Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2962: Chapter 2963: Conversation on the Terrace

”What’s going on, why are there puppet guards here?”

Just as Rabbit Tea Cha was in a daze, she didn’t notice the puppet guards slowly turning their heads.

Angel quickly pulled Tea Cha back, drawing her protruding little head back, only then did the puppet Tea Cha come to her senses, directly jumping down a layer of stairs with Angel, clinging closely to the inner wall, holding their breath and staying silent.

In the corridor, the puppet guard glanced at the stairway entrance and then turned its head back. Its subjective consciousness didn’t detect any problem; the reason it turned its head was just an instinctive action to look, but this belongs to a subconscious alert...The puppet guard itself didn’t notice this.

Angel and Rabbit Tea Cha narrowly escaped danger, but they dared not explore carelessly again.

”Perhaps this puppet guard has stronger counter-reconnaissance capabilities, it’s best not to look at it directly, not even through the mirror,” Angel suggested.

He naturally couldn’t discover the puppet guard’s situation; he said this merely to proceed more cautiously.

Often, established perceptions lead to negligence. Rabbit Tea Cha always thought that looking through the mirror wouldn’t worry about being discovered, but what if this puppet was specifically crafted to counter such reconnaissance behavior?

Rabbit Tea Cha exhaled fearfully: ”Maybe you’re right... I just don’t understand, why are there puppet guards here? Last time I came, there weren’t any.”

”Could it be that the half-length mirror is inside, so Black Tea Earl appointed guards to watch it?”

Angel: ”I don’t think that’s the case.”

If the half-length mirror were truly precious, wouldn’t it be safer for Black Tea Earl to have the puppet guards place the mirror in the Treasure Vault when he leaves, rather than appoint someone outside to guard it?

The bigger possibility is...

Angel: ”Could it be because Black Tea Earl became vigilant?”

Rabbit Tea Cha turned her head: ”What do you mean?”

Angel didn’t dare look at Rabbit Tea Cha, softly said: ”Maybe the study was robbed not long ago, so Black Tea Earl appointed guards to prevent such a situation from happening again.”

Rabbit Tea Cha stroked her chin: ”What you’re saying also makes sense... huh?! No, you’re not talking about me, are you? Are you calling me a thief?”

Rabbit Tea Cha’s eyes widened round, and her cheeks puffed up with anger.

Angel hastily consoled: ”Not at all, I was just making a guess, a guess.”

Rabbit Tea Cha squinted at Angel for a while, snorted softly, turned aside: ”Fine, what you said... also makes sense.”

Rabbit Tea Cha’s tone became deflated: ”Perhaps it really is because I borrowed a hat from the study, leading to Black Tea Earl becoming alert, assigning guards.”

Angel: ... Hmm, it’s ”borrowed,” a cute little rabbit wanting a hat can’t be described as stealing, can it?

”So what do we do now?” Rabbit Tea Cha sighed: ”The puppet guards won’t move capriciously. Since stationed at the study entrance, surely they won’t move around for a while, if it doesn’t move, we can’t get past... sigh, it’s a bit difficult now.”

Angel also sank into contemplation.

Just as Rabbit Tea Cha said, indeed the current situation presents challenges, if the puppet guard doesn’t leave, they can’t sneak in.

After a moment of silence, Rabbit Tea Cha’s eyes suddenly lit up: ”I thought of a way.”

Angel looked at Rabbit Tea Cha, waiting for her explanation.

”I’ll distract it, you sneak into the study,” Rabbit Tea Cha excitedly described her plan, summarized in one word: diversion.

Angel: ”If you do this, you’ll be caught.”

Rabbit Tea Cha shook her head: ”I’m great at mimicking sounds, as soon as the maids move away, I’ll go by the window and pretend to be a hungry Crow, making low sounds. The puppet guard will definitely come to check, at that time, you can rush into the study. The servant’s entrance is below the door, you won’t exert much effort to climb in, thus the plan is a success.”

”Don’t worry about me, I have methods to become invisible, the guards won’t find me.”

Rabbit Tea Cha spoke with confidence, Angel believed too, its invisibility is surely a hidden skill, maybe it’s really possible to fool the guards.

The whole plan indeed has high feasibility, yet Angel still shook his head: ”Even if the guards don’t discover you, it will certainly arouse suspicion.”

