The devil bow and cane laid on the desk and I sat on the comfy boar skin chair. My hands ran through the surface of the devil bow, its purple gleam reflecting in my eyes.
"What did you mean when you said this weapon accepted me? Does it have the option to reject?" I asked and Hugo nodded without hesitation.
He reached for the weapon and its glow dimmed as his hand got closer. As soon as he gripped it, the violet glow and the devil bird's presence vanished completely, making it seem like a normal bow.
"Weapons made out of the cores of magic beasts and monsters carry their will. If rejected the weapon does two things; it overpowers and possesses the user if it can or it shuts the user out completely if it can't overpower the host." Hugo explained and my eyes widened in realization.
Basically, if rejected the weapon possesses you. However, if that fails, it shuts the user out and becomes no different from a normal weapon.
"I see." I muttered with a nod.
Hugo withdrew his hand and I reached for the devil bow—As expected, its violent glow returned and burned brighter when I gripped it.
"You were lucky the black devil you fought was a teenager, not as strong as an adult black devil or you would have never been able to harm it." Hugo said, leaving me momentarily stunned.
"You mean, that thing wasn't the real black devil?" I found it hard to believe.
"It is still a black devil. Just not as strong as an adult black devil." Hugo chuckled and nodded.
"I see…" I mumbled and lowered my gaze.
It made sense, that black devil wasn't the real thing. We could barely harm weakened nefarian stalkers back at the academy. It didn't make sense that we were able to harm another feral tier monster at full strength with our low cultivation base.
"The barrier… I heard it got sabotaged. Did you find those behind it?"
I decided to use this opportunity and learn about Castle Black's situation. Hugo's smile faded as soon as he heard my question but I didn't feel any hostility from him.
"They were executed last night." He shrugged like it was a normal occurrence.
"Ooh." I mumbled plainly with a blank expression but my brain raced back to our arrival.
The cave where the teleportation protection was set up was right after the execution grounds. On our way in, there was fresh blood on those grounds like it had been used recently.
Was it used to execute traitors too?
"What can a Knoll give a human that would make him betray his own people?" I asked, the words came out slowly.
I noticed a reaction from Hugo, a slight tremble of excitement or fear, I couldn't tell for sure.
"We will never know since they never succeeded." Hugo shrugged it off and played it cool.
Nodding to his words, I didn't try to push the topic further.
"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked.
"You are not going to ask what will happen to your friends?" Hugo asked with a raised eyebrow and I casually shook my head.
Showing any sort of allegiance or attachment may end up putting me in danger. To get through this safely and find out the truth, I needed to play the role of a young boy from a peasant background looking up to a senior.
"Believe it or not, I have personal reasons to hate the prince and his girlfriend. As for Klien…" I held up the walking stick and pulled down my sleeves to show the scar. "This would have been avoided if he stuck to the plan but I was abandoned and paid the price."
Hugo smiled and nodded.
"I understand." His response was simple.
Hugo reached underneath his desk and pulled out a big black tome and slid it over to my side of the table.
"What you have there is a more comprehensive form of the monstoliogy textbook you read in the academy." Hugo explained while I unbuckled the tome and flipped it open.
Flipping through the pages I was stunned to see more detailed illustrations of monsters, with their nature, habitat, strengths and weaknesses.
"Our first expedition beyond Castle Black will take place in three days." Hugo pulled out a folded nap underneath a nearly ranged pile of books on his desk and slid it over to me.
With great reluctance, I pushed the tome aside and took the map from him. Once unfurled, my eyes dilated with shock seeing a part of the empire I have never seen before.
"The Thorned Peaks was originally an independent empire which fought many wars against the Gyro empire. We would have remained enemies with Gyro if we weren't wiped out by the Knolls." Hugo chuckled with a strange look in his eyes.
I could see the murderous intent in his eyes but I couldn't feel a speck of negative emotions from this man. My eyes narrowed in confusion, wondering if my abilities were glitching.
Why can't I sense a thing from this man?
Not even his magic or presence?
"This expedition is to take back the… Thorned Peak territories." I asked and he nodded. "I understand… I will study this and prepare for the expedition."
Saying that, I rose to my feet and began folding the map. I could feel Hugo's gaze on me but I remained silent.
"If you perform well in the expedition, I will grant you access to my library and you can get to know more about Thorned Peak Empire."
Hugo's words made me freeze. I raised my face to meet his gaze only to meet the same strange look in his eyes. I wasn't familiar with this expression or what it meant but it made my skin crawl.
Allowing a small smile to play on my lips, I offered a small bow before responding.
"Thank you, my Lord. I'll try my best to live up to your expectations!" I responded and he just nodded.
Once I was done packing the book and the map, I walked towards the door but as soon as I grabbed the door knob Hugo spoke again.
"I have high hopes in you. Don't disappoint me."
My expression twisted into an ugly frown so I made sure to not turn around. Without hesitation, I unlocked the door and walked out of the room, no daring to spend another second with this crazy man.
'There is definitely something wrong with this man!' I gasped