Warlock Apprentice

Sunders did not have to disappoint Sennefer by not speaking, because something else just kept their attention.

The everlasting night was no more.

When Dokibell stepped away from the graveyard, the darkness around began slowly dissipating. Now they could no longer see the necropolis all of a sudden. When they looked again, they had returned to the Veiled Coast without realizing it.

“We’re back?”

“We’re back!”

Several apprentices cheered in delight, for they just escaped from a nightmare.

“Don’t rest on your laurels yet… You never know if something deadlier is waiting for you out here,” said Sunders. “I heard that all monsters have disappeared from the Veiled Coast? I’m positive it’s not caused by the necropolis. A demon from the deeper levels must have come and gone to the Demon Monastery.

“Unlucky for us, that demon must have heard about the necropolis and would come here sooner or later. Be prepared.”

Not long after Sunders said those words, a group of strangely-shaped monsters rose into the sky in front of them.

These monsters, commanded by a Frost Troll almost as big as Dokibell, kept the team occupied for two hours using its raw strength, which was almost of the same level as Sennefer but without her curse.

When it realized it could not easily defeat Sunders or get past him and kill the others, it chose to retreat so that it could check out the necropolis in time.

The battle drew to an acceptable end, but with some minor casualties—three apprentices lost their limbs, and the wizards more or less gained some wounds.

This was worse as a result compared to the fight in the graveyard.

“That Grave Knight did not use his full strength, by the way.” Sunders glanced at Sennefer. “He chose to contain his power to even yours. Also, he could have easily killed the other members on the ride, but he didn’t.”

The knight who fought Sennefer was the high commander of the Undying Brigade. He knew Sennefer was indeed an ally of his descendants, so he never planned to go all-out and wipe out the human visitors.

Though he at least had to show Balalaika his loyalty by giving Sennefer some trouble.

He took the bodies of his fallen comrades to the necropolis so that they could become truly “undying” by helping Balalaika protect the necropolis as her guards. His original plan was to stall for long enough, until Balalaika ordered him to chase the humans away instead of going for their lives.

However, Sunders’ arrival changed everything.

“You want to know why Balalaika changed her mind? That’s because she’s a trader. A trader values profit more than anything. You, however, did not appear as someone who was there to negotiate a trade. Besides, she does resent humans very much. That’s why she’s not so friendly to you.”

Balalaika did not break her “rules” because she did not attack the team personally. Otherwise, Sennefer would have gone into the graves along with everyone else before Sunders came. Sunders did a small favor to the team by claiming that he was a member of them, thus gaining Balalaika’s trust.

…

Half a day later, they successfully left the coastal area.

They would occasionally bump into monsters or even demons. But none of them posed any threat to them with Sunders’ assistance.

After another two days, they arrived at the Shrieking Expanse, across which they could see the edge of the Prominent Forest in the far distance.

During their trip, Sunders offered to tell everyone what he was willing to share about the necropolis and Balalaika.

For instance, “Witch of Resurrection” Balalaika used to be a resident of the Abyss Plane. A great destiny granted her enough strength to fight against Grand Demons.

As a result of several incidents, she came to the necropolis in search of a way to revive a soul.

This particular soul meant a lot to her, so she could not leave the necropolis and look for the necessary component—Sand of Resurrection—elsewhere. This was why she built a pub house and invited traders all around the realm to do deals with her.

She established a set of rules in her territory, one of which was that she would not harm any visitors. However, a human exploited her rules later and caused her some serious trouble, so she began to hold a grudge against humans. Accepting the Undying Brigade was also one way to solve this problem.

…

A large group of apprentices was busy building fortifications at the edge of the Overwatch Base. One after another, walls, towers, and bunkers rose from the ground with the help of magic. Anyone who didn’t know how to magically create buildings would not believe that the giant establishment was put into such a fine state under only half a year. And this was far from the end of it.

“Sighhh…” A fat apprentice glanced at a piece of strange shade at the entrance of the base and unwillingly returned to his work.

“Hey, what’s up?” Another worker nearby, a small kid with his hair bound into a single braid, came to him.

“That.” The fat one pointed to the shadowed spot.

“That’s Mister Eventide, right? Awesome. He knows we’re gonna slack off when he’s not looking, so he doesn’t let us see him, so we don’t know when to slack off!”

“My goodness. You should find a doctor and have your brain checked.” The fat man glanced around them and saw many people currently “slacking off”. “Your eyes too.”

The kid gave him an “I don’t understand” look.

“Geez. Hey, Bobota, you talk to him. I can’t afford to test my patience speaking to this little fool.”

Another white-robed apprentice nearby, Bobota, playfully poked the kid’s head and spoke, “You see, when Mister Eventide is watching, it means we should rest as much as we can because he does not care whether we’re working at all.”

The kid widened his eyes. “What’s he doing then?”

“He’s… playing some kind of game, I think.” The fat apprentice scratched his head. “A dude mentioned it.”

“A game?”

“I dunno. The other day, Mister Eventide had some trouble beating it, so he asked for Bobota’s help.”

Bobota nodded. “Right. The game is set inside an illusion, called ‘Monument Valley’.”

“A game in an illusion? Monument Valley?”

Bobota looked at the shadow. “A very interesting game indeed.”

“Come on, tell us. What’s gotten Mister Eventide so focused?”

“You see, there’s this character in it called Ida—”

Bobota suddenly stopped talking and pointed to the forest area.

“Hold on. We have guests.”

They saw a giant, white bear approaching their position. The creature was so big that it easily towered above the trees.

Everyone recognized the bear because they all came to the Overwatch Base by riding on it.

“That’s Dokibell!”

The news of getting more poor workers in the base instantly reached everyone. This was good news for them because more people meant less work daily.

All apprentices dropped their work or woke up from their naps, and they rushed to the bear to offer their “warmest welcome”.

“Let’s join them.” The fat apprentice beckoned to his partners. “If we can get a new job and be their instructors, we won’t have to play with stones and bricks all day.”

The instructor of new workers was responsible to teach them how to live and behave in the base. There might be occasional troublemakers that made their job harder, but it was still better than building from dawn to dusk.

Bobota didn’t want to go because he didn’t want to meet with the Moonfrost Union. However, his fat partner didn’t give him any chance to pull out. He simply dragged both him and the kid away by using inescapable strength.

The ruckus also dragged Kanter out of his game.

“Quiet down already! Can’t you see I’m studyin’?”

Kanter managed to “borrow” Sunders’ Monument Loop when Sunders was absent. He thought he could finish the game in time, but he just got stuck for more times than he expected.

“I tried to be considerate and let you take your unnecessary breathers. This is how you repay me, huh?!”

Furious, he canceled the illusion and decided to give the ungrateful apprentices some serious scolding. And maybe give Bobota some teacher’s advice while at it.