A Demon Wizard's apprentice.
Ruger chewed the pastry in great mouthfuls, marveling at its texture. He was guessing which sour fruit had been mixed with what part of an insect to make it when those words flashed through his mind.
That faint demonic aura came from the special material used in the Demon Wizard lineage's identifying tokens. His brain had supplied the answer before he even began to think.
Ruger chewed hard. He was the shortest person here, dressed in an ordinary Wizard Robe, with a Kobold's head.
Wizard Dalton looked the oldest, and his strength was that of a Three-Ring Wizard.
Mahama, meanwhile, was an exceptionally big fellow.
Yet the newcomer's gaze lingered on Phyllis, a One-Ring Wizard. That alone said something. What was special about her? Here, in this territory, it could only be her position as head of the family.
Ruger's mouth kept moving instinctively, but the instant the man approached, his eyes flicked toward Dalton Vango, the veteran Three-Ring Wizard of the Vango Family.
Wizard Dalton's expression shifted several times, mostly with surprise and confusion. In those brief moments, Ruger saw no trace of joy or anything like it.
This was not good news.
Especially that confusion.
Could he be a Four-Ring Wizard from the Savens Family?
Puzzled, Ruger shifted his gaze again, trying to find his teacher.
As for the smiling Phyllis, she often wore that same expression when her family members lost, or when she discussed something unpleasant. Perhaps the previous family head had liked using a smile to dress things up and conceal their feelings.
It suddenly occurred to Ruger that his teacher might have sensed this man's arrival and disappeared for that reason.
Although his teacher was now in a peculiar state, invisible to ordinary people, the newcomer was most likely another