It was snowing.
Coade stood behind the large floor-to-ceiling window in his office with a pipe in his mouth. He was lost in thought as he looked at the falling snowflakes outside the window and the slightly hazy factory buildings in the midst of the dancing snowflakes.
In this northern country, the first snowfall always came early. Even before the official arrival of winter, there were often early snowfalls.
In the past … in fact, not that long ago, early snowfall was often seen as a bad beginning, and was even associated with death.
The early arrival of the cold meant the early termination of outdoor activities. It became difficult to store fuel, and the civilians had to use limited food and fuel to survive the longer winter. For the poor who had to be careful with even a piece of firewood and a piece of bread, the longer the winter was often the difference between life and death.
So people even had a special name for this early snow: the White Death.
But that was the past, at least in most areas of the Southern Territory. In Coade's eyes, the scene of the first snowfall was gradually covering his impression of the "White Death" in his mind — the scenery was not bad.
He only hoped that the snowfall would not cover too large an area, especially the Holy Spirit Plains … After all, there were still many areas in this country that could not withstand the might of the White Death.
Coade bit on his pipe, and a red light flashed in the pipe. The thick smoke slowly dispersed, and his thoughts involuntarily scattered along with the dispersed smoke.
The wind blew the snowflakes against the large crystal glass. This crystal clear material had always been associated with expensive and scarcity in the past, and it was rarely manufactured in such a large size. The technology of manufacturing cheap and large white crystals had long been monopolized by the Typhon Empire. The difficulty of transportation, coupled with the deliberate blockade by the Typhon, led to the standard window size of various buildings in the Ansu era never exceeding half a meter. It was not until a year ago that Cecil's alchemy factory successfully cracked the secret of the Typhon's manufacturing of cheap white crystals that large crystal glass gradually appeared on various buildings in the Southern Territory.
The emergence of large crystal glass, coupled with the new architectural style brought by Emperor Gwen Cecil, made the "floor-to-ceiling window" a new architectural element gradually became popular this year.
As for how the technicians in the alchemy factory managed to decipher the Tifons' technology without samples and information … As a merchant, Codd had no idea.
The rare leisure time did not last long. A rhythmic knock on the door interrupted Coade's thoughts. He heard his eldest son Phal's voice behind him. "Father, someone is looking for you."
The merchant turned his head. "A representative of the Marlin Trading Company?"
On this snowy day, the other party came very early.
But the young man at the door shook his head. "No, it's a young man from the north. He said that he has something very important to show you, and that you will be interested."
"A young man from the north?" Coade blinked his eyes in surprise. "It's not easy to travel long distances in such cold weather. Perhaps they took the Highlander to the south to try their luck …"
"The merchant muttered, feeling a little emotional.
He was not surprised that a stranger came to visit him. As the owner of the increasingly famous Coade Family Business Company and the leader of the Calore Merchant Association, he always had visitors, and some of them were brave young people with dreams. The new order brought by His Majesty Gwen seemed to have brought vitality to the whole land. In the vast sea of people, it was always the young people with the most courage. They had novel ideas and sought all kinds of opportunities in this rapidly changing land. And Coade had no doubt that there was a chance.
But most of the time, brave young people were just brave. They lacked knowledge and experience, so many of their ingenious ideas could not be put to good use. However, Coade still received these young people as much as possible. From the perspective of the merchant's interests, Coade Family Business Company had to create an image of accommodating innovation and attracting talents. Only in this way could he continue to attract talented people. From the perspective of personal feelings, those who had novel ideas and dared to challenge reminded Coade of himself. He remembered his reckless first business trip when he was young, and his passion for challenge rekindled in the last two years.
But he did not expect that a stranger from the north would come to visit him. The young man must have made some inquiries after coming here.
Coade's business partner had not arrived yet. It would not hurt to meet the young man.
"Let him in." Coade nodded. "Tell him in advance that he only has twenty minutes."
"Yes, father."
Phal left the room. A moment later, a young man with blond hair in a blue coat appeared in front of Coade.
Out of habit, Coade first glanced at the young man's clothes and temperament.
It was a decent coat made of wool. Although it looked old, it was clean, tidy, and well maintained. His smile was gentle and polite, with a habitual modesty. There was not the slightest air of superiority or aristocracy.
He should be a citizen from an upper-middle-class family. He was well-educated. Perhaps he had served the nobility, or his occupation required him to often deal with people of higher status than himself. Obviously, he could afford the ticket of the Highlander, a medium-class ticket.
"Hello, nice to meet you, Mr. Coade." The young man smiled with a hint of excitement on his face. "I'm from Barron. You can call me Firm..."
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Firm. Please close the door." Coade nodded and gestured with his chin to the seat reserved for the guests. "Make yourself at home."
Firm hurriedly closed the door and sat down on the high-back chair with soft cushions. He heard the famous merchant asking, "Mr. Firm, I don't know much about the north. Barron is …"
"Oh, it's a town near Saint Sunil. It's not that famous," Firm said with a smile. As he had been taught by his father since he was young, he had seen a lot of things in the old king's city. He knew the importance of maintaining a smile, but he was still young, so he could not hide his nervousness very well. He spoke much faster than usual. "It's on the west side of the king's city. Fortunately, it was not affected by the war …"
"Mr. Firm, why don't you tell me why you're looking for me first?" Kord interrupted him. "It's not an easy journey from Saint Sunil to here. What's the reason for you to come so far away from home in winter?"
