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Chapter 31 - Returning home

Merlin: “Duke Risme, duchess… Please allow me to introduce to you Mandy Zircon, the last surviving member of the Zircon family. I would like to request of you to take care of her while I am away, making some necessary preparations for seizing the throne two years from now.”

Merlin’s words had left them speechless, they didn’t doubt the information since it was Merlin the one who had told them so, but they had been sure of the Zircon family complete eradication, yet now, Merlin appeared and out of the blue he had introduced to them the last surviving member of the Zircon family… They couldn’t help but being surprised and think *How many secrets does this so called “Council of ten” organization have? To keep a member of the Zircon family safe despite the efforts of the King to thoroughly eliminate the members of the family aside from the one he was interested in... their network must be quite impressive if they were able to pull that off!* Duke Risme was the first one to recover from the shock.

D. Risme: “Nice to meet you, little Lady! Welcome to our humble abode, I’m sorry for your loss!”

Mandy: “Likewise, I too am sorry for yours, Mer- this member of the ‘Council of ten’ told me about your daughter… I don’t hope to replace her, but please take care of me!”

Mandy almost had a slip of the tongue when talking to the duke. Merlin had warned her not to call him by his name in the presence of others, and the moment she let her attention wander, she almost did what she had been banned from.

Duchess: “Well, Mandy, was it? Nice to meet you! Don’t worry, I know how difficult it is for a girl to live alone in this harsh world of ours, even more so in the case of a little girl like you! So you are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you need!”

Mandy: “Thank you very much!”

Merlin: “Well, this going better than I had originally expected! I’d like for you to adopt her into your family, as your daughter.”

D. Risme: “Ok, but why? What reason could you possibly have for wanting us to officially adopt her?”

Merlin: “For starters, I can’t have her by my side, it would be very dangerous for her, so she needs a place to stay. Then there is the thing of the King wanting to eradicate her whole family, if he were to learn that she is alive, she would be doomed, so she needs a new family name, and yours is as good as any. Lastly, You two are the only ones outside of my organization I can trust in Klausna Kingdom enough to ask this favor of!”

D. Risme: “Ok, I understand now, we’ll take her in! But, won’t people think it is strange that we are adopting a girl similar in age to our own late daughter, just a few days after she was murdered?”

Duchess: “It would be strange, indeed!”

Merlin: “No worries there! It would be even stranger if you were to wait more to do so! Duke Risme, right now, you could use the cover story of your wife grieving so much over the death of your daughter that she is on the verge of a mental breakdown! In order to avoid that, you decided to adopt an orphan girl to replace your lost daughter and have your wife occupy her mind with her. Mandy had her features altered by magic, and no one aside from me can dispel the magic I used, so there is no problem with her being introduced to this kingdom’s high society, no one would be able to recognize her!”

D. Risme: “Ok, now that that matter is settled… How was it, were you able to deal with the crown Prince?”

Merlin: “Let’s just say, that I caught him about to repeat his sin with a young slave, and he got so mad at me for interrupting him that he lost his head! Hahaha!”

Merlin understood, in the way they were looking at him, that they hadn’t gotten his joke. He approached the sofa where the duke was sitting and started whispering something into his ear. Mandy and the duchess were at a loss, they didn’t know what it was that Merlin was whispering to the duke, but his complexion visibly worsened by the second as Merlin continued whispering. When Merlin finished explaining in detail his trip to the Palace to the duke, he returned to his seat. Mandy and the duchess were wondering what it was that Merlin had told the duke, but the duke’s following words made them understand it was better for them not to ask!

D. Risme: “Please remind me to never offend you or your organization!”

Duchess: “What is that supposed to mean, Rick?” *What could have that dwarf possibly told my husband to scare him to the point of saying those words?*

D. Risme: “Oh, it’s nothing, dear. He just explained to me that when he said the crown Prince had ‘lost his head’, he meant it quite literally, that’s all!”

