A Wizard’s Secret

A horse carriage trotted along the uneven road. It wore bells that rang sharply as it moved.

In the carriage sat Merlin, who wore a black robe, he buried his nose in a perfectly-bound black-covered book.

It had been four days since he had left Floating City. During that time, his Mind Power had increased as his Mind Power duplicate cultivated Mind Meditation in the Bell Space.

Hence, besides consuming a few portions of the Phantasmal Magic Potion, he had used his leisure time to read.

He found the book from within Weiss and Riesen’s rings. The book was an introduction to the three-thousand-six-hundred-year-old Molta Empire. It mentioned notable events, particularly related to the powerful Spell Casters and the collapse of the Molta Empire.

The Molta Empire was an incredibly mysterious nation, especially as three thousand six hundred years ago, Spell Casters had developed significantly. This era was known to be when Spell Casters were at their peak.

Hence, many Spell Casters were interested in the Molta Empire, they had researched it thoroughly but to this day, no one truly knew what caused the collapse of the Molta Empire.

When Merlin was in Blackwater City, he had retrieved a relief sculpture that could enhance one’s physical attributes. Now, his physique was close to that of a Fourth-level Elemental Swordsman. He was incredibly fit and his body could even withstand heavy damage.

His physique was much stronger than that of an average Spell Caster, this had also saved his life in past encounters.

The relief sculpture originated from the Molta Empire. It was without question that there must have been many of those relief sculptures during the Molta Empire.

Just as Merlin had suspected, the Spell Casters during the Molta Empire were at their peak and they would not neglect their physique.

It is possible that the mysterious relief sculptures were created by the Spell Casters to produce perfect physical attributes.

Of course, this was just an assumption of Merlin’s.

The mysterious Molta Empire was researched by countless Spell Casters. They would investigate ancient monuments with many different methods and note down their findings. They used their clues and speculations of the Molta Empire to publish books for many other Spell Casters to read.

Merlin now read one of these books about the speculations of the Molta Empire. No one knew what had truly happened three thousand six hundred years ago, during that magnificent and mysterious era.

“Perhaps Wizard Bell was a Spell Caster from the Molta Empire too and there are more than three parts to his Assembled casting tool…”

Merlin lowered his head and looked at the Bell Space that hung at his chest. It was only three casting tools, but Merlin had a feeling that the Bell Space was not as simple as it seemed.

Perhaps the casting tool was not complete and Wizard Bell’s Assembled casting tool may be far from reaching its final form. Perhaps there were fourth, fifth, or even sixth components that had not been discovered and Merlin would have to find them eventually.

Suddenly, the horse carriage stopped in its track. The carriage driver turned and whispered to Merlin, “Sir Merlin, there are two people ahead blocking our route.”

Merlin furrowed his eyebrows as he opened the carriage screen and looked outside.

In front of the carriage stood a man and a woman. On the side of the road was their horse carriage but it was broken and there was no way for them to continue their journey.

However, Merlin stayed vigilant. Not because of the woman’s temperament and appearance, but because of her long black hair.

Merlin had really stood out in Blackwater City because of his jet-black hair, a feature that was said to have been passed down from his absent mother.

The east side of the Kingdom of Blackmoon was said to have many black-haired people. However, Merlin had been in the Kingdom of Blackmoon for a long time and yet, he had never seen a black-haired person before. Hence, he was very surprised when he saw this woman.

The woman bowed slightly at the sight of Merlin and asked him with aristocratic etiquette, “My apologies, we seem to have encountered some problems with our horse carriage, and the next town is quite far. Would you kindly give us a lift there?”

Merlin looked at his map. The journey to the next town would indeed take most of the day but there was no way for these two to continue their journey with their broken carriage.

Merlin sighed slightly and nodded as he calmly said, “Hop in.”

The man and woman smiled and quickly got into Merlin’s carriage.

“We don’t mean to bother you!”

The woman said politely. The carriage was much warmer, and the woman’s pale face began to flush with redness.

