Chapter 0097: Deal

Though he remained on edge the whole way back, the journey to the wizard tower went surprisingly smoothly.

The moment Grim uttered the secret words that dispersed the lightning giant’s massive body of wind element, the towering elemental puppet collapsed in an instant, becoming seven dazzling, translucent cores of magical power.

Before Grim could put them away, Mary lunged forward, snatched them into her hands, and turned them over again and again, stroking and admiring them with obvious reluctance to let go. After a while, as if mere looking were not enough to express her fondness, she even lifted the largest core and pressed it lightly against her cheek, savoring the faint numbness brought by the tiny bursts of lightning.

At that sight, Grim could not help feeling a whole army of black lines descend over his head.

Honestly, they might have looked exquisite and crystal-clear, pure and lovely at first glance, but they were still battle puppets that killed without blinking. Mary had just seen their savage side, and yet she was still so attached to them. Grim could not help but sigh that among those who walked the path of wizardry, very few were truly normal.

Suppressing the endless complaints rising in his heart, Grim finally got his chief puppet back from Mary. He also tossed her a ball of blood-red crystal that had formed from coagulated flesh and blood. With the earth serpent’s mastery over the earth element, stripping the dirt from the blood pool had of course been no problem. He only hoped that after such heavy blood loss, Toriel would not suffer too severe a drop in strength. Otherwise, they would have gained nothing but a new sworn enemy for free.

After that fierce battle, the lightning giant’s cores were still intact, but the earth serpent puppet’s summoning core had suffered severe damage. Using a high-level earth serpent puppet to hold a powerful bloodline quasi-wizard in a death grip had a very direct consequence: once Grim dispersed the puppet’s body, he found that the recovered summoning core was in utter disarray, its elemental flow chaotic and its magical aura violently surging, already in a state beyond useful repair.

Grim studied it for a long while. Once the chip confirmed that the core had no hope of recovery, he could only put it away with regret.

After sorting everything out at the edge of the mountains, the two of them finally returned to the wizard tower in silence. Yet just as they were about to step through the tower gate, the pair of gargoyle statues crouched on either side of the entrance suddenly stirred.

With the harsh creak of stone limbs grinding together, the gargoyle on the left leaned down from its crouched pedestal and fixed Grim with its slowly turning stone eyes.

“Hey, you little one. Lord Angus the Enforcer wants you to go to his residence at once!”

With that, it pulled itself back into stillness, resuming its prior pose of a creature poised in midair, and fell silent once more.

Grim froze.

During this period he had come and gone here many times, and each time he had seen the pair of gargoyles guarding the door. Never once had he imagined they were puppet beings, and not just any puppets, but wizard-class ones.

It seemed this seemingly defenseless public wizard tower was not nearly as fragile as he had thought.

From there on, their journey became a nightmare that made the skin crawl. Everywhere Grim and Mary went, whether the objects were statues that appeared to be dead matter or the shepherd girls painted on the corridor walls, they all came to life and kept repeating the same words.

“Go see Wizard Angus at once!”

And faced with these successive reminders, if the two of them still did not understand that Angus had already set his sights on them, then they would truly be fools. What terrified them most, however, was that they had no idea at all what method he had used to monitor them.

So, under a heavy and oppressive atmosphere, the two of them entered Angus’s residence on the fifth floor of the wizard tower.

Wizard Angus received them in his laboratory.

There was none of the gloomy horror one might have imagined, nor any bloody chaos as one might have feared. The private laboratory of this true wizard was clean, orderly, and brightly lit, bearing the style and grandeur of an excellent high-end research facility. Yet among the many bottles and jars, Grim sensed piercing red gleams. Inside them, whether wriggling little animals or isolated magical organs, all radiated thick and potent energy.

Clearly, Wizard Angus was in the middle of preparing some kind of special potion. His worktable was covered with sulfur-tinted bottles and reagents of every size and shape. When the two arrived, Angus was gently shaking a sulfur-tinted test tube in his hand, lifting it now and then to study it closely.

The tube held a mysterious blue liquid. Each time Angus shook it, countless tiny bubbles rose within the liquid, then transformed into all manner of sea creatures. Sometimes it became a mermaid riding a seahorse; sometimes a spined whale flicking its tail and spraying water in play; sometimes a school of silver swordfish leaping and chasing one another. In short, every shake brought a new transformation, strange and mesmerizing.

