"Finally meet me?" Matthew asked, not understanding how Merlin knew who he was.

"Your parents have told me about you, that's why I'm here," Merlin revealed, leaving Matthew even more confused.

"Why would his parents talk about him to this old man who smells like cheap coffee?" was what Matthew was thinking at that very moment.

"The coffee I drink isn't cheap… and if it were, there's nothing wrong with it. In fact, I think it's very foolish to pay more for a product that fulfills exactly the same purpose just because of the brand name." Merlin tried to justify himself quickly.

Before Merlin could continue speaking, a silhouette appeared between them, quickly approaching Matthew who was now sitting on the grass in the yard.

"Matthew, are you okay!?" asked Gerald, Matthew's father.

Gerald was a tall, burly man, around 2 meters tall. He had blue eyes and black hair, as well as a short beard. He wore a smart black suit with a golden eagle embroidered on the left side of his shirt. He was clearly dressed for the banquet Matthew was supposed to attend.

"Dad, I… I'm fine, that homeless wizard helped me. He calls himself Merlin," Matthew quickly replied.

"I'm not homeless!" Merlin replied offended.

Gerald looked at Merlin and gave him a grateful nod, which Merlin responded with another nod. Gerald helped Matthew to his feet and then checked again to make sure he was okay, then looked at the house noticing a light crystalline cloth on it, it was an illusion spell.

Merlin looked at the house as well, a bit of worry and regret could be seen on his face, even though he could easily get rid of the spell he decided to leave it intact so Gerald could see and examine it.

"Did they put it there?" Gerald asked incredulously.

"*sigh* I'm afraid they did" Merlin confirmed "They've been getting smarter over the last 50 years…"

Matthew looked at the thin cloth over the house quickly understanding why no one had come to help him since the start of the fight, but then he quickly noticed something strange, all the creatures were dead but the spell didn't fade in the slightest.

"Is it normal for an illusion spell to last so long even after the death of the person who cast it?" Matthew asked.

"Not in normal cases, young Matthew. This is not a normal spell like the one we use," Merlin revealed. "This is a special spell, created by the corrupted, the creatures that attacked you. It was made in order to remain active even after the death of its caster."

Gerald extended his hand towards the cloth and it instantly disappeared.

"That doesn't matter... the corrupted managed to enter the blessed land somehow. When I felt them wandering around here a few days ago I didn't want to believe it, but it seems it's true... he's coming back," Gerald said.

Gerald looked at Matthew again, this time his gaze showed something more than concern, it was almost as if he were apologizing.

Gerald shook Matthew's hair and ordered him to go prepare for the banquet, there was still an hour before it started. While Matthew was getting ready, Gerald and Merlin talked and examined the body of the corrupted man whose neck Matthew had broken.

"In one go... almost as if it had been made of paper" Merlin examined the corrupted man's neck noting Matthew's great physical strength to break his neck almost effortlessly. "Now I'm not surprised that he was able to survive the attack of the second class corrupted man"

"He learned well. They weren't going to show him mercy, he doesn't have to either" Gerald said with a proud tone seeing the other 3 corrupted men completely charred.

Merlin watched the scene fascinated, he quickly realized that Matthew had used two spells together to enhance the attack.

"I thought you only focused on enhancing magic, when did you teach him this?" Merlin asked remembering that the way Gerald fights was based only on the sword and not on magic itself.

"I didn't, he learned it on his own. I think he just winged it" Gerald said, although he had seen Matthew use spells several times to fight he didn't remember seeing him use two spells at the same time.

Merlin nodded in amazement, according to what Gerald told him, Matthew was barely 12 years old but he could already use 2 spells at the same time, normally only wizards over 15 could achieve such a feat.

"Young Matthew has great potential... and power"

Merlin stated as he felt Matthew's magical power on the second floor. His carrier magic was very strong for his age and natural magic seemed to constantly dance around him, ready to follow his commands.

"If he has it..." Gerald confirmed.

Ever since Matthew was able to manifest magic he had shown great talent for both spells and hand-to-hand combat, in fact many members of the Blackcrow family had already taken for granted that Matthew would become the next head of the family.

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A few minutes later heels were heard approaching quickly from the street, it was Beatrice Blackcrow, Gerald's wife and Matthew's mother. Beatrice was a simple civilian who could not use magic, she was a beautiful woman, her hair was black and wavy which matched her black eyes, she wore a dark red dress with black flower embroidery and on the left side of her chest she wore a golden eagle next to a black crow.

Beatrice had come to pick up a gift she had forgotten and to make sure Matthew was dressed properly, but she found herself in a totally unexpected situation. The living room of her house was completely burned, her table was destroyed and on the floor there were 4 horrible dead creatures. Beatrice quickly recognized the creatures, as she had seen them once 13 years ago, when her husband had traveled to the land of ash to end the tyranny of Orwena Goldfire.

Beatrice's heart began to beat strongly and her lips began to tremble, she looked at Gerald and Merlin in the middle of it all and with her words halfway she spoke to Gerald.

