The following day, the group was in a strange mood. Merlin and Camille didn’t speak much, and Will’s anger and embarrassment didn’t exactly help the situation. He couldn’t blame anyone but himself, though. Will had asked Merlin earlier in the morning about the method to summon out the soul weapons, but he got angry when he learned that he had just to will in his mind the words “weapon manifestation” to get them out. 

His anger was due mostly to his own embarrassment, and although it was directed to himself and not to Camille or Merlin, it still affected the overall mood of the group. Camille noticed the changes in Will’s mood, however, she had nothing else to say after the talk she had with her brother the previous night, so she didn’t take any further action.

Merlin, who was unaware of Will’s change of heart after his talk with Camille the previous night, simply believed Will’s current mood to be on the line of his previous childish behavior. He stopped paying any attention to him, and focused solely on making sure they didn’t deviate from the correct path toward their destination. 

They barely spoke during the following week, with the exception of some occasional chatter when setting up the camp at night, or when they had to take breaks in order to let their horses get some rest. In the meantime, Merlin’s personality had reverted to what it once was back when he was on Earth: introverted and barely able to communicate with other beings. 

Maybe it was because of that, that he failed to notice they were being followed by a group of fairies. They didn’t plan on interfering with Merlin’s group under any circumstances, but that didn’t stop them from chasing after Merlin’s group. It was no longer due to the orders from their queen, but their own desire. 

Fairies were a playful race, and if something caught their interest, they wouldn’t let go of it until they grew bored of it. They should have reported back when they found Merlin, but they recognized the witch weapons, and saw him carve the symbols in them, making them into soul weapons. 

Their surprise when they witnessed that, couldn’t be described with words. A group of a human magus, whose level of inscriptions were well above a master enchanter, and who even possessed the royal blood of the fairies, coupled with two survivors of the witch bloodline… Just, how entertaining was that? 

In a world where the entertainment industry was limited to theatrical plays and books, the fairies were bored out of their minds, which usually led to them making mischief for other people, simply to relieve their boredom. Now that they had discovered some interesting “toys”, they didn’t want to share the fun with their fellow fairies, and decided to keep on watching Merlin’s group without reporting back, for the time being.

Merlin, of course, was unaware of all that. Fairies were a special kind of spirit, they existed in multiple dimensions at the same time. That made tracking them specially difficult, even for a god. Existing in multiple dimensions at the same time gave them the ability to shift dimensions for a short while, that meant they had a life-saving ability which could even allow them to avoid capture.

Unfortunately, there exists a balance in the world, and for every world-shaking ability, there is something which can counter it. In the case of the fairies, a special kind of mana infused metal alloy cancels out their dimensional-shift ability, which is why they were successfully captured from time to time, and sold to rich nobles as pets.

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Merlin, Camille and Will were about to set camp in the forest, when a cliché situation took place again.

???: “Give us your money or your lives!”

???: “Hey, boss, look! That chick is not bad! She is quite beautiful!”

Merlin’s heart sank when he heard that comment. It was bad enough that as he was growing drowsy, he had neglected the vigilance of the perimeter, and twenty bandits had encircled them. However, what made it worse, was that they had set their sights on Camille, and unlike any other bandit group Merlin had crossed so far, they had 3 capable magi among their ranks.

The pump of adrenaline generated by their predicament took away Merlin’s drowsiness, and he started to think of ways to get rid of the bandits. The first thing to do was to get rid of the magi among the bandits, but the spells he would usually use to get rid of them, were either too powerful to be used by Merlin in his current state, or they couldn’t be used in a forest without risking setting it ablaze.

Merlin cursed his luck when thinking about it. He had learned a spell from Avalon’s inheritance, which would render an enemy magus temporarily unable to use magic, unfortunately, his current mana capacity wasn’t enough to cast the spell even once, much less thrice. 

He put those bitter thoughts to the back of his mind, and looked at Camille and Will. Merlin was surprised by what he discovered in their eyes: determination, and will to battle. In Merlin’s opinion, the two were too soft, but now they were starting to show signs of getting stronger, or more exactly, they were starting to take the proper path to ensure their own survival.

Reassured by the attitude of the siblings, Merlin started to think of way to regain control over the flow of the battle that was about to occur. Given their disadvantageous situation of the trio, Merlin decided that his best course of action was to taunt their opponents and made them mad, mad enough to attack recklessly, which would result in flaws in their attacks, flaws that Merlin and the other two could exploit and gain an advantage over the bandits.

