Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2337: Chapter 2338: The Mancoon Family

The envelope is a thick stack.

On the silver wax seal, there is the emblem of the Silver Heron Royal Family.

After breaking the seal, Angel takes out a stack of thin parchment from the leather seal. Although thin, it is still much thicker than regular paper.

”Truly the style of royalty,” Angel raises his brows.

When Frode sees the stack of parchment, he understands why Angel suddenly commented like that.

Because they chose to use an emblematic leather envelope, the contents must be parchment. The leather envelope combined with parchment, it’s no wonder the letter is so thick.

This is essentially the typical demeanor of traditional nobility, where style triumphs over all.

Frode knows Angel well; although Angel was born into nobility, he holds a certain disdain for the stylistic elements of the aristocratic class. This kind of noble demeanor from Drue does not particularly please Angel.

If it were Angel’s mentor Sanders, he might have been more inclined to accept such an arrangement.

Angel unfolds the soft, skin-friendly parchment, and numerous writings leap into his view.

He spends a few minutes reading it through.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Angel hands the parchment to Frode.

Frode scans through it and finds that the content of the letter is mostly idle talk, with most of it detailing how the Royal Knights verified, found numerous related persons, and eventually ”by chance” obtained a clue from a sea merchant.

This too is typical style operation.

However, setting aside the idle talk, this clue in itself is quite valuable.

This clue points to the emblem on the heel of the boots from the first image shown by Dororo.

According to the message obtained by frontline knights from a sea merchant, the boot emblem is most likely the family crest of a clan in the Night Lily Kingdom on the Nirvana Continent, called the Manhwani Clan.

Because there is a lot of maritime trade between the Nirvana Continent and the Revelation Continent, there are records of some situations on the Nirvana Continent within the Central Empire.

However, the vast ocean between them means that the recorded information isn’t abundant. Neya went through numerous documents to find several entries related to the Manhwani Clan. It was eventually confirmed that the Manhwani Clan is a local noble in the Windchime County of the Leidu Province in the Night Lily Kingdom, inheriting the title of hereditary Viscount.

However, whether the crest is indeed the Manhwani Clan’s isn’t confirmed yet. Neya has expedited the Knights’ Order to head to the neighboring Hai’an Duchy, which has had trade dealings with the Leidu Province, perhaps someone there recognizes the Manhwani Clan’s crest.

Nonetheless, generally, to ease local trade, sea merchants wouldn’t lie intentionally to royal and noble persons, so the probability of the boots having the Manhwani Clan’s crest is high.

”Following noble customs, garments and boots with one’s family crest generally belong to close family members.” Frode says, ”If it can indeed be confirmed as the Manhwani Clan’s crest, then the person is highly likely part of the Manhwani Clan.”

Angel nods; as a noble himself, he understands this well. Similar garments if emblazoned with a crest can only be worn by family. Like how only Angel and Lyon can wear the Lionheart’s Flame crest of the Pat Clan after Old Pat passed away.

The boots having the Manhwani Clan’s crest means it’s highly likely the person belongs to the Manhwani Clan.

Frode says, ”That suggests the Manhwani Clan is likely a Transcendent family.”

Angel replies, ”It’s also possible that one of the family members has talent and was noticed by a Guide, thus introduced into the Wizards’ Realm.”

Frode says, ”But regardless of which, as long as there is a record left, it should be traceable.”

Angel nods, realizing that although there’s only one clue found this time, following it should soon identify the booted man’s identity. The booted man is one of the masterminds behind the Underground Altar; identifying him will make tracing the altar much easier.

”Inform me of any follow-up clues immediately.”

After finishing, Angel calculates the time, realizing the appointment with Nis is drawing near, and prepares to meet him in the Wilderness of Dreams.

At this moment, Frode suddenly states, ”Sir, there’s one more thing...”

Angel halts the construction of the Dream Entering Technique and looks towards Frode.

”Drue also brought news earlier regarding Dangross.”

”Dangross? Didn’t it go to Saint Sem City? Did something happen?” Since leaving the Tidal World, Dangross has been intrigued by all things human, always clamoring to visit human cities. Angel’s recent focus on researching the Mirror Space left him no time to accompany it, so he let Drue take Dangross to Saint Sem City for some ”sightseeing.”

”Did it cause some trouble?” Angel frowns.

With a somewhat peculiar expression, Frode says, ”It didn’t really cause any major trouble, it just burned down half of the Silver Heron Royal Family’s palace complex; and since the palace was close to Cypress Street, Cypress Street was caught in the fire too...”

”Luckily, it coincided with the Sculpture Festival, and most residents of Cypress Street had gone to see the sculptures at the square. The remaining residents were mostly evacuated with the help of the knight guard. Only a few pets got burned to death.”

Burned down the palace? Set a street on fire?

Angel, bewildered, says, ”I reminded it earlier to restrain its flames, what happened?”

Frode sighs and explains the situation in detail.

Actually, it wasn’t completely Dangross’s fault, but that of a wizard apprentice named Fritz.

Fritz is a member of the Silver Heron Royal Wizard Group. His situation is similar to Drue, belonging to the Academy Faction, and is even more of a recluse than Drue, usually staying in the Royal Palace conducting various research.

