“I will challenge my master to a duel after she regains her memories!”
“Yes, I understand.”
We say goodbye, and Reina heads to the forest to train. And Edinburgh and I will work on getting her memories back.
It’s like an old tale or something.
As I think that, we head to our first stop, Merlin’s house.
Since Zephir is the one most friendly to Edinburgh, he would normally be the first, but apparently he’s remodeling some stuff in the hot spring he made in demon god territory.
He’s pretty fussy about it, so he won’t come back for a week, and I don’t want to bother him.
“Welcome. Make yourselves at home. I’ll bring you drinks.”
We step inside Merlin’s girly and fancy house, and she brings us herbal tea.
“Well then, Reina told me all about it yesterday, but are you sure about this?”
“Yes. Tell me what you know about past me.”
“I don’t think it will be fun to hear…”
She says as a preface, and then she talks about Edinburgh.
“You first spoke to me when I was sixteen, and I was in a magic academy.”
“How many years ago was that?”
“That’s not relevant.”
“Hn…”
Merlin completely shuts down her question.
Mages can use magic to hold back the aging of their bodies. Xellos and Merlin look like they’re in their twenties, but Reina told me they’re actually over fifty.
“There were four prodigies in the academy. The mage of the beginning is here! They could become her pupils! There was a big uproar.”
“They? You weren’t included?”
“I was more the reserved type back then. I liked to train silently, rather than stand out.”
I figured she was always a prodigy, since she’s one of the seven great mages, but I guess she was a lot different back then.
“All the students were desperate to show off their magic to Edinburgh.”
“And you…”
“I just watched from afar. I wasn’t really interested in the strongest mage. But this is where it gets bad…”
Merlin stops, like she’s wondering if she should continue.
I get that she’s doing it out of consideration for Edinburgh, but she wants to know those parts of her past too.
“…Continue.”
She says with her usual plain tone, and Merlin continues after a small sigh.
“Kill each other, I will teach magic to the last one standing. Was what you said with an evil smile.”
“Eh?”
“I don’t know if being surrounded by students annoyed you, or if you were just having fun, but when the first one fired magic, the academy turned into a hellscape.”
Edinburgh Emil Edelheid’s words had a devilish charm, and even the teachers joined the killing.
“So if you’re here, that means…”
“Yes, I was the one who survived. The four prodigies were the talk of the entire academy, so they were targeted first.”
“…”
“When I was the last one standing, you said to me ‘meh, it wasn’t that fun after all’…”
She turned the school into a hellscape with her words, and with a cold expression, sounded completely bored.
The academy was closed, and Merlin had to drop out.
“Were you all right, Merlin?”
“I wasn’t. I saw magic like she promised, and then she said that was it, and disappeared. I was disowned, and people treated me like I killed for fun.”
Merlin says casually that she saw hell, but imagining myself in her position sends a chill down my spine.
It’s worse than I thought…
“Did you resent me?”
“Of course I did. But after experiencing a lot of things, I started thinking like this. People’s appetites have no limits, so if you want yours to come true, you have to kick others down. You need to be powerful if you don’t want to be prey.”
Wealth, influence, magic energy.
You don’t have to cry if you have the power to not lose to anyone, was what young Merlin learned.
“Edinburgh had the power to not lose to anyone, so she could do what she wanted. I figured I’d get that too, so I became an adventurer, and went around different countries training my magic.”
Her fame started rising, as if overwriting her past.
During her long travels, she realized there was no mage with more talent than her. Including Edinburgh.
So she challenged the seven great mages, and…
“I was shown the difference in our power.”
“Did I beat you down?”
“Don’t point out what I was deliberately glossing over.”
Merlin glares, but I don’t sense resentment or hatred.
Edinburgh also has a relaxed air to her, seemingly feeling more of a sense of closeness than when she faces us.
“And like I said, when I became the fifth seat of the seven great mages, and gained influence as Holy Water Merlin Marine, I could do what I wanted.”
“I heard you slept with a prince that cheated on…”
“Wait, how do you know that?”
I look away, not saying Zephir told me about it.
“…Let’s leave that for another time. Edinburgh was never interested in me, but always looked like she was after something very important. But that disappeared when you got here so… I think you found what you wanted.”
“…”
I know she’s talking about her bond with Wil.
But then she should be able to get her memories back…
“Well, that’s my relation to Edinburgh. Back then, I never thought it would turn out like this…”
Merlin’s eyes look a little gentle, as she looks at Edinburgh.
“You’re not as cold as you were back then, and I don’t dislike that.”
“…Me neither.”
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