“It will be very difficult to repair your relationship with Angor now.” Greya shook her head. “It’s supposed to be a dinner. Must you make it so unpleasant?”
Felicia didn’t answer. It seemed like she had accepted the lecture.
“… So, why did you put Toby in Angor’s hands? You already noticed his potential?” Felicia asked after a while.
“That’s only one reason. I chose him also because Toby asked to follow Angor. You know, Toby’s existence alone is already something that disobeys natural laws. Maybe his instinct already told us something.
“If you insist on regarding Angor as your enemy or test subject, you might as well kill him right now. Otherwise, don’t worsen your terms further.”
“I see. By the way, do you remember anything about that stitch woman?”
Greya considered and said, “I think I saw… some old desks and a painting on the wall. But I cannot tell where exactly they came from. I think it’s not inside the southern wizarding region.”
“Another plane, you mean?”
“It’s probably Nightmare Realm.”
…
Angor remained on his bed for three days. When he opened his eyes, he saw a black figure sitting right next to him. Out of instinct, he jolted up.
It was Shadow.
“Oh, you’re awake?” Shadow was wearing rags for some reason. Half of his pants were gone, and he had nothing over his top half. Angor could see the man’s scarred stomach and thorax.
“What happened to you?” Angor checked Shadow up and down.
“That’s MY question! That servant told me you’ve slept for three days. I know the bed is soft and all, but do you have to sleep in like that?”
Angor quickly tried to remember what he saw before he fainted the other day. The only thing he knew was that Felicia reached for his soul scar, and… his memory was cut off from there.
“Is Miss Felicia alright?”
“Huh? Well, I saw her making wines again in the hall, so I think she’s fine?” Shadow tilted his head. “It’s strange though. She didn’t badmouth me again when I passed through. She always did before, since she really hates my teacher.”
Angor considered and decided not to ask about Shadow’s teacher—it wasn’t wise to talk about gossips related to wizards. Since Felicia was fine, then nothing serious really happened. The last person who did something similar was Parasite Queen, whose soul just vanished instantly. Was it because Parasite Queen was only a weak apprentice?
Shadow nudged Angor and interrupted his train of thoughts. “Hey quick, got any more clothes?” Shadow seemed really angry. “This damn place is full of women. I didn’t find any clothes for men.”
Angor moaned and took out a robe from his bracelet. “What’s with those injuries? You ran into traps again?”
“Oh damn it!” Shadow accepted the robe and sat on the floor. “It’s not a trap. Just, my teacher set me up!”
Shadow explained his adventure.
“Since Fiona could lead the way, I can avoid all the traps. I found Naga inside the old witch’s lab…”
As the others had promised, all wizard-level mechanisms in the laboratory were shut down. Shadow smoothly discovered where Naga was placed.
But something happened at the last moment.
Naga was fully charged with energy.
Only someone who learned puppet arts could do this, which meant Shadow’s teacher left Naga here with full energy.
Shadow failed to take Naga away because he couldn’t defeat her. As an apprentice, it would take him years to exhaust Naga’s energy.
His only choice was to run away, and he could only do it due to the fact that Shadow was familiar with Naga’s abilities; otherwise, he would probably get killed instead.
“I thought my enemies are those bitches in Dark Castle,” Shadow seemed sad now as he said, “but not my stupid teacher!”
“I’ve always wanted to ask; what is ‘Naga’ anyway?” Angor grew curious.
“She is… an ownerless magic puppet, thrown away by my teacher. She was crafted using the live body of a wizard. But the most important thing is, I’m a Shadow Puppeteer, and Naga is the only Shadow Puppet ever created by my teacher.
“I once completed a very difficult task. He told me Naga is my reward. But I can only take her when I become an apprentice at the peak level. I believed him.
“When I finally reached this level, he told me that Isabella took Naga away, so here I am, at Dark Castle doing this stupid challenge, only to be tricked by him again!”
Shadow was almost crying now. His chance of becoming a wizard turned out to be bogus!
Angor frowned at Shadow’s misfortune. “How powerful is Naga?”
“Well, she can’t possibly have her full strength in that body, but she’s still at wizard level.”