22 - Chapter 22

Burris’s expression was blank for a few seconds, and finally he couldn’t help saying: “I thought…You should ask me first ‘can you accept men’?”

“Ha, I think you’ve been playing silly with me! That’s right!” Roth took the mage around again. “You know exactly what I mean. You understand every hint of mine! But you just have to pretend that there’s nothing wrong with it and put on a polite appearance.” He lowered his voice. “You really are a stubborn old man in his eighties…”

Burris turned aside and responded cautiously: “This…I am not lying to you, I’m really aware of your attitude somewhat. You also said that I am a stubborn old man in my eighties. I am very grateful to you for making my body young again, but this doesn’t change my mentality. I can have a healthy body, but I can’t change my old soul…”

Roth thought for a while: “I don’t quite understand what you mean. Do you have a law that states that souls over eighty years old cannot fall in love?”

“That’s not the case.” Burris said with a helpless smile. “What can I say…my lord, I have long been accustomed to living alone, not only materially, but also spiritually… So, your ambiguous suggestion makes me very scared. I am not rejecting you, but…but I can’t adapt to the kind of relationship you imagine now. I am afraid I cannot give you a satisfactory response.”

“I’m quite satisfied with your response now.” Roth narrowed the distance between them. “I understand what you mean. You haven’t been in love for more than 80 years, and now someone is chasing you suddenly, so you panic, you are very surprised, because you have never experienced a relationship more intimate than a friendship, so you see it as a scourge…it’s not the most frightening thing that someone is chasing you, what’s more frightening is that this person is the same gender as you, and he is not even ‘human’, he is a demigod higher undead creature…In your imagination, you should have been just a pair of ambitious magical allies, but now this same-sex as you undead is going to chase you according to the plot of a romantic novel –Look, there are too many scary places, you don’t know which is the point.”

“Indeed, your analysis is comprehensive and clear.” Burris was so frightened that he began to speak in a scholarly tone.

“Now that you understand, it will be easier.” Roth looked triumphantly at the mage in his arms as he circled around. “I know the difference between fictional literature and reality. In reality, human feelings can’t develop as rapidly as the plot of a romantic novel. I don’t ask you to fall in love with me immediately, it’s just that you should know what I’m thinking, the future is still long. In fact, you should be mentally prepared. I hinted it more than 60 years ago, do you remember?”

Burris couldn’t remember. He did remember a lot of conversations back then, but not about this kind of thing… At that time, he was in a very bad state, with injuries on his body, a low fever, not very lucid, and his emotions were out of control, so he babbled along the way. He said a lot of things, while the Skeleton King only occasionally responded or asked short questions. He wasn’t as talkative as he was now.

Roth reminded him of the situation back then: “At that time, you said that you would release me from the Marsh of the Dead within your lifetime. I asked you, are you serious about promising me this? Of course, you said you were serious. Then I promised you that as long as you take me away, I will voluntarily become your exclusive ally…Before parting, I said to you, Burris Gershaw, my mage, you are my destined person…Do you remember that part?”

Burris raised his head in a daze. His academic discussion tone still didn’t disappear. “My lord, this is the situation. Originally, I accidentally ignored this part. Now after your patient reminder, I have recognized the particularity of the details here… Your wording at the time was rather roundabout, and I was unable to extract enough information from it due to my lack of speculative ability…”

“My dear Burris, can you explain better?”

Burris tried to adjust his mentality and said: “I mean… now I remember that part, but I really didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. I…”

Roth was a little disappointed: “It’s all right, it’s not too late for you to know. Well, let’s stop talking about this… Will this conversation affect our relationship?”

“Probably not.” Burris said. “You are still my most important ally, and I still trust you completely.”

Although you have been hiding something from me. Burris added in his mind.

However, I am not in a hurry to prove it, because such concealment is inevitable. You have so many secrets that no one can understand them all in a short time.

Roth and the mage passed by a couple of dancers who were next to the princess and Sir Naylor. Naylor was a little surprised, but embarrassed to keep staring at them, while Estel’s eyes widened as she watched her mentor being held in the arms of the colorful Skeleton King…That look almost pierced Burris.

The music and the last song of the night were coming to an end. Roth put his arms around Burris’s back and whispered in his ear: “I know what it’s like to have never been in love in your eighties, and I can imagine how uncomfortable you are now. It’s all right. Take your time. I just want to give you a formal notice so that you can be mentally prepared.”

When the music ended, people stayed in the last posture of the dance, and then embraced their partners. Roth gently embraced Burris too, and then smirked and kissed his forehead.

After the dance, Haida called Burris again and said that the princess was looking for him. Strangely, she specially told him that the ‘warlock’ Roth should also come. Burris thought it was Estel who wanted to talk about Sir Naylor, but unexpectedly, King Passia and Prince Lanto were waiting for them in the side hall.

“Thank you for saving my daughter.” Prince Lanto paced back and forth in the hall, looking uneasy. “My second son, Charles, has told me about your good deeds. I can see that you are trustworthy spellcasters…” As he spoke, he finally slowed down stood in front of Burris. “You should have heard about the assassin, too?”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness.”

As soon as Burris had finished answering, Roth came up and said: “Did the assassins confess? Their behavior was strange. Why did they have to go to the palace to assassinate His Royal Highness? Wouldn’t it be more convenient an assassination on the road or in the Prince’s territory? If they just think that an assassination in the palace would be more deterrent, then why don’t they just assassinate the king?”

