Translator: Yang_Wenli
Upon walking out of the teleportation gate, the Prophet immediately started looking around her surroundings.
She had been to the borders of the Forest of Twilight’s Shadow to inspect things before. From her inspections, the forest left behind one impression — danger.
The aura of death and the wandering undeads that filled the forest were both natural enemies to all living creatures!
The Prophet can only hope that her Sin Demon attendant’s teleportation gate was placed accurately at the edge of the Forest of the Twilight’s Shadow.
But, upon examining her surroundings, the Prophet saw that there was a towering castle before her.
There existed only a single place in the Forest of Twilight’s Shadow with human-like construction — the Duke of Bones’ residence in the center of the forest!
If she came out at the border of the Forest of Twilight’s Shadow, then she might encounter some low-level zombies or skeletons; undeads that she could easily get rid of with a wave of her hand.
But, at this place, she might encounter Death Knights, Howling Banshees and other top tier undeads. It was even possible that she could anger that violent-tempered Duke of Bones!
“Teacher, where is this?”
Worst yet, her students had also followed her through the teleportation gate.
“Carefully conceal your auras. Zeru, construct a new teleportation gate.”
The Prophet remained completely calm in this forbidden area. All the while, she was on full alert of any movements from the castle.
If the Duke of Bones was to suddenly become furious by them intruding upon her territory, she could use ‘this is by Her Highness Cecily’s orders’ to lengthen the amount of time she would remain alive in this world.
But, if they were to continue to stay here, even if they had the protection from the Demon Realm’s second princess, they might not necessarily be safe.
“So cold... This place... is the center of the Forest of Twilight’s Shadow. Esteemed Teacher, I saw Undead Knights and Soulreavers!”
One of the Prophet’s dutiful students had managed to determine their location. But, upon doing so, he started to shiver in terror at the sight of those dangerous undeads.
Fear for undead was not a privilege that only humans had. Some of the more timid demons would also fear the undead.
After that student brought the matter up, the other three students immediately realized how dangerous of a place they’re in.
“A Dementor seemed to have floated over there.”
“There are Ghouls everywhere...”
Panic began to spread through the four apprentices. The Prophet tried to calm her students down. But, before she could even say anything, she could hear the sound of musical instruments...
Music? At a place like this?
The Prophet raised her head in disbelief. She looked in the direction of the castle. A soothing piano’s melody was coming out from the direction of the castle. When the Prophet began to carefully listen to it, she discovered that it was an extremely soothing and calm tune.
It was so gentle that even the nervousness she had in entering the forbidden area of death disappeared...
That song was able to affect one’s spirit. Although her heart has been calmed, the Prophet started feeling a trace of sorrow as she continued to listen to the music. It was the sadness from parting with one’s lover.
But, the Prophet had never had a lover in her entire life. How could she possibly feel this sort of emotional grief caused by love?
The Prophet’s four students were also affected by the melody. The piano’s melody has managed to easen up their nervousness. But, at the same time it did that, it touched upon the deepest sadness within their hearts.
“That might be a magic capable of affecting one’s mind!”
The Prophet loudly reminded her students. Right after her words left her mouth, an all-new teleportation gate appeared beside her.
A Sin Demon an entire head taller than her own Sin Demon attendant walked out from the teleportation gate... That Sin Demon was even wearing detailed and form-fitting clothes.
That Sin Demon walked over to the Prophet and half-kneel before her. After examining this petite girl, he said, “By the order of the Third Prince, I’ve come to greet you all.”
“At the central region of the Duke of Bones’ territory?”
The Prophet had heard that the Third Prince had entered some sort of treaty with the Duke of Bones. But, she did not expect for the treaty to be this firm.
That violent-tempered Duke of Bones actually allowed strangers to enter the central region of her territory!
“His Highness said that the Duke of Bones is a gentle person. One can find out her gentleness from her musical performances. Thus, please do not be afraid.”
Gentle person...
The Prophet did not wish to linger on this topic for too long.
“My students were affected by the Duke of Bones’ mental magic attacks. Will their condition be cured upon their arrival in the human world?”
The Prophet discovered that two of her students were already starting to grow teary-eyed.
