Merlin had expressed his desire of exploring his new territory, so Emelyn would accompany him and the girls on their journey, after all they were kids and it was dangerous for them to wander around without an adult supervising them. They decided to depart two days later, and started to make the preparations. The rest of the household would move back to Laklostia, and Anthon, who had been relieved from his duties by the king, would organize an increase of the patrols at the border to avoid any possible “surprises” until Merlin (or Emelyn) fully organized the territory.

Merlin thought that the Lakium Forest was as good a first destination as any other, besides, going there would also allow them to pass through several villages and see their current situation. Two days after Merlin’s Magic Awakening Test they departed towards the Lakium Forest. There weren’t any problems on their travel, which made them arrive one day in advance to the village of Sameru. This village was similar in size to Laklostia, so it gave Merlin a sense of familiarity he hadn’t expected. He didn’t want to stand out, so he asked his mother what the plans were for their accommodation.

Merlin: Mother, where are we going to stay at tonight?

Emelyn: Well, we have to greet this village’s head and introduce you as the new appointed lord of these lands, so we’ll probably be staying at his place… Why do you ask?

Merlin: I’d rather stay at an inn that at the village’s head’s house…

Emelyn: Merlin, you are the new appointed lord of these lands! The rules of etiquette dictate that when a lord of superior rank, or the lord who owns the land visits a village, the village’s head must provide accommodation and give the proper treatment to the lord… Staying at an inn instead of making use of that privilege is highly unusual. I won’t oppose to it if that’s your decision, but I’d like to know your reason for doing so.

Merlin: Mother, I’m well aware that it’s highly unusual not to use that privilege, but I still prefer staying at an inn. Mother, I know that by my demeanor and the way I talk you forget it sometimes, but I’m a 6-year-old, and usually, people can’t stomach to be under someone younger than themselves, even more so if it’s someone of my own age. Although I very much doubt that the village’s head will try to make a move against us, I can’t say the same about the nobles who got pissed off by my appointment as an earl, so instead of an environment controlled by someone whose allegiances are unknown, I’d prefer to stay at a more “neutral” environment, at a place which can be easily defended and doesn’t give the advantages of the numbers to a possible opponent party.

Emelyn: Eh… Such a strategic view of the situation sounded like what a veteran soldier would say, not a child! Are you really my son, Merlin? And, are you really a 6-year-old? Hearing what you just said I’m starting to doubt that!

Merlin: Hahaha, yes mother, it’s me… Mother, do you remember what I told you about the place in the well, back at our home in Laklostia?

Emelyn: Yes, you told me that’s where you found the Magic Awakening Stone that you used on yourself and the girls…

Merlin: Yes, that’s correct. Well… there were also several books there, and a couple of them were about military strategy, so after reading them I started thinking more strategically…

Emelyn: Muu… I wish you hadn’t found that place!

Merlin: Why, mother? It’s a good thing I did, it has helped me and the girls to develop our abilities, and it will continue to help us in the future!

Emelyn: I know… but it’s just that you are maturing way too fast! I wanted to pamper you and enjoy being a mother again… and it’s really difficult to do so when your own son is a genius who can put most adults to shame!

Merlin was surprised, up till that moment he had thought that his mother was proud of her genius son. He never took into consideration that his acting like an adult could actually frustrate her so much!

Merlin: I’m really sorry, mother! I’ll try to act more like a child when I’m around you! Besides, I really like being pampered by you! So, until I turn 15 and officially become an adult, you can pamper me as much as you want!

Merlin said those words in a moment of tenderness, but little did he knew that he’d lament them in the future… After hearing those words, Emelyn started to cry, and when she finally calmed down, they proceeded to enter the village. After they found an inn to stay at, they went to the house of the head of the village to meet him and to learn from him the actual situation of the village. As soon as the head of the village was told about Merlin’s identity, he invited them to dinner at his house. He also wanted to offer them his guest-rooms to rest that night, but they politely declined, they said they didn’t want to impose, but the real reason was that they didn’t trust him… not after having heard Merlin’s explanation for choosing to stay at the inn.

Merlin felt that there was something strange going on in the town. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he had started getting that feeling after going sightseeing around the village, and the feeling got stronger after meeting with the village’s head. When they got to the inn after dinner, Merlin told his mother about it and was surprised to learn that it wasn’t just him, Emelyn had gotten the same bad feeling as him… but she knew what the reason for her bad feeling was: the village barely had any children, and almost every young couple in age of having them, that they had come across, had ashen faces, but they wouldn’t talk. Emelyn thought that there was something fishy going on, and wanted to investigate it, but she wasn’t able to because she had to take care of the four children.