During his early years of training at Hurricane Tower, Fritz was one of Jelal ’Mithril Reformer’s many alchemy assistants, learning numerous alchemy techniques during that time. But he favored Potionology more than Metallography, and has focused on researching Potionology ever since.

It’s just his talent isn’t very high; otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up here.

After arriving in the Central Empire, Fritz still didn’t give up on potion research and even ”developed” many new potion formulas. However, these so-called new potion formulas were all just figments of his imagination and didn’t really enter the experimental stage, as his skills didn’t permit it, nor could he afford the materials.

The closest Fritz got to a potion experiment was a concocted formula called ”Boiling Blood Red Water.” To experiment with this new formula, he collected many related materials, but in the end, he got stuck on making ”Rockborn Sol-Gel.”

Rockborn Sol-Gel was also one of Fritz’s concepts, a new type of auxiliary transmutation agent made by combining a special magic ore with a floating gel. Manufacturing it is not difficult; the hard part is melting it.

A very high temperature is required to melt it.

And for this, the ability of fire is needed.

Fritz did have a way to get the fire’s temperature high enough to melt such a magic ore, but while he could achieve the temperature, he couldn’t conduct detailed operations once it melted.

Over the years, Fritz had thought of many methods, but because this place is overseas and he couldn’t find a powerful elemental sub-wizard to help, he never overcame this step.

Until he met a flame creature with intelligence and a high enough flame temperature... Dangross.

”That’s how it was. Dangross managed to melt it, but Fritz overestimated his research capabilities. The melted Rockborn Sol-Gel caused a flash fire, rapidly burning down the palace,” Frode sighed. ”The fire was so fierce that even though the entire Royal Wizard Group was dispatched, they couldn’t control it.”

Angel: ”Neya couldn’t handle it either?”

Frode: ”Neya wasn’t there at the time. But even if she were, it would have been difficult to control since it involved a special kind of flame.”

”How did they eventually control it?”

Frode: ”Dangross absorbed the flames. At first, Dangross was stunned when making the Rockborn Sol-Gel and only regained composure after five minutes, but by then the fire had already spread to Cypress Street.”

”But in the end, it was lucky. At least no one was burned to death.”

Upon hearing Frode’s account, Angel breathed a slight sigh of relief; he had initially thought Dangross caused the trouble. Overall, it was clearly more Fritz’s fault.

”How is Dangross doing now?”

”Dangross wasn’t punished, but Fritz was locked up by Neya,” Frode said. ”Although Drue said Dangross has been feeling quite down lately, presumably due to the palace burning incident.”

”Drue came to talk about it, probably to convey Dangross’s current state,” Frode said. ”But in my opinion, it’s likely that the Royal Wizard Group is scared of Dangross and asked Drue to report to you, sir.”

In other words, they hope Angel will take Dangross away as soon as possible.

Angel nodded knowingly, ”I understand. I’ll go check on Dangross later.”

Dangross being able to produce fire capable of melting Rockborn Sol-Gel surprised Angel. Previously, Angel regarded Dangross more as a social master, with weak fire abilities, but now, it seems its flame power is not bad?

When he picks up Dangross later, Angel plans to closely observe its abilities.

For the first time, Angel felt a tinge of curiosity about Dangross’s flame.

...

Before looking for Dangross, Angel decided to first prepare for his meeting with Nis.

Upon entering the Wilderness of Dreams, the place Angel appeared was still in Nis’s loft.

He nodded gently to Tullas and Mandhela and proceeded to the second floor.

Unexpectedly, the second floor was quite clean this time. The previously messy piles of books scattered on the floor were all neatly arranged against the wall.

The side and skylights covered with piles of drafts last time had been cleaned, and the windows on the walls and ceiling were opened, allowing natural light to pour in. This brightness made the originally cramped second floor appear a bit more spacious.

Angel was puzzled as to why Nis suddenly became so diligent until he circled the bookshelf and reached near the desk, where he understood.

There near Nis’s desk was an exquisite tea table, at which a kind-looking old lady with silver hair was elegantly using a spoon to stir her tea cup.

Upon seeing her, Angel understood why Nis had become so diligent; it was because Ironclad Granny was present.

”Granny,” Angel respectfully greeted her with a bow.

Ironclad Granny beamed at Angel and gestured for him to take a seat opposite the tea table. She personally brewed a cup of Silver Thread Herbal Tea and placed it in front of Angel.

Most surprisingly, Ironclad Granny also took out a cup of milk, pouring it all into the tea, indicating for Angel to taste it.

Angel: So, does everyone know his preferences now...

”Granny, did you come because of the Underground Altar?” Angel had come to discuss with Nis the clues from Dororo’s prophetic visions last time.

And Angel was aware that Nis had sought Ironclad Granny’s guidance on the related information. However, he hadn’t expected Ironclad Granny to come here personally.

After all, the affair of the Underground Altar wasn’t really a big deal.

”Yes,” Ironclad Granny sipped her tea, nodding.

”Is Granny also interested in the Underground Altar?”

Ironclad Granny: ”I wasn’t initially, but after seeing the scenes from Dororo’s prophecy, I’ve taken some interest.”

”What in the prophecy interested Granny?” Angel asked, deeply curious.

Ironclad Granny gently lowered her gaze, and after a moment of silence, she said, ”In the vision, I saw... an old friend.”