Mary had always been helpless against such wonders, but in the laboratory of a true wizard she could not act freely. She could only mouth a question at Grim.

Perhaps Mary far exceeded him in rank, but when it came to the accumulation of magical knowledge and the ability to apply it flexibly in real situations, Grim left her far behind.

Deep-sea mermaid blood!

Grim answered with his lips as well. Only the blood of deep-sea mermaids from the abyssal depths of the Endless Ocean could possess such a peculiar hallucinatory effect. Indeed, the fantastical scenes they had just seen with their own eyes were not real at all, but merely the illusionary power aroused by the slight trembling of that blue blood.

At length, Wizard Angus set down the test tube and turned to stare at them.

“The head of the Walton family has just lodged a protest with me, claiming that your reckless behavior has damaged the dignity of his family, and demanding that I hand you over to them. What do you think? Should I follow his suggestion?”

Mary frowned, genuinely at a loss for how to respond. Turning her head, she glared at Grim and motioned for him to answer.

Grim smiled faintly and bowed.

“Esteemed Lord Angus, as far as I know, the head of the Walton family is only a common man. What standing does a mere ordinary person have to issue orders to you? If they truly require my life and Mary’s life as atonement, then the wizard behind them would certainly speak to you personally.”

Angus narrowed his eyes as well, looking with surprise at the pair before him.

A vampire and a puppeteer.

And not just any pairing, but a high-level vampire and a mid-level puppeteer.

What astonished him most, however, was that within this combination, the one at the core was actually this low-ranked mid-level apprentice.

Could it be because the boy had displayed exceptional talent as a puppeteer, or was there some other reason? Otherwise, why would that high-level vampire girl willingly surrender her right to speak?

One must know that apprentices who walked the wizard’s path were never benevolent souls. Every one of them was filled with arrogance and ambition, self-centered to the core. To expect them to be humble and gentle toward the weak was simply laughable.

Thus, whenever a wizard needed to form a team with others, the strongest among them invariably held command, and all others followed his lead. Among apprentices, this was even more pronounced. So Angus took a strong interest in the pair before him.

“Boy, words alone are useless. The one you’ve offended this time is Toriel, the Walton family’s greatest hope for becoming a wizard. I hear that because of your reckless actions, his advance will now be delayed by at least three years! Heh heh heh... The Walton family is nearly insane with rage right now and searching everywhere for you. I’m afraid that by the time you walk out of here, crowds will already be waiting outside to capture you for the bounty.”

A malicious smile surfaced on Angus’s face.

Grim’s heart tightened, though what he felt even more strongly was helplessness.

If the Walton family were truly as formidable as Angus claimed, then the two of them would probably never have made it into the wizard tower before being seized. Since Angus said this now, and since the threat in his words was so heavy, it was likely that he was trying to force them into the net. Faced with the threat of a true wizard, what choice could two small apprentices possibly have?

“Respected Lord Angus, Mary and I are nothing more than humble wizard apprentices. Of course we are willing to obey your instructions. May I ask what we can do for you?”

Seeing Grim so agreeable, Angus revealed a satisfied smile.

“Take out that puppet of yours and let me have a look.”

Without another word, Grim respectfully handed it over.

After pinching and examining several cores one by one, Angus’s smile deepened.

“So these were all made by your own hand.”

“Yes.”

“Given three years, can you advance to become a wizard?” Angus suddenly changed the subject.

“Ah...” Grim stared in astonishment, unable to speak, and even Mary beside him could not help widening her eyes.

“There’s no need to be surprised. My protection for you can last at most three years. If that Toriel becomes a wizard before then, I will have no reason to stop him from seeking revenge against you. As for the shouting of his family, that still cannot shake me. After all, you defeated him through a fair duel. If even that required the family to interfere, then the Walton family would truly be disgracing itself. However...”

“Mary and I are willing to pay any price for your protection. What would you have us do?”

“Heh heh heh... It really is convenient speaking with someone as clever as you. Here, this is a magical contract. Sign it. Rest assured, with your current strength, I have no interest in you myself. Once this contract is signed, you will also have entered into a contract with our Byron family. In the name of the family, I can protect you from Walton harassment for three years.”

“And what will I have to pay for that?”

“You must advance to true wizard rank within three years, then represent our Byron family in a competition. A competition open only to magic puppet masters, puppeteers, and construct artisans.”