Q: Why did the leader of Dark Deer try to enthral Edward?

A: The leader of the cult wanted to augment her dark arts, and there couldn't be any better resource to do that than pure spiritual energy.

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"Is this really the leader of Dark Deer?" I asked, looking at the sketch on the desk.

The sweet fragrant scent of the warm tea drifted off to my nose, but even with my addiction to tea, my entire focus was on the picture. This doesn’t make sense. What in the world? I mused, knitting my brows.

Shailyn nodded, taking the sketch. "Rojar Iker, a warlock with a bounty of over 5000 dynes," she announced. "He had broken three laws of magic, from enslaving through mind magic, necromancy, to experimenting on innocents. He had 37 cases in his name and many unknown that we did not have records off."

I nodded, though my mind drifted off to other thoughts. The Dark Deer leader that appeared one year from here was actually someone else. It was actually a female who tried to enthral Edward, but in the end, got herself killed. Though the damage she did to Edward and others was devastating enough.

However, a year before that incident, the leader of such an infamous cult was someone else. I wondered what had happened before that, or to be exact, what would happen. The book did not explain the origin of the Dark Deer much, nor did it mention the identity of the female leader. Surely something must have happened in between the times, and possibly will happen in the next few days.

“Rojar Iker was like a rabid dog a couple of years back,” Shailyn quoted from the report. “Then he went missing, only to reappear a few months back on his madness of experimenting on innocents again. However, this time he’s not alone. He has a full crew with him this time around.”

Considering the knowledge I got from the novel, I understood some of their goals, but I stayed silent for my aunt and others to introduce them to me first.

Just then, the door of the room creaked open and came out a fair-skinned, tall man in his prime.

“You’re late, William,” Shailyn said, giving the newcomer a stern look.

“Well, I was on time, however, Mrs Sonina wouldn’t shut up about the yards getting destroyed,” William, the newcomer, replied with a smirk. “And how can I, her kind-hearted tenant, ignore it? I took the liberty fix as much as I could, however . . .” William gave us three flat looks. “The few individuals that demolished the yards did have some skill and experience in destroying gardens. Lady Shailyn, you wouldn’t have an insight into it, would you?”

Shailyn’s stern look broke into an uncomfortable laugh as she gestured for William to take his seat.

That was William, someone I had no recollection of from the book. Supposedly, he was a lesser talent, and became a sorcerer in his mid-twenties. I met him last night and during our short encounter; he disclosed his envy of my position more than once. There was no shortage of complaints from him about his poor status, either; like he could’ve been a magus already if his family had even a hundredth of my family’s wealth.

However, I did hear a good word or two from Shailyn about him. Other than his relentless complaints about being poor, he’s a pleasant company to have.

Noyar cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. "Other than the warlock, there are two unlawful warders with him that do not lose out to a knight." She introduced a couple more sketches. “We’re not sure if they possess any dominion, but the way dominions are regulated, it was unlikely they held one. There might be even a few more small fries with them. We cannot look down on them as a whole."

I nodded. Clearly, I knew the details about the crew. I knew what type of power they have as well as the number of people, but considering what I knew was something of the future, it might not even be useful for this situation. The crew actually has more people than the picture shown here. One year is a lot of time, after all, many things could go wrong.

This complicates my original mission altogether. I have to deal with a lot of crap before I can go on with my task, considering the objective of the Dark Deer was the same as I thought.

"So what are the objectives of this Dark Deer?" William asked. "And what's up with the awful naming sense?"

I have to agree with William on this. Even though Dark Deer has some connection with the group, this name was horrible. It does have a spooky vibe, but sounded far weirder in my ears. I guess I have to blame the author for his poor naming sense.

"We are not sure about the name," Noyar said, sipping on her aromatic tea. "As for the objective of the group, we only know they were looking for something in the mountains. A few warders appointed there have noticed their presence, and they even killed a couple of them."

