Humans really had enormous imagination inside their heads. With just a simple gesture, they could conclude what was happening at the present and what would occur in the future. It was the same for Panto right at the moment. Inside the boy's head, he imagined so much thing until he suddenly
had an epiphany. From the moment Baston decided to sell the ice bead and joined the auction, everything had been calculated.
Panto wanted to ask, yet he felt the fat boy wouldn't tell him easily. He was agitated to hold this information for himself, so he had an idea that as soon as he reached the academy, the boy would look for Alicia.
Despite the difference of status, there was an urgency inside his heart. The noble girl was smart and clever, so she might have one or two clues regarding Baston's plan. While he was pondering hard, he and Baston went back together by the same carriage as before.
Both of Baston and Panto enjoyed their trips back, but it was different for Claire and Teres. Their hearts were heavy along the trips.
Supposedly, their status would guarantee that everywhere they went, they would be welcomed with the best treatment. It was good until they met with Joker. Having to see such abominable curse in front of their eyes, they felt fear once again. They believed even with their strong magic; they couldn't disperse such a curse easily. Because of this, they reported truthfully to the council in
order for them to take an action. As for how the old men and women took the news, they couldn't predict it.
Both of them were anxious about who else they could talk this to, but out of nowhere, there was an invitation from the great wizard
Angus regarding the clown. The message was delivered secretly to the two of them, so no one else knew about it. Right at the moment, the three of them gathered at a small house at the outskirt. It might look like a simple house, but they knew Angus would never invite them in a hurry like this in such an ordinary one.
Once they stepped into the perimeter, they could feel their presences were already locked by Angus. In this small house, Angus had already circled it with his domain. Anything moved under the domain would be detected by him easily, even though he didn't see it firsthand. Claire and Teres knocked
the door and it slowly opened by itself, welcoming them to enter. Angus had already taken a seat while there were 2 empty chairs across him.
"Welcome…" Angus smiled, "Please take a seat."
"Thank you, great wizard Angus," both Claire and Teres replied together.
"Don't call me great wizard," Angus waved it down, "You're also the same as me."
"We don't dare," Teres bowed down, "You're already have the higher seniority among the wizards while both of us are just younglings."
"Yes, your strength is much more than us. You're already about to have a breakthrough while we are only at the beginning," Claire added.
"Alright, you can call me whatever you want. I call you here because I want to ask you personally regarding the clown. I had met this kind of person before, so I want to know why he suddenly appeared at the auction
venue."
Claire and Teres began telling the story from before. It started when the auction for the ice bead was at the turmoil before the man with the face of clown suddenly appeared from nowhere. The alarm didn't give its alert and the security personnel didn't see him. If even the magic couldn't track this person, either he had ingenious way or he was simply too stronger. Both of them believed the clown was stronger in the end.
At that time, Joker threatened everyone playfully, just like a lunatic man. From then on, the initiative was in his hands. When he played the game of question and answer with one of guests, the bald man was cursed terrifyingly since he was lying while Joker told the truth. The first victim made people
terrified of death. The second one would occur if the clown didn't leave the place in the time.
"I say, this fat boy was very lucky. He just passed his death nearly by a few seconds. If not because Joker had another thing to do, he would join the bald man in the afterlife," Teres explained.
"He was indeed lucky…" Claire nodded, "He was the only survivor of this curse. What makes me interested is that he answered the clown with half-truth statement, not completely the honest one like Joker. I saw him grabbing his head painfully before he lost his consciousness. When I check his
identity, he's actually the one who sold the ice bead."
Claire continued seriously, "What I found is quite unbelievable. This fat boy named Baston just sold the gift handed to him from
Zeverius Academy. I looked through his student record that he supposedly has an
ice element on him, yet he still decided to sell it even though it can benefit him much."
"Hmmm… No wonder you insist to buy it. Not only you can get the ice bead, you can also have an opportunity for getting to know him."
"I will be sure to repay this grudge when there's another auction for you," Claire smiled terrifyingly.
"Hah, bring it on! Our family won't get scared by this threat!"
Unknowingly, they began to scold each other. The forgotten dispute from before suddenly occurred in this place. Too bad that Angus didn't notice it because he had been shocked silly by what Claire told him. He never thought he would hear something about the fat boy again. When he was thinking deeply, it began connecting the dot and slowly, it appeared to make sense.
Angus was an experienced old man, so he quickly grasped what idea that Baston thought about. Just his first action of getting the ice bead to be auctioned, it was quite suspicious. It didn't matter if he had other
element except the ice, but he still did it even though the ice bead could benefit him much than a stack of money. The old man knew Baston would prioritize more about his revenge, so one thing he could be sure that the fat boy already knew beforehand about the matter of Joker.