Bandit boss: “My brother is right, that chick is of good quality… tell you what, guys, if you hand over all of your money and possessions, as well as the girl, we will let you go unharmed, we’ll even allow you to keep the horses. The other choice is you two dying and we will be taking the girl and everything you have afterward!”

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Merlin: “I have a question, though. I understand you wanting our money, but what use would you have for this girl?”

Hearing his question, the bandits started to laugh loudly. They looked at Merlin in a new light, they thought he was just an ignorant boy who didn’t know anything about the matters between men and women, which made them unconsciously belittle him and underestimate his ability to deal with them.

B. Boss: “Hahaha, truly hilarious. To think a young boy like you is so wet behind his ears that he wouldn’t know the use of a woman… Why don’t you bring the girl over here? I’ll show you the practical use a woman has for men… Hahaha.”

Merlin: “No, thanks. I don’t feel like having nightmares for a whole year! Besides, I don’t think you understood what I meant by not knowing what use you would have for her… I mean, do you really think you would be able to satisfy her with your dull and half-broken swords? Oh, sorry, swords is indeed an exaggeration. I meant, with your dull and half-broken little knives?” 

His words worked like a charm, the bandits instantly had a hideous expression in their faces, whereas Camille was furiously blushing. She had recalled that night, back in the manor, when she had planned to seduce Merlin, only to get cold feet in the end. She couldn’t help but having a little speck of expectations for the future, after all, she was adventuring with Merlin, and anything could happen.

B. Boss: “You bastard! I’ll teach you a lesson!”

All the bandits charged at Merlin, trying to hit him. Even the magi were so mad at him, that they momentarily forgot about being able to cast magic, and run toward Merlin, trying to get a punch at him. Merlin was surprised at how well his taunt had worked, it had worked even a little too well. 

He had originally planned to take care of the six or seven bandits that would lose their cool by the taunt and attack him, but he certainly didn’t expect all of them to come attack him simultaneously. A little overwhelmed by the wave tactic used by the bandits in their anger, Merlin told his companions to fall back, and then pulled all the aggro of the bandits, fighting alone against them.

Camille and Will wanted to help Merlin, but they understood that in that kind of situation, they would be a hindrance instead of a help. Instead of focusing all of his attention on his fight with the bandits, Merlin would have to be worried not to hit them by mistake, and that would put him in a dangerous position. 

The siblings didn’t want that to happen, so they had obediently fallen back as Merlin had asked them. When the bandits had surrounded them in the beginning, there was no way for Merlin and the others to escape, a wall of humans and trees wouldn’t allow them to do so. 

Nevertheless, when the bandits fell for Merlin’s taunt, and rushed toward him, many places appeared where they could slip through to scape. When Merlin told the siblings to fall back, they were surprised and thought “Where are we supposed to fall back? We are surrounded!” but they understood soon after.

Not having to worry about the siblings, and with all the bandits attacking him at the same time, Merlin found himself in an advantageous position, for everywhere he hit or slashed would be an enemy. While evading the punches and stab attempts of the bandits, Merlin managed to get to one of the enemy magi, and stab the dagger on his right hand through the heart of the magus. 

Before the bandits could react to the death of their comrade, Merlin made his way to one of the wo remaining magi. Merlin couldn’t kill him in one hit like the other one, due to the action s of the other bandits, but he still managed to stab him twice, once on his abdomen and once on his tight. It wasn’t lethal, but it was painful enough to deter the magus from casting any spell before the end of the battle.

The third magus was smarter than his comrades. Having seen that Merlin was targeting the magi first, he back down and retreated a few steps, making Merlin unable to attack him unless he defeated the other bandits first. Merlin regretted not having been fast enough to injury or finish off that magus, but he still hadn’t lost his advantage. 

The situation was so messy, that the magus would be unable to target him with a spell without risking harm to his own comrades. Merlin’s only concern at that time was the possibility of the magus changing his target to the siblings. The only thing Merlin could do at that moment was to end the battle as quickly as possible and head over to help the siblings.

The bandits looked at Merlin in disbelief, they had thought the trio were easy targets, but a crouching tiger had turned out to be among them. They stayed still for a second after the third magus had to retreat, but Merlin’s next words woke them up and made them attack even more ferociously than they had previously done.

Merlin: “Ah? And here I thought you were tough guys… In the end, you have turned out to be just a bunch of weaklings! Did you mammas not breastfed you enough when you were born? Well, you have attacked me, so it is too late even if you regret it now! I’ll send all of you to the yellow springs!”

B. Boss: “What are you waiting for, brothers? Don’t let his words confuse you! Attack!” *What the heck were those ‘yellow springs’ he was talking about?*

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