Chapter 567 — The Tower Keeper, and a Visitor

He went back to his workbench, pulled out a sheet of letter paper, and began writing with a swift scratch of the pen—compared with the arcanonet terminal's keyboard, this keeper, a former copyist by trade, still preferred the traditional writing tool:

"To the Cecil Arcanomechanical Technology Research Institute and the Arcanomechanical Application Design Bureau:

"...It is recommended that protective covers be added to high-altitude outdoor arcanomechanical devices, or that a full-area shield be installed atop high-altitude installations. Interference from birds is a vexing matter, especially their droppings..."

A smell of something burnt drifted into Green's nostrils, and the tower keeper leapt up with a start: "Oh no—my breakfast!!"

Now this bright summer morning was not beautiful in the least.

...

The vast plains and forests flashed by below; rivers and lakes lay scattered like jewels set into the boundless land, cities and villages were strewn among the rivers and mountains, and the broad roads linked every settlement like arteries—the whole Southern Region was like a canvas glittering in the sunlight, and every inch of color upon that canvas was bursting with inexhaustible vitality in the height of midsummer.

The giant eagle flew across the sky, and everything on the earth was mirrored in the eagle's eyes.

And under the druidic spell, the eagle's vision was shared with the forest children seated upon the giant eagles' backs.

"That mage tower just now looked awfully strange," one elven ranger turned and said to the companion nearest him; a peculiar elven spell channeled the high-altitude air currents so that they were not buffeted by the gale, nor was their conversation drowned out by the wind. "It didn't look like the style of the Four Great Kingdoms—nor like a Violet mage tower. And I've no idea what that crystal atop the tower is for; I kept feeling it was constantly releasing energy, yet I could sense no concrete spell effect."

"Duchess Victoria mentioned that there are all sorts of strange things in these southern lands," another elven ranger called out from the other side. "They say Duke Gao Yang Cecil brought them all."

A courier, escorted in the middle by the rangers, could not help exclaiming, "Speaking of which, I've never actually seen that famous human duke—the year he 'died in battle,' I was still at my mentor's side."

"I've seen him once, from afar. Back when the leaders of the nations swore their oaths before the Great Wall, I was in the honor guard—but I doubt he'd remember me."

"No doubt about that, he definitely won't remember you. Your face has no distinguishing features to begin with..."

Suo You Frostleaf listened to her companions' chatter, but all her attention rested on the land below.

A faint white glow shimmered in her eyes; under the shared-vision spell, whatever the eagle could see, she could see as well.

"Roads built in great numbers... cities expanded in great numbers... and strange machines out in the fields—incredible, incredible," Suo You clicked her tongue in wonder. "The human nobles in Silverhold said the Southern Region had lain waste for a century... but from the look of it now, it is reviving at an astonishing pace."

Nearby, one of her ranger escorts asked with concern, "High Courier, how is your eagle faring?"

Suo You Frostleaf stroked the feathers of the giant eagle beneath her and nodded. "Coocoo is doing rather well—he says he's feeling much better now."

"Coocoo may just be having trouble adjusting to the climate," another courier said. "This is the north, after all; the giant eagles aren't suited to it, and the occasional loose stool is perfectly normal. In fact we're doing quite well—at least we didn't come in the coldest depths of winter."

"Weather that even a giant eagle can't adapt to..." Suo You shook her head. "I really don't know what anyone sees in the north..."

Just then, the elven ranger flying at the very front of the column suddenly called out, "High Courier, time to turn south!"

At their masters' command, every giant eagle let out a resounding cry, and then the whole company wheeled southward in perfect formation.

That day was the 30th of the Fire Month, in the year 737 of the Ansu calendar.

The elven couriers had come to the Southern Region.