Mage's Profound Truths

Chapter 29: Unexpected Gain

"Anything can be done?"

Merlin's eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze brazenly swept across Gia's ample bosom.

"Yes, from now on I'll follow you. You can do anything you want."

A charming smile appeared on Gia’s face as she spoke seductively.

"Unfortunately, you're of no use anymore..."

A trace of icy killing intent flashed in Merlin’s narrowed eyes.

"Whoosh."

A fireball flew directly from Merlin's hand and smashed fiercely into Gia’s chest, burning a bloody hole into her ample bosom. The charred flesh formed a stark contrast with the fair skin of her chest.

Gia’s eyes bulged wide, as if still unable to believe what had happened.

After killing Gia, Merlin walked back to the corpses of the bearded man and the others. He rummaged through them for a moment and retrieved a few slightly yellowed pages from the bearded man.

"Hmm? These are... spell models?"

Merlin was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected to find spell models—useful only to spellcasters—on the bearded man. But this wasn’t the time to study exactly what they were. He still needed to tidy things up here.

So Merlin dragged out the corpses of the four people and piled them in the courtyard. Then he released a fireball, and soon the four corpses burned and deformed rapidly in the roaring flames, leaving them unrecognizable.

Afterward, Merlin dug a simple pit in the courtyard and buried the ashes from the burned bodies.

Once everything was dealt with, Merlin finally left the courtyard.

"Whoosh..."

Just as Merlin stepped out of the courtyard, a gust of cold wind swept by, carrying a faint bloody smell. He looked back at the courtyard once more. As long as tonight passed, there would be no trace of blood. Unless someone looked closely, they wouldn’t notice anything had happened here.

Facing the cold wind, Merlin wrapped his clothes tighter and calmly walked along the corner of the street toward home.

Merlin returned to the small building and saw Moss still sitting in the carriage. He stepped forward and gently called, "Moss, take me back."

Moss glanced suspiciously at Merlin, but didn’t ask anything. He quickly drove the carriage back to Wilson Castle.

※※※

Inside the room, Merlin sat on a high wooden stool. The dim candlelight flickered as he closed his eyes, still recalling today’s combat.

In both his past and present lives, this was the first time he had killed—four people, no less! Yet when he killed, Merlin hadn’t felt the slightest discomfort. On the contrary, he was quite calm.

"Since that courtyard was a secret base of Gia and the others, then likely no one else knew about it. To maintain secrecy, they probably avoided contact with anyone else in Blackwater City. That works in my favor—at least no one will notice."

Merlin carefully considered the potential dangers this incident could bring. If there were any, it would likely be because Gia and the others had allies. But that was unlikely—if they had wanted to deal with a spellcaster, they would’ve gathered stronger forces.

After thinking for a while, Merlin stopped worrying. He took out the yellowed pages he had retrieved from the bearded man's corpse. They were indeed spell models.

When he was handling the corpses earlier, Merlin hadn’t had time to examine them closely, so he still didn’t know what kind of spells they were.

Merlin gently moved the candle closer and held the yellowed pages to the light, carefully reading them.

"Frost Spell, a level-zero ice-type spell."

Merlin was delighted—this was a Level Zero spell, and it happened to be the binding-type spell he had long dreamed of.

Although Merlin already had the spell model for Whirlwind, which was the second Level Zero spell recorded in Old Etha’s spell notes, and which Old Etha had practiced himself…

However, Whirlwind, like Fireball, was an offensive spell, and after analysis, Merlin concluded that Whirlwind wasn’t the spell most suited to him.

Since he already had Fireball, which was quite powerful, what he urgently needed was a support-type or binding spell.

Now he had unexpectedly obtained a binding spell, which could be used together with Fireball—it would surely be very effective in actual combat.

It was already strange that the bearded man, a Flame Swordsman, possessed a spell model meant for spellcasters.

But thinking of how the bearded man seemed to harbor an inexplicable hostility toward spellcasters, Merlin began to suspect something.

The bearded man must have also wanted to become a spellcaster, but perhaps due to weak mental power, he couldn't—so even with the model for Ice Bind, he was powerless.

Over time, this may have led him to develop a deep-seated hostility toward spellcasters.

The bearded man had the spell model but couldn't use it—now it had ended up benefiting Merlin instead.

“My mental strength is still a bit lacking; I can’t support two spell models. Looks like I’ll have to wait before learning Ice Bind.”

Merlin furrowed his brow, feeling a bit regretful.

Although he was already practicing the mental meditation technique, spiritual power could only be increased through long-term accumulation.

With his current level of mental power, he couldn’t yet support a second spell model.

“Looks like I need to spend more time meditating.”

At this point, Merlin's spiritual power had become his main weakness.

Thanks to the Matrix, those problems with constructing spell models that troubled all other spellcasters simply didn’t exist for him.

What he lacked was a massive reserve of mental strength to support more spell models.

※※※

The next day, Merlin sat in Moss’s carriage and had him drive around the streets in a large loop—he was actually observing the courtyard where the bearded man and the others had lived.

Now there was no trace of blood outside the courtyard, and hardly anyone nearby—it matched Merlin’s expectations.

In order to maintain secrecy, the bearded man and his group had rarely interacted with others, so even if they disappeared for a year or more, no one would likely notice.

Merlin let out a slight breath of relief—not being discovered was the best possible outcome.

However, there was still Gia—her appearance was striking and easily caught attention.

Besides, she was a teacher for the etiquette class—if she suddenly disappeared, it would definitely raise suspicion.

That’s why Merlin had continued attending etiquette classes these past few days—to observe people’s reactions to Gia’s disappearance and prepare to respond at any moment.

※※※

The most iconic building in Blackwater City was undoubtedly the City Lord’s Mansion.

It was surrounded by towering walls, and inside was a castle with an oval spire.

In front of the castle, most of the traffic consisted of knights from the city defense corps—ordinary people found it hard to even approach.

Suddenly, not far from the mansion, a group of galloping knights appeared. Judging by their attire, they were quite different from the city defense corps.

As they approached, it became clear that there were over twenty knights in the group, seemingly escorting a carriage in the center.

These knights escorted the carriage rapidly toward the City Lord’s Mansion.