The Dark Mage (1)

Ten days ago…

Barry glanced at the brooding man wearing a dark brown cloak with a hood, sipping a bottle of strawberry juice wine. That kind of wine was among the new offerings of the tea shop as it experimented on brewing and selling juice wines, the kind that gave out fruit essence with medicinal benefits but could also bring intoxication if over-consumed.

The teashop advised its customers to buy only one bottle per person. But if they wish to consume more, then they needed to go out of the shop and purchase more bottles as takeaways.

Barry held a policy preventing drunkards from the tea shop, considering it was not a tavern, to begin with. The shop supplemented its income from selling bottles of ales and juice wines as these were products that had not been introduced in the village.

Moreover, the tea shop had been attracting more adventurers and mages. Many elites of the village even rented a private conference room inside the tea shop as their meeting room. But their main purpose was to gain benefits from the spiritual energy, also known as mana from the spirit tree.

Renting a private room was not cheap so only those who could afford were permitted inside. Further, Sigmund installed a theft prevention mechanism inside the room, whereby they would be ejected from the room when they entered the radius close to the spirit tree. Other mechanisms were in place including a crystal ball device that would determine if any of the short-term tenants had the intention of stealing precious materials inside the room. Because of these mechanisms, only very few were admitted to renting the room.

The man wearing the hood was aware of this policy after extending his spiritual sense to eavesdrop on other customers' conversations.

Barry was aware of the intention of that man. He recognized that man to be a mage level 6 rank upon checking the stats. Sigmund shared the divine system with his clones as anything the clones sensed, he would also sense it.

Zanjie Morito

[Dark mage assassin under Lord Rainier Thain]

Age: 98

Soul Force Units: 17000

Level: Rank 6 dark mage

MP: 13,000

HP: 12,000

XP: 34,300

Strength: 2,200; Wisdom: 1,200; Agility : 2,500; Intelligence : 1,500; Dexterity: 150

Control: 150

Expertise: Dark magic, black fire

Weapon of choice: Daggers and bow and arrow

Tools equipped: Storage ring

Suit of defense, made of perennial mystic silkworm +50 defense

Boots of speed +20 agility

Cloak of invisibility

Abilities:

Teleportation manipulating the spatial rift

Invisibility

Flight

Shadow hiding

Shadow attacks

Having been aware of the policy, the man named Zanjie Morito ordered a spirit tea that could counter the sedative effect of the juice wine.

He was staying for almost an hour inside the tea shop. Joey was tasked to monitor the customer should there be another order. But when he came back from the second floor after delivering a customer's order, he noticed the man in the hood immediately disappear right after his feet were planted back on the ground floor.

Joey was aghast but he noticed five gold coins left atop the table. That brought him a slight relief after knowing his close contact with his abductors.

Three days later, the man returned to the tea shop ordering a grape juice wine. He even ordered a tart to go with it.

While his previous disposition was unapproachable, he shifted to a more jovial display, even to the point of befriending Joey.

Zanjie's face might not be regarded as gorgeous but he could still be regarded as attractive. His pale face contrasted with black hair and dark brown eyes. For some ladies, the combination would be deadly attractive to them. If his size was bulky, instead of average build with tall stature, then he would be more imposing.

Zanjie used the opportunity to instigate casual talk with the server Joey.

"Hi! Can I have another of your juice wine again?"

"It's good to see you again sir! What kind do you want? We have grapes, blueberry, cranberry, and pomegranate." Joey enumerated the varieties with a hospitable smile.

"What do you recommend?" Zanjei asked.

"I like grapes so I want you to try it." Joey's smile was still plastered on his face.

"Okay, good! By the way, call me Zan." The other man tried to be pleasing by giving his smile.

"Got it, Zan."

"Wait!" Zanjie called. "What is your name again?"

Joey was startled which showed on his face but he still responded. "It's Joey!"

"Okay, Joey. Is your manager here?" Zanjie queried.

"He's coming back after visiting another branch," Joey replied.

"Oh… okay. I will wait for him then."

Joey left his sight as Zanjie was observing the tea shop, this time more meticulously.

While the records of the captives in slavery were obliterated in Rocco and Mortino's facility, those slavers were not aware that a backup was reserved. And it happened to be under Zanjie's custody.

The man decided to become a regular customer after visiting the shops for five days, consecutively. In those five days, he got to know the other servers and he even learned about the staff working the tools and weaponry shop of Chua, Sons, and Company.

In the tools and weaponry shop, Zanjie happened to learn about two young dwarves working as apprentices to the shop manager. There was ten male staff working to assist customers. In the afternoon shift, five female staff was added to serve mostly female adventurers wanting to buy weapons. But each floor had two or three female staff to assist different classes of customers.

Sigmund expanded the tools and weaponry shop into a wider space with second and third floors. The first floor was for entry-level tools and weapons fit for mages and attack-class warriors in the knights level to mage level 2.

On the second floor, tools and weapons for mage levels 3 to 6 were displayed. A few top-grade weapons were on display. But customers could request customized orders at a certain price either higher or lower than what was displayed. However, all weapons displayed on the second floor were top-class. Hence, customers would often opt for the display.