Merlin arrived to where the
freed slaves were staying at, and saw that they were all already waiting for
him. The one who was in charge of preparing the list Merlin had asked for,
handed it to him. Merlin took a look at it and let out a sigh. *I know I
asked them to make the information the most complete possible, but pointing out
whom of the girls was a virgin and who had been abused… that’s a little too
much! It’s good that they are so eager to follow my orders, though. It seems
that I’ll have to be more careful in the future when giving out orders to them…
* Emelyn took a peek at the list and then understood why Merlin had
sighted.
Out of all the names in the
list, there were nine which stood out: Vania Kopek, Janus Aureus, and Argenta
Lerion, former spies who were abandoned by their different kingdoms and fell
into slavery; Shin Ryu, Akemi Ume, Sayuri Ryu, and Aimi Ryu, members of a
fallen clan in the barbarian islands of the East who fell into slavery after
the destruction of their clan; Sokar Winter, a dwarven craftsman who fell into
slavery for the enormous crime of not revealing the secrets of his trade to the
kingdom who captured him; and Mina Nosferati, a 13-year-old variant vampire who
doesn’t need to feed on blood and can walk under the sun without any problem
whatsoever, she fell into slavery when she was kidnapped and sold by one of her
suitors whom she had previously rejected.
Aside from those nine, the
rest of the people on the list were quite ordinary, several craftsmen, several
foreign soldiers who fell into slavery after becoming prisoners of war… and the
rest were just villagers who had fallen prey of the greed of bandits and slave
dealers, most of them being women who didn’t have anywhere else to return to,
or were too ashamed to go back after having been defiled by men of low morals.
Merlin: “I hate long speeches,
so I’ll try to make it short! You have all come here for a reason, you either
wanted a chance to start anew or you had nowhere else to go, and just went with
the flow. The reason doesn’t matter, you are here and that’s a fact! So, now
you have to make a decision which will determine your fate! That magic circle
is a soul restriction contract, once you accept it, you will never be able to
remove it till the day you die! The rules of the contract are as follow:
1-Never betray me, my family, or the city of Ragnärok. 2-Anything pertaining to
the city that is said to be secret, mustn’t be told to outsiders. 3-You must
follow me until the day of your death. Any breaking of the rules will lead to
the death and destruction of the soul of the said individual. Any questions?”
Villager X: “Will you take our
lives if we don’t enter the magic circle?”
Merlin: “Absolutely not, I
won’t coerce you to enter the magic circle, however if you refuse to enter, you
won’t be involved in the construction of the city, and your house, when built,
will be located outside of the city walls, aside from that, you’ll get an
assignment outside of the city, that’s all.”
Villager X: “I was just
asking!”
The villager immediately
stepped inside the magic circle, and the rest of the group followed, only 9
people remained outside of the circle. Merlin looked at them, and they were
precisely the 9 people he was most interested in. He decided to talk to them
and ascertain their reasons for not stepping inside the magic circle. He
thought it really had gone way too smoothly with the others, for serving
someone for life or dying isn't an easy choice to make, so he wasn't really
surprised... he actually expected the number to be higher!
Merlin: “Looks like you want
talk about something, let’s go inside a tent… the three ex-spies will go first,
then the fallen clan, then the dwarf and finally the vampire girl!”
**************************************************************************
Merlin: “Well, seems like you
three have a lot on your minds… speak up!”
Vania: “It’s just that we have
already worked with people in power, and as long as we were useful they helped
us, but when it stopped being convenient, they left us to die. Once is enough,
we don’t need to go through that again! That of following you till our deaths…
it doesn’t go well with us!”
Janus: “Vania is right, this
contract makes us risk our lives, but you risk nothing!”
Argenta: “My thoughts exactly,
it’s too risky for us!”
Merlin: “THAT I DON’T RISK
ANYTHING?! YOU FUCKING MORONS! I RISK DYING JUST BY CREATING THAT KIND OF MAGIC
CIRCLE! I’M DOING THIS BECAUSE A FUCKING WAR IS COMING, AND IF I DON’T DO IT, I
RISK LOSING MY WHOLE FAMILY! YET YOU DARE TO SAY I RISK NOTHING?!”
