Chapter 178: Trophy
Chapter 178: Trophy
“I’ll open the door!” a child’s voice came from the other side of the door. The child was curious about who would come to see Bishop at that time, but more than that, he was tired of writing letters and wanted to stretch his legs.
A reminder for me that while I was away, Bishop adopted another kid into the cult—something I didn’t pay much attention to before, but now I really had no choice.
Whatever. That was Bishop’s business. If there were any treacherous thoughts in the kid’s head, I’d be able to tell, but there weren’t, so it was all fine.
The door to Bishop’s house opened, showing me the boy himself, with Bishop hovering just behind his shoulder. Gi was there too, but I couldn’t see him behind Bishop’s back. The boy didn’t like strangers, and until I would turn out to be not a stranger, he exercised caution. I approved.
“Greetings, mister?..” Bishop looked at me expectantly, at the same time pulling the new kid back by a shoulder.
I grinned. “Don’t you recognise me, Bishop?”
He recoiled a little and blinked in confusion. The man’s sharp eyes inspected every corner of my illusory face. “That voice… Is that truly you? But how?”
He still doubted—his own ears, mostly—but because of that, still was careful with what he spoke. I hurried to dispel his fears. “That’s me, alright. Voren, who else? If you want proof…” I glanced around to make sure that no one was watching me from beyond the range of my telepathy, picked up a small stone from the ground and swallowed it in a single bite with a flourish. “Here!”
The new boy who just witnessed this made huge eyes. Gi too, but for another reason—he just looked from his cover and saw my temporary guise.
“It truly is you! My lord, I’m so glad!” Bishop cleared the way and urged me to enter with energetic gesturing. “Hector, don’t stand in the door. This is your lucky day… You are about to see our messiah in the flesh.”
I walked in and closed the door behind me, but didn’t hurry to take off my ring yet. I studied Hector’s face a little longer, first. It was familiar—I felt like I’ve seen him somewhere before, something I didn’t notice before, when I was looking at him with the blind sight and a different perspective.
Maybe I walked past him on the street at one point or another. I dismissed the thought.
“Messiah?” Hector asked Bishop, looking at me questioningly. “I thought you’d be scarier than this.”
In his corner, Gi stifled a snort. Bishop gave Hector a sharp glance.
“I thought I taught you to not judge people by their looks and to not to be rude, Hector,” he chided. Not without warmth in his voice, though. Still, Hector’s shoulders hunched from the reprimand.
“Yeah, yeah, and what happens with people who think too much, kid?” I threw at him and marched towards the table that was currently filled with writing utensils, paper, and books. I unceremoniously pushed them aside to clear the space for the bundle I carried. The one and only book of divine magic, wrapped in some webs I made to not flash it to every passerby on the street.
Now that my hands were free, I pulled off the Ring of Thousand Faces from my finger.
Hector gasped and fought to not run away that instant. I caught his eyes and saw that fear reflected in them, barely hidden. The boy was nicely indoctrinated by Bishop, but it was one thing to hear, and another one to see. I wondered if this one has as much guts as Gi.
To test it, I spread my lips in a grin that showed all my sharp teeth, and watched Hector’s face grow almost as pale as Gi’s. But he still didn’t run.
I stopped playing with him and waved my hand and the both kids. “I have to talk to Bishop, and you are going to be a hindrance. Take your studies and whatnot somewhere else and instead… bring me some food.”
Gi didn’t hesitate to start moving things, but Hector needed Bishop’s repeating of my order to move. Only when they finished with replacing the books with ready to eat food from Bishop’s kitchen and went to eavesdrop from another room (I could’ve shooed them away, but I really didn’t care what they would hear) did I sit down.
“This is a very interesting ring you have, my lord,” Bishop noted. He didn’t sit—he was too busy with thoughts about what he could do to help me at the moment. “What is it you wanted to talk about?”
I morphed a second mouth, grew out a second pair of hands to stuff food in it. With my first pair, I tore away the web from the magic tome on the table. “Stuff, stuff. This, for example. Recognise it?”
Bishop frowned, studying the heavy binding and the arcane symbols etched in it. Slowly, he shook his head.
“Yeah, the artists really can’t draw even the book right.” I nodded. “Congratulate me—I killed Goddess of Wizards… this is her book of spells. Now I have to get away from the rest of them. They are on my trail… I’m sure. If only I knew more about magic, maybe I’d even know how!”
Bishop took a moment to categorise all that information in his head before proceeding straight to the point. Good guy. “Maybe there’s something I can help you with there, my lord? I studied more of Willorio’s books while you were away, and while this certainly won’t give me the same level of skill as he had, it might be helpful with your problem?” All the while, he kept throwing glances at the tome of spells, like a starving man on a juicy steak.
I gave him a sideways glance. “Maybe you can… I have a sort of plan already, and you are going to help me out with the details.”