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Merlin sneaked out in the middle of the night and went to the roof of the inn. There, he had a good view of the whole village, and decided to observe if there was any kind of suspicious activity. After a while, Merlin got bored and thought about going back inside, when he suddenly saw several hooded people acting suspiciously and getting closer to the inn. He saw them gesturing and pointing towards the room Emelyn and the girls were sleeping in, and the number 4. Merlin understood that the lack of kids in the village, added to the number 4 when pointing at a room in which 4 kids were supposed to be sleeping, couldn’t mean anything good. He went back into the room to wake up his mother and tell her everything he had seen and his conclusions about it.

Merlin: Mother, wake up!

Emelyn: Yawn! Merlin, it’s the middle of the night… you should be sleeping… did you have a nightmare?

Merlin: Mother, please! I couldn’t sleep, so I climbed up to the roof of the inn and tried to observe the scenery… and do some stargazing… but when I looked down, I discovered that several hooded people have surrounded the inn and they pointed to this room, it’s likely that they’re planning to attack us!

Emelyn: Merlin, I know that you said that you would act more like a child, but if this is a prank, it’s not funny!

Merlin: Mother, you know I’m not a pranking person… and every word I said is true!

Emelyn: Ok, tell me everything from the beginning!

Merlin then told her everything he had seen and how they seemed to be about to attack. Emelyn heard his conclusions, and she agreed with him, so she woke up the girls and started making preparations for an eventual attack. They didn’t have to wait much, 5 minutes after finishing the preparations, seven hooded men burst the door of the room open and went inside. They were surprised that, not only had their surprise attack failed, but their possible escape routes had also been blocked with an “Earth Wall”. The woman accompanying the children was a magus!

Only now did they understood why the head of the village had told them to forget about taking those kids, but in their desperation, they tried to do it anyway and had walked into a trap. Seeing the situation they had gotten themselves into, they considered their options, and decided they would take some kids as hostages and get out of there, but when they tried to move, they realized they couldn’t. Blocks of ice had trapped their feet, so they couldn’t move at all, that was Merlin’s doing, and Emelyn was pleasantly surprised by his quick thinking and fast reactions.

Emelyn started interrogating the men, and they cracked down in less than a minute, without needing any convincing. It seemed that a group of bandits had seized the village several months ago, and they had taken away the majority of the children above 3 years old, the only children who remained in the village after that were the ones who were younger, or were sick at that time. The bandits needed healthy children to work in a secret mine, so they left the sick ones alone. The only reason they had tried to kidnap Merlin and the girls, was that they wanted to take them to the bandits and exchange them for their own children.

Emelyn was at a loss of what to do with them, on one hand, as a mother, she understood that if she were in their situation and she wasn’t a magus, she’d probably have acted the same way as them. On the other hand, she couldn’t forgive them for trying to take HER children, and she didn’t plan to let them get away with it. Luckily for them, Emely prioritized the annihilation of the bandit group and the rescue of the children over the due punishment of the hooded men. Emelyn elicited from them everything they knew about the bandits: location of their base, approximate numbers, location of the secret mine and the children… 

After she was done with the information gathering, she and Merlin thought of a plan together. They would usually think of some kind on intricate plan to trick the bandits out of their base and rescue the children, but this time, that was impossible due to the geographical configuration of the place, in addition, the camping site of the bandits was located in front of the entrance of the cave, so to stealthily save the children would prove being impossible, because they’d have to go through the bandits to get to the cave and take the children out of the mine.

Given that they couldn’t make use of the darkness of the night to rescue the children without confronting the bandits, they decided to go with the next best thing: to attack as quickly and overwhelmingly as possible. Between Emelyn and Merlin’s magic, they could easily pull it off, but they still enlisted the help of the hooded men, who would be in charge of freeing the children and getting them back to the village, while Emelyn and Merlin provided a distraction and cover for the escape. Lupa, Bastet and Adelle would remain in the room of the inn, inside a high-level wind-earth double barrier, casted by Merlin and Emelyn, that way nobody would be able to do anything to the girls in their absence.

As most of the hooded men were fathers whose children had been snatched away by the bandits, they complied and promised to do everything in their power to help, even if that meant laying down their lives for the success of the operation. Emelyn was pleased to hear that, but in the end, that operation was their last chance to get back their children, so they didn’t actually have much of a choice but to participate in the operation and hope for the best!

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