Many thanks to Sam Ellis for bringing the first sponsored chapter of the week!
Chapter 33 – Two
girls and wedding plans
Mandy’s POV:
I don’t like how
those guards are looking at me. It seems that they aren’t looking only for the
assassin of the crown Prince, but also for the slave who was with him at the moment of his death.
They were talking about something with Duke Risme, but I couldn’t hear the
contents of their conversation from where I was. The duke gestured me to
approach them and tried to calm me down with his words.
D. Risme: “Mandy,
sweetheart, there has been an accident at the Palace, the crown Prince has died
and a young female slave has escaped. These men are trying to find that slave,
and because you are a newcomer in the capital they have to check that you are
not the young girl they are looking for. Don’t worry, come here.”
Mandy: “Ok, father.
But what exactly do I have to do?” *The crown Prince had an accident and died?
Bullshit! They are trying to cover it up.*
D. Risme: “Just
uncover your neck and show it to them, that should suffice. They just need to
confirm that you don’t have a slave collar.”
Mandy: “It is fine,
father. I don’t mind.”
I showed them my
neck and they left after seeing I didn’t have any slave collar. As a safety
measure, after the death of the previous owner, a slave collar won’t accept a
contract with a new owner for the next three days. This means that the one who
had ownership over me was the crown Prince and not the King. Well, regardless
of what their intentions might be, thanks to Merlin I’m safe. I wish I could
spend more time by his side, he is the first kid my age I have ever met who
isn’t dumb and can maintain a normal conversation with me…
Well, most of the
kids my age are stupid in comparison with me, ever since I started having those
weird dreams and learning lots of different things, I quickly surpassed my
peers. Adults look down on me for being a kid and don’t take me seriously,
ignoring me for the most part. The kids around me consider me a weirdo because
they don’t get most of the things I talk about…
Long story short, I
am usually isolated due to my intelligence. That is why I offered myself to
Merlin as a slave or a servant, I knew that by being by his side, I finally
would be able to have a relationship of equals with someone and enjoy my life a
bit, besides I’m sure that he wouldn’t let me suffer in the slightest. But I
also understand that he has his own circumstances, it is not like he can
present himself at home with an unknown girl and say “Hi, this is Mandy, she’ll
live here from now on.” At least, by becoming a member of his organization, and
his subordinate, I am useful to him and if I do my duties extraordinarily well
he might make me his personal assistant and allow me to remain by his side.
********************************************************************
Laklostia. House of
the Pendragon family.
Emelyn didn’t know
how to react to what was going on with Merlin, so she just sat on the bed by
his side and ruffled his hair while looking at him. The group of healers saw
that and silently left the room. She was so focused on Merlin that she failed
to notice the two letters laying on his desk. However, that wasn’t Argenta’s
case, she came into the room looking for Emelyn and noticed both letters, she
stealthily took the one addressed to the members of the “Council of ten” and
hid it in her bosom, then she handed the other letter over to Emelyn. She read
the letter right after receiving it and after learning of its contents, she
burst in tears. *In that condition and he still cares more about others than
himself… How is he going to take the news when he wakes up and discovers his
new reality? I just hope not too badly.* She turned to look at Merlin and
ruffled his hair once more.
Emelyn: “Merlin,
dear, fight the poison and don’t give up! Adelle, Lupa and Bastet need you, and
the baby I am currently carrying will also need its big brother Merlin. You
must come back to us, you have to…”
Argenta: “Lady
Emelyn, everyone is in the living room, waiting for you to come down and give
them the news regarding master Merlin’s current state.”
Emelyn: “Thank you
for reminding me, Argenta. I’m sorry, I’ll have to trouble you with looking
after Merlin while I’m down explaining his current situation to the family.”
Argenta: “Don’t worry
lady Emelyn, it is an honor and my duty to do so.”
Emelyn: “Ok, I’ll
leave it to you.”
After Emelyn left,
Argenta went to the center of the room, sniffed the air and then spoke.
Argenta: “Aimi, your
concealing technique is almost perfect, even with my spy training I barely
noticed you, now come out, please.”
Aimi: “Y-you… How
did you know I was here?”
Argenta: “Your scent
gave you out.”
Aimi: “M-my scent?
Th-that is impossible, I bathed this morning before coming here!”
Seeing her stutter
from embarrassment, Argenta couldn’t help but chuckle and tried to solve the
misunderstanding right away.
Argenta: “When I
spoke of your scent, I didn’t mean that you smelled bad, quite the opposite, actually.
Whenever you are near him, you smell like roses. It isn’t a problem here, but
if you plan on serving him and protect him from the shadows, that little fact
will give you away, not only putting you in danger, but also him! Now, did you
understand what the healers said?”
The very moment
Argenta said those words, the expression in Aimi’s face changed into one of
helplessness and depression. She affirmed with her head that she had perfectly
heard and understood what the healers had said about Merlin’s predicament, but
her expression changed once more when she heard Argenta’s following words.
Argenta: “Well, I
don’t agree with them. Anyone who got his hands in such an extremely rare
poison would either treat it like a precious treasure, for a special occasion,
or send it to an alchemist to try to reproduce it. There are plenty of
fast-acting poisons that are more than enough to kill a 7-year-old kid, nobody
would be dumb enough to waste such a precious poison to kill someone like
master Merlin. It’s just not worth it.”
Aimi: “But, if you
are right, then… what exactly is going on with him?”
Argenta: “I am no
healer, so I can’t tell for sure, but I know that the kind of power he used
when he fought those assassins last night was far superior to the power he
usually has. He almost looked like a god exerting his wrath on human offenders…
My guess is he broke through the human limitations and wielded a power no human
is meant to, and now he has to deal with the backlash of using that power.”
