When the sun rose, the swamp designated as the Forbidden Area exhaled white mist as usual.
But today was different.
The tranquil swamp suddenly split open, revealing a narrow, clean passage.
Merlin, dressed in a dark-blue robe and holding a staff, slowly stepped out. He casually tapped the ground with his staff, and as he advanced, the clean, soft earth rose on its own, forming tier after tier of stairs.
Only after Merlin had completely left the swamp did it close again, the swamp parts that had parted like living things sliding back together. The temporarily constructed steps also dispersed, collapsing back into a mass of mud.
"...That Jacob really knows how to cause me trouble."
Merlin sighed as he reached up and adjusted his monocle.
That was what he said, but he did not look unhappy in the slightest at being troubled by someone. On the contrary, he looked energetic and full of enthusiasm.
He had already borrowed a door from the Fairy Kingdom yesterday and arrived at Jacob's workshop.
Just as he had expected, Jacob had indeed placed his ritual workshop at the bottom of the swamp.
More precisely, it was between the bottom of the swamp and the Fairy Kingdom. It existed neither in the Fairy Kingdom nor in the Material Realm... but inside the Fairy Hole.
Of course, Jacob had not discovered this place.
That was because this "secret chamber" had been dug out by Merlin himself back then.
A large-scale ritual had to keep operating for hundreds of years once it was created. If it were placed in the Material Realm, setting aside the possibility of corrosion and weathering, no matter how tightly it was guarded, there would always be a chance that someone might discover it, damage it, or tamper with it.
And he