26 - Chapter 26

Burris secretly clenched his fist. Heisong then said: “Little Mage, the ‘black-haired warlock’ at your side… In fact, he is an ancient undead demon dragon, right?”

“…What?”

Burris immediately understood that this ‘ancient demon dragon’ was something said by the Skeleton King himself. He threatened Heisong with this, and then Heisong believed it…

My apprentice, what’s wrong with you? Ancient undead demon dragon? This is just a rough pile of terrible words, there is no such thing in the world! Heisong, you are a necromancer, how can you believe such nonsense?

Burris looked at Heisong, eyes full of pity and sadness. Heisong misunderstood this look, and then became sadder. “Little Mage, I guess… he should have been summoned by mentor Burris?”

“Um, yes…” Burris nodded.

Heisong looked up sadly. “He took the initiative to approach you to please you. You think he is mysterious, and you are curious about his power… But you always have some doubts in your heart. You like her. You are afraid of her and you like her. What you like is her warmth and tenderness. What you fear are the unexplainable mysteries of her…”

Heisong’s words almost choked Burris. The first half was so right that he was scared to think that his apprentice had some evil mind-reading spells, but the second half suddenly became different…

“You just said ‘she’?” Burris noticed.

The elf sighed and wiped away his tears, smearing his black eyeliner. “Little mage, that’s why I’m talking to you. It’s like this. Although I’m a deviant necromancer, I have a heart and I also yearn for love…” The elf started to speak in a cadence. “I fell in love with a beautiful and intelligent girl, but she is probably… not a living creature. She is delicate, cold, mysterious, and has an aura of death that she can easily manipulate…She claimed to be a mage, but I gradually found out that her spellcasting method was more similar to that of a sorceress. I would like to share all my feelings with her. She refused to confess her secret to me… Yesterday Prince Lanto sent an envoy to find me. I asked that girl if she wanted to come with me, but she didn’t want to…it was like she was trying to avoid something. I told her, if you really don’t want to go, then I won’t go either. I can refuse the prince’s employment and accompany you to the Gem Forest instead…”

“Gem Forest?” Burris was careful with this place.

“Yes, she’s going to Gem Forest. In short, she would neither accompany me to the Moonset Mountains nor let me go with her to the Gem Forest. I asked her why, and she would not give me a clear answer. Later… I lost my mind a little bit. I grabbed her wrist and chanted a heart reading spell to her…”

“Did you get the answer?” Asked Burris.

The elf smiled bitterly and shook his head: “I failed to cast the spell. She pushed me away angrily, and suddenly a pale giant sword appeared between us. It was pale and translucent, and the blade floated in the air and pointed at my throat…I….I…”

Seeing Heisong couldn’t go on, Burris patted him on the shoulder and asked softly: “You were scared and cried?”

“Yes…” The elf choked.

“Mhm. So, you blame yourself for asking those things… It’s better to ask nothing than to be in trouble…”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Heisong nodded fiercely. “Today I was asking myself all the way, why did I have to ask about her secrets? Why didn’t I let her have a little secret? At first, she took the initiative to approach me. She understood me, helped me, and brought me a lot of happiness…” Speaking of this, the elf’s face showed an obvious blush. “She never questioned my identity, nor asked me about any sensitive or confidential things…But I did…”

Burris nodded in response, but inwardly he said: What secret do you have? You can’t keep any secrets. Besides, how do you know what is truly sensitive and confidential? All you know are trivial things…

Heisong continued: “I have to admit…Yes, I didn’t quite believe her. I always have thought that mysterious people must have other intentions. But now that I think about it, she didn’t do anything to hurt me. Instead, I destroyed our relationship first. In the end, she took back the sword and then she ran out with a cold expression… By the time I came back to my senses and tried to catch up with her, she was gone…”

You were scared and crying, of course she was ashamed to continue scaring you. Burris patted the elf comfortingly again. “How long did it take you to come back to your senses? Did you cry in the room for more than an hour?”

“Yes…” Heisong was sad, but a little displeasure arose in his heart -how could this little mage know my shortcomings so well? My mentor must have told him.

“I understand your trouble.” Even a little too much. Burris leaned against the wooden door, and felt a tightness in his chest.

Heisong is childish and weak, and is crying because of little things… But how smarter am I than him? Heisong used a heart-reading spell on the girl on impulse. What about me? Do I dare to use it with that person?

Maybe I’m more fearful than Heisong , Burris thought with a wry smile… Don’t talk about mind-reading spells, I wouldn’t even dare to ask a word. What am I afraid of? Is that translucent giant sword? Or being pushed away in anger?

Heisong stabilized his emotions and returned back to pretending to be profound. “That’s the look! I mean you, little mage. I’ve been watching you for a long time. I see a very familiar worry on your face, because I’ve just experienced it…We are the same kind of people. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

“Yes.” Burris said ambiguously. “I… I’m a little afraid of him.”

“You should be afraid of him!” Heisong hissed and whispered: “Don’t say it’s just you. Even an experienced necromancer like me is also afraid of him! Maybe only our mentor can deal with him… There is a chilling aura in him. Just looking at those eyes will exhaust your willpower…”

Yes, you’re right. Only your mentor can deal with him . Burris smiled helplessly, not knowing what the Skeleton King did to frighten Hei Song. He actually scared this child so much.

