254 In the Library (1/2)

Chapter 254: In the Library

Translator: Kris_LiuEditor: Vermillion

The middle-aged sorcerer looked around the hall and signed a bit sympathetically, ”It's so unlucky of Bertren. He was just summoning a couple of demons for his experiment, having no idea that his youngest apprentice was also secretly conducting a summoning rite in the chamber, or there was no way that an experienced sorcerer like him would fail to notice what was going on in his own castle in time.”

”Well… Thompson, I don't see this as just merely bad luck.” The dragon pulled out a bulky bag from under its belly satisfactorily, and started to count the gold nuggets, coins and precious magic materials, ”According to my experience, when the kid was trying to seek for power from Pain Fable, the hatred demon had already cast its projection in his mind, and started to affect his way of thinking, behavior, and emotions. The special rite later was only made to reinforce the demon's power.”

The dragon's voice was, surprisingly, like that of a kid and also sounded genderless, which was in sharp contrast to its great power.

The sorcerer named Thompson looked at the dragon, who squatted there counting his treasures, smiling, ”Atforest, what do you mean by 'your experience'?”

”I mean it. Every time I see shining treasures, a demon projection arises in my mind, and the demon's called Greed,” the dragon said innocently. ”The demon projection affects me so much that I cannot stop myself from taking all the treasures away. It's not really my fault…”

”Where's the demon from?” Thompson was a bit amused, ”Now that you can explain all of this to me, I'm sure that you are in control of your thoughts now. Atforest, why don't you give all the treasure back?”

”But… But you've promised me, Thompson. This is my reward.” The dragon shook its head, ”And I don't know where it comes from… maybe the ancient hell… I don't know. It's just there.”

Atforest's nonsense made Thompson think, ”Several grand arcanists have explored hell and even met some dukes and counts there. From their adventures and those ancient legends, the grand arcanists heard that once there were seven powerful and mysterious demons in hell, and each of them represented the seven negative things—arrogance, greed, envy, anger, pain, acolasia and hypocrisy, but unfortunately, there's no solid evidence for this. And there's also another saying—some believe that the seven negative things were symbols from those cunning and evil demons in hell, and each demon had at least one of the traits.”

”I see…” Atforest was not interested in Thompson's words. It secretly hid away some small-sized, precious items from the bag for himself. After all, Atforest knew that some of them indeed belonged to the Congress.

Thompson pretended that he did not see what Atforest was doing there but continued, ”It is necessary that we pay more attention to the book, Pain Fable, since it might be connected to some secrets of the world. The demon's power and even its existence were so strange and mysterious. Without you, Atforest, I might have failed the mission and the demon could have escaped from me. Your ability of casting those spiritual and soul spells is very important.”

The senior-rank sorcerer also felt that the demon was very strange and mysterious.

Then Thompson took out his badges and put them on, in front of this chest.

...

In the corridor, because Lucien all of a sudden attacked the wall, Charlie, Sandra and Susan got very nervous again, especially Susan, who didn't even dare to breathe.

And when all of them heard the solid footstep reverberating through the corridor, the tension peaked. A middle-aged man wearing a flame-like magic robe walked to them. He had black hair and blue eyes, and he was wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. The man was elegant and good-looking.

”Hello, I'm Thompson, from the Affairs Committee. I happened to be around in Caspar, so the Congress sent me to deal with the rest of the stuff here,” said Thompson with a kind smile on his face in front of the magic circles and the defence wall. Apparently, the three sorcerers were still very cautious and alert.

Thompson was wearing three badges on his chest: one was a six-star arcana badge; one was an eight-circle magic badge; and the third one was the black-fire badge representing Affairs Committee.

Lucien stopped Susan, who was just about to step out of the magic circles and defensive wall due to her excitement, and he said to the man, ”Mr. Thompson, we mean no offence, but to make sure we're safe, we want to check your badges. The demon was very creepy and unpredictable.”

Both Charlie and Sandra nodded. They had heard more than once that bad things happened when sorcerers lowered their guard in front of a transformed demon.

Thompson did not mind. Smiling, he took down his badges and let them check it freely.

After making sure the badges were not fake, Charlie walked out of the magic circles and reported to Thompson directly, ”Sir, the demon was very weird. When we first entered the castle…”

It was supposed to be Lucien's job reporting to Thompson, however, he was too weak to talk that much right now.

After listening to Charlie carefully, Thompson nodded, ”This task turned out to be tougher than we thought, and the correct level of the task should be 'Dangerous'. You will all receive way more arcana points later than what was promised, and all the magic items and potions that were consumed in the task would be compensated by the Congress. Just write them down into a list and submit the list to Task Zone. That will take about a week.”

”So good to hear that.” Sandra was relieved. Clearly, the amulet she was wearing was precious and must be very important to her.

Charlie was also glad to hear that he would get the same magic robe back as well.

Thompson blocked the whole castle using magic, and he decided to first send the sorcerers back to Fraser town.

...