Fire Mage (Web Novel)
chapter-265

Chapter 265: Dream Descent

Before the other party could say something, Charles changed his face into a serious one, gave one deep look at Oswald, and spoke in the same old man's voice.

"You are late."

He spoke as if everything was under his control!

At that moment, a frown appeared on Oswald's face.

'His appearance looks similar to mine… Charles? Or, someone else?'

He stood up from his seat, stared deeply into Charles's eyes for a second, and asked.

"Can I talk to you for a minute in private?"

As if he was expected such a question, Charles nodded his head, turned around, and started walking towards one of the guest rooms.

Meanwhile, Oswald and Rachel glanced at each other and followed after him, leaving Natalia and his disciples in a clueless state.

Once they walked near the wooden door, Charles unlocked it using his [Sleight of Mystery Hand] skill and entered.

On the other hand, Oswald and Rachel also followed his footsteps, entered the room, and locked the door from inside.

"Who are you?" Oswald asked as he stared at Charles's back.

Upon hearing that question, a chuckle came out of Charles's mouth.

'All that left is acting.' Nodding inwardly, he turned around and sighed.

"You took more than 3 long years." A trace of disappointment appeared on his face.

"What do you mean?" The frown on Oswald's face deepened.

"You must have met Lady Rachel more than three years ago, Mr. Oswald. But for some odd reasons, you purposefully choose to delay meeting Charles and even stopped searching about your grandson. Didn't she tell you more about Red Prince's scheme?" Charles asked while pointing his finger at the Lightning Mage Rachel.

At that moment, Oswald's eyes squinted all of a sudden.

"You are not Charles?" He asked in confusion.

Meanwhile, Charles shook his head and responded with a smile.

"I've many names and I belong to the Era of Ancients."

Upon hearing those words, Oswald's expression turned serious.

"Era of Ancient… An era before the rise of the First Arcane Era…" He stared at his imposter for a moment and asked.

"What connection do you have with my grandson? Are you the Holem's Crown?"

A strange smile appeared on the old man's wrinkled face.

"You can call me whatever you want." He said in a mysterious tone.

He neither denied it nor approved his words.

"Did you predict our arrival?" This time, it was Rachel who asked this question.

Earlier, they indeed heard about his mysterious prediction ability from Destiny Lady and had long been suspicious of his identity.

The real Oswald thought of him as Charles was mainly because of his accurate prediction about Charles's appearance in this city.

Later, Destiny Lady also confirmed that Charles and Oswald were two different people.

While the two were staring at him in confusion, Charles nodded his head and spoke.

"You are still chasing after Red Prince. The reason you two came here must be to get more information about him, am I right?"

Rachel's eyes widened.

In truth, it wasn't difficult to guess their motive.

'For Oswald, it's more like revenge. He would go on any length to kill the Red Prince, meanwhile, Rachel is chasing after him to eliminate the shame. But why Oswald didn't even think of meeting his grandson is still a mystery to me.' Charles organized his thoughts in a few moments and asked.

"You don't love your grandson, do you?"

A strange silence appeared in the room.

After a few seconds of silence, Oswald let out a deep sigh and asked.

"Why do you care?"

"Charles is more like my first disciple, kiddo. Currently, he is blinded by rage, hatred, and revenge. If you had come here earlier and showed him a little care, things would have gone smoothly." Charles said in regret.

"Can we meet him?" Oswald raised his eyebrows and asked.

Charles stared at the old man for a second, shook his head, and then added.

"I'm not sure if he is willing to meet you guys. But I can give little information about Red Prince."

"What's the price?" Rachel asked.

On the other hand, Charles shifted his gaze towards Oswald and asked.

"Tell me the reason why you didn't even try to look for him."

Upon hearing those words, Oswald took a deep breath and spoke.

"It's not that I don't want to meet him. But I don't have the courage to face his questions. After Harry Nightwind's death, I helped my daughter to get away from the Nightwind family and even told her to go far away to live a normal life. After that, I never even tried to contact her in fear of the Nightwind Family finding out about her whereabouts."

"Unfortunately, all of your attempts went futile, huh." Charles didn't feel pity or angry towards Oswald.

He had long learned about Nightwind Family's real strength and felt that his actions were reasonable.

"But why are you afraid of Nightwind Family? Are they that strong?" This time, Rachel interjected their conversation and asked.

A bitter smile appeared on Oswald's face.

"That family has one Pseudo Legendary Mystic and seven Rank-4 Mystics. Moreover, they also own a separate Magic Tower in the Ember Kingdom."

At that moment, Charles suddenly cast [Arcane Eyes] skill, scanned his body, and soon furrowed his brows.

'He is still hiding something. His excuse for not searching for his grandson looks good. But there seems to be something more to it. He also has a deep wound in his abdomen region… Hmm, the wound hasn't healed yet and there is a trace of unique power…'

At that moment, the Holem's Crown also sensed something and spoke.

'I feel the power of 'Dream' over his abdomen area.'

'Dream?' He stared deeply into the area for a few seconds and soon asked out loud.

"Dream Curse? No, Nightmare Curse?"

Upon hearing his words, Oswald's eyes went wide.

"H-How did you find out?" He asked in shock.

On the other hand, the Holem's Crown started to speak in his mind.

'Hmm, I feel a little bit familiar with this curse, lad. If I'm not wrong, this curse must be caused by an artifact called 'Dream Cube.' It's a 'Legendary' level artifact created by seven ancient mages of City of Miracles and has multiple dream abilities. Eddie Nightwind spends thousands of arcane points to buy this artifact during an auction. The curse that appeared on Oswald's body must be due to an ability called 'Dream Descent.' Once you cast this ability on a particular person, his whole family would be affected by this curse and would enter into a deep slumber state… Oswald fears that you might also get affected by this curse. That must be the reason he is not willing to meet you.'

'Nightwind family is forcing Oswald to refrain from helping me?' He suddenly felt a deep loath towards that damned family.

Not only they killed Eve; they even went to such lengths to stop Oswald from helping him!

'Is it Red Prince's doing?' He shook his head and spoke.

"Let's not talk about this. As for information about Red Prince, I will give you some. First, he is a powerful Devil from Hell Plane and most probably from the first layer. Second, he uses two types of flames. One is the purple flame that could allow him to burn and tamper with one's memories. The other one is hell flame and it can turn one's inner emotions into wicked ones. Third, he is good at using fate power and also a Rank-4 [Fate Warden] Class Mystic. Fourth, he must have some deep ties with Nightwind Family. Fifth, he has a strange book called 'Destiny Guide.' If I'm not wrong, this one could allow him to bypass high-level Mystics' senses and helps him find the targets, change their fates, and so on. Sixth, Charles cast a 'Life Curse' spell on him using his own lifespan and put him in a weakened state. Unfortunately, it won't be long before Red Prince returns to his peak condition…"

As Charles spoke, both Oswald and Rachel listened to his words attentively and memorized everything in their minds.

By the time Charles finished his words, both were beyond shocked by the information.

'Red Prince is powerful.' A look of realization appeared on Oswald's face.