Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2955: Chapter 2956: Julie

Right next to the Black Tea Forest, a tall castle with black walls and black tiles stands. The castle’s defenses are incredibly strict, with not only walls but also a moat.

The only gate that connects to the interior of the castle can only be accessed when the drawbridge is lowered.

And here lies the Black Tea Earl’s castle.

At this moment, at the southwestern edge of the castle, which is the edge of the Black Forest, two small heads emerge from behind a tall pile of dry grass.

One belongs to Angel, the other to Rabbit Cha Cha.

”Huh, is that a puppet with a boot on its head over there?” Angel’s gaze locks onto the strange puppet outside the moat, with a black blindfold and a tall boot on its head. At first glance, it looks a bit like a scarecrow, with only one leg, patrolling outside the moat by hopping around.

”Don’t look at it! It’s one of the Black Tea Earl’s puppet guards; if you stare at it for too long, it’ll notice your presence,” Rabbit Cha Cha whispered.

”Is its spiritual sense that sharp?” Angel whispered back.

Rabbit Cha Cha: ”It’s not spiritual sense; it’s a power given to it by the Black Tea Earl. Its abilities are anti-reconnaissance and the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.”

Angel could understand anti-reconnaissance, but what about this Mystic Eyes of Death Perception?

Rabbit Cha Cha quietly explained, ”Anyone it sees with its eyes, whether it’s a human like you or any other creature, will directly die. That’s the power of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.”

”Die instantly? No exceptions?” Angel asked with a frown.

Rabbit Cha Cha: ”There is an exception: if your life energy is higher than its, you can be exempt from the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. But...”

Rabbit Cha Cha looked Angel up and down, whispered, ”Not you. Your life energy is even more erratic than a normal person’s. If it targets you, you’re definitely dead.”

Angel isn’t in his true form in this anomaly; possessing only spiritual presence, his life energy is indeed very low. Once targeted by the puppet guards, he would certainly die.

As for whether dying here would affect reality... it definitely would.

There are many alchemists who’ve been trapped and died in these anomalies, and even the mysterious alchemist that Frost once followed got caught in an anomaly. What chance does Angel have?

So, Angel, who initially planned to observe boldly, now became cautious.

But just as Angel lowered his head to avoid looking at the puppet, it seemed to notice something and turned its head right towards the pile of grass.

”Uh-oh!” Angel quickly tried to lie down, but Rabbit Cha Cha held him back.

”Don’t lie down; that’ll attract its attention,” Rabbit Cha Cha whispered.

Angel showed a face full of urgency: ”But if we don’t lie down, it will see our hats.”

Angel wore a teacup hat, while Rabbit Cha Cha had an incredibly colorful teapot hat. Anyone would find them suspicious.

Rabbit Cha Cha: ”It doesn’t matter if it sees the hats. It’s normal for there to be teacups and teapots on top of a pile of grass.”

Angel: ”Huh?”

Though Angel completely didn’t understand what Rabbit Cha Cha meant, he still followed its advice and remained still.

The puppet guard glanced at the grass, then at the teacup and teapot atop the pile, showed no expression, and hopped away to patrol elsewhere.

Listening to the footsteps of the departing puppet guard, Angel’s face was full of disbelief.

Did it really not notice them?

With such a colorful teapot on the grass, are your eyes blind?

Facing Angel’s incredulous expression, Rabbit Cha Cha tugged at his sleeve: ”This isn’t the Human Realm; this is Teapot Country. Teapots and teacups appearing anywhere is quite normal. If you don’t believe it, look into the moat.”

Following Rabbit Cha Cha’s pointed direction, Angel saw two fish emerging from the water surface of the moat. Their appearance... was exactly like two teapots.

”These are teapot piranhas. Don’t underestimate them. They were specifically raised by the Black Tea Earl in the moat. They’re extremely dangerous and fierce!”

Although Rabbit Cha Cha said this, Angel didn’t really see how they were dangerous. But, it was better to listen to Cha Cha.

This country feels too whimsically unruly; even the puppet guards have such unreasonable abilities like the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, just like the Nightmare Realm... Huh, could this actually be the Nightmare Realm?

Angel shook his head, casting out chaotic thoughts. Even if it were the Nightmare Realm, he wasn’t Shava right now, but a mortal without any abilities.

