Mage's Profound Truths

Chapter 9: Hallucination

With the strange relief sculpture in hand, Merlin didn’t examine it any further. It was far too bizarre—it could even induce hallucinations. He decided to study it carefully only after returning home, when it would be safer.

Next, Anson picked out a palm-sized jade artifact, but Nason asked for more than a hundred gold coins.

Although Anson was a noble’s son, he had two older brothers, and his monthly allowance didn’t exceed thirty gold coins. Over a hundred was far beyond what he could afford.

So Anson had no choice but to give it up. Kerris, on the other hand, picked out a jade bracelet, and Nason asked even more for it—he wouldn’t sell it for less than 120 gold coins.

Jade jewelry like this, crafted during the Morta Empire era, was quite popular among the nobility, so Nason never worried about it being too expensive to sell.

Kerris wore a pair of emerald earrings and a jade bracelet on her right hand, clearly fond of jade artifacts. Even though the bracelet cost more than a hundred gold coins, she gritted her teeth and bought it.

Gute stepped forward to offer it as a gift, saying he would buy the bracelet for her. It was clear the chubby Gute liked Kerris a lot.

But Kerris rejected him outright, leaving Gute looking a bit deflated.

“Hey, fatso, Kerris is gone. What are you still staring for?”

Anson noticed Gute’s dazed expression and chuckled to himself.

“Anson, who exactly is this Mr. Nason? These antiques of his obviously have a shady origin. Even if it’s discreet, the City Defense Corps must know about it—why haven’t they taken any action?”

“Heh, why would the City Defense Corps investigate here? Mr. Nason is just the frontman. The real boss behind this place is the lord of the city himself!”

“The city lord?”

A look of surprise flashed across Merlin’s face, but he soon calmed down. If Nason was under the city lord, then naturally the City Defense Corps wouldn’t interfere.

In Blackwater City, the highest-ranking nobles were only barons. The city lord was firmly controlled by the Augdin family.

Though all were barons, the city lord’s power was the strongest. Generally, other baron families in the city held a slightly lower status than the Augdin family.

For example, the City Defense Corps—though nominally a city guard—was in fact the private army of the Augdin family.

The group exited the passageway. Just as they stepped outside, a cold wind greeted them, piercing to the bone.

“Look! It’s snowing!” Anson shouted.

Merlin narrowed his eyes and looked up. Sure enough, it had been icy rain just moments ago, but now white snowflakes were falling from the sky.

Snow in September—it was certainly abnormal weather!

“Whew… it’s freezing. Let’s go home quickly! This is crazy—snowing in September? Merlin, I’ll take you back to Wilson Castle first.”

The chubby Gute wrapped his coat tightly around him and quickly climbed into the carriage.

※※※

The carriage slowly stopped in front of Wilson Castle. Merlin stepped down, still feeling cold despite his thick coat.

“See you tomorrow, Merlin! Damn this weather!”

Anson and Gute waved goodbye, and after watching the carriage leave, Merlin turned and headed into the castle.

“Phew…”

Back at the castle, Merlin let out a soft breath. He saw the maids had already lit the fireplace, so the house was nice and warm. He removed his coat and gently patted the snow from it.

“Hmm, this relief sculpture?”

Merlin’s eyes fell on the relief sculpture still wrapped in his coat. He glanced around—no one had noticed him—so he went upstairs and returned to his room.

After locking the door, Merlin took the relief sculpture from his coat.

“Let’s try again.”

Merlin gently rubbed his eyes, then focused his full attention on the relief and looked down along the carved lines.

“Buzz.”

The entire relief seemed to tremble slightly, and then that familiar feeling returned. Merlin felt a blur in his vision, and the naked man on the relief seemed to come “alive,” performing a very strange movement right in front of him.

The movement was very complex, pushing the limits of human flexibility. In a daze, Merlin’s body unconsciously began to mimic the naked man’s actions.

“Ah, it hurts…”

Merlin couldn’t help but cry out, and with that sound, he snapped out of it. But now, Merlin was lying on the floor, the relief had fallen beside him—surprisingly unbroken—and he was twisted into a very strange and complex pose.

Merlin quickly got up from the ground. Recalling what had just happened, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

“This relief… there’s something wrong with it, something very wrong!”

Merlin was still shaken, and didn’t dare to look at the relief again. That feeling of losing control just now was terrifying. Thinking back on it now, he still felt lingering fear—there was definitely something strange about the relief.

Half an hour later, Merlin had calmed down. Although he didn’t look at the relief again, the strange posture from the carving was already completely etched into his mind.

“What’s the use of this posture?”

Merlin muttered to himself for a while and decided to try out the complex posture from the relief while fully awake. For some reason, he felt an irresistible urge to try it.

The movement was extremely complicated and had to be executed slowly, step by step. Fortunately, Merlin had already memorized the posture clearly in his mind, so it didn’t take him long to fully perform the motion.

This time, Merlin was fully conscious and no longer in a daze. He could now carefully sense the peculiarities of the posture.

“Hmm, it felt a bit cold before, but now it feels warm. And it seems like my muscles are swelling slightly.” Merlin carefully sensed the changes brought about by the posture.

Merlin maintained the posture for half an hour and didn’t feel anything wrong. However, the swelling sensation in his muscles became more and more noticeable, as if something inside was stirring.

An hour passed, then two, then three…

The sky was gradually darkening. Merlin seemed completely immersed in the posture, experiencing a strange and unfamiliar sensation.

“Bang bang bang.”

Suddenly, there was a series of urgent knocks at the door.

“Merlin, what are you doing hiding in your room?”

It was May Snow’s voice. Merlin snapped back to reality and got up to open the door. He saw that it was already completely dark outside.

May Snow looked at Merlin with suspicion. Then she seemed to catch a whiff of body odor, and noticed that Merlin was drenched in sweat.

“Merlin, what were you doing? Why are you sweating so much?”

Merlin noticed it too—he was soaked in sweat. But strangely, he felt warm and energetic, not the least bit tired.

“It’s nothing. It’s already dark? I’ll come down right away.”

May Snow tried to peer into the room, but Merlin blocked the doorway. Unable to see inside, she pinched her nose and said, “Let Lucia bring you some hot water. Go wash up before you come down.”

Merlin nodded. The smell of sweat on him really was unbearable—even he found it overwhelming.

Soon, Lucia filled the bathtub with hot water. Merlin stripped off his sweat-soaked clothes and jumped into the wooden tub. The warm water made him let out a satisfied sigh.

Merlin soaked in the hot water, motionless, his head resting on the edge of the tub as he stared blankly at the ceiling in a daze.