Count Marltz Kent of Emden had been feeling restless lately.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was an inexplicable sense of unease.
He wondered if it was because Master Barnett hadn’t visited in a long time.
Although this mysterious mage had always been elusive, appearing in his domain only occasionally, his sudden neglect after revealing his future plans seemed unusually out of character.
Fortunately, Barnett had left detailed instructions for the tasks ahead during his last visit, advising Count Marltz Kent to proceed with the plan if he was too entangled in other matters to intervene personally.
This at least prevented the Count from floundering aimlessly like a headless fly.
However, things didn’t seem to be going smoothly on Barnett’s end.
According to the plan, Barnett was supposed to incite pirates in Northwest Bay to attack the coastal territories, allowing the Kent family to quell the pirates and accumulate prestige among the coastal lords, thereby creating conditions for his eventual “succession” to the position of Duke of the Northwest. Official source is NoveI~Fire.net
But there had been no significant movement so far.
There were indeed rumors about pirates, but they had been annihilated by the Grayman family of Alda. These pirates were useless, failing even against such a minor family.
And it was that Paul Grayman again. Count Marltz Kent had spared him before, and now this man was causing trouble, spoiling his plans.
With Master Barnett’s prolonged absence, Count Marltz Kent wondered whether to bypass the pirate scheme and move directly to the next phase of the plan.
Tormented by these worries, the Count found himself drinking more of that special ‘beverage’.
That day, while flipping through books in his study to alleviate his anxiety, a guard reported the arrival of a child seeking an audience. Furious, the Count wondered why anyone felt they could just demand to see him. He was about to berate the guard when the latter hurriedly added, “He says he knows Master Barnett!”
“You idiot! Why didn’t you bring him in sooner!” roared Marltz Kent, fuming at the guard’s incompetence.
“Bring him to the hall!” the Count bellowed, and the guard scurried away.
Marltz Kent quickly changed into clean clothes and hurried to the castle’s main hall, taking his seat to await the visitor.
Soon, footsteps echoed in the corridor, and the guard led in the visitor.
“Is… is… is it really a child?”
Count Kent could hardly believe his eyes.
He had initially thought the visitor might just look young, which was why the guard mentioned a child. But the person entering the hall was indeed a young boy, barely over ten years old, clutching an oddly shaped wooden staff taller than himself, which looked quite disproportionate.
“Count Kent! Good day to you! My name is Andy. I am here to assist you as instructed by Master Barnett,” said the boy, his chubby face endearing yet his speech stammered with evident nervousness and timidity.
The Count was taken aback. Seeing him speechless, the boy grew more anxious, standing awkwardly at the doorway, unsure whether to enter or leave.
“Uh… cough! You are?” the Count asked, not having heard the boy clearly.
“I… I’m Andy, here to assist you as per Master Barnett’s instructions,” repeated the boy.
Andy repeated himself, stammering again.
“Come here and talk!” the Count demanded, trying to maintain his usual authority, though he was honestly at a loss for how to respond to the current situation.
“Yes… yes, Lord Count!” Andy quickly trotted over to Count Kent.
“How can you prove you’re not lying about being sent by Master Barnett to assist me?” the Count interrogated.
“This…” Andy tilted his head, seemingly puzzled about how to prove himself.
“How about this?” Suddenly, the young boy uttered an unintelligible language and firmly stamped his wooden staff on the ground. In an instant, a flame burst forth from the top of the staff.
“Ah! You are… you are…” The Count’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets in amazement. The boy before him wielded the power he had long coveted.
“Yes, I am a mage of the Arcane Society,” Andy admitted softly.
“Master Andy… please, take a seat!” Count Kent’s attitude shifted dramatically, his voice softened, and he spoke much more gently out of reverence for the mage.
“I’m not worthy of the title ‘Master’; please, just call me by my name,” Andy replied, clearly uncomfortable with the honorific. He shook his head uneasily and quickly corrected the Count.
“So, young Andy, please sit down,” the Count invited the boy to sit next to him.
Life’s unfairness screamed in the Count’s heart. Such a young child could navigate the vast sea of magic, while he was still barred from entry. It was truly frustrating.
Of course, he didn’t show his disappointment and immediately asked what concerned him most. “Where did Master Barnett go?”
Andy shook his head. “I don’t know. I was ordered by him months ago to come to your castle at this time, to assist the lord here. I thought I would see him here.”
Count Kent felt a deep sense of disappointment.
“Where did you come from?”
“A base of the Arcane Society, but I can’t reveal its exact location.”
“And how did you get here?”
Don’t tell me a child like you traveled over mountains and rivers to the Northwest Bay, or that your base is right under my nose.
But Count Kent prided himself on his tight control over his territory, noticing even a fly’s entrance and exit.
“I was escorted here by other companions. We disguised ourselves as merchants and made our way here smoothly.”
There are other mages coming and going in the Northwest? I wonder if I can manage to meet one of them.
“Now that Master Barnett is not here, can you help me on your own?”
The young boy said uncertainly, “I can control brainworms, can that help you?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Count Kent was overjoyed. Barnett had told him that they had used a special worm to infiltrate Duke Ferdinand’s body, controlling the Duke’s brain with this worm.
The Count felt chills just thinking about it. The thought of a worm wriggling in his own brain was terrifying.
As long as he could control the Duke, even without Barnett, other matters would be more manageable.
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