Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1324: Section 1325 Registration
 

Originheart City.

After Angel left, Frode personally arranged the staff to prepare to welcome a new batch of residents.

Sometime later, near the location agreed upon with Angel, the area was busy with staff.

The staff were already accustomed to newcomers arriving at Originheart City from time to time. Even ordinary citizens had grown used to this occurrence.

However, it was quite rare for such a large group of people to arrive at once.

Watching a group of people dressed in servant attire suddenly appear in the temporarily cleared plaza, all staff members began to prepare for the registration work.

On the other side, the “newcomers” were distinctly different from those who had come previously, and restlessness started to emerge.

“Where is this place? Why are we here?”

“Damn, I had an appointment with a patient. Now that it’s gotten so dark, I don’t know if I can make it back in time. Can someone tell me if this is Waterford?”

“Physician Dink, this seems to be Waterford. Although I haven’t been to Waterford for a long time, I recognize the Marine Theater in the distance. However, why does the layout of the streets feel different?”

“Where are my sheep? Where are my sheep?”

“Frandu, what does it matter about your sheep right now?”

“But I was sleeping with my sheep before, and now they’re gone. How will I explain this to the Viscount when I get back?” The speaker was the Shepherd Frandu, filled with grievance.

Everyone was in surprise and making a commotion when suddenly a woman Knight clad in leather armor barked sharply, “Everyone, shut up for a moment!”

The crowd fell silent at the sound, the speaker being the Viscount’s battle teacher, the Knight of the Central Courtyard, Swoki. At Pat Manor, her prestige was second only to the Head Maid, Mana.

Now that Swoki had spoken, no one else dared to utter a word.

Swoki walked over to one side, looking at the Head Maid Mana who had fallen silent: “Mana, do you know why we are here?”

Mana shook her head, surveying the surroundings: “I can’t remember, but since we’re in Waterford, we should head to Gru Town first. Once we’re back at the Manor, I’ll explain the situation to the Viscount.”

As Mana spoke, it seemed to set the direction for their next move. However, before everyone could nod in agreement, Swoki suddenly said, “But this isn’t Waterford.”

The crowd looked at Swoki with confusion, some objecting, “Although we don’t go to Waterford often, we recognize the Marine Theater.”

Swoki shook her head and explained, “That building indeed resembles the Marine Theater, but the Marine Theater stands opposite the city hall. How could the city hall be missing, leaving only the Marine Theater behind? And those of you who have been to Waterford before, don’t you find the layout here strange? Like this plaza under our feet, does Waterford have such a large plaza? And that tower over there, I’ve never seen it in Waterford.”

Swoki, who often shuttled between Waterford and Gru Town as a liaison Knight, had been to Waterford just half a month ago. She refused to believe that Waterford had built that high tower and such a large plaza within just half a month.

Head Maid Mana also nodded, “When the Viscount went to Waterford to be ennobled, I accompanied him. At that time, there was indeed no such high tower.”

With both the Head Maid and the Central Courtyard Knight saying so, the scales in everyone’s hearts began to tilt: “Then where could this be?”

“The Marine Theater really looks quite similar… Could it be an Illusion? If it’s an Illusion, could it be something the young master created?” someone speculated.

“That’s unlikely,” a crisp female voice replied with dissatisfaction, “The young master has matured a lot over these years. He wouldn’t do such a prank.”

“Ollie the maid knows the young master best; her words must be correct,” Mana nodded. “Indeed, the young master wouldn’t make a joke of us.”

So where could this place be? Why had they appeared here?

As everyone pondered, the group of staff from a distance had already approached: “Newcomers, are you? Prepare to start registration.”

“Registration? What registration?” the crowd asked in unison.

Swoki turned back with a stern look, “Enough noise—let the Head Maid Mana speak.”

As the Manor’s Butler, Mana held tremendous prestige, and she was adept at handling both external and internal affairs flawlessly. Thus, leaving it to Head Maid Mana to address the issue was something everyone could agree upon.

“Could you tell us, where is this place? And what is to be registered?” asked Mana, puzzled.

“This is Originheart City. Registration is to record your identities for subsequent administration,” the staff member explained with a smile. “Moreover, only after registering will you have the right to live in Originheart City.”

“We are not from here, nor do we plan to stay and live here, so registration should not be necessary, right?” Mana inquired again.

On the other side, Swoki was muttering “Originheart City” under her breath. As a standard Knight graduated from the Knight Academy, she might have not personally visited all places, but she was familiar with all the provinces and cities of the Goldfinch Empire.

Yet the name “Originheart City” was something Swoki had never heard before.

The staff member looked at Mana skeptically: “Don’t you really know how you got here? Think hard, what happened before you came to this place?”

