Territory (Part 1)

[Still working hard on writing Chapter 3... Please give me some votes for encouragement!]

Merlin sat in Moss's carriage, leaning slightly to the side and remaining completely motionless as the carriage bounced along. He was meditating; this type of Mental Meditation Method did not require any harsh conditions and could be practiced anytime, anywhere.

Right now, if Merlin wanted to construct a second spell model within his Sea of Consciousness as quickly as possible, he had to strengthen his Mental Power, and meditation was currently the only way to increase it.

"Young Master Merlin, we've arrived."

Moss's voice rang out softly. Merlin immediately opened his eyes, lifted the carriage curtain, and jumped down.

This was already the third consecutive day that Merlin had come to take etiquette classes. Over these past three days, Jia had vanished without a trace, which was already beginning to arouse some people's suspicions.

Therefore, Merlin needed to pay even closer attention to everyone's reactions.

Just as he walked into the second-floor room, he saw little fatty Gute sitting in front of an organ with his two fat hands resting on the keys, currently playing a tune.

Although Merlin knew very little about music, the music Gute played was unlistenable even to him. This wasn't music at all, but rather a colossal noise.

With the little fatty's ten fingers, completely stuffed with fat, they were just like thick wooden sticks—how could they possibly be cut out for playing music?

Today was the music lesson, and there were several other people in the room who simply couldn't stand Gute's agonizing noise, so they roared and chased Gute away from the organ.

Little fatty Gute didn't mind at all. Seeing Merlin walk in, he happily came over to Merlin's side, slung one arm over Merlin's shoulder, and said casually, "Merlin, you've been arriving here so punctually these past few days. Hehe, this doesn't look like your style at all; could it be that you're waiting for Jia?"

Little fatty Gute wore a knowing grin and even winked repeatedly at Merlin.

Merlin was already used to Gute's joking manner and didn't mind it, instead asking in a low voice, "By the way, Gute, you're well-informed. Do you have any idea why Teacher Jia hasn't come these past few days?"

Gute shook his head and said, "Who knows? Jia's background is mysterious, and she was only hired temporarily. Not even a soul knows where she lives, let alone any news about her. I heard that a candidate for the new history teacher has already been chosen and will come to class tomorrow. Hehe, who knows, maybe they'll be even more charming and alluring than Jia!"

Merlin didn't reply, but a huge weight lifted from his heart. Jia was sent by the Black Moon Kingdom, so her identity naturally had to be kept secret and would never be tracked down by anyone.

Yet because of this, now that she had vanished, conversely no one would be able to investigate the cause. For Merlin, this could be considered extremely fortunate. Once the new history teacher took office, who would even remember Jia anymore?

"Merlin, you should be a bit careful of Tilafa lately. Ever since he failed to invite Jia to attend his birthday banquet that day, he hasn't been back here once, and lately he's been acting all mysterious, god knows what he's up to."

Gute kindly reminded Merlin.

"I'll watch out."

Merlin nodded, but inwardly he didn't care much. Right now, what he cared about most was his Mental Power and when he would reach the point of constructing a second spell model.

*****

Returning to Wilson Castle, Merlin prepared to go back to his room to meditate. Aside from eating and sleeping, he now used almost all his time to meditate and increase his Mental Power.

Meditation still required consciousness; therefore, once he fell asleep, in an unconscious state, it was impossible to achieve any meditative effect. Meditation required a state of neither existence nor non-existence in order to make Mental Power grow slowly.

Consequently, Merlin could not meditate while sleeping. Otherwise, those eight hours of sleep could all be used for meditation, and his Mental Power would grow even faster.

At that moment, however, the butler hurried up to greet him and said softly to Merlin, "Young Master Merlin, there are two knights from the City Defense Corps outside, saying they have come on the City Lord's orders to see the Baron."

"Knights from the City Defense Corps?"

Merlin frowned. He currently held no good impression of the City Defense Corps's knights either; the last time they came, they had taken him away and sent him to the Church's Guardian Swordsmen to undergo questioning, even facing the extremely dangerous Mage Jason. Fortunately, Mage Jason hadn't discovered any abnormalities, and he had escaped that calamity.

"Let them all in."

Merlin said calmly. Although he was dissatisfied with these City Defense Corps knights, the other party was sent by the City Lord, so he couldn't refuse to see them. After all, within Blackwater City, the City Lord still held the greatest authority.

Soon, two tall knights clad in silver-white light armor arrived in the grand hall. After the butler introduced Merlin's identity to them, they both bowed slightly in salute, and then spoke respectfully: "Young Master Merlin, we have come on the orders of Lord City Lord to inform Baron Wilson that he is to come to the City Lord's Manor three days from now to discuss with all the nobles of Blackwater City the joint matter of dealing with the bandits."

So it was a matter of dealing with bandits. Merlin had also heard that a large force of bandits had suddenly appeared in the vicinity of Blackwater City, continuously harassing some of the small towns around it. Even when the City Defense Corps was dispatched, they were unable to wipe out these bandits, and Old Wilson seemed to have run into a small band of bandits this time while going to his territory to collect taxes, even going so far as to send Commander Pula back to dispatch Heavy Armored Knights.

The emergence of bandits already posed a certain threat to Blackwater City, which was why the City Lord was sparing no effort to mobilize all the nobles of Blackwater City to unite and deal with those bandits.

"Alright, I understand. I will be sure to inform my father as soon as possible."

Merlin waved his hand and had the butler escort the two City Defense Corps knights out.

A short while later, after seeing the two knights out, the butler returned to the grand hall and said to Merlin, "Young Master Merlin, I will immediately send someone to notify the Baron."

Merlin, however, waved his hand and said in a calm tone, "There's no need. This time, I will go to the territory to inform Father in person."

"Young Master Merlin, the areas surrounding Blackwater City are not safe right now."

The butler hastily tried to dissuade him, as he certainly didn't want Merlin to run into bandits halfway and meet an untimely death.

"You can dispatch more knights to escort us. Although Father's Heavy Armored Knights are gone from the castle, as for the other knights, having a few dozen follow me won't cause any problems. Alright, that settles it; I'm setting out early tomorrow morning."

Merlin spoke in an unquestionable tone. The reason he was so firm was actually just to use this opportunity to go and see the places outside Blackwater City. Ever since coming to this world, aside from Blackwater City, Merlin had never been anywhere else.

How could he possibly miss such a great opportunity this time?

"Young Master, I will go and make preparations right away."

Seeing that he could not dissuade Merlin, the butler had no choice but to go off and make preparations. After all, Merlin's safety was paramount; even without the strength of the Heavy Armored Knights, Merlin's guard force must by no means be weak, so merely selecting the escorting knights would require some time.