8th September, City Square, Commoners' Borough, Silverland City.
It was around 6 A.M.
A forty-year-old man with russet brown eyes sat on a park bench near the city square and appeared to be in deep thought. He covered his lower face with a red scarf and wore a black double-breasted suit.
On his right shoulder, there stood a strange red-colored puppet raven. For the past five days, Rilos had been waiting for his teacher Mike's response, but he still didn't get any reply, which made him both frustrated and scared.
He was pretty scared of the Red Angel of Time.
'Why did that guy pick me?'
He was just about to head back to Red Meat Inn but stopped.
A bright smile appeared on his face as he saw a black-haired kid, around fifteen years old, walking excitedly in his direction. That kid had an oval face, deep-set blue eyes, and thin eyebrows, and he wore an old black linen shirt and pants.
"Good morning, Uncle. Why does your face look like it has aged a few years?" That black-haired kid arrived in front of him and asked with a chuckle.
"Good morning, Yeri. I'm still waiting for my teacher's response." Rilos replied wryly and soon signaled Yeri to sit near him.
He met this kid a few days ago while wandering around and became much closer.
He even considered taking him as his disciple but soon dismissed that idea. He knew that would ruin this kid's future.
"Uncle, yesterday I heard a story from Lord Light Priest. And he said this war is happening because Lord Light wants to eliminate the chaos and evil from our World. But if Light God is all-mighty and powerful, why did he ask mortals to battle against evil instead of him?" Yeri asked, with eyes full of curiosity, causing Rilos to smile brightly.
He lightly patted Yeri's shoulder and replied with a laugh.
"Haha, I will tell you why so listen carefully. Our World doesn't allow outsiders to poke their noses into our worldly matters. Light God Welos is an outsider. So, our World won't allow an outsider to come to her land and destroy her children. Because of that, the Light God could only use his incarnation to walk on our World.
But if he does that, even legendary powerhouses would quickly kill his incarnation and obtain his divine shards. That's why he and his followers are brainwashing the minds of the commoners and creating a mess everywhere. Who are they to judge who is evil and who is good? If you deeply search for the cause of every war, you will die from laughing.
Take an example of your Keris kingdom. Do you know why this civil war is happening? It was because the current King once beat his younger brother during their childhood days. Someone with malicious thoughts used this to side with the King's younger brother and started to poison his mind. The current duke of Vira became a puppet, acting like he was the one who was born to rule the World. Do you understand now?"
Astonishment appeared on the black-haired kid's face as he heard the response from Rilos and soon stuttered,
"Y-You mean the one who poisoned Duke of Vira's mind was the Light church?"
"Who else?" Rilos chucked and soon frowned as he saw the communication trinket in his hand starting to vibrate.
"Kiddo, wait for a minute. I will talk to my teacher Mike," Rilos said to Yeri and activated the communication Trinket with a hint of excitement on his face.
The next second, a creaking voice came from the other side.
"Rilos, I couldn't track that person's location. Well, I couldn't even see a glimpse of his figure." A hint of frustration appeared in Mike's voice, making Rilos frown deeper.
"What happened, teacher?" Rilos asked.
"Some higher divine power is interfering with my divination spell, Rilos. I sensed the power of time in that divine power." Demi-Lich Mike spoke in a grave tone and went silent for three seconds.
"Rilos, act more cautiously from now on. He might be the Red Angel of Time."
Upon hearing his teacher's words, Rilos went dead silent for a whole minute. Even Yeri got up from the seat and looked at Rilos's face with concern.
"What should I do now, teacher?" Rilos finally calmed down and asked hurriedly.
"We don't have any other choice but to cooperate with that Red Angel of Time," Mike replied helplessly through the communication trinket.
"Then, you should cooperate." Another voice came from Rilos's side, making both the teacher and student duo freeze.
The one who replied just was the young kid, Yeri!
But this time, a serious expression appeared on his face, which made Rilos raise his eyebrow a little.
