Warlock Apprentice

A gigantic ray fish was casually swimming at the bottom of Devil’s Water. There was a giant bubble on its back, inside which a delicate crystal penthouse was built, illumined by many glowing gems and corals.

Inside the main hall, a handsome silver-haired man opened his eyes when he heard steady footsteps approaching. Across the transparent crystal wall, he saw a slim young figure heading to his position.

The second man entered the hall and bowed politely. “Mister Sliv.”

Sliv gazed at the speaker’s forehead, where a blue fish scale was fixed.

“Did you find Lucas, Jebra, hmm?”

“No, sir. It isn’t easy to look for the traces left thousands of years ago by a mortal. I came today because those fleas I captured just told me everything they knew.”

“You mean the apprentices wandering around this area? Normally, I’d just toss them into Devil’s Water. But let’s hear what they have to say, so our coming plan isn’t affected in any way, hmm.”

Jebra nodded. “I only did a brief interrogation. They came from Centipede Guild. And it seems they’re not after the mysterious dimension.”

“Pests that deserve to die under our heels, heh.” Sliv spat. “So what are they after, hmm?”

“It’s… Angor.” Jebra frowned slightly when mentioning this name.

“Angor? That rings a bell.” Sliv knuckled his crystal throne and searched his memory. “I heard rumors… that an apprentice named Angor offended you badly. Is it the same Angor, hmm?”

Jebra’s lips twitched. He heard from people that “Sorcerer of Big Fish” Sliv always spoke in a weird way and added “hmm” at the end of every phrase even if it made no sense. But when speaking to Sliv personally, he realized that this was more irritating than expected.

Of course, Jebra didn’t reveal his true feeling on the outside.

“That’s him. However, the rumors aren’t quite right. He didn’t ‘offend’ me.”

“Then why did everyone consider you two as enemies, hmm?” Sliv observed Jebra’s expression and grinned. “The story has reached into the depth of the sea, which means… you allowed this to happen, hmm? By doing so, you wish to hide something, hmm?”

Jebra looked down as he remembered a certain woman with blue hair.

“That’s not it, sir. There’s something I don’t feel like explaining to the public, and I prefer that the false rumors stay that way.”

Sliv stood up from his throne, causing his long silver hair to glitter as if there were stars hidden within.

Even if Sliv didn’t intentionally exert his aura, Jebra felt the overwhelming might keeping him in place.

“You have something you don’t want to tell me, hmm?” Sliv’s tone now sounded like a demand.

Jebra gulped but didn’t respond.

“No matter. Since your professor did not press you for an answer, there’s no point for an outsider like me to mind your business, hmm?”

Sliv walked around Jebra and picked up a picture from a table in the center of the hall.

“Again, to make sure nothing happens to our plan, I should ask this: why are those pests from Centipede Guild after Angor? And why did Angor come to Devil’s Water, hmm?”

“Angor is the student of Phantom Master, sir.”

Sliv suddenly began laughing. “I heard that Sunders recruited a young genius, so that’s him… Sunders almost wiped out the entire Centipede Guild at one time, so the losers meant to get revenge on his student because they’re too weak to confront Sunders. This is very expected from these gutless morons, hmm.”

“As for why Angor is here, the guild learned clues that Angor was heading to his home, the Marginalized Island. That’s why Angor was on a ship and traveling across Devil’s Water,” Jebra continued.

“Marginalized Island? I see. So this Angor has nothing to do with the mysterious dimension either, hmm.”

“How should we deal with the apprentices we captured, sir?”

“As you said, Angor isn’t your enemy, hmm? However… I do hate Sunders for many reasons, and I’d like to see his little student suffer… But I can’t do it myself, because that will unnecessarily anger many people, hmm. Since the Centipede Guild is hunting for Angor, you can set them free and watch the weaklings gnawing at each other. That will be fun, hmm.”

“But… won’t that affect our plan, sir?” Jebra frowned. “Professor told us that the destiny hidden in these waters is crucial to the Song of the Deep. We can’t afford to let some random trespassers ruin everything.”