To ensure his survival, following Cha Cha was the best plan. After all, Angel had spent years building rapport by garnering sympathy and selling pity in front of Rabbit Cha Cha; he even shared several fairy tales to finally invite Rabbit Cha Cha out to help.

He had sacrificed so much, it was only natural to follow Cha Cha, the Great Demon King, to victory.

Yes, Angel and Rabbit Cha Cha appearing near the Black Tea Earl’s castle was a result of Angel’s pitiful act and play.

After learning that the Black Tea Earl obtained a ”mirror,” Angel had a premonition it might be the source of this anomaly.

But to find this mirror, one must enter the Black Tea Earl’s castle, which was extremely risky.

Thus, Angel set his sights on Rabbit Cha Cha.

According to Cha Cha, it once secretly visited the Black Tea Earl’s treasury, just searching for a pretty hat.

Though Angel didn’t know whether Cha Cha was boasting or telling the truth, he immediately thought of persuading Cha Cha to help.

Noticing Cha Cha harbored some ”fondness” towards him, he discarded his pride, selling pity and acting pitiful.

But those alone weren’t enough.

When Angel discovered that Cha Cha wanted several bedtime stories, he racked his brains to think of some fairy tales, delighting Cha Cha and persuading it to come out of the hills.

Thus began their joint venture.

...

According to Cha Cha, their primary task was to infiltrate the Black Tea Castle.

Infiltrating with such stringent guards in Black Tea Castle was no easy feat. Currently, Cha Cha thought of the safest way: seeking help from its friend Julie.

Julie is one of the Black Tea Earl’s steeds.

The Black Tea Earl has three steeds: a pure white pegasus, a black warhorse, and a less noticeable brown-maned horse.

The brown-maned horse is Julie.

According to Rabbit Cha Cha, the Black Tea Earl prefers the pegasus and warhorse, but uses Julie, the brown horse, the most.

The reason lies in the brown horse being more approachable.

To create an approachable image for his subjects, the Black Tea Earl chooses the undistinguished brown horse for every outing.

Whether it’s effective is another story, but Julie, by sheer luck, stood out among many brown horses to become one of the Black Earl’s three steeds.

Moreover, compared to the well-fed pegasus and warhorse, Julie the brown horse has greater freedom. It can graze freely outside the castle or rest in the castle stables.

This freedom also represents the Black Tea Earl’s way of being close to the people, but it also gave them the chance to infiltrate the Earl’s castle.

”We’ll circle around the outside of the castle for a while. If we encounter Julie, I can take you into the castle today. But if Julie isn’t grazing outside the castle today, we’ll have to wait for another opportunity,” whispered the rabbit Cha Cha.

Angel nodded, displaying an expression of ”Cha Cha the Great Demon King, you have the final say.”

Next, they started moving slowly through the grass, looking for Julie.

During this, Angel asked about a doubt in his mind: ”Is Julie reliable?”

The rabbit Cha Cha said, ”Don’t worry, it was once like me, a Guide, and it belongs to those friendly towards humans.”

”Guide?”

The rabbit Cha Cha replied, ”It refers to those who guide people who accidentally arrived in the Teapot Country. It was an institution set up by the previous Empress’s human husband, and all who became Guides were from the moderate faction.”

Talking about this, the rabbit Cha Cha sighed: ”However, with the birth of the new Emperor, this institution was also abolished. We Guides have scattered all over the place.”

”By the way, Julie was able to stand out from countless brown horses because of its gentle nature, capturing the hearts of the subjects in Black Tea Earl’s territory more easily... but it’s just incapable of capturing the heart of the Black Tea Earl.”

Hearing about the identity of a Guide, Angel recalled the story told by Feng, ”Louis’s Hat.”

Louis entered the Teapot Country to save his wife, and it was a Guide who helped him. Moreover, in the story, the Guide was a rabbit named... Cha Cha.

Later, to help Louis, Cha Cha sacrificed its own life, and Louis used Cha Cha’s fur to make a hat.

This hat was the most important item in the story: Louis’s Hat.

It was also the origin of the Mad Hat.

In Princess Town, the rabbit life form Angel accidentally created was named ”Cha Cha,” also because of this story.

