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Chapter 44 - Revealing secrets

Once his parents and Leyla came into the room, Merlin quickly shut the door, and used a magic stone to create a soundproofing barrier. This surprised Emelyn and Leyla, they didn’t know what it was that Merlin wanted to talk about, but they understood that it was something important.

Emelyn: “Merlin, dear, is a soundproofing barrier really necessary?”

Anthon: “Soundproofing barrier? Is that what that magic stone was? The soundproofing barrier magic stones have a price of 1 gold each… how wasteful!”

Leyla: “Looks like you want to talk about something important!”

Merlin: “Indeed.”

Emelyn: “Is it related to your coma?”

Merlin: “It is not directly related to it, but it is connected to it in some way, yes…”*How am I supposed to explain to you that I have an ancient god and his entire pseudo-realm inside my body?*

Emelyn: “What is it, then? Hurry up and explain!”

Merlin: “This is going to take a while…”

Following those words, Merlin stayed silent for a few minutes, trying to decide how to explain the situation to them. He was well aware that he couldn’t tell them the whole truth, otherwise their overprotective nature would kick in and they wouldn’t allow him to do some of the things he should do.

Merlin decided to omit some details, and change some others, to make the story more believable, and to lessen his family’s reluctance to allow him to act as he saw fit. For example, he told them about the war that was to come, and how a god had appeared in his dreams while he was in a coma.

However, he didn’t explain anything about Lupa and Bastet being vessels for two goddesses, he thought that the less people that knew about it, the better. He also “explained” to them, how that god had “ordered” him to join the Adventurers Guild and rank up before attending Hexenwunder Royal Academy, but he couldn’t be accompanied by the girls.

Merlin also explained that he had designed Ragnarök in a way that the city would be self-sufficient, and able to survive a long siege in times of war, becoming an impregnable fortress. He didn’t go into details, because it would have used up a lot of time, and the girls might feel that there was something going on.

Emelyn, Anthon, and Leyla stared at him blankly. Emelyn was the first one to recover, and she expressed her worry for her son.

Emelyn: “Merlin, I know that you would never lie to us, so what you just told us must be true… I know that, but I am still your mother, and I can’t help but worry about you. Do you really want to become an adventurer and do what that ‘god’ instructed you to?”

Merlin: “Mother, I’m certain that he spoke the truth. Besides, becoming an adventurer has been my dream ever since I was a kid…”

Emelyn: “Merlin… you are 7 years old, you are still a kid!”

Merlin felt his cheeks turning red from his anger, he wasn’t careful enough and had a slip of the tongue. Emelyn, on the other hand, took it as him being embarrassed for having his mistake pointed out when trying to speak like an adult.

Merlin: “I think you know what I meant, mother.”

Leyla: “So cute! Don’t worry, though, we have understood that your dream is to become an adventurer, and now, by this god’s request, you have no choice but to become one at your current age!”

Merlin: “Thank you for your understanding, aunt Leyla.”

After that, it didn’t take long for the 3 of them to agree to Merlin’s plans, but they had yet to decide on how to deal with the girls, for Merlin was sure that they would want to accompany him no matter what.

In the end, they concluded that the best choice was to keep the girls in the dark, and when the time came, Merlin would slip away in the middle of the night, without giving the girls a chance to act up.

However, they were somehow unwilling to let Merlin play his agoraphobic little boy persona, because they had just recovered their son, and if he did put on that act, they would be unable to spend as much time as they wanted with him.

Emelyn was a little distressed when she learned that her son was going to become an adventurer 6 months later, but she didn’t plan on stopping him. She didn’t dare to risk losing the favor of the gods just because she was worried about her youngest son.

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The time passed very quickly, and the night fell. When the appointed time came, two figures dressed in black were moving from Ragnarök, in the direction of the forest. Those two figures were, of course, Shin and Merlin.

Having arrived in the forest, Merlin had Shin lead him to the territory of the crabrats. They were the lowest-level monsters in that forest, but after the horned-rabbit fiasco, back at the Lakium Forest, he wasn’t sure of how well he would fare against them.

At the beginning, he doubted his own capabilities, but after fighting for a while, he gradually became aware of how much Lokiseth’s training regime was paying off. Detection of attack patterns, perfect timing for the parrying and deflection of attacks, and perfect dodging. All those abilities had been thoroughly trained by Merlin under Lokiseth’s supervision.

Merlin almost couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t just a matter of having a bigger body-build, he had gotten stronger and faster than he was before the coma, even his reaction time had gotten better. He originally thought that he was going to have trouble dealing with the crabrats, but the opposite had actually happened.

He was so excited with his newfound abilities, that he almost forgot his main purpose of going to the forest that night. Had it not been by Shin’s reminder, he would have forgotten to practice the use of the “Soul mana hook”. After a while, Merlin checked his status to check the efficiency of the technique.