“Mental magic attack? No... this is a serenade performed by Lady Duke of Bones. It is written by a human composer by the name of Schubert. Furthermore, His Highness has especially mentioned that ‘Serenade’ is the name of the song.”
The Sin Demon diligently explained things to the Prophet.
At a time like this, the Prophet was not interested in learning knowledge about music from Zenarth. She only wanted to quickly leave this forest’s forbidden area.
At this moment, the piano came to a sudden stop. The aura of death in the surrounding area grew so intense. The Prophet felt like she was choking.
Even though her expression remained the same, her heartbeat was already accelerating...
“Another group of troublesome... travelers.”
A pitch-black figure walked out from the castle walls. A skeleton with eye sockets burning with Soulfires was walking in midair and toward them.
Every single person the moving Soulfires looked upon held their breath. Finally, the Duke of Bones’ gaze landed on the Prophet. The Prophet was the only person who dared to look at this powerful Lich face to face.
“My apprentices and I are only passing through this area. We will not cause you any inconveniences, Duke of Bones,” The Prophet did a gesture of respect commonly seen in the Demon Realm and spoke with a tone that was neither servile nor overbearing.
“When trying to act brave, it’s best to make sure that your legs don’t tremble, little girl,” The Duke of Bones reminded the Prophet with an ear-piercing voice.
The Prophet immediately turned her head downward to look at her legs. She discovered that her legs weren’t trembling at all. When she raised her head back up, she heard an extremely vulgar laughter from the Duke of Bones.
“Zenarth! Tell me, did you bring the new movie with you this time? The movie reviews are already up on the Mage Forum, why have I yet to see the movie?.”
The Duke of Bones disappeared before the Prophet. In a blink of an eye, she had appeared beside the Sin Demon. The flames in her eye-sockets were sizing up Zenarth.
“That is a major violation of the treaty.”
“Lady Duke of Bones, His Highness told me to pass on this message to you. He hoped that you could forgive him for being busy recently. This here is the originium crystal containing the movie ‘Hachiko: A Dog’s Tale.’”
Zenarth opened his furry paw. There was a sparkling and translucent originium crystal inside.
The originium crystal flew over to the Duke of Bones’ hand. The Lich picked up the originium crystal with her thumb and index finger and began to examine it.
“This seemed to be longer than the one screened in the theater. I’m assuming there’s the so-called ‘behind-the-scenes’ in this originium crystal, right? Very well. Zenarth, you have three hours to send these demons off. If they’re still here by the time I finish writing my film review, they will forever remain here and become my faithful audiences.”
The Duke of Bones placed away the originium crystal. Before the Prophet could even understand what was going on, the Lich disappeared before them.
The behavior from the Duke of Bones had completely surpassed her expectations. She was in such glee and excitement like she had obtained some sort of treasure.
Exactly what could bring such excitement to a Lich that has lived for hundreds of years?
“Zenarth, please excuse me for asking... does that originium crystal called Hachiko contain the documentation of some sort of taboo magic?” The Prophet walked over to Zenarth who was constructing a magic formation.
“Taboo magic? No...” As Zenarth has interacted with humans for a long time now, his communication abilities have increased. After pondering for a short moment, he answered, “That originium crystal only contains... the scenes of the interactions between an old man and a hound.”
“The scenes of the interactions between an old man and a hound?”
The Prophet was once again skeptical. There was no reason for a Lich to be so happy like she was about to be reborn to this world from the scenes of the interactions between an old man and a hound.
“I am incapable of explaining things further. When you reach Norland, His Highness will be able to inform you everything,” Zenarth finished setting up the teleportation formation to the human world. As he planned to guide these demons into the teleportation formation, he discovered that there was a fellow Sin Demon among them. Furthermore, this Sin Demon’s fur color resembled his own.
“Wait.” Zenarth stopped the Prophet who was planning to enter the teleportation formation.
“What’s... wrong?”
The Prophet took a slight step back. She stared at the Sin Demon anticipating that it was planning to make things difficult for them.
But, Zenarth pointed to the Sin Demon at the end of the group, “If my kin wishes to proceed to Norland, he will need to find a cloak to cover him. Otherwise... it will lead to major troubles.”