Chapter 679: Meeting
After a few minutes of walking, Charles arrived at a single-story building and walked in while opening the tavern door.
Laughers and shouts reached his ears as he saw multiple demons laughing loudly and chatting inside.
"Oh? That annoying new drinker is here again." A lady with two horns on her head spoke as she poured a glass of unique wine and passed it to the winged demon sitting before her.
Without minding her comment, Charles walked closer to the table, sat on the wooden chair near the winged demon, and spoke while glancing at the nearby glass.
"A glass of Imperial Wine, please."
His words caused the winged demon to frown a bit.
'Oh? He finally reacted.'
"What do you want, young demon?"
As the succubus demon lady poured another glass of imperial wine, Charles turned his face towards the winged demon and spoke calmly.
"Sealed Coffin."
"Sealed Coffin?" Azgan gave a puzzled look at the young demon and shook his head.
"I don't even understand what you are talking about."
Instead of getting disappointed, Charles took the glass of wine from the table, took a sip, and added.
"Then, do you know anything about a chained tree made of bones and flesh?"
Just as he spoke, a powerful invisible force made of wisdom power came from the winged demon and enveloped the whole pub. His action alerted all the demons staying in the pub, but everyone soon relaxed as they noticed the origin of the invisible power.
At the same time, the wine glass in Azgan's hand broke into multiple pieces, spattering the imperial wine on the table.
Upon noticing the emotional fluctuation in Azgan's eyes, the pub lady cleared her throat and suggested.
"If you want to talk something private, use the VIP room in the backside." Saying so, she pointed her finger at the left side door.
Meanwhile, Azgan gave a cold look at Charles for a moment and stood up from his seat. Before long, he turned around, walked towards the left side door, and entered.
Charles also followed him without saying a word.
When Charles entered the room, the wooden door shut and locked from inside.
"Are you the irregular?" Azgan went straight to the point. In truth, the one in his position during the last two days was his clone. So, he didn't know anything about Charles's previous encounter with him and was considerably startled by his swords.
'I know that the irregular was searching for me all this time. But I didn't expect him to find me so soon.'
Instead of responding, Charles walked towards the round table placed at the center and sat on a wooden chair.
Then, he touched his face and changed his appearance into a human.
On the other hand, Azgan was frozen stiff for a moment and couldn't hide his shock any longer.
'A Human? I heard that some of the High-Human bloodline warlocks could change shapes like shapeshifters and even have the power to perceive the future. Hmm, no wonder he finds me sooner.'
"Are you a High Human?" A hint of deep interest shone within his eyes.
Charles nodded and conjured a small ball of eerie blackish flame, letting it dance on his palm.
'What is this flame? Why is it so familiar? It is almost similar to the flame of Nyxen's.' His black pupil shrank for a moment before returning to normal.
'A Fire Mage and also a High Human Bloodline Warlock... So, he is walking on the path of the Class Gem pathway, huh? A Dual Class Mystic. But why is he revealing too much information about him?'
"Aren't you showing your weakness too easily? If I say a word about you, not only the demons in this pub, every demon in this Stronghold will chase after you and capture you." His cold voice echoed through the room.
A chuckle escaped out of Charles's mouth.
"I read a folk story about the war that took place in this layer long ago. Legends say that a black sun appeared out of nowhere in the chaotic sky and annihilated every living being in this layer. Have you heard of it?"
"Of Course. I've." In truth, Azgan was one of the survivors of that great disaster, which still instilled a great fear in his eyes.
"But what does it have to do with the current situation?"
A cunning smile appeared on his face.
"This black flame can grow as strong as that black sun as long as I allow it to devour the negative energy hidden all over this place."
"Humph, do you think you are as powerful as that Devil Crow?" Azgan snickered.
"Of course not. But I'm not weak enough to get killed by a mere crow."
Before Azgan could refute, Charles leaned on the chair and added.
"Moreover, if I'm afraid to even show my true face to my future partner, I'm not worth enough to work with you." Charles paused for a moment and asked.
"So, you have some connection to the Bone Tree, right?"
"How do you know?" Azgan asked while not revealing any emotions like before.
'He is the irregular I sensed a few days before. But how much does he know about our plan?'
Charles also kept his face poker and revealed his intention.
"I not only know about the Bone Tree, but I also know about the mages of the Ambers from the Human Stronghold."
'What?! My relationship with the Human leader is a secret only known to a selected few people! How did he find out about this?'
"What is your aim?" He asked warily.
"I'm after the Devil Crow's 'Oath' spell." Charles didn't hide anything at all and answered truthfully.
"Are you serious? Do you think that damned Crow will give away its inheritance easily? Even if we managed to capture it, it would only commit a suicide attack." Azgan refuted.
'I know you will say that. Do I have to rely on the power of bullshitting?' Charles took a deep breath and spoke again.
"What if I plan to lure it away from its nest and even seal it?"
A deep silence descended to the VIP room.
But instead of asking for further information, Azgan took a deep breath and asked another question.
"What do you want in return?" He knew there was no free lunch and asked him honestly.
"Nothing much. I want your help to explore a ruined place located 200 km away from the Human Fortress."
"200 km away from the Human Fortress? Isn't it the location of the base of Devil Crow?" Azgan furrowed.
"No. I'm planning on exploring a ruined underground temple located north of the Human Settlement. Meanwhile, the base of Devil Crow is located far south."
Azgan pondered for a moment before taking out a metallic badge with the symbol of a vertical eye from his pouch and tossing it to him.
Charles caught the eye badge with his right hand and instantly sensed an invisible power around it.
'Divine power... Strangely, I feel a sense of familiarity. The eye symbol also gives me an eerie feeling... Hmm, I sense the power of wealth, fate... and Love. Don't tell me-?!" His gaze sharpened as he zeroed his attention on the eye symbol.
Simultaneously, he recalled the Amber Church.
'Sasha... So, her follower is an ally of this demon? But Amber Church hasn't reached this layer yet, right?' At that moment, another name popped up in his mind.
'Holem!' Although he was pretty much annoyed to work with his enemy's servant, he decided to use them first and take care of everything later.
While he was in deep thought, Azgan spoke.
"Please put your spiritual imprint in it. A dragon friend of mine gave this a high-ranking Oath Token of a Divine. This strange token has the power to evade your fate once and even give you a small amount of wealth whenever you need it. As long as you show it to the leader of the Human Settlement, he will try his best to fulfill your wishes. But you better be careful not to betray us. Otherwise, you will face heavy consequences."
'Tsk, the consequence is a love curse and a powerful one.' But Charles didn't have any plan of betraying them at all.
'Also, I can let Shadow Princess erase my spiritual imprint when using the rebirth Domain spell and completely escape being found out. In truth, whenever someone dies, their spiritual imprint becomes weakened to an unimaginable level. As long as a Rank-1 or Rank-2 uses their spiritual power, they can erase his spiritual imprint easily.' With that thought in mind, he made a spiritual imprint on the oath token before Azgan's eyes and put it in his pocket.
"I give you two important information about the Devil Crow. First, it has an egg, which might be its only weakness. Second, the one I asked you at first, the Sealed Coffin. From what I've been researching, that coffin might be a big help to seal the Devil Crow."
His words made the winged demon fall into deep silence.
'Egg? Does Devil Crow lay eggs? But I haven't heard of such news from anyone. Even our Lord doesn't know this! Maybe it's a key to its resurrection? Also, sealed coffin, huh?'
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