Number 233 did not add his own comment that there was another name used by the audiences: The Assh*le Son of Someone.
To people, Baron Milk’s powerful familiar and alchemy weapon had to have come from someone else. They believed that Baron Milk possessed an influential background.
This assumption was the reason why despite many people hated Baron Milk to the core, no one actually came looking for trouble outside the matches.
When they were at the door of the manor, Angor suddenly remembered something and asked, “I still have the profile card on me. How were you allowed in the matches without it?”
Number 233 took out a profile card from his robe. “I don’t really know. When choosing an opponent, I told Mister Baroque that I lost the card by accident, and he simply gave me a temporary one. The victories during these days are all recorded in this card. When you go to Sky Tower next time, you can go to the administration and transmit the victories into your original card.”
Baroque didn’t mind the impostor?
“I think that man can easily see through your disguise. He allowed you just so he can earn favor from my professor. Or… he was afraid of professor for some reason,” Angor sneered.
Number 233 remained silent.
“Still, thank you for your help,” Angor thanked the servant sincerely.
“It’s nothing, really. Mister Toby was the one doing the fighting.”
Toby lifted its beak again to wait for Angor’s compliment.
Angor chuckled. The bad influence was not something serious since only a selected few knew his true identity, and none of those who knew him would give him out easily. Even Saka would keep his secret safe.
Angor bid farewell to Number 233 and entered the study on the second floor.
He saw Sunders sitting in front of the desk again. The gentleman was considering something with his eyes closed while supporting his chin with an arm. When Angor approached, Sunders finally looked up and spoke in his usual hoarse voice.
“You came.”
Sunders signaled Angor to take a seat.
Angor sat down and waited for some time. When he looked up, he saw Sunders being all silent in deep thought again.
“Um, professor?” Angor called carefully.
Sunders looked his way with a somewhat apologetic look.
He seems… concerned about something? Angor hesitated and wondered whether he should be a little “considerate” as a student.
“Did Mister Rein request something?” Angor tried.
It surprised Sunders a little. The gentleman smiled when he realized that his student was only trying to help.
“He did. But it’s nothing serious. He wanted to borrow my Sorcerer’s Garden.”
“Borrow the garden?” Angor remembered something mentioned by Ness, that someone wanted to use the garden to smuggle “live specimens”.
“To smuggle something?” Angor asked.
Sunders nodded. He knew that Angor had a good idea about when to speak or withhold information, so he did not keep it a secret in front of Angor.
“Is it possible to smuggle creatures?” Angor asked in curiosity. “Like your phantom beasts?”
“Some, yes. But most of the targets are intelligent beings from other worlds.”
“Intelligent beings in… other worlds?” Angor’s heart raced faster for some reason.
“I think I mentioned something before, that any otherworldly creature must go through an ‘official’ path to enter the wizarding world and get registered. Otherwise, those ruffians from Supreme Cult will give you unending trouble like mad.
“However, those who came here legally are mostly from planes that shared a peace treaty with this world. We constraint each other either for profit or risk. Us wizards usually avoid doing anything to creatures from these planes,” said Sunders. He paused to arrange his words before he continued, “Bioresearch is always a popular subject among wizards, and otherworldly humanoids are the most valuable test subjects. They always sell for a good price. Generally speaking… when someone is smuggling live specimens, he’ll probably be dealing with such intelligent creatures.”
“Will the Supreme Cult do something about it?”
“The ultimate fate of these creatures will always be death, and this is just what the Supreme Cult strives to achieve, so they’ll not mind.”
It was a rare chance for them to talk about otherworldly creatures, so Angor tried to think of a way to divert the topic to “how to prevent a smuggled being from getting rejected by world’s consciousness”.
But Sunders interrupted his train of thought.
“You don’t have to learn too much of it at the moment. I wanted to tell you something about bloodline.”
“Bloodline?”
“You made the right choice by rejecting Ness’ offer. The bloodline of a succubus is a really good one, mind you. However, as a rare case of being a Nightmare Form, it’d be better if you use the bloodline of a monster native to the Nightmare Realm.
“Most of these monsters have counterparts in reality, but their blood tends to possess amazing powers that cannot be found in reality. Also, most of them help you learn illusions better. Some of my own illusion spells are connected to the blood of nightmare monsters. So is Flora’s Red Reaper.