Baston then joined the auction while laying down and waiting for the clown. What unexpected was there were Claire and Teres that made a commotion there. It was just a deviation from his formulated plan, but all in
all, it seemed the bait was successful. Joker appeared at the auction and grabbed the ice bead easily. Even there were 2 great wizards at the site, both of them couldn't do nothing. Angus didn't blame Claire and Teres since Baston already said the clown was very dangerous, so it was better for him to hunt
alone. The thing that made a confusion was what the pattern of Joker's curse.
He knew before from Alicia that the clown asked 3 questions to Baston and he answered simply with no damage. The bald man at the auction also answered the question, but Joker knew it was a lie so the curse quickly occurred, gnawing his life at the fastest time ever. Before everyone could react, he was already gone without even leaving a corpse. The fat boy should know how Joker played the game, but Baston answered it half-truth, enacting the less curse on himself. Based on the information, he should fall unconscious while Joker then
left the place without trace.
"Why he took a risk when he answered the question?" Angus pondered, "Did Baston forget it? No, it shouldn't be… He must know how to handle the clown, but I guess there should be a purpose on doing it. The reason
why he didn't answer it truthfully…"
There were still many unanswered questions, so he then excused himself from Claire and Teres. The magic house before slowly disappeared out of thin air. Claire and Teres were only flabbergasted before they got back to their family. It seemed Angus was also in a hurry, so they didn't dare to hinder him. Still, they were curious if the old man had already found a clue or not.
On the other hand, Angus quickly flew to Zeverius Academy. With the help of his wind magic, he could get there as soon as possible, unlike riding a magic carriage for a couple of days. When he reached his destination, he called for Principal Zener to meet secretly. Because both of them came from the same generation, they didn't need to pick their manners gracefully. Just
treating it like meeting with the old friend without any pleasantries.
"You want to ask about a fat boy named Baston?" Principal Zener was surprised, "Do you also know him?"
"My niece is studying at the same academy as him," Angus simply replied.
"So, it's like that… I remember he made a commotion when he showed such a high score when he got assessed by our staffs. I wanted to poach him, yet he still chose Prius Academy. At that time, I gifted him an ice bead as a present because I still wished he could consider us. I also gave him my
intention when I told Baston about a certain noble family that seek ice element wizard like him."
When the principal told the exact information he wanted to know, Angus was shocked. He never realized Baston was very meticulous. Judging of what Principal Zener said, the fat boy should know about Versance family from the old man. The principal warned him in order to grasp his weakness, telling him so that he could consider Zeverius Academy in order to avoid the future trouble. If Versance family wanted to hold him dearly, Prius Academy might not be able to protect him. Only the prestigious academy like Zeverius
had a capital to confront them directly.
For Angus, it wasn't important because his focus was on Baston himself. There was a big possibility that Versance family wanted to get the ice bead too, so he made it to become the auction. In this way, he gathered
Joker and Versance at the venue. Moreover, everyone knew that Herbiens family wouldn't stay still if the Versance got what they wanted so they would be surely disturb their plan. By this time, Baston already made Joker clashed against the Versance and the Herbiens. These 2 families were very strong if they could deploy the experts from their own sides.
"This boy is quite cunning…"
Angus thought it was simply just a coincidence at the beginning, yet when he collected all the information from the involved people, he could see everyone was actually linked by him alone. For Angus, no sane person would actually sell the ice bead if the said person could benefit more from it. Rather than selling it, the old wizard also thought it was more advantageous to develop the ice magic further. No wonder he felt strange if Baston just sold it for money. Still, Angus just didn't know it was the truth,
yet he just imagined much different completely.
With this thinking, he already believed there was always a plan regarding the fat boy's action. Baston was very smart when implementing his plan, fooling most of surrounding people. Just with his poor status, he already got away from many attentions. Angus contemplated if there was anything he could help. Right at the moment, the most important thing to do was locating
the clown. If there was a news about Joker, everyone could then assist with each other. Going to capture him would be very hard because the curse was still a mystery for people. He only knew they must associate with the demon before they could handle such a curse.
Coming out from Zeverius Academy, Angus had new perception about Baston. This fat boy was getting smarter than him, almost fooling the old wizard. Still, he harrumphed because his experience could determine that something was fishy. He then walked ahead to somewhere, leaving a couple of
unanswered questions left to Baston if he had a chance to meet him on the way.