"Please tell me it's you" Beatrice said, her tears threatening to come out. "Please!"

Gerald only limited himself to shaking his head with a little pity and hugging her.

"No, please no... don't let him take Matthew!" Beatrice begged crying in Gerald's arms "Why? I did everything to prevent this from happening, in the house there is not a single book of other races and even less of damnatus, then why was the curse broken!!"

Merlin only heard Beatrice's cries while Gerald comforted her, this was the hardest part of his job. He had never liked having to separate families even though he knew it was for the good of everyone.

Gerald looked at Merlin making him sigh in resignation "I suppose we can wait until tomorrow to leave" said Merlin

"I did everything they recommended me to so this wouldn't happen, why did it end like this!!?" Beatrice asked still crying.

Merlin listened to the question, considering whether or not to tell them the real reason why Matthew broke the curse of hatred, after a few seconds he decided that he had no reason to hide the answer.

"It was because of Fiegnis, the dragon that was brought to the city" Merlin answered "at some point Fiegnis and Matthew met and talked, according to Fiegnis Matthew already had his doubts about the treatment of other races before they met, probably his doubts were generated in history classes at his school which was weakening the curse little by little and when Fiegnis and Matthew talked the curse was broken completely"

In that moment, Gerald realized that the dragon had escaped just the same day that Matthew's class group visited the dragon. Beatrice also remembered Matthew's class trip, she never thought that just one day would be enough to ruin all her effort.

A few minutes later Matthew came down already changed, Beatrice had already calmed down and cleaned her smudged makeup. She was wearing a black suit similar to her father's with the only difference being that it didn't have a golden eagle embroidered on it but a black raven.

"Oh, mom, what are you doing here? Did you forget something?" Matthew asked.

"Uh... yes. A gift for your grandmother" Beatrice said distractedly but she could notice some slight bruises on Matthew's face, this worried her more. "Oh, my boy, look how those vermin left you" she said holding Matthew's face.

"It's nothing, father has left me with worse wounds, like that time he broke my arm" Matthew said without worrying about his wounds.

Behind Beatrice was Gerald nervously telling her to stop talking, Beatrice still hadn't completely forgiven him for breaking Matthew's arm just before the family photo. Beatrice gave Gerald a quick glance indicating that they would talk about this again.

"Oh, the homeless wizard is Merlin, but I guess dad already introduced you to him" Matthew said introducing Merlin trying to divert the topic.

'I'm not homeless' Merlin thought irritated.

"Yes he already did"

Gerald led everyone out while calling some people through a communicator he had as a bracelet, after he finished speaking he took everyone to the banquet as if nothing had happened.

'The homeless man is sneaking into the banquet' Matthew thought as he saw Merlin accompanying them to the banquet.

Merlin raised his staff giving Matthew a hit on the head "I already told you I'm not homeless"

"Of course… you are just a person of limited resources" Matthew answered trying to calm Merlin's anger.

Merlin, hearing Matthew's answer, did not know what to answer, he did not need money at all so he never carries money with him, in other words he was a person of limited resources.

"That's enough Matthew, I told you not to make fun of beggars" Beatrice insulted Merlin directly.

The 4 of them quickly arrived at a huge mansion, the guests were still arriving which meant that they were not late. The mansion was decorated with large canvases with a black crow painted on them. After walking for a few minutes in the huge mansion, they arrived at a large room where there were 3 long tables, positioned vertically one next to the other and carefully decorated, at the back there was a fourth table placed horizontally, this table was much more decorated than the others making it easily shine.

In the middle of the fourth table was an elderly man, although not as old as Merlin. He had a short, gray beard and barely any hair on his head. He was wearing a dark blue suit, which, from the way the man acted, seemed to make him very uncomfortable.

The man saw them arrive and immediately stood up, pointing at Merlin.

"Who let the vagabond in?" the man asked.

"Geron Blackcrow!!" Merlin exclaimed indignantly, seeing the man.

Geron burst out laughing and walked quickly towards Merlin, giving him a big hug. Apparently they were old friends.

'The homeless man not only knows my parents, he also knows my grandparents' thought Matthew surprised.

"Matthew, in a few moments when we sit down have your grandmother come talk to me, there is something important I need to discuss with her" Gerald asked Matthew.

"Of course, I will make sure she goes that way for you" Matthew responded politely.

Geron led them to the fourth table while he spoke animatedly with Merlin. Matthew sat right next to his grandmother, Merely Blackcrow, who looked at him surprised and confused by the bruises Matthew had.

"Boy, what happened to you?" Merely asked.

"Father woke up in a bad mood" Matthew lied.

Merely turned to see Gerald who greeted her from the other side of the table without knowing what was happening. Merely stood up giving Matthew a kiss on the head and saying "I'll be back in a moment" Matthew watched with a smile as his grandmother lifted his father up pulling him by the ear and took him to another room.

"Father ordered me to make my grandmother go to him and I just follow orders" Matthew said to himself and then waited for the food to arrive 'the only good thing about these meetings is the food… and the games where grandpa gives us money, I have never lost a game'.