Warlock Apprentice

Angor was getting really impatient. He was going to send his guest out.

Magician cursed Angor in his mind. Although he managed not to show it. "Fine, we'll leave this matter. So why did you go see Leonrick anyway?"

Angor didn't really want to answer that one. But he suddenly got an idea.

"How long have you been in Water Grasse?" Angor asked something instead.

Magician wasn't expecting a question, but it wasn't anything private, so he still answered.

"Ten years."

"Ten years… Then you must've heard of the Shadowless illness which started since last year, no? Leonrick invited me to talk about it."

"Shadowless?" Magician frowned. "Oh, I see. I thought that bastard only pretended to care about the victims and that he would simply give them up."

Angor raised an eyebrow. "Well, I know nothing about it, and he wasted his time asking me."

"Heh. So I was accusing you wrongfully then?" Magician sounded sarcastic.

"It doesn't matter. I'm just curious about this 'Shadowless' thing. Do you know anything about it?"

Magician rolled his eyes. "Not much. But I can tell you what I learned… for a price."

Angor chuckled. "What's on your mind then?"

Magician quickly grew excited and thought about how to maximize his gain.

"How about that cantrip you were working on?"

"Do you even know what I was working on at all?"

"No. But that's what makes it fun. It's fine if it turns out to be something weak of something I already know," Magician said in a shameless manner.

He already knew Angor was working on something good, judging from the complex formulas. Magician couldn't help praising himself for finding something so valuable.

Angor picked up the papers and pointed to a random formula. "Do you know what this is?"

Magician shook his head.

"This is 'Caigo's Supplementary Law', a common formula used by level-1 Occult Acoustic cantrips. Do you see the point now?"

Magician seemed shocked. "You're working on a level-1 cantrip? Good lord. I'm in luck!"

Angor felt choked a little by that outrageous display. He really wanted to know what kind of life Magician went through to develop such an unprincipled brain.

He humphed and got straight to the point. "Enough. You want to tell me something unnecessary in exchange for the knowledge of a level-1 Occult cantrip? Tell you what, your information isn't even enough for the 'Caigo's Law' alone!"

Magician scowled.

Angor's cold look prevented Magician from protesting further. Judging from the drafts, Magician believed that this boy was stronger, and he knew strength meant everything to wizards.

Magician tried his best to suppress his rage. "What can I get then?"

Angor was already planning to imprison Magician and force him to talk. He didn't expect Magician to stay calm, which meant his plan wasn't necessary.

"What kind of things do you want?"

"I… only need cantrips. Level-0 ones would do."

Angor was actually glad that Magician didn't ask for knowledge, which was the core of strength for wizards. It was like someone asking you for the final answers to your homework but not the calculation process.

Angor looked down and pretended to be hesitating.

"Okay. I'll tell you about that 'Create Water' cantrip. You good with that?"

It wasn't an attacking spell, but it could be a good display of power in front of mortals. Magician quickly nodded, for he also knew that his information was nothing too valuable.

"Create Water" was something Angor received from his tablet. It was an overstatement to call it a level-0 cantrip. Still, there wasn't a way to address something weaker.

As Angor believed, "Create Water" shouldn't be regarded as a cantrip at all.

Angor spent several minutes writing down the cantrip model and vital points and handed the papers to Magician. "You have three days to ask me anything related to this spell. After that, you're on your own."

After obtaining the new cantrip, Magician told Angor what he knew about the epidemic without further ado.

"I don't know much about the patients themselves, but there's something that might be a clue."

…

After their talk, Magician left Angor's place happily with the tutorial papers in his hand.

Angor stayed in the guest room and thought about what he learned. Magician didn't know much, not even the small black shadows. But this man had enough talent, superior insight, and imagination, which helped him study wizardry all by himself. Actually, Angor believed this man had such wild imaginations that he had never seen on anyone before.

Magician wouldn't have found his destiny to become an apprentice if not for his great observation skill.

When the "shadowless epidemic" started, Magician immediately realized it was something related to supernatural powers, so he snuck into the forbidden zone in Golden Cross right away, hoping to learn something useful.

He noticed the same detail Angor found—every single individual who lost his or her shadow had blond hair and blue eyes.

Last night, Angor learned this small detail after checking through all the patients including Count Leonrick's daughter. They didn't have exactly the same colors since the shades could be different, and someone had variegated hair, so the detail wasn't easy to notice.

Now, both Magician and Angor caught this particular feature thanks to their observant nature.

Meanwhile, Magician's above-average imagination quickly led him to someone else—Shadow.

Ever since "Shadow" started coming to the supernatural meetings two years ago, that man always kept low and didn't talk much. And every time he did say something, people could learn practical pointers and advice.

Magician tried to befriend him many times, but "Shadow" never agreed.

Still, this didn't prevent Magician from keeping an eye on Shadow.

He found something interesting too. During each supernatural meeting, "Shadow" would sit beside a beautiful apprentice witch called Khabazar, who came from Zeal Dominion.

Magician thought Shadow was attracted by Khabazar's charm. But later, he noticed that Shadow wasn't interested in this woman at all.

In this case, it was strange that Shadow would join Khabazar every time.

One time, Khabazar didn't attend the meeting, and Shadow chose to sit beside someone called "John Junior"—an apprentice who had not shown up for a while.

Half a year ago, Magician ran into Shadow in Water Grasse and invited him to a bar. When Shadow agreed to the offer, Magician asked a group of female dancers to accompany them, and only three of them joined Shadow closely in the end.

Women with blond hair and blue eyes.

Magician quickly thought about Khabazar and John Junior, a woman and a man with similar hair and eye colors.

Then, he associated the detail he found on the shadowless patients along with Shadow's particular taste and quickly drew an assumption.

The "shadowless epidemic" was probably caused by Shadow.

However, Magician never told anyone about this. Neither did he pay much attention to the incident again. Until today, when he "paid" Angor the information in exchange for something.

The assumption wasn't proved yet, but with so many coincidences together, it seemed true enough.

Before he left, Magician told Angor one more clue.

"Just wait. John Junior and Khabazar won't attend the meeting next month. If Shadow chooses to sit beside you instead… you will know what I mean."

Of course, Angor himself had blond hair and blue eyes.

"We'll see then." Angor shook his head and decided to put this matter aside for now. He wasn't interested in the epidemic, but he got a feeling that something hidden behind this plot might get him a way back to the wizarding world.

It was most likely that the "Shadow" guy was behind the strange illness, which didn't really matter now, for Angor already planned to go and meet this character.