Chapter 14 (2/2)

The wooden house was just an ordinary house, old and run down, like an old monochrome photo.

But there was someone inside.

A man with an unkempt beard and wearing a shabby robe sat behind a square table in the middle of the wooden house. He looked so haggard that Gawain could not tell his true age. Behind this man were two wooden shelves filled with bottles and jars and an old alchemy table.

The devices needed for magic experiments were everywhere in the room, but they were all piled up with other junk. Any normal mage would probably want to cry at the sight of such a miserable scene.

The man behind the square table looked up in Gawain’s direction, and he gave a stiff smile. “Ah, guests. It’s been a long time since anyone visited my laboratory. And there are two of you?”

Amber poked her head out from behind Gawain. The half-elf girl showed a guarded expression, “We’re… not fighting?”

Gawain did not pull out his sword, but he did not keep his hand too far away from the handle. Maintaining his readiness to attack at any instant, he stepped into the wooden house. “We’re passing by, looking for a person. She’s a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old, and she carries a pan…”

However, the man behind the table seemed as though he did not hear what Gawain said. He only smiled slowly and gave a faint nod. “Please take a seat. Annie is preparing lunch. There’s no place to rest deep in the old forest. If you don’t mind, stay for a meal.”

“Annie?” Gawain asked instinctively.

“She’s my daughter.” the man smiled. “She’s a very nice girl.”

Then a girl exclaimed from the side, “Lord?”

Gawain looked in the direction of the voice and saw Betty looking surprised as she stood beside a small door at the corner of the wooden house.

“Betty? It’s great that you’re okay.” Gawain immediately heaved a breath of relief. “I’m here to take you back.”

However, Betty shook her head faintly, and the man behind the square table looked at the young lady, asking gently, “Annie, is lunch ready?”

Betty nodded obediently. “It’ll be ready soon, Father.”

The young lady turned around and went back to the kitchen. Gawain and Amber exchanged looks. Upon confirming that the weird man behind the square table was not responding, they followed behind her.

Betty was cooking in the kitchen. Using her precious pan, pale white flames danced at the stove, and on the pan were sausages that were being fried and making sizzling sounds.

Amber’s concern was odd. “You can even cook in the shadow realm?”

“What’s going on?” Gawain came over to Betty and asked in a low voice.

From the young lady’s demeanor, he could tell that she had not been put under spells like mind control, but she was staying here to cook of her own choosing. And she was calling the weird man outside “Father”. Now that was truly quite strange.

“I don’t quite understand too.” Betty’s face was as confused as ever, “But the man outside seemed to treat me as his daughter …”

Amber’s eyes widened. “So you just take him as your Father so obediently?”

Betty shook her head. “He’s very pitiable… so I wanted to cook for him before leaving.”

Gawain and Amber looked at each other.

Then Betty suddenly reached into her maidservant’s skirt pocket, took out an old notebook, and handed it to Gawain.

“Lord, this is… the man gave this to me. I don’t understand a lot of things here, but you should be able to read it.”

Gawain took the notebook, which was not very thick, and he quickly flipped through the last few pages of notes.

Amber curiously leaned her head forward, “What? What? Let me have a look… magic formula? Rune sequence?”

The half-elf girl, confused by the complicated symbols and calculations, looked up in stupor at Gawain. “So that strange old man is actually a mage?”

“Strictly speaking, he’s a wild mage.” Gawain curled up the notebook, and knocked Amber’s head with it. “And couldn’t you tell the moment you entered the door and saw so many magic experimental equipment!”