Warlock Apprentice

Phantom Island was well in sight in the foggy weather.

Before Angor could enter the island from where he had been away for almost a year, a carrier pigeon suddenly flew to him and blocked his path.

After leaving Tree Spirit Palace, he ran into a lot more people who either wanted his service or delivered messages for other wizards. He did not accept any of the invitations. Similarly, he planned to disregard the pigeon as well.

But he changed his mind when he noticed the envelope. Unlike the random notes sent by other wizards, this one showed a golden glimmer in the light.

On closer look, he saw the wax seal on the letter showing Rein Mute’s signature.

He surely did not want to disappoint the supreme leader of Brute Cavern without a reason, so he took the letter in his hand, after which the bird turned into a flock of feathers with a “poof”.

A particularly shiny feather landed on the wax seal and melted it.

Angor already knew that Rein Mute was another typical, old-fashioned gentleman who loved such kinds of formalities. Rein Mute and Sunders resembled each other in many ways.

He slowly went across the barrier around Phantom Island while unfolding the letter, bringing out a pleasant aroma that suggested the great quality of the writing material. The paper must have cost a lot. Rein Mute was probably the only one in the organization who would send letters to him in this way.

The content of the letter was simple—Rein would like Angor to visit his wizard tower and talk over a cup of drink.

The invitation did not determine the time of the meeting. Instead, Rein left it blank.

When Angor saw the golden feather earlier had turned into a small quill, he understood what Rein meant by it.

He considered and used the quill to leave a date on the letter.

[New Southern Era 7377, Month of Late Fall, 7th]

It was tomorrow.

As soon as he finished, the quill transformed into the same pigeon with another poof, which hovered in front of him.

Angor returned the folded letter back into the envelope and allowed the bird to carry it away.

He didn’t know what Rein wanted with him, but he did find it a good opportunity to talk with Rein because he might be able to find Sunders in this way.

Back in Tree Spirit Palace, Tree Spirit only mentioned that Sunders was still in the Abyss and would not get back any time soon. And when Tree Spirit failed to tell him a way to contact Sunders, Angor immediately thought about Rein Mute.

Fortunately, it seemed Rein would also like to see him, which saved him a lot of effort.

…

“Welcome back, Mister Padt,” Goode greeted Angor at the entrance of Sunders’ mansion.

“Hello, Goode.”

Toby jumped out of Angor’s pocket and looked at Greya’s hut. He couldn’t wait to see his old master again after all this time.

“Lady Greya is not present,” Goode said and stopped Toby from heading there.

“Um? But isn’t Lady Greya waiting for my professor?”

Goode explained what happened during these months while they went to the mansion.

According to Goode, Sumesh returned to Brute Cavern on the same day when Angor left. Then, Greya claimed that she would spend some time alone in seclusion. Later, she came out of the hut and left Brute Cavern to do something, and she had yet to come back.

Angor had been considering Greya as a second option if he couldn’t find Jon’s cure from Sunders. He was a bit disappointed to learn that Greya was not here.

“What’s your next plan in Brute Cavern, Mister Padt?” asked Goode.

“Well, I have something to attend to elsewhere, so I can’t stay for too long. Do you know how I can get in touch with the professor?”

Goode shook his head. “The master did not give us a means of communication.”

Angor nodded in frustration and returned to his room.

He thought about paying Flora a visit later. And if Flora didn’t know how to talk to Sunders either, he would have to rely on Rein Mute.

When taking a brief respite on his bed, he saw Toby still feeling down because they didn’t get to see Greya.

“Hey, Toby, should we check out the dream wasteland together?”

Toby shook his head—he knew the place didn’t have many things worth his time.

“Not anymore, it got a lot livelier than before,” said Angor. “Guess what, you can pick a spot in the city, and I’ll build you a house so that you can invite your friends or even Lady Greya there.”

Seeing Toby perk up, Angor gladly sent both of them into the Foundation City.

The citizens all gazed at Toby curiously because there weren’t any birds in their city. Toby didn’t look happy when everyone was looking at him like watching a zoo animal.

“Oops… Toby, you can check out the city yourself and tell me which place you like,” said Angor.

Toby nodded and swiftly disappeared into the sky.

Angor had no problem leaving Toby roaming in the city since none of the mortals were fast enough to catch him. Besides, Toby was alive. “Dying” in the dream wasteland wouldn’t cause any bad consequences.

He was wondering whether he should check on Jon when Freud found him first.

“Someone told me a man with a bird just arrived, and I knew it was you, sir!” Freud grinned. “Are you back at Fey Continent?”

Angor nodded. “I just went back to Brute Cavern.”

“So the ‘connection’ still works when we’re so far apart. Guess the distance isn’t a problem for us. I wonder if we can still meet like this if you go to another plane. If so, this will be the most efficient means of communication wizards ever found!”

“I’ll try it out when I do get a chance to travel that far. How’s Jon doing, Freud?”

“Mister Jon is fine as far as I can see. Nothing special happened these days.”

“Good.” Angor nodded. At least the corruption brought by the world’s consciousness couldn’t reach here. Yet.

Using his nightmare vision, he saw Jon working on something inside Ocean Theater, together with Monroe and a group of city officials. He considered and decided not to bother them for now. Jon seemed to be enjoying his work.

“Oh, right,” Freud suddenly spoke again. “When you left Freighting Town, a man named Rossum came. He wanted to see you.”