Warlock Apprentice

The night was not peaceful. Angor could not sleep well because he was always troubled by noises of someone yelling or things being smashed.

Angor climbed up from his bed with sleepy eyes the next morning. He planned to sleep a bit more, but he was prevented by someone screaming madly next door—the Phantom Servant child.

Toby was chirping loudly on his bedstand. Anyone else here would find the bird terribly bothersome, although Angor knew that Toby was only singing the City of Sky in a really bad way, due to the lack of musical senses.

Angor helped Toby changed into a fisherman suit and smoothened his feathers. “There are a lot of wizards attending the fair, so don’t go wander off this time. Stay inside Prome’s yard, alright?”

Toby nodded.

Angor spent some time getting washed, then went to Dave’s room. He could still sense the illusion he deployed yesterday, and the Phantom Servant child was still yelling.

“Good morning, Angor.” Dave showed up, also yawning badly.

“Morning,” Angor replied in a somewhat fatigued way, despite his best effort to psych up in the bathroom.

Dave tilted his head to the kid’s room. “It took me half an hour to figure out how to get out. And only because you already told me about tricking my directions. I had to close my eyes and imagine the room to find out the door located on the ceiling inside the illusion.”

“Or you can just punch a hole on the wall to get out. My illusion’s pretty small. We can patch up the wall for Master Prome later.”

“… Right! How could I not know it? And I burned my brain cells just to redraw the room in my mind…”

Angor pointed toward the room from which the scream of the child was still coming out. “So did you learn anything from him?”

Dave scoffed, “I should’ve killed him yesterday. The bastard tricked me.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s no kid. Just listen to his voice. That sounds like a kid to you?” Dave looked pretty agitated. “He woke up in the middle of the night and didn’t stop screaming ever since. I tried to ask him questions from outside the door, and man, his lips are tight. He told me something in the end, probably because he can’t withstand your illusion anymore.”

They chatted while walking downstairs. “He seems like an eight-year-old kid, right? No! He’s 18. He said something about his growth stopped when he reached the age of seven when his ability awoke. He didn’t tell me his name, nor the reason why he started stealing. But he mentioned someone that he has to find.”

Dave punched the air. “An 18-year-old, grown-up asshole! I should really…”

They came to the kitchen and Angor started to prepare their meal while Dave was still cursing the Phantom Servant.

Angor sliced some pancake and found some milk, somewhat unfocused at his task. He was thinking about Dave’s words.

So the Phantom Servant child-no, Phantom Servant young man, didn’t grow in the body since the age of seven.

Angor recalled that Sunders once mentioned something about how “not everyone with special powers is favored by this world”.

Angor began to understand Sunders’ words now. Dripping River tended to fall asleep a lot, and now this Phantom Servant was left with a child’s body forever… This could also be the very basic rule in the wizarding world—equivalent exchange. Something unknown out there always maintained such a rule. If someone gained something, he or she had to lose something in return. And sometimes this was not optional.

The Phantom Servant probably did not have a choice when he gained the ability of “Void Shift” in exchange for his future growth.

At least Angor would not accept an exchange like that. Growth on the body was necessary as it brought many new forms of development in one’s life. It was evolution.

Despite his real age, the Phantom Servant still seemed like a kid, both body and mind.

To Angor, gaining a natural ability at the cost of body growth was a really bad deal. A Peter Pan might gain sympathy from mortals, but his talent would not help him survive in the brutal wizarding world. Besides, this was Midnight Sovereign, the home of merciless criminals.

Angor and Dave finished their meal and put the matter of the Phantom Servant behind. They still had their own business to attend to.

Angor was going to search for materials outside, while Dave went into the basement to arrange things to be taken back to Brute Cavern.

Again, Angor took Toby by placing him inside his chest pocket in a comfortable position. Toby would not refuse the chance to take it easy in the warmth of his young master.

At the entrance of the base, Angor saw Prome returning with a frustrated look.

Prome did not come back the last night. His expression suggested that his search went in vain.

Angor went to greet Prome, who proved his assumption.

“I checked every alchemy shop in Twilight Well, as well as several private meetings. Nothing. There are weapons for close combats, but not long-range ones. And none of the melee weapons will satisfy my friend.”

Prome sighed helplessly. “Looks like I must rely on Twilight Auction… although I’m not expecting anything from it.”

“Have faith, sir, we’ll find something,” said Angor as he comforted him.

He was going to draw Prelude to Elimination anyway, Angor thought to himself.

“Let’s hope so.” Prome forced a bitter smile. “So, are you going to buy materials? Want me to come with you? Some of the alchemy shops are hidden from plain sight, so you need someone to guide you there. They always sell better things.”

Angor looked at Prome’s tired look and shook his head. “I only need cheap materials such as Echo Flowers. Besides, I need to save money to attend the auction this evening.”

“I see. Then I’ll show you to those shops tomorrow,” said Prome with a grin. “You can go hire mortals in Midnight Sovereign if you have a lot of things to carry.”

“Mortals can enter Twilight Well too?”

“Yes, if a wizard is with them. When their job’s done, they’ll forget almost everything that happened in here as if it was a dream.”

“Wow. Wizardry never ceases to amaze.”

Angor bid farewell to Prome and entered another path on his own.

Prome watched Angor’s back with a meaningful look until the boy disappeared from sight.

Nobility houses gathered near the center of Midnight Sovereign.

Inside a luxurious manor near the palace, a young man walked inside with his head lifted high proudly. An aged butler led him into a study of the family.

“Why are you here? You found Hobbiton yet?” A middle-aged Phantom Servant inside the study spoke. This man shared a similar look with the young man who just came in.

“Father, I found his smell in a small alley, but a wizard took him away.” The young man lowered his head when speaking to his father.

“A wizard? Do tell me.”

The young man described what he saw at the scene.

“It was a spell called Frost. And whoever did it was still a mere apprentice. You don’t find real wizards often.”

“But apprentices are still someone we can’t offend,” the young man commented.

“Lady Lotus wants Hobbiton. If we can’t bring Hobbiton to her, a real wizard will send her fury upon us and burn the whole family to the ground.” The middle-aged servant sighed.

They were in an awkward condition where they had to offend the lesser of the two evils.

The bane of being Phantom Servants.

“You keep looking for Hobbiton. Lady Lotus will arrive in half a month. I shall tell her about the situation by then. Let’s hope she can forgive us considering all the tributes we offered before.”

Angor followed the path he went yesterday and entered Midnight Sovereign again.

According to Prome, he could buy manpower from anyone he wanted, be it children, women or the old, as long as he paid enough money.

He did not see anyone around the hidden entrance. He only heard the noise of crowds gathering coming from the other side of the wall.

The Enchanting Theater.