“At first, there were only the organizations near the Evernight Kingdom who sent their men, but as soon as people heard about this rumor, heh, you guessed it,” Dave took a big bite on his roasted beef and said, “crowds of people scrambled there like mad.”
“Just because the darkness MIGHT be connected to the Nightmare Realm?” Angor sipped some juice, which tasted rather nice.
“Yeah. Nightmare Realm... This name attracts wizards like spoiled soup lures flies.”
“It might be dangerous though. A trap, even.”
Angor looked down. He was getting a little worried when he knew so many people gathered at Sleepless City. Sunders left on a mission to deal with the remaining “puppet wires” half a month ago and had yet to return. Angor wondered what happened.
Next, Dave told him some more clues about Sleepless City, and as someone who traveled through the crisis personally, Angor could tell that most of them were false. However, he wasn’t going to point it out because he had to keep everything a secret, as requested by Sunders.
As Dave talked more, Angor was beginning to wonder something else.
Why did none of the rumors involve my name?
Dave explained everything to him in detail as if Dave considered him as a bystander who knew nothing about the incident in Sleepless City. Also, Dave’s rumors did not involve Nausica’s team either.
Yet as Angor recalled, he and Sunders drew a LOT of attention when they showed up from the darkness. There were bound to be many wizards who wished to hunt for information about the situation. And if they could not question Sunders, the gentleman’s student would naturally become the best target to interrogate.
If someone managed to withhold his involvement from everyone... Angor considered and believed that Sunders was the only figure who could do such a thing.
Dave ordered another plate of beef and began talking about the situation in Brute Cavern.
Most of what Angor heard did not interest him much since he had been away from the organization, until he heard a particular name from Dave.
“Remember Blackjack? A man who dressed like Mister Sunders, who came to the shop and attacked you?”
Angor raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. I had a match against him in Sky Tower. What about him?”
“He changed his ways. He stopped picking on fresh fighters in Sky Tower AND is no longer obsessed with becoming Mister Sunders’ student. He accepted a professor poster from Mister Magus and became his disciple.” Dave looked jealous all of a sudden. “Mister Magus, I say! Blackjack’s potential did not weaken in the least after all the time he wasted. As soon as he started training properly, he hit level-2.
“Now people are regarding him as another true genius like Nanagi and Vice. Do you remember how Master Prome hung that guy in front of our shop one day? Well, I asked Master Prome the other day, and he said he couldn’t beat Blackjack anymore.”
Dave looked up from his meal and saw Angor was interested in the information, so he then added, “Of course, you’re different from all of them. You’re more famous than some of the wizards now. When people speak of the apprentice who’s under the biggest spotlight these days, they’re definitely talking about you.”
Angor would like to avoid being compared to others, so he picked up the previous subject. “I didn’t think much when fighting Blackjack because I knew too little about wizardry back then. Now that I think about it, Blackjack’s cards were as good as quickened spells made available via spell slots.”
“Definitely.” Dave nodded. “He knows some unique skills.”
“Do you know how he learned it? By talent?”
“I don’t know. Maybe or maybe not. You know how he was without a professor for a long time? Someone believed he found his abilities during a destiny. But it’s all guesses.”
Angor would like to know whether Blackjack’s magical cards were related to Inscription Art, but he stopped asking since Dave didn’t know much about that man.
After they were done talking about Brute Cavern, Dave returned his attention to Angor again.
“Your name cannot get any worse after you disposed of Parasite Queen. But you know what? Everything went the opposite way recently. I saw countless girls mumbling your name while daydreaming. Some of them even came to the shop, asking about you...” Dave winked at Angor. “Do you want me to pick some candidates? You’re at the right age to take in some women now.”
Angor sneered and decided to divert the topic onto the new music boxes.
“Do you know where they originated from?” He then explained what he heard from Iron Granny.
Dave looked surprised. “Those Mirage Boxes have become lovable across many wizard fairs around the region. Don’t tell me you heard about it only recently?”
“Mirage Box? Nice name. Can you tell me something?”
“I don’t know how it’s made but...” Dave looked angry for some reason. “I noticed that whoever created this thing copied it from you. And those illusions are terrible. But people kinda like them because they are cheap and fun to use.”
Angor remained silent.
Dave thought Angor was feeling too annoyed to speak and continued, “Last time, Master Prome found one of these without telling anyone. But I saw it by accident. I think he’s trying to copy it and make a profit too. He didn’t succeed though. If you want to know about these boxes, maybe we can go ask him later.”
Angor chuckled. “Really, Master Prome is fine about you snooping around his secrets now?”
“But he knows you’re the original creator! And he still wants to mimic your idea. Secret? I don’t think so.”
Angor shook his head. He didn’t blame Prome because it was so legitimate for wizards to seek profit.
“Let’s go then. The meal is almost done, and I have time today.”
...
A while later, Angor bid farewell to Prome while carrying a “Mirage Box” in his hand.
As Dave expected, Prome felt apologetic for violating Angor’s “copyright”. Besides, he never managed to learn anything from the item, so he agreed to give it to Angor.
“Why are you so happy?” Angor glanced at Dave. After they had left Prome’s residence, Dave’s smile never ceased.
“That was the first time I saw Master Prome so embarrassed! Man, this is precious. Too bad I can’t record his face with my transmitter for real!” Dave held his stomach and began laughing.
Angor chuckled and began inspecting the music box he just gained.
Dave noticed Angor’s serious expression and quickly grew worried.
“Hey, don’t let it get to you, Angor. It’s just a random swindler who earned some short-lived profit using your idea. Justice will prevail soon.”
Angor was rather surprised to see Dave comforting him like this. Truth was, he never considered this a severe issue. As soon as he began showing his creations to the public, he knew something like this would happen. It was just that it came a bit too soon.
When crafting the music box, he was a powerless apprentice who had neither fame or much resources. Now that he was known as an alchemist by many people, he was sure that his following inventions wouldn’t be copied so easily as the “criminals” might need to take potential risks into consideration.
“Sorry, I was just checking the craftsmanship on it,” said Angor. “It feels familiar and... not. Is this alchemy at all?”
“Which part?” As an alchemist-in-training himself, Dave immediately grew curious.
“The illusion. When an alchemist wishes to mix illusions into an item, they either use enchantment approaches or synthesis. But neither way can make the illusions change on their own and reflect the nature of the music piece played by the box so accurately. I think the creator of this is not an ordinary alchemist.”
“Then...”
“They would at least know some illusion knowledge.” Angor moved a hand around the box and sensed the illusion nodes contained within. “Someone proficient in Sorcery Array, perhaps.”