25 - Chapter 25

In the afternoon of the first day of the journey, Tarina was sometimes in a daze and sometimes in tears, continuing her undefeatable drama. Now Burris was basically used to this. He no longer payed too much attention to the child, and finally could calm down and read.

Heisong was called to the prince side, and the prince briefly described the previous assassination attempt. Compared to Burris’ confidant ‘Kreve’, prince Lanto had a deeper friendship with Heisong. After all, Heisong helped him in the war. Moreover, the prince thought it was Heisong who suppressed the durian curse, and ‘Kreve’ was the one who finally lifted the curse… even Heisong himself thought so.

Nollard and Roth rode side by side, talking constantly. Roth’s ability to digress and thinking rhythm did not stump the noble eldest son. Nollard seemed to have a special ability; as long as you look a little good-looking, he could smoothly chat with you on any topic. This man didn’t know how many apprentices he had provoked when he was studying at Hilda Academy. He did not learn a few magic tricks but learned all kinds of witticisms to please spellcasters.

He thought Roth was a warlock, and knew Roth was a friend of the mage Burris, and he always paid great compliments on this. Besides, he often asked about the situation inside Burris’ tower. Roth’s answer was basically nonsense. He described the dogs in Burris Manor as corrupted pterosaurs and said that there were ancient demons buried under the tower and the mage could extract power from them. He also said that there were dark knights riding behemoths in the Mountains of No Return…

Listening to these conversations in the carriage, Burris was amused several times. How could the mysterious and ancient Skeleton King be such a person? Burris thought that more than once these days.

Then, Burris thought of the thin spots on the plane and the magic disturbance…This made him a little bit unable to laugh. After a demigod who was imprisoned in an outer plane reappeared, he had to have some ambition. Roth said that his goal was to enjoy the world, which sounded reasonable, but Burris didn’t believe it.

Ambition was not something terrible. It’s something everyone had, even Burris himself. He wasn’t afraid of ambition, what he was afraid of is the chaos and loss of control that would result. Does Roth want to use the magic disturbance to strengthen himself? Or does he have any purpose that cannot be said for the time being? This matter can be big or small. Burris was unwilling to assume the most serious direction, but he didn’t dare to ignore the possibility of danger.

He could ask Roth directly. Ask without reservation, simply and directly…But he didn’t dare.

He didn’t dare to dare. Even if he convinced himself that ‘now the Skeleton King is not powerful enough, and even if he falls out there will be no serious consequences’…he still didn’t dare. The saddest thing was that he wasn’t even sure why he was afraid.

Burris couldn’t help sighing: People are so pitiable. They can’t fully understand themselves during a lifetime, or even control their words and actions completely.

After dusk, the team arrived at the station on time. There was no town or small village near the station; it was standing alone beside the official road. However, because the station was specially designed for the long-distance soldiers or court envoys, it was remote but not simple. The hall was well lit, the tables and chairs were clean, the food tasted good, and the guest rooms were spacious and comfortable. The horses were taken to the stables, and the prison wagon was pushed into the backyard. This thing was not safe to be left on the side of the road and could easily arouse the curiosity of other passersby.

After dinner, the owner of the station found a knight and offered to give some food to the ‘prisoners in the cart’. The owner was soft hearted and felt that even if the prisoners were vicious, he couldn’t let them skip food or drink.

The knight didn’t know how to explain it, and say to the common people that ‘they are all magical corpses’ might not work, but he couldn’t say we don’t feed the prisoners…so he proposed: because the prisoners are very dangerous, the soldiers should be responsible for the food delivery, so the owner should avoid them.

The knight walked into the backyard with a bowl of bread, planning to make a pretense and go back. As soon as he opened the wooden door, there was a scream from the backyard, and the knight immediately put down the bread, drew out his sword and rushed out.

In the middle of the night, a dark figure jumped up from the side of the prison cart and rushed at the knight howling. The knight raised his sword to meet him. When he approached the shadow, he found that the shadow had a face as white as flour and a pair of sharp elven ears…

“Mage Heisong?” The knight immediately put down his sword.

Heisong breathlessly fell on the stone steps in front of the house and pointed out his slender fingers at the prison wagon. The knight followed his fingers, and suddenly cold sweat covered his back -the iron door of the prison wagon was opened, and the corpses inside were shifted, from lying flat to overlapping each other, they looked like strips. Twisted and entangled like big worms, their heads turned out of the carriage, and their eyes were wide open… Or maybe they just gradually formed this entangled posture just to face the same direction.

Soon, Burris, Roth, Prince Lanto and Sir Charles also came. Heisong screamed so loudly just now that everyone could hear him.

Prince Lanto was shocked. “Who opened the prison cart? The key is clearly in my hand!”

Charles drew out his sword and pointed at the lock on the iron door of the prison cart. “Look, father, the lock has not been broken! It is still fastened tightly… and the door has been opened!”

Burris immediately looked the Heisong. He touched his chest and slowly moved to the prince and his son: “You two, don’t worry, I opened the door with magic, please don’t be scared…”

You are the most scared! Everyone stared at the elf mage, waiting for his explanation.

