The hundred thousand floating islands of the Azure Sky Kingdom are scattered in the extreme south of the world, in the vast airspace above the abyss. The furthest islands are separated from the mainland territory by tens of thousands of kilometers, and even the winged people who are skilled in flying need several months to travel back and forth.
The border island of the Azure Sky Kingdom, Spryce, is one of the floating islands closest to the mainland in a straight line.
It floats directly above the Abyssal Well, about three kilometers above, with an area of about 40,000 square kilometers. It is an important border fortress of the Azure Sky Kingdom, inhabited by up to a million winged people and various immigrants from overseas.
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After about half an hour of climbing and flying, the envoy’s party arrived at the landing site of the Spryce Island.
More Redwing winged troops were waiting here. They replaced the original Falcon Guard and led the envoy to the post station.
Naturally, the winged people would not let the envoys of the United Kingdom walk on foot. They had already prepared new carriages.
Of course, the ones pulling the carriages were not ordinary horses or scale beasts, but a kind of flying horse with wings on its back, a horn on its head, and a more slender and graceful physique than ordinary warhorses.
This is also a unique creature of the Azure Sky Kingdom, called the Unicorn. It is a common first to second-order magical beast, said to have a small amount of bloodline of the mythical creature, the unicorn, and thus grows wings.
Residents living in this country, almost none of them cannot fly, otherwise, most of the time they can only be trapped on their own floating island and find it difficult to go out casually.
Although it is on a floating island, at first glance, the living conditions of the winged people are not much different from those of creatures on the mainland. They also live in houses, have shops, streets, establish cities, and have various professions and divisions of labor.
Of course, there are differences.
Leila and Rene previously told Violet that the winged people live according to the color of their wings, but this statement is not entirely comprehensive, at least not in Spryce City, which is directly named after the island.
Here, one can see winged people with various colored wings, but overall, the main winged species of the Azure Sky Kingdom are mainly comprised of three colors: red, blue, and black.
Speaking of the main winged species of red, blue, and black, the reason why these three species of winged people have developed to their current extent is closely related to their respective strengths.
Among them, the Redwings are skilled in combat. In terms of average combat power, they are generally a level higher than most other winged people. Along the way, Violet saw that most of the warriors wielding weapons were Redwing winged people.
Blackwing winged people are mostly skilled in documentation and intellectual work. Various merchants, accountants, strategists in this city, as well as clerks responsible for negotiating and communicating with envoys, are mostly those with black wings.
As for the Bluewings, at first glance, they may not seem to have any particular characteristics and are average in many aspects. However, the appearance of this race of winged people tends to be more outstanding, with delicate thoughts, adept at observing words and expressions, and also agile in their movements. They are predominantly active in various aspects of hospitality, reception, and various service industries.
And these three have formed the main social structure of the winged people.
Of course, this is only a relative tendency and not absolute. Just like Violet also saw Redwing winged people responsible for documentation work, beautiful Bluewing warriors wielding long spears, or Blackwing girls serving customers.
Regarding why winged people of different races live together, Miss Priestess also mentioned it to Hilda when they arrived at the post station, and the response she received was,
“Well, actually, in most areas of our country, it is indeed as Miss Violet said, in a state of living where a single winged species gathers.”
“But since the current Feather Emperor ascended the throne, His Majesty believes that different winged species each have their own strengths. Instead of forcing everyone to engage in tasks they don’t like, which would lower efficiency, it’s better to mix together and assist each other, leveraging their respective strengths.”
“With this concept as the core, His Majesty has established several floating islands for experimentation, and the Spryce Island is one of them. The fact proves that this is indeed the right choice, which can greatly improve the overall operation efficiency of the city.”
So Violet raised a new question.
“This kind of thing shouldn’t be hard to notice, right? Why hasn’t anyone tried it before?”
To this, the White Feather winged lady could only smile bitterly.
“It’s not that simple. The structure of single-species living has been maintained in our country for over a thousand years. The initial origins are even untraceable. There are significant cultural and ideological differences between winged people of different species. How could they easily live together harmoniously?”
“For example, among one of the most widely distributed species in the world, humans, there are also different countries and ethnicities, such as the powerful Human United Kingdom, the Austre Empire, and the Holy Empire, all primarily composed of humans.”
“Does Miss Violet think that they would just set aside the barriers and boundaries of their nations and live together for some simple reasons?”
Indeed, that’s a valid point...
With this conversation, Miss Priestess didn’t raise any further doubts.
Cultural barriers are indeed very difficult conflicts to resolve. Not to mention, in the relatively short history of Earth, there have been countless wars due to this.
She was too presumptuous to assume that all winged people could be considered one group.
That Feather Emperor’s ability to go against the tide and achieve such groundbreaking initiatives is truly remarkable.
She’s starting to get a little interested.
After arranging for the envoy to rest temporarily at the post station, Hilda left. Whether it was Violet’s illusion or not, she always felt that the other party seemed somewhat hurried when leaving.
For a lady of excellent upbringing, this is actually quite unbelievable. Based on Violet’s brief interaction with Hilda, ordinary matters shouldn’t make her leave in such haste.
Could there be some problem?
Violet didn’t express this doubt and didn’t tell anyone else about it.
On one hand, they were newcomers and unfamiliar with everything in the Azure Sky Kingdom. It wouldn’t be wise or polite to interfere in others’ internal affairs.
On the other hand, since Hilda didn’t actively inform them about this matter, it means that she believed it wasn’t necessary or didn’t want the envoy from the Human United Kingdom to know. Even if she asked, it would probably just be evaded.
In that case, there’s no need to seek trouble.
After a brief exchange, Violet parted ways with Felina and the others. Rarely visiting the winged people’s country, she intended to go out and explore the customs of the Azure Sky Kingdom.
Anyway, the Azure Sky Kingdom itself is very friendly to foreign visitors and immigrants. The latter might be more troublesome, but as long as you have the ability to board a floating island and don’t cause trouble there, the winged people won’t take any countermeasures.
According to the planned schedule, the envoy would stay on the Spryce Island for three days, then proceed directly to the capital, Sky Island, along the route provided by the Azure Sky Kingdom, to meet the Feather Emperor.
According to Hilda’s words before leaving, during this period, members of the envoy can freely move around and visit various areas of the island, as long as they don’t break the law or cause trouble.
Since it’s just casual wandering, Violet didn’t intend to bring too many people along. She and Little Dragon Maid were enough.
As for Leila, Rene, and Edwina, they could do their own activities. Besides, now that they’re in the Azure Sky Kingdom, the two sisters no longer need to deliberately hide their identity as winged people.
It’s rare to return to their homeland, so let them enjoy some time alone freely.