Warlock Apprentice

Eureka quickly paid attention so that she could hear the answer.

But it was Latata who spoke first while standing on Auri’s shoulder.

“It’s the Milkberry Tree. I love its color, that’s why I made a yellow dress too. You can make a small cut on it and collect its syrup. Trust me, you won’t regret the taste!

“When the tree fully grows, it gives you fruits that you can either eat raw or bake into milk cakes. They all taste like food from heaven! The most important thing is, the products you find from the tree helps with your body growth, especially for women. Your skin will get way better!”

Auri’s eyes were literally twinkling brightly when she heard those words.

“The flowers under the tree are spices to be used with the Milkberry Tree,” Latata continued. “You get different flavors by picking different colors. See that brown one? That’s called a coco flower. You can make milk with a really, really rich taste out of it! Oh no, I can’t take it. I want some right now!”

Leon and Mana exchanged a meaningful glance with each other and grinned. They could see that Angor’s love for milk never died away.

Crap. I didn’t invent this thing! Angor saw them and complained in his mind. I took it all the way home just to let you guys have it!

“Is Latata speaking the truth, sir?” Auri gulped loudly.

“Yes, but not yet. We must give it some time for it to reach its full capacity,” said Angor. “But you can still get a small bucket of syrup every day.”

Auri put on a disappointed look. If there was too little syrup to satisfy everyone in the manor, she would need to wait forever for her turn.

But what Angor said next both surprised and gladdened her.

“How about we give what’s available today to all of our female friends?”

All maids immediately cheered for their fortune, while the others were a bit disappointed but had no problem accepting the decision.

Angor then asked the Moonlily Fairy to take care of the tree as well as the flower patch, including the distribution of the tree’s prizes.

Since they didn’t know how to choose the “spices” yet, those who got their drinks today could only select randomly.

Without a doubt, Auri chose “Coco Milk”, which was Latata’s recommendation.

The Moonlily Fairy had mixed the golden syrup from the tree and the blackish-brown extraction of a Coco Flower, before handing the glass to Auri.

The appearance of the now dark-colored drink wasn’t so good. Auri was having trouble making her mind because the drink in her hand reminded her of animal excrement.

“Go ahead! Try it!” Latata urged her.

Since many people around her including Mana had finished their shares and were now praising out loud, Auri quickly gathered her courage and downed her milk in one go.

“What a… blissful taste!”

She almost found the world around her changing. It felt like bathing in a hot spring of milk while picking up floating candies and licking all the luscious syrup off them…

She never knew in her life that she could feel so blessed by drinking something.

Auri then woke up from her trance with an empty glass in her hand.

“How was it? How was it??” Latata couldn’t wait to hear Auri’s opinion.

“Hoo-wee! Incredible!”

“Told you! There are even better combinations you can find. You should definitely try them later.”

“Really? Tell me, tell me!”

“Sure.” Latata looked really proud as she explained, “There’s this ‘brown sugar bud’. If you put it in-hey, what’s the matter?”

Latata stopped talking when she saw Auri showing a strange expression. Following Auri’s look, Latata looked away and noticed a woman in a black striped dress coming to the tree and asking for a glass of drink from the Moonlily Fairy.

Everyone on the scene was all looking at the woman either in respect or wariness.

Latata couldn’t hold back her curiosity and decided to ask Auri by whispering to her. The odd sight had happened more than once now.

“She-she’s a very, very important guest to us. Please, don’t make her angry.” Auri trembled a bit.

“A guest?” Latata didn’t fully understand what was going on.

Eureka had received a glass of raw milk without any additions and drank it.

Then she picked a random flower and tasted it in her mouth.

“These are all tiered magic plants, but they are not potion materials. Are they for cooking?” Eureka muttered before speaking to Angor, “I must say, this is beyond me. Where did you find them? Did Moonfrost Union conquer a new plane?”

“It’s created by Lady Greya,” Angor replied as carefully as he could.

“‘Warrior Barbie’ Greya? The truth-finder Gourmet?? Right… This explains everything. And wait a minute… you know Greya?”

“She’s an acquaintance of my professor.”

Eureka wasn’t fully convinced by this explanation because being Sunders’ student didn’t mean Angor could take Greya’s new creation to the mortal world freely. But she didn’t ask further.

“Heh. You aren’t just an ordinary apprentice, that much is certain.” Eureka turned away and disappeared into the darkness of night. “Thanks for the treat. I’m impressed.”

With Eureka no longer here, people around the campsite once again grew indulged in their celebration.

The party lasted all the way to midnight. By then, most people had fully spent their strength and fallen asleep on the grass. Even Leon, who was quite the capable drinker, began dream-talking with a silly smile.

Angor never liked alcohol, and he usually avoided using this kind of stuff that would harm his mind, which was vital for a pursuer of knowledge. After asking Head Maid Mana to carry Leon back to the manor, he headed to the ice room.

Using several Luminous Stones he placed around the room, he took a moment to look at Jon’s hollow form and let out a deep breath.

Jon used to love these evening parties when his body was fine, which didn’t last very long.

Jon claimed that he was a professional botanist back on Earth. Angor wondered how Jon would react upon seeing the Milkberry Tree. Would he get thrilled to see all the “fairies” described in fantasies? Would he want to travel far and beyond to see all the magical things this world had to offer?

Knowing his teacher, Angor believed Jon would definitely say yes to these questions.

“I’ll do my best to help you see everything. I’ll make it happen!”

Before leaving the ice room, he suddenly remembered another matter. He prepared a lot of gifts for Jon before coming back to the Old Earth, most of which were pointless in Jon’s current condition, except for one.

He moved back to the ice coffin and took out a round object from his bracelet.

It looked like a ball but with small holes and hollows all over its surface as if it were damaged by vermin.

The object was, in fact, a worm nest, and the holes were not damages, but small tunnels for the “inhabitant” to move around.

It was the Soft Larva nest. Angor received it from “Eventide” Kanter as a friendly gift, along with several larva eggs.

A Soft Larva was a very precious magical worm that didn’t hold much value to someone like Angor in its initial state, but this would change greatly if the larva could somehow transform into a Mutation Larva. A Mutation Larva could help people cast a special spell called “Transform” easily. However, they had not discovered any new Mutation Larvae in this world in a long time.

Angor kept the worm nest in his bracelet hoping that some miracle would happen. He never relied on it too much since he always trusted honest effort over pure luck.

He didn’t need the larva eggs today though. There was something else in the nest he needed to take out.

The Dream Weaver ant.