Chapter 623 — Security Advice

"Once this war is fought to its end, the blood of the Ansans should be all but drained..."

Daniel left the Emperor's study, left the long corridor before it, and not until he had passed through the antechamber of the Obsidian Palace, exited the main gate of the imperial palace, and stepped onto the plaza before the palace did he draw a deep breath and slowly let it out.

The artificial nerve cords crawling upon his back writhed rapidly for a spell, and only after several seconds did they gradually return to calm.

Thanks to the knowledge granted him by his master, he had been able to control his emotions and reactions so successfully; had he been the man he once was, on the verge of mental collapse, it would have been utterly impossible to carry off a negotiation of such difficulty.

Having relaxed his mind a little, the old mage raised his head and began searching for his apprentice, who ought by rights to have been waiting for him on the plaza.

Marie was not standing where she ought to have been.

Daniel's brows knitted slightly, and as he looked all around he could not help muttering, "That fool... where has she run off to..."

He did not have to search long. After only a few minutes, he spotted his familiar black-haired apprentice—

Mary had at some point run off to the edge of the plaza, and was now crouching in front of a little girl who had appeared from somewhere. Seen from a distance, Daniel could even make out the two orbs of magical light dancing in Mary's hands.

She was actually acting like some lowly street clown, running out into the plaza to perform conjuring tricks for passing children?

Daniel was stunned for a moment, then strode over in a fury. Even when he had come to a stop right behind Mary, the young sorceress still had not noticed; she was still busily conjuring one orb of magical light after another to amuse the little girl before her. The child, eyes wide, watched the "sorceress sister's" performance in utter amazement—but at last she noticed the old mage with the dark and terrifying expression, and shrank back her neck in fright.

Only then did Mary sense the familiar presence behind her. Almost instinctively, a shudder ran through her whole body; she scrambled to her feet and turned around, meeting—entirely as expected—her mentor's gloomy face.

She lowered her head at once, twisting her hands together nervously. "Men... Mentor... I..."

"What is the meaning of this!?"

"The child was lost, and I... I only wanted to..."

Daniel's angry words were on the verge of spilling out, but when he heard what Mary said, he could not help but pause for a moment first. Then he lowered his head and glanced at the little girl.

A lost little girl, dressed more or less decently, so she was probably not a child laborer who had fled from one of the factories—yet neither was she of the class that could come and go from the imperial palace. Most likely a citizen's child from somewhere nearby.

For some reason, however, a very different thought suddenly surfaced in Daniel's mind—

Long ago, when Mary had wandered muddle-headedly into his mage tower, she had been about this big, hadn't she...

He raised his head and looked at his apprentice, who stood there tense to the point of sheer terror.

By now, the little girl who had stumbled into the mage tower all those years ago had grown up.

If Mary had not run into his mage tower that year, what would she be like now? Would she be standing here in such terror, watching an old mage and waiting for punishment? Or would she be living peacefully at her parents' side, or already married, with a husband of her own...

Daniel's face moved, as though he were trying to force out a kind and genial smile, but the withered, stiff muscles of his face seemed no longer capable of anything so complicated. So he could only shake his head, reach out and ruffle the little girl's hair. "Don't go running off. If you get lost, your parents will worry."

Then he raised his hand and beckoned to the guards near the plaza.

The soldier came running over at once with the utmost eagerness, not daring to show the slightest negligence—even if this soldier did not know the chief scholar of the Imperial Artificers' Association, he had just seen with his own eyes Daniel emerge from the Obsidian Palace in the company of his attendants, so of course he had to treat him with respect.

"The child is lost. Take her and find her parents—afterward I will confirm this matter with your superior."

Daniel gave the order offhandedly, and the soldier answered in a whole string of yeses.

Only after the soldier and the child had both departed did Daniel look at Mary. "Hopelessly stupid. Even with your position in the Artificers' Association and the connections you have made in the noble council, you could command any soldier on this street—yet all you knew to do was use a few conjuring tricks to amuse a child."

Mary kept her head down and did not dare utter a single sound.

Daniel's gaze then fell upon Mary's neck, upon that iron rune collar.

"Do you remember what I told you would happen if you left the area I set for you without permission?"

At these words from her mentor, Mary gave a start of alarm and finally snapped to her senses, almost instinctively reaching a hand toward the iron collar at her neck.

Yet before some even more dreadful thoughts could surface, she saw her mentor reach out toward her—that hand took hold of the iron collar at her throat, and with a soft click, the collar that had accompanied her for so many years was casually opened.

Daniel muttered, "I knew it. Putting this thing on you would never stop you from running wild. Better to just throw the cursed thing away.

"When we get back, throw away those idiots' collars too."

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