Pools of fire surged out of ground fissures. Corroding energy ate away his vigor and flesh. As Angor’s skin was baked and turned to cracked crust, he saw a large, yelling shadow spreading more embers into the surroundings...
An ember landed right in front of him, sending numbing pain through his bones.
He opened his eyes and saw someone’s large and greasy face only inches away, looking at him with great anxiety.
Next, he felt the scorching pain and bolted up from where he was lying with a start, causing several metal tools to fall on the floor.
This was when he realized that he had been placed on top of an operating table, while the heat came from a burning fire directly under the table.
Brofen’s glowing fingers told him who made that fire.
Angor immediately stepped away and gave Brofen a cautious stare, whereas Brofen poorly pretended that he had nothing to do with the suggestive setup by glancing everywhere but Angor’s direction.
“What did you do?”
“Eh? What do you mean? Didn’t do anything.”
“So... Why was I sleeping on your operating table?”
“Well, you suddenly fell asleep. I gotta put you somewhere, right? And the table is the only place better than the floor!”
Angor looked beneath the table again. Brofen had removed the fire, but several glowing embers still remained.
“The table’s made of cold steel. I did it so you feel more comfortable!”
“You think I’d believe that?”
“Just look for yourself! Your clothes, your body, nothing is hurt, right?”
Brofen was speaking the truth—he had not done anything to Angor yet. Though this was because Angor woke up earlier than he expected.
Angor did a little self-examination and indeed did not see anything wrong with him. However, he wasn’t going to fully trust Brofen. Perhaps Brofen placed something on him that he couldn’t see.
No matter what happened, he did not like the strange treatment he received.
He tried to remember what put him into this situation. After their meal, Brofen took him back to the alchemy workshops to keep introducing all the products. And like before, Angor used a lot of timely flatteries so that Brofen would sometimes tell him useful tricks.
In the end, they came in front of the separate room, which was supposed to keep Brofen’s “unfinished creation”. Angor did not get to enter it the last time. But he did see something inside through the gap, which was a large shadow he couldn’t recognize and dancing tentacles.
Similar to the first time, Brofen stopped their tour by saying that it wasn’t a proper time to look at what was inside. And since Angor was a guest, he decided to obey Brofen and leave the matter be.
But as they moved away, they heard noises coming from inside that room.
The last thing Angor remembered was that Brofen looked panicked for some reason. Then he lost consciousness as he listened to the somewhat pleasant sound that appeared like someone playing with a flute.
He had a dream. There was fire everywhere, closing in. Until he was finally burned and woke up.
Brofen saw Angor’s suspicious look and kept explaining, “I didn’t do anything. Seriously. It’s a big misunderstanding. Besides, we were both down. I woke up just several minutes earlier than you.”
An operating table, fire, and alchemy tools ready to be used nearby. Angor found it too difficult to believe that this was a “misunderstanding”.
Still, there was nothing he could do against a wizard.
“I see. Thank you for your time, Mister Brofen. I’m leaving now.” Angor considered and decided not to question why he suddenly fell asleep. For now, the first thing he wanted to do was to get the heck away from this dreadful place.
Brofen looked hesitant. “But what about our alchemy consultation?”
“We’ll do it when we both have time for it later, sir.”
Brofen sighed. He felt extremely defeated because he just lost a great opportunity to study from Angor when he truly did nothing wrong.
He tried to think of more excuses to see whether he could amend the situation. But a loud, head-throbbing boomy noise suddenly reached their ears and briefly confused them.
“Sh*t!!!” Brofen launched his fat body away and dashed to the secret room.
At the same time, Angor heard a familiar flute sound coming from there again.
He instantly turned tail and ran toward the exit of the workshop.
In order to get away from whatever was inside that room and be free from Brofen’s unknown plots, he had to move as far as possible. Thankfully, Brofen neither shut the workshop door nor came to stop him from running, thus allowing him to successfully move through the exit.
He felt great dizziness invading his mind, which was probably caused by the flute sound he just heard.
After forcing himself to stay awake by biting his tongue, he kept going for the passage outside.
The reverberant sound from earlier grew louder and louder as he came to the open area until it was almost deafening. But he was glad that this loud sound somehow repelled the effect of the flute sound behind and allowed him to think more clearly.
As he tried to climb to the higher levels of the Frozen Wing, he realized that the noise outside sounded similar to a large metal bell being stricken.
Also, the sound contained a purifying aura that removed all taint and evil from the environment. When he heard the fifth strike, the lightheadedness he received in Brofen’s workshop was completely gone.
He reached the middle level of the Frozen Wing by the time the bell sound stopped coming, after it was rung for 13 times in total.
He was planning to get back to the top level, but something distracted him when he looked outside the guard rail of the stairs.
He saw the Frozen Wing floating above an island instead of traveling in the designated direction. They were no longer flying above the land—there was water everywhere, while the island below was the only footing. The familiar smell of salt suggested that he was looking at seawater.
“What is—”
“This is the Baikal Sea.”
Angor turned around and saw Madelyne somehow standing right behind him.
“Miss Madelyne!”
“I saw you running around the vehicle like mad as if someone’s chasing you. What happened?”
Madelyne looked displeased. She promised Rein Mute that she would keep Angor safe, so she wouldn’t appreciate having someone on the vehicle actually harming Angor.
Angor briefly explained what happened inside Brofen’s place.
“... He’s not lying,” Madelyne said as she inspected Angor. “I don’t see any energy residue on you. But if what you said is true, then he was planning to do stuff to your body. Heh. Those who study bio-alchemy are either mad, or are on their way to madness. Anyway, it’s wise for you to stay away from Brofen from now on.”
Angor nodded. Wizards could change their minds within seconds. He wouldn’t see it coming at all if a seemingly nice wizard suddenly wanted him dead.
The same went for Madelyne. For now, she was escorting him. But Angor was sure that this woman wouldn’t think twice if there was enough profit that convinced her to sell him out.
They looked up and saw several wizards leaving the Frozen Wing and flying away.
“The island you see is the Frontier Island that separated two planes. The vehicle will proceed with its inter-plane travel in a moment. But for now, we should head away with the others,” Madelyne explained as she jumped away from the stairs.
Following Madelyne’s lead, Angor landed at the beach area at the edge of the island. As soon as he touched the ground, he felt someone’s intensive attention scanning every pocket and corner of his body. However, the strange feeling didn’t last very long before it disappeared.
Angor looked left and right and tried to find whoever was blatantly violating his privacy.
“Stop it,” said Madelyne. “It’s the Supreme Cult using their Eye of Judgment.”