Sorcerers were arrogant by nature.
It was no different if the sorcerer in question was a mere apprentice or a demigod-level sorcerer. Baiyi and his teacher were notable for being proud; even the manager back in Arfin City had mirrored the arrogance which was characteristic of sorcerers. Therefore, why would the branch leader of the headquarter be any different?
However, Vice President Grant was different. He had been very humble and cordial all through their short time meeting of each other, leaving Baiyi almost feeling lost. Baiyi originally intended to create a scene — and at that moment, he felt like he had polished his knuckles for nothing.
‘Does the Church’s reputation machine really work this well? Gods, I’m not even from the Church… not exactly!’ Baiyi thought in wonder.
Not that he was complaining, though; after all, this marked a perfect end to the issue, serving as a great end to the day’s civic and civil rights class, as well. Besides, the branch leader was obviously trying to make peace, and Baiyi appreciated his sentiment; he would not want to think bad of the Association, either.
‘After a nice tour around the Cloud City, today’s class will be officially over!’ Baiyi made a decision and beckoned the students over so that they would get on a hoverdisc; their destination was the highest level of the Babel Tower.
This time, unlike their previous trips, as the hoverdisc soared upwards, the students watched themselves being brought into pale blue light, and gradually, the scenery was displaced by a blinding white light for a second.
When the white light faded, they saw the city once again, but it was now way below their feet.
The city was a magnificent wonder in its own right. Clouds permeated the city gracefully and gently, while opulent and gilded buildings embroidered the scenic landscape like jewelry on fabric. Between the buildings were patches of tranquil woods, shrubs of delicate flowers, and mesmerizing ponds. From the sky above, the city looked extremely beautiful and mesmerizing.
“It’s gorgeous…” Mia breathed, her hand unconsciously holding Baiyi’s. “If I could stay in a city this beautiful, I would be so happy…”
Nota, the fairy, also expressed her astonishment. “I agree! This city and nature have become one. Such harmony and bliss! I would love to stay here, too…”
“Cough! Cough!” Baiyi almost choked on his own awkward coughs when he heard their comments, but he collected himself quick enough. “Um, let’s have a little history lesson, shall we?” 1
“According to a legend of unknown sources, this Cloud City was created after the then-president of the Sorcerer Association visited Gouve. Mesmerized by the beauty of Gouve’s marvelous floating islands, the president of the Sorcerer Association wanted to replicate the same scene in Isythre, so he forcefully lifted a small island, using a gigantic levitation spell, into the sky…”
The area of Cloud City was not exactly big enough for it to be called a city, seeing as it was comparable in size to the smallest Gouvian floating island. Calling Cloud City “The Town in the Clouds” was more realistic.
There was a glaring difference between islands lifted by manual spells and islands lifted by natural laws. Needless to say, the amount of power required to lift an island depended on the size of the island.
As Baiyi continued the lesson, their hoverdisc landed on a lush green field. Baiyi beckoned the students over, and they continue their walk to a nearby city while he continued his history and geography class.
“Originally, they wanted to turn the city into the Association’s headquarters, but eventually, they decided against that for many reasons; instead, they opted to use the functionally-supportive Babel Tower,” Baiyi explained.
The city’s size and some other unknown issues were the reasons why the Association chose not to use Cloud City as its headquarters. The headquarters of such a prestigious Association could not possibly just own a row of cubicles and a conference room, and call it a day; they needed infrastructures such as magical workshops, training grounds, coaching facilities for ranking improvement, warehouses, sorcerers’ residential areas, and the likes. It would be have been too crowded if they tried to squeeze everything into a town, so they used the tower’s characteristic level-stacking feature for their planned infrastructure.
Besides, if Cloud City had been made the headquarters, a lot of people would have to run errands within the Sorcerer Association. The influx of people would have easily torn down the picturesque scenery with the sort of chaos that a swarm of people always seem to bring about.
In short, all confounding factors supported the Association’s decision to use somewhere else as their headquarters; but then, what would they do with their new floating island?
They conferred among each other and considered making the island a high-class residential area for elite sorcerers — like Beverly Hills back on Earth.
However, the sorcerers quickly found out that it was not a good plan. For the Cloud City to function, they would need a large budget, seeing as the levitation formation, the wind-shielding barriers, and the thermal barriers — as well as every other large-scale spell — all required resources, making the spells seem like hungry hippos. Thus, renting the floating island out to the elite sorcerers began to seem like a very unsustainable idea in the eyes of the Association.
As a result of their indecision, Cloud City began to experience a sort of existential crisis.
In the end, the sorcerers of the Association had to swallow their pride; they ventured out into the market and acted as estate agents. They sold pieces of land and properties, for insane prices, to the billionaires and aristocrats, who were scratching their heads thinking of ways to dispose of the mountains of money they had made; thus, every month, the Association earned a hefty amount of “management fees” from the very same buyers. Just like that, the cost of operating the island was covered, leaving enough surplus to be called as extra earnings.