“I opened the door, but I didn’t move the corpses.” Heisong raised his head, frowned slightly, and assumed a worried and unfathomable look. “Night belongs to the dead. Now night is falling, we are again in the wilderness. Who can guarantee that these corpses will not make a difference? As a mage specializing in this road, I had to check the corpses myself, so I opened the prison cart with magic…but…”

Speaking of this, his tone was a little faltering, and he obviously had no confidence: “But I didn’t touch them…As soon as I opened the door, they were already in this position.”

Burris couldn’t help it. “So, you screamed? A necromancer screaming when seeing corpses?”

He wouldn’t dare to this in a comedy. If a bard tells such a story, he must be coaxed off the stage… Burris’s heart was almost bleeding. Look, this is the apprentice I have led. I used to know that he was fearful. After so many years, his fearfulness has become even worse!

Being ridiculed by the ‘young human apprentice’, Heisong’s expression was bad, but he didn’t dare to speak back. As far as he knew, the ‘apprentice Kreve’ was the son of his mentor Burris. Now this son was standing next to an ‘ancient undead demon dragon’ in the form of a human being, and there seems to be an improper same-sex relationship between the two…

Seeing the displeasure on Heisong’s face, Burris suddenly felt a bit remorse: as a mentor, I failed to guide my apprentice well, and ridiculed his fearfulness…This should not be a mentor’s proper bearing. So, he stepped forward and nodded gently beside Heisong: “I’m sorry, actually I was scared, so I wasn’t sure what to say.”

According to his understanding of his students, under such circumstances, Heisong would often make a few more remarks…But today the elf nodded honestly, pointed at the prison car, and hid beside him with a thoughtful look.

Burris didn’t know what was wrong with him. Perhaps the courage of Heisong was inversely proportional to his sensibility…Compared to the mood of the elf, the more important issue now was the abnormality of the corpses.

Burris followed the corpses’ ‘line of sight’ and took out a small compass. “They are in a hurry to go back.” He sighed, closed the door of the wagon, and motioned to the knight to lock it again.

“Go back?” The prince also followed Burris’s line of sight. “Back…to the Moonset Mountains?”

“Yes, somewhere in the Moonset Mountains.” Burris said. “They eagerly want to return to the spellcaster.”

“The door was opened just now, why didn’t they run?”

“Because they are still inactive. The distance between them and the spellcaster is too far, and the spellcaster can’t lift the thread on the puppet again. Your Highness, we have to be more careful. The closer we get to the Moonset Mountains, the more likely these bodies will be able to stand up again.”

The crowd dispersed, and the knights were guarding the prison wagon in shifts. Burris noticed that Roth had been staring at the prison cart, and from time to time in the direction of the Moonset Mountains. He didn’t know what he was thinking.

I can ask him directly . Burris said to himself over and over again… Why am I afraid to ask? What is so scary? I’m good at communicating with people. The Skeleton king is also reasonable, and he even has a good opinion of me… Why can’t I just ask him?

Walking towards the guest room, someone called him softly from a dark corner. Burris looked back, and it was Heisong hidden in the shadow of the stairs.

“Little mage, come here…” The elf waved his hands like a ghost. “I want to talk to you.”

Now Burris was a young apprentice, and Heisong mostly hated him because of the conversation just now, so he wanted to threaten him alone. He didn’t worry about what Heisong would do. The characteristic of this apprentice was that his image was extremely evil and terrible, but he was fearful and sensitive like a little white rabbit.

“Talk just here?” Burris also went down the stairs. “Someone will come over.”

Heisong shook his head and led him into the dark little door beside the bar and lit a magic light ball. “No one’s going to disturb us.” The elf looked up and down at ‘Kreve’ and asked straightforwardly: “What’s the relationship between you and your mentor? Young man, I hope you answer honestly.”

Yes, I am a young man. I am indeed younger than you, only over eighty years old. .. Burris pondered for a moment and sighed: “I thought you already knew that long ago.”

The answer was ambiguous, but it was a positive answer for Heisong. “It’s true. Little mage, I have to apologize to you. I said some words to the outside world freely before, which may have affected yours and our mentor’s reputation. Now I know the truth. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything more, let alone reveal the identity of the person beside you…Anyway, even if I say it, no one will believe it…”

“Identity? What do you mean?” Burris was uncertain what the second half of his sentence meant.

Heisong raised his beautiful elven apricot eyes and looked at him inquiringly. “Your suitor, warlock Roth… He is not a warlock, he is not even a human, right?”

Burris’s heart was tight. He didn’t know what he was nervous about, ‘suitor’ or ‘not human’. Heisong saw his expression and patted him on the shoulder. “Humans are quite tolerant of same-sex relationships. They are not as fussy as my compatriots. Even so, I can see from your eyes you are not worried. You are not worried about being discovered about your relationship with a male warlock, otherwise you wouldn’t be going out with him[1]…What you worry about is his secret… ”

Translation’s notes:

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[1]出双入对: Here Heisong is saying this idiom. It means ‘to go to places together as a couple’, or ‘to go everywhere as lovers’. It’s often said to those who are secretly dating.

In this chapter, Nollard’s name was written as Arnold. I think this was a mistake, but I kept it as Nollard. I can’t check the printed version now to see if this mistake is also there because I lent it to a friend XD

Thanks for reading! 🙂