Heisong lowered his voice a little more. “One more thing…Odile was hurt by him. Oh, Odile is the girl I mentioned. She met him in the hallway of the tavern, and he just moved his fingers and she lost consciousness…When I found her, she lay weakly outside the back door of the tavern, dying of nightmares and invisible pain…And she didn’t mention it, as if she had lost the memory of seeing him.”

“You mean, the Skeleton…Demon Dragon has seen your girlfriend?” Asked Burris.

“Yes. I should have kept it a secret. I only tell you this as a secret, you must not tell others.”

Come on, you have always used this sentence to spread the secrets of others . Burris asked again: “When did this happen? Where?”

“The day of the Queen’s birthday dinner. I didn’t get invited. I just went to the capital to join in the fun. Then…The demon dragon came to my door. Seriously, it’s my fault. It’s my fault that I accidentally told your identity to my adventurer halfling friend, causing some damage reputation…Let’s not talk about this. I apologize for that. Anyway, the demon dragon came to me, threatened me and then left.”

“He threatened you in the evening and left before the palace dinner?”

“Yes.” Heisong said. “I shouldn’t actually tell you this. By the Arcane, you must not tell him that I told you.”

Your entrustment is really confusing … Burris asked again: “What about before? You were already going to the Gem Forest with your girlfriend?”

“No. After that, she wanted to be separated from me… Well, maybe she thought that it was not only troublesome for me to ask questions, but also that I put her in danger…”

After treating Tarina, Burris and Roth had a few words. Intentionally or unintentionally, they talked about mentor Yriel, about magic and the Gem Forest, and then Roth left the palace for a while and found Heisong and his new girlfriend…Soon, a girl named Odile was planning to go to the Gem Forest…

“I see.” The more he thought about it, the more worried he felt that he would lose sleep these days. “Lord Heisong, it’s very late now. We should go to rest. Like you, I can’t deal with these doubts very well now.”

Like a mentor, Heisong pressed the ‘little mage’ on the shoulder. “Well, I understand. I don’t feel so nervous after talking to you.”

Then he added, wittily and superfluously: “Little mage, you talk like our mentor Burris, really.”

Burris smiled awkwardly and pushed open the wooden door. Heisong extinguished the small ball of light. As soon as he walked out of the small room, Burris was stunned, and Heisong almost bumped into him.

After seeing the situation outside, Hei Song tightly covered his mouth and suppressed the scream that he almost blurted out.

The Skeleton King sat at the table nearest to the bar, eating cookies and drinking rosé wine, looking at them contentedly.

Heisong stood behind and did not dare to move. Burris’s palms were also sweating. “You…what are you doing?”

“I’m eavesdropping.” Roth said with a smile. “It’s a very long process, so I’ll have some snacks in the meantime.”

“Eavesdropping?” Of course, Burris knew he was eavesdropping, but…did he actually said, ‘I’m eavesdropping’? Shouldn’t you usually answer, ‘I just happen to be here’ or ‘I’m just here to eat’?

Roth wiped the sugar residue from his hands, stood up, and said solemnly: “I made it very clear at the dance. You are so smart, you should be able to fully understand my thoughts, and don’t need me to repeat my explanation. Based on my intentions, when I saw you and another man sneaking into a dark room…how could I not eavesdrop?”

“We didn’t talk about anything important!” Heisong hid behind Burris, his voice trembling. “”We are mages, we were just talking about some spellcasting issues…and, moreover, we are necromancers, some things can’t be heard by those knights…It was going to be hard for them to accept it… ”

“I know.” He said.” When he only looked at Heisong, his eyes became very cold. “Have you finished talking now?”

“Yes!”

“Then you should go back to your room and rest.”

Heisong quickly turned around and ran to the stairs to the second floor, almost stepping on his robe. After the elf left, Burris looked at Roth blankly, not knowing what to say for the moment.

“According to the common plot in popular novels.” Roth prompted. “Now, you should ask me ‘how much did you hear’ and I’ll answer, ‘only the last few sentences.’”

Burris could hardly speak: “Don’t you feel particularly embarrassed, my lord? I am so embarrassed that my intelligence began to decline…”

“Well, I’ll take the initiative to tell you.” Roth came up to him. “At such a close distance, such a thin wooden door, such a quiet night…I heard it all.”

“I’m sorry, my lord.” Burris took a few steps back unconsciously and his back pressed to the small door. “I’m a more cautious person, and… maybe it’s a personality defect. When I encounter certain matters, my thinking and approach may not be correct. Maybe you want to say something to me? Tell me, I will answer your questions.”

It was Burris himself who clearly had doubts, but now he took the initiative to stand in the position of the answerer and avoided the responsibility of asking questions…Hearing what he said, Roth slightly squinted his eyes and vaguely noticed this mage’s little cunning: the answerer seems passive, but in fact, on the contrary, the answerer has more opportunities to think and arrange suitable words; the questioner seems to be active, but if his question is not raised well, he may never get the real answer.

Roth couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. There is no way out; the attacker side takes greats risks, and the defender is smart enough to detect your flaws.

Thanks for reading! 🙂