“Merlin Ajussi is missing?”
“Yes.”
Kail tilted his head as he looked at Rizelotte who had suddenly come to visit. It wasn’t particularly surprising that Merlin disappeared.
He was the type to disappear often from the start. Kail himself had discovered Merlin in Arthur’s hometown, which had nothing to do with him.
What mattered now wasn’t Merlin’s whereabouts but the fact that Rizelotte was looking for him.
“That ajussi tends to hide himself sometimes. Maybe he went on another trip this time too.”
“…The important part is that he disappeared without telling me.”
“No, why would that ajussi tell you—”
As Kail was about to say that, he suddenly realized something and let out an “Ah” exclamation. Rizelotte, who came looking for Merlin, the woman worried about his disappearance…
Even someone as clueless as Kail couldn’t miss it, especially since he was a married man. He couldn’t be oblivious to this kind of thing.
“You two, since when did you become that kind of couple?”
“You noticed? It hasn’t been long.”
Rizelotte chuckled softly while stroking her belly, wearing a melancholic expression similar to the one Yuri often made when she was pregnant alone. With some suspicion, Kail stared intently at her abdomen.
Noticing his gaze, Rizelotte gave a faint laugh and nodded.
“A baby too?”
“…I never thought I could get pregnant.”
Now understanding why Rizelotte was so anxious to find Merlin, Kail groaned and began thinking about where Merlin might be.
In his personal opinion, the guy probably wandered off again to some nameless countryside—but isn’t it better to be sure about everything?
“I’ll introduce you to someone who can help find him.”
Recently, there was someone slacking off. A rogue with outstanding abilities who wasn’t using them at all.
Right now, they were probably scratching their butt and munching on snacks.
* * *
“…How am I supposed to find that?”
Sera looked at Kail and Rizelotte who came to see her with an incredulous expression.
Sometimes these guys treated her like Doraemon. Did they really come to her for such trivial matters?
“Can’t you do it?”
“Of course not! Can you even use a 1st-tier magic spell!?”
“No, I can’t.”
“Exactly! I’m not a detective, how am I supposed to find a runaway husband! Ah, Rizelotte unni. Congratulations on your pregnancy. Are you getting married soon?”
“Well… That guy doesn’t even know I’m pregnant yet…”
“Wow… What a piece of trash. Oh, should I not say that about someone else’s husband?”
“It’s fine. He truly is trash.”
Haha-hoho, as the two continued their banter, Kail wore a slightly horrified expression. It felt like sharp blades were hidden within their words.
Would Yuri also run away and talk about such things in front of others? Given that she was a noblewoman, it seemed plausible.
‘She wouldn’t gossip about me like that, right?’
Though he hoped she wouldn’t, he also felt like it was inevitable. After all, he had lived like trash.
“Hmm… Unni, what about using the cells of the unborn child?”
“Using cells?”
“Biologically, a child carries half of each parent’s cells. So, the baby has over 99.8% of Merlin Ajussi’s DNA copied.”
“Hmm… Would it harm the baby?”
“Uh… I don’t know about that.”
Scratching the back of her head, Sera abandoned the idea of using the baby to track Merlin and started rummaging through the corners of the room for another method.
The corners of the room were filled with the results of her alchemy experiments, including some cheat magic tools that could only be created after reaching certain endings in the system.
Among them, Sera picked up a small goddess statue and feigned reluctance as she placed it in front of her.
“Ah… This is extremely rare. There’s only one…”
“What is it?”
“A goddess statue that answers anything. In games, it provided passwords to open memory rooms.”
“What’s that… So, what’s its effect?”
“If the tooltip holds true, maybe you can receive an oracle from that god over there?”
Looking at the object capable of giving pseudo-oracles, Rizelotte let out a hollow laugh. How could one easily receive oracles meant only for saints or pope-class clerics?
If this got out, Sera would immediately become a target for power-hungry figures across nations. There were countless rulers who wanted to ask the gods something—and some might exploit this to elevate her to sainthood, aiming to overthrow existing holy kingdoms.
“Are you sure it’s okay to just hand this out?”
“Eh, who’s gonna see? Anyway, there’s only Unni and this blockhead here.”
