The Angor in the hologram halted. Everything within his view around him was restored in the holographic projection.
Angor was not interested in any of the oil paintings, except the one with a dark theme which drew all of his attention.
It was a realistic portrait of two people. A man and a woman.
Beneath the black painting curtain, a middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache was sitting on a leather wing chair, positioned on the front of the painting. He was wearing a dark red vest with white laced edges. The woman appeared young, maybe 16 or 17. She wore a classic bright green strapped leather skirt. She had beautiful blond hair, which was folded into an updo like a flower. She rested her head upon the back of the chair, revealing an innocent and joyful smile.
A line of small, white ornamental letters was printed on the upper-right corner of the oil painting. If Angor did not look closely, he would think those were sewings on the black curtain.
Angor zoomed the picture in until he could read the letters clearly.
“Recording the sixth birthday of Margaret—Franklin.”
Margaret?
Angor saw this name before. She was the daughter of the warden.
Considering how Margaret was showing affection to the man in the painting, Angor took a guess that this man was the warden of Stairs of Hanging Prison.
So Franklin must be his name? Or was it referring to whoever created this painting?
Angor shut down the tablet and confirmed his assumption. Just as he believed, the Milking Shepherd was not on the hallway wall before.
Why did “Father and Daughter” become “Milking Shepherd”? Did someone replace it? Or was there something else?
Angor picked up the Milking Shepherd to look. It was only an ordinary artwork. So where did the Father and Daughter go? If someone did replace the painting, why? Was someone trying to hide the identities of the family?
Angor could not figure out anything. He only believed it had something to do with the Nightmare Realm in the end.
…
After a night’s sleep, Angor woke up early, fed Toby, and began reading the training manual that Sunders gave him.
He had barely progressed several minutes before someone started knocking on his door.
Sailum’s excited voice came from outside, “Angor. Hey Angor!”
Angor opened the door and saw Sailum being all happy for some reason.
“You’re up already? Then why didn’t you come out?” The boy said.
“Come out? Why?” Angor did not know what Sailum was talking about.
“To the deck! I thought you already knew that we’re arriving at Brute Cavern today? The first mate said we’ll get there in the morning. All talents are on the deck. Let’s go!”
“It’s good and all but… why the deck?” Angor looked at Sailum up and down. The boy wrapped himself in thick clothes from head to toe. “It’s cold up there. You aren’t afraid of catching a cold now?”
Sailum took out his hands from his pockets and Angor realized the boy was wearing thick cotton gloves as well.
“I have protection this time. Isn’t this a memorial moment? Don’t you want to watch Brute Cavern from up above?”
To observe the place he was going to live in for a long time… Angor thought about this idea and decided to comply.
Following Sailum’s example, Angor “armed himself up” for good, took Toby with him and followed behind Sailum.
On their way, Angor saw more talents coming out of their rooms. Looked like they all shared the same idea – to see what Brute Caven looked like from the air. That would both satisfy their curiosity as well as giving them an idea about the landscape so they could make future plans better.
When they reached the outside, the sight of Hookdick attracted Angor’s attention immediately. He was standing among three or four people and making some kind of publicizing speech while thumping his chest. The man looked really proud of something.
Angor only gave him a brief glimpse. He joined Sailum near the fence on the right side where Nausica was spitting smoke clouds, looking amazingly sexy.
“Miss Nausica!” Sailum greeted her happily.
Nausica looked up, “Ah, you came too.”
“Yup. I wonder how Brute Cavern looks like. They said wizard organizations are all secretly built and that mortals can’t find the entrances,” said Sailum. He looked full of expectation as he continued, “My mother used to tell me about the story of the Moon Castle. Maybe Brute Cavern is like that, which only shows itself under the moonlight?”
“Who knows? Maybe. When I was at Blackberry Waters, I heard a rumor that an organization was built on coral clusters. I wanted to go find it before. I’ve never expected that my destiny would bring me to Brute Cavern instead,” Nausica replied.
“Wizards on corals… That sounds so fantastic,” Sailum began his imagination again.
“An organization on corals? You mean White Coral Floating Island Academy?” Angor spoke.
“Oh, something like that. Why? You know about them, Angor?” Nausica wondered.
Angor smiled, “Just like you, I was following a guide to the academy. Then something changed my destination, and now I’m going to Brute Cavern as well.”
“You’re luckier than me. I didn’t have a guide. I was totally wandering my way about to find this… White Coral Floating Island Academy,” Nausica let out another smoke ring. She then said, “I was too naive. If I didn’t find something along the way, I would have perished at the bottom of the sea.”
Considering what she saw on Devil’s Water, those boundless thunderclouds… She should totally be worried.
“Angor, do you know if White Coral Floating Island Academy is a colorful place like the Moon Castle?” Sailum asked eagerly.
Angor shook his head, “I never went there, but I saw the picture of another wizard organization from a book. It’s called Floating Mech City, a giant metal city floating above the clouds. Only supernaturals can reach that place while mortals can only look up at it on the ground.”
As the most famous trading city in the southern wizard world, Floating Mech City was open to all wizards. Of course, there were pictures of it in all kinds of books.
“A city on the clouds! That sounds more fun than an academy on corals,” Sailum had stars shining in his eyes now. He was dreaming of going through the clouds and see the vast city at the end of the sky which released an attractive beam of light.
Apart from Floating Mech City, Angor also went to Nether City, so he briefly told them something about the ancient wizard ruins which were later called the “Garden of Labyrinth”.
Wizards living on top of corals, a metal fortress among the clouds, a city combining mazes and gardens… Their imaginations went wild.
“I wonder what Brute Cavern is like?” Sailum believed that, as one of the top ten organizations in the south, surely Brute Cavern would bring him lots of surprises.
However, he would be disappointed soon.