The Grand Chief unexpectedly did not receive her in the room.
When Rogia followed Wendy into the castle's first-floor reception room, she discovered that in addition to Roland Wimbledon, there was also a somewhat unfamiliar woman in the hall.
She couldn't help but scrutinize the woman a few times, and the latter was also watching her. However, what made the wolf girl feel a little uncomfortable was that the woman's eyes carried a sense of scrutiny, as if she wanted to see through her completely.
“You've arrived,” Roland still had that relaxed and gentle look, "I asked you to come because I have a new task I plan to assign to you. Let's sit down and talk."
“Yes,” after staying in Neverwinter for half a year, Rogia had basically figured out the Grand Chief's informal temperament. She wagged her tail and sat directly opposite the woman. "But please allow me to report a message first, regarding the Far South."
“Oh?” The woman raised an eyebrow. “Tell me.”
Rogia repeated what her father had heard. “Although I don't think the Iron Sand City clans pose much of a threat to Clearwater Port, it's still better to be more vigilant. Cultivating a piece of land takes a lot of effort, but destroying it is easy, especially with the First Army's main force all back in Neverwinter."
“I see,” Roland stroked his chin. “In fact, when formulating the relocation plan, the General Staff had considered this aspect. It's been almost a year now, and they should be prepared."
Rogia seemed thoughtful. “They are referring to…”
“You guessed it,” Roland replied with a smile. “Before the threat of the Battle of Divine Will is eliminated, the First Army cannot take care of every corner of the kingdom. The affairs of the Far South still need to be resolved by local forces.” He paused. "Of course, regardless, I must express my gratitude to your father. If he is willing to intervene, this matter will definitely be handled more steadily."
“Perhaps I can write a letter to my father.” The wolf girl replied subconsciously. It wasn't until the words came out of her mouth that she realized she had inadvertently stood on the side of Neverwinter… or rather, the Grand Chief.
“Since it's a political negotiation, let me handle it,” Roland waved his hand. “Besides, I didn't ask you to come here to discuss such serious matters. Let me introduce you first. The lady beside me is called Mei, you may have heard her other title: Star of the West."
“Star Flower… Troupe?” Rogia was slightly taken aback. She didn't have much interest in drama. She only knew the name from Echo. She only knew that there were two actors in it who were extremely popular with the people of Neverwinter, and the Star Flower Troupe got its name from this.
But what does this have to do with her?
“You are the Third Princess of the Pyro Clan, right? As expected of a desert people, you are indeed a bit different from us.” Mei finally put away her scrutinizing gaze, got up and gave her an elegant salute. “Nice to meet you, Rogia xiaojie. I look forward to working with you in the future.”
Cooperation? Rogia looked at the Grand Chief blankly. He wasn't a witch, and she didn't have Echo's acting abilities. What kind of cooperation could there be?
“It's like this,” Roland raised the corners of his mouth. "Do you remember me saying that I want more people to accept witches who have similar abilities to you? The soul shouldn't be linked to the appearance. Regardless of whether they have unusual parts or scales on their faces, they are still members of us in essence. And if you want to achieve this, drama is undoubtedly the quickest way."
“You want me to act in a play?” Rogia was immediately flustered. Although after deciding not to hide her ears and tail, the locals had not shown obvious rejection of her, this was completely different from deliberately standing in the focus of public attention. “But I know nothing about this, and it's not something I'm good at. Besides, I haven't felt any obvious malice in Neverwinter, maybe you should find someone else…”
“Don't worry,” Roland seemed to see through her thoughts. "You don't have to perform in front of everyone. The audience is not from Neverwinter – this is an unprecedented attempt, I call it electric… no, 'Magic Shadow'."
“Magic Shadow?” The wolf girl repeated.
The Grand Chief picked up a strange crystal from the table and shook it at her. Only then did she notice that it was not an ordinary ornament. The silver-white prism was inlaid with three brilliant gems, and several faint blue stripes were engraved around it
, and when it shook, she could even see cold light flowing in the lines.
"This thing is called the Time Seal, and like the Seal of Divine Will, it is a technology left over from the Taqila era. It can achieve a variety of magical effects through the combination of different magic stones." He explained, "However, the role of time is not to change time, but to record a scene and play it repeatedly – if it weren't for this victory, and we had collected many magic stones of good quality from that huge terror beast and high-level demon, this valuable seal would not have been so easy to obtain. In other words, the stage for this performance is not in Central Square, nor in any piece of land, but in this real world."
"When I heard that magic could do such wonderful things, the surprise and joy in my heart were indescribable." Mei sighed, "Rogia xiaojie may not know much about drama, and doesn't know what it means. Actors are affected by age, experience, state, and other factors, and it is difficult to maintain the same level in every play, so their peak work is always only once."
"But now His Majesty can record this scene, which also means that as long as you prepare in advance and rehearse a few more times, you can repeatedly reproduce the most exciting performance, with every action and every expression being in a state of full devotion. For us, it's like a miracle!"
"I heard that this kind of seal was originally only used to record important meetings and scenes of festivals. To be able to think of drama and decide to rehearse a story based on a real background, I have to say that His Majesty's idea is really genius." Mei praised without reservation, "I dare to bet that as long as the news is released, no drama actor will be indifferent. Even if they pay Golden Dragons, they will never miss this historical opportunity."
"Ahem," the Grand Chief rarely showed an embarrassed look. "Of course, it is better for the Star Flower Troupe to receive this honor. You have also put in a lot of effort in the past two years to promote government orders." After saying that, he looked at Rogia, "What do you think? This story can be said to be tailor-made for you. I spent almost half a month of my free time writing it."
Even in the end, Rogia didn't quite understand what Magic Shadow was all about – she couldn't connect drama with miracles, and she didn't want to spend her precious time on something she wasn't interested in. However, when she heard the Grand Chief say that this drama was created specifically for her, she couldn't help but change her mind.
“In that case… then I'll give it a try.” Rogia twitched her ears and replied.