Bonus Episode — The Recorder of the Roundabout City

Morning in the new city of Felsen begins at a fantastical hour, when the light of the magic lamps melts into the mist and the alabaster streets emerge in a pale, ghostly blue. Cutting through that silence, a heavy metallic sound rang out against the cobblestones.

"Lady Elishua, right there! Do not move!"

Bartos, the Knight Captain of Felsen, executed a full-speed slide across the stone ground. His suit of armor threw off sparks, composing a piercing metallic screech as it scraped the floor. Yet, the "Magic Recording Device" held in both his hands remained perfectly still, fixed at an angle barely an inch above the ground.

"...Hmph, very well. My beauty should harmonize perfectly with this cityscape."

They were at the central roundabout. Standing in the middle of it, Elishua held her magic staff gracefully aloft, frozen in a perfect pose. This was a portfolio shoot for her to take back to the elven village. It was a battle against the light, where every second counted.

"...Ngh! The sunlight has cleared the shadow of the building. Now!"

From his prone position, Bartos instantly tilted the greatshield in his left hand to a forty-five-degree angle. The surface of the shield, polished to a mirror finish, acted as a reflector, concentrating the morning sun onto Elishua’s jawline.

Click-click-click-click-click!!

The sound of high-speed burst fire echoed through the air. Bartos stood up in one fluid motion and executed a backstep with a speed that defied the weight of his armor, stopping dozens of yards away.

"Lady Elishua, three steps to the right. I shall intentionally position the spray from the fountain behind you as 'bokeh.' Opening mana sensitivity to the maximum. Utilizing the background compression effect, I shall make your presence truly pop!"

"You certainly have a lot of demands... but fine. It is all for the sake of the perfect shot."

As Elishua moved as instructed, Bartos dashed vertically up the wall of the adjacent building and leapt onto a second-floor terrace. Leaning out from there, he aimed the equipment from an extremely precarious position.

"I shall strike from a high-angle perspective! Using the straight lines of the street as leading lines to converge upon you at the center of the frame... perfect. Shutter speed, locked!"

Elishua didn't entirely understand the technical jargon Bartos was shouting. However, she knew that the moment he held that magical machine, he poured every knightly nerve into the "calculation of light," churning out divine compositions one after another. No one had taught him this. He simply acted as if he ruled the world shown on the rear monitor, physical laws and all.

"Next is the canal over there! There should be a point where the reflection of my hair on the water creates a look of symmetrical beauty!"

"Understood! I shall hang myself upside down from the bridge railing over there to secure a perspective at the very surface of the water!"

Bartos sprinted toward the canal via the shortest possible route. To him, pressing the shutter of the Magic Recording Device and swinging a sword on the battlefield were essentially the same thing: the execution of "discipline." Reading the angle of the light, capturing the subject's breath, and slicing away the decisive moment without letting it escape.

"...Bartos, do not forget to take photos 'of the city' as well. Master Zect was very firm about that."

"I am well aware. ...Look, Lady Elishua. Stand beside that drainage pump. I shall use the brass luster of the valve as an accent while contrasting it with the texture of your skin. ...Exquisite. A fusion of functional and formal beauty!"

Click.

It was no longer clear what the actual subject of the photo was, but Bartos saw a clear vision of completion in his mind's eye. The shoot continued until the sun dipped below the horizon and a purple twilight wrapped the city.

"...It is finished, Lady Elishua."

Having exhausted the memory capacity of the device, Bartos let out a quiet, satisfied sigh. His armor was covered in mud and dust, and his shield still held the heat from reflecting the sun so many times.

"Yes. That was magnificent, Bartos. ...Now, let us return. We must have Master Zect print out this record of our victory."

Carrying a mass of data consisting of several thousand images, the two began the walk back to the house in the forest. Behind them, the new city of Felsen—boasting the perfect order they had spent the day capturing—sank quietly into the veil of night.

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