855 Weirdo (2/2)
He talked as enthusiastically as a real merchant.
”My goods have arrived. It's right here,” the merchant said with a smile. His voice was as comforting as a spring breeze.
”What?” Lauren was dazed.
Fernando, however, immediately realized it. He asked in a low voice, ”Douglas?”
Lauren looked at the guy, stunned. He finally noticed that the young merchant was also wearing white gloves with a red handkerchief in his pocket.
”Yes. Are you Gallos' friends?” The young merchant admitted his identity frankly and asked warmly, not fearing that they were night watchers at all.
”Yes. Why… Why did you come from the outside?” Lauren was rather confused.
Douglas chuckled. ”I got off the boat in advance and came from the bottom of the ocean. I've waited for you at the port for a day.”
His smile was as clean as an innocent kid.
No wonder he's not afraid of night watchers or ambushes. He must've examined the environment carefully. Lauren was immediately enlightened.
”Our goods have been delayed. We should come again tomorrow. Let's have some drinks and talk to each other,” Fernando said like a businessman, slightly disgusted by Douglas, because the guy was also one foot taller than him, and he was not nearly as skinny as Lauren was!
When the night watchers examined the boat, the three sorcerers did not attract any attention and left the place like any other merchants on the port. They took a wagon and returned to the capital of Paphos County.
After changing a few wagons, they finally had a member of the Union of Sorcerers as the coachman. It was not until this moment that Fernando and Lauren finally formally introduced themselves.
”I am Fernando Brastar, the leader of the Union's branch in Paphos County. You can call me Fernando. I do not like my last name.” Fernando secretly sniffed.
”Fernando Brastar?” Douglas repeated, raising his voice before he smiled. ”The 'Dark Storm', ranking the 296th on the Cleansing List?”
Lauren nodded on behalf of Fernando, implying that it was exactly him.
”You made it to the Cleansing List just after you arrived at the senior rank, and you reached the top 300 after you advanced into the seventh circle. Fernando, you must be significantly stronger than the regular senior-rank sorcerers,” Douglas complimented with a smile.
In this period, most of the archmages and senior-rank sorcerers of the Magic Empire still lived. There were almost eight hundred people on the Cleansing List.
Fernando chuckled. ”I've only grasped and modified some spells and killed a red robe. I am certainly not as good as you, a ninth-circle archmage.”
Not bothered by Fernando's subconscious tone of comparison, Douglas said with a peaceful smile, ”Me? I am not even on the Cleansing List.”
”I've been quite curious about that too. You are an archmage. How come you are not on the Cleansing List?” Lauren had learned the Cleansing List from the night watchers they killed, but the name of Derrick Douglas was not on it.
Douglas chuckled in a low voice. ”I was always considered a weirdo who did not have any prospect in magic when I was in Antiffler. I became an archmage because of the long-time accumulation, my teacher's heritage, the training in the War of Dawn, the fortuitous incidents, and some of my own little ideas. It's perfectly normal that the Church does not pay much attention to me. After all, the sorcerers who joined the Church will tell them that Douglas will never become a legend or achieve any ambitions. He will only ask his questions while he waits to die. It is unnecessary to waste time and energy on him.”
He made fun of himself, not angry at all that other people thought little of him.
”A weirdo?” Lauren and Fernando asked at the same time. In their conversation so far, Douglas had shown no weirdness at all. Instead, he was fun, warm, and attractive. He seemed to have natural-born leadership.
In the meantime, Fernando's impression of Douglas was much better after he admitted that he had become an archmage because of the long-time accumulation.
Douglas smiled. ”Yes, I am good at asking questions.”
”What's weird about that?” Fernando said in confusion before he went on with his self-introduction.
Douglas suddenly interrupted him, ”You must be good at the spells of storms and lightning in the school of elements, right?”
”Of course, night watchers rarely give wrong nicknames.” Fernando nodded.
Caught in silence, Douglas mumbled to himself, ”Why can lightning kill people… How is lightning generated…”
Fernando and Lauren looked at him in shock and confusion. Wasn't it natural that lightning could kill people? Was it necessary to ask why? He was really a weirdo…