With those words from the staff member, everyone fell deep into thought.

Head Maid Mana spoke softly, “I remember, I was carrying a tray to look for the Viscount when, halfway there, I seemed to have seen a red light? Then I can’t recall anything at all.”

After Head Maid Mana finished speaking, she looked towards Swoki, wanting to know her situation.

Swoki: “I was near the garden at the time because it had suddenly started to snow heavily, and Gran asked me to help take care of the flower shed.”

Swoki’s words made Gran the gardener, who was behind her, nod continuously: “That’s right, I was carrying a plant of Moon Orchids to the shed at the time. On my way there, I heard shouting from the direction of the main castle and then saw a burst of red light, and my memory seems to have fragmented thereafter.”

At this moment, everyone was whispering to each other; almost all of them had seen that strange red light just before their memory cutoff. Only Shepherd Frandu, who had been asleep in the barn at the time, had not seen the so-called red light.

“What exactly happened after the red light?” That was the question on everyone’s mind.

Even the staff began to be confused: what red light? Wasn’t it Lord Frode who brought them here?

As everyone was somewhat perplexed, Frode emerged from the crowd, standing in front of Head Maid Mana: “I know you all are servants from Pat Manor, and I know you have many questions, but let’s register first, and afterward, I will tell everyone the truth.”

However, the crowd didn’t recognize Frode and, after exchanging glances, didn’t know what to decide.

At that moment, a servant inadvertently looked to the other side and suddenly, her pupils contracted, she stammered, pointing into the distance, “Ma-Ma… Head Maid Mana, that man seems to be… ”

Her voice drew everyone’s attention, and they followed her gaze: “Eh, that man looks like… Jon, right? But isn’t Jon frozen in ice? How can he be here? Am I seeing things?”

“It does look like Jon!” Head Maid Mana also said surprisingly, only this Jon, although incomparable with others, seemed to be hale and hearty overall, wholly unlike the withered and gaunt figure in the ice coffin.

“It can’t really be Jon, can it? Where in the world would someone that similar exist?” someone whispered doubtfully. “Right, to know if it’s Jon, we just need to look at the mute servant; hasn’t he been attending to Jon for so long?”

At this, everyone’s gaze simultaneously turned to the mute servant.

The mute servant Yorkshire had once served old Pat and, after old Pat’s death, had continued to serve Jon for many years. Aside from Angel, the mute servant knew Jon the best.

Everyone was waiting for the mute servant’s response, and after a long silence, he finally spoke: “Yes, he is Jon.”

At that moment, no one looked at Jon, but instead gazed at the mute servant in shock.

The reason the mute servant was “mute” was that he couldn’t speak.

Yet at this moment, he actually spoke? His voice was raspy, with an odd cadence, like a foreigner attempting to speak the common tongue for the first time.

The mute servant himself seemed just as astonished, a look of confusion on his face.

“What’s going on, why can the mute servant suddenly speak?”

Just then, a voice came from behind them: “If I can stand up and walk, is it so strange that the mute servant can speak?”

The crowd turned around to see Jon standing beside Frode with a smile.

“I know you all have many questions, we’ll discuss them later. Come on, let’s get registered first,” Jon paused, “I’ll take you to meet someone soon, and then you will know the truth about everything.”

“Meet who?”

“Someone who feels guilty within and is too embarrassed to come here to see you all.”

…

Jon’s appearance gave everyone a peculiar sense about this place.

Furthermore, with the red light flashing just when their memories had fragmented, everyone understood that their appearance here might be related to a Transcendent event.

Since Jon had promised to reveal the truth to them later, after a moment of hesitation, everyone began to register under the leadership of Head Maid Mana.

After the registration was completed, Frode glanced at Jon: “Would you like me to go with Mr. Jon?”

“No need, you still have to handle follow-up matters. I’ll take them. That guy is usually pretty responsible, but I didn’t expect him to be too frightened to face his own people at a time like this,” Jon shook his head, “I’ll take them first, and let them get familiar with the place.”

Frode thought about it, realizing that nothing too serious would happen in Originheart City and, moreover… Frode glanced at the shadow atop the building to the right with hints of the Bullhorn Helm.

With Tullas’s protection, there wouldn’t be any problems.

Considering this, Frode nodded: “Then I’ll head back to Sky Tower.”

After Frode left, Jon stepped forward, looking at Mana: “Long time no see.”

Mana didn’t utter a sound, her eyes filled with confusion and a trace of nostalgia.

Jon also turned his gaze to Yorkshire, the mute servant who had cared for him for many years, his eyes filled both with remembrance and a bit of wistfulness.

“Let’s go, you’ll know all your questions soon.”