Warlock Apprentice

“Lady Lotus, Lady Mirror,” Angor said as he bowed. He didn’t expect to see these two powerful beings here.

Lydia simply gave an “oh” as a response, while Lady Mirror inspected the boy with a smile. “Did you finish my customized illusion, Angor?”

It meant the illusion which was both realistic and lewd.

After watching the show in Enchanting Theater, Angor mostly understood what Lady Mirror expected. But he didn’t have much to go with yet, so he only shook his head as an apology.

Lady Mirror only smiled again. “Don’t rush it. Give it five or ten years, as long as you satisfy me. But if you make it too long AND fail to meet my needs… heh.”

Lydia nudged Lady Mirror from behind. “What is that ‘customized illusion’?”

Lady Mirror already planned to show off her personal order to Lydia, and she was glad Lydia mentioned it first. After considering her words, Lady Mirror prepared to explain the whole matter while pretending that it wasn’t anything important.

Before she could say anything though, Tree Spirit interrupted her. “You’re all concerned about Twilight Well, right? Since we have everyone here, I’ll contact Sunders and let him explain what’s going on.”

Lady Mirror stepped back. Learning about the situation was currently more important than showing off.

Tree Spirit took out a shining maple leaf and closed his eyes to concentrate on Sunders, who was now thousands of kilometers away from their position.

Angor approached Goode, who had been comforting Hobbiton, and asked what happened in a small voice.

“Master sent a transmission, asking Mister Padt to head to Twilight Well as fast as possible. I didn’t find you at your house, so I came here to ask Mister Tree Spirit for help.”

Sunders asked him to go to Twilight Well? When he heard about this, Angor’s first impression was that Sunders was urging him to pay Twilight’s debt.

“But Lady Lotus came here next,” Goode continued, “and she said something bad is happening in Midnight Sovereign. Many people ‘turned’. Even Hobbiton’s father…”

Angor was getting more confused now.

Midnight Sovereign? Turned?

“Did that have something to do with Sunders’ request?”

When Angor asked his question, Goode shook his head. “I don’t know. I assume not.”

“… Weird. I’m using three times as much energy,” Tree Spirit suddenly said. “I guess something really bad is going on over there. And… I got him. I think he doesn’t look so good though.”

“Is the professor wounded?” Angor asked.

The remaining people also waited for an answer eagerly.

“He’s fine…” Tree Spirit shook his head. “Just…”

He sighed and said, “Look for yourselves.”

He showed the image to everyone.

Inside a dark chamber that looked like a conference room, Sunders and Devildare sat across each other in silence. A number of bodies laid on the floor behind their backs—wizards from the three clans of Twilight Well.

“They are all unconscious, and wearing colorful clothes like jesters… just like the ‘turned’ individuals in Midnight Sovereign,” Lydia said. She grimaced. “As we expected… wizards cannot resist the parasites either.”

“Mister Tree Spirit…” Devildare spoke in the image. The aged man looked extremely fatigued.

As the connection was established, Devildare and Sunders could see into the Tree Spirit Palace as well.

Devildare slowly shifted his gaze onto Angor while he displayed a mixed emotion.

“What’s going on on your side, Devildare?” Tree Spirit asked first.

“Are your wizards controlled by the parasites too?” Lydia also spoke up.

“Parasites? You already knew?” Devildare sighed deeply. “Yeah… sort of. The three clans would have been exterminated if not for Mister Sunders’ assistance. As for what exactly happened… I think I should ask Mister Sunders to explain.”

Sunders looked at the image and directly fixed his gaze on Angor, ignoring everyone else.

The gentleman seemed both helpless and… proud?

“You already saw our condition, Angor? Tell me, what do you think?”

Sunders was speaking in such a way as if a teacher was lecturing his student. Meanwhile, the others looked at each other in doubt, not knowing what Sunders meant by asking something completely irrelevant.

Angor, on the other hand, frowned. Since Sunders asked him such a question… maybe the whole situation was related to him?