"In the mountains, in such cold weather," William repeated, pondering hard. In the end, he only sighed, shivering. "The only thing I can come up with is that they are dumb. A high blizzard will hit tonight or tomorrow. In such weather, even using spirit force will be a challenge. What could they be searching in the mountains?"

Noyar glared at the young man, though she could not deny much of what he said. The blizzard on the starlight mountain range was so devastating that it even limits the usage of spirit force, not to mention the awful weather. People actually die there if they do not find a suitable shade.

"They are surely onto something," Shailyn said, knitting her brows at the sketch of the warlock. "Rojar Iker was more powerful than a regular adept mage with all his dark arts into play. Could he use some dark art to tap into the force of the blizzard?"

Noyar and William shuddered at that thought. While I denied it outright.

"No, that was not possible, he will die even attempting it," Shailyn denied her hypothesis, too. "Even a grand magus cannot do that without dying."

To tap into the natural force, you need to have a strong anchor, which in most cases the magus himself. Rojar Iker may be a master at dark arts, but he won’t be that suicidal. Wait, there was no Rojar Iker in the future, maybe? I shook my head, eliminating that thought. He would die even before inflicting anything on Victory or anywhere, there was no way he could try something this stupid.

I considered the situations for a moment and mused on how to open my mouth about the knowledge I was imparted with.

"Aunt," I called, as it would be the perfect situation to let out something I knew. "Do you know the legend of the Winterheart Reindeer?"

Shailyn arched her eyebrows, and it was not only her, even her partner had a frown on her brows. While William looked oblivious. Well, I could not blame him; mostly, people of the State of Victoria know about it. While our sorcerer is from Endus.

"Are you talking about the blessing of the Winterheart Reindeer?" Noyar asked. "Like only a fateful one gets the blessing of the reindeer after he or she went through a lot of hardship in the stormy blizzard to get a look at the Winterheart Reindeer? That's what on the children's playbook to let them teach that hardship never fails. Are you hypothesising with just a tale?"

William snickered out as if he had heard a good joke after a long time. Even if he didn’t let out, he certainly believes I’m the same foppish prince of the rumours.

My aunt dismissed his laughter by showing an arm before looking at me. "You can continue."

"Though the blessing of the Winterheart Reindeer might be false," I started slowly, sipping into the hot aromatic tea.

I did not need to mention again how much I like the drinks and foods of this world, but now I sipped in just to look more causal. Also, the blessing of Winterheart Reindeer is not false, however, I was not sure even my aunt would believe me if I hypothesised on a children’s book tale. That’s why I needed to go in a different direction.

"What if the warlock was hunting for the reindeer in an attempt to strengthen his dark arts? Winterheart Reindeer's blessing might just be a children's tale, but what if the reindeer can be used to catalyse some dark art?"

Shailyn said nothing, but her brows were knitted together.

"Are you seriously considering it?" Noyar asked her hesitantly. She was not scorning my hypothesis, but just asking, as she had little knowledge in this direction. "Would it really be possible?"

"Faith has power," I answered in place of my aunt. “I’m not particularly a religious person. Well, if I’ve to be truthful, I’m detached from theology, however, I do believe in Faith. A practitioner like us should know this, even if the subject is the stupidest thing in the world, but if enough people have faith in it, it can turn into reality."

"Exactly," Shailyn approved. "This is what I feared the most. Do you know what is said in the children's book? The blessed person became a magus instantly. Though it was outrageous, there was a possibility that it gave the potential to a person to become a magus or strengthen his talent."

"And if one uses the reindeer to channel dark art, it would surely be far more devastating," Noyar concluded.

"Yes," Shailyn nodded. "Though Rojar Iker is possibly trying to get more potential in his dark arts. Either way, it will be devastating eventually.

"William, send someone to the state library as well as what is left of the magic archive. I want everything related to Winterheart Reindeer and any possibilities it can be used in dark arts."

"Yes,“ William croaked, standing upright immediately. “I will do it right away."

"Make it quick. We have little time. We will have to leave for the mountains soon," Shailyn said and stood up as well. "I need to make a call to the academy to see if they have any information on this."

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