"I hope the incident won't affect the initiation of the big plan," Angele suggested indirectly.
"It won't." The Count removed the light dots from the sand plate. "Let me show you the interesting intel I collected over the years."
Angele nodded and stopped talking. He had a general idea of how the Count would treat him.
The Count thought he could execute the plan by himself and he did not want a stranger to interrupt him. Also, the man only told Angele the basic information, and it seemed like the inheritor of the Thousand Waterfall City, Suman, was the biggest problem to him at the moment.
Angele was a bit confused, he had scanned Suman himself and he knew that the man was not capable of killing so many people. There had to be something the Count was hiding from him.
Although the Count did not tell Angele the actual progress of his plan, Angele still had a general idea of the situation after the conversation. He was not really interested in the Dark Wizard Tower's plan; the reason why he followed the order was the contract he'd signed. The Count did not need his help and it was a win-win situation for him.
They returned to the party hall and the Count gave a speech after greeting the guests.
Angele stood in the corner of the hall with a glass of green wine in hand. He was checking the situation in the hall as it would be disrespectful if he left the hall when the party just started.
The dishes on the table were quite attractive to Angele since he only had meat jerkies on the way here.
The band started playing music as the Count finished the speech. There were also dancers dancing on the dancing floor.
The nobles standing beside Angele were introducing themselves to the people they met. The atmosphere in
the party hall was light.
Angele picked up a plate of roast goat after finishing a whole bottle of green wine and walked to the balcony.
It was an empty balcony as it was on the other side of the hall; however, someone was already there before Angele.
There was a young girl wearing a long white dress standing on the balcony. The moonlight illuminated the girl's black hair and smooth skin. It was a girl with an average-looking face and a pair of clean eyes.
The girl put her hands on the metal handle and she glared at Angele surprisingly after hearing the footsteps from behind.
Angele smiled lightly. "Sorry, I didn't know there was already someone here."
"No worries." The girl shook her head. "You don't like the noisy environment, right?"
"Yeah." Angele nodded. "I prefer quiet places."
The girl nodded. "I prefer quiet places too. I don't care what the others think of me and I don't have to follow all those rules… I just want to relax."
Angele smiled and put down the plate in the corner of the handle and looked down, he did not say anything.
Under the moonlight, there was a sea of the dark forest below the mountain.
The wind soared over the trees; there was an orange line advancing slowly on the far side.
"It must be the merchants' carriages passing by," the girl muttered.
"Is this normal?" Angele wondered.
"Yeah, this territory is famous for its rich fruit wine, hence those merchants come here," the girl explained.
"What do you think of the Count? Do you like him?" Angele questioned.
"The Count is a nice person and he's kind to everyone." The girl had no idea why Angele asked that.
"I'm not familiar with the Count. Does he have any family?" Angele smiled.
"Yeah, he has a son and a daughter. He especially loves his son, Olive; he also has a beautiful wife. That's
That's all I know," the girl answered honestly.
Angele smiled, but he was praising the Count in his mind. The man was probably a rank 4 wizard but he still made sure that the others thought he was just a mortal.
However, it was possible that the Count was enjoying the life of a mortal.
Angele recalled the conversation he had with the man.
Angele stopped chatting after talking with the girl for a while. He put his hands on the metal handle and enjoyed the night view.
The place was deadly silent.
Angele finished the meat on his plate as the party ended. He asked the girl about her name before leaving.
"Beatrice, what about you?" the girl responded.
"Green, just call me Green." The girl was different from the other girls he knew. Although she had an average-looking face, she left a deep impression in Angele's mind due to her unique personality.
Angele got on the black carriage that was waiting for him and left the mountain with the other leaving nobles.
He needed to find a way to increase his mentality and the ancient bloodline might be helpful. The Count declined Angele's offer, so Angele had no reason to help with the man's plan.
One month later, in the Nightmare Realm.
The sunlight of the early morning reflected off the surface of the Ness River.
Angele crouched by the river and looked at the water with his brow furrowed.
"Why is the water level increasing?" His sight fell upon the other river on the opposite side of the Ness River.
Last time, he retreated after encountering the mutated dragonflies. He decided to explore the other direction, but the water level of the Ness River was increasing for no reason, and the mansion would probably sink into the water if it did not stop.
According to the information Eye Devil gave him, anything could happen in the Nightmare Realm, and the
and the change of the landscape was normal. The realm was called the Nightmare Realm for a reason.
A river could turn into a mountain in a day.
Angele stood up and looked at the other side of the Ness River. His sight was blocked by the white mist and the only thing he could see was something gray.
Freia and Orphie had improved over the days. Freia was no longer a lonely girl and Angele informed them that he would be outside exploring for a while. He wanted to make sure that they were not worried about him.
Angele's goal was to find a suitable ancient bloodline so he could use it in his experiment.
He walked past the small house by the river and kept advancing.
The mud under his feet was wet and cold. He was wearing a pair of leather boots, his steps the only source of sound in his surroundings.
Angele looked at the river that was running into the Ness River as he walked.
The shore of the river was covered with light-yellow mud and the path led directly into the mist.
The wind was getting chilling, so Angele tightened his collar. With a flick of his finger, the Fire energy particles warmed his body up.
Raising his head, the mist that was blocking the path turned into thick white fog. The fog was getting thicker and thicker as he advanced.
"The same as the last time?" He could feel that his dry skin on the hand was wetted by the fog.
Angele turned his head around—the mansion and the small house were no longer in his sight; the only thing he could see was the river.
He inhaled deeply and found the chilling air refreshing. He started advancing again.
Time passed.
Angele increased his speed in the endless fog, but the fog just would not go away. It felt like the river shore was leading him was leading him into the abyss.
He suddenly heard the noise made by the water as he walked. Angele stopped and noticed that the noise was coming from behind.
Turning around, the sky was getting dark and the light was fading away.
Angele found that there was an arched black stone gate on the place that he just walked by. The gate was about two meters tall.
The stone gate looked heavy. Inside the gate, there was a dark blue sky and the surface of a clear blue sea.
The sea waves hit the shore; they were the source of the noise.
Angele narrowed his eyes and looked at the gray sky over his head.
He then looked at the blue sky in the gate. The place inside the gate looked like a new world to him.
"Is this part of the changes?" He slowly walked to the gate.
There were complicated plant and monster engravings on the edge of the gate. The engravings were covered with dark green moss and some of them were damaged.
Angele put his hands on the edge of the gate, he could smell the fragrance of the sea.
It seemed like the gate led to a sea that was somewhere far away from here.
The blue light from the sky illuminated the spacious beach by the sea.
Everything on the other side of the door was blue.
The beach was surprisingly smooth, there was no stone or shell to be seen anywhere. It seemed like there was no living being in the world behind the gate. The beach and the sea were deadly silent.
Angele could still hear the waves hitting the shore, but he did not see any creatures.
It felt like he was the only person in the world at the moment. He felt depressed and lonely for some reason. Angele glanced around and again, the only thing he could see was the thick fog.