Chương 178: Red-Haired Mage

Liora and Lau'fi both hid underneath the large palm trees, not daring to move a muscle. The oasis was in complete uproar as guards were yelling and searching around the place. It had been just Liora alone; then she wouldn't be so worried. There were other birds in the oasis. Finches and canaries were whistling their songs in the trees, while herons and ducks were hanging out by the water.

Yes, a magpie wasn't exactly a songbird or a waterfowl, but she figured that the humans, while regarding her presence as strange, would likely give her a pass. Lau'fi was a different story. This antkin clearly would get killed should she be discovered. In hindsight, it likely would have been better to hide Lau'fi somewhere first before coming here, but it wasn't like deserts had many hiding spots.

"I… I need to get to the ground," Lau'fi whispered.

"Then I could burrow to safety." Peeking out from beyond the leaf, Liora saw that there were soldiers all over the garden. They were literally everywhere, dressed in Middle Eastern-like armor, with almost a skirt-like fabric at the bottom and a turban-like helmet with more fabric to protect the soldiers from the sun. Odd, how despite this being a different world, the desert people still had developed a similar style of dress. Maybe this was just what worked the best in a desert-like environment.

In either case, they needed to get Lau'fi out of here. It was too dangerous for her with all the soldiers running about. Stupid barrier. I should have been more careful. If I had approached more slowly, I likely would have noticed the magic that kept the barrier going. But since Liora had been flying so high and then descended so quickly, she failed to notice this rather obvious obstacle. The scout mission was a dud.

"Have you found anything?" One of the guards called.

"No, captain!"

"Keep searching. Expand the search to the inside of the castle. If this was a mage, then they may have already sneaked inside using their vile arts. Do not let them get away with it!" The guard captain yelled, and some of the guards hurried inside. Good. This meant fewer people were likely to notice them here. But Liora still had to create some sort of a distraction. But first, it was crucial to get away from Lau'fi.

"Stay here and wait. I'm going to create a distraction so you can safely burrow underground," Liora whispered to Lau'fi. The antkin nodded. Liora emerged from underneath the palm leaf and swiftly flew to another tree, doing her best to keep to the shadows. Thankfully, she was very fast, and the humans didn't notice her. She did this several times until she was a good distance away from Lau'fi. Which voice do I use?

While these people finding somebody by voice seemed a rather far stretch, Liora still didn't want to incriminate Serena, whose voice she was using most of the time. Instead, wouldn't it be best to use the voice of a real bad guy? Liora knew exactly whose voice to use.

"You're so pathetic that you can't even catch one mage. HAHAHA!" Liora mimicked Lucien's voice, and then hurriedly flitted away to a different tree.

"There's someone here!" The soldiers reacted instantly, surrounding the tree and looking for the supposed human intruder. Lau'fi didn't waste any time. She scurried down the tree at lightning speed. Ants were no slouches when it came to running on vertical surfaces. As it turned out, they were no slouches when it came to digging either. Lau'fi had disappeared into the ground in less than a minute. What were the actual digger ants like then? Lau'fi was just a scout.

"That mage is toying with us! Find him at any cost," the captain yelled in rage, his face turning red. Liora just sat comfortably in the tree, completely unnoticed. She would let them cool down a little, then escape herself. Although… If they didn't even notice her, then perhaps she could take a peek around the castle. But after they settled down. For the time being, Liora withdrew a few nuts from her Inventory and snacked on them while watching the show.

A few other birds flocked to her, attracted by food, and she didn't mind sharing. After all, a flock of the regular oasis bird gathering in one spot meant that guards were unlikely to care about that spot. The hubbub continued for several hours until it finally began to calm. The guards were still on high alert, but there were fewer of them running around, and they appeared less frantic. A man came escorted by four such guards.

It was clear that this guy stood high on the societal ladder as he was dressed in lavish clothes. They were difficult to describe, but he looked like a desert prince from a romance novel. Baggy white pants, elaborate sandals, and whatever the hell that blue and gold shirt was that was most definitely a shawl. It barely covered anything. The most surprising detail, however, wasn't his clothes, but rather his physique. Everyone so far in this country had tan skin, as one would expect from people living in the desert.

But this guy was pale as a sheet, and he had short, red hair. There was also a familiar smugness on his face that irritated Liora for some reason.

"Don't worry. I'll renew the barrier," the red-haired man said, looking far too relaxed.

"You must continue the search afterward. We definitely heard a man speaking in this very garden," the guard captain pleaded. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I already told you. There are no human intruders in the oasis," he said, and his gaze went straight to where Liora was. No way! Did he actually know she was here? But the man looked away a moment later, instead raising his hand. Magic flowed around his palm, glowing with brilliant yellow light. Wait… Wasn't this bad? Liora previously broke the barrier because she was basically a flying ballistic missile with how fast she was going. She could never reach those speeds from the ground.

She had to get out of here before the barrier was finished. Liora activated Decoy Fade, leaving her decoy image in the tree, and shot up to the sky as quickly as she could. But before she could escape, she felt her whole body freeze mid-flight. What was going on? Why couldn't she move? I'm falling! Like a rock, she fell towards the ground, but before she could hit it, she felt something tug on her body. A slight blue magical shimmer surrounded her body and dragged her to the red-haired man.