The trio was at a loss for
words, they just didn’t like the idea of being tied for life to someone so
young, but they didn’t expect him to react so strongly. Besides, the words he
said… A war was coming? He was risking his life trying to do the contracts? He
was trying to save his family? The three of them didn't fully understand the
situation, but they could definitely relate to that! After all, that was the
very reason they went into the spy business!
Janus: “What you just said
about a war… is it for real?”
Merlin had managed to calm
down and answer Janus’ question. Fortunately, he had set up a sound barrier
around the tent so, despite his shouting, the people outside didn’t hear a
thing.
Merlin: “You’ll know about it
in due time… that’s it, IF you join me!”
The three of them silently
walked out of the tent, and Merlin looked at their statuses right before they
stepped inside the circle.
Status Window
|
||||
Name
|
Vania Kopek
|
|||
Age
|
25
|
Race
|
Human
|
|
Level
|
58
|
Gender
|
Male
|
|
Health
|
1400/1400
|
Health Regen.
|
0.003 / Sec
|
|
Mana
|
5 372
|
Mana Regen.
|
0.008 / Sec
|
|
Magic
|
|
|||
Attribute affinity
|
Wind (high)
|
|||
Skills
|
|
|||
Status Window
|
||||
Name
|
Janus Aureus
|
|||
Age
|
28
|
Race
|
Human
|
|
Level
|
63
|
Gender
|
Male
|
|
Health
|
1600/1600
|
Health Regen.
|
0.004 / Sec
|
|
Mana
|
4 091
|
Mana Regen.
|
0.007 / Sec
|
|
Magic
|
|
|||
Attribute affinity
|
Wind (medium)
|
|||
Skills
|
|
|||
Status Window
|
||||
Name
|
Argenta Lerion
|
|||
Age
|
25
|
Race
|
Human
|
|
Level
|
72
|
Gender
|
Female
|
|
Health
|
1800/1800
|
Health Regen.
|
0.011 / Sec
|
|
Mana
|
5 372
|
Mana Regen.
|
0.009 / Sec
|
|
Magic
|
|
|||
Attribute affinity
|
Wind (high)
|
|||
Skills
|
|
|||
*******************************************************************
The next to enter into the
tent were the members of the fallen clan.
Merlin: “Well, it seems that
you have a lot in your mind… Speak up!”
Shin: “I’m Shin Ryu, Akemi is
my wife, and Sayuri and Aimi are my sisters. Despite being grateful for your
help back then, I’m afraid we can’t follow you for life, sorry!”
Merlin: “May I ask why you feel that way?”
Shin: “We need to take revenge
on those who massacred our Ryu clan!”
Sayuri and Aimi: “That’s
right!”
Akemi: “Those bastards should
all drop dead!”
Merlin: “So you’re unwilling
to join me because that would interfere with your plans of revenge… It’s not
that I don’t understand your position, but aren’t you forgetting something?”
Shin: “And… what would that
be?”
Merlin: “Your numbers! You are
only 4 people and one of you is even a little kid, while your enemy is a whole
clan, do you really plan on engaging your enemies in those conditions? That’s
just suicidal!”
Shin: “Like you’re one to
talk! You’re a little kid too!”
Merlin: “That’s beside the
point! You’ll not be able to have your revenge like that!”
Shin: “What would you suggest
then?”
Merlin: “Well, why don’t you
join me and create a martial Sect? You could find and train people, and when
the time and the numbers are right, you’ll be able to have your revenge!”
At this point, the four didn’t
know how to answer Merlin’s question. In this world, mana and ki were one and
the same, as proven by Merlin’s “Ki strengthening technique”, so he assumed
that if martial clans existed, martial sects would too. The problem was that,
contrary to Merlin’s assumption, martial sects didn’t exist in this world, so
the concept of passing down the clan’s techniques to outsiders was foreign to
them, and even taboo.
Merlin was surprised when he
was told they didn’t know what a martial sect was, so he proceeded to explain
to them the organization and working of the martial sects in the xianxia novels
back on Earth. He tweaked the story a little, though, and said that the distribution
was: the core family, inner disciples and outer disciples. The core family
having the best techniques, while the outer disciples would learn the more
trashy ones. Also, the outer disciples could advance to inner disciples and
vice versa, based on their progress, but the core family was a closed circle.
When heard about it, a strange
light flashed in the eyes of the four clansmen, but Shin felt something was
amiss, and when thinking about it, he realized what it was! Merlin was giving
them the way to build up their forces and have their revenge, but he didn’t say
what he expected in exchange or how he would benefit from it!
