Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Angor didn’t fully believe the priest, but he didn’t question further because Shadow was trying to peek into his secret again.
Angor didn’t wish anyone else to find out the presence of the special energy within his soul.
“Do not tell others about this.” Angor used Sound Transmission to speak to the old priest.
The old man nodded.
Since the ceremony was complete, the Grand Priest asked everyone including the chosen singer, Yellena, to leave the hall.
“Sirs, our ceremony has come to an end. But I still need to ask something,” he said as he glanced at Fiona. “The ceremony for this year was brought forward for two months. We received a message from Citadel that we are going to elect members for Sky Choir and perform a show in Citadel, in front of VIPs. Shall we do it now and attempt a rehearsal?”
VIP? Citadel?
Angor assumed that the “guests” here meant Felicia and Greya.
It wasn’t a good time for the show right now. They already used the treasure and it couldn’t display its power again any time soon.
“Hold on. I’ll ask Fiona about this.”
Shadow suddenly spoke through Spirit Bond.
Angor nodded and watched as Shadow took Fiona upstairs. “Wait. They’ll talk about the matter,” he explained to Grand Priest.
The old priest nodded. He already knew what Angor meant by “talk”.
Since Shadow was gone, Angor used this chance to look for more information about Pocratee.
“Have you ever seen this, priest?” Angor created a micro illusion that showed a long silver rod with a black serpent intertwining on it.
“Young mister… you went to Pocratee before?”
Angor nodded. He more or less admitted it by asking the previous questions. There was no point denying it now.
“… When I was a child,” the old man said as he recalled, “my family used to live inside the attic of a house owned by a single mother. Tarissa was her name. She had a daughter, Bora. Ohh, she was such a sweet girl… We were so happy before the war. Tarissa would tell stories to her child, and she often talked about Pocratee.”
The old man looked into the distance with his blind eyes.
“According to her story, Pocratee is a holy place untroubled by war or disease. It is bright, safe, protected by Akeso as well as royalties. Humans cannot find a better place to live. Young mister… I’ve always been wondering. Is Pocratee truly such a divine place?”
“Do you think such a utopia exist?” Angor asked a question instead.
“Ha… Our current home is probably a ‘utopia’ if not for that magic array you found, no?” The old man chuckled.
“Without the magic array, you wouldn’t have enjoyed peace for a thousand years.”
The old man remained silent—he clearly knew it.
“As for Pocratee,” Angor continued, “I don’t know what it was like before. But I can at least tell you that anyone who’s brave enough to venture inside today, will die.”
“… Tarissa perished as soon as the war began,” the old man continued as he closed his eyes, “and her daughter, Bora, believed that Pocratee was where she could find true peace, so she told us. She… deceived us with her smile. When she came back to Hippocratee, she took away my mother, my sister, my brothers, my child… They all ended up in the hands of slavers who came to seek profit from far and beyond. I was the only one who escaped. It was Lady Isabelle who saved me.
“Bora loved us and hoped for the same love from us. She said as long as we provided enough coins, she could use the money to find Pocratee and redemption…” The priest grew visibly sad. “You know, I do not blame her. She and her mother had given me the best childhood memories I can hope for. Even now, I hope that she can finally find Pocratee and fulfill her wish.”
He looked at Angor again. “But if your words are true, young mister, she was also a victim of lies.”
“Maybe not. Maybe Pocratee was really a paradise a thousand years ago,” Angor said. He already noticed that Pocratee met a similar disaster a thousand years ago.
“I hope so. I know you went to Pocratee before because the slavers who came for my family mentioned their search for Pocratee as well. They learned that the emblem you showed me just now is the holy sigil of Pocratee.
“It is the ‘Snake Emblem of Immortality’ that was used in Pocratee.”
“Snake Emblem of Immortality…” Angor mumbled. He immediately thought about the giant creature lurking in the underground waters, Akeso.
Now that he found the “snake” shown on the sigil, what about the “staff”?
“Do you know anything about this staff?”
“Immortality. It’s the Staff of Immortality.”
“Immortality…” Angor quickly thought about Dodoro next; he didn’t see anything on Dodoro that was related to the “Staff of Immortality” yet.
The only object carried by Dodoro when he left the coffin was a water bowl. Was that actually this immortality thing?
When traveling with Dodoro, Angor tried to examine the bowl many times without finding anything. For some reason, Dodoro insisted on keeping it, and Angor simply allowed him.
And Angor never paid much attention to it recently.
Also, Angor didn’t believe that Akeso would actually gift its staff to someone.
Anyway, he had to wait. Once he was back to Real World, he could ask Dodoro about it.
Shadow came back before Angor could ask anything else.
“Just ignore the matter,” Shadow spoke through Spirit Bond. “Fiona said she was the one who came up with the idea, and she hasn’t told Lady Butterfly yet. We can just pretend that this never happened.”
“Well, whatever you two did up there must be pretty… intense,” Angor said as he glanced at Fiona. She was still controlled by puppet strings, and her face had bruises all over.
“Violence saves time.”
“Okay, we can cancel that show,” Angor said to the old priest. “Should anyone question you about this, just tell him our names.”
The priest nodded, and since there was nothing else left to do, he left the palace.
Angor and Shadow prepared to head back to Otherworld. Shadow still needed to find “Naga”, while Angor had to join Felicia with dinner.
…
It was already evening.
Shadow wandered off on his own, while Angor came to the first floor of Dark Castle.
Inside, Felicia was waiting next to her wine counter, while Greya was sitting on the floor, cooking and swallowing food at the same time.
“Lady Greya, is Toby-”
Angor stopped his question when he noticed that Greya was giving him an innocent stare like that of a small girl. There was no way Greya would look like this.
“Do you feel thirsty, mister? You can have this.”
“Greya” blinked and handed a glass to Angor.
The glass didn’t contain any liquid. Instead, some glowing presence like a small milky way was inside.
Angor held the glass and was puzzled for a while.
“Greya” looked at him expectantly.
Angor knew that Gourmet Wizards tended to create all sorts of weird-looking foodstuffs with strange effects. However, he wasn’t sure whether he should accept the drink because “Greya” was acting really weird.
��Just do it,” Felicia said to him. “That’s ‘Aspected Vortex’. It slightly improves your mana flow efficiency for a week. No drawbacks.”
Since Felicia said so, Angor could only comply. He then consumed the strange content.
And he instantly felt amazing.
Despite its bizarre look, the “milky way” tasted like actual milk—if not the best milk he ever had in his life.
“Such… rich and decent milk,” Angor commented while trying to constrain his expression as best as he could.
Felicia raised an eyebrow. “Aspected Vortex has no flavor. But we Gourmet Wizards can add a certain pheromone which triggers different senses of smell according to your personal taste.”
“Oh oh! I can’t taste anything in this drink, but big sis said it tasted like wine.” “Greya” grinned. “So, you love milk, mister?”
Angor immediately blushed. He was tricked by Gourmet Wizard stuff again!
“How about some of this?” “Greya” held up a dish with several objects on it and shared them with Angor. These looked like metal nuggets.