Merlin looked at the two briefly then continued to bury his nose in his black-covered thread-bound book. The woman studied Merlin intensely for a few moments, then finally, her gaze locked onto the robe Merlin wore.

She had been calm before, but when she saw Merlin’s robe, she stiffened slightly.

“What is your name?”

The woman asked cautiously.

“Merlin!”

He replied. The woman rushed to introduce herself. “Mister Merlin, I am Shireen, and this is my little brother, Haya!”

Shireen stared fiercely at Haya, he had seemed slightly reluctant as he shouted to Merlin, “Mister Merlin!”

Merlin did not think much of Haya’s forceful attitude and nodded lightly.

Shireen noticed Merlin’s calm demeanor and hesitated slightly before she carefully asked, “Mister Merlin, where are you heading?”

“Tolle City!”

Merlin squinted with a forced smiled on his face. Tolle City was a huge city, and not many Spell Casters resided there, but, there were many Normies.

However, as Merlin replied, he noticed that these two people were not Normies, but in fact, Spell Casters.

Shireen heard Merlin mention Tolle City and immediately became nervous. The lazy Haya also seemed more cautious now as he watched Merlin’s every move.

Merlin said no more, and the horse carriage was silent.

…

The sky had turned dark as evening came. The horse carriage was slowly approaching a small town.

A man and woman came down from the carriage, and the black-haired woman said, “Thank you, Mister Merlin, for your kindness. We will look for another carriage now, we don’t want to trouble you further.”

She finished speaking and the both of them turned to make their leave.

Merlin watched the two figures leave, a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He whispered, “How interesting. They got very nervous when I mentioned that I was heading to Tolle City. Could they be going there too?”

Merlin pondered for a moment but did not think more of it. He dismissed the carriage driver to rest for the night and they would continue their journey in the morning.

…

Haya and Shireen had hidden in a corner and waited for the horse carriage to leave before they stepped out.

Shireen relaxed slightly as she watched the carriage slowly leave.

Haya stood beside her and furrowed his eyebrows as he asked, “Shireen, why were you so polite to a Normie? We’re heading to Tolle City and we can’t delay much longer. That horse carriage wasn’t half bad, even if you didn’t kill him, couldn’t you have just asked that Merlin to get out of the carriage?”

Haya did not agree with how Shireen had treated Merlin.

Shireen kept calm but soon, she shook her head nonstop. “You’ve never left the clan, so you can’t have recognized Merlin’s robe.”

“Robe? You mean the casting tool? Shireen, why didn’t you say so? We are both First-level Spell Casters, even the leaders of the clan don’t have a single robe. Merlin has one, he must be a roaming Wizard. We could force him to give it to us and we would finally have a robe!”

Haya itched to give it a try. He watched the carriage disappear into the distance, eager to chase after it.

Shireen’s expression was serious as she responded coldly, “Haya, if it weren’t for my promise to Father, I would not bring you to Tolle City. Though we’re only going to Tolle City to check it out, I am worried your temperament will cause a scene. Do you know what that robe represents? It is the robe of an official member of the Dark Magic Region. Every official member of the Dark Magic Region is at least a First-level Spell Caster. I was incredibly nervous in the carriage, I was afraid Wizard Merlin would not be too fair on us, it is a good thing you did not try to attack him…”

Shireen did not know whether to laugh or to cry. She had a few regrets bringing Haya out of the clan.

She did not know how strong the official members of Spell Caster organizations such as the Dark Magic Region were, but to attack a Spell Caster from the organizations would be suicide.

“So, he is a Spell Caster from the Dark Magic Region. Shireen, our luck isn’t so bad. We have just met with a stranger who turns out to be a powerful Spell Caster. Our trip to Tolle City will surely be rewarding!”

Haya was excited, but Shireen just shook her head. She made a promise to herself that next time, no matter how much Haya begged, she would never bring him out again.

“Let’s go, we need to find a horse carriage to take us to Tolle City.”

She said as she took Haya and disappeared into the darkness of the night.