Bartlett used to hear a lot about mages when he chatted idly with others.
One story remained vivid in his memory. It was told by a drunken adventurer on a night illuminated by the flickering of a bonfire. In fact, Bartlett paid more attention to the adventurer's shadow than his actions. The shadow, distorted and transformed by the wavering firelight, seemed like it was performing a unique drama.
The story was recounted as though the adventurer had witnessed it first-hand. However, he had heard it from another adventurer, who heard it from a cook, who heard it from his wife, who heard it from a butcher named Lawson next door…
In essence, most stories are passed around like this until they become widely known. Oftentimes, it's hard to tell which parts are rumors and which parts are true. This story reached Bartlett's ears, lodged in his mind, and lay in wait, ready to seize control of another mind at the right opportunity…
The truth of the story was debatable, as were the embellishments that each storyteller might have added. After removing the absurd, outrageous, and fantastical elements, the core event was rather simple. But now, the story leapt to the forefront of Bartlett's mind.
The protagonist was a mage. The storyteller didn't dare to use the term "evil" like the author of the novel "Magic So Ordinary" did, but his expression and tone implicitly conveyed it.
In reality, the mage didn't commit any brutal or horrifying acts. He merely took away a farmer's young son without permission and returned the child unharmed a few days later, along with a generous compensation.
When the storyteller described the mage taking away the child, he made the most of painting the scene of the moonless, pitch-black night; the mage's face, intermittently illuminated by bolts of lightning; the mage's scarlet robes and ghastly bone wand; the terrifying three-headed monster lying next to the mage; the chilling wind and banshee-like screams that rose when the mage walked.
Based on Bartlett's understanding of mages, they wouldn't travel this way. They were powerful, but they never flaunted their power. The weak boasted, while the powerful merely smiled.
In the aftermath, even after the child was returned, people were still terrified. The farmer's son was a special child, naturally fluent in both Elvish and Dwarfish. However, after being taken and returned by the mage, the child's extraordinary language abilities disappeared. He became somewhat dull-witted and his eyes lost their initial sparkle, as though he'd become an entirely different person.
People speculated that the mage had been intrigued by the child's innate linguistic abilities and had taken the child's soul for research, leaving only a mindless shell behind.
...
Perhaps I am no different from that naturally multilingual child in the eyes of a mage, Bartlett thought suddenly.
Bartlett was not paranoid, and the incident might have started from a drunkard's ramblings after all. However, discussing such peculiar matters connected to oneself with a mage was always risky. After all, who could predict what a mage, like Old Will with his sparkling eyes, might do next?
"Do you know more?" Old Will asked, his voice tinged with excitement.
"No, nothing more," Bartlett answered expressionlessly.
"Just these two?"
"Just these two!" Bartlett affirmed confidently.
"Then, do you know what those two characters represent?" Old Will continued to ask curiously.
"If someone as wise as you don't know, it's even less likely that I would." Bartlett shook his head, "Actually, I was just asking casually because they keep appearing in my dreams, over and over again, and that made me feel a bit strange."
Bartlett scratched his head, sorting out his words, "My initial suspicion was that those two characters might be some evil thoughts injected into my mind by devils or other evil beings in the Bottomless Abyss, hence my concern. I wanted to consult you." He gave a plausible excuse. "However, judging from your expression, I guess those two strange symbols are probably not anything scary. Of course, they might not be some kind of writing or symbols at all, but some other chaotic nonsense. As you know, things that appear in dreams are always weird." He explained randomly.
Nothing piqued a mage's curiosity more, but Bartlett didn't want to delve further.
"You can be assured of this, I didn't feel any evil thoughts from those two characters, nor did I sense any polluted or corrupt aura on you." Old Will comforted with a smile, "However, your concerns are not unreasonable. There are too many unknown and evil entities in the Bottomless Abyss, some of which can corrupt and taint souls just by mentioning their names in thought. To those beings, souls are like Golden Fine Wine from Arbor Island in an alcoholic's eyes, utterly irresistible. Therefore, it truly calls for caution, they are capable of any mischief."
"You're right, every year we hear of incidents about individuals being lured into corruption by those evil species." Bartlett nodded, "You must've heard, a few years ago, a noble from Griffin Kingdom's capital city sacrificed his wife, children, along with relatives and servants, well over a hundred lives to the devil in the most brutal way." Bartlett said seriously, "It was said that the scene was gruesome, with blood, organs, limbs, and skulls arranged in some ghastly order throughout the room..." He didn't want to continue, "Although the mages had eliminated the trespassing devil and cleaned out the corrupted aura nearby, no one dares to live in that house or the surrounding area as of yet."
"Indeed, those devils have been peculiarly active and rampant over the past few centuries." Old Will also put on a serious face, "Similar incidents have been repeatedly reported around the world. From what I heard, they're even thinking of moving their nests out of the Bottomless Abyss, I wonder what they're thinking."
Move out? Where to? Bartlett didn't have much knowledge of the Multiverse. To common people like him, the Bottomless Abyss was a nesting ground for all sorts of bad guys. Now, if one of the bad guys wanted to move out, he wouldn't want it to come to this continent.
With the mages protecting this continent, they probably would not dare to enter. Bartlett felt somewhat relieved. At this moment, his fear and estrangement from mages turned into gratitude.
"Fellows, why don't we shift our focus back on our mission," the Half-Elven knocked on the table and suggested. "The Multiverse is too vast, even the mages from the Magic Empire Era didn't fully understand it, so any strange thing could happen. At least we know that those two symbols are not the devils' or demons' Profane Text, that's enough, isn't it? And as for the devils' moving, it has nothing to do with us. They could never break through the spatial barriers of our world."
"That's not necessarily true. If there were enough sacrifices on this continent to summon them…" Old Will said with a stern face, then he laughed off his own hypothesis, "That's impossible too. Even if all the humans were sacrificed, those devils wouldn't find it sufficient to relocate their entire Plane Realm."
"Even if that really happens, aren't you mages still around to protect us." The Half-Elven joked.
That's exactly what I was thinking, Bartlett concurred silently.
"Hey, that's not my business. I'm just an old, ordinary Wandering Mage. Protecting the continent is not my responsibility. Besides, I don't have that kind of power." Mage Will coughed deeply, as if to emphasize the point 'he couldn't protect the continent,' "Such matters should be considered by those high-ranked mages in the Magic Association." He pointed his finger upwards indicating towards the City in the Sky of the Magic Association, "As for me, I just work under them."
"Even as a Wandering Mage, you're still a mage who can wield magic, not like an ordinary human like me." Bartlett flattered thick-skinnedly.
Old Will chuckled, neither admitting nor denying it, "After we complete the mission, if you need, I can introduce you to Mage Alvin. He's an expert in history and scripts and also proficient in Profane Text of the Evil Species. If you still have any concerns, you can consult him. As for now, I agree with what Estelle said, we should discuss our mission."