Warlock Apprentice

It was Ananda and Hobbiton.

“Thank goodness I found you, sir!” Ananda bowed to Angor and forcefully dragged Hobbiton over.

“You… know me?” Angor was a little surprised. Normally, Ananda should have forgotten everything about the Twilight Well when she left there.

Ananda nodded, but she then shook her head. “I already forgot about you, but Hobbiton reminded me of our trip later. Although I can’t say I remember everything.”

She cast a sad look on her clothes where some oil characters were written.

Angor looked at Hobbiton who was pouting with a frustrated look and asked, “You didn’t lose your memory?”

“Why should I?” Hobbiton mumbled unwillingly.

Hobbiton was a child both on the outside and inside, so Angor did not really mind the kid’s behavior. He turned to Ananda next.

“So do you want something from me?” Angor continued walking toward the city gate while Ananda followed behind, dragging Hobbiton with her.

“Are you going to leave Midnight Sovereign, sir wizard?” Ananda tried to keep the conversation going while pulling Hobbiton close to her side like a mother trying to handle her child.

“Yes.”

Ananda looked between Angor’s indifferent attitude and Hobbiton, who was too slow to register her intention. Then she rushed in front of Angor and knelt down.

“Please save Hobbiton’s life, sir!” Without giving a reason for her behavior, Ananda simply began to ‘kowtow’ loudly while forcing Hobbiton to do the same.

She used too much force that she was bleeding on her forehead.

Angor frowned. These two were trouble. They always were.

“Stop it. Get up and speak.”

Ananda did not listen. She kept bumping her head while muttering “save Hobbiton” as if she would keep doing this until Angor agreed whatever she was requesting.

Angor used Hand of Spell to force Ananda up. “I freaking hate moral superiority. Talk, if you have something to ask, or get lost. Don’t waste my time.”

Ananda shivered and quickly lowered her head. “I-I asked Hobbiton about his family yesterday, sir. He heard something from Duke Tepikkhu by accident, that this kid is going to be presented to a wizard as a sacrificial tribute, so he ran away from his home.”

“Tribute to a wizard?” Angor raised an eyebrow. “Wizards don’t use Phantom Servants as tributes.”

Ananda looked at Hobbiton, hoping for more details.

Hobbiton only talked after Ananda gave him several painful pinches. “I used my ability to hide in my dad’s study so I can scare him. Then he talked to my big brother, that he will offer me to a wizard called Lotus. My brother said Lotus is a merciless killer and I’ll definitely die. I was too scared, so I ran.”

Ananda spoke along, “I heard you mentioning Lady Lotus arriving at Midnight Sovereign yesterday, sir, and I was worried. I hope you can help Hobbiton.”

Angor rubbed his temples, considered the situation, and kept walking to the gate.

“Lady Lotus isn’t someone I can oppose. Sorry, but no can do.”

Ananda almost cried out again. She followed closely behind until Angor reached the train station.

“Sir! Hobbiton will lose his life if you don’t do anything! I know you’re different than the other wizards, please!”

Ananda was going to kneel again but Angor stopped her using Hand of Spell. There were people around the train station, and Angor did not want to draw too much attention.

“I’ll say it again, I hate being forced by morals, and you did it a second time today.” He looked at Ananda with a colder look. “I don’t know you two, and there’s no way I’ll offend a being famous in the southern region just because a stranger asked me to. Lady Lotus is someone several generations beyond my level, and I can’t save anyone or anything from her. Not even an ant.”

Angor did not lie about that point, but Hobbiton found it irritating. The kid jumped forward and yelled at Ananda, “I don’t need this man’s help. Let’s go, sis. We’ll go find a map in the library so we can get to Brute Cavern on our own!”

Angor glanced at the child. “And you think you can escape like that? If Lady Lotus wants to find someone, she’ll find you no matter where you go.”

Hobbiton tried to retort again, only to be stopped by Ananda. “Sir, Hobbiton means he’s going to find his grandfather in Brute Cavern. He says that man can help him.”

“Grandfather? There’s someone in your family who can hold off Lotus? Then why did you leave your family in the first place?”

“His grandfather is called Goode,” Ananda replied, “someone who is working alongside a great wizard.”

“Goode?!”

…

A while later, Angor was on the train toward Parmigi Highlands. The solid sound of wheels running on rails soothed his mind a little.

Every now and then, a lamp hanging on the tunnel wall would repel the great darkness that loomed over the train.

Angor leaned against a window and went over his thoughts.

Hobbiton and Ananda sat across to him. The child Hobbiton had fallen asleep while listening to the train wheels running, while Ananda looked over him with gentleness. Anyone who looked at the adorable face of the child for the first time would mistake him as an innocent sleeping angel.

Ananda looked up at Angor.

Under the shifting lamplight, Ananda believed she saw a grown-up for a moment. She gradually grew lost when staring at Angor’s composed temperament.

Angor suddenly spoke up, “I can help Hobbiton to buy an airship ticket, considering how Butler Goode did so much for me. As for you…”

Ananda jumped a little. “It’s okay, sir. As long as Hobbiton is safe.”

Angor nodded. Hobbiton’s relation with Goode did not mean that he should get too involved in this.

He would avoid getting dragged into anything related to Lady Lotus at all cost. A ticket cost two crystals. Sending Hobbiton to Goode was still something he could do.

Time went by in silence. There was only the sound of train wheels running and Hobbiton’s snoring.

“Sir… I don’t have the potential to become a wizard, right?” Ananda asked.

“I don’t know. You need to go through a proper test to know that. But… maybe Hobbiton has something. Resisting the memory-erasing spell isn’t something a mortal can do.”

Ananda lowered her head and looked at the words on her clothes again. She no longer knew where or how she got those written, but she could still read them.

“Potion of Austere Night”

About half an hour later, the train exited the deep tunnel and arrived at the airship landing.

Angor left the train and sensed coldness invading his bones.

The underground world was quite warm. Now the chilling air on the highlands felt terrible.

Angor was going to ask Ananda to wait on the train, so he could take Hobbiton and buy a ticket. He turned around and saw Ananda giving the child her coat. While the child slept soundly in the cold air, the woman’s glossy shoulder and slim thighs trembled in the wind.

Angor did not say anything and went to the ticket stand.

The Parmigi Highlands at night was shrouded under shining stars which stretched all the way to the horizon in the distance.

Looking at the scenery, Angor remembered a painting hanging in his bedroom: the Traveler Under Stars, which he found from the Nightmare Realm.

He found himself becoming the same traveler in the painting; one who walked alone on the vast wilderness, under the starry night, chasing his own destination.

The ticket stand was a bit crowded. Angor soon bought an extra ticket back to Brute Cavern, but he suddenly noticed Dave sneaking to him, carrying a weird expression on his pockmarked face.

“Pee-kaboo! Aha!” Dave moved his face so close that Angor jumped a little.

“Oh, come on! What are you, a five-year-old?”

“Aw, chill out! And it’s not like I’m old. Man’s pretty young!” Dave chuckled. “Hey, what’s that ticket for? Did you drop yours somewhere?”

Angor shook his head and pointed to Ananda. “It’s for Hobbiton.”

“Hobbiton?” Dave looked at the direction. “What happened to ‘staying out of this’? Why did you-oh… you like that woman called Ananda, right? Ha! I’ll admit, she’s hot.”

“Stop assuming things,” Angor complained.

“So that’s why you left to do something on your own. You went to meet with her, eh? Tsk. I thought you’re someone who’ll never learn about such things.”

Angor put a Hand of Spell on Dave’s head, heavily. “Just stop. I was the one who got caught by these two on the street.”