In Black Tea Castle as long as the puppet doesn’t find abnormalities, it’s a low difficulty infiltration. But once the puppets start suspecting and become collectively vigilant, Black Tea Castle’s infiltration mode will directly escalate explosively.

Even if Angel successfully reaches the study, even if lucky enough to find the half-length mirror in the study, and leave the anomaly, he still couldn’t feel assured.

Because Rabbit Tea Cha might not necessarily escape smoothly under the puppet servants’ heightened alertness.

Previously, Angel thought the anomaly was just an Illusion Dream. But throughout this journey, Angel perceives this anomaly as too real, real to the point... maybe it is a corner of some distant world.

Even if not real, maybe it has ways to influence reality... like Augustine’s casual compliment - ”Bathed in moonlight chanter”, which influenced this journey’s end to the Underground Aqueduct.

So, if Rabbit Tea Cha really meets trouble here, perhaps it also affects her real self.

Throughout, Angel takes such cautious steps, even using the saddlebags as a cloth to constantly erase their traces, just to avoid exposure, prevent Rabbit Tea Cha from facing dangerous situations.

Moreover, Angel has received much help from Cha Cha along the way, as a return, Angel cannot see Cha Cha fall into danger because of him.

”Let them become suspicious, doesn’t matter, you just need to enter the study...” Rabbit Tea Cha still spoke nonchalantly.

Angel shook his head, he didn’t voice his inner thoughts, just calmly said: ”If causing the puppets’ suspicion here, then it’s even less likely we can go to the Treasure Vault. So, it’s best we don’t do anything to attract their attention, diversion will definitely make them suspicious.”

Rabbit Tea Cha: ”Do you have a way?”

Angel fell silent.

Rabbit Tea Cha waved her hand: ”See, you can’t find a way, might as well follow what I said. As for the Treasure Vault, we can try next time.”

Next time? Now, with the Earl away, difficulty already leans high, when the Earl returns, do they still want to go to the Treasure Vault?

Angel pondered a while, then suddenly a scene flashed in his mind: it was an image when they were behind the tree in the courtyard.

”It’s not that there’s no way,” Angel murmured.

Rabbit Tea Cha: ”What way?”

Angel: ”Scale the wall.”

...

About a quarter after, Angel and Rabbit Tea Cha carefully arrived at the fifth floor.

After bypassing the patrolling maids, they arrived at the terrace on the fifth floor.

Even before reaching the edge of the terrace, a gust of night wind blew, sending Angel and the rabbit Cha Cha tumbling over. Fortunately, the rabbit Cha Cha swiftly grabbed onto the terrace door, otherwise, they might have been carried away by the wind.

A minute later, hiding in the corner of the balcony, the rabbit Cha Cha looked at Angel: ”Are you really deciding to jump down from here?”

Angel: ”This method won’t attract the attention of those puppets, and earlier, by the pond, I saw the study window was ajar, so I have a chance to get in.”

”Moreover, the distance from the fifth floor to the fourth floor isn’t far either.”

The rabbit Cha Cha pondered, ”It’s indeed not far, but the wind is strong, just a slight gust and we’re gone.”

Angel: ”It’s not us, it’s me.”

The rabbit Cha Cha was taken aback: ”Huh?”

Angel whispered: ”You’ve helped me a lot along the way, this time, I’ll handle it myself.”

Climbing the wall is dangerous, Angel knows this, so he will take the risk himself without dragging the rabbit Cha Cha along.

”No way, since I’m here with you...”

Angel interrupted: ”There’s nothing impossible, have you forgotten my ’Gliding Wings’?”

Angel gestured to the harness on his body: ”Once I can’t hold on, I’ll just be blown down; with the Gliding Wings, as long as I don’t fall into the pond, there won’t be any problem.”

”Besides, if I’m blown down, I’ll need you to assist me, so you shouldn’t go.”

”Either wait for my success, and I’ll directly return to the Human Realm, allowing you to safely leave the castle. Or wait for my failure, being blown down, and you wait for me below.”

The rabbit Cha Cha listened to the options Angel presented, showing a hesitant expression. It seemed indeed there wouldn’t be much issue, at worst, they would start over after being blown down.

Thinking this way, after a moment of hesitation, the rabbit Cha Cha still nodded: ”Then, be careful.”

Angel nodded.