Sliv handed the picture he was looking at to Jebra. “According to a Prophet, the entrance to the mysterious dimension is guarded by this thing. Do you think the rogue apprentices can get past, hmm?”

Jebra widened his eyes. “Le-Leviathan? But why is it protecting the dimension?”

“Who knows? Nobody can understand Mystery energy and what it brings to this world. Throw those insects out of my sight and keep looking for Lucas. That’s the most important task at hand, hmm.”

Jebra nodded but still looked puzzled. “Mister Sliv, why should we find this Lucas? What does he have to do with the mysterious dimension?”

“Well… even that Prophet can’t give me a definite answer, of course I can’t tell you, hmm.”

…

Angor returned to his room and began looking at the leather book he found.

By some tacit agreement, Helen and Erwin didn’t question what the book was, and Angor was glad that he didn’t have to explain something that mortals weren’t supposed to know.

“This thing’s heavy…” Angor lifted the item in a hand and sensed its weight.

A little excited, he flipped the book open to check the first page.

The smell of rotten parchment tackled his nose.

When he recognized the first line written on the page, he quickly felt disappointed.

It was a logbook.

Earlier, he was hoping to discover a great destiny from the ghost ship. But there was no way a logbook written by a mortal could provide anything like that.

Still, Angor was curious to find out what became of the ship, so he kept reading.

[A logbook written by the most faithful captain during the Age of Gold]

Angor snickered. Who would title himself like that?

[Day 1, Month of Blossom, Gold Age 1347. Weather: fair

[The Feather Fan has undergone many years of maintenance and is finally ready to sail. After my departure, my dear ladies will have one less loyal company to chat with during our noble gatherings. Will they miss me? But why am I not seeing a single friend to see me off? Humph! Died on their sickbeds, I reckon.]

[Day 7, Month of Blossom, Gold Age 1347. Weather: storm to fair

[There was rain just after we left the harbor, and it kept on for three days! All thanks to my ardent prayer, the God of Ocean once again blessed me with sunlight. He also told me that our ship will not be troubled by rainwater ever again!]

[…]

Angor didn’t feel like reading on anymore.

What the heck is this man talking about?

It was common to see noblemen writing diaries using overstatements and pointless speeches. But this logbook still looked too strange. “Praying to receive sunlight” was only one of the many bizarre problems.

[I weep, longing for home. My tears dropped into the ocean and gave birth to a wonderful sea of flowers. The flying petals and fallen leaves came and soothed my aching heart.]

Flowers? On the sea?

As he read more, the “logbook” was beginning to look like someone’s poorly-written romance novel rather than the logs of the captain of a ship.

[Day 16, Month of Resuscitation, Gold Age 1348. Weather: fair

[Here be pirates! With my faithful knight sword in hand, I collected their heads as my bounty! One single swing was all I needed to end the life of their leader, who was cursing my name some miles away. That coward! And their treasures are all mine!]

“Using a knight sword to kill someone miles away? Tsk. This man should have become a novelist rather than a sailor.”

[Day 16, Month of Looming Frost, Gold Age 1350. Weather: sunny

[A flaming dragon is wrestling with another monster on the sea. In the end… the dragon was killed!]

“Yeah right, flaming dragon and the sea. Nice combination.”

Thankfully, the diary only recorded “major” events, so he didn’t have to waste too much time reading insignificant trifles.

[Day 6, Month of Looming Frost, Gold Age 1353. Weather: fog

[It has been thirty days since the Feather Fan returned. Nobody, NOBODY believes the inspiring stories of Captain Lucas! Just because I can’t show them the treasure I collected, they called me a liar! Farewell, world! I shall end my life here. That well over there will do the trick.]

“That’s it?” Angor put down the book and failed to understand the purpose of it.

He hoped to find out why the Feather Fan appeared at Devil’s Water, and how the captain was left alone in his room. But there was absolutely nothing helpful in the book.

Also, it seemed the ship returned to Ferran Land in the end just fine. But how?

“The most faithful Captain Lucas? Seriously?”

He put the book away and planned to forget everything he just read. But something told him to give it more thought.

“What if all the stories are real?”