“Tsk—Well, if Rizelotte unni won’t tell anyone, it should be fine.”
“But this is seriously precious. I can’t make it anymore.”
“What’s the material?”
“The Virgin Saintess’s Blood.”
“There’s some at the church, right?”
“Virgin (as in maiden) blood.”
“…”
A tool that couldn’t be made with the blood of the current saint, who was no longer a virgin. The culprit, Kail, had nothing to say and tightly shut his mouth.
After glaring briefly at Kail, Sera slowly prayed in front of the goddess statue.
“Anyway—just ask where Merlin Ajussi is, right?”
“To use it for something so trivial feels a bit…”
“Eh, it’s fine. Not like I have any other use for it. I just made it as a collectible—Alright, dear god. Please tell us Merlin’s location.”
Sera prayed jokingly, and the goddess statue activated systematically, sending Merlin’s current location directly into Sera’s mind.
After confirming the location, Sera tilted her head and said,
“He’s in a strange place, this ajussi.”
“Why, where?”
“The Pragia Kingdom. There shouldn’t be anything there.”
“—There is.”
“What? What’s there?”
Upon hearing the kingdom’s name, Kail opened his mouth with a hunch.
“Holy Weapons.”
The former base of a terrorist organization.
* * *
Creeeak—.
With the sound of rusty hinges creaking, a short-haired woman entered the room. Merlin, meeting light for the first time in six hours, squinted at the bright lamp and spoke.
“Is it mealtime already?”
“Yes, Leader.”
“Leader? What leader… Which subordinate ties up their own leader like this?”
Merlin let out a hollow laugh as he looked at Aruki. However, Aruki shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped and quietly placed the dish down.
“You’re not really the leader. You might escape, right?”
“Escape? Only guilty people run away. In this situation, it’s you who should be running, not me.”
“Thanks for worrying. But… I won’t abandon my leader and run.”
Hearing her response, Merlin’s expression hardened. She was insane. Completely insane. Even more insane was her method of feeding him.
It was after discovering that the food she brought contained a drug that cut off his magic power. Naturally, Merlin wouldn’t eat it.
Normally, in such cases, they’d starve the person for days and administer the drug separately—but Aruki never allowed Merlin’s body to be harmed.
“Ah, Leader.”
“…”
“Hmm, refusing again. That’s okay.”
Seeing Merlin firmly close his mouth, Aruki simply took the drugged food into her own mouth. Chewing it thoroughly so Merlin could swallow it easily, she grabbed his cheek and forcefully kissed him.
Even a master-level magician or a demon’s body couldn’t resist the grip strength of an Aura Master with just cheek muscles.
Tasting the food flowing into his mouth, Merlin defiantly bit down hard on her tongue—but Aruki, lost in the pleasure and betrayal of kissing her leader, didn’t flinch.
“Phewah! Leader, do you want to drink my blood too?”
“…You crazy woman.”
Spitting out what was in his mouth belatedly, Merlin tried to expel it, but Aruki fed him the next bite much faster.
Once again forced to ingest the drug, Merlin glared at Aruki, whose face was smeared with food and blood.
“Leader, when will you return to being our real leader…?”
“…I am the real one.”
“Yes, your body is real. No doubt about that. Your face, your body, your scent… I guarantee you’re our leader.”
Sitting on Merlin’s thigh and touching his face with a grin, Aruki suddenly changed her expression and grabbed his temple tightly.
“—But this isn’t you.”
“Ugh…”
“Leader, my leader, the leader I love… Where did you go? Huh? What did you do to our leader?”
Merlin’s body was indeed Feyna’s, the one Aruki knew, trusted, followed, and loved. But his spirit wasn’t.
Knowing this, Aruki pressed down on Merlin’s head as if squeezing it and screamed.
“Give our leader back!”
“I am… the real one…”
“Shut up! Give me back my leader!”
“You crazy woman…”
Communication was impossible.
Merlin was certain he couldn’t escape this place on his own.
As humiliating as it was, he needed help.
A hero who always intervened in situations like this. Someone like Kail Meyer…
‘…Not him.’
Merlin immediately erased the thought of Kail’s face as soon as it appeared.
