Sigrid had removed herself from the living room, giving Mauve and her mother room to discuss Mauve’s plan to lead the mage battalion in the war against Nemoris.
The conversation lasted three hours, by the ti Lady Silver left, her eyes were red and swollen. Mauve’s were red but not swollen.
Mauve t Sigrid in the carriage and they set off for a part of the city that was less crowded, a town called Duskridge. It was nad so because it was perched on a ridge and the middle ground between the cities of Doria and Cove city.
Duskridge was known for its unique landscape, offering the best views of sunsets, the hoard of whispering trees on its edges and a little tavern nad Burning Embers where a rry band of dwarves played the most preposterous songs. They basically took the rumors on the lives of the nobles and turned them into silly songs.
It had been chosen as the trial place for the cent roads because it was less crowded than the rest of the city.
Roland had launched the project in person along with the head mage because the cent was a product of the mage estate. A mage nad Octavia Lemon had co up with the recipe after finding inspiration from one of the new textbooks in the mage library.
She was one of the awakened female mages that had been living in hiding until it was successfully proven that female mages were acceptable in Eldoria. After seeing Mauve leading the rescue team, fifteen more adult female mages had co out of hiding.
The mage estate was now thriving more than ever as mages were making more contributions to Eldoria than forging swords and wielding them.
The ride to Duskridge was short because they used magical horses, arriving at their destination in just under twenty minutes.
They scene was a chaotic symphony of activity. Mages were working in unison to lay the cent on the roads that had been dug. A foreman was shouting instructions while ordinary humans sung songs of encouragent as they hauled bags of glowing cent powder. Octavia herself was on ground, tinkering with the cent mixer which emitted faint hums and occasional puffs of red smoke. The cent mixer was also a product of the mage estate, it run of magic crystals.
There was mist in the air, coming from all around as pipes enhanced with magic gave off heat to keep the workers warm. The lord mage had shielded the entire town in a do, keeping snow out of it.
The town dwellers and were glad for all the work in the town because there was not much to do in winter. Every road in the town was being worked on. Horse carriages were no longer allowed to be used as transport until all road dried firmly.
In the places where the roads had been dried with magic, traffic signs that also worked with magic crystals of different colors were being put up. The news roads would have new order, no more riding through the streets with carelessness.
"It is like a whole workshop over here." Brolin comnted.
There were thousands of workers helping in the construction of the road at the sa ti. More than half of the work was done, at least ninety percent.
"We will soon walk on roads paved with phoenix ash and moonstone dusts. I never thought that moonstones would be useful. Nobody had ever seen much value in owning moonstone crystals. I am afraid that this will change when word spreads about there value in construction." Brolin was almost gushing as he expressed his awe.
They stepped onto one of the finished roads. The knights lightened their steps, moving like dainty ballerinas.
"Is it safe?" Sir Marcus asked.
He was among those that were hesitant to walk on the new road.
"Safer and cleaner. We will never have to worry about mud on rainy days. This road will never wear down, not even if a herd of elephants runs over it!"
Sigrid led them over to Octavia who had already been joined by the newly appointed minister of roads and works. Because it was a crown princess that had arrived, most workers stopped and gawked. It was the first ti Sigrid was being seen in person in Duskridge.
The workers were not the only ones gathering, town folk had paused movent to get a glimpse at her. They were whispering about everything, from her looks to her dress.
So people that could be considered to be Mauve’s fans were calling her na eagerly. Crystal caras were being pulled out of pockets.
"I am beginning to think that you are more popular than I am." Sigrid laughed.
"Not with animals." Mauve replied.
She waved at her fans as the minister led them to a tent that he was using as his office.
"Crown princess, to what do we owe this honor?" he smiled as brightly as the moonstone dust gathered in the corner of the tent in a wheelbarrow.
"I ca to check on your progress." She answered. "You are three days behind schedule, you should have ended work in Duskridge by now. You were supposed to begin working on the roads in Doria tomorrow."
The minister felt fidgety and he looked at Octavia.
The mage smiled nervously and she said, "I am to bla, I found that ash from dragon trees works as well as phoenix ash so I changed the recipe. The trees are more readily available than the ash. It makes sense if we switch to them. The delay is because the mages have been spending half of their ti growing dragon trees."
Sigrid almost asked Octavia why she was not inford but Octavia beat her to it, providing the answer to the unvoiced question.
"I inford the Lord mage of the change and he said you had a lot on your plate with the war and the release of the arcanophone."
The arcanophone was a telephone. It was the closest na to mobile phone on the list of nas Elroy had provided to her. She chose it because it could keep the word phone without raising too much suspicion.
"Speaking of...." Mauve touched the new gold watch on her wrist. "We are behind schedule. The arcanophone is being launched in less than an hour. We should go before the king...." She stopped and covered her mouth.
Only Sigrid knew what Mauve was about to say. The king had volunteered to launch the phone on live television because he wanted to hog the glory as always.
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