847 The Minor Negligence
Ten queen gold coins? Donnie’s breath suddenly turned heavy. He knew that he would earn a lot of money after he became an official sorcerer, but he had been barely engaged in any deals in cash since most of the subsidies in school were exchanged to arcana points. Therefore, after he heard the offer of ten queen gold coins, his heart beat fast, and he swallowed hard.
Ten queen gold coins were nothing for nobles, wealthy merchants, and sorcerers. However, having been brought up poor in a civilian family in a small town, Donnie had never seen one gold coin in his entire life. Also, he could earn the tremendous wealth that could significantly improve his family conditions without promising that he could solve the problem. How could he not be tempted?
If he wished to continue on the path of sorcerers, materials, recipes, books, and extraordinary items were unavoidable. All of them needed the support of wealth!
If he could really take care of the problem, how much would Baron Herdos pay him?
Donnie thought about so many things that even his voice became slightly coarse. “If I can fix the issue, how much would the baron pay me?”
The butler’s face was unchanged, and he did not mock Donnie’s overconfidence even though a third-circle sorcerer had been hired before but failed. He said respectfully, “My lord said that, if Mr. White could restore the peace of the castle, you will be given an additional ‘Magic Glove’, which is a level-two extraordinary item, besides the ten queen gold coins.”
An extraordinary item? Donnie felt that hot blood was surging into his head. He almost accepted the request immediately.
Thankfully, the meditation and casting exercises that he had been doing helped him maintain his last consciousness. He said calmly, “Baron Herdos is the lord of this town. I am very happy to help him. However, I need the records about how the previous sorcerers and apprentices handled the anomaly in the castle. If I am confident enough to solve it, I’ll go to the castle in person.”
He couldn’t be more prudent about such a matter.
A smile appeared on the butler’s respectful face. He took out a thick pile of documents from his suitcase and said, “These are the records you need.”
Sensing Donnie’s surprise, he explained with a smile, “My lord is no stranger to sorcerers, so he knew that you would need those.”
Donnie’s puzzle was answered. He took over the records and examined them with magic. Finding no sign of tampering, he read them carefully.
After a long time, he turned the pages and said peacefully, “Two apprentices were so surprised that they jumped out of the window of the castle, which got themselves killed. There is no death record of sorcerers. Well, it shouldn’t be too dangerous for me. Mr. Butler, please lead me to the baron.”
The first half of the sentences weren’t meant for the butler. They were for his parents and his sister in case they were worried.
As he expected, after hearing his explanation, Lily and Mrs. White, who were concerned and about to stop him, were both relieved. It was an honor of their family that their son (brother) was appreciated by the lord. It was really the right decision to let him go to the generic school!
As civilians, they were more revered by their lord than the regular sorcerers were.
Donnie’s father nodded in excitement, telling Donnie to go without concerns about the family.
……
Near the town were the rising and falling hills that were covered in evergreens. A deep, dark castle stood next to a beautiful peaceful lake and added to the magnificence of the scenery.
Inside the castle, Donnie and Baron Herdos, who was coughing all the time with an emaciated face, sat face to face on the couch.
“This castle has been in our family for nine hundred years. It’s a symbol of the Herdos family. However, the haunting in the past decades has been bothering us. I hope that you can help fix the problem, Mr. White, as a professional of the school of necromancy,” Baron Herdos said in a weak voice.
He had been living in his villa in the city and barely returned to the castle. Today, he had specifically come back to wait for Donnie. After the establishment of the electric system and the popularization of alchemical items, more and more nobles preferred to live in the city or the suburbs. Castles were gradually being abandoned unless the infrastructure could be extended deep into the woods in the future.
While Donnie was a necromancer majoring in body structure and genetic factors, the knowledge on ghosts and evil spirits was among the compulsory courses of the Heidler Magic College. So, he was no stranger to them. He asked solemnly, “I wonder what happened decades ago that caused the haunting ghost. I hope that you can tell me everything without neglecting any detail.”
A ghost certainly could not have come out of nowhere.
“Nothing really happened. The previous sorcerers asked the same thing,” Baron Herdos replied with a bitter smile.
The sorcerers he hired before were not the professionals of the school of necromancy, but since they were here to address the problem, they had certainly done their investigations. Unless they were out of their minds, no sorcerers would act recklessly.
“It seemed to have appeared all of a sudden. Maybe somebody did something in secret, but it’s been too long, and the leads must be gone already,” Baron Herdos added.
Donnie nodded his head. “I hope that you can give your family files during that period to me. All the files. I’ll stay here tonight and kill my time with them.”
