Chapter 86: Englen City Train Station

Chapter 86: Englen City Train Station

Early the next morning, Louis and Helen arrived at the office.

Helen was full of excitement and anticipation, while Louis felt refreshed.

After changing their outfits, they saw Stuart’s expression looked a bit strange. Louis couldn’t help but turn to look in the mirror with Helen.

“What’s wrong, Stuart? These are just the outfits of a Priest and a Nun, quite plain, right?” Louis frowned and asked.

“My lord,” Stuart said with a smile. “Usually, they wear Archmage robes—the flashy kind.”

Louis rolled his eyes fiercely and told him to stop the nonsense and hurry up to ‘open the door’.

Stuart’s eye twitched. He didn’t dare argue with his master. He opened a ‘door’ in front of the floor-length mirror.

Looking at the small, swaying iron room inside the door, Helen, full of curiosity, stuck her head in.

On the ‘seat’, a young lady reading a newspaper saw a small head appear from the mirror. With a gasp, she fainted from fright.

“Wow! Is this a train? Helen has never ridden one before. They never let me,” Helen pulled her head back, pinching her nose and asking, “Why is it a bit small and smelly?”

Louis frowned and glanced inside the mirror. Then he rubbed his face hard and grabbed Helen by the collar, pulling her back.

[‘You useless fool! Can’t you even do such a simple thing right? Go directly to the main hall of the Englen train station!’]

[‘Ahem, but Master, there are many people there…’]

Before Stuart could finish his sentence, he found his hand suddenly raising on its own, casting a spell on the three of them.

[The entire office and the Presence of you three were lowered—so amazing, a Nightmare proficient in all kinds of invisibility magic, in ancient tomb explorations…]

Louis ignored the Narration and controlled this fool Stuart to open the ‘door’ again.

When the mirror rippled like water for a moment, a new scene appeared within it.

The three of them stepped from the mirror into the hall.

On this side of the mirror, several gentlemen and noblewomen were talking, but they, and the people in the train station, paid no attention to Louis, Helen, and Stuart. They also paid no attention to the image of the office inside the mirror.

Stepping into the hall, Louis looked up at this place in Englen City called ‘Frankischko Train Station’. His eyes couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

Englen City was the capital of the Kingdom of Sorrento.

The invention of the train happened some time ago, but this station was built thirty years ago.

Or rather, rebuilt.

At that time, His Majesty ‘Ign Isolda’ had just married Queen Frankischko.

This lovely young woman, who believed in dragons, Magic, and Wizards in the world, and loved fantasy, writing, and mathematics very much, was deeply loved by the King.

More rare was that his wife shared his hobbies—steel and steam.

Back then, the King was still very young. Encouraged (or hypnotized?) by his wife, this ‘Imperial Uncle clockmaker’ grew more and more ambitious. He vowed to do great things.

This train station named after his wife was his first step towards that grand vision—nowadays, the railway already reached every major city and seaport. It provided extremely favorable support for that past ‘Sorrento Conquest War’.

This train station was one of the landmarks of Englen City, very grand and magnificent. Rumors said that when it was built, ‘Mages’ were involved (the real Wizards from the Witch Queen era who had once joined the ‘Magic Enthusiasts Association’).

Morning light shone down from the huge stained glass windows on the top floor and dome between the massive pillars, creating beautiful light beams in the hall.

The images on the stained glass, following the sunlight, fell onto the white square stone floor of the hall. One could see the Moon Goddess, Angels, Dragons, and Wizards. And if one looked closely, the face of the Moon Goddess bore some resemblance to Her Majesty Frankischko.

Undoubtedly, ‘Frankischko’, this ‘lovely little woman’, was the Moon Goddess in King Ign’s heart.

The hall was bustling with noise and crowds. Various races gathered here.

Security check area, ticket office, waiting area… everything was there.

Detectives wearing black bowler hats and red uniforms, whistles in their mouths, patrolled back and forth in the hall.

Occasionally, when they saw tall Dragonborn entering or leaving the station, the detectives would gather around for a thorough check—those brawny, simple-minded guys loved to cause trouble.

Unlike the Dragonborn at the academy, the horns of the Dragonborn here were either very, very small or completely shaved flat. Their skin tones were different, and they had scales. They were all very subdued in front of the detectives.

Firearms here were quite advanced—on a police chief’s waist, Louis even saw an old-fashioned revolver that held five bullets!

This showed that humans in this world already had bullets, not those round pellets and gunpowder.

Times had changed!

But Wizards still lived in the Middle Ages! Only the Sacred Oak was somewhat trendy.

The world of the past was a fantasy world. Mages, adventurers, and Dragons were everywhere. The whole world was a scene of prosperous splendor.

But now, years of isolation had deepened the misunderstandings and rifts between Wizards and Muggles, even leading to a war over a decade ago. If Wizards kept themselves closed off for a few more decades, the cultures of Wizards and Muggles would completely reject each other.

By the time Wizards were forced to step out of their circle, they might face two paths—being eliminated, or a war that no one could stop.

No wonder Frankischko always wanted Wizards to step out and integrate into the real world—currently, Wizards could still join this real world and, like the former ‘Sacred Icon Tree Archmage’, become great scholars respected by society. They could occupy an important position in this new magic era, turning the whole world into a magic civilization.

