Warlock Apprentice

Again, Angor wasn’t sure whether he should eat this thing at all, so he gave Felicia a pleading look.

“Forgery Stones. They help women grow larger breasts,” Felicia replied casually.

Angor quickly shook his head at Greya. He didn’t wish to turn into a she-monster like Hookdick.

“Greya” made a duck face.

Felicia looked at Angor’s helplessness and sighed. “Hey Greya, find something else to do first. I need to talk to him. If you act like a good kid, I’ll give you some wine later.”

“Greya” nodded happily as if she were a real little girl who was just promised candies. She then returned to her tiny table and started cooking and eating.

Felicia grinned at Angor. “You’re still too weak. I brewed something for your fragile throat called Mythical Butterfly. Should I warm it up into ‘Fickle Butterfly’ or ice it into ‘Midnight Butterfly’?”

“Err, what’s the difference?”

Felicia released a phantom butterfly from her finger which began to spread its scales into a wine pot. “Midnight Butterfly helps build a defense line around your soul. You can consider it a special soul barrier.

“Fickle Butterfly has no fixed effect. We never know what it will do to you. Maybe you can gain some mana growth which otherwise requires ten years of training, maybe you get a new ability, or maybe you can straight become a wizard overnight.”

Felicia waited for Angor’s answer while still smiling.

Angor felt somewhat terrified in front of Felicia’s smiling face. He looked down so that the woman didn’t see his fear too easily.

Upon consideration, he realized that neither choice was friendly.

Midnight Butterfly, according to Felicia, could help defend his soul. However, he also believed that Felicia was using this chance to examine his soul. Isabelle did mention that his soul was “peculiar” in front of Felicia. It was very likely that Felicia wanted to find out why.

As for Fickle Butterfly... Angor didn’t believe that a master bartender didn’t know the effect of her wine. Felicia used really attractive words such as “special ability” and “become wizard overnight”. What was the point of long-term effort if something like these could be achieved by drinking wine?

It was obvious that Felicia was forcing him to choose the Midnight Butterfly.

Of course, wizards only care about profit. How could she just provide wine and invite me to dinner for free?

Felicia simply waited patiently. However, her grin grew bigger while she watched Angor’s expressions that were constantly changing.

“What about pure, untreated ‘Mythical Butterfly’?” Angor asked.

In her mind, Felicia scoffed at Angor’s conceit, but she didn’t show it.

“No particular effect in that case. You might get knocked out though. What, you don’t want any extra effect?”

Angor carefully observed Felicia’s expression and failed to notice any emotion change.

“If I refuse—”

Felicia half-closed her eyes and immediately displayed a terrifying aura in front of Angor’s face.

“—that would be impolite of me.” Angor quickly amended his words and said, “Midnight Butterfly then, if you would.”

“You sure about this?” Felicia didn’t lie about “soul defense”, but just like Angor assumed, she also planned to include a tiny trace of her consciousness in the wine which could help her enter Angor’s soul and check what was inside.

She thought that the interesting apprentice already noticed her plan and that the boy would probably choose ordinary Mythical Butterfly. But he didn’t.

Of course, even if Angor chose Mythical Butterfly, she always had other plans prepared.

It was also true that Fickle Butterfly could help Angor break through into a real wizard... with a negligible chance. And if Angor was lucky enough, something worse would soon follow because his body couldn’t contain the strength. By this, Angor would lose whatever he learned from his teacher, in which case Felicia would have enough excuse to force him to join Candy House.

If Angor chose Mythical Butterfly and got drunk... She could simply do whatever she needed on the sleeping boy, including searching through his memory and soul.

Generally speaking, all three choices meant something bad, with Midnight Butterfly being the most obvious one.

So why did he choose Midnight Butterfly? Did he not notice my plan, or does he believe that it won’t hurt if someone peeks inside his soul?

Angor only smiled. “I’ve decided. I feel hot both on my mind and on my body. I can use something that cools me off.”

It was definitely a lie, which confused Felicia. However, she couldn’t deny her offer now since she was the one presenting the choices.

“Find a seat then. I’ll cool your wine now.” Felicia pointed to a round table in the center of the hall.

Angor complied and closed his eyes to meditate. It was pretended—he was working his mind as fast as he could to size up the situation.

As he believed, Felicia couldn’t possibly kill him, considering his relationship with Greya and the name of his teacher.

He chose Midnight Butterfly because this one seemed to be the lesser of three evils. Fickle Butterfly was absolutely a no-go. Anyone could see the unreliability of it easily. And he didn’t wish to get drunk and become completely defenseless in Felicia’s hands.

If Felicia wanted something from his soul... so be it.

Angor already learned a lot about his own soul. Or rather, he sometimes wasn’t sure if it was his own soul in his body. Everything seemed so strange ever since the nightmare queen left a scar on him.

During the battle against Parasite Queen, the woman reached for his soul scar and had her soul completely banished.

During Twilight Auction, he tried to use the scar to summon the nightmare queen, which almost destroyed Midnight Sovereign.

If Felicia did do something to his soul... then he still had a chance to turn the table.

Of the three choices, Midnight Butterfly allowed him to grasp his own fate.

...

Greya also joined them at the dining table. A group of maids in black and white servant suits brought dishes to them. Angor thought the menus were pretty good, but Greya didn’t agree—the little girl knocked her share to the floor with a disgusted look.

“I don’t want this junk, sis! I want your wine!”

Angor frowned while listening to Greya’s crying voice.

This “little girl” had nothing to do with the bulky chunk of meaty figure in his memory, and he didn’t know how it happened. Back in Blood Prison, Greya at least spoke to him in her original manner. Why did she suddenly change so much?

He didn’t ask about it though. He didn’t believe Felicia would actually answer him.

Felicia approached him with a glass of dark liquid. The liquid was releasing visible cold air that slowly turned into butterfly shapes and disappeared into the air.

“Oh! Is that for me?” Greya quickly grew happy.

“I’m still preparing your wine. This one is for our guest.” Felicia smiled at Greya and placed the glass in front of Angor. “Now, enjoy your Midnight Butterfly,” Felicia said and sat beside Angor.

Angor reached for the glass. The coldness of the glass made him tremble a little, but it also refreshed his mind.

“Thank you.” Angor nodded to the woman.

“You’re welcome. You know, only Silver VIPs can order this one in my tavern. Just consider it a reward for taking care of Toby for Greya.”

By this, Felicia nullified Angor’s favor of nursing Toby with a glass of wine which obviously wasn’t a generous offer.

Angor didn’t protest. He couldn’t anyway.

“Drink it as fast as you can,” Felicia said as she pointed to the glass. “Once the ice is gone, it will become Mythical Butterfly again.”

Angor held the glass up and gave Felicia a meaningful glance. “Good luck, Miss Felicia.”

He gulped the wine in one go.

As the chilly liquid stimulated his throat, Angor’s irises shrank. He felt as if he fell into Ice Cave again.

It didn’t last long. A swarm of butterflies soon came and dragged him to a peaceful place...