Return of The 8th Class Mage Chapter 106:

Traces of an Artisan (4)

 

“…?”

The boy was acting completely different from a few hours ago . When they had first met earlier, he had treated Ian like an assassin and attacked, but now, he was looking at Ian blankly as if nothing had happened .

“Don’t you remember me?”

Cleven couldn’t speak at all . Earlier, he was so agitated and didn’t seem to be in the state which he could be reasoned with , but now, he couldn’t communicate at well . Both situations were frustrating .

 

‘Probably not the artisan Mitchell Greenriver had met . ”

Even though three hundred years had passed, this boy was a completely different figure form the artisan described in the diary . He didn’t have the black hair or pale skin the diary described .

 

“Can you understand me?”

Ian started chanting a rhyme in the Greenriver language . He wanted to check the boy’s language skills, just to see if he was fluent in various languages as the diary described the artisan . Of course, all Cleven did was blink blankly .

 

‘I’m sure he has some sort of connection . ’ Ian thought .

 

Ian couldn’t simply dismiss the correlation between the artisan and Cleven . They certainly had the common ability to control artifacts .

 

‘Whether it’s a direct connection, or not . ’

There was definitely some sort of connection .

The boy could be some other artisan master .

Or the Artisan’s successor .

Maybe another third party with some other connection .

There were so many possibilities .

‘What a lucky start . ’ .

Although he wondered – was it really just luck?

But no matter . He found a clue .

It was easier and quicker than he thought it would be .

“I noticed you have quite an amazing talent…” Ian said, squinting his eyes .

He now spoke in the Dukedom language that Cleven could understand .

“Where did you learn those talents?”

“… . “

Of course, Cleven didn’t answer .

But Ian wasn’t one to stop here .

He continued to ask the questions he wanted answered .

“Is there a particular reason you are helping the chief?”

“…”

“Let’s say, for example, he is threatening you . ”

“…”

“I don’t see traces of violence . Or is it drugs? Or could it be . . ”

“St-stop…”

Cleven clutched his head in hands at Ian’s continuous questions . Was it because of the tranquilizer? It still seemed impossible for him to think logically .

 

“Hm…” Ian murmured, stroking his chin as he looked at the boy groan in agony . It would be a waste of time questioning the boy like this . In order to receive some sort of clue from Cleven, it was essential that Ian helped him get Cleven to think properly again .

 

‘I should meet that chief brat first . ’

Suddenly, there were so many things to ask the chief – how he knew Cleven and he had gotten ahold of the boy . And how he did he know Cleven had special talents?

‘Not that he would answer willingly, of course…’

This was the moment using force would be effective . After all, hadn’t the chief tried to target Ian by using sleeping pills? There was no reason at all for Ian to hesitate .

 

“Why don’t you get some sleep . ” Ian said, putting the boy Cleven to slumber .

He did it because the boy looked anxious .

In situations like this, it was best to get some sleep .

 

“And now…”

Ian teleported out of the storage house . His destination was the guest room the chief had led him to . He expected a message to be delivered to him from the chief or his followers .

 

 

Sure enough, Chief Jackson came to Ian’s room to talk of the ritual . The dragon statue was fixed, and so were the preparations to rip off ‘traveler Ian’ .

 

 

“Join us for the special ritual, if you don’t mind . ”

 

“There are leaders among the villagers other than myself who take care of matters in our village . I guess we can call them our administrators . ”

 

At his words, Ian had to swallow back contempt .

 

Administrators . Yeah, right .

 

The followers who took over the village with him was more like it .

 

“It is a joint religious service with all the leaders . The ritual won’t be limited to personal prayers, but it’s for praying for the entire village as well . “

“Are outsiders allowed to partake in that kind of ritual?”

“There’s no reason for you not to . Oh, by the way, the special ritual won’t be at the statue in the middle of the village, though . There’s a separate sanctuary we have managed for you . We are not discriminating you, but a quiet ritual is preferred since it’s different from our normal ones…”

Chief Jackson was quite good at lying .

 

Ian didn’t have a problem in sensing this .

It was thanks to the spell he had secretly put on the chief .

 

“If you’re not up for doing prayers at another location, you can wait and partake in the evening ritual . Everything we say is only a suggestion . “ Chief Jackson added, just for sake of not buying suspicion . Of course, things would be a lot easier for him if Lian simply followed up to his suggestions . Jackson had already placed his followers at the special ‘sanctuary’ in the woods, which was just an empty space in the middle of the woods .

 

“Hmm . ” Ian murmured, pretending to be thoughtful .

He nodded slowly .

“Well, I am curious about where this special ritual will be proceeded . ”

“Is you say so . . ”

“I’ll take part in it then . Will you lead the way?”

 

It was done .

It was all over .

Jackson led the way, smelling victory .

The so called ‘special location’ for the ritual service was in the woods, a little ways away from Bordon Village . Perhaps Jackson’s story about the special religious service wasn’t completely made up, because there was also a shabby statue of a dragon in the middle of the woods . The ‘administrators’ Ian had mentioned, or rather, his followers were standing around the statue .