Warlock Apprentice

The Phantom Servants made many turns and did not lead them into the Twilight Town. Instead, they walked away from it. Their final stop was under a small hill lump at the edge of the town. There was nothing here, only weeds and stones.

The Phantom Servants split up and made a circle around them. As people tried to figure out what they were doing, Goode stepped out.

“They have Invisibility runes on them. Common folks won’t see you if you stay inside the circle,” Goode explained. He continued, “Even here on Fey Continent, wizards are legendary beings to commoners. We shouldn’t bother them unless it’s necessary.”

Now Angor understood why such an “eyesore” walked in broad daylight without alerting anyone. So they were hidden behind the Invisibility spell.

Angor knew why they should stay away from the folks. Wizards were once common people too, so they knew how hard lives could be. There was no need to add to that hardship.

Goode walked to the hill lump and threw an object into the air. When the object which looked like a token dropped back down, people saw the atmosphere blurred, and a cave opened up in the middle of the hill. There were stairs behind the entrance, leading to somewhere unknown. The cave was not dark. There was wavering light coming from the candles in it.

“This is a temporary shelter of Brute Cavern. You stay here for the night, and leave tomorrow,” said Goode as he made a “this way” motion towards the cave.

People walked down the stairs, while Angor stayed at the end of the line. Once he came in, Goode and the other Phantom Servants followed behind.

“Mister Padt, I have placed Sir Toby’s luggage in your room. A Phantom Servant will come and take them before we leave tomorrow,” Goode walked to Angor and whispered to him.

Angor nodded. Maybe the fight earlier was too tiring as Toby had curled itself inside Angor’s hair to sleep.

There were paths leading everywhere underground, and the walls were occupied by various doors. The deeper they went, the wider were the space, and the more rooms they could see.

Their rooms were not far from the surface and were mostly beside each other. Each big room was intended for two people, consisting of a small living room and two separate bedrooms on the sides.

Angor went into his room and arranged his belongings. He heard faint noises coming from outside.

When he opened the door, he saw a boy cleaning the long desk in the living room with a wet towel. The boy wiped the desk over and over with so much concentration that he did not see Angor opening the door.

The boy’s old coat and black pants indicated that he was the boy sitting on the rock near the sea. Angor remembered the boy warning him about Hookdick’s ambush. It did not really help, but at least the boy meant good.

That meant apart from Nausica, the boy showed the best attitude towards Angor among all the deathmatch winners. He needed to get some friends, and the boy seemed to be a good choice. Still, Angor was hesitating. Was the boy really as kind as he looked?

Angor observed him quietly.

The boy was still cleaning the desk over and over again. Maybe he was obsessive? Still, that could not determine his nature.

The boy finally stopped after Angor already lost count of how many times the desk was washed.

Next, Angor was surprised to see the boy sitting down right away. That bench was still covered in a thick layer of dust. An obsessive cleaner would never do that.

So why did he clean the desk so carefully?

Angor had an answer soon.

From a pouch which almost lost its color after being washed so much, the boy took out a thick book with hard leather cover. He placed the book onto the clean desk, rubbed his hands solemnly, made sure his hands were absolutely dust-free, and carefully opened the book to read.

“So he was only taking care of his book,” thought Angor. As a book lover himself, Angor appreciated the boy even more.

Now, Angor decided not to bother the boy with his reading. He planned to return to his room and read the books Jon saved in the tablet.

As he turned around, someone knocked on the door of the living room.

The boy reading in the living room also heard it and he looked around in puzzlement. He was surprised a little when he saw Angor and nodded to Angor politely.

There was still knocking. The boy realized what was going on and stood up to open the door. He moved too hastily and kicked the bench over.

Nausica was standing outside.

“Hey, kid. Good afternoon,” Nausica raised an eyebrow when she saw the boy. Then she looked at Angor, “Oh my, the two youngest kids in the group were appointed to the same room?”

She introduced herself, “Nausica, by the way. What’s your name?”

Nausica flipped her long hair and lolled against the side of the door as she asked, “Aren’t you going to invite me inside?”

The boy nodded and let Nausica in, a bit reserved.

“Sailum Pustin, from Versailles Principality on Land of Revelation,” Sailum replied in a small voice. He continued, “It’s a small place, so you probably never heard of it.”

Nausica swayed a finger in front of Sailum as she said, “Don’t be so sure. I’ve been to Versailles Principality before. Your rose gardens are best of the kind and I still miss your rainbow rose cakes.”

Hearing Nausica talking about his home, Sailum’s emaciated face revealed a joyful smile, and he regarded Nausica with a bit more friendliness.

Nausica noticed Sailum’s change of attitude just because she knew Versailles Principality, and sighed in her mind.

Another kid.

Was she destined to bump into kids ever since she left Blackberry?

“I’m Angor, from the Old Earth.” Angor smiled to Sailum and took a seat across from him. Sailum returned a smile, although he was still being cautious.

“You came from Marginalized Island?” asked Nausica.

“You know about it?” Angor was surprised.

Nausica nodded and explained, “I even went there once. I got ashore from an island nation called Heylan. A beautiful place it was. Too bad I heard a war broke out not long after I left.”

“Sigh… If you went there recently, you would know that Heylan was fighting against my home, the Goldspink Empire.”

“I see. That’s a pity,” Nausica shrugged, seemingly not focused on the topic.

“How did you go to so many places? I never heard about the Old Earth Angor mentioned,” Sailum was looking at Nausica with admiration now.

Nausica revealed a sweet smile.

“You see… I’m a pirate!”