Mage's Profound Truths

Chapter 31: Territory (Part One)

Merlin sat in Moss’s carriage, reclining slightly. Despite the jolting of the carriage, he remained motionless; he was meditating. This type of spiritual meditation did not require harsh conditions and could be practiced anytime and anywhere.

At present, Merlin needed to construct a second spell model in his sea of consciousness as soon as possible, and to do that, he had to enhance his mental power. Meditation was currently the only way to increase it.

“Young Master Merlin, we’ve arrived.”

Moss’s voice softly rang out. Merlin immediately opened his eyes, lifted the curtain, and jumped out.

This was already the third consecutive day Merlin had come to attend the etiquette class. During these three days, Gia had vanished without a trace, which had begun to arouse some people’s suspicion.

So Merlin had to pay even closer attention to everyone’s reactions.

Just as he stepped into the room on the second floor, he saw the chubby Gut sitting in front of an organ, his two pudgy hands on the keys, playing a piece of music.

Although Merlin knew little about music, even he couldn’t bear to listen to Gut’s playing—it wasn’t music at all, but sheer noise.

With those ten fat fingers like thick wooden sticks, Gut clearly wasn’t suited to play music.

Today’s class was on music. There were others in the room who simply couldn’t stand the torture of Gut’s noise and angrily drove him away from the organ.

The chubby Gut didn’t mind at all. When he saw Merlin enter, he cheerfully walked over, placed a hand on Merlin’s shoulder, and casually said, “Merlin, you’ve been arriving here so punctually these past few days—heh heh, that’s not like you. Are you waiting for Gia?”

The chubby Gut wore a mischievous grin and winked at Merlin.

Merlin was already used to Gut’s teasing, so he didn’t mind. Instead, he asked in a low voice, “By the way, Gut, you’re well-informed. Do you know why Teacher Gia hasn’t come these past few days?”

Gut shook his head. “No idea. Gia’s identity is mysterious, and she was only hired temporarily. No one even knows where she lives, let alone any news about her. I heard the new history teacher has already been decided and will start teaching tomorrow. Heh heh, maybe they’ll be even more charming than Gia!”

Merlin didn’t reply, but he felt a slight sense of relief inside. Since Gia was sent by the Kingdom of Black Moon, her identity was naturally secret and wouldn’t be discovered by anyone.

With her disappearance now, no one would be able to investigate the reason. That was very fortunate for Merlin. Once the new history teacher took over, who would still remember Gia?

“Merlin, you’d better watch out for Tilafa. Ever since he failed to get Gia to attend his birthday ball, he hasn’t shown up here. Lately, he’s been acting secretive. Who knows what he’s up to?”

Gut kindly reminded Merlin.

“I’ll be careful,” Merlin nodded, though he didn’t take it too seriously. Right now, his main concern was still mental power—when could it reach the level to construct a second spell model?

※※※

Back at Wilson Castle, Merlin was just about to return to his room to meditate. Apart from eating and sleeping, he spent almost all of his time meditating to increase his mental power.

Meditation still required consciousness, so while sleeping—when unconscious—it couldn’t be performed. Meditation had to be done in a semi-conscious state for mental power to gradually increase.

So while sleeping, Merlin couldn’t meditate. Otherwise, he could use those eight hours of sleep entirely for meditation, and his mental power would grow even faster.

But just then, the butler came up and spoke softly to Merlin, “Young Master Merlin, there are two knights from the City Guard outside. They say they’ve come on the city lord’s orders to see the baron.”

“Knights from the City Guard?”

Merlin frowned slightly. He currently had no good feelings toward the City Defense knights; the last time they came, they had taken him away and sent him to the Church’s Guardian Swordsman for interrogation, where he had faced the extremely dangerous Mage Jason. Fortunately, Jason hadn’t discovered anything unusual, and Merlin had narrowly escaped a disaster.

“Let them all come in.”

Merlin said calmly. Although he was dissatisfied with these City Defense knights, since they were sent by the City Lord, he couldn’t refuse to meet them. After all, the City Lord held the greatest power in Blackwater City.

Soon, two tall knights dressed in silver-white light armor entered the main hall. After the butler introduced Merlin’s identity to them, they both slightly bowed in salute, then respectfully said, “Young Master Merlin, we were ordered by the City Lord to notify Baron Wilson to come to the City Lord’s mansion in three days to join all the nobles of Blackwater City in discussing a joint effort against the bandits.”

So it was about dealing with the bandits. Merlin had heard that recently, large groups of bandits had suddenly appeared around Blackwater City, constantly harassing nearby towns. Even the City Defense Corps had failed to eliminate them.

Even Old Wilson had encountered a small group of bandits when he went to the territory to collect taxes this time, and had even sent Commander Pula back to mobilize heavy-armored knights.

The appearance of the bandits had already posed a certain threat to Blackwater City, so the City Lord spared no effort to mobilize all the nobles to unite and deal with them.

“All right, I understand. I’ll make sure to inform my father as soon as possible.”

Merlin waved his hand and asked the butler to escort the two City Defense knights out.

Shortly after, the butler returned to the hall and said to Merlin, “Young Master Merlin, I will immediately send someone to inform the Baron.”

But Merlin waved his hand and said calmly, “No need. I will personally go to the territory to inform Father this time.”

“Young Master Merlin, it’s not safe around Blackwater City right now.”

The butler tried to dissuade him anxiously. He didn’t want Merlin to encounter bandits on the way and die an untimely death.

“We can send more knights to escort me. Although Father’s heavy-armored knights are no longer in the castle, we can still send dozens of other knights with me, and there shouldn’t be any problem. All right, it’s settled then. I’ll set out early tomorrow morning.”

Merlin spoke with an unquestionable tone. The reason he was so determined was because he wanted to take this opportunity to see the lands outside Blackwater City. Since arriving in this world, Merlin hadn’t been anywhere else except the city.

How could he possibly let such a great opportunity pass by?

“Yes, Young Master. I will go make the preparations right away.”

Seeing that he couldn’t persuade Merlin, the butler could only go and make the preparations. After all, Merlin’s safety was very important. Even without the heavy-armored knights, his escort forces could not be weak. Selecting the knights alone would take some time.