MTLNOVEL Chapter 244
Chapter 49: Island of Spris
In the Kingdom of Azure, the hundred thousand floating islands are spread across the vast sky above the Abyss at the world’s extreme south. The most distant islands are even separated from the land by over ten thousand kilometers, and even the adept-winged people take several months to make a round trip.
The border island of the Kingdom of Azure, Spris, is one of the floating islands closest to the land in terms of straight-line distance.
It floats just three kilometers above the “Abyss Well,” spanning about 40,000 square kilometers. It serves as an important border fortress for the Kingdom of Azure, housing up to a million winged people and various foreign immigrants.
After about half an hour of climbing and flying, the envoy group arrived at the landing area of Spris Island.
A larger regiment of red-winged people awaited their arrival, replacing the original Falcon Guard to escort the envoy group to the rest station.
Of course, the winged people were not going to let the envoy from the United Kingdom walk on foot; they had already prepared a new carriage.
Naturally, the beasts pulling the carriage were not ordinary horses or scaled beasts, but a type of creature called the “Unicorn.” This winged horse has a single horn on its head and a longer, more graceful form than the typical war horse.
This is also a unique creature of the Kingdom of Azure, a common first to second-tier magical beast, said to possess a small bloodline from the mythical unicorn, hence its wings.
In this country, hardly any species cannot fly; otherwise, they would be trapped on their floating islands for the most part, unable to venture out at will.
Although it is a floating island, at first glance, the lifestyle of the winged people does not differ greatly from that of land-dwelling creatures. They live in houses, have shops, streets, built cities, and a variety of professions and divisions of labor.
Of course, there are differences.
Leila and Renée had informed Vilyric before that winged people live in communities based on the color of their wings, but this statement isn’t entirely comprehensive, at least not in Spris City, which is directly named after the island.
Here, winged people of various wing colors can be seen, but overall, the main types consist mostly of red, blue, and black winged people, which are the principal constituents of the Kingdom of Azure.
Speaking of the red, blue, and black primary types, the reason these three species of winged people have developed to this extent is closely related to their special abilities.
Among them, red-winged people excel in battle; in terms of average combat power, they are generally far superior to most other winged people. Along the way, Vilyric saw that most of the armed warriors were red-winged.
Black-winged people tend to excel in clerical and intellectual work. In this city, various merchants, accountants, strategists, and document clerks responsible for liaising with the envoy group are mostly black-winged.
As for blue-winged people, they seem somewhat unremarkable at first, but this species of winged people is usually more striking in appearance, perceptive, skilled at reading situations, and quick on their feet, making them prominent in service, reception, and various hospitality roles.
These three types form the main social structure of the winged people.
However, this is merely a relative tendency and does not hold absolute truth, as Vilyric also witnessed red-winged individuals handling documentation and beautiful blue-winged warriors wielding long spears or black-winged girls attending customers.
Regarding why different species of winged people live together in a mixed setting, the Priestess brought it up to Hilda upon arriving at the rest station, and the latter’s response was:
“Well, actually, most regions of our country, as Miss Vilyric mentioned, indeed operate under a structure of single species living together.”
“But since the current Wing Emperor ascended to the throne, His Majesty believes that different winged species each have their strengths. Rather than forcing everyone to engage in unpleasant work that lowers efficiency, it’s better to mix and assist one another, leveraging their respective strengths.”
“With this idea at the core, His Majesty established several floating islands for experimentation, and Spris Island is one of them. It has indeed proven to be the right choice, greatly enhancing the overall operational efficiency of the city.”
Vilyric then posed a new question.
“That should have been easy to notice; why hadn’t anyone tried this before?”
To which the White Feather Winged Lady could only helplessly smile.
“It’s not that easy. The structure of single-species living has been maintained for over a thousand years in our country, and the origins of this tradition are even untraceable. There are significant cultural and ideological differences between different species of winged people, so it’s not that simple to live harmoniously together.”
“For example, among humans, one of the most widely distributed races in the world, there are different nations and ethnicities. The particularly powerful Human United Kingdom, Ost Empire, and Holy Empire are essentially dominated by humans.”
“Does Miss Vilyric think they would set aside national divisions and coexist just for some simple reasons?”
That’s true…
At this point in the conversation, the Priestess had no further questions.
Cultural barriers are indeed incredibly challenging to ease, and not to mention, countless wars have erupted in the not-so-long history of Blue Star due to this very reason.
For someone who regards all winged people as a single group, she was being quite presumptuous.
The fact that the Wing Emperor could push against the current and accomplish such an epoch-making initiative is truly remarkable.
I’m starting to feel a bit interested.
After arranging for the envoy group to temporarily rest at the rest station, Hilda took her leave. Vilyric couldn’t shake the feeling that her departure seemed noticeably rushed.
This behavior is quite unbelievable for a lady of such excellent demeanor. From Vilyric’s brief interactions, it seemed ordinary matters shouldn’t be causing her to hurry like this.
Could something be wrong?
Vilyric didn’t express her concern nor tell anyone else.
On one hand, they were newcomers, unfamiliar with everything in the Kingdom of Azure; it would be unwise and impolite to meddle in someone else’s internal affairs.
On the other hand, since Hilda hadn’t voluntarily shared the matter with them, it meant she either deemed it unnecessary or didn’t want the envoy from the United Kingdom to know. Even if they asked, it would likely result in being brushed off.
Since that’s the case, then why bother to seek discomfort?
After chatting for a while, Vilyric parted ways with Philena and the others. Since they had come to the land of the winged people, she planned to explore the area and experience the culture of the Kingdom of Azure.
After all, the Kingdom of Azure is quite friendly to incoming travelers and immigrants; the latter might be more troublesome, but if it’s just for tourism, as long as you can reach the floating islands and don’t cause trouble, the winged people won’t take any countermeasures.
According to the pre-scheduled plan, the envoy group would stay on Spris Island for three days and then proceed directly to Sky Island, the capital of the Kingdom of Azure, to meet the Wing Emperor.
According to Hilda’s words before departing, during this time, the group members were free to move about and explore various areas of the island as long as they did not break the law or cause trouble.
Since it was just about wandering around, Vilyric didn’t plan to bring too many people; it would be sufficient for her and the Little Dragon Daughter to go together.
As for Leila, Renée, and Edwina, they could do as they wished. Now that they were in the Kingdom of Azure, the sisters no longer had to hide their identities as winged people.
Since it was a rare chance to return to their homeland, let’s allow them to have some time alone.