Chapter 234
Joshua was in the Weissenasche Theater making adjustments to the movie screening machine to prepare for the screening of ‘Hachiko: A Dog’s Tale.’
Even though Joshua had declared on the posters that ‘Hachiko’ would begin screening in the theater in two days, he had set the movie premiere to be today.
Gallolei had messaged Joshua that she and the Blackwood Elves had arrived at Norland.
Right after Joshua finished placing the originium crystal containing the movie ‘Hachiko,’ knocking sound came from his door.
“The door’s open.”
The door to the room was pushed open. The dark elf entered the cinema room. She took a glance at the originium crystal Joshua placed on the table.
She was looking forward to today’s movie premiere. But, she did not come here to seek out spoilers from Joshua.
“I’ve already called for a Black Dove a.s.sembly. A large portion of the members showed interest toward your employment offer. Furthermore, I’ve also used some hard-line methods to rope them in,” said the dark elf.
Recently, the dark elf was not only collecting materials all over Norland as a reporter, she would also reorganize her order-less Black Dove at night.
Finally, her reorganization work was approaching an end. Originally, the dark elf thought that she would be able to take a proper rest. But, the a.s.sembly last night made her realize that things weren’t going that smoothly.
“What about the other portion?” Joshua does not believe this reporter lady would come seek him out without cause.
“Escaped. Or perhaps, I should say they’ve gone missing. The faction led by The Beauty Gutama has disappeared.”
The dark elf had a slightly ashamed look on her face as she said those words. She was actually helpless to do anything against her subordinates’ defection.
“Escaped... They’ve ran away from Norland?”
“No. The Beauty Gutama’s strength and the foundation of her organization is deeply connected to Norland’s dark side. They not only traffic information, they also sell poor quality originium crystals, counterfeit tickets for the Weissenasche Theater and so on... Besides that, they also commit atrocious acts such as enslaving other races. If they’ve decided to flee Norland overnight, it would instead be very easy for me to capture those traitors.”
As Thousand Faces spoke, her murderous aura soared. It was as if she would shoot an arrow through that Beauty Gutama’s forehead should she appear before her.
Judging from her behavior, it seemed like betrayal was a capital offense in the Black Dove she ruled.
“Counterfeit tickets... Since when did the Black Dove engage in this sort of thing?”
Joshua was surprised. But, it was normal for a bunch of information dealers living in the shadows of Norland to engage in side hustles.
However, their side hustle of feigning Weissenasche Theater’s tickets was something that would affect the theater’s reputation.
“That is something that I’ve recently learned from the other Black Doves. I’ve already ordered for them to stop their activity. But, the faction under The Beauty Gutama did not comply,” said the dark elf.
“Very well. Since that ‘Beauty’ has not escaped from Norland, the only possible place she would be hiding in would be Norland’s underground. Could it be that they’re hiding in the dwarves’ city?”
As Joshua had lived in Norland for some time now, he knew very well that the city of Norland on the surface was only a small portion of Norland as a whole.
The truly grand city of Norland was located beneath the ground! If one was to add in the cave mines excavated by the dwarves, Norland’s underground city might be over five times the size of the above ground city.
“I’ve placed scouts in the dwarven city. Although their numbers are lesser than my scouts above ground, it should not be hard for them to track down a bunch of orcs. That said, I feel like it’s very possible that they’re hiding in a dwarven mine.”
Thousand Faces has been to the dwarven mines before. All the mine caves were interlinked with each other. It could practically be said to be the most magnificent... labyrinth in the world.
As the dwarves possess their special way of remembering the routes, they were able to navigate the complex mines. But, Thousand Faces does not possess such ability. As such, she has only lingered around the mines for a short while before leaving for she knew that if she was to enter deeper into the mines, she might not be able to return.
“With how complex the underground mines are, it’s true that only the dwarven miners would be able to explore them.”
Joshua pondered for a while. If that ‘Beauty’ Gutama had known her place and only sold fake information, drugs or originium crystals, he would not even bother to deal with her. But, the issue was that she actually dared to sell fake tickets!
A day without eliminating ticket scalpers like them would forever be a stain on the Weissenasche Theater’s reputation.
Since the members of the Black Dove were incapable of probing deep into the dwarves’ mines...
“We can leave this matter to the dwarves then,” said Joshua.
“Should I get in touch with Frostaxe for you?”
Thousand Faces knew that Joshua had a very good friendship with the Frostaxe Clan’s Great Elder. Even now, most of the dwarves visiting the Hearthstone Tavern were from the Frostaxe Clan.
“There’s no need to trouble them like so. I will make it so that they’ll be delighted to do this task for me.”
Joshua opened his magic network interface and entered the Mage Forum’s Hearthstone subforum.
“Delighted?”
The dark elf had no idea what Joshua was planning. Norland’s dwarves were renowned for their temper. It was extremely difficult for anyone to get in contact with them. It was impossible to befriend them using only wealth. As for seeking their help to do something troublesome, it was an even greater impossibility.
“Do you have a picture of Gutama? If not a picture, do you know her distinctive features?”
Joshua opened the Mage Forum’s post editor. This time around, he used the official account for ‘Hearthstone.’ The username was even marked blue. The profile picture was also Hearthstone’s logo.
“I have a picture of the first a.s.sembly I called. Gutama was in that.”
Thousand Faces took out her camera and showed Joshua the pictures recorded in the camera. Ever since changing her profession to a reporter, she became very fond of ‘taking pictures.’ The feeling of recording everything in the surrounding to a photo was extremely wondrous.
For something as important as the Black Dove’s a.s.sembly meeting, it was only natural for Thousand Faces to take a couple photos.
Based on the picture, the a.s.sembly seemed to be held somewhere underground. It was very dark and the surroundings were rather messy.
It took Joshua a short period of time to identify the orc called Gutama among the members of the Black Dove.
It was an irony that she was nicknamed ‘The Beauty.’ Using human’s esthetics, orcs were definitely not beautiful creatures. As for this Gutama, there were even sinister looking scars on her face.
“Go and find Tylene later. Have her upload this picture to me.”
Joshua’s fingers began to move in the air. A new post appeared on the Mage Forum’s Hearthstone subforum.
Curious, the dark elf opened up the Mage Forum. After she entered the Hearthstone subforum, she soon saw the stickied post made by an official Hearthstone developer account.
‘Hearthstone Spring Event — [Find the Orcs!]’
Thousand Faces immediately started skimming over the content of the post.
‘An orc by the name of Gutama is currently hiding in Norland’s underground mines. Courageous warriors of the Alliance, please find that dangerous orc in the mines and have her accept the punishment from the laws of Norland!
Event rewards:
x All-new golden legendary card – Grom h.e.l.lscream.
x Gnomes VS Goblins card packs.
x Cla.s.sics card packs.’
After skimming over the post, the dark elf realized what Joshua was planning.
A Hearthstone game event? No, that was simply a wanted poster posted under the pretense of an event! Furthermore... it was an extremely malicious wanted poster.
The post was only made for a couple minutes but Thousand Faces was already able to see a long list of replies. Judging from the usernames of the repliers, they were overwhelmingly dwarves.
“I think that The Beauty Gutama will soon be captured and brought over to Norland’s Law Enforcers by the dwarves...” Merely from reading those replies, Thousand Faces was able to tell how enthusiastic the dwarves were.
The dwarves were the true masters of the mines. With the dwarves out to hunt them, those orcs wouldn’t be able to hide for much longer.