The Ring

The ring was finally found by Merlin in an inconspicuous corner of his writing desk. Having been given the ring by old Aita back then, Merlin had thought nothing of it and simply tossed it onto the desk at random.

Merlin picked up the ring, gently wiping the dust off its surface.

The ring remained pitch-black, and held in the palm, it seemed to emit an icy chill. Although Merlin had previously thought nothing of this bizarre ring, now that he knew old Aita's true identity, the ring certainly could not be that simple.

Merlin carefully recalled every action of old Aita when he had gifted him the ring. Back then, old Aita's face was pale and his expression quite exhausted, and who knew what he had been off doing.

Could Teacher Aita have sensed danger coming even back then?

The more Merlin thought about it, the more suspicious it felt. Otherwise, old Aita would not have suddenly given him this ring for no reason.

A ferocious and terrifying monster was carved onto the ring. Merlin gently stroked every part of the ring with his finger, yet discovered no anomalies whatsoever.

Thus, Merlin held the ring before his eyes, staring intently at every single inch of it to see if there were any text-based hints or the like on it.

Yet just as he concentrated all his attention on the ring, a wave of trance washed over him, and it seemed as though his surroundings suddenly plunged into darkness.

Just as panic gripped Merlin's heart, he had a peculiar sensation. It seemed this darkness could not block his senses at all, and he could clearly "see" everything around him.

This was a ten-square-meter space, pitch-black all around and appearing extremely vast. Merlin only saw a book with a black cover resting quietly in the space, looking exceptionally striking within this vast emptiness.

A space?

A trace of doubt flashed through Merlin's heart, and instantly he snapped completely awake. He was slightly dazed, looking around to find that he was still sitting in the wooden chair, holding the ring in his hand, as if everything a moment ago had merely been an illusion.

No, it shouldn't be an illusion.

Merlin pondered for a moment. He could clearly recall everything he had seen in that dark space just now, and he believed it was definitely not an illusion.

Thus, he once again focused his mind and stared at the ring. After a while, just as before, he arrived once more in a dark space.

It seems this ring contains a space within it.

Merlin thought silently to himself. Old Aita had given him the ring, so he must have left something behind for him, and Merlin also wanted to see just what old Aita had left.

The space inside the ring was very empty, holding only a book with a black cover. Without a doubt, old Aita had left behind this very book.

Therefore, Merlin tried wishing in his heart for the book to be taken out. This method was very effective; the black-covered book vanished in the blink of an eye, and when Merlin recovered his senses, he found that the black-covered book had already appeared on the writing desk.

The black-covered book was very thick, and was consequently divided into several sections, bound together with black thread.

Merlin gently flipped open one of the pages, only to see it covered in all sorts of bizarre patterns that looked somewhat similar to some of the mathematical models from his past life.

Beneath these patterns, dense rows of writing were also jotted down. These characters were in the Morta script, and the handwriting was familiar—it was old Aita's handwriting.

The Morta script?

Merlin frowned. At present, he had only mastered a little over two hundred vocabulary words of the Morta script, so he could only read some sentences haltingly.

For instance, words like "Fireball", "model", and "spell" were recognizable to Merlin, but the vast majority of the remaining content left him completely baffled.

Yet merely through these halting vocabulary words, Merlin had already roughly guessed something in his heart. This book was very likely old Aita's personal notes, and perhaps it was even his reflections and insights from practicing spells in daily life, all recorded within these notes.

This was a spell journal in the true sense of the word!

At this thought, Merlin's heart burned with fervor. Ever since witnessing the formidable power of old Aita and the white-robed man, he had never been able to forget this unimaginable, extraordinary strength.

And old Aita's spell journal opened up an entirely brand-new door for Merlin!

Despite his surging emotions, Merlin read the journal for a moment before finally shaking his head helplessly and closing it.

The Morta script on this spell journal contained a massive vocabulary, with many of them being extremely obscure terms. With the mere two hundred or so words Merlin had currently mastered, he could not even understand a single complete sentence, let alone comprehend the content within the journal.

Therefore, if he wanted to figure out what was written in the journal, he had to learn the Morta script first—at the very least, he needed to master over a thousand vocabulary words to barely be able to make out the contents of the spell journal.

Knock, knock, knock.

A flurry of urgent knocking sounded from outside the door. A shock ran through Merlin's heart, and he hurriedly hid the spell journal away before opening the door.

"Young Master Merlin, a few knights from the City Defense Corps have come to the castle, saying they have some matters and require the young master to take a trip with them."

Standing outside the door was the butler, a deep look of worry etched across his face.

Knights from the City Defense Corps?

A jolt ran through Merlin's heart. Upon returning to the castle, he had vaguely sensed that the affair with old Aita would blow up immensely, and anyone connected to old Aita would find themselves in trouble.

He simply had not expected the trouble to arrive this fast.

"Butler, let's go. I'll go meet them."

Thus Merlin went downstairs and arrived in the grand hall.

At that moment in the hall, a man clad in light silver armor sat in a chair, accompanied by three knights wearing the uniform of the City Defense Corps.

