"Lord Mowish of Vanter, who knows where Lord Mowish is?" An anxious attendant entered the hall, quietly asking guests from various regions until a young man pointed towards a group of middle-aged men deep in conversation.
Thus, the attendant approached his master, carefully positioning himself in front of the three men.
"Jason, why have you entered the hall? I recall you should be outside welcoming my guests." His master was somewhat puzzled, but when he noticed his servant pointing at Mowish, he immediately raised his eyebrows, "Someone is looking for our Lord Mowish."
"Ah, Ben, still addressing me with such formalities," his old friend chuckled, then turned to the attendant. He had noticed this young man when he entered, proper in his conduct and sincere in his smile, a far cry better than that good-for-nothing son of his: "Speak, who is looking for me?"
"A lady in a black robe, standing just outside the door. She gave me this small bag, saying you’d understand once you see it." The young attendant said and produced the small bag, "We haven’t opened it, but have verified that there are no curses or traps on it."
"I see, Ben, excuse me, I must leave; it seems there is an issue at home." The middle-aged man patted his old friend’s shoulder, then took the small bag, "Young man, lead me to her, immediately."
"I thought you were busy." The woman, wrapped in her long robe, spoke with a hoarse trace to her voice, "It seems you still remember me."
"Of course, why would you seek me out." As he looked at the woman before him, Mowish’s eyes held a hint of reminiscence. He glanced behind and saw the young man had already lead people away from the area, which made him think even more highly of the young servant, truly worthy of being Ben’s favorite attendant.
"I need a favor from you. Little Otto is in very poor health, and I want to seek treatment for him through the Church of Justice. But to heal his affliction, we need a sacrifice of Tier 8 at the very least, a prince’s head, and such a thing is priceless. I’ve scoured several markets, to no avail, so..."
"Otto, is the boy’s heart still in such poor condition? I will certainly help you with this, but how did you manage to find this place? Didn’t we agree not to expose our whereabouts to outsiders..." "Mowish, did you know there’s a new tunnel dug out underneath your house? Your son Cohen is hosting a banquet, and someone used that very tunnel to plant Listenbugs throughout the venue... Druid tactics. I don’t think you would surveil your own child, so I wanted to warn you... Perhaps someone intends harm towards Cohen."
"...Damn it, can you take me back now?" Upon hearing this news, Mowish felt his household might be in trouble. He swiftly whistled, and a gryphon soared through the night sky, dropping a longsword, which he caught by the scabbard, then glanced at the woman who had opened a teleportation gate for him: "I... I owe you another one."
"Fate meant for us to part ways, not to keep a tally of our debts, Mowish. After you, go through the gate." The woman lifted her head, her mouth curving into a smile underneath her hood.
"Let’s go." With that, Mowish stepped through the teleportation gate.
Passing through the teleportation gate gave the middle-aged man a headache; the Vanter family had always been allergic to teleportation gates, a secret kept within the family, but now was not the time to fret over his headache as his eldest son’s banquet was on a countdown. A horde of youngsters was spilling out of his home, and as they noticed him, the patriarch, they stepped aside and paid their respects.
Among them, Mowish spotted Liu Jin from the Mi Rong family, a surprising presence—his Vanter family had a not-so-bad relationship with the Mi Rongs, it was just that his child and this lad were rivals over Princess Faye, leaving both families’ elders nothing to do but ruefully smile.
"Lord Mowish, good evening. It’s an honor for me to participate in your esteemed household’s banquet and the upcoming ball," the young man immediately greeted Mowish with a bow.
"Liu Jin, good lad, you’ve grown taller. By the way, where’s my child?"
"Cohen and Engma had matters to discuss; I was just on my way home, as I have a church mission to attend to tomorrow." The young man said, looking a bit embarrassed—a sight quite comical in Mowish’s eyes. These young fools truly lack a sense of crisis; in their generation, the Chaos invasions were ongoing, and if anyone dared be so carefree, they would certainly be among the first to fall on the battlefield.
But now, let the young ones enjoy their golden age as they please.
With this thought, he signaled the lad could leave and then Mowish made his way into the hall, where he saw three children sitting on the sofa. As they noticed their father’s return, Cohen appeared somewhat surprised, and he along with his friends stood up.
Their greetings didn’t yield a smile from Mowish; the middle-aged man walked over expressionlessly and grabbed an insect from the sofa—it had been there ever since he entered, perched near his son’s head, unbeknownst to them, for it was a artificially bred Spirits bug, harmless, its only talent being mass suggestion, though it only worked on those of weak minds.
