Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 808 - 73 Identity Report in Pannis Style

Chapter 808: Chapter 73 Identity Report in Pannis Style

The City Hall of Third Flame City is a stone building and the only structure in the city not adorned with green paint on its exterior walls. The distinctive towering architecture of the Kingdom of Mages stands at the center of the square with its doors, nearly ten meters wide, wide open. Silence pervades the interior, and when one peers inside from the bright outdoors, the contrast renders everything within a blanket of darkness, obscuring all detail.

Entering the City Hall, one is greeted by a burst of coolness, as the scorching sunlight fails to invade this stony domain, making the temperature inside seem worlds apart from the exterior. After squinting and adjusting to the light for a brief period, one can see a vast hall several hundreds of square meters in area, its stone floor polished to a glossy sheen, reflecting almost mirror-like images. At the front and on both sides of the hall, there are several counters, behind each of which sits a young staff member, ready to receive visitors. These workers are mostly fourteen to fifteen-year-old children who still look quite childish, but they handle reception duties with appropriate decorum. However, as lunchtime approaches, half of the City Hall staff have left, and not a single visitor is present within the hall. Those who remain seem drowsy, eagerly waiting for time to pass.

In comparison to other human nations, these setups are somewhat smaller, or rather, the City Halls in all the cities of Butte are like this. The city leaders are Mages, and a significant portion of the upper-rank officials are also Mages. However, these officials are anything but responsible; most of their time is spent locked away in the laboratories of the Mage Tower, researching their own projects, leaving their assistants to handle administrative duties. Only when faced with issues of such gravity that their personal involvement is indispensable do these Mages emerge from their laboratories, albeit reluctantly.

All of Butte’s cities operate in this manner, and Third Flame City as the capital is no exception. The majority of those working here are lower-ranking Magician Apprentices who, after receiving basic magic knowledge and cultural education, are not immediately tasked to follow their mentors to study magic. Instead, they spend a few years working in the City Hall, learning the essential skills of political administration, laying a foundation for controlling the cities alongside Mage lords or City Executives when they become Mages in the future. Only after some years, when their mentors deem them sufficiently versed in worldly knowledge, are they called back to commence their official study of magic. Of course, there are rare exceptions who do not participate in the handling of political affairs; for those children with exceptional talent, their mentors believe that distracting them with administrative duties would be a waste of resources, so they immerse in magic study right from the start, eventually becoming a City Executive or a high-ranking department head after their studies, becoming like their mentors another researcher and fanatic of magic.

As for those youngsters who might become apprentice to the adult Mages in the future, although the work is monotonous and tedious, they hold no complaints. On one hand, the job indeed provides a wealth of useful knowledge; if they fail to break through the boundaries of professionals and become true Mages, or if they fail to reach the Upper Rank necessary to qualify as officials-in-charge, they still could leverage their years of administrative experience to exercise authority as assistants and ensure a comfortable life. On the other hand, their lack of complaints is also tied to the relationship between teachers and students in the Kingdom of Mages. In the systems of the Dome Mage and the Forest Mage, the relationship between magic apprentices and their mentors mostly resembles that between teachers and students in schools, with only a few most specially-potential apprentices receiving further teaching from the mentors. Tower Mages, however, are different; from the day they are chosen as apprentices, they live and learn together with their mentors, fostering relationships akin to those of father and son or brothers and sisters, sometimes more profound than blood relatives. Some apprentices, who have followed their mentors since a young age, even address their mentors as father or mother. They do not forget their biological parents, of course, but often the relationship turns colder due to living apart in different worlds for extended periods.

When a Mage has many apprentices, a few core adults among them would take the potential youngsters under their wing and mentor them until they’re qualified to listen to the teacher’s instructions. Only after reaching that stage would they be sent back to their teacher’s side for further education, to prevent overburdening the teacher with too many apprentices.

Of course, not all those in City Hall were Master Fila’s apprentices. Most of Master Fila’s current apprentices had become administrators within the territory, with only a very few new apprentices mainly receiving instruction from his Chief Executive and also Chief Apprentice, Felic. They only received one hour of personal guidance from Master Fila each day. Hence, although the magic apprentices in City Hall were all from Master Fila’s lineage, there was still a significant difference in status among those who studied under him.

Upon entering City Hall, the girls realized how unfamiliar they were with the governance system of the Kingdom of Mages. They had never thought to return here and hadn’t researched in advance, so they were at a loss about which counter to approach with their request. However, even though Pannis himself didn’t know where to go, he had his own method. After following the group’s glances left and right for a while, Pannis headed straight for a counter. The girls twitched at the corners of their eyes, and their temples throbbed violently, but they gritted their teeth and refrained from commenting.

Pannis’s approach was quite unique and very much in the style of a Demigod. Amidst the astonished gazes of the young apprentices at the surrounding counters, he turned his showmanship to full blast. Each step he took involved a switch in the state of his realm—one step he’d disappear into it, and the next step he’d emerge from it. As a result, to outside observers, although he seemed to be leisurely walking, with each step he would vanish into thin air, then reappear just as suddenly. Thus flickering forward, he slowly made his way to the counter and, leaning forward on it with his hands, he came close to the apprentice behind the counter and said in a tender voice, "My fair lady, your beauty caught my eye from the moment I saw you. Might I have the honor of inviting you to dinner after work? At the most luxurious restaurant, accompanied by melodious music, to enjoy a delicious meal. After dinner, we can stroll hand in hand under the bright moonlight through the Fiery City, walk until we’re tired, and then find an inn to rest for the night. Tomorrow morning, we could go to the Firmament Tower to watch the sunrise together. I believe this wonderful night will leave you with unforgettable memories."

"Hey, you pervert." Although Catherine knew he was only using the opening and closing of his realm as a signal to inform old friends in the high reaches of the Mage Tower of his arrival, she couldn’t help herself. She rushed over, grabbed Pannis by the collar from behind, and pulled him back, hissing through clenched teeth, "Isn’t this the time to state our purpose? Why did you suddenly start flirting, dammit? Apologize to the kid you scared, you jerk."(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)