From the Apprentice’s memory, Baiyi realized that each mansion or estate was sold in auctions, with prices so high that a poor teaching instructor would not be able to afford them — so the Apprentice had not asked for the exact amount. In the end, this part of the empire had become a haven for the richest of the rich in all of Walthart Empire. If someone owned a key that opened a small window of a mansion situated in the Cloud City, that alone would be enough to show off for a long, long time.
“The real reason people bought houses here was not for the fame, but for a pragmatic purpose: this is the Association’s area, after all,” Baiyi pointed out.
This meant that even if the Empire fell, the Association would always remain; that perpetuity gave people confidence, making them regard the Association protectors and providers of asylums. In a war, if aristocrats make the wrong bet by siding with the losing party, and thus suffer heavy damage, their home in Cloud City would still be safe. When the war ends, the unlucky nobles could just sell off their house in Cloud City, obtaining enough money to rest in relative ease.
Hence, most of the people that bought properties in Cloud City were royals, members of the imperial families, and dukes.
“I remember the Association offering me a deal when they first started selling the properties on Cloud City. It was much cheaper back then; 30 million gold coins only,” the Thane Walker suddenly spoke morosely in the Void.
“Did you accept?” someone else in the Void asked.
“I was tempted, but in the end, I used the same amount of money to buy good horses,” Thane Walker replied, a bit ruefully. “But, then again, perhaps it was for the best. The Association had always been too cozy with the Church for my liking. I believed that my head was already safe, and it would not be any safer if I bought a safe house here.”
Poor Thane. The Church was ready to pay the highest amount in its history for the Thane’s severed head. ‘The Blood-drinking Tyrant’, ‘The Devil Duke’; he not only had to bear these infamous titles, but he also had to bear the burden of Church’s hatred.
The Thane was from a time terrorized by wars. The reagent had lost all forms of governing power, and those who commanded enough power and influence ravaged the Southern Land for themselves, crowning themselves kings. When times were chaotic, many eventually succumbed to violence and madness. The inner demons of a massive amount of rogue soldiers compelled them to focus their greed#filled eyes on the peaceful Holy City of Canningham.
Their reason was cruelly simple: they needed money to expand their power.
The Holy City’s backup and reinforcements had already been tasked with defending the churches and cathedrals of different areas. It was impossible for them to return on time to protect the Holy City; hence, the Holy City could only ask for help from their neighbor — the Thane.
However, the Thane denied their request for help; he feared that if his own men left his territory, the rogue army would change its course and massacre his own people, instead. Even If he divided his forces and tasked them with protecting two places, they would not be enough; he was not strong enough to protect both places at the same time.
Thus, the Thane chose his own place and people above the Holy City. As a result of that decision, a fire ravaged Canningham for three days and three nights. The lives of millions of unarmed, harmless devotees were trampled by the rogue army.
Perhaps the Thane was being selfish, or maybe he was being heartless. When the wars finally stopped, reflections and finger-pointing began; the Church branded him a representative of evil in an attempt to shift the blame from themselves.
Baiyi disagreed, of course. A priority of leaders would always be their own people. It would always be their mandate to protect their own people. That period of war and blood left Thane with no choice. The Church may have even known that, but as the protector of the millions of dead devotees, they could not turn a blind eye to the consequence that the Thane’s choice brought about. If they turned a blind eye, the faith of their remaining devotees may have started to wane, and that would not be good for the Church.
So when the Thane faced the Church’s retribution, he retaliated against them, without running away or surrendering. Thus, a tragedy turned into a blood feud that lasted years; the Thane’s swords got stained red by the blood of countless paladins and crusaders.
The Thane’s people and army, too, did not abandon their leader. When history gradually stood on the side of the Church and its secular allies, the Thane was defeated, killed, and his soul banished to the Void.
The Thane’s story was a tragic interlude that could only be played in a symphony of war.
Back in Cloud City…
The city had always been a sort of asylum. The houses there were usually empty because it’s quite hard to live in the sky, far away from most of the important and more advanced facilities.
At the same time, it was just as much of a waste to just leave their houses in Cloud City empty and unused, so a lot of owners chose to use them as secret love-nests, where their mistresses resided, which was something rich people were known to do. It was a pretty good solution, frankly, seeing as it provided peace, tranquility, and magnificence for the couple.
So when Mia and Nota said they wanted to stay here, Baiyi had felt quite embarrassed — but he could not possibly tell the two the truth, could he?
After listening to his tale, the students were even more curious about this place. Laeticia, who came from a humble family, even started saying things like “Gosh, I have never been to such a high-end place! If only I could just enter one of these houses, just once in my life. Let me see inside just once…”
‘Must you sound so unmotivated?’ Baiyi lambasted flatly in his mind. And that same moment, Vidomina nudged his elbow.
Baiyi bent his head down as she requested, and the girl whispered something in his ears.
“O-oh? You… have your own house here? Your dad bought houses here for each of his children?” Baiyi had to suppress his surprise.
‘How rich is your dad? Gosh, why is this Duke so much wealthier than other dukes?’