Warlock Apprentice

After finishing his story, Tulu waited warily and wondered whether he amused or disappointed Angor.

Helen was also getting anxious since Tulu’s story was only an overused fairytale in her view. She took a peek at Angor and was terrified to notice that Angor remained silent with a very serious look as if he was very dissatisfied with their unproductive conversation.

Ahhh no! I shouldn’t have brought Tulu here and wasted Mister Padt’s time!

What she didn’t know was, Angor was actually surprised to find out that Tulu’s story went well with Lucas’ description.

Previously, he almost regarded the “creating a flowerbed by crying into the ocean” as a joke. Yet when he heard something similar in Tulu’s tale…

He wondered if everything was in fact, real.

There was another possibility, that the “flowerbed on the sea” had always been a passed-down legend around Ferran, while Lucas simply copied the story in his logbook.

Also, Tulu mentioned that the story originated from the Age of Gold.

“Sir, it’s only a tale for kids, and we never know if it has anything to do with what you asked earlier. Please don’t blame Tulu.” Helen did a 90-degree bow.

Angor used the Hand of Spell to stop her action.

“No need for that. In fact, it was good to hear it.” Angor spoke in a gentler tone, “‘Nayah the Charmer’ was from the Age of Silver, you say? When exactly was it?”

Tulu scratched his head. “Sir… I’m not good at history.”

“It was about 2,300 years ago, sir,” Helen quickly added.

Wait… Angor frowned. Captain Erwin mentioned that the Age of Gold was about three thousand years ago from today…

The Age of Silver came AFTER Age of Gold?

“How long did those periods last?” he asked.

“The Age of Gold was 1,544 years. The Age of Silver… I think it was about 400 years or so, sir.”

The flowerbed recorded in Lucas’ logbook was the year of 1347 of the Age of Gold, while Nayah the Charmer came at least 200 years later…

Angor rubbed his temples as he felt confusion taking over his mind.

“Tulu, is this Nayah a real figure in the course of history?”

Tulu shook his head. “I don’t know, sir. Well, my grandmother said she was a real person, but I always thought she faked it just to let me sleep better. But… I can’t prove anything.”

Angor looked at Helen. “What about you? Have you heard about this Viscountess Nayah?”

“No, sir. I was born at Fey Continent so I don’t know much about Ferran. But we can try asking the sailors who came from there, or Captain Erwin, who also came from Ferran Land.”

“Alright. You do it now, Helen.”

Helen acknowledged Angor’s order and left the room, leaving Tulu behind, who looked really uneasy now.

“It’s okay, take a seat.” Angor comforted Tulu. “I only need to know more about that story of yours. So, apart from flowers and tears, is there anything else that’s strange?”

“Strange things?” Tulu tilted his head. “I… can’t remember. It’s been so many years since I heard the story from granny.”

“How about falling leaves?” Angor tried to mention some details in Lucas’ description.

“Oh, yes! There were tree leaves or something. My granny said that the wind brought leaves from somewhere that joined the petals, and it was so beautiful. I used to imagine how that looked like.”

Angor checked and ascertained that Tulu was telling the truth and not answering his question for the sake of it.

This meant the story of “Nayah the Charmer” and Lucas’ log had one more factor in common.

This was looking less and less like mere coincidence.

But how was Lucas related to Nayah? They were several hundred years apart.

Or was it that someone saw Lucas’ book after he died and created Nayah’s story?

Helen returned with six sailors carefully following behind her.

“Sir, I found everyone who knew about Nayah’s name,” said Helen.

Angor glanced at the nervous shipmates and decided to get straight to the point. “One by one, tell me what you know about Nayah.”

…

A moment later, he pondered over what he heard with a big frown.

Five of the six sailors told the exact same story as Tulu, that a beautiful lady was mangled and enslaved, and ended her life in a flowerbed that suddenly appeared on the sea.

The sixth sailor, however, told a completely different fantasy.

His story was still about Nayah. But this time, Nayah was a murderous lady who envied everyone who possessed beautiful looks. She imprisoned men and women alike, cut their skins, and used their blood to bathe. Later, the viscount discovered her cruel endeavor, sentenced her to death, and discarded her body into the ocean.

This sailor also explained that he was from a noble clan from Ferran Land that owned records that contained various historical facts. According to a reliable document, the incident of “Nayah the Cruel” was recorded in year 133 of the Age of Silver.

Something told Angor that both versions of the story might be true.

The real “Nayah the Charmer” was indeed chased away by her evil sister and died later, while her sister became “Nayah the Cruel”, who was brought to justice after committing her crimes.

This theory was mostly made-up. Yet… it was very likely.

“Oh God. If only I know how to perform prophecy…” Angor shook his head and sighed.

What he heard until now was still not enough to prove the reliability of Lucas’ logbook. But he had enough reason to keep the book so that he might discover useful clues later. The book was found on a strange ghost ship that came and went for no apparent reason. This only suggested mysteries.

Ferran Land was a land of mortals, which meant safety was not much of an issue. He could always find the time and go after the traces left in Lucas’ logs.

Before asking everyone to leave, he asked one last question, “Is there somewhere at Devil’s Water that is always fair and free of rain?”

This too, was mentioned in Lucas’ story.

“I… am not sure. There are routes with relatively gentler weather, but I can’t say if they’re always like that,” replied Helen. “I can check the records of the association when we arrive at Ferran, sir. They always keep a detailed weather report.”

“Please do, Officer Helen.”