Unexpected Harvest

"You can do anything?"

Merlin narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze sweeping unceremoniously over Jia's voluptuous chest.

"Yes, I'll follow by your side from now on. You can do whatever you want."

A trace of a smile appeared on Jia's face as she spoke with captivating charm.

"Pity, you're of no use anymore..."

A hint of icy killing intent flickered within Merlin's slightly narrowed eyes.

Whoosh.

A fireball flew straight out of Merlin's hand, slamming fiercely into Jia's chest and burning a bloody hole right through her voluptuous bosom. The charred, blackened flesh contrasted sharply with the fair skin of her chest.

Jia's eyes bulged wide, as if still finding it hard to believe.

After killing Jia, Merlin walked back to the corpses of the bearded man and the others. Searching them for a moment, Merlin pulled several slightly yellowed sheets of paper from the bearded man.

"Hm? These are... spell models?"

Merlin was somewhat startled, not expecting to actually find spell models, which were only useful to spellcasters, on the bearded man. Yet now was not the time to examine closely what specific spell models they were; he still needed to simply handle the situation here.

Thus, Merlin dragged all of their corpses out, piled them in the courtyard, and subsequently released a fireball. Gradually, the four corpses burned and deformed rapidly within the raging flames, becoming completely unrecognizable.

Afterward, Merlin simply dug a hole in the courtyard and buried the ashes produced by the burning of the four corpses.

Having finished dealing with it, Merlin finally left the courtyard directly.

"Hoo..."

The moment Merlin stepped out of the courtyard, a gust of cold wind assaulted him, and a faint stench of blood seemed to linger in the air. He glanced back at the courtyard one last time; after tonight, the smell of blood would basically be gone, and unless someone went inside to look closely, they would never tell that a bloody scene had once taken place here.

Facing the cold wind, Merlin wrapped his coat tighter around himself and walked calmly back along the street corner.

Merlin returned to the front of the small building and saw Moss still sitting inside the carriage. He stepped forward and called out softly, "Moss, take me back."

Moss cast a skeptical glance at Merlin, but he did not ask any further questions. Quickly driving the carriage, he returned to Wilson Castle.

*****

Inside the room, Merlin sat on a tall wooden stool as the dim candlelight flickered continuously. Closing his eyes, Merlin was still replaying the battle from today.

Whether in his past life or the present, this was his first time killing someone, and moreover, he had killed four people! Yet while killing, Merlin had not felt the slightest bit of discomfort; instead, he appeared quite calm.

Since that courtyard was the secret stronghold of Jia and the others, no one else is likely to know about it. To maintain secrecy, they wouldn't even interact with anyone else in Blackwater City. That works out well for me, at least ensuring no one will notice.

Merlin carefully considered the danger this matter might bring. If there were any danger, it would probably stem from Jia and the others having accomplices, though this possibility was very low; to deal with a spellcaster, they certainly would have gathered their strongest forces.

After pondering for a while, Merlin stopped thinking about it. He drew from his bosom the yellowed sheets of paper he had scavenged from the bearded man's corpse, which surprisingly turned out to be various spell models.

At the time, Merlin had been busy disposing of the corpses and hadn't looked closely, so he hadn't known what spells they were.

Merlin gently nudged the candle, bringing the yellowed paper close to the candlelight, and began to examine it carefully.

"Freezing Spell, a zero-level ice-type spell."

Joy welled up in Merlin's heart. This was a zero-level spell, and precisely the binding-type spell he had been dreaming of.

Although Merlin already possessed the spell model for Whirlwind—the second zero-level spell recorded in old man Aita's spell notes, which old man Aita had also cultivated back then—

Both Whirlwind and Fireball belonged to offensive-type spells. After analyzing them, Merlin had concluded that Whirlwind was actually not the most suitable spell for him.

Since he already possessed Fireball, and its power was immense, he urgently needed auxiliary or binding-type spells.

Now, he had unexpectedly obtained a binding-type spell that could be used in perfect coordination with Fireball, and its actual combat effectiveness would undoubtedly be exceptional.

It was rather strange in itself that the bearded man, a Flame Swordsman, possessed a spell model belonging to a spellcaster. Yet connecting this to the bearded man's seemingly inexplicable hostility toward spellcasters, a suspicion faintly formed in Merlin's mind.

The bearded man surely wanted to become a spellcaster as well, but perhaps because his mental power was too weak to become one, he could do nothing even with the Freezing Spell model.

Consequently, over time, the bearded man developed a hostility toward spellcasters.

The bearded man possessed a spell model in vain yet was unable to cultivate it, and now it had conveniently fallen into Merlin's hands.

My mental power is still somewhat insufficient and unable to sustain two spell models. It seems if I want to cultivate the Freezing Spell, I'll have to wait a bit longer.

Merlin knitted his brows, feeling a hint of regret in his heart.

Although he was already practicing the Mental Meditation Method, the growth of mental power relied on long-term accumulation over time. At Merlin's current level of mental power, it was impossible to sustain a second spell model.

It looks like I'll have to spend more time meditating.

Merlin's mental power had currently become his shortcoming. Thanks to the Matrix, the construction issues of spell models that plagued all spellcasters were no great hurdle for Merlin at all; what he lacked was vast mental power capable of supporting more spell models.

*****

The next day, Merlin sat in Moss's carriage, having Moss drive in a wide circle around the streets. In truth, he was observing the courtyard where the bearded man and the others lived.

Outside the courtyard now, there was no trace of blood scent left, and there were no people around. It was much as Merlin had anticipated: to maintain secrecy, the bearded man and his associates rarely interacted with their neighbors, so even if they disappeared for a year or a half, it wouldn't attract anyone's attention.

Merlin breathed a slight sigh of relief. Not being discovered was the best possible outcome.

However, there was still Jia. With her striking appearance, she easily drew attention, and besides, she was a teacher of etiquette courses. If she went missing, it would certainly arouse some suspicion.

Therefore, Merlin attended the etiquette courses over the next few days specifically to gauge everyone's reaction to Jia's disappearance, preparing himself to respond accordingly at any moment.

*****

The most iconic landmark of Blackwater City was, without a doubt, the City Lord's Manor.

The City Lord's Manor was enclosed by towering city walls, inside of which stood an elliptical spire castle. In front of the castle, knights of the City Defense Corps were a frequent sight, making it difficult even for ordinary people to approach the City Lord's Manor.

Suddenly, not far from the City Lord's Manor, a galloping team of knights appeared. Judging by their attire, this group of knights differed greatly from those of the City Defense Corps.

As the knight troop drew closer, it gradually became clear that there were over twenty men in the front and back, seemingly escorting a carriage in the middle.

Escorting the carriage, these knights were rapidly approaching the City Lord's Manor.