Little Patty of Glan Territory

Although winter had not yet ended, and cold winds still often blew outside, the sunlight had been exceptionally bright these past days.

On sunny days, Patty's favorite thing to do was sit where the sunlight could reach her, enjoying the rare comfort in her body while listening to her maid tell stories or watching interesting Magic Net programs.

There were many interesting things on the Magic Net: stories from faraway places, knowledge she had never heard before, and novel, fascinating Magic-infused Creations. Recently, the clever people of Cecil City had even created something called a "Magic Shadow Play."

It was a play performed on a Magic Net Terminal, and more and more people had been talking about it lately.

Patty had never been to a theater—just as she was reaching the age when she could accompany her parents to see plays, she had lost the chance to go outside. Yet she had still seen a play before. Her mother had once invited the best troupe nearby to perform a classic comedy in the castle, though Patty could no longer remember what that play had been about.

She had not even managed to last until the end of an act before the maid and butler sent her to the physician.

But even from those fragmented childhood memories, she still felt that the play she had watched back then had definitely not been as interesting as the "Magic Shadow Plays" on the Magic Net Terminal.

Sunlight quietly streamed into the room, outlining a warm, bright patch within it. Patty sat happily in her little wheelchair, staring unblinkingly at the Magic Net Terminal not far away. In the Holographic Projection above it, immigrants who had endured countless hardships and finally arrived safely at the southern port were helping one another down the gangplank,