40 Tracking (2/2)

Lucien put his Ice Revenger on the finger, and then carefully walked toward the back door of the pub. With some easy apprentice spells, he sneaked into the tavern and went upstairs. Luckily, no one was on the corridor at this time.

Listening carefully with the help of his spiritual power, Lucien could hear a man talking in a low voice inside one of the rooms.

…………

Listening to his owl’s report, Smile was sitting in a rocking chair with a glass of wine in his hand.

Then he closed his eyes and lay back on the chair, “Well… It seems that the guy doesn’t know the witch as well. Oh no… I have no clue now, not at all. How can I find the man from the Continental Congress…”

“Smile, as long as we keep collecting information…” Doro was trying to comfort him.

While he was feeling depressed, there was a knock on the front door.

Doro jumped to the bed at once and buried himself under the blanket, while Smile bounced out of the rocking chair and asked nervously, “Who is it?!”

“I’m looking for Doro, the owl, and you, Mr. Smile” A man answered in a calm way. His voice sounded harsh and cold.

“What?!” Doro screamed and its big round eyes opened even wider.

Smile’s spell was ready, but he dare not launch the attack rashly on a stranger who he knew nothing about.

“I asked, who are you?!” Smile repeated.

“I’m a sorcerer, and I know the witch. Like you, I’m also looking for the man from the Congress.” The harsh voice paused a bit and continued, “Earlier I heard your owl asking a young boy about the witch, so I followed your pet and came here.”

“What?! It was Lord Doro’s mistake! What a tragedy!” yelled the owl.

Smile relaxed a bit. At least he knew it was not the church, or they would have broken the door at once, without any explanation.

“If you’re a sorcerer, you don’t need me to open the door for you.” Smile did not lower his guard though. If the man opened the door by himself, he could have a few more seconds to better cast defensive measures. Besides, he could tell from the spell if the guy was really a sorcerer, or a pastor in disguise. The two powers were different.

Then, the door opened. A freezing cold and threatening power came into the place before the sorcerer entered.

Smile took a step back. He knew he was definitely overpowered. None of his apprentice spells would be helpful when facing the other sorcerer’s power. Then he saw a mysterious man wearing a black robe, whose face was hidden in the shadow of a hood.

Lucien, on the other hand, saw the apprentice’s face well enough, and realized that he actually met Smile before. When Lucien first visited Copper Coronet, Smile was the hooked-nosed man sitting beside the pub counter.