NOVEL FROG Chapter 74: Ghost at Night.
Chapter 74: Ghost at Night.
After answering some questions Levi leaves the Aurora Gem Mage Tower; he needs to wait around a week to get confirmation about his background. With nothing to do, he went to a magic shop and explored the city.
Although the mage nation is advanced in magic, like everywhere else, there are still people who live in the lowest hierarchy. Especially if you don’t have money or come from a well-off family. Because of that, they need to take on a troublesome and hard job to live.
At night, a blonde-haired woman walks toward her home and gazes at the magical vehicle and devices with bitterness. When Serena first reaches the city, her eyes are full of hope and dreams.
However, after facing reality, everything is the same. Everything needs money and connections. Her talent to become a mage is average, and there are many people like her.
There is a way to learn by becoming a mercenary, but most of the mercenary groups only hired experienced people or had connections with their members. While some of the mercenaries just hired you to become a meat shield or porter. In the worst case, they take in female members to become prostitutes or slaves.
Serena had heard many bad things about mercenaries, but in the end, she gave up. While she is distracted in the sky, a flying horse carriage has a malfunction.
"Move away!" The driver, in panic, shouted. He doesn’t care about his life because the carriage has a safety device that will create a mana shield to protect him and the passenger. However, the people who get hit by the carriage will be injured or die.
The pedestrians and vehicles try to evade the falling carriage from hitting them.
Coincidentally, a man with brunette hair is walking on the path where the flying carriage is going to fall, and near him is Serena.
Serena's face was pale, and she was frozen on the spot because of the fear.
Levi gazes at the sky and can see the falling carriage heading toward him. ‘Should I destroy it?’ If this is in the wild, he will not hesitate to destroy the carriage.
But if the person inside is someone important, he will be in really big trouble. Well, it’s not like he cares. Nevertheless, he might need to stay here for a long time.
"Run! I can’t stop the carriage!" Shouted the driver.
Levi ignores the warning and raises his right hand. "Levitation."
The carriage, like being wrapped by an invisible bubble, suddenly slowed down and slowly landed on the road.
Serena is surprised that the person beside her is a mage.
Opening the carriage door, Philip came out and knelt on the pavement to take a breath. The last time he feels like he is going to die is when he is hunted down by some gang and injured. He looks around and sees a brunette man with a calm face.
Levi without saying anything left. He doesn’t want to deal with the authorities. However, several people saw his face, including Serena and Philip.
-
Inside a room, a beautiful woman with red hair is sitting on a sofa while drinking. She is Roderick's wife. Ever since his stepson arrives in the mansion, she and Roderick always fight, and because of that, his husband always comes home late.
Suddenly, a dark-robed figure appears.
"How?" The woman doesn’t show any reaction.
"The mission failed; a mage saves his life."
"It doesn’t matter; you can stop for now." Roderick's wife had asked her family to help her sabotage Philip's flying carriage, including the safety device. That means if the carriage falls, the mana shield will not be activated.
"Yes, my lady." After saying that, the figure disappears.
Although Roderick had prevented her from telling their children. She already sent them a letter about their new older brother. As long as she can motivate them to work hard and prevent the succession from going to the oldest child, everything will be fine.
"The easier way is still to kill him." Roderick's wife keeps drinking and smirking. She doesn’t know why she will get mad when she sees that bastard.
-
Near the slum, there is a two-story building that has been abandoned for a long time. But today, there are new occupants. Levi rented this place for half a year because he might leave the place and move to a different place.
He also needs to check the Templeris forest to see how it is progressing. Finding Clara and Otis comes second because if they are already captured, he will only save them if he has a way. His safety is the top priority.
After setting up a basic illusion formation, he sits cross-legged and closes his eyes. He is going to use the shaman's soul technique to gather information. The faster way is to use an undead bird or mouse, but he is afraid that the mages or certain formations in the city can detect undead creatures.
Although the shaman's soul technique is weak, it’s good for spying. Slowly, his body becomes cold, but his heart is still beating. Soon a transparent figure with a face exactly like Levi's will come out of his body.
"Now to change the face." Levi's face changed to that of an elderly man. He had used this technique before on the journey. He just needs to watch out for the sun and light elemental spells or attacks that can hurt and destroy his ghost body.
