Warlock Apprentice

Apparently, the simple concert could not continue without Fox.

Froggy was now cursing Yorkshire’s name furiously as if he wanted to go and kill Yorkshire in the next second.

“Stupid dum-dum! Stu-stupid! Why would the queen send that guy anyway? He’s only good at playing those strings but is otherwise useless!”

It was pretty rare to see Froggy speaking without his “aria style”, which meant he was REALLY annoyed right now.

The monster took several deep breaths and bowed to Angor. “Lord Shava, shall I continue my poem unaccompanied?”

Angor quickly shook his head. He was just glad that the performance was interrupted. “Maybe next time. Your music will not sound as touching without an instrument. Surely you want your song to be perfect, Mister Froggy?”

Froggy tilted his head. “You’re quite right, Lord Shava, for it is my responsibility to present a flawless show to you. Since we don’t have Fox with us… I’m afraid we must call it off.”

Disappointed, Froggy hopped off from the crates.

Angor sighed in his mind before speaking, “Mister Froggy, what happened to Yorkshire?”

“Croak! Hah! Someone beat that coward up for good! He deserved it!”

Well, of course, we’re talking about Sunders… Angor thought.

He had never doubted Sunders’ true strength before. Angor was confident that his professor would manage pretty well even if Fox joined the fight. And in the worst possible scenario, Sunders should have no problem running away.

Angor’s biggest concern was Nausica right now.

“Mister Froggy, can you remove the parasites from these two?” He glanced at Shiliew and Shan. “I need to question them for something.”

From what he had observed, Angor believed that, while Fox tended to pay attention to details and raise doubts against anything that looked suspicious, Froggy was more of a simple-minded individual even though he loved singing arias and art.

It was easier to make requests when Fox was gone.

As expected, Froggy didn’t think twice upon hearing Angor’s words. The frog pointed at Shan and Shiliew. “Hear that? Croak! Lord Shava demanded that you leave right now! Move it!”

Two shiny dots escaped from the ladies.

Woah. You can do that? Give them commands? Angor wondered.

Shiliew was still snoring, while Shan was stirring a little to “wake up”. Angor looked back and saw Froggy gazing intensively toward where Fox left, as if he wanted his partner to return as soon as possible.

Since Froggy wasn’t paying attention, Angor dragged Shan to somewhere more private.

As soon as Shan fully opened her eyes, Angor covered her mouth and whispered, “Quiet. It’s me.”

Shan nodded.

“Are you alright?” Angor made sure the girl looked fine before removing his hand.

“What happened just now? And… why are you here, Brother Angor?” Shan showed a big smile and rushed to him.

Angor dodged her by floating into the air. “Stop it. I need to ask something, this is urgent.”

Seeing Angor’s serious look, Shan also decided to act more properly.

“What-what is that?” Shan saw Froggy in the distance and flinched.

“Shhh! Don’t worry about it right now. Tell me, have you seen Nausica?”

When he saw Shan was still confused, Angor briefly explained the general situation in Sleepless City as well as how the ladies were possessed by “parasites”.

“When you still have your consciousness, did you see what Nausica was doing?”

“We… we found Hookdick outside the office of Brute Cavern. But before we could kill him, that strange music you mentioned came. When I sensed how it affects our emotions, I ordered Gank to go after Hookdick since he doesn’t have any emotions that can be controlled.

“After that… Sorry, my memory is all blank.”

Weird. Hookdick was here, but I didn’t find Gank… Angor rubbed his temples. It seemed Shan couldn’t tell him anything more useful.

“Do you think Shiliew knows something else?”

Shan glanced at the sleeping woman not far from them. “I don’t know. I think her emotion doesn’t get affected by the music much. Rather, the music only made her more sleepy, and when it happens, the ‘other Shiliew’ will show up. You know, that mad character who really hates Jebra. So I don’t know what she can tell us right now. Let me see, I have that potion from her professor. I can wake her up.”

Shan reached for her pouch only to find that her body was fully covered in an adult-sized clownish dancer suit, which looked both terrible and funny on her.

Thankfully, her pouch was weaved from the colorful feathers of a certain bird, so she managed to keep it.

She found the said potion and brought Shiliew to their corner while cursing whoever dressed her like this. Meanwhile, Angor kept an eye on Froggy just in case.

In spite of all the sleep she managed to get, Shiliew still looked drowsy as she always was.

“I… heard it from Shan. I’ll tell you what I saw before I fell asleep.”

“When going after Hookdick, it was the ‘other me’ who was in charge of my actions. But I think I can remember her actions now, which I couldn’t do before.” Shiliew seemed hesitant. “I saw Shan telling Gank to catch Hookdick. At the same time, I saw Nausica heading in the same way.”

“Nausica was after Hookdick too?” Shan perked up. “Then we can find her as long as we get Hookdick! And I can get back to Gank too!”

“No!”

“No.”

Shiliew and Angor said in unison.

They exchanged puzzled expressions before Shiliew signaled Angor to speak first.

“I forgot to tell you. Hookdick was here with you.” Angor pointed to the bloody remains on the ground. “There, that’s him. I killed him.”

Shan and Shiliew both looked disappointed.

“We’ve been on his track for a month. Oh well…”

They knew that Angor wanted Hookdick dead as much as they did, but seeing their prey taken by Angor so easily was still not pleasant.

Angor looked at Shiliew next. It seemed Shiliew had something to say just now.

“I saw a strange creature taking Nausica and Gank away,” Shiliew said as she showed a grim look.

Angor grimaced. Finally, he learned something of use, that someone they didn’t know yet had joined the mess.

“How did this strange creature look?”

“It’s too dark for me to see.” Shiliew shook her head and said, “But it must be strong since it can carry Gank away so easily. Strong, and perhaps big. There’s something else. Before I fully went into sleep, I think I saw something yellow and shiny from it…”

Yellow and shiny? Angor closed his eyes and tried to summarize what he heard from Shiliew, Shan, and Filo.

Douglas opened a passageway to escape. Someone showed up to attack Hookdick. The music came and overwhelmed everyone…

Yellow light.

“Are you referring to strings? Golden, shining strings?”