“Nothing in particular. I’m just glad to see you safe, sir.” He could either play blind or flatter his professor in such a situation, and he chose the former.

“Slippery kid,” Sunders said. He then chuckled and addressed the others. “How did you learn about the outbreak in Twilight Well? This dimension has completely fallen, and all plane passageways are blocked out. The monsters have built their nest at the only exit. No one should know how to get the message out.”

There was no one who could establish such effective connections without spending an insane amount of energy like Tree Spirit. Sunders only managed to find a chance to get a brief transmission to Goode at the cost of half of his mana, when the parasite nest was being attacked.

“We guessed so, since… the Midnight Sovereign is fallen as well,” Lady Mirror answered with a cold look.

Sunders nodded—he expected such.

Devildare was quite shocked at the information because Midnight Sovereign was the foundation of Twilight Well. If something bad happened to Midnight Sovereign, then as its “other dimension”, Twilight Well wouldn’t remain safe.

Devildare was so anxious that his hair all slumped down, completely ruining his usual mighty image of the “Azure Lion”.

“The situation is too dangerous, Sunders. Do you have any idea how to end it? Do you know what exactly is this type of parasite yet?” Lady Mirror asked. By asking this, she also meant to ask Sunders whether they should contact Rein and use Expel spells to get rid of the parasitic monsters.

Sunders sighed. “It’s not the ‘parasite’ as you may have assumed. To human bodies, it’s not completely harmful. It even enhances the functions of body cells to a certain extent.”

Everyone looked confused.

“Let me put it this way; this parasite does not kill its host. Rather, it drains pure energy from the environment to keep a human body alive. Such energy is actually beneficial to human bodies.”

They began to understand; an Expel spell only worked on something that harmed people. Everything had two sides, such as certain bacteria which both benefited and destroyed the organism. Expel only determined whether it should cleanse something in this way. It had no effect on something that provided more merit than harm.

According to Sunders, the parasite might control the minds of their hosts, yet it did more good to human bodies. Expel wouldn’t help with such a case.

“The spell won’t work… Do you have something else then? I’ll go call Rein here if we need to,” Lady Mirror said.

“No, Mister Rein won’t know what to do either,” Sunders said as he shrugged. “Or rather, Mister Rein might get too interested in it and decide to research instead. As for the victims… they are the perfect test subjects.”

Lady Mirror considered and agreed that Rein Mute would totally do something like that. The Silencer was very famous for his determination in doing his own researches.

“So… do you know what to do?” Lady Mirror asked for the third time.

Sunders pointed at Angor. “I’m trying, alright? Get him here. That’s our solution.”

…

Under the stars and clouds, a bright-red shadow cruised into the distance at high speed.

Angor sat on a red-skinned flying lizard behind Lydia, who crossed her legs in a really uncomfortable way which caused most of her private areas to be exposed.

Angor couldn’t bear with the sight, so he closed his eyes to meditate.

“Geez. This kid knows how to endure,” Lydia murmured. She had kept her posture for ten minutes now, and Angor never gave her a straight look. Lydia was planning to “blackmail” information out of Angor by using her beauty, but now, she was very disappointed.

Angor already ended his meditation when Lydia complained out loud. But he still kept his head lowered without opening his eyes.

“Tell me, Angor, why did Mister Sunders ask you to go alone?” Lydia asked in a gentle way.

Angor shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Lydia noticed the small hesitation before the answer, which meant Angor already had an idea.

And she felt her mind was itching for an answer. Back inside Tree Spirit Palace, when she asked about it, Sunders didn’t say anything. And when Tree Spirit asked, Sunders said something incomprehensible which seemed to satisfy Tree Spirit but not anyone else. And her “bestie”, Lady Mirror, suggested that they shouldn’t insist on asking.

Lydia only grew more curious about this.

What exactly was that parasite that was affecting Twilight Well, and whatever was that mist that was covering Midnight Sovereign?

“You’re lying. Tell me. I won’t say to others.”