‘Unknown magnetic field?’ Angele was both surprised and excited. He heard Adolf questioning him. He was feeling elated, but he tried to stay calm.
“Master Adolf, I’m just interested in the legendary power the Wizards have and I want to get into a better school. I think my research would progress faster,” Angele quickly and honestly answered.
“Wizard?” Adolf stopped for a second and thought for a while.
“It is… very nostalgic…” He sighed with a sad look on his face. Adolf looked at Angele for a while with a face as though he had mixed feelings about the situation. Angele was nearly becoming scared.
“I think you’re honest because you’re telling the truth. Follow me.” Adolf broke the silence and slowly left the classroom. Angele followed him from behind. Outside the door, Adolf’s daughter who was wearing a tight red one piece, Sophia, was looking at Angele with mixed feelings as well. She didn’t say anything. It seemed that she didn’t overhear their conversation.
Adolf walked down the building with Angele and his daughter. Outside was a large red carriage that could easily fit three people awaiting them. The insignia looked like the Scales.
“Get on the carriage,” Adolf said while pointing at it.
“Yes, master.” Angele politely got inside the carriage.
Inside the carriage, Angele sat opposite to Adolf and Sophia. The coachman started driving the carriage, moving forward quickly. No one talked, but Angele noticed that Adolf was thinking about something. The carriage left the school and moved to the downtown area of Marua. They arrived at a block full of large houses and stopped in front of a red-white house. They had left the school at morning and by the time they had arrived, it was already noon.
Adolf still didn’t say anything as he led Angele and Sophia into the house. They went to the study on the second floor and while they did so, several workers greeted them.
“Sit down.” Adolf sat on a sofa by the desk. Angele looked around and saw two shelves full of books on the side. The book covers were all made of red leather and the words written on it were hard to read. It was highly likely that Master Adolf wrote it. On the desk was a golden oil lamp, a white quill pen, and a bottle of black ink. There was also a round silver seal above an opened letter.
“Ony, bring this young guest of mine a glass of Marconi. Also, you know what Sophia and I want,” Adolf loudly said. Sophia was sitting beside her father with a face that seemed unconcerned about Adolf’s decision. A chubby middle-aged woman brought 3 glasses of drink to them and closed the door quietly.
Angele smelled the fragrance of the drink in front of him. It looked like dark chocolate, yet it smelled like a lemon mixed with orange. It was nice and warm.
“Tell me about your decision. I mean, why are you looking for the Wizards?” Adolf asked.
“I think you know that the path to the Wizards’ world is too difficult to find, and you need perseverance for it. You can’t imagine the amount of effort you need,” he continued in a deep tone.
“Master Adolf, to be honest with you, my body isn’t capable of accepting Life Energy Seed. There’s no way for me to become a grand knight. However, I witnessed the power of a wizard, and I found it incredible. I want to find out if the wizards could help me get stronger in a different way,” Angele unhesitatingly said. He had his own plans, so he decided to tell Adolf everything he knew. It wasn’t, after all, a big secret in any case.
“You witnessed the power of a wizard? There are still wizards around here?” Adolf was taken aback and even Sophia was curiously looking at Angele.
“No, I didn’t see a real wizard in front of me. I saw someone using an energy from a cracked enchanted item,” Angele said.
“That person must be a wizard then! Only a wizard is capable of wielding enchanted items,” Adolf nodded.
“You’re very honest. However, the talent requirement in becoming a wizard is far greater than of a grand knight’s. Are you sure you have such talent?” Adolf asked.
“I wouldn’t know until I try,” Angele smiled.
“I think I should at least try. If I don’t, then I will never know if I’m gifted or not,” Angele said. He had successfully utilized the power of the ring, so he felt confident about it.
“Very good,” Adolf started laughing.
“You’re just like me. When I was young, I never gave up,” Adolf continued.
“Wait, you’re a…” Angele became excited.
“No, I’m not a wizard. I’m just an ordinary person who admires them.” Adolf sighed, then he became silent.