Angel was silent for a moment: ”Since you were once a Guide, do you know anyone named Louis?”

The rabbit Cha Cha thought for a moment, then shook its head: ”Never heard of him.”

Angel breathed a sigh of relief: ”It’s good you’ve never heard of him.”

The rabbit Cha Cha asked suspiciously, ”Who is he?” Why did Angel specifically mention this name?

Angel said, ”You don’t need to worry about who he is, just... avoid him if you meet him.”

The rabbit Cha Cha was puzzled and wanted to ask further, but at that moment, it caught a glimpse of a brown figure from the corner of its eye.

”Found it, that’s Julie!”

Angel was still thinking about how to explain this ”Louis” person, but Julie’s appearance saved him some words.

Angel followed Cha Cha’s guidance and looked over. There, a large brown-maned horse was swaying its tail, grazing on the lush grass.

”Is that Julie?”

The rabbit Cha Cha nodded: ”Yes, let’s go find it.”

Really, it’s Julie? Angel thought Julie would be dressed up like the rabbit Cha Cha, but it just looked like an ordinary horse.

Seeing Angel hesitate, the rabbit Cha Cha thought he was still worried and reassured him: ”Don’t worry, Julie can discern good intentions from bad. As long as you have good intentions, it won’t do anything to you.”

Of course, if Angel truly had bad intentions, let alone Julie, even the rabbit Cha Cha might abandon him.

Angel wasn’t afraid of being discerned, as his arrival here was an accident, so there was no ill intent. As for good intentions, as long as he could escape the Anomaly, he’d even show good intentions to the Black Tea Earl.

Thinking this, Angel quickly kept up...

...

Is Julie friendly?

If the standard was the flock of crows in the Black Tea Forest, Julie was immensely friendly. But if the standard was the rabbit Cha Cha, it was utterly different.

Julie’s gaze towards Angel was scrutinizing and suspicious.

Angel even thought that maybe Julie could see malice in him.

After being stared at for three whole minutes, Julie finally turned to speak with the rabbit Cha Cha.

From Julie’s words, it was clear that it didn’t perceive malice in Angel, just some goodwill but with human cunning. Julie advised Cha Cha to be cautious in helping.

However, the rabbit Cha Cha waved it off: ”I know he has some petty calculations, but I also know he won’t harm me.”

Julie asked why.

The rabbit Cha Cha couldn’t really explain, only muttering that it was a kind of intuition.

Julie whispered, ”Intuition is unreliable.”

Then, Julie looked at Angel and said in an even softer voice, ”...Humans are also unreliable.”

Whether the rabbit Cha Cha heard Julie’s mutterings, Angel wasn’t sure, but he did hear it.

From Julie’s attitude, although not as bad as the flock of crows, it didn’t reflect the ”friendly towards humans” attitude Cha Cha mentioned.

Moreover, from Julie’s words, Angel could discern that it didn’t truly trust humans.

Fortunately, although Julie and what Cha Cha said were slightly different, it didn’t reject Cha Cha’s request, only speaking very seriously:

”I can take you into the castle, but I can only take you to the castle’s stables. I can’t help with anything else.”

After all, Julie was just a horse, free to graze outside but confined to the stables inside the castle.

After all, a horse wandering freely in the castle’s halls would be problematic.

Moreover, not just Julie; even the Black Tea Earl’s favored Pegasi and warhorses usually stayed in the stables. It’s just that their stables were deeper in the castle and more luxurious.

”That’s fine!” The rabbit Cha Cha nodded: ”Leave the rest to me, I’m very familiar with the inside of the castle!”

Cha Cha was not entering the castle secretly for the first time; Julie knew this too.

However, sneaking into the castle was extremely dangerous nonetheless. It’s fine for Cha Cha alone, but bringing a human made Julie very uneasy. Humans are often skittish with unknowns, especially in a trap-filled castle where a misstep could spell disaster.

Cha Cha could manage alone, but with a human, the risk of discovery increased.

To Julie, Cha Cha was just inviting trouble.

Nevertheless, as Cha Cha was a friend, Julie knew it would be hard to persuade it otherwise and could only let it be.

”Since you’re going in, prepare yourselves... I’ll return to the castle when the horizon is dyed red.”