"Kiddo, what does that mean?" Rilos turned his head towards Yeri and asked with a confused tone.
"Ahem, I'm sorry to interrupt your talk, sirs. Let me introduce myself again to both of you. I'm the newly appointed Red Angel of Time by our great Time Lord Udnir.'' A playful smile appeared on Yeti or Abium's face as he introduced himself respectfully.
Meanwhile, Rilos stood there frozen as if a lightning bolt had struck him. He couldn't even understand what was happening and stood there with a stiff face. He got close to this kid because Yeri's face appeared similar to his disciple Murius'.
At first, he thought this kid was Murius's son, but soon he found out his student had no family members. After thinking for a while, he planned to get close to this kid to know about his origin.
Well, he did expect this kid named Yeri could have some link to that Red Angel, but he didn't expect that he was the Red Angel of Time!
After a short silence, a creaky voice came from the communication trinket on Rilos's hand.
"It seems we underestimated you, Mr. Red Angel. So, please tell us what you want from this expenditure. Our cooperation will be meaningless anyway if we are after the same thing."
Abium chuckled and said.
"My eyes are on a sword called Dark Blade. Well, I need a sword at legendary tier one, so any sword is fine."
Rilos and Mike got puzzled as they heard those words.
"I don't think you need our help to get your hands on a legendary sword, Mr. Red Angel," Mike said solemnly. Although a legendary sword was a precious treasure, there were many similar artifacts. So, they both felt something was off about his request.
Abium's smile brightened as he heard Demi-Lich Mike's words and added.
"But if I managed to get the Death Cane before you guys, then it will be mine, right?" Upon hearing the Red Angel's words, both went silent.
Yes, if the Red Angel of Time did find the Death cane first, they would have no choice but to give up on that artifact.
If Yeri were some normal mage, they would lay some trap beforehand in the future and try to ambush him to get that artifact. But Yeri was not a normal mage. Both were aware that Yeri might be the Red Angel of Time and became more solemn.
Otherwise, how could he block Demi-Lich Mike's divination spell? Not only that, even Rilos couldn't tell how strong Yeri was!
"What do you want to say?" Mike asked coldly through the communication trinket.
"If I get that Death Cane beforehand, I will lend it to you once. You can use that artifact to break the chain placed on your body. I know your body is weakened, and you need that Death cane desperately. In exchange, I want you to kill Bishop Piers during this Expedition. It's a win-win situation for both of us."
Abium had long guessed that the Demi-Lich needed to break those shackles and gave him an offer.
His words surprised both of them.
At that moment, they realized that the Red Angel knew more about 'Death cane' than themselves and got baffled inside.
'Even I got this information from an Oracle a few months ago. This guy is unfathomable!'
"Why don't you kill him yourself?" Rilos blurted out but soon stopped.
'Tsk, why did I even ask that stupid question?'
If the Red Angel of Time were to kill Bishop Piers, Rilos knew that the bunch of light church lunatics would come after this Red Angel and would find out about Udnir's servant's appearance in this World. That might cause great chaos not only in Easica World but also in other higher and lower planes!
But if a necromancer like him killed this Bishop, it would become a different matter.
The Light Church members knew that these necromancers were psychopaths themselves and wouldn't pry too much.
"I don't think killing that Bishop is easy, Mr. Red Angel." After a short deliberation, Rilos's teacher Mike answered.
"But if you have the Death Cane in your hand, it will be easy, right?" Abium smiled slyly.
At that moment, both understood that this Red Angel knew more about Death Cane and finally agreed.
Abium nodded as he heard both of their approval and tossed a black gem-embedded ring toward Rilos before disappearing.
"Rilos, I think we need to speed up our plan. Red Angel's arrival will change the power balance in this plane." Mike said and immediately cut off the communication, leaving Rilos alone in the city square.
Meanwhile, Rilos adjusted his red scarf to cover his face and began to walk towards the Red Meat Inn.
...