After making sure everything is alright, he goes through the building wall and explores the city with his ghost body. Floating in the sky, he decided to go to the mage tower. Although the ghost body has several weaknesses, the good news is that he can use magic because the ghost body is still connected to the main body.
Levi goes straight to the mage tower; however, when he wants to go through the building wall, His body bounces back like he hit a transparent wall. Only after he tests it several more times does he give up on entering the mage tower. The shaman who specializes in the soul magic path will become popular, but even if he succeeds, there might be a trap inside.
Leaving the mage tower, he entered several places where he thought there might be information about Clara and Otis.
That night, some people saw a ghostly figure move through a building and disappear. When they told their friends, most of them laughed. The city had a magic barrier that didn’t allow undead ghosts like wraiths and banshees to enter. Even if what they say is true, the undead hate the living and have already killed them.
After several hours, Levi returns to his body and notices intruders entering his house. However, because of the illusion formation, they can’t get out.
"What is going on? Where is the exit?" Said the anxious, chubby man.
"I think we had entered this door several times already." The skinny man examines the familiar room.
"I think we might have entered the mage's magic formation." The short man said
"You said the owner of this house is just a regular person!" The chubby man shouted while grasping the man's collar. Now he is afraid the mage is not someone they can take offense to; they are just a normal thug.
"How should I know I got this information from those rats?" The rat that the man is talking about is the homeless orphan living in the alley. The short man said this while trying to break free from the chubby man.
"Do you pay or extort the information?" Asked the skinny man; the pay information had more detail.
"I extort them." After some hesitation, the short man said
"Bastard, you doom us all!" The chubby man this time is mad.
Suddenly, they all stop talking because they hear a clapping sound.
"Do you have any last words?" Levi enters the living room while clapping his hands.
"Please spare my life." The chubby man releases the short man and grovels on the floor.
The other two men quickly followed and begged for their lives.
"Do you want to live?"
Three of them nodded quickly.
Levi at first wants to kill them but changes his mind. They might be useful for being alive. Now it's time to use the carrot and stick technique.
First Levi threatens them, and their faces turn pale and their bodies tremble from fear. After that, He gives them several gold coins to make them listen and calm down. Seeing the gold coins, all of them show greed, but soon calm down when they look at Levi's smiling face.
All of them swore to listen to his order.
Levi doesn’t care; if they betray him, the only punishment is death.
-
A few days later, the patriarch of Aurora Gem Mage Tower is reading the information about Levi.
[Leader of the Horn Bear Mercenary: Rank C.]
[Adept rank mage.]
[Born in the Cirean Kingdom.]
[Envoy of Gryphon Merchant: Bronze rank.]
"Have you checked the information?" Roderick is from a non-noble faction and needs to be careful to make sure that Levi is not a spy from a noble or neutral faction. Although the mage nation is strong and united from the outside, each of the three factions had infighting in secret.
Yes, all of it is true; according to our sources, usually, he is together with a horned bear, but we don’t see the monster." A female mage spoke.
"The horn bear must be in a different place; the monster can’t enter the city." After contemplating, he finally spoke. "It seems like there is no problem; he can start tomorrow."
"Yes."
Wait, increase the payment to 100 gold coins per month, and make sure to keep my son's identity a secret." Roderick plans to reveal Philip when he reaches the rank of adept mage; at that time, even if they know that Philip is his illegitimate son, nobody will care.
He still feels guilty about what happened to Philip and has decided to make up for it in time.
-
The next day, Levi arrives at the mage tower after receiving the message. Most of the information that he got had nothing to do with primitive mages in the past few days. However, he had gathered much interesting information.
One of them is the demon cult. Most people are afraid of death, and the cult can help them prolong their lives. But the organization is weak because it is being hunted down by the mage nation.
Levi was soon guided by a female mage and entered a lift platform, stopping at a certain level of the tower.
Philip, since the accident, has been focused on training. However, he starts too late, and it will take him several years or decades to become a mid- or advanced-level apprentice. Even with all the resources, the human body requires time to improve.
He also tries to find his savior after asking the people nearby, but no one knows him.
The door of the training room opens, and a brunette-haired man with an average face and a female mage enter.
"Mr. Philip, this man is going to be your private teacher." The female mage introduces
Philip's eyes were wide because he recognized the man. It was his savior.