In the Banquet Chair, the corner of King Passia’s lips twitched. He looked at the ‘warlock’, and finally turned to Burris: “I heard you are Burris’s apprentice. Your name is Kreve, right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Judging from the tone of King Passia, he had probably heard the rumors of the “illegitimate child”, and now looking at “Kreve” up close, he would definitely find that the young man’s eyebrows are very similar to those of the old Burris. In his mind, the rumors of illegitimate children should have been confirmed. This is also a good thing, saving Burris the trouble of making up his own life.

The king glanced at the carnelian ring in Burris’s hand: “I heard that your mentor is missing again. He hasn’t returned yet?”

Burris replied: “My mentor’s return date is uncertain. Before that, I will be fully responsible for the Mountains of No Return.

“How is your ability to cast spells?” The king asked. “There are some things that I don’t know if you as an apprentice can handle well…”

Burris replied: “My ability to cast spells is average…” For him now, this is true. “I can recognize all kinds of dangers, but I am not very good at fighting with magic. I am better at studying all kinds of knowledge and providing some side assistance. My mentor still recognized my ability, otherwise he would not trust me so much.”

A mage good at making suggestions, good at being an encyclopedia, not good at attacking… Heavens, this was simply the mage that knights and nobles dream of! What a safe mage! A harmless mage! This kind of mage is a good friend of the nobles!

After exchanging glances with the prince, the king said: “All right, I understand. I have an old friendship with your mentor, and I know what that ring means. Since he trusts you, then I trust you too. Sir Kreve, just now your companion asked several questions about the assassins. His questions are also the questions of many people. We asked you to come just because we hope you can help us find the answer.”

With that, the king raised his hand and a soldier standing in the corner left the side hall. After a while, two soldiers came in with a tall and strong prisoner.

The prisoner was one of the assassins who tried to kill the prince today. His hands were tied behind his back and his feet were shackled and he was clean. The prince walked directly in front of the prisoner, kicked him to the ground, and asked someone to help him up; then he gave him a hard kick on his stomach. Strangely, the prisoner did not respond. He neither yelled nor struggled. He even maintained a dull expression, not even moving his eyes.

Burris saw the problem. He went up and felt the pulse of the prisoner. Sure enough, it was not a living person at all.

“Could it be that…all the assassins are such things?” He looked at the prince, and the prince nodded.

This group of assassins knew how to spy on information, could actively seek opportunities, and even deliberately disguised their identities. After being discovered, they fought with the Otarot Knights for a while…But after being captured, they all stopped moving. The prince sent people to interrogate them and they didn’t cooperate or resist. The threats of violence and truth serum were useless…During further inspection, the interrogators were surprised to find that none of these assassins had a pulse.

“It’s a spell for corpse manipulation…but it’s seems different. Burris checked the spell and carefully observed the appearance of the corpse’s skin. Generally speaking, the corpse being manipulated can only obey straightforward commands, such as ‘keep the door, no creatures other than the owner are allowed to enter’, or ‘kill the man in armor’. These assassins can drive horse-drawn carriages, pretend to be fruit growers and traveling merchants, know that magic weapons are hidden under their clothes, and they can even make the expression and reaction that fruit growers, merchants, soldiers should have under surveillance… This is not what ordinary undead or golems can do.”

Burris took the corpse’s hand and said a short spell. The spell crawled from his fingers into the skin of the corpse and crept under the skin like a tiny snake. After a while, the spell came back, slipping from the corpse into Burris’s hands.

“They are like clockwork dolls…” Burris said. “Someone evokes these corpses, uses magic to ensure that they do not rot, and then manipulates them to kill people step by step….and every step of their action is decided by themselves, and they can choose the best plan by themselves as long as it is conducive to completing the task. The caster doesn’t give them a real mind, they don’t have their own emotions. Once the order changes or the task fails, they It will turn back to a clockwork doll, and will not respond to external stimuli. In this way, the operator can not only give the corpse enough intelligence during the mission, but also ensure that they are absolutely loyal.”

King Passia made a gesture to drive away the evil and muttered the holy name of the Lady of Day. Prince Lanto looked pale and stared at the corpses with wide eyes on the ground: “Mage… can you find out who the owners of these corpses are?”

Burris just wanted to say that this was unlikely, when Roth suddenly stood beside him: “I can do it. I can find out who these corpses are, where they come from, the detailed effects of the spells on them, and what kind of commands are implanted on them… Combining these points, we should be able to figure out where the owner of the corpse is, and maybe we can figure out who the enemy is based on the orders.”

“Really?” The prince and the king looked at him.

“Of course. It’s just because I’m good at doing rare things that Burris trust me.” Roth glanced at the real Burris next to him. “But…my spellcasting process is very weird; I hope you two will not be too surprised…”

Hearing this, Burris immediately understood what he meant: “Your Majesty, your highness, I implore the two of you to get out for a little while! This spellcasting process is so disgusting that it is not suitable to be cast in front of the royal family… ” He looked at the king in particular. “You have entered the tower of my mentor; you should understand what I mean!”

King Passia hid his face with one hand and seemed to think of something particularly unbearable. He said a few words to the prince, and the two went out temporarily and closed the door.

Only Burris and Roth, and a demented living corpse were left in the side hall. Burris sighed. “My lord, you are about to kiss the corpse, aren’t you?”

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“Yes.” Roth was already kneeling by the head of the corpse. “Actually, before I would have just needed to touch him, but now I can only kiss him. Alas, I also hope that this sequela heals quickly.”

Thanks for reading! 🙂