"You're drawing it wrong!" Karyanna, standing nearby, suddenly said.
Sean stopped his brush and looked at her. "What's wrong with it?"
"Your method—you can't start like this. You're trying to shrink this map, right? If so, you need to set the scale first." Karyanna pointed at a spot on the large map. "If you don't set the scale, you won't be able to draw the entire map completely. For example, these..." She gestured at several larger buildings on the map. "You can't fit them in."
Given the scale Sean was currently using, it really wouldn't fit.
In truth, Sean had thought about setting the scale before starting, but he'd ultimately decided to just wing it. In his view, some maps didn't need to be that precise—like the rough sketches adventurers carried. They'd simply draw a mountain, label it, sketch a city below, write its name, and mark approximate routes and directions. Some places didn't even have specific paths indicated, yet people could still navigate by them.
Take the map of the surrounding towns that Klod had pulled out at Skov's shop earlier—it was very simple. The center was Koga City, with the necessary mountains and rivers drawn around it, and finally the positions and names of the nearby towns. With such a crude map, Sean couldn't see the specific layout of the cities, only the basic routes.
In other words, he could only see what was drawn.
In his vision, it was just a flat diagram. At most, the colors differed between mountain ranges and plains. As for cities, they were merely pictorial representations. The only unique feature was an arrow indicating his own position, and he could only clearly see his movement when he left a city.
So Sean wanted to test whether this rough drawing method would even work.
He looked up at Karyanna, who had spoken. "You know about this?" he asked, surprised.
This little witch actually had expertise in this area.
"Of course," she replied confidently.
"Karyanna was once a student at the Rietis Academy," Freya added from behind, stepping forward. She had been looking bewildered the whole time.
So even this legendary witch, who knew all kinds of magic and mysterious organizations, had areas she was completely clueless about!
"Does that mean you can draw it?" Sean asked.
"Absolutely," Karyanna affirmed.
"Karyanna, help Sean out," Freya chimed in from the sidelines.
Honestly, Sean thought map-making wasn't that hard, and he figured he'd better learn to do it himself in the future—he couldn't always drag someone along everywhere he went.
Hearing her leader's instruction, Karyanna moved closer to Sean. "When you're drawing, it's best to set the scale first..."
She picked up the tools on the table and began teaching him, exuding the air of a true mentor. She meticulously noted everything from the length of the entire large map to the gaps between each building, then marked points on the parchment with a ruler before starting.
"I like to sketch the outer framework first, then fill in the interior. If you've never studied this before, it's better to follow my method—it's easier. Oh, and one more thing: this paper of yours is a bit small. If you want to draw the whole map, some buildings will have to be omitted. It's best not to mark them separately, or it'll affect the map's accuracy."
Listening to her explanation, Sean realized he'd never guessed this little witch was so knowledgeable!
He looked up at Freya, who had been standing there watching them both.
She smiled. "Go on, while it's still light out." Freya truly didn't understand this subject, so she could only watch them interact.
She knew Karyanna's abilities well—otherwise, she wouldn't have sent the young woman alone to Cliffpeak City back then. As for Sean, he was somewhat surprising. Not only was he a noble who enjoyed academic research, but Freya could tell he actually knew a bit about it. Every time Karyanna spoke, he could chime in with a few remarks. Considering his background as just a minor baron from a remote area, it was a bit of a pity.
Since the three of them had set out from Cliffpeak City in the afternoon, the sky had gradually darkened not long after they took flight. Fortunately, heading north past Cliffpeak City, there were plenty of towns along the way to rest in. They could have kept going until they couldn't see clearly before stopping, but Freya didn't take such an extreme approach. As soon as it got dark, she found a nearby rest stop to dock.
The rest stops in the north were much larger than those in the south! From above in the pitch-black night, they looked like a sea of lights. But Sean had no time to wander around. Once at the rest stop, he stayed in his room, not coming out—even dinner was brought in.
Freya had never seen Sean so serious. So she didn't disturb him, letting him study how to draw maps in his room.
It felt harder than he'd imagined, but not impossibly so. Just very tedious. If he wanted precision, it would indeed take a lot of effort. Right now, he was just copying an existing map. If he had to personally draw a city map from scratch, he'd have to carefully measure the entire city's size and then render it to scale!
Thinking about it, it was really troublesome. No wonder a schematic of Koga City had been so hard to find for so long. The only one with such detailed data was probably the Count's mansion, and even then, ordinary people couldn't access those specifics. Even if he drew it himself, it wouldn't be that accurate.
Looking at the Talemian map on the table, it had only taken a rough shape, with most of it drawn by Karyanna. He had to admit her surveying skills were excellent—the lines were clean and precise. Even though it was just a corner of the Talemian map, her foundation was evident. Given more time, she could probably replicate the entire Talemian map. In its reduced form, many street details would be lost, and pedestrians might be hard to distinguish.
But the question came back: did he really need to draw it so precisely? Could a rougher version work?
Sean grabbed another piece of parchment and recalled the area around Talemian and the places he'd passed on the carriage ride out. He wanted to sketch a simplified map. First, Talemian—he'd mark it with a village symbol. Then the mountain range it was in. After that, the roads outside the mountains and a few key rest stops along the way, and finally, Koga City.
Very simple. Just like the cheap maps mercenaries could buy anywhere.
After finishing, he examined it closely.
Nothing special about it.
Was it... ineffective?