"And here's our culprit," he smiled down at Liora. The guards stared at Liora in shock, and she likewise stared at them, still in shock over what had happened. How did she get captured so easily? How did this guy know it was her?

"A bird?" The guard captain asked, confused.

"I've never seen one like this before," one of the other guards said.

"It's a magpie. These little ones usually don't live in the desert, yet one has somehow made its way here. Most peculiar, don't you think?" The man smiled, although the smile didn't reach his eyes. Liora tried to move, to fly away from here, but was unable to.

"So you're saying this bird did it? Is it a disguised mage? Or a birdkin?" The guard captain asked, reaching for his sword.

"No, it is without a doubt just a bird," the man said, patting Liora's head. The frozen effect disappeared, and Liora instantly tried to wave her wings to fly away.

"CAW, CAW, CAW!" She screeched as the man grasped her from the top, effectively holding her wings in place. Maybe I should turn into a dracoryx and just rip his face off? But then all the guards would attack her. Looking at their levels, she saw that they were all over Level 50 and armed to the teeth. Some of the guards standing more in the back were equipped with crossbows. Liora didn't want to get shot by one of those. Besides, she wasn't exactly keen to kill innocent people.

They were unlikely to be connected to the Order of the Night King, except maybe a red-haired man. What was his story? He clearly wasn't a citizen of this country.

"A bird that broke through the barrier? So it must be dangerous!" The guard captain said, withdrawing his sword.

"Let's kill it!" To Liora's surprise, the red-haired man pulled Liora protectively towards himself, out of the captain's reach.

"There, there, let's not get hasty. This could be counted as negligence on my part."

"What do you mean?"

"The barrier was set up to protect the oasis against humans and beastkin. But since there were birds inside, I deliberately made it so it wouldn't hurt any birds that came into contact with it. This one must have flown at quite the speed and shattered it. Did you know that a strike from a fast-flying bird, even of this size, could be deadly to a human if aimed right? This little magpie must have struck a weak point in the barrier." Liora was growing more confused by the second. Why was he trying to defend her?

Was he one of the Night Order goons after all, eager to take her to their headquarters and take his revenge? Those assholes seemed to be everywhere!

"So… What do we do with it?" The guard captain asked.

"Nothing, really. I'll take it inside, give it some water and food, and let it go once it rests a little," the red-haired man shrugged. The captain narrowed his eyes.

"Are you sure this bird—""It's absolutely harmless. I can vouch for that." The red-haired man held Liora with one hand and then raised the other high up. A moment later, a shimmering barrier appeared, which meant that Liora's escape path had been cut off.

"CAW! CAW!" She protested, trying to wriggle free.

"There, there, it'll be alright!" The red-haired man soothed and hurried inside, guards looking after him suspiciously. Liora was trying to break free the whole time, cawing loudly, but the man just smiled and headed deeper inside the castle. It appeared they were heading upstairs, and Liora didn't fail to notice that there were a few precious valuables displayed in the hallway. Eventually, they reached an ornate door on the third floor which was guarded by two bulky men.

They acknowledged the red-haired man with a brisk nod and opened the door for him. Inside, the room could be described as Renir's wet dream. Tomes, scrolls, potions, ancient books, and weird magical ingredients were stacked on the shelves by the walls. There were several workstations, one of which was definitely meant for making potions, as it had a large cauldron in the middle of it. The purpose of others wasn't instantly clear to Liora, but it was most definitely related to magic.

There were even books floating about the room as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Now that we are in a more private space, why don't you explain what you are doing here, Liora?" The man said, setting her down on the table. Liora would have darted away. The window was open after all. But a closer look revealed that the whole room had a shimmering barrier surrounding it. The room was warded, meaning that Liora couldn't get out.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Liora growled, adopting a deep, manly voice to intimidate him. She considered turning into her dracoryx form and shredding him to pieces, but the label above his head held her back. [Mage — Level 153] Why was his level so damned high?! She didn't even know that levels could go above a hundred. It was clear that if she were to fight him, Liora would be turned into roast magpie. If it was possible, she had to get out of this situation without a fight.

That meant that he had to keep talking. The red-haired man laughed.

"How could I not know? I might be living in another country, but I still follow the news from my home country. And it's hard to miss news about a magpie who has saved so many people that a whole religion has been created to worship her."

"A religion?" Liora blinked, automatically reverting to Serena's voice. It didn't take long for her to conclude that while she was busy helping the merfolk and traveling through the desert dungeon, Dr. Reius was equally busy growing his cult. Liora clicked her tongue.

"That damned lunatic…"

"So you are aware of it! Wow, I have to say I am amazed! I knew you were intelligent, but this is beyond what I imagined." The man leaned in close, far too close. His nose was nearly touching her beak, and he was grinning widely, his grey eyes shimmering with curiosity.

"Do tell me how that came to be? Did your intelligence develop as you evolved, or were you always this smart?"

"I'm not telling you anything! You didn't even answer my question," Liora puffed out her feathers and wondered whether it would be alright to peck his face.

"Sorry, sorry! I got so excited, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Aenir, and I'm Renir's older brother. I believe you two are rather close," he straightened and smiled. Liora stared at the man in disbelief. Renir's… older brother? No wonder that confident smirk seemed familiar!