In his sitting position, Angor first saw a pair of polished black boots. Then he looked up and saw the familiar and stern face of a gentleman.
“Professor?”
He wondered why Sunders suddenly came. To offer congratulations on his successful alchemy work? Probably not, since the crown didn’t look like anything that might interest Sunders.
Angor kept looking and saw Sunders gazing at the crimson crown with a doubtful look.
“I think I know what this is...” Sunders muttered.
Huh? Angor frowned.* Did that woman copy the blueprint from somewhere else?*
“Who asked you to make this?” Sunders asked.
Before going into seclusion, Angor explained to Sunders that he needed to help someone craft an item. Sunders never asked for the details.
Angor checked the crown, which was still glowing with blood-red light, and felt a little anxious that this item might be related to something fishy and dangerous.
He proceeded to explain the whole matter including showing Sunders the scroll with the picture of the crown.
Sunders’ frown knitted tighter. “A woman with red hair... Is she ‘Badblood’ Eureka? But Eureka left Fey Continent two years ago and can’t make it back so soon. Red hair... maybe it’s someone from Valley of Hurricane? Hmm...”
Angor listened to Sunders’ mumbling, but he couldn’t understand anything.
“Sir, is there something bad about this crown?”
Sunders replied hesitantly, “It looks very similar to a treasure that has been lost for some time.”
“A lost treasure? Which one? Did that woman ask me to make a fake?”
He had no idea what the crown meant and crafting a “fake treasure” didn’t sound so safe—someone might blame him for it.
Angor looked at the crown again and was no longer sure how to handle the alchemy request.
Sunders did not explain the lost treasure. “You decide whether you will proceed with the request. As far as I can see, the woman initiated the trade right at Floating Mech City, and she’s not likely to do anything ‘illegal’. At least not to you.”
“So I can give her the crown?”
Sunders nodded. “There are more than a few knockoffs currently going around in markets, and an extra won’t make a difference. Even if she’s a certain rising star from Valley of Hurricane, she’s not going to do anything as long as I’m here.
“But! You’d better not go deeper into this business than you already have. This crown concerns the shady affairs between two major organizations, as well as the replacement of kings for a wizard-controlled nation. Give her what she wanted and let it be the end. Do NOT listen to or agree to any of her subsequent requests.”
With that, Sunders turned to leave.
“What’s the name of the ‘lost treasure’?” Angor asked even though Sunders’ form already vanished from his view.
Just as he thought his teacher wasn’t going to tell him. Sunders’ voice came to him again.
“The ‘Crimson Crown’.”
...
Angor stepped out of Sunders’ manor with the crown in his hand.
He heard about the crown’s name before. Someone mentioned it in Dark Castle. The speaker was a naked woman. Yet rather than looking bewitching and attractive, the woman showed none other than depression and hatred.
Angor recalled that it was a mortal woman who was captured by Dark Castle and used for providing fresh blood. Before her death, Angor helped sustain her life for as long as possible, which kept the woman in a suffering state for a long time. In the end, the woman instantly became an undead wraith.
Also, Angor used the first “white bullet” generated inside his Prelude to Rebirth revolver on the same woman.
The woman said that she was the 13th daughter of Goman King and was banished to be a slave because someone framed her as the culprit who stole the Crimson Crown.
Back in Dark Castle, Angor didn’t really care what happened to her before. However, when the name of Crimson Crown was brought up again, he couldn’t help imagining a series of dramatic events related to a stolen crown as well as the conflicts of powers among kings and rebellious nobles.
Meanwhile, he remembered another individual who once told him about the crown; it was before he went to Dark Castle.
It was Lady Mirror, one of the three ancestor souls in Brute Cavern.
Back when Lady Mirror showed him the portraits of men that she collected, she mentioned Crimson Crown when they were looking at someone called Thewis. Apparently, a wizard who was called the “Bloodied Stabber” stole the Crimson Crown, after which Goman King asked for Thewis’ help to hunt Bloodied Stabber down.
Angor suddenly got a bad feeling. He saw this man named Thewis before—not at Fey Continent, but back at his home—the Old Earth. At that time, he was preparing for departure together with Mara so that they could travel to Fey Continent, while Thewis was leaving The Redbud and entering the Old Earth.
By connecting everything he knew together, Angor realized that Thewis went to Old Earth to search for that thief. Angor was getting worried that someone so dangerous was so close to his home.
But the Old Earth is pretty wide with thousands of billions of population... It’s just two wizards. They can’t happen to be fighting around Grue Town... right?
Putting the concern aside, he arrived at the main city district and found a small shop named “Hurricane”.
An old shopkeeper in a blue robe was tending to the shop by himself.
“What are you looking for, young man? I have the best hurricane ores, shipped from Valley of Hurricane just the other day!” The man smiled at the new guest.
Angor looked around and noticed that the shop only offered these “hurricane ores”. These were stones constantly bathed in strong gales for years on end, which developed special wind-related energy inside. As they were useful for alchemists as well as certain wind-aspect spells, most wizards would occasionally need them.
Angor also had some hurricane ores stored in his bracelet. He looted them from the material cache in Dark Castle.
Of course, he didn’t come here to shop today. The red-haired woman told him to meet up here.
“Are you in good terms with Valley of Hurricane, sir? Since you can ship the ores from them?” Angor pretended that he was only curious.
“Ha ha. If you don’t know already, young friend, Valley of Hurricane owns this little shop.”
“I see...” Angor’s eyes twinkled as he realized that the woman might just be the “certain genius from Valley of Hurricane”. “I apologize, sir. I know little about that name.”
“It’s fine. So, what qualities are you looking for? I’ll help you search.” The old man left his counter and joined Angor.
“No, sir, I’m here looking for someone.”
“Oh? Who is it, if I may?”
Angor showed the shopkeeper the scroll and slowly unfolded it. However, the old man quickly stopped his action as soon as the crimson ink was exposed.
“... It’s you, Mister Padt? Miss Irisa is currently working on a new spell downstairs. Follow me, please. There are no Rune Monitors following you, right?”
Compared to the woman’s name, Angor was more interested in the “new spell” part.
Is she a wizard?
A “cantrip” was usually used for describing lesser spells used by apprentices, while only wizards would cast real spells. However, Angor tried to remember and didn’t recognize any wizard-level signature from the woman when they met during the trader meeting.
While thinking about this, the old shopkeeper brought him to a door that led to an underground compartment. The door was left open.
“Please wait for a moment, Mister Padt.”
Angor knew what he meant because he already felt the rampaging power in front of him. An apprentice that carelessly stepped into the area ahead would surely die pretty fast.
They waited for several minutes until the energy subsided. After that, a female’s voice was heard saying, “Come on in.”
The old man stayed outside and let Angor enter alone.
Angor walked down the stairs and reached what seemed to be a training area, which looked pretty broken. The woman he was looking for was waiting at the center of the area. Her voice and her short, red hair, as well as the strange mask, easily proved her identity to Angor.
So my client IS a wizard... Angor pondered the situation carefully.
He wasn’t being modest when talking with Greya—he truly believed that his alchemy skills weren’t good enough to attract wizard-level customers. But now...
“Hello again, Mister Padt.”