Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2958: Chapter 2959: Puppet Maid

Before heading to the rooftop of the side building, they needed to climb a tower about two meters high, because the edges of the tower had jagged bricks for cover, which made them less conspicuous and safer.

Climbing the tower was relatively easy, as there was also a sewer pipe here. Through the sewer pipe, they effortlessly reached the top of the tower.

Once out of the sewer pipe, Angel saw a slightly slanted, elongated narrow path. To thumb-sized characters like them, this was indeed a narrow path, only about two palms wide. Its purpose was to collect rainwater and sewage to prevent seepage into the floor.

”Just follow this path all the way, and you’ll reach the side building. The most important thing is, this path completely avoids the surveillance range of the puppet guards. They would never think that this path is passable,” Cha Cha the Rabbit boasted as he walked, explaining how he discovered this path.

Angel occasionally chimed in with a few words, but just as Cha Cha was enthusiastically talking, suddenly, the sound of footsteps, da-da-da, reached their ears.

Cha Cha the Rabbit was so frightened that he immediately covered his mouth, cautiously looking around, trying to locate the source of the sound.

On the opposite side, Angel also squatted under the jagged bricks, using the shadows to conceal his body.

After a while, the footsteps gradually receded, and only then did Angel reach out his hand to gesture down below.

In his judgment, it seemed the sound had come from beneath them.

After Cha Cha the Rabbit confirmed that the footsteps had disappeared, he approached Angel and whispered, ”It should be the puppet guards on the third floor.”

As he spoke, Cha Cha quietly poked his head out from the jagged indentations of the bricks and looked down.

Two seconds later, Cha Cha withdrew his head, saying, ”Yes, the sound came from the third floor. They didn’t close the windows, so it was that loud.”

”Didn’t close the windows?”

Cha Cha nodded: ”Many windows in the castle are actually left open because Earl Black Tea has a habit of keeping crows. If the crows get hungry, they’ll return to the castle. Leaving the windows open is for the convenience of the crows returning.”

”However, generally speaking, the crows solve their food problems in the Black Tea Forest, so I rarely see them returning.”

Angel thought for a moment: ”Since most of the windows are open, we can actually enter the interior through the windows?”

Cha Cha retorted moodily, ”I can, but are you sure you can do it?”

Angel: ”...?”

Cha Cha: ”Do you want to climb the walls with your bare hands? Even the windows on the first floor are two meters high. Can you climb up there? Moreover, at night, the wind here is strong; a slight carelessness and you could be blown away.”

At this point, Cha Cha pointed to the jagged bricks on either side of the sewer path: ”Otherwise, do you think I would bring you this way? Both sides are sealed here, so even if there’s a strong wind, you don’t have to worry about being blown away.”

Angel was taken aback. So, Cha Cha had been making him climb the pipe considering his frailness?

But is it really as Cha Cha said, impossible to enter through the windows? Isn’t there a pipe located just beside a window?

Angel also stood up and cautiously poked his head out to glance down.

This glance made him gasp for breath.

He had always thought the third floor was quite low, but he had forgotten that at this moment he had become a thumb-sized character. Comparing his current size to the height of the third floor—it was like a chasm!

Moreover, Cha Cha was right; the walls of the castle were very smooth. Even if there were brick seams, it would be difficult to ensure one could climb from the very bottom up to the window.

If you accidentally fell, it would be fatal.

”Don’t worry, we’re still in the living quarters of the servants, so there will still be puppet guards patrolling. Once we reach the side building, we won’t have to worry about those stupid puppets,” Cha Cha said softly, thinking Angel was still worrying about the footsteps earlier.

Angel didn’t explain, just nodded.

Earlier, he thought taking the pipe circuitous route was a hassle, but now he understood Cha Cha’s well-intentioned considerations.

It could be said that Cha Cha chose this route entirely with Angel’s safety in mind.

”Let’s go,” Cha Cha said and continued to walk forward.

But after taking a few steps, he realized Angel hadn’t followed. Turning back, he noticed Angel was using a cape made from a bundle to wipe the bricks he had supported with his hands earlier.

”There are handprint marks,” Angel explained.

Cha Cha: ”It doesn’t matter. No one will check here anyway.”

Angel: ”It’s always good to be cautious.”

Since Cha Cha had been considering his safety all along, Angel felt apologetic benefiting without contributing. The least he could do was to try to erase the traces they left to avoid any potential repercussions.

Although Cha Cha thought Angel was being unnecessarily meticulous, he said nothing and silently waited for Angel to finish cleaning up the traces before continuing onward.

...