“Sorry, I’m tired. I need to take some rest. Come by here next time,” Adolf said.
“Thanks for inviting me here. I’m leaving now.” Angele still had something to say, but he decided to leave.
“Sophia, see him off.” Adolf stood up and grabbed a book from the shelf.
“It’s a book of Erathia’s language. You can read it first. Come here tomorrow and I’ll teach you the language privately. If I see any potential from you, I’ll consider recommending you to the alliance school,” Adolf said.
“Thank you, Master Adolf!” Angele was jubilant upon seeing Adolf handing the book to him.
“Yea.” Adolf waved his hands and ceased talking. Angele walked out of the study with Sophia and they went down the stairs. Angele got inside the carriage when they left the house.
“Father has expectations on you and he’ll know if you’re lying. I respect his decision, but I hope you don’t disappoint him,” Sophia said in a serious manner.
“I understand.” Angele nodded politely.
**************
Half a year later…
Adolf’s house.
“If we can replace the word ‘Kafka’ with ‘single wheel’, it will be impossible when using the grammar of Anmag language,” Adolf said while looking at a paper. He scrunched his eyebrows and pointed to the paper using his finger while making an encircling gesture around the word.
“And here, the word choice is poor. It should be replaced with the Rudin word ‘ignite’,” he continued. Angele was sitting there quietly while listening to Adolf’s advice. After the passing of half a year, the two became really close. Angele used the chip to help him study the languages and the results were great. He learned much faster than others. Actually, he had already mastered the first two languages in the first week, but he didn’t want too much attention, so he spent half a year to make it look like he was just progressing fast. He had mastered three different languages in half a year wherein this made Adolf think he was a genius.
Adolf was testing Angele’s familiarity with different languages now, so he combined different languages into sentences to make sure that Angele understood each of them.
“You’re right. I didn’t notice that.” Angele said as he lowered his head. Actually, he made these mistakes on purpose.
“You still need to improve, but… you passed the tests for the three languages.” Adolf put down the paper before he smiled. Angele seemed relieved, but he already knew the results beforehand. Adolf carefully looked at Angele, and he even felt proud of him.
“Angele, you studied with me for more than half a year now?” he asked.
“Yes, Master,” Angele said.
“I think you know who I really am?” Adolf smiled.
“As the assistant director of the security department, I did some research on you,” he continued. Angele nodded, though he didn’t say anything. He knew Adolf being an influential personage, but that wasn’t his purpose. Adolf looked at Angele, unable to see even the slightest change in Angele’s facial expression after hearing about his position. Adolf felt happy at the fact that his power and influence didn’t affect how Angele treated him.
“Well, that’s not important anyway. You and I have a larger target,” Adolf said.
Angele knew that Adolf was about to show him something, which was exactly the opportunity he was looking for. Adolf stood up and handed him a book. Angele took the book and looked at its title, “Journey of Heart by Buckwill Henry”.
“Master, what is this?” Angele asked.
“This is the biography of the great thinker, Master Buckwill Henry,” Adolf said, and he smiled. He liked Angele because the latter had mastered three different languages within half a year. Adolf thought that Angele was gifted. Therefore, he thought that he must put great effort in studying languages.
“But no one knew that not only was Master Buckwill a great thinker, he was also a mysterious person,” he continued.
“He’s a wizard?” Angele guessed. The thought of it got him excited.
“You’re right. Take it back and read it. Let me know if you have any questions.” Adolf nodded with a satisfied look on his face.
“Thank you, Master!” Angele said. He knew that he was going to learn something of significance from the book.
“People from Andes Alliance School will come to recruit after half a month. Prepare for it,” Adolf said.
“Yes. Now if you would excuse me.” Angele stood up, holding the book in his hands. He knew Adolf wouldn’t give him any meaningless thing, but he didn’t expect being given a book written by a real wizard.
“I’m too old for this now. It’s your time to shine.” Adolf nodded while laughing.
“Yes, Master!” Angele nodded.