Chapter 916 — A Ship from the North

Though he could not be sure whether that imposing soldier had ever had her tail singed bald by charcoal, he now did understand why that shrewd-looking, wealthy charcoal merchant had worn such a worried frown...

...

Morellina watched the dim-witted grey elf—who seemed to have come into the city from the countryside only recently—push his cart away into the distance. A rumbling purr, like a cat's, rose in her throat. Then she glanced at the mechanical clock hung before the chief's longhouse not far off, and once she had confirmed the time was near, she strolled to the great crystal device at the center of the square.

Beside the magitek obelisk that supplied energy to most of the city district stood a smaller device—a maginet terminal with a triangular base and clear crystal components.

This terminal had been installed here for three days, and countless citizens had speculated about its purpose, but today was the first time it would actually be put to use.

Several technicians were there, calibrating this complex magitek apparatus. Two of them were humans with distinctly foreign accents, checking the crystals while briefing the people beside them on various details; the others were grey elves in short white robes, small as children, holding paper and pens, listening with tense, focused faces to the guidance of those two outlanders, like apprentices.

None of them paid any mind to the female guard captain who had come to stand nearby—a warrior full of curiosity but wholly ignorant of magitek could not disturb the working state of these technicians.

Under their tinkering, the smaller magitek device finally started up—though not quite at the appointed hour.

With a faint hum and a crackle of interference, a bright curtain of light appeared out of thin air, and a large magical projection instantly surfaced at the center of the square. Brilliant colors and a pleasing sound burst forth at the same time—

Morellina, battle-axe on her back, almost instantly bristled all over, leaping back sharply like a keen feline hunter, nearly drawing the weapon from her back as well; but she quickly realized that the device was only producing harmless projections, and that what appeared on the projection was a grey elf with a nervous face.

She felt a little embarrassed, and even her fine white fur could not hide the faint flush in her face. Yet none of the citizens around her, suddenly startled as they were, seemed to notice this small detail. They looked in surprise and curiosity at the magical image that had appeared in the square, and heard a voice come from within it:

"Th-this... this is the Mosswood maginet broadcast, our first transmission. Today we are showing you images from 'Whitefeather Harbor.' Our chief, Lady Wenna Whitewort, will..."

...

Autumn wind swept through the low woods along the coast. The moisture-laden air rolled past the houses beside the harbor and the watchposts near the water, and a long pier stretched out from the land, reaching all the way toward the endless sea, while that azure expanse rose and fell gently at the pier's end, full of texture in the sunlight.

Blue sea and blue sky, broken waves rising and falling, wind never ceasing, and seabirds crying out—all of it a sight rarely seen deep in the Mosswood.

Wenna Whitewort stood on the pier of this small harbor, her trusted guard and advisers beside her.

Not far from her stood the representatives of the dwarven kingdom, who had come from afar.

"It should be about time now..." Wenna muttered, as though to herself.

"Yes, Chief," said a human in a brown robe, a silver circlet on his head, nodding. "The last signal said they were only an hour's journey from the harbor, and the watchtower to the north also reports sighting a ship on the sea—they should be arriving soon."

Wenna murmured an acknowledgment and turned to look at the open ground not far off—a group of technicians had gathered there, clustered around a brand-new magitek machine that looked rather valuable, the crystal apparatus mounted atop it glittering in the sunlight.

The machine made the grey elf chief a little nervous, but she easily smoothed away that unease. She knew her figure must already have been captured by that wondrous device and transmitted back to Windsong City deep in the Mosswood, and to Sambitok in the eastern part of the woodlands—the only two cities in the Mosswood that had established a maginet and been linked by communication devices, and the "maginet pilot" of the entire Augury tribal kingdom. As the chief driver of the whole project, she knew she had to appear sufficiently flawless and outstanding today.

"I hope the citizens of Windsong and Sambitok won't be too nervous when they first see a maginet broadcast," she said softly, in a voice only the advisers beside her could hear. "This thing is not like the magitek machines they have encountered so far."

"New things always make people a little nervous. The Cecil folk gasped the first time they saw a maginet broadcast too," answered the human adviser with the silver circlet, likewise in a low voice. "But after the nervousness comes the brave and the curious. All we need do is encourage them and guide them well, and the new thing will grow up swiftly."

Wenna gave a soft hum, lifting her head once more to gaze at the distant sea, yet her attention was fixed on the modest pier that lay within her line of sight.

It was but a small harbor, and had it not been for the recent urgent repairs and expansions, its current state would have been far worse.

After all, its original purpose was merely to moor small boats for local fishermen, vessels whose farthest voyages never crossed the boundary of the inshore waters.

"Whitefeather Harbor is but a fishing village..." Wenna murmured softly, "but perhaps from this day onward, it will no longer be just a fishing village..."

A piercing whistle, as if cleaving through the very sea itself, suddenly rang out from the waves, reaching the ears of every soul present.

"They're coming! They're coming!"

On the harbor, onlookers cried out in excitement, and even the gray elf delegates on the pier and the dwarf representatives who had traveled from afar craned their necks in unison, their gazes turning as one toward the glimmering expanse of water. Amid the rolling swells and the dazzling play of sunlight upon the waves, a vessel forged of steel, sheathed in a shimmering magical barrier, with strange wing-like plates spread wide on either side, was cutting through the wind and waves, sailing straight toward them.

A ship came from the north.