Soon, they passed through the living quarters of the puppet servants and arrived at the quieter side building.

What they needed to do now was to climb down the chimney from the side building and enter the interior of the castle.

The chimney on the side building rose about half a meter from the ground. This half meter had nothing to hold on to, which meant they had to climb it with their bare hands.

This round of climbing also gave Angel a deeper understanding of why entering through the window was nearly impossible. Climbing just this half-meter was enough to exhaust Angel. Thinking about the height of the third floor, he was utterly unnerved.

Luckily, the chimney’s bricks had many gaps, allowing Angel some rest, otherwise, it was uncertain how long it would take to climb to the top in one go.

When they reached the top of the chimney, Cha Cha had been waiting for some time. Without waiting for Angel to catch his breath, she grabbed his hand.

Angel was still puzzled when a cold wind blew.

Angel immediately felt weightless, his feet being blown off the ground. It was fortunate Cha Cha was holding his hand; otherwise, he would have been in big trouble.

When the wind subsided, Cha Cha released his hand: ”Now you see how dangerous it is to climb the walls with bare hands. You were climbing in a sheltered position just now, so it was fine. Imagine if you were climbing with the wind or with the wind blowing from the side, what would it be like?”

Angel didn’t know what it would be like, because he didn’t dare imagine!

Cha Cha gazed at the dark horizon: ”It seems there are likely more gusts coming, so let’s not linger outside. Let’s hurry into the castle.”

With that, Cha Cha took off her hat and gave it a gentle shake. The teapot hat swelled with the wind, growing twice its size, filled with air.

”Hold on tight!”

With those words, Cha Cha used the teapot hat as a ”parachute” and jumped straight into the chimney.

Seeing this, Angel hastily grabbed one side of the teapot hat.

Angel only felt a sense of weightlessness, followed by a gentle descent. After about a dozen seconds, they finally landed.

Angel took several seconds to gradually calm his uncontrollable heartbeat before standing up to observe their surroundings.

They were now inside a pile of firewood, presumably among unlit furnace logs.

”Lucky! There’s no one here. You can come out now,” Cha Cha’s voice called out.

Angel looked over and found that Cha Cha had already walked out from the firewood. At this moment, he was pacing around the room.

After confirming the room was empty, Angel also stepped out. Before he left, Angel didn’t forget to wipe clean their footprints.

”This is the guest room on the third floor of the side building, usually no one comes here.” Rabbit Cha Cha was speaking as it climbed onto a table corner, picking up a silver dining fork from the table, ”This thing isn’t bad, we can use it to make a flag when we go back.”

Then, Angel watched as Rabbit Cha Cha put the dining fork into its hat.

Angel didn’t know how the enormous fork disappeared into the teapot hat, but he felt like he was beginning to understand why Rabbit Cha Cha accompanied him into the castle.

Perhaps it wasn’t just to help him find the mirror; it probably treated the castle as its own backup storage.

It’s likely that the items in the Rabbit Hole were all brought over from the castle.

”If there’s anything you fancy, feel free to take it. Anyway, no one comes here, even if someone does, they wouldn’t know what’s missing.” Rabbit Cha Cha said: ”That’s the best part about the side building.”

Angel shook his head: ”No, even if I take them, I can’t carry them away.”

Rabbit Cha Cha sized Angel up, nodded: ”That’s true, you have no place to store things... But, speaking of it, how will you carry the mirror if you find it?”

Angel: ”I don’t know either, and besides, I may not even need to take it.”

Angel suspected that finding the mirror might be the key to the anomaly, rather than removing it.

Think about it, where can you take the mirror away to? After all, this is an anomaly. Taking the mirror outside wouldn’t be much different from leaving it here.

However, this was just Angel’s suspicion; the specifics will only be known once he sees the mirror.

”True, you entered Teapot Country because of the mirror, perhaps you only need to find the mirror to leave Teapot Country...” Rabbit Cha Cha said: ”Moreover, if you really can’t carry it, I can help you store the mirror too. My Rabbit Hole happens to lack a mirror.”

Angel: ”...Thank you.”

After staying in the room for a while, Rabbit Cha Cha led Angel out the door.

The side building lived up to its name; from the third floor to the first floor, not a single silhouette was seen. Not even the puppet servants were present.

However, upon leaving the side building, they immediately heard the thumping of footsteps. It was just the sound, no person was seen, probably coming from the neighboring building. Nonetheless, it was known that leaving the side building equated to exiting the safety zone, and henceforth, every step of the journey must be cautious.

”Next, we are heading to the main building. Whether it’s the storage room, study, or treasure vault, they’re all in the main building or near it.” Rabbit Cha Cha set the next target, beginning the ”breakthrough” with Angel.

