Warlock Apprentice

Vonman did not commit any more crime after seeing the baker dead. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. It was because his poisonous spiders wouldn’t do any good against the armored guard. And with the guard watching, the other survivor in the room—a refugee who took the guard here—would probably be safe.

Seeing Angor’s indifferent attitude, Vonman decided not to ask for help.

The guard calmed his disturbed mind and broke the silence. “I now see clearly the change of events among you, and I understand your reasons. But as a law enforcer of the city, I must see to the end of the incident. Please keep your sentiment to yourselves and come with me to the court.”

He then looked at Guina and sighed. “You’ll be fine. I’ll ask the authorities to send succor fund so that you can buy enough food. Or I… can take you to my home, if that’s fine with you.”

Clearly, the guard had decided to go out of his way.

“I don’t need your filthy courtesy!” Vonman kept Guina closer to his chest and shouted, “Get out of here, all of you!”

“No. I have rules to keep.” The guard moved ahead, causing Vonman to back away.

Angor spoke from the door, “Officer, the kids are safe with me from now on, rest assured.”

The guard was still wondering who Angor was, but he chose to trust that expensive getup, which suggested that Angor was a genuine royalty.

It would be best if a royal member could take the poor children in. However, he, as a “police” of Winter Tide City, still had his discipline.

“From where do you hail, if I may?” The guard saluted Angor. “I appreciate your kind decision, but I’m afraid I must show them to the judicatory first.”

“Where I came does not matter. Everything has settled, and both the result and the reason are clear, are they not? Those who needed to answer to the law are gone,” Angor answered politely.

“But… What you saw wasn’t the only matter, sir. We need to get to the root of the other deceased as well.” The guard pointed to the rotting body of an unknown woman not far.

“Oh, that was my doing,” Vonman replied in a mocking manner. “A month ago, she saw Guina and dropped her to the ground, so I ended her life with a simple poison. A quick one, mind you. Heh. So what, my good sir? Want to execute me for justice? Come on, do it.”

Both the guard and Angor frowned at the offensive endeavor.

“I’m glad you confessed. As I said, I’ll take you to the city.” The guard grabbed Vonman’s arm forcefully.

Angor shook his head and snapped his fingers.

Two streams of peculiar energy reached the guard and the onlooking refugee. The streams then sank into their heads.

“Leave, and forget everything you saw,” Angor ordered.

With blank expressions, two people obediently headed to the door.

Sending Vonman to be tried wasn’t a big deal, but Angor would like to save as much time as he could.

Seeing the intruders leaving, Vonman showed a cruel look. He took the guard’s sword and aimed the weapon at the guard’s heart.

Pong!

Vonman was sent flying in the opposite direction until he crashed into a wall with a painful yelp.

Losing Vonman’s protection, Guina also fell. But before she reached the floor, a pair of translucent hands caught her.

In pain, Vonman looked up and saw his target leaving unharmed, while the weapon floated back into the sheath. He couldn’t see what just knocked him away, but he knew it was Angor who did it.

“Why?!” He glared at Angor. “Why did you let him go? You’re a Goldspink citizen, he’s your enemy! Don’t you want to see your enemy killed?!”

“He did not cause the tragedy today. Without him, your friends will still get to the same fate sooner or later. You’re just blindly venting out your rage on whoever you can find. Goldspink and Heylan are fighting, yes. But you’ll learn to disregard such mortal matters.”

Angor cast Cleanse to remove all the blood and odor from the cellar. He found a desk and took a seat.

“I’ll give you some time to collect your thoughts. When you’re done, we shall get to the real business.”

Vonman struggled to get up and took Guina in his arms again.

“Can I have a moment with Guina first?”

“Go ahead.”

Vonman carried Guina outside the cellar and began speaking in a whisper. Although such an effort was meaningless to Angor.

After mourning their lost friends, Guina and Vonman began discussing a more serious matter, which was mainly about Angor.

After hearing the general situation from Vonman, Guina began to provide her own ideas regarding Angor, while Angor listened curiously.

“He stayed there and watched the baker die, but he moved to stop you. I think he’s more of a ‘lawful’ man…” Guina explained. It seemed she had been observing the situation carefully. “From what I saw, he’s reliable, compared to Ghoul Whisperer and Kuza. You should be fine going with him.”

When mentioning “Kuza”, Guina’s tone turned slightly harsh.

Angor chuckled. Guina had to know that she could be heard, so she said that on purpose. The girl was still easy to read but would undeniably grow into a guileful witch if she had the chance.

About half an hour later, Vonman returned inside and sat at the other side of the desk, while Guina remained quiet.

Angor found it fascinating that such young children could have gone through terrible times that would easily cripple the strongest adults. Vonman already explained Guina’s condition to him before, yet seeing Guina up close still shocked him.

Guina seemed to be a sweet girl if not to consider her lost or damaged body parts. What was more, the will to live burned bright in her eyes.

The kids might have developed their dark sides, but this was quite necessary in this cruel world they were in.

“We agreed. We-we’ll follow you if this gives us a better chance to live,” Vonman said without looking at Angor’s eyes. “And sir, Guina, she—”

“I can keep her alive.” Angor looked at the limbless girl. “It’s fine. As long as you stick to your training, you’ll find ways to grow a new body or get a transplant.”

Guina didn’t speak, but her glimmering eyes gave out her excitement.

“She can be fully healed?! I mean, having her entire body restored?” Vonman beamed.

“Of course.”

“Nice! We’ll both be your students, Mister!”

“No.” Angor shook his head. “I’m a recruiter, not a teacher. If you successfully prove yourselves, my organization will take care of the other arrangements for you.”

Vonman and Guina exchanged a determined look and nodded to each other.

“Don’t celebrate yet. You’ll be faced with a difficult trial before the organization could fully accept you.”

“Trial?”

Angor briefly explained what new recruits were going to go through by using Sunders’ “deathmatch” as an example.

Both Vonman and Guina were surprised when hearing the brutality and slim survival chance of the test. However, they didn’t show any sign of fear, much to Angor’s contentment.

“I cannot show you the trial today. But it will come soon. Be prepared, and good luck.”