"Yes, sir. It's indeed very far. If it weren't for the Highlander, which is much faster than ordinary ships, I'm afraid I would still be on the Gorgon River. I might even have to trek on the shore for half of the journey. After all, the river is about to stop," Firm said as he opened a small box that he carried with him and solemnly placed the contents on the table in front of Coder. "I'm here to show you something … I've asked some people in Monolith City. They all said that if you have any novel ideas or things, you can try your luck with the president of the Calor Chamber of Commerce. You're always willing to help young people. You're generous and have a unique vision. You often buy their good ideas …"
Coade did not pay too much attention to the compliment in his words. Instead, he looked at the small box, but the contents of the box made him frown.
It was just a piece of crystal, a photographic crystal. Judging from its shape, it should be an artificial crystal produced in the south. It did not seem to be of high grade, but as a magic item, it should still be quite expensive in the north. Seeing how careful Firm was with this crystal, Coade knew that this thing must be very precious to this young man from the north. It was probably the most valuable thing he had.
After all, the north was not like the south. Items related to magic were still quite rare and precious there. Although the new transportation line formed by mechanical ships and magic-powered vehicles had recently begun to transport magic items and various cheap artificial crystals from the south to the north, due to the limited quantity, this still could not change the high price of magic items in the north in a short period of time.
But no matter what, the photographic crystal was not something rare to Coade. So, the valuable thing should be the things recorded in it.
He raised his head and looked at the young man standing in front of him. "What's the content in it?"
"Yes, sir, please let me show you …" Firm said as he took out a few metal plates with runes from the box. They were a few rune boards, but they did not have a standard seal or buckle. Perhaps they were imitations produced in the small factories in the north built during the "Ansu Reformation". Firm put these things together and then fiddled with them for a long time. Finally, these substandard magic-powered devices were successfully operated. Then, he placed the photographic crystal produced in the south on the magic focus of the pile of things. "It's almost done, sir."
Coade wanted to say that he had an advanced magic network terminal here, a new model with a universal slot, which could directly play the content in the photographic crystal. But in the end, he still watched with curiosity and patience as the young man completed all these operations.
He saw that the substandard crystal finally gradually lit up, and then a picture appeared on the crystal.
A man in bright and exaggerated clothes stood in the projection, loudly praising someone outside the picture.
A woman in a long dress came in from outside the picture and argued with the man.
After a comical argument, a third person came to the center of the picture. He seemed to be trying to mediate the conflict, but he was attacked by the man and the woman together …
Coade stared blankly at the picture in the projection until the short story ended. When the picture began to repeat, he finally muttered to himself, "What … is this …"
"The Lady of the Butterfly Manor. Ah, that was in the Captical in recent years … I mean the Old Captical, a very popular play in the Old the Captical," Firm said quickly, all the tension seemed to have dissipated. "Of course, of course, it's just a short part, and I've made some adjustments … Because after all, the crystal is not a stage … Ah, sir, in fact, I should have made a longer part. There's a very exciting fight and debate behind it, but I can't help it, the Captical … The magic network terminal in the Old the Captical is only allowed to be used for less than ten minutes per queue, and it took a lot of effort to ask the management to help me record the picture with the photographic crystal … And I dare not let my father know about this …"
Coade felt that his mind was spinning quickly, and in the midst of his thoughts, he subconsciously asked, "Your father?"
"Yes, his name is Barna, a very famous playwright in Saint Sunil and the surrounding areas. He also has his own troupe … But no one here knows about it …" Firm's tone was proud and a little embarrassed. "We often perform for the nobles, but now … you should know that the nobles don't seem to have the energy to watch our performances, and there aren't that many nobles in Saint Sunil … If my father knew that I made his proudest play like this and even brought his actors to the square to 'perform', I'm afraid he wouldn't be very happy …"
"Child." Coade suddenly interrupted Firm's slightly long-winded narration. His eyes were burning as he stared into the young man's eyes. "How did you think of this? I mean recording the play on the crystal … "
"I went to see His Majesty's coronation ceremony." Firm smiled, a little shy. "But I was standing very far away at that time, and I could only see a huge image that suddenly rose in the square. Then someone told me that it was a magic network terminal from the south. Unlike the illusion created by the mages, there seemed to be a lot of magic network terminals in the south, and they were placed in the streets …"
At this point, the blond young man paused a little awkwardly before continuing. "Sir, our troupe is not doing well now — everyone is not doing well. The theater in Saint Sunil is already half closed. "
The war in the north had changed the lives of many people.
That was why there was the 'Highlander', and that was why there were all kinds of people that Firm saw on the ship.
The stubborn father was still waiting for the nobles to return to the theater, but the brave young man ran out, wanting to see the world from afar and see the place where those incredible magical devices were born.
Perhaps those nobles would visit those beautiful and elegant theaters again after they recovered, but Coade looked at the crystal that was still playing the images repeatedly in front of him. He knew that something was about to change.
He even shuddered a little.
He was not the only one who could think of installing the heating rune on the iron plate and putting the Icicle spell in the food storage box.
How much was this thing worth?
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