Chapter 116: Important details

"Does he have an interesting story, Bishop?" Yvenna asked, propping her head on her hands. Her eyes, though, were trailed on Gi and the scrutiny in them was palpable.

"Very much so." Bishop gently patted the top book in the stack he brought. "Willorio Ritis started his path as scion of House Ritis, a prominent noble family of the time. Some branches of it still bloom to this day, but Willorio himself left no heirs and had no siblings left alive. When he was as young as eight years old, a tragedy befell his family—while they were travelling to their summer house, a gaggle of monsters attacked them. No one expected so much of them in one place, and so well-organised. The monsters killed almost everyone, but Willorio, according to the records, not only bravely fought with a sword he took from a dead guard, killing one of the monsters in the process, but then also managed to use the party's horses as a distraction enough to flee and reach the nearest road patrol."

"Not bad for a pipsqueak." Yvenna grinned at Gi, who jerked at the comment.

"Yeah. Doesn't it say which monsters these were, by the way?"

"I didn't think this was a significant detail to mention, my lord… but they were orcs. Orcs are very much like kobolds in that they have a rudimentary social structure and use tools and weapons in their life. Unlike kobolds, they are on average taller than humans, and have a much more developed muscle tone, which translates in noticeably higher base STR and CON, but lower DEX. Approximately, of course. As for their intelligence, the debates on how much of it monsters possess are a point of strife amongst many philosophers, and I don't see it changing any time soon."

I hummed. It was interesting how monsters and humans could breed, but draining curses could control only monsters, but not humans. "Go on, then, Bishop."

"After this, Willorio was raised by his family's servants under a guardianship of his aunt, who notably lived in a separate residence from her nephew's. The tragedy had changed the boy, as it is to be expected. There aren't many accounts of how he had been before it, but afterwards, he grew to be quiet and averse to the company of his peers. There are some mentions of servants hearing him talking to himself, sometimes even arguing, but eventually they stopped. It's assumed that this was Willorio's way to cope with the loss."

"If so, then why do you tell me that? Doesn't it make it an insignificant detail?" I complained, but without sincerity. Something in Bishop's words caught the attention of the deeper parts of my mind.

"That's the thing, my lord. I don't think this was, as people say, just a quirk of Willorio's mind. Or not insignificant, at least. Please, let me tell you Willorio's story to the end, and then explain what I think." Bishop raised his hands to his chest in an almost pleading gesture.

I nodded. "Keep going."

"Soon after, Willorio discovered a great interest in magic. He gathered and read every book about it, as well as pursued other venues of education. He finished the capitol's Royal University with honours by age eighteen, but didn't stop there and returned to his private residence to conduct his research. Despite the Guild's offers though, Willorio never tried to become a wizard, sorcerer, or a warlock himself. Not to mention, other classes with access to magic. Instead, he kept studying, and wrote several very interesting books… That are, for some reason, are banned by templars."

"Interesting indeed." I raised my brows. "How do you know about them, Bishop?"

The old man smiled with slyness and pride. "I have some not exactly… templar-friendly connections myself. Knowledge was, is and always will attract people, and forbidden even more so. Thanks to the funds you had provided, I could even buy them and read them for myself. I hope that what I will find would prove useful enough for you to not regret leaving me in charge of your finances."

"That sure goes both ways, Bishop… I don't even want to hear how expensive they were right now. Just go on with your story."

"As you wish, my lord. Around that time, Willorio also started to grow progressively frail. He used his funds to buy all elixirs that could boost one's health and stats, did a lot of therapeutic exercises and training, but at most could stave off the frailty of his body. At the same time, he learnt to do what no one else could before—how to use magic without divine help. At first, they were just simplest spells, but the time passed, and Willorio showed some feats even the best adventurers couldn't beat. Despite that, though, he still didn't leave his mansion much and spent most of his time on research and exercising."

"Wow, just do magic like that? I thought only Voren can do that, because he's a demon." Yvenna's eyes turned wide.

"Yes, that coincidence also made me think." Bishop nodded. "At that time, Willorio was mostly an unknown figure, one whose renown dissolved with time. The new rumours about him and his magic were just that—rumours. Until one day, when he was approaching his first grey hairs, Willorio started to work on a magic that will make him immortal. It didn't differ from his previous research. He didn't bathe in the blood of young virgins or eat raw phoenix eggs. If not for his butler, who had an excellent memory and a desire to save the story of his master for the future generations, we could've never learnt about this. But one seemingly normal day some time after that, Goddess of Wizards herself descended to the mortal realm to talk with Willorio. This is the most well-known part of his entire story… I even have an illustration of it here."

"Illustration? Alright, but how's THAT an important detail?"

"It's important!" Yvenna immediately protested. "It's very important. I just looove pictures!"