Spies versed in the ways of Druids relied on these Listenbugs as reliable tools for gathering intel.
But in Mowish’s eyes, they were as conspicuous as torches... extremely dangerous.
"It’s a Listenbug!" Cohen cried out in alarm, and his friends’ faces turned pale.
"Under the sofa." The suggestion from behind had Mowish instantly kicking the sofa away, where he discovered a neat, circular hole beneath.
"The bugs are underneath, let me handle this." The lady in grey approached his side, opened a small bottle, and out jumped a little bug that burrowed into the hole.
"Let’s head to the rooftop and see where it will come out," she said.
Mowish nodded, "No problem."
"The bug has been spotted! Damn it! Damn it!" A rat girl shrieked, "Hurry up and pack your things!"
"Something has entered the tunnels! It’s moving fast!" Her kindred poked her head out of the underground passage, "It’s extremely dangerous!"
By the window near the alley, their sister had already opened the window, "Go quickly!"
So the rat girls began to choose retreat, one after another climbing through the window, and when the last rat girl climbed through, she saw a bug, gigantic compared to her, crawling out of that hole. Its dark insect eyes, upon seeing her, unexpectedly did not give chase, but instead took flight and burrowed through the ceiling.
"It’s the giant bug! The stinking witch’s bad toy!" The rat girl screamed, "Run! She saw me!"
In the alley, the rat girls ran swiftly, and behind them, the bug had already lifted the lid leading to the rooftop; it crawled out from it and then flew into the sky. As its glowing belly started to work, in an instant, an arrow appeared before its compound eyes.
The next second, the bug carried by the arrow plummeted to the ground.
The following second, a teleportation portal opened in the alley, and the robed woman and Mowish walked out from it.
She and he saw the rat girls disappearing around the distant corner of the alley.
"They’re Mos rats. How could Cohen have offended them? We need to catch them and interrogate them properly," Mowish said and followed after them.
The robed woman didn’t run; she just thought it would be the world’s biggest joke if a well-trained warrior couldn’t outrun a group of Mos rats that looked underage.
She walked slowly to the corner, saw the man standing there, the elf in strange black and white clothes, and the Mos rats hiding behind her.
"Mowish, who is she?" As a wizard, she didn’t understand why Mowish wasn’t taking action, but she knew he wasn’t the cowardly type.
"...Lena, the head maid of Lady Anna from the Mowish family," Mowish said and placed his hand between the woman behind him and the woman in front of him, "Lady Lena, I didn’t know you were the master of these Mos rats, but why did she snoop on my child? What is all this about? Is this your mistress’s doing?"
"Yes, Lady Anna thinks your child and his companions have a very clever idea, and she signaled me to keep a close eye on them," replied the elf with a smile, holding a vine bow that seemed harmless. But both Mowish and the lady behind him understood how dangerous the elf in front of them was.
The head maid of a legendary battle mage, Singer of the Gray Abyss, a half-legendary hunter, a Wizard Slayer.
And such a person, now stood before a witch.
"Can you tell me why my child has become your prey, Lady Lena?" Mowish carefully observed the woman before him, he had heard she was someone who could even reason with wizards, of course, if reason failed, then it was time to speak with knives.
Such an existence, Mowish stood no chance of victory—although he was a half-legendary warrior himself, behind her stood the High Elf Hunters’ Association and a legendary battle mage.
All he could do was fall back, hoping this was just an isolated incident, that perhaps his child had been too mischievous and bothered Lady Anna.
Or maybe it was because of Princess Faye, that child, truly a troublemaker.
"Why not ask your son?" the elf suggested with a smile, "By the way, I always thought the youngest daughter of the Vanter family had been dead for many years now." As she spoke, the vine bow in her hand transformed, eventually becoming a wooden sword, "Sulay Vanter, your head is worth 40,000 gold on the bounty lists of the human Empire, maybe I should kill you and exchange your head for that reward, then offer the money to my little mistress."
This statement made Mowish extremely nervous.
Just as he decided to strike first, he saw a teleportation portal open behind her, and a woman appeared in the doorway.
"Lena, you’re here... Lord Mowish, you seem to be about to do something?"
"No, Lady Anna, I am Mowish’s most loyal guard," Mowish bowed his head, at the same time feeling relieved.
If his decision had been made just a second earlier, Mowish Vanter... would probably be dead by now.