Warlock Apprentice

Angor slowly looked up at Felicia after hearing the order.

Shadow secretly gestured at him, asking him to surrender for now or at least not to reject too soon. They couldn’t afford to anger a great wizard right now.

Felicia noticed Shadow’s small moves and scoffed. Her attention was fully on this young apprentice. As for the silver alchemy weapon… it was just a common mid-tier item. There was no point in going for it.

Angor looked at Felicia for a moment before speaking, “Miss Felicia, is Lady Greya with you?”

Both Felicia and Shadow were stunned by this question. Why did Angor ask about “Warrior Barbie” Greya all of a sudden?

Felicia quickly pondered over the situation. She brought Greya to Dark Castle to use the Soul Orbs to heal her soul. With her original body missing, Greya was in a terrible condition right now. It would be dangerous if her old enemy or any profit-sensitive thugs learned about their situation.

They had been staying in Dark Castle for less than a month, so how did this little apprentice know about Greya?

Did he know Greya was right here? Or… did he come for her?

Felicia’s expression turned dark. If the assumption was right, she couldn’t let the apprentice go alive.

“Why do you ask?” Felicia tried to suppress her killing intent.

“She told me.” Angor used what was left of his mana and created an Acoustic Illusion that showed the image of a little girl.

Weird but adorable face with pimples, curly hair, and innocent eyes.

“I’m looking for Soul Orbs. I saw one from her, and she said that ‘Sister Greya’ gave it to her.”

Felicia checked the image. She did know about her. Once, when Greya wandered somewhere out of boredom and ran into this girl, she gifted her a Soul Orb out of sympathy.

But it was really Greya back then. The current body of Greya possessed two souls. Most of the time, “Warrior Barbie” Greya would remain dormant while the soul of a young girl would in charge of the body.

“Soul Orbs huh?” Felicia humphed coldly. “What do you want from Greya then?”

“Miss Felicia… do you know about Toby?” Angor asked another weird question.

“Toby?!” Felicia scowled and quickly thought about the image of a lazy, showy, up-to-no-good seabird. “WINE THIEF!”

Angor jumped a little at the outburst. However, he managed to understand why Felicia looked so angry, especially when he thought about Toby’s naughty character and how Felicia ran a tavern.

“What’s about that wine thief? You know him?” Felicia felt faint. Since the damn bird was Greya’s beloved pet, she couldn’t really do anything to it. Felicia was extremely happy when she didn’t find the bird with Greya, but she got a bad feeling when Angor mentioned Toby’s name.

Angor already placed Toby inside his bracelet so that the bird didn’t get affected by the alchemy omen. At first, he planned to show Toby to Felicia. But now that Felicia looked so furious at the mere mention of Toby’s name, he wasn’t sure if this was a good idea.

Still, he decided to bring Toby out to help him prove himself. The most important thing right now was to lift Felicia’s hostility toward him.

With a flip of one hand, a small bird in pajama appeared on his palm.

“Toby is… with me.”

Felicia stepped back a little as her terrible prediction became reality. “Why is the WINE THIEF together with you?” She clenched her teeth.

Before Angor could explain, a little girl suddenly showed up in the prison and rushed at Angor with tears all over her face.

“Toby, my darling! I thought I’d never see you again!” The girl reached Angor while leaving a trail of dust and smoke behind her which didn’t fit with her small body.

She looked at Toby’s sleeping form passionately.

“Toby, sweetie…” The girl stroke Toby’s feathers with a smooth hand. “Angor, why is he sleeping?”

“You… know him, Greya?” Felicia looked at the girl in shock.

“Little girl Greya” nodded. “I left Toby in his care before leaving the wizarding world,” she said and looked at Angor again; she was clearly waiting for an explanation.

Angor frowned. He absolutely couldn’t relate this young girl with that meat chunk he used to know. Yet everything else suggested that this was the real Greya.

And he felt embarrassed, for he had to explain Toby’s condition to his real master.

“Lady Greya, I came to Dark Castle for Toby. I think there’s something wrong with his soul. A man who knows about souls told me that I need Soul Orbs to help him, and I can only find them here.”

He slowly described the incident about Toby and his travel toward Dark Castle.

Shadow remained completely speechless in the meantime. The changes in the story seemed too drastic. Not only did Angor and Greya know each other, but they also seemed to be in good terms?!

So that bird isn’t Angor’s, but the pet of “Warrior Barbie” Greya?

Now… this was troublesome. Shadow knew he was somewhat responsible for Toby’s condition. Maybe not the main reason but… it was very likely that Angor believed so.

With that in mind, Shadow desperately winked at Angor in hope that Angor could forgive his deed. However, Angor still had to describe their fight just to recreate what exactly happened the day Toby fainted.

“There’s no wound on Toby, so I think Diablo is right. He didn’t attack Toby for real,” Angor said. He decided to speak the truth. “I thought Toby’s breaking through. Later, I went to Soul Genesis Garden and met with the Grand Priest of Krakoks. He told me an ‘angry emotion’ inside Toby is attacking his soul…”

Greya carefully took Toby in her hands.

“I see.” Greya frowned when she heard about the “emotion” part. “I’ll take care of him. Thank you very much, for keeping Toby well. You even came to this undead-infested place for him,” Greya looked at Angor again and nodded. “You grow fast, boy. So did Toby. Stay a little longer with us. I want to hear about what happened around you two in the past year.”

Angor was still worried. “Is Toby alright? We can save him with Soul Orbs, right?”

“That Grand Priest you mentioned… he’s probably right. There are several powerful emotions raging inside Toby. As a matter of fact, the moment I created Toby, I already knew there were problems in his soul. But he was always too weak and naive to make the problems real,” Greya explained. She suddenly seemed joyful. “So he grew strong in such a short time? The sequence of gravity? Oh my. I see it now. Letting him wander freely is always better than keeping him close or in a birdcage.

“Now rest easy. Toby’s going to be fine.”

Next, Greya turned to speak to Felicia. “I’m going to Isabelle. Don’t be harsh on Angor, mind you. Trust me, his teacher isn’t someone you can offend.”

With this, Greya took Toby away from the Blood Prison.

Felicia gave Angor a serious look. “Since Greya said so… well, let’s find time tonight, and you shall tell me about your teacher. Oh, and also how you survived that giant omen. I’ll wait for you on the first floor,” Felicia said as she walked away, “with my precious wines ready.”

Angor released the deep breath he had been holding. It seemed his single alchemy attempt solved many more problems than he imagined.

The biggest pity was that he missed a chance to tackle a Mystery item. He’d accept the outcome gladly. It was not like he had another choice.

He still gained something though. At the very least, he had successfully “attempted” to craft a Mystery item and tried to channel Mystery energy with his own hand. That was a nice experience.

With all mental concerns solved, Angor looked at Shadow who was sitting on the floor and trembling badly.

“Glad Lady Greya is fair-minded.”

Shadow slowly pointed at Angor.

“Who the heck—ugh, never mind! I don’t even care anymore.”