Warlock Apprentice

The sudden visitor was wearing an unusual yet fine suit. His blond hair and blue eyes looked exceptionally well on that young and handsome face.

From the way his hair was taken care of, to his mild smile and tidy dressing style, everything about him suggested strict noble protocols.

This man slowly appeared out of nothing and walked into the crowd to join the carriage driver.

The old man didn’t know who had come, but he still thanked him. Meanwhile, Margot blushed a little when she saw the young gentleman walking past her.

All the bandits tried to move away.

In the end, the gentleman stopped in front of the scarred bandit leader.

Even though he had no idea who this intruder was, the fat man was prepared to kneel down and beg for his life immediately. He was wondering if Leonrick sent someone here, which would explain why the young man saved that cart driver.

Angor didn’t really like the bandit leader’s brutal and violent manners. However, he was in no mood to teach lessons. He simply used Hand of Spell to prevent the guy from kneeling.

Next, under the shocked gaze of the fat bandit, Angor slowly took the “Ring of Illusion” in his hand.

No one dared make a move to stop Angor’s action. Not a word was spoken.

As everyone watched, Angor carefully examined the Ring of Illusion.

It looked like an ordinary round ring decorated with a five-petaled flower, while a loose green gem was slotted in the middle of it.

Everything suggested cheap materials. It wouldn’t cost much among mortals—about several gold coins, at best.

Angor gently moved the green gem. He closed his eyes to sense and quickly noticed that there was a single sand-like particle hidden under the gem which was used as a trigger.

“I see, a ring without any alchemy sense. The tiny nightmare stone scrap creates a small illusion around it.”

He wasn’t interested in something like this in the slightest, so he returned it to the scarred man, who had been staring at him with an expression of uncertainty. A nightmare stone was expensive, true. But something this small could not provide much nightmare energy.

“Mi-mister…?” the bandit stuttered. He hadn’t found out why this young gentleman showed up yet.

Then he was VERY scared to see the “idiot” walking to the supernatural gentleman with a silly smile.

This is the reason?!

“I-I didn’t know that he’s with you, sir. Please forgive me.”

Before Angor could ask the bandit where the ring came from, Margot somehow shook her captors off and rushed toward him.

Perhaps she intentionally used too much strength or because of a stone on the ground, but as she approached, Margot suddenly tripped on her feet, which caused her to tumble toward Angor’s chest while blushing.

Angor glanced her way.

Under Margot’s frightened gaze, he took one step back.

Thud!

Margot hugged mother earth, face-first, bringing up a small dust cloud around her.

The woman looked up at Angor with a crying face. Her nose was bleeding badly.

Angor made no response. Compared to this insignificant woman, he was actually more curious about the old carriage driver.

“Do you know who I am?? How could you do this to me!” Margot pouted.

Even the other bandits rolled their eyes— something funny had gotten into this bitch’s head?

Margot felt humiliated. This young visitor’s manners told her that he had to be a noble from a clan. How could a nobleman just sit idly while he watched the daughter of Count Leonrick crashed onto the ground with cold eyes?

As the valuable girl highly protected by Leonrick, Margot had developed an arrogant and wayward temper. She was just screaming for her life a moment ago when faced with the bandits. Now that a possible court gentleman had shown up, she immediately put up her image as a well-respected clan lady.

Before she could say anything else though, the old driver quickly covered her mouth.

“My lady is still young, good sir, please do not feel offended,” the old man groveled to Angor.

Angor looked at the woman who seemed to be around the age of 18 and humphed. This woman was actually older than him. The old driver’s apology just earned a minus score.

Angor wouldn’t offend or bully mortals like certain black wizards. But he would never back down when someone tried him first.

He snapped his fingers and injected a small trace of nightmare aura into Margot’s brain.

Margot grabbed her neck. “Hmpf! Ummmph!”

She pointed at Angor with widened eyes. She then held the old driver’s arm as if she was asking for help. She tapped at her own neck and shook her head madly.

Her driver quickly understood the situation and looked at Angor helplessly.

“Muted for ten days as a punishment,” Angor replied nonchalantly.

There was nothing wrong with Margot’s throat. Angor simply used some nightmare aura to trick Margot’s mind into believing that she had lost her voice. It was a new trick that Angor learned after reading The Mystery of Nightmare Domain carefully. He could now do something similar to the level-1 cantrip “Mute” without actually using too much mana.

The old driver accepted it. Getting muted for ten days was a negligible punishment one could expect from a supernatural being. Margot was too reckless to treat a mighty supernatural like an ordinary nobleman.

Next, Angor looked at the scarred bandit again.

The fat man immediately tried to apologize again. His fear of Angor just grew worse after he witnessed Angor’s amazing power.

“Dismiss the others. You, come with me.”

Angor didn’t wish to reveal his intention in public yet. The bandits’ leader seemed to be a big shot scoundrel among the locals, which meant that he was the perfect guy to get information from.

The fat bandit quickly grew restless. It seemed this gentleman wasn’t going to mind the other bandits, which was good.

He shivered a little when thinking about how one of his men was cut in half by Lord Magician just because the poor dude coughed a little for having a cold.

He then wondered if this young one was the “gentle” type. If not, Margot’s previous behavior was enough to get her killed several times over.

The bandit sighed for meeting such a complicated fate today. He canceled the illusion and ordered his men to leave with a serious look.

“Hold on,” Angor called.

“Sir-sir?” His heart skipped a beat. Did the young gentleman change his mind?

Angor released some nightmare aura to cover the brotherhood bandits up. In the next second, these people all lost their focuses and walked back into the woods slowly.

Their leader had no idea what Angor had done. Telling from their direction though, his men were returning to their hideout.

Angor was only trying to find out whether he could manipulate or erase these guys’ memories.

It turned out that he could only block their memories for a brief moment. He couldn’t change or delete memories yet. He probably needed to study human brain structures and how different parts of a brain worked in order to achieve something better.

With the other bandits dealt with, Angor continued to walk down the main road while Dodoro trotted behind him. The leader of the bandits hesitated a bit before he chose to follow behind Dodoro.

Angor never paid any attention to the old driver and Margot again. The fat man, however, gave them one last glance before leaving.

“You can’t always be so lucky…”

The old driver watched as all the bandits vanished from sight and let out a deep breath.

“Lady Margot, I’ve read a story from an ancient tome, that a small number of supernatural beings live their reclusive lives somewhere in this world. They can bend the rules of nature and exist for eternity. They are the keepers of preeminent human intellect. Normally, we won’t run into them. But their great intelligence had spread upon many different worlds. According to the tome, they are called ‘wizards’.

“That young man did something to seal your voice. I think the book mentioned a similar strength like that. If he is a real wizard, he needs only a flicker of mind to overturn Water Grasse—no, the entire Zeal Dominion.

“They are strong. But their long lives have chipped away most of their conscience. Lady Margot, you weren’t thinking clearly enough. No one would be able to help you had he wished to take your life.”

Margot finally thought over what just happened and began to tremble badly.

The old driver nodded. As Margot’s butler, he said what he could.

“Let’s go,” he said as he assisted Margot to stand up. “We can’t tarry here. Those bandits may come back again… Do pay attention to your surroundings from now on, Lady Margot. We made a last-minute decision of not bringing any guards, but ‘Bloody Butcher’ Baal happens to know. There must be a reason behind this.”

Margot was a spoiled child, but she wasn’t foolish. She quickly understood what her butler was trying to say.

“Also, the ‘Lord Magician’ mentioned by Baal must be another supernatural being. If someone like that wants to harm us… oh dear.”