is slowly diminishing. However, she still cannot completely do without the coronet and usually needs its power to sleep.

Unable to resist, Ropney glanced at this intricate magical device.

This is a creation from the Eternal Sleepers.

Although in the past years Patty has been using it, and Ropney herself is accustomed to its presence, at this moment, looking at the coronet makes her feel a vague unease, as if this thing is no longer safe.

She withdrew her gaze, looking at Patty: "We don’t need it today."

The girl looked at her mother in slight confusion: "Mom?"

"His Majesty gave us a gift," Ropney Gran smiled, gesturing for the maid to put away the coronet, then she moved behind Patty’s wheelchair, unlocking the wheels, and slowly pushed towards the door, "I’ll take you to see it."

Lady Viscount pushed her daughter’s wheelchair out of the bedroom with wide floor-to-ceiling windows and into the adjacent room.

This room also had large windows, sunny and bright. The most striking thing in the room was a complex device placed near the window.

It was a "seat," yet much more complex and larger than usual. It had a base covered in magic symbols, and a half-enclosed outer shell similar to a container, with what seemed to be a closable lid and several luminous pipes behind the backrest.

Patty widened her eyes in curiosity upon seeing this: "What is this?"

"Immersion Capsule," Ropney smiled and patted Patty’s hair, "His Majesty specifically sent it for you—that coronet isn’t a good thing, we won’t use it anymore."

As she spoke, she pushed the wheelchair next to the Immersion Capsule, then bent down, gently lifting her daughter up.

The girl was still very frail, lighter than children her age, yet much heavier than several years ago.

Patty was placed into the Immersion Capsule; the comfortable curvature of the backrest let her roughly lie inside it. She blinked her eyes: "Mom, it’s quite cozy in here."

Ropney tapped Patty’s nose, then according to the prior instructions of the technical personnel, pressed the button beside her: "Have a good sleep."

...

Accompanied by dazzling points of light scattered before her eyes, a sudden sensation of falling woke Mary from her dream state.

The dark-haired mage apprentice blinked, sat up from the ’Immersion Capsule’ handcrafted by her mentor, resembling some kind of sacrificial tool, slightly moving her neck and loosening muscles that were a bit stiff.

The light from the magic crystal lamps illuminated the surroundings of the Immersion Capsule, lighting up this secret basement.

She saw her mentor sitting nearby, seemingly waiting there for quite some time.

Mary quickly sat up from the Immersion Capsule, stepped out, and habitually bowed to her mentor, reporting: "Mentor, I assisted Master Kamel in the Origin Laboratory, completing the Neural Thorn..."

Daniel waved his hand, interrupting Mary’s report: "Report later, I brought them here."

Mary didn’t react for a moment: "...them?"

"Your family," Daniel glanced at Mary, his yellow eyes showing no emotional fluctuation, "You decided last time to meet them at least once, right? I brought them from the countryside."