“Toby!” Greya lifted a hand. The seabird sitting on Angor’s hair took off and returned to her.
“Toby has been following me ever since it was created. It’s a new life form I made, using several phantom spirits and valuable materials, while based on an ordinary seabird. I tried many times to recreate the process, to make something similar. But I never succeeded. Toby is one of a kind,” Greya explained while looking at Toby with a gentle look.
“Toby has been here for years. It doesn’t have any special powers like other monsters, but it’s intelligent. It can understand human speech now, and it also has a spirit capacity similar to apprentices.”
Angor was already getting a hint about Greya’s intention to leave Toby to him.
“Barbie’s Restaurant is always traveling around the world looking for materials. Toby is safe with me. But now, I’m approaching my bottleneck to break through. When a gourmet wizard needs to do it, he or she will need lots of unique cooking materials and recipes. I’ve swept through the entire southern region in these centuries. There might still be something left, but they won’t help with my breakthrough now.
“This is why I’ve decided to leave the south and head for somewhere far away. An unknown general plane, even. I never thought about this before, but I’ve stuck at the bottleneck for hundreds of years, if I don’t find a path soon, I’ll never make it. I’m doing it now.”
Greya used a sound-proof ward when speaking, so only Angor heard it.
“The journey ahead is full of danger. I cannot protect Toby this time, so I hope, that you can keep it while I’m away.”
Greya looked at Angor in the eyes. She had many choices, such as leaving Toby at the Candy House or ask a close friend. However, when she told the ideas to Toby, the bird refused all of them. It only wished to stay with Greya. After so much hard persuasion, Toby finally chose someone.
That person was not any friend or ally. It was someone who only met with Toby once: Angor.
She did not know why Toby chose the boy, but when she considered Sunders’ particular attitude towards him, as well as Angor’s nature and his possible achievements, Greya did not protest. Since she knew Angor was going to leave with Sunders tomorrow, she quickly came to The Redbud during the night.
Toby understood all of the conversations. It also stared at Angor with its tiny, shiny eyes, waiting for an answer.
“So my guess was right. It’s not like they need me to do that forever, but close…” Angor spoke in his mind.
Angor tried to refuse with the big and small pairs of eyes fixed on him. He was not even sure about his own future. God knew why Sunders suddenly came and adopted him as a student, whether Angor could satisfy the man’s expectation, or what awaited him in Brute Cavern.
Angor knew no answer to those questions.
Yet Greya was requesting him. A “real wizard who deserves respect”, according to Sunders himself.
Flora also told Angor that he should maintain a good relationship with Greya.
Considering these, Angor clenched his teeth.
Fine. It’s not like things could get worse than this.
If Sunders was ever unsatisfied with him, maybe Sunders would not be too hard on him considering Greya’s pet was with him.
“Alright. I’ll look after Toby until Lady Greya comes back.”
“Psh.” Looking at Angor’s expression that looked as if he was going on a suicide mission, Greya could not hold back her snicker. “Don’t be like that. You made it look as if I was bullying someone,” Greya tidied her long hair a little. She added, “Don’t worry too much. Toby is easy. When you reach the continent, you don’t even need to feed him. He’ll look for food on his own. Besides, Toby’s smart. Who knows, maybe it will look after YOU instead.”
Greya watched Toby sitting on her palm for a long time.
It went quiet.
Greya’s deep love towards Toby was clear for anyone.
Angor was feeling a bit envious. Back in the common world, he got Jon and his brother, but when he went to the wizarding world, would he meet anyone he could trust?
After a while, Greya finally let go of her sorrow. She raised her hand and let Toby go.
The bird flew around her head.
“Go now.”
Toby hesitated, then slowly perched on the same old spot on Angor’s head.
“Aw, my hair… I gotta teach it not to do that later,” Angor told himself.
“Before I come back… Toby’s in your hands,” Greya spoke.
Before she left, she handed a soft, bubble-like object in the shape of a capsule to Angor.
“This is a space capsule brewed using organism living inside grey space barriers. It’s single-use though. There are necessities for Toby as well as some reward for you, for taking care of Toby. Break the capsule to take them out.”
With that, Greya prepared to leave.
The door was suddenly pushed open. Alan walked inside while rubbing his sleepy eyes. He took Aleen back to her room when Angor talked to Mara.
“Grandpa, Aleen’s asleep. Do you need—Huh, who is that?”
Greya did not pay him attention. He was just a kid. However, when she glanced at the boy, her expression became a little strange.
“He’s your grandson?” Greya pointed to Alan and asked Mara.
Mara thought Greya was blaming Alan for barging in, so he quickly nodded in fear. “Yes, his name is Alan. Lady Greya, he’s still a kid and doesn’t know much—”
Greya waved a hand to stop him.
“What kind of change did your grandson see during his talent test?”
“Change?” Mara muttered in puzzlement. He said, “He saw something out of thin air. During the test, a brown bread appeared in an empty dish according to him.”
Seeing something materialize was a very common change recorded in Abelles’ Annual Talent Collection .
“Something appeared? I don’t think so.” Greya smiled. She took out a metal badge out of somewhere. There was a carved pattern of a cottage hidden in the forest on it, and an embossed portrait of Greya on the back.
“This is my Candy House badge. If you’re willing, take the badge to Candy House. The gourmet wizards there are second to none in the entire south.”
Mara understood Greya’s intention.
Alan has the talent to be a gourmet wizard?
Mara looked at his adorable chubby grandson. Really?
He thought about Alan’s daily behaviors. The boy was either eating or on his way to eating.
Even the mirages released by Barbie’s Restaurant today did not force Alan to do anything harsh. He was only confused.
Mara never thought about his grandson’s actions. He only believed Alan needed to eat a lot for his growth. Now Greya mentioned it, all those facts pointed towards Alan’s talent.
Yeah… people involved inside something could not see the whole picture.
When Greya finally left, Mara began to hesitate. Should he send Alan to Candy House to become a gourmet wizard?
Gourmet wizards were considered Occult. However, they had weaker positions in the wizarding world because they were not strong in combats. Many apprentices studying gourmet never made it to wizards. Added by the fact that they could not fight very well, they simply became cooks for stronger wizards. Not an outstanding achievement.
Alan had the talent, and of course, he could choose another path. It was up to the boy.
With Greya’s recommendation, at least Alan would at least achieve something in Candy House. It was extremely difficult to become strong just by being a gourmet wizard. Mara really did not want his grandson to end up as someone’s house chef.
What to do!?