The dragon's harem

Chapter 1894: Lilia The Archmagus

“Hey! Red Lady!” A voice called from the back, and both Lilia and the old wizard looked back, seeing a party of five people approaching them. A lightweight paladin was the leader, followed by a swordsman fighter, two rangers, and a young cleric lady who seemed too shy to get close.

The leader approached first, and then his eyes shifted to the elderly wizard. “I’m looking for a wizard to join the party for our next quest. We’re taking down a basilisk nest east of here and need someone good with barrier magic.”

The fighter leaned on the leader’s shoulder and smiled, “To block the petrifying gaze of courses. I believe it is a type of curse, right?”

The old wizard combed his long beard as he thought about it for a few seconds, “Sorry, young lad. But even though I can block that gaze with my magic, I’m already too old to move well. I cannot run, and the basilisks are fast and agile lizards.” He pointed at the paladin with his crooked finger.

“You’re wearing light armor, which means you prefer to dodge attacks more than block them. And the same could be said for your entire party.” The wizard shook his head, “If you’ve got no one to keep me safe while I maintain the barrier, then I can’t accompany you.”

Lilia looked at the old wizard with a smile. “That is the reason you wanted to learn my magic, right?” She was still floating in the air to stay at eyelevel with everyone, and it was just then when the party of young adventurers realized it.

Flight magic costs a lot of mana and is hard to maintain; no one would casually use it to float like this.

“Isn’t she wasting mana?” One of the rangers pointed, and the wizard shrugged. “I was just asking her about that. She is talented. I’ve heard that all halflings are good with magic, but I never believed it until today.”

The paladin shifted his gaze toward Lilia, “Then what about you? Would you join us instead?” He smiled. “If you’re that skilled, then it should be no problem for you to cast barriers, right?”

“I can cast barriers, and those basilisks are no problem at all.” She stopped spinning upside down and looked at the paladin. “But I won’t go with you. I’ve got more important matters to attend to, and even if I had time, I’d better spend it pondering magic.”

“Come on… it pays well. I’m sure you’ll find the money useful for spells or…” It was then that the guild’s door got kicked open, and an exhausted, worried Merlin could be seen panting there, her eyes burning with magic as she scanned the entire guild like a mad beast, and quickly fixed her gaze toward Lilia and the others.

“Ten meters away from that thing! Don’t look at her, don’t talk with her, and don’t even dare learn a spell for her if you value your lives!” Merlin growled as she approached them with an angry face. “What are you doing here?!”

The party of young adventurers backed away as they heard Merlin’s angry voice, but the old wizard chose to stand between Lilia and Merlin.

He tapped the ground with his staff and threw a sharp glare right back at Merlin. “Your highness, Queen Merlin, and imperial Archwizard.” His eyes flashed with a deep blue spark of magic. “Might I ask what you want of the fellow mage behind me?”

Merlin stared at the old man for a while. “Long beard, thick eyebrows, the scar on your forehead, and that fake left ear of yours. You are Glintlock of Riverside. That halfling behind you is no normal wizard, and her very existence here is a threat. Be careful of how you deal with her.”

Lilia floated above the old man’s head and approached Merlin. “Little Merlin! Why do you hate me so much?” As she jumped into Merlin’s arms, Merlin grabbed her by the face and threw her away. “What are you doing here? Answer my question! Archmagus of the Wizards’ tower.”

Hearing that name, the old wizard paled, and the young adventurers looked confused, since such a name was not to be misused carelessly.

The old wizard then gasped, and looked at Lilia. “Wait? Archmagus? Her?”

“Yeah.” Merlin lifted Lilia by the head and shook her like a doll. “This is the Laughing Tornado, Lilia Bodhimicah, the Archmagus of the Wizards’ tower.”

The Wizards’ tower is an independent entity not controlled by any kingdom or empire. It is similar to churches, if churches were about magic. A massive tower that surpassed the clouds. In it, thousands of wizards gathered to hone their skills, share knowledge, and worship the Magic Goddess Yog.

This halfling here was known as the Archmagus of the tower, the one who leads all the other wizards, and the one they see as their version of a great pope that directly gets orders from the goddess. So, they worshipped her almost as much as they did the goddess.

But, there is one thing the wizards didn’t know, and it was that their Archmagus, this short halfling, is the goddess herself. Lilia Bodhimicah is the mortal name she uses in the mortal world.

While thousands of wizards gather at the tower, that is still just a small fraction of the mages of the world, since not just anyone can walk up and enter the tower. Only the extremely talented, blessed, the strongest, or the wisest of wizards get the chance to set foot inside, let alone climb the tower and meet the Archmagus herself.

Merlin is one of the rare wizards who has enough talent and skill to have climbed the tower and learned magic under Lilia herself. Betty was also Lilia’s student in the past.

“Oh, since I was in the capital, I decided to stop by the guild to get my card renewed. I’m quite the busy bee, so I don’t know if I’ll ever get another chance to renew it or not.” Lilia replied with a smile, not bothered by the fact that Merlin was carried by the head like a toy.

“I know as much. Why here? Why now? You could’ve got it renewed at the tower if you wanted.” Merlin knew well that Lilia was here for another reason. Alice Dagon, the founder of the adventurers’ guild, is her priestess, so she could’ve got the card renewed with ease. In fact, there is a branch on the floor right beneath the topmost floor of the Wizards’ tower.

“I told you that I had business here. I had a family meeting.” Lilia was talking about the last night with Amaterasu, the Mother of All Life, and Death herself. She flicked her fingers and was suddenly floating in front of Merlin, free of her grasp.

“That wasn’t teleportation magic.” Merlin looked at her hand and growled, and Lilia smiled. “It’s a special spell that I made to escape from you if you grab me. The Merlin Escape Spell. A perk of it is that it can nullify all magic with your mana signal. I’m immune to anything you throw at me.”

“The card is ready.” At that moment, Nina approached them, and the young adventurers who were still standing nearby all backed away in terror as they saw Nina carrying her battleaxe. The old wizard didn’t move though he had seen too much in life to be scared of Nina.

Lilia grabbed her guild card and then looked at it for a while with a wide grin, then turned toward Nina. “So? Can I post a quest?”

“What kind of quest?” Nina asked and threw a glance at Merlin. The message was clear, and it was to warn her if Lilia was trying to pull anything funny.

“I want to declare a wizard war.”