With his wisdom, the Emperor got rid of two problems at once: an excess of young mages disturbing the quiet life of the capital, and a shortage of mages in the provinces. And with the highest decree he ordered those mages to prove their usefulness by service. So it fell to someone to extinguish peat fires, to someone else—to fight the apple codling moth, and to someone—to increase the number of penguins on the land of Franz Josef. Ivan Koshkin and his faithful companion Bereslav Volotov were sent on the road to the glorious little town of Podkozel’sk, once famous for its cheeses and butter. True, long ago—about a hundred years, maybe even two. Since then, much has happened: fields have grown over, the livestock has decreased, and of the famous breed of elven cows, only one bull remains. And that one has… oddities.
But nothing. They’ll manage.