Merlin merely glanced indifferently at those three City Defense Corps knights. As for this man in light silver armor, Merlin grew even more certain in his heart that this must be related to old Aita's affair, because this man's attire was precisely that of a Guardian Swordsman from Gran City.

"You are Wilson Merlin?"

The silver-armored man asked coldly.

"I am Wilson Merlin. What business do you have?"

Merlin's expression did not change in the slightest as he asked with composure.

"Let's go. We are Guardian Swordsmen from the Gran City Church, and there are some matters that require investigation."

With that, the three City Defense Corps knights strode behind Merlin, fixing a predatory gaze upon him.

Merlin frowned slightly. He knew the Church's influence was immense; since even the City Defense Corps knights had been mobilized, this undoubtedly had the Lord's consent. He had no choice.

"Alright, I'll go with you."

Merlin straightened his clothes, then followed the silver-armored man out of the castle.

The butler hurriedly trotted a few paces to reach Merlin's side, asking anxiously, "Young Master Merlin, what is going on? Is there some misunderstanding? Should I go fetch the Baron back?"

Merlin was the sole son of the Wilson Family and the heir to the title; with such a huge incident occurring, the butler was naturally deeply worried.

Yet Merlin shook his head, a trace of a smile appearing on his face as he said, "There's no need to trouble Father; it will be fine, and I can handle this matter very quickly. By the way, don't tell Mei Xue, lest she act on impulse and do something irrational."

Having given his instructions, Merlin calmly stepped into the carriage prepared by the City Defense Corps and slowly departed from the castle.

Inside the carriage, only one City Defense Corps knight and the silver-armored Guardian Swordsman watched Merlin, while the other two knights rode on horseback, guarding the carriage.

After all, Merlin was different from others; as the sole heir to the title of the Wilson Family, his status was lofty. Thus, they had even dispatched a Guardian Swordsman specifically; otherwise, relying solely on these City Defense Corps knights, they truly would have had no way of bringing Merlin out of Wilson Castle.

"Young Master Merlin, no need to be nervous. This time we are merely having you accompany us to undergo an investigation. Once it is confirmed that you have nothing to do with the evil heretics, you will be allowed to return."

The one speaking was the City Defense Corps knight inside the carriage. He held a deep dread toward the Wilson Family; after all, old Wilson's temper was not particularly pleasant. In Blackwater City, aside from the City Lord, there truly was hardly anyone who could make old Wilson wary. Now that the City Defense Corps men had taken Merlin away, if old Wilson found out, wouldn't that be catastrophic?

Therefore, even though the City Defense Corps knights were under orders to take Merlin away, they did not dare to mistreat him in the slightest.

Merlin nodded slightly, ignoring the City Defense Corps knight further, and instead fixed his gaze upon the Guardian Swordsman inside the carriage.

This Guardian Swordsman was also young, under thirty years of age, yet his expression was icy. After boarding the carriage, he sat motionless, showing no intention of paying attention to Merlin.

Merlin was still hoping to probe for some information from this Guardian Swordsman, so he spoke softly, "I have a friend who went to Gran City for exchanges a few days ago and also became a Guardian Swordsman. I heard he even received a blessing from the Lord Bishop of Gran City. I wonder if the honored Guardian Swordsman knows him?"

"Are you speaking of Kadoron?"

That ice-cold Guardian Swordsman finally opened his eyes and asked with surprise.

A stirring arose in Merlin's heart, and he hurriedly nodded. "That's right, Kadoron."

Seeing Merlin nod, the Guardian Swordsman's expression finally softened as he said indifferently, "As it happens, after Kadoron was blessed by the Lord Bishop, he was assigned right to our squad. It's just that because Kadoron only recently became a Guardian Swordsman, he wasn't sent this time."

With the connection through Kadoron, Merlin closed the distance between himself and the Guardian Swordsman considerably. Thus, Merlin finally posed the doubt that had been lurking in his heart for a long time: "The evil heretics are very powerful. Legend has it they all possess evil powers, and ordinary people simply cannot deal with them. Yet this time you actually managed to slay the evil heretics—just what kind of person is Lord Jason?"

Once Merlin asked this question, the atmosphere inside the carriage immediately turned heavy. Even that City Defense Corps knight stared at the Guardian Swordsman with an expression of eager anticipation.

The Guardian Swordsman looked at the expectant gazes of both Merlin and the City Defense Corps knight, appearing quite satisfied. A hint of a smile crossed the corner of his lips before he spoke in a low voice: "You really asked the right person this time. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't know Lord Jason's identity at all. Lord Jason is an exalted figure within the Inquisition, ranking even higher than us Guardian Swordsmen, and he reports directly to the headquarters of the Church. Even the Lord Bishop does not have the authority to command the exalted figures in the Inquisition. Only when dealing with evil heretics do the lords of the Tribunal mobilize; usually they are extremely mysterious, and no one knows what they are doing. However, within the Church, the rumor is that the exalted figures of the Inquisition are the ones closest to God, and they are even bestowed with all kinds of powerful abilities by God!"

When the Guardian Swordsman finished speaking, a trace of envy even appeared on his face.