*Ding*

Status WindowNameMerlin PendragonAge7Race**** HumanLevel65GenderMaleHealth2800/2800Health Regen.0.009 / SecMana187 | 210Mana Regen.0.017 / SecMagic

“Imagination Creation Magic (lv. 2)”,

"Status Window Spell (lv. 2)",

"Analytic Observation Spell (lv. 9)"

“Elemental magic (lv. 2)”

Attribute affinityFire (extraordinary), Water (extraordinary), Wind (extraordinary), Earth (extraordinary), Space-time (extraordinary), Light (extraordinary), Darkness (extraordinary), Non-attribute (extraordinary)Skills

“Otherworldly Martial Art: Aikido (lv. 7)”

“Otherworldly Martial Art: Karate (lv. 6)”

“Otherworldly Martial Art: Taekwondo (lv. 7)”

“Lotus Crescendus” (lv. 6)

“Ki Strengthening Technique (lv. 7)”

“Marked mate tracking (lv. 10)”

“Intermediate compounding Av. In (lv. 10)”

“Pendragon Clan Traditional Martial Arts (lv. 10)”

“Soul mana hook (lv. 2)”

*Not bad,* thought Merlin. *Not bad at all.*

Merlin was pleasantly surprised by the efficiency of the technique, in just 3 hours, the stocked soul mana obtained from hunting the crabrats had already caught up to his natural mana pool. However, that same fact made him wonder why Shin had said the efficiency was bad, when in his opinion it was quite good.

[*That is because of my existence*] said Lokiseth.

*What do you mean that it is due to your existence?* thought Merlin.

[*Well, that technique focuses on accumulating soul mana. As its name implies, the origin of the soul mana is the soul, so the efficiency of the technique varies in function of how adept an individual is to manipulate souls.*] answered Lokiseth.

*But, how is my ability to manipulate souls related to you? Isn’t everyone capable of using the technique?* thought Merlin.

[*The gods were the ones who created all souls in this realm. I am a god, and I am inside you. How do you think that might be related to your ability?*] said Lokiseth, sarcastically.

*Ok, I understand, master.* thought Merlin.

Shin: “Master. It is time to go back.”

Merlin: “What do you mean, Shin?”

Shin: “Master, we won’t be able to reach Ragnarök before dawn, if we delay our departure any more than this!”

Merlin: “You are right, Shin. Sorry, I was so focused on training the technique on the crabrats that I completely lost track of time! Thank you for reminding me!”

Shin: “I was just doing my duty, master.”

Without saying anything else, they went back to Ragnarök and Laklostia.

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Lupa, Bastet and Adelle were restless and didn’t manage to get any sleep that night. They hadn’t seen Merlin at all previous day, and the times that they went to his room, they had been received by a closed door.

Thoughts like *does he hate us now?* or *has he forgotten about us?* flooded their young minds. The thought never crossed their minds, that it could all be just a coincidence. It had actually been a series if coincidences what had happened that day.

The girls had gone to see him 3 times during the day, the first time he was talking with Shin, the second time he was meditating, and the last time he was talking with his parents and Leyla. However, the poor girls thought that he didn’t want to see them, and had ignored them.

The following morning, when they went down to have breakfast, Emelyn and Leyla were shocked by their appearances.

Emelyn: “The 3 of you have bags under your eyes… What were you 3 doing last night instead of sleeping?”

Leyla: “You 3 look horrible this morning, are you feeling sick?”

Lupa, Adelle, and Bastet didn’t have the strength to answer their questions, they dropped on their knees and started crying, just like when they had seen that Merlin had woken from the coma the previous day, which made Emelyn run upstairs to check on him.

Seeing that Merlin was ok, Emelyn went back down and found Leyla, desperately trying to calm down the girls. It took them almost an hour, but the girls grew calmer, and between sobs, they managed to explain why they cried.

Emelyn and Leyla were dumbfounded when they learned their reason. They realized it had all been just a series of unlucky coincidences, but even that being the case, it had strongly affected the little girls. Having forced the 3 girls to have breakfast, Leyla and Emelyn took them to Merlin’s bedroom and entered without knocking.

Merlin: “Wha-”

Emelyn: “Merlin, what were you doing right now”

Merlin: “Good morning, mother. I was about to start meditating.”

Emelyn: “Not anymore!”

Leyla: “Merlin, you have to pay more attention to your surroundings! These 3 are madly in love with you, and they are your fiancées, why did you ignore them all day long yesterday? Don’t you understand how bad they felt because of your actions? They thought that you either hated them, or didn’t want to be with them anymore!”

Emelyn: “Merlin, that they have been learning etiquette and stopped being all over you, doesn’t mean that their feelings have diminished in the slightest… quite the opposite, I’m afraid.”

While being lectured, Merlin recalled the events of the previous day, and realized that he really had neglected the girls. He had occupied his time starting to put into motion all those plans that he had made while being trapped inside Lokiseth’s pseudo-realm, but he had ignored the 3 girls, giving them the wrong impression that they were hated.

Emelyn: “I don’t know what it was that you had planned for this morning, but I want you to forget about it and play with the girls. The-whole-morning!”

Merlin: “I understand, mother.”

As soon as Emelyn and Leyla closed the door behind them, Merlin turned around and looked at the girls. They were fidgeting and blushing, but a wide grin was illuminating their faces. How could Merlin not understand their reaction, even more so after having been lectured by his mother and aunt?

He felt he had to make it up to them, so he decided to spend the whole morning with the 3 girls, no matter what they wanted to do.

Merlin: “So, what do you want to do? A thing that can be done in this room, please!”

During the next hour, they played tag, and showed to him their proficiency in the martial arts he had taught him, without magic, of course. However, a sleepless night wore the girls out, and after one hour of playing, they wanted to sleep.

They didn’t want to leave him, so they decided to take a nap on his bed. The girls quickly fell asleep, and Merlin was making a mischievous smile while looking at their sleeping faces.

*I wish I could spare them from the suffering and cruelty of this world, but given that 2 of them are vessels for the goddesses, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to shield them…* thought Merlin. *Argh! The 3 of them are so cute!*

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