There was a corridor approximately twenty meters in straight distance from the side building to the main building.

Notably, the outer side of the corridor was a closed wall, but the inner side was a small open-air area. The open-air area was designed into a pond, visible were teapot fish identical to those in the moat.

Walking directly in the corridor, it’s easy to unexpectedly encounter puppet servants. Thus, Rabbit Cha Cha led Angel to the pond’s side. There was a dry interval zone between the pond and the corridor edge, enough to accommodate their passage.

Even if well-prepared, it’s difficult to walk to the end without issues.

Because the man-eating teapot fish are very sensitive to life aura, if they catch Angel’s and Rabbit Cha Cha’s scent, they would surely attack following the scent.

Fortunately, Rabbit Cha Cha was prepared.

It pulled out grass-green balls one after another from its hat, throwing them into the pond.

The teapot fish in the pond immediately became agitated; Angel saw several teapot fish leap out of the water just to compete for those grass-green balls.

Once the pond returned to calm, Rabbit Cha Cha ceased throwing the grass balls, signaling Angel: ”We can walk now.”

Rabbit Cha Cha first flipped over the corridor’s railing, and Angel quickly followed.

”Hurry up, I think I hear the footsteps of the puppet maid. Besides, my mystery grass meatballs can only daze the teapot fish for two minutes, we must take advantage of this time to get far away from the pond.”

With that said, Rabbit Cha Cha swiftly ran forward. Angel didn’t overthink, chasing after Rabbit Cha Cha.

About half a minute later, Angel heard the clacking sounds, clearly the puppet maid had arrived at this corridor.

Angel was uncertain whether he should hide, but seeing Rabbit Cha Cha still running, he gritted his teeth and continued running with Cha Cha.

The footsteps grew closer, and Angel quickened his pace.

Another minute passed before Angel saw Rabbit Cha Cha waving at him from behind a big tree; with a leap, he landed beside Cha Cha. Before he could settle on the ground, Cha Cha grabbed him behind the tree.

At the same time, a stiff-faced, eerily-looking puppet maid slowly extended her long neck, peeking toward the pond.

If Angel were to delay any further, he would surely be discovered by the maid.

He escaped the maid’s gaze at the very last moment.

The puppet maid seemed puzzled by the tranquil pond, extending her giraffe-like hat, scrutinizing both left and right... Usually, these teapot fish would leap excitedly at the sound of her footsteps, why are they suddenly all drooping today?

Could they be dead?

If they were dead, should she still feed the fish? Wait, if they are indeed dead, she would likely be sentenced to death by Earl, after all, she was assigned by Earl specifically to feed the fish.

While all sorts of thoughts flashed through the puppet maid’s mind, the pond regained its vitality.

Several man-eating teapot fish leaped from the water, baring their sharp teeth-filled mouths, launching an attack at the puppet maid.

The previously bewildered maid, upon witnessing the teapot fish being so ”livelily bouncing,” finally widened her stiff lips.

Great, it seems the fish are fine... Perhaps they were just sleeping earlier? Or intentionally quiet in wait for an attack?

No matter which, the maid felt indifferent, as long as they’re alive.

”La la... La...”

The puppet maid hummed a strange, unpleasant, and hoarse tune, tossing chunks of unidentified meat into the pond.

The teapot fish immediately abandoned their attack on the maid, starting to tear apart the white meat floating on the pond’s surface.

Within mere seconds, the meat vanished, not even leaving bones behind.

The puppet maid was satisfied with the teapot fish’s vitality, continuing to feed them the meat.

Several minutes passed until the teapot fish were confirmed to be seventy percent full, and the puppet maid slowly departed...

After the maid left, Angel whispered: ”Was that a maid just now?”

Rabbit Cha Cha nodded: ”Yes.”

Perhaps seeing Angel still looking shocked, Rabbit Cha Cha comforted: ”The maids of the Black Tea Castle are all like this, very terrifying, so you must be extra careful. Once discovered, you’ll certainly die.”

Angel nodded bewilderedly.

That maid earlier... she wore a maid outfit, yet her face looked entirely like a puppet, and that wasn’t all, her neck could extend meters, it was too frightening.

Apart from that, the maid’s skirt concealed strange feet, just one peg leg like the puppet guards. The puppet guards hop around, but this puppet maid seemed to have wheels installed underfoot, gliding smoothly on the ground.

If the entire castle is filled with these terrifying servants, the difficulty of this anomaly is exceedingly high.

What kind of mirror did he refine that led to creating such a high-difficulty anomaly?