After quietly waiting for a moment, confirming the wind had lessened and didn’t seem to come again temporarily, Angel set off.

He carefully approached the edge of the terrace, saying to the following rabbit Cha Cha: ”If I get in, and within ten minutes you don’t see me at the window, it means I’ve succeeded and might have returned to the Human Realm.”

”If I show up at the window within ten minutes, then we need to consider heading towards the Treasure Vault.”

Angel could tell rabbit Cha Cha was worried, so he didn’t say anything reassuring at this moment, but rather directly assumed the situation after he successfully entered the study.

”Also, if I haven’t come out, it must be a success; by then, I might leave without saying goodbye... Thank you for your help, I hope we have a chance to meet again.”

The rabbit Cha Cha was initially worried about Angel’s wall-climbing venture, but Angel’s words diverted its attention: ”It’s better not to meet again, Teapot Country is very dangerous, you should stay safely in the Human Realm.”

Angel chuckled: ”This time I see you as Mortals, who knows next time I might meet you as a Transcendent.”

The rabbit Cha Cha shook its head: ”Even as a Transcendent, coming to Teapot Country is equally dangerous. This time you didn’t encounter the Black Tea Earl, if you truly meet him, even just sneaking a glance, you’ll understand what disparity means.”

”Moreover, the Black Tea Earl is not the strongest in Teapot Country. There are many stronger than the Black Tea Earl, like to the south of the Black Tea Forest, is the territory of the Red Tea Grand Duke, a strong force amongst strong ones, maybe only the royal family of Teapot could suppress him.”

”So, don’t think about coming to Teapot Country, it’s very dangerous, a slight mistake and you might become... a human-animal.”

Saying this, the rabbit Cha Cha saw Angel still looking indifferent, and anxiously continued: ”I have a human friend, who was eventually transformed into a human-animal by the Green Tea Princess...”

Angel could see that the rabbit Cha Cha was genuinely trying to dissuade him from coming back to Teapot Country, even revealing its buried secret.

Previously, when mentioning human-animal, the rabbit Cha Cha was visibly somber, perhaps because of this incident.

Angel: ”Listening to you... Teapot Country indeed sounds dangerous.”

The rabbit Cha Cha eagerly nodded: ”So, you really shouldn’t come back.”

Angel sighed lightly: ”But this isn’t something I can decide.”

The rabbit Cha Cha didn’t quite hear, puzzled: ”Huh?”

Angel: ”Nothing, I mean, my visit to Teapot Country was accidental. No one can guarantee that I won’t have accidents in the future.”

In the real world, Angel refined a Half-length Mirror, and an anomaly appeared in Teapot Country, manifesting as a mirror.

Who knows, if next time he refines something else, will there be another anomaly bringing him back to Teapot Country.

Of course, the probability of alchemical anomalies appearing in ’series’ is small, but since he used the ’Mad Hat’s Crowning’, a mysterious Magic Pattern from Teapot Country, coming back next time isn’t entirely impossible.

Angel: ”If I really have an unforeseen situation next time and come to Teapot Country again, can I find you?”

The rabbit Cha Cha: ”You better not think of such possibilities.”

Angel shrugged: ”I’m talking about ’if’, just in case.”

The rabbit Cha Cha pondered for a moment but still said: ”If you truly have the misfortune to fall into Teapot Country again, you can try calling me.”

”How to call?”

The rabbit Cha Cha: ”I’ll teach you a Sacrifice Ceremony; no need for sacrificing meat, offering a hat or teapot, teacup will do. Write my name on the sacrifice, I’ll follow the ceremony’s scent to find you.”

After saying this, the rabbit Cha Cha described the steps of a Sacrifice Ceremony.

With Angel’s knowledge, he could easily see that this ceremony had no issues. Moreover, it was a ceremony that Mortals could arrange.

The rabbit Cha Cha: ”Remember, this ceremony only works if you accidentally fall into Teapot Country again. Using it in the Human Realm will have no effect.”

Angel nodded: ”Got it.”

Then, Angel waved to the rabbit Cha Cha: ”We’ve talked enough, I’m going down now, goodbye.”

Finished speaking, Angel began climbing down along the wall’s groove.

The reason for starting the climb so abruptly was to avoid giving the rabbit Cha Cha time to react. If it came to its senses, it might start worrying again.

Better to leave early while it’s still bewildered.