“Thank you for your help in advance, Mr. Donnie.” Baron Herdos nodded. Then, he left ten queen gold coins on the table, before he left the castle with his butler and returned to the city.
The servants of the castle all came during the day and left by the evening. None dared to spend the night here. Therefore, after Baron Herdos left, the castle resumed its peace and gloom. Fire was burning furiously inside the furnace, but it could not drive off the deep coldness.
Donnie examined the castle and found nothing. Then, he got into a bedroom and began to meditate to stay sharp, waiting for the night to come.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
After three bell knocks, the old clock suggested the arrival of ten o’clock. According to Donnie’s files, all the ghost-related phenomena happened after this hour.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The moment the bell stopped, Donnie heard a dull and strange voice. He frowned. Was it the sound of the wind blowing at the window frame? However, he had checked a moment ago, and all the windows were closed!
Touching the sorcerer’s badge on his chest, Donnie opened the door and entered the corridor, walking toward the source of the sound.
Bang!
An enormous and dull collision echoed behind Donnie. He was so scared that he hurried to turn back, only to discover that the room that he just left was closed automatically!
Wu! Wu! Wu!
Weeping noise that was as feeble as an illusion found its way into Donnie’s ears. He had goosebumps all over his body. Had it not been for his nightmare experiences, he probably couldn’t have remained calm.
Wu!
The sobbing wind suddenly blew in the corridor.
Candles died out one after another, and the castle was completely enshrouded in darkness.
Donnie hurried to cast a “Luminosity”. His glove immediately glowed like a torch and illuminated the environment.
However, all of a sudden, a cold and gloomy breath blew at Donnie’s neck, making his hair erect. Then, “Luminosity” ended without a sound!
“This evil spirit is even more horrible than described!”
Having seen all kinds of undead creatures in his nightmares, Donnie felt the power of the evil spirit more clearly than regular sorcerers would. He accelerated to the gate of the castle in uneasiness. “It interrupted my spell without alarming me at all! How could the previous sorcerers have survived?”
Generally speaking, such evil spirits were all stranded in a place. As long as he left the castle, he would be safe!
“Ge! Ge! Ge!”
A white fuzzy shadow floated before him and laughed devastatingly.
“If I didn’t let them leave, would they have delivered food to me again and again?”
Donnie was greatly alarmed. It knew what was on his mind? Or maybe… was it shaking his determination with the illusion and the words?
“Rest assured. I will not simply eat you; I will suck your soul slowly and gradually.” The shadow flashed here and there, not giving Donnie any chance to lock onto it. “Ever since I was woken up, I have been very abstemious. I will only suck half of your soul, which will make you forget what happened and come here once every few months.”
Donnie moved forward warily, unaffected by the words. The evil spirit did not stop him either.
He was more or less relieved, feeling that the evil spirit was only bragging. At this moment, he had reached the gate of the castle.
All he needed to do was to run out!
Donnie pulled the gate, but it was the hall of the castle out of the gate!
Shock and coldness rose from his feet, paralyzing his whole body quickly.
“Haha. I like fear more than anything else.” A pale, illusionary face appeared before Donnie. It opened its mouth and spewed stench out at Donnie’s face brutally. He was so dizzy that he could not focus his attention to cast any spell again.
Looking at the face at a loss, Donnie felt colder and colder. His soul seemed almost frozen.
He survived those nightmares, only to be killed by this not-so-powerful evil spirit in the end?
Suddenly, Donnie sensed that something cold surged in his right hand. Then, it lifted beyond his control and snatched the face before him.
Is this my right hand?
A palm in the monotonous black, white, and gray appeared in Donnie’s pupils. He felt that he saw the never-fading death the moment he saw this hand!
“No!” The evil spirit cried miserably, as if it had seen what it was most scared of.
Then, it was stiffened as if it were waiting for Donnie’s right hand.
The right hand passed through it, and the evil spirit was dismembered and thrown into the black, white, and gray, vanishing into nothingness.
Donnie was back to himself. He hurried to cast Luminosity, only to discover that everything was the same as before although the candles were put out.
“An illusion? No, it must be real!” Donnie raised his right hand. Looking at the hand that showed no anomalies now, he mumbled, “What happened? Why did my right hand turn into that?”
In the previous moment, he felt that he was the dominator of death!
“It… It feels a lot like the black, white, and gray and the black armor in the nightmares!” Donnie suddenly raised his head, and his face was covered in a cold sweat.
……
Outside of the castle, a magnificent person stood quietly and smiled. “As I expected, all the problems cannot be resolved so easily.”
