Warlock Apprentice

Angor’s act was so bad, but Leon decided not to reveal it.

“Yeah, more or less. It happens that I need to speak to you in private. You came out at the right time.”

“What is it?”

“You told me you can put an illusion that stops people from entering Grue Town, no?” Leon gave Angor a serious look. “I think we’ll need that now.”

Angor made sure his brother wasn’t telling a joke. He then wondered what made Leon change his mind.

Leon looked around warily. He made sure no one was around before he explained, “General Morn was defeated at the north border. Yamei isn’t safe now.”

“General Morn?” Angor frowned and suddenly remembered someone with a full beard. “You mean Alan and Aleen’s father?”

“Yup, Eton Morn is dead. His troop was the main force that kept Yamei safe, and without their leader, the soldiers would break down fast. Also, by the time Jordan told me this message, I’d say the loss was half a month ago, which means…”

Leon looked a little sad about this. Since Mara’s visit, the Morn Family had always treated the Padt Family as an ally.

Angor considered and asked, “You asked because you think Yamei will fall?”

“I’m afraid this is already happening.”

“I see.”

They both went to George’s office, which was still lit in the middle of the night.

It was only over a month, yet Angor could see that the old sheriff looked a lot more beaten compared to the last time.

Without wasting any time exchanging courtesy, Angor went to a sand table that showed the layout of Grue Town along with the surrounding terrains. The first thing he needed to know was the general size of the illusion.

The sand table was made by George himself, who did a good job keeping it up to date. Currently, there were a number of tiny wooden houses at the northwest corner of the map that represented the refugee camp. It seemed George put the mark here just recently.

There were also several more houses under construction inside the town.

“These are for refugees who agreed to accept the covenant and join us.” George shrugged as he explained, “But there aren’t many. When the bad news comes, most of ’em will immediately flee from here, I’d say.”

Angor glanced at Leon. The “covenant” probably meant the slavery contract Leon mentioned.

“Point out how much space I should enclose in, brother.”

Leon nodded and slowly drew a boundary around the map.

“What’s that now?” George watched in confusion. “At least tell the sheriff of the plan, will ya?”

Leon offered to explain.

George didn’t say anything about it, but his son, Jordan, asked first, “Illusion? What illusion?”

During the “moonlight rain”, Jordan was still on his way to deliver a letter. Unlike the other people in the town, he had no idea that Padt Manor now held a special type of power.

“I can conjure illusions using special cantrips…” Angor took the chance to explain some basic knowledge about wizards, which shocked both Jordan and George for good.

“But I’m only an apprentice. I can’t do any of the almighty and deadly magic you might be thinking about. Some simple means of camouflage is no problem though.”

George nodded in acknowledgment. An illusion that hid the town from war sounded very helpful.

“But can’t you use that power to defeat Heylan, sir?” said Jordan. “That solves all the problems.”

George opened his mouth but didn’t find the right words to say. Leon also stopped his movement upon hearing the straightforward question.

“While it’s fine to save some of our people, I cannot directly change the result of a war. This is against the rules of wizards.”

Jordan was going to protest, but his father quickly dragged him back. Helping Grue Town was already a giant favor. George knew that it was not their place to ask Angor to confront another country. What if the outcome turned out to be bad?

Soon, Leon showed Angor the area he designated, which was mostly where the people in Grue Town lived or worked. The forests and mountains that were too far from the town were left out.

“Once the illusion is in place, no outsiders will be able to come inside. Though you can still leave as you wish, you’d better don’t do that in such a situation.” Angor checked the sand table carefully and looked at Leon. “Is there anyone who’s yet to return, or does somebody need to fetch their family from other places?”

“Everyone is in town, except for Edgard.”

Edgard was a man who had his son killed by the “watcher owl”. Since that day, Edgard left the town to live somewhere else.

Angor knew this man well. During his younger years, this old hunter used to provide all kinds of meat and good-quality animal skin to his family.

“He made his decision, so we’ll leave him be. He’s good at archery, so he’ll not have a problem finding income.” Angor stepped to the door. “I’ll place the illusion in a minute. Gather everyone up tomorrow and tell them not to leave the town during the war.”

…

“Wizards don’t intervene with mortals at all?” Leon asked a question while on their way outside.

“They do. In fact, many of them do. But most of the time, they do it for finding human labor or other profits they can see. Wizards of higher levels usually refrain from doing this. But all in all, this is only an unspoken convention, not an actual rule in the lawbook. No one forces others to obey it.

“Do you want me to stop this war?” Angor gave Leon a serious look.

“No. It’s just that, if Yamei’s fully invaded, Grue Town will be isolated from the other parts even if it’s kept safe. I don’t like the sound of that.”

Angor nodded. Leon was the lord of Grue Town after all.

Creating the illusion wasn’t difficult. Upon returning to Padt Manor, Angor returned to his studies, during which both the town and Padt Manor spent some time in peace.

One week later, delivery men and traders had spread the message about the death of General Morn to every town and village. Half of the people living at the refugee camp outside Grue Town vanished within a single day, followed by more deserters in the next few days.

Another week later, the majority of Yamei Province stayed safe despite people’s pessimistic predictions. After being on the defense for so long, the Goldspink Empire suddenly deployed several armies to Yamei. According to another message brought back by Jordan, it was the Shannon Clan who commanded these men.

The arrival of the nation’s supreme leader helped all the depressed soldiers regain their confidence and slowly take back the upper hand.

Angor wasn’t too concerned about the unpredictable situation of the war. But one day, something else happened that drew his attention.

A member of the Shannon Clan, who was said to be the leader of the newly arrived military, suddenly showed up at Grue Town.

…

The illusion set by Angor would often get triggered by wandering refugees these days. Each time, the refugees would find them disoriented and teleported back to the outside. After multiple failed attempts, they simply headed to other parts of Yamei and forgot about Grue Town.

Today, however, a single person managed to step through the illusion and enter the town.

It was Jordan who discovered the lone intruder. His job was a lot easier with Angor’s illusion protecting the town, so Jordan mostly slacked off on his work by spacing out and going over old memories. It was when someone intentionally made their horse neighing loudly under the watchtower did Jordan finally realize he got a visitor.

He bounced up and quickly looked below. He then saw a woman in bright, golden armor looking back at him on a well-kept white stallion.

“Who is it?”

“Tavier Shannon, good sir. I’m here to see Viscount Padt. Will you help me request an audience?”