Owl Pal Correspondence Society

The next morning.

White Thorn Flower Jazz's promotional campaign still needed around two days of preparation. During that time, although the theater had officially begun screening "Beauty and the Demon," hardly anyone knew about it.

Taking advantage of the time, Joshua brought Ciri and Helan to Nolan's Patent Council.

It was a building that had only been established a little over a decade ago. Rather than a nation's administrative institution, it looked more like a museum.

Though the Patent Council was packed with people, it was not noisy. Mages in robes of every color hurried through the hall carrying large stacks of paper. Even foreign visitors with different skin colors were affected by the orderly atmosphere, speaking only in hushed whispers.

"This way."

It was not Helan's first time here. Familiar with the route, she led Joshua to the registration window. Behind it sat a woman wearing wooden-framed glasses, whose face showed surprise when she saw Helan.

"Helan, has your work finally been completed? At least I won't have to listen to that professor nagging every day anymore."

"Not even close, Sansa..."

Helan shook her head, denying her guess. The woman behind the registration window was Helan's classmate from the academy—a very close friend, though one who sometimes gave Helan a headache.

"It still isn't finished after all this time? Helan, you should show your face at the academy sometime soon. It's not just the professor—quite a few boys have been thinking about you too. Oh, right, Li Kaer got four tickets to the National Theater today. That Flower of Falosi—the Country of Art, Falosi. You've heard of it, right? They say the girls there are the most beautiful in the world."

"..."

Helan did not remind her friend of the words, You're a girl too. She simply did not want to keep getting tangled up in that subject.

Helan had also heard a little about the Black Swan Troupe recently taking up residence in the Nolan National Theater. Their publicity campaign was simply too extensive. Every day, whenever Helan stepped outside to tidy the courtyard of the Alchemy Workshop, she could see several flyers about the troupe.

At first, Helan had been somewhat interested, but after watching the film "Beauty and the Demon," even her last bit of curiosity about stage plays had vanished completely.

Those who had tasted finer food would never pine for the coarse fare they once ate. Stage plays were indeed an art form worthy of being recorded in history, but compared with films, they simply lacked far too much entertainment value.

"We can talk about that later. I came today to introduce this gentleman. He has an entirely new invention he wants to register for a patent."

Helan swiftly ended the topic that way.

"Patent registration? Please wait a moment."

She took a sheet of paper bearing an unknown wax seal from behind the counter. A chain of inscriptions encircled the edges of the paper, while hidden magic flowed freely across its surface.

It was a special registration form. Joshua accepted the agreement and glanced over its contents. Most of it was basic personal information. He filled everything in one by one. In the name field, he wrote only his given name and not his surname. When he reached the country field, Joshua considered it for a moment, then decided not to reveal his true identity.

In the end, he wrote down a country called Great Xia.

The ink-wash paintings he had seen at the White Thorn Flower Theater yesterday proved that some country resembling China truly existed in this world. Its name was Great Xia.

"Room 372. Just hold this badge and stand on the Teleportation Array over there."

Perhaps she was eager to chat with Helan, because she did not carefully inspect what Joshua had written, nor did she check any relevant documents.

Holding the badge marked 372, Joshua did not continue interrupting Helan as she caught up with her friend. To avoid wasting time, he simply had Ciri follow him onto the Teleportation Array inscribed beside the window.

The badge flashed with pale white inscriptions. Once the brief sensation of weightlessness passed, Joshua found himself standing inside a cluttered office.

Documents were piled carelessly across the office desktop, and the bookshelves around the room were equally chaotic. Most eye-catching of all was an owl perched on one of the shelves, its pupils fixed motionlessly on Joshua, who had suddenly appeared in the room.

Joshua knocked on the door to announce the arrival of visitors. The office's owner heard the knock and abruptly popped up from behind the desk.

He was an old man who looked to be over seventy, dressed in a somewhat dirty and disheveled gray robe. He had more than a little of the bearing of the Gray Robe Mage from "The Lord of the Rings"—or rather, Gandalf, the melee mage.

"Ahem, I'm here to apply for patent ownership." Joshua broke the silence in the room first.

"An application? Wait a moment. I'm looking for a letter."

He rummaged through the disorderly books on the shelf. The moment he pulled out one book, the rest toppled down like dominoes, burying the poor old man beneath them.

Suddenly, pale white inscriptions appeared in midair. The books scattered across the floor were enveloped in the same light, then floated straight to the farthest corner of the room.

"These damned books were about to crush my old bones flat." The Gray Robe Mage climbed to his feet and rubbed his forehead.

The owl perched on the bookshelf seemed unable to bear watching any longer. It flapped its wings, then used its claws to pick up a letter from the floor titled, "Can Order Inscription Construct Magic for Long-Distance Communication?—From the Seventy-Second Topic of the Owl Pal Correspondence Society," and placed it on the desk.

"Here it is... I spent two days looking for it, and I've finally found it!"

The Gray Robe Mage excitedly patted the dust off the letter, put on his glasses, and flipped through it. After finding one particular line, he picked up the quill beside him and wrote his newest answer, then rolled the letter up.

The owl beside him hopped onto the desk, picked up the somewhat worn letter, and flew out the window. Not long after the gray owl flew away, a white owl landed by the window and placed another letter on the desk.

The mage opened the letter and skimmed its contents.

"Utter nonsense! Constructing a teleportation inscription like this is completely meaningless!"

Furiously, he picked up his pen and wrote a passage on the envelope before having the owl carry the letter away again.

Having witnessed the entire process, Joshua finally understood what the Gray Robe Mage was doing.

Simply put, he was 'browsing posts and calling the original poster an idiot.'

In an instant, Joshua had made out the handwriting on that letter. Every line of writing was different, clearly written by different people. They wrote their thoughts on the letter and passed it back and forth via owls, allowing them to discuss matters without ever leaving home.

Perhaps Joshua should find time to create a program called the Spellcaster Forum?