Aimi: “Then he is
still in danger like the healers said!”
Argenta: “I never
said he wasn’t, but you know him as well as I do, even if he were to lose his
magic, his mind is more dangerous than an army of magi, he will find a solution
for any problem he might encounter, so worrying about it now won’t do us any
good.”
Aimi: “What do you
mean?”
Argenta: “What we
need to do now, it is not to mourn his current situation, but to get stronger
so that we can support him better when he wakes up and recovers.”
Aimi’s eyes showed
understanding, after giving a nod acknowledging Argenta’s last statement, she
turned around and left to go train herself further. Argenta was amazed by
Aimi’s personality *She is very innocent, but she has the heart in the right
place.* She then looked at Merlin and thought *Boy, you are quite the player…
but you don’t even realize it. You are going to break a lot of hearts on your
way to the top!*
*******************************************************************
In the living room,
Emelyn had just finished explaining the healers’ diagnosis to the members of
the family. The three girls started crying immediately, Leyla was still
processing the information, and Anthon was starting to leak killing intent.
Josh and Bly decided that if their powerful little brother was going to become
a magic cripple with a frail health, they would stop skipping their training
and gain enough strength to make up for the one Merlin had lost.
Arnold was the one
most troubled by the news, he was as shocked as the rest of the family, but he
had an additional problem: he was going to marry his fiancée, Rose, in four
months, but he had yet to inform his family about their wedding plans. He had
intended to do it that day, but after hearing the diagnosis of the healers on
Merlin, he didn’t feel it was the right moment to drop the bomb. After the
family meeting finished, Arnold slipped away and went to meet Rose to explain
the situation to her.
Rose was the
daughter of a travelling merchant who used to go to Laklostia several times a
year. She had met Arnold when she accompanied her parents on their travels, she
was 5 at the time and Arnold was 7. They hit it off from the beginning, and as
time passed, it became more and more clear that the two of them would end up
getting married eventually. Rose’s parents were against it in the beginning
because “how could a mere villager give their daughter a good and happy life?”,
it was only when they learnt that Arnold’s father was the swordsmanship
instructor for the princes at the Palace, that they finally agreed to allow
their daughter’s romantic relationship with Arnold. Needless to say, as soon as
they learnt about the fiefdom bestowed to his brother, they encouraged their
daughter to marry Arnold as soon as possible.
Arnold was
explaining to her the situation that was going on at home, when he noticed that
Rose was looking behind him and had suddenly lost all color in her face. He
turned around to see what had frightened her and found himself face-to-face
with his own father. Anthon didn’t say a word, he went behind his son, elevated
his right leg behind himself and kicked Arnold’s ass, sending him flying 3 or 4
yards.
Arnold: “Father,
wait. I can explain!”
Anthon: “You damn
idiot! What the hell do you think you are doing?”
Arnold: “Sorry,
father. I know that right now is not the right moment to hold a wedding with
everything that is going on with Merlin, but…”
Anthon: “Shut up!
Just how much longer do you intend to make her wait before you marry her?”
Arnold and Rose:
““Huh?!””
Anthon: “What! Did
you really think that your mother and I were unaware of your wedding plans?
Both families had started making your wedding preparations since before Rose
turned 15, but instead of keeping your promise of marrying her on her birthday,
you put it off with the excuse that you had to finish your swordsmanship
training and become a city guard in Shephiria. Now that you have become a city
guard in Ragnarök and finished your training, you have no more excuses to delay
the wedding anymore!”
Arnold: “But
Merlin…”
Anthon: “Don’t you
dare to use your brother as an excuse! We don’t know when he will wake up,
maybe tomorrow, maybe never! You know what? I’m going to visit Rose’s parents
and inform them that there has been a slight change of plans, instead of
getting married in six months, we’ll hold your wedding two weeks from now! You two, come with me!”
Arnold was left
speechless by Anthon’s decision and silently followed after him. Discovering
that his parents not only knew about the wedding plans, but had also
participated in the preparations for it without him and Rose knowing, had been
a real shock for him. Rose, on the other hand, had a bright smile on her face
on the way to her home.
*****************************************************************
Merlin tried to block out the pain he was feeling, but
he was unable to. He finally gave up and stop trying to resist the pain, at the
exact moment he did so, he felt himself falling down at a breakneck speed…
A quick question, i wonder if you can change the background from black to grey or something else? Cause it makes it hard to read if you need to focus on words if you are tired or have reading issues. And it makes the text a bit look wobbly like its of focus, and time to time can strain the eyes a bit.
ReplyDeleteIts not dangerous or anything, was just thinking that if you have any people come in and read it will get annyoing for them especially if they read like 33 chapters straigt.
Um.... how come they are STILL sure about the poison?? in the letter to his mother he clearly stated that it was the blacklash from overusing his magic... Also who was argenta and aimi XD? think you can make a glossary so of the characters at least? Like Aimi is XXXX
ReplyDeleteHis symptoms don't match a backlash from overusing magic, so Emelyn thought Merlin was just trying to put her at ease and she went with the diagnosis given by the healers
Deletehmm i believe enlarging the text a bit more will help people read better for those who have trouble reading with the black background.
ReplyDeletethanks for the chap. cant wait to see where it goes next. as for the background i have no problems i even like it but thats personal preference.
ReplyDeleteI'll look into the background thing. I'll try to find a way to allow the reader choose the color of the background, but no promises right now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter~
ReplyDelete