A fantasy magic civilization like the Forbidden Sanctum.

After all, this was originally a fantasy world. Magic should not disappear.

Her Majesty Frankischko was willing to marry a Muggle. Perhaps because in her eyes, His Majesty Ignatius was her Prince.

A Prince who could make her dreams come true.

She always wanted Wizards to integrate into the real world. In her time, Wizards were revered scholars who helped people deal with evil spirits and mysteries—things like the Crystal Array emerged from the collision of Magic and technology in that era!

Although Wizards couldn’t apply it to productivity, it still changed Wizard society. And the emergence of the Crystal Array also revolutionized productivity in Muggle society—many large ships used this thing to boil water.

Perhaps the future envisioned by Frankischko was the true future of this world—it would be a true fantasy world with Magic, Dragons, and steel.

The world where Wizards lived was simply not the real world.

The real world was here.

[Fortunately, ‘Muggles’ still held an accepting and respectful attitude towards ‘Wizards’ and Magic—because Magic hadn’t completely disappeared from this world yet. In a corner of the hall, Louis and the others saw a street Magician dressed like a vagrant.]

He was performing magic tricks. The passing crowd stopped to watch and applauded.

Louis and the other two walked over curiously. After watching for a moment, Louis couldn’t help but blink—that Magician’s Mana was very weak. Normally, he could only use a few minor spells.

But he had been performing for a while. Although somewhat clumsy, he already knew how to use props to assist his spellcasting—this was exactly some of the content from the books Louis had given to Harold.

It seemed Harold had given the books to some people.

“Louis, doesn’t the Ministry of Magic forbid using Magic outside…” Helen said with her mouth open.

Before Louis could speak, a burst of friendly laughter sounded beside them.

Louis and the others turned to look. It was several detectives who had just squeezed over.

“Oh, esteemed young lady,” the Muggle detective took off his hat, gave a slight bow, and said politely. “This is indeed our dereliction of duty. According to the Mage Association’s rules, it is indeed not allowed to use Magic as ‘tricks’ for entertainment in public places—however, please give this Wizard… ahem, this Magician gentleman a little more time. His ‘magic’ show is indeed quite wonderful.”

The detectives looked at the Mage with admiration in their eyes—for how many years, the street Mages who used to perform Magic daily at the train station had been absent for a long time.

Magic had nearly vanished.

It made everyone almost forget the Mage Association’s rules…

But recently, Mages were gradually reappearing—what an exhilarating thing.

Louis chatted with the detectives and learned that in their hearts, Mages had existed since the beginning of human society.

And it seemed, in the detectives’ minds, Mages looked just like this.

“Of course, not all Mages can use Magic,” the detective explained kindly. “This Mage is already very skilled.”

Shortly after, the police officers, taking advantage of a break in the performance, stepped forward. They exchanged a few words with the ‘Magician’.

“Gentlemen, I just wanted to try hard to tell everyone that there is Magic in this world. Magic has not disappeared.”

Then, that Magician gave a slight bow to the audience and scattered the loose change from his hat into the air.

In an instant, the coins turned into flowers, scattering down. Upon hitting the ground, they became snowflakes, then melted and vanished.

The Mage had already left gracefully without anyone noticing. When the crowd came to their senses, they all applauded in amazement—so he was an Englen Wizard!

But in Helen’s eyes, this scene was different—she saw that Wild Wizard sprinkle a few handfuls of Magic Powder from his sleeve, then cast an illusion spell. After that, wiping his sweat, he gave the money to a poor child and left. As he walked away, noticing Helen watching him, this Wild Wizard friend even winked at Helen, thinking he’d met a fellow practitioner.

Illusion magic—this was part of the lower-year curriculum at the Sacred Icon Tree Academy.

Helen’s eyes widened. “Does this kind of little trick count as an Archmage?”

Obviously, Helen’s level was far above that Magician’s.

But one had to admit, even a lower-year Wizard was still a Wizard.

Even someone who wasn’t a Wizard could be considered one—as long as the people believed he was a Wizard, then he was a Wizard.

“But, Louis,” Helen blinked and looked at Louis. “If Wizards have existed in the Muggle World for so long, then what are we…”

Helen suddenly felt a bit of fear. “Then what are we?”

Louis shook his head. He didn’t know what to call those people who possessed great magical power but arrogantly kept themselves in a small circle.

Nor did he know what to call these people, who in Helen’s eyes could barely use Magic.

But perhaps, if Wizards continued to isolate themselves in a small circle, then the last bit of Magic would be squandered by Wizards themselves, eventually fading away…

The ‘Mage’ before them would also be the last fleeting bloom.

[But Louis believed the future would definitely be different.]

[Indeed it would, because this world had already developed in an unpredictable direction.]

[That ‘Forbidden Archmage’ who spread magic had already appeared in this world, summoned by three wishes.]

[And in this unpredictable development of fate, Magic, Wizards, and Dragons might not disappear from this world.]

[That’s right, they shouldn’t disappear. Because this was a fantasy world, a fantasy world that should have Magic, Wizards, and Dragons…]

[Just as the first wisher ‘imagined’ (strove to change) – there are (should be) Dragons in the world, and there are (should be) Magic and Wizards too…]