The Undying Magician - Book 2 - Intermission (Patreon)

You may ignore these lines as they are because a certain website is stupid and has made some stupid new changes.

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                                                         New Hope
                                     Year 2849 | Month 12 | Day 3

Xavier wasn’t sure what he expected when he heard about a vampire in the woods. One that was a magician and had apparently torn one of his hunters apart rather viciously.

Would it come to the city and attack? To enslave them? It seemed to be intelligent if the reports his men gave him were correct, but intelligent didn’t necessarily mean friendly. So he began limiting the people’s ability to leave the city just in case.

But what he wasn’t expecting was for the vampire himself to visit, much less ask for tips and help on spell design.

And when he started speaking of his majesty? Xavier couldn’t help but want to kill him then and there. Until he found out the king was still alive.

Now I can’t help but admit that the kid really is exactly the type that would pique his majesty’s interest…

This thought runs through Xavier’s head as he stares at the various government officials trusted to run the city of New Hope, each of which is currently discussing how they might find a way to enter the Dark Forest and return unscathed in order to search for the king. Not a single one of them caring about the king’s current state of being technically an undead creature.

Just one made out of death mana instead of miasma.

“Are we sure we have enough time to be dealing with this, what with Darkin nipping at our heels?” Captain Rodrick asks, being one of the least loyal people sitting in the room in regards to the king and the kingdom. And his words have an immediate silencing effect on everyone within the room. “My scouts believe that they should be learning the truth relatively soon about us, so it won’t be long before they attack. And I for one don’t believe we have what it takes to defend against them.”

No one says anything in response to that.

True, but brutal way of putting it.

Xavier lets out a sigh of regret before raising his voice amidst the silence, “The captain’s right. We don’t have the manpower right now to spend on researching and searching the Dark Forest, so that’ll have to wait. For now, we will be increasing the security around the city and the patrols throughout the forest. It’d be better if we could get forewarning of their attack so that we can call for help from the magician known as Nathan Fox.”

The others all look confused for a moment before Xavier clarifies, “That is the name of the magician who brought us the information about his majesty and is currently holding onto the Star Diagram.”

Everyone’s eyes widen in shock and half of them shoot up from their chairs.

“He has it, and you didn’t retrieve it? What were you thinking!?” “Why didn’t you force him into returning it!?” “Are you insane?!”

Xavier frowns at the outburst before letting a small pulse of mana spread through the room, shutting them all up. Then he says, “This magician may not have been the same Class as me, but he was a pure combat magician. And one with a unique physique that had even our king interested.” His eyes narrow. “The man was far too much for me to handle thanks to that. Even if he didn’t bother using his magic, he would’ve been able to kill me with ease.”

A wave of fear runs through the people in the room, including the captain who had originally had trust that the city’s magician guardian would’ve been able to deal with the vampire. Every last one of them turns pale, but not a single one dares to question the information given to them by the one they now realize was the vampire that they’d all heard about before. Not when Xavier has already seen the Star Diagram himself. A diagram that requires its users to have received permission from the king himself to use through having their mana signature imprinted in the device.

After a few minutes, Xavier continues speaking, “If I work together with mister Fox, then we will most likely be able to defeat whatever magician is sent our way by Darkin. It’s really our only hope of survival.”

“But,” the captain starts, bringing everyone’s attention to him, “how do we know the vamp- err, I mean how do we know mister Fox will assist us when called for?”

Xavier turns to look at him before frowning and answering, “We don’t. Not really.” Before the others can react negatively towards this, he adds, “All we can do is hope that my assistance in his spell design is enough for him to want to help us.”

Silence fills the meeting hall once again.

“The next time mister Fox arrives, do not say anything to anger him,” Xavier says, looking each of the officials in the eye one by one, “go about your jobs and be polite. We don’t want him deciding that my part of the bargain isn’t worth the trouble of fulfilling his part. And we especially don’t want him joining the Darkin faction against us.” He pauses for a second, staring directly at one particular official in the room, making the man flinch as he adds, “Is that understood?”

Everyone nods their head.

“Good,” Xavier says before standing up from his seat and declaring, “then this meeting is over.”

The officials all begin to get up from their seats, each chatting amongst themselves about one of the subjects covered in the meeting. But Xavier just sighs and begins gathering all the paperwork in front of him before leaving the room and heading towards his office.

If only I had been more polite to the boy myself when I met him. Then things wouldn’t likely be as tense as they are, and our position would’ve been better.

Xavier continues walking to his office, regretting his own actions earlier that day. But what he regrets even more are the actions of his puppet, who almost brought their city to ruin by angering their only beacon of hope. A beacon that happens to have the appearance of vampire.

We can only hope that he’ll consider helping us when the time comes, and that we’ll actually be able to reach him at that time to ask for help in the first place.

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