Shin: “And, what exactly do
you get out of this? Besides, I thank you for the idea, but I could establish a
martial sect elsewhere, why would I need to follow you for the rest of my life
and establish it here?”
Merlin: “Well, I certainly
plan on learning the secret techniques of your clan, as for why here and not
elsewhere, that choice is yours to make, just note that to establish your sect
in any piece of land of the continent, you must first ask for permission to the
lord governing that area, and you are a foreigner in this continent, so it
would be really tricky for you to attempt it elsewhere… besides, to catch your
enemies off guard, you can’t create the martial sect in plain sight, I can
provide a place which suits your needs best, but only IF you join me!”
Shin: “Are you really a
6-year-old?! Damn! Fine, we’ll follow you! Not that we have a choice anyway!”
Merlin took a peek at their
statuses as they were leaving the tent, and was very pleased by what he saw.
Status Window
|
||||
Name
|
Shin Ryu
|
|||
Age
|
16
|
Race
|
Human
|
|
Level
|
65
|
Gender
|
Male
|
|
Health
|
1900/1900
|
Health Regen.
|
0.009 / Sec
|
|
Mana
|
5 624
|
Mana Regen.
|
0.010 / Sec
|
|
Magic
|
|
|||
Attribute affinity
|
|
|||
Skills
|
|
|||
Status Window
|
||||
Name
|
Akemi Ume
|
|||
Age
|
16
|
Race
|
Human
|
|
Level
|
61
|
Gender
|
Female
|
|
Health
|
1600/1600
|
Health Regen.
|
0.008 / Sec
|
|
Mana
|
3 982
|
Mana Regen.
|
0.009 / Sec
|
|
Magic
|
|
|||
Attribute affinity
|
|
|||
Skills
|
|
|||
Status Window
|
||||
Name
|
Sayori Ryu
|
|||
Age
|
17
|
Race
|
Human
|
|
Level
|
52
|
Gender
|
Female
|
|
Health
|
1500/1500
|
Health Regen.
|
0.015 / Sec
|
|
Mana
|
4 589
|
Mana Regen.
|
0.011 / Sec
|
|
Magic
|
|
|||
Attribute affinity
|
Darkness (high)
|
|||
Skills
|
|
|||
Status Window
|
||||
Name
|
Aimi Ryu
|
|||
Age
|
8
|
Race
|
Human
|
|
Level
|
31
|
Gender
|
Female
|
|
Health
|
1100/1100
|
Health Regen.
|
0.009 / Sec
|
|
Mana
|
2 037
|
Mana Regen.
|
0.012 / Sec
|
|
Magic
|
|
|||
Attribute affinity
|
|
|||
Skills
|
|
|||
***************************************************************************
Aimi’s POV:
I’m glad that my brother
accepted that little boy’s offer, although I don’t think “little boy” fits
him… he certainly is a year or two younger than me, but the way he conducts
himself resembles an adult’s. Ever since the first time I saw him, my heart
starts racing when I think about him, and I feel compelled to serve and protect
him… A young girl would usually think this is love at first sight, but I was
raised in the Ryu clan, so I know what this sensation actually is…
Since its creation, our Ryu
clan has specialized in stealth, intelligence and assassination. We are called
– correction: were called – a martial clan, because we were living in barbarian
territory, and that’s how they usually call the clans which specialize in
fighting. There is a total of 29 martial clans in barbarian territory, of
which, 6 clans – currently 5 – specialize in stealth, intelligence and
assassination, while the others just fight their opponents head-on, barbarian
style. Despite the fact that those 6 clans are called “The 6 Shinobi clans”
inside barbarian territory, outside of it, they are grouped together with the
other martial clans.
Back to what I was feeling
about that boy, Merlin… my mother once told me that the women in our bloodline
have the innate ability to detect great leadership, meaning that if I ever felt
that from a person, it meant that person would do great things in the future.
Mother said that if the person I felt it from was a woman, I should befriend
her and follow our shinobi code while serving her. But if the person I
felt it from was a man, aside from befriending him and serving him, mother said
that I should also try to become his mistress… but I don’t know what a mistress
is… mother told me she’d explain it to me when I grew older, but she has
already passed away and, now, I’ve started feeling this from that boy… I’ll
guess I’ll have to ask big brother later to properly explain to me what a mistress
is…
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