“Of course, it’s up to you which bloodline you’ll choose. I’m only giving you a suggestion that you should choose carefully.”
“I understand, professor.” Angor did not know why Sunders suddenly decided to talk about bloodlines, but he was glad he learned something.
“That’s it for today. You can go now unless you have something else to ask.”
Angor bowed to Sunders and prepared to go away.
Sunders glanced at the demon falcon statue on the desk and spoke to Angor’s back, “I think Flora mentioned something about Lady Mirror’s particular interest in small inventions. She did save your life, so don’t forget to go thank her properly.”
…
Angor left the study and ran into Butler Goode. Somehow, he expected this to happen.
“Butler Goode, I’ll take these clothes away and get them washed before giving them back. May I?” Angor pointed at the suit on himself.
“The Master won’t mind. They’re thrown-away anyway. Please don’t hesitate to discard them if they don’t suit you.”
Angor quickly waved his hands. “No, they’re good on me. It’s just… I feel a bit weird in them.”
“Do keep them then, Mister Padt. You remind me of Master when he was still young. It was such an enjoyable time…” Goode seemed to be enjoying something in his memory.
Angor left quickly before Goode could start telling his old story.
Angor boarded a sky bus from Falling Cloud Stop. Inside the cabinet, he enjoyed the night breeze while trying to comprehend Sunders’ reminder.
Of course, he remembered Lady Mirror’s favor. But… he did not really like Lady Mirror’s character. Did he simply need to “bring his handsome look” to Lady Mirror as per what Sunders said?
Truthfully speaking, Angor would not visit Lady Mirror like that.
“Small inventions?”
Speaking of inventions, Angor immediately thought about his unfinished music box.
A music box was not really an invention. But… a beautiful illusion and pleasant music would make up for it.
He did not have anything else that would interest Lady Mirror anyway. This toy was his only shot.
He returned to Apprentice Town Eight while going over his thoughts.
The town was quiet in the night. Only the marketplace in the distance was still bright.
Instead of heading home right away, Angor went down into the underground market first.
According to Number 233, the schedule for tomorrow’s matches was already set. There were five matches. He also needed to check the announcement and see whether he was placed for extra matches.
Besides, he had to buy another wizard robe as soon as possible.
The old one was tossed away by Sunders, and he needed something to cover himself up in the tower.
He neither had time nor knowledge to craft his own alchemy robe, or he certainly would try to make one himself.
It was late. However, the underground market was still bustling with people like midday.
The clock suggested that it was past ten o’clock. Only a few people were in front of the announcement screen.
Angor read the screen from top to bottom and saw his name appearing 11 times. He had a match in almost every hour, from seven in the morning till seven in the afternoon.
He was allowed to draw five opponents in one day, which meant six other people chose his name in the lottery pool. It was not normal that Sky Tower gave him so many matches in one day. Angor took a guess that Baroque simply wished he could finish this level quickly and be gone.
His assumption was mostly correct. Although it was not Baroque who wanted him gone. It was the Sky Tower. His matches all ended in “shameless ways”, which did not help them attract audiences and ticket money, so the management team of the tower would like to see him finish his levels as soon as possible.
Angor did a brief calculation and realized the eleven matches would get him enough points to reach level 15. As for his opponents… it did not matter. He was going to ask Toby to finish the remaining job anyway.
Number 233’s words did not give him a good explanation about how bad his name was. Here, however, Angor finally saw how much hate he attracted.
He saw an apprentice trying to decide which match to watch when someone nearby quickly suggested that he should avoid “One-Hit Man”. Next, he explained all kinds of dirty moves of “One-Hit Man” while occasionally cursing something. Even Angor himself began to dislike “Baron Milk” a little.
More apprentices joined the discussion to boycott Baron Milk. Even some mortals agreed with them.
Angor slowly turned to leave. He was getting worried that he would join them as well if he stayed here too long.
When Angor walked away, someone wearing a white bear costume appeared.
“Tonight, is the fated reunion.” He walked to Angor’s original position while muttering. When he arrived, he looked left and right without finding his target.
“Oops… Fate does sometimes go wrong. I came a little too late.”