Angor halted his movement upon hearing those words.
Did I hear that voice before?
The mist illusion would not obstruct his own view. Carefully, he inspected the floating shadow, which seemed to be a large man wearing a silver robe.
“Mister Sabot...?” He tried speaking when the shadow also looked at his face as if the mist weren’t there.
“Who the heck are you?” Sabot checked the middle-aged man who deployed the mist in great confusion.
Angor canceled his illusion and saw Bismarck already unconscious due to the torture and the spirit pressure unleashed by a wizard.
“I know this illusion. Who are you, and why do you know my name?” Sabot asked again.
Angor simply removed his disguise and put on his usual young look.
“Angor?!” Sabot’s furious look quickly changed into that of delight. “What are you doing here? What happened between you and Bismarck?”
Angor was also confused for good since he never expected that Bismarck’s teacher was “Mad Bear” Sabot. He knew Sabot was Mithra’s student, which... didn’t help with the situation. This basically meant he almost killed the student of Mithra’s student, and it definitely was not a good way to repay Mithra’s kindness.
“Bismarck is your student, Mister Sabot? I think we got a giant mistake here.” Angor considered and told Sabot the truth. Hopefully, Sabot would tell him why Bismarck forced him to stay.
“I see...” Sabot nodded. “But my spirit mark is expiring soon. Keep him alive for now, and tell him to contact me using the beacon tower.”
Sabot’s projection flickered and went away.
Angor sighed and used Glamor again to revert to “middle-aged Angor”. Then he cast Create Water and moved a giant puddle over Bismarck’s face.
The coldness successfully woke up Bismarck, who rubbed his head and looked at Angor with a terrified expression.
“Don’t-don’t kill me!” Bismarck stumbled back on his butt.
Maybe the Nightmare Fear worked better than intended, Bismarck was now trembling badly at the corner of the wall like a startled hare.
“Your teacher is Mister Sabot?” Angor asked with a plain look.
Bismarck was spooked again. Then he reached for his necklace where a cracked crystal pendant was affixed. Along with his movement, the crystal broke into several pieces and dropped on the floor.
“It... You triggered his spirit mark!” Bismarck screamed. “He SAW you! He saw that you wanted to kill me, and he’ll do something about it!”
Since Angor didn’t say anything, Bismarck found his courage somewhat returning and slowly stood up.
“If-if you let me go, I can tell my teacher to make it easy on you...”
Angor gave him a cruel smile. “Get to the beacon tower and talk to Mister Sabot.”
“What-but-what do you want?!”
“To put it simply, I know Mister Sabot pretty well. Since I can’t get through you, I’ll talk to him instead.”
Bismarck didn’t look convinced, but he still listened since he couldn’t oppose Angor. On trembling steps, he took the lead and went to the “beacon tower”, which was a round-roofed structure with all kinds of machines and a “lightning rod” on top of it.
After pushing several buttons, Bismarck unwillingly put three magic crystals into the energy chamber, which caused the lightning rod to release several energy pulses into the environment.
A moment later, Sabot’s face appeared on the screen in the middle of the console.
“Mister Sabot!” Angor bowed.
“Oh, no need for that. Let’s continue where we left off, shall we?” Sabot nodded to Angor and then gave Bismarck a stern glare.
Bismarck carefully moved aside while complaining in his mind, This guy knows my professor for real?! And they looked like friends! But I’m Mister Sabot’s student!
Angor explained what happened to Roman and how he and Bismarck got into a fight.
Sabot pondered over what he heard and gave Bismarck another angry look. “Speak. What do you want with Angor? You attacked him?? Where did you find such guts?”
Angor?! It took Bismarck a moment to realize that “Angor” meant the man standing in front of him. But why do I find that name familiar?
“Are you deaf or what? Talk!” Sabot bellowed.
Bismarck jumped. “Sir-sir, this is Mister Mariyasah’s decision, not mine.”
“Mariyasah?!” Sabot frowned. “What does he want to do to Angor?”
“It-it appears that Mister Roman knows something about a Leviathan, and Mister Mariyasah also would like to learn about it,” Bismarck stuttered. “When he saw the evidence, he believes Mister Padt here might also have acquired intelligence regarding a Leviathan’s appearance, so he requested that I keep Mister Padt here and wait until he comes to question Mister Padt.”
“Question Angor? Mariyasah?” Sabot spat. He knew that Angor now held the access card to their research department, which was given by their city master, Muse. There weren’t many people in the entire Floating Mech City who could take Angor in for questioning!
“Leviathan is powerful but does not hold much value to wizards,” said Sabot. “Do you know why Mariyasah is interested in it?”
Bismarck shook his head. “No, sir. But I heard something funny while I was staying at Yothur City.”
“What is it?”
“It seems there are multiple groups of people who have shown interest in Leviathan, including those from major organizations. Also, the monster has been lurking around Silver Palm Isle instead of staying at its usual habitat. Maybe something fishy is going on over there.”
Sabot was not the type to figure out “fishy business”, so he stopped asking for further details and looked at Angor. “Sorry, buddy, I’ll make sure Bismarck gives you a proper apology. As for Mariyasah... I’ll go talk to him later. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Angor had no problem accepting the outcome.
“As planned, I need to hurry back to my former teacher’s side to cure his illness, Mister Sabot. I simply cannot remain here for three months.”
Four years ago, Sabot was there in Barbie’s Restaurant, and he heard Angor explaining Jon’s condition. He knew it was almost time for Angor to fulfill his “five-year promise”. Of course wasting three months for no reason was downright unacceptable.
After receiving more of Sabot’s sharp glares, Bismarck moved to Angor and bowed down. Also following Sabot’s order, he gave Angor a space capsule that held all the money he earned during the recent years, which was about 200 magic crystals.
“Glad I’m in good hands, Mister Sabot.” Angor accepted the extra money without a second thought, much to Bismarck’s dismay. “As for Roman... he might be keeping some secrets from people, but I don’t know anything about this. When he died, I checked his room and found nothing useful.”
He then offered to allow Sabot to fully check him using a lie-detection spell. However, Sabot didn’t find it necessary.
“Don’t fret, I trust ya. I’ll tell this to Mariyasah.”
The incident came to an end with both Angor and Sabot satisfied with the result.
When they cut off the connection with Sabot, Bismarck began sobbing and complaining about his misfortune during which he lost all his money AND got beaten up.
And Angor was even more glad to see this.
After rejoining Erwin on the carriage, he thought about a question and decided to ask.
“Captain Erwin, where did Roman usually learn about the schedules and travel routes of the ships?”
“I’m not sure... Someone from the association told him, I think?”
“Do you know someone called Mariyasah?”
Erwin’s pupils suddenly shrank. Then he moved closer to Angor and whispered, “Mister Roman mentioned that name before. Mister Mariyasah is the supreme leader of the White Clam Seafare Association.”