Duchess: “If that’s the case, then all it’s good! Our Amanda will finally be able to rest in peace! Well, there is still the King, but he’ll lose his head two years from now, so for the time being we have avenged our daughter’s death! Thank you very much, mister!” *At the beginning I thought he was just bluffing, but now I understand he and his organization are the real deal! That bastard of a King has always done as he pleased in this kingdom, even when he was a prince! He originally had 5 brothers, 3 older than him and 2 younger, but they all died in mysterious circumstances before the current King obtained the throne, and there was no conclusive evidence that he was behind those deaths, so the previous King gave him the throne without worries… But living a life of offending people without having to face the consequences makes you get carried away and ending up offending someone you shouldn’t… And this “Council of ten” organization doesn’t look like is one to joke around when settling debts with those who offend them!*

Oblivious to the thoughts that were running rampant in the mind of the duchess, Merlin had given Mandy an enchanted ring, and had taken out two magic scrolls which he then gave to both Mandy and the duke, as he told them, those were 1-time-use items, only for an emergency that required the immediate presence of someone of the council. The function of those magic scrolls was simple, they only had to write their message and then burn the scroll, as soon as the scroll was destroyed, the 10 head figures of the “Council of ten” would receive a telepathic message, its content being what had been written on the magic scroll.

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Merlin did it that way because he had a bad feeling about the power boost, he had tried not to think about it, but the closer he was to depleting the remnants of the power boost in his body, the more convinced he was that the power he had received didn’t come without a price. It was just a feeling, but it was a strong one, and Merlin trusted his instincts, which is why he had made the scrolls in such a way, so that if he was temporarily rendered unable to take action in a time of need, someone of his “Council of ten” would! After saying his farewells, Merlin took out the teleporting crystal and vanished in front of the three.

As soon as Merlin materialized in Laklostia, he hurriedly returned to his room through the window. He could have teleported back directly into his room, but his mother’s sensibility to magic fluctuations was a problem, and if she woke up, he would have a lot of explaining to do, so in order to avoid that, he teleported back to the village and then sneaked back into his room. Before anything else, he unlocked the door of the room and changed back into his normal clothes. Then, he opened a drawer and took out two parchments, a bottle of ink, and a quill.

He was being cautious, but he had a feeling that it would be good to leave written instructions, just in case something happened to him, therefore, he prepared to write 2 letters, 1 for his parents, and 1 for any member of the council who might come across it, namely Argenta, who was always by Emelyn’s side. Merlin pondered for a while about how much information he should give on the letters, he ended up deciding that the least possible for his mother, and as much as possible for the one to the “Council of ten”. He started with the letter addressed to his mother.

[Dear mother,

When fighting against the assassins earlier, I overdrafted my mana and I ignore what consequences that might have on my body in the future. If you are reading this letter, then it is highly likely that something has happened to me. Don’t worry, whatever situation I’m currently in, I will overcome it and return back to you! 

Make sure that Lupa, Bastet and Adelle train diligently every day, both in magic and martial arts. Please have father test their talent for swordsmanship, if they have any, please let him train them, they will need it in the future! Also, please don’t overwork yourself with the management of the city, it is ok to delegate sometimes. You are pregnant and should take care of your health!

Love, Merlin.]

When Merlin finished writing the letter, he sprinkled sand over it to dry the ink, and set the letter aside. Next, he took the other parchment and started writing a letter with his instructions for the members of the “Council of ten”.

[To the members of the “Council of ten”, here you have some information of interest and your instructions in case something happens to me and I am temporarily unavailable to direct you:

Knowing that this previously ownerless territory on the border with Klaus Kingdom had suddenly been bestowed to a noble, me, Klausna’s King sent some assassins to take my head, and in the process of eliminating them, they killed the maid at my house. 

Obviously, that being the case I had to act, so I went to the capital of Klausna Kingdom, executed their crown Prince as payback for the death of my maid, and left a warning to the King on the behalf of our organization. I also recruited a new member for our organization while I was there, she will be staying in the capital and inform us if there is any serious development regarding the situation with the King and our organization. 

Our only allies in that Kingdom are Duke Risme, his wife, and his daughter Mandy, our new member. Please, don’t make trouble for them if your investigations take you there!

Instructions for the future:

- Vania and Janus, continue investigating the illegal slave-dealing business, once you have discovered the full extent of their organization, kill the ones in charge, free the slaves, and after checking their identities, bring those who are willing to Ragnarök. I’ll leave a blood contracting stone, the red one, on the first drawer of my desk, you all know what to do with it!

- Argenta, continue protecting my mother as you have till now.

- Mina, continue training with the shinobi your hand-to-hand combat, I’ll check your progress in the future.

- Sokar, continue training the blacksmiths.

- Shin, Aimi, Akemi, and Sayori, You four continue training by yourselves and training Mina. If you find anyone suitable among the freed slaves, you can recruit them, but only after they have signed a blood contract, we don’t want rogues spreading your martial arts around! For that purpose, I’ll leave a blood contracting stone in the second drawer of my desk, the orange one with green patterns.

Please take care, everyone!

Merlin Pendragon ]

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